#levi vidalis

[aydinlykos]

for: @levividalis​ location: some rural roads outside of the city

This was his world, Aydin realized. Cicadas played their song and the night stretched like a bottle of spilled ink, making the horizon undeterminable from the sky. All that existed was the hot pant of heavy motors and slick cars, with tail lights that bled a red that ebbed onto uneven ground and hollowed out faces of those that passed by them. Lights were kept low, these meet ups were secret, only betrayed by the snarls of engines when they lined up on the roads: hot tires peeling on asphalt and filling the air with rubber stink. He twisted the top off of a beer that he had freed from one of the coolers that someone had brought, passing it over to Levi. There were few things that mirrored the high of a good race, and the adrenaline of a win. The shifter supposed that there were drugs that could dissolve on your tongue that would make your heart beat in the same way, and that filled one with a comparable giddiness, but this was something that he could take with him, an accomplishment that he’d ride out for the entirety of the night, with no crash later— despite definite withdrawals. “Are you having fun?” He was grinning, leaning forward to tuck a stray lock of runaway hair behind Levi’s ear. Aydin grew bolder in the dark, hips nearly flush to the other man’s while he spoke. “I think that was my last one of the night. Gotta go out when you’re on top.”

[mirividalis]

for: @levividalis​ location: near levi’s apartment

She’d left her mother’s ring in her room, tucked away safely in the box-- now so much further than simply racing to their homes, bursting through the doors to make sure they were safe. Her phone kept reminding her that there was no signal, but still Miri continued to dial, pressing it to her ear as she raced along the sidewalk. There was a sort of terror that kept dogging at her heels, taunting voices of faces she didn’t recognize, ones that looked distinctly like her- in ways that the Vidalis family never could. She was the Delphi heir, they’d have to do better to frighten her, and the witch pressed on, half drowned in the element that she was most alike to when she finally stumbled onto the stretch of street that Levi’s apartment was on. He was outside, and Miri almost vaulted herself at him, wrapping her arms around her brother before pulling back. “Are you alright, are you safe?” Sage coloured eyes, now grown dark in the context of the storm, searched his, before she realized. “You’re hurt, where?”

[aydinlykos]

for: @levividalis​ location: dance studio

He’d left the studio for just a moment, abandoning his post at the back of the room, a silent observer, to fetch coffee for them both. Aydin was too aware that he had come empty handed, but he was content to watch Levi in shadow, his gaze following the bright smile that curved at the other man’s lips, the graceful lines of his arms and body. This was what it was like to do exactly what it was that you were intended for, to feel peace with yourself. It was this warmth that had lured him back into the building, drinks in hand, to where class was beginning to dissolve. A woman, with thick hair curled in a way that resembled the mane of a lion, leaned into the other man, pressing her lips to his cheek. Her laugh rang through the room, clear and high and pretty; one cup began to crumple under the tightness of his grip and she reached to rub lipstick from Levi’s face. Her arms wrapped around him and then, she was gone, bounding off in another direction with the rest of the class as they filed out and left the room empty, save two.

Anger welled in his chest like blood from a cut. Usually, he was something venomous, slowly feeding himself the drip of something that would stop his own heart but now, as teeth grit and he noticed the coffee that had spilled from the paper to-go cup onto the shiny surface of the floor. “Fuck,” he muttered, stepping over it and bumping into a chair. It scraped back noisily and betrayed his position, stealing away any opportunity he had had to simply flee. Caught and irate, Aydin looked up, seeing his face in the mirrors around the room and seeing Levi, staring back at him. “What?” He bit out tersely, setting the drinks down before he made more of a mess.

[aydinlykos]

for: @levividalis​ location: farmer’s market

He’d never actually had any interest in going to the market, but Levi had asked him and Aydin had the day off— which meant that he was wearing his least wrinkled white shirt (sleeves rolled to show off the tattoos that laced around his arms) and a very creased pair of jeans, while he sported a shopping back filled with food items that the witch insisted were good, but he had no idea how to cook or even what to do with. An artichoke sat at the bottom of the canvas tote, and while he knew for a fact that Bastien would just toss it into the bin instead of trying to sort out how to “unlock” the edible part of it, he had already promised Levi that he would give it a try. “Should I get you flowers?” He leaned into the witches’ side to ask the question, barely a whisper before he pulled back, putting forth his best attempt at remaining casual on their stroll, despite how a smile tugged up at the corner of his lips.

[aydinlykos]

@levividalis​

“So your problem,” Aydin said, wiping his hands on a rag that had been draped over the side of the engine, “Is that you treated your car like shit, so now it’s a piece of shit.”  Elif would be upset that he was talking to customers like this, but his style of communication had never been anything but blunt. She had handled the vehicle’s owner when they had first come in, so as he rounded the garage to talk to them, the shifter found himself quieting upon recognition. It was long hands that he saw first, then the slight, unsure expression on a handsome face- the mechanic paused, swallowing before he continued. The transition was seamless, the hard line of his mouth never shifted. “I can get it to run, but you’re going to have to come back if you want it to be back to where it was originally.” His hand raked through his hair, minding little of the grease and oil that would streak through it. “What did you do to it anyways?”

[aydinlykos]

for: @levividalis​ location: ye olde mechanic shop

This had to be a fucking curse. The return of magic had been a dull occurrence for him, the discomfort that rattled in his chest was replaced by the familiar pawing of a wolf, whose nails raked along the notches of his spine and left marks there. The city seemed to rush back into motion as things reversed and undid themselves and he wondered briefly what the gods had done- until he returned to the shop and realized that all of the work that had been done over the last few weeks had never occurred. Vehicles sat in the bays and Aydin’s sigh likely echoed through the city, and he returned to working on Levi’s shitty little car. Music streamed from the radio as time passed and the witch eventually came around, and his steps through the shop drew Aydin out from beneath a Volkswagen, brushing his body off as he unfolded to full height. “It’s not as nice as it was last time you picked it up,” the shifter said, gesturing towards the car. “But it’s running again.”

[mirividalis]

for: @levividalis​

“Okay, this is really cute of us,” Miri said, flicking through the selfies that she and Levi had paused to take-- it was golden hour and there was no reason to not take advantage of the good light, not when her skin looked that good. “But I actually came here for a reason.” She scrambled back onto the bed, tucking her legs under her before sitting down. “We need to sort something out, because now that you’re home and you’ve got your car, I’m gonna need rides every once in a while.” Miri poked at his side, “I can’t walk anymore, it’s too much. I’m wasting all of my youth. Also, you owe me at least four hundred car rides from when you were away.” She tilted the phone, showing a particularly good image to her brother. “You should put that one on Insta.”