#oflightandlightless

It isn't like this is unusual for him, sneaking around behind his brother's back. A few days had passed, neither one of them bringing up the man at the party after that day. Andreas knew better than to try to have a conversation, their past being such a touchy subject. It's not hard for him to imagine the situation, exactly how it would go. Diego would take offense, yell at him. Tell him that they didn't need anyone but each other and answers weren't going to change anything. In some ways, he felt the same but..

He still finds himself in the City. A meeting place that he'd agreed to in secret, a corner in a small cafe that not many people knew about. Luckily for him, Diego hadn't questioned him going out, though he just would have lied anyway.

embarrass me | closed

7. Yelling or screaming on the top of their lungs because they ‘just need to let it out’.

@oflightandlightless

He didn’t think anyone would be around, he really didn’t. It was stupidly late and he had been working at it had sucked. EMT training to give him more experience as a field responder and of course everything had been calls from high people losing their minds, one person who actually injured themself, and several cases of... foreign bodies lodged in the rectum. And he’d been thrown up on twice. Wonderful.

So ducking into an alley to let a scream out while walking home from his shift had seemed like some decent stress relief. Not much, but a little.

The voice behind him caught him off guard. Spinning around to see who had found him and oh... it was that handsome guy from the bar. He couldn’t help at blush at both being caught, and being caught by him. Whoops.

          While Andal appreciates what he does for the city in taking up the role of Hunter Vanguard, it doesn’t change the fact that staying up late to do paperwork and find ways around complex diplomatic talks is boring. Really boring. He doesn’t know how people sit still for longer than a few minutes - let alone hours on end filling in all of those tiny lines on a million sheets of paper in his one fancy official looking pen that he probably ‘borrowed’ off of someone. It’s safe to say whoever used to own this pen won’t ever see it again. 

          He doesn’t hear the Nightstalker approaching - posture straightening as Romeo sits on the desk next to the Vanguard. Sighing and pulling reading glasses off the bridge of his nose, Andal drops them on the pile of paperwork and leans back to look up at the other Hunter with a raised brow. Despite the look he gives Romeo, Andal’s glad it’s him who’s distracting him rather than someone like Six. “Anythin’ ya need Ro--”

          Andal’s voice is cut off at a hand at the back of his head, the motion pulling his hood back and lips pressed against his own. A surprised noise breaks from his chest but the Vanguard doesn’t fight the contact in the slightest - if anything he pulls in closer, returning the gesture in kind with something of a smirk working at the corners of his mouth at the same time. A swell of heat in the center of his chest and heat against his cheeks is obvious as Romeo pulls back, Andal leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest as he allows himself a true grin at the Awoken. 

          “How long ya been waitin’ ta do that and what do I gotta do to get more of it hm?”

The Dawning Ball. A day that was supposed to be about celebrating, good cheer for the coming year, and having a good time with those you were close to. This was the first year that Haytham had dared to even go, spending much too long grooming both himself and Prestigious so they would look nice together.

And then, of course, Blaise had to be there. Haytham should have figured, considering, but he hadn’t even really put much mind towards who would show up. But the moment he saw the exo early in the evening, hanging off his husband’s arm – he had a feeling there would be an issue.

And, of course, he was right. In fact, Haytham had a feeling maybe Blaise was watching and waiting, because it seemed like the one moment Prestigious had walked away to fetch him something… Blaise appeared beside him.

Haytham tried to pretend like he didn’t notice him at first. Staring off in the direction that his boyfriend had gone, ignoring the small exo that was pretending to look at the food on the table. But he could feel those blue eyes flicking back and forth to him, and when he didn’t acknowledge the other warlock’s presence, Blaise finally spoke to him.

“Oh, Haytham!” He said, as if he hadn’t known Haytham was there at all.“You and Prestigious are here?”

Haytham let out a small huff of annoyed breath, sipping on the drink that he had in his hand, making sure to take his time to reply. “Clearly.” He said – knowing for certain Blaise had been watching, then, since Prestigious wasn’t there for him to actually see.

“Wow.” Blaise said, in a way that was absolutely not a genuine exclamation of surprise. Only then did Haytham tilt his head, fully looking towards his current company as he waited for whatever stab was coming. “I didn’t know they let just anyone come to the ball. Dallas made it sound like it was for… how did he put it… proper Guardians?”

Continuing to stare at Blaise for a long few more seconds, he took another sip of his drink. It was an open party – he knew it, and he was sure Blaise knew it as well. But still, he couldn’t help but fight back just a little bit, even if it was in poor taste. He lowered his drink, holding it in between both of his hands as he said as sweetly as he could manage.

“If that were true, Blaise, then I’d be curious to know how you manged to get in. Past riding on your husband’s reputation, that is.”

Honestly Blaise doesn't know why he's surprised to see Haytham and.. Prestigious at the party, but it still doesn't negate the fact that it rubs him the wrong way. After all the trouble that Titan's caused, even lately, getting assigned to Wall duty for the second time for his bad behavior, Blaise just feels like he shouldn't be allowed to show up at all.

Haytham, on the other hand, doesn't bother him as much, but the irritation towards him can't be helped. Like he can't see just how insufferable Prestigious is. Warlocks are supposed to be smart. Haytham is smart. Giving Prestigious the benefit of the doubt is just not smart!

His little comment is probably taking things a bit too far, as he tends to do sometimes, but what Haytham says is undoubtedly worse. "Oh?" Optics jolt brighter for just a second, easy to miss if one wasn't paying attention, but he catches himself, knowing better than to get angry over something so petty. "Well," Forcing a laugh, he puts a gentle hand on Haytham's arm. "I have submitted hundreds of pages of research to the Vanguard. Maybe even thousands? You must have overlooked that, but it's understandable, Haytham."

“Help me?” The words surrounded by a bitter laugh, disbelief. “Oh now you want to help me? After you left me in pieces? After you left Dion?” He shakes his head, not taking his eyes off of Emrys. He has some nerve, saying he wants to help him. This isn’t supposed to mean anything, just a secret fling with no strings. Now he wants to get serious?? No, Andreas isn’t about to have that.