[IC] Edenridge

[BrutalBx]

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Mei’s Track of the Day

When the sun finally rose once again over what felt like an eternal night, the world of Edenridge, Massachusetts seemed just as it had always been; the streets were empty, the birds were chirping and the dead were dead once more. Yet their influence, though now forgotten, lingered.

Lex and Mika both received visits from loved ones long since passed, Allison and Ronnie. The couple would find in these briefest of encounters with memories of these lost loves, those who chose to go out on their own terms that sometimes the world isn’t always what it seems and that people have a lot more going on that we just don’t know about and may not be able to help with.

Roddy Kylee and Wes had a hell of a night. After being accosted by the violent spectre of the Hangman killer, the trio spent the evening playing cat and mouse with a murder desperate to eradicate the towns founding family lines at the run down Camp Eden. Unmasking the urban legend as Joel Carlisle, a descendant of town founder Nathaniel, They managed to hold off his murderous attempts before the end of the night and his fading into darkness.

Marco’s encounters on All Hallows’ Eve were somewhat different to his compatriots. He was not visited by the spirits of the dead but the spirit of what could have been; a spirit that would guide him to let go of the pain he held deep. A conversation with Charlie; the boy that caused it all would help Marco down the start of a very specific path.

Natalia’s haunted evening was a positive one. Having finally been able to connect with the families of her boyfriends, there was a sense of belonging to her now, a comfortableness that radiated from her being. She was immersing herself well into the Southside, even if it was only for one night.

CeCe was grateful for the brief time she had with her besmirched love, David. He was at peace wherever he was and was always going to love and watch over her. Was it enough to convince the young girl that Niles was the right one for her? That was yet to be written.

After saving Tiffanie from a savage demon dog, Clay found himself teaming up with Beau and resident bad boy ReyRey and getting up to some cowboy shit. The quartet stood tall in the streets and did everything they could to protect the town from the essence of evil that swept in to carry on the work they did when they were living.

Mei and Jill’s love was accepted by those that Jillian missed so deeply, the gruesome twosome of Liv and Kat. With that out of the way, the girls went off to figure out how to reverse the spell that Mei had unwittingly cast. This led them back to the Elder Tree where they crossed paths with another group of sleights.

Decky, Jade and Poppy with the aid of the spirits of Danny and Charlie, figured out that the curse was bound to the original sin of Edenridge, the murders of Esther Carlisle and her lover Aponi by Esther’s father Nathaniel. To break the spell, the circumstances of their deaths had to be replicated. Realising that they needed to spill the blood of someone from the same line, the group searched desperately until they discovered that Poppy herself was a direct descendant of Nathaniel. Unable to find anyone related to Aponi, the group went ahead and Poppy was hung from the Elder Tree.

With her sacrifice, the spirits began to leave Edenridge as the dawn of a new day began to rise. Using what little time he had left, Charlie brought Poppy back with a kiss and tried to declare his love but time just wasn’t enough and he was gone before he could say the words.

The memories from the long dark night have faded from the minds of those that lived it; the Halloween that never was. The feelings were real and have lingered but the curse remains.

The spirits may have gone to rest but there is always evil in Edenridge…

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Edenridge with return soon with Chapter 2: “Dear David”

[BrutalBx]

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It was a strange feeling.

Love.

It was an idea or a feeling that Mei had never truly understood but had so desperately wanted to. She often watched her parents, who were so in love that it made her sick. To an offcomer, Will and Shannon could easily pass for a couple that had been together all their lives. They were the type of couple that finished each other’s sentences, instinctively knew what the other wanted in the moment and started and finished every day with a soft kiss and a moment to say “I love you”. The Ramsey’s were a near perfect example of what the essence of what love should be.

The truth of the matter was that Will and Shannon had not been together all their lives. Truth be told, Will was a second choice and he never forgot that. Shannon had dated Sylvester James all through her time at Edenridge High. She was his next door neighbour and the whole story played out like a white picket fence Americana cliche but it ended in a fiery ball of flames. For Will, a nerdy kid with a penchant for Bruce Lee movies and maths, entertaining the thought that the head of the Clovers, Shannon Ling, was even remotely interested in him was baffling. It started with a tutoring lesson and Shannon being involved in a rather nasty breakup. Now they were the picture of a perfect couple and everything Mei aspired to be. They were soulmates.

At this point in her life, the priestess fully believed that she had found her soulmate, her love in Jill O’Brien. No one had ever made her feel so complete and so whole, the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle known as Mei Ramsey. Yet before her came another. She had fooled around a lot during her time so she didn’t count those. No; only once before had Mei ever come close to feeling like she did with Jill and that was with Quinton.

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November 17th 2017

Somewhere across the multiverse, Mei Ramsey and Quinton Woods were the worst dynamic duo of superheroes that the world had ever seen. She, a goth witch with anger management issues and he, the tech genius with a god complex. In reality, they were a pair of misfits joined together by a town surrounded by a shroud of darkness. They had been friends all of their lives, one of few that they both had as neither really adhered themselves to anyone who lived between Scott Street and Carlisle Avenue. It wasn’t until the tail end of freshman year that things changed for them.

Mei had really struggled after the death of Allison and in Q himself was dealing with some other issues. Trapped in a snowstorm of uncertainty, they caved in to one another. Both questioned whether what they had was real or whether it was simply a means to an end to not feel the crushing loneliness that had plagued them both. Alas, they convinced themselves of the former and that they were meant to be together.

The young couple sat in Quinton’s room, him immersed in his third Mass Effect speed run and her doodling away on her notepad. Neither had really said much since she had arrived an hour earlier, there was something off in the air that day.

“Hey Q, I won’t be staying too long. I'm gonna hang out with Jill and CeCe tonight. There’s this new move we wanna get down before the next game”

“You mean you’re gonna hang out with Jill because Caitlin will flake like she’s been doing since last year to go fuck her not so secret boyfriend, get bored and text me when I’m about to go to sleep” Q’s response was peppered with venom as he didn’t even look away from his screen.

“I’m sorry? Who do you think you’re talking to like that?”

A great sigh was breathed out from Quinton’s chest as he paused his game. He turned on the bed and pushed his glasses up from the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry babe. I didn’t mean for that to sound so nasty. I’ve just got a lot on my mind you know? I didn’t mean to shade your friends”

Mei folded her arms and leaned back against the bed rest, her heavily made up eyes shooting lightning bolts at her boyfriend. “Like what? You haven’t been talking to me lately. If I don’t know I can’t help Q”

“You right, you are. I’m sorry. I’ll tell you everything” He shuffled a little further onto the bed and closer to her, putting his hand on her ankle. “For starters my brother hasn’t called in months so I think that’s really fucking with my Dad. This whole illegitimate daughter thing has soured their relationship”

“And how are you dealing with that? Must be hard having her come to dinner and make nice. Plus, I mean she’s Bianca Washington, Queen of Pinehurst, she’s a cunt. No offence.”

A genuine smile cut across the face of Quinton and a small giggle broke his stern barrier. “None taken” This was a rarity for Q. For the entirety of his life, most have called him abnormal or strange because he didn’t seem to feel things the same way others did. There was never any doubt that he was highly intelligent, bordering on a genius but the actual feeling of things, empathy for others, in those areas he was sorely lacking and that made him a target. “Like I know having a hot cheerleader half sister is like the start of a porn hub video but for me it’s difficult. I need my routines to get me through the day and when it was just me, mom, dad and TallBoy we were good, you know? Now Mom is gone, Dad is at work all the time, my brother is who knows where and I have a sister who thinks the particle accelerator is a band”

Mei tried to stifle a laugh at her boyfriend's last comment. Whilst the rest of it was purely heartbreaking stuff, knowing how much of an idiot Bianca was made joy well up in her chest.

“It’s all getting to me lately and I’m not sure why. It’s so hard being the smartest damn person in the room all the fucking time. I am literally surrounded by morons and thugs. Take yesterday at lunch, I went off campus to take my dad some paperwork. He barely acknowledged me because he is working a case on the Yardies right now but as I was walking out, I passed that Neanderthal Cameron Hyde wrapped up in chains and covered in blood and I literally, I mean literally watched Duke spill a shake all over my car. Idiots. This town is actual scum. I cannot wait to get out of here forever.”

Leaping up from her stationary position on the bed, Mei wrapped her arms around Quinton and hugged him tightly. Her heart went out to him, she had not known how lovely he truly felt yet even in this moment of vulnerability she couldn’t help but see that his belief in his own superiority was only getting worse. “I get to come with you right?” She mused.

“Yeah” Quinton pulled away from her and smiled. “Don’t worry about tonight. Go be with your friends. I’m going to try and get Charlie in for some tutoring”

“As in Charlie Decker?”

“Mmhm. He needs work in Calculus and I was unfortunately nominated to be his buddy. Talk of Neanderthals, just cos he can quote Shakespeare people think he’s some sort of deep soul. Kids an idiot and a murder we but I’m getting laid so whatever right?” Q reached his hand under his bed. “Which reminds me, I found something you might like” After feeling around for a few moments he slid out a plastic bag and handed it to Mei.

As she uncovered what was inside, her mouth went agape and her jaw almost struck the floor. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Yup” Q smugly grinned. “It is indeed an original vinyl record for Gallows, featuring your favourite song and most importantly a glimpse at your teenage dad” He pointed to the cover of the sleeve. Poised as a snapshot of a group of teenagers in a garage, there were five of them. A pretty female keyboardist, two male guitarists, a red haired lead singer and an Asian American boy on the drums, Mei’s dad Will.

“He’s gonna fucking freak. I love this, thank you Q” She leaned forward and kissed him softly, holding the record to her chest with one arm whilst stroking his Afro with the other. “Where did you even get this?”

“Believe it or not, from Charlie Decker. I was tutoring at his place the other day and he showed it to me. I think it was his way of trying to connect since he knew we were dating and obviously your father and his father were both in the band”

Mei flung herself back onto the bed before handing the record back to Q. “Play it baby. I wanna hear it before I go” As Quinton popped up to place the vinyl onto his record player, the goth girl smiled to herself. The first notes from the first song began to play and she closed her eyes in bliss.

“Thank you, Charlie Decker”

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The Present

Jill lay asleep on the bed as Mei put the finishing touches onto her latest show. She sent the next playlist through to Kylee for the Dawn Patrol and got up from her bedroom station to make her way over to the vinyl collection. Her dark eyes scanned the massive assortment of music which she had collected over the years, her fingers tracing the spines of the sleeves as she searched. Finally she pulled the Gallows vinyl from the stack and made her way over to her turntable. She placed the disc down and dropped the needle. Instantly she was hit by the distinct feedback of Gallows opening track, her favourite track, The Comet

Things didn’t end well with Quinton. And things certainly didn’t end well for him either. He never got out. He never got the chance. She still remembered his smile when he knew he was right and Mei wondered if he had that smile on his face when Charlie blew his head off. She mourned him, even though by that point they hated each other. Without him em show her what love wasn’t supposed be, she wouldn’t have known how to love Jill like she did.

Mei closed her eyes and allowed the music to wash over her. ”Thank you Q”

[AlteredTundra]

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“Thanks for picking me up.”

“Sure thing, kiddo. But I was surprised when you called. You don’t typically call me unless you want someone’s face caved in,” Reginold A.K.A. Chains said, smiling at Jade as his truck started up.

In usual circumstances, Jade only called her cousin because she knew he was always down for a fight and wasn’t as ill-tempered like that hotheaded Leone was, but she didn’t feel like worrying most of the members of the club, especially since the way she was when she called Reg wasn’t like her usual self.

“Yeah, I guess I do that a lot, don’t I?” Jade laughed but her mind was clearly elsewhere because she didn’t even put much effort into it. “And thanks for not bringing your hog this time, Reg. Even if all you have is this crappy pickup.”

“And there is my little cousin who likes to rip into my baby.” Reg laughed harder than was necessary, but a smile spread across his face. “You know I’m still trying to save up for a newer model than this here Toyota Pickup, right?”

As Jade leaned against the passenger door, she looked over at her cousin. “Is that so?” She raised an eyebrow. “And what will I tell Rey-Rey about how you still haven’t paid off your tab at Edge?”

Yeah, Reg was a frequent customer at Edge. Not when it came to the dancers. He had too much respect for Jade to indulge in that where she worked. She didn’t care about it one way or the other, but part of her appreciated that he didn’t give in to temptations. How he did that was beyond her because, as she was a frequent practitioner of “look but don’t touch”, something nobody ever at Eden ever abided by, a lot of her co-workers were insanely hot. Like so hot that, if they weren’t her literal family, Jade might’ve even gone for a few of them.

How the horndog of the Taylors resisted them was beyond her comprehension, but she figured his sudden silence was evidence that he wasn’t planning on paying the tab.

“But don’t worry, I won’t tell our King Serpent about it. Not like he’d dare enforce it like I suspect others would. Besides--” Jade’s humorous expression simmered down into a frown. Thinking about R2 reminded her of what transpired last night. What happened between everybody about Charlie. How memories from five years ago came back up and crashed and crushed Jade’s entire confidence. Thinking back to how R2 scared a then-fourteen-year-old Jade almost as much as he did last night.

That gun…

She still shivered at the thought of it.

And now she had left without saying much to Decky and Poppy. She just left a note, told Mr. Beau that she had to leave. She said she had to work, but really, even if she had to, she couldn’t walk back into Edge -- not until she sorted out how she felt about everything.

“Besides?” Reg asked.

“What?” Jade shook her head, looking a little dazed and confused as she turned her head towards Reg.

As Reg came to a stop at a red light and in front of the train tracks that separated the Northside and Southside, it felt like an eternity because neither Reg nor Jade was saying anything. Reg didn’t want to push anything and Jade didn’t realize just how lost in thought she was and everything was so cloudy.

“What’s going on, Jade? You seem lost in whatever part of your head that causes you be quiet. I know you never do that unless something pretty bad is filling that mind of yours.”

It’s true, Reg, along with the other members of the Howling Commando Crew, knew Jade the best out of the entire club. They were all like the brothers she never had growing up. Reg was literally the closest thing to a blood brother she had. And he always looked out for her. There was a reason why she called him whenever someone got too handsy at Edge. Or when she was being stalked by some tweaker whenever she went too close out of serpent territory. Or, really, for any reason that nobody else but Reg would drop anything to help her.

But to tell him about what went through her head would be to tell what happened five years ago and tell him what she had a hand in. Even after everything was said and done, Jade still felt a pang of intense guilt over her part in the events that transpired five years ago and how the ripples were still being felt today. The sadness she still clung to and it was a sadness that couldn’t be healed from being with her sister and Decky.

“I appreciate you trying to help, Reg, I really do - but right now, I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about it.” Jade looked over at her cousin’s concerned face. “I just want to go to the clubhouse. I want to be with my family. Maybe help someone with their bike. I just need to find my routine again.”

Find it like it was before Charlie died.

As she smiled at him, Reg shrugged. He was the type to normally push her to talk because she was a hopeless case whenever she was lost in her head (which she most certainly was), but he could tell in the way she looked at him that she truly wasn’t ready.

“You don’t wanna talk about it now? I get that. I respect it. Whenever you’re ready, you know my line is always open for ya.”

She smiled, giving a rare show of affection as she leaned against his shoulder for a long moment.

And after about ten seconds, she shook it off and looked forward. “Light’s green. Let’s go home.”

Without uttering a word, Reg drove straight down the road for about fifteen miles, going deeper into the greater Boston area where the Fallen Angels clubhouse was located. It was there Jade could hit the reset button. At her real home, it was where she first knew stability. It was ironic considering the whole club, in their own way, were all unproven criminals, but in a town where nobody was a saint, Jade knew she always had angels looking out for her.

[BrutalBx]

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Shannon put pen to paper and did as she always did; wrote the date, the time, the patient's name and a little note to herself, a sign she liked to call a cipher. In her mind, it would help her unlock the code and puzzle that was her current subject. ”Cameron, it’s been a while”

“Mrs Ramsey” The monster, Cameron Hyde sat arms folded, closed off from the world of course. His cold, blank eyes staring directly at the good doctor, they had not left her from the moment he walked through the door.

”“If I’m not mistaken, last time we had a conversation would’ve been what, your junior year at Eden? You came over to our house since Reagan was tutoring you” One of the small perks or detriments depending on how one looked at things of being a small town psychologist was that she knew all of her patients, some quite intimately. If this was the case, Shannon would always send them to colleague in Pinehurst or Boston to avoid a conflict of interest. This one was a peculiar case however as this boy, the one sat before her now, was a classmate of her eldest daughter, at least until he was expelled.

“Yup”

”And then you stole one my husbands karate trophies” Bluntly as ever she remarked as she made notes on his posture.

“I did and I’m sorry about that” Hyde unfolded his arms and began to tap the tips of his fingers in a rhythm with his thumb of the same hand.

Her dark eyes narrowed at the sight before continuing to scribble down her observations. ”“Past is past, we don’t dwell. Thank you for actually coming to the appointment, Cameron. Half the time recent parolee’s don’t actually bother to attend these court mandated things. I appreciate you doing so”

“I’m just looking to get my shit together, Mrs Ramsey. I want to get on with my life and forget about what happened before” He hadn’t been back long but already Hyde had found that his previous reputation had preceded him. Everywhere he went, the eyes were constantly on him, just looking, waiting for him to snap. It was like nothing had changed in the years he was away. He was still the boogeyman under the bed.

”Well, like I said, we don’t dwell but we must think about the past and learn from it so as to not being doomed to repeat it. With that in mind, let’s get started. I’ve had a look into your files and I think the most logical place for us to jump from is your mother. Have you spoken to her since you got out?”

“No. I haven’t seen or spoken to her since I threw her down the stairs the day I was arrested” Hyde’s tone was very matter of fact and to the point. There was very little of any emotion in his words. One could easily imagine how unsettling it must be to have thrown your own mother down a flight of stairs but this was not reflected in Hyde’s demeanour in the slightest.

Shannon had read his file thoroughly but even she was taken back by just how nonchalant this boy was. ”You know she’d forgive you right? I grew up with her and she’s changed so much, found god. You’re her only child and you’ve made mistakes but I’m sure she’d let you back into her life” It was a true story. Shannon had grown up in Eden with many of her patients parents, it was sort of a running joke that many of her classmates all had kids around the same time.

She had not been terribly close to April McMahon. April was a cheerleader and Shannon was a nerd but what she did know of her was that she was kind and in hindsight, had some severe behavioural issues. In spite of her kind nature, April was easily led and swayed and caused a lot of problems due to what could be referred to as erraticness. It was like they she turned out the way she did.

“I’m not looking for forgiveness, I don’t want it” “I…fuck I just want to move forward”

”What about Aleyda? Have you tried to contact her?” This will be a touchiest subject for sure as she was the main reason that Cameron had been locked up in the first place.

“I’m not allowed. It’s part of my sentence, I’m not allowed to be anywhere near her or her family”

”Before your trial, you were evaluated by another doctor and they diagnosed you with Intermittent Explosive Disorder or IED; which I guess quite appropriately means you’re a bit of a ticking time bomb. When you were told about this, how did it make you feel? Did it explain a lot to you about yourself?”

“Not really” Throughout the entire conversation, he had continued to tap his fingers and not blink “When I was little and Mom went on one of her bipolar god fearing episodes, she always used to say that she could see the devil inside of me, the devil all the time. It didn’t help that most people looked at me like shit because they thought I was the bastard boy of BT O’Brien. When I got older and people started actually calling me that, I didn’t question it. I’ve always had a temper, I’ve always been hard. You know what it’s like on the south side Mrs Ramsey you grew up there. All labelling me as basket case did was give people more reason to stare”

“Have you been doing your exercises?” A glimpse into the mind of someone that for so many years people had referred to as the scourge of Eden was fascinating. Edenridge had its fair share of horror stories, most of which ended with bodies everywhere. This was one that was still living and she could probe.

“Yeah, been counting with my tapping fingers up to four”

”Any dark thoughts recently?”

“Are you asking whether or not since I walked in here if I’ve considered taking that framed photo of your pretty little girls and smashing your face in with it before I burn this place to the ground? No I haven’t” For the first time during the entire interview, Hyde’s face lit up. His eyes came alive and a rattlesnake smile crossed his freckled face. This was what got him going.

”I think we better end it here”

---

Hyde left the psychiatrist's office and headed out into the pouring rain. He had breakfast plans with his just as fucked up siblings. As the people around him rushed around in the downpour, trying to avoid getting wet, the man walked casually. Something about the water pounding down onto his skin, with that slight hint of a dull pain, was satisfying, calming.

”Court mandated therapy. This is some bullshit. They can’t fix me. She can’t fix me. I can’t be fixed. Trying to castrate me. Let them fucking try. They’re worried about what I’ll do. I haven’t even fucking started yet”

He made his way to the sheltered taxi stand where only one other soul stood alone; a young woman. She smiled brightly at him. ”This weather right?” Hyde scanned her, taking in her form.

”Well well well, what do we have here? Who are you? That tan, you’re not local. You certainly are not dressed for the weather with that outfit. A New England girl would not instinctively dress for the heat. No big suitcase so you’re just passing through”

Soft blonde tresses dampened by the rain, an curved figure being hugged in all the right replaced by her soaking wet clothes, sweet sincere eyes and skin shining like a crystal to contrast the cross around her neck. She was inviting him in. His fingers began to count, one, two, three, four in his pocket.

“Little rain never hurt anyone. You been waiting long?

A bright smile crept up across the girls face as she looked at the handsome young man. “Feels like forever”

”You’re flirting. Don’t do that. I’m trying to behave”

Hyde looked around the area which was pretty much flooded at this point. “Where you headed?”

She brushed back a few strands of her wet hair and tied it up into a bun as she spoke. Revealing her neck further. “Greyhound station, I go to Boston college? I was just visiting a friend for the weekend”

”What I would give to wrap my hand around your throat while I fuck you sensless. I’d ravish you like you deserve, stop it! Be nice. You’re trying to do better”

He pulled a hand from his pocket and checked his watch. He had some time to kill before breakfast with Anya and Mika. “Oh cool, I’m going that way too. Meeting my brother and sister for some food. If you want we can split a cab, I’ll jump out at my stop and pay little towards the rest of your fare?”

“That’s really sweet of you. Are you sure?” As if one cue, a yellow cab pulled up towards the rink and the girl opened the door.

“Saves us both drowning right?”

Her smile brightened even more. This guy was so nice and genuine. ”Ok sure. My names Cadence” She climbed inside the taxi and shuffled over to allow him a place next to her

He slid in next to her and closed the door behind him. ”Cameron” He uttered as the taxi driver off into the rain.

The problem with believers, they let anyone in the door.

[LovelyComplex]

_{Saturday afternoon/evening - day after gym scene}

^{A @LovelyComplex & @Venus Collaboration}




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Sofia had kept her conversation with her mother idle. When they entered their place of residence, the only sound that could be heard was the waterfall in her father’s freshwater home aquarium. All her siblings were sleeping or pretending to. Dani was likely reading a book or doing a crossword puzzle, while Franco was on his switch. Something about dysfunctional families was it's so easy to lose sleep. That’s why she got into weed. Weed relaxed her and helped her not think of everything that was wrong with her story. "Where’s dad?”

“Fuck if I know.” Placing her purse on the entryway table, Caterina went straight to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of, hm, what was she feeling? Rosé? Yeah, sure, why not? It was the first drink that came to mind. Might as well drink it.

Taking in her mother’s demeanor, Sofi felt like it was definitely her time to go upstairs. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a good opportunity to talk about the events that transpired this night but that’s fine. She will have an opportunity before the baptism tomorrow. Yeah!

The moment Sofia tried to take a step in the direction of the stairs, her mother called out for her. Deeply sighing, knowing very well that her mom’s intuition was tingling, the eldest Belmonte-Morelli trudged her way into her mother’s sanctuary. The kitchen. Not for the food, though. No, for the corner kitchen wine cellar. Her mom was drinking more and more by the day, it was getting kind of concerning but the Belmonte way was to ignore and hope it got dealt with, eventually. Not a problem until it becomes one, amiright? "Yes, mother.” With dull eyes, Sofi observed her mother pour herself a tall glass of wine, filling it to the rim, taking one, two, three… four sips… before sitting on one of the barstools by the island.

With her finger, Cat motioned her daughter to sit beside her or stand on the other side of the island. Sofi decided the latter because being that close to her mother when she was in her interrogation state was not good for anyone. Caterina put her finger up once more for her daughter to give her another moment and started downing half the glass. When she was satisfied with her alcohol intake, she placed the glass down and rolled her eyes, “Don’t yes mother me. Where the fuck were you? You certainly weren’t at Mallory’s. You really think Robbie and Avi would lie to me? Please.”

"You’re bluffing.”

“Am I?”

The two ladies in the kitchen had a stare down before Sofi went from shrugging to crossing her arms. "So what if I wasn’t? I’m sixteen and can take care of myself.”

Going for the bottle, Cat poured more wine in her glass, “Is that so?”

"And, like, if I didn’t explore I wouldn’t have found out—”

---

The following day, things were calm or so it seemed. In Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrows the Belmonte family were at peace. The twins finally got their chance to be godparents, as Natalia held Angelina and Danilo held Vincent. The only Belmonte who couldn’t attend was Sylvia, but she was there by spirit. Tiziano made sure to have Facebook live going on, handled by his granddaughter Sofia. Both his son-in-laws were present, his children, his beautiful niece, and all his thriving grandchildren. It truly was a beautiful family affair. If only his wife could be here, with him, to watch the babies get blessed through water and the word, their lives being sealed as Christ’s own forever.

Outside of the church, in front of the town hall, Hailey Grimm had woken up the neighborhood with a protest. She had gathered not only her band Of Hail & Fire but also all the like minded souls that thought the gangs of Edenridge were more violent than ever. They were the problem and the reason why Charlie’s letters were coming to haunt them. Gun and gang violence will bring this town to it’s grave. It’s already started.

After Hailey got the scoop of how last night transpired, a video getting spread around as fast as lightning to everyone’s phones, the eldest Grimm daughter was infuriated. Allison was dead and part of the reason why was because of violence. What was the point of her father leading this town? His entire platform stood on human and civil rights, demolishing the chains that hold Edenridge back.

Yet, tragedy after tragedy kept happening and she knew for a fact he was bringing the worst out of people. Emboldening them instead of improving. So, the songstress would do what she did best. She’d release the current crime stats of Edenridge and Boston alone, speak all the deaths into existence, making sure no one forgets who died in this town, and scream how it doesn’t make sense that young kids are being shot down, losing the hope for the future. Oh and sing a badass song.

As the baptism ended, the family step by step made their way outside the church. As they chatted, gave love and adoration to each other, and planned to meet at Palermo for lunch Sofia excused herself. She told her mother she had forgotten grandpa’s phone in the pew she was sitting in. Lazily, Sofi marched inside. Once she accomplished her mission, her attention was brought to a sound in the confession booth. Hesitating, replaying the night prior, the eldest grandchild of Taz tried to convince herself it wasn’t worth it. Unfortunately, the battle was one-sided because she was nosy, like mother like daughter.

Step by step, as quiet as a mouse, Sofia found herself getting closer and closer to the booth…

---

As the late hours approached, Tiffannie was getting ready in her cousin Vivia’s room, since her cousin had plenty of make up and accessories she loved. Getting ready for what you say? Getting ready to go out, of course! Tiff was never one to slack on her self care and beauty ritual. While her beauty seemed effortless, she put time, energy, and hours into being the prettiest girl at any party.

The young Barbie girl was caught off guard when the door swung open and slammed against the wall, which showed in the way she nearly jumped out of her skin at the loud noise.

“TIFFANNIE!” To her surprise it was Cat. If anyone was visiting her, she would surely think it would be Vivia. Before the pure hearted Belmonte could speak, her cousin angrily teethed, “Did you sleep with the Father?”

Tiffannie's blue eyes widened in surprise. "Who's father?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.

“Not anyone’s father. THE FATHER. Did you sleep with the goddamn Father?!” In bloody rage Cat crept closer and closer. She was going to lose her shit with this family. Not enough alcohol in the world could prepare anyone for how fucked up her family was.

The blonde let out a nervous chuckle, eyes darting around the room nervously-- anywhere and everywhere, except from how Catarina's enraged bull figure was looming closer. "The Father?" Tiff repeated, putting on her best attempt at a disbelieving face, throwing in a little scoff for dramatic effect. "Why would I sleep with the Father? He's like, celibate and all of that. Where did you even get this crazy idea from?"

“Celibate?! Not anymore! You fucking little slut.” Cat tried to contain her breathing, but boy oh boy she was reaching her boiling point. She could already hear footsteps rushing upstairs. “You just ruined Father Joseph’s career. His fucking LIFE. You fucked him and you have the audacity to lie to my face!”

Tiffannie was panicking at this point, her slender body slightly shaking with nerves. She swallowed hard and tried to take deep, soothing breaths while her mind raced with questions about the situation she was currently in. Nobody except her and Joe knew what happened behind the closed doors of the church, and she was as careful as she could to leave no trace of their dalliances. How Cat had found out, she had no idea. But she wasn't going to admit to anything-- especially not when she had been the one pursued by him, not the other way around.

"I'm not lying!" Tiffannie cried out, her voice betraying her by taking on that slightly higher pitch it always did when she was aggressively confronted about being deceitful. "Jo- Father Joe have nothing going on together!"

With another lie out of her mouth, Cat’s fury was itching to come out.

Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t do it.

Before Cat could say anything more, Viv ran into her bedroom, “What the hell is going on?! You’re going to give ma a—”

“This little bitch slept with Father Joe. Here, look at this shit.” In a matter of seconds Cat was holding her daughter’s phone and showing Viv a picture that shouldn’t be on a 16 years old phone. “Explain this, Tiffannie.”

The young woman's eyes turned to saucers and she suddenly froze on the spot, unable to do anything other than let her mouth hang open as the realization of what had happened hit her. Tiffannie had 'forgotten' her purse on the pew she'd been occupying, so she'd told her family she'd catch up and went back inside to 'retrieve it'. But because she and Joe had been too caught up with each other inside the confessional, they must have missed the sound of Sofia following her back into the church shortly after.

"I-- I--" Tiff stammered, trying her hardest to come up with something to defend herself, but the words just didn't seem to be cooperating with her. "I didn't-- We were just-- I swear I wasn't-- I wasn't going to do anything, but he came onto me first--"

That was the last straw. No longer holding herself back, Cat swung her hand and gave Tiff a cold and crisp slap to her right cheek. “You disrespectful cunt. You don’t deserve staying with us. Get the fuck—”

“Cat you can’t kick her out!”

“And YOU!” Cat turned on her heel to face her sister, grabbing a hold of her by the shirt, “You’re no better! Does dad know about you and ReyRey?!”

[AlteredTundra]

_{Collab with @Venus || featuring The Brady Bunch || Time of Day — Early Morning (after the events of the Carlisle House)}
________________________________________________________________________________

As the morning rays had been poking through his window for nearly an hour and his room was illuminated by the summer sun, Marco just laid in his bed, looking at the wide poster of Boston’s hottest weather girl, Leticia Flores, Marco just laid there. His arms were folded loosely across his stomach, legs crossed in a way that didn’t cause his barely-recovered leg any discomfort. He laid there staring blankly into the image of the Mexican beauty, her dark hair enhanced by the light.

But he may as well be staring at a blank wall.

Marco wasn’t even feeling like himself right now nor had he since he and Jill departed-- and especially not since Danny dropped him off last night.

Since he got home, maybe save for a few hours spread across nine, Marco hadn’t been able to sleep. All he could do was think about how quiet he was during that drive home. All he could do was lament on what Jill said about Danny. He didn’t know if she was right and that Danny didn’t deserve him or if that was even a factor. He had buried all of those dark thoughts about Danny for so long that Marco thought he forgot about it.

But then when Jill opened up about Mei and poured her soul out to him, he just felt like he needed to tell someone. But after, he didn’t know if it helped. Even now, he still didn’t feel like he was any closer to feeling better about it. The pain was still there, but unlike before, he didn’t have anything else to push it down. Nothing to distract him. Unlike before, when Marco could use the excuse of the shooting and being shot and trying to recover from that, there was nothing that felt like a good excuse not to think of the hurt that came with his breakup with Danny. Even if nobody knew, he did and…

“I just don’t know!!--”

“Marcoooo!”

As a few tears fell down his face, Marco shook it as he heard Emil call for him. He immediately wiped away his brief visit with his feelings, burying them down behind a fortified smile that was depending on Marco’s ability to hide his sadness from his younger brother.

And as soon as a dressed Emil burst his way into Marco’s room, he didn’t make any fuss about it since his door was open. “I’m up! What’s up?” Marco said, greeting his brother as he stood up in a grunt.

“Mami needs us downstairs. Pop just got home and they want to go out for breakfast.”

“Really? I thought Pops wasn’t due home for another few hours?”

Emil shrugged. “You’re asking the wrong person. Now hurry up. I don’t think they want to wait in a line at Dolly’s.”

As his brother left, Marco decided that he wouldn’t think about Danny or what Jill said about Danny for the next couple of hours. Honestly, at the end of the day, maybe what he needed was this— a distraction with his family. Something that might make him forget about everything. Breakfast with his family always did that.

Marco spent a few minutes going through his dresser for a pair of shorts and a shirt. He knew that his Ma would probably expect him to wear something decent, so Marco made a habit of not going for a random pair of sweats. Even if they were just going out to the diner, there was a level of expectations to be had. Once he found something, though, he quickly slipped it on and headed downstairs.

But he did so at his own pace. His leg still felt like crap. Running around and standing for long periods of time did nothing to help his aching.

As he made it to the bottom of the stairs, waiting for him was everyone: his father, who was dressed in his usual work gear of the brown leather jacket he always wore, dark blue jeans, and a dark-colored shirt. Marco noticed the bags under his father’s eyes, which was to be expected. He was working all night and the fact he came home early and didn’t go straight to bed just showed how much he loved Ma.

“Hey there, Champ!” Colin greeted his oldest son with a dap hug, though it wasn’t as tight as he usually did. “Sleep well?”

Marco had to lie. “Yeah, it was okay!” He gave a smile, hoping they’d buy it. “Where’s Ma?” As he asked, he looked around for both Ma and Marcy.

“Marcy’s missing too,” Emil muttered. “Figures. The ones who wanted to go are the same ones making us wait.”

“Now now, don’t be like that, Emil. Just have a little patience, yeah?” Colin urged his son, teasing him with a slight tap against his son’s cheek.

And so they’d wait for a few minutes. They chatted during that time -- well, Emiliano and Colin did. Marco zoned out a few times and lost track of time. Honestly, he lost track of anything as he found himself sitting on the bottom stair, looking around and looking nowhere. Thoughts about what he had hoped to be distracted came back.

It was only when he saw his father and brother come at attention and hear the footsteps from behind him come in pairs of two. He stood up as quickly as his body would allow him to and took a few steps back.

His mother Marlena and his younger sister Marcy were making their way down the stairs, stylishly dressed to the nines and with impeccable hair and makeup. The females of the Brady family prided themselves in keeping up a flawless appearance no matter the occasion or time of day-- a diner breakfast would not be the exception. With her usual cheerful demeanor and blinding smile, Marlie waltzed around the room, planting kisses and hugs on her sons before wrapping her arms around her husband and pulling him into a kiss.

Emil looked at his mami and sister and shook his head, specifically at Marcy. “Don’t you think you’re a little overdressed? We’re just going to a diner.”

The brunette teen rolled her eyes. "How about you save your opinions for someone who actually cares?" she sassed back in perfect Spanish, flipping her hair over her shoulder and sauntering to the door. "Can we go now? I'm starving."

When Marcy's back was turned, he stuck his tongue out at her and felt the swift wrath of his mother's hand smacking the back of his head, sending the boy following his sister with the firm reminder that even a non-verbal habit doesn't go unnoticed by Big Momma.

"When will that boy ever learn?" Colin shook his head.

His wife merely rolled her eyes, making it evident from which parent Marcela had inherited the action from. "Apparently, never."

The air was filled with an immeasurable light, albeit at the expense of Emiliano, though everyone knew it was all in good fun. Even as Marco followed behind his parents, who were lovingly embracing with her arm behind his back and his gently slung over her neck. He smiled at that sight. He also smiled at the echoes of laughter as the door closed behind them, Marco locking it as his parents were halfway to the driveway, looking back at him, waiting.

The barely-mobile Marco had to take his time, but between the atmosphere among his family and the subtle breeze he felt from the morning, Marco took comfort in this being a better day than it was yesterday.

And when they got into the family SUV, a black one with spacious front and back seats, Marco and Marcy locked Emiliano in between them while their father drove. It wasn’t some guy thing where the dad drove the car, but Colin just liked to drive. And, normally, his ma was more than happy to let him do so.

The quick drive that took no more than ten minutes to Dolly’s Diner had been spent just chatting and enjoying each other’s company. Marco intentionally tried to bury himself into it, which most of it was spent talking about the weather. As mundane as it was, there was something refreshing about that particular topic. Maybe in all the darkness that yesterday brought, Marco welcomed it with an open mind. It served as the distraction he knew he needed.

buzzbuzzbuzz

Inside his shorts pocket, Marco felt his phone go off. Taking a moment to break away from the engaging conversation his family had, Marco saw he got a text from Roddy. He wanted to hang out later at Lyon Park. Something about wanting to take Rylie out.

Yeah sure man!
Just lemme know when.
Out with my family right now so maybe in a couple hours?

To Roddy

And when he sent that text, Marco looked up with a smile and saw that they had arrived.

And then they got out of the car and walked inside the diner. As they were met rather quickly, the Brady family were seated at a booth with a view, the sight of Lyon Park just down the way was what Marco immediately saw. He took the outer seat due to his limited mobility.

As they were handed menus, the waitress gave them a quick smile before saying, “I’ll give you a few minutes to decide. Can I start you off with some coffee in the meantime?”

“Yes. Please!” Colin said almost as if he was pleading with her for something a little stronger. “And make it as strong as possible.”

“I’ll take mine with four sugars.”

Emil shook his head at his older brother. “Well, I’ll take some OJ if you have it!” Emil chimed in, not quite ready to take the coffee route.

"I'll have a French vanilla latte with skim milk," Marcela piped up, while immediately shooting a defiant glare at Emiliano as if daring him to make one of his little comments about it.

"And I'll take a sunset mimosa," Marlie replied brightly, shooting their waitress a kind smile while lightly squeezing Marcy's thigh under the table-- a silent warning to her daughter and a request to behave.

Colin sighed as the waitress just replied with a “I’ll get your drinks for you now” before departing from the undoubtable awkward and tense air that had become the Brady Bunch’s booth. Not even five minutes in and the sibling bickering became so obvious that Colin could tell this wasn’t going to be easy.

“So, do we know what we want?” Colin asked his family, looking at each of them, though he’d center his gaze on his youngest two. The glares they exchanged was a telltale sign of what was to come and maybe — just maybe — if the patriarch of the family could restore some order while Marlie manned the close combat, he might be able to stop the storm before it became too large. “And don’t worry about skimping on anything you’re craving. We don’t do this as often as we should, so go ham!”

After a few long moments, Marco looked up from the menu. He took an additional one to look at Emil and Marcy. Whatever pops had said worked for now, but he could tell there was something brewing. “Think I might go for the Doll Express Plate.” Marco was looking at the photo of the three-pancake stack of buttermilk pancakes with three slabs of honey ham and three sausage links. There was a choice of hashbrowns or country potatoes, but Marco wasn’t sure which he wanted. He definitely wanted some fried eggs, though.

“Someone’s hungry!” Emil chimed in. “Maybe you want to make it a double, Marce? We all know how you like to eat!”

If they were out of sight from their parents, this would be the moment in which Marcela would flip off her brother and toss in a saucy remark or two. But because she was the bigger person (and because her mother would be quick to act if she didn't), the youngest Brady chose to purposely ignore Emiliano.

"I'll go for the salmon eggs benedict and a cinnamon roll," she told her family, closing the menu and pointedly looking away from her brother.

“Right…” Colin looked up at his two youngest. There was a partial groan that left his lips. PArt of him wanted to say something to them, but figured if they weren’t going to cause anymore problems, then it wasn’t worth it. So instead he’d try to detour the tense energy into a positive light. “Think I’ll have the midwestern omelet and some sourdough toast. Might even splurge in some turkey bacon.” He hummed as he looked over the menu. Breakfast was always hard to decide, but Colin knew he was hungry, though maybe not as hungry as Marco was. The thought of the spread that his eldest son was gonna feat upon made him crack a smile. It was at that same moment he turned to Marlena. “What about you, honey? Any idea what you might get?” He asked, looking at her lovingly (albeit with an obvious exhausted expression on his face).

"The mixed berry Belgian waffles with scrambled eggs and bacon," his wife replied, giving Colin a brief kiss before resting her head on his shoulder.

Not long after the whole family had stated what they wanted, their waitress came back with their drinks. And after some low murmurs from Emil and Marcy, who had once again bickered amongst themselves, the waitress left to take their orders to the kitchen. Everyone was mostly normal, or at least whatever normal passed for the Brady Bunch.

Everyone except Marco, who was, for the most part, lost in his own world.

Despite everything Marco told himself about wanting to have a distraction and wanting to just relax with his family. Despite him wanting to not think about what happened yesterday, he just couldn’t do it. And he wasn’t a master poker player like his father and couldn’t lie brilliantly like his siblings could, so he knew they’d see right through it. Brave faces only lasted so long.

How long did it last? Oh, right up until the waitress who had been checking up on them frequently dropped the check off, which of course his father picked up as he always did. It wasn’t even a man thing, but he always paid and nobody, not even his mother questioned it. Marco found a reason to smile because of this. He noticed that his father smiled when he opened the bill.

Knowing him he might just leave a tip larger than is ethnically required.

That’s just the kind of person Colin Brady was. Protects and serves in more ways than one might see on the side of the Edenridge PD cruisers.

As they got up, Marco remained quiet until his brother nudged him. It was their thing. When Marco shut down, which given recent events (not last night but generally speaking), Emil felt like he had to do it more often than he used to. They were at the door and as Marco walked through, his throat was dry, so he coughed. “So, Roddy texted me earlier.” He managed to get that out before he coughed again. His parents were halfway to the car and his siblings were the closest to him. “And he said he wanted to talk. I think, well I’m sure he’ll give me a ride back home if I asked him. So I think I’m gonna stick around. He’s told me to meet him at Lyon Park.” His gaze fell on the park just across the street.

Marlena stopped in her tracks and turned around to face her son. "Is everything okay?" she inquired, her voice worried as a concerned frown settled on her features. She could tell something had been weighing on her oldest from the moment she gave him his good morning kiss earlier that day. However, she had long since learned that the best approach to take with her blue-eyed boy was to inquire about things privately, and allow him the opportunity to return later if he didn't feel ready to disclose yet. Marlie knew asking in front of the others would earn her his usual "I'm fine" response, but she wanted to make sure her son knew his feelings were seen and validated.

Giving his mother a quick nod, Marco said, “Yeah…yeah! I’m alright! Everything’s okay!” His reply came out a bit more forced and rushed like he had to say it to save face with her or something. He knew that his ma was asking because she was concerned (obviously), and, of course, it wasn’t that he wanted to dismiss her effort to try and understand what he was feeling. Truth was he just didn’t feel like talking about it -- not here, at least. Something about others hearing what might be going through his head, especially about these new thoughts revolving around Danny. Marco just…didn’t want to deal with it right now. He just hoped that was enough for her, at least for now.

Marlie knew her son was lying, but she decided to not press on. Instead, she’d give Marco a soft smile and table the conversation for a later time. “Okay! And you’re sure you don’t want us to at least drop you off at the park, then? I know the doctors said walking is good for your recovery process, but Lyon Park is still some distance away. I wouldn’t want you to overexert yourself,” she confessed, worriedly eyeing his leg. Mother’s instinct, after all: to always protect, care and look after her children.

Marco shook his head, maintaining his ‘everything is fine’ expression on his face. In this case, about whether or not he could handle the walk from the diner to the park, Marco wasn’t covering up with that Brady stubbornness or anything. He really did believe he could handle it. “Thanks, Ma, but don’t worry! I can handle it. Doc said I’m at the point where I can push myself a little more each day.” Marco never lost his competitiveness. Even though he wasn’t the athlete he was a couple of years ago, there was no mistake he still had the spirit.

As Colin looked around and just smiled at Marlie and Marco, and came up from behind. “I’m sure he’ll be fine, honey.” Colin placed a supportive hand on Marlena’s slender shoulder. “And if all else fails, Marco can always call one of us to pick him up if he needs to. Right, Marco?”

“That’s right!” Marco said, flashing a more convincing grin.

Marlie assessed her son one last time. Although she knew he was fibbing about being alright, she could tell that he was being truthful about his confidence in being able to make it. If he felt comfortable enough in himself to make the trek, then who was she to stop him?

"Okay, honey," she finally gave in, taking a few steps towards Marco to give him a parting kiss and hug. "You call me if you need anything, okay? Say hi to Rod for me and give Princess Rylie extra cuddles on my behalf!"

Marco gave his usual thumbs up and watched as his family drove off. Somewhere in his gut he knew he was going regret not taking her offer, but he definitely just needed some time for himself to think. And maybe, jsut maybe, he wanted to prove to himself that he could make the journey to the park.

[BrutalBx]

---

A @BrutalBX, @LovelyComplex and @metanoia Collab

---

Do you see us?
Can you see our pain?
We didn’t have a choice.
Our souls were sold before we were brought here.
Of monsters and men, we found hell on Earth.
To suffer, to die, we only see red.
We won’t tell you our problems
But please, let us in.
Being a monster is far more fun
Than learning to fly with angel wings
When our heart is born in sin.
We are not the same. We are not many.
Between night and day, we only see dark.
There is no escape.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Darkness was a protective blanket, a promise of dawn, that was despised by some and welcomed by others. Night was the time when a child’s lullaby could be heard in the memory of lost dreams. A feeling of hands around the neck lingered, stealing the shadow woman's breath away for a moment. A simple moment. All part of the plan, he said. All part of the plan. No chains. No ropes. She just had to live a life of black and blue.

The scenes played in her head on a broken record. Pull them close and then kill them with a smile. She was good at that. A predestined fate where she had no choice but to play close to fire. A promise of no chains and no ropes. A promise of freedom.

With dead eyes glinting in the moonlight, a numb, blonde woman sat on a stool waiting. She hadn’t cleaned up from her last job. Her lip was busted, her clothes were dirty, and her hands had blood splattered all over it. Leaning against the window sill, she stared outside recounting the good ol’ days, which were slim to none but lived on in her heart.

She never deliberately thought of work. If anything, work came and went when it pleased, entering her mind usually when it matters. Right now it didn’t matter. When things slowed down, she could process her day and sit in it, letting it wash over her until the feeling left her body.

A feeling in her throat and stomach that she didn’t understand appeared and dissipated. Time and time again. Boredom? Loneliness? Hope? When the apartment door opened, the woman wiped the blood off her lips with her arm and waited. Waited for the light.

And with the opening of the old door that so clearly was in need of being replaced (not something that was in the budget for the Lost Souls apartments), was the Honey Badger of the Southside, meeting her with a smile. His sister, one of three he had, but one that he liked to say that he had a better relationship with than his unintended and uninvited house guest.

In an embrace, something Mika gave so few of, he made it quick. “Glad you could make it,” Mika remarked, closing the door behind him. He had to give the door a forceful push. The mechanics of it were a bitch to deal with sometimes, but Mika knew the tricks to get it to shut. “Excuse the mess.” Mika’s blue eyes darted to his dirty carpet and some clothes scattered about. “I haven’t been able to clean up as much as I would’ve liked.”

“Oh it’s good. I don’t judge,” No longer on the stool, the Basilisk tailed behind her brother, maneuvering herself around the clothes, dishes, and other things. “What did you do today?” She struck a casual conversation. Or tried to at least. Anya didn’t know how to socialize like most girls. Grabbing a hand towel off the counter, not knowing if it was clean or dirty, she wiped her hands on it. Eek. She needed a bath.

Mika leaned against the wall next to the kitchen with his arms folded across his chest, watching as Anya had the best luck possible and managed to grab the one towel he owned that wasn’t covered in filth and other things. “Oh you know, have a beer or two, reflect on my life choices. The typical Honey Badger things.” Mika laughed and then went silent for a few moments, though he never broke eye contact with his sister.

The drinks he had were with Hyde and those reflections about life choices was telling his brother about the letters that everyone from his graduating class had been receiving. To be honest, he didn’t like that the past was being brought up. It was bad enough that Mika lived through it once. Nothing could change what happened, but maybe it was his past that Mika just didn’t want to face because the firm reminder had pretty much invited himself to sleep in his bed for however long.

“Give you two guesses who decided to make themselves home in this crummy apartment.” Did he know if she knew Hyde was back? Nope. But at the same time, it wasn’t like HB was going to keep this from one of the few people Mika felt like he could trust not to get over agitated about it… Lord knew his other sister that knew of Hyde would most certainly not take it well.

“No need. I know.” And indeed Anya did know. She was good at finding out information on people, especially those that were on her mind. Usually Hyde wasn’t easy to track but as of late, with him staying with their little brother, she could pick up patterns and catch him at places like therapy with Shannon Ramsey. “That’s why I’m here. I want breakfast and he wants family.” Once she wiped her hands off to the best of her capabilities, the Russian American folded the bloody towel nicely and placed it back on the counter.

Strolling around, aimlessly, Anya addressed a comment brought up earlier by Mika, “What troubles you, little brother? What life choices you make that bothers you?”

He laughed slowly and partially at himself for thinking that his sister didn’t know about their brother’s return to Eden. It was an insult to her intelligence for Mika to assume she wouldn’t find out. Nevertheless, he didn’t think she’d ask about a somewhat cover answer he gave to an earlier question of hers. And, honestly, where would he even begin? “I don’t know if I’d say I’m bothered by it, but you have enough beers and sit there long enough, you can’t help but wonder what paths you could have taken, decisions you could have made to end up…I don’t know? In a different place than where you ended up.” He couldn’t say it out loud, but he was talking about Cece and how he broke her heart in the worst way possible. No matter how much he tried to justify it in the moment, and, most of all, in his head and in moments since, there was never a reason to justify being that cruel to her and Mika knew it.

“I don’t relate,” Anya spoke honestly. It was true - she really couldn’t relate. Regret, guilt, and doubt. Those feelings could only be felt if you had a life full of good experiences. Pure, genuine, and simple experiences. “You lived the way you know how. You think back and wonder. That is good. Only disguised bad. Use it like fire, not ghost that haunts you.” Finding her way to the bathroom door, she glanced back at Mika, with her innately sharp eyes, “Tell big brother, breakfast, please.” With that, the Basilisk disappeared to clean herself up, making herself semi-decent for family time. Home wasn’t a place but the people you knew. Mika and Cam. They were home.

Mika heeded Anya’s words like they were gospel. Maybe he wasn’t ready to take it to heart yet, but somewhere inside his soul he knew she was right. He might not be in the place to admit that, but part of him knew that she was right.

When she went into the bathroom to finish up, Mika took a spot at the kitchen table. He sat there, looking at his phone for the longest time. Maybe it was three minutes. Maybe four. He just blankly stared at Cece’s Instagram. It was mostly full of her goofy selfies, some stuff about her cupcakes and baking, and general miscellaneous things that Mika rolled his eyes at. “Alright, enough of that.” He said and called Hyde. “Hey,” he greeted his brother on the other end of the call, tone as dead as the love he had for Cameron Hyde. “Our sister is here. You said you wanted breakfast, right?”

“I’ll be there in a few,” Hyde responded on his cell as he looked down at the mass of blonde hair that lay flat on the bed. Hanging up from the call, he placed his phone back onto his pocket before walking over to a nearby sink and rinsing his hands. It would be some kind of different to have a meal with his family. Their upbringings had all been drastically different and they did not even know of each other’s existence until fairly recently in the grand scheme of things. They had a lot of time to make up for and after his stint at his president's pleasure, Hyde had even more time to try and get back. Once he had finished washing up after himself; the devil left the building, she didn’t even stir.

After grabbing some supplies from a 24/7 convenience store, Hyde made his way towards the Lost Souls Complex. Lost Souls who named this shit? This entire town was littered with poetic or downright depressing sounding names. It was like something out of a shitty teen drama trying it’s best to be cool and edgy. He traveled up to his brother's floor and once he was outside the front door, the oldest of the children of Ivan stopped for a moment. Hyde drummed his fingers rhythmically as he was prone to doing, breathing outwardly and sharply. He wasn’t nervous, no it was another feeling he was fighting, something a little more violent. He cracked his neck with a short twist before opening up the door.

“Well well.”

---

Sitting across from her younger brother, Anya’s chin rested on her palm as she boredly waited for her food. Rarely did the Basilisk have this time to herself to simply be and as such, she felt agitated. Agitated that she didn’t know how to act in the presence of her brothers. Agitated at the endless debt waiting for her to collect. Agitated at the lack of… interests she had and how little she could talk about.

Her life was work and if she wasn’t working, she was training and studying. If she wasn’t training and studying, she was sleeping. If she wasn’t sleeping, she was researching and investigating. On rare occasions could she slow down. These were one of those moments and she didn’t know what to do with herself. “How…” she tried to word the question properly, stumbling on her English, “How you take Charlie… no, how you take yesterday? The letters?” Her gaze was directed towards Mika, but Hyde was more than welcome to join the conversation as he sizzled bacon.

“You know I’m kind of interested in that myself,” Hyde piped up as he watched the bacon fry in one pan and he stirred the eggs nearby. He had asked the question when he first arrived at his little brother's pad the other night but didn’t really get much of an answer. From what he understood, Mika was not any kind of close to Charlie Decker, the center figure of this whole sordid tale. Hyde knew him through some business he had before he got locked up but did he have any personal connection to the departed? Not really.

“What’s this whole thing about Mika? And why haven’t you put a blade in the throat of this fuck?…also I need chilli powder, where’s your chilli?”

Mika remained stone faced as his older brother made the suggestion that he should kill the person sending out the letters. Like it was natural to him as it was to Hell's Kitchen's personal chef. Mika wasn't a killer or didn't have killer-like tendencies that Hyde did. He had the anger and the impulsive behavior, but that's where their behavioral similarities ended. Nevertheless, one thing that couldn't be denied and that was the strain that these letters had on the town.

Mika wasn't especially close to Charlie, but during the time that Decker was alive, Mika ran into him frequently. This was due to his very close relation with the serpents. Charlie was a good guy who, much like everyone in this godforsaken town, seemed to suffer from a lot of demons, and Mika always felt bad for him. Even after everything.

"You know, it would be easy to do something like that if anyone knew the name of the fucker who was sending out these letters, but so far we don't know." Mika admitted with a bit of agitation in his voice, looking at Cameron. "Also chili powder is in the top right corner. Next to the fridge."

Hyde nodded his head as he moved to the aforementioned cupboard to grab the powder. He added it to the scrambled egg mixture and took a swig of the morning beer he had cracked open for himself the minute he walked through Mika’s front door.

“Do you worry?” Anya patiently asked. “Charlie saw secrets. And now we see them.” The Basilisk adjusted her posture by giving a big stretch in her seat, “I could look, if you care. Find lead. I feel… more is to come.”

The sister of Hyde and Mika sat there contemplative. She had run into Charlie Decker a couple of times, in some of his most impromptu moments, but as far as knowing him, beyond what she saw, was words from his almost lover. Everything she learned about Charlie came from Penelope James. That girl might not remember her but whenever she was alone in the library, or with that small Boaz kid, there were occasions where they sparked idle conversation. The girl talked highly of Charlie, beyond adoration, he was her purpose. That is until junior year. Junior year changed her because he changed.

As he chopped up some black pudding to throw in to the breakfast, Hyde pointed his sharp blade towards Anya in a vote of confidence. “Little sis has a point. She could easily get info on this dick and we can nip this in the bud no problem.” He dipped a finger into his breakfast and his handsome face twisted into a grimace. “Then again, this all sounds wildly entertaining and I kind of want to see what plays out next,” he said gleefully.

As he tried to take what Anya…offered? Suggested? Ah, hell he didn’t know, but he was processing it all. Processing the letter. The importance of that night, though Mika wasn’t necessarily involved that night. He was at the party, sure. The night that Alison died, he was playing Seven Minutes in Heaven with Natalia (partially not his choice, though). It got him to loosen up somewhat, but at the same time, it just set up a bunch of problems that Mika would’ve preferred to avoid. But that night, Charlie Decker had done something and that was all that Mika really knew.

“I don’t really see any point. It might be a waste of…your skills, sis…” Mika felt his point losing focus when he watched Cameron put in…black pudding into their breakfast and he almost jumped when his only good knife was pointed in his direction, past memories ingrained into him came flooding to the surface. It was doing all that he could not to show the terror he was feeling internally. “--And, besides, I’m not even sure if what this person is doing is necessarily a bad thing.” Mika had to speak honestly. He didn’t know Decker that well to feel bad when he passed. He felt terrible for those close to him, but this town is full of self-righteous assholes. Monsters who hide among men and commit heinous deeds. So maybe Mika felt some of them needed to be reminded of secrets they thought were long since buried. Or maybe Honey Badger just didn’t give a fuck. “Charlie Decker wasn’t my closest friend, but someone doesn’t do what he did if it wasn’t at least partially deserving. Dad always did say to be careful who you crossed. I’m not sure if that justifies what he did or not, but now the secrets will be coming out.” Growing up the way he did, Mika knew that secrets killed, but maybe for this town, secrets coming out might be a blessing in disguise. Or maybe people’s lives will be ruined. Either way, as long those closest to him weren’t hurt, then he didn’t feel too concerned about not feeling angry about the letters.

“I hope you right,” Anya passively spoke - she was distracted by whatever Hyde was doing. After a few more minutes of idle conversation, both Mika and Anya had plates in front of them with an… interesting assortment, to say the least. Puzzled, comparing this to what she’s had at the diner, Anya looked at her little brother in a way that said ‘…should I go first?’ Of course she would. What were big sisters for?

Only moments later, she decided to take the hit and grabbed a piece of bacon, dipping it in the black substance. Slowly she brought the bacon to her mouth. Maybe she’d be surprised. Maybe Hyde could cook.

Crunch.

At a slow pace the Basilisk chewed. And chewed. And chewed. And chewed. “This is… dry. Really dry.” She couldn’t lie to her soul twin but she also didn’t want him to beat himself up either about this. “It’s… okay.”

“Huh.”

As he tried to scarf down the overcooked bacon and whatever the hell that black pudding stuff was, the aroma was almost as bad as the lack of moisture. Anya was right: it was dry, almost flavorless, and, if he was being honest, almost inedible, but Mika stomached it. He had to for the sake of whatever passed for calm around here. “It’s…pretty good, Cameron…” Those words felt like venom coming out of Mika’s mouth, but it was better to lie to his face than feel the wrath of the Devil.

Hyde had already demolished most of his plate. He surveyed his twin and baby brother as he dangled a very crispy rasher of bacon. Their faces told a very obvious story. With his free hand under the table, he began to count with his fingers, doing his best to ignore the growing, defeating feedback ringing in his ears. He had to remember that this was his family or at least the closest thing he had to one. As much as he wanted to smash a plate over Anya’s pretty little face and then slash her with the broken shards, he just had to keep it in check. Tell that dark passenger of his to keep quiet.

“This shit killed, when I was in prison, I learned it from a British guy. Oh well.” With a mouthful of food he threw his burnt baby pig onto the plate with a loud thud.

“So, diner?”

[AlteredTundra]

_{A @metanoia & @BrutalBx collaboration}
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Marco walked from the diner to Lyon Park, he had to remind himself to keep a steady pace. He knew if he took a step too big his legs would buckle under him. He wouldn’t fall down per se, but there was a good chance he’d be in immense pain. Maybe in hindsight, he should have asked for a lift to the park, but he insisted to his mother that he was fine and he just knew she would do that thing that only partially got on her nerves. Only because he truly felt like he could handle the trek.

He wanted to walk, but more importantly, he needed the time alone. He needed to be alone with his thoughts. He didn’t want to admit it to his family, especially because a lot of what happened last night felt like it’d be best not to divulge to his family. If his mother found out that he was even anywhere near a gun, or on a wild goose chase about Charlie Decker’s ghost, she’d go into helicopter mode. And hell be damned, he didn’t want to worry her. Because if she was worried, he’d only feel guilty for starting to feel like he couldn’t run away from the past. He knew if she knew he was hurting, that’d only make things worse.

And after last night, especially after some of the harsh truths Jill gave him about Danny, he had a lot to think about.

But he was done reflecting on things that were eventually going to be addressed in the future, because as he finally made it to the playground, sitting on a bench, watching his daughter proudly in the stroller that was in front of him, was Roddy Callahan. He smiled at his friend and instead of standing up to greet him, Marco shook his head as he took a seat next to him. “Sorry it took me forever, man,” Marco admitted, giving his friend an apologetic smile. “Made the mistake of walking here from the diner across the street. I thought taking the Happy Trail would be quicker, but with how slow I walk these days..” He nervously laughed. “But I’m just glad I made it.” Smiling, Marco looked at his goddaughter, making random, silly faces at her and he heard her laugh in the way that babies did.

“That’s ok, bro beans” Roddy handed Rylie one of her toys and leaned back against the bench, avoiding the plaque on the back dedicated to the memory of yet another fallen child of Eden. “You know I’m an early riser anyway and after last night, I barely slept a fucking wink”

Last night had been an extremely strange evening for Rod. He had gone in with a simple enough plan; convince Lanie to take him back. Then the shit with Charlie’s letter happened. As much and as desperately as he wanted it to just be about him and his ex-girlfriend, Roddy couldn’t ignore the chance to find some sort of closure. Too many people assumed that beyond his devastating injury, the butcher's boy was absolutely fine after the shooting. He wasn’t. The night terrors were horrible, the ptsd flashbacks were nauseating and the guilt weighed him down terribly. Rod left more than just a piece of his spine in the gym that day. He had left a part of his soul there. Now he regretted ever suggesting going back. Lanie was distraught, Mei, Jill, everyone seemed worse off than when they first started. Hell, even fucking ReyRey Gonzalez seemed messed up. Whoever was doing this must be getting a kick out of it all. Some kind of monster indeed.

“Beyond the obvious, you doing ok man?”

Marco breathed out a nervous chuckle. “I guess that depends on your definition of ‘ok’. I just had breakfast with my family. All of them. Pa got off earlier than he has been lately and wanted breakfast.” Thinking about his siblings’ bickerfest was the one thing that kept him smiling throughout the entirety of the past hour.

“That’s rough, dude,” Roddy took a sip from his coffee cup and placed it into a nearby bin. Attempting to avoid even more difficult subjects, Callahan pulled out his phone and opened up a news article, handing it to his friend. “You see this? DeShawn Marcus just signed with the Patriots. Our D this year is going to be fucking impenetrable. Guys a god damn brick wall.”

“It wasn’t too bad,” he muttered, seeing the news article on Rod’s phone and he had to do a double check. “You serious!?” A genuine feeling of excitement passed through Marco’s body that Rylie seemed to respond to it in her own, baby-like way. “Holy shit, man! DeShawn is gonna be the next Brady--” He had to laugh, considering present company (talking about himself) “--Tom Brady, that is. I can’t wait! I’ve been saving my money for that season pass! And maybe by then, my leg will be healed enough so we can actually attend all the home games we can.” The rush of some kind of normalcy was a refreshing adrenaline rush for Marco and he welcomed it with a wide grin.

In hindsight, Roddy realised that he’s led the conversation in a way he didn’t want; to yet another sad topic. “That may not happen like you want it to, Marco” He pushed his phone back into his pocket and sighed. “I’ve been mulling over something in my head, something big. I’m sort of thinking about…leaving town.” This was going to be difficult. Marco had been his best friend for a few years now and having not even discussed the idea with him was already a mark in the negative column. “Lanie isn’t here anymore and I barely get to see Rylie…” He grabbed his daughter's little hand and began to play with her fingers as she giggled. “There’s a lot of shit here bud and I don’t want her growing up around all these bad memories. You remember I told you that I got into college and deferred for rehab? Well they said I can go back as long as it’s in the next round of applicants and it’d be in Texas. I’d be close to Lanie and Rylie and I got to think of my family. If I go, it’d have to be soon, like real soon.”

There was a silence that filled the air that Rylie’s giggles couldn’t reach. A silence brought on by Marco’s shock by this sudden news. It was not that he was disappointed -- okay, maybe there was a little bit of that, but it is more for the fact that he didn’t think they’d be leaving so soon. Marco had often relied on both Rod and Lanie for support. He wouldn’t be as far into his recovery had it not been for the hours that he spent in recovery with Roddy, talking and bonding over their love for sports and getting into heated debates about the true football. He wouldn’t be able to walk if it wasn’t for Lanie’s repeated visits to his house and checking up on him every day that she could spare.

Looking down, Marco smiled at Rylie. And of course, every chance he got to spend with his goddaughter was a blessing. Her smile always lightened up any gloomy forecast that was predicted in his mind.

So, it just was a bit of a surprise. “Damn Rod, I don’t know what to say.” Marco found himself still looking at his goddaughter, smiling at her innocent face, that golden hair making it so obvious who she took after. Internally, he was digesting it slowly, but weirdly enough, he found quick peace with it. “I mean, I know she’s been thinking about it. And I know with everything going on with the letters and last night, it was too much for her to handle.” Reflecting on how he couldn’t find her when she ran out of that house, Marco completely understood why this had to happen. “D-do you guys have a set date when you might be leaving? Or even a general time frame?” Marco asked, finally looking up at Rod.

“Not yet. I don’t even know if we’re going. It’s pretty much up to Lanie.” Rod ran a hand through his trademark shaggy hair and looked up towards the sky. “I think about all the people we know who didn’t have dads or grew up on the Southside. I think of Charlie and how he looked at me when we were in that gym.” Roddy gripped the bench just a little bit tighter. “I didn’t know him like Poppy or Jade but we were always cordial, always friendly but he was so broken, what he was carrying was just too much.” He returned his gaze to his little girl. “I don’t want that for her. I want to be there as much as I possibly can be. To help her; to carry that weight. I don’t believe in ghosts Marco but this place has too many.”

Marco felt the pit in his stomach suddenly drop when Roddy started to talk about Charlie. In all the time, he hadn’t thought of him and in the past twelve hours alone, he was starting to learn more and more about the boy that caused so much harm. Before, he just thought of him as someone who took all of his dreams away -- the dreams of going pro, being a star, being the person he was in high school but on a grander scale. And then learning about what happened nearly five years ago and on top of all of that, Jill's words about Danny lingering, Roddy was right about there being so many ghosts in Edenridge.

As he listened, he thought about what it’d be like without them around. The few genuine moments he had when he could smile were right now: spending them with one of his best friends, seeing Rylie’s face light up any time they glanced her way, but he knew that Lanie could barely handle it last night. She loved Ally like a sister and he couldn’t blame her for wanting to leave and he sure as hell couldn’t fault Roddy for wanting to go so he could be closer to his daughter.

“If you guys do end up going,” Marco spoke, smiling, “it should be together.I don’t know how badly she took last night...I mean about Ally and the other things said, but maybe getting away might be good for you two--” He caught himself looking down at Rylie, smiling at his goddaughter, “--I mean the three of you to have a fresh start.” Marco let the thought linger for a few moments, quietly thinking about what it might be like and then another thought came to him and he couldn’t help but let a chuckle escape. “At the least, you won’t have to endure the arctic winter in the south.”

“I dunno,” Roddy shrugged. “I think I’d miss the cold” the shaggy haired man chuckled lightly. He was partial to the winter weather of Boston, anything close to summer heat killed Roddy…maybe it was all that hair? He hoped Rylie would never suffer the same fate and that she’d take after her mother as a golden goddess. “So what happened with Danny last night Marco? You guys admit your undying love or what?”

Suddenly Marco found himself tensing up somewhat. He didn’t expect Roddy to be so...forward, but that’s how he always was. Maybe it was his mind not prepared for it, but as he expelled out a small chuckle, he just looked at his friend. “Now what makes you think we did?” The nervous laughter persisted as Marco scratched the top of his left forearm, a nervous habit of his. “I...no, we didn’t get to see much of each other yesterday. At least, not after the bombshell of a story Rey Rey GOnzalez told us.” His admission came just moments before he found himself thinking about Jill again and how their conversation about Danny had been living rent free ever since.

“You two will get there.” Roddy put his arm over his friends back and gave him a soft but firm pat. “I got a feeling.” He stood up to his feet and strapped Rylie properly into her stroller. “You wanna go grab a bite before I take the munchkin back to her Mom?” He asks. “I’m thinking the Godmothers? I could murder a sandwich.”

Marco smiled at Ruddy and Rylie. He didn’t know exactly what the future held for him and Danny nor did he think he’d be lamenting on what Jill told him for so long, but that was a task for another day. Besides, Marco’s pensive expression changed into a bright smile as soon as Rod mentioned The Godmother. He ate a big breakfast not too long ago, but he could never say no to Godmother’s, especially when it might be one of the last times he and Rod might be able to hang out with each other. “Only if you let me pay. It’s the least I can do for you and my favorite little blonde person.” He smiled like the proud uncle-like figure he was to the little one.

”I mean, I’ll never turn down a free meal” Roddy walked behind the stroller and put both his hands on firmly ready to guide his baby girl to the Godmothers for the best meatball sub five dollars could buy. He glanced down at Marco before he too stood up and a small smile crossed his face. Had you asked him years ago that he would be as close to the former soccer player as they now were, he would’ve laughed. Yet for all intents and purposes, sans Kylee, he was his best friend. ”Hey Marco, can you do me a favour after I’m gone? Look out for my cousin Clay? He’s a bit of a tool but he’s a good guy with a good heart. With everything the way it is, he’s gonna need a friend”

Walking as steadily as he could, Marco turned his head to his friend when he stated a request. He knew Clay somewhat. Not well enough to say they were regular buddies, but Marco has seen him around town sometimes. His dad might have told him something about some new detective that the force had a while back, but he couldn’t be sure. Regardless, Roddy didn’t have to ask him a second time. “You got it man! He sounds like a nice guy. I mean, he’s your cousin, so he can’t be that bad, right?”

Marco grinned, walking at his own pace, Roddy not seeming to be in a rush (at least from where Marco could see). For better or worse, they would make it to Godmother’s, and Marco would enjoy a fully stacked Reuben.

[LovelyComplex]

_{Saturday morning, day after gym scene, around the same time as the baptism and protest.}

^{A @LovelyComplex & @BrutalBx Collaboration}



____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The farewell tour continued.

Roddy had said goodbye to Marco, he had said goodbye to Beau and now was probably the time to say the hardest goodbye of all; Kylee.

It was, to put it bluntly, an absolute shit feeling to be leaving behind all these people but Rod knew that it had to be this way. It wasn’t like when people went off to college, this goodbye was for real. Of course he would always venture back from time to time but there was something final about this; Edenridge was soon going to be an object in his rear view mirror and like the great Meatloaf once said, they appear closer than they are.

After leaving Marco and dropping Rylie back with Lanie, Roddy made his way to Rochambeau for a quick bite and coffee with his bestie. Kylee had always been by his side, from the moment the Grimms landed on Scott Street, she had been his other half, his best friend, the Velma to his Shaggy. Over the years the pair had been on many a wild adventure. Some were fruitful and provided great stories to tell, others not so much. If their final mission together was to be solving the mystery of Allison Davies death and the letters that tormented the town, then it was a hell of an adventure to go out on.

Being the intrepid reporter that she was, Rod had a suspicion that Ky already knew why he had called her to the cafe but he had been proven wrong many times before. Grabbing their favourite booth at the back, good for spying she always said, he ordered her favourite drink, an espresso, to the table along with his own chai latte and awaited Kylee’s arrival.

This was gonna suck.

Kylee Grimm had gotten caught in the commotion that her sister brought to town square. Her sister was an agent for chaos, drawing people in by her radical views, audacious behaviour, and scantily clad attire. She sold sex even when she wasn’t trying to and lets be real, people weren’t there for the politics, they were there to hear her sing. Music brought people together and what better time than now? When all the people of Edenridge were at war with themselves and each other. Hailey had a knack for that, using the pain of others for her own benefit and success. A cutthroat business woman only thinking about herself.

In Kylee’s honest opinion, her sister was a Venus flytrap in disguise, luring people in, offering them a piece of pie, only to eat them whole and alive - metaphorically speaking. A killer of the soul, if you may. She knows exactly what she’s doing. All her siblings knew what they were doing. Don’t be fooled by their kindness. Her house was meant for sinners not saints. When Kylee finally squeezed out of the crowd, she sauntered her way to the cafe, where she’d be meeting her best friend.

Wearing her red, stylish leather jacket, a black lace crop top, and a pair of dark jeans that fits just right, Kylee entered Rochambeau. A woman always on a mission, her heel boots resonating throughout the cafe, Kylee’s gaze immediately fell on her best friend. She beamed at the sight of him, before slipping on her side of the booth, “Sorry for making you wait. It’s crazy out there. I hope you haven’t been here for too long.”

“Nah I just got here, got stuck between your sisters speech and your dads rally. Your family do know how to pick their spots, Ky.”

He slid the brunette’s piping hot drink across the table. Roddy’s soft blue eyes fell upon Beau behind the bar and the two men shared a nod. Before a very specific day in September two years ago, Beau had not been Rod’s favourite teacher but they had held a level of respect. It was the day of the shooting that everything had changed for the pair. It was Beau who, when counting heads on one of the school buses filled with terrified students, realised he was one short, one Roddy Callahan. Of course, being who he was, Beau figured out what had happened, that the boy who had a knack for getting into other people's business had gone back into the school to help. In a faculty of thirty only three teachers sacrificed everything to go back into that school, Beau himself, Mrs. D’Amiano, and Coach John O’Hara. Sadly by the time he reached the gym, Beau was too late. Roddy had been shot, O’Hara too and Charlie Decker lay dead on the ground with Poppy James watching from the sidelines. Tragedy, the true name of this godforsaken town.

“So that thing with ReyRey, that happened.”

“Yes it did, very sad,” Kylee absentmindedly responded as she reached for her espresso and took a deep sip. After she placed it down, she immediately diverted the topic, already over yesterday’s news, “Anyways, I caught my dad talking to Mrs. James early this morning, a little before his rally. I was bringing him breakfast because he had forgotten to eat and she was in his office for awhile. That’s a scandal waiting to happen I bet.”

To most people Kylee rambling about theories in a fast paced manner would be normal but to Roddy, the slight tone shift in her voice was a sign of nervousness. She wanted to dance around whatever topic he wanted to talk about by throwing in random curiosities. “Honestly, at least Mrs. James is a bit more age appropriate than that woman that calls herself my mother.” Like ew. Seriously.

“Ky, stop.” Roddy chuckled. “Your dad isn’t having some sordid affair with Poppy’s Mom, ok? They were probably talking charity stuff.” It was typical of Kylee to start off a conversation with her latest piece of gossip or hearsay. She was the queen of whispered words but this latest song was not her usual. He knew that her motormouth was a sign that she probably already knew why he had brought her here, of course she did, she was Kylee.

“Do you remember when we were, what maybe twelve? and we went to the House on Hanging Hill Lane?” He looked out at the growing crowd outside for Hailey’s demonstration; she sure did know how to build a crowd. Then again so did her father. Must run in the family. “I remember you being so scared that you didn’t come to school for three days because you thought we were cursed.”

He was being nostalgic because he thought it might ease the blow of what was to come. With most everyone else, it would be easy for a Roddy to say sayonara and head off into the sunset with Lanie and Rylee. That wasn’t going to be the case with Ky. She wouldn’t make a scene, that wasn’t her style.

“How could I forget?” Kylee rested her cheek in the palm of her hand, her elbow on the table, as her dark stare never looked away from her dear friend. Roddy was the light in her life. He made her a better person. He was the reason she didn’t fall under the pressure of being the daughter of Theodore Grimm. No matter who she dated, whether it was Pierce or Natalia, or even her fling with Mei, none of them mattered like him. He was her rock. He kept her afloat when she felt like she was drowning. He entertained her mind, while bringing her back when it was going too far. He was everything to her - in the most platonic way.

Kylee truly believed soulmates weren’t only in the form of lovers. No, there were some souls that had a different job, and yet still made life worth enduring. Hm, now that she thought about it, maybe Roddy wasn’t her rock. Maybe he was her flashlight, getting her through the night. Losing him would hurt like a bitch but she knew she needed to find that light inside herself. “The witch that was brutally murdered on October 30th 1995 came to visit us. The longest and most vibrant red hair we ever did see… if we actually stopped and stared, now that I’m thinking about it, she was really beautiful. But because she gave us a jump scare I went running for my life. I still think we’re kind of cursed for entering that place. If we weren’t…” Kylee paused, bringing her hand down for him to grab it, “You wouldn’t be leaving me.”

There it was. The truth of the matter.

Roddy took his hand and placed it atop hers; entwining their fingers together like their souls had been for so many years. “Course you figured it out.” There was no use in trying to lie to the Grimm girl in both name and demeanour at this point. She would see right through him, just like she always did. Rod had for too many years been accused of being an unfeeling robot but that couldn’t be further from the truth. He felt so desperate, so intensely. His issue was not being able to show those emotions, to display them to a world that he doubted would fully comprehend his thoughts and feelings. Robo Roddy was a name that haunted him even to this day.

“Ky, you know I love you. With everything I am I do but Rylie and Lanie,” He paused and sighed through his nose, exhaling the demons to allow his rational mind to talk for him. “I’ve missed so much already cos of this stupid fucking hole in my spine and I can’t miss any more. If those letters and that shit with ReyRey has taught me anything it’s that you have to hold on to those you love and just because I won’t be here, doesn’t mean I won’t be with you all the damn time. I’ll be a phone call away.”

“I know,” was all Kylee said in response to that. Her heart was heavy, which showed on her face and in her eyes. She would no longer have Roddy to keep the voices out of her head. She would no longer have Roddy to help her ease her mind as she replayed the scene over and over again of the bloodbath that was in the auditorium with the old Lucky Charms A Capella troupe. No longer would she have her flashlight when she was stuck in the dark. Even so, this was how things should be. He had a family to care for. She couldn’t hold him back when he had so much to live for.

The fact that he could leave Edenridge was heartwarming. It meant he’d be free. If this was the burden she had to carry, to take on the bad omens meant for him, she would gladly do it because that’s what love is. Love meant you had to make sacrifices for those you loved. Love meant you had to let go because it’s what’s best for them, even if it wasn’t best for you. Love means no expectations - it’s a selfless kind of thing where you give and give and give, yet never expect anything in return. Love is what she had for Roddy.

“Promise me,” Her hold on his hand tightened, her sharp eyes penetrating his tender gaze, becoming deadly serious, “No matter what happens here, you won't come back. You won’t look back. Promise me, Lanie will handle your heart with care and treasure it forever. Promise me, you’ll live like there is no tomorrow. For you. For your family. And for me.” She could feel her voice shaking and the tears building up. Releasing her hand from his, she began to fan her eyes, refusing to cry over this.

“Promise me, you’ll be happy.” Kylee said with finality. “Just promise me, okay?“ with a weak smile, she turned to her espresso and drank a bit more, desperately, wanting the warmth to help ease the pain. She wanted to beg him to not go. To not leave her. To not abandon what they’ve built but she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t do that to her Shaggy. She loved him too much.

Robo Roddy had malfunctioned and his eye sockets were filling up with a salty liquid. Is this what they called tears? With a shake in his voice and a quiver on his lip, he nodded. “I promise.” He loved his family and he knew he was making the right decision to leave but god damn was it hard to leave Ky behind. If he could take her with him, if she could just give up on trying to figure out the secrets of this hellmouth, he knew she could be happy. Yet Roddy knew better. Kylee couldn’t leave this place behind, there were still things to be discovered, still truths to be brought to light, still mysteries to solve.

“I need you to promise me something too,” Rod motioned to the front door of Cafe Rochambeau with his eyes before returning his steely blue gaze to his best friend. He had always held a deep fear for her future. Not because Ky wasn’t talented or smart because she was both of those things in spades. No, it was because of the people she had around her; the people who were so very obviously part of the massive corrupting influence, the poison apple in the pit of its stomach that eats Eden from the inside out.

“Don’t let what’s out there eat you up. Don’t let it consume you. We both know who you are, really. We both know what’s in your blood. Don’t let what’s inside burn you up and turn you into one of them. Promise me, you will always be Velma and promise me that when you’ve exposed that final truth you’re gonna come find me and we can find a new mystery to solve.”

She didn’t know if this was a promise she could keep because of who her father was. The further down the rabbit hole she went, the more likely she’d go mad. Still, she wanted to send Roddy off in good faith. They both can hope that her ending would be a happily ever after. Though, there were never happily ever afters in Edenridge. Until then, she had an oath to serve. An oath she swore, the moment she and Roddy found a music box in her father’s room, in the ceiling no doubt.

“I promise.”

As sweet as their moment was, sweet things don’t last. Suddenly, a ringing resounded in the cafe. Kylee’s attention was drawn to the opening of the front door, when she saw Wesley Silo striding in, with Clay Costigan slowly following behind. Her eyebrow rose up in curiosity. “That’s the reporter I was telling you about,” Kylee gestured with her eyes for Roddy to give a good look. Ever since Wes came to town, that’s all Kylee texted about with her best friend.

“That’s the reporter you want to bang? Looks kinda weedy…wait why in the blue hell is he with McDungus? Why would anyone with half a brain want to talk to my idiot cousin?”

Roddy loved Clay, he really did. He was, if anything more a brother than an older cousin. Clay’s parents never really were there for him or his twin, Lamb. They weren’t bad people by any stretch of the imagination but his fathers job and his mothers…well let’s call it absentmindedness weren’t exactly a cocktail for a successful parent. It was because of this that Clay spent most of his time with Francis over at their house. Lamb ended up doing her own thing. Roddy’s own parents loved Clayton as if he was their own. Sure, he was a bit lacking in common sense but even a blind mind could see that the boy with the goofy grin and amazing hair had a good heart and a pure soul. There really wasn’t any surprise when he became a cop. It was just a surprise that he decided to come home.

“Well well.” Roddy smiled before polishing off his drink and getting to his feet. This was actually kind of perfect. He could tell by that sparkle in her beautiful eyes that Kylee had already switched into mystery mode with the arrival of the two older men. He leaned down and kissed the top of her forehead before walking towards the exit. He offered Clay a simple smile as he brushed by his cousin. Stopping at the door, Rod turned to look at Kylee one more time before leaving.

"Go get em, Velma.”

[Aces Away]

^{A @Aces Away & @LovelyComplex Collaboration}




____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The following Collab takes place between the hours of 3:00PM and 3:30PM on Saturday

On top of yesterday being a nightmare, Penelope spent her morning eating breakfast thinking of her actual nightmares. Last night was so fucked that she thought ghosts of Edenridge’s past was coming back from the dead and haunting those that still lived. Seeing Charlie in her dreams wasn’t a blessing. No, it just made her come to terms that he was dead and he will always be dead.. It hurt.

Why couldn’t she give him the benefit of the doubt? Why couldn’t she pretend that everything he did didn’t hurt her? Her dream was so… vivid too. And how it ended, they had to sacrifice her because in her blood was the man that started it all. Was that true or was that her mind playing tricks on her? On top of that, she had therapy with Shannon Ramsey and lord knows she hated therapy.

Once her session was over, she walked to Lyon park and sat on a bench, no longer at Beau’s house. Penelope and Mordechai waited for the receiver to pick up the video call. She was… nervous? Anxious? Well, she was always nervous and anxious, but this time was different. This was her meeting with one of her best friend’s families. His lover? The mother of his children? And his children.

How they got to this point was beyond her. She got ready, she ate Big mama’s breakfast, and they headed out. Jade went her separate way because she had her own business to take care of. Whatever that was and their morning went on. Now here Poppy was, waiting to see the faces of all the people Decky cared about.

With Decky’s sweatshirt on, and Charlie’s jacket, Poppy sat there, face mask on and everything, waiting to see a face on the other side. Did she look okay? Clean? Dirty? How bad were the bags under her eyes? Why was she so worried? Decky had always been in her life until he disappeared.

Resting her right hand on her chest, Poppy glanced at her friend’s face as he stared at his phone screen. This was weird. Now that Poppy was finally processing this moment she realized she didn’t expect him to return like this. She didn’t expect him to return at all. He was here with her and together they were calling his family. Weird.

Mordechai tried to keep his own insecurities from showing on his face as the call tone rang out. He’d taken the time that Poppy was gone to stop by Phil’s and grab the duffel bag he had dropped off there when he’d first arrived. After borrowing Phil’s shower and changing into his fresh pair of clothes, Serpent jacket included- and he couldn’t believe it still fit like a glove, still felt like home after last night- Mordechai had headed to Lyon park and waited for Poppy to arrive. Time passed slowly as he sat on the bench, completely lost in his darkening thoughts. He barely registered Marco and Roddy across the park from him, deep in their own conversation as they were, but he did lift his gaze as they got up and walked away. Just in time too since Poppy had arrived, her warm presence against his side pushing the worst of his mood and thoughts away.

The ringing cut off silently as the screen revealed a woman with a pixie cut in a spaghetti strap and cardigan that had fallen off one shoulder, a victim of the grasp of the child who was also visible on screen.

“Well hey there Ken, ya look like you’ve been emotionally curb stomped a few times,” Allegra greeted, her picture shaking as she set the phone against something to regain full use of her hands. She situated Viva on her lap before picking Chai up to settle him on her other thigh. When her gaze returned to the phone, she tilted her head and smiled. The eyes looked familiar, but she wasn't quite sure if she was correct in who she thought was sitting next to him. “Who’ve ya got with ya there?”

Mordechai smiled dryly in response to her opening comment before squeezing Poppy into his side a bit more. He knew he looked like shit, what with his lip still being busted from ReyRey’s welcome back, and his heart and lungs still stuck in a vice from ReyRey’s last words to him. He knew she was worried for him, but she knew that freaking out over it would just push him away. Her being able to make light of any situation is one of the things that made their dynamic work so well.

“This ‘s Poppy, one’a the few people that have a piece’a my heart,” he introduced. “Pops, that's Allegra- we had a corner routine t’gether back in New York- and our kids, Viva and Chai. Chai…” He’s mine, my blood, he looks like Danny, he’s a second chance, Mordechai didn’t know what else to say, how he should finish that sentence, so he simply let it hang in the air as his baby boy babbled happily through the phone screen.

“Poppy, huh,” Allegra cut in, eyes shifting across the screen as she started getting a real read for Mordechai’s current state of being instead of a quick glance. Her expression warmed as she turned her attention to the woman. “Mordechai talked about ya all the time, Southside’s Street Angel- his Street Angel. If he hasn’t mentioned it, he really loves ya and feels guilty for leavin' ya behind.” She gave out casually, willing to be much more open about what needed to be said and often wasn’t. And given the way both of the people on the park bench were looking, things needed to be said right now before things got worse.

"Bambi…" Mordechai groans, rolling his eyes heavenward in both embarrassment and exasperation. He'd been plenty emotional last night, thank you very much, but a single look from Allegra had him going silent once more.

"It's an absolute pleasure ta meet someone that means so much to ‘im, Mika's been the only one ta ever find him I guess," she shrugged, an easygoing smile on her face. ”But we've seen the pictures of y'all that he had on his phone, heard plenty'a stories."

Refreshed at the presence of Allegra, something about her spirit was calming, warm, and protective, Penelope understood why Decky adored this woman so much. Poppy could see her charm a mile away. On top of her alluring personality, she was absolutely gorgeous.

Allegra, huh? What a pretty name.

Her soft green gaze observed the children sitting on the other woman’s lap. Poppy could feel a sinking sadness inside of her, of a life she would never have. That life was a distant dream with a house, a husband, and kids and the only person she saw that dream with was Charlie and Charlie was long gone. Never to come back. Yet, the light and smile on their faces overpowered any negative thoughts she had. Any sadness deep in her chest, left as quick as it came. They were so young and so sweet. They were children.

Chai… that’s his name? He looks just like Danny. My Danny.

Taking a deep breath in, a hard swallow following afterwards, Poppy gingerly brought the face mask down so she could project her voice. Her lips were chapped, her eyes were puffy from all the crying she did the previous night, and her make up had been sloppily reapplied after her much needed shower. Still, even with all that being said, she looked angelic under the sunlight, her gaze sparking with intrigue and cleverness, and her posture showing a lot more confidence than she thought she had anymore. “I’m just glad he had someone to help him out. You’re beautiful, by the way.” Poppy admitted, never one to hold back the truths she saw. Giving a compliment in return, Allegra's smile widened in response to the other woman as Viva was still trying to drag her cardigan down and Chai stared at Poppy through the screen in wide-eyed wonder.

Fiddling with her hands, she looked away from the screen. With an absent mind, Poppy’s leg anxiously moved up and down as she thought of her next words carefully, “Yesterday was definitely an eye opener. And, um, I can’t say any of us will be okay. There’s just a lot that happened…” her voice trailed off and in a light whisper, she said, “...that hurt.”

Mordechai looked away from the camera as well, missing Allegra's frown. Poppy had made it clear that she still loved him, but his own anxieties and guilt wouldn't stop him from wondering how much she blamed him for his actions against Charlie, how weak she must think he was to follow ReyRey the way he did. To betray Charlie the way that he did.

"...Okay," Allegra began, looking back and forth between the two. She had no real information to go off of and it looked like it might be a game of twenty questions to get answers out of the husks occupying the bench. "What are we dealin' with here? Mordechai, I haven't heard from ya since last week, all I knew was you were headed back ta your hometown."

"Well I got here," he replied dryly, eyes shifting quickly to the screen and then back to his boots. "I met up with Phil and dropped my stuff off, and found a bunch'a letters bein' sent ta my name. They had copies’a shit from Hard Times' journals," Allegra's eyes narrowed at that, beginning to piece together how things went south so quickly. “I headed over ta see the boys after that, m-met up with ReyRey and got welcomed back-” the bloody backroom scene flickered through his vision before he ruthlessly squashed it. That hadn't been a problem. He'd still been fine then. Well, as fine as he ever was. “-and then spent time with Sunshine until goin’ ta the meet up location on the last letter.”

“Because following the creepy letter to a random building isn’t the beginning of several horror movies,” She said lightheartedly, expertly dodging her almost-one-year-old’s grasping fingers as he aimed to wrap them around her hoop earrings. “But I take it ya went armed at least.”

“‘Course I did,” Mordechai replied, a bit of offense in his tone. “Who’d’ya take me for? Pops jumped in and set my head a lil’ straighter, and I settled down with her ‘n’ Jade for a minute…” he fidgeted with his free hand, trying to smile at his son’s actions through the screen but feeling heavier the longer he looked. “Went on a nice old style Scooby-Doo mystery hunt. We didn’t find whoever was makin’ the letters but…we ended up at a Serpent house and ran in ta ReyRey…”

“What did you think this was Decky?...at the end of the day you’re a tool just like the rest of them.”

His voice died out as he glared at the ground at his feet, refusing to sniff or try and wipe away any tears lest he bring attention to them in the first place. Allegra’s burning gaze followed his every movement as his silence spoke for him, until she turned her head to the woman next to him.

“Poppy?” She asked steadily, knowing that Mordechai’s current reaction to the mention of ReyRey Gonzales was not the one of adoration or respect he usually spoke with. She tried to calm her sleeping dragon, knowing she missed plenty in her friend’s first day home, and knowing she needed to be the steady one here. “What did Mika’s brother say?”

“Unc’a Badgew!” Viva piped up with a giggle, crawling off her mother’s lap and looking to the door as if the man himself would come through the door. Allegra let out a quick eye roll before getting up to bring the little girl back.

“Uncle Badger is in papa’s hometown, he visited last month bubbe,” she placated the girl as she pouted before turning back to the screen. Mordechai dimly registered that he hadn’t even bothered to tell Mika he was coming into town, and that he was owed a belated ass kicking from the man for leaving New York without telling him too. He knew the man still visited Allegra and the kids despite the fact that Mordechai himself had dipped out and fallen far off the wagon again, and he suddenly felt a sense of dread over his and Allegra’s communication levels. “Sorry about that, she really loves his visits so you can’t even say his name without her getting excited. Back to the topic at hand, though, what did ReyRey do?”

“The story is complicated.” Penelope sighed, knowing what she would say next might truly show how cursed their hometown was. “We found out the story behind a well loved girl in our town, who OD’d when we were freshmen. Charlie got blamed for it but there’s so much more to it then his mistake, if it even was his mistake. So much misunderstanding and miscommunication and hurt.”

Penelope’s eyes once again grew distant, but her attention was still focused straight forward at the screen. Her voice was rigid and clear, as she recounted the night with her class. “Regardless of who was right or wrong, Reyrey beat the shit out of him. A child.” She explained before pausing, realizing she swore in front of the children, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to do that.” Poppy apologized, her eyes resting on Chai, knowing she would need to get better with her vocabulary.

“That night…” Penelope continued, “Changed everything. How we were as friends, how we saw our futures, how… little we had to look forward to. De- Mordechai. He blames himself and it didn’t help that ReyRey…”

The Street Angel hesitated, wondering if it was worth saying the next set of words, but she knew that if anyone could help her friend out, it was the mother of his children. Hooking herself on her friend’s arm, holding him close to her, she deeply stared into the camera and said R2’s words verbatim, “...He said, and I quote, you’re good at what you do, Boaz, but at the end of the day you’re a tool just like the rest of them. Unquote.”

Mordechai’s form was tense as he leaned harder against Poppy as her grip tightened on him. She’d pulled the words straight from his thoughts and handed them to Allegra when he couldn’t, keeping him grounded at the same time. Allegra had her head cocked to the side, eyes narrowed and sharp as she processed what she had just been told, her gaze jumping between the two. She decided to tackle things one at a time, taking a deep breath before speaking slowly, trying to keep her voice level.

“Firstly, don’t worry ‘bout swearin’ in front of the kiddos, they hear worse from me on the daily,” She smiled at Poppy reassuringly, doing her best to reign in her temper. “Second, I might already know based on context clues, but just ta be sure, Charlie is…?”

“Was,” Mordechai spoke up shakily. “Hard Times.”

“Ah, I thought so,” she replied, looking between the two and settling back on Poppy. “I’ve never heard his name, he’s only ever been Hard Times in Mordechai’s stories. I can’t say I hadn’t thought about askin’, but it always seemed hard enough for ‘im ta just say that. Didn’t wanna push,” she looked at her son and then his father, trying to find the innocence in his features and imagine what Mordechai would have looked like if he too were so happy and content. It was a hard thing to imagine, having not seen him feel so safe in the entire time she’d known him. Only in the dark of night when his muscles relaxed in sleep could she ever imagine him being young and hopeful with the same fire in his eyes that came out when Mika was around.

He’d mentioned once that Chai looked like his little brother, and that it’s soothing to see some of him still exists in the world somehow. Looking at her son, she wished that she couldn’t imagine how someone could harm such a face, but she’s known since her first child that there are people out there who could harm anything if pushed too far, only having a chance to regret it later if they survived the ordeal.

“Hard Times didn’t deserve most of what he got, Mordechai an’ I’ve had that conversation a few times. There's never an excuse ta be usin’ your position over others ta beat ‘em, I've got personal experience with that one," she glanced off to the side as she remembered her ex-pimp, Viva birth father. "Especially ‘cause if I’m rememberin’ it right then ReyRey’s got a few years on all'a you. Sounds to me like the lot of you Serpent boys need ta sit down together for a long awaited therapy session. Shit ain’t ever as black and white as it appears ta be,” she focused on Mordechai. “We went through this when Mika first showed up, you’re not some tool or some dog and if I have ta call him up and make him say it to you again I will.”

“It came right from ReyRey’s mouth, Legs,” Mordechai protested weakly, not wanting her to send Mika after him just to make a point. “it wasn't just me makin' things worse in my head this time."

“Because you’ve never said somethin’ ya didn’t mean before,” Allegra scoffed back, eyes going warm when she turned back to Poppy as she let that sink in with Mordechai. “Poppy, how are you feelin’? None’a this could’ve been easy for you either. If I were there, I'd be draggin' ya to a spa day and then a day in with some hard liquor and shitty movies."

Listening to Allegra talk and process everything she knew thus far, hearing her not blame Charlie for most of the things he went through, listening to her soothing words towards Decky… all this only hit Penelope like a brick. She faded out more so than she had previously, completely blacking out and missing everything after the words ‘therapy session’.

The feeling revisited her, the feeling from yesterday when she was in the gym, after all this time. Going completely catatonic, no longer in the present, no longer hearing Decky’s voice, or Allegra’s, or seeing the sweet, innocent children in front of her, she replayed the moments when she was waking up that morning before the shooting to a text telling her to meet her at the gym. That morning when her world would no longer be the same because her World decided to bring hell on Earth and burn in the flames with his victims.

Poppy couldn’t even feel Decky change their position where he was tightly holding her in his arms, her head against his collar. After three minutes of staring at her lap, her dead gaze unwavering, she heaved for air. Heavily breathing, repeating the mantra in her head— breathe, just breathe, breathe, just breathe — body shaking in Decky’s arms, tears started running down Poppy’s eyes.

She realized something she wished she didn’t.

Hyperventilating, she tried to muster her thoughts in words, “He- he-” She brought her hands to her face and let her tears fall even harder, “He was going to… take me with him.”

Mordechai stared blankly at Allegra where he had set the phone down on Poppy's other side when he'd realized she had faded out of the present. The mother of his child looked just as confused as he did, obviously startled by Poppy's sudden state as she worked through what the other woman could have meant. Unfortunately, she was working on limited information, only having what Mordechai himself had told her. Suddenly however, it dawned on him instead as a cold rage settled over his body.

"You mean in the gym," he clarified, one hand going to the back of Poppy's head and gripping the back of her neck to ground her, just as she'd grasped his arm earlier. "After he made his way through the school, Hard Times was gonna- he was gonna kill you too." He didn't know what to say to that revelation, so he just did what he did know and held Poppy tight as she cried. Thinking that he might have lost her too that day…he couldn't even imagine losing one more person, let alone Poppy of all people. He never would have imagined Charlie was capable of it.

I never thought he would hurt Danny either, or me for that matter…

Movement on his phone screen had him looking over Poppy's head and to the device once more with the realization that several moments had passed. Allegra had taken her phone off of whatever she had propped it up against and had the phone close to her face as her eyes dashed across the screen. There was a deadly calm to her features as she did so that had Mordechai shivering in anticipation.

"Legs? What're ya doin'?" He asked warily, refusing to let go of Poppy even if he was sacrificing a better look at what was happening on his phone screen.

"I'm booking the soonest tickets to Boston that I can find, and when I hang up with you I'm gonna give a certain Badger a call to find you because you both are not okay and I'm too far away ta do anythin'. But fuck this, I'm coming." It was said with a finality to it and gave way for no argument. "I think ya need all you're family in one place, Ken, and it's high time you see us all in person again. Not ta blow my own horn, but I'd say we were pretty good for ya."

"...Thanks Barbie," he finally said, not bothering to try and stop the bulldozer that was Allegra Cardenas on a mission.

"Of course. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go cuss Mika out over the way his brother thinks he can speak ta you."

"No, wait-" it was too late, the screen went black and the whirlwind of information suddenly halted, his mind rebooting before zeroing back in on Poppy. "You still with me, Angel?"

“Sorry, I… I still don’t have a good handle on that. I…” Poppy looked up at Decky, the tears trailing down her cheeks, “Not… not even me, I couldn’t save him. He was already gone by junior year. He already made… made his decision. I couldn’t protect him, Mordechai. I… couldn’t show him it’ll be okay. Lean on me, my family, your mom is going to be okay. You’re going to be okay. We’re going to be okay. I-I maybe he was right. W-what good have I ever done? I’m not meant for the southies, I’m not meant for the northies. I-I will never belong.”

Penelope couldn’t stop herself, she just kept word vomiting, all the things that had been compartmentalized for so long, “Maybe being dead is better for me. Maybe I should’ve gone with him. Maybe being put out of my misery is the answer. Maybe…” Fuck. This hurt so much. Why didn’t he just take her instead of everyone else?

Decky might’ve been trying to get her back to her senses but Poppy had completely lost it. “Why does it hurt so much? If it was just him and me, if it was just us, everyone else could still be here. I did- didn’t protect you. Jade. You say you fucked up? Imagine being the one that knew his heart better than anyone else. Imagine being the one who taught him how to shoot a gun…”

"Hey!" Mordechai cut in, halfway to shaking her to her senses before he thought better of it. Getting physical with her when she's already in the state she is would probably make things worse, but she was making it really hard to get a word in and stop her dark ramblings. He took a shaky breath, wanting to gasp for it but trying to hold himself together for her sake. "You taught him ta shoot? I'm not even surprised since you're the best shot outta all of us, but he would'a learned one way or another. We all learned eventually, yeah?" He leaned back, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "There ain't a damn world out there that would be better without you in it, Poppy James, an' for all the times you didn't let me go down that road I sure as hell ain't gonna let you go down it now. This is…this is all on me. No one else pushed him the way I did, you never saw how bad it got between us in the Serpents. If he had taken you, that would'a been another body at my feet that I couldn't stand ta bury. You matter, you belong. To me, and to Jade. And you said it yourself: he'd already made his decision."

And I pushed him straight into it. It went unsaid, but the guilt was heavy in Mordechai's eyes and heart.

"All you ever did was love him, you understood him more than anyone in this life did. He would…he would'a snapped a lot earlier without you in his life. Without me he may've never snapped at all. Don't you ever doubt your impact."

With wide eyes, looking right at him, her eyes heavy, she brought her hand to his cheek and let it rest there. The last words she could muster to him, as she pushed a strand of hair behind his ear, was in a whisper, “We’re so broken.”

Sadly, it was true. They were incredibly broken. But together, they could stand. Together, they could and would live on. Life goes on. If not for themselves then for the people they loved.

Broken but not destroyed.

And there they embraced, letting time pass them by until Penelope offered her home for Mordechai’s family and they said their goodbyes.

[Aces Away]

The following Collab takes place between the hours of 4:00PM and 4:45PM on Saturday

---

"Hey, boychik, I'm sorry I haven't come by," Mordechai spoke to the well kept headstone, eyes slowly tracing every line into his memory.

Daniel Amos Boaz
2004-2019
“I must admit I miss you terribly. The world is too quiet without you nearby.”
_{-Lemony Snicket}

Who chose that quote, he wondered idly, and should I update my tattoo to incorporate it? He had gotten it on a whim once, faded off his ass and unwilling to forget. The gravestone tattoo with his brother’s name took up most of his left forearm, and he felt a steady growing shame at the track marks that started just above the tattoo’s end. Guess the last thing I need right now is more needles, huh?

The silence of the cemetery seemed to mock him as he read the quote again, and he pretended that the burning in his eyes was from his latest sip of rum-Phil would forgive him for swiping the bottle. Maybe.- and not how hard the quote had struck him. While Edenridge isn't quiet by any stretch of the word, Mordechai himself has felt muted ever since he lost his little brother. It didn't matter where he was: Edenridge, New York, everywhere he wandered after, it was all the same. He would find himself looking over his shoulder to say something to what was now only his shadow and his throat would close up as everything got muffled. His vision always tunneled like it did when he was about to pass out but he'd just find himself hyperventilating instead, stumbling to put his back to the nearest vertical surface. It got him left behind at several rest stops when he was on the road, and led to a tense dinner one night with Mika in New York. The other man had struggled to help his brother, leading to Allegra shoving Viva into the man’s arms as she turned to deal with Mordechai, already used to his little bouts. It always came back to Danny and the gaping hole left in his life because of him, all his ingrained reactions being one-sided. Charlie had well and truly crippled Mordechai that day in more ways than one.

He took another long sip, swallowing the burning liquid against the cries threatening to fall out and smothering them in the process.

"I'm sorry for a lotta things, really. I only ever wanted what was best for ya but…I gotcha killed instead. I neglected…” He looked at the liter in his hand and huffed out a dark laugh, dropping his head low before Danny’s grave. “No, I abused one brother an' in the end that cost me him and you. I should’a been a better brother ta both’a you, I should’a paid more attention,” he walked up to the headstone before turning his back to it and dropping down, leaning back to rest against the cold stone as he pulled his knees to his chest. “I shoulda known I was just a tool, no one important…” Another brother flashed through his mind, and he had to choke back fresh tears as he remembered the look on ReyRey’s face last night. Mordechai was feeling pulled in far too many directions to be comfortable.

“Should I be mad at ReyRey?” he asked, rolling the neck of the bottle between his hands. “I feel like it would make sense, but all I can think of is that I did as he said. An’ not even in the you don’t say no to ‘im sense, but blindly. And my times with the Serpents are still some’a the happiest in my life, I’m already feelin’ lost again without ‘em. Allegra’s comin’ ta town just ta help me and I just- I feel fuckin’ pathetic…” his throat threatens to close again, so he raises the drink to his lips once more before throwing his head back against the stone to stare at the sky. “Allegra’s got her opinion, I could see it written all over her face, Poppy’s got ‘er own…I didn’t even give Prof or Sunshine a chance ta say theirs, and you?” he sighed. “You were always smarter than me, I wouldn’t even be able ta pretend I know what you’d say. You always saw more than you should’a, always had a comment ta whisper ta me or an opinion ya wanted me ta hear.”

”You never did like the way I treated Hard Times when he was a Serpent, and god you didn’t even know the half of it. After what Poppy said…about how he was gonna take her too…is that why he took you? Did he think he was gonna put you outta some misery? Did he think I was gonna make you miserable, did he see something I didn't? Or was he just so fuckin’ cracked that he didn’t care who he took out, even…if it was you? ‘M probably talkin’ in circles…” his speech was already slipping, and a glance at the bottle showed him he’d gone through most of it a lot faster than he’d thought he would, but that didn’t stop him from taking another burning sip. He sat forward for a moment to shrug off his Serpent jacket and throw it over his knees before leaning back against the cold stone. It cooled his hot skin through his tanktop while the coarse texture scraping his skin kept him grounded. He ran a hand through his hair and took another fortifying sip.

“I know ya can’t answer, but I just wish I could’a asked ya earlier; do ya blame Har-” The name froze on the tip of his tongue. “Charlie…do ya blame ‘im for that day? If ya knew e’erythin’, would ya blame me? W-would ya forgive m…us?” The gravestone behind him was as silent as he’d expected, but Mordechai couldn’t be sure if the dropping feeling in his stomach was from the disappointment or the liquor.

“Yeah,” he choked out a wet laugh, his gaze as blank as the sky he spoke into. “I guess I don’t really deserve an answer.” No closure, it seemed a fitting torture for the purgatory he’d been in for nearly two years.

[AlteredTundra]

_{A flashback collaboration between @Aces Away and @metanoia | Ft. Mordechai Boaz, Allegra Cardenas, and Mikhail Zima}

---

"Y've gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me," Mordechai blurted out, eyes wide as he set down the tinfoil Menorah he had been showing Viva how to make after realizing they didn't have one. The one year old couldn't really make one herself, but the light shining off the aluminum sheets as he moved and molded them seemed to keep her attention well enough. The girl went to grab for it and Mordechai quickly intercepted, grabbing her from under her outstretched arms and swinging her onto his hip as she squealed. "Legs, please tell me you're jokin'."

"I took the test like five times," she answered instead, tossing the stick in her hand over to him so he could see the results himself. Two pink lines stared up at him mockingly, blowing away any protest. "We knew the bareback routine was a risk, we were just more worried about makin' sure neither of us had STDs. Shoulda been thinkin’ ‘bout how the pill is only ninety percent effective." She crossed her arms and grinned at the pale faced boy in front of her. "Besides, why are you so freaked out? At least you're having a kid after you came of age."

Mordechai shared a one-sided look of confusion and dread with Viva in his arms before asking in a strained tone. "How old... are you?" He asked before wincing, realizing this should have been a question long ago.

"Oh don't worry!" She laughed, taking Viva into her own arms and squishing their cheeks together to make the girl laugh. "I'm gonna be eighteen in like a month and I've been working since I was fourteen, so you by no means have done anything that hasn't been done before-"

Oh thank god," Mordechai cut her off, taking in a breath of relief. "I thought you were gonna say fuckin fourteen or somethin', you almost sent me into a fuckin' crisis. Our night jobs may be illegal but at least the actual sex isn't."

Allegra rolled her eyes and grinned, glad that Mordechai made no deal at all about her time in the job. Then again, from what little she knows of him, he didn't exactly play on the right side of the law from a young age as well, so it might not have even registered to him. "Now that we're gonna have a kid though, we gotta actually learn things about each other."

"...Like?" Came the wary response as they both sat on the threadbare carpet, Allegra setting Viva down to play between them.

"Nothing so grand as 'what are you running from'," she dismissed with a wave of her hand as he flinched, continuing as if she hadn’t seen it. "But how about what you did before comin' to the corners? That wasn't your first time on one, that's for sure."

"Nah," he answered quietly, picking at what little thread held the carpet together. "I was part of a gang back home, and every now and then I'd spend some time with the corner girls and pick up some johns myself if I needed the extra cash for my brother. But I usually ran a drug corner, Captain and everything."

"Wow wow," Allegra replied, looking Viva in the eyes as she had the girl slowly clap her hands together in mock applause. "I'm havin' a baby with some big time, huh?"

Mordechai laughed at both her words and Viva's wide eyed confusion.

"Hardly, I left completely some time in my Junior year. I certainly wasn't part’a the Royalty."

"Awe don't worry, you're a king to us." Allegra assured with great dramatic flair, Viva giggling and toppling into her mother's lap excitedly.

*Knock knock knock*

"Kings don't get their own door." Mordechai grumbled jokingly as he got up, helping Allegra up as well before heading to the door while she went to the kitchen with Viva. Mordechai slipped up to the door carefully, palming the gun in his waistband before glancing through the peephole to see who it was. The only people that really knew either of them out here were the other hookers and the ladies that worked at the diner with Allegra in the afternoon, and none of them had as solid knocks as the blow that had landed on their door.

"Shit, speak'a the devil an' all that, huh?" He murmured to himself. On the other side of his door was one Mikhail Zima, face screwed up in what Mordechai was sure was irritation. He quickly weighed his options: if he opened the door now, Mika would probably deck him on principal for leaving without so much as a goodbye. But if he pretended he wasn't home…

Mordechai blanched. If he pretended he wasn't home then Mika would just find him when he was working and kick his ass then, and then he'd be even more pissed. And Mordechai had no doubt Mika knew everywhere he was during the day, if the other man had been able to find him in some illegal slum house in New York just three months after he left Edenridge.

Mordechai let go of the gun, leaving it in his waistband as he unlocked the door with the air of a man signing his own death warrant. It creaked and groaned noisily as he pulled it open, the whole thing sticking halfway through the process until he put a bit of shoulder into it. He kept his eyes on the door for one more blissful second before allowing them to meet Mika's own.

"...Hey, HB... how'd ya find me?"

A few moments of silence passed after the door was opened and the two boys stared each other down. Mika showed no sign of what he was thinking other than his fist tightening, drawing the other’s eye. It was a tense situation because between the uncertainty in Mika’s head and the uncertainty that was clear across Boa’s face, neither knew what the Russian boy was going to do.

Until a right arm came hooking around the corner and connected on that square jaw. The force behind it was at least half of Mika’s full output, so he didn’t punch his friend with the intent to kill - only prove a point. As he watched Boa stagger back, the dark-haired boy stepped into the crummy apartment. “Nice to see you too, Decks.” Looking at the girl and child in the room, he offered them his sincerest expression. “My bad. Just that this fucker didn’t bother to tell me he was leaving.”

Allegra’s cool gaze stayed level on the intruder, her 9mm trained on him and just as steady. Her body was angled to shield the child in her arm and her hoop earrings swayed as she tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. “Hmm,” She hummed noncommittally. “Sometimes a person don’t tell another ‘bout where they’re goin’ for a reason.” the reply was calm, but there was a dangerous undercurrent of warning there.

Mordechai, hand rubbing his sore jaw, stepped between the two, raising his other hand to calm her from across the room. “It’s fine, Legs, he’s a brother.” He spoke up, not moving until she had lowered the gun and flicked on the safety. He gave her an earnest look when she met his eyes, trying to convey how warm her protection made him feel. “Thanks.” Allegra held his gaze for a long moment before huffing and rolling her eyes.

“Sort your shit out Mordechai, no one’s allowed ta kill ya until you’ve at least seen your baby.” She shot a glare at HB. “No fatal bullshit for the next nine months, ya hear? I’m not goin' through this shit alone again.” with that, she turned around and plopped Viva into her high chair before grabbing the yogurt from the minifridge that had replaced the full sized one when it blew just after they’d moved in. Sitting in front of her daughter, she began to speak quietly to her as she led the spoon into her mouth.

Mordechai turned back to HB with a guarded look on his face. “...You gonna punch me again? What level was that? ‘I’m fuckin' pissed and you’re the reason’ or ‘ya fucked up and haven’t even realized it yet’?”

Turning his neutral expression into a thoughtful one, HB looked at Boa. It was a solid question, but neither option seemed to fit what he was feeling, yet it was equal to what he had up in his head. Damn right he was pissed. Shit got bad -- really bad -- and instead of leaning on his brothers, this mother fucker in front of him just went up and left. But it wasn’t just that. As HB looked at Boa and glanced at the chick with the piece that was pointed at him just a few moments ago, Boa hit it on the nail too that he was fucked and just didn’t know it yet.

“Fuck…” Mika tried to dial back the splitting anger dividing up in his head. He wanted to punch this motherfucker again. God, how he just wanted to deck him (no pun intended). He had thought about doing a lot of things when he drove up, but seeing him in the flesh, nothing came more prevalent in his mind than HB pulling Boa in for a dap man hug that was extended for a few seconds. “Fucking missed you, asshole.”

"Ah, it was 'I wasn't informed and the abandonment is now your problem'."

Mordechai reciprocated easily, having watched Mika's emotions flit across his face as he sorted himself out. "I missed you too, ya walkin' rage machine." He replied, keeping the hug for an extra second to blink the tears out of his eyes without Mika seeing. They've always had an odd relationship, starting with their very first ever, very angry and awkward conversation. It seemed to set the scene for the rest of their interactions, pulled somewhere between intrigue, respect, and bickering.

And later on, trust. He'd let Mika into his, Sonny and Danny's room at the Edge so the older boy could read to him. He'd believed the boy had his back when things got rough, and the other ensured that belief. They'd fucked around, fought, fought together and, overall, the fact that hanging with HB had been at ReyRey's command had been practically shoved into a box in his mind. The relationship they'd built wasn't because of that command, it was because the two boys had jagged edges that seemed to slot into each other nicely, only an occasional stick in the gears.

Mordechai led Mika to the futon, dropping down onto the thin cushion and turning towards him once he sat, his face serious.

"Seriously Mika, how'd ya find me? My actions are as undocumented as I can get 'em. Couldn't have been easy."

“Oh man, busting out the Mika, huh?” There was a short moment where the Russian-American teen laughed (to dead silence, of course). He wondered just how bad it was and judging by Decky’s expression, he was one or two moments of fucking around away from Decky returning the favor that was going to give him a nice shiner in the morning. “You’re forgetting that I used to live around here.” Mika made a grand gesture as his arms circled and expanded, emphasizing that New York was his home. ”New York City, my home. And despite everything, my old crew still knows who the boss is, ergo I’m here!”

"... You've had your people on me." Mordechai states calmly, face shuttered off from his emotions as he stared at the other man. All he'd wanted was to disappear, to be the nothing that he felt like. He'd wanted to drop off the grid and li- no, not live- survive as well as he could until something eventually picked him off. Allegra and Viva, and now his unborn child, had thrown a wrench in those plans, but he still never planned on re-approaching his old life. Here Mika was, using part of that old life to find him and. What? What did he want? It couldn't just be because the other man missed him, that was a ridiculous reason to put so much effort into finding someone. Especially some loser that left the Serpents and couldn't even protect his own blood brother from his brother in all but blood.

All that blood…

Mordechai ran a hand over his face as his breath hitched, hand stalling to cover his mouth. Hatchet's words about him being a trained bitch for the Gonzales family suddenly entered his head. "So you've been trackin' me like a dog. Hmm." His heavy silence immediately after the comment was the only indicator that he was about to take action.

The strike that came towards Mika was as fast as the strike of Mordechai's namesake, and Boa showed his face for the first time in several months, maybe even longer considering when he'd left the Serpents. Decky made sure to keep the momentum going, shoving Mika off the couch and getting on top of him, knees on either side of his waist and hands going up to restrain the others'.

"I'm not some fuckin' mutt that'll come back at any call," he growled at Mika, a fire long since burned out suddenly springing to life behind his eyes. He leaned down so their faces were inches apart. "I'm not goin' back there and I don't need any damn babysitters. You gotta let go'a your toys sometime, little prince." It was all said with a sneer, all the rage in his eyes almost successfully covering the pure fear and guilt practically radiating off him. Had Mika and him not had the relationship they did, the latter would have likely gone unnoticed.

The fuck is he on about? That thought persisted as Mika--no, it was HB who was looking at Boa now. A shift in demeanors as the animals were let out of the cages. Memories of their first encounter (plus or minus a few changes) came flooding to the front and that familiar sense of confusion mixed in with anger became prevalent again. Was this really why he thought HB came all this way? Just to use his old contacts to find him? And what was that about being a dog? And what the fuck in what he said gave Boa the idea that he was a damn babysitter?

All of those questions were laced into a series of moments that followed a singular act of HB using his hard head. Literally. The force that he put into it made his head ring like the train horn that rang every morning at 5am. But it allowed HB to get up as his brother had loosed his grip on him. “Fuck me, Boa. And no, that’s not a fucking invitation--” He shook his head as if trying to shake off the pain. “--nobody said you were a fucking dog. And jesus fucking christ, I’m not here to babysit you, though given how you just reacted, maybe I should. It’s clear with the lil’ girl here, you could use one to handle your oversensitive bitch ass.” HB was pissed and he didn’t have time to coddle Boa’s sensitivities. Apparently Allegra agreed, because her laugh at that comment filtered over from the kitchen. “But because you seem so hell-bent on thinking that I’m here to stalk you, let me just tell you that, no! I didn’t come all this way just to make sure you were staying in your lane. Like fuck, do you really think I’d drive all this way just for that?”

HB took in a breath as he stood up. His frustration, in addition to the building migraine he was starting to get because of the dumbass on the floor, was almost making him regret even coming here.

Mordechai was clutching at his forehead, the abrupt pain clearing some of his unfound rage. He'd just been scared that Mika would try and drag him back. And he couldn't. He couldn't go. He fought first and made apologies later when he was scared. The other man's words reverberated through his skull along with the headache he'd just inflicted. He grumbled at Allegra's laughter and clenched his eyes, hunching over until his arms had loosely circled his legs. The silence stretched between them once more. At this point it had been more silence and violence than conversation.

A classic interaction between the two, all things considered.

"...When I got stabbed, a few weeks before we met?" He began quietly, glaring at the ground between their feet. "Hatchet said everyone just saw me as ReyRey's prized bitch. A willin' dog ta the Gonzales family. Guess the worry stuck more than I wanted it to," He glanced away and towards the kitchen. Allegra was cleaning up a giggling Viva's face, but he could tell she was listening by how her head was tilted. Well, she wanted to know more about him. "Then ya show up basically sayin' you've had your people watchin' me like you were...trackin' down a lost pet," He bit his lip, a phantom throb in his side as he still refused to look at the other boy. "I thought ya might try ta take me back.” He sucked in a deep breath, letting it go in an explosive exhale a moment later.

“I can't go back there, Badger, I can't."

It took HB a few moments to not only process what Boa said, but to realize how his coming all this way without a solid explanation right off the bat seemed like from the other side. Context was everything and HB should’ve realized this. He came all this way, tracked down his brother and greeted him with a punch. Fuck, no wonder he got so defensive. Cursing himself, HB looked at Boa finally. “I’m sorry man. I did that thing I always do: act before thinking. Using my fists instead of my brain. Poppa G is always telling me to do more of that and I guess I still have a lot to learn. But listen…” He placed a hand on Boa’s shoulder, making sure he looked at him before he spoke. “You aren’t a dog. And you’re nobody’s bitch. I needed to find you for myself and nobody else. Understand? I needed to know you were doing alright. After...what happened, I needed that for me.”

Mordechai sniffed and nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes with the ratty sleeve of his green sweater. He'd managed to restrain a flinch when the hand landed on his shoulder, and now it was a warm, grounding weight as he gathered his bearings and tried to commit what Mika had said to memory.

"Jesus, you two are definitely brothers. Dumbass ones at that." Allegra had reappeared in the living/bedroom, standing above them with Viva on her hip. She looked at the new bruises on the two with a sort of patient annoyance. She glared at Mordechai for a moment before dropping Viva into his lap. "Go finish the Menorah, keep her entertained while I make dinner." He folded easily, scooting back towards the tinfoil craft area with the little girl giggling excitedly in his lap. She then turned the glare to Mika, hands on her hips. "You're stayin'."

It wasn't a question.

“Sure…” Mika didn’t have it in him to go against her wishes. Something about the way she took charge made him freeze. Mika hadn’t registered anything else she did until he heard the excited chirps from the little one in Decky’s lap. Part of him laughed because Mika remembered how New York women were. He dated a few when he was still living here, though they were immature as all hell, yet still very much opinionated.

“So, what’s her name?” Mika asked, glancing down at the little princess with the smile that melts even his OG heart.

"Viva Gavriel," Allegra answered, pleased that he'd submitted to her authority so quickly. "She's one. I'm Allegra, since Mordechai was so kind as ta let me introduce myself." The sarcasm was heavy in her tone, and Mordechai could be seen suddenly becoming much more intent on that little foil Menorah, cheeks red and shoulders around his ears. Viva laughed at the funny posture, patting his cheek before turning her attention back to the craft. Allegra smiled at the sight. "And you are? I think I've heard like three different names for ya already. Whichever one ya wanna use is fine."

Mika glanced at Boa for a second. The louder Allegra’s voice became the quieter that his usually boisterous brother became. It weirdly reminded him so much of his mother. Mary-Anne O’Hara, she had the patience of a saint and tolerated most of his antics, but if there was one thing that he knew for certain that was shared with Allegra was their patience had a time limit. He smiled at this realization, finding a weird comfort in it. “Mika’s fine. Most people call me by that name, anyway.” He met Allegra’s gaze. He wasn’t intimidated by her as much as he thought he was.”Ya know, I didn’t grow up too far from here,” Mika said somewhat absentmindedly.

"Oh, that's how ya have your little connections," she mused, heading back towards the kitchen. It was still close enough that they could chat freely. "I'm actually from Longwood in the Bronx, so Brownsville ain't so bad," she grabbed the Manwich can and some spices from the doorless cabinet before setting a pan on the stove. She grabbed a few diced vegetables from the fridge and began her preparations. "Where d'ya come out of?"

“Sheepshead Bay. Just thirty minutes south,” he replied aptly. “Kinda crap, but the view is nice. Most of my crew still lives there. Pretty sure my dad is still there, too.” Mika suddenly got quiet in a reflective sort of way. Thinking about how close he was to his old man and couldn’t go anywhere near was...conflicting for him. He wondered just what Ivan was doing now or if he even cared to realize that Mika was in town. Probably not. “You ever been down that way?” He asked Allegra in an attempt to steer the focus away from him and his daddy issues.

"For jobs when things got scarce around here," she answered, then tilted her head. "It's not that bad, but I like my corner here. How'd you meet Mordechai, then? From what he said he never really left his hometown before whatever the capital 'e' Event was that happened."

"I tried ta fuck 'im 'bout two weeks after bein' stabbed, back when we were teenagers. I ended up passin' out a little bit after meetin' 'im. It was eventful." Mordechai piped up dutifully, patiently maneuvering Viva's hands around the foil so she could help build it. He and Danny had made one each every year, so this little activity was extremely bittersweet for Mordechai, but hearing the little girl's giggles and joy was worth any ache in his heart. He glanced at Mika and gave him a smile that barely reached his eyes. "Doesn't mean I didn't get ta fuck 'im eventually." He teased, playing back to Mika's earlier bout of cussing.

Mika had made it no secret that he sampled both teams, but it was still something of an embarrassing topic for him. So his immediate response was a lot of delay on his end, but he half-grinned at Boa. “Probably a good thing you waited,” Mika commented, his grin turning into a sly smirk. “I would’ve hated to rip those stitches open.” Mika allowed himself a chuckle as he lightly punched Decky’s arm.

He laughed in response, memories of their hook up- just as rough as the two themselves were- flitting through his head. "Fair 'nough."

Viva let out an excited giggle as Mordechai leaned back so they could examine their final product. The Menorah, through years of practice on his part, was perfectly level across and able to stand on its own against the drafty breeze that always made it through the apartment. He let out his own triumphant grin as he got up, bringing her and the Menorah with him. He glanced at Mika, shaking the foil in his hands lightly

"First night tonight, gonna join us in lightin' the candle, or gonna sit on the floor an' watch?" He asked, as he had any other time Mika had been around the Edge dorms near sundown during the holiday.

Cracking a smile, Mika gave a shrug, his casual way of giving Boa the green light. Truth was, he didn’t need to be back in Eden until the day after tomorrow. He had planned on seeing his old crew tomorrow, anyway, telling himself that if he was careful he wouldn’t alert his father to his presence in the city. Not that he figured the old man cared that he was in town. It’s been over four years and he hasn’t heard a single thing from the old bastard. As far as he knew, he was glad that Mika was away and out of his care. Big Rey Gonzalez handled the burden of raising Mika and did a finer job than Ivan Zima could have ever done even if he did give two shits.

“Nah, I’ll participate. My ass was starting to get numb like that face of yours might’ve had we fooled around more.” Mika couldn’t help but glance over at Allegra with a grin, “not that she would stand for it. Figure you’d put your foot down if it got too out of hand.” He assumed with a chuckle.

Mordechai didn't even bother hiding his grin at Allegra's raised eyebrow, knowing Mika had read her wrong and she would let him know asap.

"I already said no fatal bullshit, but anything else is more than on the table," a smirk and a wink followed the declaration as they all moved to the kitchen table. "This table has certainly seen its fair share of nights, I'm honestly surprised it's still standing."

"It wasn't after that one time, remember? I had to fix two'a the legs."

"Oh, but the sex was worth it, I think you broke my back that night too."

Mordechai turned a bit red at that and looked away, suddenly remembering all the times that having multiple fuck buddies in one room had managed to go south on him. But he and Allegra haven't been like that, and Mika never held jealousy over Mordechai as far as he was aware. Maybe...maybe he could be optimistic about this? Slowly meeting her gaze, he almost jumped out of his seat upon seeing how close she'd leaned into his space.

"Oh my god you're blushing! Like actually embarrassed blushing!" She cheered with a large grin on her face before leaning back to tap Mika's arm. "You have to come over more often, this is amazing."

Mordechai just groaned in dismay.

And it was a rare sight for Mika to catch Boa in such a...different state. Hardened exteriors be damned, Mika had to admit he enjoyed seeing this side of him. And he was intent on making sure Decky knew as much. “Maybe I will.” Mika intentionally gave Boa a hard pat to the back, squeezing on the back of his shoulder-blade, leaning close enough to him so he didn’t have to yell.. “If nothing else, it’ll give me more time to see your ugly mug.” He cracked a grin.

"You've been wantin' this mug since the first time we met, it was just more fun for ya ta play it straight," Mordechai bit back teasingly, face still red as he suddenly had the attention of both his strictly-platonic fuck buddies. The only ones that have ever been strictly platonic aside from Rye Shomer, which must be what makes this so much more horrifying and intriguing at the same time. Allegra's smirk practically set off his self preservation instincts, and he cleared his throat nervously. "So, the Menorah?"

If his voice was a little pitchier than usual, he practically dared one of these fuckers to say something.

Allegra started the prayer as she lit the Shamash, easily holding Viva's hands away from the flame without so much as a glance at the girl. Mordechai joined in, the Hebrew falling from his lips easily as his shoulders began to relax completely, and he heard Mika join in too. Once the first candle was lit and the Shamash placed in its own spot, there was a warm silence that settled around those at the table as they ate their dinner by candlelight.

Viva, who had quickly dozed off on her mother's lap, was tucked into her small bed in the corner of the room, curtains covered in cartoon dogs the only thing separating it from the rest of the apartment. When Allegra returned, she dropped back down into her chair and dropped her chin into her palm to look at Mika.

"Your pronunciation sucks ass, but A for effort," she joked, quirking her eyebrow before shooting Mordechai a glance, other eyebrow raising when she noticed he was red once more. "What?"

"Umm, me an' my brother taught 'im, but we went ta a non-denominational Temple an' learned most of it from YouTube…"

A short silence followed as she held his gaze, drawing out his torture.

Then she snorted, dropping her hand to the table and tilting her head back as she laughed. Mordechai turned redder before he huffed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms as he looked away from her and towards Mika.

"She thinks she's all that 'cause she had an official Bat Mitzvah," he rolled his eyes playfully.

"I'm just fuckin' wit’ ya, it was great for self taught," she assured, not even trying to hide her giggling. "And you've obviously gotten better since ya taught Mika here."

"Allegra." Mordechai groaned in exasperation.

Mika cracked a smile. “Oh own up to it, Boa,” he nudged Boa’s shoulder with his arm. “You’re a wise soul with many things to teach me.” Now, Mika was the one who was doing the fucking and he was having a fun time doing it...just like all the other times he and Boa had fucked with each other.

"You're a traitor, Badger," he bemoaned. "You were supposed'a agree with me, now the argument's dead." He threw up his hands before giving Mika a light shove. "Seriously though, 'm happy ta have ya here. It was nice that some'a that tradition stayed true this year too." His eyes were distant as he dropped his chin to his hand, the candles low and dimming. His voice didn't even waver when he said, "Danny would'a loved that we did this."

Mika's smile remained, though there was a subtle layer of sadness in it. He missed Danny. Things really weren't the same since he passed. Thinking about the younger Boaz boy and how many times he read those stories to Mika and vice versa, it almost brought a tear to his eye. Then he thought about how right Boa was. How that little squirt would have loved to see them still be able to be happy.

"Then how about we dedicate this to Danny?” Mike faced the candle, the reflection of its dim light shining in his eyes and Mika shed a single tear as he smiled. Mordechai followed suit, Allegra there in silent support as they all watched the candles’ glow in comfortable silence, the closest thing to a candlelight vigil that Danny Boaz would get.

[Aces Away]

^{Collab between @metanoia & @Aces Away || Featuring Honey Badger & Boa + special guests}

The following Collab takes place between the hours of 4:00PM and 5:30PM on Saturday

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Whenever Honey Badger had a lot on his mind and it weighed heavily on it and his shoulders, he needed a drink. Because he was technically underaged, he could always get a solid beer at the family-owned club and bar, Edge of Sin. He seldom came for the strippers, though some of the southside’s best lookers were here, but their best one, a certain blonde, seemed to be off tonight. No, he was here strictly for the cheap beer. He knew he would be able to stay for as long as he wanted or needed. He was essentially royalty. His brother was the leader of the serpents and his father the owner.

But Mika being here had more to do with his other brother returning to town and Big Rey changing family dinner from Sunday to Saturday. Yeah, that was on his mind alright. Hyde’s surprise return and demanding breakfast. It was all proving to be too much for Mika, especially considering how he spent yesterday. He didn’t know nor really care what became of the letters. The most he knew was some of his old graduating class went to their old stomping grounds, but he opted to follow his ex.

He smiled, though because he enjoyed doing that but because…well, he really didn’t know why he was smiling. Seeing her face again in person was nice, but that hardly justified any of all that he said.

Raising his nearly empty bottle of some serpent brand of beer, whoever was on bartender duty right now saw Mika and knew exactly what he wanted. As the sound of the cap being popped off was heard, Mika held a new bottle in his hand. When he was in the middle of the first sip, his phone buzzed on the countertop. He debated on letting it go to voicemail. He wasn’t in the mood to talk, but his natural curiosity won this battle and he saw who was calling him.

As he answered, he said in an excited tone, “Well if it isn’t my favorite sister-not-sister-in-law!” Mika took in another sip of his beer. “How’s our favorite boy doing? He’s not giving you any trouble is he? Need a surprise visit from Uncle Badger again--”

“Shut the hell up and tell me what the fuck you’re brother’s on, Badger, and I’m not talking about Mordechai.” Allegra cut in, tone just above a simmering rage.

“I’m sorry?” Mika blinked, his excitement dying down into confusion. “What are you talking about?” He asked, setting his beer down on the countertop.

“I’m talkin’ ‘bout whatever the hell’s goin’ on in your hometown. Some fuckin’ letters and the world’s worst treasure hunt? I know you’re back home, you tellin’ me none of this is ringin’ any bells?” She replied with a thinly held patience. “Sounds like Mordechai and some others ended up in the Serpent’s backyard?”

The minute he heard Allegra mention Boa, alarms went off in Mika’s head. “Just hold on a minute..” Overlooking the fact that she knew about the letters, which in itself was sending off so many red flags in his head, Mika had to fixate on the bigger little tidbit she just dropped on him. “What the fuck are you even on about with Boa? Since when was he back here?” Mika asked, a deep dread building in his stomach, almost like he wasn’t going to like what answer she gave to him.

Allegra took the phone from her ear and covered the receiver with her palm, leaning back as she took a deep breath before releasing it in a closed-mouth scream as she came back up. Closing her eyes, she spoke quietly, voice tight. “Of course he didn’t tell you he was comin’ home, I almost forgot how you boys were. Silly. Me.” She pinched the bridge of her nose as Chai giggled from his spot next to his mother. She took her hand from her face absentmindedly and rattled her bangles in front of the boy, who laughed more and grasped after the shiny bracelets. “Mordechai got in some time yesterday, early from the sounds of it. Got wrapped up in whatever is goin’ on there almost immediately. Surprise surprise.”

Having supplied that bit of information, Allegra let it sit with Mike before adding in, “Apparently, you can ask ReyRey how the rest of the night went, because between greetin’ Mordechai back and their interaction last night, it seems he had a change of heart about our favorite dumbass,” She sniffed sharply, irritated. “Pretty much erased all’a your hard work of having convinced him he wasn’t some prized dog.”

Somewhere in the middle of all of what Allegra told him, Mika had already paid for the one and a half beers he drank and was walking outside towards his truck, processing everything. “_{Goddamn it, Rey Rey…}” He cursed in a low town under his breath, leaning against his Toyota Tacoma. He didn’t know how to react to it. He was processing the shitstorm that must have been last night. While he was making moves to introduce himself back into Cece’s life, the business of the letters seemed to have ended in a bad way. To make matters worse, Boa didn’t even bother to let him know he was back in town.

“Fuck me!” Mika angrily kicked his foot back into his tire, which hurt him more than it did his beat of a machine, and he grunted. “Son of a snake’s tit! So what do we do now then? I got family dinner in a couple of hours, but I need to know everything.” Taking in a few breaths, HB got into his truck but didn’t start it up. This added to everything else, it might’ve been the last thing Mika needed on his plate, but whenever Boa was involved, he pushed everything to the side. “I’m guessing you and Boa talked recently about it. Do you remember where he might be? Did he say where he was? Do you remember anything about the background? Was he alone?” The panic in Mika’s voice was obvious and him spamming questions was just part of his process.

“Jesus, Mika, let me answer a fuckin’ question,” Allegra snapped, grip tightening on the phone. “They were on a bench at some park, but I don’t think either of them were plannin’ on stayin’ that long with how much emotional turmoil was spilling outta them. His friend Poppy was with him but you an’ I both know that when Mordechai gets like this he drifts off away from everyone an’ gets sobbin’ drunk.” She pulled her phone from her ear as it buzzed and checked the screen, doing a double take at the message before sending off a quick reply and getting back to her conversation. “That was him, apparently the kids an’ I’ll be stayin’ at Poppy’s house when I get in there.”

Park…Bench..

There was only one place Mika could think of that both Poppy and Boa would go. The town wasn’t big enough to have more than one regular park hangout.

“Lyon’s park. That must have been where they were.” In that small deduction he made, Mika almost overlooked one key detail that she dropped at the end and there was a smile on his face. For the first time in a while, a genuine smile. “You have no idea how excited I am that you’re gonna come to Edenridge. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but if it’s bad enough that our favorite snake decided to disappear on us, then I know he’s going to need you by his side and double goes for Viva and Chai.”

As he leaned his head back against the headrest, Mika thought about everything terrible that’s been happening and how he had even more of a feeling of dread for family dinner, but he couldn’t think about that right now. “Poppy’s good people. You will be safe there. That much I’m certain. As for Boa…” Mika kicked up his truck, the sound echoing into the call. “I’ll try to find our Boa. There’s a few places I know he goes to when he needs to be ‘away’.” HB was glad that it wasn’t a video call they were on because the worried expression on his face wouldn’t make anyone feel any better if they saw him.

“I trust you, Badger. Set his head straight in that emotionally constipated way that always seems to work for you two,” She took a deep breath, reading the flight confirmations and mentally packing everything they’d need while putting aside what she could get the diner girls to ship later. “I know I don’t get serious that often, but they both looked like shit, Mika. Wherever he is…you’re gonna have ta prove yourself again. I got plenty’a choice words about your big brother, and even more I wanna say right to ‘is stupid face. Almost two years of reassurances fuckin’ wasted ‘cause he thought it would be ‘propriate ta call Mordechai a tool in front’a everyone.”

What were you thinking, ReyRey? What was the point of that? Mika didn’t know the whole story, but his brother’s temper was always a problem. As much as he could sit around and think about how stupid his brother could be, Mika didn’t have time to spare. He didn’t know how bad Boa was. He wished he could check up on Poppy too, but hopefully she was going to be okay. For now, he had about three places in mind where Boa might be and less than two hours to do it.

“Don’t worry. You can leave him to me. I’ll get him straightened up by the time you and kids get here. And when you do, I’ll treat you all to the best sandwiches Edenridge has to offer.”

“I’ll hold you to that. And Badger? Keep any hard shit away from his veins for me, would ya?”

---

As Mika drove down Carlisle Ave, the only thing he could think about was Boa and how he didn’t tell him that he was back in town. Maybe that’s what was bothering him the most. After all they went through and how close they became in all of the time that Mika has been in Edenridge, all the laughs they had, all the friendly scraps they indulged in because that was just the southside way (for the guys, at least), and hell the times they even found comfort in each other’s arms some nights, he couldn’t at least shoot a text his way to say “hey Badger, I’m back in town”. Even that would have gone a long way.

But now? Now their first time speaking in almost three months wasn’t going to be over a couple of in-house-made beer or over some crappy nachos made at Edge. Or even dropping by Godmother’s for a couple of sandwiches. No it was on a scavenger hunt that only Mika knew of the thinly-stated clues, but it was difficult playing when you didn’t know everything that was in the game. The only place that he could think of that Boa might’ve gone was a known safe haven for lost souls and it wasn’t the apartment building he lived in. No, there was another place that he suspected Boa might go to.

“Gardenview Temple,” he said as he pulled up to the known safe place for anyone who needed shelter, or really just to get away from anyone and anything. Even Mika had stayed here a few times.

Parking across the street from it, Mika walked through the front doors. He always liked coming here. The serenity he was always consumed by whenever he heard the low hummings of whatever music or sounds Spiritual Leader Shale had playing. It just made him feel relaxed.

Well, it always did except for now. Right now, Mika was not only on a mission. Luckily for his mission, he found the person he was looking for in the front. “Spiritual Leader Shale, there you are!” Mika rushed to the front almost in a panic-like run. “I’m sorry if this is rude. I promise you I wouldn’t run into your temple if it wasn’t important, but you haven’t seen Mordechai around, have you?”

“You’re alway welcome Honey, at least you didn’t have dirty boots. And not for almost two years, no,” Shale answered, turning to Mika with a raised eyebrow as they assessed the state of the man in front of them. “He’s back in town? Duke and Dolce haven’t said anythin’ to me…” they eyed Mika. “I’m guessin’ it wasn’t an easy homecomin', huh? You comin’ here to check for him certainly never boded well before.”

Shale always was able to see through Mika. It was especially easy given the state of him. As he took a moment to catch his breath, he was looking in all directions he could, the sense of panic clear in how quickly he turned his head. “I just found out he’s in town and, well, someone very close to him and I told me he might not be doing too good. I know he comes here when he needs a place to lay low away from everything, but it seems like he’s not.” Mika could deduce that from how surprised Shale seemed when he asked about Boa, which only deepened the fear he was experiencing for his brother’s safety.

“Well, I guess that explains why you came here,” Shale spoke up, not moving their eyes from Mika’s barely contained franticness. “But Honey he came to me for shelter and a quick patch up, it was never the adults he came to for the emotional stuff, he never trusted us for that sort of thing.” Shale stated it as a matter of fact, no offense in their tone as they thought of one of the temple’s frequent flyers before the tragedy of 2019. “If I remember correctly, him and little Danny were extremely codependent on each other for those deep emotional chats. He’d only come to me for guidance if Danny pushed him to, or if Danny needed help himself. For someone who really needs other people, that boy has always had a stubborn loner streak.”

As Mika stood there, listening to every word that Spiritual Leader Shale had to say, they were absolutely right about Boa and Danny. Thinking back, they always were near each other right before that terrible day. Right before everything for this town went to shit. And Mika couldn’t recall a moment when they weren’t by each other’s side, at least whenever he saw them together. But he couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle about what Shale said in regards to Boa’s nature. “You’re absolutely right. Even about his stubbornness.”

But that didn’t answer his question…or maybe it did? “You’re so right about him and Danny, but Danny’s not here anymore. He isn’t--” For a moment, pondering for close to a minute in silence, a lightbulb lit up in his head. Danny wasn’t here, but something of him was. “Of course! I know where he is!” In a typical impulsive Bager action, Mika gave Shale a hug, shocking a laugh from the temple owner. It was quick, but he owed everything to them. “I can’t explain it right now, but later on, I’ll come by and tell you everything! Thank you again, Shale!”

“I’m always here for a little guidance. And Honey,” Shale smiled at the young man in front of them and he stopped before he was about to walk out. “Give hugs more often, you’re actually pretty good at them.”

Mika walked out of the Temple and hopped into his truck and sped off as fast as he could. He U-turned and went as far east as he could. He wasn’t absolutely positive that Boa would be there, but with all of the clues that Shale gave him and everything they said, there was only one place his brother could be and only one place that he would go to be alone. Mika knew Boa more than anyone in his life and if there was one place he might be, it was the fucking cemetery.

When he pulled up to it, Mika didn’t care about where he would park. If he got it towed away, then he’d cross that bridge. It was still light out, so the cemetery didn’t seem as gloomy as it typically did in the nighttime (not that Mika would know anything about that because he didn’t come here in the dead of night that often). But even if it was pitch black, Mika knew exactly where to go. He was there when they buried Danny. So of course, he knew where in the cemetery his gravestone was. Dead center in the entire landscape.

And sure enough, sitting directly in front of it with what looked like a bottle of some kind of liquor, Mika found him at last. “You son of a bitch!” Mika announced himself, standing about five feet away from a seated Boa. “You seriously couldn’t at least tell me you were back in town.”

Mordechai didn’t even have it in him to flinch as he looked blearily up at the figure before him. The sun glowed behind his form, eclipsing Mika’s frame and making Mordechai squint even more than he already had. His hand went up to block out the light, and as the bottle was still gripped tight it came with as well, allowing Mordechai to see that there were only a couple sips left in the whole bottle.

“S-s’rry,” He mumbled out, looking away from the painful light. He could have sworn he’d only put his head down for a minute, but if Mika was here he must have lowkey passed out for at least half an hour. “D’you wanna sip?”

Like you wouldn’t believe.

But no, Mika made a promise. He never turned down free alcohol, but he made that promise to Allegra. People could say whatever they wanted, but HB always kept his word to those who truly mattered to him. “No thanks. I gotta drive, so I’m not trying to get buzzed up.” And yet he had one and a half beers in the last thirty minutes. Then again, cheap beers were nothing compared to cheap, hard liquor. “But I will take that seat next to you.”

As Mika sat next to his brother, he stared at Danny’s gravestone. He didn’t know what to really say, so he just remained quiet for a few minutes, looking at the headstone, thinking about the kid and how they first met. About how many stories he read to Danny and how much he learned from someone who was half his size almost. He thought about the day Charlie took him from this world. He thought of all the times that he made trips up to New York just to see Boa any chance he could get and then here they were. He was thinking about what was going through Boa’s mind. What demons was he entertaining in that head of his?

But more importantly, Mika was thinking about how relieved he was to find him. Period. That relief had faded when he saw the state of him. “So Allegra and the kids are coming to Eden, huh?” Mika asked, leaning forward a few inches, looking at Boa.

The other man huffed quietly, the sound barely a laugh. “Y’know Legs,” He slurred, dropping his arms across his knees and his forehead onto his arms. “She gets a thought ‘n’ follows through on it…no stoppin’ ‘er.” Mordechai tried to smile despite his state; face marked with tear tracks, eyes bloodshot and bleary, and hair completely disheveled, he was certainly a sight. “I never know what ta do when she gets goin’.”

Badger let out a chuckle as he kept his eyes on Boa. “That’s easy, Boa! You get the hell out of her way and let her cause whatever mayhem women like her do.” Again, he laughed, never moving his gaze away from Boa. “You’re lucky that she’ll do it in your honor. I’d hate to be the person who is on her badside.”

“My honor,” the next noise that passed his lips was twisted and disconnected, the self-deprecation heavy in the exhale. “What honor, Badger, I’ve failed anyone I ever set out ta support. I’m workin’ past plastered in a graveyard in the only other pair’a clothes I own. I was a tool for thinkin’ I was anythin’ but one.” the last part was grumbled as he pulled his head up to stared straight forward.

“Because I love you, I’m giving you a warning.” That was all Badger said before a crisp, open-palm slap from his left found its way across the back of Boa’s head. From his drunken stupor, Boa flew forward with the momentum and Mika stood up. He looked at his brother. He didn’t know if this was what he needed, but it was the only thing that he could think of that would knock some literal sense into Boa. “You seriously too drunk to fight back?” Mika taunted Boa for a few moments before grabbing him by the tanktop. With his higher stance and even greater strength, Badger pulled the snake out of the grass, making sure he was looking at the Badger who, contrary to popular belief, was giving so many fucks that what he was about to say hurt him more than Mordechai could ever know. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe you are a tool just to be used by whoever has the greater willpower. Maybe all of those times I went out of my fucking way to drive for FOUR FUCKING HOURS to see you, to get to know your family, and to think of Viva and Chai as my own flesh and blood was for nothing. And maybe you being here in front of his grave, being in a worse state than when we first met is exactly what you deserve. I mean, you said it yourself, right? You’re a tool because you thought you weren’t.”

It hurt him, but Mika’s way wasn’t the way of a scalpel. He wasn’t some tactful wordsmith and he wasn’t raised to be one. Mary-Anne O’Hara-Zima was more tactful than he was, but she raised him to be someone who knew when to be understanding to how others were feeling and when you needed to get through to someone who more or less closed themselves off.

And that’s exactly what he was doing right now. When he was truly afraid not only for himself, but for someone he cared about more than his own damn life, he was often cruel for their sake. Whether it was Cece or Boa, he gave them the hard truth because it’s what they needed to hear. For Cece, of course, it was to protect her, but for his brother -- for the person he’d literally give his all for, Mika had to make sure he saw it in his eyes, saw the rarity that was his heart, that Boa was full of shit. “Look at me, Boa!” Mika wasn’t the type to show tears, but his eyes were watery. Mordechai flinched, turning his gaze back to the other man from where he’d tried to look away. “I don’t care what happened yesterday or what happened last week or why you didn’t tell me you were back. None of that matters. What matters is right now! I said it once and I’ll say it fucking again! You are not some tool or dog or whatever fucking object people have you believing. You are Mordechai Boaz! And you know what? He’s someone who doesn’t take crap from anyone!”

Mordechai’s legs were jelly, Mika was basically holding him up with sheer muscle and rage, and he was pretty sure his tanktop wasn’t surviving this encounter with Badger’s paws. The way he had the fabric bunched and twisted in his grip, it would probably be stretched beyond acceptability once released. The dark haired snake stared shakily into Mika’s deep blue eyes, stormy as the dangerous ocean they mimicked, and found himself getting swept up in the waves. The bottle tumbled from his limp fingers as he reached his hands up to grasp around Badger’s own and keep himself in place. Mika had found him again, he realized, the other man had tracked him down just to assault him and bash some logic into his skull.

Echoes of a happier time rang through his mind, the memory slowly building as it pushed away the negative thoughts that had clouded his mind so completely. He latched onto the memory as strongly as he was gripping Mika’s fists. He thought of absentmindedly crafting with his daughter, of Mika showing up and bulldozing through his bullshit, he thought of candles lighting up the faces of the people he loved.

“H-how the fuck do ya d-do that, Badger,” Mordechai sobbed roughly, begging for breath as he threw his arms around Mika’s shoulders, temporarily trapping the other man's arms between them as he dropped his forehead to the other man’s jacketed shoulder. “E’ry fuckin’ time. How?”

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Mika didn’t know what to say. In the back of his mind, he wasn’t expecting Boa to embrace him in this way. He didn’t know what to expect, but as he shifter to hold his brother close to him, supporting Mordechai with all of what he had to give, he thought about the last time they were here. Not in the cemetery, but using fists and then words to get to the root of it all and Mika still didn’t know how he always got this result with him. He just knew that when those he loved more than anything in this world were in a bad way, he had to do anything that he could think of to help. Boa just responded better to his no-bullshit approach.

After a few moments of letting him get it all out, Mika brought his brother’s gaze up to his, just smiling at him in a rare, gentle way that so few people ever got to see. “I don’t know, Boa. I’m not sure if there’s anything I can say that explains how or why this keeps happening, but know that I’ll keep doing it. As long as I am able and for as long as you’ll let me, I will keep pulling you out of the darkness again and again. You are my family. You. Are. My. Brother.”

Mordechai returned his face to Mika's shoulder and kept them locked in that position until his sobs had died down, as if hiding his face hid the full body breakdown he was having in the open cemetery. Slowly, as his chest stopped heaving and his breathing had leveled out, Mordechai let go of Mika and stumbled back to lean back against Danny’s headstone. He attempted to run a hand through his disheveled locks and push his hair from his face, but his fumbling fingers got tangled in knots and he gave up halfway through. He looked back up at Mika again, too embarrassed at the moment to meet his eye.

“'M sorry you’re always dealin’ with me an’ my dumb shit,” he mumbled, squinting against the light surrounding his brother once more. If Mika was willing, they’d go right back to pretending Mordechai hadn’t been incredibly vulnerable out in the open. It was always a subtle dance between the two men, allowing vulnerability without necessarily acknowledging it, or at least not dwelling on it after it’s been showed. “‘M sorry Legs probably attacked ya too…”

He chuckled. “I’ve accepted long ago that we are meant to deal with each other when we’re out of whack. But don’t worry your pretty little head about it, Boa. Besides…” Badger looked at Boa for a solid few seconds, smiling like he was earlier. “She was really worried. And I promised her I’d bring you back to us.” For that moment, Mika let the vulnerable state of him and Mordechai linger. “I’m just glad that both of us won’t have to face that potential wrath of hers if I broke my promise. She can be scarier than my own momma when she’s tired of my shit.” And Mika wasn’t talking about Momma G, either.

“That woman’ll put the fear’a god in ta an atheist,” Mordechai laughed “She’s act’lly gonna fit in real well ‘round ‘ere, scary as it is ta think.” He looked at his Serpent jacket that had fallen off his lap and to the ground when Mika had first smacked him, and he bent down to pick up the symbol that connected him to his crew and his brothers.

Only to fall face first into it instead, arms folded under him uselessly. “fuck,” Mordechai hissed, pushing himself over until he was laying on his back. He tasted copper on his tongue and reached a shaky had up to his lip. “I busted my lip…er…re-busted? I-it was already like tha’, but I jus’ bit it open again,” he rambled, running his tongue over the wound as his unfocused eyes searched for Mika. “Ya didn't do it this time, tho most'a my busted lips have come from ya in one way or the other…ReyRey was always that close second, though…"

As much as Mika tried to resist the urge, as soon as he saw Boa try to walk and fall right on his face against the moist grass. And, of course, Honey Badger couldn’t hold in a few moments of cackling that came from a very immature place. “Someone call life alert, because this old man fell and he can’t up!” That’s how you knew things were back to how they should be. Something happens to one of them and the first response is to poke fun at their unfortunate circumstances. Mika’s been in his position and Boa always laughed when he fell down a few times, so it was only fair that Mika did the same. Besides, that’s what family was for!

“Oh yeah, you’re right. I do always end giving your mouth a nice shiner, don’t I?” Honey Badger kept chuckling as he approached his fallen brother. “What can I say, eh? Us Gonzalez men know how to throw down!” Mika snickered as walked over to Boa’s side, draping his arm over his shoulder. With a series of grunts, he showed off his superior strength once again as HB lifted up the fallen snake up to his feet. He made sure to keep a constant hold on his wrist with his own so Boa could walk somewhat. “Now what do you say we get out of here?” Mika asked, showing one last bit of his soft side to his brother as his smile reflected that.

“Yeah, in a minute…firs’,” Mordechai looked his brother deep in the eyes before his gaze flittered off to the side again, his mind falling back to another brother as Mika began to drag him towards the gates. “…first’ d’ya know where Hard Times’ grave is? Danny’d be pissed if I didn’t visit ‘im too.”

Mika would admit that he and Charlie never did bond in ways that it seemed he and Boa did, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know where it was located.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s on the way out. About five or so rows this way--” Mika guided Boa into a steady rhythm and they walked seven rows of gravestones away and there it was. Given what Charlie did and everything, Mika was honestly shocked that it wasn’t too messed up. “Here we are,” Mika said, being gentle with Mordechai as he set him down in front of it.

The drunken man slowly dropped to his knees as the other set him down, gaze on the grass as he tried to gather the stones to look this other slab of stone dead on. He hobbled forward on his knees before reaching his hands out to grip the top of the headstone, fingers tensing and relaxing against it repeatedly. He dropped his feverish forehead to the cool stone and closed his eyes as his world spun.

“...Hey, Charlie,” He whispered, not daring to open his eyes as he got used to saying the name again. “Guess ‘m a bit of a hypocrite, I was so mad for ya not visitin’ me in juvie, but look at me now….” He scrunched his brow as he kept his eyes clenched. “Anyway…’m sorry for everythin’. I miss ya…”

Mika took a knee beside his brother, his hand on his back. HB didn’t say anything. He just made sure that Boa knew he wasn’t going anywhere until he was ready.

---

When they left the cemetery, in his mind Mika had a lot to think about. He got the full story about what happened last night, but that wasn’t why he had been uncharacteristically quiet (especially for him who always had something to say). It balanced out because Boa didn’t speak much, either. It was a quiet, thoughtful ride, but there was definitely something on Mika’s mind.

He knew Boa needed to sober up and needed a place where he could lay low until Allegra and the kids arrived in Eden, but there wasn’t a lot of places that certain people wouldn’t come knocking for him. Mika thought about driving him to the temple. Shale seemed to be worried in their own way about him, but that was too public. And with the state that he was in, Mika didn’t feel comfortable enough leaving him there (no disrespect to Shale).

There’s no other way.

Mika knew there was only one place in the entire southside that he felt the most comfortable leaving Mordechai for a few hours until he was done handling what he needed to do in the next hour.

As it was decided, Mika took a sharp left, though he tried not to make too sudden so he didn’t rock Boa too much. His fragile state and all was taken into great consideration about how Mika drove. It wouldn’t be long until they were outside the Lost Soul’s apartment complex. “Alright, we’re here, Boa.” He wasn’t sure if he was asleep or not, but he had to get him out of whatever daze he was in.

Mordechai had been zoned out most of the trip, head against the passenger side window as he watched the street signs change, his head feeling heavy and his thoughts distant and muted. He had mumbled his way through last night’s full story, telling Mika everything he knew before going tiredly silent. The turn the Badger took would have jammed his head to the glass if he had been driving in his usual manner, but as it was the force of the turn simply pushed him more fully against the smooth surface. He glanced at the building through the windshield and lolled his head lazily to the side.

"Los'souls He inquired, running his fingertips along his jacket's zipper in nervous habit. "We havin' a sleepover?"

With a laugh, Mika opened his door. “Very funny. But no. I told you I’d let you sober up with someone I trust more than anyone in this world and I meant it.” As he hopped out, Mika rounded to the passenger’s side, he aided and guided Boa out. He made sure to support him with his arm draped over his shoulder and using his free hand to prop him upward.

And then they were off, walking slowly through the center of the complex, giving the Angels’ who stood guard a nod. About five minutes walking, they were inside the main building that was dead center in the back. The elevator was a straight walk through the front doors. Unlike most times whenever someone used the elevator, they would only be able to go up three floors. The “mystery” floor was only accessible by those who had clearance to use it. Typically it was often reserved for high ranking members of the associated gangs (angels, Serpents, etc), but Mika had the knowledge of the secret passcode for a very important reason that Boa was about to find out.

As he entered the five numbers in a very specific order, the elevator went up one, two, three, four--

DING

“Fourth floor.” An uneasy tension built in Mika’s stomach and soon rose to his throat and it was hard for him to keep it under wraps. It wasn’t that he had a reason for being nervous, but something momentous was about to happen in under two minutes. Okay, maybe he was just a little more nervous than he cared to admit.

Alright, you got this, Mikhail! Third door on the left side.

Mika stepped out of the elevator with Boa and they walked past the first and second doors on the left. When they came to the third, it was just like every other door on the outside. “Hope you’re ready, Boa.” He might’ve said that to Boa, but it was more him projecting his own nerves about the person on the other end of the door onto Boa.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

How long has it been since he’s made a personal visit? A week? Maybe a month? “Yeah, it’s been close to a month…” He muttered, biting his lip as the door opened.

“Hello--” A woman who bore a striking resemblance to Mika answered the door. She was wearing an oversized, red coat, her dark locks falling in front of her face as she greeted the two young men with a wide smile (albeit one laced with a delighted shock). “--Oh! Mickey! And…sorry, I don’t think I’ve met you before.” She exchanged a long glance between the both of them. “Please, come in. I don’t think we should talk outside, anyway.” She closed the door behind them. “You boys thirsty? I have water and kool-aid. I always keep a special vase of cherry flavor because I know how much Mickey here loves his cherry-flavored drinks!” She laughed, also in a similar manner that Mika did.

Mordechai blinked slowly as he shifted his gaze between the woman in front of him and the man supporting all his weight. He once again experienced the unsure feeling of wondering if his stomach was rolling from emotions or alcohol, because he may be drunk but he wasn't stupid, and he'd heard plenty of stories and seen almost every picture that Mika had of the woman standing in front of them.

"I'ssa, uh, pleasure ta meet'cha ma'am," Mordechai slurred unsteadily, mentally cursing Mika for choosing now to introduce him to his mother. A mother who Mordechai had no idea lived at the Lost Souls complex in the first place. "'M sorry for intrudin', m' name's Mord'chai Boaz." He used the hand across his brother's shoulder to pinch Mika not-so-subtly, trying to express his displeasure to the other man for the situation. One of the few people he'd ever thought of trying to make a good first impression for, and Mika tosses his stumbling ass right under the nearest bus.

He'd never live this down.

Cursing at Boa’s pinching action, Mika glared at him for a few seconds and set his ungrateful ass on the couch as gently as he just pinched him.

“It’s no trouble at all, Mordechai! Mickey has told me so much about you!” She took a seat opposite of the two of them in a recliner that sat across a coffee table in the middle of the living space in the apartment. “And you’re not intruding at all! I rarely get any visitors, especially from friends of my son’s!” She flashed a smile to the two of them.

Mika tried to keep as straight of a face as he could. The guilt of not visiting his mother as often as he would’ve liked to was consuming a large part of his ability to even speak, but when she looked at him, in that same way she always did, that smile that broke through him every time, there was a certain reset button that went off in his head. “My boy here needs a place to rest up away from prying eyes. You know, just so he can not worry about anyone needing him for something, ya know?”

Mary nodded. “I understand.” That was all Mika needed to hear to not worry about Boa. “Well, you’re in luck, Mordechai! I just made some of my famous corn beef hash and fried potatoes. If you think you’re up to eat something. You look like you haven’t had a decent meal in some time.” Ah, good ole Mary-Anne not able to filter her observation of the state of people.

She was right, however, as Mordechai hadn't done much more than push around Big Mama's breakfast at Beau's house this morning, the only thing he really had in his stomach right now was rum and butterflies. He'd sunken harshly into the couch where Mika dropped him, however, his eyelids already dropping as his chin tried to meet his chest. The warmth of the apartment, as well as the comfort he was feeling being back around Mika again was allowing for him to relax and once more give way to the liquor in his system.

"Sounds like a dream…" he mumbled, eyes closing completely. "I'll be…righ' there…'' The last part came out in barely an exhale, his chin dropping completely and body listing to the side, head hitting the arm rest with a teeth rattling thud that couldn't even startle him back awake.

“Amazing. He gave me hell and once his head hit the couch, he’s out like a light.” Mika shook his head and chuckled, smiling as he took a few moments to look at his sleeping brother before looking at his mother. “Thanks for doing this, mama. I know I don’t always say it, but I have missed you. I’m sorry I don’t visit enough. It’s just--”

Mary held her hand up, shaking her head. “You don’t have to say it.”

They always were in sync. Whenever Mika needed to confide in her or needed her advice, he knew his mother was here for him and he knew she was safe here. He didn’t know how long this would be their arrangements, but at the very least, he could find peace in that. After all, she was his rock.

Brushing off all the strong emotions he was feeling, Mika stood up. “I’ll check back with you in a few hours. If he wakes up, just stuff some food down his throat. I’m sure he’ll have quite the appetite.”

As he gave his mother a big, tight hug, wanting it to last longer than it did, he really did have to leave or Big Rey would have his head for being late for family dinner.

[BrutalBx]

[

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“So last night was fun”

She slipped on the crumpled dress that had spent the evening on Clay Costigan’s barely decorated living room floor. This was not the first time that she had spent the evening with Eden’s most eligible.

”It’s always fun, Sawyer ” Clay said before he took a sip from the Monster energy drink that he had just opened. Sawyer Steen had been a part of the young officer's life for many years. She was the younger sister of Lt Jonah Steen of the fire department and Lizette O’Hara, a former Celtic Clover and an on and off lover of Clay’s since they were about sixteen. It was an arrangement that worked out for them and for Clay it was simply just one of many. He wasn’t like most guys trying to sleep with as many women as possible, he genuinely cared about every girl he’d ever been with, it was probably why they always ended up somehow crossing paths again. Was he desperately searching for love? He wasn’t sure but if he was, at least he was having fun doing it.

Clay lay on his couch, the only piece of furniture he currently had, wearing nothing but his old Celtic gym shorts and watched as the good lady redressed herself. “And you, my blonde bombshell, have picked up some new moves since we last did this. Credit to your teacher”

“Hardy har” Sawyer dropped herself next to Clay’s feet and slipped her own into the first of her knee high boots that she could find. “You really need to decorate this place, it’s kind of serial killery…though now that you’re a cop, maybe you like that? A kink to get into the mind of your prey?” She teased, tilting her head with an oh so subtle lip bite.

“Hey” He pointed to her harshly before breaking into his goofy grin. “We don’t kink shame in this house. All fetishes welcome…you know unless it’s illegal. Then I may arrest you oooh we should’ve used my handcuffs”

Sawyer let out a soft giggle as she climbed up to the lanky man’s chest and lay her head on there, wrapping her arms around his torso. She knew there would never be anything serious with Clay, she was under no illusion of that fact. Hell, she could count on one hand the amount of her friends he had also had passing fancies with. That didn’t matter though. Sometimes, all a girl wants his to be noticed, appreciated and made to feel safe. Clay Costigan may have been God’s favourite idiot but he did all of those things; when you were with him, you felt special. “Maybe next time” She sighed out through her nose. “I haven’t seen Lamb in a while, she doing ok?”

As he played ringlets with her hair, Clay’s eyes glanced over to the one framed photo he had put up on his wheat coloured walls. It was a group photo, a who’s who of Eden’s elite circa 2016. Allison, Fran, Russ, David, Jamie, Rhett, Clay himself and his sister, Laura amongst a few others. That was the last time they were all together properly. Fast forward only a few months later and everything had changed. It was the last time anything ever truly made sense in the world.

“She’s good. She’s got a place in Pinehurst now. Makes good money hosting at the Afterlife” Looking to change the subject, the Big Tuna pressed a light kiss to Sawyer sun kissed forehead. “What about you? How’s the job hunt going?”

“Terribly. This is a dead town, I don’t even know why you came back if I’m honest” Sawyer had very little love for Eden. She had gone to college, gotten her degree and only planned on staying for a little while but there never seems to be any escape from this god forsaken place. “I hear ReyRey is hiring at the Sin or maybe Lamby will get me into the Afterlife? Think you can hook me up?”

The last thing Clay would want would be to send Sawyer to what would eventually be her doon at the Edge of Sin. Talk about no escape. The Afterlife was a much more upscale establishment yet he still had his suspicions about what really happened behind closed doors. “I’ll speak to her, see if she can help out”

“You have always been the brightest diamond Clay Costigan” The beautiful girl leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips. “One day, the world will do right by you. You deserve it. It’ll come in time”

Time. Time. Oh fuck. “Fuck me in the ass and call me Bertie, I’m gonna be fucking late!” Clay jumped causing Sawyer to fling herself back to the other side of the couch. The wild haired man sprang to his feet and began scouting for clothes that didn’t smell like that perfect mixture of sex, beer and Hole in the Wall hot wings. “I’m being interviewed in like ten minutes!” Scrambling around the floor like a man possessed, Clay finally found a pair of jeans he could slip on as well as a flannel shirt. He was stealing his cousin Roddy’s look today, which was only fair since he stole his look from Clay about ten years ago.

A true man never forgets.

Once he was fully dressed, he ran to his kitchen counter and grabbed his wallet. “I’m really sorry to ditch like this, Sawyer you know I would never but this is kind of a big deal”

“I get it, it’s all good. You gotta go save the world” Popping up to her feet, she stretched her arms up into the air, allowing a full, curvaceous form to bask in the sun's glow as it peered through the newspaper that Clay currently called his curtains. “I’ll see you around copper” Sawyer pointed a finger gun at his chest and fired a kiss his way before exiting the apartment.

As the cold rush of air hit her skin, she suddenly felt a warmth around her bare shoulders. She turned to find Clay wrapping her up in a long jacket. “Bring it back soon okay? This is a nice jacket” She began to blush before he slipped some money into one of the pockets

“Clay Costigan always springs for breakfast”

[LovelyComplex]

_{Saturday evening, the day after the gym scene, right after Natalia & Danny deside to leave the Belmonte estate.}

^{A @Aces Away & @LovelyComplex Collaboration}

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Rye sat on his suitcase outside the airport as he waited for JP to come pick him up, trying not to let his mind run wild with false situations as to why Danny offering to pick him up a few weeks ago had turned into can’t. not feeling well. sorry. being texted to him thirty minutes before his flight took off. Unfortunately, he hadn’t gotten the text until he landed, so he’d had to text JP last minute. He had been a life saver, but it would still take him time to get there. So Rye had spent a little bit of time inside the airport waiting before the flow of people made him too anxious and he had taken his things outside. He slid his earphones in and shuffled one of his playlists to drown out the world around him and try and calm his nerves.

He just got sick he thought to himself for the twentieth time since landing. It has nothing to do with you, he just wasn’t feeling good. He tried to give you fair warning.

He tapped his feet nervously, humming to the song playing as he obsessively checked again for JP’s car so he could get out of the wide open space, be less exposed. As if he could miss the old thing, since it was actually the car he grew up in. His mother and father had bought it fresh off the lot when he’d been a toddler, and the reliable son of a bitch took them everywhere as he got older. It was the car that took them from Cleveland to Edenridge after the divorce and then sat in a parking lot for most of their time in the town until Avigail had gifted the car to JP, putting it back into regular use. It had just over 200,000 miles on it and while it still ran beautifully, the dented and scratched body showed its years, though JP had touched it up over time.

He tried switching his focus from Danny to something that would cause him less anxiety, and he chose to focus on seeing JP again after a little over three months. Savta Miriam's hip replacement recovery was on track and she was moving around on her own again. Rye had offered to stay longer, but his savta gave him a knowing look and told him to go home and relax. For anything else she needed, the neighbor had offered his own grandson up for help. Rye relented, as he wouldn't pretend he wasn’t excited to see his family again; for having been an only child most of his life he now found that the silence of small households only serves to make the pitch in his ears worse. He hadn't realized how much the background noise of his family's everyday lives had covered up the ringing buzz during the-what he thought had been- silence.

Being away from his mother, from JP and Danny had sucked, and he'd even missed a chance to see Niles when he'd visited home. Rye was due for some strong, emotionally settling hugs and JP was amazing for helping him feel grounded in the moment, stealing his attention and not complaining about how he has to talk over whatever music Rye has playing at the time. As much as he has been looking forward to Danny, Rye was in no way upset to be getting picked up by JP instead.

As if manifesting from his thought process, the gray 2003 Toyota Camry came past the first line of waiting cars to park in the second lane with a direct line to Rye. The curly haired boy smiled at the sight of his step-brother sliding out of the driver's side as he made his way to the trunk, rolling his suitcase and duffle bag behind him. He pouted internally as he met JP at the back but simply gave him an exasperated look as the other man was already reaching for his luggage.

“You’re not even gonna give me a chance to struggle with it, huh?” He asked as he grasped his luggage defensively, turning the volume down low on his music but not removing the headphones as he looked to the taller man. He still didn't like being so limited; despite how well he'd healed, Rye was still missing full rotation in his shoulder and was unable to bear certain weights no matter how much he wanted to, which left the older Phillips-Shomer well acquainted with this limitation already.

“Hey, we’re family, yeah?” Jericho nonchalantly responded, as he took charge of the heavyweight his step brother was carrying. In his car, he was listening to a cover of Cancion del Mariachi, which was sung by upcoming artist, Rico Núñez, who happened to be related to the Gonzalez family. Pretty neat they had a musician in the family, especially a musician guaranteed for success. JP didn’t see his future exploding like Rico’s but he could respect the hustle. He found joy in keeping music alive in his town, where a series of unfortunate events ripped you from this universal language that united people together.

Once his trunk was closed, he pulled Rye in a deep hug, one of those heart-to-heart hugs where their chests pressed against one another. Instinctively, JP had one of his hands in Rye’s hair, holding his head gently, yet lovingly. “It’s good to see you. We’ve missed you.” After a moment or two of a tender embrace, and perhaps a couple people honking behind them, JP released his step brother and slapped his ass, “Okay, let’s get going.”

Proceeding onward, the two boys went to the car. With some umpf in the engine, they went from Boston to Edenrdige. Nearly immediately, JP opened a new can of red bull and started guzzling it down, while driving with one hand. Without any care in the world, he belched and placed his empty can in the center console cup holder. “So yeah, our town is on fire. Not literally, but boy you missed a lot.”

Rye rolled his eyes and flicked the empty can, not saying anything about his step brother's bad habit but letting him know it was still noticed. "I wouldn't be surprised if there was a fire, we've got a pretty hot department in town," he joked quietly, having taken his earbuds out once the music in the car had started. It was no secret that JP volunteering at the EFD caused Rye untold levels of anxiety, but the smaller man still never failed to make jokes about it when he could. He watched the car in front of them switch lanes, cutting off the person that had been trying to pass. His eyes flickered to the side, scanning JP's face before jumping to the next movement that caught his gaze. "But in all seriousness, what happened this time? You'd call me if someone died, right?" He was joking. Obviously. But just because someone didn't die didn't mean that a lot couldn't still be bad. Danny's text flashed in his mind, and he grabbed the empty can out of the cup holder to fidget with the soda tab.

“Of course I’d call, Sprinkles. Why wouldn’t I?” JP rolled his eyes, before answering, “Your class had one hell of a ride last night.” The local guitarist shrugged, glancing at the can of Red Bull and then Rye. Yeah, he did know he had a problem but there was so much life to live that sleep only took away from it. Energy drinks were life.

“Here,” the older boy tossed his phone onto his step brother’s lap, where a video was waiting to be played, “I put all the letters from ghost boy Charlie on your desk, catch up when you have time. Someone’s been sending them to every house for months now.” JP was never one to hold back punches and if anything, Rye deserved to know everything that was happening to his friends and the town he lived in, “Last night your classmates found out how Allison Davies OD’ed. It was pretty messed up. Glad I wasn’t at that party that night.”

Turning down the music, realizing he was talking louder than needed, JP disclosed, “Danny was there and it looks like he was next to that Brady kid. Weren’t they a thing? I know I’m not supposed to talk about it but I’m just asking. I could’ve sworn you told me they weren’t talking for a good minute.”

"Yeah, we don't mention that to Danny," Rye reminded faintly. "and last I knew they weren't." The video was playing out in front of him, each moment tightening his chest. The last thing he'd been expecting was anything relating to Charlie Decker or Allison Davies. Now it involved most of his class and ReyRey as well? And him? Did he get the invitation letter and miss it by being out of town, or was he safe from the scrutiny of whatever psycho was playing a puppet game with the town? Did everyone decide to just keep him out of the loop on this?

"This shit's pretty heavy if I'm being honest, I never put much thought into Allison aside from the passing mentions of her, but no one deserves to go out like that…" he continued flicking the tab as the video played out, and Rye paled a bit as a recognizable figure appeared in the footage.

"Is that Decky?" He asked, fingers stilling. He looked at JP and tried to keep the shake out of his voice when he spoke next. "He's…back in town? How long has he been back?" It couldn't have been too long, while keeping the letters from him may have been Danny and his family's choice, none of them would fail to mention the ex-serpent's arrival in town, nervous as the mere mention of the man makes him. The lack of closure with the other man was still a major talking point in his therapy sessions, as he's unable to let go of that and forgive himself and yada yada yada. So it's unlikely he's been back for more than a day or two, otherwise the Edenridge rumor mill would have gotten a hold of it. Well. Looking at the video, obviously it already had.

“Heck if I know. I’m just as surprised as you. Couldn’t have been too long, though. For all we know, Boaz came in yesterday.” JP assured Rye, knowing well enough he would’ve been offended if none of his family told him about the return of Mordechai Boaz.

Rye reached out towards JP, fiddling with the fabric of the man's sleeve. "I've changed my mind," he joked, focusing intently on his manipulation of the coarse fabric. "Take me back to the airport, I'm done with Edenridge's drama already. Fucking annual trauma up in this bitch."

“No can do brother-o-pal-of-mine.” Jericho cruised through the highway, as he placed his hand on Rye’s thigh, tenderly squeezing it. “Your schedule is kind of booked.” He innocently grinned, showing for a fact that Rye wouldn’t get away from him that easily. “One, moms wants us to do some book reading at the school. You know how she gets if we refuse. Two, Winnie’s big 18 is coming up. I was thinking we’d take a weekend trip to Boston, yeah? Maybe sneak her into a gay bar or something. And third, we should try that salsa class your bestie goes to every Tuesday. Why the hell not, right? If this town needs anything, it’s good vibes.”

Nothing JP listed was set in stone. If there was anyone who knew JP it was Rye and Rye would know that this was how his step brother chose to cope and live, so that no one worried about him. He was all about being a positive energy in the dark place they called home. This place was cursed and yet he still wanted to believe in it. Not many could keep a smile on like JP did. There was something about him that people loved. Although he wasn’t certain of it, he gleamed.

Rye grinned back at JP, releasing his sleeve in favor of trapping the hand on his thigh. "Oh you know me, a real man of the people. I just love helping children and reading out loud in public spaces. I'm all for it," his dry tone allowed for no misunderstanding of his true feelings on the matter. "Anything for momma though, I'd never want to upset her. As for the gay bar, I'm down for it but I do wonder if we want to be exposing our little sister to us on the dance floor, since club grinding is basically the only dancing I do publicly nowadays." Which also answered JP's third idea about going to salsa class. The other more outgoing man would have to try a little harder than that to get him swinging around in front of people like he used to, but Rye did like the idea of learning a dance with JP, just maybe not in a room with a bunch of other people. He could appreciate the need to make someone's day brighter- he'd spent plenty of time doing it himself in highschool- but he wasn't ready to put himself out there like that again. That doesn't mean he wasn't ready to have a little fun, though.

JP's warm hand kept him grounded in the moment as the music faded out and into the next song, the car swerving smoothly through traffic. "We could force Danny to teach us in the back yard when he's free, I wouldn't mind that. Alone time with my bestie and my brother-from-my-other-mother? That's not something I'd refuse."

“That might not be a bad idea,” JP agreed with the sentiment, contemplating a moment in his day, where he found out something that was likely not meant for his ears. Earlier this day, he ran into the whole Belmonte family in front of the church. He was usually out and about, doing errands for Uncle Eddie, maintaining the shop, talking to people, the usual JP kind of things. Today was no exception.

There was a lot going on in town this morning from Hailee starting a protest with her band at the same time her father was doing a speech AND two babies got baptized. Talk about eventful! Well, JP gave his regards to the family and right before he was going to leave, Mirabella, Danny’s youngest sister, pulled him to the side, asking when Rye would return. One thing went to another and JP was eventually informed about Silvia’s condition.

Something that was kept under wraps, for awhile now. It was sad yet impressive that Taz could distract the townspeople from knowing his wife’s condition. Hell, not even JP’s mom knew and his mother was good friends with her. “Yeah, not a bad idea at all. You should try to visit Danny when you get a chance, I’m sure he could use some good soup or whatever.” The older boy’s intuition was telling him that Danny was not sick at all - it was unlike him to turn Rye down in such short notice. So, being the big brother, Jericho took it upon himself to offer guidance to the anxious, lovable ball of nerves that was Gavriel. If there was anyone that could keep up with the emotional well being of the big rock that was Danny Boy, it was Rye.

In response, Rye bobbed his head up and down repeatedly. To some it may have seemed like he was nodding his head to the beat, but JP would see it for the enthusiasm that it was. Rye was obviously a lot more out of the loop than he thought he would be, but things always did happen quick in this town, either all at once or in quick succession. He should have known being gone for a fourth of a year was enough to put him further on the outskirts of current knowledge. The curly haired man thought about how Danny had gone away for a single summer and come back to the hell that was the aftermath of Charlie Decker. He remembered waking up in the hospital one day to the athletic man sitting vigil by his bedside, looking exhausted and lost. It was an ugly kind of poetry that had Rye returning after another event regarding Charlie only to have Danny under the weather, prompting the smaller man to plan his own visit.

"It'll be great to see him, even if he is sick," Rye spoke up, hoping that if he said it enough he would believe the text that Danny sent and not perseverate over what the real reason could be. The video he just saw wasn't really helping to solidify his belief. "I'll make him some chicken soup later, I might even share some of the rugelach that savta sent home with me." A heavy consideration, as getting Rye to share anything sweet is a test in patience, let alone something as delicious as his savta Miriam's homemade pastries. His eyes flickered across the road in front of them once more before he realized what he was doing- anxiously watching all the cars as if they'd suddenly swerve and cause a crash, letting his mind run off on the possibilities- so he closed his eyes and leaned his head against the backrest, tapping out a rhythm on JP's hand with his index finger while gripping it tightly with the rest of his hand.

"You know you're not getting your hand back for the rest of the car ride, right? Because I haven't been able to hold this hand for more than three months and here you are just offering it up on a silver platter. You don't get it back unless you need it. It was on my thigh, it's mine by right."

“I could argue that hands were made for holding.” With gentle force, breaking out of Rye’s grip, JP turned his hand over and intertwined his fingers with the sweet boy beside him. Squeezing Rye’s hand a couple times, Jericho chuckled, “Wouldn’t that make you mine?”

"Since the first time we met." Rye answered honestly, holding their connected hands against his chest, eyes still closed and a small smile on his face.

[BrutalBx]

^{A @BrutalBx & @LovelyComplex Collaboration}


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Finishing her expresso, no longer with her partner-in-crime across from her, Kylee patiently waited for the two men to get settled in. Going in her purse, she took out her sunset orange lipgloss and mini compact mirror. Applying it while glancing over, she surveyed their gestures, mannerisms, and expressions. While she couldn’t hear what they were saying, she was pretty good at reading lips and based on Clay’s wide mouth talk, Kylee gathered he was being interviewed, but why? Why him?

Taking a moment to pucker her lips, Kylee observed her face, every detail, from her eyebrows to her cheekbones, and smiled to herself. Whether people wanted to acknowledge it or not, she was deadly and Roddy himself believed that she was a woman with no halo, with the gift of soul sucking. Still, he saw beyond that and heard her desperate melody to find closure and to be free from her own chains. He saw the good, when no one else did.

Her ruthlessness was the reason why she found out the truth, but there was still so much heart in her. So much hope to unravel the truth, for better or for worse. So much she wished she could do but was limited by the barren halls and barren hearts of her house. Closing her compact mirror, she glanced over to the table once more and let her gaze watch the back of Wesley.

As she put her belongings away, she wondered who he was as a person and if he would give her a chance. She knew it was too early to entertain anything with him, or even lust over him, but there was something about him that was magnetizing. She knew Mr. Silo was in over his head. Not only did he want to look into the many ghost stories of her town, but he also wanted to find the perpetrator behind Charlie Decker’s letters. Their first meeting on Dawn Patrol wasn’t the most ideal, with him putting her father on blast, but she hoped she could redeem their tense moment on air by welcoming him wholeheartedly to Edenridge.

Without further ado, Kylee stood up, knowing she gave both reporter and copper enough time to order their drinks and get comfortable in their seats. Passing Beau and waving at him dearly, Kylee steered her way through the cafe and to their booth, coming behind Wes. Clay and Ky met each other’s gaze before she announced her presence, “Oh hey! What’s going on over here, Clay? Not talking Mr. Silo’s ear off about craft beer or all the women you flirt with, huh? Made any progress with Cat? I bet not, she’s a married woman after all.” Teasingly, Kylee winked at the young cop, before crossing her arms and bringing her playful gaze to the reporter.

“Listen, I’m wearing her down, ok?” He looked to his new curly haired companion, who looked puzzled. In prototypical Clay fashion, the young cop was one hundred percent clueless as to his cousin’s friend's intentions. “If it’s a loveless marriage, is it really a marriage? Think about that Grimmy.”

“Ha, you don’t stand a chance,” Kylee said matter-of-factly.

It was God’s honest truth that Clay Costigan was not the sharpest tool in the shed; he was a pretty boy who got by on his looks and effortless, wholesome charm. Yet it was also true that underneath his Farrah Fawcett hair (which most definitely could not have been a EPD regulation haircut but was still absolutely amazing) Clay’s instincts were second to none. In testing, he had scored in the 98th percentile and was considered the top of his class at the academy. Behind the goofy exterior, he was a highly capable and extremely dedicated police officer.

Clay had known Kylee for a long time; he had watched her play Scooby Doo with Roddy when they were kids and she had grown into a strong, fierce and beautiful young woman. It was a shame she so desperately needed to get involved in everybody’s business; in this town jr was probably going to get her in trouble, then again, she was the mayor's baby daughter. The way she had presented herself to them, the make up and the look on her face; she was here for work, that much was obvious but there was something else, something Clay picked up on immediately. She was here for the reporter, in more ways than one.

“Actually,” Wes finally chimed in. “I’m just speaking to Clay here about the current drive for funds within the emergency services here and if he thought that had any impact on the crime rate here.” The reporter took a sip from his black coffee before turning to look at the newcomer. “You look nice.”

“Aw shucks, you flatter me,” Kylee giggled before gesturing for Wesley to scoot over in the booth so she could join in on the interview. “Oh interesting. I’d love to know about Clay’s perspective on this matter too.” With gentle force, she went to sit next to the reporter, allowing her body to touch him ever so slightly as she moved into the bench with him. “Please, show me what it takes to be a good reporter, Mr. Silo.” Kylee brightly beamed, inserting herself into their business without permission.

With a flush of heat on the nape of his neck, Wes moved as Kylee had requested and interlocked his fingers together across the table. It was game time, Wesley, don’t fuck it up. “So, Clay; Mayor Grimm is currently in the process of driving a heavy campaign on funnelling funds into the police and the fire departments but had been struggling to raise the funds through our links to Boston government. They say he’s got another plan in place, something more local. Have you heard anything about that?”

Clay ran both his hands through his luxurious locks of hair whilst leaning back in the chair. “Well I hear we may be getting some new hotel? Maybe he’s gonna use that tourist dollar to help pay us? I don’t know that’s a bit beyond my pay grade.”

Wes made some notes in his notepad, glancing at Kylee for a second before he continued. His line of questioning was based around her father; he’d already made mention of him in a previous encounter and that didn’t go so well. “Clay, let’s not beat around the bush. Where are the police in regards to the investigation into the ongoing letters being sent to Edenridge residents based on notes from the journal of one Charles Jay Strongbow Decker?”

“Well shit,” Clay immediately began to think back through his Swiss cheese memory. Chief Broadus had literally sat everyone down in the meeting room the other day and presented a PowerPoint on how to answer this exact question. The Charlie Decker investigation was a sensitive matter and so far had been confined to Edenridge and Pinehurst only. If it got out to the greater New England area and made national headlines, they’d all be fucked. “You should already know, Wes, we can’t speak about an ongoing investigation but what I can say is that we’ve made some significant strides.”

“That’s what they all say when they have no fucking idea.” Kylee chimed in, as she graciously accepted the water being delivered by a waitress. Mischievously, she smiled at Clay, knowing exactly what she was doing. “If you’re onto someone, it’s probably some stupid red herring or an easy scapegoat. Things in Edenridge aren’t that simple.”

The mayor’s daughter took a generous sip of water before glancing at the reporter, happy and in the moment, no longer brooding over Roddy’s departure, “I’m surprised you chose Clay over Mr. James. Him and my father go back. I don’t know the details, but I’ve seen them talk to one another and I’ve also seen Mrs. James go into my father’s office on numerous occasions. The vibe they give is not business associates. It’s definitely family. Hell, I could ask daddy for you. If anything, he’d want people to know.” As she finished her last sentence, she gave Clay a challenging gaze, as she placed her cup on the table.

“You’re teasing me, Kylee, and I don’t like it.” Clay smiled back at the younger woman. He knew there was no real malice behind her undermining of him. She was always a firecracker, even when she was a tween hanging in the Callahan garden with the shaggy haired one. “You wanna throw barbs? I can tell Wes here about your gown mishap at your spring formal! Oh yeah, Robo Rod told me all about it.” He folded his arms, leaning back into his chair as he did so. “He chose me, dearest Kylee, because I’m impartial. The fact that your daddy has those familial relationships with other officers, no matter if I respect said officer or not, can lead to complications.”

Wes hung his head slightly. Maybe this whole thing was a mistake. These people. This town. There was a whole lot of history to unpack here, lots of stories woven into the fabric of space and time like dust particles in a beam of sunlight. No. That’s why this was important. All these connections are what made the truth and the story worth telling.

“I think we can help each other. The three of us,” The reporter began. “We all want the same thing, to help, to heal and to serve. Why not team up? Clay you’ve got an in with the police. Miss Grimm here has heavy ties to the street and to the mayor's office and I have a particular set of skills of my own.”

“Ok Neeson settle down.”

Wes shot a look towards the young officer. “Shut up, Clay. I’m being serious,” He leaned forward, lowering his tone somewhat. “Together we can really help this place. Expose the person behind the letters, finally get rid of the damn Serpents, the Angels, all those animals that hold this place under their thumb. We can do this together.”

Oh boy! A project. Kylee loved projects. Especially the kind of projects that involved an investigation, a massive amount of secrets, and a hot reporter. She knew he was in over his head but hey, if he wanted to take her down this rabbit hole, she would join him without any hesitation. Hard crush much? Yeah, but unfortunately he was thinking more about the story than the girl sitting right next to him.

“This sounds like it could be one hell of an adventure!” The mayor’s daughter gleefully cheered. She looked at Clay and intentionally started to talk with her hands, “What do you say, officer?”

This was an intriguing prospect. Clay was a believer in the judicial system and a believer in his fellow boys in blue but despite his usual tomfoolery, he was no idiot. He was well aware of the inbred corruption in the police force, the mayor's office and basically any other possible figure of authority that existed or ever had existed in Eden stemming back to Nathaniel Carlisle in the sixteen hundreds. It was a flawed and broken system. Perhaps they could change it? He always wanted to, it was his goal since…

The moment Kylee had said officer, she accidentally swiped her cup of water off the table and onto Wes’ lap, soaking him. “Oh no!” She grabbed a few napkins off the table and immediately started patting his lap, “I’m so, so sorry. Clumsy me.”

Immediately Clay’s train of thought was broken as Kylee spilled her drink. The man they called McDungus broke into a wide, goofy smile before a small chuckle escaped his throat. “Great start to a new venture guys.”

Wes’s face turned beat red as he felt the beautiful girl's hand on his lap, edging ever so close to his… “OK!” He sprang up to his feet and began to dry himself off with his hands. His eyes briefly locked with the brunette’s…God she was beautiful….no, business. “I’m just gonna…well…yeah, I’ll be back.” He turned to walk away and tripped over a chair. Luckily the reporter didn’t fall and managed to course correct towards the bathroom of Rochambeau. “Think about what I said!” He called back.

“Smooth moves, Grimm.”

“I know, right?” Kylee placed the wet napkins on the table, her face beaming with excitement. After all the sadness she had experienced with her best friend, this was a fantastic change of pace. For better or for worse, Wesley noticed her and she couldn’t be anymore happier.

Adjusting herself, she laid out her hands, bringing them up and down, imitating a weight scale, “On a scale of never in a million years to he’s hard for me, just have to work my magic, what are my chances?” While Kylee didn’t need Clay’s affirmation, she still wanted to hear it. She knew regardless if her chances were slim to none she’d pursue the reporter.

It was all rather exciting, don’t you think? Kylee hadn’t felt this excited since she and Natalia started dating. Fortunately, that ended because Natalia was a crazy bitch. Kylee knew this was different because Wes wasn’t insufferable. He was genuine and loved chasing stories - something they had in common. It wasn’t Kylee’s fault that Natalia pushed her to a point where she had no other choice but to ghost her. Boo-hoo. Clearly the slut got over it - sleeping with half of the southsiders.

“He’s probably got his hand around his dick right now.” Clay mused before taking a sip from his drink. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s flirting and body chemistry…wait, that's two things…point being, you’re in there Kylee. He’s trying to keep it professional but he sees you, trust ol’ Clay Costigan, he knows what he’s talking about.” Moving his now empty cup to the side of the table for the wait staff to come and collect, Clay leaned forward slightly in his chair, interlocking his fingers across the table. “In all seriousness though, Kylee, can we trust him? He’s an outsider, he doesn’t know this town like we do.”

Wes splashed the water across his face in the small bathroom. Having dried off his tan suit pants, he stared deeply into the mirror. “She’s not why you came here, Wes. You read too many comics. It doesn’t just happen like that. You know what you’re here to do.”

“Of course not. You don’t just make a team overnight, but hey, you and me? We can keep tabs on him and make sure he… well, he doesn’t do something stupid.” Leaning in forward, she offered her pinky to Clay, staring at him in a way that said let's make an oath, right here, right now, “I know there is a deeper motive than chasing conspiracies and finding the truth behind it all. I know those eyes… he’ll do anything to get where he needs to go. Let’s play nice. I get some good dick and you? Well, you can protect the town. What do you say?” She pushed her pinky closer to the young officer’s hand.

A pinky promise? What were they, five?

Clay mulled or over for a moment. Rod trusted Kylee with his life, so she can’t be all show surely? There was definitely an air of her father around her and that could only work to the man’s advantage. Clay didn’t particularly like going behind Sly’s back and doing this sort of thing but desperate times right? This place was a hellhole and maybe, just maybe, the three of them could do something about it. Finally, after what felt like an entering, he locked his little finger with hers and the deal was done.

”Let’s save the world”

Returning from the bathroom, Wes sat down at their table but was taken aback by the sudden disappearance of one Kylee Grimm. He looked towards Clay, who had a face full of breakfast muffin, egg yolk dripping onto his plate and bread crumbs around his mouth. This guy was an animal. ”Where’s Kyl…I mean Miss Grimm?

”She ran off with a model to the Bahama’s. We’ll never see her again” He responded with a mouthful. ”We’re both in by the way. This thing of yours, we’re gonna help but you fuck us and anyone we care about, you’re ass is grass you hear me, Reporter man?”

With a large grin across his face, Wes felt like a small child being given a brand new toy. This was exciting. ”That is so awesome!” After raising his hands in victory, the truth seeker began to feel around his person in search of something. The pace of his hands became more frantic before his eyes fell upon his new partner. ”…so I…erm…yeah…I hear Clay Costigan always springs for breakfast?”

Slamming his tongue into his cheek, Clay let out a great sigh as he reached into his wallet to pull out a few dollars. ”That’s one”

[Venus]

^{A @LovelyComplex & @Venus Collaboration}




____________________________________________________________________
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Danilo had been decompressing in his bedroom, away from his family. Decompressing from the busy day of family affairs while also processing the events of yesterday. Not only was he forced to revisit his past, a time when things were simpler, but he had to confront his present demons. The emotions he kept buried itched in his throat when Marco found his way to him at the Godmother. The emotions he chose to ignore ran through his veins when he saw so many of his classmates shattered at the truth of Allison Davies’ death. The emotions he knew he was ashamed of made a home in his chest and it ached. It ached so hard because all he did was hurt those he loved.

Laying in bed with his dress blouse slightly unbuttoned, his tie loose, and his pants still on, he stared at his ceiling wondering how he could make this better. How could he heal those he broke? Jillian, Natalia… Marco. He wasn’t a good person. He knew that, but couldn’t bad people redeem themselves? Certainly, he could try. Closing his eyes, he replayed the moments he shared with his ex in his car. Marco had made a major shift in emotion as the night went on. Was it something he said? As he continued to overthink, he heard screaming outside his hall and down the hallway.

After the successful therapy session with Creed and Jokes and becoming a godmother for the first time, Natalia had all but returned back to her usual self. The worries that had plagued her the night before were still present, of course, but had been successfully tucked back into their respective boxes of repression. This wasn’t the time to crumble! It was all just another test to prove how strong the Belmonte girl really was! So what if Niles was dating her nemesis? She could do so much better than him anyway. Poppy finding out about her and Charlie? She’d cross that bridge when she got there. As for the regrets with Danny and her mom? These were things she could start working on right away. Tonight, even. Yeah, tonight seemed like a good time to start her self-betterment journey.

But first: gym time.

Decked out in leggings, sports bra and sneakers, Natalia was in the midst of packing the final items into her gym bag when she heard a commotion begin in the hallway and the room across her. Frowning, the young woman opened the door, and was instantly flabbergasted at the events unfolding in front of her eyes. Apparently her cousin had slept with Father Joe and was denying it-- which for some reason had Cat acting like she’d spat on her pasta. In the blink of an eye, Cat had slapped Tiff, Tiff had stormed away crying, Vivia had come to her cousin’s defense and Cat decided it was the perfect moment to shout out from the rooftops that her third youngest sister was dating ReyRey.

Oh fuck…

“CATERINA AND VIVIA, SCENDI QUI. ADESSO.” Tiziano Belmonte called out to his daughters, hearing more than enough of the conversation from upstairs. The whole neighborhood could hear it!

Rushing out of his bedroom, Danny ran out the door to see a sobbing Tiffannie clutching her reddened cheek, rushing to the guest bedroom and slamming the door shut while Cat chased Viv downstairs with so much wrath. “Is… everything-- actually, no. Nevermind. Don’t even bother.” That would be a dumb question because cleary nothing was okay in the Belmonte household. Instead of getting any answers, a scene was stirring downstairs in the living room, where most of their other family members were.

“Is it true?” Taz sternly asked Vivia, not removing himself from his man chair as he smoked his cigar, in the calmest of manners he could do at the moment, which wasn’t calm at all. His fourth youngest daughter didn’t respond. “Vivia Primavera Belmonte. I do not repeat myself.”

Vivia’s eyes sparked with the utmost anger and disdain for her older sister. It was none of her business of who she dated. It was no one’s business but her own. She was twenty three and her family were still policing who she could and could not be with. “I am.” She simply answered.

Instead of responding, Taz took in enough smoke to fill his mouth before blowing it out. He did this four more times, without responding. Slow puffs and simply enjoying the fragrance while never taking his eyes away from his daughter with golden locks.

Cat decided to break the silence by asking her father, “Did you hear about your niece?”

“Caterina.” Taz warned, saying her name in a tone she knew all too well. “Silenzio and mind your business.” Bringing his dark gaze back to his daughter, keeping the cigar in his mouth, moving his hands with his words, he asked, “And when were you going to tell me? How long has this been going on?”

Shrugging and shortly after crossing her arms, Vivia lied, “I didn’t think it was that important.”

“While I have nothing against the Gonzalez’s, you do realize what Reynaldo Gonzalez Junior does, right? You do realize his business is not our business, and I do not want it to become our business.” His smoking was now on auto-pilot as he waited for his daughter to respond, as most of his other children sat and watched, in silence. When Taz commanded silence, it was given.

Vivia was pushed between a rock and a hard place and she didn’t feel like she did anything wrong. “Lui mi ama, daddy. He loves me and he has taken good care of me for years.”

Taz’s eyebrows rose, “Years?” Clenching his jaws and holding the cigar between his fingers on his right side, Taz sat there, seething. “You know, your righteous sister-- yes, you, Caterina-- got pregnant before she secured anything stable in her life. Nina did too, but at least she introduced her man before… the pregnancy. And Nina, she’s always taken good care of me and your mother. Tua madre che è malata. All I’ve ever asked from you is to do right by the family. Do you think lying and sleeping with the leader of the serpents is doing right by the family?”

The fifth-born daughter of Taz and Silvia grimaced at her dad’s words. As bad as she felt about Vivia’s relationship getting exposed this way and her dad choosing to bring up every dishonorable action her older sisters had done, Natalia couldn’t help but feel relieved she wasn’t a part of the conversation. No matter how kind, polite and well-mannered her ex-boyfriend Creed had been, it was no secret that he was a known runner, enforcer and occasional dealer for the very same man her father felt so strongly about. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to bring up this tidbit of family history to the forefront.

Rather than getting herself involved in the developing drama, Tal chose to take a seat on the top step of the stairs: the prime location for eavesdropping on the downstairs conversations without being seen. Noticing that Danny was still hanging around his bedroom door, she offered her brother a commiserating grimace, and jerked her head in the direction of the empty space on the step beside her. He’d know what she wanted to say without words-- thank the twinsense for that.

With no argument, the muscular Belmonte took a seat beside his twin and furrowed his eyebrows. Everything was blowing out of proportion and the one that was paying the price was none of the members involved. No, it was their mother hopefully soundlessly sleeping in her bedroom. He looked at Natalia, in exasperation, in a way that asked her when was this all going to end? Ever since the shooting, their family was on edge and talking to a good handful of them was like walking in a land mine field.

“That’s fucking rich coming from you.” Vivia hissed at her father.

Oh, shit… Natalia said in her head, turning to Danny with her blue eyes wide as saucers. She wouldn't dare…? This was dangerous territory that Vivia was trying to embark in, and it wouldn’t get anywhere good.

“Vivia, per favore.” Elisabetta cut in, knowing exactly where her younger sister was going. Elisa had been sitting on the couch, watching a Disney movie with the kids. Now, though? She was at her younger sister’s side, trying to calm her down. Glancing to her husband, Salvio, she begged, “Honey, can you take the kids outside? The men in the family, including her husband, who was the most loved by Taz, took charge to get the kids out of this family feud. It was late but they’d make it work. What were fathers for?

“Please you, Elisa.” Vivia protested. “Dad acts all high and mighty when he is a bastardo!”

“HEY!” Caterina yelled at her sister. “You have no fucking right to talk about our time in New York. You were only FOUR, Vivia. Don’t act like you know how it was to live in a time where--”

“Where, what? Mom was going to divorce dad?”

“ABBASTANZA!” Taz loudly shouted, off the top of his lungs, done with all the disrespect. “Voi.” He angrily pointed at his only blonde daughter. “I’m sending you to your aunt. Tonight. You understand how much I’ve given to you? You think your life is cheap? Who’s card do you swipe when you need something? Not your boyfriend’s. No. You use my money. Sei fuori. Your mother does not need this, especially not from you. My niece is a better daughter than you.”

While all this happened, Nina looked between her sisters, rested her eyes on her father and waited in silence. It looked like she wanted to cry. Nina was the type of woman that carried the weight of the world on her shoulder, but instead she stood there hopelessly waiting to see what her father wanted her to do. Obedient through and through.

At his limit, Danny turned his attention back to Natalia, with grief and sadness in his eyes, not only because their family was falling apart, but yesterday was awful, “Hey.. you want to leave?” Please, let’s go, Natalia. This one time, can we agree on something?

Even if it hadn’t been plastered all over his face, Natalia could feel her brother’s pain. She’d been able to sense the ache plaguing her brother since the day of their mother’s devastating diagnosis. Out of the seven Belmonte children, she knew he was the one taking the situation the hardest. The bond he shared with Silvia as the only son was incomparable, so for him to be so distraught was to be expected. The fighting between their sisters, the worry of it wilting away the little health Silvia had, the fear of hearing their father revert back into how he was in the dark days before they were even born… It was suffocating. No wonder Danny wanted to leave-- and she'd definitely go with him.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” she mumbled, getting up from her staircase seat and signaling to Danny that she’d be right back. The young woman returned to her bedroom just long enough to toss the last few items from before into her gym bag, swing the bag’s strap over her shoulder and walk right back out, locking her bedroom door in the process. With how extra nosy and on a warpath Caterina seemed to be, the wisest decision was to ensure her sister had no opportunities to enter the sanctity of her room in search for any dirt she could use now or at a later date.

Within five minutes the twins were back at the top of the stairs. Instead of going downstairs, a high percentage of getting noticed from any of their immediate family members, they went straight to the youngest Belmonte’s room.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

After Danny knocked, he whispered, “Mira, it’s Nat and me.”

They waited, there was no response. He reached for the knob and turned it. It was locked. Maybe she wasn’t home. He tried knocking again but this time a bit more forceful, hoping to God the screaming didn’t stop downstairs. After another long moment, it seemed like this was a lost cause, the twins looked at each other, coming to terms with they might as well just walk downstairs.

Just when they were about to give up, Mirabella unlocked her door and only opened it slightly, allowing them to peek at her face but that’s about it. “What?”

“Can we use your window? We’re trying to leave before we become targets.”

“I guess.” Closing the door, locking it once more, Danny listened carefully and heard a lot of motion going on in there. After another few minutes, Mira opened the door and beside her was… Marco’s sister, Marcela.

A knowing grin spread across Natalia’s face, growing wider as she looked between the two girls. The disheveled hair, the flushed cheeks, the messy sheets behind them... As someone who’d been in this same situation innumerable times before, she knew exactly what Mira and Marcy had been doing before their unceremonious interruption. In all honesty, she was more curious about what drew them to each other in the first place than anything else. Out of all the girls in school, Tal would’ve never guessed that Marcy would be her little sister’s type.

“Hey there, Marcy,” the Belmonte sister greeted their visitor, that smug smile still hanging on her lips.

“Hi, Natalia,” Marcela greeted her dryly from Mira’s side, rolling her eyes and letting out an annoyed huff. She couldn’t be less thrilled about the current interaction, and what it could possibly mean for her and her partner.

“Hanging out with my sister, I see,” Natalia continued, fighting back the urge to say more in typical big sister fashion and forcing herself to behave.

“Yeah, and? She’s my best friend. You know that better than anyone else.” Mira crossed her arms, really not in the mood to deal with her family. “You want the window? There it is.”

Danny looked between the three girls and honestly was confused at the hostility and teasing. Marcela was over all the time. This wasn’t an odd sight. “It’s good to see you Marcy! I’m actually…” Danny stopped himself from saying what he wanted to say. He didn’t want his sisters to know where he was going, even if Marcy knew about his relationship with her brother. “Nevermind. Um, say hi to your family for me.”

“Will do,” Marcy replied with a nod to Danny, her demeanor softening somewhat in a sort of silent understanding. Even if they had never confirmed it, the Brady girl knew that Marco and Danny had been friends in the same way she and Mirabella were. Whether his family knew about it or not was none of her business. What she could do was follow his lead, which meant acting as normal and unassuming as could be.

“YOU’RE NOT GOING TO SEND ME OFF! I’LL FUCKING RUN AWAY!”

“Porca miseria! Leave! But just know you walk out that door, you’re cut off, Vivia. Cut off. Capisci?!

“A fanabla!”

”Hey, please dad… she doesn’t mean it. I, uh. I’m going to check on mom.” Faintly, under all the other voices, the twins and the lovers could hear Ninetta try her best to defuse the fight, like she usually did. Danny could feel her voice cracking and knew how much this hurt her. She was the most like their mother. Incredibly soft hearted and loving. He could only imagine if his mother was awake how he was feeling.

Before Danny started registering his older sister walking up the stairs, Mira was quick to go to her window over her bed and lift it open. “Come on, before anyone sees you.” Swiftly, Danny was on his way out the window. Cautiously, he grabbed the vines and climbed down it. This was kind of hard when you were as swole as him. After he dropped to the floor, he waited at the bottom for Natalia.

Natalia wasted no time in doing the same, but not without saying a few parting words to her sister and her ‘best friend’. “Enjoy the rest of your night, lover girls,” she said with a smirk, shooting them a playful wink before grabbing the vines and gracefully climbing down after Danilo.

When Natalia reached the bottom, Danny helping her out a little, he found himself instinctively pulling her in a tight embrace. His body was tense, his eyes were heavy, and his heart hurt. All things Natalia could feel. “Our family is falling apart.” He whispered to his twin, desperate for some affirmation, some connection, some understanding. He was depressed not only because of his mother, his family, and his relationship with his twin. He was depressed because Jill still hated him. Lanie was likely leaving him. And Marco… his grip tightened on Natalia.

For a few seconds, Natalia remained motionless in her brother’s arms, trying to process what was currently happening. It had been years since the last time she and Danny had spoken more than two sentences to each other, and probably even longer since the last time they’d had any sort of physical, affectionate contact. The fact that it had been Danny the one to initiate it meant that he had reached his breaking point, and he was searching for comfort in the one person he’d never be able to trick or fool. He was hurting, he was depressed, and he was desperate… Just like she’d been the night before. It was all the confirmation Nat needed to put the thoughts from earlier into action.

Without wasting any more time, Natalia wrapped her arms around her twin, holding him as tightly as he was her. “You know I love you, right?” she heard herself whispering back to Danny, planting a soft kiss on his cheek while her eyes filled with emotional tears. “For better or worse, I’ve got you. No matter how hard or painful or heartbreaking things get, you know I’ve got you. I’ll always, always be here for you. Always.” She was quiet for a moment, still silently crying and holding her brother. Eventually, Nat took a few deep breaths before adding in choked words, “And I really am sorry for ever making you feel like you didn’t have anybody in your corner.”

Biting his tongue, feeling emotion building in his chest, Danny dropped the strong build and mask. Finally, he revealed to his twin how defeated he felt since he broke up with Marco, since the shooting, since he failed his family, his friends, his best friend, and his ex lover. Danny wasn’t a man, he would never be man enough, and he was completely and utterly useless.

He couldn’t save them then and he couldn’t save them now while all the letters revealed terrible secrets. “I’m not a good person…” He muttered, looking away from her, ashamed of himself and guilty of all his past deeds. His fear living rent free in his heart. His worst enemy was no one but himself and with all this noise, with his mother dying, with secrets unraveling, with his family stabbing each other like there weren't bigger problems, he deflated. He was the only son of Tiziano Belmonte and all he could offer was weakness. “All I do is hurt people.”

“I guess it runs in the family, then,” the girl observed with a bitter laugh, wiping away the tears on her face. "As much as we hate it and we wish we could, we can't change the past, Danny. We've all done our share of things we wish we could take back. You don't think I don't feel guilty about stuff I did in the past, and how it's messing things up for me in the future? I mean, you're the perfect example of that. I pushed you away for years because I felt like you were replacing me with Caitlin and Jill, cutting you off from my life and hurting you in the process-- and you see where that got us," she told him, cupping his face with her hands and gently forcing him to look at her.

The regret for her past actions was clear. "Showing weakness and making mistakes doesn't make you a bad person, Hoops: it makes you a human. All we can do is learn from them and use them to make things right: just like I'm doing with you right now. Making the same mistakes over and over again and not learning from them? That's a bad person to me-- which you're obviously not, because a bad person wouldn't admit they're a bad person, you know?"

Silence was all that could be heard for the next minute. Danilo processed what his twin said and could feel the pain in his heart, her heart, grow worse. He was relieved to know the truth, but it didn’t change his mistake of hurting her in the past. “I’m sorry.” In the end, that’s all he could think of. All he could think of was ‘sorry’.

Natalia shook her head. "I'm the one who's sorry, Danny. I was immature and an idiot, and I should've said something long before today."

“I’m sorry I didn’t go to you. I…” was going through a lot “I don’t know how to explain it but I didn’t mean to hurt you. I love you, Natalia.” He gave a warm, yet exhausted smile, “Thank you for opening up to me. I want to be better. Do better. For us.” He brought his finger to Natalia’s cheek and gently wiped a tear away. “You’ll always be my twin. No one can take that away from you.”

"I guess we're stuck with each other, aren't we? Natalia chuckled, giving her brother a watery, apologetic smile. "I promise I'll try to be better too. I don't know how far I'll make it, but I promise I'll try," she told him, bestowing a kiss on Danny's forehead. "I love you, baby brother. We'll get through everything together." she declared, letting her promise hang in the air for a moment before embracing her brother under the stars once again.

[AlteredTundra]

	x x

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^{An Emotional Roller Coaster Collab with @LovelyComplex & @metanoia}

After Natalia dropped Danny off a street away from his mark, the Belmonte boy, in his loose blouse, dress pants, and tie, found his way at the front door of the Castillo-Brady house, just like he was the previous night. Also in a nice outfit. The difference with the one he was wearing today versus the one he wore yesterday was it looked like Danny himself had a long day - he looked absolutely exhausted.

If anything, Danny just wanted a nice escape from the chaos that was his family. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure his twin didn’t stalk him there, Danny glanced at the surrounding neighborhood. Taking a deep breath in and out, he smiled to himself when he realized the coast was clear.

Okay. It was go-time.

Taking a step forward, the only son of Taz brought his knuckles forward to the door before announcing his presence.

Knock, knock.

“I got it!” Colin called out, cursing every word in the colorful Irish Cursebook he could.

Today wasn’t a good day for Colin’s third attempt to get a few hours of rest before he had work at 3am. To top it off, the bickering between his two youngest got to the point where he had to send them to a friend’s house to earn him some peace. He didn’t give two shits if it was late or not. He knew where they were and if they got into a bit of trouble, then that was going to be a bridge he’d cross whenever he saw it in the distance. What mattered to him was that they weren’t giving him and his wife rotating migraines.

As he opened the door a bit too wildly that might’ve been necessary (blame it on his agitated state), Colin couldn’t see who was on the front porch. The light wasn’t on and, here’s a shocker, Colin forgot to turn on the light before he opened the door. Oh well.

“Yeah, what the fuck ya want?”

“Uh, hi Mrs. Marlie, if you’re home… It’s Danny. Again.”

Colin’s eye twitched for a few moments. “Sorry. I don’t think I heard you right. You lookin’ for my wife?” Colin reached forward, grabbing what he could, only to could deduce was the fabric of a shirt or jacket. He yanked forward, pulling someone into his well-lit house. It was in Colin’s impulsive (and possibly jealousy-motivated) action that he had changed his tune almost immediately when he saw who it was and the face of someone who rightly was petrified or something in that neighborhood. “Oh..Danny. Danny Belmonte..” Colin just registered the bit that went above his head. Danny was here. And, of course, he was here to see his wife. Why wouldn’t he be?

Colin released his grip on Danny’s shirt almost immediately. “Sorry ‘bout that, kiddo. I didn’t mean to yank you like that. It’s been a long ass day.--” Colin looked at the Italian boy and could tell he looked like he was going through something as well. “Well, anyway. Marlena’s in the kitchen. Think she’s baking something or doing something there. I don’t fucking know, but she’s there.” Colin stepped to the side, closing the door behind Danny.

Gaining his composure and trying his best to not be as shocked as he actually was, Danny rested his hand on his neck and greeted the father of his ex lover, “Sorry for coming in randomly Mr. Brady. I, uh, yeah. It’s been a long day… thanks.” After a moment or two of them staring at each other, Danny dismissed himself and made his way into the kitchen to see a warm sight. His body relaxed the moment he entered the room, feeling her loving spirit. Something he desperately needed right now. He smiled, “Hey, Mrs. Marlie.”

“Buenas noches, tesoro!”

The woman of the hour had been standing by the kitchen island, a black cherry print apron keeping her leopard print pajama set safe from any spills or stains. The smell of apples filled every corner of the Brady-Castillo kitchen, originating from the baked cake currently resting in front of Marlie. At the sight of her son’s friend, her usual warm, affectionate smile made its way to her lips. The brunette took a few steps towards Danny, gave him a hug and motioned for him to take one of the stools by the island. “I made an Irish apple cake for Marco and Colin, but the tres leches cake I made for Marce, Emil and I is in the fridge. Do you want me to cut you a piece?”

“Yeah, sure. You know I can’t refuse your cooking. I’ll take the tres leches, please.” Danny smiled in response to Mama Marlie. Situating himself on a stool, he intertwined his fingers together and anxiously cracked his fingers. Was it rude for him to come announced? Likely. But maybe a conversation with his ex could help him feel better about what was happening in his household right now.

Clearing his throat, Danny disclosed his feelings in a quiet manner, “Is… is Marco doing okay? Last night was… rough to say the least. I just want to make sure I didn’t-- I’m blabbering, sorry. Is he okay?”

As Marlie busied herself with retrieving the cake from the refrigerator, cutting and serving a piece for her guest, she pondered on how to answer Danny’s question. “I can always tell when there’s something weighing on Marco’s mind. Call it mother’s instinct, or something like that,” she smiled warmly, placing the plate and a spoon in front of the Italian boy. “He’s definitely been deep in thought a lot more frequently since last night. I’ve tried to get a straight answer, but he keeps insisting he’s fine. I know he’s not, but I also know Marco will come to me whenever he’s ready-- if he feels comfortable sharing whatever it is with me at all. He was out with Roddy and Rylie this morning at Lyon Park, and he walked from there to Dolly’s all on his own, so maybe that helped him somewhat. But other than that, he’s been doing what he usually does: playing video games in his bedroom.”

“Ah, okay.” Danny anxiously watched Mama Marlie as she cut his cake and explained her perspective. “Has he had cake yet? I could bring him some?” This was the boy’s way of inadvertently showing he was worried about her son and hoping he could figure out what was bothering Marco, for the both of them. “I’d love to eat cake down here with you, but I also just want to check on him, you know? I don’t think he’ll talk if he was down here with us.” With his nervous tick, Danny’s hand was back resting on his neck.

“You are absolutely correct,” Marlie concurred with Danny, pointing at him with the cake knife she’d been holding. “And because we both know he’s been waiting all day for this cake to be ready and hasn’t had a piece yet, you have the power of an offering on your side,” she joked as she grabbed another small plate from the cabinet, cut, served and passed the piece of apple cake to Danny. “Here you go, Danny: take this to Marco and tell him it’s from me. And please tell him to be careful with the crumbs: I’ll be really upset if we get any ants or cockroaches coming in here,” she said sternly to the visitor, hoping he’d passed on the message. As much as Marlie strongly disliked her family members eating in their bedrooms (a silly mom thing), she was also aware of how exceptions could be made under the right circumstances. Tonight, of course, was one of these exceptions.

---

It was always on days when Marco was at his lowest that he became lost in whatever distraction he chose. Since he got home from the park earlier this morning, the fact that it was going to be one of his last times being able to spend time with Rylie, to be able to have quality time spent with Roddy, he savored the minutes they spent waiting for their sandwiches being made. That time was divided between having laughs with Roddy as Marco made silly faces for his goddaughter. But Marco had to say goodbye a lot sooner than he would have liked. When he was dropped off at home, his ma asked him how his day was and he gave her a quick rundown about things and about Roddy leaving and how he was tired.

Part of that wasn’t a lie. He did take a nap for a couple of hours. He did eat some dinner, but there was a lot on his mind so he didn’t put down as much as he normally did, which he just knew had to worry his ma. So his distraction was something easy, fun, and that didn’t require a lot of thought. He tried to cover it up like he did this morning with a smile and keeping up the front that nothing was wrong, but the more time went by in the day, the less convincing Marco became.

Maybe that’s why he was held up in his room since six. After dinner, he just locked himself in his room, turned on his PS4, and played his go-to minimal-strategy-required game that, of course, was Kingdom Hearts III. He just got lost in the fun of combative Disney characters and let his mind wander. However, all it came to was what had been on his mind since roughly eighteen hours ago: Danny and what that conversation with Jill had done to him.

But it wasn’t just that and the longer he thought about it, the more Marco made sense of his thoughts. What Jill said was an eye-opener and there was something that he never confronted. There was something that he never allowed himself to think about and maybe he had to? Maybe it was time?

And then every thought faded when Marco smelled something that made his stomach rumble and his lips water. “Is that Nana’s Apple Cake I smell?” It had to be. Marco knew that smell anywhere. He didn’t know what she put in it, but all he knew was that Ma’s take on it was just as good, if not better, than Nana’s.

Side note: he also smelled Tres Leches Cake and that was good, but his heart belonged to Apple Cake.

He took in a few sniffs, the aroma alone almost making him want to stop the nonsense he had been entertaining for the past hour, and grab him a slice or three.

“Actually you know what--”

As Marco paused his game and got up from his bed, grunting as he leaned the wrong way on his sore left leg, he heard his door creak open, seeing two things that made him feel more conflicted than he has in his entire life: a plate with a large slice of apple cake in one hand and a glass of apple cider to wash it down in the other and Danny standing in his room.

“Danny..” For the first time in his life, Marco’s greeting to Danilo Belmonte, his ex, the guy that Jill said didn’t deserve Marco, wasn’t with a positive, Marco-smile, but a forced smile that was bullshit to people who knew him inside and out like Danny did. “I didn’t know you were here.” Out of habit, Marco straightened his disheveled hair. “When did you get here?” He asked, biting the inside of his cheek afterward.

Quietly, with his back, Danny closed the door behind him and gave a half smile, feeling the somber emotions his ex was battling simply by entering the room. “Not too long ago.” He ended up leaving his piece of cake behind because he didn’t have enough hands to bring Marco’s apple cake, his tres leche, ,and cider. So, he would simply live with the fact that he missed out on Mrs. Marlie’s cake.

Danny stood by the door, not taking a step forward just yet, afraid to breach too close and push Marco away. “I wanted to check on you.” He cautioned before lifting the cake and cider up. “And see if you’re feeling alright. Last night was kind of heavy. And yeah, do you want this?” His eyes gestured to the cake and then back to Marco’s gaze.

“Yeah..It was..” Marco half-smiled back at Danny, taking into account that him coming up here to his room meant he was really worried for him. It was only when he transitioned into the elephant in the room, that cake that was Marco’s favorite, did the former athlete prop up (so to speak) and turned that half smile into a full one. “Ya bet I do!” He took both from Danny, walking past his ex, and setting the cider down on his computer desk. He wasted no time and took a bite out of the cake and it was as scrumptious as it smelled.

And then he took another bite, washing it down with a quarter of the cider. In all of one minute, Danny had to bear witness to the sight of Marco chowing down and not sparing any shameless noises in the process. When his mouth was free of crumbly cake, Marco let out a low belch that he had mostly covered up with his wrist, and looked up at his ex. “Sorry..It’s just this is my favorite cake. Not every day that I get to eat a slice. Well, other than my birthday and random days when Ma feels like spoiling me.” Marco knew she knew something was up. Apple Cake was his top comfort food. Somehow he knew she suspected he wasn’t as great as he was letting on. “But, uh…” Marco’s train of thought went somewhere non-audible as he met his ex in his gaze, “I’m doing..better. Got to see Roddy and Rylie today. We had a couple sandwiches and spent some time together. So that was fun.”

“Mm, that’s great.” Danny stood at his post, processing everything he’s been through today, from the baptism to the aftershow at his father’s house. “And I know. I know it’s your favorite cake. That’s all you ever wanted when we were…” He stopped himself, feeling the guilt returning, from when he was embracing his twin twenty minutes ago. “Your mom really knows how to bake.” He beamed at his ex, clearly diverting from his original train of thought. That was Danny’s main coping mechanism. Changing his thought process. Fast. Marco knew it well.

“Yeah, she really does.” Marco took a small bite, looking mostly down at his plate. Part of him, deep in the back of his mind, almost wanted Danny to finish his first thought. Or just something even remotely close to what he knew he was going to say. He didn’t have it in him right now to say it out loud. He made a gesture to look at Danny, seeing some little changes in how he stood. He didn’t know if it was the lingering effects of last night like it had been for him or if it was something else. He wanted to say something. Almost like he felt like he had to. “How are you doing?”

“No. You’re not going to do this.” Stepping forward, deeper into Marco’s room, still cautiously, but with determination, Danny countered his question, “How are you doing? Enough about me, Marco.”

“Not doing what?” He answered back, watching Danny ever so carefully as he came closer. “Am I not allowed to know how you’re doing?”

“Of course you are, but you’re deflecting. You’re always deflecting. Let’s focus on you. Fuck me, okay?” At this point, Danny was in front of Marco kneeling down so they were staring at each other on the same level. The only son of Taz couldn’t take this coy game anymore. He wanted to know just how much he hurt Marco and he knew his ex was bottling his feelings up, like he usually did. “Tell me how you really feel. Please.”

Well that stung.

Marco, of course, knew that he had the bad habit of using humor putting someone else’s needs over his to avoid talking about what was really bothering him. Danny knew this better than anyone, but he usually was a lot more…careful in how he phrased it, which only made him worry more that there was something wrong with him. Knowing Danny like he did, he also knew that when he was determined enough, he could get Marco to do whatever he wanted even if the latter didn’t want to.

He brought his blue-eyed gaze to Danny and took in a slow breath. “Well right now I feel uncomfortable because I don’t know what you want me to say.” A nervous chuckle came from his mouth.

Danilo closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, and then out, before opening it once more and whispering, “I want you to be honest with me.” Picking himself up, he sat next to Marco at his bedside and continued, “I want you to tell me what is bothering you. It started last night. I know it did, because if it didn’t I would’ve felt it when you stopped me at the Godmother. I just need to know, Marco. I need to know why you wanted me back in your life when I’ve been nothing but a bad thing?” Danny interlocked his fingers and looked down at his feet. He moved his right leg up and down, waiting.

“But that’s not--” He felt himself get choked up. It wasn’t about how he was feeling or what he felt (though thoughts from earlier in the day started to creep back in). “You haven’t been…” His heart was pounding like crazy. This conversation, the way Danny was speaking, how he thought he was a bad thing in his life -- that simply wasn’t true. Marco never thought -- or do I?

The weight of everything: those thoughts that plagued him since last night, memories of a time he never liked to think about, and now Danny being here. Marco tried to find a breathing rhythm, but much like a tsunami crashing against the shore, so did the memories and emotions that were tied to the most painful time in his life. He had to stand up, he had to-- “It’s nothing like that, Danny. It’s not--”

“STOP DEFLECTING!” Danilo turned his body towards Marco to look at him, as he barked those words loudly. He grabbed the plate and fork from Marco’s hands and put it aside, on the nightstand, wanting this conversation to be about them and not the leftover apple cake.

“I’m not…”

He couldn’t even finish that thought because he knew Danny was right. He was always right whenever it came to him. Danny knew Marco better than most did. The only person who knew him better was the one who baked the piece of cake that was out of reach, which made what he couldn’t stop thinking about hurt even more. It hurt the day it happened, when he was laying in that hospital bed. It hurt in the weeks that followed into his recovery and PT. It hurt for over a year. That realization that Marco kept buried under a lock and key that the one person he ever wanted to see during that dark time was forcing him into a corner he didn’t want to be in.

“I promise I’m not trying to purposely deflect. It’s just…” He tried to control his breathing again. His heart was pumping out of control and emotions that he normally had a handle on came through as every inhale and exhale came with a wave of heartbreak and sadness that begged to be released. “I just..” He looked at his ex, eyes watery and puffy from the overwhelming emotions he was currently experiencing. “Why didn’t you ever visit me? I mean, when I was shot and in the hospital. I know a lot was happening around then, but during the entire time I was there after my surgery and I recovered, you never came to visit.” He wanted to reach out to grab his hand, but didn’t. “I just want to know why. You didn’t even have to visit as my--” His voice started to crack, so he coughed and shook his head, “--as my ex. You could have just came as my friend. Everyone who would’ve seen wouldn’t have thought nothing of it. But you never did…” He looked down into his hands and watched them shake and all he could do was smile.

“On prom night, when you saw me with a girl latching onto me. I told you, did you really think you’d have me the whole night?” Danny tightened his grip on himself, his hands grasping onto one another. “Those were the last words I said to you and then all that was left were glances.” The speed in his leg going up and down picked up, as the Italian boy got lost in thought. “I came back from camp to find out.. you, Rye, Natalia, Elisabetta, and Sofia could’ve died. Hell, Sofi was found in the same field as you.”

While his breathing was composed, Danny could feel the build up, the need to cry, to explode, to scream. Standing up, hoping it settled things stirring inside of him, Danny began to anxiously walk around. “I could’ve visited, you’re right. But what would that have accomplished?” He faced Marco once more, his eyes drooping with sadness. “I broke your heart, Marco. And I continue to do so. You and me? We were never meant to be.”

“_{Don’t say that…}” Under the umbrella of his emotions, his voice was quiet and weak, like he was on that day. He was right about how he broke his heart, but he recovered. Everything that happened, no matter sad or, at a low point during that year, angry he got, he always managed to see the brightside to every thought that went through his head. Every day he spent in that bed, during PT, being at home, he always kept trying to see the brightside. He may have lost part of his light when he was told he may not be able to play soccer/football anymore, he always tried to find some glimmer of hope in it all.

It was Danny. As sad and pathetic as it sounds and as much as it didn’t make any sense to anyone but Marco, knowing and having Danny in his life in whatever way made him smile. It gave him some hope to latch onto. And maybe that was why he followed him that day and why he was at the Godmother’s.

“You say it wouldn’t have accomplished anything, but how do you know that for sure?” He balled his fists in his lap, not giving into his emotions. “How do you know a simple visit wouldn’t have done anything? To hell with how many times you broke my heart. I--” He took in a deep inhale and exhale, trying to center himself but it wasn’t working, so Marco threw caution into the wind, -- “You’re right, Danny. I almost DIED! You could have lost me! Hell, a part of me did die when I got shot. Every hope and dream I ever had of going pro went out of the window when Charlie shot me. But you still could have came and visited me as my FRIEND! You could have…” He slammed his balled fists into his lap a couple of times, looking down as he did so.“I..it just felt like I didn’t matter to you anymore. Not until that day at Godmother’s…” Tears dropped into his lap.

“And that’s why…” Back on the bed, Danny grabbed his ex’s fists, holding it in his hands. He leaned in and deeply kissed it, before saying his final piece, “...That’s why I don’t deserve you.” Glancing up at Marco, the best thing he’s ever had in his life, Danny tenderly rested his hand on his beloved’s cheek, “You deserve the world and more. Right now, I’m not that.”

With the closure he needed to hear, Danny leaned in, bringing his face inches away from the confused and angry Marco, resting his forehead against his, “One day, you’ll find the person that gives you everything you deserve and more… I--” He pulled away, inches away, looking intensely into Marco’s eyes, “--I hope one day you find the happiness you deserve, Marco Castillo-Brady. I really did love you and I’m sorry I couldn’t be the person you needed me to be.”

And for the first time, in a long time, Danny felt a couple of tears fall down his cheeks. Immediately, rather impulsively, he jerked away, ashamed of his tears. Building distance from his ex, from bed to the exit door, Danny wiped some of the tears away, in hopes to gain his strength back, “I think I should go.”

When Danny pulled away, Marco’s heart felt like it started to break all over again. Every emotion he had been bottling up, every thought that consumed him in every free moment he had in the past year, every aching of the heart that came around when he allowed himself to think even remotely about those dark moments spent in that hospital bed -- all of it came to the surface, unable to be hidden behind a smile or a stuttering speech. Danny being so close to him, so close that Marco almost kissed him and then he pulled away, he leaned forward to grab his ex’s hand, but only found the isolated comfort of his carpet floor. Again, his leg proved to be the crutch that hindered everything in his life that even remotely mattered.

As he kept his eyes down on the ground, overwhelmed with everything, he forced himself to speak. “Don’t do this..Not now, Danny.” As he started to weep, the tears flowing, cracked voice and rapid inhale and exhales, the terror of what was happening had started to sink in. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…I’m sorry for last night--”

“Stop it…” Danny stood in a deadlock. His legs were unable to move closer to the door which was his escape. His escape from the truth. Why… why are you apologizing? “Stop it, please.” Taking a deep gulp in, not aiming to throw sharp words to hurt the wound even deeply, Danny turned to his ex, absolutely devastated, “You’re so fearless. You know that right?”

He wiped his face again, feeling it get more wet by the minute. Shit, was he actually crying? “I need you to let me go, Marco. You have nothing to be sorry about. All you did was talk to me, when I was scared shitless to even look at you.” Clenching his teeth, feeling the ache deeper than he thought it could go, he begged, “You need to let me go so I can be a better man.”

Somewhere deep down, past all of the hurt and anguish, Marco knew his ex was right. He knew everything that Danny had said since he asked the question he had been dying to know the answer to was absolutely correct. Maybe he didn’t want to accept it and even as he was on the floor, he didn’t want this to be, part of him knew Danny was right. Even still, he didn’t want to accept it. He couldn’t accept it because not having Danny in his life, regardless what form their relationship took at any given moment, was something far worse than anything Charlie Decker ever did to him. No amount of his career aspirations, loss of his former athletic self, or the constant joy he oozed prior to the shooting -- none of it compared to being without Danny Belmonte in his life.

“I’m not fearless. You might think that because it’s who you saw, but I’m not. And If I am it’s because you gave me the strength to…” Marco’s voice was weak and still ridden with emotion, but he still managed to speak only through a strength that Danny gave him. “I’m not like Emil or Marcy. They have the strength to be their unapologetic selves, meanwhile their older brother can barely even get around the town. Everyone takes pity of me because of my leg. You never did. Since Godmother, even if it was only a short time, I haven’t been this happy in a really long time.”

Tears kept flowing down Marco’s face and he tried to find the high road in this, tried to find the brightside to this like he always did for every situation. Whether it was with Roddy and Rylie leaving or being there for Jill or even the shooting. He always saw brightsides and the light at the end of the tunnel in every situation. But this time, all Marco saw was darkness. There was no hope at the end of this tunnel he and Danny were in because this was the end of it.

“I don’t want to lose you, but I also don’t want to be the reason you can’t be at your best. I…love you so much, Danny. I love you so much it hurts and I’m not sure who I am without you…”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Danilo internalized the curse word his mother would be completely ashamed of. Tonight wasn’t the best for keeping a clean mouth. He wasn’t raised to use curse words by default and yet, all he could think of was the word ‘fuck’. Shyly, and like an equally lost deer, Danny tried to speak completely and utterly from the heart. No false pretense. “Do you…” He hesitated asking the question in his mind because he knew it would be a hard route for them to go together. His father was old fashioned and ever since his mother was bed ridden it was like walking on a field of landmines.

“Do you think we c-could do it together? I-I don’t know what I’m doing.” It hit him like a truck and he placed his hand on his chest. He was terrified of the consequences of dating a guy but saying goodbye for good? To the person that made him better? That was scarier than his father. Danny felt like he was losing a piece of himself. A half of him. He no longer had purpose. He gave up on basketball and now all he did was take care of his family. Like clockwork, he worked at Palermo, went to family events, and did what everyone told him to do. He was a good son. He did what he was supposed to do. He was a good son.

Covering his face, finally the tears falling uncontrollably, Danny dropped to his knees. Why wasn’t he good enough? Why couldn’t he be what other’s needed? Why did he hurt people? Jill. Natalia. Marco. His dad. He wasn’t good. He would never be good. “My mom is dying and I feel like I’m losing myself more and more each day.”

He wasn’t sure what had just happened. Just a moment ago, as much as it was hurting him, Marco had mentally forced himself to prepare for a life without Danny because he said he needed it. But now…there was something vastly different in the air. He found himself crawling closer to Danny, not thinking about anything else that didn’t involve comforting Danny. He did that as he took Danny into a tight embrace, his arms wrapping as tightly around the boy he has loved for years.

“You won’t lose me,” Marco whispered as he just held Danny close. “I’m so sorry about your mom and I wish I could make that pain go away, but listen to me, Danny…” Marco lifted Danny’s chin, looking into his eyes. “If you ever feel like you are losing any part of yourself, lean on me just as I have leaned on you. We’ll be each other’s rock, okay?” Marco rested his forehead against Danny’s, tears flowing down his face.

This was happening. He was embracing the monster inside of himself his father may never accept. After hearing Vivia’s display and getting Natalia’s comfort, after all these years, Danny realized he couldn’t do this alone. He needed someone and his someone was right here, in his arms.

Running one of his hands through his ex’s hair and the other pulling him close, Danny apologized for all the wrong he’s ever done to him, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t have enough courage to keep you at my side. To see you. To be with you.” He pulled slightly away so he could look into Marco’s eyes, gorgeous blue eyes, his everything, “I wanted to protect you… I still will. I promise you, from now on, no matter the highs and lows, I’m yours and I’ll fight for you. I will become the man you deserve. I- I need you, Marco. I missed you so fucking much.”

Marco smiled at Danny, he smiled at the love of his life. He wasn’t sure what he’d need protecting from, but that didn’t matter. Whatever came their way, at least Marco knew he wouldn’t do it alone. “You always were. I knew it then and I know it now. You’ve always been the one for me, Danilo Belmonte.” He returned Danny’s gaze, locking onto those green eyes that always filled him with a joy and security that nothing or nobody could ever match or rival. “You will always have me.”

Losing all self-control, Danny let the ever-bright flame burning inside of him pull Marco in and passionately, sincerely, kiss him in the moment, letting their chemistry do the talking. Holding Marco in a tight, desperate embrace he found himself bringing him to the floor. Hovering over him, Danny prayed this wasn’t the worst mistake he could make. He wanted, no, he needed Marco and he was tired of pretending. His body wanted him and even if he never found all the pieces to make him complete, and he stood shattered because of his family, he could say, “I have you and my heart is yours to break… I love you.” From this point on his primal desire took control, as he slipped his hand inside his lover’s Spider-Man pajama pants.

[LovelyComplex]

_{Between 12 AM & 2 AM Sunday early morning (2 days from the gym scene)}

---

^{A@LovelyComplex, @BrutalBx, and @metanoia Collab}

---

“Thank you, babe.”

Hyde smiled at the young dark haired girl as she placed his plate before him. Her face was flush and red, she was obviously intrigued by the blue eyed monster. If there was one thing that he had the ability to do, it was read the room. In spite of all of his flaws, Hyde was perceptive and good at picking up people's vibes…at least he was if he could calm the raging fire in his brain that was the one constant he had ever had in his life.

She turned to leave, throwing a glance back at the blonde haired man over her shoulder before she did. There was no doubt in his mind that this was probably the most interesting thing that had happened to this girl all day. It was early in the morning and these three ransoms entered the bar like a wave of chaos to fuck up or fun up her night. Were he not with his siblings and if he were listening to that voice in his head, then Hyde would likely grab this little thot by her throat, drag her into an alley and give her what she deserves. Alas, he was being a good boy and he really wanted to make this family work.

The diner was dead save for the waitress, the chef and the Death Triangle. The world outside was quiet, almost silent. Inside, playing softly on the distant speaker in the kitchen was Gallows “Love the Hard Way Around”. It was an ethereal sort of track, it created a great but melancholy type of ambience in the room.

“I always liked this place. My Mom worked here once.”

“It’s good place. My favorite. Mama came here at end of shift.” The Basilisk turned in her stool to observe her surroundings. The waitress had given Anya her token food which was a large pancake with a face of their choice made of fruit usually, occasionally bacon or sausage depending if they wanted the face to have hair or eyebrows, and a milkshake to drink. When it came to milkshakes, the Russian agent didn’t care what they gave her in terms of flavor. That was one of the only things she was open minded with. Flavor of milkshake. Change what she gets for breakfast though? She’d be angry. Happy pancakes are what she looked forward to whenever she could come here. Take that away from her then what was the point of life? Obviously not happy pancakes! Regardless, the waitress chose strawberry milkshake, so strawberry milkshake it would be.

Reaching for her shake, she grabbed it and took a sip of it before pulling the straw away and asking her older brother, “How is the change for you?” She knew her half twin was trying to do right by his family and change for the better. Did Anya think he would be successful in this endeavor? Look at her. She had no right to judge her brother when she had blood on her hands too. Circumstances gave them no choice and now they make the best of it. They had no choice.

“You mean, how is the change from breaking the jaws of every single little fuck that gets under my skin to just smiling and nodding at them? It sucks.” Hyde took a drink from his black coffee before responding further to his sister. “Still, I’m trying to do better. I don’t want to break this family up again.” His eyes fell upon the waitress once again, she smiled at him and he began to drum his fingers rhymically against the mug of black nectar. He reached toward the fork that sat by his free hand and stuck it into the eggs on his plate.

“Mika, I need you to do me a favour. This letter business we were talking about earlier. You gotta fix that shit,” Hyde took a bite out of his breakfast. He allowed his words to hang in there like a guillotine for a few moments. Regardless of his time away or the relatively short amount of time that the children of Ivan Zima acknowledged each other as siblings, he was the older brother, the authority and his words carried that. “Anya and I get close to that, the wrong type of people might come snooping and get involved. Which you really don’t want. Your little girlfriend and all your friends, those fucking Gonzalez’s….” He had to pause as the venom in his veins began to poison him. He balled up a fist under the table, digging his nails into his own palm. “…they don’t need none of that. Figure out who's behind it and fix it.” His eyes wandered to his younger sister and then back to his brother. There was always, even in the most pleasant of conversations, something ugly eating away inside the mind of Cameron Hyde. “We’ll help where we can but this one yours, understand?”

Mika had kept mostly quiet to himself. When the waitress took their orders, he smiled, made small conversation (when his brother wasn’t fixated on her, that was). And when his plate of the works: fried eggs, two sausage links, a couple of slices of toast and bacon, and a side of hashbrowns, he thanked her again. After the godawful breakfast, if you could actually call what Hyde made for them breakfast, Mika wasted no time evening out the bad with the always amazing breakfast. When he was truly starving, dignity and manners went out the window as he scarfed down the sausage and bacon first.

He was listening to his older siblings talk. What was the most interesting part (well maybe not so much interesting, but ironic, hypocritical, and hilarious), was his brother speak about not breaking up the family. He tried to not let it show, which was also why he was mostly stuffing his face and keeping his eyes down on his plate, occasionally coming up for air to wash it down with the tall glass of milk he ordered with it. He didn’t want to incur the wrath of his brother for potentially disagreeing with his view of ‘family’.

And when Hyde started to talk about the letters, who it might attract, and the tone that his brother carried through it all, it wasn’t a queue for an open dialogue. It was an order. Fear and anger often came hand-in-hand for the youngest Zima son when it came to Hyde, but he had to swallow the latter. “I’ll see what I can do, but it’s not going to be easy. Almost six months now they have been sending letter after letter and still nobody knows who the person is.” Mika didn’t care that much, but as much as he hated to admit it, Hyde was right. While some people deserved whatever truths might come out from this, there were people who didn’t. People like Cece. People like Boa and Ley. They didn’t deserve that.

“They,” Hyde scoffed. “You’re talking about the EPD which is quite possibly the most corrupt police force in the country. They ain’t trying very hard, trust me.” The dark passenger loaded his mouth with another load of food before washing it all down with some more coffee. “Poppy James. Mordechai Boaz. Jade Taylor. These were that kid, what was his name, Chuck or whatever the fuck, these were his friends. Start there or wherever you want I don’t really care but…” getting to his feet, he gestured towards the washroom and took a step towards it before stopping. He put a hand on the back of his brother's neck and leaned down to his ear. “Get it done, your way. Or we’re gonna end up doing it mine” He kissed the back of his little brother's head before entering the nearby bathroom.

As Hyde walked away, Anya rolled her eyes and finished chewing some of her pancake before unapologetically cursing, “Zho-pa.” Turning to her other brother, the less unhinged one, the Basilisk reached for his arm and gave a comforting squeeze, “Those people, they your friends, right?”

Mika cursed under an aggressive chomp of a slice of bacon, watching his brother disappear from view towards the bathroom. As he swallowed it, he glanced towards Anya, looking visibly angry. “Yeah, they are. And it’s not right, Anya,” Mika admitted. He always felt he could be honest with her. Not about everything, but certain things he could be. “These letters, the memories they come with -- it’s not just about secrets or who or what it may attract. They were close to Charlie. Me not so much, but those three were. I understand where Cameron is coming from. Maybe not all of it, but I understand enough. I get it, but I can’t do it the way he wants me to, or at least not as quickly as he pretty much implied.”

In truth, Anya didn’t understand the bonds of most people and what she had with her brothers was her imitating what she saw in the movies and television screen. She hoped what she had with Mika and Cam were genuine, but deep down she knew it was forced upon because Hyde deemed it so. Was all her relations forced? Would she cry if her brothers died tomorrow?

Sighing to herself, she went back to her food, cutting her pancake into smaller pieces, “But if you could, at all cost, would you protect them? You know big brother will not take no for answer.” she warned, before offering her services, “I can help.” Hyde wasn’t wrong about the fact that if she got close to the wrong people she’d bring far too much attention. However, she was the Basilisk and one thing she was good at was sticking to the shadows and finding out any necessary information. “If he get mad, I’ll protect you.”

Mika didn’t have to think about it for any longer than a few short moments. “With my life.” Of course, he knew that Anya was right. Their brother was a man of his word in every possible way. As much as he hated it, he’d have to find out what his friends knew. He would, however, have to remind himself that it was for the right reasons. The people he cared about, to protect them, Mika would have to find a way to get some more detailed answers about the letters.

He glanced at Anya, smiling at his sister.There was something he wanted to say and without Hyde hovering over, maybe now was the best time to do it “You know I know our father isn’t the best person, but I’m..glad we found each other. Our brother goes on about family and maybe that’s the one thing he and I might be able to agree about. Just as much as I’m sure he doesn’t want to, I don’t want it to be broken apart either.” Mika spoke and was silent for a few seconds. “I just wanted you to know that.”

Slowly chewing a piece of pancake, Anya carefully observed Mika as he disclosed his feelings about their family. Circumstances prevented them from sharing the same mother, from sharing the same upbringing, and from sharing the same values, but at least they had each other. She could tell Mika’s emotions were innocent and pure. Cameron, she wasn’t sure. He was broken beyond repair. At least for now, he cared or tried to believe he did. He’s the reason they all found each other and for that she should be grateful.

Still, she wondered how far she would go. Deeply staring at her brother, she tried to imagine her father, the one that they did not share, coming in to take everything away from him. The thought of that, the thought of Mika sleeping with the fishes, that caused her to grow angry. That alone showed she cared. Her mind might not understand her heart but she knew if given the chance, she’d die for him. “This family is all I have.” A half smile appeared on her face. Her gaze was both in the moment and far away, as if she was programmed differently than most people - where she was unable to be empathetic, no matter how hard she tried. As if the moment anything authentic came into her life, she saw the end of it all. Good things don’t last. Not for someone like her. “Thank you, Mika. Now eat before it get cold.”

In the bathroom, Hyde was glaring at himself in the obligatory cracked diner mirror. Fractured like his mind and his soul or some deep Edenridge shit. He gripped the rim of the sink with both hands, waiting for the hot flash of rage to pass. He was trying to get better at controlling it. He was using all of the techniques that had been shown to him but they were a needle thread and some glue, a patch up job because what he had couldn’t be cured. It didn’t help that he was already bored. He needed some excitement. A goal. Something to work towards.

Lucky then for him that he had something in mind. A man he had met in prison gave him a job. Protection. It was quite the opposite of Hyde’s specialty of glorious destruction. It wasn’t a paying job either, it was a request from someone who had helped him out and Cameron Hyde always repaid his debts…in a round about way. There was somebody living in the Southside that his guy wanted looked after. Now Hyde was no babysitter but if this bitch got herself in some sort of trouble, which in Eden resides around every dimly lit corner, then he would be there to fix that shit, just like he had told his little brother to do.

Fixing was something that he had been doing for years or at least that’s what it felt like in his own head. With dear daddy gone and mother dearest an absolute disgrace of a woman, there was always a problem to deal with, a mess to clean. It wasn’t right that he always had to take it upon himself. Hyde could hear his mothers words dancing around in his head. God will forgive you. Fuck God. If he was here Hyde would beat the shit of him and then push his mother down the stairs again, only this time he’d make sure her neck was broken. They ruined him.

He emerged from the wash room and took his seat back with his siblings. He polished off his coffee before saying anything. “What’re you two talking about so hush hush?”

“I was giving brother more help. Told him to see new reporter. He making moves. I saw this morning he was at cafe with mayor’s daughter and Clay Costigan. He know something or trying to know something if he talk to a Grimm and a cop.” Anya was quick to cover for Mika by using a truth to hide her lie. She wasn’t easy to read, especially when it came to intel, and no one was able to call her out because her words always held merit.

So sure, she hadn’t made this suggestion until now to her little brother, just so they didn’t have to disclose they were talking about Hyde, but she could kill two birds with one stone by bringing it up. Protect her little brother and make a useful suggestion. Anya and Hyde looked at each other, her gaze was filled with ice while his were a burning inferno. She nodded to him to show there was nothing to worry about before going back to her food. Shortly after, her attention was brought to the waitress who began asking Hyde if he wanted more coffee.

“Costigan? I went to school with that guy. He’s a fucking moron,” Hyde laughed a little before the waitress addressed him. “I’m all good, sweetheart. Maybe if you want, slip your number on the back of the bill.” He winked at her as she hurried off back towards the counter. “Let’s keep tabs on this reporter guy though, I don’t trust media.” Turning towards his quiet little brother, the devil himself scanned him with those damn blue eyes. There was something off about Mika, there had been since his arrival. He wasn’t sure what it was. Did his being out make Mika uncomfortable? Probably considering he lived with the family that want Hyde dead…well one of the many families anyway. “Wherever your head's at, little brother, get it out of there and back in this with us. We need you. Also you're paying. I’m sure ReyRey gave you some pocket money.”

Mika hated how observant his brother was. He had to be better at hiding when he had a lot on his mind, but being around Cameron just did that to him. He was tense almost all of the time. Anya being here helped, but it wasn’t enough since Hyde clearly noticed. “My bad. Been a long day,” Mika admitted. He wasn’t lying. Between getting Boa from rock bottom to family dinner, and then here, Mika was exhausted. He just needed to sleep off…well everything. And he still had to run by his mom’s place to pick up Boa, which probably meant a good night of sleep wasn’t in his immediate future.

He pulled his wallet out, grabbed a couple of twenties. The meal itself was around thirty and Mika grabbed an additional ten, giving the waitress a sizable tip. It was the least he could do for having to put up with his brother making moves on her. “Thanks for the food, “ Mika said to the waitress. “Keep the change.”

He got up from his seat, looking to his sister, then brother. “I’ll talk to that reporter. See what, if anything, he knows.” That’s all he said. He had to figure out a way to follow through, but at the very least, maybe Hyde wouldn’t think he wasn’t with him.

Hyde nodded his head as he watched his brother lay down the money. His suspicion was right, Mika had cash which meant he was earning. The Gonzalez’ were still taking care of him and his brother hadn’t left them after what they did to Hyde. It was borderline infuriating but he understood why. In the climate of Edenridge, one had to have Money to survive and sadly the Serpents were the biggest game in town. “Get out of here, we’ll catch up soon.”

He moved his gaze to his little sister and he crossed his arms. “Listen to me, I’m only saying this once. Your big brother is back now and we’re gonna be together. Properly this time. I’m gonna figure out a way to get you out of that situation you're in. You hear me? You’re gonna be free real soon.” He got up to his feet and playfully popped Anya on the nose before heading towards the door. He looked at the waitress and smiled that goddamn rattlesnake smile. “Be seeing you,” He hissed before he left.

And there Anya was, left alone to think about her moment with her brothers and the words Hyde had said. He would free her? Tough chance. Standing up, doing a big ol’ stretch, the Basilisk warned the waitress before leaving, “Be careful with that one. He the Devil in disguise.” Once she said what she needed to, she too left her favourite place in Edenridge.

[AlteredTundra]

_{A @metanoia & @LovelyComplex collaboration}
__________________________________________________________________________________________

There were days that whenever Jade went to work and had to entertain (though not in the same way her co-worker friend Hailey did) the animals and old, fat bastards that the graveyard shift attracted when she was on the edge of being grossed out or close to punching them. On these days, Jade even had fun when the grotesque regulars tested her patience, but tonight’s shift was different. Plenty of those regulars were at Edge tonight and tried to charm their way into getting Jade to do what she seldom did and take a spot on the pole, instead of serving them cheap beer and surprisingly addictive wings. She didn’t do it, of course, but she didn’t play along. She just…didn’t do it.

And maybe she hasn’t really been in her usual playful work self for a while. Or at least not since Friday (it was technically sunday, right?) She has felt numb ever since then and not even the sight of the bouncer tossing those overzealous regulars like Uncle Phil did to Jazz could make her genuinely smile. She went through the rest of her shift until she got off at 5 and hopped on her harley shorttal, letting the wind of this surprisingly chilly Edenridge early morning hit her in her face, her golden locks flowing in the air. The only protection being the helmet on her head and the leather jacket she always wore (a gift to her from her uncle).

Jade drove across the tracks and into the northside, not caring at all how fast she was going nor how loud her hog roared through the quiet streets. She kept going until she came to the ever-famous diner where breakfast was 24/7 (or at least it wasn’t relegated to certain times in the morning). It was one of her favorite spots to go to after work and especially when she needed a few hours to herself to just decompress.

As she pulled up to the parking lot, she chose a spot close to the exit, pointing her cruiser out to the road so whenever she would leave, she could just zoom the hell out. Jade had a backpack that she almost always carried with her. Part of her decompressing process was picking a mostly isolated part of the diner, taking out a book that she got personally from Poppy, and got lost in whatever story her sister recommended she read. The one she had this week was the classic Alice in Wonderland story. She knew it, but only the Disney version and not the original.

Shoving herself through the door and hearing the bell go off, the blonde absentmindedly scanned the diner. It was mostly empty, which made her half-smile because it meant choosing a place to be to herself wouldn’t be hard. Typically she went for a booth, but Jade didn’t see any prying eyes, or in the Northside’s case, any judging eyes (because of how she was dressed), so she chose a spot at the countertop near the middle of the diner.

“Almost like clockwork, Jade.” Brandon, the waiter who had the graveyard shift like Jade did looked at Jade with his usual smile. He was roughly a few years older than Jade and pretty average looking. White man with dark hair and nice, calm blue eyes. “The usual? Three chocolate-chip pancakes, two sausage links, and a double order of potatoes o’brien?”

Jade chuckled and smiled, if not enough to not make him worried. “Don’t forget coffee. As strong as you can make it.”

“You got it!”

After she got her coffee, Jade pulled out her book and picked up where she left off. “Chapter 3…”

As Jade read her book, a couple minutes later the doorbell rang again and the woman with a strikingly piercing gaze made her way to the counter. After the dreadfully bad nighttime breakfast her brother made, one meal here was not enough. The Basilisk had spent an hour or so with her brothers here a little after midnight. She left for a little bit, but her craving had not been satiated. She loved breakfast. She also loved milkshakes and here she could have both.

“Back again?” Brandon chortled, staring at the woman in a black jean jumpsuit, a white turtleneck, and a messy bun. “Looks like you changed! Did you get much sleep?”

Instead of immediately responding, the Russian woman sat beside a blonde bombshell reading a book. She glanced over, taking note of what she was reading before looking back at the waiter. “No. No sleep.” She showered, sure, but sleep? She spent most of the night with her brothers and now it was a new day. She had work to do.

“Usual, yeah?”

“Of course.” With no hesitation, she answered, knowing exactly what she liked at this place. She never changed. Once she found something she liked, loved even, she stood with it through and through. When her chocolate milkshake was pushed in front of her, she took a couple of sips. Glancing back at the girl, knowing exactly who she was, but not the other way around, she shrugged to herself and decided to start a conversation, “Good book?”

Jade murmured to herself. It helped her get a better understanding of whatever she read, so she didn’t register the voice that beckoned to her until a few seconds after the fact. When she did, she shook her head slightly, breaking out of the trance-like state she was in. As she turned to the blonde sitting next to her, what she noticed immediately was how attractive she was. She didn’t know who she was, but Jade always could admire another’s beauty. “Huh?” It took a moment and she laughed in a low tone. “Yeah, I guess it is. Just at the beginning. My sister recommended I read this one. It’s nice so far.”

Jade was slow to pick up on the details, especially when she was distracted. So it wasn’t until just now she realized the blonde sitting next to her was all clothed up in a jean assortment. Another thing she noticed was the chocolate shake. “How’s the shake?” She asked the blonde stranger.

With her broken English, Anya gave a half smile, “Delicious, you had shake before?” As she waited for a response, she started to sway her feet back and forth like a kid. This was the first time the Basilisk had an in person meeting with Charlie Taylor’s niece. Before Jade could say anything in response, the stranger gestured to the coat, “If I forget, I like your coat. Very cool. Very nice.”

As she was about to answer the first question, suddenly the stranger sitting next to her commented on her jacket. That immediately brought a small smile to the blonde’s face. “Oh…thanks.” Partly blushing only because she never had anyone bypass her appearance and actually and genuinely complimented her on what she was wearing with no second meaning attached to it. “It’s…special to me. My uncle gave me this jacket.” It almost made her sad talking about her Uncle Charlie, especially since she wished he wasn’t in prison and instead could be out and about whenever he wanted.

“I know that feeling.” Anya slid her milkshake to the side and took a deep waft of the food being cooked. This was exciting. Breakfast was exciting. “We put love in item as if… we have person with us. I have something too.” The older blonde put her right hand in her pant’s pocket and pulled out a brooch. “Mama had little but this, this she kept. Her mom gave to her and she left with me. I like it. Pansy flower. There french word ‘penser’. It means ponder. It flower that helps sym-” she struggled trying to pronounce a word before deciding to change it, “--comfort others when in pain and sad.” She gestured for Jade to observe it, allowing her to grab it from her hand.

Jade listened intently as she talked about what her mother gave to her. She smiled a bit wider, finding a certain kindred spirit in how there was someone else that had something that a person very dear to their heart gave to them. The way she spoke about the broach, the meaning behind it, she often felt similarly about her jacket. It may not have had that kind of poetic meaning, but it was a thoughtful gift and she has never been seen without it on.

As she took the broach in her hand (of course with the permission of its owner), Jade felt it with her fingers. One thing she couldn’t help but notice was how authentic it felt. The material wasn’t cheap, or at least not like common swap meet items were. “It’s a lovely broach. Your mother must love you a great deal to give you something so beautiful,” Jade said, handing the broach back to her diner friend. A small part of her envied that closeness she had with her mother. Jade only wished her own ever cared enough to do anything but get high.

“This brooch is all I have left.” Anya smiled to herself, gently rubbing her thumb on the jewelry before pocketing it, “Are you pancake girl? What kind of food you get?” No longer wanting to harbor on what was lost, the Basilisk redirected the conversation to idle but important things. Like breakfast. Breakfast was simple yet important.

“I…haven’t thought about food, to be honest,” she admitted with a short chuckle. It wasn’t that she wasn’t hungry, but she came to the diner just to get some reading in before she went home to her apartment. “I mean, pancakes are good and they certainly hit the spot, but the french toast supreme here is to die for.” It’s true, Jade wasn’t really a pancake girl. But french toast? She could devour as much as her stomach could handle. “Three thick loaf slices with whipped cream and syrup and a side of fresh, mixed berries.” Her mouth was salivating just thinking about her usual.

Brandon came in putting Jade’s food in front of her, which were chocolate chip pancakes, sausage, and potatoes. Jade’s coffee had been on the table this entire time but she had been so invested in the book that she didn’t notice it beside the milkshake. Anya’s half smile went into a smirk. “That looks like pancakes, girl.” The older woman teased.

Shortly after, Anya’s food came too. A big pancake with a bacon smile, chocolate chip hair, banana eyes, and a strawberry nose. “Spasiba!” She thanked B-Rad, the Lord of breakfast. As she leisurely cut a piece of pancake off, she looked back at her acquaintance, “Maybe I try French toast next time. You know this guy—” she pointed her fork with a pancake piece on it to the waiter, “— He know my face and he make sure he make faces on my pancake. It make my day.”

“Honest gesture for a friend, Anya.” The waiter smiled at the Basilisk, he being one of the few people Kamensky trusted with her name. He knows when to say it and when to not. Based on how she talked and held herself to the girl next to her, amicably and kind, he knew it was safe to disclose it, “And damn, Jade, getting her to try anything different is an excruciating task. I gave up a long time ago.”

“I like what I like, happy pancake, happy me.” She took a bite of her pancake, making sure it was cooked just the way she liked it. When it was, she reached for the syrup.

“Can’t blame a girl for trying, can you?” Jade laughed and Brandon smiled back as she looked down at the pile of pancakes beneath her. She was hungry, sure, but she couldn’t stop herself from watching Anya. There was something about her that she couldn’t put her finger on, but something about how…authentic her joy was with something as simple as pancakes that made her smile.

When she saw Anya reach for the syrup, Jade almost laughed. Not because of the fact it was syrup or anything like that, but more that Jade never had been a syrup gal. Sweet was good, but too sweet made her stomach rumble in every wrong way. Chocolate chips and butter was enough for her. So she took a bite of hers at long last and let out a delighted sound. She was still a french toast kinda girl, but even she couldn’t deny how delicious chocolate chip pancakes were. “It’s good. Like really good!” She said with half of her mouth full of the big piece of pancake in her mouth.

“I know. Best thing in this town.” Anya carefully watched Jade as she ate, curious of who she was as a person and all the things she liked. Having been in the shadows for so long, the Basilisk could feel a longing to have some normalcy. Perhaps that’s why she loved this diner. She was free. It was the one place she didn’t feel like she was in a cage and there was something about Jade that she couldn’t help admire. As much as Jade likes to cover things up deeply, she felt deeply about all those around her and the town she lived in. She also had a beautiful kinship with Penelope James. Anya Kamensky noticed and yearned to feel things like that. This interaction, as small as it seems, meant everything to her.

In her pocket, her burner phone vibrated and she cursed under her breath, “Derr ‘mo.” Brandon met her gaze, knowing it was time for the woman to go. Sighing to herself, Anya hopped off the stool, having only taken a couple bites of her happy pancake. Slipping her hand in her pocket, she pulled out two hundred dollar bills.

Brandon shook his head in disapproval, “You really don’t have to do that much.”

“No, no I do. This for me, Toast girl, and tip. You deserve this money and need it more.” Knowing this was a losing battle, Brandon took the money and kept the change. Anya turned to the girl who humored her this early in the morning and grinned, “This was fun. I hope we talk more in the future.” Her burner phone buzzed again. Her grin turned sour as she clicked her teeth in annoyance. Picking up her phone, she answered it and started talking in full Russian. When she reached the door, she turned to look back at Jade and gave a goofy finger gun, an enticing wink, and a playful “Kck, Kck,” sound with her mouth and tongue. And just like that, the Basilisk was gone.

“While she doesn’t always come here as frequently as she wants, if you want to see her again, early Sunday mornings are your best bet. Just like today.” Brandon tipped Jade.

Jade didn’t know what it was about Anya that intrigued her so much. Was it the broken English? Maybe her child-like wonder about pancakes that was a delightful contrast to everyone else she met? Or maybe it was how she talked about her mother. Jade never had that. Her mother was…not a good woman. Somewhere in her heart, she wished things were different between them, wished that Whitney wasn’t an addict who didn’t care about her. But Jade knew better to let those thoughts plague her mind.

In reality, Anya made her smile. She couldn’t recall the last time when she had been able to have a conversation with someone who didn’t see her as the stripper who performed at Edge, or the vixen from Edenridge High. Someone who actually saw her in its purest form.

“Sunday morning, you say?” The blonde closed her eyes and smiled. “Guess I will see you Sunday, Brandon.” That was the last thing Jade did before she exited, hopped on her Harley, and went home, feeling like she had something to look forward to that wasn’t work or getting high. She couldn’t wait to tell Poppy about this.