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 Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:00 am
Atticus didn’t know they’d arrived at Michael and Devyn’s house -- his house -- until he felt Elliot stooping a bit to set him back down. He knew that Elliot was probably trying to respond to the texts he got. He vaguely remembered Elliot stopping before for a little while to dig the phone from his pajama pocket, but Atticus couldn’t remember where or how long ago that was.
He blinked as many of his tears away as he was set on his feet, but he couldn’t bring himself to let go of Elliot. He felt pathetic and useless and didn’t know how he could walk on his own, but he would try for Elliot’s sake.
After all, it was Elliot’s parents who were in danger, not him. But he was also only a kid and what could he do? And that wasn’t even fair, because Elliot was also only a kid and he did a lot. He was so brave and strong and quick to think.
And all Atticus could do was cry and be scared about stupid things like sirens.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered-- probably not the first time. Definitely wouldn’t be the last.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:41 am
Elliot was tired and sore. His parents were okay. Michael was there. He didn’t really know how, but he wasn’t asking questions right now. Well–no, he was, because he really didn’t understand what had just happened, but his parents were okay and that was all that mattered.
The door had been unlocked when they got there–or, maybe Michael had just unlocked it when they were on the doorstep. It was trivial. He let himself inside, carried Atticus to the couch. Gently shrugged him off.
His feet hurt. They were hot from running, and sore. His body ached, but they were inside and safe and his parents were okay.
He had questions. So many questions.
But his eyes burned. He didn’t think he’d been crying, but they felt sore. Like his feet. Like everything.
“It’s okay, Atticus,” he promised, and once he’d settled him on the ground he leaned over and gave him a good hug. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m going to get us some water. I’m really thirsty.”
His chest hurt, maybe from breathing so deeply, or from carrying Atticus. His mouth tasted funny, but the air outside had been so much cleaner than what he felt like he’d been breathing in his house.
“Are you okay? Did you get hurt? I know where Michael keeps his first aid kit. My parents are okay, did I tell you? Michael’s with them, he texted.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:53 am
Atticus didn’t want to let go when Elliot hugged him. He wanted to hold on and just cry on his shoulder, but he knew he had to let go. If at least one of them was doing something, then that was good, right? Elliot was going to get them water, and Atticus wanted to make sure Elliot had enough to drink after carrying him the whole way. Almost the whole way.
He nodded to show that he was okay -- then shook his head to let Elliot know he wasn’t hurt. He couldn’t form proper words at the moment, but he was doing his best. He cried a little harder when he heard that Elliot’s parents were okay. Because that was definitely a good thing.
Michael was there?
“Is Devyn--?” he sniffled and hiccuped as he scrubbed at his face, trying to will himself to stop crying. He’d been so worried about Elliot’s parents that he didn’t even think his would show up to help--
Or… that Michael would… and Devyn was usually with Michael, and Devyn had adopted him, so it was sort of the same, right? Or maybe he was just being unrealistic.
“Are you okay?” he asked, because now that he knew Elliot’s parents were somehow okay (which was a lot better than being bitten and stabbed), he was really worried that Elliot might have hurt himself trying to carry him. Especially since they didn’t have time to put any shoes on.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 8:06 am
“Devyn was with Michael. I think. But he’s on his way over here,” Elliot promised, but he hesitated for a moment and then shook his head. “I’m okay.”
He didn’t know if he was okay. He wasn’t sure he wanted to tell Atticus if he wasn’t–not because he didn't trust him, but because he already felt bad enough about all of this.
Elliot had to clear his throat. He was more aware of the pain in his feet when he walked towards the kitchen but he put on his best face to try and push it down. He didn’t want Atticus to worry about him when he went out of sight, so as he walked into the kitchen and pulled out a glass, he continued, “I’m confused. I don’t understand what just happened. I didn’t just imagine that, right? I mean–there was a guy there?”
He spoke clearly, carefully. Loud enough to be heard and slow enough that he remembered to pace himself. His hands were trembling as he poured the water and he didn’t bother to get any ice. “And there was–that was a monster, right? Or am I losing my mind?”
He downed half of the glass, refilled it, and then brought it out to share with Atticus.
If he thought he could have carried two glasses without spilling them, he would have; instead, it was safer to just bring one and go refill it in a minute. He knew he’d need more, but he wanted to make sure Atticus was taken care of, too.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 8:17 am
Atticus had a feeling that Elliot would have told him he was okay, even if he wouldn’t. He carefully lowered himself onto the couch, and then pulled his feet up onto it so he could bury his face against his knees.
“That was the guy who stabbed me before,” he said softly through the quiet sobs. “He had a different youma last time. It bit my foot,” he said, shifting his foot on the couch to indicate where the red marks from the cuts were still visible, but mostly healed.
He lifted his head a bit so he could see where Elliot was when he came back into the living room. He felt useless. He was scared and upset that they’d tracked him to Elliot’s house. It wasn’t fair that such good people were being threatened because of him.
“Elly… I’m sorry. I wasn’t supposed to tell you. You’re not losing your mind. One attacked me before. Devyn put those special bandaids on my shoulder and had to sew up my shirt. There are monsters in this city, and really bad people who want to hurt others. But there are people who try to stop them. People that will protect everyone else.”
He felt guilty for telling Elliot those things, just as he felt guilty for not telling Elliot sooner. Maybe if he’d known, he would have had a bat in his room, too.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 8:36 am
Elliot gave him a look as he sank down onto the couch next to him; he passed over the glass of water and held it with both hands until Atticus could take it. Elliot’s brows were furrowed and he didn’t really look like he wanted to believe any of it.
“A youma, is that the big thing that came with him? The monster?”
He drew his feet up onto the couch but was careful not to touch anything; he didn’t know how dirty they were and he didn’t want to mess up Michael’s furniture. He wasn’t bleeding, but he still didn’t want to wipe dirt everywhere.
He could put the pieces together, though; somebody was hunting Atticus, and Atticus knew things that he didn't know about what was going on. Someone told him not to tell him things.
Devyn, maybe. Devyn was the one who patched him up, Devyn was the one who went away with him after he’d been attacked. Did Michael know? –How could Michael not know? He was smart. Attentive. Why had Michael gone to his parents house? How had he gotten there before they’d even gotten here? His parents didn’t have their phones, they couldn’t have called him.
Had he just been in the area? –Just been in the area when Atticus had been attacked? With Devyn? Before the police?
Elliot was rapidly sorting his thoughts, rapidly trying to process every little piece of data he’d ever collected, every inconsistency, every thing. “...Is that why Michael’s there now? Is he one of the ones that want to stop them? –Or is it Devyn?”
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 10:12 am
He felt so guilty. He couldn’t keep secrets from Elliot. Not when he was being asked directly. Before he just didn’t talk about it and that was that. But Elliot trusted him. Or used to trust him. He wasn’t sure now that Elliot knew he’d been keeping things from him.
Atticus tried sipping at the water, holding it with both hands, but the tears welled up and poured out again. He used his arm to scrub at his face, but it didn’t do much good. Every tear was replaced by another.
“Both,” he blubbered and hid his face against his knees again. “After I was hurt the first time, and they knew I didn’t have a phone… they had a pen made for me. I could press a button and it would send them a distress signal,” he explained.
“They said it’s really, really important that no one knows who they are. I only saw Devyn by accident when he was saving me the first time. I told them I wouldn’t tell anyone but… I never wanted to keep secrets from you. I’m sorry.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 8:47 pm
Both? Both? How did Michael hide this from him? How long had he been hiding this? –Did Devyn have something to do with this? Ugh.
He leaned closer and carefully wiped Atticus’ tears away.
“I’m not mad at you. I’m not mad at them.” Probably, he didn’t know. He was kind of mad, but it wasn’t at them, or Atticus. He was mad at the man who tried to hurt him before, who had come into his house and threatened them, too. He felt sick just thinking about it; his skin felt sticky and cold despite how hot he was. He didn’t like the way the guy had talked about his parents, or threatened to hurt him or Atticus.
He was mad at the monster–youma–who had shown up and attacked them, too. He was mad at the situation, mad that he didn’t know what was going on outside of the text messages.
“I’m not going to tell anyone. I won’t even tell Michael if you’re worried. It’s–It’s going to be okay, Atticus. Drink a little more water, I don’t want you to get dehydrated. I’m sure Devyn’s going to be here soon. And Michael, and my parents. And then we’ll figure out what’s going on.”
He felt a little sick not knowing, but he was trying to rationalize all of this, trying to make it all make sense.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 8:59 pm
Atticus looked up again when Elliot leaned closer to wipe his tears away. He wanted to move closer, to lean against him. Wrap his arms around Elliot and never let go. Even if Elliot said he wasn’t mad, he looked like he was agitated. He had every right to be.
Since Elliot asked, Atticus did try to drink some more water. Even if he was still sniffling and getting tears everywhere in the process.
“I don’t know what I did,” he sobbed quietly, his eyes on the water glass that he was trying to drink from. He’d said it before. He didn’t think he would have to say it again, to question why someone wanted to get rid of him -- why the person who was supposed to be his father seemed to desperately want him killed.
He tried clamping his mouth shut after he’d said it. Oliver and Asher could have been hurt very badly, and here he was, feeling sorry for himself.
No, it was more than that. Because if they wouldn’t stop trying to come after him, that just meant Elliot would be in danger. And his parents.
“I don’t want anyone getting hurt because of me. Maybe… maybe it would be better if they just…-- I don’t want them to! I just… it would be worse if you or your parents were hurt. Or if Michael or Devyn were hurt trying to protect me,” he sobbed, because not only was he making this horrible incident about himself, but he sounded like he wanted to be a martyr as well. He didn’t! He just thought if that was the best option to keep them safe, then wouldn’t that be the smartest decision? There were five of them and just one of him. It just made sense.
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2022 9:40 am
Elliot reached over to take hold of the water, not because he was thirsty or wanted to deprive Atticus of it, but he didn’t want him to spill it on himself while he was crying. He took a deep swig and then put it down on the coffee table before he just leaned closer to him and wrapped him in a hug.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Atticus. It wouldn’t be worse if me or my parents were hurt. You’re just as important as us. We didn’t do anything wrong, just like you didn’t. This isn’t you, this is whoever is after you. I didn’t know there were monsters. Or people like that. I still don’t understand it. But if Michael knows how to fight them, I’ll just ask him to teach me. If there are bad people, there are ways to beat them. The bad guys don’t win, Atticus. Nobody’s going to let them. I’m not going to let them take you, or do anything to you. It’s okay. We’re stronger than them. They’ve tried to kill you twice and failed. They’re so bad at this. And we don’t even have magical powers or giant monsters.”
He wiped at Atticus’ cheeks again. “When Devyn gets here, I’ll ask him how they do it. I didn’t know what to do earlier. I didn't–I got scared. I didn’t want to leave my parents. But my dad–I trust my dad. I didn’t want them to get hurt. I didn’t want you to get hurt, either. I don’t want to be helpless. And if someone’s going to keep bothering you, I want to get stronger so I can protect you. Like I promised. I don’t care if it’s a person or a monster. I’m going to keep you safe. I’ll get stronger. And you can, too. So we’ll be ready if there’s a next time. We’ll just keep giving them a hard time until they have to give up. Okay? It’ll be okay, we can do that.”
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2022 9:59 am
He didn’t know how anyone could possibly be as wonderful as Elliot, and yet here he was, gently wiping his tears away and hugging him like he didn’t care about how much danger Atticus had already put him and his family into. He’d caused so many problems for everyone. Every solution that they thought would make things better didn’t matter if the people after him would just go after Elliot’s family instead.
Atticus practically collapsed against Elliot when he hugged him. He clung to Elliot’s shirt in an attempt to keep him from leaving. Oh, but that was probably a bad thing for him to do. He knew Elliot had to do his own things, and he took such good care of him already.
But for the moment, Atticus didn’t want to be alone. Even if it was just a couple feet away.
“I want to protect you, too,” he cried, muffled against Elliot’s shoulder as he held onto him. “I want to keep you safe. You’re so important to me. Your dads are important to me. Devyn and Michael, I--... You’re my family. I don’t want anyone else.”
He would do anything. If it meant asking Devyn to teach them, then that was fine with him. He didn’t want to be helpless either.
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2022 2:24 pm
“It’s okay,” he said quietly, and for a moment allowed himself to close his eyes. They were warm again, but he wasn’t sure if they were wet. Maybe. He could feel the burn in his throat but he didn’t know why. Stress, maybe. He was a little overwhelmed. His heart was still pounding and he wondered what he had to do to earn a break.
He remembered all the times he was nervous before a game, or a debate, or a test. He just had to breathe. Slow breaths, in and out. He thought grounding thoughts, like how he knew everyone he cared about was okay. He was worried about the house, about monsters, and about magic, but for right now everyone was okay.
He’d see them all again soon.
“You’re important to me, too, Atticus. To all of us. We don’t want anything to happen to you. You’re family, too. So we’ll all look out for each other. We’ll get stronger. I don’t know how, but we’ll figure it out. There’s gotta be something out there that we can do to help protect everyone.”
To make sure this didn’t happen again.
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2022 2:42 pm
He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to believe everything Elliot said. He wanted to hope and dream and live without fear of people he cared for getting hurt. He knew he would never have a normal life by any means. Not when he knew what existed in this world -- in this universe.
“I wish we were like Devyn and Michael,” he said after a few moments of trying to get his crying under control. “Oh, you should see them, Elly. They look so cool and have magic.”
He’d told Devyn and Michael that he wouldn’t say anything but… how could they really expect him to not tell Elliot, especially after seeing that man and the monster in his house? It wouldn’t be fair to just pretend they didn’t exist!
Atticus wiped his tears away with the back of his hand so he could pull back just a little to look more fully at Elliot. He knew it was probably difficult to believe, but maybe if he could see Atticus’ expression he would know he was telling the truth. Or at least the truth as he understood it.
“I asked Devyn if people could be like him. With magic, I mean. He said it’s complicated to be like him, but people like Michael -- they’re called Knights. I told him I thought you’d make a really good one. Maybe Michael can teach you, Elly.”
His cheeks felt hot. He was worried that maybe it sounded too crazy, too far-fetched. But he was trying to be hopeful. Trying to reach for something more than just sadness and fear.
They hadn’t turned on any of the lights when they got into the house. The automatic porch light had already turned off, but that didn’t matter. The moon was bright, despite not being full, and it threw beams of moonlight across the living room floor through the large windows. Enough for Atticus to be able to see Elliot at least.
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2022 2:53 pm
There was a part of Elliot that was worried Atticus was gullible, but he trusted him, too. And he trusted Michael, and he didn’t think he was the sort to play a trick like that on Atticus–not with everything else going on.
He wanted to have hope that things could just happen that way. Bad things happened so easily, why couldn’t good things happen, too?
He wanted to do the right thing, though, was that knightly? He wanted to be able to protect people. He didn’t want to have to run. He wanted to be strong. Brave. He didn’t want to have to worry about what was going to happen if someone showed up again to hurt them.
Elliot hadn’t ever thought about being a Knight, but he looked up to Michael. If he could teach him, he wanted to learn. He’d have done whatever it took.
Everything was putting him on edge, though, and he questioned the growing light of the moon. They didn’t need more bad news, but if something was wrong, he didn’t want to be caught unawares.
“I’ll ask Michael when I see him again. If he can teach us.” He tilted his head just slightly as the light seemed to stretch across the room again. “Is that the moon?”
He didn’t want to get up, but–
He did. Slowly. Still holding Atticus’ hand.
Elliot couldn’t explain why it felt like someone was calling him, but he felt it.
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2022 3:07 pm
Atticus wasn’t sure what he could do. Devyn told him how Knights like his husband could do different things, that they weren’t always good at just fighting or protecting. His husband had been an artist, but also a Knight.
Atticus didn’t know what he could do with his art that would be as good as whatever he knew Elliot would be able to do, if he was one, but he knew that maybe, if he stayed by Elliot’s side, he would learn how to be strong as well.
He kept hold of Elliot’s hand when he tugged on it. The soft light that fell across the room looked so inviting, and Atticus liked light anyway. He’d always been drawn to the moon when it was out. He would have liked to see the stars too, but in the city it made it difficult. The moon was easier to see.
He rubbed his face a few more times as he followed along with Elliot, and peered out the window at the crescent in the sky, seen clearly through the opening in the trees’ canopy that filled most of the neighborhood.
He squeezed Elliot’s hand and leaned close to him. Atticus wasn’t sure what it was, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away from the gentle light.
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