si vis pacem

     the brunette gasped in mock offense. ❝ how dare you to accuse me of having no fun at all! i’ll let you know i know how to have a good time, thank you very much. ❞ still holding her pout from the previous statement, jennina couldn’t help but to feel a little more curious about her friend’s story. ❝ wow, those fishnets were that much of a blockbuster, then? i could see why it’s kinda sad for me to miss it. though i’m not going to lie, i think i’m going to consider wearing those type of stockings for my next job. ❞

Batting his lashes innocently, Eden cocked his head to the side. Jenny was indeed a lot of fun, which made it easy to say the contrary. “ You’ll have to prove it, then. I hope you weren’t planning to go on a shopping spree alone? ” Damn it all to hell, he was getting closer. There wasn’t much appeal in talking to a friend from a few doors down the corridor, after all. Grinning mischievously at Jennina all the while, the male skipped along, winking as he got within reach. “ They were awesome! If you want to try some on to make sure they suit you, although I’m a believer, you could try some of mine !”

      ❝ would you rather have me calling you slowpoke, sweetheart? and what do you came in here for, eden? miss my presence that much already? ❞ he cheekily replied as he jumped ever-so-slightly at eden’s mandatory butt slap. he’ll probably retaliate later by pinching the other male’s bottom by the time he left his place. ❝ ah, yes. you and your free bird tendencies. that doesn’t stop me from hearing stories, though. something about fishnets? ❞

“ In my line of work yes, it’s better to be a slowpoke.” Furniture at Orlando’s wasn’t what Eden had gotten used to back at the hotel, but beat his own general lack of anything before Cole had taken him in by far. Draping himself over the sofa, he blew a kiss in the direction of his coworker. “ And of course I missed you! See, I would have come down here only in fishnets so you’d get the whole thing, but then wouldn’t it be bad rap for a cop or lawyer or sum’ to have a man as delicious as me in your apartment? ”

If only she knew that her friend was coming over, she would’ve worn her usual clothing - black lingerie and possibly a robe - but she wasn’t aware of her friend’s surprise visit, so all she was wearing tonight were her flannel pajamas that had pixelated giraffe designs on it. The female was already cleaning up her kitchen and closing the lights when she heard a familiar voice behind her front door. She groaned behind the door, not because she didn’t want to see her friend but because she wasn’t prepared at all. And she was really hoping to get that beauty sleep once and for all. “Jesus, Eden. You could’ve called me to tell me you were coming over.” She told the other as she opened her door, a light chuckle escaping her lips. She eyed the wine that he was cradling and opened the door a little wider, “Come on in.”

Pixelated giraffes? Toni was adorable, and it was refreshing seeing a different side of her. Grinning big, Eden stepped inside as he was invited, dropping a sloppy kiss on his friend’s cheek at the same time. He was allowed to call her friend, wasn’t he? Even though he was hiding a lot of things from her and basically participating in a long con destined to lead her to every single gang around except theirs. “Sorry I didn’t call. I thought it would be worth dropping by. If you want to have a glass and then sleep, we could do just that. Where should I drop this baby?” he asked, holding the bottle up.

Nik was different. But she never knew why she was head over heels for him. A lot of men had always asked her out but there was none other like Nik. Maybe it was his pretty face or his carefree attitude, but one thing is for sure, Vera wouldn’t want to lose him. Fuck, he’d be the only guy she’d beg and crawl back to. She had always been interested in him. When she had first laid her eyes on him as he entered the hotel doors, she had looked at him and only him. By the time they were alone on that getaway car, she immediately jumped on the opportunity when he asked. And she never regretted it. “Well, if you did, I would completely be sad about it.” She told him, pouting at him mockingly, partly asking for a kiss. She gave him a shy smile and replied, “Yes, please. I’ve been dying to see you, my love. The only drive I’m going to do tonight is you.” She told the other, a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

Another reason why Nikolai wasn’t completely into the idea of living at the hotel: he would most likely spend all of his free time with Vera, couldn’t keep his hands off her, and that would be bad for his business. There was also the fact that he was slowly but steadily losing taste for anyone else, a reaction that was new and confusing. It didn’t make him want to pull away from her; even so, he doubted he’d manage. “I don’t want you to be sad,” he whispered as he leaned in, softly kissing the pout off her mouth. His fingertips ran along her jawline, thumb resting on her lower lip, smudging her makeup. “I can’t wait, beautiful. I’ve missed your... intensity.Can’t help but think that’ll make it all the more interesting.”

“Yeah. I’ll hike my ass all the way back to Russia to ask my dear old матушка where the hell he’s been hiding. Just for you, sweet cheeks.” He cackled, making a show of trying to get a glimpse of Nik’s ass before leaning back on the sacred wallpaper once more. “Everything’s fucking perfect. Honestly? I’m fucking in love. Colleen’s got me wrapped around her fucking finger. Been keeping an eye on baby momma and baby boy for you. Got a new mark since I last saw you. Other than that, can’t complain. You been keeping busy?”

“Now that’s what I call true love,” Nik cackled along, patting his friend’s cheek. It was good to hear the man who was basically his brother had been leading a life that satisfied him. Colleen wasn’t half bad either, although she paled when compared to Vera. That was nothing but Nikolai’s biased opinion. “Thanks for that. I’ll keep an eye on your cub once you get one,” he promised, a glint in his eye. “I’ve had this beef with some Italians, said I couldn’t buy a piece of land that was rightfully theirs. Told them I had no idea they were Native. That thick guy managed to bruise my shoulder, can you believe that?” He was smirking until something Kennedy had said finally registered. “What about your new mark, where did you get it?”

@pxrabcllvm - IRA.

Freya had launched a strong blow towards the dummy they had. When she had regained her footing, she blew her hair out of her face and smirked. “You up for another beating, Irate?” She asked as she felt the male’s presence then she looked at him with eyebrow raised.

From very early on, it had been drilled into Ira that not being the best at something should never be cause for shame. Being too childish to acknowledge it and work on it, though, was as shameful as it got. So when Freya had waltzed in with her ninja-like fighting skills, Ira had wanted to learn. So far it had been beating after beating, but soon enough he would start to become a challenge for the blonde — at least he hoped so. “You know me: always. I think I could almost see your kicks coming by the end of our training last time.”

“Nope. Never heard the fucking word. Maybe you can loan a dictionary.” If Basil was gonna treat him like the fucking scum of the earth, then he was gonna act like it. It was always better for people to think you were stupid and underestimate you. “I’m not really good at work given to me by self righteous assholes. This isn’t about a job so fuck off, okay? I get my assignments done. What does the rest fucking matter?” Seriously, he’d never act nice with Basic Basil. Where was the fun in that? He could handle another cigarette burn or two.

One step and he was back in Kennedy’s space. It wasn’t that he wanted to be close to the taller man – the likes of him grated on his nerves if nothing else –, but the itch to grab him by the hair and bring him to his knees was too strong for Basil to idly stand by. Instead he glared at him, all the way from six inches closer to the ground, before huffing softly. “How indispensable do you think you are, exactly? People like you we could find easily, so maybe I should do everyone a service and bend you until you break?”

He had remembered seeing Basil for the very first time. He had arrived along with his sister with a sense of confidence and the other had been looking at them like he was mad at them - for some reason. It intrigued Cole and he was glad he had acted upon that and had met the most wonderful person in the world. “Just Chinese takeout. You know what I like.” He told the other, letting a smile grace his face as the other started to massage him, his back relaxing at his touch.

His hands moved along Cole’s back with practised ease: it wasn’t nearly the first time Basil found his boyfriend tensed, and his back could sometimes feel as hard as a brick. The right-hand man was applying himself so, he didn’t feel like using his phone at the moment. His fingers had a better place to be, like the nape of Collin’s neck right above the collar. “My phone is in the left pocket of my jeans,” he informed the other, “so you can text Vera if you don’t want to wait too long. I might have to massage you for days to get you back into shape.”

Vera had barely talked to her brother especially that he always was with the company of Cole, never leaving his side. Somehow, she felt jealous that someone had her brother’s full attention but she managed to put her frustrations to some people in their gang, annoying them instead of her own brother. Finally getting an opportunity to be able to hang around with him, she spoke, “Don’t be sorry.” She meant it even if she was looking for an apology, she always forgave her brother before he would apologize. “Of course, I’d love to help you out. Although, I was thinking maybe we could hang out together then we can find possible people to murder?”

Ah, of course. Somehow Basil had forgotten not everything in his life had to revolve around helping Cole rise to the top. They had time... theoretically. So he laid his pen down and pushed away from the desk he had been sitting at for hours now, noticing then how much he needed a break. “Let’s hang out, then. It’s been too long. Do you have something in mind?”

Aurel paused in his doorway, staring at the man at the end of the hallway. It couldn’t be. He had joined Cole to avoid people like this. “Gabriel?” Aurel asked quietly. Maybe if he didn’t speak too loudly the other man wouldn’t hear him. He needed to find Basil or Cole or Ira. Even Eden right now.

Nikolai had been largely talking to himself, and thus hadn’t expected any kind of reply. As low as the tone had been, it was still more noise than he suspected would come. Looking towards the source, Nikolai was surprised to see a rather familiar face, and smiled as he got out of the elevator. “Aurel, now that’s a nice surprise. Didn’t think I would see you again since you parted ways with your lovely brother.”

“Uh, yeah. You do. Have you, like, seen you? Or your arms?” Dimi made a (rather too high pitched for his own comfort) noise of protest and swatted at Spyro’s hand. Yeah, he had been asking for it but it still sucked. “Strike two is totally going to be sassing me or whatever. Strike three is, like, I don’t talk to you for a month or ever again.”

What was the deal with his arms? Spyro shrugged, confused. “I don’t really pay attention. As long as I’m clean and in good health, there’s no need to.” Note to self: never allow Dimi to get any sort of power. Rights abused may still be rights, it felt to Spyro like his best friend would still enjoy his stunt as a mini tyrant too much. “Hey!” he protested, now not needing to act to look horrified. “You’d never do that, would you? You wouldn’t last a day! And don’t take this for a challenge because it’s not!”

Elisa: I'm already antsy. He only wants to be three things. A dinosaur which he knows he can't be. Like Daddy and like Uncle Ira.

Elisa: Don't show him any more knives. No debate.

Ira: he's a very realistic kid. I would say expose him to better influences if you're so concerned but do you even have those?

Elisa: He wants to be like Uncle Ira when he grows up and play with knives.

Elisa: Do not buy him toy knives. Stop showing him knives.

Ira: next week he'll want to be a fireman, don't get so antsy

“It’s, like, way too late for that. We need to work on giving you one. Dude, you deserve one.” Dimi poked Spyro again, confused as to why someone wouldn’t squirm away from a poke attack. He poked Spyro’s arms which were like almost bigger than his head. “We’ll call that strike one.”

“ I don’t really need one, do I? In my line of work, it’s better to be discreet. If I get competitive due to ego I’ll start making silly mistakes.” He smiled at the now incessant poking, retaliating square in the middle of Dimi’s freckled cheek. A treasure indeed. “ Oh please, no, not a strike system !” Spyro bemoaned, his acting nearly on point. “ Now I’m gonna have nightmares about what would happen if I reached strike three !”

Vera lived for the days she got to see Nik. He wasn’t part of Collin’s gang so he only ever visits from time to time. And it would only be on her free time she got to visit him. But everytime she would see him, her heart would drop to her stomach and thank the lucky stars for giving him to her. “For you, I like to be found easily.” She commented, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I am the best prize to be won, so winning is always worth it.”

Easy was something Nikolai was used to: back home, his status and reputation had always guaranteed women and men alike to do his bidding, and in time he had been able to regain such a reputation in his new milieu. But Vera, even though she had been quite enthusiastic that first time, as had he, had never felt that kind of easy. Maybe because her high energy and love for adrenaline made her exciting to be around, someone challenging compared to the regular people Nikolai was most commonly surrounded with. “ I can’t think of a better prize,” he agreed, tangling his fingers in the hair at the nape of her neck. “ And since I found you now, how about we spend some time together? Unless you’re too busy driving around today.”

Once dressed and armed with one of her nicer blankets, Elisa made her way out into her sitting room to join her family. When she first moved in, she thought she’d keep Matei’s crib out here but the thought of not being close enough in case something happened was too terrifying. “I think I recall you saying his name before once or twice. Usually in a thankful way.” She lightly placed the blanket on his lap before turning her attention to her son who was babbling endlessly about ‘Momma’, ‘up, please’. “What’s wrong?” She picked her son up, pointing to Nikolai and shaking her head. “We have to let Daddy sleep because he woke up so early with you today. Do you want to take a nap like him?” Despite the famous two year old independence, Matei loved imitating his parents. She only hoped it would work this time and he would lay down before a meltdown occurred. “I never thought of that. Spanish? Or you could learn Japanese! ASL.”

“ A clear mistake,” Nikolai snorted, “ as I’m pretty sure he wasn’t around those times either. Thanks,” he lifted the blanket a little to make sure it was clear what he was talking about. Although, seeing the conversation they were having... He shook his head, smiling fondly at the picture of Lissy and Matei together. He loved his son to the moon and back, that was no secret; Elisa was a great mother who would influence their child in a positive way, which made Nikolai’s respect for her go through the roof. He had always been sweet on the linguistic genius  ( how else would they have a child together? ) , but this new light he saw her in really made her stand out. “ I’d love to learn Japanese. ASL is a good one too, very useful. Not that Spanish isn’t useful, but.” He shrugged as he had no further explanation he wished to give, his brain sluggish now that he didn’t have to keep an eye on Matei constantly.

“But I’m here. Doesn’t that make it the best place on earth? How could it get any better?” Kennedy let go of his old friend and leaned against the wallpaper of the hallway wall. A voice in the back of his mind, one that sounded suspiciously like Basil, told him he’d scuff the wallpaper. “You’re not here to see my gorgeous face, are you?”

“ Maybe if you had a twin,” Nikolai retorted without missing a beat. One Kennedy could be a bit of a handful by other people’s standards; two would undoubtedly make the world burn. “ Not why I came in the first place, but I couldn’t go without checking with you. How’s everything? It’s been a while.”