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 Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2022 9:30 pm
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Michael kept his hand around the orb hanging from his neck, trying to feel for any change in the pulse beneath his fingers.
But it was also to keep his own heart steady. The sirens might have been turned off, but there were still flashing lights, and knowing that a Negaverse Captain -- the same one Devyn had fought and had gone after Atticus before -- and a youma had wreaked havoc on the Reid’s house put Michael on edge. He was agitated and jumpy, and really wanted to make sure everyone was accounted for and safe.
The EMTs had moved them farther away from the house, and part of the neighborhood had been blocked off due to the gas leak. The house itself didn’t look like it was in good condition, but Michael was just glad that Oliver and Asher got out with significantly fewer injuries than they could have.
“The boys are going to wait for Devyn at my house,” he said as he knelt down next to where Asher and Oliver had been put aside. Asher’s injury required attention, but he was deemed lucid enough that he didn’t have to go to the hospital if he didn’t want to.
“I’d offer you to stay with us while this mess gets fixed up, but I’m sure you’d want your privacy. I’ll get you set up in a nearby hotel. Don’t bother arguing with me. I’m very stubborn when I’ve made up my mind,” he warned, although his voice sounded sad and tired more than it did threatening or frustrated. He held up his phone to show them that Elliot had texted back. After telling him that his parents were okay, of course.
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2022 9:40 pm
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Oliver glanced back at their house again; he was alternating between very animated and dismissive and quiet, but despite whatever emotional spell he was experiencing, he never strayed far from Asher. He was worried about Elliot, but there was something like relief on his face when Michael showed him the text. Their phones were inside and they weren’t allowed to go in right now–weren’t allowed to go anywhere near the house right now.
Oliver was still in shock enough that he hadn’t really started to process that their house was gone. The boys were safe. That was the important part. Asher was alive. The house was gone.
He wasn’t going to argue about where they were staying, because the second option was the car but he wasn’t even sure how banged up that was going to be. They couldn’t get into the garage to look and probably wouldn’t be able to until tomorrow, anyway.
All of their cards, their money, they everything was still inside. Under the roof.
“Thank you,” Asher answered, because he definitely wasn’t going to argue. He’d been patched up and insisted that he didn’t need stitches, didn’t need a trip to the hospital. He wasn’t going to pay six hundred dollars for a ride in the ambulance just so they could put some tape on him or glue him back together. He’d lost some blood, but nothing was spilling out of him. He was taking it easy and leaning back, resting against Oliver. Of the two of them, he was significantly paler, but it wasn’t anything some food and rest could fix.
“Are they okay, did they make it to your house yet?” He kept his voice low out of habit, partly because there were too many paramedics around, too many police officers, too many people. The commotion had drawn out the neighbors, even at this hour, and he wasn’t surprised to see at least one news crew setting up, eager to get a shot of this exciting story.
He’d read the messages a few times but they weren’t really clicking; Michael had told them to go to his house and said that his parents were okay, and Elliot had texted that they were on their way. Asher didn’t look at the time stamps, and if he was being completely honest, reading was making him a little dizzy. “Are they going to be safe there?”
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2022 9:44 pm
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“I promise they’ll be safe there,” he said, glancing at his phone once more. He just wanted to make sure he didn’t miss a message from Devyn, or from Elliot. “The cameras are picking them heading up the driveway now. I told Elliot the door was unlocked so they could go inside. I can lock it from my phone. Devyn will be with them once he makes it over there. Looks like the first thing they thought to do was head to my house,” he said quietly, trying not to look as proud as he felt. Elliot was a smart boy, so Michael was glad he could count on him to keep him safe.
Michael could have continued to pace, but he’d managed to scare most people away from them with a few scowls and hard looks, so he carefully sat down next to them instead.
“I’m sorry about your house,” he said after a moment. Yes, it was just a house, but a house had memories. The things inside were important. It wasn’t just items, it was sentiment and what made people human.
It was probably why he kept so few sentimental things for himself. Sometimes he didn’t want to feel.
“That man in your house… he was the one-- He was the one who tried hurting Atticus before,” he said, stopping himself from telling them it was Devyn who had fought him before. “I’m going to assume he was there looking for Chad?” Because why else would he be in the Reid’s home? Michael didn’t like it. He didn’t know who was keeping an eye on the home. He would have to make sure he paid close attention to anything going on in the area, more than he had been.
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2022 9:53 pm
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Oliver briefly laughed when Michael apologized for the house, like he couldn’t think of something to say in response. He probably wanted to cry, but he couldn’t get anything out. He looked nervous, too worked up. Too overwhelmed. Too–too everything. It was just too much to process. He didn’t have his glasses, but he didn’t really need them to see the damage. He could see enough.
Asher’s blood was still on his hands, and he absentmindedly wiped them on his pajama pants again.
“I didn’t hear all of it. Some of it. They were looking for Chad, they knew he was friends with Elliot. But Atticus was right there, he didn't recognize him.” Oliver seemed like he’d run out of steam and had to force himself to stop looking at the house.
“He’s not going to come back, is he? We don’t have anything for him. We told the officers–we’re not going to tell anyone anything. So far as I’m concerned, we didn’t see anything. There wasn’t a man, or a monster, or anyone in our house. It was just a gas leak, and bad foundation, or whatever they said–what did they say?”
“That we probably had water rotting out our walls and pooling under the foundation. The moisture probably rusted out the gas pipes,” Asher answered, tired but straightforward. It didn’t matter if there hadn’t been a drop of water anywhere they’d seen, they hadn’t offered any protest and just accepted whatever the ruling was going to be. It’s not like they were going to get an insurance investigator out here this late so they wouldn’t know the truth until then but he wasn’t holding his breath. If the Negaverse was involved, if they’d been roped in by a police officer, he didn’t have any more faith that their insurance wasn’t somehow involved, too. Asher closed his eyes and rested against Oliver a bit more openly. “We’ll have to tell the boys before they can tell anyone. But they’re smart. Of course they’d have gone to your place. Elliot knows he can go to you if there’s a problem.”
…It probably helped that Atticus was living there now, too.
“Thank you. For that. For always being there for us,” Asher said; Oliver nodded absentmindedly but seemed to be too distracted to focus on much. He agreed with the sentiments, even if he wasn’t quite aware enough to say as much. For as much as Oliver was looking at the house, Asher wasn’t at all. “Thank you for coming this time, too. I don’t know what we’d have done if you didn’t show up. I mean, gone out the window, sure, but. I don’t know how far we’d have made it afterwards. How did you take care of that thing? Are you okay?”
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2022 10:16 pm
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Oliver was still quiet, and it seemed like something had again shifted. His face was impassive, like he’d finally decided that it was just too much and he didn’t want to deal with it. He seemed to wilt where he sat, and when he shifted positions it was to cup his chin and cover his mouth. He seemed completely still, almost like he wasn’t even breathing.
Asher seemed more concerned about him than he was himself, and he carefully wrapped an arm around him. He made a face, because maybe it wasn’t a good idea to stretch the muscles on his side, but it was worth it to rub Oliver’s back and to feel his husband lean into him.
“We promised we’d trust you,” he said quietly, gratefully. Asher finally looked at their house. His lips pressed together slightly and he shook his head. “We can’t ask you to go in and get things. I mean, we’re grateful for the help, but I can’t just send you in there alone. That’s–I mean, Michael. Everything we have is in there. I don’t even know how I’d start making a list. I don’t even know what’s left.”
He must have felt Oliver tense because he rubbed his back, and then he drew in a breath. Asher was much better at controlling his emotions, probably because Oliver was so sensitive to them. He pulled Oliver a little closer and said, “Hopefully we’ll be able to get in by morning. I mean, it’s just the roof. It’s summer, so everything’s dry. If it doesn’t rain, I’m sure we’ve got quite a bit, we’ll just have to dig it out. It’ll be fine. We have insurance for a reason, they’ll help us sort all this out. These things happen, it’ll be okay. We were talking about doing some renovations, anyway. This isn’t so bad. And everyone’s okay, that’s the important part.”
It was easier to think about that than what this was going to cost to fix, if it could be fixed. Easier than thinking about how much of their life was buried under the rubble, or where they were going to stay, or how they were going to come back from this.
Easier to think about that instead of giant monsters, or people after Atticus, or Elliot.
Asher exhaled and asked, “Can you text the kids again just to tell them it’s okay and we love them? I don’t want them to worry. Devyn’s going to be there soon? Is he going to be able to handle things if someone–you know, or something–shows up?”
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2022 10:23 pm
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Michael didn’t think he had to remind Asher that he wasn’t asking Michael to go in and get things. He was going to go in regardless of what Asher or Oliver thought they wanted. They were emotionally compromised as it was, and if they went in, there was a potential for them to get more hurt than they already were. Physically and emotionally.
He also didn’t bother telling them that he’d already contacted someone to come in and place tarps over the roof to protect everything from the rain. He knew the insurance company usually handled things like that, but he didn’t trust them to be timely.
Asher and Oliver had been friends of his for a long time, and while they didn’t often let Michael help them with costs of things, Michael thought that in some situations it was necessary. He didn’t want them to worry about things more than they already did.
He shifted to get more comfortable on the ground, his hand lifting for a moment as if he was going to reach out and rub at Oliver’s back as well, but decided against intruding on his and Asher’s moment together and just reached for his necklace instead. Michael didn’t know how to be a friend beyond wanting to keep them safe and throw his money around as Peter would say. He wasn’t sure how Devyn decided so easily that he was his friend. Or how Oliver and Asher had decided that they were more than just coworkers.
“Yeah I can text them again,” he said quietly as he focused on that instead of all of the things he planned on doing… kind of behind Oliver and Asher’s backs. “I’d trust Devyn with my life. If anything shows up there, he can handle it,” he said easily. There was no reason for him to even think about it. He knew Devyn was strong and cared about those kids as much as Michael and Oliver and Asher did.
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2022 11:07 pm
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Asher breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “Okay.”
He didn’t have to ask more than that, didn’t need to know more than that. Not right now, not when there was still so much going on. He let himself close his eyes for a minute, but there was a buzzing in the back of his mind that just didn’t feel right. He realized shortly after that it was just his frayed nerves and the fact that he still felt on edge. The occasional creaking and groaning from the house, or the snap of something wooden or crunch of glass really wasn’t helping.
Oliver seemed like he’d just tuned it all out for now, and honestly that was probably for the best.
Asher knew how he got. He knew how overwhelmed his husband probably was, but it didn’t stop him from leaning over to kiss his cheek or whisper that he was proud of him. Oliver didn’t react much, but every little bit was good, and he shifted his weight again to lean against Asher a bit more.
“If you trust him, I trust him. Hopefully he can keep the boys distracted until we get there.”
He hoped they’d get the all-clear to head out sooner rather than later, but it was probably for the best that they hadn’t tried to head over to Michael’s yet.
Especially because Devyn just texted, ‘You said the boys were here already? I don’t see them.’
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