Pokémon Azure
Chapter 10: People Change
(Gav Harrison)
"Everything okay still?" Kaylee asked, talking out of the corner of her mouth while they walked and scanning the path ahead of them instead of looking Gav's way.
Gav battled with an internal cringe that longed to express itself outwardly. "Yes, B's still fine. And for god's sake, look at me when we're talking. It's what these getups are for."
The Harrison siblings and Tim were about halfway to the Gym district, and though they hadn't encountered too many citizens wandering around in the middle of the day on a Tuesday, the paranoia was real. They'd seriously considered teleporting in versus walking, but didn't want to chance popping by unannounced in the middle of a Gym battle or amongst a line of hopeful challengers gathered outside. The less attention they drew, the better, but his sister was taking that to heart in such an extreme way that it had come full cycle to work against her.
Gav's phone was never in his pocket. He was trading messages with the others too rapidly to ever put it away. The cliff notes were:
+ Blake was okay.
+ That vision had been his longest so far, which was worrisome in itself.
+ For some reason unknown, the challengers had outright lied to Vaughn Nakawa, concealing the fact that Tim had been the thirteenth man present during their battle in Viridian Forest.
+ Anderton and Mason had been found and captured.
+ Their four lackeys were dead.
In Gav's mind he pictured Blake uncapping a dry erase marker and penning a sixth bullet point under his list: Nakawa's missing the pinky on his left hand. Zahlia's brother had shared that tidbit of information with them in a compulsive, nervous way during their debrief, preferring not to meet anyone's eyes directly and sharing random things as they occurred to him. His usual attempts at bleak humor felt forced and stifled.
In Gav's mind he wrote question marks next to his first bullet point.
His comment to Kaylee had had an unintended effect. Instead of causing her to relax the rigidity of her posture and mannerisms, she'd clammed up and stopped talking entirely. With half her face hidden behind enormous, faux fashionable white framed sunglasses, she looked like a surly celebrity trying to go incognito instead.
Gav leaned over and nudged her arm. "Hey," he murmured. "It's cool."
He knew Kaylee's nerves weren't being stretched thin because of the chance they might be recognized—not entirely. They were all suffering from nerves the closer they got to the Gym, and to Armstrong.
The two days they'd spent prepping for this simple trip had been interspersed with a lot of nervous training. Gav was notorious for prioritizing "get my team to level up" pretty low on his daily agenda, but the take-away from their meeting had stuck with him. There wasn't a ton they could do right now, other than continue every method possible to get Wyland to talk, and because of that, training up their teams had to take precedence.
Gav's Pokémon were among the most patient and agreeable creatures he'd ever had the pleasure of knowing. In spite of the fact that he was a hands-off trainer most of the time, whenever he asked them to resume their training regiment they stepped up to the plate without complaint. Diglett in particular had surprised him with his willingness to learn and improve. His newest team member had been getting mentored by some of his friends' other Pokémon, Gina's Nidoqueen in particular. Now, however, the training wheels were gone. Diglett was taking off all on his own, zipping around with Marowak and surprising Gav's other Ground-type time and time again, popping up out of the earth behind him and pegging four or five rapid hits before finally getting tagged by a Bone Club in return.
If Gav had been training more than normal out of anxiety over their upcoming face-to-face with the man who had raised them, Kaylee had turned into a whirlwind of levelling. Luckily Tim was more than capable of keeping up with her frenetic pace, and more often than not when no one could find Gav's sister it turned out she was deep in a training set with Tim and his various Pokémon. Gav found himself wearing a perpetual, perplexed frown these days. He'd thought after he approached Tim and asked him to "let his sister down easy" that the Champ would start to avoid Kaylee a little out of sheer awkwardness. If anything, they were spending more time together than before. Gav wasn't sure if he was grateful to Tim for not changing the nature of their friendship and treating Kaylee just the same as he'd always done, or if he was worried about how this would all go down in the end.
When the three trainers were close enough to the Gym district to spot the sleek, granite building in the distance, Gav paused. "Tim?" he asked, drawing the others to a halt with him. "I was wondering. Would it be alright with you if K and I go in first? Talk to Armstrong for a minute before we come get you?"
Tim glanced between the Harrisons, but nodded without a pause to think about it. "That's completely fine. I'll be right outside when you're ready for me. I know Armstrong, too, so it shouldn't be weird when I join you."
Kaylee, who had still been wearing that locked-down, stony expression, flicked her eyes over to Tim and lowered her comically huge frames to peer at him over the tops. Her expression was still steeped in worry, but beneath that was an undercurrent of warmth and gratitude that Gav honestly felt a mirror of within himself. "Thank you," he said to Tim, clapping a hand to his shoulder for a moment before his sister and he branched off down the path to the Gym alone.
No one was waiting outside for a battle, and Gav felt it likely no one was inside in the middle of one, either. Kaylee's nerves felt like palpable waves to him the closer they got, and though he was tempted to reach out and rest a comforting hand on her arm, she was so wound up he might get flipped clean onto his back just out of sheer reflex.
Gav pushed the heavy double-doors open and let Kaylee and himself into the dark interior of the Gym. A pang of amusement warred with heavy, painful nostalgia. So he was just the same as ever, weird and full of his unexplained idiosyncrasies. Kaylee branched off to the hidden fusebox, ready to flood the room with light, and Gav cleared his throat, not wanting to squeak like a school boy when he spoke.
"Jerry?" he called, his voice filling the dark space.
The response was instantaneous. "Gav?"
Another punch of emotion hit him low and hard. Guilt, shame, powerful love—even after so long apart, he still recognized their voices immediately. Gav couldn't quite see him across the way, but he was able to make out his hulking shape, shifting among the darkness high up on the platform where Gav had watched so many fights. Instead of climbing down the ladder, Armstrong used it like a firefighter's pole to slide straight to the earth. He landed on both feet with a resounding, rattling crash.
Gav stayed where he was and a second later the first and third rows of lights flickered on, but Kaylee stopped there, darting over closer to his side while Armstrong tore across the Gym floor toward them. As he crossed from the shadowed side of the Gym closer to the part lit by the meager two rows of ceiling lights, the look on his face became clearer. Jerry Armstrong's dark eyes were wide beneath a set, furious brow, and the scruffy beard and moustache did nothing to hide the fierce, hard line of his mouth. Gav, rooted to the spot, just watched him tear a path across the rocky terrain and struggled not to look like he was bracing himself.
Armstrong grabbed Gav by one shoulder, Kaylee by the other, and lurched forward before stopping, his enormous frame arrested by crackling, static energy. Gav was sure he was torn between shaking them or crushing them both in a spine-snapping bear hug. "Talk now," he growled, and the story flooded out as if the Harrison siblings were a pair of water taps and Armstrong had just effortlessly turned both handles.
As Gav and Kaylee rushed to provide Armstrong with what he'd asked them for, talking over each other in a rush, Gav got to see a change come over the man's stony, stoic face. Not everything they told him registered across his expression with surprise—none of their initial project shocked him, which Gav had expected. Armstrong had likely suspected that the Harrison children were still off seeking answers and justice for their parents. But as they told him a bit more—about meeting the Fremont brothers, about Zahlia and her family—the stern anger began to melt off his face in degrees. They had only been hastily recapping for about five minutes when Kaylee interrupted herself mid-sentence.
"The Fremonts and Nakawas aren't the only people we've met who were—oh—Jerry, um, Tim's out—Tim Broome? He came with us… he's involved, definitely involved… can I? Go get him?"
For the first time since they began unloading on him, Armstrong said something other than "talk now." His broad shoulders sagged just a touch and he rubbed his weathered face with one hand. "Of course," he said to Kaylee. But before she darted off he mumbled, "Christ. Just as stubborn n' crazy as Ando, Mariko and Brock. Whatever you're in, I'm in too. You sure as shit ain't doing this alone." Kaylee's expression twisted into a look of pained fondness, and Armstrong shooed her away. "Now go collect Tim." Kaylee bolted for the double doors and Gav did his absolute best to keep himself together.
It was a losing battle. He'd only had a second or two to breathe deep and blink fast before Armstrong hauled him into a fierce, tight hug. Gav was an inch shy of six feet tall, but Armstrong dwarfed him, and for the first time in memory Gav felt like a kid. He swallowed so hard it hurt, fought the burn in his eyes, throat and face, and squeezed back the man who'd served as his father figure for more than half his life.
"I'm sorry," Gav croaked out, eyes open but seeing only the comforting darkness of the front of Armstrong's shirt.
"What're you sorry for?" Armstrong growled back, disapproving fondness deep in the rumble Gav could feel in his face. "It better not be for bringing me onboard. I'm only pissed off you didn't do it sooner."
The doors creaked open again and Armstrong had the decency to let go so Gav had a fighting chance to compose himself as Tim and Kaylee crossed over to them. Gav had to breathe slow a few times through his mouth and stare at the neutral, flat earth tones of the Gym terrain, and by the time he'd recovered his sister and the Champ had drawn level and exchanged a few murmured words with Pewter's Gym Leader.
The look Armstrong gave Tim was a wistful one. "How's your Kabutops?"
Tim returned the smile, and it was as tired and complicated as the one he'd just received. "He's great. Want to see him?"
"Course I do," Armstrong grunted and their old, sad smiles turned just a touch lighter as Tim pulled Kabutops' copper ball off his belt to release his Pokémon. The strange sight of the non-standard ball sparked up the temporarily dropped conversation and Gav took up the mantle of further explanation. He was more than glad for the distraction.
To his enormous credit, Armstrong did not interrupt the trio even once. Unasked questions flashed across his face from time to time, but Gav could hazard pretty good guesses about which parts had confused him, alarmed him, or otherwise tripped him up. He did his best to intervene and elaborate when this happened. More than once having to smoothly cut in while Kaylee expounded on something a mile a minute.
All the while, Armstrong silently communed with Tim's Pokémon. With not a trace of fear or apprehension, and indeed, at times without even looking, Armstrong ran his hands gently, almost absently, along the flats of Kabutops' blades. Kabutops held his limbs aloft for the attention, every so often uttering a strange, crooning purr interspersed with gentle, rapid clicks.
When they'd caught up to the present—Wyland and Lance and all—Armstrong straightened up from where he'd crouched down. Both knees gave mighty cracks, but he didn't wince.
"Lily Yawa and her sisters," he said, and it took Gav a second to figure out what he was talking about. "Then Jo and Zo from Celadon. Those're some Gym Leaders I promise you can trust."
Relief stole the rigidity from Gav's posture and a more exaggerated version of that feeling manifested itself in Kaylee. She slumped, put her face in her hands, and gave a weak chuckle.
"That's such good news. We knew you'd know some people. But five? That's…"
"Better than one," Tim supplied, casting Kaylee's bowed head an unspeakably warm, gently amused smile that caught Gav's attention and held it.
"No kidding," Armstrong grumbled, in his faux bad mood, but Gav caught a twinkle in his dark eyes that showed he wasn't entirely serious. "I'm useful for a few things after all, hmm? C'mon, you three. Let's move this shindig back to my place."
It had been well over two years since Gav had set foot in Armstrong's home, but during that span of time not much had changed. Though he'd been Pewter's unofficial-official Leader for years, Armstrong was a man of extremely modest taste except in one regard. There was no true "floor" to his moderately-sized single storey home. There were baseboards where the walls met the ground, and the occasional section of hardwood flooring here and there, but almost every room sported dirt or grass in place of carpet or tile. As Gav, Kaylee and Tim branched off to shuck off their coats and put down their backpacks, various Ground-type Pokémon popped into the foyer to study them curiously. Patches of the ground were uneven, but Gav knew Armstrong's fleet of Diglett, Dugtrio, Sandshrew and Sandslash smoothed out the terrain every night before bed.
Tim glanced around the room, smiling with interest at the way the walls dug straight down into the earth. As he stooped to knock near the base of one wall, a Diglett popped up right by his hand as if answering the summons. Tim jumped a little at its sudden appearance and, laughing, offered his hand out for it to rub against.
"Oh," Gav murmured, the sight of the Diglett reminding him. "I have one of those in my roster now."
Armstrong's scraggly eyebrows rose so dramatically that Gav lowered his own in mock exasperation. "No. You made a catch? Who are you and what have you done with Gav Harrison?"
"Right?" Kaylee exclaimed, face lighting up with glee. "I have to tell you how he caught it, too—it's frickin' classic, you're not gonna believe," and before Gav could protest, Kaylee launched into the rousing tale of How My Brother Caught a Pokémon with his Butt. Gav, too amused to be honestly annoyed, talked over her for a bit before he was soundly surpassed in volume. Chuckling, he released his still slightly shy Diglett so it could explore, make friends, and receive Armstrong's stamp of approval.
Gav's phone buzzed against his chest. Turning from Kaylee's animated retelling, which was starting to sound just a little embellished, Gav dug his device out of his jacket's chest pocket and unlocked the screen.
How's it going? -V
Gav smiled and one-handed his reply. Behind him Kaylee went, boom!
Way better than I had hoped. Got names. Catching up now, too.
Her reply was speedy. That's such a relief. Was it busy there?
Not a single person, he tapped back, naturally avoiding any specific names or even key phrases like, "at the Gym." He kept his phone in hand but glanced up in time to see Armstrong shake his head in amused disbelief. He cast Gav a glance and Gav shrugged.
Victoria's next message buzzed in his hand. Things quiet here. Staying the night there?
Gav considered this, flicking his gaze up and smiling at the more-than-welcome sight of Kaylee, Armstrong and Tim all throwing their heads back and laughing.
I think so, yeah. It's doing everyone so much good.
I'm glad, came the quick reply. Though now you're going to be on the receiving end of a block of text from me, because there's something I'd like your opinion on.
Gav frowned at that, but quickly typed back, of course. This was unusual—not necessarily that she wanted to pick his brain, but that it was something they obviously hadn't gone over in the group at large before he'd left. Putting his worries from his mind, Gav caught Armstrong inquiring after their current level of hunger and lifted his hand in the air as a vote. Kaylee said, "Ten outta ten," and Tim said, "Ravenous."
Kaylee glanced Gav's way and snorted. "You rate your hunger level as 'present'? Like you're in the middle of roll call?"
Gav grinned at her. "My hunger is very present. And what is this, 'pick on Gav day'?"
"Every day is 'pick on Gav day' for me," Kaylee shot back, batting her eyelashes, and Tim, Armstrong and Gav laughed.
Armstrong was partway through his sloppy Joe prep when Victoria's promised wall of text came through.
Long and short of it is, I'm worried about Be. She's awful at keeping secrets and it doesn't feel quite like she's keeping one from me now… but things aren't right, either. I think I can hazard a guess. R is bugging her more than ever, blowing up her phone. What's more… she and Bl seem like they're getting closer.
Gav stared down at those last two words. "Getting closer" seemed to imply a romantic sort of "closer," but was just vague enough that Gav couldn't be sure. Rather than guess and look like an idiot or jerk, he asked for clarification before setting his phone down on the table for a minute. He'd totally missed the subject change—Armstrong was saying, "No!" in a scandalized tone and Kaylee replied with a robust, "Yes!"
Victoria's next message was more enlightening. I guess even I'm not totally sure what I mean by that. Sorry for being vague. I'm only worried because, from an outside perspective, it sure looks like flirting. Only Bl's so… Bl. Aloof. Can't get a bead on him.
Gav at least understood what they were talking about now, but the understanding was quickly coupled with a bleakly amused dismay. Of course it made sense now why Victoria was reaching out to him to brainstorm about this—she couldn't well talk to Beth about it. Yet Gav was woefully lacking in all skill in this department and typed and deleted his reply so many times their food was ready before he was able to punch "send."
Well… I'd try not to read too much into it just yet. I mean, didn't Bl actually tell Be to her face that he's not into her that way?
29 words… Gav sighed. It had taken him almost twenty minutes to compose two sentences, and they weren't even great sentences at that. He'd have to seriously work on that part of his personality once he was a husband.
Gav stopped cold, midway through rising from his chair.
Luckily none of the others took note of his bizarre, frozen stance, as Tim and Kaylee were both crowded around the stove, bumping one another with their shoulders and jostling to get the "best" sesame buns from Armstrong. Gav finished standing up and waited his turn behind the laughing three-person mob.
This was a classic example of what Kaylee lovingly coined, "dumb/smart." Gav was able to juggle several highly technical projects, analyze each move their group should take and even recall more obscure pieces of old case info at the drop of a hat—yet he'd completely forgotten to tell his sister that he'd proposed to Victoria months ago now. In his defense, the attack on Pallet, their flight to the Power Plant and efforts to relocate more permanently had been a little distracting, but he didn't assume Kaylee would muster up much sympathy for him now that they'd been "safe" for weeks. The truth was he'd forgotten, plain and simple.
Gav was finally able to snag himself some food and re-engaged in the mealtime conversation, feeling even more guilty and obligated to be present in light of his glaring failure as an older brother. Lunch went by lightly enough, and quickly turned into a mobile event as the four followed various Pokémon around Armstrong's winding house. Gav spotted the framed photo on the wall first, but before he could decide if he wanted to divert Kaylee from it, she'd laid eyes on it too. Their parents smiled out from the dark wood frame, and Gav felt a soft, wistful look grow on his own face. It always struck him that he smiled with the left corner of his mouth first, the right side lagging behind a little—just like Ando Harrison was doing in this photo.
It was nice—though a little unusual—to see his father smiling in a photo. He was always so serious when photographed, at least in Gav's memory. Armstrong, seeing where the siblings' line of sight had gone, paused in his meandering stroll. He chewed slowly, swallowed, dabbed his moustache with his paper towel and sighed. "Be right back," he said before departing into an adjacent room. Gav wondered vaguely where he was going, but that thought flitted in and out of his head so briefly it almost couldn't be classified as a true thought.
He moved closer to the frame. Ando Harrison was as tall and serious as his wife was short and spunky. Mariko grinned with an unabashed flash of teeth, her head barely level with her husband's chin. One dark eyebrow was quirked high behind her dark frames. Gav had always found it fascinating when children looked like an even mix of their parents. Take their father's jaw here, but their mother's hair… Gav and Kaylee weren't like that at all. He was practically a carbon copy of Ando, and the only thing Kaylee had borrowed from their father and grandfather was her tanned skin tone. Everything else was Mariko to a tee. Even her flyaway hair looked more like their mother's now that she was keeping it a little shorter.
Armstrong returned, sans paper plate and instead holding a dilapidated dark red photo album. Gav felt his expression lock down carefully even as Tim and Kaylee moved closer to Armstrong and the album, curious. Kaylee might have been too young, but Gav remembered it. The specific contents of the album were lost in his memory, but he clearly recalled asking Armstrong to keep it for him—far away from the home he and Kaylee had left so long ago. It had been far too painful for Gav to ever imagine cracking those yellowed pages open again. That had been over half his lifetime ago—and still, Gav wasn't sure he was ready.
Kaylee peered up at Armstrong. "There aren't gross, embarrassing baby photos in there, right?"
"What do you take me for?" Armstrong asked, play-offended. "'Course there are." Kaylee groaned, Tim grinned and said, "Oh, I'm all in for this," and Gav tried to muster up his courage.
The first few pages weren't so bad. Gav remembered most of these photos—he must have made an ill-fated stab at looking through the album before deciding he needed to store it somewhere far away. He could tell where he'd probably abruptly stopped and slammed the book shut, though. Old school photos of his parents and their families didn't bother him so much—those were grainy, several years removed and very staged. But past that point the pictures took on so much more life.
Ando Harrison had cried on his wedding day. He had one hand lifted to the corner of his eye, a grimacing smile on his face while Mariko leaned heavily on his arm, head resting against her husband and a look on her face that managed to be both brutally teasing and unspeakably fond. Gav couldn't be sure from this angle, but it looked like Mariko had worn a white female-cut suit tux to the ceremony.
The next photo was of Gav, barely a year old from the look of him, and both parents were perfectly mimicking their infant son's wide-eyed, vacant stare up at whoever was taking the photo. From beside him Kaylee snort-laughed quietly and Gav felt a smile break out over his face in spite of the burning in his throat.
They flipped through pages like that, pausing here and there to remark on something or other. They weren't chronological by any stretch of imagination, and were sometimes a little tricky to follow because of it, but Armstrong shed light on the timeline when they needed him to.
Then one page flipped over and changed the entire mood of the quiet, thoughtful room with the violent efficiency of shattering glass. Tim jolted in his chair, recognizing the man first, but that was hardly a surprise. It was only natural he'd be primed to recognize his own father.
Kieran Broome looked much the way he had in the Nidoranarchy videos. Long brown hair held back in a longer ponytail than Ando's, an impressive, scruffy five-o-clock shadow across his jaw, wire frame glasses and an expression like he was perfectly at ease with the world. In several photos Gav spotted what was clearly a younger Katherine Broome hanging near his side, her expression shy but sweet. Here was an example of parents' genetics collaborating to create a child. Tim had his mother's blue eyes but his father's hair color, though Gav didn't think he'd ever seen Tim look quite as carefree as his young father did in this photo. Kieran had an arm looped around Ando's shoulders and his other elbow resting atop Mariko's head—Mariko was grinning at the camera and pretending to be mid-punch to Kieran's gut. A pang of melancholy humor took Gav—he had often done the same thing to Kaylee in their youth, before she hit her growth spurt.
"... I guess I should have put the pieces together," Tim mumbled, relaxing his tense shoulders a fraction. "We found out a while ago that my dad knew… well… a ton of people. Amaris' uncle, Kaylee and Gav's parents. Only logical he'd be in a few of these." Tim paused, then glanced over at Armstrong, uncertain. "... Did you know my dad too, then?"
Armstrong paused, but only to pull in a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. "I did. He was a good man." He paused again, then shook his head. "But you know that. You remember him, I know."
A heaviness settled down on their gathered number. Tim went back to looking down at the photo, but Armstrong cleared his throat again.
"Before he left… with Ando and Mariko, that last time. He gave me something to give to you."
Gav frowned, wondering if Armstrong was going to leave and get something for Tim, but realization dawned on the Champ's face instead.
"You're the one who sent me Kabuto's fossil," he said, voice barely carrying even in the still room.
Armstrong nodded. "It was something Kieran wanted to give to you himself, when you were of age. I didn't understand why he had it sent to me until after I got the news."
The silence took reign again. As one, all four of them looked back down at the photos smiling up at them from the still book. Some images were aligned perfectly, professionally done, but several were not. An arm blurred here, mid-wave, his mother bent double and laughing so hard she was weeping. In one Kieran had apparently invented the selfie long before cameras were built into Dexes and some phones, and the canted angle of the shot made it look like everyone in the frame was being tossed about on an unforgiving sea. Their families looked so real like this, so accessible and weird and human, and Gav wished powerfully he had drummed up his nerve to look at these sooner.
"I ever tell you that Kieran was instrumental in getting your mom and dad together?" Armstrong asked the group, and Kaylee shook her head while Gav quirked a wistful smile. Of course the answer was no—they'd never wanted to talk much about their parents until now.
Armstrong smiled and leaned back, rubbing his beard. "Ando n' Mariko were oil n' water at first. Your mom was keen on your dad, and not at all quiet about it, but good ol' Ando was married to his work. Brock n' I'd laugh about it, placin' bets on how long it'd take them to get together."
This was definitely news to Gav. He glanced back down at the page, where Mariko was challenging Armstrong to an arm wrestling match, laughable in and of itself since his mother had spaghetti arms compared to Jerry's. From the side of the shot Ando watched his wife's play bravado with a look that could only be described as adoring devotion.
There was a small blip of movement to his right and Gav's eyes slid automatically to follow it. Kaylee, her expression wistful and distracted, threaded her fingers into Tim's in plain sight across the table, but half a second later she'd released him. Her eyes snapped up to Gav's, color flooded her cheeks and ears and Armstrong cleared his throat.
"Four for cocoa?" he asked, and without waiting for the yays or nays, retreated from the room.
All Gav had to do was lift his eyebrows. Kaylee cracked immediately.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, addressing the open page of the album instead. "I should've… we're kind of… yeah. I, yeah. I'm sorry. Don't be mad?"
Unbidden, an amused and bewildered smile cracked out across Gav's face, starting at the left corner of his mouth as always. Kaylee hadn't actually said anything yet, but before Gav could reply, his phone buzzed against his chest. Victoria getting back to him late—and with a jolt he realized this might be a perfect opportunity. He tugged his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it, but didn't read the text yet, instead glancing over to Tim.
Tim blanched. "I, uh… wanted to tell you," he mumbled.
Kaylee talked over the end of his sentence. "I asked him to wait—we weren't sure if it was… I mean, there never seemed to be a good time…"
Gav paused, Victoria's message open now but not yet read. A groan escaped him and he stared at Tim with disbelieving horror anew. "God, you were together even while I was telling you to let my sister down easy? … Well. I guess I'm the one who feels like an idiot now."
Kaylee's jaw dropped. "Wait, you—you didn't! Gav! Ugh! Do you know how lame that is?!"
"Uh, yeah, I know exactly how lame it was," Gav barked on a laugh. "I was there—unfortunately."
"So uncomfortable," Tim groaned, burying his face in his hands.
"So wait—you're not mad, then?" Kaylee asked, her voice taking on a slightly higher, hopeful pitch.
Gav chuckled and shook his head. "No, I'm not… I… hold on." He'd made enough faux pas for one lifetime, and wasn't about to add spilling the beans about his engagement without telling Victoria to that list.
Her return message was short and sweet. You're probably right. But people change. Suffice to say I'm keeping an eye on that kid. He smiled down at his phone, privately wondering at how perfectly those two words summed it all up. People change.
That they do, he typed back. Hey, um, can I tell K about us now? I kind of got big news from her just now.
"What are you doing?" Kaylee asked, staring at Gav like he was suffering head trauma. He smiled at her and held up one finger, knowing how much waiting drove her bonkers.
If she's knocked up she will feel my wrath, was Victoria's reply, and Gav choked on nothing.
Coughing slightly, he wrote back, WTF no, it's just she's dating T.
"Gav," Kaylee growled in a low, warning tone.
"Hold on, just…" Gav mumbled, reading Victoria's next reply while Kaylee demanded, "just?"
Oh. Well, yeah, I was starting to suspect.
The absolute shock that spread over Gav's face was evidently too much for Kaylee. She leaned across the table to try to read his phone, and Gav dodged and leaned back, tapping furiously all the while.
WHY WOULD YOU NOT TELL ME THAT
"Gav!"
"Hold yer damn horses, Kay, I'm just try'na see if I can…" Gav lapsed out of the slight twang he hardly ever still used and instead fell silent, waiting on Victoria's next reply.
"Can?" Kaylee asked, now making an honest and shameless swipe for his phone. "Can what? Your half-sentences—" she pawed for it again and Gav shoved his chair back on its rear two legs. "—are killing me!"
Go for it btw, popped up on his screen and Gav wasted no time. "So Victoria and I are kind of engaged."
Kaylee's shriek broke world records and Gav jumped so bad his chair gave up and toppled over backwards. "WHAT?"
Though Gav had probably just fractured his tailbone, he knew better than to lie there in a pile of defeated older brother limbs. He prepared himself for the attack just in the nick of time, shouting all the while, "I wasn't mad at you for your secret!" Kaylee was upon him in a second and he blocked a punch to the arm.
"Being engaged is kind of a big deal!" she bellowed, desisting with all mercy and going straight for his abs with all ten clawed fingers, intent to punish him by tickling him into an early grave.
Over the din and shouting Tim called, "Uh, congratulations, man!"
"Thanks!" came out on a wheeze, but Gav was reasonably sure Tim couldn't hear it over Kaylee's, "You're dead, you are so dead, you will not live to see your wedding night!"
When Armstrong emerged at a run from the kitchen it was to see Tim trying to haul a rabid, flailing Kaylee off her gasping brother, both men trying not to dissolve into peals of laughter, and Gav's phone ringing nonstop on the table. Gav wanted to explain, but that required air in his lungs, a luxury he didn't foresee anywhere in his near future.
Author's Note: Reminder - I put up review replies in my profile for everyone who leaves me one! If you think you missed a reply to your review, just let me know. I keep my replies in an archive doc even though I clean up my profile every so often to keep the length from getting out of control.