#rosesonbreeze

'—really makes you wonder, what is going on?'

Aiden knows the exact answer, and for anyone with even a fractional capability of observation, it's as clear as day: Leo Gutierrez is acting up.

Is anyone surprised? Certainly not the manager, whose eyes were as sharp as daggers the very instant that Leo stumbled into the locker room this morning. Literally — and twenty whole minutes late — with a very obvious hangover in both stench and need of some rookie's assistance just standing straight. Fury bubbled into one of the most inspiring pep talks to ever echo against the locker room's walls.

"Don't fuck this up for us," one of the team's midfield defenders had whispered through gritted teeth, empowered by Aiden's words and fed up with the antics. It was but one of a countless number of grave warnings. Still, it wasn't enough.

Thirty-five minutes into the first half of the game and Chelsea is null and four down.

No one has seen stats this lousy since in decades. Block after block, interception, after interception— the 'star player' has never looked as big of a liability as he does now. With every tick on the clock, Aiden can feel his own contract teetering toward the edge of a full blow-up. Isn't he supposed to lead? More than just Bailey being the anchor amid a stormy sea, and more than Ramon rising as the viral face. No. Enough is enough.

Six minutes before half-time, Aiden subs Leo out. It's against the cries of the higher-ups and the marketing team, but fuck it. They didn't come out here to lose months of hard work, all because of a past-his-prime moron having an ego trip.

By the time the buzzer rings, Chelsea has managed to scrape a single point. Leo's rage might be high, evidenced by his quick exit and the trash bins rolling around on the way to the lockers, but overall morale is low. Down in a ditch low. The guys are hanging their heads, heavy with the shame of their biggest losing gap in years.

"Give me a minute, y'all. Bails, make sure everyone gets that dust off their asses." Because if they're going to make a comeback, they've got to start it by looking the part. While the players busy themselves with this cleaning, Aiden turns on his heel. "You see that shit?"

“don’t,” kj said quietly, not sharp but not soft either. “don’t decide how this looks before i explain it.” he knew exactly how it looked. worse — he understood how it felt. he was rarely caught off balance. in most situations, he could dismantle tension with a sentence, redirect a narrative before it hardened. words were usually precise, intentional, placed exactly where they needed to land. tonight, they felt slower. less reliable.

he had made an effort. a deliberate one. reservations secured in advance, the right table, candles low enough to feel intentional without being performative. roses because he knew symbolism mattered, even if he pretended not to care about it. he had arrived early. cleared his schedule. silenced distractions. he had intended to be present. the phone had been on the table because he had nothing to conceal. transparency felt easier than suspicion. and then it vibrated.

once. then again. and again.

he didn’t need to read the messages in full to understand the damage. the preview was enough.

i miss you. i wish you were here.

he saw their eyes shift. measured. contained. that almost made it worse. kj turned the phone over, slower than necessary, buying himself a second to recalibrate. “i don’t know why she sent that,” he said, and for once the statement wasn’t crafted for advantage — it was simply true. “we haven’t spoken in a long time.”

he paused, choosing clarity over pride. “i didn’t invite it.” his composure held, but something in him tightened. he was accustomed to controlling environments, anticipating angles. this was an oversight. a lapse. and he hated lapses.

four months. one hundred and twenty-one days. that's how long she'd been without the man who'd promised her forever, the man who'd been her strong and steady for as long as she could remember. the man who didn't angry when she locked herself out of the house and needed him to come home midday to let her in. the man who didn't raise his voice when tensions were high, no matter how much she pushed. the man who had never hesitated to pick her, even when she gave him every reason not to.

and there she was, on the doorstep of another, of the man her husband had looked at more like a brother than a best friend. the man who hadn't picked her. the man she hadn't remembered seeing at the wake or the funeral that followed. the man she hadn't heard from, not even once. the man who was etched into her late husband's will as the new owner of the summer home they'd spent their honeymoon tangled up in.

her stomach knotted as she reached for the door with one trembling hand while the other gripped a manilla envelop like a lifeline. she'd gotten his address from one of her brothers, because she couldn't bring herself to reach out beforehand. panic bloomed in her chest as she waited, every passing second causing her heart to tick harder beneath her ribs.

just when she was ready to leave, to toss the envelop for him to find, she heard the door creak quietly in rebellion, and then there was him. "i know you've been avoiding me, but we need to talk and if we don't do it now, i don't think we ever will and that's not what he would've wanted." she was surprised by the steady pitch of her own voice, but when her eyes landed on him, fully taking in the man she'd hoped to hear from for months, she felt her composure crumbling. "you owe him that much, don't you think?"

blood speckled shoes were removed before stepping from the entrance mat of his home, kicked off before tian feng could even feel the shift in the air. as his feet found their way into the house slippers set by the door, alarm crawled up the back of his neck, eyes scanning the darkness of the hall with a narrowed gaze. soundlessly, he proceeded, hands busy as they began to unload his pockets of keys && wallet on the side table.

thump. his gun followed, set down with the chamber still loaded && the safety off. " you're going to have to try harder than that. i know you're here. " he spoke calmly, not turning around from where he continued to methodically put each belonging in it's place. there was no surprise in his voice, choosing not to flick on the lights just yet, waiting to see if he heard the cock of a gun or a shing of a knife unsheathed. " may as well come out and say hi. "