"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "I miss this. Hopefully we can talk more, after this." She looked at the time and rose her brows. "I shouldn't be holding you up from your classes. I'll see you later, right?" She turned and wrote a note to herself to make sure Nikolas was home before school ended. He took long showers and she didn't want him to miss Markus's visit.
"We should. You gotta call more often." He pulled his phone away from his ear to look at the time, blinking. "Shit, yeah. Might be a good idea to get goin'. Of course you'll see me later. When have I ever broken a promise?" He stood, grabbing his bag and drink as Lily made a face up at him before standing. "Wait, don't answer that."
Tessa snickered, then spun around in her chair. "Alright, I look forward to it. Hopefully I've brightened up your day a bit with my sunny personality," she chirped with a grin, clearly joking about her personality being warm and bright. She doodled on the note absentmindedly, the pencil going wherever it pleased. "Kidding. But I do look forward for the overdue reunion."
“Procrastination is your strong suit, Tessa. This time I’m in charge of makin’ it happen though. I’ll see ya later, doll.” The doll was added teasingly, a nickname that would usually sound not good, but coming from Markus, fondness and accent combined, sounded all right.
"See ya later, asshole," she said, smiling fondly at the nickname, then hung up. While she was from New York, Markus was a true Texan, and it showed. She liked his southern accent— it was something different compared to what she was used to. She remembered the first time she had heard his accent. She'd been so startled because she's never heard a southern accent before. Tessa snorted at the thought.
Markus shook his head, wincing at the pain it sparked, before looking to Lily. “Race you to English?”
“You’re gonna lose, Mark. On your mark, go.” She didn’t give him time to gather his wits before taking off, steps flying by three at a time as her weirdly musical laughter trailed behind her.
Skipperoo
Tessa checked the clock. Markus should be on his way here; Nikolas was still in the shower, but probably not for long; her scheme was soon to be in action. Nikolas was much more unguarded and kinder when he was in a place he felt safe. Maybe it would give the two boys a chance to interact with some civility. If not, Tess was more than willing to step between them—literally, if needed. She knew neither one of them would hurt her on purpose.
As Markus stepped off the city bus at the stop closest to the address Tessa had sent him, he sent her a text, letting her know he was about two minutes away. And exactly two minutes later there he was, knocking at her door. His phone was still in hand as he texted Lily, who was rambling excitedly about a poetry slam happening soon that she couldn't wait for.
{How late does it start? And are you even able to get off work for it? Would suck if you couldn't.}
{it's on a thursday, which are usually slow nights. i'll ask Fern if she can cover for me]
Tessa perked her head up from her bundle of pillows on the couch, then rolled off and quickly skittered over to the door. She opened it with a bright grin, engulfing Markus into a happy hug without giving him a second to register her being there. "Hey, asshole," she greeted, looking up at him. "You're not supposed to be taller than me. Goes against the rule of older to younger siblings."
Markus tucked his phone away just in time to avoid dropping it, as Tessa hugged him. He returned the hug with a dramatic sigh, rolling his eyes when she pulled away complaining. “It’s not that hard to be taller than you, doll. How tall are you again? Two feet tall?”
She scoffed and lightly smacked his arm. "Five eight, thank you very much. Taller than most of the female population in America." She then took his hand and pulled him into the house. "Now, incorrect heights aside, I wanna see what you got me." And have him 'meet' Nikolas, but she wouldn't say that.
“So bossy for someone so small.” He said, the twinkle in his dark eyes making it obvious he knew how obnoxious he was being. He pulled a small wrapped package from his pocket, hoodie gone now that the glow was too. “Here ya go, birthday gal. Hope ya like it.”
She rose her brow as she took the package and curiously opened it. Her eyes held a wicked gleam when she saw what it was. "Noo…" she breathed, picking up the fancy knife and examining it. "You didn't? You did. Holy shit I love you." She wrapped her unarmed arm around Markus enthusiastically, grinning excitedly and spinning the knife through her fingers with the other hand.
Markus barked out a laugh as Tessa pulled him into a hug, returning it with one arm to keep the other away from the hand with the knife. "I told you ya'd love it. Lily got it from some guy she met at work, and I bought it off her. Figured it'd be a cool thing to celebrate gettin' outta that hell hole."
"Now I can cut a bitch," Tessa said with a wicked grin, then turned with an arched brow when she heard a muffled, "Just don't get caught. I'd rather not worry about paperwork." Nikolas strolled down the stairs, coming from the bedrooms upstairs to the living room downstairs, where Tess and Markus were. He was currently rubbing out the water from his hair, and only wore grey sweatpants. Beads of water drifted down his chest and disappeared behind the hemline of the sweats, and his silver eyes soon enough emerged from behind the towel as he wrapped the cloth around his neck, looking over at Markus and Tess. A flash of multiple emotions passed through his eyes, though he said nothing more.
Oh sweet mother of Jesus. Was the first thought that ran through Markus's head, followed by an immediate string of panicked curses. He hated Nikolas. Despised him so much that the boy occupied his hate dreams. But right now, he looked like something straight out of a very different type of dream-
That Markus had never had of course. At least not about a guy.
His naturally dark skin suddenly looked a million times darker, this time with a bright and deep red undertone. He was, in fact, too stunned and flustered to even remember that Tess was standing right there.
Tessa glanced up at Markus and did a small mental happy dance. This was the most flustered she has ever seen the younger boy, and it was amazing. She cast a look at Nikolas, who was already looking at her, and she cleared her throat. "Well, I'd like to introduce you both–"
"We know each other," Nikolas interjected smoothly, draping the towel over the staircase railing and leaning against the bottom post with his arms folded over his chest. "As you probably already know."
Tessa said nothing, just stuck her tongue out at Nikolas. He stuck his out at her in return, the metal barbell through the muscle on full display for once, that Markus has seen. "Fine. Way to ruin my introduction."
Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god. Markus's blush, somehow, managed to get a shade or two deeper. It shouldn't have been possible, and yet, there he was, looking very close to combusting. "U-uh. Howdy. Hey, Tessa, doll, honeybun, you uh, didn't tell me you knew…Nikolas." His accent was thicker, even more so than in his anger, that Texan drawl thick as syrup and somehow even nicer.
Nikolas rose a brow at how Markus's Texan accent thickened greatly. He would never admit it, but he liked his accent, especially when it was like this. It made his voice even richer and made his words stand out. He shook his head slightly, combing his fingers through his wet hair to get it out of his eyes.
Tessa bit her lip to keep from smiling. Bingo. "Oh, I never really thought about it. He and I grew up in the system together. Both being foster babies and all made it kinda easier to bond, I guess." Nikolas watched Markus's reaction to that sliver of his past.
Markus blinked. Nikolas was a foster kid. He was one of them, another kid let down by parents and the universe, and likely the system as well. “Happens, don’ it. E’ry once in a while when ya mesh.” He reached up, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. His eyes were still stuck on Nikolas, only managing to flicker to Tess for a second at a time. “And ya took ‘er in after she was finally kicked?”
Nikolas shrugged one shoulder, breaking the stare-off as he looked down. "More like she felt obligated to make herself at home." Tessa scowled at him, and a half smile worked its way up his lips. Without even looking at her, he knew what her expression was. He shrugged again and looked up at Tessa. "Nah. We've had each other's backs since we met. Didn't even occur to me to not let her stay here."
Markus did manage to look at his former foster sister then, eyes softening visibly as he smiled at her. “Glad she’s got an actual home now.” He said, turning his smile to Nikolas as it changed to something more grateful. He might not like the guy personally, but he’d given someone important to both of them a home. And that meant something, for sure.
Nikolas met Markus's smiling gaze with a slightly weary look of his own. It was weird, having the kid in his house and them being civil—then again, it was probably because Tessa was there to act as a buffer. Waves of guilt were crashing into Nikolas at the moment, though he expertly kept it off of his face. Of course she knows him. She sounded so sure when talking about him. Now I feel even worse.
The quiet made Markus fidget the longer it went on, the smile dropping from his face after a bit. When he couldn’t handle the silence anymore, he spoke, already regretting his lack of filter in the awkwardness. “Can I-can we talk? Like, actually talk?”
Tessa patted Markus's shoulder as she slipped past him to go towards the staircase. "I was hoping one of you would say that. I'll be upstairs if you need me." She then reached up and ruffled Nikolas's hair, causing him to duck his head and let out a small noise of protest. She just snickered, hopped up the first two stairs, waggled her fingers in a 'toodle-loo' gesture, then bounded up the remaining stairs. Nikolas watched her go with a blank face, then sighed through his nose and tapped his neck in time with his pulse, looking at the floor instead of Markus.
Markus sighed softly, running a hand over his short hair. His eyes flickered to everywhere but Nikolas, and at some point he had started chewing on his bottom lip. Worrying the already chapped skin. “I-….why? I guess that’s the only question I can think to ask. I know I’m an ass, but…ya started half that shit in your own, I just instigated it.”
Nikolas's tongue flicked out to wet his lips, gaze dropping and shoulders drooping with guilt. "I… I have no excuse. I'm… Things have been rough lately. My sister died and Tess got kicked out." He ran his hand through his hair with a heavy sigh and he shifted on his feet. "My father… is a completely different horror story. You were just the one person that would fight back. Give me somewhat of what I deserved. I'm sorry. I wish I could take it all back."
“I don’t think ya can.” Markus said softly, the words out before he could stop to think on how to phrase them better. “I mean-it don’t work that easy, is what I mean. And I know that goes for some o’ the things I said.” He sighed again, looking down and then up at Nikolas. “I’m sorry too. Really, truly. How ‘bout we…try again? From the top, with less fightin’?”
Nikolas dropped his hand to tap his neck in time with his slightly speeding pulse. "Yeah… I think that would be best. And I really am sorry," he added, the growing guilt showing in his silver eyes as he rose them up to meet Markus's gaze, "I don't even know why I did what I did. I had sworn to not do anything like that, and yet here we are." He huffed an unamused laugh, briefly looking away before flicking his gaze back to the boy.
Markus took a half step towards Nikolas, furrowing his brows slightly. While the thought of this stopping had been something he’d thought about since it had started, something within him didn’t like the guilt in the other boy’s eyes. He had wanted him to feel guilty, but seeing it now….it made him feel gross, bad and unhappy. “Mistakes happen. We made some pretty damn big ones, but what matters now’s gotta be fixin’ ‘em, right?”