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 Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2024 6:33 am
He was trying to understand why it was so easy for people like Elliot and Julian and Dawn and Atticus to just accept him for who he was. Yvoire had accepted Reims. Cynthus… he didn’t know where he stood with her, but she didn’t seem to mind him even when he was a jerk to her.
And Elliot’s parents didn’t seem to mind that he was there. They even made him food and didn’t ask extra questions about what he was doing there.
With a mumbled thanks, Riker took the ice pack and gently placed it over his arm. It would probably soak the sweater, but he didn’t want to worry about Mr. Reid having a heart attack, or something equally dramatic.
“Is it okay if I lay down?” he asked after a few moments of poking at what was left on his plate. He was hungry, but he didn’t know how much energy he had left to eat more. Atticus gave Elliot’s chest a little rub in extremely mild admonishment for his teasing. As if the clock had ever stopped them before, but he knew he was trying to have Riker stay calm.
He also gave Elliot’s shoulders a little squeeze as he straightened up and took a step back from where Elliot was sitting.
“Of course. We have Elliot’s bed set up for you. I promise it’ll be better than sleeping on a couch or floor,” he smiled as he reached over to take the plates and drinks off the table that Elliot had collected.
“If you didn’t take any medicine while you were in the bathroom before, I can get you some. We don’t have anything planned for tomorrow, so you can just relax and rest. You’re our friend and we’ll take care of you, just like you’d take care of us, right?”
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Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2024 3:19 pm
“Oh yeah, my bed’s all set up for you. I’ll clean up your plate. Oh, here.” He stretched across the table and grabbed a travel-sized toothpaste and a new toothbrush. “Dad got these out for you. And if you need anything else, let me know. Come on, I’ll show you.” He stood up and kissed Atticus’ cheek very discreetly as he did so. He squeezed his hand so he’d know that he was invited to come along too, but Elliot waited for Riker and even held out a hand to help him up.
Not because he needed help or anything. Because they were friends, and that’s what a good teammate would do.
And, because he was pretty sure that Riker was going to overexert himself way too much and he didn’t want him to hurt himself and feel bad about it or get all testy because he was embarrassed.
“Atticus and I will probably go to bed soon too. Do you sleep better with background noise, like a television or something? I go to sleep with mine on a lot so I can get it set up if that’s good for you. Or we can do a whole dark, quiet room and all,” he shrugged. Riker was probably tired and didn’t want to make a lot of decisions. He’d been quiet and passive since he got here, so it was either that or he didn’t want to be a needy guest. Elliot didn’t mind it no matter what it was, he just wanted to make his friend as comfortable as possible so he could destress, rest, and heal.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2024 8:04 am
Riker hesitated when Elliot offered his hand. He’d already been contemplating how difficult it was going to be for him to get up, and if he would need to take a moment to steady himself or if he could manage it and was just being a loser about it.
Eventually, after a sigh and shoulders slumping in defeat, he reached up to take it and carefully stood from his seat. He gathered the icepack and the toothbrush and toothpaste with a mumbled thanks, and slowly shuffled after the two.
“I don’t care,” he breathed, but there was no bite in it, just exhaustion. “As long as no one’s yelling.” Atticus couldn’t help but smile at the kiss, but turned to focus on getting Riker settled. He reached out to gently take the icepack from Riker so he wasn’t carrying as much, and shuffled along with them.
“I don’t like the sound of yelling either. Or sirens,” he admitted, and chewed thoughtfully on his lip as he glanced over at Elliot. He didn’t usually like talking about his past, but when there was someone else who obviously came from bad experiences, it was maybe easier to be trusted if Riker knew there were shared experiences. Sort of.
“Before my family now, the person who was supposed to take care of me was a cop. I was always afraid when I heard the sirens because it meant he might be nearby. I still get panicked sometimes, but I have really good people in my life now,” he smiled from Riker to Elliot as they made their way towards his bedroom. Riker wasn’t sure what to say. His brows furrowed with concern, but he was also trying not to look like he cared too much. He didn’t want to be weird about it.
“There was a frumpy, awkward looking kid in my middle school whose dad was a cop. He disappeared. I think everyone suspected the kid was murdered, but no one really talked about it. Probably because it was kind of expected with how shy and miserable he looked. Like a strong wind would blow him away. People were afraid to be friends with him because his dad would come and harass anyone who was caught talking to him… I’m pretty sure the cop paid my brother and his friends to terrorize the kid… Uh… but I didn’t, I promise. They didn’t want to give me part of the money so they made sure I wasn’t invited along.”“I know,” Atticus said quietly. He smiled up at Riker again, although it was sadness that reached his eyes. “I don’t blame anyone for avoiding me. He did try, though. I guess he knew someone in the Negaverse. Wanted to have an alibi while--”
He paused to clear his throat of any emotion that tried to bubble up.
“Weird, right? Anyway… they didn’t give up looking for me after I escaped. With help, of course. They ended up at Elliot’s old house. A youma completely destroyed it.” “Wait, that was you??” Riker stared in disbelief. “You-- that’s not possible, you don’t look anything like--”
Was that part of the magic, though? He knew something happened to Elliot’s house, but not the details. Officially it was a gas leak. But as knights he’d talked about how it had been a youma. But not because they were trying to hunt down Atticus. Or the kid Atticus used to be.
He glanced disbelievingly at Elliot, maybe hoping for confirmation about this crazy story. He was too tired for this…
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Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2024 11:11 am
As they moved into the hallway, Elliot tilted his head. “Eh? Oh yeah, dad’s got a scar from where the youma got him. They’re both super paranoid now. We’ve got super security to make sure things like that don’t happen again. Or are you talking about why Atticus looks like a whole new person?”
He stayed close to Riker, not so much to crowd him but just to make sure he didn’t have to feel awkward about being alone in the house. It wasn’t like the place was big enough that he could get lost, but mostly he was afraid that if Riker did need anything, he wouldn’t ask.
He knew what Riker was asking about. He just wanted to get to somewhere a bit more private–not that he minded his parents hearing anything! He just knew that sometimes it was easier for people to be honest when there weren’t so many people around.
“A Mauvian helped out for the short term bit. So–you know how we look different when we power up? It’s like that, except he helped make a mask to keep Atticus safe until we could figure out something better. Like a new face entirely. But we had to, because the Negaverse was just like, after him. And then the Code called us up to be Moon Knights, it did the rest. And the Mauvian helped get all the paperwork together. And everything’s legit, you can go to a government office and Atticus is Atticus and according to them, always has been. Same with his dad.”
He held Atticus’ hand tightly, stroking the back of his hand with his thumb. They didn’t have to be earrings for the words he was thinking to be audible–he loved Atticus. He was proud of him. He was doing a good job.
“It’s super easy for them to do, I guess. The Mauvian who helped Atticus do it makes it sound like he has fun with it. I think he likes showing off, but I like that about him. He gets all happy if you tell him how cool it is and asks him questions about how he makes stuff. So, you know. If you ever need to swap things up and get a new identity or something, we can get you connected. I know the Code has the power to help people change what they look like without needing to wear some little accessory to change how they look but I don’t know if it’s really chatty enough to explain how all of that works. But, yeah. We’ve seen how it’s done. And Atticus is walking proof of how well it works.”
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 6:40 am
Atticus could feel his cheeks flush a little at Elliot’s words. Not because he was saying anything bad! But he felt a little self conscious about apparently taking on a completely new appearance.
Did his nose change or something? He knew it was probably just the magic making people think he looked different.
“I don’t look too different, do I?” he quietly asked Elliot, giving his hand a squeeze to let him know he was okay! Just a little flustered and letting thoughts get to his head too much. What if his ears were too big? Or too small? Or what if something about him changed so that Elliot liked how he looked now but not as much before? Well, he supposed that was okay, and he knew Elliot wasn’t shallow!
He placed his free hand on his cheek, wondering if there were more or less freckles than before. Riker clicked his tongue as he listened to Elliot talk about things like magic and Mauvians. If he had more energy, he would have asked Elliot if the Mauvian was even more chatty than he was.
Not that it mattered. He recalled the Code mentioning something about changing identities when he first met it, but that was also before meeting Ephesus. It all seemed way too convenient, but he supposed if it was a means of protecting him from the Negaverse then yeah, it was probably a good thing to have.
As for himself, he’d thought about just disappearing and coming back with a new identity but then what?
He had no money, no support, no means of housing or transportation, although none of that would matter since it wouldn’t be in his name, anyway. He was still in high school. Would he be able to play baseball or run track if he suddenly disappeared? Not that he could afford Azure on his own.
“Why would I want to get a new identity? Trying to get rid of me already?” he huffed, but it was too energetic to be authentic. He was so tired he was going to have to start holding onto the wall for support.
His hand missed when he reached out and landed on Elliot’s shoulder instead. If he had any blood left to spare he was sure his ears would be burning but he just grumbled that he was just trying not to fall over and he would let go in a minute.
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 9:06 am
“Hm, you look different to other people, I mean.” Elliot shrugged. He squeezed Atticus’ hand fondly.“You look like you to me. But what we have is special, so I don’t think there’s a magic strong enough to hide you from me. I could tell it was you through any disguise.”
It wasn’t that he was ignoring Riker–far from it. Riker didn’t like to ask for help, so Elliot didn’t make a big deal about it. He wrapped an arm around him to help support him. Honestly, he probably could have just carried Riker to bed but he knew he had to prove himself to–well, himself.
They were teammates–on more than one team. If Elliot was hurt, he’d have asked to lean on Riker without being the least bit embarrassed, but Riker still had his own things to sort out.
Riker was still trying to act with that big personality of his, but Elliot was getting better at telling when he was being performative.
Mostly because he just spent all of his energy trying to be a tough guy and now he needed to lead on something to compose himself.
“Riker, if you got a new identity, I might have a harder time telling it was you, but you’re our friend. If you just disappeared, we’d go looking for you. We wouldn’t stop until we found you and knew you were safe. If you got a new identity, I hope you’d just tell us. We’d support you.”
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 9:08 am
Atticus smiled and leaned up to give Elliot a quick kiss on his cheek, then he moved ahead of the two so he could get the door open and make sure it was easy for them all to get settled.
He didn’t mind having Riker there, but there was definitely a lot to think about. Riker didn’t seem ready to open up about what happened. Maybe they would never know. But Atticus couldn’t help but feel as though, in his heart, he could understand.
It was a scary thought, and one that made him want to try and keep Riker there with them as long as they could. Riker frowned, not sure he knew how to feel. Maybe he was just tired and would be fine after he slept a little. He wasn’t sure about getting a new identity, but Elliot was already talking like he had plans to figure things out.
Except there was a lot more than just flipping a switch and starting over. He wasn’t stupid. He might have been desperate, but not so much that he was blinded to every issue that could come up.
He didn’t say anything as they got to Elliot’s room to get settled. He was going to at least brush his teeth and then maybe… maybe he could sleep for a bit.
At that time, he just didn’t know that a bit would be for the next twelve hours.
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