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Hitch hadn't gone back to work yet. Everyone had, surprisingly, been relatively understanding about the whole 'someone shoved a crystal into my face hole' thing, go figure. Half his face was still swathed in rich white bandages, freshly changed. Everything was coming along nicely, he'd been told, whatever that meant. It sure didn't mean hey so your vision's coming back or hey this won't scar as bad as we thought, moreso, hey you're not spewing additional pus or anything, cool.

That's why he was decked out in sweatpants and a baggy, sleeveless shirt, hair pulled messily away from his face in a loose bun, camped out in front of the TV and trying not sulk too much that Rhys wasn't home to keep him from overthinking s**t (he had other things to do, they had lives and responsibilities and s**t now) when he heard a knock at the door.

Who the ******** would come knocking? He could guess a few people, but... the urge to just ignore it and keep watching whatever the ******** he was vegging out on was very, very real. But after a minute, he groaned and begrudgingly got to his feet, shoving a cigarette between his lips and lighting it just before he reached the door to swing it open.

Nobody he recognized. His brow arched.

"Yeah? - can I help you or somethin', miss?"

Why the ******** was she smiling at him like that? His brow furrowed and he felt annoyed, like he'd been left out a joke or something. "I - yeah, really? I hadn't ********' noticed, but thanks for that, " and why'd she say cousin? - was this more family from Rhys' end or what? Could've warned me babe, although who knew if Rhys even knew they were in town or not. Probably Fritz's fault, thought he was so damn clever or something.

Hitch looked back over her shoulder, then at her backpack, then at her. "Rhys ain't home, but I'll tell him you were here, Harley. Come back later, " and he was really trying not to bark it, because Rhys' family was still family, but he wasn't really in the damn mood to entertain anyone right now.

Hitch immediately tensed when a hand came slapping up against his door, a brief wildness flaring up into his good eye before confusion swept in to take his place. Here to see him? “I - yeah, that’s me, but - the ******** do you mean, you - “<********, and she knew his first name, too? “No, I don’t, I don’t know a ********’ Jennings or anythin’ like that, “ sounded like a goddamn butler or something honestly.

But then there was a photo. And almost immediately, the color drained from Hitch’s face. He clutched tighter at the side of the door, feeling as sick and shocked to see a younger version of his mother’s face staring back at him, standing in among all these people he had never seen before.

Cousin? He looked at her, his eye wide, and he wasn’t sure if it was anger or panic that compelled him then. “Only family I got is - was Mom, an’ - “ And Rhys and Fritz, obviously. “Your family didn’t want me, alright? Better run off before they get wind you been hangin’ with a b*****d.”

Here to be your cousin now.

The words petrified him, and he didn't even know why. Any normal, sane person would probably eat that s**t up. Maybe get emotional. Look, after all this time, literal blood family - somebody to remember his mother other than him, and if he squinted hard enough, maybe Hitch could even see traces of his mother there, distant but constant -

Instead, it did the opposite. His mother had been dead and now she wasn't and she'd been suffering for years both before and after she'd become a youma, and it'd taken so much for his circle of family to begin to grow again, for him to begin to really open up and he was only just starting to realize his problems were ******** suffocating him and -

And now he had a cousin, and it felt like too much. And when Hitch was scared, it never did sound that way. "Do whatever you ********' want, " he snapped, his voice tight. "I don't give a s**t. Wait out there an' freeze for all I care!" And he slapped the door shut hard.

- except as scared as he was, Hitch also wasn't a complete raging a**, and about fifteen seconds later, he opened the door again with a heavy sigh. "I - just - come in."

******** him and his utter inability to say 'no', ******** him and his weak a** capacity to leave a woman sitting out in the cold - he sighed when she immediately set about getting nice and comfy. "You already did, " he remarked dryly, fixing his gaze briefly on her bag before rolling his eyes - eye. "I got a fish. Goldie Jr. Don't ******** with him." Not that he really expected her to, just that was his ******** fish and he loved that goddamn stupid thing.

Not the hugging type, Hitch didn't bother to correct her on how wrong she was. He was too busy trying to sort out what the ******** was happening in his life. Immediately, he whipped out his phone and shot a text to his husband: girl here says shes my cousin wtf babe call me. He sighed and tried not to sag as he pushed his phone back into his pocket.

"How'd you hear 'bout me?" seemed like a good place to start; he whipped out a pack of cigarettes and set to work lighting it up, desperately needing it. Hitch took a long drag of it, the smoke pooling out from his lips as he sighed again. "Sure. Pizza. Yeah. Uh. Let's do pizza."