i'll give you war.

@wyattnadir​

Now that Izzy and Wyatt were living together, not much had changed. She was working more, maybe, considering she’d taken some time to move and get things in their places. She’d been enjoying figuring out where everything went though, knowing that it was her own. And Wyatt seemed happy, maybe because they’d finally gotten on the same page. They’d even managed to help each other with the projects they’d set for themselves, finding new things to do with the new house. She was just happy that he was happy, even though she still has to remind herself from time to time not to freak out. Lifting an arm to paint the wall, one that’s been an eye sore since they moved in, she grins over to Wyatt who’s got some new tool to work with for hanging a picture she’d found. “You know if you end up screwing yourself to the wall, I’m going to use that time to take advantage of you,” she smirks. Izzy isn’t really sure if the thing he’s holding screws anything but she couldn’t pass up an opportunity for the innuendo. “Does this mean we can finally have the housewarming party? I have some cute ideas and everyone keeps asking me when it is.”

-

Wyatt had planned to do a lot of the necessary renovations himself. He’d had a list of things he wanted to do, both things that needed to be fixed for practical reasons and decorative per Izzy’s input. New light fixtures and outlet covers, fixing the sloppy paint job in the living room with running lines down the baseboards, covering holes from previously hung decorations. What he hadn’t expected is how much he enjoys the process. He’d picked up an electric stud finder on his most recent trip to the hardware store and runs it over the wall they’d painted yesterday. 

“You can take advantage of me any time you want,” he grins. He marks a stud with a pencil and tucks it back behind his ear. “Say the word and I’ll figure out what box I tossed the handcuffs in.” He puts the stud finder down on a box with the rest of his tools and moves towards Izzy. Wyatt taps his index finger against the paint tray, draping his other arm around her shoulder. “You wanna let the paint dry before we have people in here?” His arm tightens around her to hold her in place as he presses the tip of his finger against her nose, leaving a dot of color behind.

@wyattnadir​

“Hear you got a new place you’re in now,” he greets, trying not to show his surprise. Seth and Wyatt operated in similar spaces, the men having been cut from a very similar cloth. Harsh as ever, never really showing too much to anyone, and certainly someone no one would expect to settle down. Well, apparently pigs would fly since Wyatt found himself someone to settle down with and although Seth’s never sure when the floors are going to fly out from beneath him with Emme again, he’s about in the same boat as Wyatt. “You find whoever was holdin’ shit up and tell ‘em to get outta town or somethin’?” he teases, handing the man a beer. “Think I’m gonna be in the market here soon. Lucky I ain’t competing against you. Both know I’d smoke your ass in a bidding war.”

-

The demolished husk of the burned out house brings a swell of something in his chest. The phantom pain of smoke in his lungs, the panic that his little sister was going to die, are still too close to the surface for him to face this without the memories slipping too easily to his mind. He kills the engine on the street, hangs his helmet from the handlebar.

“You’re really selling this place?” he says as he makes his way to the shed, surprised at the lack of damage sustained by the structure. It seems almost unbelievable that anything on the property could have survived. “Guess that’s easier than tearing all this down and building something new, huh?”

Sitting in church watching that man at the head of the table will never not get under Wyatt’s skin. Under the table his fingers curl into tight fists, flex and release. Over and over until the gavel bangs to dismiss them. He’s all but accepted that there’s nothing he can do about Steel, but that doesn’t stop his blood from boiling. Everyone makes their way out of the main room, bottlenecking at the door. Wyatt hangs toward the back of the crowd, eager to put some distance between him and Steel, who had been one of the first out the door.

He ends up shoulder to shoulder with Andy Thane. Better than any of the former Bastards. “Whole meeting and he still ain’t say a single productive thing. Could’a been a text message and save us all the gas,” he says in a low tone knowing he can’t wear his disdain as openly as he’d like.

@wyattnadir​

“Wyatt hold the fucking ladder still!” Ryder called over his shoulder. Honestly, for all he knew Wyatt had walked away once the younger man climbed up the ladder to screw in the light fixture that was on the counter when he entered the new home. All he knew was that it was wobbly, and if Wyatt was down there he wasn’t doing his job. Turning back to the task at hand, the younger club member heaved a sigh. “The fuck is on your mind if my safety is apparently not?”

-

“Calm down,” Wyatt rolls his eyes, slipping his phone back into his pocket so he can grip the ladder with both hands. “I’m not gonna let you fuckin’ fall.” Worst case scenario, Ryder falls back and lands fully on Wyatt. In that case, Wyatt’s sure he’ll take the worst of the damage, smashed between another grown man and the hardwood floor. “Text from Reina,” he says. “Wants help cleaning out the shed on the property. Lotta Jason’s old shit.” Wyatt’s not looking forward to sifting through it all to find something useful buried under the memories of a man he’d rather forget. “You finished up there?”

❀

Izzy practically vibrates with excitement while Wyatt is on the phone. She reaches for his hand a few times only to let her hand fall because he says something again. God, she wants it on speaker and this man wants her to DIE. “Wy…” she whines while he’s still on the phone but just as the conversation ends. Her excitement only grows as he seems to blossom from under the cool disposition. “Did we get the house?!” she asks, far too loud to be that close to his face. “Yes!” she screams, jubilantly, pressing hungry lips to his repeatedly. “We have a house,” she says between excited kisses. “And you doubted me. I knew we were going to get that house,” she teases him.

-

Wyatt had never imagined himself in the role of homeowner. To be honest, he’s taken on a lot of roles he’d never imagined having before. A lot of them thanks to the woman in his bed. Without Izzy he’d probably be content living in his shitty apartment by himself until he was forty. “One of us had to stay grounded. Had to make sure you didn’t end up too disappointed if we had to start the search over again.” Though, as much as Wyatt had tried to keep that possibility in mind, he had been dreading the idea of going back to square one. And maybe he’d let himself get a little more invested in that house--their house--than he’d meant to. “We’re meeting to sign in two weeks,” he says, his nose hovering barely an inch above hers. “Then the first thing I’m doing is getting that pool fixed up and ready for the second it’s warm enough to swim.”

–

Inhaling a long drag, Sawyer glanced over at Wyatt, unable to help the way he grinned around his cigarette, “Duly noted,” he murmured before exhaling a thick cloud of smoke, “She’s my favorite nurse too.” Hurting Remi was the last thing Sawyer intended to do, and he hoped that was easy to see, despite the track record he carried. It was no secret that commitment was uncharted territory for him— anyone who knew him knew that he lived one night at a time, but this was different. He wanted more than that, and he wanted it with Remi. Trading out his cigarette for another sip of coffee, Sawyer gave a low hum and nodded in agreement. He’d never seen this coming either, but he knew better than to run from it. “Just hits different when it’s the right one, I guess,” he reasoned, shrugging his shoulders. "Look at us— couple of goddamn saps,” Sawyer laughed, reaching out to playfully shove at Wyatt’s shoulder, “Who woulda ever thought?”

-

“Yeah, yeah,” Wyatt rolls his eyes, letting his body sway back from the contact of Sawyer’s shove. “Fucking disgusting. Both of us. Talking like we’re totally whipped already.” It’s amusing to see someone’s life so clearly mirror his own right now. And so easy to poke fun at both of them for it. Wyatt raises his coffee cup in a lazy toast. “Here’s to growing the fuck up, I guess.” 

-

“What? You didn’t know?” River answered with a laugh. Most people, in their experience, knew when they were good looking. They knew it and they were damn sure Wyatt knew it. Confidence in other things was a different story but they were a big believer in faking it until they made it. That and a little white substance gave them enough drive to make it through the worst of days. “Maybe just a little, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like talkin’ to ya, sweetheart.” River winked and patted one of his biceps. “Aw, what a drag. Sparring, that’s like, fake fighting or practice fighting? Right?” They weren’t sure all the terms for the violence stuff was.

-

“Oh don’t worry, I know,” he says, nudging his elbow into River’s arm. The dancer has the confidence and swagger of someone who knows they’re just as attractive. “Yeah, it’s kinda like that. Not fake really fake. But, yeah, it’s practice.” Wyatt finishes off his beer, waves over to the bartender for another. “I hope working at a place like this you at least know how to throw a punch. Rough crowd and all.”

❀

Izzy sends a lasered squint toward Wyatt. She knows he cannot promise no more jail, considering the shit he’s into but he can at least try to avoid it. That night it seemed like he was just looking for a reason to head down to the jailhouse. Worse than that— she knows that him going away, while it may mean conjugal visits, it also means Wyatt missing from their future home. If clinginess was a competition, Izzy would certainly win, which is why she frowns at Wyatt. “Not funny, Wyatt. I’d rather be able to fuck you in a nice bathtub rather than on some lice infested prison bed,” she says, rolling her eyes. 

She tries hard to be annoyed that he would even joke about jail. They both knew what would happen to them if he went to jail— or worse. She’d been down that path, she wasn’t going back. But the light kiss on her throat eases her wired muscles, calming her down enough to picture them by the pool with the fence around their backyard. Who knew it’d be so convenient? She could almost picture it now… the daydream however is stopped in its tracks as Wyatt moves to pick up the phone, showing her it’s the real estate agent. Her eyes go wide and her stomach drops, unsure if it’s a good or a bad thing. “Please, please, please,” she murmurs to herself, fingers-crossed and eyes squeezing shut like she’s saying a prayer. And Izzy is, sort of, because she’s ready for this house.

-

Wyatt nods his way though the brief phone call that requires little conversation on his end aside from an occasional “yes” and “great” and “thank you.” He grins at Izzy who waits nervously for an answer, giving her a thumbs up to hopefully soothe her nervous energy. 

“That perfect. We’ll be there. Thanks for everything,” he finishes, tossing his phone back onto the table by his bed before rolling over to completely envelop her under his larger frame. One hand holds her face in place as he kisses her, eagerly, excitedly. “Wanna guess what that was about?” He asks, biting the bottom like as he grins, inches away from from her lips. 

"Yeah," Wyatt answers without hesitation. There's no sense in beating around the bush about it. The whole point of him following Reina and Jason to Las Vegas was the promise of a leadership position and eventually taking over. And Jason fucked him out of that. And then Reina had dangled it like a carrot in his face when she'd wanted him to vote the Bastards in. All of that had blown up spectacularly. "Not gonna happen here, though. Not when Cronus' kids are right there. And I'm not allowed to say what would happen to Otto. But the Bastards would have to step up and prove themselves a hell of a lot more."

"I'm good at getting a job done when it needs done. You need to make a body go away, I got you. You need ten guys dead real quick, I'm your man. Other than that? I’m handy. Good at fixing shit. Most stuff’s not that hard if you’re willing to take the time to figure it out."

"A couple years ago I lost like three grand in a bet with some asshole. Wouldn't mind having that money back right know."

"Blaze of glory, obviously. What other way is there?"

"I dunno. It took a lot of convincing to get her to move in with me. So I'm gonna just be happy with that for now and if she decides she's ready for more than that we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Between you and me, I'd marry her tomorrow if thought I could get her down the aisle."

"I'd do anything for my family. No questions asked. I don't care who I gotta kill to do it."

"You’ve seen Izzy. I get to take her to bed every night. What do you think?”