i'm still standing

He was in such a drug-induced hangover that he barely remembered inviting Skyler over in the first place, their argument at the parade throwing him into a bender that sent him across the Atlantic and shacked up inside of his mother’s Italian villa. Two weeks was a long time, but definitely not his longest run with hardly a few hours of sobriety. It was safe to say he was hazy, and as he allowed the male inside, he didn’t quite care how his disheveled appearance exemplified that. “What?” Rizzo mumbled, rubbing his eyes with one hand as he loomed over the stack of pictures. “Minchia, I don’t even remember half of these. This supposed to be my ‘welcome home’ gift?” he quirked a brow mischievously, lazily extending a hand before hooking his fingers onto the waistband of Skyler’s pants. “’Cause I had somethin’ else in mind.”

Skyler wasn’t sure what he expected, though this had definitely been part of it. Rizzo’s hands on him were always part of the deal when he showed up, and this time wasn’t going to be any different. Their argument during the holiday was seemingly in the past, but it wasn’t like they hadn’t gone longer without seeing each other. “Something like that,” he huffed, pulling one out and holding it up to show Rizzo before they could fall onto the bed, “Remember this one? You let me do you hair. It was the best look you’ve ever had.”

Vic had been in the process of falling asleep when the shift in the bed and the sound of Skyler’s voice had his eyes fluttering back open. “Mhm?” He turned on his side to face the other, slowly blinking until his eyes no longer felt too heavy to be kept open. “A party?” He let out a breathless laugh, reaching a hand to rub over his face. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you. “My hero.” Dropping the hand from his face, he shot Skyler a more awake look. “Where’s it at?”

Skyler moved to hover over Vic now, waiting for the other to become more aware of exactly what he was agreeing to. “It’s over in the city – on a rooftop bar. You’ll be almost a celebrity there. There’ll be girls, guys – whoever you want to sleep with, I bet they’ll say yes. Musicians are lucky like that. So what do you say?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, further solidifying his response. Enrique wasn’t like most people, he rarely shied away from doing anything. Even something like modelling for photos; an area in which he had zero expertise. This was just another adventure for him. “Awesome! Besides, the ocean loves me. I’m basically Aquaman when I’m wet,” he laughed. “In fact, you’re in for a preview soon,” he smirked, then took another bite of his sandwich. 

Skyler rose an eyebrow, releasing the small bit of curl he’d had in his fingers, “Basically Aquaman? Guess you better put on a show for me, then. I like it when you’re all wet.” He plucked the sandwich out of Enrique’s hand, setting it down on the counter. “Less eating, more carrying me to the shower, Momoa.”

Skyler felt like a fool. He’d detoxed Rizzo out of his system for two weeks, sleeping with whatever pretty smile came his way and staying as high as a kite to ignore everything else. Ever since their dalliance at the parade, Skyler hadn’t been feeling himself. Rizzo had gone off to Italy, and Skyler had tried to pull himself out of the gutter. Yet when the other had come home, and no sooner texted Sky about wanting to see him, well, he was over at the other’s place quicker than he’d thought he’d be. He’d brought old print outs, some of the pictures he’d taken of Rizzo once before in New York, and others that were from the time he’d used the canals of Venice as a backdrop. They were some of his favorites, though in order to move on, he brought them with – Rizzo always liked a good picture. “I brought these. So you could keep them.”

Skyler’s arms were crossed over his chest, only because he was really debating on what he wanted to say to Asher. He had seen the guy go to Rizzo – and he knew exactly what it was for. Unlike his turbulent ex, however, Skyler was morally grey – and he didn’t plan on making money off of his own drugs. No, he just took as much as he could handle, hoping that maybe nothing would kill him. Skyler pushed himself off the wall, the party not exactly being the same without someone to share it with. “You look like you need a fix, babe.”

“Vic,” Skyler moved a little closer, a wicked smirk on his face as he probably got a little too close – personal space wasn’t a thing with him sometimes, “Go to this party with me, yeah? There’s gonna be lots of food, some drinks...maybe some drugs if you’re really into it. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” 

“I haven’t had failed relationships. Not until now, at least.” They had never been at the top of his list, relationships that is. He’d been too focused on his schooling, his career that it didn’t leave much room for anything else. Sure, he’d dated, but they’d never gone past the first, or possibly second date. “When you can’t stand to hurt someone you care about.” But he knew how idiotic that sounded, given that he’d cheated time and time again, all while unable to bring himself to do what needed to be done.

“Oh, darlin’, I’ve got it covered. I make the best grilled cheese on the west coast.” Marley playfully bragged, nudging the other with her foot. She didn’t do much cooking beside that–didn’t usually have the equipment too–but didn’t bother to inform Sky of this. He’d figure it out. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Marley was quick to nod, shoulders lifting in a shrug. “We’ve got ourself a deal, handsome.” With a grin, the blonde leaned up from her place on the couch and pressed her lips to the other’s cheek.

“I’ll eat a grilled cheese any day. But yeah, cool. Deal.” He made a face after she kissed his cheek, though it was one filled with amusement than anything else. “My rules...I don’t really have any. Except maybe that if we’re going to have fuck buddies over, we should probably coordinate? Otherwise it’ll just be some weird double date thing when it’s time for breakfast.”

— ft. @skylerxdavis

He’d been trying to get Skyler’s attention for some time now—or what constituted some time in his standards—but to no avail. It was either he was well-immersed in his thoughts or was pointedly ignoring him, and convinced that it was the latter, he reached into his pocket to find what was once a wet napkin but now had hardened as it dried from the washer. Aiming for the other’s forehead, he threw it at Skyler’s direction, but had instead landed on the side of their face. “Stop ignoring me, please.”

Skyler had been trying to pay attention to Jamie, but one of the photos in his hands currently had his attention instead. It was something he wasn’t sure he wanted to post; a new style of photography that he was hoping would pull people in. It was difficult to make money as a photographer alone. The napkin that hit his face, however, had him raising an eyebrow as he set the picture down, looking up at Jamie now, “Yes, your highness?”

Myles knew that there was nothing he could say to make this right. Especially not to one of Jasmine’s family members. “It wasn’t that easy, Skyler. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be with her.” Not at first, anyway. “I did love her, and I always will. I tried to tell her, so many times. But I just — I know I messed up, and I’ll have to live with that.”

@skylerxdavis

This was quite possibly the very dumbest idea he had ever had, and that included naked skydiving when he was twenty-one and stupid. He had to give it a shot, didn’t he? Find a photographer, someone who was good. It was almost their anniversary, he wanted it to be special. So he cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. “Hey. You Skyler?”

Skyler glanced up at the man, also looking around like the guy was confused. He had said his name, though, so there was no getting out of this one. Sky thought long and hard for a couple seconds about what kind of trouble he had gotten into this time to warrant this guy’s attention. “Uh...yes? Hi. Who are you? Listen, whatever it is, I probably didn’t mean to do it. Or them.”

Aware of Skyler looking him over, Devin flexed and popped a pec before getting back to work. “I got some weird stringy throw pillows in that tote by your knee. They’d make damn fine pom poms, hot stuff.” He hefted a chaise and carted it inside, placed it relatively where it might go. He came back out, stacked those totes and heaved them up. “How’s my ass looking? Still pretty good?”

“You’re stupid,” he laughed when Devin flexed for him, tossing the nearest thing he could at the other – one of the throw pillows. “Nah, I think I need to see it without any clothing covering it. Clothes can be deceiving. Plus, I still think mine is better. Now come on, carry me inside and I’ll cook something up for all your hard work.”

“But why the fuck am I still on there?” the musician exclaimed, finally stopping in his tracks before turning to face him. He despised how stupid and innocent Skyler liked to come off as whenever they’d get into a fight, the calm demeanor that the other attempted to exude pissing him off even further — especially when his highs would start to wear off. Sort of like right then. “Yeah, ‘course there is. There’s always some ‘other’ guy you’re trying to fuck when I’m around, but I’ve never even seen a single one,,” Rizzo scoffed in disbelief, nose twitching slightly. “It’s not fucking true. And, I —” his jaw clenched, face stoic. “I don’t.”

“Because instagram has nothing to do with our relationship. That’s why.” He was getting even more annoyed, but he glared back at Rizzo the moment he turned around to face him. Skyler pushed himself up and off the wall he had been leaning against, “I’d rather keep you in suspense, Riz. And besides, it’s nice to have someone around who doesn’t think...” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Look – I’m not apologizing, and I’m not taking it down. I just want to watch the parade. Are you done being mad?”

As he was pulled closer, he smiled to himself but didn’t protest. He quite enjoyed Skyler’s need for the contact and would rarely object to reciprocating. “You’re welcome,” he grinned before taking a bite of his own sandwich. “Anytime I’m available, and you’re up to it,” he shrugged, basically freeing up his calendar for the talented photographer. “How about this weekend?”

Skyler’s smile was genuine, and he twirled some of Enrique’s hair around his finger before he hummed, “Yeah? You didn’t mind?” he looked mildly surprised, since there were some who didn’t want to be on camera since it was personal. “The pier. I think we could do some stuff there.”

“Whatever little bullshit excuse you’re fucking telling me. You don’t get to post my face everywhere with ominous captions like it doesn’t fucking affect me,” he snapped, turning away for a moment as he began to pace back and forth, his high rendering him must more agitated than he’d normally be — which was quite a lot as it was. “Shorter than that and you might as well be wearing a goddamn speedo.” Rizzo frowned, having a difficult time masking his jealousy. “It’s called being an asshole. My phone’s blowing up with people saying that I fucking cheated on you.”

“I get to do what I want on my instagram,” Skyler tipped his sunglasses down to look at Rizzo, watching him pace back and forth. He always did this kind of stuff to garner Rizzo’s rage, but the caption hadn’t meant anything like what people had assumed. “Easy access, baby. Got a hot guy out there I’ve been keeping my eyes on. Just slip it off to the side and boom,” Skyler made a crude gesture, staring back at Rizzo before he frowned even more. “That seems like a reflection on your character, not mine. Besides, it didn’t mean that – but I thought you didn’t care about what people thought of you?”

The question was bothersome, there was no denying that. But he wasn’t going to fault Skyler for wanting to throw it in his face. He’d broken his sister’s heart, after all. Sighing softly, he collected himself for the inevitable, “It wasn’t like that, Skyler. I never meant to break her heart, nor did I anticipate any of it happening like this. I loved your sister.”

She shrugged her shoulders, palms lifted, as if to say and? “I’m a very easy lady to get ‘long with. Ain’t my fault.” She reached with her foot to nudge him, hands dropping to rest back on her stomach. At his words though, Marley was quick to prop herself up on her elbows, tilting her head curiously at her new friend. “…you offerin’ me a place to live, Sky?” A breathless laugh escaped her lips, in partial disbelief. Not that something like this had never happened to her before…just not typically from someone she wasn’t fucking.

Skyler put his hand up to stop her before she could get too sentimental on him, “Yes, but...you definitely have to do the cooking because I can’t. I just order in constantly. And that’s not healthy but you get what I mean. So do we have a deal or what?”