Bitch, I'm the Bomb -- Like Tic-Tic

There was something within the beauty that couldn’t trust completely in what Atticus was saying –– her and Jared were completely secretive and so, Demetria chewed on her lower lip for a moment wondering whether the redhead before her had been following her throughout the institute. Nevertheless, there was no point in bringing it up now. They had both moved on and begun new lives, away from Brielle and its confinements. “Things are… Complicated.” Demi begun, giving a weak nod and a false smile. “Jared is in another state teaching and I’m not allowed to leave this one quite yet. My terms of release are still being discussed but I have a monthly therapy meeting, which I have to be present for and if I break that, then I go straight back in.” Finally stirring the last of her sugar into the coffee cup, the beauty popped the lid back on and allowed the paper cup to cradle within her palms. There was something within the beauty that knew Tic wanted her for himself… Though Demetria loved the chase more than anything. She did have a soft spot for him. “Are you getting a coffee or are you just standing here, waiting for a girl whose hotter than me to come by?”

“So he’s waitin’ for ya then?” He asked, slight snark and anger hidden in his tone. He’d never like Jared - whether that was because he had Demi or not had yet to be determined. “So that place still has ya on a tight leash huh?” he chuckled, grabbing at her hips and pulling her closer towards him again after her coffee seemed appropriately sugared. “Is that a little jealousy I hear?” he smirked, “Well I was just walkin’ by when I happened to run into ya is all. Ya know, I don’t stay too far from here. If ya wanna come check it out.”

Although it hurt to say –– Demetria had never been quite sure if she liked Atticus romantically. There was something they both shared in common and that was the fact that they held a DESIRE in their throat to receive any form of attention at all times and because the smaller framed brunette was so hungry to receive his, she was willing to give it up to herself. His feelings had never really been made clear, though each time she found him running after any other girl, she always had to find a way to reel him back in. Perhaps, Demi did have a soft spot for Tic –– she was just too afraid to admit it. “Jared? How do you know about Jared?” Pulling back slowly, a concern in her hues, brows furrowed low. Jared was meant to have been a secret… Had anybody found out, he would have lost his job. They were still in contact, though he was living a state away. Long distance relationships had never been her style, though she was willing to try anything for him.

He couldn’t help just staring at her for a moment - in a stare of ‘you’re kidding right?’ - crossed his face. “Y’all weren’t as secretive as you’d like to think,” he chuckled softly. His face dropped as she pulled back, wanting to lung back towards her to pull her back towards him, but her face has stopped him. “Hey, it’s not that big a deal,” he said softly, trying to think more about her feelings in the moment for literally the first time in his life. “So, does that mean y’all are still together then? Is he round here?” he asked, his own face starting to sadden as he thought through everything. 

Brielle was nothing more than a prison –– filthy, confined and flooding with vermin. In fact, the man in charge of it all was one of the bigger rats that the beauty had come across. He was snide, conniving and just downright evil. Having decided to study psychology herself, standing out as a candidate due to serving her own time in hospitals, the brunette had realised just how corrupt the head doctor truly was. She had met several medical workers since she had decided to return to college, each of them friendly and holding a genuine concern for the welfare of humankind but Robert? He was just something else. So was the man before her… Atticus D’arcy –– one of her companions from the very place her soul had been caged, her heart pierced and her freedom robbed from her and yet, here the were stood in a coffeeshop as two humans deserving of rights. Leaving her cup on the stall of sugars, the brunette through her arms around the small of Tic’s back, allowing him to completely encapsulate her tiny frame between his arms. “They let me out months ago… There I was, thinking that you had left me! Tell me everything… I want all of the details. How have you been?”

He almost couldn’t believe they ended up in the same place after Brielle and that they had just happened to run into her randomly on the street. He held on to her tightly, rubbing over Demi’s back, smelling the warm scent of her shampoo, her body under his hands. He didn’t want to let her go, all the near-misses and unrequited feelings from the institute rushing through his thoughts. “Nah, I didn’t leave ya D,” he whispered quietly against her ear, “They just let me go and I had to get outta there. Plus ya had that...Jared guy, to keep ya company,” he said, the sneer unavoidable. “Things are...things. Same ‘ol, same ‘ol, y’all know me. I ain’t really ever gonna change.”

a starter for ATTICUS ( @ticxtoc-ontheclock ).

Leaving Brielle Institute had been the best thing for Demetria –– she was a free soul, roaming back through the city streets and even enrolling in college. The beauty had been somebody who was never willing to change, too STUBBORN to confess that there was anything wrong with her personality though that was all a part of the therapy. If the brunette wanted to be granted wings to fly, then she was going to have to curb her devious ways and prove that she could act like a normal citizen… And that involved meeting her therapist, though before she made her way there –– she was going to need coffee, otherwise the psychologist would just assume that she was deteriorating. Standing in line after giving her order for a vanilla latte, the beauty took her paper cup with her name scribbled across its side before heading over to the sugar table, shoulder brushing against a much taller man beside her. “I’m so sorry, I’m not quite awake yet –– wait, Tic?”

He was free. He was finally free from the confines of that awful institute and he could finally be himself. Sure, he had to lie a bit - tell them what they wanted to hear, calm himself a bit - but in the end it worked. He was just walking around, mostly minding his own business, but also looking for something to do when he nearly collided with a girl trying to skip the coffee line. “Whoa there, darlin’, if ya wanna get that close ya just gotta ask,” he chuckled before the girl’s face came into view. For the first time - Tic was speechless. “Demi!?” he gasped, scooping the girl into a big hug. “They let ya outta that hell too, D?”

“i’ve never heard anyone talk like that in my life,” but you haven’t even been alive for two decades, logan, so be quiet for once. “nowhere.” a lie. “just walking. why do you wanna know?”

“Well then ya ain’t been anywhere good then, have ya?” Tic chuckled softly. “Well y’all were goin’ no where pretty fast,” he commented, moving to lean against a nearby wall. “Cos i’m nosey,” he answered honestly.

Ryder laughed at that, leaning back against the trunk that Tic had earlier shimmied up. “That’s so fuckin’ true. In books they always have it in liquid form in some like, antique bottle. Or if it’s plants it’s always berries. Berries or mushrooms.” He considered the fruit for a minute. “This doesn’t seem like a berry. Are bananas technically berries? I feel like I heard that once somewhere.”

“Exactly!” Tic exclaimed enthusiastically, “They’ve taught us absolutely....lutely...” Tic coughed and sputtered a bit, grabbing onto his throat. “Everythin’...dark,” he muttered, staggering in place a bit before falling down, crashing against the ground.

He laid there a moment or two, waiting to see if Ryder would react to his theatrics before opening his eyes with a hearty laugh. “Got ya for a minute, didn’t i? Also, bananas can’t possibly be berries.”

If it were possible for the grin on his face to get wider it would have, and even though his cheeks began to ache his expression never faltered.

“Yes yes,” his voice was giddy, “Oh everyone is terrified of little ghost girls that’s such a good idea yes! This place is totally fucking haunted I swear they’re gonna buy into this so easily.”

“don’t touch me,” there was definitely more bark than bite in his voice, but the meaning still stands. “y’talk like you’re from the seventies to everyone or what?”

“Seventies?” Tic asked with a raise to his brow, “I’m from Alabama, darlin’. This talk ain’t so different down there. So where y’all takin’ off to so fast?”

Was Atticus in love with her? She couldn’t quite tell, though he always looked so allured by her. Demetria Rivers was certainly a charmer – somebody who drew most men in and kicked them back into the dirt, though she couldn’t quite shake Tic. She wasn’t as head over heels for him as he was her but that was what she did… She used people. It wasn’t every day that you actually managed to form a bond with the people that you were using though. “Yes, you do TOTALLY do have a soft side.” Demetria spat back, eyes wide with a teasing glimmer as she prodded at his chest – allowing his forehead to press against hers. There was something that felt so safe about Tic and whilst she should not have led him on whilst her heart belonged to Jared, she always felt WANTED when she was with him. “I might just have to call you CASANOVA instead… That works. You do like to seduce woman after all, but I know nobody compares to me.”

Tic had no idea what love was. Sure, he’d seen it in movies or read it in books, but that was the most he knew about the subject. All he knew was someone being in love with him meant he got their attention and sometimes that meant he had to show love first. Either way, those dark eyes were locked right on to his, and he was her sole and complete focus. “Of course I do. Y’all bring it outta me,” he hummed, accent thick and slow as he tucked some hair behind her ear. “Cassanova, hmm?” he hummed with a smile, “I s’pose I couldn’t get mad at that. Romeo would be a good one too,” he cooed, holding her at the small of her back, “ya could always be my Juliet.”

   Emerald eyes marveled at the smolders as they extinguished, pupils dilating in crazed comfort. “ they didn’t, stole it. “ he hummed pridefully, a smirk stitching into his lips as a burned fist closed around the still charred lighter, “ it’s busted now, so nothing… unless we get another. “

Stole it? Well that certainly got Tic’s attention. “Ya stole it? Well that certainly sounds like a fun time,” he chuckled, “Do ya steal lots of things? Or just lighters?” The southern boy looked the device over, “Well how’d y’all bust it?”

       Anyone who looked at the red haired intern wouldn’t think she was capable of physical strength, but she could put in that force and strength when need be. Which is what she was doing with Tic right now. For despite his constant attempts at trying to manoeuvre away from her; shouting at her, Piper remained in the position as she was. Needless to say being sat on the cold linoleum floor in a ruffled skirt and stilettos wasn’t the comfiest of positions. It was just surprising her fairy wings were still in tact considering the mess of the boy she currently had in her arms. After today, the only conclusion Piper could come to was that she somehow triggered something within him. She knew when she called him by his first name that his whole demeanour had changed. However it wasn’t as if that was the first time she had called him Atticus. So why the sudden behavior? As much as Piper wanted to ask and pry, she knew it was best not to at this current moment - not when she was trying to settle the male.

“Are you calm?”

       She asked softly after a few moments; in a tone of voice that was a rarity for her to use. The red haired beauty did not remove herself from this position however, not until she got a coherent answer from him that gave her a reason to do so.

“Calm-er,” he corrected softly, his body starting to rock in her arms, waiting for her to let go. His breathing calmed slowly and his hyperventilation stopped, “Ok...y’all can let go now.”

It went without saying, that Jim was approaching obscenely tall. At 6′4, it didn’t take much to make his movements seem quick, almost rushed—because with legs his length, he could go barrelling down a hall with little to no effort, and not even notice it. 

And he hadn’t particularly been hurrying, not on purpose anyway—but then again, he had just left a therapist’s office extremely frustrated and tired of reiterating how much he did not want to talk about his brother, so he’d likely been moving quickly by sheer… irritable reflex alone. 

A hand caught his arm as he nearly shoulder checked someone in the hall, and a soft, lilted voice accosted him with pet names and cliches and Jim halted in his tracks, gaze on that hand touching him, hard and cautionary. 

A long pause, where one might here a pin drop. His gaze cut up again and met the face of a young man with a warmth in his eyes that Jim’s would likely never mirror. “Did I say you could touch me, sugar,?” he echoed, barbing and vaguely threatening. 

Tic lifted his hand up, breathing out loudly, “Whoa, no harm done, darlin’. Ya just were clearly on some kinda warpath to somethin’ and I thought maybe y’all were gonna hurt someone. Chill out, man.”

“Harper…” The beauty hummed, her voice a low purr as she allowed Tic to pull her into an embrace – her arms sitting comfortably by her waist, allowing him to do all of the work in drawing her in. “Harper is kinda cute. It may be a little girly but I think if anything, it brings out your softer side. Although, Harper doesn’t sound like a nickname that I’d call you. You don’t want to seem more feminine than me, do you?”

“Softer side?” he scoffed with a small chuckle, “I don’t gotta soft side, D. I’m all tough all the time,” he said, barely getting it out before he was chuckling softly, pressing his forehead against hers. He took a deep breath, taking her all in - her scent, her voice, the look of her face so close to his. “Well I s’pose not, nah,” he agreed, “I guess ya have your work cut out for ya to find somethin’ then.”

“I’m just… used to it. I guess.” Jessie said, giving him a shrug. She really didn’t know and she didn’t feel comfortable here.

“Well....alright then,” he huffed with a shrug and rose to his feet. “I guess I’ll leave ya to your boredom then. Cos I know I can’t handle bein’ this bored.”