What You Just Do Not Notice, What You Take For Granted
After seeing Heracles taking Anastasia to Ivan's house, Angus expected that everything would be back to how it was beforehand. But it was not, which he should have expected earlier. After all, Katyusha had not been crying for a while. Angus would have usually been glad that she was not crying, but... it just seemed odd. Like she was less concerned for Anastasia then she had been earlier.
Angus figured he was just imagining things. And Anastasia was found now, so it did not matter anyway.
"Stay for a little bit, would you?" Kat asked him, staring up at him through her eyelashes from where she had settled herself on the couch. Angus had decided: why not? It would be impolite to leave after she had been so stressed out, even if the situation had been solved.
Still, his gut feeling had never failed him so far and it was telling him that there was something very wrong with Kat leaning into him, trailing her fingers up and down the nape of his neck. There was nothing obviously wrong, but... He did not know. His gut was telling him that and at the same time it was telling him to shut up and just enjoy himself. It was confusing.
He had just given in and begun to kiss her when the doorbell rang. "Ow!" his breath hissed out as Kat's hand gripped the hair at the back of his head a bit tightly.
"Sorry sweetie," she said absently. Which really confirmed that something was wrong. No tears, no worry. It was like she was not all there. Sitting up, he opened his mouth to ask, but he was interrupted by the door just opening. Kat sat up, eyes flashing as Ivan and Natalia came in.
Ivan and Natalia. Angus wondered what they thought he had done and how soon he would be dead.
"What are you doing here?" Kat demanded. Angus' attention turned back to her. Ivan picked her up and kept walking. "What? Let me go! Ivan! Put me down! What are you– Stop!"
"Oh, sit back down," Natalia said to him as he stood up.
"What's goin' on?" he demanded, not certain whether he believed Natalia's calm tone or whether self-preservation incited that he did not leave the room. It was Ivan! But... it was also Kat. Ivan always gave in to his elder sister.
"Family issue." Angus thought that was a cheap shot, but knew it was also something he would not pry into. He may have been Kat's boyfriend, but that meant insights into the family came through her, not through her guarded sister. "I just thought I would say that if you hurt her–"
"I'll have to answer to you," Angus finished with a groan, paraphrasing what Ivan had told him months ago. What have I gotten myself into?
Both of them were startled by a loud noise coming from the other room. Once more Angus jumped to his feet, making his way across the room. Natalia grabbed him by the arm and even though he could have easily pulled out, he knew the simple gesture meant something. "One of us needs to check on them," he said simply. Natalia shook her head.
"Do not... do not worry about her." Natalia swallowed, obviously nervous. "Katyusha... she is the only person in the world Ivan has never hurt, will never hurt."
There was something very frightening about that statement. A few things. Natalia's blatant informing him of Ivan hurting her was one. The other was the subtext which Angus was translating to mean that Ivan was likely the one being hurt back there. There was definitely something going on that was a family issue and Angus was more than a little nervous.
"A-as you say," Angus managed, pulling his arm out of Natalia's grip. "It is a family issue. Ask her... ask her to call, will you?"
Natalia nodded and watched as Angus escaped the house. Her own thoughts were conflicted between thinking he had done the right thing and wondering whether that was the right thing. There was nothing he could do, right? It was not his place. He abandoned her. Which of those were true?
"Angus! Angus! Don't go!"
Katyusha burst into the room, eyes sliding past Natalia and landing on the closed front door. Eyes wide, she started running toward the door. Natalia made as to block her, but Ivan in a few strides had managed to grab her around the waist and keep her from reaching the door.
"What have you done? Let me go! How dare you, you–"
Natalia found her hands coming up to her ears to drown out her sister's screams. She did not want to hear it, she did not hear it, there was no one screaming at her... Her hands came down when she saw Kat fall into tears, her hands no longer beating against Ivan's chest, mouth and eyes no longer so angry.
"–have I done? What have I done?"
"I should make hot chocolate," Natalia found herself saying, looking up at her brother. Ivan's face was stern until she said those words, then it fell back into concern. Katyusha had always made them hot chocolate when they were not feeling good. She always did.
Does Kat even like hot chocolate?
Natalia stared at Ivan, waiting for a nod. He would know. He would correct her if she did not, right? Brother always... (no, he did not, do not fall into that trap!) always knew. At least he knew Kat better than she did, so...
Ivan did not nod. Simply stared back at Natalia with uncertainty on his face. The words could not be spoken with Kat right there, but Natalia could hear them. "Does she like hot chocolate?"
Neither of them had ever bothered to notice.
An hour later found the three of them on the couch, untouched mugs of hot chocolate on the table. Kat had cried herself to sleep into Ivan's shoulder (it had finally been without reserve, it was Kat again). Natalia's head was resting in his lap. She stared at the wall, tears silently running sideways down her face.
Occasionally she felt Ivan's tears hit her cheek.
Notes:
Pills do take a long time to take effect, if you ask me. But the simple act of taking them gives you a mental turn about, caused internally more than from the actual drug.
