7. Hold: To have or maintain in the grasp

Used in a sentence: Sometimes, Veser just needs someone to hold him so he knows that they're real.

They lost Veser again, and you can't help but think that you saw this coming.

They seem to have slipped into something of a pattern, at least where the nineteen-year-old is concerned. He weaves in and out of your lives (or un-life, in your case) like a warm breeze on a spring day.

Sometimes, he'll be around for weeks at a time, popping up everywhere from Worth's office to the playground near the Target where Hanna works, waiting to throw something at you because he thinks it's funny. He'll tag along on cases, invite himself to movie nights at Conrad's, and wake up in a pile of drool on Hanna's only-barely-clean-because-you-bother-to-vacuum-it floor.

Other times, he'll just disappear. He won't answer his cell phone or text messages, but you're not sure you'd answer either if your inbox were filled with those messages either.

Your friends don't hide much, at least from you. They never cover up their cell phone screens as they text each other. You aren't sure whether to be flattered that they trust you or concerned for their privacy.

hey ves, just making sure you're alright. yoshimitsu and i were thinking of renting a movie tonight, so you can feel free to crash conrad's with us if you want. let me know, and i'll send you the details.

You've always been surprised that Hanna uses full sentences and proper punctuation when he texts, because he strikes you as the type of person who would use and abuse abbreviations to his heart's content. When you ask him, he just shrugs and remarks that he's "Not that lazy, right?" It's not the first time Hanna's surprised you, and if you have anything to say about it, it won't be the last. There is the lack of capitalization, but you forgive that.

No "crashing" my apartment tonight. If you talk to Hanna, tell him to take his party somewhere else. I'm rather sick of cleaning up marker (yes, I saw it) and cheese puff dust. I mean, if you really have to, I guess you can come. Just take off your shoes this time, alright? And try to clean up after yourself.

Conrad forwarded his text to Hanna, and you think he meant it as a warning, but you're pretty sure Hanna took it as permission. There's also the part where Conrad also hasn't seen Veser in a while and seems to be a bit on edge. You've noticed that Veser often stays at Conrad's when he's not on campus, whether the vampire condones it or not, and you figure it was only a matter of time before Conrad started to care for the half-selkie.

Hanna comes home from work that night in complete and utter silence, which is rather concerning.

"Is something… wrong?" you ask.

Your employer slips off the red t-shirt he was wearing and pulls on a checkered polo. He does it quick, but the sight of the angry scar cutting across his torso would make you shiver if you weren't used to it by now. "It's not me, don't worry."

"What's going on, Hanna?"

He brushes past you in a whirlwind of red hair, ignoring the question. "C'mon, we've got to go."

You really hate when he's vague like this. He's got a knack for talking for hours without giving you any of the information you want. "Hanna, wait." You grab his arm, just above his wrist.

Hanna spins around to face you. "What?" he says, and he looks rather annoyed. Irritation doesn't work well on his face, the emotion too foreign to come across correctly.

You repeat your question, a little quieter this time. "What's going on?"

He bites his lip, and finally looks at you. You try to recall where you've seen this look before, and then it hits you—it's the same angry and determined expression that was stamped on his face when Lee Falun's ghost possessed you. That look of unwavering loyalty that's always been one of your favorite things about him.

It also looks like he's trying to solve a problem.

And it's at this point you get a little nervous.

You almost hesitate. "Who?" you ask, dropping his arm.

He blinks, and for a moment, you think he's going to smile at the fact that you're so good at reading his thoughts, but instead, his lips just twist into a sad little line. "Veser."

You aren't surprised in the least when you find yourself traveling to Doc Worth's place within minutes. It's sticky and humid, like it's just been raining, and then you recall how dark his red shirt had looked when he came home from work. Of course it had been raining, though with your rather embarrassing aversion to anything wet, you're thankful that it stopped.

On the way, Hanna explains that he hadn't heard from Veser in nearly three weeks, and after checking with the others, he realized that nobody else had seen the half-selkie either.

"What changed?" you inquire, curious as to how you got to this point.

"Conrad and Toni found him. We really should put them in charge of finding things more often, they kind of rock at sniffing out things and they don't seem to hate each other. I mean, Connie doesn't really like anyone, but—"

"Hanna," you say in a warning tone. You hope it didn't come across the wrong way. You often wish that you were better at communicating the way you feel, but you suppose that's something that can't be helped unless you try.

"Mmmm, yeah, Veser," he continues sadly. "So, you know how school's out for the summer? Yeah, Veser went home."

"To what?"

"To nothing, I guess. He's been alone this whole time. Which is never a good thing… I mean, to be in that house by himself? After all that happened, I'm not surprised that we didn't hear from him," Hanna says darkly, and again you're reminded that Hanna's got a lot of secrets. You're often surprised at his wisdom, especially when he talks about other people's emotional baggage from experience. When I get like that, he often says…

"So he's basically been stewing, for weeks now." Hanna looks and sounds rather guilty, and you plan to deal with that next.

"What happened?"

He sighs, running a hand through his hair. "They found him at the pier, near the water, in the rain. He's not talking to anyone, just kind of spacey. He'll nod or shake his head in response to questions but that's about it. Conrad called, they took him to Worth, first. Doc says that physically, he's mostly okay—just needs to eat. But he's definitely not okay. I thought maybe I could help."

You don't question how. You don't question a lot of the things that Hanna says or does.

You don't question the way he doesn't knock when he walks into Worth's office, or the way he marches right over to the little group huddled by the door. Toni, Conrad, Worth, and Ples are there, looking rather serious. You're almost amused by the fact that stab wounds and spell damage don't seem to faze them any more, but situations like this can put them all on edge.

"Can I talk to him?" Hanna asks, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He never bothered to change out of his Target khakis, you note. There's a dark ring of discoloration from the rain. You wonder if he stopped jumping in puddles once he got the call around Veser. "Alone?"

"I don't know what good it'll do," Conrad sighs, his normal gloom amplified by the current situation.

Worth updates them. He doesn't look particularly concerned, lighting up a cigarette, but then again, when does Worth ever look concerned? "He's talkin' a bit, now. S'not much, just 'yes' n' 'no.'"

"Please," Hanna asks again. He sounds desperate, and he's not even bothering to hide it.

Even Toni looks skeptical, albeit with a kind smile. "Do you really think you can help, Hanna? I mean, you don't know—"

"—but I do," Hanna cuts in. It isn't like him to interrupt, but by now, you've realized that you haven't seen him this worried since he worked to bring Conrad back to life. Hanna doesn't sound angry, just concerned. "Better than you know."

Worth nods without any more prompting, and seems to understand. "If yeh gotta. Make it quick," the blond remarks with a shrug, opening the door to his back room. "Kid needs his rest," you hear him mutter under his breath, and you wonder if Veser's gotten to Worth now, too. You also wonder if he meant Hanna or Veser, though. Probably both, you decide.

You step back to let Hanna have his space, but he looks at you and nods, so you follow him in.

Veser is sitting on Worth's table, neon shoes dangling above the ground. He looks awfully pale, and Worth has a few grey and moth-eaten blankets wrapped around him in an attempt to warm him up, but they're rather disgusting and old. He's shaking, fingers tightly gripping the metal table. Hanna nonchalantly hops up on the table beside him, short legs dangling off the edge.

Veser's voice is flat, with no energy or emotion behind it. "Hey."

"Hey, yourself," Hanna says, and his blue eyes look serious for once. You're not used to the concerned and almost accusing look in his eyes, and you wonder if this is a mistake. "Where've you been, man? We've been worried about you." His voice conceals the anger you know he's feeling, but you feel it too.

Why did Veser make you worry? You all obviously cared. He could have stayed with anyone. They all would have taken him. You feel awkward standing beside them, so you sit on the grimy floor next to the table. You're rather thankful that Worth's not there to see you sit at Hanna's feet for fear that he'd make some comment about you acting like Hanna's dog.

Veser doesn't meet Hanna's eyes. He stares at something on the floor, but when you look you don't see it.

"Veser." Hanna says his name again, but his concern finally betrays him and it comes out almost whiny. "Veser, what happened?"

The half-selkie still doesn't respond, fiddling with the edge of the blanket. It looks almost crusty, with some kind of beige-colored goop lining its edges. You are very thankful that you don't have the necessary working parts to vomit, because you definitely would feel nauseated looking at Worth's pathetic equipment.

Hanna tries one more time. "Veser…"

No response.

"Fine. I'm gonna tell you a story," and you realize what you're about to hear in the few seconds before he starts.

Hanna tells the "story" rather quickly, his rapid-fire words coming out with an odd sort of calm anger. "There was once this dumbass teenager who got caught up in a lot of shit and lost a lot of things and people that were important to him. He didn't have anyone to help him, and he eventually lost all will to live and did some really stupid shit because he didn't think anyone cared. One day, he royally fucked up. I'm talking, should've died fucked up. And luckily, he found someone to help him. Eventually, because he decided that he was fucking over that shit, he got a bunch of friends who sometimes like to have him around, and now he's a pretty happy guy."

Veser looks at Hanna finally, and you realize how prominent his eyes really are. It's not just their large size and bold color that catch you off guard. It's the way they're as sharp as his teeth, stabbing right into his friend's hearts. Veser often reminds you of a hardened version of Hanna, and you wonder what happened to both of them to make them so similar and so different all at once.

"What I'm saying is…" and now Hanna sounds a lot more relaxed. "I'm trying to say that I couldn't have gotten through any of it without someone else there. I tried, and it sucked. It didn't work, and I was worse off than before. I don't want that for you," he confesses, patting Veser on his nasty-blanket-covered knee. "And you're lucky, because you've got all of us here, without even trying to look for us. They're all out there waiting for you, you know. Everyone. Because they care."

Hanna's actually tearing up a bit, and you don't think you've ever actually seen him cry before.

"Veser, look here. We're not going anywhere, I promise. We're all here, and I know you need us. There isn't anything wrong with that. I don't care what that asshole told you, there's nothing wrong with needing a friend," Hanna says gently, putting his arms around Veser. You know he was referring to the latter's father.

Fortunately, Veser seems to respond to Hanna's heartfelt speech and touch. The two men—no, boys, really—embrace each other, and Veser sobs into Hanna's shoulder. "I… I can't go back there, Hanna. To that house. I can't…" Veser's voice is wavering and shaking, and you can tell he hasn't spoken in a very long time because it's absolutely scratchy and raw.

"You won't have to," Hanna whispers. "I promise."

You take this as your cue to leave. It's getting too personal for your liking, and it just doesn't feel right to watch two grown men cry and embrace each other for an extended period of time. You're not quite sure why Hanna wanted you there in the first place. You'll have to ask him later, but you have a feeling he wanted to you to hear what he said about his past.

Suddenly, his "random abandonment issues" make a lot more sense, you think as you push open the door.

"So," Conrad cuts in as you close the door. "Did it work?"

Toni smiles. "Do you hear them in there? They're crying like babies. Of course it worked."

Conrad rolls his eyes. "Only Hanna can fucking get someone to snap out of something like that by making them cry."

"Fuckin' déjà vu," Worth remarks, just low enough that you can hear.

"What was that?" you ask, curious.

"It's an aw'fully familiar situation, tha's all. M'gettin' too old fer this shit."

Toni cocks an eyebrow, and you're very thankful (you seem to be thankful for many things, today) that you don't have to be the one to ask. "You mean, Hanna?"

Worth nods as he lights another cigarette, and you realize that you have more questions than answers.

But when Hanna and Veser walk out, moments later, you realize that the smiles on their faces mean that it doesn't matter as long as everything works out in the long run.

A/N: Added the "Used in a Sentence" thing, because I liked it, so the old chapters are updated with them. Somehow, these keep getting longer and longer with every prompt. The next one is Conrad-based, because I love him.

I'm assuming that Veser won't have much of a home life after the current storyline in the comic. For this, I'm just going to assume that both of his parents are dead or gone after all that happens.

Also, not all of the prompts will be this angsty. For some reason, there are a lot of angsty prompts in a row. I'm sure you're not sorry. I know I'm not.

-Marty :-D