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 Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 9:53 am
Evan was passed out on the couch in the living room; Zac had done him the decency of moving him from the table to somewhere a little more comfortable. Papers were strewn about; Evan was reading through loan and financing options and had lists of menus and recipes lying everywhere.
Zac was sore from his day at work, but there wasn’t really much in the world that was going to stop him from looking after Evan.
Cambria was going to be heading home soon—she had texted, so he was doing his best to clean up a bit. Only, the table was going to remain a mess because he didn’t want to disrupt Evan’s organized chaos.
He had just finished draping a blanket over Evan when he saw Cambria’s car pull into the driveway; he crept over to the door and opened it for her, figuring he could at least help her make a quiet entrance. He met her on the doorstep and greeted her with a kiss.
“Hey, Good-Lookin’,” he whispered into her ear as he embraced her. “Evan’s passed out in the living room, so no ‘Honey, I’m Home’s’ today, unless you want to deal with him being cranky. I think he stayed up late last night again. Don’t know if he’s going to be up for making dinner, so,” he sighed, overdramatically, “We might just have to order out or something.”
Like, say, maybe for that Chinese food he’d mentioned that he was craving for the past week now.
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 9:35 pm
Cambria had been worried. No, maybe not…maybe not worried…but concerned. More concerned than usual. Ever since meeting that youma, she had been concerned about a lot of things, and after Zac greeted her in such a wonderful way, and with a glance to the sleeping Evan on the couch, she figured that perhaps now would be a good time to talk to Zac without Evan hearing.
“That sounds good to me, I’m in the mood for Chinese if you are…or pizza. Or both, maybe some sort of Chinese pizza? That might be tasty.”
She tugged on his hand, nodding her head towards the bedroom. “I need to talk to you too, so…maybe we should figure out what we’re ordering..and then like, seriously, I need to talk to you…”
If there had really been a youma in the house…well. That begged the question of should they move? Had it been this house? Was that creature perhaps just trying to get information from her? Perhaps the Negaverse…
They were stupid thoughts. Night thoughts. Thoughts that had plagued her for the past few days as she had stared at her ceiling, stroking the soft hair of her boyfriend and the other male who cuddled against her. Thoughts that she figured she would end up exploding from if she didn’t share them…or find some answers soon.
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:06 pm
A serious talk was not one that Zac was looking forward to, so without much consideration for what she’d said about food he just repeated, “Yeah, Chinese pizza sounds good.” He kept her hand in his own and made sure the door was firmly locked before guiding her to a quiet place away from Evan. He closed their bedroom door and dropped her hand, turning to face her.
“How serious of a talk are we having?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn’t quite sure it was ‘so serious you stand up’ or not so serious that it would be appropriate to sit down on the bed.
All he knew was that when Cambria said she needed to talk, he’d rather get it over quickly.
Their most serious talks were always about Evan, and naturally Zac was obligated to protect him to the best of his abilities. He knew how Cambria was with him—he hadn’t caught the way she’d looked at him on the couch.
There was no telling when Evan would wake up, so anything important needed to be handled quickly—especially if there could be danger on the horizon.
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:15 am
Cambria liked that about Zac. She had always liked the fact that he knew when it was time to joke about things, and when it wasn’t. He was stable. He had it together.
She reached out and tugged him onto the bed, sitting down beside him and sighing. “It’s not so serious…I just. The other day I was out, alone for once, and I ran into this youma…and I’m pretty sure he knew Evan. I mean, he knew an Evan who was turned into a youma by a friend and then saved and became human again, and I mean, I’m all for coincidences, but that’s just a little much…anyway.”
With a sigh, Cambria rubbed at her eyes and then flopped backwards, adjusting herself so her head was in Zac’s lap. It wasn’t so serious that they couldn’t cuddle a little. It was only when Tobias was around that they ever got time alone…and she missed it.
“The youma, Airi was talking about how he had visited Evan at his house? And I don’t know if he meant this house or the old one, but he was saying how Evan was freaked out, and I’d be freaked out too. This thing was huge. A huge black dog, like the Grim gone wild. Do you know about this guy? Is it our Evan that he was talking about?” She was sure he would know. It didn’t even cross her mind that he had forgotten all of that. It didn’t cross her mind that he didn’t remember…because he had been so through, and tried so hard to keep all of the information that he had…so why wouldn’t he know this too?
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:31 am
Too much to be a coincidence.
His lips pursed while she lay in his lap and he strained his mind as if that would summon more information. As it was, he had only limited recollection of most things from his time with the Negaverse—and even then, what information he had was granted to him either from what she said, or the notes he’d had the foresight to write himself.
“Yeeeaah,” he drawled, slowly, trying to buy himself some time.
He’d read his notes, obsessively, trying to piece together everything he’d left behind. But he’d left the Negaverse for a reason; he didn’t want to be a part of it. He didn’t want to be what they were, but it didn’t mean he wanted to forget everything he’d learned or experienced.
He pretended like he remembered more than he did, though, so he wasn’t surprised that Cambria was speaking to him like he had a surplus of information to share.
He had some, at least.
“Evan and Airi were friends,” he said after a moment. “Big black dog. Who was friends with a cat, Iolite, who was friends with Evan. I caught Iolite at the house—the old house—so if she found out Evan was back, maybe she told Airi. But,” he looked down at Cambria.
“You know how Evan is. He asked me for permission to go get the mail yesterday. He still asks me if Tobias can come over. Called me at work to ask,” he grumbled, scratching his chin as if it annoyed him.
It did, a little, but there was a part of him that always felt so much more important when Evan called him, just to make sure it was okay. He liked Evan checking in, he liked knowing that he was safe.
He liked knowing that Evan wanted him so involved in his life, still.
Of course, Evan didn’t know the truth, and if Zac had his way, he never would. Things were good like this.
Unless he had a youma stalker.
“It couldn’t have been at the new house,” he said after another few seconds of thought. “Evan would have said something.”
Although, Evan did seem to be fighting sympathy for youma and fear for youma.
“We’d have known, if it was here. We’ve been too safe. The Negaverse had my old address, anyway, that’s part of why we moved. We’ve been safe, we’ve been careful. Evan wouldn’t invite a youma to the house without letting us know. But, ah. Just in case. Don’t…mention my name to him. I’m pretty sure Airi doesn’t like me. And I don’t give a s**t, you know. I’ll dust him, what the hell do I care, but,” he shrugged. “I don’t want Evan to get hurt.”
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Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 10:02 am
Cambria nodded slowly. “I didn’t meet any cat, but yeah. He was a big black dog…and, yeah I know how Evan is…which is why when the youma said that he had been at the house I was freaked out and concerned…didn’t show it of course but. But you know. When you’re next to this huge dog youma, and I’m not going to lie, Zac I thought it was going to come to a fight at first, he was just standing there watching people and it freaked me out. Like he was just looking for his next meal or something.”
She shuddered and shook her head. “But…he didn’t seem too awful. I’ll admit that I was trying to talk him around to maybe us trying to help him? Like we did with Evan…but he’s pretty hell bent on the fact that it won’t work. And I didn’t want to give too much away…I won’t mention you, either. That’s a good bit of advice…” Snorting, Cambria shook her head again. “Seriously though…dusting is the first thing you think of? Not helping? Not trying to save him? If he can be saved, that is. I’m not sure what would happened if we tried to save a youma that couldn’t…it hasn’t been tried, really…do you think they would just…cease to be? That’s what he figured would happen.”
If she were honest with herself, she also figured that it had to have been the other house…she hoped that Evan wouldn’t have been so foolish to allow a youma to find their new sanctuary…but…
“…I’ll talk to Evan about this…as soon as I can find a way to bring it up.”
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Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 6:37 pm
Zac shrugged, perhaps a bit overdramatically. “Well, yeah, it’s not like it’s permanent or anything. If he’s worth saving, just tell me what I need to do but, I can’t help it. Evan’s pretty good at being paranoid and not trusting people, but he’s got weak spots. I’ve seen him hesitate around youma, like he expects that maybe there’s a person still thinking, inside of them. But there isn’t. Not usually,” he insisted.
His lips pursed and he was quiet for a second before he continued, “I have no doubt in my mind that Evan was an exception. I know that I must have worked pretty damned hard to try and keep him safe. But I haven’t met a youma that had any wits about it since…”
His voice trailed off and he shrugged again; he wouldn’t say it, but what he meant was clear.
Since he purified.
“Just…be honest with him. You know Evan loves you, Cam. You could cut off his arm and slap him with it and say sorry, and you know he’d still forgive you.”
Probably find some way to blame himself, but he’d forgive Cambria.
“…But, I don’t know. Would the world really be a worse place if we permanently destroyed a youma that couldn’t be saved? If he can be saved—yeah, great. If not…” He shrugged once more. “…Is there really any great loss? We’ll have made the world a safer place, so that has to count for something.”
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Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:37 pm
“Yeah…I suppose you’re right…I’ll…I’ll deal with it when it…” Cambria shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ear and still seeming worried. “I’m sure this will work out. I’ll make it work out. We both will. I’ll figure out how to bring it up.” She just hoped that she could have the strength to bring such a conversation up, and the strength to see it all the way through, especially if Evan reacted badly to it.
She hated seeing him upset.
“I’ll think about this later…but thank you for the information that you did have, it’s…good to know. Especially the bit about you, but honestly that just confuses me. How could someone not like you? You’re perfect, Zac. You always have been. Even when you…you know. Weren’t.”
Cambria moved closer to him and flopped down, placing her head against his chest. “I’m…honestly, I’m always surprised when I wake up in the morning and I get to see Evan smiling at me. I’m so happy that he’s at the point where he can smile again. And you, too. I’m glad that both of you are doing so well…it makes me feel like I’m actually worth something as a senshi. Like I have a reason to keep fighting…because fighting actually can work. I don’t know. That sounds stupid when I say it out loud…” She shrugged and closed her eyes. “I love you. Is what I’m really trying to say. Kind of. Not really but. It makes more sense, I think.”
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Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 9:03 pm
Zac laughed richly. “Well,” he said, kissing the top of Cambria’s head when she rested against his chest. “I love you, too. It might surprise you to know that, back in the day,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “I was sort of a bad boy. I liked picking fights, making enemies. As you can see, I have now completely matured.”
He had, in some ways, but not so much in others.
“I feel better now, though. A year ago was rough, I was working myself to death trying to fix Evan. And, before the whole fiasco,” he shrugged, “I was a d**k to him. He deserved better and it took me ******** things up so badly to get to the point where I realized it. So, yeah. You being a Senshi really worked in my favor, too. So, what I’m saying is, I love you, too. And my life has been much better since you came into it. So just,” he pulled her closer. “Never leave.”
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