[ zoo ] ( enzo and michael bc that's cute as heck )
⋆ ⁺ ₊ ⋆ ☀︎ love languages, part two: quality time.
@oh-thehorrors
Michael was like a shadow. He could practically disappear before your eyes and appear wherever he saw fit. Of course, it wasn’t literally what happened, but no one usually saw how he truly got from place to place. He was looking after Enzo, Brando had an emergency and the child’s mother wasn’t picking up. Michael wasn’t exactly disappointed by that, but he knew that didn’t help Brando’s situation. So he offered to watch him for the time being. In short, the babysitter-killer was now what he once hunted.
He told Brando he would just be staying home with the youngster, and while he wouldn’t normally tell a lie to the other he considered this a bit of a special circumstance. Enzo wanted to go to the zoo, and after some thought, Michael realized that he wanted to go to the zoo. And so they went. But that was where his ‘power’ would come in handy for the pair. Michael couldn’t go in the front; not only did he have no money, but the fact that he was a wanted serial killer would surely put a damper on things. So he did what he would do in any similar situation and found a way to sneak in.
Since Enzo was considerably smaller, he got in without any trouble. And really, Michael could only be impressed with how quick he was to adapt as needed. Impressed enough that he was willing to take him around the entire zoo, or at least, all the exhibits they felt like seeing. They stayed till a half hour past closing, long enough for the killer to break into one of the gift shops and snatch a few souvenirs, even one for his beloved. He knew Brando wouldn’t be happy with him, that this would likely be the last time he watched Enzo completely unsupervised for a while. But the smile on the child’s face, the absolute glee in his squeal as he was piggybacked back home, made it more than worth it to Michael.
"Holding the bag! Holding the bag!? Tell me something. How much crap am I gonna get in for bailing your sorry ass out? What was in that bag? No! Don't tell me. That'd make me an accessory after the fact."
"I have the right to be worried!" (enzo to michael)
rp starters: concern.
He didn’t jump — - it would take nothing short of a miracle to actually startle Michael. But that didn’t make the sudden rise of the other’s voice any less unexpected. Brando wasn’t a very loud guy, Michael never remembered him to be. And most of the time he ever got loud as of recent, it was in a much different context than their current ‘conversation’; but this still wasn’t the first time such topic has come up.
It was something that was constantly addressed, sometimes without realizing it. Michael’s life - the life of a fugitive, the life of a mythical being of sorts - while it was freeing, it did come with drawbacks. One very large one being how the freedom in question, as well as his entire life, was put at risk by doing it. Michael never cared about this in the past, and still struggled with doing such. But Brando was sane, he recognized the danger and as someone who actually cared about him, he didn’t like it one bit.
Michael didn’t want to be a burden. Brando did a lot for him already, more than he ever needed to — and he was eager to do more. But he didn’t want him to put his entire world on hold because the local psychopath got a few surface-level wounds on his latest rampage. But Brando made that choice long ago, for the both of them. As long as the killer was still breathing, whether he was stalking the town or lurking in the dark corners of his home, Brando would treat him no different to how he worried about Enzo.
—-well, a little different.
The look on his face showed frustration but slowly melted back into its usual blank position. It was something he’d have to get used to, the idea of someone worrying about him as much as Brando did. And while he didn’t completely understand it yet, he would be lying if he said he didn’t like the attention; even when he was being scolded. He gave a slow nod, acknowledging that he did in fact have the right to to be worried while a bruised and bloodied head hung low.
"I don't like the idea of you walking down the streets all alone." (enzo to corey)
rp starters: concern.
Corey scoffed, just barely holding back a snicker at Enzo’s words. It was innocent enough, any passerby likely wouldn’t be as amused by what he said as the curly-haired boy seemed to be. The town was a relatively sleepy one. They both knew the true dangers that hid within its shadows and alleyways — - and both of them were also on that same danger’s side.
Still, the gesture was sweet. His identity as an actual killer was hidden, and while most of the town suspected such behavior out of him, they didn’t suspect it enough to be afraid of him. Without the scarecrow face to hide his own, he was the town’s punching bag. The dirty gauze that sat across his hand, concealing a mark he earned long before he picked up a weapon, was proof of that.
So while he did somewhat laugh the comment off, his arm was still extending out to be linked with Enzo’s. “Yeah? Gonna do something about it and walk me home then?”
“Stop keeping your phone in silent, you got me worried!” ( jake )
rp starters: concern.
The outburst was sudden, enough to cause the former sheriff to jump up (and off of the silenced smartphone he currently sat on). Dewey looked at Jake, slight confusion on his features before he noticed the device that fell from his jacket pocket. Some would think of it to be irrational, and maybe it was to a small degree. But if these last couple of years taught Jake anything, it was a lesson Dewey learned time and time again: that anything can change in the timespan of one phone call.
“Ohh,” he responded. He reached down for his phone to check, and then to turn the volume up when he realized it was in fact on silent. “Sorry.” He was quick to apologize, hoping it would be enough to see that he wasn’t butchered into pieces to calm the other down. But if that wasn’t, he figured the peck to the lips he offered next would help.
"You really need to stop drinking. I'm serious." (lily)
rp starters: concern.
It just wasn’t Dewey’s week. Every week recently was a bit of a low point, but this one especially was shaping up to a disaster. There was another killer on the loose — - not just another killer, but another ‘Ghostface’ killer. The latest target and her boyfriend already chased him down for help that he just didn’t have it in him to give; but that wasn’t an answer Lily was accepting. She was right, knew that he was better than this. His life took a drastic turn and he was still trying to figure out a way to turn it back around into something close to what he pictured for himself. And even if he didn’t do it for his own sake, he had to do it for Lil.
If he was able to get cut open as many times as he had and bounced back from it, a divorce should be nothing.
“I know.” He agreed with a slow nod, eying the flask in his hands for a few long moments. It wasn’t the time for this-, the real Dewey Riley would’ve sprung into action hours ago instead of opening a bottle. And that was the kind of person he wanted to be remembered as, not the rut he’s currently nestled in. So he ultimately decided to close the flask, even going as far as to hand it over to Lily. “Alright. Uh…, can you watch my phone for a minute? I gotta shower.” It’s been a day longer than he’s willing to admit since his last, and he didn’t want to look like a complete bum showing his face around town again.
