I'm always gonna be the last one standing

After a few months under a self-assigned house arrest, Xander had thought he could go right back to his life how it had been. But it turned out it wasn’t that easy. It turned out that he was more haunted now than he had ever been, not even because of the shades.

No, now with every drink he felt like he was putting himself in a position to send someone to a grave again. Few knew what he had done, knew about the accident with Clark. He wanted it to stay that way, wanted to forge himself. But the alcohol tasted bitter in a way it never had before, even as he felt himself getting drunker.

When he felt someone sit next to him on the small couch, the house party still buzzing with liveliness, he looked over at the girl and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand even though there was no mess. “Can I help you?” He heard the slur of his words and felt a twist in his gut that made him both want to go home and drink faster.

Date: January 1, 2021

Location: Winter Festival

The night had taken a turn and while Dominique believed that the night was going to be a good one, thing’s had taken a dark turn and the Lamia was trying to navigate around it. She had countless people she cared about, some of them were even surrounding her despite being dead, but in that moment, she felt so alone. After turning a corner though she saw a face she had been accidentally avoiding in the past, but was so happy to see in that moment. “ Xander?”

@alexanderwalsh​

Xander had been looking for Julian ever since the chaos broke out, having gotten separated from Brynn just before. He heard a familiar voice and his eyes focused on a face that was once so common to him and now he hadn’t seen in a long time. “Oh my god, Dom. Are you okay? What the fuck is happening?” Ghosts, he was pretty sure but he hoped not. The last thing he wanted twas to see his parents or god forbid Clark.

Two weeks after the fire, Xander had hardly left his bed. He really didn’t want to either. He’d gotten a man killed because... Because what? Because he’d been emotional and jumpy that night? Because he was thinking about his mother and he had been too distracted to notice- God, if he had been more responsible it would never have happened.

He looked up as there was a knock on his bedroom door and rolled away from it. “Julian, I’m not hungry, I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” Another knock. “Nysa, leave me alone!” And then it opened and he turned around, brows furrowing as he recognized Brynn standing by the bed. “What the... Brynn? What are you doing here?” he asked groggily, pushing himself up on his elbows.

“So you went from an innocent kiss into sex? Oh my God.” He face-palmed. “You make zero sense! Does this usually happen? Pretty soon you’re gonna bang Brynn or Mrs. Kettler down the street! Oh my God.” He was pacing now, unsure how to take this. He wasn’t by any means repulsed, just confused and surprised. Dom was attractive, the boys had talked about that before, but talk about zero to sixty! “You want what, huh? Her babies? Use your words! Oh my God a bombshell!”

Xander let out a groan as he shoved his hands up his face and through his hair. “I am not! It wasn’t like that! Just shut up a minute, God, this is new for me too!” He fell backwards, pressing his back against the counter as he stared up at the ceiling. “Not her babies, I mean- Fucking hell, dude, you’re stressing me out. I just... I think I want to date her.” He hadn’t dated anybody since Angela, which had ended in 2016. That was four fucking years ago. He hadn’t been tempted to either. “I do. I fucking want to date her dude. She’s different. She keeps up with me, she’s fun, she’s- I mean, she’s Dom.” He let out a low breath and then sat back up. “When I kissed her, the moment I kissed her, I just couldn’t believe I hadn’t been doing it the whole time. It felt so natural and right.”

“Dude, ew,” he chuckled when Xander said it was ‘amazing.’ Really? Dom was his friend. “What the fuck is the difference between flirting and flirting? Do I wanna know? Oh my God.” He shook his head, but was laughing all the same. “I mean, good for you if you liked it. I’m not sure I want to know anything but I’m also dying to hear it.” After all, Xander and Julian were more best friends than brothers, or best brothers, whatever. It was nice, it was a very healthy relationship, at least healthier than with their dad. They were each others’ rocks. 

Xander grinned at his brother and leaned over across the counter, resting on one arm. “Okay so. There’s harmless flirting, like, you know, how I talk to people basically all the time. An then there’s flirting when you want to date someone or you want in their pants. or both.” He nodded slowly and said, “So we went from innocent flirting to real flirting basically. And I dunno, I realized how badly I have always wanted to… Well. God, to kiss her. Not even anything else, just to kiss her and hold her and shit.” His face did a strange dance of emotions as he thought about the meaning of those words and quickly leaned back, lips parting in surprise. “Oh my god. Dude I think.. I think I want… Holy fuck.” He pushed a hand through his hair and tried to pull himself back into the conversation, as if he hadn’t just blown his own mind.

Dom had grown up in a period where the royal family was infighting and at war, she didn’t have the quiet calm of a town parade. This was a nice change of thing’s even if there was so much unspoken between her and Xander. “ You know me too well Xander Walsh” She teased giving him a smirk. It felt wrong now being so teasing, when she was feeling other things for the Lamia. Like she was leading him on, even if she wanted to be with him. It was just hard when her track records was awful at this sort of love. “ She sounded lovely” Dom replied glancing back at him. Family was hard when it came to her and she knew Xander was the same it was nice to have these memories. “ I’m not sure how my mother would have reacted to this. Then again  we weren’t always rich so she may not have been judgmental”

Xander grinned at her and slowly reached out to bump her hand with his lightly, half a playful gesture and half his own terrified attempt at asking to hold it. “Guess I do,” he told her softly, giving her the kind of smile he hadn’t dared give anyone for years. “She was. She really was... I think you would have liked her. She would have liked you.” No kidding. Their mom would have adored Dom and probably would have invited her over all of the time. He nodded slowly. They had both lost family, he knew, and it was nice to be able to talk about it together, to reminisce and share. “I like hearing about your family. About you.” He watched her carefully before venturing, “Dom?”

Julian was eating breakfast and nursing his own cup of joe when Xander arrived home. He didn’t usually ask where he was because it either wasn’t important enough to share, or Xander would tell him either way. He didn’t mind his brother until his mouth opened. Then Julian’s own jaw dropped and he looked up at him. “What. The. Fuck. How was it? I mean, why? I mean, what? What the fuck happened?”

Xander shook his head slowly as he turned to meet Julian’s eyes. “I- I mean. I don’t know- I do know. It was fucking amazing.” He sighed a little and took a drink of his coffee before pushing himself up to sit on the counter, looking down at his brother as he did. “I went over there to welcome her back to town and we had some drinks and we were talking. And then we started flirting, but we always flirted. This was just... It was different. It was... flirting. And... Then we got to a point where we knew what we wanted and he kept telling me to do it and I kissed her and then... Well. And then.” 

Despite the fact that Dominique considered Lethe home now, she still was getting used to the small town vibes the place provided. She was used to big cities and a different sense of glamour, but she had to admit a small town parade was cute. It had it’s own appeal. Her gaze was pulled by the familiar voice of Xander. Her body stiffened slightly as she turned. She was feeling so much for the other Lamia and after their night together she realized it wasn’t just two friends hooking up. It was something Dom couldn’t let happen though. She didn’t do love like this. She loved everyone she met but romantic love was a reminder she’d kill whoever she loved. “I’m not used to something like this. Most parades I’ve been to are on a huge scale, but this has it’s appeal. Did yo know I’d be here or is this just a lucky coincidence?” 

The thing about the parade, the thing that made today hard, was that his mom would have loved it. She loved the parade, loved town events of all sorts, but the annual had always been her favorite, almost as if it were a holiday. “I didn’t know, I just hoped you’d be here,” he said with a gentle smile. “We have this every year. Our mom loved it.” The words escaped him before he could help himself, and he wet his lips. He didn’t know if Julian had, but he rarely talked about their mom or their dad. It wasn’t for lack of love, it was just that he hated focusing on the stuff that sucked.

Walking up to the parade, Xander pulled at his t-shirt anxiously as his eyes finally landed on the other lamia. “Hey, Dom,” he said, voice raspy as it left his throat. Slowly, he found his way to her, sliding his hands into the back pockets of his jeans to stop himself from kissing her in greeting. That wasn’t something he was allowed to do. But it was exactly why he wanted to talk to her today. He couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened between them, or how it had made him feel. “Enjoying the parade?”

His jacket was slung over his shoulder as he walked up to the door and unlocked it easily, going in and to the kitchen where he knew his brother would be. Xander looked up at him, shaking his head as if to communicate that he had no idea what the fuck was happening right now. He went to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup as if life was just going to keep going like normal as if his mind wasn’t racing as hard as his heart had been pounding the night before. “So, I did something,” he said calmly as he dumped sugar in his cup before stirring it and putting the spoon in the sink. He set the mug down and tossed his jacket onto the island, spreading his arms. “I slept with Dom, dude.”

Dom wasn’t sure how it progressed to this point. The path ran through her head and yet she still wondered why she was wanting Xander to kiss her so much. They were always friends but maybe deep down it was always more between them. People who’ve been through hell tend to find each other, had he been through hell like she had? Dominique tried not to think about it too much, because there they were lips pressed against each other and she wanted it to continue. She always had a comment, but now she couldn’t say anything not when she slid an arm behind his back as soon as he pulled her closer. She wanted to deepen the kiss, and feel the connection they clearly had on a different level. She broke away for a moment during the kiss to smile against his lips. “ You been holding out on me this whole time?” She teased before leaning in to kiss Xander again. 

Xander felt his heart pounding in his chest as she pulled away and smiled, his own lips quirking into a small smile. This felt strangely right like this had always been supposed to happen. He slowly trailed his hand over her cheek before cupping her jaw as she kissed him again. His thumb rubbed over the skin as he deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding out to meet hers as he gave a small hum of pleasure. Suddenly, aching want was pounding through him. He couldn’t think of anything besides how badly he wanted her with him. Slowly, he parted the kiss and whispered, “You never told me not to” before kissing her again, picking up exactly where he had left off before shrugging off his jacket and letting it fall to the floor. 

Nysa smirked, she hadn’t seen her cousin in years and though he had changed greatly in that amount of time, there were little things that had remained the same. The same look he got in his eyes when he became too stressed and overwhelmed was the same. “An entire bottle? Before dinner? Now, now what would my mother say about that?” She was enjoying every single second of this and every reaction he displayed was only fueling her amusement. 

Though, as much as he had changed to her, she was sure that she was entirely different to him. Nysa might have been a little entitled with a trickster and troublemaker streak to her, but she was not experienced. She was not the confident woman she was now with countless blood on her hands. Nysa could only imagine how different she looked to him now sitting here at his counter drinking wine while some woman she had seduced was cooking for her. If only he knew half the truth of what she had been up to since the last time she saw him. 

“A little, yeah. I was looking forward to that heartfelt cousin hug.” She grinned and sipped her wine and waggled her eyebrows at him. Nysa wasn’t too concerned if he saw through her bullshit and realized that there was some other reason for her to be here. It wasn’t too hard to call bullshit, after not seeing each other for years she was supposed to just appear out of the blue because she honestly wanted to visit? “That’s not a very welcoming attitude. I don’t know how long I’ll be here. I should pick out a bedroom to stay in.” She smirked and glanced over at the woman cooking her food. “I told you, her name is Amelia.” 

“Don’t care. She wasn’t my mother,” Xander shot back. It came out harsher than he meant it. But the truth was that... Well, there was a lot that he’d done recently that his mom would scowl at. She was always skilled to spot when he was struggling which was, lately, always. He knew he’d changed drastically since her death. He’d gotten more withdrawn, colder, harsher. Outwardly, he seemed more carefree, but internally he felt like he was dying.

“You told me her name but where did you find her?” He cut himself off from asking why she was using her, which she so clearly was. “Doing this is so not allowed here, by the way. If necessary, I will throw your ass under the bus. For the record. You aren’t taking me away from the only home I’ve ever known.” Harsh, but true. Nothing was going to threaten their life here.  He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face and said, “We don’t have a spare room man. You can sleep on the couch.” An odd statement, considering they had four rooms and two of them. But there was his room, Julian’s, their parents which was still untouched, and the office.

Xander liked to make a show, and now people were staring and there were murmurings around the open area. Julian leaned in towards Ele and said something along the lines of ‘we can reschedule.’ Not that Xander had ruined the atmosphere or the mood per se, but… kind of. Xander hadn’t meant it out of malice and Julian didn’t take it as such, rescheduling wasn’t a problem and besides, he had woken up before Xander today so he hadn’t actually seen him since lunch the day before. It was weird, not seeing your twin every second of every day, and they both felt the loss when Xander went away to school. But while he thrived, Julian feared he grew weaker and more needy. He wasn’t his older brother’s barnacle, he just loved him and they were alone, together. 

Julian shook his head as he sauntered towards his brother. “Since when is Ele one of your favorite people? She’s like, an old soul dude.” Julian took a chair opposite the table of the open cafe that his brother sat at. “Yeah, well, when you scream your head off your aura tends to dim. Now if you were a Good Samaritan on the other hand, and say… left me alone with the person I was interviewing… you’d be much happier.” But Xander was far from good. That seemed harsh to say, for Xander was a good guy at heart, but his actions said many different things. Julian could see through it since they shared a womb all those years ago, but most people couldn’t tell Xander was a big softie. “Now tell me, what are you doing here trying to fuck up my interview? Stalking me? Stalking a chick? A guy? The smell of food?” 

Xander stared at his brother with an expression of mock hurt. “Yeah, she is. I’m deep enough to like old souls. I’m insulted.” He laughed and kicked his feet up onto the table, grinning as a passing waitress scowled at him. He slowly pulled his feet down because, hey, he wasn’t a total douche. “I can leave if you want,” he told him genuinely. “Just let me wait for the takeout, huh? Then I’ll leave you guys alone. If you’re nice and stop accusing me of fucking stalking you big dick.” As his bag of food came, he got up and took it with a grateful smile and a word of thanks. Glancing at his brother and Ele, he grinning and said, “You’re both mean to me but I still love you. See you at home you big lug.”

Dominique could practically feel every move Xander made towards her. She wasn’t sure how this had started, but she would have been lying if she said she wanted it to stop. Ever since moving to Lethe Dom had been fond of Xander, but this was different than anything else and it wasn’t how she used to go about using her powers to get what she wanted. She wanted Xander to genuinely like her and that was a huge thing she needed to deal with later. “ Then I’d ask you why you haven’t done anything about it yet?”  Dominique replied easing closer on her end. “It’s exactly that. I don’t have much family, so I hold onto what I have” Dom added giving him a soft smile. She was balancing between opening up to Xander and wanting him to kiss her. The alcohol was only heightening things as she took another drink from the glass. “ We don’t need to play a game to do that Xander”

Xander bit down on his lower lip for a moment as he eyed her, his gaze going down to her lips. God, he wanted to kiss her. What if it messed everything up? But, even scarier, what if it didn’t? “Then maybe we should just... do it then.” He moved closer, easily closing the gap and leaning in so that his lips were only inches away. Looking back later, he’d think it odd that he moved so slow when usually he just rushed into things, but the truth was that he was giving her an out, time to change her mind. But when he realized that she wasn’t going to, he felt himself grin a little as he moved his hand to her hip and pulled her closer, finally kissing her.