godkiller

Victor Slade, CEO of Resonate, Children of the Light

[victorslade-blog]

niamh-byrning:

Niamh’s pacing grew a little more frantic while Victor talked, and she considered their options. She’d have to tell him about what happened with Kali, sooner or later. Putting it off would obviously end in disaster, sooner. That didn’t mean she was happy about having to break the news of her worst fuck-up since landing herself in the hospital for a year.

          “Definitely. We take out Cosmatos’ two-faced intern, and keep the case on its proper course. We can’t let our guard down, though. We should probably be prepared for anything, just in case,” Niamh spoke carefully, glancing briefly out the window as she paused on the word ‘anything’.

Niamh wasn’t entirely sure what would happen if Lucifer blew up his cell or some shit, but the more things seemed tied up on the intern front, the more she couldn’t help dwelling on it.

          “Uh. Victor?” Niamh finally said, having stood agitatedly by the window for about a minute, now. “There’s also some bad news. And this had to be in person given the problem, but I did make sure I wasn’t followed, of course.”

Niamh’s cold gaze locked with Victor’s, intense, and oddly serious.

He was already texting Aris -- it was too early, probably, to bother them; he didn’t know what time they usually woke up, but no one should have been awake this early, and he knew with how busy they were they probably valued what sleep they could get, so he wasn’t sure whether or not to send it, but he at least needed to draft a message, get a meeting with them arranged as soon as he could. Maybe coffee, or lunch, if they had time for it, somewhere near their office.

And he was preoccupied,  with that thought, with his phone, preoccupied enough that he barely heard what Niamh was saying, going on about the intern, about something else, and it was only after he looked up and realized how agitated she looked, how nervous, or anxious, standing over by the window, that he realized he wasn’t sure what she’d just said, or why she looked so.... freaked out?

     “Niamh,” he said, knowing now by the look on her face that he should have been listening. Something about not being followed.... but from the way she was saying it,the strange and serious expression on her face, there had to be something more than that. “What are you saying?”

[victorslade-blog]

aristotlespolitics:

“I appreciate all the help, Victor, I really do. For now, knowing that I’ve got a rogue intern is more than enough. Of course, if a name manages to appear in the next few days, I’d be grateful to know. But if not, I can work with this,” they nodded.

It would be difficult to find out just what this intern had tried to sabotage, whether successfully or not, but there were so many of them working tirelessly on the case, no interns work going unchecked by professional eyes, that they had a strong feeling anything this intern had done had been undone already. After all, it wasn’t as if they were giving any of the interns the vital information to handle. They knew better than that, knowing what they had been like as an intern.

They took another deep drink of their coffee and let out a sigh. If it had been their choice, they would have stayed and had a nice chat with Victor, maybe planned another date, but duty called.

“The unfortunate part is that I should probably get back to work, head off anything else of that sort, before more trouble is caused. But let me take you out sometime soon. Greek food,” they said with a grin.

He’d be sad to see Aris go, especially as it meant he should probably get back to his own job, the endless meetings he’d been putting off all week, asking his assistant to push back and push back and push back until they couldn’t be pushed back anymore. He downed the rest of his coffee -- still hot -- in one go, setting the cup down when he was one, and then nodded, grinning back at them.

Someday, there wouldn’t be all these distractions in the way. Soon, at least, this whole trial would be done with and Aris would be free to distract him at their leisure, no pressing crises standing between them. But for now, they both had work to get to.

     “I definitely will,” he answered. “Greek sounds delicious.”

[victorslade-blog]

aristotlespolitics:

“Oh shit, that’s awkward. You thought I was talking about you? I was actually thinking about the DA who’s dick I sucked to help get this job. There was really something special there, I think,” they teased, with a laugh.

Despite the news, this was a nice relief from the office, even just for a little while. They really did like Victor. They were more interested in him than they had been in anyone in a very long time, and they had a feeling that he felt similarly. What, exactly, that would mean for them, Aris wasn’t sure. But they couldn’t help but be a little excited to find out.

But first the trial.

“I haven’t decided exactly how I want to go about this whole idea with Levi, but I’m certain we’ll figure something out. At least at the moment, the trial has to come first, as you know,” they said, voice growing a little more serious again.

    “Of course,” he answered. There was something about Aris’ focus on the task at hand, despite any distraction or complication, that he found himself admiring. It was the kind of thing that instilled confidence, and as much as a brand new god or a turncoat intern might once have rattled him, he found he had no doubts that the trial would go there way. With Aris behind the wheel, it couldn’t possibly go wrong.

He only wished he could say the same thing about everything else.

He didn’t have to worry about the trial, sure, but he still hadn’t heard a word from Oya’s publicist; the papers had done him an immense favor attributing the whole thing to mass hallucinogenics, but he had bigger things to worry about. Any schism between the gods himself he could exploit would be a major help in all of this.

     “Well, as always, if there’s anything we can do...”

[victorslade-blog]

niamh-byrning:

         “…Hm? Oh, ahaha, the tabloids prolly overdid it a bit, but, pretty much. Gotta admit, it was pretty fucking funny getting a rise out of him just by relaying to him what the rest of his boyfriend’s fandom was up to with some doomed armed crusade that has like, less than 0% even getting off the ground, let alone succeeding. That was what got him to crack, FYI. Though it also pissed him off enough that he probably won’t wanna talk to me again,” Niamh reported, cackling.

Niamh had always been unsure just how much of her thoroughly malevolent side she should let slip to Victor, or how much he’d already worked out, for that matter. Her brother had gradually resigned to the fact that her aggressive streak was a central facet of her personality, and gotten used to helping her deal with the mess she usually left behind after absolutely whichever poor fool she’d decided to pick on that month, but she’d never really been sure where Victor stood  in relation to that part of her. It wasn’t in Niamh’s nature to worry about self-preservation like that, though, so as soon as the thought popped into her head, it had vanished into the ether again.

        “Huh, y’know, I have thought on the whole thing a bit, and it does smell a bit to me. I mean, sure, Lucifer’s not a genius of espionage or anything, but seriously, putting all your eggs in not just one basket, but on your datefriend? Who is also notorious for being impulsive and kinda unreliable? It feels like it’s too easy, really. Like we missed something. Lucifer’s fucking loaded, why should he rely on Levi fucking Baines? It feels a bit like a diversion, if I’m honest,” though what Niamh didn’t mention out loud was the thought that the diversion was so that Lucifer could break out of jail using some godly powers or some shit. That was something she really didn’t feel like sharing with Victor yet.

He’d been too shaken by the possibility of news to imagine that it might have been a trap, a distraction. Maybe that was a sign of how tired he was, how careless he had gotten with this whole thing, lulled into the relative sense of security that came with knowing Lucifer was behind bars, his fate in Aris’ capable hands. There was still so much to worry about, beside that -- even with Freya dead and Lucifer neutralized, there were still ten, no, eleven gods with which to content. 

Maybe it had just been wishful thinking to imagine they wouldn’t have to worry about Lucifer at all anymore. 

     “You’re right,” he said, nodding at her. “We can’t rule out the fact that it might be a distraction, though I’m not sure I want to give Levi that much credit. But we also can’t afford to ignore it and be wrong.”

Lucifer may have had another plan, but this was the closest thing they’d had to a helpful piece of news in weeks; he wasn’t going to pass over it just because it might have been a trap. Not to mention that if Levi was as emotionally volatile as Niamh seemed to think, it was more likely to be true than a distraction. 

[victorslade-blog]

aristotlespolitics:

“I think it will. Self-preservation is a strong instinct in someone like him, who’s been through so much to even get to the point where he had a so-called god paying for whatever he wanted,” Aris shrugged.

“The money will be enough to get his interest, but what I can offer will be enough to make him stay,” they said confidently. Of course, there was no way to know if that was true or not. But they were so confident in their abilities, knowing what they’d gotten so far in their life from the same sort of manipulation, that they were fairly certain that it would continue that way.

“I do hope you know, though, that there’s no emotional attachment in what I’m talking about offering him. It’s all business,” they nodded, a little smile on their lips. Under the table, they ran a foot along Victor’s leg, hoping their point was clear.

Surprisingly enough, that did make him feel better -- not that he’d felt particularly self-conscious about the whole situation, honestly, and he wouldn’t have exactly been surprised if what he and Aris had wasn’t anything more than just sex, just a good time, though he certainly would have been disappointed. It was more than clear, now, though, that it wasn’t, and there was a certain comfort in that.

     “Oh,” he joked, with a smile, trying to make it clear he was joking. “Is that was this is? Emotional attachment?”

He was impressed with their assessment of Levi -- it was clear why they were good at their job, how good they were at reading people. He’d never been one for understanding others, that way, found the whole prospect of manipulating people daunting and unnatural, even when it was necessary, even though he’d done more of it in the past few months than he cared for.

[victorslade-blog]

niamh-byrning:

Niamh was at once both relieved and disappointed when she noticed Victor’s decision to change the topic, though if she thought about it hard enough, that probably meant he had noticed, and— Niamh shook her head. This line of thinking would get her nowhere.

Shit, she must be tired if she was getting this stuck in her own head. The sun would be up in a couple of minutes, after all.

          “Oh, yeah, that,” she said, her face contorting into a series of unreadable expressions. “I got pretty lucky, all things considered. Levi’s an idiot, basically, and Lucifer obviously has no idea how to conduct clandestine operations,” Niamh snickered. “I’m not sure how may interns Cosmatos has, though. I tried to get a name out of Levi, but apparently I pushed one of his buttons too much and I was shut out from there on. That’s my bad, really.”

Niamh shrugged sheepishly, acknowledging she could’ve done better with Levi at the end, there. Maybe she’d gotten too carried away with her particular brand of malicious trickery for her to realise that that line of interrogation wouldn’t work anymore, or…

And so Niamh’s thoughts went on for a long while.

     “No, that’s good, that’s good work, Niamh,” he said, still a little distracted by everything she’d said. He didn’t give a shit if Levi Baines had decided she was the scum of the Earth and would never come within two feet of her again; she’d gotten that much out of him and every bit of it was a win, in his book. Something to bring to Aris to stop any attempt there was to keep them from winning -- and, at last as it was, still in time. In enough time to do something before the trial began. 

If they were lucky, this was Lucifer’s one last ditch effort to get out. If they weren’t, it was the first thread in a more complicated weave of attempts; but once you pulled the first thread, you could see where it connected, at least.

     “I’m sure Aris knows their interns well enough, or has some sort of vetting process they can use to figure it out. It’s good that we have this now, thank you.”

He was surprised that he hadn’t thought of Levi sooner, had assumed that Lucifer’s lawyer would have the kid on lockdown, that they wouldn’t be able to get to him. Apparently, he’d overestimated their opposition. 

     “Is he as obnoxious as the tabloids make him seem? Levi?”

[victorslade-blog]

aristotlespolitics:

“I have,” they said, a half smile on their lips. “I actually ran into Levi in a bar last week. We had a casual chat, I planted the seed in his head without pushing too hard. With someone like him, pushing will only make him less likely to actually want to take up the offer. It has to seem like it’s his choice.”

They paused to take a big drink of their coffee, savoring the warmth it sent through their body, even on such a hot day.

“Levi going to need a source of income once Mr. Storey is behind bars. And I’m more than willing to provide him with that, and any other… stimulation he might need,” Aris explained, as if they were talking about the weather and not monetary and sexual bribery. “I will admit that I’m used to doing this sort of thing with more mature targets, but I have a feeling he’d be a lot easier than stuffy old men who are afraid of the word queer. And I can be pretty persuasive when I need to be.”

Listening to Aris plot, like this, was a curious thing, half fascinating and half baffling. That they had such a keen read on what Levi would respond to -- even better than his own insights about most of the people he worked with -- was impressive, and he bought every word of it, the careful hand with which he’d need to be handled, the fact that of all people Levi Baines was almost tailor-made to suit Aris’ particular brand of manipulation. It was a nearly perfect plan.

Even if Victor couldn’t help but tense, a bit, at the idea that the whole plan involved Aris taking Lucifer’s place as Levi’s sugar daddy of sorts, and all that entailed. But that was how Aris operated; he’d known that from the beginning, from the rumors they’d been upfront about the very first time they’d come up. 

     “And that kind of thing is enough to keep him loyal?” he asked, trying not to focus on that aspect of it. 

[victorslade-blog]

aristotlespolitics:

“I’ve actually been considering Levi for something a little more personal than just information,” Aris said after a second.

They, of course, liked the sound of more information. But with the time constraints they were working under, they were pretty certain more information wouldn’t come in time to be of any real use, no matter how quickly anyone was able to work. There was only so much you could do in this sort of time. No, with Levi at least it was time to start thinking ahead.

“When we win the trial, poor kid will have nothing left. No so-called god to pay his bills and give him an ounce of infamy, doesn’t show signs of wanting to work for his money. He’ll need some other way to live. And it would be beneficial to have a reformed follower on our side,” they suggested, raising an eyebrow.

Now that was an interesting prospect. Victor was no stranger to the impact of ex-Pantheon fans on their side; any number of the Children had, at one point in time, been taken in by the promise of gods and magic and miracles and come out the other side some of their most vocal opponents, left with nothing but an acidic kind of regret, toxic and vengeful, willing to do whatever they needed.

But someone has high profile as Levi Baines, well... Aris was the political master-mind, after all. Of course they would be thinking about the potential someone like Levi Baines would have, and they were probably right, even if everything Victor knew about the kid seemed to indicate he’d be far too stubborn to win over. 

      “Sounds like you’ve been thinking about this,” he said, curious. Aris seemed to want him to ask them to elaborate, and he had to admit he wanted to hear more. “I imagine you have some ideas about how to get him on our side?”

[victorslade-blog]

niamh-byrning:

          “Was drunk,” she corrected, grinning. “Sort-of drunk.”

Niamh exhaled deeply, but remained standing for now. Her limbs were filled with a frantic energy, as if ignoring the fact she’d barely slept in the last day, or even the last week. Sitting still was quite beyond her at this point, and so she paced back and forth about the centre of the room.

          “Ahh, that’s true,” Niamh conceded, smiling slightly. “Did you enjoy the thing, by the way?”

Niamh looked away from him at the last question, as if subconsciously worried that some of what she’d felt that night would show in her eyes. After all, as far as the people in her life went, Victor was surprisingly good at reading Niamh.

     “Enjoy it? I’ve had a migraine for ten hours. And I like modern dance, usually.”

He felt tired just thinking about it. A soft of aching exhaustion he’d grown used to over the years of overworking himself, even having adjusted to the fast-paced lifestyle of the city so different from the sleepy southwestern place where he’d grown up. And yet, it was different, somehow, more pervasive than just tiredness. In a way he couldn’t explain.

Probably sleeping on the couch, for the brief time he’d managed, had made it worse. Mis muscles ached: as nice as the couch was, it wasn’t meant to be lay on for long periods of time, and he was getting older, wasn’t he?

Did you? he almost asked, but something in the sound of her voice gave him pause. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

     “What’s this about an leak in the DA’s office, though? Sounds like you had a productive night, at least.”

[victorslade-blog]

aristotlespolitics:

They sighed despite themself. No name, but it was an intern. Lucky for them, there weren’t nearly as many of those working on the case as it seemed Victor had running around in his outfit. And maybe it was even better news, to them, to hear that Levi Baines was out telling anybody and everybody what they knew must’ve been privileged information. 

“A name would be helpful, but for now, considering the time constraints, intern is good enough for me. I’ll take them all off the case immediately to be safe, have the more trusted attorneys double and triple check all of their work to make sure nothing has been damaged beyond repair,” Aris said, half to Victor, half to themself. They pulled out their phone and started a text to one of the other ADAs on the case.

“It’s good to know that Levi’s got a loose tongue, too. I have a feeling he’ll end up being helpful in the long run.”

     “From the impression I got from Niamh, he shouldn’t be too hard to get more information out of; we might just need a different person to try to get through to him.”

He drummed the side of his coffee cup with his fingers as he thought, running through each member of the Children in turn for any feasible possibility. Someone who could gain Levi’s trust, and quickly. Jen, maybe, though it would need to be someone Levi wouldn’t suspect of having anything but the Pantheon’s best interest at heart, someone who might be genuinely concerned about the outcome of the trial.

     “I’ll see who we have, if anyone can get you any more information than just that.”

[victorslade-blog]

aristotlespolitics:

Even with the threat of bad news, Aris was having a difficult time feeling like anything was going to be particularly bad with Victor sitting there. And if he said it was a miracle of timing, then even better for them if the bad news was going to be helpful. They could take a bit of bad news considering the pleasant feelings that came with seeing Victor. Hell, they’d gladly take all of their bad news served up with sweet coffee and a handsome billionaire they planned on sleeping with many more times.

Still, Victor’s words were a surprise.

“A leak. In my office,” they repeated slowly, taken aback to say the least. They let out a long breath, half-laugh, completely unamused. They shouldn’t have been surprised. The Pantheon was everywhere. Of course they had someone working on the inside to sabotage things. They believed it immediately. They only hoped the work hadn’t been done already. But more important than that, who it was.

“Who am I firing, then?”

     “I don’t have a name yet -- apparently Levi Baines was only so forthcoming -- but we know it’s an intern.”

He wished he had more than that, wished Niamh had pressed the matter a little farther, but he also knew that Niamh had a tendency to press things until they cracked, and the fact that she hadn’t done irreparable damage to Lucifer’s fucktoy already was a surprise. Though, on second thought, he wasn’t sure she’d mentioned whether or not she’d ended up having to sever all ties with the kid in the process...

     “I don’t know how many of those you have,” he continued, half-joke. “Hopefully less than I do; if I had to audit all of my interns, it could take months.” And then, more serious, he added, “I can see what I can do about getting a name, but I don’t know how long it’ll take. Niamh does good work but she’d rough around the edges; I wouldn’t be surprised if she pissed somebody off beyond usefulness just getting that much.”

[victorslade-blog]

ginandturpentine:

“…Good to know.” Phoebe smiled, relieved, if a bit surprised. “And thank fuck. No particular opposition to, ah, that one– but he’s not exactly my taste, either. Funeral parlors tend to do that to a kid.”

It was an odd thing to admit, so abruptly, but it was true. Her immediate family had never been religious, Phoebe’s own radicalization had sunk its teeth into her early, and… death was nonsensical. Blood wasn’t holy. It was just blood. Nothing really drove that home like seeing it firsthand.

“It’s just– I’m nobody’s puppet. And even if I was, I’ll be damned if I’d sit here believing Gepetto’s anywhere near the Top 40 Charts, y’know? I bow to no man, woman, or vinyl, and definitely not at the insistence of, like, Ryan Seacrest.”

They were getting close to the diner, and Phoebe moved to grab the handles of its door before turning to her companion again. “After you– I don’t know your name.” She laughed sharply, once, and shook her head before swinging the door open and (ironically) bowing elaborately. “Phoebe Hunter, at your service.”

     “Well it sounds like you and I are the same page, then,” he answered, surprised by his luck. Half the people he ran into these days were devotees to someone or another, most of them uncomfortably vocal about the whole thing, as if the lesson on not bringing up politics or religion in polite conversation had been lost on them somewhere in the transition from religion meaning church to religion meaning who’s latest album was the most played thing on your iPhone.

He ducked into the diner as she opened the door for him, letting out a chuckle at her faux-formality, all the performative awkwardness and carefully cultivated weirdness about her personality striking a chord with him. 

     “I’m Victor,” he replied, by way of introduction, foregoing his last name as he tended to in any social interaction that had nothing to do with business. He’d gotten to a point in life where saying his full name to a stranger made it feel like he was trying to boast, and as much as he hated that, he’d long ago begun to tailor his life around making himself as inconspicuous as possible. 

[victorslade-blog]

niamh-byrning:

Niamh had spent the hours since the concert ended both trying to get herself shitfaced and trying to stop herself from drinking at all. She’d ended up landing somewhere between the two, and with a few hours to spare until she had to meet Victor at his office, had spent the remaining time trying to clear her head enough that she could engage in a meaningful conversation with Victor about all the shit that had happened there.

That said, she definitely wasn’t at her best when she sauntered into the lobby and started spewing a string of particularly imaginative threats at the security guard, and so it took a few minutes longer than her usual before she made it to the door of Victor’s office.

Niamh was already floating in and out of thought when the door opened and she spotted Victor, so when she passed the threshold, she didn’t say anything for a short while, and seemed intently focused on a particular spot of the carpet. A cursory glance at Niamh right now would indicate she’d gone to some lengths to hide her identity, with one of her face masks limp around her neck, and hair all tousled from wearing her hood up for several hours straight.

Eventually, however, Niamh let out a low sigh, and turned to face Victor.

         “Fucking wild night. I spotted you through your getup from a mile away, though, which means other people did too. Was it a good idea to go yourself?”

     “Are you drunk?” he asked, as she made her way inside and past him, though he wasn’t expecting an answer. He could practically smell it on her. For someone as smart as she was, as good at what she did as she was, she was an idiot sometimes. 

Not that he’d been much better, at her age, only marginally better impulse control, though less means with which to indulge himself, learning to get drunker than she was on significantly less beer and to satisfy the urge to do something destructive with slightly more productive acts, when he couldn’t afford to break something he might end up needing later on.

He let out a sigh, shaking his head a little, and then made his way back over to the couch, dropping down onto it and looking back up at her. It took him a minute, tired as he was, to take in her appearance, and he wondered vaguely what she’d been up to all night. Certainly not sleeping. Hopefully not getting into too much trouble, around that big a crowd of Pantheon fans. 

     “No one knows why I was there,” he explained after a minute, finally answering her question. “Besides, I’m in the industry. All things considered, it would have been weird if I hadn’t shown up.”

[victorslade-blog]

aristotlespolitics:

Aris couldn’t say they weren’t a little more than pleased to get a text from Victor. Even if it was all business, even if this might’ve been the busiest day of their career thus far, the thought of stepping away for a second to have coffee with Victor was very welcome. And even better if it came along with some helpful news, which seemed to be the case given the tone of the text they had received. 

So they’d left the work with the other attorney’s on the case, giving specific instructions that made them a little late leaving for this meeting, but seemed worth it in the grand scheme of things.

They spotted Victor in the little coffee shop easily, gladly taking the seat across from him and accepting the coffee. They had to appreciate the directness of things. “Oh yeah? Helpful news, I hope,” they said, raising an eyebrow, pausing to take a sip of the coffee, sweet and flavorful. “Thanks for the coffee, by the way, you know just how I like it.”

     “Bad news, turned helpful by a miracle of timing, I’m hoping,” he answered, taking a sip of his own coffee and sitting forward a little to meet them. 

He’d been glad to have an excuse to see them, saved from the awkward post-date, post-sex will-they-won’t-they question of whether or not they’d see one another again after the other night. And the sight of them, the warmth of memories from the other night, was just what he’d been hoping for.

Even under less than ideal circumstances. 

     “From what I hear, you’ve got a leak in your office.”

[victorslade-blog]

location: Victor’s office, Resonate HQ time: August 7, 5:45am     ( @niamh-byrning )

He hadn’t been able to meet up with Niamh at the concert -- too suspicious, to talk right there, to conect her in any way to him where anyone who might have known her as an innocent Pantheon fan might see them together. And he’d left the concert with half a migraine, crashing as soon as he’d made it back to the couch in his office -- farther uptown than his office, and he needed to be there in the morning anyway. 

But he’d responded to her text for her to meet him there; early in the morning, she’d have to pester the guard downstairs to let her up but if anyone could do it, it was Niamh, and from the racket outside his office door, she had presumably made it.

He pushed himself up off the couch, headed towards the door to open it for her even though he wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. No-- that wasn’t true. He wanted one thing more than to go back to sleep, and it was to figure out exactly how she’d found out about a Pantheon supporter trying to sabotage the Lucifer case from the inside. And to figure out how he was going to get this to Aris before it didn’t make a difference anymore.

[victorslade-blog]

location: a coffeeshop two blocks from Aris’ office time: August 7, 2:15pm      ( @aristotlespolitics )

He’d felt bad, for a second, pulling Aris away from what he was sure was going to be a full fucking day of preparation for the trial tomorrow to have coffee with them, a little selfish almost for not just dropping into the office or texting them so they could get back to work, but at the same time, he thought it would be worth it.

For one, the information he had, that Niamh had given him, straight from the mouth of Levi Baines himself was, if not too good to be true, at least something crucial; for another thing, despite popular belief, Victor had always been a strong believer in the idea that sometimes the best thing you could do was take a break. A walk down the block, some fresh air, a free fancy coffee drink -- he was hoping it would be just what Aris needed.

     “Boy, do I have news for you,” he greeted them, pushing the second coffee he’d ordered just for them across the table toward the empty seat opposite him.

[aristotlespolitics-blog]

victorslade:

Now that Aris had fully appreciated the food themself, Victor dug in, taking a few bites for himself as they spoke and relishing a little in the taste of it; no matter how many times he ate good food, here or elsewhere, he couldn’t help but enjoy it fully, like it would have been a shame to eat something so good without truly appreciating it.

Even if his mind was jumping ahead to the end of the meal already, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to enjoy the meal itself, and the company, to its fullest along the way. 

     “Just when I thought this night couldn’t get any better,” he laughed.

Aris laughed along with Victor, light and a little flirtatious. They were pleased with how things were proceeding already. The offer of more after tonight was not something that they usually had. They had always been more of a one and done sort of person. But things were a little different with Victor.

And they were already looking forward to the prospect of other dates after this one. 

“If I have to say anything about it, and I do, things are going to continue to get even better the later the night gets,” they said with a mischievous grin. They raised their glass in a pseudo toast to the rest of the night, and then drank deeply, eyes lingering on Victor even as they did so.