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Souls of the Night – Vol 3
46
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"You're almost silent in your prowling, Tachi. But only almost."
"You can't blame me for trying," the red-skinned female said as she stepped closer to him.
"I don't. I blame Sharif. He only sees himself and his little petty problems. I resent his ignorance of his involvement in what's to come," Ares growled sullenly, narrowing his eyes as around two a.m. Lexington Wyvern and Nathaniel Sharif -unseen by all but one of the secretive Xanatos Enterprises chauffeurs - walked through the back entrance of House B to a limo and Wyvern even held the door open for the assumed human. He could see them both smiling.
"Obviously one heart and one soul," Ares growled, twirling the shaft of one of his arrows in his hand.
"I can't let you do what's obviously increasingly on your mind, Uncle."
Ares shuddered at the title he had not earned and would never earn. He rose from the roof of House C in one fluid motion, elegant and seemingly unaffected - his role not at all in keeping with his current inner life. He tried to hide his dismay at Tachi's endearment with an aloof smile and a quip.
"Since I'm Alexander's mate and you address each other as brother and sister, I'd probably be more like your brother-in-law, rookling."
"I'm so used to stupid-acting uncles, you just earned that title. Don't nail me on genealogical niceties."
Tachi flashed one of those oddly knowing but also unsettling smirks that left no conclusion as to what was going on in her head but made it clear that MUCH was going on in it. Ares had also seen this smile at dinner with his in-laws. At David Xanatos.
Ares swallowed. "Now I realize what Alexander meant, even if he hadn't been able to explain the details of what happened. How much of him might have passed on to you?"
"A question to which any answer, however formulated, would not give you any satisfaction. And it wasn't just something from him that migrated to me. This other part wants to knock you out and get rid of the danger. Yet it is the Xanatos part of me that wonders who is in danger here," she said cryptically and wandered around him without taking her eyes off him.
Ares was proud of himself for having handled the dinner with the Xanatos couple so well, but now - with this threat to his mates and his nerves on edge - he couldn't hide how much Tachi was bugging him.
"You can't knock me out, rookling."
The girl chuckled softly and shrugged her narrow shoulders. "No. Not with this juvenile body, barely on the threshold of being a female. Just because the duality in my trinity is mature doesn't help me physically. So I limit myself to observing."
"How can you let this go on if you suspect something fatal is about to happen?"
"I would make an effort to change your mind - or change anything major at all - if I thought it would make a fucking difference. But why waste resources on it. I'm playing with the cards we're dealt."
Ares turned away from her with an agitated movement, spreading his wings, his forearm spikes erect in fury as he watched the limo glide away, gesturing in that direction.
"Sharif and Lexington! The clan! They're so clueless, it's driving me crazy. Brooklyn and Goliath wanted to talk to me because of my distancing behavior. And me! I just wanted to jump in their faces the whole time! They're more concerned about why we're not eating or train or patrol with them than about the reasons behind Alexander's "malaise". How can they be so blind! And Alex wants to keep them clueless for as long as possible while he and Flora-."
Ares roared in distress, biting his lower lip so hard that he drew blood.
While he was still breathing hard, Tachi stepped next to him with his arms crossed and looked in the direction in which the red taillights of the car disappeared. "Well, I hope you're feeling better now... Ares. I'm not trying to wind you up. I don't trust you any further than I can throw you, but I don't loathe you for your inability to accept things bigger than you or us. I've never seen a gargoyle carry my creations with such grace and naturalness and I don't want to lose that. But you're messing up something that you don't understand when you take pieces out of the puzzle. Alex can see that. You haven't known my brother as long as I have. Alexander - and probably Flora, since she's connected to his energy, among other things - are so much more resilient than you can imagine. If Alex had wanted you to intervene, he would have told you. But he doesn't want you involved in this. You wouldn't be an assett at this point, to put it in Xanatos terminology."
"I am his MATE! I am still his mate and I will protect Alexander and Flora with everything I can throw into the balance - however small my resources may be."
"I CAN'T let you kill Uncle Nate. We don't kill clan members. We find other solutions."
"What if there are no other solutions?"
"What if this is exactly the wrong solution! What if the powers in and around Nathaniel can't be stopped by his death? What if this is what releases them?"
Ares took a step back and stared at Tachi.
"Did you talk to Alex?" he asked, repulsed.
Tachi cracked a smile.
"We've been over this already. I observe and come to my own conclusions. Ares, shortcuts always have pitfalls."
"So what are you going to do now? Why are you here, Tachi, if you think there's no point in trying to talk me out of it?"
"What has to happen has happened, otherwise it wouldn't happen."
"Don't give me the time-travel wisdom! What if I killed Nathaniel? What if THAT is what has to happen? Even you can't see into the future."
"Who told you that I don't care more about YOUR future?"
She took a deep breath and the two gargoyles looked at each other wordlessly. Ares was so tired. So helpless. He hated feeling helpless.
"Why isn't anyone doing anything? Am I the only one? The only one who feels the looming menace like a veil over this city?" he wondered more to himself than to Tachi.
"I think it's likely that Alex has cast a little spell that they won't interfere so much in his affairs and won't question his excuses if you don't question their behavior." Tachi said casually, smirking at Ares' horrified look. "Wouldn't be the first time. Wouldn't you, as a magic gifted, learn something like this with a gargoyle clan as your family?"
Ares cracked a smile himself. "Yes, I would. Why doesn't it work on you?"
"Who said it wouldn't work on me? It works - absolutely. I feel this urge to leave you alone, to leave Alexander alone. I WANT to believe him - but I think ... my love and desire to believe take a back seat to my better judgment. Perhaps a side effect of the nature of my brain. It's not easy to be a third person in my head sometimes. Not like a split personality - everything is me, I know that. And yet I am made to see the big picture. And in all of this ... there's just not much room for external interference." Ares had wrapped his wings around himself again, looking at Tachi wearily and thoughtfully.
"If you're worried about whether Alex would manipulate you the same way ... I think you being here is proof to the contrary. But ... if you asked him for it - for this mercy - he would grant it to you," the red female added.
Ares now regarded her with something that could only be described as affectionately reverent, although doubts remained as to whether he meant the following words seriously or with irony.
"This clan can only prosper if you become leader, dearest future Rhydderch," he said.
"Thanks - I think. We all play a vital role in the tapestry of life and destiny, even if most of us don't know or realize how big our role was until after our death. Your role is important too, archer"
"And yet you will fight me if I want to kill Sharif?"
"Yes. With all my goddamn might. Because I will and I have."
"I see," he muttered, putting his arrow back in his quiver.
Tachi smiled, so much older the expression than her true age. She seemed so overpowering despite her delicate figure - and yet Ares realized that something had been stolen from her. She probably felt it as a necessary loss - but she still lacked the light-heartedness, innocence and blissful cluelessness that should characterize some years of life.
"Neither you, Ares, nor I will stop what has to happen. One way or another. Don't be a fucking idiot. Who can, may and should push whom in a certain direction is not yet clear. That's exactly why Alex doesn't let the clan in on everything. He gives them the grace of ignorance for as long as he can. It's a god move. It seems unwise, but what could they do? Hide themselves? Hide Nathaniel? From what? From who? From himself? Would more training help the clan in the coming battles? I have no idea what is coming but if training would help, he would let us know. But since that's not on his agenda, it wouldn't help if we started preparing. Why? Because probably not even Alex knows WHAT exactly we should prepare for. Just the fact that he doesn't involve me is a sign of how steamy this shit can get. Mortals have a tendency to rattle the very chains that hold the world together just because they can't stand the pressure. Stop rattling, Ares."
"It is not in the nature of gargoyles to do nothing. You know that."
"I know that. And I didn't tell you not to do anything or order you not to do anything. I simply asked you to have faith in Alexander and equanimity for the flow of this world. Because even if he hasn't told me what's coming ... and that "what" will be big and powerful, maybe a storm surge that will sweep us all away ... then it will happen or not happen the way it should, must and will."
"But Alex and Flora are fading away. Now! I can't - they can't leave me alone," Ares whispered.
"They won't. They never will. Here! Catch!" she called out and threw something to Ares. He caught it on reflex and looked down at the small flipped-open hand mirror. "Oh, damn," he gasped before he was pulled into the mirror by magic ... and fell onto the bed in Alexander's bedroom not a second later.
"Hello Prickly," Alexander hummed. Ares huffed but managed a smile, unable to be angry with his mate. It was almost dark in the room. That was no problem for Ares. He saw the slender shapes of his mates in the sheets. There was a smell of fast-burning magical energy in the room... remotely like smoldering rubber.
Alex lifted his trembling hand and Ares crawled up in bed so his human mate could caress his cheek. Flora grumbled without opening her deep-set eyes and Ares nuzzled her pale face, her hair cracking and breaking like the parched branches it currently was.
"Lexington sent me a tape," Alex murmured, handing Ares his cell phone. The gargoyle struggled a little with the device, which was still unfamiliar to him, then the video was played. The recording was short.
"So they know now?"
"They know that something has remained inside him. I didn't think it was that strong on its own. Without fire."
"Maybe Sharif is letting it grow strong."
"Maybe. Lexington wants it removed."
"But this is perfect. Without it, Sharif becomes fully human."
"And that could be dangerous... Leaving Nathaniel as an hollow shell. Even removing one piece of him was tricky."
"But if we don't - I don't know - purify him, how do we avert the danger? How do we stop it from sucking on your and Puck's power and rattling your inner barriers?"
"It rattles because it wants to return to its wind. Because it still has a connection to it. If we cut that connection, we cut its power. Like the flame that goes out without oxygen. Owen and I have found a vessel of power that could accomplish this act."
"Could?"
"Will. It will. Nate just has ... to touch it. It will wound him minimally because it always craves blood. One drop of blood is enough. Later, you can read the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty, then you'll understand it better. It has the power to cut threads of magic that stretch across a single body, to put power to sleep that is active and to release power that seemed to be asleep. In the latter respect, it is akin to the Eye of Odin."
"How do we know that this thing won't release Sharif's power that you captured?"
"Impossible without him demanding that power back. The package will arrive in the mail next week. Strange to have something so powerful sent by UPS."
"So only another week?"
Alex smiled and nodded wearily. Ares rubbed cold sweat from his forehead. Could it be that easy? Had Tachi been right? Did Alex have an agenda and everything would work out without Manhattan being flooded with blood?
"What can I do for you?" Ares asked.
"Just stay with us," Alex said. And sighed with apparent satisfaction as his mate sank down in their midst.
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Nathaniel set his tray down between me and Anthony with a red head.
"Someone's into the company jello," Ali said with a grin.
"The cafeteria ladies gave it to me."
"Oh- Mommie's favorite," Chad scoffed.
"And the people in line behind me were whispering. Do you know what they call me?"
"The gargoyle whisperer," I said chuckling before grabbing one of the five bowls of jello. As the boss, I could of course have as many of them as I wanted. But stealing from my secret boyfriend (which Nate was probably even grateful for because he couldn't get that much Jell-O down) was so much more delicious.
"How did you know about that?" Nathaniel groaned, and would probably have banged his head theatrically on the tabletop if our trays weren't placed there. We had resumed the new routine of eating together (me and team 34) seamlessly and without much formality. Lavonne and Ali didn't hold my behavior against me, but the fact that Nate was now feeling the consequences of his intervention (in a positive way) was something he had to learn to live with. It was another good exercise for his backbone and self-awareness.
Whereby we worked on other kinds of self-awareness. I was pleased to see that Nate was combating his discomfort by tugging on the wristband I had given him. It was nothing special and had cost less than two dollars. It was a Prussian blue band that he could also use to tie his hair up. It was a placeholder for his urge to render his skin blue. A cheap compensation mechanism in the truest sense of the word, but I knew it would work. After all, Nathaniel had also used a cloth ribbon I'd given him as a comforter in the spring shortly before he'd become a gargoyle. He was receptive to such items as long as they had a positive significance for him.
"He probably knows because he reads the informal, cross-house company newsletter on the staff website, unlike you, obviously. You've made the front page again with your glorious deeds."
"Maaaann, why didn't you just kick me out," my friend hissed accusingly. Ohhh it was so hard not to kiss him when he was like that. Could you die of adorable?
"And throw good tea to the wind? Get over it, Mr. Sharif," I said, spooning up my jelly carefree and gleeful (and only visibly proud for my friend who was glaring at me).
"And you like that idea?"
"Well. You are undoubtedly a gargoyle whisperer. I gladly embraced this tea break. And it's entertaining what people gossip to each other. I'm not offended when they write or whisper among themselves that Nathaniel Sharif has tamed the 'boss beast'. That sounds like I'm almost approachable."
The people at the table laughed good-naturedly while he sighed shrilly and slapped his hands over his face.
"Ohhh poor disturbed pup. Don't flex* your interracial social skills if you don't want anyone to know you're a slayer," Lavonne crooned, patting the back of Nathaniel's lowered head while flashing a shit eating grin that made even me laugh.
"And I'm sitting here getting through it - no doubt you can too," I added. My tone was rather indifferent. But under the table, unnoticed by the others, I had wrapped my tail comfortingly around his ankle during my statement.
A shameful blush colored his cheeks and he lowered his eyes in an effort not to look at me. But his smile approved of my act.
"Yes, I can take it," he said confidently and quietly at the same time, because this reassurance was basically just for him and me. It was nice with Nathaniel after we reconciled. Our relationship was easier despite the sometimes painful honesty that robbed us both of our illusions. But that's what brought us closer together. We didn't have to try to be perfect for each other. We were both allowed to admit our quirks, insecurities and fears and knew that the other wouldn't hold it against us as long as we didn't act like it was a dirty secret.
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"I'm going to get a Coke, anyone want something?" Lex said after a few minutes while I was still eating. The cafeteria had emptied, but this time Ali had gotten into a conversation with Lex about the early Dreamworks Animation Studios movies, including Shrek, which was Chad and Ali's favorite film series. Such a discussion about references to the real Middle Ages and mythical creatures or fairy tale characters took longer but was so entertaining that no one minded. And honestly - who better to prolong a break with than the boss?
I saw my glass was empty and knew Lex didn't even like Coke THAT much. Which meant he wanted to get something for me. I kept biting my lower lip in an effort not to smile. He was so attentive, he was so courteous. And it was tiny gestures that didn't overwhelm me but made me feel like he was spoiling me without making a fuss. He did it in passing. Like automatically stealing the two green jellies and leaving me the red ones (well, Lavonne and Chad had grabbed two of them but Lexington's gesture remained the same).
"Me, I'll have a Coke too," I said.
"Oh, service by the boss? Then I'll have a Sprite," Lavonne said.
"Water for Chad and me, thanks Lexington," said Alistair. Anthony declined with thanks, his glass was still half full.
"You're welcome," replied my friend, who was only serving the others as an alibi.
I looked after him with a smile as he slid off his chair and walked to the drinks dispenser at the other end of the big room. I loved his slightly bouncy, minimally stooped gait that indicated he was comfortable enough to keep his spine a little relaxed and not obsessively human-boss straight. And I wasn't lying about what a suit - even without the jacket - did to his frame, and I loved the way his flying skins moved when he swung his arms a little.
Lavonne leaned over to me conspiratorially, her eyes also on my favorite frog prince walking away.
"Man, Lex Eyrie's got a tight sweet bubble butt in those pants again. You're a lucky man, Nate," she murmured, and I made an approving, almost pining noise.
"AHA!" she exclaimed and I winced, staring at her. And it was only from her triumphant leap up and hands in the air and the wide eyes of the others that I realized my mistake.
"I knew it! I am SO good - hashtag precognition! You all owe me fifty! Didn't I tell you? Those photos were too good to be real."
"But the sand? And the sweat," Anthony moaned, unhappily pulling out his wallet.
"The light was right too," Ali grumbled, pulling out a hundred from wherever to pay for herself and her husband.
Lavonne plucked the money from her colleague's fingers.
"As if two nerds like that were going to the Grand Canyon - and neither of them was even remotely tanned or sunburned. Logic, guys. Next time, don't bet against me. Nobody in their right mind bets against the pack-mom."
She reached across the table and lovingly and gently closed my dropped jaw.
"Don't be mad at us, Nate. I wasn't mad at you either for trying to fool a brilliant woman like me with your fake photos."
"La-Lavonne-me-me-he and I, we're not-" I reached for my glass because my voice was so hoarse and my throat so dry that I could barely make a sound.
"You got busted, Nate - with your hand in the gargoyle-shaped cookie jar," Chad laughed.
"Oy, no sense in capping* anymore, baby deer," Lavonne crooned.
Unable to process it all and unable to take my horrified eyes off the she-devil of Team 34, I lifted my head and shouted,
"LEEEEEX! 911!" Lex!" I began to cough and gratefully grabbed the glass of Coke that Gargoyle hands placed in front of me and drank large gulps. Once again, I coughed harder - my colleagues waited discreetly for my near panic attack to fade while Lex patted me gently on the back.
"Are you okay, Nathaniel?" he asked, his gaze going back and forth between the very pleased (Lavonne and Chad) and somewhat concerned (Ant and Ali) humans in obvious confusion as to what was upsetting me.
"She- me and you- damn," I gasped, running my hands through my hair. Then I took a deep breath and got it out of my system. "They know. You- me, Gargoyle- Lex Eyrie-Lexington Wyvern. Boyfriends. Sorry."
"Oh, okay," Lex said (already practiced at putting my stress stuttering and choppy words together) and sat back down in his seat.
"Oh, okay? Just that? I blew it," I complained, not knowing if I was unhappy about Lexington's lack of agitation or my excess of it, which was probably overkill again because I didn't trust anyone on my team 34 to use something like that against us, but I had wanted SO badly to reveal such a secret on my terms. Of course they didn't know about the morphing patches but thought the photos were good fakes (apparently not good enough for Lavonne) - but it was still upsetting. I nervously plucked at my new band around my wrist.
"Nathaniel, we don't mind," Anthony said - again striving for harmony.
"It's actually pretty cool," Chad mused aloud and Ali nudged him in the ribs with her elbow.
"We're not blowing up your cover, if that's what you're thinking. And not just because-" Alistair's gaze went to Lex.
"Because I could get you all fired and shut you up too?" he offered helpfully, smiling rather wickedly.
"He would NEVER do that," I said firmly, my voice recovered.
"Were the photos really that bad? I even thought about the angle of the light and that the color of the light matched the background," Lexington asked, and Lavonne set about explaining with endearing smugness what she thought was fishy about each picture and how easy it was to draw conclusions from the names Lex Eyrie and Lexington Wyvern (resident of the Eyrie building).
"So... what's it like," Anthony asked after sipping his drink while Lavonne and Lex brainstormed about better future scams.
"He ... well, I don't feel great that I only made it into this frma because of my boyfriend. But ... I'm trying to make up for my missing classes."
"He may have gotten you through the door, but you'll only keep your job because of your skills. But that's not what Anthony meant," Ali said, and Ant ducked under her narrowing eyes, threatening not to say what was on his tongue. But I knew what it was like to be so curious that you practically ran face first into trouble (see Graziella Dracon spa night incident).
"He meant a Gargoyle as a lover," Lavonne closed the gap on being raunchy.
And now it was my turn to squirm and I was getting all hot with embarrassment. My eyes went to Lex and he smirked, probably wanting to leave the answering to me. Yes - how was that - sex with a gargoyle? After all, it wasn't as if I'd had REAL penetrative sex with a gargoyle while I was a human.
"It's okay," Anthony squeaked, clearly unhappy that everyone was listening now when he had wanted to be so secretive before.
"You brought up the subject," the pack mom teased him,
"Geez Lavonne, let it go, that's sexual harassment. He can sue you," Chad warned, but you could tell from his tone that he didn't really trust me to do that, which I really gave him credit for.
"But he won't. Nathaniel loves me. Don't you, Nate?"
"Like... Like a pack mom?" I offered.
She grinned. "'S good enough for me. We still want to know what sex with a gargoyle is like."
"You want to know, Lavonne. Only you still want to hear it said out loud. Because you're a pervert."
"Calling it perverted is racist, Chad."
The alleged racist thought about it for a second before his eyes widened and now he blushed. "Sorry," he mumbled but scratched his forehead thoughtfully, trying to figure out if he had really said something racist. I looked briefly at my friend to see if he had taken offense at the direction of the conversation but he didn't seem to mind and so I took it in stride. We were probably both influencing each other with our moods and trying to keep each other humored. Also a gargoyle quirk.
"Both people involved are sentient beings capable of consenting and speaking - sex is therefore perfectly fine," Ali commented.
"So - if I could talk to a goat and it could talk to me and we could consent - that would be okay too?" asked Chad.
"Don't be ridiculous Chad. No goat in the world would stoop THAT low," Lavonne quipped.
Ant, Lex and I laughed, but only because Ali grinned rather snarkily. She and Lavonne were friends. Women could say things like that to each other because Lavonne had also poked a little fun at Ali with that comment. Not that she couldn't counter to achieve the higher goal of making her husband and best friend squirm a little.
"Does the goat look good? Would it agree to a threesome? Or even a partner swap, because I'm thinking about it," Ali asked dry as a bone.
Her husband moved closer to her and although the muscular blond jock was half a head taller than her, he leaned his head on her shoulder.
"You'd never swap me, darling. We're onions - you and me," and everyone at the table including me and Lex made a rapturous 'Awww' at the rendered Shrek quote.
"You're such a sap," Ali grumbled but patted his cheek affectionately.
"So if you want to be less obvious in other people's company- fanum taxing each other's food should be avoided. And checking out your husband's butt," the pack mom said, helpfully changing the subject.
"Oh, you did that?" Lex asked with mischief in his voice and I really couldn't think of anything to deflect it with.
"Nate could have just looked at him because he was ... well, a gargoyle. Lexington must be used to stares," Alistair whispered.
"I am, yes. But Nathaniel's stares are the best, of course," my boyfriend said, still preening about how his ass was checkout material for me (oh, he would savor that for a long time) and enjoying the fact that I was melting in my seat with shame and happiness at the corny statement.
"Oh, that's so smooth. You guys are cute. I approve."
"Well, I'm glad you approve of our relationship, Lavonne," I said, chuckling as the woman nodded so vigorously that her afro jiggled back and forth.
"And ... you want to keep this a secret from the rest of the company, that is, from everyone?" Anthony asked.
" For a start. It ... would be too much to explain," I said with awkwardness.
"Nate has to have his credentials so it doesn't look like - well, like he's permanently guilty of accepting benefits. And then we both have to be comfortable with it," Lex pointed out.
"But later ... Someday," I thought aloud, mirroring Lexington's wide hopeful smile. Yeah - here and now, I didn't think with a fiber about the echoes or the entity inside me. Maybe all I really needed was time, distraction and people who were good for me and gave me structure and a sense of belonging. I couldn't believe how easily and comfortably the topic of me and Lexington being a couple passed. Of course, the people on my team were extraordinarily wonderful and inclusive, but - I felt kind of stupid for not trusting them more. This world was full of cruel, vicious, spiteful people - I knew that. But in this society, I could almost forget that. My homosexuality had been well accepted. My defensiveness in the fight with Floyd and Natascha had not been held against me. Nor that I was a "gargoyle whisperer". Perhaps I gave humanity in general too little credit. Maybe everything really would work out in time.
"If you decide to do this at some point ... you should get partner tattoos," Chad suggested. "Like- like a tattooed ring around your ring finger. Because jewelry as a gargoyle- that might get in the way of patrols-"
"But you do know that a tattoo is a wound and that gargoyle wounds disappear in stone sleep?" asked Lavonne.
"There are ways to get a permanent tattoo," Lex admitted, and just the thought that he and I might someday wear such ... signs of a bond. Signs of commitment! ... I didn't know whether my heart was racing with happiness or panic at not being worthy enough.
"Right, that gargoyle pop star from Europe has a few of those," said Ant and yes, he was right (not about the POP star, because he described himself as a ROCK star) - I had seen on the internet that he had tattoos.
"You have a tramp stamp, Chad - I saw it in the gym when you were bending over. You shouldn't tell anyone what to do with their body," Lavonne teased.
"Ali loves my tattoo!" Chad said indignantly and his wife rolled her eyes.
"I tolerate it, honey. That's different from liking it. But I knew about it before I married you and I love you anyway."
"So you BOTH have poor judgment," Lex commented with a beastly grin. They all stared at him for three seconds without his smile breaking where mine would have immediately done so. Then the others in the now empty cafeteria laughed and cheered.
"That was ON-POINT!" Anthony remarked with an unusually diabolical smile. "You made fun of one of us for the first time!"
"Two at once, even," I said and ... Was it wrong to be proud of Lex for that?
"Now we've got you! You've tasted the dark side of the Force and you can never go back," Chad cheered, raising his hand for a high five, which Lex met with his high four, laughing.
"That makes it official! Lexington is one of us! The pack mom has spoken, there's no going back."
"Cheers to the second working couple on Team 34," Ali exclaimed, raising her glass. Neither I nor Lex commented that my frog prince couldn't really be part of Team 34 because he was still the boss. Or that he and I couldn't officially be a couple or a duo or whatever. But here - between us and only us ... this assessment was perfect and wonderful.
Terms:
Flex: Gen Zers uses "flex" to describe someone showing off, gloating, or parading around
Capping: To lie. Specifically, saying someone is "capping" or "cap" means to say they are lying. On the other hand, if someone says "no cap", it means they aren't lying.
Always beautiful scenes before I drag you down. I think ... one or two more chapters where it's "nice". And then you should grab something or someone to snuggle for comfort. And don't forget - Miller still sneaks around the company every night to carry out his evil plan. But the company isn't REALLY his target, it's what he saw in Darkwing's photo. The tension curve is rising.
Thanks for reading Q.T.