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im-a-ramblr · 4 years ago

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Day 12, Clenched Fist

Ares wasn’t quite sure how his life had become such a mess. Actually, he did know. It was Henry’s fault.

This particular problem wasn’t actually Henry’s doing, but it felt more appropriate to blame him for it than Gregor.

He sighed and started to swing his arms, then froze as the man attached to the other end of one stumbled. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Gregor regained his footing and after a moment of tense silence hesitantly started to swing his arm.

Ares kept his eyes straight ahead but swung their interlocked hands. They must have made quite a sight. Ares, a 6’4 tall black man, holding hands with 5’6 Gregor. Despite how odd they must have looked, and a slight fear of swinging too hard and knocking Gregor off balance, it was nice. Henry had never cared much for this habit of his.

“I’m also sorry. About this.” Gregor added, drawing Ares’s attention. The brunette used his free and to waved to their glued together hands. “I swear it wasn’t what I was trying to do.”

Ares smiled. “I know Gregor. Besides, it’s a lot less binding than what I got you into.”

“I’m not too sure about that. But it was kinda fun.”

“I suppose that is a word for it.” Ares thought back to that night. It had been exhausting. He’d been ditched, framed, fake married as an alibi, proven innocent, gone to his ‘wedding reception’, had some bad edibles, gotten sick, and woken up just in time to rush to catch his plane. After a while of enduring his friends teasing about his new friend who had saved him the previous night, he realized that he had no way of contacting him.

It had been sheer luck they had bumped into each other. It had not been luck that Gregor had super glue all over his hand due to a project he’d been working on with his sister and father.

The following greeting had been downright awkward. It wasn’t that Gregor and Ares didn’t like each other. They’d bonded over the several hours of chaos, and certainly wanted to be friends, but what did you say to someone after a night like that. Gregor had fixed that problem by accidentally getting them stuck together. It was a little uncomfortable, having their hands clenched together, but that is why they were hurrying to find an appropriate remover.

(000000000000000000000000000Line Break000000000000000000000000000)

Sometime later, and several short arguments about who paid for the goods, both of their free hands had shopping bags in them. They were both a little hungry but agreed it was best to get unstuck before trying to eat. Where to get unstuck was a harder question to answer. In the end, they went to Gregor’s neighbor’s place. Mrs. Cormaci hadn’t asked any questions about why the two were glued together; though when Gregor hadn’t been looking, she gave him an exasperated, though fond, look.

After soaking their interlocked hands in warm water, rubbing in some oils, and swapping nail polish remover on some spots, they were free. They both washed their hands a few more times, just to be sure it was all gone. Mrs. Cormaci ushered them to the table and won’t let hear any protest as she plated up some food.

It was wonderful, and when they were done, they thanked her plenty of times while walking off. She smiled and told them to behave, then closed the door. Gregor shifted from his weight from foot to foot, though it seemed much less nervous than before. “Uh, is this goodbye?” he asked.

That caught Ares off guard, and he shrugged. “I guess?”

“Can I get your number? Before you leave?” Gregor straightened, suddenly a lot more confidence. Ares blinked and nodded. They swapped numbers and as Gregor stepped around him to get to his door he blurted out, “Would you like to meet some of my friends? The ones I was texting earlier. They were there for everything, and I think they would like to meet you again.”

“Oh!” Gregor’s face lit up, “Sure. Like right now or…”

“Now is good. If you are free?”

“Yeah. Where we going?”

The pair made they’re way out of the building and Ares pointed him in the right direction. They chatted as they walked. Between everything that happened in Vegas and then being glued together; they had spent a decent amount of time together but hadn’t really had time to talk. Ares learned that Gregor had done track in middle and high school, and that he’d learned saxophone from his dad, and that he really only had two friends outside his family his whole life. Ares found himself admitting that he was also a loner growing up and that despite how large his friend group was now, he didn’t feel super close to most of them. He’d originally been drawn to Henry because they were both ‘bad boys’, but that their friendship had disintegrated when Ares had grown out of it.

They were in the middle of comparing hideouts when someone called Ares’s name. Neveeve was walking towards them, and Ares bit back a groan. She came to a stop in front of them and Ares resisted the urge to snap at her. Neveeve might have been a nice person, but she was one of Solovet’s lackeys and at times Henry’s. She definitely preferred Henry to himself in any case.

“Hello, Neveeve.” Ares said, flatly. Gregor pressed a little closer to him, put on guard by Ares’s tone.

“Ares.” Neveeve sniffed. She gave Gregor a once over and raised an eyebrow. “And who is this?”

“I’m Gregor. I don’t believe we’ve met?” Gregor’s tone was steady and polite.

“Neveeve.” Neither offered their hands for any kind of greeting. “How do you know Ares.”

“He’s my partner.” Ares cut in. “Not that that is any of your business.”

Neveeve sniffed. “Partner. How nice. Well, I hope it lasts.” She looked like she wanted to add more to it but didn’t. She merely nodded and walked off. Gregor turned to watch her and frowned.

“What was that about.”

“Neveeve was a friend of Henry’s grandmother,” Ares informed him. “Neither are happy about what happened.” He looked down, realizing that they had been grasping each other’s hands again. He tugged his out, but Gregor held on. He gave Ares’ hand a squeeze then let him pull it out. “And all three thought the idea of me having partners amusing. Henry was a close I ever got to…” he trialed off but Gregor got the idea.

“I’m sorry. You deserved so much better than him.” he made a face. “And that’s not just a boast about how great I am. You deserve someone better than me too.”

Ares let out a soft laugh. “I do not know. I think you deserve someone better than me. There are a lot of things you don’t know.”

“That goes both ways though.” Gregor pointed out. “Besides, you’re not a criminal right? That’s what the whole Vegas thing was about. So, there’s nothing to bad.”

Ares laughed, this one louder than before. “A good point. I suppose the best thing to do is just let whatever this is happen.” He waved between them.

“Sounds like a good plan.” Gregor grinned, and Ares found himself grinning back.

#flufftober2020 #the underland chronicles #Ares the flier #Gregor campbell #dr. neveeve #Relila Writes

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