MORE. // deranged.

there’s a brief moment where she wonders if he’s come to berate her over that one time ( one of the several ) when she beamed into his office to find a way to help her injured sister. instead  —-  wine. he probably knows. he has to know, given who he is. it just means he has more pressing matters on his mind. ( understandably. ) “ thanks. ” she says that even though she has no real intention of drinking it ( alcohol dulls the mind ;  parker is not a fan ). it takes her a moment to put two and two together and ASSUME that, with his parents both around, wyatt must be …  going through it. “ you probably need it more than me. ”

berating was never really his thing. maybe lightly scolding and dramatic eye rolling that could be mistook for that, but definitely no real berating. he left that for chris. chris would definitely berate her. “i think i’ve drank enough for one year. i’ll save it for later.” maybe he’d save it for tomorrow or the day after but it’s hard to save something YOU KNOW YOU’LL RUN OUT OF LATER. unlike parker, not wanting to dull her mind, wyatt does. he wants the screaming to stop. “how are you doing?” because without alcohol, he’s not really all that sure how he’d cope. he’s older and he’s had more time with his parents and aunts. parker, though only a few years younger, didn’t have what wyatt did. HE FEELS BAD. at least he goes to her and not around her the way some of their family’s been known to do. HOW IS SHE DOING? he’d rather ask her herself.

Piper’s eyes went wide as she took in her son, battered and dirty. A million thoughts went through her head at once and she wasn’t sure what to say first. What was with the dark orbs he’d come in with? Why was he dirty and battered? Why didn’t he have shoes on? Why were his orbs black? That question echoed in her head over and over so much she couldn’t even open her mouth to speak. Of course she knew what it meant but she couldn’t entertain that thought at the moment. 

“Wyatt…” She was trying to settle on one emotion and decided it would be easier on her heart if she went with anger. “Where the hell have you been?” 

well fuck. fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck. talk about conversations he didn’t feel like having, especially since they had, had one had been almost entirely about this very thing. he waited, a foot giving a little tap here and hands clasping together. for a second it looks like he’s waiting but it’s more so he’s giving her the time to process the literal shoe that’s been dropped before her. of course if she were to find out the truth, it would be an accident. he’s silent as he tries to figure out why none of his senses or spells gave way as a warning, as they should’ve, that she was there.

If Melinda were to break her avoidance act for anyone it would be her oldest brother, Wyatt. She loved her parents and Chris, of course, but her oldest brother was always that protective figure that made her feel safe constantly and though it had been some time since they last saw each other, hearing his voice just then brought an insane amount of comfort to her. Brown eyes rose to find her older brother as he rested against the counter between them and a smile formed across her lips. “I suppose I could spare a few minutes for him.” she teased with a laugh. “It’s been a while… I suppose that’s my fault though. How’ve you been?”

if anyone gets needing space, it’s wyatt. as everyone grew up and moved out, wyatt was already there. he was headmaster at magic school like it was some magical rite before half of them had even graduated which ever school they were in; some in high school, some in magic school. it comes with being the oldest, he’d surmise. they broke away with their lives and like an over stretched rubber band, it would make sense it’d snap back eventually. “lucky him.” wyatt remarks as he sits on the stool with a smile. “and mine.” definitely, definitely his own. “oh, you know... i adopted a kid and i’m debating letting someone else be headmaster for a while.” two major events yes but believe it or not, not a big leap. he’s kept one a secret and the other? eh he doesn’t see why it needs to be one. one, he at least knows, melinda can understand. “his name is william. william halliwell.” he likes the sound of that, like he can’t wait to shout it from the roof tops. “mom already knows but i figured i’d make my rounds before everyone freaks out.” 

           he  almost  chokes  on  his  toothbrush  when  he  swings  the  bathroom  door  open  only  to  come  face  to  face  with  wyatt.   he  coughs,  swallowing  a  mouthful  of  toothpaste  when  the  toothbrush  is  far,  far,  away  from  his  mouth.  “  uh,  yeah.  that’s  me. ”   he  raises  his  hand  in  an  awkward  half  wave.   “  hi,  sorry. ”   he’s  not  usually  this  socially  inept  —  okay,  maybe  he  is  —  but  he   H  A  S   sort  of,  unexpectedly,  taken  up  temporary  residence  in  wyatt’s  house  ever  since  lizzie  died.   in  his  R2D2  pajamas,  hair  mussed  and  still  very  much  half-asleep,  is  not  exactly  how  he  saw  their  first  meeting  going.   he  senses  the  downhill  decline  of  the  conversation  rather  quickly  and  tries  to  steer  it  back  into  an  UPWARDS  TRAJECTORY.    “  landon  kirby. ”   he  extends  his  hand  before  rethinking  it  and  slowly  retracting  it.    (  SOCIAL  AWKWARDNESS,  1.   LANDON  KIRBY,  0.   )

sure it’s unexpected but it’s also not much of a surprise. every parent lives for the day their kid brings home friends AND dreads the day they bring home significant others. he likes lizzie but imagine if he hadn’t. that would be far more awkward. what if it were opposite and will was wilhelmina and lizzie was... whatever male substitution name for elizabeth. he would’ve met him at the door with a figurative shot gun with the threat of seeing the literal one. “why are you sorry? i’m glad you’re here.” wyatt says truthfully, a hand waving to dismiss whatever unspoken doubt landon might have. sure, the kid’s a fucking nerd but who cares? wyatt’s even hoping it rubs off on landon. “i’m wyatt halliwell. don’t worry, i’ll give you guys some space to nerd out or whatever it is you do these days.” he’s only twelve years older than they are. he can remember being an angsty kid too. hell, that was just last week...  “just holler if he gets hungry? i can pick up some pizzas or whatever he’d like.” here’s the thing about wyatt: HE DOESN’T HOVER. not noticeably no. maybe in the hallway or up above when all is said and done, but he gives will the space he needs. maybe his problem is he gives too much but that’s a debate for another time. it seems he can’t get rid of self doubt.

he doesn’t use the stairs often. these days he can just orb there and batta boom batta bang! today he choose the stairs to the top floors. GOTTA GET THAT CARDIO, RIGHT? but he comes face to face with a face he’s never seen before and he can’t help but skip a step each step he takes. “oh, you’re not my son.” definitely not will. “let me guess... landon?”

      “A CULTIST! YOU HIRED A FUCKING CULTIST YOU IDIOT!”

“HEY!” wyatt snaps at the guy bitchin’ up a storm. “at least i dealt with it so put a smile on your face and shut the fuck up already.” he makes a point of showing the familiar what a smile is just in case he’s never, you know, DONE ONE.

“ still, i’m sure random people bumping into you is not a pleasant feeling. though i assume most people usually do it because they’re n o s e  d e e p in whatever text message and not a carton of lo mein noodles.” madison shook her head at herself and made certain the box was closed. “ so you’ve actually been spilled on in events like this? and you still manage to have a kind demeanor? i’m all for kindness but there is a l i m i t.” the blonde smiled, shifting her food into the bag over her shoulder. “ pleasure, wyatt. i’m madison.” 

wyatt gives her a small chuckle. it’s effort not to reach out and choke the light from the inside out with just a snap of her fingers. LIGHT AND AIRY PEOPLE, he can hardly stand them these days. “you are pretty much correct.” on a good day he would find it funny but today? his mouth twists into a smile to hide the gritting of his teeth. “i’m the headmaster of magic school. if i’m not kind, i don’t know what else i’d be.” other than a liar? hmm... “what brings you to san francisco, madison? i figured with the barrier being down, less would be so inclined to visit us in our happy hole in the wall city.” he’d describe it as home, if he cared, but even he knows it’s the people that make it home rather than having places to live. doesn’t matter now does it?

                         he could force out some  P R E T E N C E  , a lie that he wasn’t because maybe that would take away the scary parts of it: the tidbits that made everything seem more REAL or like it was simply pulling away some veil from something that was there and certainly known internally but wasn’t necessarily a consistent topic of conversation because it didn’t need to be. Too many people seemed to leap too fast or force things, in the end, he was just glad they weren’t like that — neither of them needed things to be written in stone (maybe in some ways that’s what made what they hard more comfortable). “ am I  — yeah, I think so… ” he wanted to argue that he was almost certain it was fine, that perhaps it was more the shock of how it happened rather than the situation but he was certain his face showed a sort of F E A R that his mind hadn’t connected entirely with. “ I just haven’t done the whole family thing before, ever really and it’s new but I don’t think my fear of it is a bad thing, ” he added with a brief smile, some positive notion because being afraid simply meant he cared enough about it: about not screwing it up or of just giving himself the space to have something he hadn’t really believed he’d wanted before. It had ALWAYS been easier to just be that person that floated in and out of living but it took whatever this was to open his eyes: to reveal that easy wasn’t always the best option. 

                “ so…yeah, I’m good with it. it’s okay, ” something sincere and warm about that notion of confirmation, even being sure to squeeze the other’s leg in some reassuring attempt to pull him into the idea that he really meant his words: that ultimately he was being as TRANSPARENT as a person could be ( he was even referring to himself as a person in his thoughts. that was new ). “ you’re kinda one of the few decent things in my life; I’d accept you however you came and whoever you came with. ” and maybe kids were just a weird thing for him, something that he’d always stayed far away from because he couldn’t have his own and daddy dearests whole big game was about reproduction but this was different. It wasn’t about him or his trauma and as far as kids went, Will seemed pretty GREAT. 

a sort of smile crosses his lips. it’s one filled with amusement and admiration. his eyes lighten. “are you sure?” wyatt wonders, inching closer to the man. he’s not sure how it happened but even before this change in himself, he looked at ryan and saw something so... amazing. worth acknowledging. he sees it now though he doesn’t know what it is. he sort of saw it in will once but there was something else when it came to will, just as there’s something else when it comes to ryan. his fingers just ITCH to pull him closer, to explore whatever areas they haven’t already covered like some deep sea exploration. his mouth tingles with some NEED to chase whatever plagues him away with a kiss. wyatt’s hands start at ryan’s, rubbing circles in the tender flesh of his palms before sliding to his wrists with a tickle. he wants. he’s needy. he’s greedy. HE WANTS TO CRUSH THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD ONE SOUL AT A TIME  --  but there are still a few people that he teeters for. ryan being one. “in that case, i guess meeting the rest of them shouldn’t be a thing for a while.” a deep chuckle comes out, clearly teasing, but there’s a slight selfish motivation behind his words. he’s done this before, finding people he doesn’t want his family to get their paws on. he knows ryan’s different, not like will, but close enough. HE KNOWS THAT HIS PEOPLE DON’T FIT WITH THE HALLIWELLS. 

still, he loves them anyways. if it keeps them safe, he’d keep them away forever even if it’s just a fear that the halliwells wouldn’t accept him instead. his choices are... a choice.

there’s a warmth spreading in his cheeks, blazing dangerously close to the tips of his ears. “if there’s one thing will has taught me, it’s that family is more than blood.” more so, more than anything else too. wyatt leans in like he’s going to kiss him but rather brushes his nose against ryan’s instead. lips brush together just slightly. “i see you, ryan.” he whispers. if it’s not already evident, wyatt wants to reassure him once more. there’s experience there. he hopes he’s taught will something but the truth is, will has definitely taught him things. firstly, he knows when someone has been wounded by someone in their life. he doesn’t know who to guess for ryan but he knows there was, or is, someone like jack. “i’ll never ask you for anything than this.” 

he’s tired and he’s dirty which leaves him debating which comes first: a shower or a nap. never mind that he’s crawling  (  dark orbing  )  home around noon rather than some normal time after being out not only all night but for a few nights as well. his eyes are sunken in and blood shot, his clothes dirty and torn, and his shoes? he had lost those somewhere between his apartment and the underworld. wyatt hadn’t thought to check and see if anyone were home. it’s not like will hadn’t been sleeping wherever lizzie was these days which meant by all means he has empty nest syndrome. ryan shouldn’t be there... so imagine his surprise he comes face to face with none other than his mother who looked happy at first but then there’s a different expression: one he’s been avoiding, just like he’s been avoiding the manor. well SHIT. “mom, what are you doing here?”

Wyatt: Honey?