* RUN / AWAY

“Why wouldn’t it be?” He scoffed in return as she let herself into the patrol car, waiting until she was done with the show of letting her hair down and buckled to put the car back into drive, rolling lazily down Cendre Hollow’s main street towards Adora’s residence. It wasn’t very far and it wasn’t hard for him to find, considering he spent a chunk of his own time there when he had some steam he needed to blow off. 

“You’re so goddamn good at it, after all,” He continued as he put the car back into park. He wasn’t in any rush to get rid of her–his shift was uneventful enough already–but he’d never put himself in a place where he might seem to eager to spend time with the young woman. That just wasn’t the way he was. 

“I’m serious about not fucking around at night, though. I don’t know what made you think you can handle me, but–”

“ of course i am, javi. it’s not like you make it difficult. ” she teased, righting herself in her seat as her gaze moved between javier and the window. he was lecturing her about being out at night, but so far from what she’d seen, the streets were empty. there was nothing out there but the wind in the trees and the soft, distant noise of crickets. how terrifying.

as javier shifted the car into park, she watched him again from the corner of her eye, turning in her seat to face him once he was finished. she didn’t seem to heed his warning. “ oh, come onnnn, javier. we both know if i wasn’t around all you’d be doing with your time is patrolling around cendre, drinking, and looking miserable. that’s usually what you do anyways—i make things a little less boring around here for you. you can’t deny that. ” adora was quick to interrupt him, leaning across the center console to press a kiss to his jaw, as if that would sweeten her words, or distract him from the fact that she wasn’t taking his little speech about safety all that seriously. the worst scares she’d ever had here were primarily from him and the sheriff, after all.

“Anytime after sundown is too late for you to be out here alone,” Javier commented almost dryly, although the sentiment behind the statement was the same either way. Cendre Hollow wasn’t known for a great amount of violent crimes, but every once and a while, a missing persons case would come across his desk that Javier–as well as the rest of the department–knew they weren’t going to solve. Despite the unspoken rule from Sheriff James Perroneau that if you’re going to hunt, you need to do it out of his jurisdiction, there were too many rogue supernaturals for them to all keep an eye on. And he didn’t need Adora’s picture in a file slammed down on his desk in two days. 

“Maybe later–” Leaning over, he pushed open the passenger side door and cocked his head over in a silent way of saying get in. 

Already, he expected resistance from the blonde. She was a fiery one, for sure. He’d met plenty of women like her over the substantial amount of time that he’d spent living, but Adora seemed the most sure of herself out of any of them. 

“I’d ask why you didn’t have Sylvia drive you home, but I’m sure you didn’t want to get in a car with her any more than anyone else does.” 

her eyes rolled petulantly at his dry comment, far less worried about what went on in town at night than she probably should’ve been. she knew it could be dangerous, but she didn’t think that meant it was always a reason to be 100% on guard. she kept a knife on her, usually, either way. just in case it was ever necessary. adora was of the opinion that she was able to handle most anything she could encounter on these streets herself—something javier didn’t seem too certain of, despite her insistence.

“ i can handle you, can’t i? ” regardless of the way she huffed at him, she got into the car without much of an argument, mood shifting easily as she lunged at the chance to taunt him once more. reaching back, she let her hair out of the bun she’d had it in for work, shaking it out and running her hand through the thick strands as she hummed in thought.

Miles shot up from where he’d been lounging comfortably, eyes refocusing to the world as he tried to ID whoever had caught him sleeping in the passenger seat of his assigned ambulance. He’d been on the tail end of his lunch, he remembered, and had decided to close his eyes just for a second while he was still parked right off Main street. 

“I’m a serious government employee, I swear.” 

adora had a talent for getting into trouble. or at least finding ways to get into trouble on her own. whatever worked, really—and right now she definitely wasn’t going to pass up the chance to hop up in miles’  ambulance while he was sleeping in the front seat, doors unlocked. slamming the passenger side door hard enough that she was sure it’d wake him up, adora delighted in his momentary panic, an impish grin quirking her lips as she laughed.

“Yo, come here! Check this shit out…You ever seen something so fucked up in your life?”

Living for thousands of years had it’s perks, but it had it’s downfalls as well. The repetition was what killed Javier, in truth. Every couple of decades, his family was forced into a makeover, as was the establishment they owned in Cendre Hollow, but it still wasn’t enough. They were frozen in the very same ebb and flow they’d been forced into back in the days when the Mayan and Aztec rule was still considered sacred–and they always would be–provided they continue on with their long, long lives in Cendre Hollow. 

Javi thought about leaving. Almost constantly, he wondered how bad it’d really be if he just…left Cendre Hollow. He was perpetually in his mid thirties and despite his typically dry attitude, could be a charmer if it’d benefit him. He had the sort of goods one would need to start over practically anywhere in the country if he so pleased, but every time he started seriously planning on going, his family seemed to feel it. And they’d remind him of how much he was needed in Cendre Hollow. About how everything was going to fall to him eventually, whether he liked it or not. So he ignored his longing and made sure not to shirk his responsibilities. Which meant spending time in his family’s restaurant and continuing his work at the sheriff’s department. Which was the sole reason he was cruising around so late, his patrols taking him along all the routes in town in search of trouble. And he found it just as he made it to the main drag of town, where the majority of Cendre Hollow’s businesses rested. 

He’d debated turning his lights on to startle her, but it seemed his favorite troublemaker had spotted him first, leaving him to do nothing more but roll down the window of his sheriffs cruiser as she approached. 

“You tell me, Reveur. What the hell are you doing out so late?”

a beat passed between them as adora hummed, taking in the weary, vaguely irritated look on javier’s face. that seemed to be his default expression—and he only ever appeared to grow angrier, most of the time. or maybe that was just with her, really. who could say? she had a penchant for getting under people’s skin, both purposely and accidentally, and javier was no exception. she slid her phone out of her jacket pocket, unlocking it to check the time out of pure curiosity. a quarter to midnight? that wasn’t late at all.

stepping close enough so she could lean into the opened window of the cruiser, she dropped her phone back into the pocket. “ wouldn’t you like to know? ” she teased, grinning at him with a god awful glint in her eye that only meant trouble was brewing. still, she wasn’t keen on spending the night in one of cendre hollow’s teeny tiny jail cells, and with javier’s patience already worn thin, she’d have to toe the line carefully.

which was fucking hilarious. she’d never done much of anything carefully.

her shift at l’art est ici had lasted far longer than adora had intended—read: she’d spent an extra three hours gossiping with sylvia and generally fucking around—but she wasn’t tired by any means. although the sun was far past set and she was greeted with the sight of an inky black sky overhead, adora had made the choice to walk home. she’d walked to work that morning anyway, after all, so her only real option was to ask sylvia for a ride—but it wasn’t far, and there was still a jittery buzz of energy settled deep in her bones, so. walking it was.

head tilted upwards towards the sky, adora searched the night for a glimmer of the moon, or a twinkle of stars, but was greeted with nothing. just darkness and heavy clouds, the whisper of the breeze against tree branches—and then, rousing her out of her scavenger hunt, the sound of tires on old asphalt. she paused, turning towards the noise, blinking at the headlights. her curiosity was sated quickly as she recognized a familiar scowl behind the windshield, her own lips tipping into a smirk, as she took a few steps towards the cop car.

“ the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. ”

“Aye–you seen a four year old running around with a pack of slightly older children and possibly my niece? I can’t find my fuckin’ kid.” 

“ mm. possibly? just finished up painting some mermaid scales on a little girl, she took off with her friends before i could even show her in the mirror — don’t know if it was her, since there are a lot of kids running around unsupervised. ” adora shrugged a little, getting out of her chair to turn off the airbrush machine while she spoke. she needed at least a thirty minute break from all these shrieking children.

As soon as James heard shut up, he knew exactly who was talking to him. But he wasn’t quite sure who she thought she was talking to. Turning to face Adora at the booth he was glad Sylvia wasn’t running anymore–although he couldn’t imagine Adora’s run of the booth would come with any less complaints from the people of Cendre Hollow–he let out a ragged sigh. 

“It’s only day one of the festival, Reveur, but if you airbrush any part of my body, I swear to Christ, I’ll arrest you again.” 

oh, fuck. the last person she wanted to bother today was the sheriff — truthfully, the last person she ever wanted to bother was james perroneau. he’d taken her in to the station a few times, locked her up overnight. let her sweat it out. she never did much more than be a nuisance, but even she knew that she could only nudge him so far before he ended up seriously locking her up and filing charges.

“Good morning, Adora.” He grumbled back noncommittally, still refusing to take the seat that she offered. He watched as her gaze shifted upwards, his own brows threading together as her eyes met his. 

“When have I ever done anything for the kids?” He inquired, the short pique in his tone evident of something sort of teasing, though the dryness of the words spoke to the truth behind them. There wasn’t much he did for anyone outside of his family. 

“Who’d you have to woo to get this booth?” 

“ do it ‘cause you like me, then. ” the teasing lilt to adora’s voice lingered, her eyes glinting mischievously — it probably wouldn’t do to get arrested during the fest just because she wanted to screw with javier, and sylvia would probably kick her ass, but you know. it was cool. adora rose from the table to turn, grabbing the airbrush gun so she could drip some neon pink paint into the cup on the gun.