#kevin ''if they come after our families we put them down permanently'' levin everybody

[kariachi]

Wake up, immediately write Osmobeast brand fic, though this is a focus on Gwen and Gar and Zed.

In which Things Have Happened, secrets are being kept to the grave, Zed is a Good Girl, and Gar is going to rest and relax one way or the other.

~~

“Where’s Kevin?” Gwendolyn started, nearly dropping her book as she turned to find Gar a few steps out of the bedroom, visibly resisting the urge to rub at his bandages. Damnit, him, Rae, Rook, and Argit, all too damn quiet, it shouldn’t have been legal.

“Argit needed him for something,” she said with a soft smile, setting the book aside and hoping the lie worked. “I lost detail rights about two months into our relationship, nonetheless now. How are you feeling?” Immediately he flashed her a smile back.

“Fine, fine. Everything’s back to rights.” As if she was going to believe it. They’d been told what had happened- it wasn’t uncommon for people to try actively to kill a hero, it was uncommon for them to come so close to success, and it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours quite yet. Bullshit he was fine.

A little voice in her head that sounded annoyingly like Argit called her a hypocrite, but she ignored it in favor of the current issue.

“Kevin and Rae specifically sent me here to look after you,” she said, mouth shifting into a no-nonsense line. “Quote, ‘tie him to the couch if you have to’, end quote. I’m not falling for the ‘I’m fine, let me back in, Coach’ game.” The statement was mostly true. She wasn’t falling for it, and when she’d told Raven she was heading out to keep an eye on him because something urgent had come up for Kev she had been asked to get him to rest and heal under any means necessary. Kevin had not requested anything.

In truth, the last she heard Kevin was still tense as a bowstring in Argit’s livingroom, both his teams there as the closest thing to an armed guard they did. It was the only reason he wasn’t sat where she was now, because they didn’t trust him to leave the eyesight of at least two people at a time- not counting Argit ‘he’d lie and you’d swear to it’ Levin- lest he try to go and murder the fucker who’d tried to murder Gar. Again. Would be attempt three, because ‘tenacious’ was listed right between ‘funny’ and ‘short-tempered’ on any description of him. It wouldn’t be a pretty murder either, the last one she knew of had involved dropping a man into the Sun and when they’d managed to find and stop him on the first attempt he’d been in the middle of getting a grip on the bastard’s sternum. There’d only been the three of them at that point, and they’d been focused more on stopping Kevin than catching anybody so, fucker had escaped. And then Kevin had escaped. And then they’d brought in the other Amalgams so somebody could stop him while they grabbed the would-be-murder-combo.

When she’d left- remembering Kevin once mentioning Gar freaking out after waking up alone in the apartment following a Bad Day- Argit had been using the fact they’d been brought into custody to try to get Kevin to not go after them again- too risky, too likely to be found out, etc. But she’d seen the gears turning behind those pretty brown eyes, and knew he was coming up with a million plans that hopefully wouldn’t get tested.

But Gar didn’t need to know that. He already had enough to deal with without whatever issues it may or may not drum up to know that while he may hunt down threats with the intention of bringing them into custody, that wasn’t an option that had ever, or may ever, cross Kevin’s mind when it came to protecting his loved ones.

Really, nobody outside Kevin’s teams needed to know that.  What stood for a reputation for him was already iffy, and his relationships with the Titans didn’t need the blow.

Gwendolyn was going to be doing her best to hide this information from Rae for the rest of eternity.

In the here and now, though, Gar diverted his gaze from her, automatically reaching to scratch along Zed’s ridge when she began licking his hand with a concerned whine. Trying to hide the sigh he heaved, he made his way over and settled beside Gwendolyn on the couch, baskurr jumping up into the space between them and settling her head in his lap.

“I’m tired and sore,” he admitted, quietly, like it was the only way he could get the words out, and probably only because Zed was there. For all she was a born and raised hunter, they were all pretty sure she’d only found her calling once she’d gotten an owner in need of severe emotional support. (Gwendolyn and Rae had talked once about Kevin’s disaster of sleeping issues, wondering if maybe Zed could be trained to help with the ‘randomly collapsing’ side of things too, and she remembered that she would need to bring the topic up the next time the guys were both there and things weren’t So Much.)

“Okay,” she said, carefully patting a clear piece of shoulder as she stood up. “Stay there, cuddle your stepdog, I’ll get you some tea and something to eat.”

“You don’t have to-”

“Kevin would never forgive me if I didn’t.” That at least was true. Everything that had gone wrong in their relationship? Near instant forgiveness. Letting Gar go thirsty or hungry? He’d carve it into her gravestone. Come back from the dead to carve it into her gravestone, if need be. “Anything specific you want?” There was a long space before-

“There’s a tin by the sink and some egg salad in the fridge I need to finish off.”

“Great.” For a while the apartment was quiet, Gar’s praising Zed just a whisper in the main space while Gwendolyn got food and drinks set up. Two egg salad sandwiches, a bowl of reptile pellets and leftover curry for Zed, and two mugs of tea. She recognized it as the same Erinaen blend Argit had gifted her once while she was still with Kevin. At no point had she tried it- essentially immediately regifting it to a guy Emily had intended to break up with- but she didn’t feel comfortable digging through their cabinets more than she had to. Plus, presumably if it was poison he wouldn’t be getting it for the guys.

“Thanks,” Gar said as she handed him a plate and mug, giving a more honest smile.

“You’re welcome.” She put Zed’s bowl on the floor before sitting down herself. As she was grabbing the remote, the baskurr gazed over the edge of the couch at her food, whined, but refused to leave her spot at Gar’s side. Really, she should’ve known by now. The bowl got replaced onto the coffee table, which Gar seemingly automatically pulled closer with his foot, and she went to town. Gwendolyn just chuckled. It was nice to know that some things just were and were good, even when things were going sideways. “Now, I know for a fact Kevin’s got the entirely of Too Cute available, does that work for you too or do you have some other ‘relax by any means’ show you’d rather watch?”