#stone variants

You walked to the restaurant's door, the cold air nipping at the fancy clothing clinging to your skin as the wind picked up all around you. The restaurant was your reprieve from it as you pulled open the door, stepping inside and taking in the sight before you.

The restaurant was quaint, a small family restaurant fighting to stay open unlike the major restaurant chains on either side of it. Classic images of Hindu mythology, the most famous deities in the religion, were painted on the walls, the splashes of color against the dark wooden walls brightening the place and making it feel fancier than it actually was.

As the restaurant was empty save for you and the waiters, your eyes soon fell on your boyfriend Vikram who was siting at a table that was smack dab in the middle of the dining room.

He looked elegant as he wore an all-back three-piece suit, his black hair swept back with gel and his dark brown eyes lined with kajal. He sat relaxed in his seat, leaning back and resting his arm on the back of chair. His usually stoic expression cracked as a smile graced his lips when he finally noticed you were here.

"[Your Name]! You made it," Vikram said as he pushed off the table and got up. His long legs made quick work of getting him right in front of you and his scarred burly arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you flush to his chest. His voice, which was usually monotone, softened as he spoke to you."I hope you love this place, my star. I found it and thought you'd enjoy it here."

He leaned down to press a kiss to the crown of your head before he gently and slowly let go of you, his touch lingering against your skin as he led you to the table. Pulling out a chair for you, he waited for you to sit down before he pushed the chair in. Once you were sufficiently close enough to the table to eat, he walked around the table to sit down himself.

A waitress came with menus and took your drink orders before leaving you two to talk once more. You two spoke of your day, you more so than him as Vikram wasn't a man who talked often.

You knew he wasn't bored of your conversation, however, as he kept eye contact with you and nodded in agreement with you as you ranted about a coworker. You often wondered if he ever did anything when he heard your rants but considering your coworkers were all alive, you suppose he simply listened and didn't act—yet.

His hand rested on top of yours and his thumb swiped across the back of your hand in a soothing gesture. "Your day was eventful, my star. It's a good thing I have plans of making you relax tonight. You deserve it."

Every word of his dripped with the love he had for you, an intense kind that motivated everything he did concerning you. You were the only one who got to see him like this, raw and vulnerable.

Every time the waitress came to check on you two once your food came, Vikram's cold demeanor that protected him from the horror of his job was raised back up, a wall between him and everyone else. Each time, it would lower whenever you two were alone again, away from prying eyes.

It was like you two were in your own little bubble and the world outside couldn't hurt you. Unfortunately, like everything, the date came to an end. The cozy bubble around you two popped as he paid for the dinner and walked you out of the restaurant.

You felt the tension build in his body as his hand that was settled on the small of your back grew taut once he saw his right-hand, a man you only knew as Mouse.

Mouse dipped his head down almost as if he was bowing to a king, the huge antlers sprouting from the top of his head making swishes in the air as he moved his head.

"Stone," Mouse said, using the nickname most knew Vikram by, "I'm sorry to interrupt your evening. We have a problem only you can solve, Boss."

Vikram's soft expression slipped from his face as his eyes grew emotionless. "Very well," he replied, the lack of emotions in his voice a stark contrast to how he spoke to you.

He looked towards you, like he had so much he wanted to say, if only you two were alone. He settled for bringing your hand up to his lips and pressing a soft kiss to your knuckles.

"I'm sorry, [Your Name]. I must go. I will try to make it quick," he murmured against your skin. He looked up from his long lashes to stare into your eyes. "Will you let me come to your place later? So I may give you the relaxing evening I promised?"

You nodded and reassured him it was fine. You understand his job, how demanding it was. You knew what you had gotten yourself into when you met him.

Vikram gave you one last look before he got inside Mouse's car, looking like he wanted to be with you instead. You watched the car pull away from the curb, leaving you in the dust.

With the way Vikram very rarely failed to fulfill a promise, you knew you'd see him again tonight. It was almost a guaranteed outcome.

The thought made you smile as you turned towards your car.

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Rohan ran through the forest, his heart pounding in his chest as he ran. He just needed to be anywhere but back there, he needed to run as far away as he possibly could.

His feet pounded against the ground, fear and desperation nipping at his heels. The voice of his now ex-boyfriend yelled behind him as a pair of footsteps followed it, making Rohan speed up.

He wasn't going to let his ex-boyfriend find him. Not when he was close to freedom.

He broke out of the forest, thankful his ex-boyfriend's house wasn't too deep into the forest. He ran out onto the road before his ex could catch up and he booked it down the high way, staying on the shoulders of the road so as to not get hit by any cars.

His ex-boyfriend cursed loudly before stopping in his tracks, Rohan able to get away without being followed. The running man blew out a breath of relief at that, thankful he didn't need to do any more elaborate maneuvers to escape.

Rohan managed to hitch a ride to the city after running quite few feet away from where his foster father had been and he was practically jitter with nerves as he sat in the car with this stranger. He could only hope the stranger was truly kind and wouldn't kidnap him.

Thankfully, he chose the right stranger to hitch a ride with and they dropped him off at a youth hostel in the city. He didn't have much, but he had enough cash to stay the night.

Once he was in the hotel, he took out his phone and unlocked it. He blocked the phone number of his ex-boyfriend almost immediately before heading to his Instagram account.

He knew how to find the profile he wanted to see, clicking on the bright photo icon where it was the woman whose account this was kissing her wife. He read the name on top of the profile.

Laila Mishra.

Despite having seen the picture numerous times, Rohan's breath still hitched when he scrolled and found a picture of Laila with a man who looked almost exactly like Rohan except with scars. The man was her father, someone who rarely showed up in her photos but he was now making a steady increase in appearances.

Rohan knew it without a doubt, this man was his father too and Laila was his big sister. The way they were a striking carbon copy of each other left no room for any argument stating otherwise.

He had been stuck with foster parents for all sixteen years of his life before he ran away from the foster system, bouncing from one hellish foster family from the next. He had to listen to foster parents try and break him down by saying he was just an orphan and no family wanted him.

He had a family out there, just waiting for him to come, and now that he was seventeen, he finally had proof it.

All three of them would be united soon, he made a promise to himself that they would.

Once he got enough money to fly to the UK.

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Sure, I still haven't written Manish and Stone meeting but I just had to do this. Rohan was the only one giving me ideas.

This is hella short but hey, I haven't felt like writing anything in two weeks so I'll take what I can get. (Bobby dying in 911 really fucked me up more than it should've.)

Rohan felt like he was dead on his feet when he finally made it back to his youth hostel after a long shift as a waiter in a nearby fine dining restaurant. He had gotten the job a week after settling into the city, thankful that he managed to get a job at all after his ex-boyfriend had made him abruptly quit his last job in a way that burnt bridges with his former boss.

He just needed this job until he could get enough money to fly to the UK and once he had enough, he could just quit the job. That was the goal: to fly and meet his family.

With that goal in mind, he got into his room and locked the door behind him. He spent the next hour budgeting so that he wouldn't have to spend too much of his paycheck on groceries since the youth hostel was honestly the most expensive thing he was paying for.

He might have to switch to living at a homeless shelter instead. He'd have to be more careful with making sure his belongings weren't stolen, but it'd be less expensive.

Rohan just needed to cut as much costs as possible. His savings would thank him later.

After he finished budgeting, he fell on his bed and scrolled on his phone. As he usually ended up doing, he found himself on Laila's Instagram page again.

He clicked the little button to send her a message, staring at the blank message thread that was just awaiting his first words to her. To his sister.

What would someone even say to someone like that? How could he explain everything and have her believe him?

He wouldn't believe anyone who told him they were siblings. In fact, he'd laugh in their face.

After so many years of thinking he had been an only child, one that was unwanted, the mere possibility that his parent(s) had another child had been impossible to imagine. He always thought his parents had been unwilling to have kids and that was why they gave him up.

But then one fateful day, his friend at his old job—the only friend he ever had, actually—had stumbled across Laila's page and told him about it. She had told him about how Laila looked exactly like him, just with slightly darker brown skin and a thicker nose.

He had taken one look at the picture his friend showed him and he knew it immediately, they were siblings.

Of course then came the resentment. He didn't understand why his father had kept Laila and not him. From the pictures he had seen of the two, they had a loving relationship. She clearly adored him and he adored her too.

So why had Rohan been left behind?

Something nefarious must've happened. Something must've happened to keep him from his family.

He hoped—no, he knew—they were waiting for him. He just had to take the first step and initiate contact.

As much as he thought he could scrounge up the money to fly to the UK, he knew it'd be better if he got help. So he was working up the courage to ask his sister.

She seemed kind from her photos, like she had a big heart. A big heart which would hopefully help them reunite faster.

Rohan blew out a frustrated sigh, groaning as he wracked his brain for answers to his internal question of what to say. So many words raced through his brain, stringing into sentences that didn't seem enough.

His fingers flew across the screen, tapping the electronic keys to form what he wanted to say.

Hi, Laila—

He backspaced and deleted the words, thinking that sounded too casual and too intimate. He didn't want to accidentally creep her out.

He took a deep breath, gathering all of his thoughts so they didn't overwhelm. He started typing again before he could psych himself out, writing a long but detailed message.

He told her about how he had stumbled across her page and realized that they looked just like each other. He said he knew it was crazy, but it was the truth.

Rohan then mentioned whatever he remembered his social worker telling him when he asked about what was on file for his parents. It hadn't been much, as his fathers apparently had elected to have their records sealed, but he did have information to what hospital he was born in and what city it was in.

He could only hope she'd remember living there at one point in her life.

Once it was all typed out, he scanned it for any information he might've missed. He hadn't, and so with his skin alight with nerves, he sent the message.

He clicked the button on the side of his phone to lock it, putting it on the nightstand. He didn't want to stare at his message, waiting for a reply back.

It'd be okay if she didn't message him back, he told himself as he tried to calm his racing heart. He'd still end up in the UK. It wouldn't be the end of the world.

Unbeknownst to him, the message was read and if he had been looking at his phone, he'd see three bubbles to signal she was typing.

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Yayy, I finished this! Rohan thankfully came back to my brain and didn't stay quiet after Felon!Stone tried to outshine him. Yes, I had to leave y'all on the cliffhanger.

The next part may or may not have the plot twist, idk. Maybe I can make it so I can stretch it out just a little bit more.

The plot twist is soo juicy though. Sigh, I must be patient.