“I’ll take a coffee.” Taliesin said, knowing the offer wasn’t for him but not giving a shit. As much as he loved fucking with his sister, being on the same side as Fish against her felt… odd. Though he and Simon were the same year, the six month difference sometimes felt like a gap far bigger than Tal’s own with Ruby’s (which was a year and three), and it always gave him a special joy to know that he was beating the family’s little Golden Boy in grades with only a modicum of trying.
Not trying seemed to be a genetic trait from their mother’s side. For better or for worse, Tal, Ruby, and Simon tended to make it look easy when they could. They just had very different methods of doing it.
“C’mon Rubes you got this.” He said, teasing but with an undercurrent of genuine encouragement. All she needed to do was arch her back to break the seal. It was one of those ultra light weather-proof windows that cost a fortune. Joe had given them a surplus set for Caleb’s room so the kid would finally sleep.
Tal looked back to his cousin, hoping to redirect his energy away from his sister. “So keeping busy?”
Ruby couldn’t think of anything she could hate more than the two of them teaming up against her. Tail wasn’t supposed to do this. What the actual fuck was wrong with him? So he’d cut himself on her knife, that wasn’t her fault. He should get over it.
She swallowed her own sound of discomfort as the window came down against her back. It wasn’t as rough as she’d expected it to be, but it wasn’t fucking pleasant. And they were just acting like this was some set piece. Fuckers.
“Yeah, I’ll take whatever’s top shelf. Thanks, Simon. You’re a real pal.” Her voice was tight and flat. There was no way he could interpret it as anything other than antagonistic or annoying.
She turned her gaze towards the real traitor. Tail. He’d softened a bit. He was still the same droll asshole but she could tell that he wanted her to crack this. Don’t embarrass yourself in front of fish. As is being related wasn’t already the ultimate embarrassment on both sides.
Ruby braced her hands against the frame and tried to pull herself out of the window. The seal was too fucking tight. Her jaw clenched. She wanted out of this.
If brute force wasn’t enough, then she’d have to use physics. It took her a minute, scrambling through a few different theoreticals in her head while she tried not to let the anger get the best of her. If she just….she arched her back. There. The seal gave way and she could push the rest of the way out.
It was awkward. Very awkward. As she crawled her way out and then dropped her knees to the ground before scrambling into a standing position with her arms crossed. “Easy.”
They weren’t guests so much as people who broke into his house and happened to be related to him. At least, Ruby had broken into his house. Tal had used the key. He’d offered to get them something to drink, and he hadn’t entirely been joking. It was a funny story, and even if Ruby had gotten in when he wasn’t here and completely trashed the place or took a bunch of things, what was he supposed to do with it? He lived here alone.
“You are gonna get something without alcohol because I don’t know how many other windows you’ve gotta get through today, but I’ll be right back I guess.” He nodded at them willing himself not to turn around as he left the room. Times were weird. He was almost happy to see them.
Was he supposed to know how to react to his cousins showing up like this? It was still funny, but what now? Would they leave immediately?
He popped a pod into the machine and waited for the coffee to brew, grabbing the closest one out of the cabinet. Yale, the cup read. Simon sighed.
As he headed back to the living room, a handful of minutes after he left, he saw Ruby standing straight up finally. “And she lives to tell the tale,” he teased, holding a can of Coke out to her. He handed the mug to Tal. “I didn’t do the milk and all that jazz, but it’s in the kitchen if you want some. Help yourself.”
Which brought him to: “That’s what you came here to do, right?”
