Devon puffed out her cheeks in frustration as she sat on one of the Ramshackle lounge's couches, her sketchbook open on her lap. Ever since Vil had gone out of his way to assure her parents about the training camp's meal plan, she'd found herself on much better terms with him. That and the fact that she'd grown to appreciate Rook's eccentricities the more time they spent together made her think it was time to design mugs for the two of them to go with the ones she'd made for everyone else. Problem was, she was a bit stuck on what she wanted their designs to be. She knew she'd be keeping the same star and moon background she'd used for Epel's since they were all in the same dorm, but she wasn't sure she knew them well enough yet to pick something out for the emblems. She'd thought of using Rook's signature feathered hat at first, but quickly realize that there wouldn't be enough space in the coffin shape for it to be clear that's what it was supposed to be. She ran into a similar problem trying to use the headpiece he wore with his dorm uniform; it ended up looking more like a patch of bramble than anything else. She was beginning to think a more tradition crown might be the best way to go but-
"My, you certainly seem to be thinking hard about something."
Devon yelped at the sound of Vil's voice and chucked the sketchbook across the room before she could stop herself. She turned toward the sound of his voice to see him standing in the doorway to the lounge watching her with an expression that was equal parts puzzled and amused.
"Hmm. Well that wasn't suspicious at all," he snarked as he walked into the room and sat next to her.
Devon let out an embarrassed laugh as Regina jostled the floorboards to snap the book shut and move it back toward her so she could pick it up. "Yeah, I know. It's just that I was workin' on a surprise for you and Rook, so I panicked when I heard you."
Vil quirked a brow at her. "So you decided to draw more attention to whatever you were doing by throwing something across the room?"
"Hey, it's not entirely my fault. I thought you all were gonna be off doing club stuff until later this evening," Devon huffed as she puffed out her cheeks again.
"Yes, well, the Film Studies Club ended up having to wrap early today," Vil explained. "One of our leads for the film we're shooting fell ill and his scenes couldn't be recast with another actor or given to another character. It's frustrating, but it can't be helped."
Devon smiled. "Y'know, I'm a little surprised you chose to start up a film club since you're already an actor. Did you ever think about trying something different or did always plan on doing something film-related with your club time?"
"Oh, there was no question that whatever I did would involve acting or filmmaking," Vil replied. "I never pass up a chance to improve on my craft."
"Heh. Spoken like a true professional," Devon commented. "Y'know, I've been thinkin' this for a while, but you remind me a lot of my cousin from back home."
"Ah, yes. You've mentioned her before. Valentina, wasn't it?" Vil recalled. "I believe you also said she had a modeling career as well."
"She does, but she's started stepping back from it recently," Devon told him. "Modeling was never something Val was especially passionate about; she'd rather be designing the clothes than wearing them." She caught Vil's questioning side eye. "Tia Camilla, Val's mom, pushed her into modeling when she was young. She's told me it's not something she would've ever chosen for herself, but she didn't want to let her mother down so…"
"So your aunt is a stage mom, then?" Vil asked.
Devon shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I don't really know her that well. She's not very fond of my parents, which means she's not a fan of me or my brothers by extension. She hasn't ever really been a part of our lives."
Vil blinked. "What could she possibly have against your parents? I've only spoken to them once, but even a relative stranger could see they're good people."
"Val tells me it's because she's jealous," Devon replied. "My grandparents did everything they could to their kids' every move. Mama and Tio Diego were pushed to their limit and refused to obey once they were adults, but Tia Camilla always did exactly what she was told, including marrying the man my grandparents picked out for her. I don't know the entire story there, but I do know that she and her husband can't stand each other. He's always been a pretty absent father to Val and uses his job as an excuse to stay away, but the few times I've met him he was decent enough. I know he cares about his daughter, but he just can't be in the same room as his wife."
"If they're that miserable, why haven't they divorced?" Vil asked.
"Pride, I think. Neither of them wants to be the one to call it quits, so they stay locked in a stalemate," Devon guessed. "Tia always resented my mom and tio for being able to live their lives how they wanted, but she got even frostier after my grandfather passed away. He and my grandmother hadn't spoken to either Mama or Tio since before my brothers and I were born, but I guess when he got sick, he decided he wanted to try to make amends in the time he had left. Tia was furious that she'd made herself miserable for years to stay in my grandparents' good graces, but Mama and Tio were still welcomed back so easily." She sighed. "It's not like I don't get where she's coming from, but the anger's definitely misplaced."
"Hmm. If your aunt is as prideful as you say, that might make it difficult for her to bring herself to get angry with your grandmother," Vil reasoned. "After all, it would mean having to admit that she wasted all those years trying to appease her parents. It sounds like she's been trying to raise your cousin the same way she was raised and to hold your grandmother accountable might also mean having to face that the way she raised her own daughter was wrong. How is her relationship with Valentina now?"
"It's…not great. And I'm pretty sure she blames us for it," Devon answered. "At first, Val was just as disdainful toward us as Tia still is, but we were thankfully able to work things out. She started turning to our family for the support she wasn't getting from her own parents and…well, you've met Mama and Papa. After Val told us what she really wanted to do, they encouraged her to go after it. Tia didn't take Val putting her foot down very well, accused her of being "out of control"."
"Out of her control," Vil clarified.
Devon nodded. "Exactly. And it only got worse once Val and Monique started getting serious. She'd been planning to arrange for Val to marry the son of some other wealthy family, but Val flat out refused. To Tia's credit, Val hadn't come out to her until that point and she did offer to find her a wife instead once she knew, but Val still wasn't having it."
"So why didn't she think Monique would be a good match for her daughter?" Vil asked.
"Monique's family doesn't come from money, plain and simple," Devon supplied. "I doubt Tia's even bothered to get to know Monique, because if she did, she'd realize how great she and Val are together. Last I heard, she was outright refusing to come to the wedding. We're hoping that once she takes a step back to really think about what she's doing, she'll get over herself, but given her track record…"
"Do you really think she'd miss her only child's wedding?" Vil asked.
"I don't know. I mean, I hope not. Val's pretty good at hiding it, but I know it's been weighing on her," Devon said. She grinned over at Vil, looking to lighten the mood. "I think you two would get along. You guys are a lot alike and I don't just mean career choice."
"If she's anything like you, I'm sure she'll keep me on my toes," Vil replied before standing and motioning for her to follow him. "Now come with me. We need to get dinner started before the others get back. I'm not in the mood to listen to them whine about how hungry they are once they return."
The sound of a ringing cellphone brought Deuce into the Ramshackle lounge the next afternoon. He recognized the ringtone as Devon's right away and, as she'd been dragged off to the school store by Ace and Kalim to pick up some Vil-approved snacks for the movie night they somehow got everyone to agree to, at first he'd intended to ignore it. Apparently the caller wasn't content to be sent to voicemail because after the briefest of pauses the phone would begin ringing again. He picked up the phone hoping it wasn't one of her family members calling about some sort of emergency and was more than a little surprised to see Madison's name flash on the screen. Devon had given him her phone's passcode just in case and, while he wondered it was his place to answer the call, he knew Devon and Madison hadn't spoken since before the former arrived in Twisted Wonderland and he didn't want Madison to think Devon was snubbing her if she was reaching out to try to patch things up. The phone kept ringing as he debated with himself, so he took it as a sign and answered the call. "Hello?"
There was silence on the other end and then, "…You're not Devon."
"Uh, no, I'm not. My name's Deuce and I'm a friend of Devon's from school," Deuce explained.
"Heh. A few months at that fancy invite-only boarding school and she's already got people answering the phone for her. No surprise there," Madison quipped, though Deuce could tell that there wasn't any bite to her words.
"Ah heh heh," he chuckled awkwardly. "N-Not exactly. Dev just got dragged off by some of our friends to go on a snack run for our movie night and I guess they pulled her out the door before she could grab her phone. I only answered because I didn't want you to think she was ignoring you."
"You…You know who I am?" Madison asked, sounding genuinely (and, Deuce noticed, hopefully) surprised. "She's told her friends there about me?"
"Of course she has. You're her best friend from back home," Deuce replied, taking care not to reveal too much about Devon's situation.
"I'm surprised she considers me her best anything after the way we left things," Madison said wryly.
"Dev's got a talent for seeing the best in people and she's not in the habit of giving up on anyone," Deuce replied. "You two may have hit a rough patch, but the fact that you're reaching out like this proves that you still care about your friendship too. I'm just sorry you happened to call while she was out. She shouldn't be gone for too much longer, if you wanted to try back a little later."
Madison blew out a breath. "I…I don't know. I know it'll take more than just one phone call to fix things, but I wanted to get the ball rolling while I finally had the nerve to reach out. I don't want to give myself the chance to talk myself out of this."
"I understand. It's a 'strike while the iron's hot' kind of situation, huh? Well…if it's not too awkward, you could always just stay on the line with me until she gets back? It might help settle your nerves," Deuce suggested. He could tell by Madison's tone that she really did want to make things right with Devon, but he could definitely understand her nervousness.
"I…" Madison hesitated for a moment before steeling her resolve. "Yeah, I think I like that idea." She wasn't sure why she agreed as quickly as she did. He may have been one of Devon's friends, but this Deuce guy was still a stranger to her. Even so…she couldn't quite explain it, but there was an earnestness in his voice that she liked. It wasn't often she met someone who offered to help just for the sake of helping. Besides, a distraction sounded amazing right now. "So how long have you and Dev known each other? You seem like you know her pretty well."
"I like to think so. We've been friends since we started school here. We're in the same class and everything," Deuce told her. "We got into a little bit trouble that resulted in us accidentally destroying a near priceless chandelier, but that's a story for another time."
"Uh, hold up, I think that should very much be a story for this time," Madison protested in amused bewilderment. "You can't just drop that on me and then not follow through, my guy. How in the world did you guys even manage that?"
"It wasn't our fault," Deuce huffed. "Two of our other friends-though we weren't exactly friends just yet-got in trouble for fighting on campus and then tried to skip out on their punishment. We were just trying to make 'em face up to the trouble they'd caused! Besides, the chandelier got fixed in the end, so everything worked out. It's a good thing, too; I don't know how I would've faced my mom if I'd gotten expelled."
"You and your mom are close, then?" Madison asked.
"Extremely," Deuce replied. "She's easily the most important person in my life. She was so proud when I got into Night Raven College; I can't stand the thought of disappointing her."
"That's really sweet," Madison commented. Deuce couldn't help grinning when he heard the smile in her voice. "My mom and I are really close too. My dad walked out on us when I was little, so it's just been me and her for most of my life."
Deuce blinked. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear about your dad. I never knew mine, so I can only imagine how hard it was for you…"
"We're better off without him, trust me," Madison insisted bitterly. "I just wish I hadn't been old enough to remember the time before he left. He wasn't perfect, but I remember him actually being an okay dad for a while. Now every time someone calls me Maddie, my skin crawls." She took a deep breath to calm herself before changing the subject. "Anyway, from what I've overheard from Devon's brothers, it sounds like she's been doing well there."
"Umm, yeah, she is. I know she struggled with homesickness at first, but she's really carved out a place at NRC. Most of the student body is pretty fond of her and I know some of our teachers have a soft spot for her too," Deuce supplied
Madison let out a rueful chuckle. "Heh. That doesn't surprise me in the least. She's always had a knack for winning people over. It'd be irritating as hell if she weren't so dang likeable."
"I know things have been strained between the two of you," Deuce began cautiously, "but would you mind if I asked what happened? Devon never really gave any specifics."
"Probably because she didn't know the reason," Madison said with a sigh. "I've known Devon for forever; I've always known how talented and good with people she is and I knew that I could never be either, at least not in the way Devon was. It didn't bother me much until we started going to school together…"
"And then you were around it every day…," Deuce finished.
"Exactly. I was just getting to a point where the upperclassmen actually knew my name after going to the same school as some of them and seeing them pretty much every day for years. Devon and her brothers are there barely two weeks and somehow everyone knows their names. And the kicker is that I don't think any of them did anything to intentionally make it happen," Madison continued.
"But…Dev's showed us some of the cheer routines you put together. You're clearly capable and pretty on top of that. I have a hard time imagining someone like you being concerned about what anyone else thinks," Deuce replied.
"You'd think so, huh? Unfortunately, I have what my therapist calls "an overwhelming need for external validation likely stemming from self-worth issues" caused by dear old dad leaving," Madison remarked dryly, trying to sound flippant as a defense mechanism but Deuce could hear the hurt in her voice. "The logical part of me knows I shouldn't care and I'm trying to refocus my concern on what the people who actually matter to me think of me, but it's a process. He also saddled me with some serious abandonment issues as a nice little bonus prize, which wasn't helped by seeing my best friend almost constantly surrounded by people that were way cooler than me." She sighed. "I know Dev's not the type of person to abandon a friend but…"
"But you couldn't get the what-ifs out of your head?" Deuce finished. "And you tried to push Devon away before she could do it to you?"
"It…sounds even dumber out loud," Madison groaned, shaking her head. "There's no way she'll want to talk to me. Not after all this."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Deuce argued gently. "Devon's not one to mince words, so I doubt she'd have any issue with blasting you to the ends of the world if she really didn't want anything more to do with you. Aside from a few vague mentions about things being "complicated" with you, everything she's told us has been positive. You're right that one phone call won't make it all better, but I think you both owe it to yourselves to try to fix this. I think it's pretty clear that you both want to." Just then, Deuce heard the sound of the front door opening and muffled conversation making its' way toward the lounge. "Sounds like everyone just got back. What's it gonna be, Madison?"
Madison took a deep breath before nodding to herself. "I say…that Lawrences don't back down. Let's do this. And, um…," She hesitated for a split-second before pushing forward, "thanks for the advice. I didn't mean to unload my personal problems onto you like that, but you're very easy to talk to."
"Oh, heh, it's no problem," Deuce assured her. "I'm just glad I was able to help you and Dev."
As if on cue, Devon walked into the lounge. "Hey, Deuce. Did I leave my phone in-" She paused when she caught sight of the phone in his head. "Guess that answers that question. Everything okay?"
"I…guess that depends on you. It's Madison," Deuce explained, keeping his voice low. He registered Devon's eyes widening in surprise, but she didn't say anything right away. "I know things haven't been great between you two and it's totally up to you whether you wanna take the call or not, but I personally think you should."
Devon gave him a look that, while it wasn't angry, indicated that they'd be talking about this later, but she held out her hand to take the phone just the same. "…Madison?"
"Hey, Devon," came Madison's hesitant reply. There was more than a hint of nervousness in her voice as well as a…well, a warmth that Devon hadn't heard from her in a long time. "Long time, no talk."
"No kidding," Devon replied as she headed back to her room for some privacy, signaling to Deuce to let the others know she'd join them once she was done. "I have to say, this was on my list of things I thought might happen today. Not that I'm unhappy to hear from you or anything, it's just…"
"No, I get it. I'm just grateful you wanted to talk to me at all after what a colossal bitch I've been," Madison reassured her.
"Your words, not mine," Devon snarked, grinning when she heard Madison's snort of laughter of the other end.
"Yeah, I deserve that." Madison's tone grew more somber as she continued. "I've been doing a lot of thinking since you've been gone. It's been really weird not having you around and the longer you've been gone, the more I realized that I didn't like the way we left things. The way I left things, really, I mean, you didn't do anything wrong. I do wish you'd told me about heading off to that new school but I can't really blame you for keeping it to yourself after how I'd acted about cheer."
"In all fairness, I didn't have the time to let anyone know," Devon replied. "I do have to ask, what made you decide to reach out now?"
Madison chewed the inside of her lip as she thought about how to answer. "I finally read that letter you wrote me over Christmas break. I put it off because I was sure you were gonna say you wanted to end our friendship for good but…" She felt her voice start to wobble as her eyes grew misty. "But then you did that thing you always do where you say exactly what I need to hear to kick my insecurities and hangups to the curb. You've been so good to me despite what a dumpster fire of a person I've been to you and I've always known deep down that I don't deserve you and…"
Devon remained quiet as Madison took a beat to collect herself, despite her objections. There'd be a time for that, she knew, but right now Madison needed her to hear her out.
"My point is, that letter was the tipping point for me," Madison continued, fighting to keep her voice steady despite the tears that were now threatening to fall. She was grateful that she'd more or less rehearsed her talking points with Deuce beforehand; she wasn't sure she'd have been able to keep her thoughts together otherwise. Devon already knew about what had happened with her father and she seemed to have at least some idea of the toll it had taken on Madison, but she'd never actually put her insecurities into words outside of her therapy sessions.
Again, Devon kept herself quiet even though she wanted nothing more than to find a way to reach through the phone and give her best friend a hug. Madison had never been one to show weakness, not even in a manipulative sense, so to hear her put a voice to her self-deprecating thoughts was nearly enough to break Devon's heart. She was pleasantly surprised at the news that Madison was now in therapy, but she knew from experience that it would take some time for her to internalize these less toxic ways of thinking.
Madison, meanwhile, was still going strong. "I mean, my stomach always sank every time I saw people coming up to you in the halls or waving you over to sit with them at lunch. I thought it was only a matter of time before you finally wised up and ditched me for someone as awesome as you, but you never did. I drove myself out of my mind waiting for the other shoe to drop that I guess I just kinda…dropped it myself, y'know? Push you away before you could leave on your own. At least then it would be on my terms…"
"Damn…," Devon said softly after Madison had finished. "I had no idea you'd been feeling that way, Madison. I wish you'd said something sooner. Heck, I wish I'd had the guts to bring it up myself. I just didn't wanna risk pressuring you and making you close yourself off."
"Girl, you have nothing to feel guilty about. Believe me, I wish I'd gotten out of my head for a minute and said something too. We probably could've avoided all this," Madison replied before let out a sardonic chuckle. "But that would've been the mature thing to do, right? Can't have that." She sighed. "Anyway, I didn't tell you all that because I'm trying to use it as an excuse, but I need you to know where I've been coming from now that I've gotten past my emotional constipation. I've still got a lot of work to do on myself before I'm even close to the person I want to be but if you're willing to give me another chance, I want to put in the work to fix our friendship. It's been a long time coming, but I am so sorry, Devon. For everything. And I'll do whatever I have to to make things right with us."
Devon was silent for a moment as Madison's sincerity washed over her via her blessing. She been tuned into her friend's emotions since they were young, though she naturally didn't know the reason at the time. She interpreted the fact that she could still read Madison's emotions so clearly even when they were literally worlds apart as a good omen, a sign that their bond was still strong despite everything. She let out a sigh of relief as she sunk into the armchair by the fireplace. "Two conditions."
Madison blinked. "What?"
"I'll forgive you on two conditions," Devon elaborated. "First, you will not be the only one working to fix things here; we will both do the heavy lifting. Don't you remember all those afterschool specials we watched when we were kids? Friendship's a two-way street, sweets. Which leads nicely into my second condition: the next time you start feeling like you don't deserve me, please, please, please tell me. I'll be more than happy to give you all the reassurance you want, but I need to know that's what you need. Here, I'll give you one right now: Nobody can decide who's worthy of me except me and guess what, loser?" She grinned as she wiped her own happy tears away." I chose you when we were kids and I'm choosin' you now, so you're just gonna have to deal with bein' stuck with me forever. If you can agree to that, Ms. Lawrence, I think we've got a pretty good chance of weathering this storm."
Madison's responding laugh was equal parts amused and relieved, sounding with each passing second like the old friend Devon loved and missed. It was only when she physically felt herself relax that she realized how tense she'd been. "You drive a hard bargain, Ms. Lopez, but I think I can agree to those terms. Now, I need to what's been going on with you. I've been beyond curious about that new school you've been going to and I'm even more interested now that I've talked to one of your friends."
"Hoo boy, where do I even start?" Devon did her best to recap her time at Night Raven College thus far while taking care to leave out the more magical bits. She didn't like leaving Madison in the dark, but they'd just started to patch things up. Trust would take time to rebuild, after all, and she didn't even know how to begin going about explaining her blessing. The
For her part, Madison proved herself to be a very attentive listener, asking an occasional question when she needed to but letting Devon tell her story mostly uninterrupted. She could hear how happy Devon was at NRC and while she felt her insecurities rear their heads when Devon talked about some of the new friends she'd made, she was able to keep herself grounded, especially after realizing something interesting about all of the friends and schoolmates Devon mentioned. "Just outta curiosity…have you only made friends with guys since you enrolled, Dev? I don't think I've heard you mention another girl friend yet."
"About that…" Devon debated for a moment about how much to reveal to Madison before deciding that this bit of information was safe enough. "Night Raven College is actually an all-boy's school. I didn't find out until I'd already arrived here, but I'm guessing it was my name that threw 'em off."
There was silence on the other end before Madison let out a "heh" that quickly grew into a chuckle before morphing into a full laughing fit. Devon couldn't help laughing with her, once again blown away by how ridiculous it all sounded. "Holy crap, Dev, that's the funniest thing I've heard in a while! Like, did they just not bother to do any kind of background check before they sent you the invite or letter or whatever they send prospective students?"
Devon let out a derisive snort. "C'mon, Mads. I just got finished tellin' ya what an idiot the headmaster is."
"Fair enough, but what did they do about your living situation? You said all the students live in dorms, right?" Madison asked. "Please tell me they didn't just drop you in there with a bunch of boys."
"Nope. The headmaster actually put me in an old dorm building that hadn't been used a…really long time. It was an absolute hovel when I got here, but Crowley wasn't expecting have to house a teenage girl at a school full of guys," Devon explained. "It's still a work in progress, but Ramshackle looks a lot better and I've pretty much got it all to myself."
"An entire dorm building with just you, huh? Do you ever get lonely?" Madison asked.
Devon snorted. "I mean, given that my friends tend to show up on my doorstep whenever the mood strikes 'em, I've always got someone here to keep me company."
"Heh. Well that's good, at least. It was probably a pretty big change going from living with your brothers to more or less living on your own. And if all your friends are like that Deuce guy I talked to a little bit ago, I know you'll be fine," Madison replied.
"Ha! I can't promise that Deuce is one of a kind, but the rest of 'em are pretty good guys too at the end of the day. Even the pains in the ass," Devon said.
As if on cue, there was a loud knock at Devon's door. "Yo, New York, are we doin' this or what?" Ace called to her from the other side.
"Oh snap, I completely forgot about that," Devon muttered, eliciting an amused chortle from Madison before calling back to Ace. "My bad, man. I'll be downstairs in a sec." She lowered for voice to talk to Madison again. "Well, it would appear that I'm being summoned."
"Right, Deuce mentioned you guys were having a movie night," Madison recalled. "Sorry for keeping you."
"Don't apologize. I'd take this conversation over a thousand movie nights," Devon assured her.
"Honestly, same," Madison agreed, "but I really shouldn't keep you any longer. What are you guys gonna watch?"
Devon grinned. "I'm about to introduce the boys to Mean Girls. Sadly, none of them have seen it."
"Tsk, typical," Madison scoffed. "Well go show those uncultured swines what a real cinema masterpiece is. Oh, and send me a pic of you in your school uniform when you get a chance. I'll…" The nervous hesitation from earlier crept into her voice again. "I'll talk to you later, then?"
"Lookin' forward to it," Devon replied. "Later, Mads."
Madison smiled. "Talk to you soon, bestie."
With that, the call disconnected, leaving both friends feeling lighter than they had in a long time.
Deuce was waiting for Devon as she walked into the lounge. "How'd it go? Are you and Madison good now?"
"I don't know that I'd say "good" quite yet, but I have a feeling we'll get there sooner rather than later," Devon replied happily.
Regina summoned Devon down to the foyer of Ramshackle a day or so later, where she saw Silver wearing an expression of both dread and guilt. It was Silver's eyes that gave him away, really; the rest of his face remained as impassive as always.
"Hey, you guys," Devon greeted. "It's not every day you two drop in for a visit." Her smile dropped slightly when she saw the looks on his face. "Is…everything okay?" It was then that she caught sight of the container Silver was holding. There was some sort of ominous black mass inside with actual fumes emanating from it. "…Do I even wanna know?"
"Father insisted on making dinner this evening," Silver explained, "and I made the mistake of mentioning how hard you'd been working and how much you've improved during our swordfighting lessons. He insisted on making a portion for you too as a reward. I tried to explain that you were following the same meal guidelines as the VDC participants, but he was insistent that I bring this to you. Since you've never had the, ah, pleasure of his cooking before, he was also rather adamant that someone witness your reaction first-hand. I talked him out of coming here himself, but only on the condition that I describe your reaction in detail."
"Hmm…" Devon hummed in thought as she took a closer look at the container. She didn't want to ask Silver to lie to his dad, but she knew there was no way she was going to eat…whatever that monstrosity was as-is. Luckily, she had what she hoped would be just the thing in her kitchen.
"I'm sorry to put you in this position, Devon. I didn't think-" Silver cut himself off as Devon gently took the container and motioned for him to follow her into the kitchen. He was confused, but obliged. Once there, Devon made a beeline for the nearby spice rack and pulled out a nondescript clear plastic salt and pepper shaker that was filled with some sort of spice mix he'd never seen before. He could smell the spices as she brought it closer and he immediately felt a bit more awake. "What is that?"
"Back home, my mom always kept a spice blend she made herself in our kitchen. She called it her Everything Spice and swore it could give just about any meal a punch-up, no matter how biohazardous," Devon explained. "This is my attempt at recreating here. Not all the ingredients Mama used are available in this world so I had to substitute a few things, but I think it should still do the trick."
"You're sure?" Silver asked. "I'm fairly certain that Father's "meals" are beyond help."
"Only one way to find out," Devon replied, taking the lid off the container and making quick use of the shaker before the stench had a chance to hit them. She gave Lilia's creation another look once she was satisfied (and the container was half-empty) and gave it another generous coating for good measure before turning to look at Silver. "Here we go… If anything happens to me, Grim gets all my stuff."
Without giving herself time to second guess her choice, Devon shoveled a spoonful of the "food" into her mouth. Silver readied himself to catch her if she passed out, but she only grimaced slightly before putting the spoon back down.
"Okay, seems like the spice did the trick. It's not amazing or anything, but it's at least palatable now," Devon reported before grinning. "Once again, Mama doesn't miss."
Intrigued but cautious, Silver hesitantly ate a spoonful of his own. His eyes widened in surprise when he realized that Devon was right. His father's food was actually edible! He placed his hands on Devon's shoulders and looked her gravely in the eyes. "You are nothing short of a miracle worker, my friend. Please tell me how you made that spice. I need to know."
"I'd love to, Silver, I really would, but Mama would kill me if I gave that recipe to anyone outside the family," Devon replied apologetically. "I'll tell you what, though. I'd be happy to whip a little up for you now for the next time Lilia gets a little adventurous in the kitchen and you can come back to me anytime for more."
Silver nodded in agreement. "A fair compromise. All of Diasomnia is now in your debt. Please let us know if we can help you with anything. You've saved countless stomachs today, you know."
Devon smiled before wrapping her arms around Silver's torso. "As long as two of them are yours and Sebek's, I'll consider it thanks enough."
Silver felt his cheeks begin to flush as Devon squeezed him gently. He'd been noticing this happening quite a bit lately, along with an increase in his heart rate and breathing. At first he thought he might be coming down with something, but it didn't take him long to realize that it only happened when Devon was either nearby or made some kind of contact with him. He'd also noticed that she was taking up an increasing amount of headspace, especially since they'd been spending more time together.
'Devon isn't capable of casting curses on someone, but there's clearly something strange afoot here. I'll have to discuss this with Father once I return to the dorm,' he thought.
Ending Notes: Oh my goodness, thank you all so much for being patient with me while I worked to get this out! I tried my hardest to get it done and posted before my family arrived for the holidays, but I just didn't have enough time. I think it'll be worth the wait, though.
As you can see, I ended up changing the scene with Silver. I kind of want to save the horse story for Devon's PE uniform vignette, but I didn't want to leave my Silver fans (and Silver/Devon fans) with nothing after I promised it, so we got this cooking scene.
Thank you all so much for reading! As always, feedback and constructive criticism are welcome. Geekinthepink, out!