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Post-Swynlake Dream™ Vixey, Al, Jun, and Tiana were gathering for dinner. To share stories and get all the weirdness out. Vixey hadn’t actually dreamed anything. Since she lived in Besydus, she didn’t really get affected by the town dreams but she was eager to hear about them. She had experienced them once or twice, for no real rhyme or reason. They were always so weird.
She arrived early to help Al do some of the prep work for dinner and she was standing at the sink of Al’s apartment now, washing some vegetables that she was going to mince.
“It was--Game of Thrones?” Vixey laughed, looking over her shoulder at Al with her eyebrow raised. “It sounded intense from what Drakken was telling me.” Apparently, he had died. Killed by--Thomas Harrington? Of all people. Also, was cousins with the Madrigals? So weird. There was the other side of things too, where Aurora had been killed and then...they’d woken up to find her gone? Vixey didn’t want to think about that. She preferred to keep things lighthearted for now. She had a feeling Tiana might appreciate that too.
“What about you? Did you get killed?” she chuckled.
In which Al and Vixey begin planning the next stage of their lives...[takes place: May 18]
@alzcomicbarn
[cw -- family planning]
&&&
AL:
Al made dinner tonight.
Vixey was working later, so he really had no problem. He was confident leaving Nick and Arthur in charge of the Barn. He drove home. They’d lived in Foxhave for a few months now, but it still thrilled him to drive up and look at the little cottage, his heart panging that this was his home.
Now there were still things to get used to. The longer commute, for one. The fact that it got much colder at night here. The creaky pipes that sometimes kept him up in the middle of the night.
But he wouldn’t trade reaching an arm over in bed to hug Vixey on sunny Saturday mornings and then going downstairs to make chocolate chip pancakes for anything in the world.
It was starting to feel like something comfortable, something routine. And still, he got excited when Vixey opened the door and the dog barked, like she was coming home from some long business trip. (In reality, they’d taken lunch together).
Al gave his black bean chilli a stir and then popped out of the kitchen to greet Vixey with a hug.
“How was work?” he asked. “Dinner will be ready in a sec – just gotta let it cool down for a sec. I’ll grab the bowls.”
In which Al and Vixey get married...[takes place: October 26, 2024]
@alzcomicbarn
[cw -- none]
&&&
VIXEY:
They drove out of Swynlake.
It was unspoken. They didn’t want to stay in that tiny little town for a minute more. Too many questions and judgemental gazes would follow them wherever they went if they stopped, even for a moment. It didn’t feel like running (even if, maybe, that’s what it was). She felt free as they made their way to nowhere.
Though, somehow, through meandering conversation or just fate or destiny--they ended up in another little town, with a little chapel, and a pastor that happened to be on duty.
It didn’t look anything like Vixey’s first wedding, but she was glad of that. She’d done a vivaah already. The days of celebration and beautiful clothing. All the prayers and well wishes and family and friends. It had been lovely, of course, but--she didn’t need anyone else but the janitor and a nun sitting in the front pews. She didn’t need anyone but Al to hear what she had to say.
Vixey held Al’s hands now, a little sweaty, a little nervous, but she smiled at him. She hadn’t stopped smiling since he’d hugged her.
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VIXEY:
"I just wanted to say thank you all," Vixey said to the table, where everyone was getting seated. Her mama was bringing over the main dish. Her brothers were already ready to tuck in. Her papa was still in the kitchen, fixing his wife a drink. And some of Vixey's best friends were seated around the table.
"For coming tonight. I've really appreciated all of you the last year and I am just--very grateful to all of you. Now, please, tuck in!" she instructed as she sat down herself.
"Can't believe I am a whole decade older," she chuckled.
JUN:
Of course Jun had come!
It had been a little tricky, but thankfully, he had two strapping young men to hold down the Moon Market front, supervised by Eomma. Tae was home, watching the girls. Was Jun still a little anxious about all these moving parts-- yes, yes he was-- but Vixey had had a big year and he wanted to support her too. He'd just not stay for dessert, to free Eomma and make sure he could close the store.
"It sneaks up on you," said Jun, nodding, as he was already thirty. "But you know, I like my thirties. I barely remember my 20s to be fair, it was mostly medical school anyway, hm? Now this is like your fresh start."
TIANA:
Maybe it was just the emotional rollercoaster that August had been, but Tiana found herself getting a little misty-eyed. Vixey had been there for her through some really tough stuff. And she really wanted her to know how much she appreciated her. So she'd been able to finagle an evening off, handing the reigns over to Angie (and, thankfully, Candace and Vanessa were back now too).
"I'm excited for you, Vixey," Tiana smiled. She lifted her glass and looked around the table. "To Vixey, yeah? An amazing friend. And sister and daughter. Just the best."
AL:
"Thirties are the best!" said Al. "Haven't you heard? Thirties are the new twenties." He let out a hearty laugh and raised his glass, clinking it against Tiana's, since she was the closest to him.
"To Vixey!"
DRAKKEN:
Drakken, uncharacteristically, said nothing to any of this from where he sat at the table. That was, closer to the Chakraborty’s than any of the other people here who were Vixey’s friends. What was he supposed to say? The way he had spent his 20’s, and not 30’s, was nothing these people could relate to or would probably approve of. And, as he had vowed not to do, he didn’t want to embarrass Vixey in front of them.
Especially on her birthday.
He had already been drinking from his glass when the toast was proposed and stumbled to pull it away from his face and meet the glasses that were in front of him, cheeks ballooning before he harshly swallowed down.
VIXEY:
Vixey didn't actually care too much about turning thirty. Except that she had just...thought she'd be in a different place in her life. Married. With children. And she had had half of that. And lost it. Which was more than what most people could say at her age. It was all very strange and awkward, but she was coming to find that...life was like that.
The toast made her blush. She giggled and raised her glass as well, taking a sip and feeling her heart near-bursting from the gratitude and warmth of the people around the table.
It had been a rough few years, but she felt at home here.
"Thanks everyone, that makes me feel better. Less old."
"You're not old," scoffed Farhan, her eldest brother. She wrinkled her nose at him.
"What do we think about a game after dinner? Maybe charades or, uh, what's that one where you put something on your forehead and people ahve to guess?"
JUN:
Jun drank, and then his nose wrinkled at the suggestion of a game. Aish, he always hated such things. His family stuck to watching movies together mostly. Games got too competitive too fast. Tae and Star always ended up fighting to the death if they tried.
"Eh, do we have an even amount of people for that?" Jun wondered. He cast his eye around the table. "One, two, three, four... you got to get in pairs you know...five--six..."
TIANA:
Tiana laughed. Leave it to Jun to overthink. She didn't really care what they did; she was having fun either way. Though she did feel the need to assert her bestie status. "I call Vixey as my partner!" she announced, blowing a kiss in her friend's direction and giggling.
AL:
"Aw, well we don't wanna leave Drakken out!" said Al. He wanted to make sure that Vixey's new beau fit in with the friend group! Also, for some reason he felt like Drakken was a kindred spirit -- a fellow outsider! He gave the other man a thumbs up. "He should be with Vixey -- keep the lovebirds together, eh? Tiana, you can be with me. I'm so good at this game -- we're gonna kill it!"
DRAKKEN:
This was familiar territory! Everyone picking partners and there Drakken was, sitting in his chair waiting until he could ask the teacher if he could just do it by himself. Except this wasn’t something he could do alone. He wished he had dragged Sarina along now. Vixey had brought her friends, why couldn’t he?
Even if it was her birthday party!
Only, to his surprise, someone stuck up for him. His eyebrows arched on his forehead and he looked over at…what was that guy’s name again? Art? Ahhh- L? Al? He mirrored the gesture, then turned to look at Vixey to see who she would side with.
VIXEY:
Oh. Oh right.
Shoot. Maybe she should have suggested something that didn't have partners. Like...Monopoly! Her gaze darted from Tiana to Al to Drakken, then back to Tiana. Part of her wanted to try and gauge her reaction, but her gaze skittered away, towards Drakken--who was uncharacteristically quiet, probably trying to gauge her reaction. And she didn't want to let him down or--act like she was embarrassed by him. She wasn't!
She just--hadn't had time to tell Tiana about them yet.
"We can play several rounds!" she said, smiling first at Drakken than the table at large. "That way we can all switch up partners. Or a different game, because Jun is right. We don't have an even number."
JUN:
Jun scowled when Al had picked Tiana and not him. Ah, such was life, wasn't it! Now, if he had brought a date, maybe he wouldn't be last. That's how life worked. Always in couples. See, Vixey and Drakken just proved it, coupling up right away because, well, you couldn't blame them, that was just the way the world worked and.
"It's fine, it's fine, if you all want to play it," Jun waved his hand, not even noticing Tiana's shocked expression about anything at all. "I can always sit out."
TIANA:
Lovebirds?
That was a joke, right? Tiana laughed uncomfortably. It was a joke about Drakken's obvious weird crush on Vixey. Tiana honestly had been confused about why she'd invited him in the first place, but whatever, maybe they were friends and it was okay to have a crush on your friends sometimes, and considering Vixey hadn't told Tiana anything about having a literal "lovebird," there was no way it was reciprocal, right?
Not that there was anything wrong with it being reciprocal (okay, Tiana still thought it was weird, and she didn't think she liked this guy, and she thought Vixey could do a lot better. But not the point.) If Vixey really liked him, Tiana would have supported her. But if they were actually together and Vixey hadn't told her?
The weirdest part of all was that nobody else seemed shocked. Al was already moving on, and Vixey was giving Drakken some reassuring smile, and Jun was scowling like he knew what was going on.
Maybe it wasn't a joke.
Did everyone know but her?
Her expression froze, and she laughed awkwardly through her teeth again. "...Uh, am I missing something here?"
AL:
"It's cuz it's a partnered game, Tiana.," said Al, who had completely misinterpreted what Tiana said.
"But Jun, I don't wanna leave you out! We can totally switch to something with teams instead. Like charades! So we'll have an uneven number, but I think we can make it work. Oh! Have you guys ever played Codenames? It's really fun. I think I have it in my car, actually, since I was going through the Barn cabinet before this. You're like a spy and you try to get your team to guess words by using other words -- wait, it's better if you play it."
DRAKKEN:
Drakken resisted the urge to roll his eyes and this may as well have been his trek up Mount Everest as far as endurance and physical effort went. Sitting here, listening to these people talk among themselves made him wonder if they were even friends at all. Seriously, they couldn’t even decide on a game to play?
Although, whatever this Al guy was talking about seemed interesting even if Drakken had no idea what it was. Also, he didn’t want to sit around here asking more questions and letting the night go to waste on all their yammering. “Sure! Let’s do that.”
VIXEY:
The boys talked. Vixey didn't really pay attention to them. She was looking at Tiana. Or--everywhere but Tiana. Or...kind of both. She was flitting her gaze around uncomfortably.
Maybe she should just follow Al's lead and ignore what was happening. Or she should just come clean, but the conversation had moved on and now it would be awkward. Her gaze finally landed on Jun, eyes widening, just slightly--indicating: help.
Harish, who was sitting next to Tiana, arm stretched across the back of her chair, laughed a little. "Did you not get the memo? Drakken managed to finally get up the guts to get with Vixey. After we watched them moon over each other for like a year. Right, Farhan?"
"I'm not getting involved," Farhan said and took a bite of his dinner.
"Harish, don't tease your sister," chided their father.
JUN:
Er-- what was happening right now?
Jun didn't know. Jun was busy grumbling and feeling lonely while sitting in a room of people who were supposed to be his friends, spiraling off about how soon Al would be married and Tiana would be married and Vixey would be married and Jun wouldn't even be invited to game night-- and then all of a sudden?
Tiana didn't know? What? That was impossible! Tiana knew everything about Vixey. They were best friends.
"You didn't tell her?" blurted Jun directly at Vixey. Which, okay, not super smart, but he was shocked!
TIANA:
Tiana could feel the heat rising to her face. Anger. Embarrassment. Betrayal. Mostly, she felt stupid. So everyone at this table had gone through the night knowing something she didn't, and Vixey was supposed to be her best friend. What the hell?
She stared at Vixey for a moment, speechless, all of the emotions playing out on her face like a silent film. And then, slowly, she turned to look at Jun, any thought that this might ruin Vixey's birthday dinner already forgotten. Too late. it was already ruined for Tiana. It was ruined the second Drakken showed up and Tiana foolishly, obliviously believed she knew what was going on.
If there was one thing Tiana hated more than anything, it was being out of the loop. Out of the know. Rich, maybe, coming from someone who had so many secrets, but she had been burned, too. By Nuka. By Jessica. And the stakes here were lower, sure, but they didn't feel like that in the moment.
Vixey was her best friend. She was supposed to be, anyway?
"No, she didn't tell me," she said slowly, barely-contained rage dripping from her tone. "Nobody told me, Jun."
Yeah, Tiana had thought Vixey would tell her, but... if not her, surely someone would tell her, right? Nobody at this table was innocent to Tiana.
AL:
Oh. Oh.
Well, this was awkward. Al opened his mouth to say something, then he closed it. Then he opened it again. Then he closed it. Then he frantically looked at Jun, raising both his eyebrows and hoping that the frantic wriggling would do all the talking he needed.
"I thought she woulda told you," Al said. He tried to laugh a little, but it fell flat. "Well, uh... man, sorry about that. Just sort of assumed we all knew! Guess what they say about assuming things is right, eh? Makes an ass... out of... well, you know." He cleared his throat.
JUN:
Aish, this was not good at all. Jun's eyebrows creased as he panic-looked around the table, but his gaze kept jumping back to Tiana the most, who looked like she was about to explode--
"Well, if it makes you feel better, she didn't tell me either!" Jun blurted. "Drakken did!" And he pointed right at the man.
DRAKKEN:
Just when he thought they were going to finally get to the games.
Drakken’s eyes darted from person to person while they piped up. From what he was gathering Vixey hadn’t told anyone about them. At least, the restaurant lady and the grocery store guy. Al seemed to have known. That made sense, though, Drakken was gathering he was the only nice one out of the three.
Still, though. These were supposed to be Vixey’s friends. Drakken had gone straight home and not even wasted 10 seconds before he was telling Sarina about Vixey. Did that…mean something?
Of course it did. It meant she didn’t want to tell the people closest to her that she was in a relationship with him. She was embarrassed of him. She’d said so herself, hadn’t she? He thought that would have changed now, since she’d also said she wanted to be with him. Maybe this is what she meant when she had been talking about it being complicated.
“Hey!” he started, pointing back at Jun. “Everyone calm down. This Vixey’s birthday, don’t try to make this about yourselves just because you didn’t get the message or were too wrapped up in your own drama to have time to listen!”
VIXEY:
Vixey was feeling a little sweaty. Was it hot in here? Was it just her?
Dinner suddenly didn't look very appetizing. She--didn't know what to do. This wasn't how she meant to tell Tiana. Obviously, she wanted to tell her! Things had just gotten away from her and then it was her birthday and she'd gotten swept up in planning for it. She had been...happy to have everyone at the table. Play a game. Laugh with her friends and her boyfriend.
But she had messed up. It was her fault. She saw the hurt on Tiana's face and she wanted to fix it. Her mouth opened--
Drakken spoke first and Vixey almost wanted to burst into grateful tears. Even if he hadn't exactly...worded it well. She owed him an apology for all of this too.
She reached out and put a hand on his arm.
"I'm sorry, T. I didn't--I was gonna tell you. I just...with everything going on it never felt like the right time and I--I am sorry." She wasn't sure what else to say, sitting there looking contrite was all she could manage.
JUN:
Here was the thing about Jun.
If you yelled at him, he yelled right back. If you got angry at him, he would become angry at you. He did not know how to take a breath and calm down. And so he was ready to hit back at Drakken, not only for his own sake, but Tiana's too, eh! This wasn't their fault. They were the victims. They would have happily listened to anything Vixey had to say. Why, he'd just seen Vixey the other day. And the day before that! What drama did he have to prevent her from sharing what should be happy, happy news??
Jun did not get to yell though. Because Vixey was not yelling. And just like that-- his anger deflated, seeing his friend so upset and strikken. He frowned and leaned back in his chair, not saying anything at all.
TIANA:
Drakken's words stung. Because they were true. Tiana knew she had been too wrapped up in her own drama, all month. First Jessica. Then Aurora. Then the fallout of that, fighting with Belle and snapping at her employees and feeling like she was barely holding onto the things that mattered most in her life. It was affecting everyone around her, too, and that was the worst part. Tiana hated when her own issues became everyone else's problem. She was much better at being the one to comfort other people, not the other way around.
So no wonder Vixey hadn't told her. She probably thought Tiana couldn't handle it. That she would make it about herself, the same way she was making this about herself now. She would ruin it, even. And so Vixey had thought... what? That she could have her perfect birthday dinner, with her boyfriend and her best friends and everything would go great because Tiana would be none the wiser?
It had been a long time since Tiana felt like this. Insecure. Ineffective. Like she was a heaping mess of barely-contained problems, liable to spill out at any moment. She hated it. And she hated looking at Drakken sitting there with Vixey's hand on his arm like they were united in this. Against her.
She opened her mouth to retort something harsh and biting at Drakken— how dare he, who asked him, he didn't have a fucking clue what he was talking about— but then she got the distinct feeling that she might start crying, and maybe that she would say something she really regretted, so she stopped herself.
"No, no, I get it," she said, her voice wobbly. "I get it. You're trying to have a nice time on your birthday. Sorry for the drama." She glanced at Drakken quickly and then back at Vixey, then pushed her chair back and stood up. "Y'all can get on with the game. It'll be even now." Her voice cracked on the last word.
AL:
Well. This was awkward.
There were multiple times Al thought about chiming in, trying to relieve the tension with a joke or something. But each time he thought of something, another person would say something and then Al's joke seemed a little insensitive. He wanted so badly for this to be a happy birthday dinner again -- and he kept internally kicking himself in the gut for messing up. Then again, how was he to know that Vixey hadn't actually told anyone?! Especially when she invited her boyfriend! It wasn't his fault --
That was unfair. That was unfair, and now Tiana was upset and getting up, and Al sprang up.
"Tia! Aw, c'mon -- we can make the pairings work, I promise. I'm sure this was all just a huge misunderstanding, yeah? We're all friends here."
JUN:
"Well, I don't want to play," piped up Jun, because he didn't. The games sounded ridiculous to him! He was grumpy before, he was grumpy now. He crossed his arms.
DRAKKEN:
“Oh, absolutely not,” Drakken said, standing up and tossing his napkin onto the table. Everyone else’s anger may have dropped to the floor but his was still bright and brimming. It always was and not even Vixey’s touch could stop it. Maybe that was because she was the source of it, though.
“What did I just say? This is Vixey’s birthday! Her 30th birthday! Now you are going to sit down-” he pointed at Tiana then he turned, pointed at Jun once again, “-play whatever game she wants you to play, and you are going to enjoy it! I don’t care if you’re hurt or whatever this is, you’re friends, you’ll get over it. You two are acting like the teenagers I see everyday.”
VIXEY:
This was horrible.
And all her fault.
"Drakken, it's okay," she tried, a little helplessly, because honestly? She appreciated him sticking up for her, even though she knew she had probably hurt him too with all of this. It was nice. Reassuring. It gave her enough courage to look Tiana in the face. Which she did, lifting her chin.
"I said I was sorry," she told Tiana. "I didn't mean to--I just didn't want you to get upset because of everything...and then, it just got away from me. I wasn't keeping anything from you on purpose. Or you." She looked to Jun too, but Drakken had told her he'd seen Jun and she had just...assumed. Which--as Al had said--clearly was making an ass out of her.
TIANA:
Tiana felt exposed, like a dream where you got up onstage and realized you'd forgotten your trousers. She didn't want to do this right now. She didn't want to have this fight right here. She wanted to talk to Vixey privately, instead of in front of Al's awkward attempts to smooth things over and Jun's grumpy commentary and Drakken's scolding.
That was the worst part. Tiana didn't even know this guy. How was it that he got to witness— and comment on— probably the only real fight she'd ever had with Vixey? She couldn't go on with this now. If she did, she was afraid she might say something she would really regret.
"You think I would've been upset? You think I wouldn't have put aside my own stuff to be happy for you? Yeah, no, don't even, Vixey. I'm not a child—" Tiana snapped, all of her insecurity about being younger and less mature than the rest of this crew starting to rear its ugly head. Everyone was looking at her. Everyone was seeing it, all of it, all her issues and hangups and problems that she always did such a good job of hiding. It was mortifying. "Look, I think I better just go. I get what you're saying. I just don't wanna talk about it here. Don't need the audience. Sorry." Tiana swallowed hard and turned to head for the door.
VIXEY:
Yeah, Vixey did think that Tiana would be upset. She could be sensitive, that was just a fact. They'd gotten in tiffs before over stupid, sensitive things. Something that Vixey had said or something that Tiana had said. Tiana was quick to anger. Vixey hadn't wanted that, so she had overcorrected.
Or, worse, Tiana would be fake about her excitement. And, besides, it had just felt like the nice thing to do. Not shove her relationship in her friend's face after she'd been through something horrible.
It was too late to do anything about it now, though.
"Tiana, wait--" Vixey said, getting up herself when Tiana pushed her chair out and headed for the front door.
TIANA:
Tiana whirled around when she heard Vixey's voice, just as she was about to open the door. "What, Vixey?" Tiana said hissed, fighting back tears. Couldn't Vixey just let her leave? Couldn't she just go on with this party and have fun with her fun, non-depressing friends who could all handle the fact that she had a boyfriend, apparently?
That wasn't just bitterness. Tiana genuinely wanted Vixey to turn around and go back to the table and have a fun night. She was still hurt that Vixey hadn't told her about Drakken, but she knew they'd talk about it, eventually, and she'd get over it. She had to. She didn't want to lose Vixey as a friend.
But right now, she felt like if she were one of the wine glasses out on the table, then she'd have sprung a leak. Something cracked in her, and now she was dribbling bright red wine all over the table, ruining the night, drawing attention to herself, impossible to put back together in that moment. There was no pouring the wine back in the bottle. You just had to clean it up and make it look like it hadn't been there to begin with.
She couldn't pretend everything was fine. She couldn't do what Drakken insisted. And honestly, she didn't want to, because she had a stubborn streak that was winning out over her ability to be the person Vixey needed right now.
"What do you want me to do? First I find out you've been hiding all this shit from me that everyone else knows. Then your secret boo, who I barely even know, starts calling me out in front of everyone, and what? I'm supposed to just take it? Pretend I'm just fine with it all and I'm not, like, horribly humiliated? Sit down and play the bloody game like nothing's wrong? I don't do that shit. Sorry."
VIXEY:
Honestly, Vixey didn't think that Tiana would be this upset. Obviously, it had been kind of shitty, but Vixey had only kept it from her because she didn't want Tiana to be stressed! She had enough going on and Vixey didn't want to make her feel bad. Between Aurora and Jessica, there had been a lot the last two months.
She was going to tell her, once things had calmed down. Once she had settled into things with Drakken more. It was just--
When was that going to be? It would never be the right time, would it? And now--
Now, Tiana was storming out on her. On her birthday, just because she hadn't told her she was dating someone? And it had only been a few weeks anyway. They'd barely even hung out in that time! And when they did, Tiana was unloading on Vixey. Which, y'know, she didn't mind but--
It was kind of pissing her off.
"Yeah! You accept my apology and come play games with your friends, for my birthday," Vixey snapped. "I wasn't trying to pull one over on you, Tiana. Shit has been pretty insane the last few months." Vixey crossed her arms over her chest.
TIANA:
Tiana didn't want to ruin Vixey's birthday. But she felt like she already had. And she felt like she was only going to make it worse if she stayed, a stormy cloud over what was supposed to be a fun night.
She glanced toward the kitchen, where everyone was still sitting around the table. And she wished she could have erased all of it, everything, the past ten minutes, and laughed it off the way Vixey probably would have laughed it off. But she knew she couldn't. That moment replayed in her mind, when she realized she was on the outside of everything, And it stabbed at something tender and raw in her, a wound that wasn't really healed, even if Tiana wanted to believe it was.
It wasn't really about Vixey. Or Drakken. Or Al or Jun. It was just... all of it. And now the thought of going in there and facing everyone...
"Maybe you weren't. But you did a pretty good job of it anyway. Everyone knew except me," Tiana said stubbornly, crossing her arms. And she stood there for a moment, icy and impassive, and then it hit her that this was supposed to be Vixey's 30th birthday, and it was supposed to be so different, and...
She dropped her arms. "Look, I'm sorry, I know it's your birthday. Maybe you didn't do it on purpose. And if that's the case, like, yeah, I accept your apology. But I can't do this. I can't just pretend that—" She shook her head. "I think it's better for everyone if I just go. We can talk later. You have a party to get back to."
VIXEY:
So what?
That was what Vixey wanted to say. So what that everyone knew? It wasn’t because Vixey was being mean. She was trying to be sensitive! Tiana had just gone through a horrible break up and Vixey didn’t want to rub her relationship in her face. Not to mention: she hadn’t been the nicest about Drakken the last time he’d been brought up in conversation. Vixey hadn’t wanted to deal with it.
“No one is asking you to pretend anything,” Vixey said harshly. “We are just asking you come back and have a nice dinner with everyone. But fine. Whatever. I’ll talk to you later.”
TIANA:
"Fine." And Tiana stood there, a moment longer, like maybe she was about to say something else, and then she didn't. She shouldered her way through the door and out into the cool night air, and it was only when she reached the sidewalk, when she caught light of the warm glow inside the house, that she realized she was crying.
It was just like she had thought. Her pain was swirling around her like a tornado, and even the people who had been trying to support her were getting swept up in it. Maybe it was better for her to keep her distance.
&&& &&& &&&
DRAKKEN:
The night, of Vixey's birthday that was, had been dwindling down and Drakken had found his chance to run. For all his yelling and scolding at Vixey’s friends for trying to get themselves out of an uncomfortable situation, he had slithered on into the kitchen while everyone was saying their goodbyes. Her mother was in there, cleaning up, and it was the perfect excuse to get away.
“I can help,” he announced himself, rolling up his sleeves haphazardly to go join her at the kitchen sink. He insisted on rinsing while she dried, as if he was going to pass up on the chance to get out all his frustrations on scrubbing mindlessly at the dishes. It’s what he did at home, too, when he was too frustrated or sad or angry to do anything else. Clean. Take it all out on the dust and grime of life.
He dared to look up when someone else entered the kitchen, giving Vixey a once over before returning to his task, double time now.
VIXEY:
The rest of Vixey's birthday had been tense. Peppered with false cheer. She had tried, really hard, to smooth things over, but it felt like everyone was upset at her. Tiana's absence was like a gaping wound and the party was hemorrhaging. Al had done his very best to salvage things, bless him and Jun had...not made things worse, but also sat with a slightly pinched expression, especially when he lost the game they'd been playing.
Her brothers were more rowdy than usual and her parents had been quietly in the background.
She could tell Drakken was upset with her and that, more than anything, made her feel badly.
After saying good night and thank you, and wishing them save drives home, Vixey saw Al and Jun off and then wandered into the kitchen. She smiled a little when Drakken turned towards her, but then went and busied herself cleaning off the last few dishes. She dropped them off at his elbow and then glanced at her mother.
Silently, she held a hand out for the towel and her mother acquiesced. She kissed her daughter's head and told Drakken good night.
Vixey took up the dish her mother had been washing and began to dry it silently, not sure what to say, though she watched the tense line of Drakken's shoulders as he scrubbed at the dishes.
DRAKKEN:
Did he feel a little betrayed when Mrs. Chakraborty left him alone with her daughter? Yes, but then he couldn't really expect her to be on his team here since the opposing side was literally her daughter. Didn't mean he couldn't feel miffed, though, because he was going to.
Try as he might, Drakken couldn't do the silent treatment. It wasn't in his blood to let the sleeping dog lie, or whatever. He had been festering on it all the latter half of the night, but it had really started back when he had met with the grocery guy that day at her work. When he had been the one to tell him about their relationship, not Vixey. And now, to find out that she hadn't told the restaurant lady? At least Al had gotten the info, but still! 2/3?
"I don't get it!" he blurted, attention still on the dishes in the sink. "What's so wrong with me that you didn't want to tell them? Are you still embarrassed of me? I thought we agreed we wanted to be together!"
VIXEY:
"That's not--" Vixey started, sounding a little flustered and desperate and embarrassed because she was.
That hadn't been...her reasoning or thinking or whatever. She wasn't embarrassed by Drakken, really! Things had just been busy. And maybe...her friends were a bit judgmental. She worried that they would have negative reactions and it would make her overthink...
"I am not embarrassed of you," she began again, more softly. "I just--my friends...they're...well, Tiana has been going through a lot and Jun is...Jun. I didn't know what to say to them and so...I just didn't say anything. I am sorry. I didn't mean for it to seem like I am embarrassed of you. I'm not," she said firmly.
DRAKKEN:
Drakken didn't really know whether to believe her or not seeing as she only ever seemed to really tell the truth when she was yelling at him, or after he had spent a while pulling it free from her. Her reasoning made sense, he guessed, but only because- "If that's the case then it doesn't really seem like they're your friends. Aren't they supposed to accept you no matter what? Be happy with your decisions and all that crap?"
Sarina, for as much as she made fun of him and back talked and rained on his parade, always supported him. No matter what it was! Well- that wasn't quite true, but it was pretty much true! She was always there to back him up, no matter how absurd his plans and schemes got. And people said there was no honor among thieves? At least they had loyalty.
"If...if they don't like me, which I don't think they do, are you going to break up with me?" he asked, completely serious under his fading tone of annoyance.
VIXEY:
Vixey was concentrating very hard on the dish she was drying. Even though, at this point, she was putting streaks in it.
It was a good question. One that...Vixey wasn't sure the answer of. Her friends were really important to her. They had helped her open her shoppe. Encouraged her. Picked her up when she was down. She owed a lot to them. Especially Jun, who had given her work and a purpose again. Who she felt understood her, more than the others, because they'd both lost people and, more importantly, had their lives derailed because of that loss.
She respected their opinions.
But--Drakken was also her friend. Drakken made her laugh, more than anyone else. And he made her actually...feel something. He pissed her off, sure, but that had been important too. Reminding her that she wasn't made of glass. He had been her friend and now he was her boyfriend and that meant she had a loyalty to him too.
"No," Vixey said, after a long moment. She looked over at Drakken with a frown. "No, I won't. They'll come around. They are just--protective of me. They just need to get to know you. I know they're a little...judgy but they'll warm up!"
DRAKKEN:
In Drakken's experience people did not warm up to him. Which was fine, the last thing he cared about was people liking him! ...actually this was very untrue, but he pretended like it was in order to keep on the facade.
Why didn't they like him? It was a question that still plagued him, even out of high school and college.
Drakken had learned that it didn't matter if people didn't like him, he was going to rule the world and prove to those people that he was smarter than them. Better, in every way. That's how he was going to get his revenge. But it was different with Vixey's friends because it wasn't like he could just throw that in their faces. Well, he would when it happened, but until then he couldn't just be like he usually was with people he didn't like. Because for some reason Vixey liked them and if Vixey liked them then she would choose them over him because they told her to.
It wasn't until the 'they're protective,' comment that he seemed to understand. She'd been married before and lost that guy to the worse fate imaginable. Maybe they were all just on Drakken's case because they didn't want something like that to happen again. As if they didn't know that if the apocolypse happened, it would be Drakken and the cockroaches battling it out for the last potato chips.
"Fine," he sighed, accepting this. For now. He set down the dishes in the sink. "Sorry. I didn't want your birthday to be so...terrible. Is there anything I can do before it's tomorrow?"
VIXEY:
Vixey felt uneasy about this whole conversation. She was trying to think how best to reassure Drakken, while also reassuring herself. This was the right course of action. When it was just them, it was easy enough. Things had been a little awkward at first, but they had been getting into a groove. It had been nice. Much easier than with Hercules. She didn't feel like she had to try. Or put on a front for Drakken.
But--when her friends got involved...things felt messy. She felt...insecure and nervous and she wasn't sure why. She was a grown ass woman. They were all adults. She could date whoever she damn well pleased.
She was also a push over and didn't have her checklist anymore. It made things so much more confusing.
Which meant she was glad when Drakken didn't push. The tension in her own shoulders unwound and she put the plate down she'd been holding.
"It wasn't your fault," she told him, slipping her arms around his waist and putting her chin on his arm, looking up at him with a little smile. "It was kind of my fault to be honest." She lifted her shoulders in a little shrug. "It'll be okay. It was just a birthday anyway. Hopefully, I'll have plenty more for do overs."
DRAKKEN:
Suddenly Vixey was hugging him, making him feel all warm and soft. It felt...weird that he was being rewarded for conceding, essentially. That usually didn't work out for him but here it did. In the best way possible, too. Vixey wasn't mad at him for ruining her birthday or anything like that. Even though he had yelled at her friends, caused a scene, and just gotten cross with her. And, again, all on her birthday. She should have been the one making the scene.
"It wasn't your fault, either. Nothing is on your birthday, those are the rules," he told her, very seriously. Drakken reached up to returned the hug, having to lean his head back a little to keep her smile within sight. It made him chuckle, the source of it more of a vibration of his chest rather than an actual sound. "Come on, there has to be something that'll wash your mouth out from all that. I don't want to leave you with that to fall asleep to. Your brain is going to make you have nightmares about codenames and yelling and cake."
VIXEY:
Vixey laughed a little at the birthday rules thing. She’d once upon a time believed that too, because she liked rules and orders and all those sorts of things. As an adult, things were always so much messier.
She was just tired now. The tension lifted but it left exhaustion in its wake. She appreciated Drakken trying to fix things, but she didn’t know how to do that. Everyone was already gone. The house quiet. The evening, effectively, ruined.
The hug was nice, though. Vixey turned her head, so that her ear pressed against his chest and she squeezed him a little tighter for a moment.
“You could stay the night,” she suggested, murmuring into his shirt before pulling back a little to look at him. “Can’t have bad dreams that way. Those are the rules.”
DRAKKEN:
Drakken's gut reaction was to say yes, both because she was asking and if it would make her feel better after everything then of course he would do it, but also because he wanted to. Getting to spend any amount of time with Vixey was well worth it.
Then he remembered that it probably was not a good idea since without going home he would most likely wake up blue and that wouldn't be good, now would it? If she wasn't embarrassed of him now then she surely would be then. And would also have a lot of questions he didn't think would be a good follow up to the night she'd just had.
"I would, but I have to be at the school bright and early tomorrow morning," he said, the disappointment and regret in his voice still very sincere despite the excuse he was giving not altogether the real reason he wasn't going to stick around.
VIXEY:
“Oh,” Vixey said, trying not to sound hurt or disappointed, and failing miserably.
She smiled and ducked her head and felt…kind of horrible and dejected. It was totally fair he didn’t want to stay! That would be a super long drive into town in the morning and it was the second week of school still. It was a very good, adult reason to not stay!
Vixey wanted him to anyway. She wasn’t going to…beg or guilt trip, though. That would be just as bad.
“Right, yeah. That makes sense,” she nodded and looked back up at him. “Well, uhm, how about just a kiss then? Before you say goodnight?”
DRAKKEN:
As oblivious as Drakken usually was, he didn't miss the way Vixey had said that. On one hand he felt bad disappointing her, after all that had happened today. He didn't really care about the drive or the effort it would take to get up earlier than normal, he was usually up by then anyway, the insomniac that he was. This was sort of the first time in his life since becoming a criminal that he wished that he actually was just some science teacher without some horrible lab accident keeping him from staying the night, just to make his girlfriend happy.
"That I can do," he agreed. Drakken leaned forward and kissed Vixey's cheek, then the other, and then, finally, pressed his lips against hers.
VIXEY:
Vixey was still disappointed, but as Drakken kissed her face, she couldn't help but giggle, so that when he kissed her properly, she was still smiling into the kiss. She kissed him back, her eyes fluttering closed and she pressed a little closer.
It was a nice kiss. It lingered. When it broke and Vixey pulled away, she huffed.
"Are you sure you can't stay?" she pouted, just a little. "It's my birthday." As if he didn't know that. She kissed him again, just for extra incentive.
