#no one’s really sure how Rio ever gets in the house despite not living there

[incorrect-agatha]

Rio: I’ve got an appetite for destruction.

Jen: If you cut out our cookies to spell “DESTRUCTION,” I’m kicking you out of the house.

Rio: *nibbles on a crudely-cut “R”-shaped cookie*

[rita-repulsa-ke]

Ritual of the Rose - Ch2

Agatha crossed her arms, but Rio could see her evaluating, calculating, deciding how she was going to get herself out of this one. She softened, ran her fingers through her hair in a way that, despite herself, caught Rio's attention, made her press her teeth into her bottom lip. "Come on," Agatha said, eyes downcast, pouting ever-so-slightly. "You don't really want to hurt me, do you?"

Fic Summary: Changes the events of the last episode. Instead, Agatha swears a vow and prepares to go on one final adventure with Death.

Part 3

I feel like I should say at this point that I know next to nothing about the mcu, so this fic will be taking only the events of Wandavision and Agatha All Along as canon and then just making things up.

Chapter 2 - Rio Bites

Death returned. She did not come on black wings or holding a scythe. She was neither robed nor skeletal. Between one breath and the next, she was simply there.

"Hi, baby," she said, sprawling in Agatha's yard, looking around with interest. "You know, I kind of like it? It's a little overgrown, little wild, clearly tended by someone who has no idea what they're doing, but that makes it feel so much more authentic. Like a real person lived here, though of course, that hasn't really been true for a while, has it, Detective?”

Agatha gave her a deeply unamused look, and she laughed, too sharp, too loud, not even particularly amused, and then twisted her head around at a wholly unnatural angle to meet Agatha's eyes with hers. "So what's the plan, Agatha? Where's the catch?" She reached out, started to prod Agatha's cheek and the other woman came to standing before she could make contact.

"No catch," Agatha said, not looking at her and that was so funny that all she could do was snicker.

"There's always a catch," she said, as she watched Agatha. She never stopped watching Agatha, except for a very unpleasant time when Agatha had used the Darkhold to hide from her. She had still looked, of course, looked and looked and looked. She would never give up on Agatha.

And eventually she had found her, in trouble as always, and freed her. Did she get any thanks for that?

Of course not. Agatha Harkness didn't know how to say thank you. It simply wasn't in her vocabulary. "Out of curiosity, how are you planning to wriggle your way out of this one?" Rio asked, coming to her feet without bothering with knees. She’d never quite gotten the hang of knees.

Agatha glanced back at her, head tilted slightly, a smile tugging at her lips like it wasn't sure whether it wanted to stay. "If you're so sure I'm going to wriggle out of it, why'd you agree?"

Rio closed the distance between them in less than a breath, her hand cupping Agatha's cheek. "Because I love you," she reminded the other woman. And then, because she did love Agatha, but there was only so much anyone could take, cruelty spanning centuries, she added, "I love you enough to gift you time."

The blast of purple magic that hit her in the chest was honestly nostalgic, and she skidded backwards without ever quite making contact with the ground. "I do like you more like this," she admitted. "I've missed your powers. It makes you feisty. So what did you tell the kid?"

"Oh you know," Agatha said, waving her hand through the air with lazy, dismissive contempt. "Sentimental stuff. Be good, don't do anything I wouldn't do, that sort of thing."

"Wow. That is not even a good lie. You aren't even trying," Rio said and she's surprised to find that she's a little annoyed about that, too, that Agatha didn’t feel the need to put in any effort in her lies.

"Why should I? You wouldn’t believe me regardless,” Agatha said, turning and strolling into the house. "Anyway, forget the kid. We've got a year to find and defeat one of the most powerful magic users alive so I can get my book back."

Rio followed, as she had for many years, Death always one step behind Agatha Harkness. "And then what? You run again?"

"The ritual doesn't work like that and you know it. It will kill me even if you can't. And then I'm all yours," Agatha said.

That was how it should work, on paper, in magical theory. There was no way Rio was trusting that. Agatha always lied. "So where's the catch?" she repeated, perching on the arm of Agatha's couch.

"Believe me or don't, but you agreed to it and your part is null and void if you don't help," Agatha snapped. "So can we get on with it, please?"

For a moment, nostalgia threatened to choke Rio. This was Agatha as she remembered her, impatient, demanding, moving from one objective to the other, always seeking power, always hungry for more. She found herself caught by it, leaning forward, and remembering one more of Agatha's endless series of manipulations, Agatha's bleeding fingers across her lip. "When I left you with the boy…"

"Hmm?" Agatha said, pretending innocence. Rio stared her down and she held up her fingers, trying and failing to look even slightly regretful. "Oh, the bleeding stopped. What a shame."

Rio's knife was instantly in her hand. "I could fix that."

Agatha's fingers crackled with power. "Try it," she crooned. "I'm not so vulnerable anymore."

Rio slipped to her feet, sauntered forward. "Do you really want to do this, Ags? Without the Darkhold, you know you can't beat me. We can play it out though, if you like. I owe you, after all. Maybe one cut for each year you disappeared on me?" She spun the knife in her hand, comfortable, familiar. She very much did want to hurt Agatha, to seek weregild in blood for all the suffering her beloved had inflicted on her over the centuries.

Agatha crossed her arms, but Rio could see her evaluating, calculating, deciding how she was going to get herself out of this one. She softened, ran her fingers through her hair in a way that, despite herself, caught Rio's attention, made her press her teeth into her bottom lip. "Come on," Agatha said, eyes downcast, pouting ever-so-slightly. "You don't really want to hurt me, do you?"

"No, Ags, I don't really want to hurt you. What I really want, you won't give me. Hurting you isn't a terrible consolation prize, though."

Agatha huffed, her arms going tighter around herself. She was afraid, a coward as always. She'd never liked anything that could touch her, get past her defenses.

And, more simply, she didn’t like pain.

Well, neither did Rio, but that hadn't stopped Agatha from wounding and scarring her for centuries.

"Can we maybe talk about it?" Agatha suggested, always her way out. Agatha's battlefield was words, endless words, all of them lies.

"What else is there to say, hmm? What different, exciting new ways of saying you hate me have you come up with this time?" she'd stopped in front of Agatha, and she could feel herself smiling, a big grin she noticed Agatha didn't seem to want to look at for too long.

Agatha hesitated, shrugged, then stepped forward, reached out and here was Agatha's most potent weapon, the way her fingers brushed through Rio's hair and her hand closed on the back of Rio's neck, tugging her closer. And of course, Rio could have used the knife here, with so little space between them, but Agatha's other arm had looped around her waist and she was so close, so alive, so warm, so much herself, that instead of stabbing the other woman, the sensible, sane decision, she found that she was nuzzling against Agatha's neck, trying to bury herself in this sensation before it went away again.

Agatha tilted her head back, moaned softly and that sound undid Death entirely, a soft whimper escaping from between teeth she seemed to be clenching. Agatha petted her soothingly—

And then yelped as Rio's teeth bit and twisted hard enough to draw blood. Rio ran her tongue over the wound, gathered her beloved's lifeblood, the familiar, intimate taste of Agatha in her mouth, copper and magic and relentless will, then pulled back to smile humorlessly up at Agatha. "There," she said. "Price paid."

Agatha glowered at her, hand clapped to her neck even though the wound had already healed. "Savage," she murmured and Rio burst into shrill hysterics.

"You. Should. Talk," she said, sprawling on Agatha's couch, tossing her knife from hand to hand. "So. The book."

Agatha nodded, pulling up a kitchen chair with magic, perhaps to remind herself that she could. "Wanda has it."

"The Scarlet Witch. Destroyer of worlds," Rio murmured. "So where is she?"

"I was hoping you would know," Agatha admitted.

"She's not actively destroying any worlds, I'm afraid. I don't keep track of most mortals, they generally come to me." She gave Agatha a smile. "Mostly just you."

Agatha faked gagging and that, too, was painfully familiar. "All right, so first step is we find her."

"Didn't she kick your ass last time?"

"Yes, but I didn't have Death on my side," Agatha said, favoring Rio with a smile of her own, a smile that hinted at a promise Rio knew she would never fulfill. "Still, even for both of us, she's going to be a lot to handle, especially with the Darkhold."

"So where's the kid figure in, Ags?"

Agatha didn't flinch, but it was there, a tightening of her jaw, a tug at the edge of her lips. "Insurance. If everything else fails, we can always trade the boy."

"Very you," Rio approved. "But you let him go. Why?"

Agatha considered, then got up and paced over to sit next to Rio. Rio felt herself go overly still, less certain how to handle Agatha in such close proximity, even more so as Agatha's hand settled on her knee, intimate and nostalgic. "Because, Rio, my darling, if you need someone to trust you at a critical juncture in the future, sometimes you have to pretend that you’re on their side."

Rio rolled her eyes, but it was a weak response, all of her attention fixed on that hand and that word, darling, rolling off Agatha’s lying tongue. She knew exactly what Agatha was doing. It still worked every time. "Nothing to do with the fact that you're attached?"

Agatha snorted loudly. "Me? To that boy? No. He's useful, though. The son of the Scarlet Witch."

"Still an abomination," Rio said, and thought, I bet you want me to forget that. I bet you want me to forget that there's another one. I haven't.

But I don't need to play my whole hand at once either.

"Sure, sure, but can we deal with what's more important here first?"

"Your plan?"

"That's right. My plan," Agatha said as she leaned too close, her smile wicked and crazed and so, so beautiful. Self-centered as always, Rio thought, unable to suppress the wave of affection that accompanied that thought.

With Agatha so close. Rio couldn't resist, she darted in to steal a kiss, then howled with humorless laughter as Agatha jerked away, her expression that of someone who'd turned the corner and made eye contact with a dead mouse. "You, you, you," Rio singsonged. "Who else would Agatha Harkness think of, other than herself?" She tossed her knife up, caught it too close to Agatha's face and wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad when it made the other woman scoot back, putting more space between them. "But you know, there isn't only one Darkhold."

"Of course I know that," Agatha said. "But the others are lost to—" she paused, realized where this must be going. "…Rio, you wouldn't lie to me, would you?"

"Not about this," Rio said, amused at the implication she'd ever been the one who lied. "I agreed to help, didn't I? Aid given freely."

"…You never mentioned this before."

"I didn't know when we were together. After that, I had a vested interest in not giving you powerful artifacts filled with dark magic. …Also, it is rumored to drive people mad."

"Weak people," Agatha said instantly. "Sheep. Do I look mad to you?"

Rio didn't try to stop herself from laughing. "Nooo comment."

Agatha fixed her with a long-suffering look. "Yes, yes, you're very funny."

"You know you love it," she said and Agatha did the fake-gagging thing again, which only made her giggle. "You already used that one twice," she pointed out and Agatha—

It wasn't fair of Agatha to smile like she meant it, a reluctant tug of her lips into a very pretty shape. "Oooops. I'll have to vary it up. Wouldn't want you to get bored with my disgusted reactions."

For a moment, their eyes met and no time had passed at all.

I love you, Agatha Harkness, Rio thought. And I know you still love me.

Then Agatha's lip curled in a sneer and she looked away, settling with her head on her hand on the far end of the couch. "Another copy of the Darkhold? Really?"

"Really. If you don't want to tangle with the Scarlet Witch."

"I'm not scared, you know," Agatha clarified, suspiciously like someone who was scared. "But she's not going to be easy. So, if there's an easier way—"

"Of course. You're the bravest person I know," Rio said, sprawling across the couch toward Agatha, fully expecting Agatha to run, because Agatha always ran.

Then, somehow, her head was in Agatha's lap.

She stared up and Agatha glanced down, gave her a twisted grin and a shrug, then looked away again, still brooding. "Tell me about it. The other one."

Right. Words. Rio knew how to do words. "The usual. Cursed cave in a treacherous mountain protected by ancient guardian spirits from some long-dead order."

Agatha's glance at her this time was brimming with disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me," she said. "Come on, really?"

Rio shrugged. "I don't make the rules."

"Seems too easy."

"How'd you get it the first time?" she asked and was surprised when Agatha went too still. There was a story here, one she didn't know.

From the way the other woman’s pulse flicked in her throat, one Agatha didn't want to discuss. More and more interesting.

"Something very similar," Agatha said, a little too fast. "Ancient crypt, all these terrible magic traps…"

"Riiiight," Rio said, doubtful, but not inclined to push yet, because—

Well, because her head was in Agatha's lap.

"Anyway, doesn't matter now. You're sure it's there?"

"No," Rio admitted. "But several people told me it was, after they died trying to reach it. …This will be dangerous, you know."

Agatha's fingers carded through her hair and she couldn't stop herself from exhaling, eyes falling shut. "You'll help keep me safe, won't you?"

Manipulative monster, Rio thought, with something akin to pride. "Mm, I have to. But I can't say I'll be devastated if anything happens to you." Her eyes flicked open and she smiled humorlessly. "After all, I get my prize either way."

Agatha stared down at her, then tugged her hand out of Rio's hair and wiped it perfunctorily on the side of the couch before standing up, spilling Rio off her.

"Oooh, touchy," Rio said, giggling from her new spot on the floor.

“You wish,” Agatha snapped. “Fine, we have a year. We’ll try it your way first.”

“Our last big adventure.”

Agatha gave her a crooked, vicious smile that would have made anyone doubt the other woman’s sanity. “Don’t say it like that,” she said, pretending to sulk, but the tone too obviously mocking. “You might get what you want yet.”

Rio came to her feet, too close. “What I want, Agatha, is you dead.” Almost as much as she wanted Agatha's fingers back in her hair.

“And what happens after that?” Agatha asked, a question she'd asked a hundred times.

Rio answered the same way she'd always answered. "Come and see."

"Not yet," Agatha said, dismissive. "I'm not done yet. Now, tell me where this cave is."

If you'd like to read more stuff I've written for Agatha All Along, I'm just going to link to the tag on my blog, there's a bunch at this point.

[itsmebytch001]

Sunday Afternoon...

Aaron could see the defeated look in your eyes as Diana turned the corner by the Deli to drop you back off, you looked tired, your hair ruffed up and your red puffy eyes were enough, and it caused him so much grife knowing that what ever happened over the past two days he had allowed, sure it was technically out of his hands, the courts had given him an order to lend you to your Mom Friday through too Sunday and he wasn't egotistical enough to think he could simply go against it but oh how he wanted too...

Sometimes when you were all alone at Diana's with no way to contact him if anything went wrong he would sit alone in the living room once the house had been cleaned into oblivion and think about what he could be doing with you, take you to the Zoo, take you to get your hair done, help you with your homework over the whole weekend instead of having to cram every Monday morning, but instead he would have to take you from school, back home for a bit to pack your bag, make sure you ate something good and then take the dreaded walk to the Deli down on 11th street and simply let you go, reminding you he loved you before he waved you off, being pushed to do so by a unforeseen force.

Diana wordlessly drops you again by the entrance and leaves immediately, Aaron crouched to your level and saw how sunken your eyes were, and that you were holding a Bratz still in its packaging.

Must have been a rough one, he thought.

Aaron: "Come one Baby lets go"

He takes your hand and begins to walk the street with you loosely holding his hand, he takes the Bratz doll from you and hold's it in his other, your silent the whole way home starring out into the distance.

And once you did get home Aaron watched you dump your bag onto the floor and enter your room, flop onto your bed and almost instantly fall asleep. He watches you for several minutes to ensure your really asleep before sitting back on the couch tensely holding The Bratz Doll in one hand.

He wanted to throw it out the damm window.

And it was to him was Diana's way of remotely silencing you with expensive items, all the doll's she brought you were never played with, they were simply shuttled away under the bed still in packaging, there were now including this one 14 doll's just sitting there collecting dust, and this was to be added to the collection. Sure you didn't have any visible marks but it was rare she actually hit you, it was mostly the screaming, the hysterical crying and laughing, yelling again and again the same Arabic phrase at you expecting you to understand despite never having had tried to speak or teach you it and it was killing your childhood, having to deal with a mad woman every weekend. And it wasn't like you ever told him about any of these things, you only ever told Auntie Rio, or 'Tita' he wasn't sure if it was because she was a woman, or that she was more motherly but she was the only family member who could bribe you into informing her what had went down, so he as he did many Sunday afternoon's called her...

Calling Rio Morales...

Ring

Rio: "Hello?"

Aaron: "Hey Rio, uh...I know It's Sunday and it's late but...is there any chance you can come talk to Y/n?"

Rio: "Aaron...It's 17:45, I can't just up and go at this time"

Aaron: "There's a doll, she came back with another I just want to make sure she don't have any marks on her"

There was a long exhale on the other side of the phone

Rio: "I can't come this weekend, I'm with my family right now, but I'll come see her Monday M'kay?"

Aaron: "Yeah okay" He huffed

Call ended.

He looked back at you sprawled across your bed still in your winter clothes clicked off his phone, and he too retired to his room and collapsed onto his bed.

It was later in the night Aaron could hear the faint sound of the TV playing, and muttering. He emerged from his bed and peered round the corner to see you sitting, still in your day clothes watching something with the volume so low, while aligning a row of dolls to watch along with you.

Aaron: "Y/n?"

Y/n: "Oh, hi"

Aaron: "What are you doing up so late? You got school tmorrow"

Y/n: "I know..." You look over to the new Bratz doll stuffed away in thee corner.

Aaron: "You wanna talk about it?" He sat down next to you while the TV continued to play.

Y/n: "Nothing happened"

Aaron almost rolled his eyes at such a statement, something had happened you just wanted to silently strop out it.

Aaron: "...Did she hit you?"

Y/n: "Nothing happened"

Aaron: "Did Phil hit you?"

Y/n: "Nothing happened"

Aaron: "She break something of yours?" He's getting warm he can feel it.

Y/n: "NOTHING HAPPENED!" You yelled before stomping off back towards your room.

Aaron: "Ay, Don't yell at me!" He stood and watched you toddle off back to your room.

Aaron: "You better come sit yourself back on this sofa!" You slam the door in his face.

Aaron: "Oh OH you wanna do this now!? Your 9 years old already slamming doors in my face?!" Striding across the hall he forced opened the door with ease to find you sat on your bed.

Aaron: "Acting like a damm teenager, come on" He grabbed your arm and pulled you out and back into the living room while you dropped your weight dragging you across the floor boards.

Aaron: "Use your legs dammit" he continued to drag you across the floor before pulling you up onto the sofa and sitting you next to him, while still holding your forearm to avoid you making a run for it.

Aaron: "you just walk off mid conversation and slam a door in my face?, and-" You tried again to push him off your arm and pull away in order to return to your room. Aaron: "Sit you ass back down" He shoved you back into soft leather.

Aaron: "The hell is going with you?"

...

Aaron: "I asked you a question Y/n answer me" He said sternly.

He looked around the room as in looking for someone, then back at you.

Aaron: "Are you serious right now? You wanna slam a door in my face then go mute on me?"

...

Aaron:" Fine then, we just gonna sit here in silence until you say something" Was this petty? yes.

And so both you and your Dad sat in a horrible echo of silence for maybe 5 minutes while he iced you out in his own stare while tapping on the sofa.

Y/n: "I'm sorry" You whisper.

Aaron: "What was that?"

Y/n: "I'm sorry"

Aaron: "Umhum, so you gonna tell me why you slammed that door in my face?"

Y/n: "Because I was upset at you"

Aaron: "Yeah yeah I know that, but why you acting up so damm much all of a sudden?"

Y/n: "...I don't know"

Aaron: "Is it maybe something to do with your Mom?"

Y/n: "...no"

Aaron: "was it her boyfriend?"

....

Aaron: "So it was the boyfriend huh? Did he hit you? Cuz if he did I told Diana I would drag her ass back to court an-"

Y/n: "He didn't hit me, he just...got really loud"

Aaron: "What do you mean loud?"

Y/n: "I-I" He saw you looking over again at the Bratz doll.

Aaron: "Don't look at that, look at me" He turned your head to face him.

Aaron: "What do you mean loud?"

Y/n: "He...I was talking too much and he was mad so he got in my face and was yelling and pushing me a bit putting his finger in my face and when I got mad he sent me into my room and left me there"

Aaron: "What do you mean 'left you there'?"

Y/n: "The door was locked and I was left there for most of Saturday"

Aaron: "When did they let you out?"

Y/n: "Phil eventually let me out once I banged on the door for awhile and told him I needed to pee"

Aaron crossed his face with his hands, it upset him how casually you took it that you had been trapped for hours in a room all alone and that he, if he hadn't forced it out of you would have never known.

Aaron: "Dose Diana know?"

Y/n: "Yeah she knew, she was there"

He exhaled massively, lightly pulling you closer to him into a loose hug.

Aaron: "I'm sorry that I dragged you"

Y/n: "m'kay"

Aaron: "If you like, you don't gotta go to school tmorrow, we could just stay for Monday"

Y/n: "Do I still have to do my homework?"

Aaron giggled.

Aaron: "Yeah baby you still gotta keep up with homework but we won't have rush it like we always do"

Y/n: "M'kay"

Aaron: "Now lets get you to sleep now yeah?"

Y/n: "Yeah..."

Aaron pick you and hoists you into the hair carries you into your bedroom and plops you into your bed and pulls the blanket over your chest.

Aaron: "Don't let me catch you up again, yeah?"

Y/n: "M'kay, Night Pa"

Aaron: "Goodnight Y/n"

He softly closes the door and again stumbles back into his bedroom to finally sleep.

SEND ME REQUETS PLEASE IT FEEDS ME

[talesfromlissom]

A-z sfw for lucio! please ! there is such little content for him!

you're right about Lucio having not alot of content. He's on of my favorite healers, despite the fact that I cannot play him for the life of me without being a heal bot lol

A (Affection) - How affectionate are they? How affectionate are you? When do you guys show affection mainly? He’s extremely affectionate. His hands are all over you whenever they can be. Hugs and soft kisses on your cheeks and forehead are a norm, and something to be expected every time you two see each other. You on the other hand tend to keep your PDA on the downlow. Your affection is mainly reserved for private times. You’re a member of Overwatch, and although he worked with Overwatch once, he’s still technically regarded as a civilian.

B (Breakups) - If they were to break up with you how would they do it? What would their reasons be? He’d probably break up with you by flat out telling you. However, if you did something drastic like cheat on him, he’d write a song about it. Lucio doesn’t like to think about breaking up with you, but his reasons would probably be because you two don’t see eachother often, or because you’re keeping too many secrets from him. You on the other hand, wouldn’t dream of breaking up with Lucio. Although if you had too, you’d probably do it because he’d be safer if you two weren’t together.

C (Cooking) - Who does the cooking? Who's the worst cook? Surprisingly, Lucio does the most cooking. His apartment isn’t very big, unlike most people who think he owns a big one. He actually has a few friends who made it seem like he lives in a mansion, but in reality he lives in a small apartment in Rio that he enjoys very much. You’re the worst cook. You’ve burnt noodles, caught the kitchen on fire more than once. Lucio has refused to let you into the kitchen unless your taste testing.

D (Driver) - Who's the best driver? The getaway driver? You’re the best driver, Lucio didn’t own a car when he was younger. You’re also the getaway driver because of various reasons.

E (Encounter) - How did you two first meet? You two first met when Lucio called for Overwatch during an Null Sector attack. You didn’t travel with the original team, but you had told Winston that you’d meet up with them. You stayed behind on the ship when the ramp was destroyed. Using your teleportation abilities, you and Lucio got out safely.

F (First Kiss) - When was their first kiss? What was it like? Where was it? Surprisingly, you guys didn’t have the usual ‘first kiss’ and then started dating. It was backwards. But it was a date you two went on.

G (Giggle) - How do they laugh? How do you laugh? How do you make eachother laugh? Lucio’s laugh tends to be very loud and genuine. He laughs at alot of things. There was one instance that includes chocolate cake batter and whenever he sees a chocolate cake, or chocolate in general he loses it.

H (Hobbies) - What kind of hobbies do you two do together? You two like music. Lucio makes music, and as you used to be a music teacher, you listen to his tracks and help him improve them. Otherwise, the two of you enjoy going out and playing soccer with the local kids.

I (I Love You) - How often do they say 'ILY'? When was the first time they said it? You two say you love each other quite often. It’s more along the lines of saying ‘I love you’ between playful kisses. But the more genuine ones are said behind closed doors. The first time he said it was when you two went on a mission and had to lay low in a motel room. The lights flickering above you, with you bleeding out before him. He was certain you wouldn’t survive as his tech had stopped working about an hour ago. He said it in a spur of the moment, afraid of you dying.

J (Jokester) - Do you pull pranks on each other? How many inside jokes do you two have? How playful is your relationship? You two pull pranks on eachother pretty often. But they’re not really ‘pranks’ its more like, ‘ha ha. You know how I said I was going to the store to get fruit? Well jokes on you I got fruit, and your favorite ice cream. #epicprank’. You two have alot of inside jokes, as your relationship tends to be pretty playful. Most of them last for a month or two before they aren’t that funny anymore. Minus the chocolate cake joke, that will probably last until you’re old.

K (Kiss) - How do you two kiss? It varies, some are short. Others are breathy.

L (Little Ones) - How are they around children? Do they want children? How many? Names? Lucio is great around children, young or old. He isn’t sure if he wants kids; however, he already gets stressed with how much publicity he gets from being a DJ, and how difficult it is for him to see you without cameras in his face. If he were to have children, he’d probably have 2. As for names he doesn’t care.

M (Mornings) - How are they in the morning? He’s almost like a lazy cat. You can tell he’s awake because he turns to place his forehead against your chest, or your own. This little fiend refuses to wake up by himself, so he will poke you until you wake up.

N (Nights) How are they at night? He absolutely crashes at night. He steals all the blankets, your shirts, and hoodies are convinstated, even if you’re wearing them he somehow manages to convince you to take them off. He goes to bed earlier than you most of the time, as he prides himself with having a good sleeping schedule. He sprawls out like a cat in the sun until you move him around so you have at least some of the bed to sleep on.

O (Oh The Names) - Any nicknames? Pet names? You don’t have any nicknames for him other than ‘Lu’, but Lucio is the exact opposite. He has pet names that range from american ones like babe, and honey. Other times he uses xuxuzinho (sweet pumpkin), or coração (heart), which seem to stick the most.

Q (Query) How much do they remember about you? Is it the little things, like your favorite flavor of ice cream? Or is it big things like important holidays for you or dates? He remembers everything about you. Your favorite tea brand, types of music, ideal dates, etc. Everything. He has it written down somewhere, because he does tend to forget most of it due to his busy job and constantly on the go lifestyle.

R (Remember Me) - What's their favorite memory of you? His favorite memory is when he came home early and found you dancing in the house, vacuuming and pretending to sing to a song. It was one of his songs as well, and he started singing along and laughed when your faced flushed so red.

S (Strengths) - What's the strongest part of your relationship? The strongest part of your relationship is your dedication to eachother. It doesn’t matter where you two are, even if you end up breaking up with each other, you’d still have each other's back through thick and thin.

T (Tall) - How tall are they compared to you, or how short are they compared to you? God, Lucio is so much smaller than you, only at 5’’3, versus your whopping 6’’0. It’s great.

U (Unity) How do they feel about PDA? What is their main type of love language? What's yours? Lucio loves PDA. It makes him laugh when he makes people uncomfortable because of it. Lucio’s main type of love language would probably be words of affirmation, and quality time. Your’s is gift giving and acts of service.

V (Vanity) - How concerned are they about their looks? How concerned are they about yours? Lucio is only slightly concerned about his looks. He’s constantly in the eye of the public. He’s slightly concerned about yours as well, don’t take it as wrong, but he just wants you to look nice. Despite the fact that you look good in everything….and nothing.

W (Weaknesses) - What is the weakest point in your relationship? You being in Overwatch, and him being a civilian technically. As Overwatch is becoming larger and more involved in government similar to the way it was before, you cannot tell him everything about Overwatch. He gets angry at first, but understands, if Talon or other organizations find out about him knowing secrets about Overwatch, he could be in alot more danger than he’s ever known. Needless to say, that anger returns when he knows that he can handle himself and broke into an omnic ship and survives.

X (Xtra) - An extra headcanon. Lucio loves the piano. It’s much softer sounding than some of his more popular tracks that he is recognized for.

Y (Yucky) - What is the one thing they don't like about you? As stated before, he doesn’t like how secretive you can be when it comes to your job, and how you’re gone for a long time. Sometimes he can’t even contact you during that time.

Z (Zaney) - How do they act when they're drunk around you? The reckless drunk. Lucio is very smart and is able to come up with plans on the dot. The thing is, he often goes through this plan multiple times to make sure there’s no flaws in it. When he’s drunk however, that second step is completely skipped, so you end up with all these crazy shenanigans he tries to pull. Thankfully, he’s easy to convince not to do them.

[wickedmilo]

IT’S NOT NOTHING | MILO & ORION PART 2

PLACE: Orion’s house TIMING: 11:48 AM SUMMARY: Milo treats Orion to breakfast as an apology for not leaving before sunrise, and the two make the best of their day together WRITING PARTNER: @3starsquinn CONTENT WARNINGS: Mentions of addiction, drug abuse, drug manipulation, self harm, physical abuse, emotional abuse

There was a pain in Orion’s back as he slowly woke up. He stretched his arms, slowly realizing that he wasn’t on his bed at all. He paused for a moment, noting the smell of grease and noise from another part of the house. He finally poked a single eye open, taking in the view of his living room. Rio could vaguely recall dozing off the night before. He couldn’t remember the end of the movie either, must have been completely gone by then.  

Rio sat up on the couch, a lone piece of clothing acting as a makeshift blanket falling off of him. He grabbed the hoodie and picked it up, looking at the front and remembering that it was the same one that Milo had been wearing the night before. How had that ended up on him? Rio pulled himself off the couch and onto his feet, wrapping the hoodie around his waist and moving towards the noise in the kitchen. Though he knew exactly who was there, he hadn’t completely figured out why yet.  

Standing in the kitchen and working with the small amount of food that Rio actually had was Milo, no longer wearing the hoodie he had before and still here despite the daylight. “Morning.” Rio muttered, still trying to wake up and figure out what he had stuck around for. “I didn’t expect you to still be here.” 

Milo felt more than a little guilty about staying with Orion. Sitting beside him on the couch, slowly watching the sun rise through the small gap in the curtains, he had found himself on multiple occasions questioning whether he was doing the right thing. Sure, it felt wrong to leave Orion so vulnerable, especially without saying goodbye. But staying with him meant staying. If he didn’t leave before the sun came up then he quite literally couldn’t leave. Rio would be stuck with him for the entire day, and was that fair? Was he crossing a line? Ultimately, he had taken one look at his sleeping friend, and found himself unable to move. It felt good to be trusted, but so meaningful to watch over him while he rested. Realistically, he knew nothing bad was going to happen, but in a way he was repaying him for keeping him safe. Maybe they could keep each other safe. 

When the sun had fully risen, he finally, begrudgingly pushed himself to stand. The expression on Orion’s face was so genuinely peaceful, he was terrified of startling him, but he had things to do, things that would hopefully make up for the fact that he was essentially forcing his company. He was careful to be quiet, attempting to tap into his apparent ‘supernatural stealth’ as he cleaned up any evidence of their movie night. He wasn’t entirely sure how long it had taken him to complete the short list of chores, but when everything had been washed and put away, it only made sense to make a start on breakfast. Having never been much of a cook, he settled on scrambled eggs. One of the first things he had learned to make as a student. He had no idea whether Orion even liked eggs, but if they were in his kitchen it felt like a safe enough bet. He was so distracted by the task at hand, that he didn’t notice Orion had woken until he was standing in the doorway, commenting on his unexpected presence. Looking up, he offered his friend a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry… I couldn’t bring myself to leave, not while you were sleeping.” He admitted. “But I’m making you breakfast.” He added, lifting the pan a little to draw attention to the eggs cooking inside it. “Y’know… because now you have to deal with me for the day, and I know that wasn’t the plan.” 

“Don’t be sorry. I’m not mad about it.” Orion smiled. He couldn’t believe he had somehow slept through Milo moving about and starting breakfast. Beyond that, he couldn’t believe he had slept so long at all. Usually, he found himself tossing and turning all night, jumping awake at every small sound and lying in the dark trying to get back to sleep. Yet for some reason he had managed to get what felt like a full night’s sleep on the couch with another person making noises. His body had gotten so used to minimal sleep that the deeper sleep might actually be causing the grogginess that Rio was feeling. “It smells amazing. Thanks, you didn’t have to do that.” It certainly wasn’t what he had been expecting. 

The idea of more time not alone was a bigger benefit than Milo could possibly know. The fact that it was him was an added bonus. “Sounds good to me. I’m sure we can survive for the day.” Rio slid onto one of the stools and propped his elbows on the kitchen island, resting his chin on his knuckles, “So then, what’s the big plan for today? Movies? Games? I have a pool that hardly gets used. If you like swimming at all.” 

“You’re not?” Milo felt his heart warm at the sentiment, he only hoped Orion was being genuine, and not polite for the sake of protecting his feelings. He felt as though they might be past that, but that didn’t stop the small spark of doubt. It seemed to settle in the back of his mind, and he did what he could to ignore it. “How did you sleep?” He asked, turning his attention back to the food. “You looked so comfortable, I thought about waking you up but honestly, it would have been cruel.” He admitted, a quiet laugh escaping him. “I also thought about taking a selfie, but you’ll be pleased to know I refrained.” Shaking his head at his friend’s insistence, he did need to do this. If he didn’t then what was he offering? What was he doing to make his day more bearable than it would have been if he had left like he was supposed to? Rio had been expecting a quiet day alone, and his plans had been dashed. He wanted that to be okay. He wanted Rio to be okay. “I had a feeling you might skip breakfast if I didn’t make it for you.” He said, only half teasing. “So it’s like self-care, only Milo is forcing it on you… It’s Milo-care.” He grinned at his own ridiculous joke, pouring the eggs out onto a plate before setting them down in front of Orion on the counter. He was strangely proud of himself, it had been a long time since he had last tried to make eggs, and they had turned out surprisingly well.  

Finding a fork to hand over, he began the process of turning off appliances, and washing up the pan he had made use of, only glancing back up when Orion spoke again. “Are you sure?” He asked, raising his eyebrows. “I think we both have a habit of getting into trouble.” Possibly the understatement of the year, and far too romanticised considering the context of the ‘trouble’ they usually found themselves in. But it felt good to be light-hearted, he wasn’t about to put a downer on the conversation by reminding Rio he had shunned his life as a Hunter and turned Dani against him. In the same way he wasn’t about to remind himself he had quite literally died and was now doomed to spend his days as a vampire. His eyes shining as he was presented with a list of possible ways to spend their time, he was so grateful to hear it. Clearly Orion hadn’t felt obligated to say his company was welcome, clearly he really did want to spend time with him today. “Shit, I forgot about the pool.” He admitted. “Do you think your sugar daddy would mind a stranger swimming in his pool? I would hate to upset him, you know? What if he lowers your allowance?”  

“Of course not. You’re always welcome here.” Orion stated casually. To him, this was common knowledge. He was slightly surprised that Milo didn’t realize that by now. “Surprisingly well actually, considering I fell asleep on a couch.” He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised that he could fall asleep somewhere slightly uncomfortable. He practically lived at the Scribrary for months and nobody had slept on those mattresses since the eighties. “Wow. I appreciate the self control” Rio laughed attempting to motivate himself to get and and move towards the fridge to pour a drink. It wasn’t working so far. “You could have woken me up though. I would have just moved to the bedroom. No harm no foul.” He couldn’t guarantee he would have gotten back to sleep, but at least it would have taken some pressure off of Milo. Rio narrowed his eyes at Milo’s breakfast skipping comment and folded his fingers together, “As much as I appreciate the ‘Milo-care’, are you just saying that because you think I’m scrawny too? You know everyone in this town calls me that?” He pouted, sticking his bottom lip out and sighing heavily. Still, Rio couldn’t help but feel a little emotional at the idea that someone was cooking breakfast for him. It was something small and yet so thoughtful. “Thanks. Seriously.”  

Rio finally convinced himself to slide off the seat, pulling out a gallon of orange juice and pouring a cup for himself, raising the bottle towards Milo as an offering, “Not sure if you like… still drink this stuff?” He hadn’t thought about how little he actually knew about vampires. Though it wasn’t his specialty, he still felt like he should know more. For Milo’s sake if nothing else. “Yeah. Duh. This is way better than being alone all day.” Rio found found his seat again and wasted no time digging into the eggs. “These are delicious” Rio spoke mid mouthful, almost satisfied enough to overlook Milo’s continued comments about a sugar daddy Almost. “I hate you. You’re actually the worst you know?” Rio continued to giggle though, despite his words implying otherwise. “Someone might as well get some use out of it. I don’t really ever go swimming.” 

Milo smiled, really smiled, holding Orion’s gaze for maybe a second too long. “Not many people say that to me and mean it.” He admitted, his voice barely louder than a whisper. After leaving uni, he had developed a habit of couch surfing, anything to avoid going home to his parents. There had been an abundance of friends, or friends of friends, willing to lend him a place to crash. But he had never necessarily been close with these people. They had begrudgingly put up with him, usually because they shared a vice and it made things easier to have connections. Nobody had ever made him feel welcome. “Hm,” his smile growing when Rio mentioned being comfortable on the couch, he was glad going to so much effort not to wake him had been worth it, had genuinely meant something. “I wasn’t about to kick you out,” he said, remembering looking down at his expression, peaceful and soft, realising he couldn’t bring himself to be the one responsible for removing it. Laughing suddenly at the mention of being scrawny, he shook his head, his eyes shining. “No, you dork. I’m saying it because even though it’s like, in vastly different ways, I have a feeling we’re both as self destructive as each other. You basically never sleep, you know? And you’re literally always working, so I figured you skip meals for the convenience? Am I right?” Of course, there was a very big chance he wasn’t right, but until Orion corrected him he was determined to feign confidence. ‘I’m making you breakfast because you probably don’t eat much’ was far less lame than ‘I’m making you breakfast because I really give a shit about you and I want you to be okay.’  

Raising his eyebrows, he leaned back against the counter, observing him to try and see what the town supposedly saw. “They call you scrawny?” He asked. “Who does? I’ll fight them for you.” His expression faltering briefly as he was offered a glass of orange juice, he considered the question, unable to help himself. The popcorn had been passable the previous night, but that had been habit, a comforting action. He wasn’t thirsty for orange juice. Besides, orange juice was expensive, he wasn’t about to waste his friend’s stock for the sake of playing pretend. Not when Rio was already so accepting of his new situation. Shaking his head with a gentle smile, he hesitantly caught his eye. “I mean, i can… it’s just, nothing tastes the same. It’s not bad, I mean… it doesn’t taste bad. It’s more like my tastebuds have gone from a ten to like, maybe a three? Or a four?” He stumbled over his words, realising he had never talked about it before. He barely talked about any of it. Chewing on his bottom lip, he knew a blush would be creeping to his cheeks if his body still worked in that way, so he fell silent, watching quietly as Rio began to eat the eggs he had made.  

After a minute or two had passed, and he hadn’t dropped dead over his plate, he figured the meal could be considered a success. His standards weren’t exactly high considering his track record of abject failures. Apparently Rio agreed. “If I was really the worst, then you wouldn’t put up with me.” He pointed out, his heart warmed by the thought of Orion genuinely enjoying his company, genuinely enjoying their friendship. It meant so much that somebody was willing to forgive what he was, especially after losing Dani. “I don’t swim really, either. Far too much exercise when your lung capacity is thirty percent.” He teased. “Wait… was thirty percent? Past tense?” How did smoking affect his lungs now? Would his healing abilities somehow repel the tar that once used to coat them? “I’m down for swimming.”  

It was slightly concerning that Milo was that surprised over Orion saying something and meaning it. Or maybe it had less to do with that and more to do with being happy to spend time with him. Either way, it didn’t bode well for the typical friendships he must have. “I don’t like lying. Not if I can help it at least.” Rio attempted to chew his food completely before talking. He forgot when he wasn’t eating alone he needed to have manners. “We got all the hard truths out of the way already. I’m going to be honest with you about things.” Even if he hadn’t wanted to wake Rio up, Milo still had no obligation to stay. As Rio stabbed at the eggs on his plate he wondered what had made him stay. There had been no obligation to do so. “I wouldn’t say that I necessarily ‘skip’ meals” Rio hesitated, putting emphasis on the word as he tried to figure out exactly what he meant, “I just wouldn’t say I have the healthiest diet, y’know? Instead of having breakfast I eat a few snack cakes. Or I’ll skip dinner and run by a bakery and stuff my face with stuff. I don’t think it’s any better.” 

Rio laughed at this threat, “Pretty much the whole town. I don’t know that you’re ready to fight everyone.” The scrawny comments didn’t bother him much anymore, admittedly. He had gotten so used to them that it almost felt endearing now. It was almost odd, feeling noticed when he had spent so much of his life feeling nothing but invisible. When he finally was noticed, he wasn’t mad that it came from a place of worry instead of contempt. “It’s fine. I mean, they’re not wrong.” They just didn’t quite get that could Rio rip a door off of it’s hinges. “Hmm. That’s interesting. Does blood taste any different then?” Rio found himself curious. He had never had the chance to casually talk with a vampire before. Now seemed like the best time. “Like, does it still taste like iron and that just tastes good now? Or is it a different taste entirely?” 

“Oh please, I’ve spent my entire life putting up with people that were the worst,” Rio waved away his comment dismissively with a laugh, but quickly backtracked on that, “However, I’ll admit that I like you more than those people.” He knew Milo would understand that it had been a joke, but Rio felt the need to backtrack regardless. Mostly because he didn’t like the idea of his parents and Milo being compared in the same sentence, even sarcastically. “Well, I told you smoking was bad for you.” Rio shrugged, a smug smirk spread across his face. “I guess technically it can’t be that harmful anymore.” He finished off the eggs and hopped up, abandoning the plate in the sink. “Pool is this way. It’s all yours.” 

“Good to know.” Milo smiled at Rio, it was a casual response, one he knew wouldn’t carry too much weight, but his friend’s words were undeniably comforting to hear. “If I ever do dumb shit though, I will need you to lie about it and save me the embarrassment.” He added, unable to help himself. His smile fading as the conversation became serious again, he hummed quietly in response. Orion was right. What did they really have to hide from each other anymore? In a way, Dani had exposed them both, made them both vulnerable. And neither of them could take that back. He wasn’t sure either of them actually wanted to. It was nice, being so open. For the first time in a long time it felt as though he wasn’t trapped inside his own mind, wasn’t overthinking, or trying to correct himself after making a comment that was a little too close to the truth. “I’m not going to lie to you either, you know…” He said, feeling the cold weight of guilt beginning to settle on his chest. He was being honest, he wasn’t going to lie to Rio. But there was information he had yet to divulge, information he was terrified might push Orion away, or make him realise Dani was right about him being dangerous. There would be a time and a place for that particular admission, it could wait because it needed to. “Okay, well I wasn’t totally off-base.” He countered, when Rio began to insist he didn’t ‘technically’ skip meals. “Unhealthy habits are unhealthy habits.” He added, as though there was no longer any room to argue against him.  

Grinning at the sudden laugh, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Thank you for your faith in me, I could take this town with my eyes closed.” A blatant lie considering how easy he had apparently been to kill. And he still hadn’t really tested his new strength. He could barely even keep Dani away, he was only standing here now because she was continually interrupted in her various missions to kill him. “I don’t look at you and think scrawny, though.” He assured Orion, his smile growing as he prepared to follow up his statement. “Dork, maybe. Nerd, loser… not scrawny.” Glancing back up to catch his eye, surprised by the question, it didn’t take him long to lower his gaze again, almost embarrassed by the topic. “It doesn’t taste different…” He admitted, thinking on the sharp tang, the rich taste of iron as it filled his mouth. “Just better. Think of the best meal you ever fucking had, and times it by a thousand.” He hadn’t considered the fact that his sense of taste had changed specifically to complement blood as a food source. His tastebuds had shaped to it, bent to its will until it tasted better than any human food he could ever remember tasting. “You know, if we ever walk by an iron railing or something, I vow to lick it and test your theory.” He framed his words as a joke, he knew they were utterly ridiculous. But he was curious in the same way he felt sure Orion was. And where was the harm? It wasn’t as though germs, or toxic metal paint would be able to kill him these days, anyway.  

“I should hope so.” He feigned indignance, letting Rio see in his expression that he wasn’t genuinely offended. He understood it was meant as playful. Laughing too, he couldn’t help himself. It felt so strange to be talking about the non-damage he was now doing to his lungs. “Yeah, it wasn’t the thing that killed me though, was it? So I kind of feel like I win in some totally fucked up way. Look at me now, everyone who ever told me I was destined to OD on some bathroom floor in a stranger’s apartment.” He raised his arms in mock celebration, turning on the spot to acknowledge the non-existent crowd. “Killed by a vampire, nobody saw that one coming.” Lowering his arms again, it was the first time he could ever recall actually mentioning his death, at the very least the specifics of it. Rio didn’t know about the drugs, or the fact he had been attacked while he was barely conscious. He only knew the person who had turned him decided to abandon him, rather than stick around and help. Spinning to face his friend again, he was grateful for the sudden distraction. “Isn’t swimming on a full stomach supposed to be bad for you?” He asked, following Orion as he left the kitchen, forcing a smile back onto his face. “Does this count as a form of self-destruction?”  

Orion scoffed at the man, feigning offense that Milo would even consider that Rio would lie. “Sorry. This is a one way street now. You’ll only get the truth from me, embarrassing or not. Sucks for you, dude.” Rio pretending to frown and shrug away the sentence, “But not literally sucks. Sorry to burst your bubble.” It felt odd, making jokes about vampires. Wrong, almost. Considering he was closer to a slayer than a supernatural creature himself. But Milo knew he came from a good place. The place of someone who wanted to do good. “Unhealthy habits are unhealthy habits.” Rio repeated, nodding in agreement. His life was full of them. 

“I just told you I was going to be honest, and now you want me to lie to you?” Rio grinned. Of course they both knew Milo couldn’t take the whole town. Rio wasn’t convinced Milo could take a single slayer, at least not without some prepping beforehand. The right answer was just to laugh in agreement. Sarcasm wasn’t a lie if the truth was obvious, right? He was just getting ready to thank his friend for not thinking of him as scrawny until Milo kept talking. “Woooooow” Rio held the word out for long as possible for peak dramatic effect. “I was this close to thanking you. Glad I held out for a few seconds.” Rio pinched his pointer finger and thumb together and narrowed his eyes at Milo. He let it go though, instead choosing to think about his description of the taste of blood. It wasn’t something Rio thought he would be particularly interested in learning about. These days though, Rio was interested in learning about pretty much anything the supernatural could teach him. “Good to know. Please test that iron theory for me. I’m curious.” Rio tried to stay as casual as possible, hoping that Milo took it seriously instead of as a joke. 

Even heading towards the pool, Rio had time to pause and shoot a quick look of concern back at Milo. For how close the two had gotten, there was still a surprising amount that Rio didn’t know about the man. This comment about overdosing in a stranger’s apartment. It concerned Rio on a lot of levels. What business of his was it to comment on? So he didn’t. “Depends on who you ask, I guess.” He chose instead. A lot of this town would probably take a guess that a vampire would kill someone. Especially an easy target. Rio pushed the doors to room open, immediately hit with the smell of chlorine and humid air of the pool room. It was surrounded by windows, but all had shades that could be closed if desired. For the sake of Milo not getting boiled alive, he would keep them closed. “I think that’s just for cramps” Rio laughed, finding a spot next to the pool and sitting cross legged in front of it, “What are you going to do? Drown?” Rio laughed in spite of the morbid joke and then laid back fully, his back against the tiling so that he could drop an arm and run his finger along the edge of the water, “It’s all yours. Knock yourself out.” 

“Then I might just have to terminate our friendship.” Milo countered with exaggerated sincerity. “My reputation is already shaky, okay? I don’t need somebody like you telling everybody about the trouble I get myself into.” A sudden laugh escaping him, he could think of more than one way to make the joke less about vampires, and more about something suggestive, and potentially inappropriate, but after his teasing the previous night, and his very recent comment on sugar daddies, it felt like maybe he might be taking things a little too far. “I like being able to joke about it.” He admitted, deciding to be honest instead. “It makes it feel more… normal.” Another laugh escaping him when he realised Orion was pointedly not addressing his offense, he shook his head. “This is unbelievable, you know? You’re supposed to support me, tell me I can do anything… what about my confidence, Rio? What about my self-worth?” His grin only growing when he finally managed to elicit a reaction from his friend, it was made even funnier by the knowledge he had been about to thank him for his words. “Sorry, this is a one way street. It’s the truth only from me now.” He echoed the sentiment, eyes shining with mischief. “You think I won’t lick a railing? I mean it. I’ll lick a railing.” Honestly, he had probably done far worse when he was drunk, or high, or both. But Orion didn’t need to know about that. Hell, even he himself didn’t need to know about that. Some things were definitely best forgotten, lost to the familiar haze of inebriation.  

As they began to approach the pool, the smell of chlorine crept up on him. And by the time Orion threw open the doors the smell was almost eye wateringly strong. He knew from experience that prolonged exposure would lead to him forgetting about it, but that didn’t stop him from instinctively wrinkling his nose. “Yeah, I guess the context is important.” He admitted, entering the room with his friend. He didn’t want to consider how many people in his life knew of the supernatural world and had simply failed to mention it. Jeez, how many people had let him walk oblivious into danger? How many times had he come close to death before finally being chosen as a victim? Maybe it was inevitable. Maybe in a town like White Crest it was always going to happen. “Kind of depressing, huh?” Glancing back at Rio before finally allowing himself to take in the room, it was larger than he had been expecting. It made the thought of living in the building alone seem even more isolating somehow. So much space for just one person. Watching with a gentle smile as his friend moved to sit at the edge of the pool, he held back for a brief moment. “Hilarious.” He muttered, already kicking off his jeans. He had always struggled with his confidence, but somehow that had turned him into somebody who didn’t care. Instead of hiding his body, he was relaxed about who saw it. Instead of shying away from situations that may draw attention to him, he revelled in them. Because why did it matter? If the way he looked was average, at best, and if who he was could barely pass as a good time, then why did anything matter? This wasn’t a stranger, though. This wasn’t somebody he would never meet again, or somebody whose opinion lacked any value. This was Orion.  

Standing in his boxer briefs, he tugged at the long sleeves of his sweater, contemplating the marks that lay hidden beneath them. Not just the track marks, but the marks at the base of his throat too. The ones obscured from view by his collar. They would be made visible, and he wasn’t sure what was worse; Orion seeing the evidence of what he had done to himself, or Orion seeing the evidence of what had been done to him. Either way, not taking the sweater off felt incredibly awkward, it didn’t feel much like he had a choice. “I, uh-” He swallowed his sudden discomfort, unsure how best to raise the subject. Taking a deep, unnecessary breath, he forced himself to hold his friend’s gaze, moving to take a seat beside him at the edge of the pool. “I have some scars…” He admitted, his voice barely louder than a whisper. It almost echoed in the tiled room, reminding him he was alone with Orion. They were in a safe space. “I mean, scars people usually judge me for, and I know you wouldn’t- I know you aren’t like that but… you might not expect them, I don’t know.”  

“Wow. Who knew not lying would be the downfall of my friendships?” Orion questioned, a playful tone to his voice despite the very real implications. He had always walked a fine line, trying to befriend the supernatural while not exactly wanting to disclose his own questionable path. It had very nearly ruined his friendship with Ariana, which would have been a loss far greater than Rio could imagine. He was thankful that things hadn’t ended at that for the two. “I only agreed to not lie to you. Not for you.” Rio finally compromised. “Yeah, well nothing about any of this is normal. So I guess I’m glad we are at least able to joke about it.” 

It had only been a few seconds and yet Milo had somehow managed to turn Rio’s own words against him. Never before had he felt so betrayed by a vow to tell the truth. “I deserve better than this.” Rio stated simply, crossing his arms in defiance. “Lick a pole then. Won’t bother me at all.” In fact, it might actually make his day. 

Lying on the tile, Rio quickly glanced away once Milo began removing his pants. Suddenly, everything in the room became suddenly interesting, like counting dust particles in the air or intently listening to the sound of the water filter. It didn’t seem right to stare at Milo like this. After all, they were friends. It felt weird admiring any part of Milo when the two were getting so close. This wasn’t the same as just objectively noting that he was pretty when Rio used to walk into Towers and steal glances towards the counter as he flipped through comics. At the mention of scars, Rio immediately perked up. Pushing up onto his elbows, Rio met Milo’s eyes. He was absolutely sure to keep his eyes exactly there, focused on Milo’s face and nowhere else. “It wouldn’t bother me.” Rio breathed, suddenly aware of just how dry his mouth had become. How had one word changed his mood so drastically? His own arms began itching on instinct, and Rio found himself scratching at them through his hoodie sleeve. He wondered what the scars were from. How much of his skin they covered. He wasn’t hoping to compare. He wanted nothing more than to know that Milo’s scars were nothing like Rio’s. “Seriously. You’re good here. Swim away.” 

“Oh, so it’s about the technicalities?” Milo teased. “Then I might need to get that in writing. My lawyer can look it over for me.” Offering Rio a genuine smile, he knew his friend was right. Nothing about this was normal, which was why joking about it, turning their situations into something trivial, something light-hearted, made it feel so much easier to deal with. “I guess my whole life was kind of a joke anyway. Makes sense my death is also… you know, a joke.” A laugh escaping him when Rio insisted he deserved better, he shook his head. “Maybe having to put up with me is a punishment for something you did in a previous life.” He pointed out, grinning at the way Rio petulantly told him to go lick an iron pole. It was ridiculous that they were even discussing it, but it reminded him of the childhood arguments he used to get into with Dani. There was something so fun about the innocence, about leaning into the absurd nature of it all. “I will!” He insisted. “Just you wait.” He made a mental note so that he wouldn’t forget, although he found he didn’t need to apply his usual level of focus. For the most part, especially after staying the night, he was sober. Whatever he had taken to get him by was still ghosting his system, not affecting him in any way, but keeping him safe from a comedown. And he realised he almost, almost didn’t care. 

Watching with an amused sort of affection as Orion decided to lay back against the tile, he followed his gaze to the ceiling, wondering if there was anything interesting up there to look at. Apparently not. Feeling his shoulders drop as relief washed over him, he hadn’t been aware just how much tension he had been holding in his body while he waited for Rio to react. Of course Rio wouldn’t mind, he knew that. But it still felt strange. These weren’t random marks from falling off of a bike, or getting into some accident when he was a kid. These were intentional, and obvious. They could only ever have come from a single source. Before he could change his mind, or regret his decision, he pulled off his sweater, dropping it to the tile beside him. He wanted to feel comfortable, he wanted to be able to sit, and not care about how much of who he was ended up on display, but it was instinct to hide, if only to protect himself. So before Orion had any real chance to see his arms, he slid into the pool, allowing himself to sink to the very bottom of it. 

He hadn’t considered how strange it would be, settling underwater knowing he didn’t need to come up for breath. His descent felt slow, but he enjoyed it. The lack of sound, the lack of light. No scent to overwhelm him, or remind him of his heightened senses. Lazily pulling his knees to his chest, he glanced up towards the surface, seeing the lights from above, blurred, and inconsistent. Experimentally, he breathed out whatever air was currently trapped inside his lungs, watching as the bubbles escaped his body. There was no tension in his chest, no desperate urge to breathe in, no burning lack of oxygen. It struck him that he could stay where he was, sitting on the tile, surrounded by water, for the entire day and nothing would change. Absolutely nothing. But that wouldn’t be fair on Orion, who he realised was still sitting at the edge of the water. So he kicked off from the tile, needing to use more force than expected without any air in his lungs to keep him buoyant. When he finally broke the surface, he took a deep breath, pushing his hair back out of his eyes as he moved to hold onto the side of the pool. His arms tucked against his chest, safely below the water, he was very aware of the fact that he could do nothing to hide the scars on his neck. “Hey, are you not coming in?” He asked, gently prompting his friend to join him. “This was your idea.” 

“Yeah I’ll make sure to jot that down” Orion rolled his eyes towards Milo, “The least thing I need is to be legally bound to you. Who knows what trouble that would cause?” Though Rio didn’t love hearing Milo call his own life a joke, Rio couldn’t say much to refute it. He had referred to his own life as a joke multiple times himself, or some variance of the word. “Can’t really speak for my past lives, but I think you’re right.” His life before last year felt completely different than the twenty leading up to it, and Rio had plenty to make up for. Even if he had never taken a life, he had been too afraid to do anything about the ones who were. His family, the hunters they knew and the ones they didn’t had all been getting away with murder for Rio’s entire life while he just cowered in a corner and let them get away with it. It made him guilty by association. So maybe this was some sort of divine punishment, cursed to care so deeply about the very thing he was raised to hate. “Can’t wait” Rio spoke casually now, as if whether or not Milo licked a pole didn’t matter to him at all. He’d only feel slightly bad if Milo actually did it. 

Milo had his top off and was in the water before Rio ever saw any scars. It didn’t Rio, he wasn’t looking for them. In fact, the best choice right now would be to avoid looking at Milo at all. At least not for too long. He didn’t want his eyes lingering, not when Milo might think he was staring because of the scars. Milo stayed underwater for a long time, and Rio found himself glancing towards the blurred blob floating along the bottom of the pool in between the phone he was using to distract himself. But eventually, Milo came back up to the surface. And asked the exact question Rio was hoping to avoid. “I don’t really swim.” Rio shrugged from his position on the ground, still staring at his phone. “I just suggested that you swim. I never said anything about me.” Rio had never hated swimming, though he rarely had the chance to do it anymore. “Nobody wants to see under here. I’m super pale and…” He paused, just barely glancing over at Milo before darting back to his phone, “... and you’re not the only one with scars.” 

“I think I’d quite like our friendship to be legally binding.” Milo pretended to contemplate the idea. “But you know I wasn’t being serious…” It worried him that Orion was so ready to believe he deserved to be punished. “Right?” Of course he wasn’t being serious, referring to his company as some kind of curse, but he knew that wasn’t the part Rio had decided to focus on. Grinning at the deadpan response to his determination, he was more than willing to let the conversation move forward. If Rio didn’t want to talk about something then he would make that clear, and he would be incredibly selfish if he didn’t respect those boundaries. Especially when he was always offered the same courtesy by his friend. “I’ll be sure to take a selfie as proof.”  

Allowing the water to keep him afloat, using the tips of his fingers to grip the ledge of the pool, he looked up at Orion, unable to hide his curiosity. If he didn’t swim then why would he suggest the pool? The last thing he wanted was for him to feel left out, or as though he couldn’t be a part of the fun he was having. “I mean… this is true.” He admitted, thinking back over their morning together. Rio hadn’t specifically said anything about swimming himself. But that careful choice of words only made him more suspicious that there might be something more going on, something being left unsaid. “And I’m not?” He asked pointedly, raising his eyebrows at the mention of pale skin. “Besides, isn’t that like… insensitive to say in front of a vampire?” He was hoping to draw a laugh from his company, but Rio’s following comment had the smile fading from his face. “Oh…”  

So they both had scars. What kind of scars did Orion have? Surely not the same scars he carried himself? The admission could mean so many different things, all depending on the context, and he wasn’t entirely sure what to say. The last thing he wanted to do was pressure him, though he needed him to know he wouldn’t mind. In the same way Orion never made him feel judged, or scrutinised, or anything other than a person, he wanted to offer the same sense of security. “Like… Hunter scars?” He asked, noticing the way his friend was purposefully avoiding eye contact. “It’s okay…” His voice was quiet, and soft, as he attempted to comfort him. “We don’t need to talk about it… but you shouldn’t miss out on this, not because of something outside of your control, you know? It’s only me here.”  

Orion had gotten lost in his own train of thought that he didn’t consider Milo might take the statement seriously. “What? No, of course. I’m just distracted.” He waved the comment aside, quickly moving forward to dig himself out of the mental grave he had surrounded himself in. There was a time and place to worry about his past, right now didn’t seem like the best time. “Can’t wait for that picture to come through” Rio snickered, picturing the event in his head, trying to imagine the looks on people’s faces if they witnessed him do it.  

Orion couldn’t remember the last time he had swam around other people. The closest he had come was helping Skye into the ocean shortly before she left town. That hadn’t exactly been a normal situation, and Rio never once considered taking his jeans or hoodie off before helping lead her into the water. “I know. Because I don’t usually swim.” Rio nodded, knowing that he had said exactly what he had meant. He had invited a couple people over to swim in the pool, but never planned on swimming in it with him. Milo’s usual jokes fizzled out quickly and Rio felt bad almost immediately for ruining the mood. He had a bad habit of that. Still, despite how sure he had been, he found himself sitting up off the ground and actually considering the idea. 

“Um. Something like that.” What actual hunters considered hunter scars and what Rio would consider hunter scars would differ greatly. Rio’s definition was a bit more literal. They were reminders of the lineage Rio refused to align to. The footprints he wouldn’t follow. Rio hesitated for a moment longer before remembering that this was Milo. A friend that he could trust. “Just… you don’t have to apologize. Or say anything.” Rio warned last time before he pulled the hoodie over his head. Though the majority of his scars were hidden beneath his tshirt, his arms left little to the imagination. There were a few inches above the wrist before it started, but it rarely stopped after that. Bruised skin that had never quite returned to the right color because of intense trainings that Rio wouldn’t participate in. Long scars from old cuts and broken skin. Old burn marks leaving darkened shades of red and purple along that snaked up and under the sleeves of his shirt. Almost immediately, Rio found himself rubbing at the exposed space, unaccustomed to it being visible to others. Rio pulled his socks off and considered going further, but fell short. He was left in a tshirt and his track pants he had fallen asleep in the night before. The only people to have seen him completely shirtless since childhood were Winston and Ricky, and even that hadn’t been by choice. He trusted Milo, he just didn’t trust himself. “This is as good as it gets. So uh, guess I’ll get in.” The shirt and pants would dry eventually. He lowered himself onto ground and dunked his legs in first, immediately feeling off because of the track pants separating him from the water. But he kept lowering himself in, his now submerged clothes clinging against his skin. “This is awkward I know. Sorry.” 

The moment Rio insisted he was distracted, Milo realised he had been right. There was something more to this. Whether his friend was willing to elaborate, he wasn’t sure. But he didn’t mind being patient, not if that helped him to feel safe. A brief smile tugging at his lips, he was glad there was still space for humour, but as the conversation turned back to a less comfortable subject matter, a topic neither of them had ever really discussed, he fell silent, serious again as he listened. He was curious to know whether Orion didn’t swim because he chose not to, because he didn’t enjoy it. Or because he wanted to hide his body, to avoid the scars that were apparently marking his skin. His heart sank just a little at the confirmation of them being Hunter related. He didn’t know enough about being a Hunter to be able to guess where they might have originated from. But he did know how Orion felt about Hunting, and that was enough for him to understand they were tied to bad memories. His own scars, the track marks, they were self inflicted. As far as he was concerned they were remnants of a good time, a price he was more than willing to pay for a killer high, a brief stint of euphoria. But not everybody saw them that way, which was why he so often made an effort to hide them. The scar on his neck, however, the way he felt about that scar was far closer to what he imagined Orion must feel.  

Part of him wanted to assure Rio that he wasn’t going to apologise, he wasn’t that person. But he also didn’t want to sound false, or draw attention if it wasn’t necessary. So he watched as he carefully removed his hoodie, unsure whether he should look away. He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but definitely nothing quite as dramatic as what lay beneath his friend’s shirt. He wasn’t disgusted, or even horrified. He was morbidly fascinated. He didn’t know what he had survived, but it was incredibly clear to him that Rio was far stronger than anybody gave him credit for. “I…” He trailed off, remembering his decision to stay quiet. Instead of finishing his sentence, he pulled himself slightly to the left, allowing Rio to sink into the water, almost fully clothed. Catching his eye, he offered him a gentle smile, unable to put into words how much it meant that he was being trusted like this. Surely that gesture was more important than anything he had to say. “It’s not awkward....” He murmured. “I mean, only if we make it awkward, right?”  

Taking a deep breath to steel his nerve, even now he couldn’t understand why that worked when he didn’t need oxygen, he began to pull himself out of the pool, choosing to sit where Rio had been only moments before. “Wait,” he said, encouraging Rio to look at him before he could move too far from the edge. “I mean… it’s only fair.” Pushing his wet hair back away from his face, he carefully held his arms out in front of himself, displaying the track marks that looked dark, and angry in the blue light of the pool room. It felt strange, asking somebody to look at them after so long of keeping them hidden, especially after working to make sure Rio didn’t get a chance to see them. But he knew he was doing the right thing. It made sense, and if it would help his friend to feel more secure, then it would be worth the sacrifice, the vulnerability on his part. “I thought maybe with the whole vampire thing, they might just disappear, you know? But your old scars… they stay. And so does the one from...” He swallowed, a frown creasing his brow. It shouldn’t be this difficult to talk about, but it was. It made his chest feel tight with anxiety as the hazy memories of his death began to resurface. Reaching up with a shaky hand, he pressed his fingertips against the marks at the base of his throat. He knew from countless hours of staring at his phone screen that the scars were pale, and white. Barely visible if you didn’t know they were there. And he also knew, had discovered with a sickening jolt, that you could make out the individual teeth. See where his attacker had quite literally torn into his throat. “The others I did to myself, I just don’t like the way they make people see me. I’m not a junkie, Rio, I swear.” He insisted, needing his friend to believe him. “I just- I like drugs. People make that into something it’s not. But these…” He lowered his hand so that Rio would be able to see the bite, see the evidence of his death, the thing that had essentially made him what he was. “It makes me feel… violated.”   

The water felt different with all these clothes on. Even when alone, Orion usually swam with a shirt on, but swimsuits were light and thin, made for swimming. As soon as water soaked into these pants they got heavy and tried to weigh him down. Luckily for him, he wasn’t nearly as terrible of a swimmer as the Doctor seemed to think he was. He was half tempted to send her something as proof, if he took selfies fully clothed in a pool. He barely took selfies in regular situations. Still, Rio smiled back at Milo, kicking off and floating across the water, putting in the extra work to keep his legs from sinking. “Are you kidding? This is me we’re talking about. Making things awkward is kind of my specialty.” That wasn’t even a self dig, it was just a fact. He had a habit of nervously rambling and mixing up his words, or saying something too quickly. For someone who constantly second guessed and questioned every single thought in his head, his filter seemed to be pretty lackluster. “You may want to be nice, but you know I’m right. Just think about me trying to talk to you at the comic book shop at first.” 

The two were barely in the pool for long before Milo was already climbing out of it. Rio paused, legs fully sinking and putting him back in a standing position as he watched Milo adjust on the side of the pool. When he realized what the man was doing, Rio pushed through the water to get closer. He was playing fair game. Despite the implications of both, Rio enjoyed this game of i’ll show you mine if you show me yours. At least, until he saw the scars along his friend’s arm. They looked familiar, and Rio felt his stomach shifting as his random comments and signs fell into place. Still, Rio looked at them, only looking away when he was looking up to meet Milo’s eyes. “Unfortunately, no. Super healing doesn’t protect against everything.” If it had, Rio might be a little less inclined to swim with pants and a shirt on. He hated the way that Milo talked about what other people thought. “I don’t see you any differently.” Rio began, following up with “And I don’t think you’re a junkie.” He bit his lip. He wished he could end it there, but just like they had agreed earlier, Rio wanted to be honest. The truth was, this was concerning. “But it is dangerous. I’ve seen just how dangerous it can get.” It may not have been the only reason Rio was down a roommate, but it had been the final straw. “I just want you to be safe.” That’s all there was to it. Past those, Milo moved to his neck. Rio could see it immediately, the two imprints. A horrible reminder of what had been the end of Milo’s life as he had known it. Instinctively, Rio’s hand raised out of the water and towards Milo’s neck, but he cut himself off halfway up and curled his fingers, “Sorry.” Rio shook his head, unsure of what had possessed him to reach for it in the first place. “I wasn’t- I didn’t know the bite mark stayed. After you turned. I’m sorry.”  

Humming quietly in amusement, Milo thought back on the first few times Rio had ever spoken to him. He didn’t remember the conversation being awkward, but then that was never something he paid a whole lot of attention to. If he liked the person, if he enjoyed their company, it didn’t matter if they were stumbling over their words. “I’m not going to argue with you.” He insisted, offering his friend a grin. “But only because I literally don’t remember you being awkward, I mean- I remember thinking you were pretty cool. Obviously my dork radar wasn’t working back then.” It wasn’t lost on him that his arms were still very much on show, but he reminded himself the worst was over. He didn’t have anything to lose or to gain by trying to hide them at this point, so he should relax. He should make the effort to try and fall back into their usual banter. His smile fading as Orion caught his eye, making a comment on how healing abilities didn’t always protect from new scars, it was clear he was also bitter about that fact. “No shit.” He muttered, absentmindedly rubbing at the crook of his left arm. “That would have made it worth something, at least…” 

Falling silent when Rio insisted he didn’t see him differently for the marks, when he told him he didn’t think he was a junkie despite the evidence in front of him very strongly implying otherwise, it was everything he could do to stop tears from blurring his vision. He wasn’t sure anybody had just listened like that before. Nobody had ever taken his word for it. But before he could enjoy the feeling of being trusted, before he could get comfortable, Rio was dragging them both into painfully familiar territory. He set his jaw, defiantly holding his gaze at the mention of danger. “I’m fine.” He snapped, a sudden edge to his voice. “I can take care of myself, Rio. Apparently it’s not the drugs you need to look out for, it’s the vampires who want to get you high so they can drain you of your blood, and leave you for fucking dead.” Feeling guilty the moment he reached the end of his outburst, he closed his eyes, allowing a few beats of silence to pass before speaking again. Rio didn’t deserve his anger, he was the last person he should be taking things out on. The spark of irritation remained, burning quietly in his chest, but he forced it down, doing everything he could to dampen its strength. This wasn’t about Rio. “I’m sorry…” He mumbled, opening his eyes again, opting to glare down at his hands instead of face how unfair he had been. “I’m just tired of being told I’m putting myself in danger, especially now. Like, why should I care anymore, you know?”  

He chanced a glance upwards, hoping to prove to himself that he hadn’t upset Orion, and realised his friend was reaching towards the scar left behind by his killer. He flinched, unable to help himself. Considering he could barely recall the details of his attack, it managed to stay with him. That feeling of helplessness, of pushing back against a stranger as his life was quite literally drained from his body. Laughing quietly at himself, he shook his head, offering Orion a weak smile as he withdrew again, apologising for being so forward. “You don’t need to apologise.” He insisted, his voice quiet, and unsure. “It’s okay, I just… wasn’t expecting it. I mean, it feels like any other scar, I guess. It’s nothing special.” Chewing thoughtfully on his bottom lip, he thought back on everything he knew. Everything he had been told thus far. “Not always… I don’t think. I’m lucky like that.” Carefully lowering himself back into the water, he took Orion’s hand in his own, raising it so that he could press his friend's fingers to the base of his throat. If his heart wasn’t cold, and still, it would be pounding in his chest for so many reasons. Orion was the first person he was letting near his neck since he had woken up as a vampire, the first person he was trusting unconditionally, with every fibre of his being. “See?” He swallowed, trying to play off the action as casual, doing everything to hide how incredibly exposed he felt behind a nervous, and hesitant smile. “It’s just… It’s nothing, really.”  

It didn’t seem possible for someone to not notice how awkward Orion was on first impression. He didn’t grow up with the social cues or ease that his mother and sister had. But he did have the thoughtful or stoic nature of his father either. He had always had a sort of quiet indignation about him that made conversations short and concise, but not awkward. Rio had landed somewhere in the middle, too talkative to be stoic, too awkward to be charismatic. He had always been the type to stumble through a simple sentence and make up for it by accidentally over talking himself into embarrassment. “You didn’t notice I was awkward and you thought I was cool? There was definitely something wrong with you.” There was no way that Rio wasn’t awkward the first time he finally mustered the courage to have a conversation with Milo in the comic shop. The only explanation was that he had been too distracted to notice the social blunder that Rio was. “Yeah. Exhibit A.” Rio raised his arm as an example, “I’ve had hunter healing since I was a kid. It doesn’t fix everything.” He wasn’t sure if it made him feel more or less human. He wasn’t indestructible, but now he had countless reminders. 

Rio recoiled at Milo’s sudden tone shift. He jerked backward, not by much but just enough to be noticeable. He didn’t mean to do it, but it reminded him too much of his own mother’s affinity to switch from perfect suburban soccer mom persona she put on in public to the cruel, ruthless hunter that he knew. It wasn’t fair to compare Milo to her, Rio knew that. He recovered from the jerk reaction quickly, settling instead on a deep look of concern. “It’s really not my business. But being dead isn’t indestructible. There are drugs that-” Rio paused. How much did Milo know about the supernatural world? And how much more danger could he be in if he found out about those? “That worry me. I can’t help being worried.” 

“No. Seriously, I wasn’t thinking when I reached for it. I shouldn’t have done that.” The little space Rio had put between the two when he had flinched away was lost when Milo jumped back into the water. Rio felt his hand being grabbed before he looked down to see it being raised up to Milo’s neck. His neck was colder than expected, though Rio should have realized it before. Just another reminder that he had never met a vampire before him. He definitely hadn’t been this close to one. He hadn’t been this close to anyone besides Winston. It heart was exploding in his chest, and he was sure Milo could feel that through his fingertips, if he couldn’t already hear it. The tip of Rio’s fingers ran across the scar, barely a bump to show for it. Just the feint reminder of what was probably the worst night of his life. “It is though.” He stated simply, slowly pulling his hand away as he realized he had still been touching it. “If it’s something to you, it’s not nothing. No matter how small the scar, it can mean something big.”  

“Look, I’m not saying you weren’t awkward.” Milo clarified. “I’m just saying I was more focused on enjoying the conversation, you know?” There were definitely times it became more noticeable than others, he could still remember the first interaction following his colleagues making him aware of Orion’s crush. He had noticed it then, been endeared by it even. But it never jumped out at him, he had never seen Rio as somebody lacking in social skills. “Oh, for sure there was something wrong with me.” He teased. “Probably still is…” Bringing himself back down to Earth, pulling himself out of his memories, he allowed his attention to be drawn to Orion’s scars. It was the first time he was actively being asked to look at them, he could only hope that meant his own admission was making his friend feel more comfortable. “Do you think if I hurt myself now, it would leave a scar?” He asked curiously. He hadn’t actually tried, and intravenous drugs felt like a waste of money when he didn’t have a heartbeat to actually carry them.  

Noticing Rio’s sudden response to his shift in tone, he remained silent, not wanting to startle him again, but also not wanting to acknowledge his own defensive behaviour. For a brief moment he wondered whether the reaction was in any way related to the injuries he had sustained. He sincerely hoped not, despite the sinking feeling in his chest forcing him to admit that was incredibly likely to be the case. Pleased to hear Orion say it wasn’t his business to comment on, he opened his mouth to agree but promptly closed it again, narrowing his eyes as he processed what he was hearing. It sounded as though Rio had decided not to say what he truly wanted to, as though he might be backtracking, or intentionally withholding information. “Drugs that what?” He asked, his voice slow, and deliberate. He made it clear he didn’t believe the end of the sentence was the one he had been supplied with. “What were you going to say?”  

Still suspicious, but also worried about Orion, he begrudgingly allowed the conversation to move forward, aware of the hand still gently being held against his neck. “It’s okay to be curious, Rio…” He assured his friend. “Really, I don’t mind… this is as weird for me as it is for you.” Lingering tension aside, he would much rather talk about this with somebody he knew he could trust. They both had questions, and asking them together, finding answers for them together, was far more appealing than going through this alone. He could hear Orion’s heart, beating hard and fast inside his chest, and wondered whether he felt the same way. Was he nervous? Maybe scared of him? Or was it the intimacy of the moment that was causing his BPM to steadily rise? It is though. He glanced up at the ceiling, before staring pointedly at the wall behind Orion’s head. It was so much easier to be honest when he was avoiding eye contact. At least then he didn’t feel like he was putting himself on display, laying out his mistakes, and misdemeanours, ready to be judged for them. “I don’t know.” He murmured quietly, a frown creasing his brow. “Sometimes I want to forget it, just pretend it isn’t there… sometimes I feel like it’s important. But someone did this to me. They offered me a hit, took me to a room… and when I was high, when I couldn’t fight back, they killed me.” His voice was barely louder than a whisper, cracking with emotion as he struggled to hide his genuine fear. It almost felt as though the more he talked about this person, the greater the chance was of them walking suddenly into the room. He wanted to find them, he needed to find them. But he was also terrified by what they were capable of.  

Then again, wasn’t he capable of the very same? His first kill, his only kill, hadn’t been premeditated. It had horrified him, had made him feel entirely out of control. But he had been responsible. He had taken somebody’s life, torn out somebody’s throat. The thought made his stomach churn uncomfortably. Taking an unsteady breath, he blinked tears out of his eyes, shaking his head as though he could force himself to stay grounded. The only way he had been able to move past the guilt, and the shame, was by repressing the memory. By pretending it had all been some terrible dream. “Sorry,” he laughed at himself, bitterness lacing his tone as he hurried to brush away his tears. “I haven’t ever talked about it… not properly.” He wasn’t sure he wanted to continue, but he was in too deep now. He could finish the story, or he could tell it another time, and make himself suffer twice. “I woke up maybe thirty hours later, just... in some building, I don’t even know where. The person helping me… they said you’re not supposed to do that- turn someone, and leave them. But sometimes people do it for fun.” Finally removing Orion’s hand, he caught his eye, allowing him to see how badly affected he was by what had happened to him. “Someone did this to me, Rio. They left these scars on my neck, and I might never know why… their teeth are just- just permanently branded into my skin, and I have to live with that. I don’t know how I’m supposed to live with that.”  

There was an embarrassing amount of pride hearing that Milo enjoyed their conversations, even back then. Orion had enjoyed them too, though it had always been so trivial and happenstance that he never figured much of what they talked about stayed in Milo’s head once Rio left the store. It had been just a short time of reprieve from the reality of the world. “Well, thanks.” He didn’t know how else to reply. There didn’t seem like an appropriate reply. Milo had spoken very matter-of-factly. There was no way for Rio to refute it even if he wanted to. “There seems to be a little bit wrong with everybody, in my experience” Rio whispered, as if this was some well guarded secret. “If your healing is anything like mine, it depends on how bad the wound is. If it’s deep enough or lasts long enough it’ll scar regardless. I’ve had plenty of more surface injuries that completely disappeared. More than have stayed probably. I don’t think it helps if you keep getting injured in the same area.” Rio certainly wasn’t an expert on it. He remembered his dad talking about it once. Being a doctor and a hunter made him what Rio would consider the expert on hunter physiology. 

Rubbing at his temples, Rio wished he hadn’t said anything at all. This had been the only hiccup in what had otherwise been the closest to a perfect day Rio had had in a long time. “I’ve heard about other drugs. Supernatural ones that are very very dangerous.” That stomach sinking feeling was making Rio slightly nauseous, probably a combination of the smell of chlorine and the conversation he really did not want to be having. “My friend got really messed up on one. It wasn’t good.” Rio rubbed the tip of his finger against the small scar on his palm as a reminder. “I can’t have someone I care about go through that again.” 

Listening intently, the feeling of dread and empathy built as Milo explained the experience. Not wanting to interrupt, he instead nodded periodically as a sign that he was still following along. He found himself looking at Milo’s face now, only to find that it was the vampire’s turn to be avoiding eye contact. Funny how that worked out. “That’s horrible” Rio finally spoke quietly, still processing everything he had just heard. Rio thought about how cruel it was to take a life so quickly and casually. To take a life at all was bad enough. It must have been so confusing to wake up afterward, his entire world completely changed when he couldn’t even remember having died in the first place. “Thank you for telling me.” He added on, genuinely happy that he was the first person that Milo had told. “It’s not fair,” Rio agreed, “Your life was taken from you and that’s not fair. But you will live on. Metaphorically at least.” Rio laughed nervously this time, hoping that he sounded sincere in spite of the poor joke, “You’re strong and you don’t want to do the things that Dani accused you of. You’re a good person. And that’s why you’ll get through this.” 

“Hm, I guess that’s probably true.” Milo smiled, amused by Rio’s observation. Ignoring the discomfort that seemed to settle in his chest, the concern over the fact that his friend had so much information on the healing process, he pushed aside the question of how. If Rio wanted to tell him, then he would. And it may take some time to earn that level of trust. He needed to be content, to listen to what he was being told rather than wonder about what was carefully being hidden. “I think my parents would be fascinated by that…” He admitted, a frown creasing his brow as he thought about his mom and dad. “They’re doctors, you know? They live for this kind of medical shit.” Watching as Orion began to rub at his temples, it didn’t take a genius to realise he regretted raising the subject. But there could only be one possible reason for that. If he believed him when he said he wasn’t an addict, then why should he care? What could he possibly have to be so hesitant about? Feeling a surge of annoyance, he forced himself to remain calm. He didn’t want to snap again after his friend’s previous reaction to his attitude, but he had so much he needed to say, so much he needed to make Rio understand.  

“You think I’m so out of control that the second you tell me about a new type of drug I’m just going to go out and- I don’t know, fucking take my body weight or something?” He asked, fighting to soften the edge to his voice. If he got too angry then Orion might not let slip where he could find these drugs, or explain to him what their purpose was. There were supernatural drugs out there, substances he had yet to try, highs he had yet to experience. He could already feel a spark of excitement igniting within his chest. Why had nobody told him this before? “So... they’re recreational?” He attempted to frame his question as casual, as innocently curious, although he had a feeling that wasn’t going to fly. Would Orion have answered him if he hadn’t seen the track marks on his arms? He had no way of knowing, but the voice in the back of his mind, the one responsible for his doubt, and anxiety, was telling him yes. Telling him Orion wouldn’t feel the need to censor himself, or warn him of the danger, if he didn’t think he might have a drug problem. So much for not seeing him any differently. “I know what I’m doing, okay?” He attempted to assure him, leaving no room for him to argue. “It’s always under control.” Making a mental note to find out more when he was able to, it felt smart to drop the subject, if only to avoid arousing any suspicion. The last thing he wanted was for his friend to interfere if he found out he was trying to pick up.  

Not expecting Orion to sound so genuinely grateful for his honesty, he faltered in his frustration. Horrible felt like an understatement, but to even have his suffering acknowledged meant more than he could possibly know. Dani wouldn’t listen, Dani had no empathy for him, no will to understand what dying might have been like. And here was somebody telling him his trauma was valid, that it was okay to hurt, or to still feel confused by it. “Metaphorically.” He echoed, his smile growing as he finally caught his friend’s eye. Holding his gaze, he realised how right it felt, as though things were finally falling into place. They had crossed another impossible hurdle, become closer than they had been only minutes before. “I don’t know if I’m a good person.” He admitted. “But I don’t want to do those things, Rio. I don’t want to hurt people…” Taking a breath in an attempt to steady himself, he brushed away his tears, grateful that his dripping hair helped to disguise the tear tracks marking his cheeks. “Come on,” he gestured towards the centre of the pool, shrugging off the weight of the conversation. “Enough of the depressing stuff. Hey, I bet I can hold my breath for longer than you.”  

Orion vaguely remembered Milo telling him about his family while the two talked online. It had been a brief moment of recognition before he shoved the thought out of his head completely. He had been so excited to be talking with Milo again that he hadn’t let any pervasive thoughts about his family ruin the mood while he laid across his bed and texted back. “Oh yeah. My dad was too. They probably knew each other.” Rio suggested before adding in, “I mean, before he died.” It made it as casual as possible, dropping the knowledge in before trying to move on completely. 

“What?” was all Rio could ask at first, trying to figure out how the conversation had gone from bad to worse. “No.” He shook his head, ignoring the intruding thoughts warning him that he was ruining this. The good moments the two had managed to have were basically draining down the pool filter. “I didn’t say that. You know I don’t mean that.” Unless Milo did think that he meant that. That his words had somehow been warped and misshapen as some sort of accusation. It didn’t seem to matter that Rio’s concern came from a place of genuine concern. Realistic fear, even. “No. They’re not. She almost died. On more occasions than one. And I didn’t even know about it until she tried to impale me.” Not that he blamed her for it at all, but he certainly remembered how awful Skye had felt the next day. Milo’s insistence that everything was fine was only more concerning, but talking about it now was only going to make things worse. 

At least Milo seemed just as eager to change the subject. Perhaps it was for the best that the two stopped getting so deep for a minute. Neither of them seemed to have especially optimistic pasts. There wasn’t much space for them to dig without hitting something dark and depressing. “I don’t want you to hurt people either. So let’s prove her wrong.” He insisted, using it as the last words before Milo suggested a severely rigged game to break the tension. “Wow. Doesn’t exactly sound very fair.” Rio laughed, pushed away and swung his arms to pull himself away from Milo and create some space between the two. “Can’t imagine who’ll win this one” 

“Oh, shit, no way.” Milo wasn’t sure why it was such a surprising revelation. His parents had been close with Dani’s, after all. They probably still were, although they had no idea the Edwards had made it a family mission to rid the world of vampires. White Crest was a small town, everybody knew everybody. If Orion’s dad was a doctor then it only made sense he had crossed paths with Allison and Oliver Summers. Once or twice at the very least. “I guess that’s probably true… weird, huh?” He chose not to react to Orion mentioning his father’s death. He hadn’t been expecting it, exactly. But he didn’t talk about his parents, and it was something that hadn’t escaped his notice during the time they had known each other. He could only hope his passing hadn’t been complicated, or traumatic. But in the same way he secretly knew Rio’s scars had a terrible story, he suspected there might be far more to this than he was being told. It was very obvious Rio wanted to move on from the subject though, so he shelved the information for a possible later date.  

Listening to his friend as he began to insist his words were being taken in the wrong way, he wanted so badly to be angry. He was angry, but he was also determined not to let his attitude ruin this day. He had pushed so many people away by getting defensive, even an idiot could see the patterns in his behaviour, but Orion was the one person he wanted by his side. Swallowing his frustration, his longing to point out how ridiculous it was to tell him he was trustworthy and then lecture him on the danger of drugs, iiIt was something his parents would do, one of the many reasons he found them insufferable to live with. But Orion was different, just the fact that he was attempting to backtrack told him that much. It was definitely an issue, but an issue for another time. And he knew the faster he dropped the subject, the less likely Orion would be to try and hide new information from him, or watch him closely for any reckless decision making. “Sounds like she was tweaking to me.” He muttered, brushing off the mention of violence. It wouldn’t be the first time an addict lost their cool, but that didn’t mean their drug of choice couldn’t be considered recreational.  

Offering Rio a smile as he struggled to put the conversation behind him, he was grateful he apparently wasn’t the only one trying to do so. It had been a surprisingly deep discussion, and neither of them had been prepared for it. He was incredibly grateful for the understanding, for the support, for the fact that Orion had been so willing to listen. But he also wanted nothing more than to slip back into their light-hearted banter. “Yeah, let’s prove her wrong.” He agreed, his smile growing when his friend reacted to his suggestion. It was too easy to laugh, to let go of the awkwardness, and the tension that had come from allowing themselves to be so vulnerable. “Winner gets to pick the next movie.” He said, throwing himself into the water before Rio could respond. He couldn’t remember feeling this close to anybody other than Dani. And it felt good. It felt so good to have someone. As the water closed in around him, pressing in on him from all sides, he realised the warmth spreading outwards from his chest had nothing to do with the pool heaters, and everything to do with Orion Quinn. 

[letsbenditlikebennett]

Picnic Crashing || Ariana & Orion

TIMING: During the Sweet Dreams POTW PARTIES: @3starsquinn & @letsbenditlikebennett SUMMARY: A mopey Ariana and Orion have a picnic. It’s crashed, quite literally. 

There was a good chance that Ariana had packed entirely too much food in her picnic basket for just her and Rio to eat, but she was happy with the assortment. Plus, with all the baking Athena did and pies Kaden was sending on pretty much a weekly basis, she had a lot of treats to share. While she was still largely struggling with what her role was supposed to be and if her efforts to help were at all worth anything, she was looking forward to some quality time with Rio. There was no hiding that the Quinn twins were among her favorite people in town. More like family at this point, really, even if they were still figuring out their relationship to each other. She had a nice blanket laid out in the common and her picnic basket holding it down. When Rio approached, she put on the warmest grin she could manage and said, “Hey, I hope you’re hungry because I brought a ton of food.” She patted the spot on the blanket beside her and asked, “How’s everything been? I feel like it’s been forever.” 

 Backpack stuffed completely full, Orion made his way across the grass, making a beeline towards the figure off in the distance he assumed was Ariana. He hadn’t really done picnics before. He didn’t know what to bring. Plus, it wasn’t like he kept the kitchen full stocked with food. The kitchen in Skylar and Nic’s house was almost comically large compared to the amount of food that Rio kept stored in it’s cabinets. He was in way over his head in that giant house, but ironically it was cheaper living there then it would be to get a smaller place. Perks of whatever rich person had apparently bought it for them. Instead, he had stuffed his bag with some lunchmeat, bread and the most recent box of goodies he had gotten from Nate’s shop. Don’t forget to smile. He reminded himself as Ariana noticed him. He flicked his wrist into a wave and finished his trek to the blanket, “You know I’m always hungry.” He gave a thumbs up and slipped the backpack off. Lowering himself onto the blanket, Rio pulled his food from the bag and added it onto the blanket. “Oh you know, I live in a giant house with an indoor pool by myself now. That’s been pretty weird. But I guess I’m okay. How about you? And Athena?”

 There was a certain sense of ease that came with spending time with Rio. He was a good friend and she had zero doubts about that. It wasn’t just that though. Ariana found it easy to just be around him. No expectations, no putting on a brave face. She could wear her feelings plainly and sit in comfortable silence with her friend. Judgment would never come, at least not from Rio who had done plenty to show he’d always be a supportive figure in her life. Today, his smile seemed to mirror her own in the sense it was more of a ghost of a smile, there simply to indicate they were in fact glad to see each other even if everything else around them seemed to be going to hell. Even so, it was easy enough to laugh along with his statement. “You and me both,” she joked before her features softened a bit. She wasn’t quite sure what happened, but living alone didn’t sound great. “When you put it like that, it sounds like I need to come over for a pool day. But that does sound like it’d be weird. Did your roommate move out? Me? I’ve been okay. A little bit of internal wrestling since my attempts to help people seem to make things worse, but like, trying to remember this town is just kind of a shit show. And Athena seems to be doing better. I know losing Amanda was hard, but she’s been hearing back from med schools. Kinda… well, I guess a little nervous to see which one she chooses. I don’t want to like ask her to stay, but also don’t really want her to go so there’s that.” She realized she was rambling a little bit and took in a deep breath as she took out some of dumplings and soup she’d made as well as a thermos full of warm green tea.

 Orion was willing to admit that things had been a bit awkward since Athena and Ariana had started dating. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t erase the past memories of his sister from his mind. The things she used to say. The memory of their eighteenth birthday. Sometimes it was all too easy for Rio to replace the image of that werewolf in his mind with Ariana’s. But he did believe that Athena genuinely cared for Ariana. And despite weirdness, Rio couldn’t avoid Ariana. She was one of his closest friends, someone who he knew he could count on. And when the two hung out, things were just simple. He really enjoyed simple. “Please do. It’ll get better use if you do. I don’t really swim. But yeah she uh- left town recently.” No reason to get into the specifics of Skylar’s departure. He sighed listening to her, not pleased to hear that she hadn’t been having any easier of a time here in town. It never seemed like things would settle down. “I’m sorry. That sucks. Personally, I think you helping me has turned out super well, for the record. But I’m sorry to hear about whatever you are referring to.” Rio thought about medical school a lot too. He wasn’t convinced that Athena would ever leave White Crest. Her entire life was here, he wasn’t sure she would know what to do anywhere else. But a lot had changed since their parents had died. It was hard to tell exactly what was going through Athena’s mind anymore. “It’s hard to tell. Between you and me? I don’t think she’ll ever move out of this town. But I don’t exactly know her as well as I used to.” He lost focus of the conversation as she unpacked more food and he caught onto the smell, “Holy crap that smells so good. I’m so excited to eat.” 

 There was a big part of Ariana that still wanted to bridge the gap between Athena and Rio so they could all enjoy days out together like this, but the steps they were already taken, those were big. And they were enough. Maybe one day things would be easier, for now, she was just going to bask in the simplicity their time together brought. She took a sip of her green tea and slowly nodded as Rio spoke. Pool sounded fun, roommate moving out, not so much. Two times in a row at that had to be pretty rough. “I’m sorry, that she left. That’s gotta suck. I’ll come over soon then… and not just for the indoor pool.” She gave a small nudge with the last part of her sentence before she began nibbling on some of the food. It was a nice little reminder from Rio that not all her efforts to help were for not. Even if they were more in the way of friendship and not any of the crazy crap White Crest threw at them. “Yeah, maybe you’re right,” she agreed not wanting to contemplate it too much on a day where they were supposed to be enjoying themselves, “This town just… it’s hard. But you know that.” Being reassured that Athena wasn’t likely to leave helped a little though. The thought of saying goodbye had made her a bit nervous throughout her girlfriend’s interview process. She wanted the best for Athena, but she also wanted to be by her side. It’d be nice if those two things lined up. “I kind of hope that’s the case. I want her to live her dreams, I’d just… I’d miss her a lot.” She shrugged lightly not wanting to get too caught up in her worries when she heard a loud thud. Her head whipped up as she saw a bicycle colliding with a tree. “Holy shit,” she muttered, “That’s not what you…” She trailed off as she realized the young man wasn’t getting up. She jumped up from the ground instinctively and ran over to him. There wasn’t blood and he had a helmet on, but he was just… out? “Uh, Rio. I don’t think he’s,” she focused on his heartbeat, it was relaxed, “He’s alive but, I don’t know what’s wrong. We should call an ambulance right?” 

 “Nah. It’s okay.” Orion lied. He believed what he said. He was happy Skye left. This town had hurt her, in ways that are hard to recover from. He knew that she could do it. He also knew that to do so was probably a lot easier away from town. He at least loved the idea of Ariana hanging out at the house. The place was far too big for just him. But for as much as it made sense for Skye to leave, Rio couldn’t comprehend the idea of Athena ever leaving town. He expected her to live and die in this town. Just as his parents had. Then again, she never expected Athena to gut their mom either. So his sister had surprised him in more than one way. Still, it felt weird that so much had changed. Rio always thought he was the one desperate to get away. “You think you’ll ever leave?” It was a genuine question. Ariana hadn’t spent her entire life here. She had managed to find some charm in this terrifying town. He wondered how long it would last. Any chance at eating or discussing was distracted by the man crashing into the tree. He jumped up and followed behind her, rushing to his side to check on him. “If he’s breathing then what happened?” Rio questioned, still thankful that he was alive. “Right. Yeah. 911. Calling now. See if you can wake him up?” Rio suggested as he dialed and pulled the phone up to his ear.

 “I’m not too sure. I’d like to think she has reasons to want to stay here, but I don’t want to hold her back either,” Ariana answered honestly. Normally, she would flat out ask Athena, but with things at least being mostly calm, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. Thankfully, there wasn’t too much time to think on that with the bicycle collision. Both Ari and Rio were quick on their feet though hearing the heartbeat only did so much to calm her as Rio called 911. She nudged the young man and loudly said, “Hey, hey, bro-- wake up!” But he was out like a light. There wasn’t even the slightest flinch as she shook at his shoulders. No indication that he could even hear what they were saying or feel her touch. “Something… something doesn’t feel right here, Rio.” Outside of some scrapes from falling off the bike, he seemed to just be asleep. Was her on drugs or something? She began rummaging through his jacket pockets but only found a wallet. A wallet with nothing out of the ordinary about it. “His name is Leon Torres. Uhm…. born 1998? That’d make him 23? 22?” 

 Orion rambled quickly, a bad habit in general made even worse by the stress of talking to a 911 operator. “We uh- are at the park. And he ran into a tree and he’s not waking up and-” Luckily, the operator was much more level headed than he was and cut in to ask questions from time to time. “It doesn’t look like he’s too badly injured. I don’t see any excessive bleeding. He’s not waking up but he’s alive.” He hadn’t actually checked the man’s pulse officially, but he could hear the heartbeat. If he had to guess, that was one of the first things Ariana had checked for as well. “Okay. Okay. Thanks.” Rio hung up the phone and hugged it against his chest as he crossed his arms, “An ambulance is on their way. She uh- sounded pretty confused.” That made three of them. Clearly, Ariana was just as lost as Rio and the 911 operator had been. It didn’t exactly seem feasible that somebody fell asleep while reading a bike and now wouldn’t wake up. “Yeah uh- it’s pretty weird.” Rio hovered awkwardly above Ariana. He didn’t know how to help or if he was just getting in her way. “Yeah. Not exactly prime age for randomly going into a coma while on a bike ride.” He mused, glancing around the park looking to see if he saw anybody or anything around. This felt supernatural. “Could it be a spell? Some kind of drug or poison?”

 Ariana kept her focus on Leon’s heartbeat. It was slow and steady, but not so slow that she’d think he was dying. The rhythm was similar to that of a peaceful sleep. Normally, it was something she found calming, but given the more than perplexing circumstances, she found herself trying not to panic. Nothing about this seemed natural and that meant it was unlikely a human doctor could do much of anything for him. She could vaguely pick up on Rio’s rambling, something she normally found endearing now only furthering the sinking feeling in her stomach. “Good, they can at least monitor him. I don’t,” she trailed off and looked him over yet again. Outside of some bruises forming and minor scrapes from the crash, there was nothing indicative of injury on his body. No signs that pointed to anything in particular. No scent on him that could give them some sort of clue on what the hell was happening here. Rio was onto something with the idea of a spell or drug though. That seemed much more feasible than a 20-something year old just falling into a deep sleep while riding their bicycle. “It has to be. Why else would he just- We could look through your books or something? I don’t know a lot about magic or drug… or human health conditions.” She hated problems like this. If she had her way, all of her problems would be one she could throw fists or claws at and call it day. Unfortunately, life rarely worked like that and she felt frustration building up within her. She wanted to punch… something. Anything, really, but she breathed instead. First in shallow breaths until they evened out into something deeper and she could fight the urge to beat up a tree. “We’ll see what we can look into after the ambulance gets here. It has to be something.” 

 Orion hoped that the ambulance hurried. Despite the man seemingly being alive, this still wasn’t normal. Rio would feel a lot better once the man was in medical hands. Though if this was supernatural then maybe they wouldn’t be able to help him either. Still, it had to be better than just standing over the man’s unconscious body with no idea what to do. Ariana was right, they would be more useful doing some research on this while he stayed under a hospital’s care. “Yeah. Good idea. Humans have some uh- weird medical things. But this seems especially weird.” Rio spoke as if he wasn’t a human himself. Most times, he didn’t really feel like he was. Rio glanced around the park. If this was some kind of spell, wouldn’t the caster have to be somewhere around here? Maybe proximity didn’t matter. His ears perked at the very faint sounds of sirens. “I think they’re on their way. Hopefully it shouldn't be too much longer.” And after they were gone, the two would probably have to pack everything up and head for the Scribe building. “So much for the picnic I guess, huh?”

 In any other situation, Ariana might have laughed at Rio referring to humans as if he wasn’t one himself. She was pretty sure hunters still considered themselves human in the same way spellcasters did. Not that it was something she’d ever thought to ask before now. “Kind of hope it’s one of the weird medical things as opposed to… well, you know. White Crest brand of weird things,” she said softly, still keeping a close ear out for his heartbeat that was still steadily trucking on. They were still going to do their research anyway, but medical seemed so much easier to fix though any sort of medical condition that essentially put an otherwise healthy appearing 22 year old into a dead sleep was alarming. As she started hearing the sirens in the distance, she felt a little more at ease. Monitoring a human to make sure they were alive was high key stressful and she’d much rather be reading a bunch of Rio’s old books… which was saying something considering she hated reading. “Yeah, picnic vibes are pretty dead now. We can snack and research? Keep it real, sleuthy,” she responded with an awkward laugh. The whole fun friend day thing was pretty much ruined. Not that she was sure it was ever really ago in the first place considering they both seemed to be bummed out about other things. As the ambulance approached, she waved to get their attention and did her best to explain what happened. They all seemed just as confused as she and Rio had been. That didn’t leave her with much hope it was in fact medical. “Yeah, he seemed to be just riding his bike normally then sort of just crashed into the tree and isn’t waking up. His pulse seems steady.” 

 It was almost pathetic that Orion and Ariana immediately went to something supernatural for the cause of the collapse. He realized with a wicked sense of irony that a regular medical mishap might actually be more surprising than something supernatural. If it didn’t feel so disrespectful standing over top of the man, Rio might have had to sarcastically laugh. That, or hysterically cry. For some reason, the line between the two always seemed alarmingly thin. “Snack and research sounds great.” Rio agreed, thankful that the food wasn’t going to completely go to waste. The ambulance arrived, either incredibly quickly or time flew by when they were stressed. Ariana took charge immediately, describing the situation Rio slipped away from the group to head back towards the picnic set up they had abandoned. He worked on packing up the area, glancing over from time to time to check on Ariana. The looks on the EMT’s faces were particularly comforting. He finished packing things up and made his way back over to Ariana as they began to load him into the ambulance. “I hope he’s okay” He wished he could offer more wisdom than that, but all he had was well wishes and motivation to try to find the answer to whatever caused this. “I got everything ready to go.”

After a quick rundown of what happened, the ambulance and Leon were off to the hospital. Ariana watched warily for a moment before she walked back over to Rio. The same reason that made this little Maine town perfect for someone like her made it dangerous for so many others, dangerous for herself even. It was hard not to feel a certain sense of disenchantment for a place she was once determined to make home, but all the same, she couldn’t imagine ever leaving. There were far too many people she cared for so that meant she had to do her part in making it better. She grabbed some of their stuff that Rio had packed up and said, “Thanks, I’ll drive. Hopefully we can find something.” It was a big thing to hope, but she wanted to help. Really help. Somehow, it didn’t help that the possibilities were truly endless, but at least they could try. And if anything, at least they wouldn’t be alone.

[enamoured-x]

so it goes

Summary: When Alex moves in across the hall, Rio knows he’s in trouble. A good girl like her would never want anything to do with him, or so he thinks.

Word count: 3.8k

Chapter 6

There were times in Alex’s life where she could hear her father's voice in her head as clear as day. Telling her she’d get nowhere with a degree in English and to choose something more practical like business or even law. She’d then hear him telling her that she was wasting her degree by trying to open up a flower shop. Telling her that it wasn’t ideal and giving her that speech about how by the fifth year, at least 50% of small businesses fail. Her father always used logic and reasoning, it was his main focal point. He wanted her to be stable and provide for herself and she knew that and she understood it. But she never understood why she couldn’t have both a job she loved and a job that provided all wrapped into one. She didn’t know what she wanted to use her English degree for, all she knew was that she had a passion for it so she went for it. She didn’t realize till after she graduated that her interests laid in being her own boss. 

It might have been silly to say but she had always been taken with flowers, her mom always took her to the botanical gardens and to sunflower farms when she was younger. She never really knew why her mom chose to take her little daughter to dally about in fields and parks of flowers but she loved it. It carried on as a tradition through the years to go to the farms when the flowers were in full bloom or go to the gardens on nice days. It was just something they always did. So when she saw a space available for rent and looked at the fresh flowers in her hand that she bought at the farmers market, the idea came to her. She knew nothing about how to run a business let alone a flower shop. She also didn’t know an insane amount about the upkeep of flowers and what being a florist entailed. All she knew was that she remembered the feeling she had when she was surrounded by a field of flowers with her mom. The different colors whirling around her as she’d twirl about and the ambrosial scent and fresh soil. When her mother passed, she’d live in that smell, in that vibrant world. It was a place that reminded her of her mother. A place where she felt whole. So when she opened up her shop, she felt like she was living there again. She was getting to do something that made her happy and that was all she needed. Her dad never understood it and he still didn’t. But she knew her mom would. All of it felt like an ode to her mother. Even the name. While her dad loved to use Alejandra, her mom would beckon her with a soft mi amor. Thus came the name, Flor Amor. 

It was days like today when she’d remember what her dad would say to her every time they spoke or saw each other. Alex had been bookkeeping, looking at her sales. Sure, she was doing phenomenal for her first year but Mother’s Day was the first time in a while save Valentine’s day where she had seen her sales rise. She wasn’t complaining, she was glad to at least be getting by with paying the girls and keeping up with stock. But days like this did get her down a bit. She loved the shop so much and she loved her regulars who’d come in for not only flowers but for conversation. She loved everything about the shop and what it gave her. And she hated, hated that she sometimes worried her father might have been right. 

“You went to college for what? Just to throw your money down the drain! Look, when you first told me you were going for english I hated the idea. It wasn’t practical enough, you weren’t… weren’t thinking. But I figured you know what? Maybe you could get a job teaching or an editorial job. But this? You’re going to sell flowers for a living?” Alex’s dad, Nicholas, shook his head. He was seething.

Alex had graduated college a few months ago and she was trying to find a job. She really was, but nothing was calling to her. Everything felt wrong and she didn’t know what to do. Her dad kept hounding her for it. Even though she had moved out and she still had her job as a receptionist at a local publishing company, he still seemed to be disappointed in her. He wanted her to use the degree she went to college for, he wanted her to do something more. When Alex told him her decision about opening up a flower shop, he laughed. And then he realized she was serious and he turned angry right away. 

“Why can’t you support me on this? I’ve thought long and hard about it and I know I can do it.” Alex was confident. Despite not knowing anything about being a business owner or about how to sell flowers, she was sure this was the direction she should go in. She was a little nervous about it but she was excited and it felt right. 

“You’re naive. You don’t know how to run a business and flowers of all things? You know how this makes me look?” Alex felt her heart restrict in her chest. Of course he would be embarrassed. Of course this was about him, not her. It always was with him. 

“How does this make you look, dad?”

“I’m a damn attorney, Alejandra! And my daughter wants to prance around flower fields like she’s still a little kid. I will not allow this. I looked the other way when you told me about your english degree but I can not look away this time.” He ran his hand down his face.

“I wasn’t asking for permission. I was letting you know.” The fact that he thought he could still control what she did angered Alex. She had gotten her own place when she started her first year of college and she had been there ever since. She provided for herself, had a job that paid her bills. She took loans out for school and got by on grants and scholarships. She was doing it all by herself for this exact reason. So that her dad couldn’t hold anything over her, so she could be free to do whatever she wanted. 

“I don’t know what has gotten into you but I am still your father and you will respect me—”

“I respect your opinion but I’m still doing this whether you’re on board with it or not.”

Nicholas wasn’t always like this. Calculated and all business? Sure, but Alex’s mother, Sofia, always mellowed him out. They complimented each other so well. Sofia was all soft touches and laughs while Nicholas was rough edges and cold stares. But they balanced each other out. She always brought out the best in him. Lightened him up and smoothed out those rigid edges. He became soft for her and when they had Alejandra, he was so in love with their baby girl. They were the perfect family. 

When Sofia died, Nicholas retreated back into himself. He wasn’t the father Alejandra knew anymore. He wasn’t fatherly and he wasn’t there when she needed him the most. He grieved in his own way and left seventeen year old Alex to deal with her mother's death all alone. But Alejandra didn’t let it break her. She had never felt pain like that in her life but she pushed forward. She finished high school and then went off to college like Sofia would have wanted her to do. The thing that kept her going most after her mother’s death was her mother. 

“You’re throwing your life away. Your mother would be so disappointed in you.” All Alex felt arguing with her father was rage and all it took was that one sentence for that rage to turn into sorrow. She couldn't help the tears that had now formed and were ready to spill over any second now. 

“No, dad. I think she’d be disappointed in you. The man you’ve become is not the man she loved. Calling yourself my dad? What a joke, you haven’t been my father since mom died.” Alex didn’t register the open palm that came her way. She gasped and clutched her burning cheek. The tears finally broke free. Her dad had never laid a hand on her until today. 

“Get out of my house.” His words were cold and hard. Alex didn’t recognize him anymore. And as mad as she was, all that was left in her heart was grief. Part of her had still held on to hope for her dad, that he could become who he was before. But it was obvious to Alex from her stinging cheek that he wasn’t and he probably would never be that person again. So she left. She left that house and hadn’t returned since. 

That was a year and a half ago now. It took her half a year to get the shop functional and up and running, and also learn everything and anything there was to learn about running her own business. She did it though. Alex didn’t give up even when it was hard and even when people were skeptical. She stuck to it. And when her boyfriend had things to say about what she was doing, Alex left him too. She wouldn’t let anyone get in the way and if they did, she simply went around them. Although her father's words that day hurt, she knew her mother. She knew her mom would be proud of who she was and what she was doing. Alex built a life for herself, she was successful. She was running her own business and although sometimes it was rocky, she was getting it done. With that in mind, Alex knew if her mother was around today, her father wouldn’t even think about asking her to do something else with her life. Her mother would have never allowed it and he would follow her lead. Alex couldn’t help but miss her dad though. Missed the old him because the new him was a stranger to her. They hadn’t spoken since that day and although it was what she wanted. She was still upset that he never even tried to reach out and see how she was doing. He only lived an hour away yet he never once tried to see her. But Alex never reached out either, she didn’t know if she wanted to. 

After she was done she decided she needed a drink. She decided she’d go to the bar around the corner. It was low key enough where she could just drink in peace and never overcrowded. It was something she never really did but she needed some fresh air and she needed to get out of her head. She had to keep reminding herself that she was doing okay right now, customers were still walking in the door and she was doing good with inventory. She just needed to relax. 

When Alex arrived she ordered an old-fashioned and took a seat at the bar. She focused on the tv that was playing football highlights. She wasn’t really a fan but it was distracting enough. She was on her second drink when she looked around the bar. There were a few groups of people in the booths and a few stragglers at the end of the bar. Then she noticed him. Rio. He was sitting at a booth with a man. Was it the one she heard him talking to the other night? She didn’t want to get all up in his business but she couldn’t help but sneak glances towards them. 

The scrawny man in the seat across from him seemed fidgety, Alex would even go as far as saying he looked scared. The man swallowed hard and then pulled out a crumpled bag from his jacket and slid it across the table to Rio. The man looked around which was Alex’s cue to avert her eyes elsewhere. She waited a few seconds before turning to look back at them. Rio had looked into the bag and nodded slowly. He said a few words and the man looked ready to run. Alex didn’t understand what was going on. What was in the bag? Why did this man seem to be afraid of Rio? If she were being honest, it looked like some drug or money trade, like the ones she’d seen on tv. But that couldn’t be it, could it? She had to think back to the time when she was being nosey and Rio said some woman owed him money. Maybe it was money in the bag. This guy owed him money too? But for what? 

Alex cleared her throat and downed the rest of her drink. She called for another and it was placed in front of her a few moments later. She just wanted to clear her head of her financial problems but now her head was filled with Rio and what he was up to. She wanted to keep reminding herself it was not her business, they had only known each other for a few weeks now and he owed her nothing. He didn’t need to tell her what he was doing and she had no business even asking. Even if they were friends, she didn’t want to push on something that he might not want to share. Besides, for all she knew, nothing was even happening. 

Alex couldn’t help herself though, once Rio and the same tattooed man from the other night escorted the scrawny man out, she was getting out of her chair. She followed them out the bar but was far enough behind them that they didn’t notice. Alex didn’t know if it was boredom, curiosity, or just her stupidity, that made her follow them. It also could have been the small buzz she felt but either way, she wanted to know what was going on. The man they were pushing out looked terrified and she wanted to know why. She walked close to the side of the building and when the three men turned the corner into an alley, she peeked. 

“Please, wait! I can get the rest for you by the end of the week. I just need some more time, please.” The man held up his hands in defense. He was frantic now. What the fuck was going on? Alex eyed the man with the face tattoos and had a realization that maybe it was him who Rio was talking to the other night. Either way, this situation did not look good. 

“Nah, that ain’t how this works. You give me my money in full when I tell you.” Rio shook his head and stepped closer to the man. 

“There’s more than half in that bag! Please! I swear I’ll give you the rest, just… please.” The man was desperate. Alex didn’t know what to think. This man owed Rio money and he obviously didn’t pay up. But money for what? And what the fuck did Rio do that had this man ready to piss himself? This was not good. 

Rio didn’t say anything. He simply stepped back and nodded at the tattooed man. 

A shiver went through Alex at Rio’s cold stare. Rio’s man stepped forward and next thing she knew, he had punched the weasel faced man. Alex contained her gasp and pressed herself against the brick wall. She peeked over again to see the man hadn’t stopped in his attack. 

“Please!” The man was on the floor now, face bloody. 

He was trying to shield himself as he was being kicked repeatedly. Rio just stood there watching. Alex couldn’t stomach the man’s cries for help. She couldn’t watch, she couldn’t just watch and do nothing. So she stepped out into the alley.

“Stop!”

Both standing men snapped their gaze in Alex’s direction. Rio’s blood ran cold at Alex’s horrified face as she looked between them and the guy groaning in pain on the floor. For once in his life, he didn’t know what to say. 

“What are you doing?” Alex asked as she stepped closer to them. She almost wanted to check to see if the man was okay but something told her not to. Maybe it was the fact that despite seeing Rio give the orders to have the man beat, she couldn’t help but be on his side. After all, she didn’t know the full story. But Alex didn’t know if the full story would even make this okay. She wasn’t stupid, she knew something very shady was going on now. She knew Rio was obviously doing shady things. But she didn’t know to what extent. 

“Alex,” He sighed and ran his hand over his head. If Alex saw everything then he was in for it. He didn’t want her to know about any of this. Hell, he didn’t want her involved in any of this. Yet here she was, looking at him with fear in her eyes? Worry? Anger? He didn’t know, he couldn’t read her. He hoped this wouldn’t mess up what they had. But who was he kidding? Of course it would. She was going to ask questions now or maybe even straight out ignore him. He knew how it looked and was worried that she now saw him as some bad man.  

They just stared at each other till Rio whispered to his man to take care of Tommy, the piece of shit on the floor. Rio walked up to Alex and was relieved that she didn’t flinch or move back when he stood in front of her. Rio took it as a good sign that she wasn’t scared of him. 

“Come on, I’ll take you home.” Alex was taken back by his words and her face said as much.

“Excuse me?” 

Rio was an idiot to think just because she was as sweet as they came, that she wouldn’t be stubborn and stand her ground. 

“Mama, please.” 

Alex sighed and started to walk away. Rio knew as much as to catch up. They walked in silence back to their apartment. Rio didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t really explain it to her and that left him with lying and how could he lie through what she just saw? He tried racking his brain for something, anything to tell her. But he couldn’t think of anything that would be justifiable for Alex to still see him as the Rio she just saw a few days ago. 

When they got to their doors of their apartments, Alex crossed her arms and waited for Rio to say something. She knew it wasn’t technically her business but he was bringing harm to another person, she needed to know what could possibly be okay for him to do that. 

“What were you doing back there?” She asked, she couldn’t wait for him to speak. 

“Alex, it’s complicated… I can’t get into it.” He shook his head. That was the best he could come up with. He didn’t know what else to say. 

“It’s really not. It’s actually a simple question. Why were you hurting that man?” Alex was being bold but she didn’t care at the moment. Rio and her were friends and they hung out, she had a right to know the kind of people she associated with. 

“He’s no saint, Alex.” Rio was grasping at straws. He just didn’t want Alex to think he would do that kind of thing to just anybody. That was definitely not him.

“Why? Because he didn’t pay you what you were owed?” Rio tilted his head and his eyebrows furrowed. 

“Were you watching me?” Rio didn’t know how to feel about that. 

“I didn’t mean to. I just went out for a drink and I saw you.” Alex shrugged. She didn’t want to get into the details. Especially considering she literally followed him out of that bar. 

Rio accepted the answer. 

“Just explain it, Rio.” 

“I can’t. It’s more complicated than that.” He shook his head. He knew he shouldn’t have gotten close to her. He knew he was bad for her. And he knew deep down that she wouldn’t just be okay with what he did. He was stupid for thinking it. But he couldn’t stay away. Which is why he was nervous right now, he didn’t want her to be mad at him. He didn’t want to stop being her friend. And he hated that he still felt like that after his realizations. 

“Uncomplicate it.” Alex knew she was pushing now. But she didn’t want to be lied to and she actually liked Rio. She wanted to calm his worries right now but she wanted answers. 

“Alex, don’t push me. Please.” She wasn’t scared of his tone taking a serious turn. She was actually annoyed and she blamed it all on the alcohol for what she said next. 

“Or what? I’ll end up like that guy you were beating to a pulp?” Alex shut her mouth tight after the words left her mouth. Rio looked pained but it fleeted as his jaw tightened and he stepped closer to Alex. Their chests were touching now. He looked down on her and she refused to look up. He tilted her chin up with his hand to look up at him. Alex was still curious for answers but her face flushed at how close they were. Practically breathing the same air despite the height difference. 

“Don’t ever say something like that again. I’d never lay a hand on you, you hear me?” Alex swallowed and nodded slightly. She didn’t know what came over her, but she liked his demanding side. She found it hot, despite the situation. 

“You’re safe with me.” He couldn’t help but say. 

“Am I?” After what Alex saw tonight and what she had heard the night before, she couldn’t be sure. 

“Yes, I promise.” Rio didn’t want her to ever think he would hurt her in any way. He didn’t want her to be scared of him. He knew it was a possibility and if she found out that what she saw tonight was only a peek behind the curtain, she would be scared of him. Rio didn’t know if he could stomach that.

He kept her chin tilted up and for a few moments they just stayed like that. Looking into each other’s eyes. Alex noticed him glance down at her lips and she desperately wanted him to kiss her but now wasn’t the time. As if Rio was thinking the same thing, he finally backed away. 

Alex wasn’t going to push for answers anymore, at least not for tonight.

“Goodnight, Rio.” Alex said and turned around and unlocked her apartment door. She stepped in and shut the door behind her. Rio stood out in the hallway, wondering how in the hell they’d get past this. 

Taglist: @thickemadame​ @fairywriter-oracle​ @joalsglasses​ @naysianaee​ @gemini0410​ @enamouravecleslivresetlechocolat @helloosilver

[septiembrre]

Physical affection prompts! 21! 25!

Prompt: accidentally knocking your head into someone’s chin + playfully biting someone

Established relationship. Beth and Rio try couples yoga. An injury ensues.

Side note: This is the first time I’ve ever attempted writing from Rio’s POV. Augauahgah!!! I feel like all the straight Mexi-boys I know are mad sappy about the ladies in their lives so… this is Big!Soft. Don’t hate.

On Ao3

A Bit of a Stretch 

It goes like this. 

Three months ago, a yoga mat shows up in the car. It’s purple (her favorite color), and Elizabeth probably thought it inconspicuous, neatly rolled up and tucked away in the back. But Rio’s only gotten to where he is in life because he’s got a meticulous handle on the details. So he notices, and it makes him pause -- the reminder of who he is these days. 

And he likes to think he’s a smart guy, evolved and shit. But, he’s got to admit he likes the thought of it -- his girl, Aphrodite trapped in suburbia (or was it Athena?), rolling up in the Wagon to some bougie yoga studio. Elizabeth would swing ‘round the back to grab her mat, doing that walk she does when she’s feeling herself as the other PTA chicks’ jaws drop. He likes the security of his second pair of keys in her hands, on her keychain. 

What did it say about Elizabeth’s hold on him that he fuckin’ delights in this daydreaming? 

And it’s complicated -- ‘cause on one hand, when did he become this guy? Actually, he knows. Three years, eight months, and two days ago. He’s not overly-obsessed with his relationship or anything, but a counter runs in his mind -- how long he’s been with her. So much so that he’s been thinking of getting the date of when she robbed him (the first time) on the inside of his wrist, a complement to the bracelets she’d bestowed him, to drag out as A Move during sex or to embarrass her in front of her friends. 

And on the other hand, it’s like...  damn, it’s been too long since they fucked in the car. 

They cohabitate now -- them and all their kids. They still had an absurd amount of sex in public places (and shit, since when had that been his kink?). He still takes great delight in pushing all her buttons and getting her to unspool around his cock, on his mouth, and in his arms. 

But, they were a lil’ calmer now, less feral. They had partially domesticated what this was and had fun in doing so. They shared a bed now, were crate-trained as it were. 

She and hers are his family. 

But, fuck, he’d been a strict no-strings-attached, hit-it-and-quit-it type of dude for years -- all of his adult life. It was what came with his job. 

He had tried to do his best by Rhea when he had gotten her knocked up. But, looking back on it, the exercise had been doomed. When Marcus was born, Rio was in his late 20s rocketing to the top of the food chain. It had been a time when all he could do was keep his head down and do the work -- running in the streets, scheming, consolidating power, and ultimately, he had to make a choice. 

Was he going to be a boss, a father, or a husband? To be honest, he only had time for one, but he did his best to make fatherhood fit. 

It’s what it was all for in the end, right? 

And yet, somehow despite all and many odds, here he was toting Elizabeth’s yoga mat around in his car. Mick rolls his eyes when he sees it, and there’s the typical jokes about being pussy-whipped and what not. But, yeah -- he loves her. At this point, he can’t really deny it. So, he laughs along with Mick’s jokes, and then sends him to chauffeur their million kids around, just to make sure he knows what's what.

Anyway, after a few weeks, Rio comes home from the gym and finds her practicing alone in the house, the kids scattered to their other respective households. Elizabeth’s got a video going on her phone, and her back is arched in a way he’s only ever seen in bed and she has to realize is provocative. But, she eyes him, self-conscious and with old defensiveness, as she twists into a few shapes. 

He tries to keep it chill, knows about the residual feelings she carries about her body (and Christ, he can’t believe he’s only had the opportunity to shoot her ex-husband once, he should have taken his own advice and emptied the fucking clip). So he settles close to her with his battered copy of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology from highschool that he’s been trying to get back into, and steals glances at her over the pages. 

He skims the pages on Athena and then Aphrodite, and he likes the hyperbole of each but neither quite fit. 

He eventually comes back to Artemis. 

And, yeah, maybe.

He looks up at Elizabeth again and admires her form. He admires her strength -- that reedy cord of tenacity he’s admired for so long making itself more visible through the facade of soft as she finds new ways to hold herself up and get herself stronger.  Her hair keeps falling into her face and he itches to crawl on the mat with her and pull it out of her face. 

She’s fucking gorgeous.

As she continues, Elizabeth notices him watching, and she starts to get a little playful. Eventually, he lures her off the mat and onto his lap.

Yoga becomes part of her routine on the days she doesn’t feel like driving into the studio. And he gets it. He’s always turned to grounding himself in his body when he’s needed to work through things. His first love had been basketball, soccer while on family vacations (and only with his cousins from Tamaulipas). In high school, it was track, and he still loves running, but with Detroit winters he’s mostly moved on to boxing and tennis. Never yoga, though. 

And yeah, he has some reservations, and yeah, it makes him feel their differences. He’s a tad judgemental about the white-owned yoga studios gentrifying the fuck out of his city. Blocks he grew up running in Detroit-propper suddenly got white people eyein’ up his tats and clutching their wallets. And shit, when has yoga ever been for guys like him? 

But, life increasingly becomes more complicated. 

He can still like that E’s found something that’s for her and he likes the peace it brings her. He appreciates the way it unknots her shoulders, the particular vibe it gives their day afterward when she’s able to let go of some of that stress she carries. He tries to complement it by eating her out and that special type of really good sex that comes from whatever alchemy is between their bodies. And yeah, he likes the headspace it gets her in, how it shifts the way she approaches their work, and the new depth it adds to the way they touch each other when sex isn’t her only form of therapy. 

So when she gets a water bottle with the yoga studio’s branding, Rio teases her a bit but he encourages her to go for the membership. Naturally, E being E, it don’t take her long to make nice with the owners. And then Elizabeth comes home excited about how she had just committed to doing a run of the studio’s promotional swag at the store. He and Elizabeth end up with a postcard on their fridge, a color photo of the studio’s abstract mural. The other side has text that advertises an event line up at the studio that includes a fucking “gong-bath”. It takes him a week to let it go. 

Actually, he hasn’t. He still brings it up.

But, then a second yoga mat appears -- a green one -- tucked away in the spare bedroom, mostly hidden under some of her crafting materials. He finds it, wonders for a split second why she needs two and has an answering inkling of where this might be going. 

The next day, a lil’ custom print for a “partners” yoga event gets pinned next to the first postcard on the fridge. 

And like... he loves her and all. But, does it really go that deep?

Rio pauses in front of the fridge, sipping his tea and staring at the picture of a white dude balancing presumably his Black girlfriend in a pose above his head. His eyes track to where Elizabeth sits in the other room knitting and watching the latest episode of her British baking show (he has half the mind to submit her name to the American spin-off). Considering what she’s up to, she sits with her back a lil’ too straight (on edge one might say) clearly waiting for a comment or for him to show her some grace.

And…

Nope. He’s not going to make it that easy for her. 

To her credit, after her episode is done, Elizabeth FaceTimes Ruby and asks her first. Then, as if to make a point that she’s rounding out her bases, she calls her sister. And it’s true that Marks’ sisters’ relationship is as close as it's ever been -- their family criming has forced Elizabeth to trust her sister with her life. But, damn, if he knows she don’t trust Annie to do anything remotely acrobatic, much less cartwheel Elizabeth into the air. 

He settles at the island in their kitchen with his tea and his work. She’s got the call on speaker in the other room, when Annie asks, “And gang boo?” 

“What about him?” 

Rio scoffs loud enough to be heard in the other room.  

“Why doesn’t he go with you?” 

E pauses, probably fiddling with the strand of her knitting yarn on the couch behind him. “It just doesn’t really seem like his thing?”

Annie snorts. “Have you asked him?”

“No,” Elizabeth sighs into the phone, as if she isn’t a few paces away, having a very audible conversation. 

“Don’t people usually go with their SO’s to these things? I mean I appreciate that you think I have the upper body strength for this, but you have to know that I will never in my life be able to do a push-up.”

“It was just a thought--” 

Annie continues, stuck mid-rant, “And, like there’s no way I can be your counterweight. You have so much more body than me. We’re like completely different proportions. ” 

“Well, so are me and Christopher.” 

“Yeah, but Christopher actually has body strength. Lots of it. “ Annie retorts. “And he’s going to love you sweaty, and sticking your butt up into the air, bendy and wearing tight clothing--”

He bites at his bottom lip and supposes yeah, he could try it once. 

“Okay, fine! I’ll ask him.”

Rio waits for her to come to him as he tries to make headway on his accounting. But, E doesn’t show. 

Instead, it comes later -- when they’re in bed. She’s being extra-nice, extra-smiley, and charming, cracking jokes and making him laugh. He hates it except he also loves it -- when she thinks she can get the drop on him like her dumb ass ex-husband. Except, unfortunately for Rio, she really does know her target. 

She waits until right after she blows him to ask. 

Elizabeth crawls up his spent, panting body, and pins him with hers. She kisses him hotly with her mouth that tastes like his come and he fucking loves when she does that. Then, she retreats to bite playfully at his chin and asks if he’s seen the flyer on the refrigerator.

And he gives her a little shit about it but…

He admires the strategy

------

The couple's yoga class is on a Saturday morning.

It’s the middle of March, and he’s fucking over winter. Detroit, so far from Mexico and so close to being the fucking North Pole. 

The temperature means he’s got to get bundled up in sweats, put on his damn parka and snow boots, all to take it back off again when he gets there. Apparently, the studio is heated perennially at 90 degrees. He don’t know how Elizabeth handles it, she’s so bothered by heat. He complains to her, and she reminds him that this is just like when he goes to the gym on his own. Except this time, they’re doing something together. And she’s being all shy in a way she usually isn’t any more around him and she’s fuckin’ happy he’s coming with her. 

The night before she had presented the green mat to him. He had said “Thank you” como su mamá lo enseño, and committed to stepping outside of his comfort zone. 

“Show me how this goes, darlin’?” 

Elizabeth had swelled up with the thrill of explaining something to him, and launched into it, “Yoga’s basis is breathing…” 

She had given him the low-down and gotten him started in the basic poses. He liked her hands, soft, and prim and careful, pushing and pulling at him and adjusting his posture. He had ended up fucking her on the mat -- as a proper thank you and to give her a little something to think about in class tomorrow as they contort their bodies in a way she’s adamant is not meant to be sexual. 

And he’s not trying to be a dick or ruin the day for her, but he’s dragging his feet a little bit. He don’t really want to be spending his morning off, kid-less, in a room focusing on his breathing surrounded by crunchy, white gentrifiers. 

And he might be simmering a choice comment about how it’s ironic that she wants him to focus on his breathing after she was the one who fucking shot him in the lung that one time...

But, he knows she’s not thinking of it like that and he knows if he just told it to her she’d get it. But, he don’t want to make it all about him and the struggle... and he’s rich now ain’t he? And Elizabeth’s excited to have him with her while she does her thing, excited to show him off -- and that gives him enough energy to walk through the door, green mat under one arm, and her hand in his. 

Immediately, they’re ensconced in a wave of warmth as they step into the heated studio, and there’s an earthy smell hitting him strong. He zeroes in on the incense lit at the check-in counter and Rio’s nose wrinkles in distaste on its own accord. 

Elizabeth squeezes her hand, in a silent reprimand. Behave. Then, she moves around the counter to hug some of the people hanging out back there.

There’s a flurry of introductions, a Bridgid, a Cassandra, Bryce, Patsy, and Tiffany. Tiffany is Black and he thinks Cassandra could be Latina… He ain’t sure. They’re all revealed to be instructors or staff of some kind and E seems to be chummy with all of them. He knows Tiffany is her favorite and will move heaven and hell (and their fucking drop schedule) to make it to class with her. 

He isn’t sure exactly why so many of them are but apparently, they like to hang out here? His palms itch and he feels the sweat start to drip under his thick jacket. 

E starts to pull off her winter clothes, as she lingers in conversation with Tiffany, asking her about her husband and how Tiffany’s weight training is going. He blinks at his girl and the shit she can pull out of her repertoire.  

“I’m so glad you get to finally meet Christopher.” 

Tiffany turns to smile wide at him. “Beth has made so much progress in the past few months.” 

“It’s nice to meet you,” and she’s got a friendly vibe so he tries to dial up the charm. Smiling, and playing the proper beau, “She talks about y’all all the time.” 

Behind them, he clocks that instructor, Brad or Bryce, checking out Elizabeth’s ass when she ain’t looking. And sure he’s about Rio’s height and got some definition on his abs, but his jaw’s too square like it’s never taken a hit, his muscles never used in a fight. 

Rio snags the eyes of some chicks looking at him a little too eager. Damn, it’s Saturday morning and these people need to chill. 

And he rolls his eyes, tsking, then steps closer and loops a hand around Elizabeth’s waist, drops it down to her ass for a moment. He makes a show of leaving a kiss against her temple and then he bounds towards the cubbies, ready to shed some clothes. His jacket is about to kill him. 

As he peels off of the layers, he looks around, and okay -- it’s not as white as he worried it was. There’s other POC settling in for the class, at least one other interracial couple, too. And that Cassandra chick’s sweatshirt says “Chingona AF’ on the back. She’s the same shade of light brown as him, a mid-30s willowy mujer with a queer buzzcut.

He loosens up a bit and settles into the space. This heated shit is nice.

A few moments later, Elizabeth joins him and after they’re done tucking their stuff away, she draws him over to her favorite corner. They roll out their mats -- purple and green -- side-by-side. 

They settle on their respective mats and Rio takes the opportunity to give Elizabeth the same once over that asshole did. Her ass really does look great in those pants and she could fill out any shirt. Her eyes linger over him too, tracing his skin, the bar tattoos peeking out from under his t-shirt that she’s seen a million times and then her eyes meet his and she gives him that small, crooked lil’ smile. 

He’s not one for religion, but every so often he takes his mom to Spanish mass. All the viejitos and pious Catholic types think he’s a banger but his ma’s still excited to show him off. He sits with her in the pew and when the priest asks for the congregation to give thanks to God, he says a prayer for the riches that have come to him, the health and brilliance of his son, the vitality of the other little ones in his life now, and Elizabeth. And when he thinks of her in those moments, he sees her in his mind’s eye with this exact look on her face. 

And to top it all off, the 90-degree heat is already working some kind of magic on the knot he’s been trying to get out of his shoulder for the past two weeks. 

He smiles back at her. 

“This shit is dope.” 

“Yeah?” 

He shrugs, playful. “I like the heat.”

She scoffs, still smiling, “Of course, you do. I thought I was going to pass out the first time I came.” He laughs and tallies a point. He called it. E shakes her head, “I had never sweat so much in my life.”  

And it goes like that. 

Right as class starts, a white guy with dreads and his skinny, blond girlfriend settle in the space next to them. The white dude turns to nod in acknowledgment, but his eyes drop down to take the ink at Rio’s throat. He tries to be subtle about it but he and the girl scoot a few inches away. 

And he ain’t even seen all the old bullet wounds yet. 

Rio turns to look at Beth. She’s also staring at the couple, her mouth settled in a thin line. 

Then she meets his gaze. 

One of the instructors starts calling the group in, welcoming them to class, and Elizabeth takes the last opportunity to gently careen into his side, and kiss him deeply. 

Then she's back on her mat, listening attentively to the instructor like she didn’t just start some shit.  

And yeah-- he and Elizabeth are different. They move through space differently, and she has access to things he never will no matter all the gems, rubies and diamonds, Mercedes and stacks he adds to his hoard of wealth, And Rio has wondered, worried, if there will ever be a day when they look at each other and decide they don’t fit anymore. 

But, damn if she don’t make him feel alive like nothing else. 

So as the instructor has them sit back-to-back and leads them through an opening meditation. It’s corny as shit and formal meditation is not really his thing, always having relied on sports (and fights and hits) as a substitute in the past. 

But, he tries to settle here, in this room warm like a blanket, next to Elizabeth.

The class itself is pretty fun. The instructors are hands-on, demonstrating, and walking them through everything. It’s easy enough to pick up with them (and Elizabeth) giving him adjustments, and he likes the excuse to get his hands on her in a different kind of way. 

He helps Elizabeth through some inversions, smirking down at her with this particular view of her cleavage. She gets a few, sneaky passes at him, and he don’t know who she thinks she’s fooling surrounded by a room of people, and a whole team of instructors circling them. 

In one particularly nice sequence, Rio curls down into the mat in the child’s pose, Elizabeth had shown him as she stretches on top of him, her whole weight settling along him like a cocoon. 

Damn, he’s going to make them take another class like this ain’t he? 

The class eventually shifts into what the teachers call aerials.

He lays on his back and lofting E up into the air over him. It takes a little finagling to fully adjust to the distribution of her weight, she’s obviously top-heavy. He stares up at her -- her gorgeous, sweaty face smiling down at him -- and looks over the particular arc of her cleavage. And despite how much time he spends palming at Elizabeth’s tits, he underestimates how much they must hurt her back.

No wonder she needs this shit.  

‘Course that’s when Bryce or Blake comes over to “check on their form” and is this guy really going to try to check out his girl’s ass again? Right, the fuck now? 

Blake/Bryce pushes at Elizabeth’s shoulders trying to adjust her position and she maintains very apologetic eye contact with Rio. Huh. So, she’s aware. 

Then, It all happens real fast. Her balance shifts and her hand, sweaty with the heat, slips across his palm and out of his grasp. 

The realization hits him--  She’s gonna fall.

And for a brief, terrible moment, her face freezes above him skewed with panic and fear, and then, as if in slow motion, she floats closer, down to earth. 

And he knows better. He fucking knows better from all his fucking years of boxing, the previously-mentioned lifetime of playing sports. But he clenches his damn, fucking jaw just as the crown of her head collides with him.

And there’s a sharp, bolt of pain spearing through his chin.

And in this room, this heated blanket, incense-burning, crunchy, granola room… 

He’s knocked the fuck out.  

-----

Well, then it’s a fucking show. 

In the familiarity of Elizabeth walking into the studio, they hadn’t asked him to sign a liability waiver. Someone procures ice, and he cradles it to his chin as Bryce apologizes and asks if he can call an ambulance. 

For a concussion. 

And he’s pissed the fuck off but it’s still kind of funny? Because the only thing that had ever put him in a hospital had actually been this girl standing next to him (tal pesadilla when she put three slugs in his chest). But, he has to stop laughin’ because it hurts his jaw and they’re all looking at him like he’s nuts. 

Elizabeth grips his free hand like a vice, and he’s nursing a hell of a headache, as he has to swear a million times that he ain’t gonna sue anyone. Then, finally, blessedly, they’re allowed to walk out. 

Elizabeth insists on helping him into the car. Tiffany and Cassandra accompany them, helping Elizabeth carry all of their shit. 

They stand at the curb watching, concern etched on their faces as Elizabeth reverses out of the snowbank and drives off. And Elizabeth drives because he most definitely has a concussion. And she drives them straight to the fucking ER. 

They spend half an hour fighting parked in the lot outside. But, he knows concussions and he knows his limits. 

He convinces her to take him home.

----- 

The first twenty-four hours of the concussion are the most important. He’s not supposed to look at screens, not supposed to work. He knows his shit but Elizabeth reads at least ten internet articles on her phone as she lies in bed curled next to him. 

They spend the childless afternoon with the curtains drawn, lying in their bed, not fucking. 

But, the cuddling is good, too. 

Elizabeth strokes up and down his arm and talks to him about little nothings to keep him company. She periodically gets up to grab him glasses of water and more ice. And this sucks, but all things considered, this might be the nicest concussion he’s ever had. 

Eventually, they wander to the kitchen to figure out food. 

Elizabeth pauses staring vacantly at the fridge. Then her shoulders start to shake, and now he’s wondering if she’s okay. But, her hand raises to unpin the flyer from the fridge and he hears the first snicker.

She turns to him, laughter breaking across her face, pointing to that ridiculous picture. He knows enough now to recognize Tiffany lofted in that showy, stupid af aerial pose. 

He chuckles and then cringes as the pain at his chin flairs.

Elizabeth pouts but is still laughing to herself. She ambles over to him, wraps her arms loosely around his middle, and lays the softest kiss on his chin.

“I’m sorry, Christopher.” 

He shakes his head, just a smidge because movement fucking sucks right now. “It ain’t your fault.” 

“It was my idea.”

“It’s okay.” 

She curls into him, deflating, crumbling the flyer into her fist.  He gingerly rests his head on top of hers. 

“I liked it.” He admits. 

“You did?”

“Yeah.” The smell of her lavender-shampoo drifts into his orbit. “Liked you curled all around me. Liked touching you like that. Gave me some ideas.” 

She nods below him, pulling him tighter. “I liked it, too.” 

“You’ve gotten so strong now, Elizabeth.” He kisses her at her temple. “Maybe next time you should do all the lifting.” 

She pinches him at the ribs. Then, “Next time?”

“I’ll tell you what.” He shifts back to make eye contact with her. “We get to do a whole lot of private practice.” He gives her a look to make it clear exactly what he means -- sex. “Then, we’re gonna go back and make sure Bryce is really sorry, ‘kay? Make sure he knows I’m still around.”

And Elizabeth beams that crooked little smile at him. 

“Okay, but the next time you have to give me your hoodie or something.”

He nods, a smidge but still manages to imbue it with sage, territorial wisdom. “That would help.” 

“Well, I meant more for me to...” She looks at him, eyes darting. “Claim you.”  

I mean he is living for that but he frowns at her. “But, everyone there was a couple.”

Oh. Oh yes. Now he remembers. 

“That doesn’t mean anything.” Elizabeth rolls her eyes. “And I don’t share.” 

Her hand drifts low on his back, then lower to curl a firm grip on his ass in the privacy of this home that they share.

Unfortunately, despite all this time, Elizabeth still doesn’t know when to quit when she’s ahead. 

“Though, honestly, I don’t know why they kept staring at your butt.” She murmurs, sassing him while he’s down. “There’s nothing here.” 

Esta pinche mujer. She’s lucky he loves her. 

Fuckin’ adores her, really.

Damn.  

[breanime]

on the "5 times Miguel & Eva almost got caught perving on one another and 1 time they did": I sort of imagined it spanned their whole relationship? So maybe some college, some of the pre-kids early days, some when they first show up heck maybe one in the afternoon before the big blow-up where Miguel gets his head up his ass. And then I guess once caught by kids?

I kind of just made this a 5 times they were perving on each other and tried to hide it and the one time they didn’t hide it, so it’s not exactly what you asked. I’m sorry, but I hope you like it!

One

Rio was exhausted in the best way. It was three in the morning, he was living in a fucking mansion, and Cleo was naked and dozing off in his bed. He went to the fridge, taking out a gallon of OJ with the name “Coco” written on it and chugged it. He was shirtless, and the cool air from the fridge felt good on his warm skin. Too tired to do anything productive, and too awake to sleep, Rio wandered around the halls for a bit until he heard voices.

“I’m telling you, they’re ready to deal,” Miguel was pacing, Rio could tell by the controlled anxiety in his voice, “All I need is a day, maybe two, and I can secure their invests on this.”

“I know you think that,” Eve sighed, “but, really, Miguel, we’ve tried everything. There’s no point in prolonging defeat. We should cut our losses and move on.”

Rio poked his head around the corner, about to offer his unasked for two cents, but stopped when he took in the scene.

Miguel’s back was to him, and he was leaning over his desk, peering down at a few papers. And Eve...

...Eve was definitely checking out his ass.

Rio grinned, “Anything I can do to help?” He asked, chuckling softly at the way Eve jumped and took out her phone, sparing her one more smirk before walking away.

“The hell was that about?” Miguel muttered.

“Probably nothing,” Eve said back, not looking up from her phone, her cheeks warm. 

She didn’t look Miguel in the eye for the rest of the night.

Two

“I’m gonna slap you,” Coco growled.

“Why?” Angel asked back.

“You fucking know why.”

“Dude, the fuck you want me to do? Not look?”

“Yes! That’s exactly what I want you to do, you animal!”

“Bro, she’s wearing a fucking mini-skirt, how am I not supposed to look?”

Coco slapped him in the back of the head then, and Angel yelped, jumping back. “Carnal, look, even Miguel is checking her out!”

The two boys turned. Miguel was, in fact, checking out Eve in her tight, tiny mini-skirt. 

Coco made a face, “He’s not even blinking.”

“Dude’s a second away from drooling on his Armani suit.”

“Should we say something?”

“Like what? ‘Yo, we all know how bad you wanna break Eve’s back, but maybe stop ogling her in front of the whole house’?” Angel suggested.

Coco shook his head, “C’mon man, be more subtle... YO TIO, YOU NEED A GLASS OF WATER OR SOMETHIN’?!”

Miguel turned away, and Eve raised an eyebrow, confused as to why Miguel looked so guilty while Coco and Angel were laughing their asses off.

Three

Letty sat on Coco’s lap, kicking her feet as she enjoyed her chocolate ice cream cone with sprinkles. Liyah was in the kitchen with Eve, and the two of them were talking when Miguel walked into the dining room.

“Papa Miguel,” Letty said cheerily, “Daddy got us ice cream, and I got sprinkles!”

“I see,” Miguel smiled at his pseudo-granddaughter, “Is it yummy, amor?”

Eve couldn’t help but smile as she watched the exchange. Miguel adored Letty, and watching the two of them together always threatened to make her swoon. She watched as Letty offered up her cone to Miguel, and Eve felt her heart flip in her chest when his tongue came out to sample the treat. She never wanted to be an ice cream cone so badly in her life...

“Damn girl,” Liyah grinned, “you, uh, need a minute alone? Or at least a drink?”

Eve made a noise, turning around so that no one could see the dirty thoughts reflected in her eyes.

Four

When Eve walked in the room, Miguel and the kids were on the couch, watching...

“What is this?” She asked, tossing her ridiculously expensive purse (a gift from Miguel) onto the side table. 

“Security footage from our last job,” Spooky answered, “We wanted to review a few things.”

“Oh... Okay,” she went to stand next to Miguel, who was holding his chin in his hand. 

Miguel was trying to concentrate; he really was....it was important to watch the footage, see where they could improve for next time, but it was hard to focus when Eve was so close to him. She smelled so good; he knew for a fact that she was wearing his favorite perfume, and she looked as beautiful as ever, a small frown on her face as she watched the footage. The kids were talking, but he couldn’t hear them, all he could hear was the sound of his own heart beating the more he thought about Eve...

...his best friend, his partner...

...the woman he loved, but could never have.

“Is that Angel?” She asked.

“What?” He turned, blinking. “Is what Angel?”

“That,” she pointed to the TV with her chin, “Is that Angel or Spooky with the safe? I can’t tell.”

“Uh, yeah, that’s Angel,” he answered, clearing his throat and looking back at the screen, “Why?”

“Strong as he is, wouldn’t it have made sense--and been faster--to just have him stack the smaller safe with the lockboxes onto the bigger one and wheel them both to the truck at the same time?”

Miguel nodded slowly, considering it. “Yeah, that’s... That would be smarter, more efficient.”

“Oh, there’s Spooky... Didi did a great job covering all the guys’ tattoos.”

“Except Coco,” Angel called from his spot on the couch.

“Yeah, Coco is more tattoo than man,” Rio added with a smirk.

“Look who’s fucking talking,” Coco drawled back, only refraining from flicking him off because Eve was in the room.

Eve laughed, and Miguel couldn’t help but smile at the sound. She had a beautiful laugh, and her lips...

“...Miguel,” Didi called, “Uncle Miguel!”

He blinked, turning away from Eve to look at his niece. “Sí?”

Didi grinned, “I asked you a question, but you were too busy eye-fucking Eve to hear me.”

“Language, young lady,” Miguel said, more out as a deflection technique than out of genuine concern for her cursing.

“Coco just said ‘fucking’ two seconds ago!” She pointed out.

“Miguel, look,” Spooky sat up, “This is what I was talking about before, watch Rio...”

Miguel turned his attention (or at least a small portion of it) to the screen. Rio, Spooky, and Angel were loading the safes onto the truck. Coco’s head--wearing a black stocking over his face--popped out of the driver’s side window to watch them. On screen, Spooky said something to Angel and Rio, and Rio responded by nodding his head.

“See?” Spooky asked, leaning forward in his seat.

“See what?” Rio asked back, irritation clear in his voice.

“That nod--that could be used to identify you,” Spooky shot back.

“A nod? You for real, dude?” Angel said, rolling his eyes.

“We’re supposed to be as non-specific as possible, that’s why we wear masks and disguise our voices. Things like that,” Spooky gestured back to the TV with the remote, “can be used to implicate us.”

“How?” Rio asked back.

“They could match that nod to you, they follow you for less than a day, they’ll see you do it a good dozen times--”

“--Yeah, me and every other Latin dude within 8,000 miles,” Rio shrugged, “It’s a common fucking gesture, man. And even if they see me, specifically, doing it, they’d need way more evidence than that to get me in an interrogation room, much less get clearance to tail me.”

“The rule is to be as non-specific as possible,” Spooky repeated, “You know that, any tiny little gesture or comment can be used to track us down--”

“Dude, you’re blowing this out of proportion,” Angel said quietly.

“Yeah, Spooky, it ain’t that big a deal,” Coco added.

“Are you guys serious right now?” Spooky cried out.

“Why do you always act like the sky is falling down?” Rio shouted back. “We pulled a successful job, man! Shit went off without a hitch!”

“It’s not over just cause we got away,” Spooky argued, “There’s gonna be investigations, interviews--”

“--Yeah, I know how this shit works.”

“Enough,” Miguel’s voice broke up the squabbling quickly, “There’s no point in arguing over a hypothetical. Play the tape.”

He received no arguments, the tape was resumed, and they watched it in silence.

And Eve was pretty sure that Miguel’s small show of authority would be appearing in her fantasies tonight.

Five

Miguel hated when Eve cried; he hated when she was sad. She was working on less than three hours of sleep and was determined to keep working--despite Miguel’s continuous efforts to get her to take a break.

And now she was crying.

Miguel knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t so much upset, as much as exhausted, so he didn’t try to soothe her with platitudes.

He just walked over to her, wiped her tears, and pulled her in for a hug. 

Eve melted into his embrace, sniffling as her tears dried up. 

He pulled back a bit, looking down at her, his hand, warm and gentle, on the side of her face. Her skin was soft under his hand, and her eyes, wet with tears, were still the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen in his entire life. 

Eve felt like she was floating, like she was a balloon full of anxiety and exhaustion, and Miguel was keeping her tethered to the earth. When she looked up at him and into those deep, deep brown eyes, it was like she could feel herself coming back to her body, could feel Miguel chasing away the doubts and uncertainties and replacing them with his support and comfort. 

 “You need to get some rest,” he said softly, “Some sleep will do you some good. You can stay here; you know you can.”

She nodded, his hand was still on her cheek, and she put her hand over his. “Thanks, Miguel.”

“Yeah,” he licked his lips, and her eyes eagerly followed the motion, “of course...” He leaned closer, and she swayed forward a bit.

“Papa Miguel,” Letty’s little voice broke the pair apart. She stood in the doorway, her stuffed bunny under her arm, wearing footed pajamas. “Papi and me fell asleep on the couch, and he’s too big for me to carry. Can you help me?” She paused, rubbing her sleepy eyes with her little fist. “Are you sad, Ms. Eve?”

Eve laughed, wiping under her eyes for any stray tears. “No, sweetheart, I’m just tired. Like your Daddy.”

“You need me to help wake your Papi up?” Miguel asked, going over to Letty and picking her up.

“Papi snores when he doesn’t sleep at home with me and Mommy,” Letty reported as Miguel carried her away. He turned for a moment, and he and Eve locked eyes. 

And then he was gone.

Plus One

It had been hard for Miguel to control his lustful feelings for Eve before they were a couple, but now that they were? 

It was damn near impossible.

Which is why she was currently on his desk, her legs wrapped around his waist, her mouth connected to his. There were papers and files on the floor, but Miguel didn’t care. The only thing he cared about was keeping her close to him. 

Eve’s hands were on his chest, and he growled into her mouth when she ripped his shirt open, the buttons flying as Miguel lowered his head and lightly bit into her neck. 

“Miguel...” She sighed out, and the sound of her voice, so full of desire and so damn sexy, made him weak. He slid his hand between her legs, separating her thighs as he licked her neck, and Miguel groaned again when he felt her hands unbuckling his belt. 

And then the door opened.

And then the cheering started. 

“Yoooooo! It’s about damn time!” Angel clapped. “I mean, Eve, love, you could do better, but still!”

“I knew it!” Spooky grinned. “I called it, I fucking called it!”

“Ay, I’m happy for you and everything, but we gotta set some ground rules or something,” Coco groaned.

“Yeah, Miguel, tie a sock on the doorknob or something next time,” Rio said with a smirk, “This is a home, not a frat house, man.”

“Oh my God, I gotta tell Toni,” Didi giggled, taking her phone out and snapping a quick picture, “You two look so good together!”

“Jesus...” Miguel murmured. “Okay, you guys have had your dramatic little showing, now leave.”

“He said, lovingly,” Rio said, already walking off, “Cleo is gonna lose her shit over this.”

“They got together faster than I expected,” Didi said cheerfully as she followed her brother out.

“Nah, he was all nervous she’d never wanna talk to him again after he almost fired her,” Spooky added, “This was the obvious next step.”

Miguel dropped his head into the crook of Eve’s neck, sighing as he--finally--heard the door slam behind them. Eve giggled, kissing the top of his head as she ran her fingers through his hair. He stood up, smiling softly at the woman he loved. “So...” he said, kissing the side of her mouth where her smile started.

“...should we put a sock on the door?”

*******************************************************************************************

Writing this took me SO long because I keep getting distracted by these Netlfix movies. Writing this also made me want to do a ficlet of smut for all the characters.....would anyone wanna read that, per chance? Let me know! :)

[loudsuitlover]

Doctor Harry XXI. Si te vas

BLUE’S POV

The three of them were in my bed when I woke up. Marie and Ollie were under the duvet with me but Jason was on my other side like a kitten sleeping with their human. I don’t remember picking them both up but we must have had or maybe they came here on their own. Whatever the way, I couldn’t ask for better friends.

There’s no new messages in my phone so I text Coco to know her whereabouts and lie awake waiting for them to wake up. The fact that the three of them are here, like walls supporting the ceiling, makes it clear that what happened last night wasn’t a bad dream.

Harry was high. He was so high he couldn’t even talk to me. I remember the way he acted now and God, it was so clear I feel stupid for not realizing it sooner. His bloodshot eyes, his calmness, the way he got mad in a second and then back to the calm, the way he seemed to be disconnected to everything that was happening, how he seemed not to care at all.

I wonder what he thinks about me now. I wonder whether he cares at all. Somehow, I still don’t want him to think I’m being judgemental even though maybe I am. I’ve had this discussion plenty of times with plenty of Med students- about weed, yes or no, is it bad or is it less bad than they say?- For no one with biological knowledge dares to say it’s good. Fruit is good, walking is good- weed is not.

And yet it’s probably less harmful than it feels to me but it’s just… Last night I learnt he was the one driving and with that, the entire accident and the months that followed came back; and if that wasn’t enough he was high, just like Dylan was; and I wonder why Harry’s here and Dylan isn’t, why some people get another chance- and still smoke weed- and why some others just can’t live to change it.

I’ve never really believed in destiny. I don’t think our lives are written and we’re just players in a big board, thinking we’re free and taking decisions that were already going to happen anyway but sometimes, I do believe that there might just be this person, this person in the world that’s for you, the one who’s going to walk by your side for the rest of your life. I used to think that feeling of belonging with someone didn’t happen twice so I always thought I had it with Dylan and I will never have it with anyone else and somehow I liked that and I lived by that. But then I met Harry and for a second I thought I might have been wrong all this time and now the fact that his story could be superimposed to Dylan’s and it would connect... I feel like if this was a sci-fic movie and we have these parallel worlds and these alternative universes, Harry might as well be Dylan, in another body and with another face and another scent and that’s what I don’t want.

I loved Dylan. I loved him as much as a person can love another human being and I don’t think there’s ever been purer love but he also broke my heart to the point where I thought I was dying too. And he did because he changed and then because he died so I lost him twice all along and I just can’t go through that again.

“Morning, pixie.” Marie gives me a sleepy smile that I return. “How did you sleep?”

“Surprisingly good. I don’t remember getting here but I haven’t woken up until just now.”

“It makes sense that you were tired considering how drunk you were last night.” Jason’s voice is muffled against the duvet but I can still hear him.

I hit the back of his head with a pillow and he grunts.

“I don’t think you can call her out on that, pal.” Marie defends me.

“It wasn’t that bad.” Jason complains.

“Until you stood up on that table and take off your shirt and started yelling titties out, free the gay! you mean.” Ollie adds.

Marie and I laugh at the look Jason gives her. His eyes are widened, and his lips are set on a thin line. Before he can ask her whether that’s true, which I hope it is for the sake of humour, someone knocks on the door.

“Pasa.” I tell her. “But please be clothed. We have guests.”

Coco is grinning from ear to ear when she appears on the doorway.

“Oh, hi!” She chirps excitedly. “You guys slept like that?”

We all nod and she laughs. Olivia sits up and pushes Marie to do the same so my sister has a spot next to them. She’s wearing party clothes, which gives away that she didn’t spend the night home.

“So” Olivia wriggles her dark blond eyebrows “Guido Matteoti, hey?”

My sister smiles despite pursed lips and that’s all I need to know Chicco is history. Yes, Guido! I sit up too and Jason rests his cheek on his fist so Coco knows she has our undivided attention. Her cheeks tinge pink.

“He’s very sweet.” She starts. “I mean we’ve only been in a couple of dates but-”

“But you didn’t sleep home last night.” I raise my eyebrows and she shakes her head with a smile.

“And nothing happened.” She adds. “We just cuddled.”

The four of us look at her and from the corner of my eye I can see Marie melting while Olivia’s face seems like a puzzle missing a piece and Jason just blinks.

“He’s… I’ve never had this, you know? It’s like I tell him something mindlessly… Like something that isn’t really even important and he remembers it.” She smiles. “I mean last night he said something about Nana’s cameo and he had to tell me when I have told him about it because even me myself couldn’t remember.” She surprises. “And… He is interested in what I think and what I want and… I mean some guys have made me feel pretty, but he makes me feel interesting and that’s just so much better.”

“See?” Marie tilts her neck to give me a look and I smile. “It’s possible.”

“Do you like him though?” Olivia presses. “I mean him, as a person, not the way he makes you feel.”

Coco stares at her like a deer caught in headlights before she tilts her neck like a dog thinking. I’m taken aback too by Ollie’s deep understanding of the situation. She’s been so disassociated with the love department that it feels strange to have her understanding this so deeply.

“Yes, I do.” Coco blushes. “He’s smart and funny and caring and kind. And so handsome.” Her eyes open wide and Olivia laughs.

“Can we see him?”

“Yeah, show us the regulation photo, girl.” Jason adds.

My sister chuckles before she gets on her phone and shows us his Instagram. I have seen him before so I let my friends be as nosy as they want. Coco’s eyes meet mine and she frowns concerned.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

And like that I’m crying again. My sister jumps over my friends and takes a seat next to me, wrapping her small arms around my body and reminding me of home. Marie tells her what happened and Ollie and Jason curse under their breath. They did that last night too, I remember now.

“I’m good, I’m good.” I wipe my tears and sit back straight. “I’ll get over it.”

Coco sighs next to me and Jason gives me a smile.

“Unpopular opinion” Olivia says “I think we’re being too hard on him.”

Us three give her a death glare and she raises her hands on the air proving her innocence.

“Let’s go get started with breakfast, Ollie.” Coco says before war starts on my mattress.

“Yes, I need to tell you some things too.”

“Me too.” Jason smiles. “Spoiler alert: David is a dick.”

“Tell me something I don’t know…”

The three of them walk outside the room and we hear the beginning of the conversation with Jack’s name being thrown around among very colourful insults.

“What are you doing for Christmas?” I ask Marie.

“I’m visiting my mum.” She shrugs. “And her new boyfriend.”

“Nice.” I chuckle.

“You?”

“I think I’m gonna go spend some days with my dad. I need to get away from here.”

“And your mum?”

“Mum’ll go to Spain, I guess. It’s been a while since I don’t visit Dad.” I feel Marie nodding next to me. “I’m gonna hop on the shower.”

“Okay.”

“You can shower in Coco’s bathroom if you’d like.”

“Do I stink or what?” Marie laughs.

I give her a silent smile and make my way inside my bathroom. I don’t have much time because Coco, Ollie and Jason are not precisely the best chefs so I’m sure by getting started with breakfast they mean adding milk to cereal.

I let the hot water run down my body relaxing every muscle I hadn’t realized was tensed. Thinking about going back home is never been as easy as it is now. It’s always painful to go back to Capitol because it screams Dylan all over the place but it’s been a while since I don’t see Dad or Rio and I’m in the mood for a family Christmas.

When I make my way towards the kitchen, I hear them all talking about Harry and me but it doesn’t bother me because it doesn’t surprise me. I know they’re on my side anyway, even Ollie.

I announce my plans to everyone during brekafast and Coco and Jason decide to tag along  to Capitol for Christmas too. Coco was the expected guest but I’m glad Jason wants to join too. It’ll be good to have a friend around when I start missing Dylan like the first day after his accident. Jason says he needs a change of scene and to stay away from David and I’d rather have him with me than getting back together with the devil.

We pack our stuff after breakfast and plan a videocall all together in a few days before Marie and Ollie leave to pack their own things. Olivia’s going to France to meet up with her family too but she seems to be very invested in my relationship with Harry or my lack of it.

Coco drives to Capitol, all the way without stopping once, and I feel safe when she’s behind the wheel. I’ve never understood how men can say women are bad drivers when women seem to be better at everything. Okay, that’s sexist too, but the fact that we’re asked to do double to earn the same amount explains why that could be true.

It's the first time Jason comes to Capitol despite our four years of friendship. When Dylan was alive, it was usually him go would come visit and during holidays J was usually with his family so I would go to Capitol alone. I hope the idea he has of me doesn’t change when he sees my house. I guess it won’t, because I know his parents have an equally big mansion but still…

The dark grey fence opens for my sister’s car after she sets the code and my sister’s Mercedes drives inside our sumptuous property. She drives around the fountain at the entrance and the set of pine trees on both sides of our private road brings back memories of my childhood underneath them.

The house looks more like a palace than I even remembered. I don’t quite know how many hectares of land my father owns but I know the entire house have glass walls looking at the back because there was no need to hide from nothing at all; there’s just a pine forest and snowy mountains behind it. I reckon if Jason was still a kid, I could tell him my dad’s a vampire and he’d probably believe it.

Dad’s waiting at the door with a big smile and his thick winter coat when we get off the car. My sister runs to hug him as Jason and I get the bags out of the boot. Then it’s my turn. My dad wraps his warm, big arms around me and presses my body against his bigger one.

“Oh, my lovely girls! How’s my favourite doctor?”

“Hi, dad, it’s nice to see you.”

“It’s very nice to see you too, Blueberry. I made soup and lamb for dinner.” He smiles.

“Thank you.”

“And garlic bread?” Coco asks. “Can we make garlic bread?”

“Already in the oven.” My dad winks at her and like that my sister is back to being. “Hello, Jason.” My dad shakes his hand. “I’m glad you could join us this year.”

“Thank you for having me, Peter.”

“No need to thank us. It’s our pleasure. Well, why don’t you show Jason around, Berry? Coco and I will get the mulled wine ready.”

“Yes! Mulled wine! This is paradise, dad. Where’s Rio?”

“He’s at the gym.” My dad explains. “Says he needs to make room for the lamb.”

The three of us laugh before my dad and Coco disappear down the hall towards the kitchen and Coco’s cheerful voice gets lower and lower until we can barely hear her. I show Jason around the entire house, the halls, the living room, the dining room, my dad’s studio... 

We climb the stairs. I get ready to open the door to my old room. I take a deep breath and keep telling him some stories about the house, like about that time Coco fell down the stairs when she was about six and everyone was so worried and then she just yelled I’m okay! from the bottom. 

Entering my room, I set my eyes on my empty desk. It looks like the room of someone who’s not there anymore and in a way I guess that’s what it is. This is the room of the girl I used to be but there’s little of her now. 

I remember it used to be a mess. I have lots of books and even now they’re all organized in the shelves like a library now, they used to be all over the room and all my records, now also carefully placed on the shelf, used to be all around too. It gives me chills to see the room like this but I guess it would be harder if it still looked just like it used to. I would notice Dylan’s absence more. 

“Berry, eh?” Jason teases. 

I roll my eyes. My dad always calls me with the most ridiculous nicknames ever. I’m going to defend myself but my breath catches on my throat when I see the bed. I remember every night I spent there with him and I know it would never come back. I storm out of the room. 

Jason’s quiet for the biggest part of the rest of the tour until he leaves his bags on his bed in the guest room. My mum decorated this room with warm colours because she says they help make the guest feel cosy and at home. I guess it depends on the guest for someone whose house was cold colour themed would hardly feel at home in a terra coloured room but if Mum says that’s the way it is, then that must be the way it is. She’s the painter after all. 

“I just have a question” he says “why did you never tell us you’re the princess of Genovia?”

I laugh and sit down on the cushion bench on the feet of his bed.

“I mean, this is the guest room and it’s bigger than the girls’ apartment in Grad.”

“It’s not.” I shake my head. “The living room might be.” I joke and he laughs. “I usually sleep here when I come home though. I was in my room when Dylan had the accident and sometimes it just gets suffocating in there.” I explain.

Jason stays quiet and I enjoy his silence for sometimes there’s little one can say.

We were on the phone. We were fighting. He had come visit me that weekend and it had been the best weekend we had had in months. The last part of our relationship was as messy as it could get; we would fight all the time. I would fight him about the weed and about how he was... Losing himself all the time. And he would tell me I had changed a lot and that everything in my life was perfect except from him and he would invite me to just break up with him and have a doctor boyfriend if I was so disappointed on him. I heard the crash. And then he died.   

“You can come sleep here if that happens.” Jason smiles. “Or we can swap rooms.”

I shake my head. I want to at least try. It’s been almost four years now and as tough as that memory is, I also have memories I treasured with my life. I remember Mum signing to me when I was little, Dad telling stories to Coco and me, Coco climbing in my bed when she was little and had nightmares. And I remember Dylan, I remember him trying to teach me how to play the guitar, me teaching him to braid my hair and I remember kissing him and him telling me he loved me. 

“Have you talked to David?” I need to stop thinking about that. 

“After breaking up with him, you mean?”

I nod and he shakes his head.

“I blocked his number and blocked him on every social media. Also deleted the apps at the risk of him creating a fake profile so as to be able to talk to me. I know it’s crazy but-”

“So is he.” I interrupt him, probably finishing his sentence and he chuckles.

“That’s right.”

I snort a chuckle and look down at my hands over the cushion. I’m sure this week I’m going to be out of it a lot of the times but I think Jason needs some time to himself too so it’s good our two sad asses are here together.

“You okay?”

“Yes.” I nod.

“Have you talked to him?”

My heart stops. For a second, I think he’s talking about someone who’s dead but then I shake my head. I did tell Harry not to contact me again and as strange as it seems knowing him, he might be respecting that. I don’t know if I really want him to though but I know it’s what’s best.

“Should we go downstairs have some of that mulled wine?”

“Yes, please.”

Dad and Coco are sitting in front of the chimney with a glass of mulled wine each when we join them. She’s telling him about Guido now. I feel bad for mum but she can’t keep a secret to save her life so it makes sense she wouldn’t tell her yet.

“Hi, guys.” My dad greets. “Do you like your room, Jason? Are you comfortable?”

“Yes, sir, thank you. It’s incredible.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Please, take a seat and help yourself with some wine.”

“Thank you.”

“So how are you, Dad?” I ask. 

“Can’t complain.” He smiles. “Rio’s doing great at the bank and we’re happy and my daughters are home for Christmas. Couldn’t ask for anything else.”

I smile at the sweet man who raised me.

“How are you, Berry?”

“I’m…” Should I tell him? “I’m good.”

He smiles but I know it’s his way of silently saying we both know that’s not true so I smile back and it’s my silent way of letting him know I don’t particularly want to talk about it.

“Have you seen the Meyers?”

My dad’s light hazel eyes set on mine. I know he’s taken aback by my serenity. I think I want to have a cup of tea with Dylan’s parents but it’d be great to have some background before I contact them.

“They passed by the bank in the morning, wished Merry Christmas like usual. Amalia cut her hair. It looks good on her.”

“I think I’m gonna text them. See if they’d like to have a cup of tea.”

“I think they’d love to.” He smiles. “I’m proud of you, Blue.”

I nod and give him a little smile and we all hear the door opening and my brother’s feet shuffling inside the hall. He drops his gym bag on the floor and Jason gets more excited than any of us. He’s got Rio’s fever.

“It smells like women in here.” Rio jokes.

“It smells like mulled wine, dofus.” Coco explains and he grins.

“Long time no see, Coconut.”

“She’s been busy with her boyfriend.”

“DAD!” She panics. “That’s exactly what I meant!”

My dad just laughs and then Rio’s interrogation begins. He asks for pictures, age, family name, degree and every little thing in between and Coco answers but cries for help at least five times.

I help my dad set the table while he finishes up with dinner and then the five of us sit around the table and enjoy dinner among shared stories of Rio’s adventure on the bank and the rumours he’s heard. Harry would like this nosy conversation too. But why am I thinking about him? He’s a junkie and a liar.

My dad tells us a messy love story between two of his associates and Rio adds the juicy comments every now and then. Coco and Jason are really invested but I know my dad is just filling in the conversation so I don’t have to participate. Much like me, he’s never been interested in other people’s business. As a matter of fact, he’s been in charge of the Anderson Bank for over thirty years and has never had trouble with any employee. He only learnt about relationships when he got invited to his employees’ weddings.

I look up to my father. He’s had everything handed to him on a silver platter but he’s able to admit it. He knows half the things he has, he doesn’t even deserve. For years I thought the right thing to do was getting rid of all of that but growing up I learnt, it’s a lot more useful to be a part of the system and make a change from within. 

Harry: Where are you?

I turn my phone upside down and look at my dad, pretending to listen. We usually disagree on pretty much everything but he still talks to me about politics and economy and all that and I like the way he disagrees with me. He gets frustrated because he treats me like an equal.

Where are you? 

My dad used to say I could do anything I wanted. He told my entire family I’d make a great cook when I was about sixteen just because I had taken upon creative cuisine and cupcakes with fondant and heart shapes. 

What does he care where I am? 

And then when I was seventeen, I started playing volleyball and he told everyone I’d be the national champion.

Why does he think it’s okay to text me at dinner time and ask my whereabouts?

And then… Then… Ugh, I can’t get the text out of my head.

“Blue, is everything alright?”

I look up at my brother’s concerned eyes and only then I realize I’ve been torturing the dead lamb on my plate. I clear my throat.

“Yes, I just have a virus or something on my phone.” I give him a tight smile.

“Alright.” He chuckles.

Jason types on his phone and gives me a look so I grab mine to see his text. There are messages from Harry.

Jason: What’s wrong?

Indie: Harry texted me.

Harry: Come on, Blue, it’s me.

Harry: Open the door.

“Who wants dessert?”

“Let it be chocolate coulant, let it be chocolate coulant.” Coco prays with closed eyes.

My dad laughs and makes his way to the kitchen with as many plates as he could get and Jason follows suit helping pick up stuff from the table. Rio hisses for me to look at him.

“Is the virus that guy you were seeing?”

“How do you even know about that?” I narrow my eyes at him threateningly so he would confess nothing but the truth.

“Mum and I talk, you know.” He shrugs.

I roll my eyes but his hand rests atop of mine on the table.

“If you want his legs broken, just say the word.”

“Rio!” I chuckle and he smiles.

“I’m just saying.”

         After dinner, Jason and I sit on the balcony despite the cold. We brought a little mulled wine and got blankets from the wardrobe before we sat down on my favourite part of the house. I have two armchairs and a small table in between on my balcony and the view is magnificent. You can see the mountains behind a huge, now snow-covered, forest of pines.

“Did you text him back?”

I shake my head.

“And do you want to?”

“It doesn’t matter what I want to.” I sigh.

“I think it does.”

I tilt my neck to give him a warning glare.

“Olivia and I have talked.”

“About me?” I frown. “And why do you think I care about that?”

“I agree with her.” He confesses.

I have a long sip of my wine to busy my tongue and not curse at him.

“For all we know, it must have been the first time he smoked weed. I mean, think about it, he was really affected wasn’t he? And he told you several times he didn’t want to talk in that moment. He didn’t want to discuss it with you while he was high, Indie. I think that means he cares.”

“I think that means he was that high he couldn’t even think properly.”

“And yet he was lucid enough to know that was not how he wanted to be when he talked to you about that.”

“Why are you defending him?”

“I’m not defending him. I just think you’re overreacting, which is normal, I mean. We all know why you took it like that but he doesn’t, does he?”

I sigh and look ahead at the mountain.

“I mean… You’re getting mad at him because he didn’t tell you about that but there’s a lot of things you didn’t tell him about, either. Can you get mad at someone for keeping secrets from you while keeping secrets yourself?”

“I don’t do drugs, Jason. It’s not the same.”

Jason sighs.

“Before it happened, you were… Happy. I haven’t seen you that happy since Dylan passed” he whispers that part, afraid to bring upon us the weight of those words “and it’s all on Harry.” He shrugs. “So I think he deserves to at least be listened to. I mean you don’t even know why he was high.”

“Because he smoked weed, Jason, there’s just one explanation.”

“I mean why he smoked.” He chuckles. “Haven’t you thought about that?”

No, I haven’t.

“It was a family reunion, J. You weren’t there but it was cousins and aunts and his mum for the love of God. Who gets high with his family there? It was his older sister’s birthday.”

“That’s right. The same sister who was on the car the night he crushed it. Now, I don’t know why he crushed the car or how the accident was but neither do you and don’t you think it must be hard? Whatever the reason was, to be at your sister’s birthday, someone who’s on a wheelchair somehow because of you?”

My anger drops a knot. Or two.

“You said he doesn’t drink, right?”

I nod.

“And he… He has trouble sleeping.” I add.

He’s tortured about his sister’s accident and now I understand it a lot more. He lied to me that one time too, when he explained to me why he felt so terrible about it. He doesn’t feel guilty because he didn’t help during her recovery. He feels guilty because he thinks it’s his fault and for all I know it might be.

“He should have told me sooner.”

“That’s true.” Jason agrees. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t be mad. You have every right to be. Just… Don’t pretend like you don’t care about him.”

I feel my bottom lip quivering, but this is just Jason. It’s okay to cry in front of Jason.

“I… I don’t want to do it again, J; to think I can fix him because I can’t. I’ve been there before and I don’t want that again. He…”

Warm arms wrap around me so I rest my head on his shoulder.

“He’s not Dylan, Indie. He wasn’t driving that night.”

             I think I fell asleep after that because I wake up on Jason’s bed and see him peacefully sleeping beside me. I’m happy he’s here and I’m happy he’s finally free from fucking David Dick. He didn’t deserve the way he treated him, no one does. I have five missed calls and new texts from Harry. He really isn’t given up, is he? 

Harry: I know you’re with your dad. I’m glad you’re okay and with your family.  

Harry: I’m truly sorry, Indie.

I don’t like it that he calls me Indie. It feels like we’ve gone backwards but then again I guess we have. I don’t answer him because I still need to think. I’m not sure what I want even and I know if I see him or even hear his voice he’ll get in my head and I’ll say yes to anything he has to say because that’s how much of a fool I am.

I think I’ll go to the lake today, show Jason our rope and where we go in the summer. I get up from the bed carefully so as not to wake the Sleeping Beauty and make my way downstairs. Dad’s having a cup of coffee reading his newspaper in the kitchen and the image is so familiar I feel like nothing has ever happened. I wrap my arms around his chest from behind and know he’s smiling.

“Morning, Blue.”

“Morning, Dad. How did you sleep?”

He looks me in the eyes. I frown and suddenly feel the air falling on top of our shoulders. It’s like without saying a word, he set the mood for something terrible. I rest my hand on his shoulder.

“What is it, Dad?”

“I don’t want to scare you” and that’s how you scare someone “but… I’ve been feeling a little weird these past few weeks. I’ve been more tired than usual, more… Anxious, I guess I’d say and my chest started hurting just after walking to the bank every day so I went to the doctor and they did this bunch of tests, you know and it was all good except from an X-ray from my chest.”

“What is it?”

“They found a nodule next to my heart.” He swallows. “Now they don’t know yet whether it is on the lungs or the heart or the aorta or even the thyroid so they have to do some more tests but… They said it could be a tumour, Berry.”

His words are a direct punch in the guts but I know what he needs right now is not me crumbling so I do what I can to give him a smile.

“Well, it could just be. There’s a hundred other things that could be and even if it was a tumour, it might be a benign one and even if it was bad, the diagnose might be in time to fix it if they didn’t treat it like something urgent.”

“Thank you.” My dad smiles. “I know how hard it is for you not to say what your doctor’s mind is thinking.”

“This is my doctor’s mind speaking actually.” I tell him. “My daughter’s mind is running wild but doctor Anderson is calming Blue down.”

He smiles again and gets up from his chair and starts making French toasts for everyone. He shows me the x-ray and I pretend I don’t get scared shitless when I see it. The lump is as big as a peach and is right next to his heart. Now I don’t know what that is but it can’t be good.

Harry: Indie, I’m trying to give you space but I suck at this and I think the more space I give you, the harder it’s gonna be for you to listen to me.

Harry: I miss you.

Harry: And I’m very sorry.

“Who’s that?” My dad smirks. “Is that your boyfriend?”

How can he even care about it after what he just told me? His nosiness surprises me so I just stare at him as if the devil had possesed him. 

“Yeah, Blue, is that your boyfriend?” Jason smirks too.

I give him a death glare.

“Good morning, Jason.” My dad tells him.

“Good morning, Peter. So, what is it? Is he your boyfriend?”

“Don’t make dumb questions, Jason.”

“There are no dumb questions, honey.” My dad teases.

“Just dumb people, I guess.”

Jason just laughs and starts setting the table for breakfast as if he has been here before.

“Are you mad at a boy, honey?” My dad presses.

“If it was just at the boy, Peter, it wouldn’t be so bad.” I death glare at Jason again but it seems like he wants war today. “She’s mad at the world. She always is.”

“What was that?” I frown.

“Nothing.” Jason shrugs and gets the empty plates on the table. “I just want you to talk to him, I’m sure you’ll feel better.”

“So there is a he! I knew it.”

“Dad, stop.”

My phone screen illuminates and both Jason and I see Harry’s name. I defy him with my glare but he shakes his head. He’s not Ollie. Olivia would have picked up.

“He doesn’t give up.” My dad adds.

I can’t believe him. I grab my phone keen to set an end to this.

Indie: I’m with my family. I’ll talk to you if I want to.

Harry: Please want to.

Harry: Thank you for answering.

Oh, no, he’s going to act all kind and innocent now. I hate it. He’s not like this. He’s smug and irritating, he isn’t sweet and delicate.

After breakfast, Jason agrees to go for a run with Rio. I almost go along because Jason never runs, he just said he did to impress Rio, so I bet that has to be funny but I have something else in mind. 

Coco and Dad stay home to set the Christmas tree and I go to the lake with an old copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and my laptop. I re-read the book I’ve read at least five times and promise to myself I won’t google my dad’s x-ray, I know that’s probably the silliest thing to do but...  I send an email to professor Gibbins. I trust him and would like to know what he thinks. A second opinion is a thing. 

He sends me his phone number and tells me to call him and that scares me to death.

“Hello, Indigo.”

“Hi, doctor Gibbins.”

“Call me Danny, dude.” He laughs.

I swallow but appreciate the easing. I wonder if he’s using one of the techniques we learn in Comunication with me but don’t waste more time before I tell him what my dad told me in the morning. He sighs.

“Well, I’m seeing the radiography as we speak and I mean it could be anything.”

“Yeah but it doesn’t look good, does it?”

“He needs a surgery.”

Harry’s voice freezes my blood. I wasn’t expecting to hear his accent so soon, much less to say that. 

“Am I on speaker mode?”

“Mmm… Yes, I’m sorry. I’m at work and Harry was here. I thought two doctors were better than one.”

He’s probably right. Plus, Harry is the smartest person I know and I’m actually glad he asked him because as mad as I am at him I would love to know his opinion on this. He’s brilliant. I have no doubt of that. 

“Does he have high blood pressure, Indie?” Harry asks me.

“Yes.” I frown. 

“And did he feel a pain in the chest recently?”

“Yes!” 

There he is playing his magic. 

“I think it’s an aortic dissection. Look at it, it’s an A type.”

That last part wasn’t for me but for Danny. Why is he so smart? Why does everything he says seem so interesting and impossibly right to me? And why does he always make me feel safer and better? Why can’t he be normal, just like any other guy? And why did he have to ruin everything like that?

“If you need anything else, I can help you too.” Harry says very softly, as if he was afraid I was going to hang up.

“I know, and still I called Danny, didn’t I?” I sigh. “What do you think, Danny?”

“I think he’s right.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

I hang up without saying goodbye and hold my tears in before opening my book again. 

"First of all," he said, "if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

[juliantaylor]

ᴊᴜʟɪᴀɴ ᴛᴀʏʟᴏʀ ; ɪɴᴛʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

is that regé-jean page on campus? oh no, that’s julian taylor. from seattle, washington & new york, new york, the 24 year old has come to study law (juris doctorate graduate program). rumor has it he is charming and alluring, but manipulative and destructive, which is why he is known as the casanova. he resides in yorks and can’t wait to graduate.

although not explained in absolute depth, please note the following triggers: mentions of child abuse & neglect, mentions of eating disorders, illicit substance abuse

wanted connections | relationships | full navigation

statistics !

full name: julian taylor

birthday: november 5th, 1996 (24 years old)

sign: scorpio

height: 5’11”

ethnicity: english and zimbabwean

nationality: british

place of birth: london, england

places lived: moved to seattle, washington when he was 13; moved to new york, new york when he was 18.

accents: british 

sexual orientation: heterosexual

undergraduate degree: pre-law & political science from NYU

graduate degree (currently majoring in): law (juris doctorate program)

occupation: self-defense and boxing instructor at soulstice gym

positive traits: charming, ambitious, protective, likable, candid, spontaneous, outgoing, honest

negative traits: resentful, destructive, manipulative, possessive, guarded, blunt

pre-existing connections: arden (ex-girlfriend from high school), amber-jade (her former client from new york city)

backstory !

born in london, england to a well known lawyer and plastic surgeon…and being the old child, one would think julian had it all — but he didn’t. while a normal household was filled with love and joy, his was filled with success and wealth. and that’s all that mattered. there was no room for joy, as recognitions, honors, and awards came in for both parents like wildfire. julian was often left with a nanny, the closest thing he has to a true, loving mother. and when his nanny wasn’t around, he was alone.

he had spent most of his time watching karate kid over and over again, and mimicking the moves that were made throughout the movie…while breaking almost every piece of glass in his home during the process. because of this, and due to the recommendation of his nanny, his parents put him into his first of two sports. starting from the age of five, he found love in taekwondo — and taekwondo found love in him. he was a natural, but being in the sport that he loved cost him a price. his well being and confidence.

starting from the age of 8, his master thought it was time to start competing, and his father couldn’t have agreed more. but with this, julian quickly met the overly competitive, always on top and always winning father. and things quickly went downhill. for years, julian was pushed to his absolute limit by his father, training session after training session, practice after practice — all to be the best. because there was no room for love and joy in the taylor household, only room for wealth and success. julian was only allowed to bring home gold medals from competitions — that was what he had to do to get the love of his father, who actually would take time out of his busy schedule to come “support” him during competitions and practice. his mom was always too busy with her patients and practice to pay him any mind. and when he didn’t bring home the gold, even if it was silver, his life would be hell until the next competition. we’re talking about, hours upon hours at a time of training and conditioning, pushing julian until he was crouched over a toilet, throwing up from how overwhelmed his body was. extreme dieting, being given only sources of protein and vegetables, with the occasional whole grain and complex carbs. his father knew how to win, and he knew how to get julian there — and it was by pushing him to his absolute limit. because of this, julian doesn’t take losing well, and he will beat himself up hard just because that’s what he’s been conditioned to do.

this continued to go on for years and years, until his father and mother decided it was best to move to the states. his father’s firm and pro-bono services for those who aren’t privileged had gone international, and his mother was one of the best plastic surgeons in the world (all the ladies and men wanted her, and her only). so they brought their services to seattle, washington. julian was only 13 years old, and he was ripped away from the only mother figure he had.

julian had continued to do taekwondo up until his move to american, which is when he transitioned into boxing. and as per usual, he was a natural. and as per usual, there was no room for failure. his fathers obsession with his family being at the top always persisted, and so the unhealthy habits continued, forcefully.

you’ll thank me one day, son. when you’re out there traveling the world, receiving all those gold medals and being with the best of the best, you’ll thank me. you can make great britain and even america so proud, but only if you win.

julian quickly rose to the top, winning state, national, and even international competitions/fights. he was a force to be reckoned with. he was scouted by an olympic trainer, and began training for the 2016 olympics at the age of 16. he was making his father proud, so he thought.

he stood in seattle until his high school graduation, which is when he then moved to new york city in 2015. he was 18 years old. he mainly moved to new york to train with some of the best of the best. and after years of hard work, he found his way to the 2016 summer olympics in rio, in which he represented team usa. he was 19 years old. and he did what his father sent him to do — he won, and he won a lot. bringing home a gold medal in the heavyweight competition amongst other events, julian taylor became one of the best boxers in the world. there is no room for love and joy in the taylor household, only room for wealth and success.

as new york city was his home training spot, julian decided to go back there after the olympics was all said and done. and considering he was on top of the world, rolling in both the wealth that came from him and his father, he was able to distance himself from his parents. they still talk, but julian doesn’t allow them to control him anymore. instead, he controls and abuses himself now.

academic life !

like in his sports, julian always excelled in school. he didn’t really care much for school, but he was naturally damn good at it. because he couldn’t be anything less than great in everything. he always got perfect grades, and graduated as one of the top in his class in both high school and college.

considering that he took a million advanced placement and college courses in high school, he was ahead of the game. but still, he took about a year off from university in order to train for the olympics. he took two years off in order to enjoy his life and run wild, while also training, and didn’t decide to go back to school until he was 21. he started college in the fall of 2018. he graduated in 2020 with his undergraduate degree in pre-law and political science from NYU in just two short years, at the age of 23. during uni, he was able to balance training with school. he didn’t work a job, but instead two — school and training were his jobs. and he did them full time.

after taking yet another break, julian has decided to begin his juris doctorate, which is a three year graduate program. luckily enough for him (and arden (;), monarch has one of the best law programs in the country. however, this is only because he got into a car accident in late 2020, which resulted in him needing to get surgery on his shoulder in march of 2021. he was supposed to go to the 2020 summer olympics in tokyo this summer, but was forced to step down as he didn’t pass physical therapy and didn’t heal in time.

familial life !

while he’s obviously not close with either of his parents, he’s extremely close with his old nanny. she is basically his mother figure, and has took him in as her own family numerous times (despite her having her own children and life, she made sure that he got to feel some of the love her kids felt). after moving to the united states, he often would spend a month of his summer in england with her, and would go there for christmas every year. he still makes it a point to fly out and visit her as much as he possibly can, even during school and training.

personal life !

he’s a huge partier, and a huge ladies man. when he’s not training, he’s partying. but he doesn’t do the trashy bar/house parties, but instead he really love to spend his fathers money. you’ll catch him at some of the most beautiful, fancy, yet wild clubs around. the clubs that are typically for the rich, and nothing less. you’ll find him doing lines of coke on the bodies of strippers that he would soon take in the bathroom, car, or private room for a quick and easy fuck. you’ll find him drinking the finest of drinks, the most expensive of drinks.

he’s only ever had a total of two girlfriends, arden and another girl he met in new york that he just broke things off with. he doesn’t really take relationships seriously, and often times comes off as emotionless. there’s no room for love and joy, only wealth, success, and anger. he’ll take care of you physically and sexually, but don’t expect him to take care of you emotionally. he lives for the thrill and chase, though.

personality !

did someone say toxic men?!!!!! did someone say bad boy?!!!!!!

he’s fun, wild, spontaneous, and lord knows he knows how to have the best time…but he’s also dangerous.

he’s the one to break your best friends heart, in which you tell them to not go back and they agree with you because they know it’s wrong….just for them to go back days later.

he’s the one to get into fights with guys that even dare to look at his girl, but then be the one to steal someone else’s girl…even if he has one of his own.

he’s the one to literally curse you out if you even try to come at him sideways. a spitfire with absolutely no filter.

but!!!!! he’s very charming and knows how to talk his way around.

disclaimer: he can also be a good friend and a bit of a softie once you break down those vicious walls.

mental health !

as you probably have noticed by now, the man is extremely fucked up. he has developed the unhealthy habits his father forced upon him from a very young age, so he does suffer from some form of an eating disorder…but he has no recognized this. he’s a huge health bean (except for the liquor and drugs). catch him at the gym every day and not even bothering to look at a donut.

illicit substance use !

the man drinks, and he drinks a lot. he also smokes a lot, and does coke occasionally (and by this, we’re talking about every weekend). he has always passed his drug tests due to buying other people’s urine (major yikes). he’s used to getting away with everything now.

[inyoursheets]

i got tagged by the lovely @missmaxime to do this fic writer tag game thingy!

Talk about the fics you wrote and tag 10 other authors you’d like to hear a little about their own insight of their writing!

* Favourite fic? And why?

warm water. i got......overwhelmingly emotionally invested in it. and i cant believe it’s over?!?!?!?! now what am i supposed to do w all my feelings?

anyway idk, i think it’s my favorite bc it has most if not all my favorite things, in terms of tropes, themes, setting, feelings. i really have a sense of the space they share so writing it felt like wandering around their apartment. and then stabbing them, repeatedly, with angst. plus i love the intimate friendship between them and just, messing with that?

and it’s the first longer fic ive ever written! ive been working on it for months, it’s been my pandemic buddy. makes it hard to compare to other fics bc they’re all a lot shorter and tend to be heavy on the smut, not so much on the plot. and it’s gonna be a while before i’ll so much as start another multichapter fic! so! it’s special!

(ok wait let me save your dash)

* Most intimate fic you’ve written?

id definitely say warm water, bc intimacy was pretty central to the fic as a whole? the intimacy of their friendship, how entangled their lives are, the whole dance of feelings? it also feels intimate bc of how much i accidentally injected my own feelings into the fic, so the vibe reads more intimate to me than any other fic ive written so far, but i think the quick exes!fic i wrote is a close second. or, maybe not that close. the intimacy in warm water gets a lot more space to grow thanks to the size of the fic and the slowburn aspect. but there’s something intimate there, too.

or....actually wait, i just opened my author page on ao3 and saw a fic i completely forgot i ever wrote that’s pretty intimate, too. how do i even... say that? is about learning how to communicate during sex, which, id classify that as intimate, despite it being 2k of smut? and in a sense the threesome fic is intimate as well. ok maybe i enjoy writing intimate fics? but warm water definitely wins

* A fic you’re ‘meh’ about?

uhhh well, in terms of quality, definitely my first fic, the bounce house guy!AU. and tbh, if the short pwps that followed would disappear, i wouldn’t lose any sleep. that said, for some reason, i have a lot of mixed feelings about the exes!AU i wrote? even tho i dont hate it in terms of the writing per se. ive mentioned it before, idk, i think it’s bc i wrote it so quickly and purely bc i was stuck with warm water and the instigator and i wanted a distraction. i need closure!? there was just a lot of crying ??? so im debating writing an epilogue a few years into the future (cough, wedding, cough). it’s at the bottom of my WIP list tho

* Which fic is best received by readers? And why do you think that is? And does it surprise you?

warm water for sure. i dont comprehend the stats for that fic, i dont comprehend the response to that fic as a whole, im absolutely blown away. safe to say i didnt expect it! mmm idk why exactly... i guess people like slowburn fics? and there weren’t that many friends-to-lovers fics (or roommate AUs for that matter) in the fandom as far as i can tell? but im not sure

i was also very surprised by the response to the beth/rhea/rio fic i wrote for ggpat2020 tbh. i didnt expect that many people to be into it.

* A fic you wrote for fun that now you’re oddly very proud of?

i definitely wrote both installments of the grocery store manager!AU just for fun and im pretty fond of them. i didnt tell anyone except @medievalraven i was working on the first part, which helped really write it for no one but myself. and part 2, oh my goodness, i just keep adding pieces of dialogue and sex positions and stuff just bc i like em. they serve no purpose. truly just for funzies.

although, slowly a plot started taking shape so now unfortunately i need to actually think about what im writing for the second chapter of part 2, but.....yes, very much a self-indulgent fic that im happy with no matter the response bc im writing it just to please myself

tagging @bathroombreaks, @mrslackles, @fairhairedkings, @storiestoldbyjazz​, @sdktrs12, @lilliloves, and anyone else who hasnt done this yet soz

[corpse--diem]

Burn The White Flag | Erin & Roy

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @corpse--diem and @theshadowandvalleyaremine SUMMARY: Roy visits the funeral home for the first and last time. Things get heated.

The front door was open when Erin reached the porch steps. Then she heard the whistling. A relaxed, upbeat rhythm that normally wouldn’t have been as creepy as it was if she hadn’t come home from a viewing to an open door and that. Still, she paused at the foot of them. Dug into her bag for the knife she always kept on hand now. Creaky steps grew louder as they approached the front door and a deep voice bellowed out from the shadows.

“Ms. Nichols! I was just looking for you!”

She knew that voice. It echoed in her mind in quiet moments and haunted her nightmares. That giant smile, sharp and sure, was the first thing she saw when he sauntered out of the shadows into the light of day. Roy Chambers steely grey eyes locked on hers. “I was looking for you inside but all I found were a bunch of blue-haired children gossiping in the lunchroom. Are funeral homes some sort of new macabre hangout spot?” There was judgment in his voice and tone but he kept his expression light. A bunch? Erin’s chest burned. Rio and Blanche were here? What the fuck was Blanche doing here? Hadn’t she told her to ask before just dropping in? She was going to kill her if she made it out of this. “Doesn’t strike me as the most professional move but I suppose it’s your business. You do what you like, don’t you?”

“What do you want?” Erin cut to the chase, stepping back when he started down the steps. One of the most annoying things about this man was the way he took his time getting to the point. He made his audience wait, like he was the most interesting man in the room and not just the most dangerous. Roy, naturally, fancied himself as both.

His smile dripped into a quick frown, holding a hand to his heart. “Erin, I’m wounded. What makes you think I want something? Can’t your former employer drop by and see how you’ve been doing? You never even call anymore.” It didn’t take long for his grin to return. “A two-weeks notice would have sufficed, by the way. You didn’t have to blow up half the town to get your point across.”

It took all of her strength not to hurl her bag at his face. “But that’s how you’re going to justify poisoning Pat’s and all of those people, right? You’re going to make this my fault?” She narrowed her eyes at him incredulously.

Roy didn’t flinch. “You and your cohorts are responsible for their own actions and you both were reprimanded accordingly. But that stint at the Ring was clever. I’ll give you that. I didn’t see it coming, especially not from you,” he pointed at her, a dark gleeful glint to his eye. “And that was my mistake.”

Erin straightened up. Was she supposed to be flattered? Whatever leg up she had before was over now, she knew that. He opened the front of his suit, pulling a cigar from the inside pocket. It was like she could smell the smoke before he’d even lit the flame. With a snap of his finger, fire blazed between the fingertips and he watched it grow until it became the size of a baseball in his hand. “I could kill you. Right here. Right now.” He mused, manipulating and twirling the flames between his fingers like only a skilled practitioner had the ability to do. He looked up from his hand to find her eyes, wide and terrified. Good. He had her attention.

“So why don’t you?” She asked, even if she didn’t really want the answer to that one. Glanced at the house again, worrying for the two still inside. If he even thought about touching them--her jaw clenched together, hard and unrelenting.

His smirk curved up higher and he brought the flame and his cigar closer to his lips. “Where’s the fun in that? Actually--there would be a lot of fun in that. For me, not for you.” A hand dug into his front pocket as he inhaled a puff of the cigar, surveying the yard. Even gave a wave to a passing neighbor walking their dog along the sidewalk with a friendly smile that eventually fell hauntingly on her. He took slow, thoughtful steps until he was close enough to stand beside her. “You’re giving people around here ideas and unless those ideas benefit me, I don’t care for ‘em. So I’m glad to make an example out of you instead.” No. Even a small uprising wouldn’t do, wouldn’t be tolerated. When he gripped her shoulder, all she could think was how surprisingly cold his hand was despite the fire that had just lived there. He leaned in closer, cold breath tickling her ear. “If you want a war, Ms. Nichols--I’ll give you one.”

Smoke curled around his hand, his lips and the smell made her nauseous. He made her nauseous. For all of her fighting words and all the rage simmering within her, he still terrified her to her spot. And she hated it. Roy knew it too--he could feel her tremble under his tight grip. But then suddenly it was gone, he was gone, and she heard the gravel crunching behind her in his retreat. He was leaving. Was that it? Was this just some fucked up threat? She didn’t move. Didn’t dare to.

A black car pulled up to the end of the driveway. Roy opened the door, a hearty laugh shaking his shoulders when he saw the smoke building towards the top of the house. Erin just watched him, confused and angry but oh--oh, no. She still had no idea. Oh, this was good. He laughed even harder now as he waved at her, slipped into the backseat and finally, disappeared down the road.

His words echoed in her mind, the smoke from his cigar lingering in his absence. Stronger now than ever, actually. Her eyes narrowed and turned to the house. It was billowing out from the front door, from the windows, orange flames cutting through the dark. In such a short time, the house had become overwhelmed by it. Fuck. Fuck.

Rio and Blanche were still inside.

This was more than a warning, she realized, a white cold fear shooting up her spine. He’d allowed her to stand by like an idiot. Let her watch him leisurely light up his cigar and bounce casual threats off of her. Confident. So fucking confident because he’d already made his move. He was just waiting for her to realize it--this war had already begun.

[harryandmolly]

Complicit // 13

summary: Shawn is under more pressure than he’s ever known. He craves release and comfort, the simplicity of sex. He gets more than he bargained for.

warnings: language, tough love, The Cliffhanger (TM)

WC: 4.2k

-----------

One of Mia’s favorite post-date rituals is a long, hot shower. Whether a one-nighter in the Beverly Wilshire or a week on an 80-foot yacht in the Mediterranean, Mia arrives home to wiggles and pets with Pamela, a strawberry Pop Tart and a luxurious shower complete with her good conditioner and lots of exfoliation.

Truthfully, the tradition was born from feeling dirty after her first date. When she came home to her scruffy Mid City studio apartment, she shook violently through her entire shower, scrubbing herself raw with a Dollar Store loofah. But she went on another date, and then another, soon relaxing into the comfort she brought her clients, letting it comfort her, too.

The shower remained part of her routine. Sometimes the Pop Tart made it in with her, propped on a shelf beside her Kiehl’s products for her to take bites of between verses of “Fly Me to the Moon.” Pammy usually lay on the bathmat waiting for her, thwapping her tail against the tile floor when Mia hit a sour note.

Mia had no interest in showering on the afternoon she left Rio de Janeiro. Despite the fact that she came straight from the airport to the show and straight into bed for a long night, she wanted to hang on to all of it as long as possible. Her skin still wears the love of his mouth and the scent of his sheets. She can’t just get rid of that, especially now.

His flight left hours earlier than hers, so she lies in the memories of last night as heavy as the dense, wet fog that surrounds their little mountain retreat. She twists in the sheets, fighting for more sleep that won’t come. When it’s time to get up, she knows she can’t let go, not yet. She can’t let all the color Rio brought her fade, not until she’s really gone.

Mia’s slow packing up, loaded down with luggage despite being there for under 24 hours. She suspects she’s leaving something behind, despite having barely unpacked. All the way through airport security, she mentally sifts through her belongings, checking them off. She has her passport, her phones, her house keys, her phone charger, her power converter.

She’s somewhere over Mexico when she decides what she left behind was a piece of her, the piece that gets to live in the memory of the night before. The rest of her has to move on.

+

Silver walks through a cloud of Hermes 24 Faubourg, inhaling as she goes. She picked up a bottle in Monte Carlo last week after a night tangled up in Sylvie. Silver’s never been accused of sentimentality, but decided if she is forced to be away from this intangibly incredible woman, she may as well have a token that is exclusively hers and reminds her of what’s exclusively theirs.

The doorbell rings. Silver smiles. She straightens the lapels of her blazer, hot rod red rather than her usual monotone uniform, and heads for the door of her dressing room. Down the blank white corridor to her marble staircase, her heels click mutedly, carrying her with grace to where her housekeeper will have brought Penny for their meeting. 

They’re in the solarium today. Silver likes to take advantage of the gloomy Los Angeles days when they come available. Even better if it rains, which it looks like it might. She’s serving a fine Lady Grey in a vintage Royal Copenhagen set an old favorite client left her in her will. 

Penny’s back is facing her when she arrives. She’s perched on the end of her seat, ramrod straight with her legs crossed at the ankle, just the way Silver taught her years ago. She’s a polished, pretty picture in a butter yellow, smartly tailored pantsuit with her hair in soft waves. She doesn’t turn as Silver approaches.

In an uncharacteristically warm gesture that just somehow feels right, Silver bends to reach her, tucking her arms around Penny’s shoulders, resting her chin on her head. She smells freshly showered, a lovely floral and fruit bouquet, soft, touchable elegance.

“Hello, my love. I’ve missed you.”

Penny raises a hand to rest over Silver’s, thumbing against the series of Cartier Love bracelets locked around her dainty wrists. She releases a deep sigh.

“You have no idea,” Penny croaks.

Silver frowns. She releases her friend and walks around the set of chairs to sit beside her. Penny’s eyes are clouded and far away. Her hands, lying in her lap, are limp, the cuticles shredded from her picking. Her expertly applied makeup doesn’t quite cover the circles under her eyes. Silver’s heart rate kicks up in her chest.

“Penny, what’s--”

“Please,” Penny sighs, “Don’t call me that.”

Silver startles. She sits back in her chair and folds her legs, blinking quickly.

“Mia,” Silver begins again, the name foreign on her tongue, a name she hasn’t called her closest friend in many years, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Mia seems to search the blank gray sky for answers. Silver flicks anxiously at her ruby and emerald ring, the one given to her by her grandmother.

“Do you remember why I chose the name ‘Penny?’”

Silver pauses, then nods. “From the Sinatra song. “Pennies from Heaven.””

“I chose it as a way to hang on to who I am through all this. I was worried I’d lose myself in the persona I wanted to create. I thought keeping my name so personal was a smart move, that I’d never really forget myself in this. I don’t think it worked.”

Silver’s lips turn down at the corners. Her eyes drop.

“I don’t blame you, Silver. Please know that. You saved me from becoming something so much scarier. Without you, I’m not sure I could recognize myself at all now.”

There’s an uncomfortable silence weighing between them. Silver doesn’t even know where to begin.

“You want to stop seeing clients,” she says plainly, glancing over for confirmation. Mia nods solemnly.

“You feel you cannot continue because you’ve fallen in love with one.”

Mia wets her lower lip and sighs, nodding slowly.

“Tell me this, my darling,” Silver whispers tenderly, leaning forward, “How do you figure you’ve managed to fall in love if none of this is real?”

Mia’s eyes flicker. Her brow puckers for a moment, then softens. “I don’t--”

“I staunchly disagree with your idea that you lost yourself in Penny. I think instead you found yourself. I think she gave you the freedom to believe you were worthy of praise and admiration, worthy of your own innate power. I think Penny helped Mia transcend. I think Penny is as much your name as Mia is. I think you’re punishing yourself, perceiving love as a weakness. And frankly, I think you should know better.”

Mia’s jaw tightens visibly. Silver rolls her shoulders back and sits up, squaring off.

“No one knows how to love like you do. You lead every day with love. Every choice you make on every date, every meeting, every run through the canyons with Pammy, every car ride with Gus, every FaceTime call with Peter, all of it beautiful expressions of your love. I think you don’t recognize it in yourself because your fucking parents never showed it a day in their lives. I think somehow all the love they were meant to have was born into you instead. I think the first time you’ve really seen it in yourself is with him and it scares the living hell out of you.”

Mia whimpers a sobbing breath. “You’re fucking right, it does! What do I do with this now? What am I supposed to be? I have all this useless love for him fucking rotting me from the inside. It can’t go anywhere, Silver. Where is it supposed to go? Into a fairytale ending? Not for the whore. Not for the woman who sells her time and her body. You know better than anyone she doesn’t get the happy ending.”

Silver flinches, thinking of Sylvie, of all the things she’s yet to tell her, all the things that could flatten this pretty thing, this sweet little flame they’re tending before it has the chance to thrive. She shakes her head, refusing to give in to this kind of thinking.

“Haven’t you been a martyr long enough?” Silver cries, lurching nearly out of her seat, “You’ve given and given and given for five fucking years, I can’t imagine how there could be anything left to give. You’re saddled with the guilt of knowing you cannot continue being a courtesan under the conditions of your personal life, but instead of accepting and embracing the possibilities that offers, you’ll throw it all away? This job that has at once sucked you dry and sustained you? This man that has come alive in your heart and in your bed? For what? For guilt? Will that really be enough? Why can’t you let yourself have something good?”

“What good?” Mia wails, standing, lifting her hands into her hair as she frantically begins to pace in front of the rain streaked windows. Silver’s not sure when it began to rain, but it’s pouring.

“What good do I get? He can’t be with me, Silver, and you well know it. It will ruin him. His whole career, all the strain he’s been under this summer, all of it was bringing him here, to this spot. He deserves this, all of this, all of the praise and the adoration that everyone is giving him now and everything he gets when his album drops. I can’t be the thing he gives it up for. I can’t and I won’t.”

“Why does he deserve it and you don’t?” Silver breathes.

Mia stops. She blinks hard at Silver so a fat wet tear drips down her cheek. She sniffles.

Silver stands slowly, carefully, looking almost her age for once. She approaches Mia head on, fearless but soft. She cups Mia’s sticky wet cheeks.

“Why does he get to enjoy the fruits of his labor and you don’t? Why does he get to stand on top of the mountain, victorious, looking past all the good and the bad that got him there, and you still struggle to climb? Look around, my sweet darling. There’s nowhere left to go. You have done so much good. So much unsung effort and hurt and heart got you to the summit. You’ll never be recognized for it like he is; that’s the nature of your job. But you must recognize it in yourself or none of it matters. What good is it, all of it, if you cannot see what you’ve done?”

Mia is silent, breathing heavily, trembling. Silver closes her fathomless eyes and tilts her forehead to Mia’s.

“You have done enough. You have been enough. You are enough.”

Silver holds Mia when she breaks. She strokes through her hair, smoothing it away from the back of her neck like her mum used to do. She massages circles around the knob at the top of her spine and coos, cradling the closest thing she’s ever experienced to true love in her own life, hoping against hope Mia will be able to accept hers.

+

Shawn feels beautifully even.

There was something about that night with her in Rio. I mean, fuck, there was everything about that night with her. But where he usually finds himself jonesing for a fix of her about 48 hours after they separate, he doesn’t now. He’s in New York doing radio promo for the album drop next week. He left her in bed, spoiled with kisses five days ago. He feels… ok.

Just because he’s not tearing his hair out and panting her name when he frantically fucks his fist in the shower doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss her. He misses her in this beautifully sane way that doesn’t feel dangerous or scary, it feels right. He thinks about her often, when it’s a quiet moment in a hired car crossing the city for his next interview or waiting for a table at some chic Brooklyn diner. It doesn’t eat at him and drive him up a wall. It feels like the need for a hit he’s been near constantly craving from her since the beginning of summer has finally worn off.

He thinks, or hopes, that it’s because maybe she misses him, too.

He’s heading back to LA soon for the album drop. He has a Spotify promo show and a bunch of other press to do as he gets ready for the release of his career. He’d like to see her, maybe take a quiet morning and bring Pammy on a hike through the canyons. He wants to learn her favorite spots.

Shawn stands outside in a courtyard after Elvis Duran with his legs crossed and the phone to his ear. He chews on a cuticle and waits to hear her pretty voice.

“I’m sorry. The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected. Goodbye.”

Shawn blinks. He holds the phone away from his ear. He squints at the screen almost comically. He tries again.

“I’m sorry. The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected. Goodbye.”

In a blind panic, with nothing else to do, he tries it again.

“I’m sorry. The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected. Goodbye.”

Oh my god.

+

It takes Shawn a few hours to remember to try calling the agency. He blames the daze the call put him in and the busy afternoon for how long he spent thinking he has absolutely no avenue to her, and for the state of complete disarray it put him in.

He struggles to focus on the rest of his press stops. His precious evenness is long gone. He’s jittery and irritable and unfocused. His team watches him with trepidation, unsure what’s knocked him so off-kilter. It’s worse than it’s been before when he’s been without her. Before, she was a phone call or a text away. Now, she’s just gone.

The thought hits him like a brick over the head midway through a Buzzfeed interview. It manages to perk him up slightly. He at least has hope now that goes beyond racing to wait outside her house until she deigns to talk to him. But he’s forced to wait until that night during dinner when he can slip away.

He finds the number under “Dentist” and dials, bouncing back and forth from toe to heel, knocking into the wall behind him.

“Thank you for calling La Splendeur, how may I assist you?”

“Colette?” Shawn squawks, pausing to scrub a hand through his hair, “I need to talk to Mia. I mean, Penny.”

There’s a long, heavy pause. “I’m sorry, who is this?”

He huffs. “It’s Shawn Mendes. My verbal password is ‘Ireland.’ I need to talk to Penny, please, Colette.”

Another pause. He turns and kicks the wall not too gently.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Mendes, Penny is no longer employed by La Splendeur.”

He almost drops his fucking phone. “She… what?”

“Penny no longer sees clients through this agency,” Colette explains softly, her fake accent faltering.

“I don’t understand,” he gripes, “She just… quit?”

Colette sighs. “I’m not really allowed to--”

“Wait, Colette, please,” Shawn pleads, pressing his free hand into the brick wall and hanging his head, “Please, you’ve gotta have her personal cell, right?”

“I’m not able to give that to you, Mr. Mendes.”

He grunts and fists his hand, tapping it repeatedly against the brick. “Please, there has to be something… shit.”

His heart is in his throat. His forehead rests against the prickle of the brick. He exhales slowly, trying to calm down.

“I’m sorry, Shawn.”

She’s dropped the accent altogether. It feels like the final nail in the coffin of this conversation. He nods, though she can’t see him.

“Yeah. Uhm, it’s ok. Thank you anyways.”

She says goodbye and hangs up. The silence hurts his ears.

+

Edge - Shawn Mendes

By: Christian Becker, Editor in Chief, September 29th, 2020

The fourth full length release from Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes has been the most highly anticipated of the fall. Though already a multi-time Grammy nominee with several international tours under his belt, including an impressive festival run this summer culminating in the performance of his career in front of a crowd of 80k on the third night of Rock in Rio only weeks ago, the 22-year-old remained a boy in the eyes of many, especially those who were paying attention when he cropped up fresh-faced and innocent at 16. 

No longer. This record is a definitive departure from Mendes’ boyhood. The sound is mature and focused even in its variations of style, from R&B to rock to soul to bouncy pop that he knows better than to shy away from, even if it is associated with a younger fanbase. The lyrics are a masterful collection of mourning, of longing, of lust, of life itself through his eyes, very clearly now the eyes of a man. They contrast beautifully with his surprise summer single release, “Far,” a lively, radio friendly pop duet with Bex, his very recently ex-girlfriend. “Far” is a celebration of freedom, of feeling totally safe with a partner in a way never thought possible. (The break-up, well documented by major gossip outlets, begs the question of whether another round of Mendes’ more heart-wrenching work is on its way. If it is, it may well have been worth it.)

Edge as a whole is a coming of age of sorts, lacking the obvious connotations of Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle” or Bowie’s “Changes.” Mendes has arrived. He stands unafraid of his past, of the critics who have seen his babyface and can’t manage to unsee it. He places before us his heart in record form for us to judge, as honest and as poignant as I’ve ever seen. For that we at Vertigo Magazine commend him and look forward to future triumph and heartbreak.

5/5 stars.

Shawn sniffs and tucks an arm behind his head. He’s read Becker’s review so many times he’s got it nearly memorized. He thinks it’s his favorite thing that’s ever been written about his work. He doesn’t even mind anymore that Mia wore his necklace on a date with the guy. Mostly.

The first time he read it, he felt like he let go of a breath he’d been holding for weeks. The news had just broken about the “Shex” break-up -- the stunt had done its job and run its course. Bex’s album sales had been much higher than anticipated and her mid-size national club tour had sold out. She was invited out to open for Alessia Cara on her international arena bout next summer. And as for Shawn, the single absolutely exploded, declared “song of the summer” by just about every pop radio station on the planet. The album sales were even better than his team originally planned for. Announcing the international stadium tour, his first of its kind, would come next in just a few weeks. 10 months, 86 cities. He’s so excited it hurts.

He’s made his peace with it all. Mia was right. In the end, it was worth it. He’ll never be just a kid again in anyone’s eyes. For all the time he spent feeling trapped by it, by the lies and the smiles, it freed him. The whole summer and all its contradictions brought him freedom.

Shawn has a glorious two week break before putting his nose back to the grindstone to start promoting the On the Edge fall 2021 tour. He plans to spend nearly all of it writing, like he’s been doing in every free moment lately. Missing Mia seems to make it pour out of him.

He unlocks his phone again and reads highlights of the last paragraph, saved in his Notes app. 

Mendes has arrived

He stands unafraid of his past

He places before us his heart in record form for us to judge

They feel like big statements. Shawn supposes they’re appropriate. He knew when he was making this album how personal and real it is. He held nothing back -- the darkness, the light, the hate, the hope. 

He feels drawn to the words and how they paint him. He wants to live up to them. He knows his album does. He’s not sure about himself yet, though.

Shawn cranks himself upright to sit. He chews his lower lip and thinks about it again.

He has this… daydream. He imagines throwing himself in the car and speeding to her house, only about 15 minutes away. He bangs on the door and takes her in his arms and tells her everything, everything he’s held back for the sake of their professional relationship, everything he told himself he wasn’t allowed to feel, everything he’s pretty convinced, after Rio, that she feels for him too.

Every time he lets himself think about it, he adds more detail -- the cadence of her moaning breath when he sweeps her into his arms, the way her hair smells, the way Pamela lies at their feet, content that her owner is safe and happy. It’s lush with overdramatic nuances, but that’s just what his brain’s been after lately.

He places before us his heart in record form for us to judge

That’s what’s left. He has shown her all he can. The only thing left is to tell her.

His back straightens. He looks around. Is he really doing this? This, the stupid daydream he’s had pinballing around his addled brain as a distraction from his album release stress? He’s just going to go over there and confront her?

His brows lift.

Fuck yeah, he is.

+

There’s construction in Coldwater Canyon. The lane is backed up by guys with stop signs, waving through traffic from both sides as the two lane road is reduced further. What usually takes Shawn a few minutes takes over an hour.

He supposes that should’ve been his first clue, that bad omen.

The second should’ve been the absence of Pammy’s leash on the rail outside.

The third comes when he jumps to peek through her garage door window and sees both her cars inside. The house is dark. No Mia, no Pamela. No one.

He plants a hand on his hip and pants, sifting the other through his hair. His jaw tenses. He closes his eyes and forces down the panic.

It’s time for the nuclear option.

He reaches for his phone and leans against her railing, enjoying her view.

“Hey, Colette? It’s Shawn Mendes. I need to talk to Silver.”

+

Shawn would be embarrassed by how hard he worked to wear Colette down enough to get Silver’s number. He definitely groveled, he certainly begged. But he doesn’t have the capacity to feel anything but anxiety as Silver’s number rings.

“This is Silver,” a smooth, cool voice answers.

“Silver, hey. Uhm, this is Shawn. Mendes.”

Good start. You sound like a fucking teenager calling his ex-girlfriend’s house because she blocked your number.

Silver is quiet for a few long beats. “Hello, Shawn.”

He sighs. “I tried calling her a few weeks ago. The number’s disconnected. You probably know about that. I just… I need to talk to her. Colette wouldn’t give me her number. I… I just went to her house and she’s gone. I’m kind of freaking out.”

He’s definitely freaking out. And he knows she can hear it. Again, he can’t be bothered to worry about how it looks or feels. Nothing feels worse than having no idea where she is.

“I’m sorry, Shawn. I really can’t--”

“God, Silver, please,” he begs, voice weary as he leans against her front door, “I… fuck. I love her. I really fucking love her. And I never said it. I was an idiot, like I thought I could make it go away because I knew I wasn’t supposed to. But, Jesus, I love her so much. You know her better than almost anyone. I… I think she might love me, too. Please, Silver. Where is Mia?”

Silver’s intake of breath is sudden, startling Shawn. He frowns, then realizes he used her real name. He turns his gaze downward a little sheepishly.

“She told you,” Silver murmurs, wearing a placid smile that Shawn can’t see. 

Shawn sighs. “She told me. Before Rio. When… it was the day of the in-call at her place.”

Silver is painfully silent again. It grinds Shawn’s teeth. He squirms against the door.

“Shawn, listen to me. If I tell you where she is, you have to promise me something.”

“Anything,” Shawn swears, lurching off the door to cling to the railing.

Another long pause.

“You have to be patient with her. She’s worth it, I promise. But she needs to see it from you, that you’re willing. Can you do that?”

Shawn nods for a few seconds before speaking. “I can do that.”

Silver smiles. “Good. Every summer, Mia and Peter spend the month of August at her great grandmother’s old house in Ravello. Peter couldn’t go this year because of school, and Mia missed it. She sent Pammy off to Gus and she left last week.”

Shawn nods frantically, temporarily drunk on finally having an answer. “Ok. Ok, great. Where… uh, where’s Ravello?”

Silver laughs. “The Amalfi Coast, Shawn. Mia’s in Italy.”

He huffs a breath. “Ok. Well. I guess I’m going to Italy.”

----------

WE’RE GOING TO ITALY!!!!!!

If you’d like to buy me an espresso or a cappuccino or an affogato, the link is in my bio.

Taglist: @smallerinfinities @the-claire-bitch-project @achinglyshawn @infiniteshawn @mendesoft @singanddreamanyway @alone-in-madness @abigfatmess @shawnitsmutual @awkwardfangirl2014 @september-lace @sinplisticshawn @rollingxstone @yslsaint @randi-eve @fallmoreinlove @heyits-claire @itrocksmysocks @parkerspicedlatte @simpledomain @abeautiful-and-cloudy-day @thecurlsofgod @magcon7280 @bensbuttercup @shawnsmusical @paigeasourous @tell-me-when-ur-ready @softmendesss @searchingunderthestars @buggy-blogs @mendesficsxbombay @tnhmblive @greedydevil @tamegray @meltingicequeen @havethetimeeofyourlifee @normalcyisoverrated-beyou @t-i-n-y-d-i-n-o @hannahlouiseee @sarahlauramendes @shawnsmoose @mendezlatte @1dbetch @graysonmendes @shawnsababe @ineffsi @ultradreamologistblog @bluerose711 @sauveteen @valedictorian65 @cleocc @ly--canthrope

[ffamranxii]

I just finished Fruits Basket Another and I have some Feelings, okay? Under the cut, because spoilers.

THE CHARACTERS

Hoooo boy let’s unpack here. Furubana is about Sawa Mitoma, a nervous first year in high school. She firmly believes that she’s basically human trash, and resolves to take up as little space in the world as possible, and that’s not even me paraphrasing. She says within the first few pages she wants to take up as little space as humanly possible. We find out that she’s the daughter of an extremely abusive mother - emotionally abusive. Sawa’s mother never hits her, but she’s also never once nice to her in any of her appearances. She isolates Sawa from any and all friends, she constantly drags Sawa down, and she’s rarely even at home, even back when Sawa was a little girl. How long has Sawa been looking after herself? Sawa is what Tohru could have become if Kyoko had been involved with a gang member rather than Katsuya. 

The main trio of characters is rounded out by essentially the same trio as before: Mutsuki Sohma as the son of Yuki and Machi and Hajime Sohma as the son of Tohru and Kyo. Visually, they look nearly identical, which is why I chose that ^ picture. But they could not be more different. Sawa is every Sohma insecurity rolled into one, and the Sohmas are what their parents could have been without the curse and the constant abuse. Hajime is one of the oldest of the cousins, smothered with love and affection by his entire family, and is lovingly referred to as Dad and Papa (which annoys him), being one of the few in the family who cooks, cleans, or is, y’know, responsible. (Good job, Kyoru! Teach your boy right!) He is unwillingly elected student council president, and manages it easily. Unlike his father’s life, things come easily to Hajime, but he doesn’t let that make him conceited. He’s a down to earth character who trades biting remarks with Mutsuki. Mutsuki, on the other hand, I love. I adore. I want to erect a shrine to this boy. Poor Yuki, his wife hath birthed him a miniature Ayame. Mutsuki is trouble under a beautiful exterior, subtle snark and gentle teasing, but over the top in other aspects (like his thing that was once a desk and complete inability to do the most basic of tasks like buy laundry detergent, his utter willingness to let other people do things for him). He is also a deeply caring individual, and has an extremely close relationship with his cousin Shiki which is the complete opposite of his father’s relationship with Shiki’s mother that I nearly cried right there while reading volume three.

Kinu Sohma is the daughter of Hatori and Mayuko (a pairing of which I am not fond), and I actually was not fond of her until volume three, at which point she became a treat. A college student, Kinu seems to have no real ambitions or life goals (much like many college freshmen), spends much of her time sleeping, and only really sweeps in at the last chapter to comfort a very distressed Sawa in the way only a fellow woman can, delivering a wonderful speech right up with Kyoko’s Words Of Wisdom about how no one has the right to treat you badly, even your own family. No one has the right to abuse you, demean you, hurt you. That is a curse. She actually uses the word curse, and it makes me wonder what her parents told her of the Sohma curse, if Hatori ever mentioned how Akito used to be, or how Shigure was such a piece of shit about the seahorse, and it made me love Hatori all over again, for teaching his daughter such a powerful thing. Volume three also gave wonderful interaction between Kinu and the entirely deranged (but perfectly appropriate) Hibika Sohma, the daughter of Ayame and Mine. Just like Hatori is the only one who has any sort of control over Ayame, Kinu is the only one who can reign in Hibika. I believe these two are the oldest, out of all of the cousins, because in volume two, Hibika just fucking jets off to Paris with no warning, at the top of one of her tiny tophats instead of setting up her parents’ second store, because she needed inspiration to create new dresses. I don’t think a high school student could do that. Hibika may possibly be the oldest (Kinu is still a minor at 19 [Japan’s age of adulthood is 20]), because I don’t think a minor could do that either. She’s obsessed with Sawa and playing dress up with her, something Kinu is able to reign her away from doing with ease. She’s only the tiniest bit toned down from Ayame. I love her.

Michi Manabe is the daughter of Kakeru and Komaki and is sometimes at odds with Hajime. My biggest complaint with Furubana is that she is not in it enough!! Despite not being a Sohma proper, Michi is included in nearly all Sohma activities and all the Sohma cousins know her. She and Mutsuki were raised as siblings and address each other as such, which is precious because awww, but also because Kakeru has a deep sibling bond with his half sister as an adult, Komaki (who I view as another Tohru in a way, from how she was introduced) made an effort to keep Yuki and Machi in their lives and comfortable, and Yuki and Machi both created a family unit with the one family member who wanted Machi around, a bond so strong that their children saw each other so much growing up that they refer to each other as siblings. How precious is that?? Poor Hajime is probably the only voice of reason Mutsuki ever had in his life because you know Michi is to Mutsuki what Kakeru would be to Ayame. God I need a Kakeru-meets-Ayame-centric episode right now. Yuki would DIE. Riku Sohma is one half of the twin siblings born to Haru and Rin, and while he looks like Haru, this boy is a lot like his mother. He doesn’t have the anger issues his parents have, not really (except for instance of punching out Hibika’s brother), but he can be a bit spacey, he’s very serious and literal, and he likes to sleep. Everywhere. This family and their sleep. It kills me. He also gets himself a cute little girlfriend, and because of his crush on this girl and his watching of her, he notices her wanting to reach out to Sawa, and Sawa makes her first friend (mostly) on her own in nearly her entire life! On the other hand, Sora Sohma, his twin sister, is cute and spacey, a bit ditzy, and looks like their mother but is 100% Haru. She has nicknames for everyone in the family, and never calls anyone by their actual name. She’s my second favorite character after Hibika. Sora reminds me very much of Usagi Tsukino: instead of seeing a person, Sora sees a friend.

Poor Chizuru Sohma should’ve been Yuki’s kid. Honestly I’m surprised Ayame and Mine don’t have more kids, given how passionate I’m sure they are. And while Chizuru loves his father, he does declare the man crazy (as does every other character, minus Mutsuki, who says he’s “the most terrific of all uncles”) on more than one occasion. Chizuru is the more responsible of the Ayame/Mine Sohma children, setting up the Ayame II shop essentially on his own until Mutsuki offers Sawa’s help as a part timer (because remember, Hibika decided to go to Paris for the week).  He hates that others view his family as eccentric and him as normal and especially hates when they comment on it, and he tends to be a bit foul-mouthed and outspoken. A bit like Hiro. Poor kid. Rio Mosca is Saki Hanajima’s boy and he is NOT KAZUMA’S SON AND THIS MAKES ME SO SAD. His parents’ love story is rather cute, however. His father is a foreigner (Italian, given that his surname is Mosca), and the two met on a plane, making this a cute little callback to when young Megumi prayed for a someone for Saki to “get on a plane and meet her.” Mina Sohma is the most precious baby and is the daughter of our boy Momiji! Although, look at her - could she be anyone else’s child? She is sweet and cute and seems to be without Momiji a lot - Momiji inherited his father’s business (which seems to be international?), and he travels all the time. Mina has a great talent for batting and rather than be privately tutored and follow her father all over the world, she stays behind in Japan to play baseball for her school. Her dream is to take over the family business from her father like he did from his. It seems Momiji’s terribly tragic story ended happily, as it seems he reconciled with his father enough to inherit his business... (more on this later). And then we have Shiki Sohma, who is surprisingly the son of Shigure and Akito! :O Shiki seems to inhabit two worlds, much like the Sohmas of Furuba. On the one hand, he is part of a generation who was raised by those healed by Tohru Honda. Loving, caring parents who love and adore their children. He has friends who care deeply for him - his best friends, despite all being in different grades, are Chizuru and Rio, and they all play Go together in the school club. His family are all deeply committed to him - Mutsuki especially is close to him, as seen in the first volume where Shiki was teased at but not seen, as Mutsuki called him to come to the house where he, Hajime, Kinu, and Sawa were having a hot pot with Michi, Riku, and Sora.  His parents both are and aren’t the Shigure and Akito we know from Furuba - Shigure is still the immature jokester and Akito is still the serious head of the family, but they both love their son immensely, totally and completely in a way that Akito remembers being loved as a child by her father, in a way that Shigure’s parents probably loved him. On the other hand, in volume three, it is shown that, being the son of the head of the family, and living in the Sohma compound, with the old servants, the “old timers,” and Ren, subjects Shiki to some truly horrific abuse the likes of which no other second gen Sohma child has had to go through. Shiki would greet guests who would give him gifts, only to find that within those gifts were notes badmouthing his mother. Ren attempted to stab him as a small child, something the old Akito would and has attempted on the first gen Sohmas, and it’s implied the only reason was because Shiki was Akito’s child. Akito threw herself in front of Ren’s knife and took the blow for her boy. Shiki is a quiet and withdrawn child, one foot in each of these worlds, and seemingly paralyzed over how to act. Much like Sawa, especially once she meets the Sohmas.

Remember I said we’d come back to Momiji’s happy ending? See that woman in the top left? That’s Momo Sohma, Momiji’s sister. In Furubana, Momiji has reconciled not only with his father, but with his sister as well! Momo appears to pick up Momo from the Sohma house; she is Momiji’s assistant and Mina seems to stay with her sometimes when Momiji is out of the country. Momiji has his family back!!! Speaking of families, Hinata Sohma, Hiro’s little sister, is all grown up and makes her own appearance in the third volume (and is a slight alcoholic, lol). She also mentions brothers - did Hiro did another sibling after his curse broke?? Megumi Hanajima makes an appearance as a teacher at Kaibara High School, and this is my second complaint about Furubana - there is not enough Megumi!! He grew up sexy! Second best glow up in the series after Momiji! It’s Megumi who tells the romantic story of how Saki met her husband on the plane. Also making an appearance is Makoto Takei, former student council president, unwilling witness to Haru’s natural hair color explanation. He is now a teacher as well, and Sawa and Riku’s homeroom teacher. He’s also still in love with Yuki, and lets Mutsuki get away with anything. He is often at odds with Ruriko Kageyama, the daughter of Motoko Minagawa of the Prince Yuki Fan Club. Ruriko has inherited her mother’s obsession, though unlike Motoko and Makoto (god those two would’ve made a great obsessed couple), Ruriko loves ALL Sohmas. I don’t understand how the worship of an entire family to stalker levels is an official school club but whatever. Ruriko is actually pretty cool, and while she’s pretty strict, she’s also on somewhat friendly (like, “person I talk to at school but nowhere else” type friend) terms with Sawa. 

THE STORY

I feel this can best be summed up in five sentences and in reverse: When Sawa was little, she fell down the stairs. She was found by Shiki, who simultaneously called an ambulance and fell in love with her. Her piece of shit mother sued Shiki because he was rich as shit. Ten years later, no Sohmas harbor any grudges against Sawa, her mother is still a piece of shit, the Sohma children are full of Tohru-and-Kyoko wisdom passed down from their parents, and try to help Sawa. And also they all hardcore ship Shiki/Sawa. The end. 

No seriously, that’s the story. It’s beautiful. I wish there was one or two more volumes, a cameo featuring the adults, it would be perfect. Could you imagine the terrible awkward jokes Shigure would make? “Honey look, Shiki’s in love with the girl he pushed down the stairs as a kid. Was marrying her one of the terms of the lawsuit? Hahaha.” And Akito would just be like “....baby, you and Sawa go outside while I smack your father, you don’t need to see this.” And the two go outside and we then see Shigure fucking fly through the paper door and a loud “YOU FUCKING MORON” follow him out with the classic -_- “did I say something wrong?” Shigure face. And Shiki is just a fascinating color of ruby fire about the cheeks and mumbles, “so yeah... that’s my father....” and Sawa is a similar color and staring at her shoes like “he seems nice...” and Akito opens the ruined door as though she didn’t just beat the shit out of her husband and calls out to them, “come and have tea, your father had to step out for a bit. Sawa, dear, I’d love to hear more about you. would you prefer jasmine tea or green,” because Akito has done a complete 180 and become a decent human being since becoming a mother and Shiki is EVERYTHING to her and if her son loves this girl then GODDAMNIT SO DOES SHE. 

[letsbenditlikebennett]

When Wolves Knock || Ariana & Orion

TIMING: Before Winn ran off.  PARTIES: @3starsquinn​ & @letsbenditlikebennett​ SUMMARY: Ariana goes by Ricky and Winston’s to surprise them with venison stew. They’re not home, but Ariana and Rio end up hanging out. 

With how much kindness Ricky and Winston had shown her, Ariana had wanted to drop by with a nice surprise for them. This batch of venison stew had come out wonderfully and she knew Ricky especially would appreciate it. There was nothing quite as tasty as fresh venison and she liked being able to share with the people she loved most. As she knocked on the door, she hoped one of them was home. She could easily leave the cold bag on the porch, but being able to hang out and chat for a bit would be nice. When the door opened, she was surprised to see a new face. That’s right, Winston had mentioned they had a new roommate. She shifted the bag on her arm and greeted, “Hey, you must be the new roommate. I think we spoke online before. I’m Ariana. I’m friends with Winston and Ricky. I brought some venison stew by.... Figured it’d be a nice surprise. Are either of them home?”

Orion still didn’t really know what to do in the house by himself. Maybe he wasn’t 100% comfortable inside of a house that he didn’t really consider his, despite Ricky and Winston’s countless attempts to make him feel as at home and welcome as possible. It wasn’t that they hadn’t done a great job or anything, Rio just thought that they vastly underestimated how awkward Rio was as a person. For example, Rio was in the kitchen, finding snack food when he heard someone approaching the front door. For a moment Rio completely froze, unsure what to do without Ricky or Winston there to answer the door for them. Eventually, Rio realized that he was apparently in charge of that for the moment. But that didn’t stop him from sulking towards the door slowly and deliberately. He didn’t look ready for visitors, with an oversized hoodie, sweatpants and a baseball cat smashing his pink hair down. But oh well. Beef jerky stick in one hand, he used his free one to open the front door. He was immediately hit by that way too familiar sensation. Werewolf. Since only one person stood around him, it wasn’t very hard to deduce who it was. A girl, younger than him and carrying some kind of food with her. “Hey there…” Rio started, more confused and apprehensive than anything else before realizing that it probably sounded pretty rude. “Sorry. Hey!” he snapped from his funk and took a bite from the jerky stick. “We did! Nice to meet you in person. I’m Rio. That was nice of you! Uh sorry neither of them are here right now…” He shrugged, wondering exactly what he should do in this situation. Anybody could stroll up claiming to know them right? But the girl didn’t seem malicious or anything. “Do you want to come in? We can put the stew in the kitchen. If you want you can hang out until one of them gets back.”

There was no time like the present to make friends with their new roommate, though he did seem just a little bit awkward. That didn’t really bother Ariana though. By nature, she was a social creature and she could make this work. Ricky had an open invite for the couch so it was only right to befriend the third roommate. She knew he had solid taste in Oreos which is a strong starting point. She offered a wide smile and nodded, “You’re all good. That’d be great though. I can go ahead and put it on the stove. It can literally sit there on low heat for like… ever. I know my last venison dish was a huge hit with Ricky and they’ve both been super great to me, so kind of thought it’d be nice to keep the love going, you know?” She realized she was rambling a little excitedly, but she followed him in toward the kitchen. From the last time she cooked with Winston, she remembered where the pots and pans were. She reached for a big pot to dump the stew in and left it on the stove. The sweet smell of venison, stock, and onions was already permeating the air. Ulf’s trailer still smelled damn good because of it. Ariana turned back to Rio and said, “I hope I wasn’t interrupting or anything, but hanging out would be kind of nice. How long have you known Ricky and Winston?”

Ariana seemed more comfortable with the place than Orion did. “Yeah. They’re both super great right?” He chuckled, seeing her work her magic in the kitchen, pulling out pots and pans that he didn’t even know the location of. It wasn’t shocking or anything, Rio hadn’t been here that long. Plus he wasn’t exactly an expert cook or anything. Most of his meals were Little Debbie's. “Make yourself at home!” Before it was even cooking, the stew smelled good. He could only imagine how good it must taste. “Not at all, I don’t really have a life.” Rio shrugged. He had meant it as a joke, though it may have come off as more pathetic sounding than that. “Uh a couple months. Not that long actually. Just a few months, really. We became fast friends. How about you?”

“Oh, yeah, love them both to death,” Ariana answered as she gave the stew a quick stir before leaving it to simmer for a while. She had no doubt it’d be a welcoming smell when Winston and Ricky got home. For now, she’d make it a point of making friends with their third roommate. He seemed nice albeit a little shy. “Thanks,” she said, taking the invite to pour herself a glass of water and pop down on the couch. “Aw, I’m sure you do. Having a life doesn’t have to be, like, exciting. Sometimes it’s just totally boring things that you enjoy.” It was funny, they’d known Winston and Ricky about the same amount of time. They really were just a friendly, kind-hearted bunch and she loved them for that. “I met Winston first a couple of months back. They offered help with my math class, but I’d already found a tutor. So we went to that farmer’s market.... Pro tip, don’t fucking buy the watermelons, they bite, but they brought Winston and I together… and Ricky by proxy. Who’s also great, he totally hyped me up to ask this girl on my soccer team to prom, so you know, totally stan a hype man.” She took a sip of her water before setting it down on the coffee table. “So outside of having stellar taste in Oreos and snack foods, what do you like to do for fun?”

At least Ariana had good taste. It made sense that she would love Winston and Ricky, they were both awesome. “Oh yeah. If you count reading as having a life then totally. I have a lot of lives then.” Orion shrugged and grinned shyly. “But Winston and Ricky keep me company at least so it’s not all bad.” Rio had heard about Winston’s time with the vampire watermelons, but hadn’t known that Ariana had been the one with him. “Oh! I know those things! A friend of mine and I also got attacked by them. It bit my arm!” Rio would have shown off the scar, if it didn’t blend in with the others. “Yep that totally sounds like Ricky.” While Ariana got comfy, Rio found himself curling up in a chair across from her. “I like gaming, reading, uh and definitely some other things too. Like eating.” Okay, he could definitely use some more work when it came to social skills. “What about you? How do you spend your free time?”

While reading wasn’t necessarily her thing, Ariana thought it was a cool enough hobby. She liked stories. Dyslexia just made reading a bitch. “It totally counts,” she answered with a small smile, “Not my thing, on account of I suck at sitting still and I’m dyslexic, but you know different strokes or whatever.” It was seeming like more and more people were having bad luck with the watermelon vampires. “Damn, yeah, that had to hurt. Thankfully, my combat boots were the only victims in our case. Sorry you got bit, those shits have sharp teeth.” She leaned against the arm of the couch and nodded along as Rio spoke. “Reading and gaming, nice. I do love eating, too. Also, pretty good at the cooking thing… which I guess you’ll see later. There’s totally enough stew for everyone.” Rio seemed a bit more on the shy side, but she could appreciate that. Sometimes she was entirely too… not shy. It was a good balance or something. “I like pretty much anything that involves moving. I run a lot, I like cooking, building things is always fun and will be my profession soon, and I love soccer. I’m actually coaching a camp this summer with my friend Athena. If my boss approves it, I’ll also being doing some work study with Ricky to get some more insight on wood-working. So yeah, basically the opposite. I can’t sit still for long periods of time. I’m like energizer wo- bunny. Bunny.”

Orion patted at his arm through the sleeve, almost like some kind of badge of honor. Those that survived the attack from the vampire watermelon things. “Luckily it wasn’t that bad of a bite,” That wasn’t exactly the truth, but the hunter healing may have helped, “It’s all healed up now. Can’t even tell that it was there in the first place.” That may not have been the entire truth either. It had definitely left a faint scar. But compared to all the others, this barely scratched the surface. Definitely didn’t make a distinctive first impression. “That’s great! I’m really excited to try the stew. It smells amazing.” Rio pointed back towards the kitchen. He could smell it from his seat, appreciating the layer of scents. “Sports and stuff are super fun, I’ve heard. It was never really my thing, but my sister loves them.” And speaking of his sister… Ariana…. Knew her? Oh no. Oh god. Oh no. Ariana was a werewolf. Rio was pretty sure of that. But Athena couldn’t know that, right? At least… no, she couldn’t or else Athena would have taken matters into her own hands. What the heck could Rio do about that? She couldn’t tell Ariana about Athena. Should Rio just not say anything at all? Just ignore it and move on? That was the best choice, Rio was sure. “Athena?” Rio heard himself asking before he could shut himself up. God, no. “Uh- wow small world. That’s my sister.” Rio found himself nervously giggling, using it as a guise to distract from the fake that he had started shaking. “She is very athletic. So uh- cool thing with the coaching camp. I’m sure you’ll both rock it.”

It dawned on Ariana that they could both believe in vampire watermelons and she could just leave it alone, but that really wasn’t her style. Maybe one day it’d bite her in the ass, but it hadn’t yet so she’d take her chances. She leaned back into the couch and kept her eyes on Rio. “So, you seem pretty chill about the whole there being vampire watermelons thing. I’m guessing the crazier parts of White Crest aren’t exactly news to you?” One of her brows arched at him hoping to get a truthful answer. Ricky was a selkie and Winston could do magic, it wouldn’t be totally off base for them to have another supernatural roommate. There was a shrug as he mentioned not liking sports. “They’re definitely not for everyone. I just happen to have a shit ton of extra energy by default. Gotta get some of it out for the sake of not being a crazy person.” When Rio mentioned that Athena was his sister, she had to quickly swallow the water she was drinking causing her to let out a small cough. If Winston had been seeing their new roommate’s sister and Rio’s sister was Athena, that meant Winston had been seeing Athena. Ariana’s mind was effectively blown. Her lips formed a small “o” and her eyes were wide before she caught herself. “Dude, that’s cool. She mentioned having a twin brother, but clearly didn’t connect the dots until just now.” The topic seemed a little uncomfortable for him, so she shifted in her seat and added, “But yeah, soccer camp will be pretty cool. I like kids and soccer. You got any plans for the summer or anything?”

Considering Orion was talking to a werewolf at the moment, it definitely went without saying that he was familiar with the supernatural. Of course, there was no way for Ariana to know that Rio knew. It muddied the water and always made things more difficult. It felt like some power move, an upper hand that Rio didn’t deserve. But he supposed that was the whole point, for hunters to get the upper hand. That tingling sensation had been sort of bittersweet to him. On one hand, he loved learning about the supernatural, and meeting people other than regular humans. On the other hand, it made him feel downright creepy. “Oh yeah, uh. I mean I know some. Enough. That it exists.” He constantly battled between how he could tell the truth while also… not telling the whole truth. Luckily, Ariana didn’t seem to have too many questions about his sister, thank god. “Summer plans? Well… not much aside from hanging out with them too. I just sorta tag along with Winston and Ricky wherever they go, honestly.” That, and spend a bunch of time in the Scribe building. “How long is the soccer camp? All summer long? Do you actually like… stay at the camp or is it like a ‘go home at the end of the day and come back the next morning’ kinda camp?” Rio had no idea how camps worked.

The explanation Rio had provided was really more of a nonanswer. Sure, he knew about the supernatural, but how? Ariana tried to get a lock on his scent, but she didn’t notice anything off about it so he wasn’t like Ricky or some other sort of shifter. Maybe he just grew up here and wasn’t totally blind to everything that happened around him. She hoped her attempt at being subtle had worked, but she was about to be truthful anyway. An arm absentmindedly wrapped itself around a couch cushion as she explained, “I guess it’s hard to avoid any of it living here. I mean, I knew about it before moving here, but full disclosure-- I’m a werewolf. Which Ricky and Winston both know so it’s not like a huge secret or anything. Maybe just don’t mention it to anyone outside of here.” Seeing as she had an open invitation to sleep on the couch in the midst of her current hunter drama, she figured being truthful with Rio was the right thing to do and she trusted Ricky or Winston hadn’t mentioned anything about it previously. She nodded along with his summer plans, which seemed to be a little lax, which was nice. Sometimes relaxation was needed, not that she was very good at it, but still. “Sounds pretty chill. I hope you enjoy it. Everyone needs a good reset every once and awhile.” A brow raised as Rio asked more questions about the camp, she thought he’d know because Athena but she did remember Winston mentioned things were complicated there so she answered, “Nope, not a sleepaway thing, it’s here in town. We watch them for the day and do soccer stuff while their parents are working or doing whatever it is they do while their kids are at camp.”

Orion had to physically stop himself from leaping off of the chair in excitement as Ariana disclosed her secret about being a werewolf to him. In a lot of ways, he felt so honored and happy to have the knowledge entrusted to him as well. Though even with that, there was a sort of sinking feeling in his stomach. If Rio had been any other hunter, what would they have done with this knowledge? Sure, Rio had already known because of his ability. But if Athena knew about it, if Ariana told Athena about it… Oh god. That wouldn’t be good. For anybody. Luckily, the excitement at this exact moment outweighed the fear. So it was pretty easy to pretend to be shocked at the news, despite the constant tingling feeling raising the hairs on his skin and reminding him of her species. “Holy woah…” Rio began, finally rising from the chair and sitting at the edge of it, giving Ariana his full attention. “That’s so freaking cool holy crap. I don’t really know that many other werewolves. I mean I know like two.” Or three, really. But the fact that Rio knew wasn’t exactly a topic of discussion. Not yet at least. “But of course. I promise your secret is safe with me.” He wanted to support her, even if he couldn’t be completely honest with her himself. It just complicated things. There was no easy way to tell a werewolf that he was a beast hunter. Not without that look of fear and hatred in their eyes. Rio was familiar enough with that look from himself. But that brought things to a whole other topic. Ariana and soccer camp. And Athena. “That’s really cool. I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun.” He began, smiling and trying to determine how to phrase his next sentences. “So uh- weird request. Is there any chance that you could… not mention anything to my sister about knowing where I live? It’s like… a whole thing. I’m kind of in a fight with our parent’s right now and don’t want them to know where I’m at.”

Living with Winston and Ricky, Ariana had much doubt that Rio would take the whole werewolf thing well. She did have a standing invite for the couch so she figured honesty was probably a good call. The story of her current not so ideal situation could be told if she ever did have to take Ricky up on that offer. It was cool that he seemed pretty excited about it though. She smiled and responded, “Thanks, I like to think so. Definitely comes in handy with some of the crazier things going on in White Crest.” Came with the disadvantage of being hunted, but she’d still never change who or what she was. “I appreciate as much,” she answered, “Winston and Ricky know, but I haven’t said anything to your sister. Kind of figured you should know since Ricky’s pretty much offered the couch to me for whenever I need it.” Her face shifted to concerned when he asked her to not let Athena know he was living here. She kind of figured as much what Winston had vaguely mentioned before, but opted to nod along instead with her brow furrowed. Family could be tough. Not that she had her own blood family left, but Celeste’s parents had shown her well enough that families could be complicated. “You got it,” she promised, “I won’t tell Athena or anyone else you live here. I’m sorry about your parents though. That has to be tough.”

Ricky’s place seemed to be some orphanage for the wayward and supernatural. At least, it had been for Orion. He didn’t know much about Ariana’s past, but if she was offered a place to stay he could only assume that she may have a reason to need to escape at some point. Which was totally something Rio could relate too. He wished he knew them beforehand, so he didn’t spend so much time sleeping on a dusty bed in an abandoned building. “That’s great! Well just so you know, I am totally cool with that. Not that like… it would matter per say if I wasn’t. Because this isn’t my house. But that doesn’t matter. Because you are. Welcome here, I mean.” He really had a way with words, didn’t he? “Anyways, ignore me. You uh- You’re like… safe here in town right? No crazy people trying to hurt you because of the werewolf thing?” Jesus, what kind of question was that? He was such a disaster. “My family’s complicated but uh- you know things are okay now. At least, now that I’m far away from my family things are great. I’m way happier than I have been in a long time.”

There was something so wholesome about Orion. While Ariana could tell he tripped over his words a little, she found it to be kind of endearing. She supposed as much made sense since his hobbies seemed to be stuff you do alone. “Thanks,” she stated calmly, “I appreciate as much. Even if it is technically Ricky’s house, I wouldn’t want to make anyone living here uncomfortable. That’s not cool.” The frown that followed the question of her being safe was unavoidable, especially knowing now that her bounty had been picked up. She wasn’t entirely safe and it sucked to admit. She supposed the sooner Celeste’s parents arrived the sooner this could all be over, but it still left knots in her stomach. She fidgeted nervously with her hands before opting to just hug one of the couch cushions. “Not exactly,” she mumbled before speaking up, “It’s kind of a crazy story, but here goes. My sister/guardian isn’t biologically my sister. She’s actually a hunter that saved me instead of killing me when I was like three and her parents killed my parents. Her parents apparently have a bounty on both of us which has been picked up… so that’s been a fun time. Hence the whole Ricky offering up the couch if I needed a place to lay low. You know how he is. Dude has a heart of fucking gold… or really whatever is like more valuable than gold.” Her fingers played with the fringe of the cushion and added, “Sorry if that was like, a lot. If I do end up crashing here, figured it’s only fair you know.” She listened carefully to his own family troubles, glad he had somewhere accepting to stay. “Well, whatever is going on, I’m happy you have Winston and Ricky. And that you’re happy. That’s the most important thing.”

Orion sat silently, completely speechless as Ariana recounted her tale to him. “Holy crap.” Was all Rio could say for a long while. His brain was still processing the news. And there was a lot to unpack. Ariana’s parents were murdered by hunters. An obvious reason for Ariana to despise hunters. But… she was saved and taken in by a hunter? That was insane. Sometimes Rio truly thought he was the only one that had wanted a different fate for supernatural creatures. Not just a hunter tired of killing or exhausted with the lifestyle, but someone that truly wanted to save the supernatural from other hunters. And to defy her own parent’s? “Your guardian… she sounds pretty incredible.” Rio whistled. He could only wish that he had the strength to do what she had done. Instead, the image of his former teacher, lifeless on their guest house floor kept flashing through his mind. Something he wished he could unsee, or even better, he wished he could have stopped. “I- uh. Jesus. I’m so sorry. That’s terrifying.” Did either of them know about Silver Bullet? What if the bounty had reached the hunter bar? Anybody around town could spot Ariana. Rio hadn’t gone since the fall out with his family, but maybe he could sneak by when he knew his parents wouldn’t be there? Check the board and tear anything down that shouldn’t be visible. “Platinum has always been considered to be one of the most valuable metals. For almost all of history, it has been more expensive than gold, but not always. Mostly because Platinum is a lot rarer than gold.” Rio rattled nonchalantly, barely realizing that he had just spouted off the random and unnecessary information. Despite this story, Ariana seemed as casual and cheerful as ever. Rio definitely liked her. “You don’t owe me an apology. And you definitely don’t owe me an explanation. I appreciate it, but you don’t have to ever feel obligated to tell me anything. Secret’s are sacred and all that… But uh- I hope everything is okay now. In town.” Rio found himself falling back into the chair and becoming a bit more relaxed now. Having this stuff laid out on the table for both to see was a bit therapeutic. “Thanks. It’s definitely been a healthier environment. They accept me for who I am and all that sappy stuff.”

Ariana knew she had dumped a lot on him, but if she ever did take Ricky and Winston up on their offer for a place to crash at and lay low, it was only fair Rio knew the full story. Plus, anyone that was a friend to both Ricky and Winston was a friend to her. All things considered, Rio had taken it all pretty well. He seemed like a kind and understanding person that she would now consider a friend. “Oh yeah, Celeste is amazing. Total nerd, but amazing nonetheless,” she agreed. It seemed wrong to compliment her sister without throwing at least one little jab in there. Teasing her was always fun. Maybe she had become so desensitized to how bad her current situation sounded, but she kind of shrugged it off. It was bad. She knew it was bad and the threat of danger was always there, lurking and waiting, but didn’t want him to worry. “It’s okay, really. Well, you know, as okay as it can be. We have some protections set up and friends who are helping us.” There was no need to throw in that the bounty was already picked up and worry him more. Everyone had so much else going on, they didn’t need to worry about her, too. When she told Celeste she wanted to stay here no matter what, she knew this day would eventually come. It had to. If they ever wanted to build roots anywhere, there was no avoiding it. Though now he was saying something about platinum and he brows knitted together in confusion. Yep, it was official. She broke Rio. That was way too much. “Good to know,” she assured him, easily, “And sorry for dumping all that on you. Hopefully crashing on the couch won’t be necessary though.” She gave him a comforting smile hoping it helped. Her smile only grew wider at his mention of this was a much healthier environment and how accepting Ricky and Winston were. “Good, you deserve all that sappy stuff. And Oreos, you deserve Oreos.” The last part may have been her own sweet tooth kicking in, but she returned to the kitchen to get them both snacks to enjoy while they hung out.