"Snow…Snow I been meaning to ask…busy this…Saturday…" Bigby muttered in his sleep, his shaggy head swaying side to side on his sad excuse of a "sleeping chair".
"What? Aw Bigby you're talkin' in your sleep again! Hey! Wake up y'animal." Colin snorted and rested his head back onto his stubby, grubby feet. His eyes slowly drooped shut, yearning for a little more sleep. Bigby had been muttering nothing but nonsense about Snow these days. What Colin didn't understand was why he didn't just approach the broad and tell her himself. Despite already being blatantly obvious about his feelings, sometimes women still just liked to hear these things directly.
Knock knock knock. "Bigby someone's at the door." Colin yelled, not bothering to open his eyes. "Bigby! Jesus." He reluctantly pushed himself onto all fours and yawned. His dirty feet clopped on the wooden floor as he waddled over to Bigby and prodded him with his scrunched nose. He lowered his voice in case it was Snow or someone else who'd threaten to take him away. "Bigby! Someone's at your fuckin' door! Wake up man, c'mon."
"Huh—" Bigby thrashed up in his chair, eyes wide open.
"I said, someone's knockin'." Colin flicked his head towards in the direction of the door in case Bigby's motor skills weren't quite working.
"What time is it?" he asked.
Knock knock knock.
"Ten p.m." Colin answered. "Approximately."
"Who'd be asking for me at this hour?" He wondered. Maybe it was Snow? Something might've come up at the office or—maybe an emergency. He got up from his chair, rubbing his tired eyes. The doorknob was cold. "Hey Snow, what's up—" He stopped himself mid-sentence, realizing he was a little overzealous in his assumptions. This person was, in fact, not Snow at all. The person standing before him was a little younger, shorter, and a little more—the complete opposite of the elegant, fair-skinned woman he was expecting.
"Hey Wolf." She clicked her tongue.
"Uh, hi." Something about her face seemed so familiar, but he was almost positive he didn't know any Fables with eyebrow piercings. Most of the female Fables had adapted a style that rung pretty close to what their traditional clothes looked like. Was she a Mundy?
"What, you don't remember me?" She crossed her arms and lowered her chin to give him a better look.
"Do I know you from somewhere…?" He racked his brain for a memory that could match her face, but nothing. He recognized her features, but couldn't remember from exactly where.
"Come on, Wolf, try a little harder. Does the red hood do anything for you?"
"…Little Red Riding? Is that you?" He raised an eyebrow. She had certainly changed over the years. Of course, it had been a few hundred; he didn't know what he was expecting after such a long period of separation.
"I just go by Red these days. Red Riding." She replied. Her tone was neither cold nor ginger. Just merely lukewarm, and he wasn't sure what to say to her next. It had to have been centuries since he last saw her. From what he collected, she hadn't moved with the rest of the Fables. The cottage she lived in with her grandmother somehow eluded the eye of The Adversary and she stayed behind. She must've been there the entire time, unless, of course, she had found a new place to live between then and the present. It was easy for her to blend in, as she didn't require a glamour to look human.
"I… uh, come in." He stepped aside for her to enter his sad excuse of an apartment. "It's not much I… Sorry for the mess." He muttered, shutting the door after her. Her battered cape slid across his hand as she strode through the doorway. He could distinguish that bloody shade of red anywhere; it had haunted him for years, along with Colins two other brothers and the plaid on the boy who cried 'wolf'.
"Nice place. A little small but—oh you have a guest?" She startled, pointing at the lump of fur lying in front of the television set.
"Aw, don't tell me you don't remember. It's me, Colin! We used to run away scared shitless by this asshole! And look at us both now, sittin' in his apartment as if we're all buddy-pals now."
"Things've definitely changed." Red murmured. "And I wouldn't say the latter is true." She raised an eyebrow at Bigby.
"Uh, sit, sit." He signaled towards the only chair in the entire apartment.
"What, and you're just gonna stand?" She waved her hand for him to sit instead. He seemed reluctant but it was clear she wasn't going to take the spot, so he sat down. Staring up at her from his chair, he suddenly felt vulnerable; which wasn't a common feeling for the Big Bad Wolf.
"What the hell you doin' here, Red?" Colin asked.
"When did you get into town?" Bigby chimed in. He was curious too.
"About an hour ago. I was expecting there to be big, shitty pearly gates that separated the Fables from the Mundies but I guess you guys are pretty good at disguising yourself, huh?"
"Glamour," Bigby muttered, side-eyeing Colin. "It's something most of us use to look human." Colin only scoffed.
"I don't know, I was actually expecting to see more like him, to be honest. Nothin' really popped out at me and said, 'Welcome home, Red!' Did catch a dirty glance from Bluebeard on the way up here though, so that's somethin' a little familiar."
"Yeah, well, we can't really be wandering around New York City the way we are. This is as homey as it gets." Bigby sighed. "And with Bluebeard's money funding the place, there isn't much we can do about him—unfortunately." He decided to stand up; the height difference was beginning to make him uncomfortable.
"Not like I'd really call it home anyway." She looked down, slipping a piece of hair behind her ear.
"I…hope you don't mind me asking but…" Colin gave Bigby a questioning glance and he was hesitant to continue. "—What exactly did happen back home? Surely something must've brought you here." He scratched the back of his neck anxiously. Though, her face was so much less intimidating when she moved her hair out of the way.
"The cottage was burnt down."
"My god—"
"Holy shit." Colin murmured. "All of it? Burnt down? Jesus." Red only shook her head and shifted her legs uncomfortably. "I'm sorry kiddo."
"That's… rough." Bigby added sorrowfully.
"Right, because you've always cared so much about my well-being, Wolf." Red snarled coldly. Her first sign of genuine, fuming emotion left tension in the air thick enough to cut with a knife. Her abyss-like brown eyes shrunk him slowly into his seat defeatedly. He knew this storm was coming the moment he recognized her hood; the storm he'd been running away from for the past four centuries, the evils he'd done were coming back to haunt him. A churning sickness grew in the pit of his stomach and suddenly his head felt as if it were being squeezed between two cement walls.
"Things are different now, Red." He tried to sputter apologetically, though it had come out more harsh than he intended.
"Yeah, Bigby's a changed man! Don't know if you've heard, but he's the sheriff around these parts now." Colin piped in. Red crossed her arms. "And look, he's even housing a delinquent like me. Come on, he ain't as bad as he used to be. Still a jerk sometimes but, definitely not as bad." Bigby let out an uncomfortable sigh. Colin was never too good at compliments, but he appreciated the effort. The hostility was definitely there in Red's tone; enough so that even someone as unmindful as Colin could sense it.
"Bigby? Is that what they call you these days?" Red scoffed in disbelief. "Bigby? As in Big bad Wolf? Ha! That's good Wolf, that's pretty good. You're really starting a new life here, aren't you? You think everyone's gonna forget all the harm you caused back in the day just because you change your name?"
"I just thought it'd be easier to put on my records. A real name, not some villain title you all gave to me." His tone remained monotonous. He knew he had no right to stand up for himself, but at the same time he hated being talked down to. Red kneeled to the floor and put her face in her palms. She was silent for a moment.
"It's… not easy, Wolf. I don't blame you for it, the cottage I mean. I just… I got nothin' anymore…" She ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "I guess no one really does, when they come to this shit hole."
"Why are you here then, Red?" Bigby asked, slowly finding his voice again. "Why come to my place? The one person you—everyone despises the most?"
"Ah, retribution? Um— y'know maybe something to say 'hey I'm sorry about eating your grandma, Red. I should give you some cookies to make up for it!'." Bigby lowered his eyes and she sighed. "I… Need a place to stay, Wolf—"
"Bigby."
"—Bigby. I was hoping you could help me get back on my feet. I don't need money—just a cheap place to stay for a few days until I can figure things out." She placed her hands in her lap and looked up at him.
"Well there ain't any space here, sweet cheeks. Sorry, this livin' area is only made for one man. And a pig." Colin chuckled to himself. Bigby shot him another dirty look.
"Is there someplace cheap? Real cheap? Maybe a motel or—even a closet someplace here would be fine too—"
"You're welcome to stay here, Red. There isn't…much to it but it's home, and it's free." Red waved her hands in front of her as if he had just admitted killing his own mother.
"What? No, Wolf, I can't do that. Even I can see there isn't even enough room for all of us to sit in here. You need your space, you're a big guy. And I get the whole personal space thing. Despite hating your guts, I can still respect that. I hate livin' with people."
"Wish this one felt the same way." Bigby glanced at Colin, who replied with a piggy smile. "No, really, at least for one day, till you can find someplace else. It's…the least I could do for you at this point." He scratched the back of his neck.
"No, no way, Wolf I can't do that—"
"Red. Please. It's more for me than for you." He stood up and turned to face her.
"I—well, alright. Only for one day. Only one day." She poked his chest with a raised finger. "One."
"I get it. Just one. And—stop callin' me Wolf."
