AN: WARNING: some cursing. Mostly censored, but . . . you know. Just remember: Vaati = mush, and Blue = cursing!
Thanks for reading/reviewing/following/favoriting!
Chapter 35: The Morning After
Shadow wasn't sure if he was asleep, or if he just thought he was asleep and was actually in hell. He was on top of something knobby and lumpy, and became aware he was not exactly under a blanket. Or something. His head felt like mush, cloudy, and he thought he maybe had the flu. Was he upside down? No, just . . . angled downward. He lifted himself and almost slid backwards off whatever he was laying on. He had no idea where he was . . . the room was unfamiliar. He poked one of the lumpy things that he was laying on top of and discovered they were legs. Somebody else's legs. He followed them to the feet, and wondered why there was no head . . . then rolled his eyes at himself and looked in the other direction. Vio was laying facedown, perpendicular to Shadow, his unbuttoned shirt lying loosely about him.
O-kay . . . what did I do last night?
He remembered meeting Vio, going into the bar, drinking, dancing, talking, then going someplace quiet, or at least quieter, more talking . . . not so much talking . . . Oh my Goddess. Did we make out?! . . . What. Vio still had his pants on, so it couldn't have gone far.
Now it was coming back. Shadow promptly got off the bed and ended up being so dizzy he literally fell to the ground and smacked his head on it. "HOLY SH*T!"
Vio stirred. He lifted his head groggily. "Shadow? You awake?"
"Oooouch! Where the hell am I?"
Vio flinched, but didn't react otherwise. "My house."
". . . What?! What did we do? What happened?"
Vio rolled over and sat up. Then he grinned. "We had fun."
Did we? DID we, though?! "Why did you bring me here? HOLY—IT'S BRIGHT OUTSIDE! GRAN'S GONNA KILL ME!"
"Well I wasn't gonna, but then you were so drunk and then you were talking about your friend Fotti or whatever and how you used to cuddle him at night all the time and you missed it, sooo—"
Shadow sort of remembered that. He scrambled around the room as well as he could. "Where is your HOUSE?!"
"Kakriko district."
He heard footsteps coming up what must be stairs. Then the slightly ajar door was pushed all the way open and an angry-faced guy with messed up blond hair and who was dressed in a handy-man's uniform appeared and shouted, "WHAT THE ACTUAL F*CK, VIO! THERE ARE NO BOYS IN YOUR ROOM, NO FRIENDS, NO SLEEPOVERS, NO NOBODY! IT'S AGAINST THE RULES!"
Vio plugged his ears, staring defiantly at the ceiling.
The new guy rounded on Shadow with his hands on his hips. "What's your name? . . . Oh Gods, are you a hooker? Tell me you're not a teen hooker. How old are you?"
Shadow wasn't paying much attention. He kept glancing around frantically. "Dude, where are my pants?!"
Vio pointed. "Over there, on the chair."
Shadow scooped them up and put them on in record speed—for a guy with his first hangover.
"You recover quickly," Vio commented in a pleased sort of way.
"I can't believe this," said Shadow, bowling past the new guy and out the door.
"But you had fun, right?!" Vio shouted after him. One side of Shadow's mouth turned up before he realized it as he careened down the stairs.
"I'll call you later!" he said.
Vio leaned back with his arms behind his head contentedly.
"Vio, what the heck, listen to me!"
Vio creaked one eye open. "He's not a hooker, you dolt. He's a friend from school."
"From school? How can he be from school if you don't even go?"
Both eyes open. "I do go."
"Your report card says otherwise."
Vio grunted. "Grading systems are nothing."
"You can't just go to school and do your own thing, Vio. You actually have to do the assignments the way the teachers say."
"It's so boring." An image of Shadow dancing filled his head, and he grinned. "Shadow's not boring."
"Is that the kid's name?"
"Yeah. Pretty neat, huh?"
Blue shook his head. "I can't believe you're dragging another kid into your bullshit, Vio."
"He's fifteen."
"And you're sixteen, and a foster kid, and should know better. I could go to jail if they found out I had drunk teens sleeping over here."
"No you wouldn't, you'd just lose your guardianship over us."
"And that would be better for you?"
" . . . Get out of my room, Blue."
Blue's face turned red with rage. He stomped over and grabbed the front of Vio's shirt. "When are you gonna stop being such a selfish asshole, Vio?! You may hate me, but Red and Green are HAPPY here. For Goddess' sake, at least pretend to care about their feelings!"
Vio pried Blue's hands off his shirt and stood up. "Oh dear, I might have to call CPS."
"You—F—Goddamnit, Vio!"
"I don't care."
"If you go out again after curfew—"
"I'll do what I want and you won't stop me."
Blue got right into Vio's face. Vio tried to back up, but the wall got in the way. "YES. I. WILL." But Blue's face had turned white. Vio knew he didn't want to say whatever he was about to, and he wasn't saying it out of anger, even if that's what his voice indicated. Vio gulped. Blue continued, "If you can't shape up for the rest of us . . . I'll have to . . . I'll have to send you back to the shelter! I can't let you get the others in trouble. I can't let you . . . ruin this for them."
For once, Vio was speechless.
So Blue continued. "Better than you ending up in juvie. I would know. Stop being a little f*cker, Vio, I'm serious. I'll make you move out."
Vio was silent for several seconds, then attempted a smirk. "You wouldn't."
With a bit of struggle, Blue replied firmly, "I would."
The smirk faltered and vanished. "What would Green say?"
"Doesn't matter. If you can't get your act together, you're going to get Green and Red sent back to the shelter, too, and I'll be alone, and I don't feel like doing that to them just because I care about you. If Red goes back he'll be crushed. You know that. So it has to be you. What do you want?"
Grimacing, Vio said nothing.
"Damnit, talk to me, Vio!"
Vio slowly edged past Blue and walked out of the room.
"Vio . . ."
He couldn't think of a reply . . .
"Time to eat!" Red's cheerful voice greeted Blue when he got home from work. Green was trying to find a save point in his video game in the living room, and Vio was nowhere to be found. Of course. Blue sighed and entered the kitchen. "What's for dinner, Red?"
"We're having homemade pizza!" Red replied happily.
Blue smile back. Red always put a smile on his face. "Homemade pizza? But then why don't you just buy it?"
"Why don't you try it and see?"
Blue sat down at the table—the dining room was connected to the kitchen and kind of bled into the living room. Their house was super tiny, but it was all they could collectively afford with government assistance. The upstairs was meant only for bedrooms. Blue got his own room, and so did Vio, and Red and Green shared, although Green more often than not fell asleep in the living room. If they had a trophy for who took the most and longest naps . . .
There were red, blue, green, and purple triangle paper flags strewn across the walls in addition to photos in painted cardboard frames. Blue had thought it was a waste of time, but Red had insisted they decorate and make the house their own. Some sort of bonding experience and also to make this place as different from Hyrule Castle Town Child Protective Services as possible. Now Blue was glad for it. There was nothing worse than going into a room with bare walls. It's why he hated hospitals. And jail, though he'd only been there two months.
Blue was the only legal adult in the room. Then there was Red, who was seventeen, then Vio, sixteen, and finally Green, who was barely thirteen. He'd made it into the battle of the bands on a technicality (Vio forged something, most likely).
Red set a soda on the table in front of Blue. "By the way, did you say something to Vio? He's been behaving all day. He went to school. Did his chores. He's even upstairs doing his homework. The way the teachers said."
"Homework?" Blue's jaw dropped. Vio doing homework? . . . Had his threat worked? Was Vio going to behave now? That was great, but he still felt like a piece of shit for the shit he'd said.
"I know he is, because I've been checking on him, and also he came down once asking how to do a problem. Turns out he's not very good at understanding directions from his teachers. I guess he was embarrassed because he's normally so smart and that's why he's never said anything before." Red ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs. "Hey Vio! It's time to eat!"
"I'm not done yet . . ."
"It's okay." Red smiled at the door. "You've been working hard. Come down with the rest of us!"
A short pause. "Is Blue down there?"
Red was confused. "Of course."
"Then I'd like to eat in my room, please."
Back downstairs, Red asked Blue, "What did you say?"
From behind, all Red could see was Blue's ears turn red, and his hunched shoulders. "Nothing he didn't deserve," Blue insisted.
Red blinked with a thoughtful expression. He walked into the living room. "GREEN!" He pulled the younger guy's earphones off. "Pizza time! Scramble!"
Green gasped and looked up innocently. "Is it homemade? I didn't hear you order any."
"Yes!"
Green was at the table in a flash. "Wait! Where's Vio?" Green never made it to the table before everyone else. He couldn't stand waiting.
"He's not feeling okay," Red covered.
"Oh." Green looked slightly concerned, then he grinned and grabbed his fork and knife and pounded them on the table. "We! Want! Food! We! Want! Food!"
"Shaddup!" Blue chuckled, and ruffled his hair.
"You should go talk to him."
"No."
"You should go talk to him."
"No."
"Blue, you really should."
"Red, I said no."
It was eight o' clock. The three were in the living room chilling. Link was playing a video game again. Blue was . . . trying to watch, but Red was doing nothing but sitting with his arms folded, still wearing an apron, trying to convince Blue to go make up with Vio.
"He's been upstairs all night."
"Why don't YOU go talk to him?"
"You know this isn't my mess. What'm I gonna do? 'I'm sorry Blue's an ass'?"
Blue kept his mouth in a straight line. "Maybe."
Red studied Blue's reaction, tapping an arm with his fingers. "You can say that yourself."
Blue sighed and pulled his hat off. "There's nothing I can say to make him feel better, Red."
"Yes there is. Just say you're sorry and make it up to him—"
"I told him I'd send him back to the shelter."
Green gasped, and off came the earphones as he blinked at Blue with his mouth open.
For his part, Red was pretty shocked as well.
Blue was practically tearing his hat apart by twisting it so hard and so tightly in his hands. He stood the others' shocked stares for a few seconds, then stood up and walked upstairs. He knocked on Vio's door. When no one answered, he got suspicious and opened the door.
The room was empty, and the window was open. "DAMN IT VIO!"
"What?"
Blue jumped out of his skin. Vio stood looking offended and pale, having just come out of the hall bathroom. Blue covered his mouth and ducked his head sheepishly. "Sorry."
They stood facing each other for probably three minutes or so.
"Can I get to my room?" Vio finally asked.
"Why don't you . . ." Blue asked quietly, slightly through teeth, "come downstairs."
"No thanks," Vio replied immediately. "I've got a lot of stuff to do."
Blue quelled the rage boiling up. "In your room?" There was nothing in there but books.
"Yes. In my room. Can't I at least have my room or do you feel the need to strip that from me as well?"
Blue stepped aside. "Okay, but Red's gonna cry."
From downstairs, Red's deadpan voice called, "Don't drag me into this, Blue!"
"Green's gonna cry. He hasn't seen you all day."
"I helped him with his homework." Vio walked into his room.
"Oh," Blue replied as Vio's door shut quietly in his face. So he walked to the top of the stairs, fists still clenched around his hat. I'm gonna cry . . . He turned around and barged into Vio's room.
"Blue, what are you—"
"YOU'RE COMING DOWNSTAIRS!"
"What?!"
Blue grabbed the smaller boy around the waist and dragged him kicking and screaming and yelling . . . and then they were wrestling and Vio was insulting his intelligence and Blue was calling him a little f*cker and somehow they ended up downstairs with Vio complaining to Red and pacing while Red kept offering slices of leftover pizza while Green kept playing his video game, smiling happily and chatting at Blue, who sat in a ratty thrift store armchair, staring quite firmly at the TV and only responding in grunts because he knew if he tried to say anything he might sob, and he wouldn't give Vio the satisfaction of seeing him cry.
Shadow was upstairs, without dinner. Grandma had been pretty livid when she found out he'd been gone all night. He hadn't truthfully said where, or why, or with whom . . . but it was bad enough just being out past curfew. "I just went home," he had lied, "to sleep in my own bed. You know."
He thought that would've calmed her down, but it hadn't.
"And no NOTE?! No TEXT?! In the age of all these technological advances and electricity-wise teenagers you couldn't have bothered to CALL ME? UPSTAIRS, YOUNG MAN! I CAN'T EVEN LOOK AT YOU!"
"I have NEVER seen anyone that pissed since my Dad found out I skipped school one day," Link commented a few hours later when he joined Shadow at bedtime.
"Where were you all day?" Shadow said, trying to change the subject.
"Looking for a job," Link said. He started explaining about Aryll.
Shadow wasn't really listening. He just wanted Link to not ask any questions. As much as he loved last night, and as much as he actually felt kinda bad about lying to Granny . . . he couldn't bring himself to tell Link any of it. It felt kinda nice, having a secret with someone nobody even knew he was meeting. He pulled out his phone and sent Vio a text.
The two texted back a forth a bit before Shadow finally decided to go to bed. He noticed Link was already asleep. A twinge of guilt. Obviously Link had noticed he wasn't listening and had stopped talking. Didn't even bother to say goodnight. Or maybe he had and Shadow just hadn't been listening.
He felt bad . . . but the crappy feelings he'd had about his dad and Sheik and now last night overrode everything else. He got under his covers and rolled his back to Link, closing his eyes.
