× ⏤ 𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖔𝖓​ .

shooting a wink at the girl he sat still as he eagerly waited a return , perking up visibly at the promise of food . “ alright , alright , you let me finish my burger and i’ll be right out there with you , “ woody’s voice was raised , loud enough so the men could hear every syllable without the risk of misconstruing his intentions . no matter what he’d be right there with her , and although his stature didn’t match up with the usual bodyguard aesthetic there wasn’t going to be a male that messed with him . he had connections , an anderson was like gaining an extra life in a video game . out of the three brothers the middle was the most rugged , street smart , arguably the least successful but knowing how to navigate dangerous back alleys like the back of his hand .

woody hadn’t been experiencing the best few weeks of his life either . if anything it had been some of the worst , he was defeated and broken , let down by the people he thought he could rely on no matter what . his family was distant , and even the people he saw as his closest friends were nowhere to be found in his times of need . shrugging , the heavily tattooed man admitted defeat . “ you can go -- go on , i’m not gonna hold y’ hostage , “ the crinkle of his brow and his willingness to give up wasn’t typical anderson behaviour , but even he wasn’t sure what seemed ‘ typical ‘ anymore .

how anybody could adore one of the siblings was truly beyond him , but he wasn’t going to argue now when they were trying to get to the bottom of whatever was happening between the two individuals . “ of course i’m gonna look after him , Z , i am his brother after all and he’s one of the most important people in my damn life .. but that doesn’t mean i think the sun shines out of his asshole , y’know ?? he shouldn’t have hit you with the whole love thing so soon .. “ in his mind he couldn’t quite comprehend how his brother could fall so easily , but maybe that was where the anderson brother’s differed . the middle sibling couldn’t put his finger on a single time where he had felt like he was in love , whether that was in a relationship or otherwise , his heart closed off and protected behind steel bars to keep anybody who might hurt him far away . 

manners . was that some sort of joke ?? he hissed a bout of laughter as if it had been , staring back at lacey and waiting for a punchline that never came -- woody hadn’t been taught his ‘ please ‘ and ‘ thank you ‘ growing up , he hadn’t been taught to say sorry or ask politely . the male was quite honestly clueless as to how to navigate social situations but so far it didn’t seem like he was doing too badly at all . “ i mean , i’ll take that .. maybe mark it on the calendar as the first and only day i’ve been called polite . that ain’t somethin’ i’m used to , “ the much taller boy continued to follow the blonde , the two of them looking like ying and yang as they hung out .

as they walked his expression become more crinkled , brows furrowed , trying to find a middle ground between reprimanding his brother and offering him actual pearls of advice . “ honestly , mate , i think throwin’ them the ‘ love ‘ card is a pretty lousy move . you gotta tiptoe a bit , see if they feel the same back before you go full romeo of the poor lass . you only shagged her , right ?? i know you wanna marry everybody your dick touches but there needs to be a middle ground , “ hesitating , his tattooed hand waved to dismiss danny’s question . “ she’s nobody . it doesn’t matter , “ 

woody’s drug addiction had been his only friend for twenty odd years at this point and he couldn’t see an end to the struggle . it was the only thing keeping his head above water when everything else was trying to drown him and tug him under , the throws of atlanta’s crime scene wrapping themselves around his ankles like weights bringing him to the seabed . injecting was the norm , the corners of his arms looked like he’d been attacked , as if he was a pincushion , bruised and battered across the crook of his elbow where needle marks had added up over the months , weeks , an eternity of an uphill struggle with opiates . nobody had shown him a tenderness like this before now . when hearing about his addictions people usually ran for the hills , attempted to avoid the inevitable loss that such a battle would ultimately leave anyone that gave the time and energy to care for woody like he deserved . “ of course , “ rather nonchalantly woody handed over his arm for minnie to inspect , the tattoos doing wonders in covering up markings but the ravage of injection marks were still ever visible . “ drugs . i kinda .. i mean , i have a problem . i do , “ 

darkness was becoming his best friend . it was something woody had experienced for the last twenty years of his life , a ravaging addiction and mental health issues bubbling beneath the surface , and having nobody to celebrate his birthday with had been the cherry ontop of a bad month for the middle anderson . “ it’s nothing , blaze , and i don’t appreciate you makin’ me sound like the bad guy when i haven’t seen you in weeks . didn’t even hear a peep when i turned thirty five ‘n that hurts , y’know ?? i get that i’m the least favorite sibling but you guys don’t gotta make it so obvious , “ he shoved away the drug paraphernalia and lifted both heavily tattooed hands in surrender , glancing up at his brother with a cock of his head , “ so where we goin’ from here then , eh ?? “ 

there were many anecdotes and strange stories saved up from woody’s many drunken escapades . if he could focus for long enough ( and hold a pen without trembling ) he could probably write a book with all of them , an anthology of drug-induced craziness . “ catchin’ feelings for a friend .. christ , yeah , been there ‘n done that . well go on then , who is it ?? don’t keep me waiting . “ he was like a giggly girl at a sleepover , resting his chin in the palm of a heavily tattooed hand , “ i can bestow you with some anderson knowledge , not like you need it at all . if i were you i’d avoid it like the plague , “ 

the male chuckled at her quip back , but he wasn’t going to scold her for hitting back in response to his words . if anything , knowing that lu still had her feisty nature was something reassuring within layers of concern . “ you know i didn’t mean it in a shitty way and , yeah , i know i look god awful at the best o’ times .. which is why it’s so surprising when you look sicker than i do . what’s goin’ on , lovey ?? “ growing up in an abusive household meant that woody adopted those around him , especially when it came to younger waylaid members of atlanta that were searching for a scrap of family in a world that seemed against them . “ what’s happening ?? i’m not letting you go ‘til you tell me what’s up , “ 

woody’s intentions were never to make people feel uncomfortable , nor did he want pity or handouts . the way life had dealt him a bad hand was nobody’s fault , the only person he would blame ( and did ) was his good-for-nothing alcoholic of a father . “ nah , that’s alright -- i’m not gonna say no to anything physical but it’s a gross thing to ask for , ‘specially when all i did was get you a book . a meal sounds like a pretty good compromise , “ a roll of cash wasn’t what he was expecting , and once it was handed over the male just stared down at his tattooed hand with a brow cocked , shaking his head and attempting to wrestle it back over . “ no , no .. i don’t need this , love . i’m only fuckin’ about . you keep that ‘n buy me a sandwich or somethin’ instead , “ 

woody wasn’t the best at consoling people , but what he was good at was distracting those that were sad with something completely ridiculous so that they had no excuse to be hung up on devasting news anymore . regardless of whether jayella was upset over something trivial or not he’d fight to keep a smile on her face , even if it meant smacking his face into a pie or making a fool of himself in full view of the other diners . “ i can always eat , love . i’m like a wild animal in the sense that i never know where my next meal is gonna be . what would you recommend ?? all i know are fries and pizza ‘n shit like that .. i bet you live off caviar and scallops and those weird little prawn things , “ the two of them were very different . woody didn’t care about his personal failures and jayella was beat up about hers , crying in the corner because of a bad day . “ i always think that if you can’t change somethin’ there’s no use in getting too worked up . at the end of the day , we all end up in the same place , “ 

“ that makes sense . well , you owe me then .. “ woody grabbed one on the napkins and scrawled down an ‘I O U’ that was probably a little too explicit to be noting in the middle of a busy establishment . that head of his was a constant barrage of drugs , drugs , drugs ; his life was a desperate fight for his next hit over everything , and maybe that was an ulterior motive behind trying to protect poe . who was he kidding , it definitely was . “ -- but for now i’d settle for any food you can spare me . i don’t have any cash though .. i can offer you a button and some old coins probably , “ 

“ that’s important . you guys can stay friends , i’m sure , but while he’s getting his bearings i think a bit of space won’t do any harm . he has a heart of gold , he ain’t like me -- somethin’s softened him and his feelings are exposed more than other’s so just .. y’know .. be gentle , “ his way of firefighting a potentially upsetting topic was better than he’d ever handled something like this before . having emotions that were out of control meant woody was a ticking time bomb , a volcano waiting to explode , but right then he was remaining dormant and merely bubbling beneath the surface . “ he’ll get over it , with enough booze and substances in his brain he’ll forget all about that broken heart of his . just treat careful , yeah ?? i like you and i don’t want to have to deal with neither of you in a bad way , “ 

scowling back at his brother the middle anderson sibling was in disbelief , surprised that danny would even come out with such a comment . “ no , nobody won me over -- it’s just some girl that was nice to me , alright ?? you know what i’m like with women and i’m sure she’ll be scared off before long . if you tell anyone about this you’re dead , too , alright ?? “ he warned his brother with a wiggle of one finger , brows raised to show he wasn’t messing around . they may have been blood , but once a trust was broken there was no solving it . “ anderson’s are born to fail , you know it . we were cursed with the blood of our father so we know relationships just ain’t gonna fly , no matter what . “