#and Gil is like you don't even use the mail??? you guys are hardcore

[softquietsteadylove]

Hello love! How are you?

May a i ask for another part of the Addams Fam au pretty please 😄 it's so cutee.

Thank you for all of your stories they are amazing, i adore how you write Thena and Gil, you get them so right every time. 🩷🤍

"What a beautiful day."

"What a beautiful day indeed."

Thena and Gil looked at each other before bursting into laughter, sitting on the steps of the gazebo. The heavy rain underscored it, only Theseus on Thena's lap even blinked. Their parents were inside, discussing business of some kind.

"Father has been talking about this meeting for weeks," Thena looked down at Theseus, running her fingers over his back and up his spines delicately. "He is quite excited about the deal they will be making, supposedly."

"Yeah, Pops has been talking about it too," Gilgamesh agreed in not so many words. He looked at her with a grin, though, "keeps saying it'll be a huge drag."

The two shared a light laugh again, maintaining the 'code' of sorts they had concocted upon their first meeting. Their parents' businesses entangling so often had actually come to benefit them. Finally someone with whom to discuss things that weren't business, or investments, or the benefit of all the plastics piling up in the environment (how that was a good thing was beyond both of them).

"I do like the rain, though," Thena added more quietly. "It's much easier to sleep when it's raining. And Theseus enjoys it as well, from the safety of his sun lamp tank."

Gilgamesh chuckled, extending a finger. The growing iguana was warming up to him slowly. He wasn't of petting familiarity yet, but Theseus flicked his tongue a little in the direction of Gil's finger. "You guys must love monsoon season, huh?"

Thena offered a guilty little pinch of her lips. "The last trip on which we accompanied Father, the weather had been dreadful. Mother didn't get to experience the sea at all, and we were essentially shut in the whole time. I quite enjoyed it."

Gilgamesh threw his head back in laughter. She liked how unrestrained he could be in that way. "I probably would've liked that too. I think we're old enough they don't have to drag us around with them anyway, right?"

Thena sighed, hunching over Theseus as a breeze travelled through her around the gazebo pillars. "I wish they agreed. And yet Mother and Father's leash has only gotten shorter, I fear."

They kept insisting that she and Gilgamesh remain within a certain distance of the house when they were visiting. Something about not getting up to any 'funny business'. Thena didn't understand it; nothing about business was ever humorous.

"Hm," he pursed his lips, sliding closer to her. His larger frame actually did block some of the wind that accompanied such lovely rain.

"Have your parents always-" Thena started asking and then stopped dead in her tracks. She was becoming too comfortable with Gilgamesh--comfortable enough to ask rather forward questions. It was untoward, with a guest.

Gilgamesh leaned closer to her, softening his already soft voice, "go on."

Thena's eyes darted between him and Theseus. He was awfully close, now. "Have your parents always been suffocating--like mine?"

"I guess kinda the opposite," Gilgamesh shrugged, now close enough to venture into the realm of touching Theseus' back. The lizard allowed it, his eyes sliding closed as he enjoyed the attention. "Pops used to show me his model trains all the time, teach me about the railroads, all that stuff. Then, one day, he never had any time for me anymore. Now I seem to just be a distraction for him, and Ma."

Thena frowned. Perhaps she did know that feeling. Mother no longer brushed and braided her hair. Father had long ago said that she needed no tutelage in fencing. She recalled a younger Thena even falsifying her own flaws in hopes her father would continue to teach her, but to no avail.

"Hey," he nudged her arm gently. Their parents never let them be too close to each other in their presence, but she had to admit that being close to him had its advantages. "That's why we have each other, right?"

She smiled, completely unwittingly, too. He seemed able to pull a smile from her more and more easily. Unfortunately, her parents were catching on. Every time she smiled at Gil from across the dinner table her mother would nudge her foot to mind herself.

"I'm not as involved in my dad's business," Gilgamesh shrugged, pulling his hand away from Theseus and resting his elbows against his knees. "But your dad still drags you to meetings sometimes, right? Like when my folks first came over?"

Thena merely nodded. "Any time an associate has a son, he asks me to accompany him. I believe he thinks it will be seen as an asset--something to further convince them to agree to his conditions."

She was his perfect little bargaining chip.

"That's gross."

Thena smiled again, although it wasn't quite as free as his. "I suppose it is."

"It must be tough," he sighed and rested his chin in his palm. She tilted her head at him and he grinned at her, "being so pretty."

Thena's jaw clapped shut, too loudly for the rain to cover it. She tried to formulate a response but she couldn't, and Gilgamesh was still looking at her. She turned reticent, utterly embarrassed by such a bold compliment at such close range. Her whole face felt warm. "Hm."

He chuckled, but he didn't say anything else, nor did he prod her after that pitiful excuse for a 'thank you'.

Thena stared down at Theseus, trying and trying to think of something to say. Her flustered energy awoke the reptile, who looked up at her. It did not help her feel more calm.

"Pops doesn't ask me to come to meetings anymore--not even here."

Thena blinked at the sudden admission. She had assumed Gilgamesh joined his parents for their continued meetings with her own because they had insisted so. As far as she knew, Gilgamesh would take over and inherit his father's businesses someday. "He doesn't?"

He grinned at her again, and that funny feeling arose inside her ribs. "I keep asking to come. Hanging out with you here is the only fun thing I ever get to do anymore."

Thena still didn't mange to squeak out a decent reply. But she had to agree. She looked forward to Gilgamesh coming over. She even included in her letters to him what she had overheard Father discussing so as to better encourage Mister Lee to come over again. She would lie awake the night before, be restless all the morning before they arrived.

Gilgamesh left it at that again, but he did pick his head up from his palm as she scooted a little closer to him, until their sides could brush, his stark black suit against her soft white cardigan.

"The same could be said for me," she managed to admit, in far too many words than needed. But 'I like you too' seemed both too simple and...too complicated. But he seemed to accept it, letting her settle next to him in a positively scandalous proximity. But he was much warmer than the chilly rain air.

"You could try and get your dad to come over to our place," Gilgamesh suggested. His face was close again, by sheer proximity of how they were sitting. But she didn't mind it as much. "You can come with him, I can show you around. I'm pretty sure my folks wouldn't really care what we get up to."

Thena fidgeted to admit to him, "I've never been allowed to leave the manor without the presence of Father, or Mother."

Gil shrugged though, and his massive shoulder collided with her smaller one. "They'll be there--kinda. And I'll be a perfect gentleman."

She smiled as he held up a hand for her to rest hers within. It was familiar, even comfortable. "Of that, I have no doubt."

"Great," he whispered, running his thumb over her fingers. "So, next time your dad mentions my dad, tell him that Pops has...documents--or something. His office is full of train stuff. He has maps of every railroad on the continent, I'm pretty sure."

She did know their deal had...something to do with the railroads. She had looked into at first. But since she was able to spend time with Gilgamesh instead of listen to the business dealings, her attention had dwindled, to put it mildly.

Thena tightened her hand in his, and he returned the gentle squeeze. His hand felt nice. "I shall tell him forthwith."

"Well maybe we can enjoy the rain in Ma's sunroom next time, then," he chuckled. He went to drop his hand, and hers, but he blinked as she held on. She thought about snapping her hand back in that second, but he adjusted his grip, still holding her hand perched in his even in his more relaxed posture.

"That sounds," Thena sighed, letting herself lean against him just a little more, "dreadful."

He laughed again, jostling her amidst her relaxing. But she excused it, only because she liked his laugh so much.