Eris pressed a hand over the gash the wolf had left on him. He'd torn open his chest. Eris wasn't unfamiliar with being hurt. It was a language he knew well. But this? This was beyond anything he'd experienced in years. He was bleeding a lot. He could feel his insides shifting with every shallow breath he took. His hand was pressed to the wound.
He knew that he should've gone to his house. He could pass out there and let his body heal itself. But he didn't want to do that. He wasn't sure if he'd wake up from this or not. Almost without thinking, Eris' feet carried him to Roman's home. Roman would at least look after him. He thought that this might be a good way to go out. With Roman. Not terrified of being found. Just bleeding.
Every step was more painful than the last. He knew that things were getting bad when the pain started to go away and be replaced with a distant, fuzzy sensation through his body. A few times, he had to stop because he thought he might pass out. His legs felt like they were made out of jelly. But finally, at long last, he made it to Roman's home.
Not bothering to knock, Eris reached out a blood-slicked hand and fumbled with the doorknob. It opened when he put his full weight into it. He took a step inside. His knees went out on him. He remembered passing out on Roman's carpet during the storm, when he hadn't slept for a few days. He didn't want Roman to touch him now. He just wanted him to talk to him as he bled out.
He watched absently as his blood splattered onto the carpet. Fished for something to say, but couldn't make his mouth work.
Location: Roman's Trailer in the woods
With: @werewolfroman
It had been a long time since Matthew drove up the forest road that would lead to the trailer where Roman lived. He’d been avoiding the man for quite some time but he was trying to make things at least civil between them, for his siblings sake. He knew Theo wanted a relationship with their father and felt guilty whenever he brought up their father. He knew Layne wanted their father around to be there for her kid once they were born and Matthew didn’t want to deny them the possibility of a positive relationship with the man that was their father. He had his own personal grievances and still a lot of unresolved trauma but that was his to deal with and so deal with it he was now trying to do.
Matthew held the ceramic ashtray in his hands once he stepped out of his car, his new old dog, a bassett hound named Chuck sniffled the ground around his boots and the man suddenly felt very insecure about the simple gift he’d brought for Roman. It was a lame attempt at a peace offering. An indication that he wasn’t here to start a fight or cause an argument. He hated that every time they seemed to share the same space that it was filled with tension and awkward feelings. He knew his siblings were tired of it too. Maybe things could be different. Maybe it didn’t need to be perfect right away but baby steps, so he took one, a small step forward, paired with another and then another until he was at the door of the trailer and then knocked, back of his knuckles against the window pane of the trailer door, then rested his hands behind his back, for the moment hiding the ashtray that he held. Chuck still sniffling the ground outside behind him.
"Hi," he greeted a bit awkwardly, "Uh...is this a good... time?"
"Thought you didn't drink?" And with that delightful introduction, Cass had announced his presence, slipping into a seat right next to Roman before the older man even had an opportunity to reject his company. The smile on his features would probably be interpreted by passersby as that of happiness, happy to meet up with a friend, but a harsh undertone to the look in his eyes made it clear his enjoyment came from nefarious places. He'd been on edge, ever since the mist had settled, and for days afterward he swore he could feel the tension rising in his body, heart thumping whenever he tried to get to sleep from the sheer pressure of not being able to do anything, not being able to help anyone, not feeling either like his wolf self or his past human self - a strange cross between that didn't quite feel like Cass and that left him wondering, late at night, who he even was anymore. Maybe wanting to let off steam by harassing people made him a bad person. But maybe being a bad person kept him feeling in control.
"You want me to buy you a Coke or something, grandpa? So you can take your beta blocker?" Cass' tone feigned concern, sweet innocence dripping from it, he could practically taste it in his mouth as he spoke. "Or is your blood sugar a bit high? I could get you diet...."
⌝ The mattress bounced gently as Sofia collapsed onto it, the duvet cover was littered with sharks because when Sofia had gone to pick up what had seemed like all the necessities for a kids room, while Roman had been putting together the bed they had ordered for Lucas, she realised she didn't know what the kid was into. It seemed maybe childish and presumptuous to get him fire trucks or football sheets, even if she knew Roman would have approved of Seahawks ones, and she didn't know if the kid liked Batman or Spiderman or any of the 'mans.' Sharks felt neutral, cause sharks were just fucking cool, period.
⌝ It had been a few hours setting the space up and fuck it was cramped. The bed even pushed against the wall only left just enough room for the closet doors to open and the desk they have build for him had just enough space for a chair in front. When they'd been buying everything it seemed like it would fit. Closet, bed, desk, that wasn't a lot, but now that it was all in there...
⌝ "I know this trailer technically has three bedrooms but it's getting cramped," Sofia pointed out as she laid back on his son's bed, sweatpants pulled up around her waist while she wore a cropped purple top, knot tied in the center against her ribcage. She was sweating, droplets on her brow and at her core, which inevitably would mean she needed some kind of water soon, she'd been drinking bottles of it while they worked but it wasn't quite enough. "Thirteen it's probably not a big deal big sixteen year olds get huge, especially boys, his feet are going to end up kicking the desk," Sofia stated, looking up at Roman from where she rested.
Mars’ return from paternity leave was met with many pats on the back, hugs, celebratory cheers, and countless hours spent showing off the numerous photos he’d taken of his newborn to all of his coworkers and other staff members at Supernaturals that he hadn’t managed to keep in touch with for the last four months. He was both elated to be back at work and have something to do other than changing diapers and feeding and cleaning and sneaking in a few precious minutes of sleep while simultaneously feeling incredibly guilty for not being there with his baby and spent what time he could sending frantic text messages to the babysitter to check in and make sure everything was still okay, even though they had assured him everything was fine and remained to be fine since the last five minutes had passed. He couldn’t help it. This was his first child and he desperately wanted to do things as right as he possibly could. He’d planned on going directly home after work but the baby sitter kept insisting that he should go out and make the most of his time away from his infant to do some much needed self care in whatever way that meant. Reluctantly, but also not entirely, Mars eventually agreed. It was a rather strange position he found himself in, wanting to spend every waking moment as possible with his baby while also wanting to regain some semblance of normalcy. It was this battle for balance that he currently struggled with.
“Let’s go out,” Mars announced suddenly to the small group of other dancers as they were on their way out from work and Mars extended a hand toward Roman as well, “Last time I tried to keep up with you and I failed but I’m determined to win this time. I gotta test out my tolerance now that I’m a siren,” something he hadn’t actually had a chance to test out lately, too busy with childcare. As they were finishing off their work night, many of the dancers still had on their makeup but some, like Mars, had washed it off but some of the dark eyeliner and shadow lingered around his lashes which only made the vibrant blues of his eyes all the more striking. A feature that had only intensified since his becoming a siren, a reflection of the water he now held ties to. “My treat,” Mars added on. He wasn’t overflowing with cash considering he hadn’t been working lately but he had a fair amount now that he’d been going to the city for baby supplies instead of buying them on his own, lucky they had a new parent program and offered complimentary formula and diapers.
Yashica wasn’t meant to be in that day, she had plans to get her hair done for her date with Elias in a few days - you always needed to do cuts well in advance so if they were bad they could be fixed and so they had a few days to grow it. Unfortunately Yash got a call from one of the bartenders that there had been an issue with the latest liquor delivery and they needed access to some files that Yash had on her laptop and, stupidly, taken home with her. So before she could go and do the various beauty treatments she knew she had to stop by the club.
Coming in through the back Yashica didn’t initially head down the corridor from the main entrance that had all of the private dance rooms, instead she went through the side door to the main room and straight to her office where the bartender and the delivery guy had been waiting, the delivery driver immediately calling her ‘lady’ and insinuating she was making him late for his other stops, a heavy sigh coming from Yashica as she opened up her laptop and started to pull up the information, giving it to the delivery driver who realised once he saw her paperwork he’d pulled the wrong order off the truck, heading back to fix it.
“Thanks, Yash,” the bartender offered her as he headed out to make sure the correct delivery got put away properly. Yash took the moment to sit, exhaling slowly because sometimes this shit was just so much more than she realised she’d signed up for when she’d bought the place for a steal. This sigh however and disinterested gaze, left her eyes lingering on the screen that flickered through the security cameras. The first one showing some of the dancers on stage and customers getting lap dances out in the main room, another showing the entrance, flicking through, Yash seeing nothing odd until...
The screen landed on one of the private dance rooms depicting one of the newer dancers being grabbed by the customer by her wrist and yanked onto the couch. Yash waited a moment, expecting one of the bouncers to go in, but by the time the screen flicked to another room nothing had happened and Yashica rushed out of her office, barely registering that she was moving as she shoved past customers and sought out the door that read ‘3′ on it’s front as that had been the camera shown, passing by the desk that a bouncer sat at monitoring the rooms, not even registering which employee was there.
None of the rooms, obviously, could lock lock as that was unsafe and Yashica immediately pushed the door open. “Get out!” she let out strongly and firmly, the shock of what was happening enough for the man to let the dancer go, as it typically was, most knew once they were caught that it was better to stop and go than to actually fight. The fact was though, if he had decided he wanted to be more aggressive Yashica was not the person who should have gone in there, it was the reason she hired people who could handle that kind of thing.
The girl rushing towards Yash with her bruised wrist, Yashica felt the presence of some of the bouncers behind her. “Where were you?” Yash shouted at them, one of the female bouncers taking the dancer out of the room. “Roman was watching the cameras, we just saw you running,” the guy told her as he stepped in to take over the situation.
A shake of Yashica’s head as she stepped out of the room, heading towards the desk, it was Roman, she had passed Roman who apparently hadn’t been doing his fucking job. Whether he was conscious now because of the ruckus or if he was still asleep Yashica couldn’t contain her frustrations. “What is wrong with you?” she let out loudly, not quite a scream but a firm assertive demand for information. “Why didn’t you do something Roman?” Not sure if he even knew what she was talking about her blind irritation carried all her words.
Eris knocked on Roman's door, holding a few bags of groceries. He didn't know what Roman thought about what he'd said during the storm, but he did know that he wanted to try to smooth over any unpleasantness he'd caused. And, as much as he hated it, he thought that the answer to that was to cook Roman a meal. He found cooking for himself to be tedious and boring and it was far easier to either get food from the bar or toss a frozen meal in the microwave to be ideal. But he wanted to do something to repay some of his debt to Roman, and the man had a habit of not eating.
So he'd gone to the grocery store and got the ingredients to make Greek food. Lemon soup and gyros. And he'd brought enough to hopefully last Roman and his family a few days.
Eris was wheeled out of the hospital and towards Roman's car. He felt sluggish and slow as the nurse parked the chair outside Roman's waiting car. Roman had stuck with him through his stay in the hospital. Eris was grateful that he hadn't left. He hated being stuck in pain and at the mercy of the doctors. Hated being too weak to run. Not that it mattered, since he wasn't running anymore. But it still had him in a chokehold.
He'd needed to be drugged so the doctors could touch him without fighting them. It was hard to keep calm. He could still hear the racing of his heart on the monitor in the back of his mind. Eris hated being kept in the sterile white of the hospital. He would've been out the minute they finished stitching him up if Roman hadn't been there. He could deal with the pain. He couldn't deal with being stared at and touched by doctors.
Even with Roman there, being at the hospital was almost the worst thing to happen to him. He felt sick constantly from the smell of the chemical cleaners. He felt unsafe and exposed to the eyes of anyone passing by in the hospitals. The drugs made him sleep, but they made his nightmares more real and harder to wake up from. He'd nearly cried in relief when the doctor had given him the okay to be discharged.
Roman stuck by Eris' side in spite of all the time he spent sick and sweating and drugged. Eris wouldn't have blamed him if he'd wanted to leave. But he was glad he'd stayed. Things would've been a lot worse if he hadn't.
The nurse helped him into Roman's car. The prickling heat of her hands barely made him flinch. She shut the door behind him. He watched as she retreated back into the hospital wheeling the empty wheelchair. The knot of tension in his body eased just slightly.
"Let's get the fuck out of here." he muttered. He wanted to say something else. Something nicer, to thank the man for staying with him and making sure he didn't bleed out. But he didn't feel like he could talk properly when they were idling in the parking lot of the hospital. He wanted to smoke. He wanted a drink. He needed something to dull the feeling of dread that was crawling underneath his skin.
