I've developed a deep obsession with this game and my newly acquired babies. ROTP is still alive, no worries. But a breather from a big project is good no?
There weren't a lot of things Fetch did in her life anymore. She ate, she slept. She killed drug dealers and saved addicts…maybe that wasn't so mild. But her point was, just because she lived a simple life didn't mean she was going to jump at every little invitation Delsin offered for things. She wasn't as easily swayed as Eugene, who caved at the mere flicker of that kicked puppy look Delsin was so fucking good at.
But apparently she wasn't getting out of this one. A party, cook-out, dance, it was a ton of things in one. She asked what it was for and he simply blinked at her and said: "Why do we need a reason? We have one every couple months!" As if it would help, he told her Eugene already agreed to coming, to which she bit that it was because he was a sucker for the taller, that surprisingly shutting the other up and a dark tint coming to his cheeks.
Note to self: Delsin is also a sucker in the relationship.
And that's how she ended up here, in her less torn pair of tights and not so short shorts up to the longhouse in Delsins' reservation. She never let herself get herded into these kinds of things. Delsin's people were nice-hell they were very welcoming! Most of them at least. Betty was a sweetheart, and reminded her of her grandmother with a little extra bite added in the mix. But other than her, no one else besides Delsin actually bothered to carry a friendly conversation with her and Eugene. So why she was here was beyond her except Delsin whined and begged for her to come for some odd reason.
Might as well suck it up and get through this.
After all, it's just a party.
OoO
This was such a stupid idea. She whines to herself as she slumps in a fold up chair at the side of the room. Now, before you go and think Delsin is some neglectful asshole and left her hanging, you are wrong. She's only been separated from the beanie-bearer for twenty minutes at most, the man getting whisked away by person after person for some other reason, his apologies sincere and his attempts at getting back to her comforting. But soon enough she was a bit tired of only talking to two people, Eugene more awkward than her in this situation and needing to be rescued by Delsin from aged women with the intent to pinch his cheeks…and younger women with another pair of cheeks in mind.
Parties-without drugs-were exhausting. So she slinked through the swaying and bobbing crowds, dropped herself in a hard as hell chair, and sat with her thoughts as company. She learned rather quickly she likes that better, watching the smiling faces of so many different ages enjoying themselves with family. She spotted Betty doing an old timey dance with another man, Delsin coaxing Eugene into some not so flattering moves. Yeah, she liked watching all the people's faces laugh and frown and talk animatedly to their loved ones. She's content this way until she catches a blur of something very familiar, raising a pristine brow as she recognizes the face. She's never tried to spark up a conversation, so why she gets up and travels across the busy dance floor/eating hall to meet the familiar face was something she had to figure out.
"I didn't take you for the party type. More the crasher." The words leave before she can try to re-write them, a sigh passing the man's lips.
"Would you believe me if I said I was blackmailed here?" She doesn't know why, but she takes a seat next to him and chuckles.
"Kinda. I know a guy that can dig some dirt on you." She gets a scoff as her remark, heavily covered arms coming across his chest.
"Hi Fetch."
"Hey, Reggie."
They fall into silence after that, a sort of tension between them. Not the 'you tried to arrest me and I also tried kill your brother so we probably hate each other' kind. It was more 'I've only spoken to you once and it was to correct the term for my abilities and the last time I saw you, you were nearly dead in a concrete case.' Kind. There aren't a lot of ways to break tension like that. But-she's never been one to see her challenges before they fail, and she opens her mouth: "So why aren't you out on the floor breaking it down?" She muses, glancing his way when he groans and shifts.
"Please. Me dancing? I'd have to arrest myself for that." She bites his lip to keep from grinning at the mental image, nodding and leaning back in her chair.
"So why'd you come if you're not going to join in on the fun?"
"Why'd you?" He retorts, the bite she had experienced firsthand not there, more like a tone of 'I'm tired as all shit because I have literally been on my feet for just a month and everything still hurts.' He probably wasn't still in pain, but hey not everyone was indestructible like her and fellow conduit comrades. She opens her mouth to answer before she just slumps and looks at him for the first full time in the interaction. "Your brother."
"Dragged you here huh?"
"As much as I like him, you're a trooper for still being sane." It's a joke, but the long sigh the other lets escape makes her wonder if he's ever gotten grey hairs from Delsins' antics. "You never answered me."
"Hm?"
"Why'd you come? You look like you'd rather be doing something else." Reggie pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue, looking away from her to make a noise between a sigh and groan.
"Betty forced me."
"Betty forced you?" The image of the older woman intimidating Reggie into something like going to a party seemed a bit off. And hilarious.
"Not force. More like heavily insisted I go because apparently I've been at the office too much and I've also been a 'spoilsport.'" He bends his fingers at the last word, rolling his eyes and falling into a pout.
"Well you already are kind of one…joke, joke." She waves and grins when he gives her an unamused frown. A stroke of awkwardness comes again, this being the longest conversation they've ever had. All she can do is watch people twist and turn as music plays lowly around them, a flicker of Delsin appearing in it all before disappearing again.
"No special ladies wanting to dance with you?" It's supposed to be teasing, but it comes out soft and curious. Reggie's shoulder's straighten as if on guard before slouching back down.
"Nope." The words are a bit more spiteful than she was expecting. Then again, she was talking to one of the few cops of the small area. The reservation was small, close knit, and there were little crimes besides petty teenage chaos and domestic disturbances. At least that's what Delsin tells her. She has a feeling she put him in a sour-well more so-mood than he was, a thick type of wall coming between them. Reggie's always kept himself away from them, conveniently never home when they come by, staying in one room while they were in another. And truth be told it hurt her somewhere deep inside.
She doesn't know why.
"Well," she sighs and stands, Reggie breaking from whatever stupor he had pulled himself into. "If I'm going to be here god knows how long, I might as well take advantage of one major thing I missed."
"And that'd be…"
"Alcohol. Join me?" Why she was so acute to having the older Rowe near her was blank in her mind. Maybe she just wanted a drinking buddy. Delsin was too busy trying to get a moment to himself (with Eugene probably) and said nerd didn't touch anything that could make him stumble or slur. That left Reggie, who's pursing his lips in consideration and a mix of paranoia.
"Just one drink, to loosen ya up." She shrugs. "For Betty?" She grins. He sighs and stands, stretching out and letting his abused back give a couple pops and snaps, holding up a finger.
"One drink."
"Totally."
OoO
"You are so bullshitting me."
"I am not; he jumped off the roof and landed right on my truck. It's a miracle he didn't break anything I shit you not."
"Who says shit you not anymore?"
"I do because I'm an old fart and a drunk one at that." He slams down the last of god knows what number beer and she laughs shaking her head. It was true, one beer turned into two, then three, then four, and now Fetch has lost count, the two of them hiding away in their corner with their next serving and Reggie is telling stories that make her feel like she's going to snort crap right out of her nose. Her cheeks are warm and her stomach feels light, the party still going and no one paying mind to them.
They were invisible. And Fetch liked that.
But it was getting hot, and stuffy, and she was pretty sure she was drunk to all high heaven and needed some fresh air. So she gets up, the room spinning and her feet stomping firmly on the ground as she stretches giving a long relieved hum. "Come on big guy. Time to go outside, smell the fish guts." He chuckles at her poor joke about the fish guttery, taking her offered hand and hoisting himself out of the chair, the two stumbling into one another as their unsteady feet try to find ground. The party's calmed, but no one pays attention to them snickering and swaying like a pair of teenagers, taking their sweet time getting to the back door of the longhouse. Reggie holds it open for her-sweet-her inebriated mind conjures and she heads out into the cool air, the sounds of the party nearly silenced as Reggie follows and lets the door shut behind them.
She groans in pleasure letting the breeze cool the gathering heat on her cheeks, sitting on the porch with a drop and thunk, Reggie following with even less grace. She clasps her hands together as they settle into silence, the night sky full of stars being so far from the city. It was gorgeous.
"Damn. Some people would pay for a view like that." She murmurs.
"Mhm…" Her companions' eyes are closed, either fighting nausea or sleep. Words come into her mind-curious musing as she scans across the grassy and quiet spot.
"I've got a question for you." She starts, the warmth of the alcohol making the temperature perfect at the moment. Reggie opens his eyes, swiveling his head to her in such a drunken manner she has to snort.
"Shoot. Not. With the neon I mean-with the question." She hesitates, studying his hooded eyes with a bit creepy type of intensity. They were so dark. Delsin's were too but-they had this sort of sparkle to them that made them seem lighter, more alive. Reggie's were wise, darker than his counterpart of a brother-so dark that in the night she couldn't see his pupil.
"Do you hate me? Us. I mean-us. Eugene and…me." She's never stumbled over her words before, the two leaning into each other as if the entire conversation was a secret, Reggie's knee pressed against her own as he processed her question. He frowns and scrunches his nose, tipping his head in such an out of character way it worries her. But it's…cute.
"No. What makes you think that?"
"You just-it's like you avoid us. 'Cause I mean we're over pretty often and you're either gone or you're heading out just when we get there or you stay in one room." She wished she had control of her mouth, Reggie watching her with each word and little body motion. "'Cause, y'know I thought you were done with hating conduits."
"I am…" He says, but he's not looking at her now, he's looking down at their knees and his voice has dropped an octave. It's obviously the beer running through her system, but that's a pretty appealing damn sound. Stop it Abigail. Right now.
"Then why-"
"You're Dels' friends." Reggie cuts her off, tuning his what seems like sober expression to her. "It's nothin' against you it's more…me trying to get myself back on track. With things…" Her face must show her confusion because he sighs and leans back, his hands keeping him from falling.
"I almost died, Fetch. It gets a person thinking. Wondering what they've missed because of the decisions they've made in their life."
"And that has to do with us how…?"
"It doesn't. That's the thing. I'm in my thirties, okay? I'm a cop. I'm the goddamn sheriff! And I don't regret doing that with my life and I definitely don't regret every second I put into Delsin, but I…I've missed things." The air starts to feel colder, Fetch wrapping her arms around herself as she gives Reggie her undivided attention. "And when I nearly died, I realized I neglected a lot of things to be where I am now. And I guess the point I'm making is, I don't feel like myself. And I want to be alone." He frowns looking down at his boots in thought, Fetch shivering under the breeze.
"Reggie Rowe you're one complicated man." She says after a moment of thought, confused, but she has this sliver of understanding to his words. He's spent the highlight years of his life caring for his brother, and dedicating what wasn't to Delsin to his job and the tribe. He never acted like a kid.
"So you don't hate us." He breaks into a smile, and Fetch thinks he looks a million times better with one on his face. "No. I don't. But to clear the wind here Eugene creeps the shit out of me and I know you're not afraid to beat the shit out of me." He smirks at her, and the shiver that goes down her body isn't quite from the cold, but Reggie notices and starts to shuck off his sheriff jacket. It's on her shoulders before she can object, wrapping it around herself and giving a quiet thanks. Reggie-she realizes-smells like leather and un-brewed coffee, a tint of something sweet under it all. If the guy wasn't standing right there she had huffed it until it was all she could sense.
But instead she slides over to him, pressing against his side and muttering about it still being cold. He stiffens under the close contact, Fetch convinced he's going to push her away until a warm, large hand carefully rests on her knee. "Mm, you're like a portable heater. Must be all the layers." She mutters and watches his hand stay completely still on her knee, never moving. Never stroking. Just sitting there with solidity. He chuckles and she can feel it through his body, biting her lip in thought. "Has to be. I've never been called warm hearted before."
"Oh shut up. D's told me all about the stuff you did for him." He silent now, still beside her. She's worried she's crossed a line until he slowly relaxes back into his molded place with her.
"There's a difference between things for a brother and for people in general,"
"You're just really used to beating yourself down aren't you?"
"Yeah well that's what comes with a low self-esteem." She'd never thought of Reggie as insecure. Yet it made sense. He did good things, but in general he was hated because of stereotypes set on cops names, and though their first meeting wasn't pleasant, it was obvious to her he was a good person to take the risks he did for Delsin, and their tribe. He was loved, and he did love.
"Well I don't think you have any reason to have one." She speaks softly, setting her hand over his on top of her knee. Something changes in the air between them, Reggie looking at her with confusion, almost a type of sadness as if someone's given his heart the run around and he's tried his hardest to keep it from happening again. She wasn't planning on a run around.
"What are you doing?" He says it so softly, so unsure of what's to come. They've hardly spoken and here she was pressed into his side, his jacket on her shoulders. She had this feeling that maybe they both just needed someone who could give them something they neglected. Her night with Delsin had been fun-nothing more, nothing less. But she was told her entire life to wait for someone that made you feel something beyond description. She sure as hell felt something that didn't have a name right now.
Whether it was the alcohol or not, she really didn't know. At this point she didn't care. Reggie was here, warm, and welcoming beyond belief. He was handsome in his own way-rounder but stronger features than Delsins'-the hints of stubble shading his upper lip and jaw. Maybe they'd both regret this in the morning when the buzz was gone and confessions were lost on hung-over brains, but for now none of that mattered. So she did what she thought would never happen in her life time.
She kissed Reggie Rowe, and no amount of agony in the morning could dampen the feeling when he kissed back.
WELP. This may turn into a multi-shot thing if you pretties are likin' it. I SHIP THESE TWO SO HARD IT HURTS I DON'T KNOW WHY. Idk I had this thought, it needed out. It is out. If you like it review! Or PM me a prompt for the next chapter or however you do those things. ROTP WILL BE UPDATED SOON ENOUGH, I STILL NEED TO SEND THE CHAPTER TO MY BEAUTIOUS BETA BUT UGH PLOT HOLES.
See you guys later!