Archive of Our Own ^beta

Fauna was, all things considered, an unforgiving planet to grow up in.  Long before things went to total shit with the lich, it was always dangerous.  That’s just how life is there, as a place full of monsters and dragons and the like.  Before Prime, Vyncent hadn’t known anything else.  He had no idea how safe other places could be.  Even considering all the villains running around Rockfall and New Haven, traveling such a planet was a cakewalk compared to Fauna.

When he first wound up there, Vyncent had been terrified.  Alone, lost, not knowing what threats could be lurking around each corner of the towering, looming and alien buildings that littered the entire city of Rockfall, creating a maze of potential danger.  He was in an unfamiliar place and not of his intentions.  The Greats in his head made his thoughts all jumbled and loud and chaotic; they were impossible to sift through for a while.  Vyncent was erratic for the first few days, lashing out at anyone that tried to get close, protecting himself.  Once he found that not everyone was out to kill him on Prime, however, he began to relax.  It wasn’t so bad there, he found.  There were still a lot of things that scared him for some time, though – like, what the fuck was up with cars?

Of course, once he became a Prime Defender, things were out to kill him again, but never like before.  On Fauna, you couldn’t really go anywhere by yourself if you weren’t capable — especially as a child.  You could easily be picked up by a griffin in an open field, a pack of wolves could gang up on you in the woods, or a giant rat could pull you into the shadows of the night.  Vyncent had these things happen to kids he knew, back then; his mother would tell him.  It was just life.  As such, he was rarely outside the house without the accompaniment of his mother, even into his teenage years.  He got the impression growing up that, before he was born, his mother and father agreed to keep him within their sights at all times, given his father’s background in adventuring, having seen all that he had.  Even if he wasn’t always around to supervise his son himself, Vyncent’s mother was a capable former adventurer too, and one who had seen her fair share of Fauna.  She raised him to be wary; to always look over his shoulder, for his own good.  Never stray too far into the shadows, never run too deep into the trees, and never be alone out in a wide-open space, even if the sun is overhead.  Vyncent heeded her words, thus sticking close to her hip for much of his life.

Although he grew to love the beauty of Fauna, most of what Vyncent knew of it to this day was its dangers over anything else.  What that meant was when he found that Prime was not entirely safe by any means, he was ready for it.  He knew how to handle that; it was almost familiar in a sense.  Even if he hadn’t personally run into much danger on his own back on Fauna, his mother and father, Raymond, and even The Greats themselves, at times, had all taught him much in the way of self-defense throughout his childhood.  Vyncent came to Prime prepared to protect himself if need be.  Quickly he found, as well, that with The Greats on his side and their capabilities at his disposal, he was more well equipped to do that than he’d first thought.  What he hadn’t anticipated when he first came to Prime, however, was having to protect others.

When Ms. Gilbert and Harlem came along and gave him a place with the Prime Defenders and Tide, it made things a little complicated.  Mostly because Vyncent quickly found himself liking them when he didn’t intend for it.  Dakota, for all of his unrestrained energy and affinity for kicking Vyncent’s ass in “training”, is a loving and genuine person through and through, with the ability to make you feel like you belong; and William, however awkward and quiet, is welcoming, friendly, patient, and comforting to be around, making Vyncent feel relaxed in his presence.  While Dakota off-put him initially, Vyncent found that William drew him in and made him feel like a part of the team quite fast.  In turn, he warmed up to Dakota.  It took knowing them for him to realize that he truly did not have many friends back on Fauna — the closest he could call a best friend was his mother, which he also figured was a little pathetic… Dakota and William were his first real best friends, asudden.  It was exciting.  For all of the homesickness, he felt in the first number of months they spent together, the two of them gave him a second home.

Fast forward over a year later.  They had all been through so much together, and even though Vyncent and co. had visited home for a brief time to deal with the lich, he didn’t regret following it right back to Prime alongside his two friends.  He didn’t regret not going back home, either, even once it was dead.  It took reaching his goal – going home to Fauna – for Vyncent to see that where he belonged right now was still with the Prime Defenders — as one of them.  

And, besides, he still had things to see to their end on Prime… namely Ashe.  Truthfully, though, a lot of Vyncent wanting to stay had to do with the two people he didn’t mean to like.  The more time he spent with Dakota and William, the more he began to feel the want to protect them from any similar fate increase – and the less he wanted to be without them.  Especially William.  He was his best friend after all and, though capable in his own right, was comparatively squishier than Dakota — by a long shot, even after their 10 months of continuous training.  Vyncent looked at him sometimes in the heat of fights and felt a pull deep inside him that told him to be beside him, to protect him; it could be so strong that he often could barely reel the feeling back and steady himself.  William’s track record in life-threatening situations hardly served to quell this internal struggle for Vyncent; after the first base ordeal, and then the whole train incident (which made him shiver just to recall), his concern was rooted in realism.  If he wasn’t careful, something could easily snatch Will away just as it had Ashe.  Even if that situation was vastly different, nearly incomparable, their history with Mal also banged around in the back of Vyncent’s mind, and with the connection there that Mal and The Trickster had in terms of being evil, it weighed on him.  He couldn’t have another friend be taken from him, and Will had gotten way too close for comfort on more than one occasion.  Frankly, Dakota lying about Will being dead on Fauna was enough of a heart attack for recent days.

Dakota was normally the protective one of them, always throwing himself in front of Vyncent or Will to absorb blows meant for them, knowing he could take it the best.  Vyncent began to take a page from his book.  He’d shielded Dakota a few times amid battle with practiced precision.  He knew when it would make sense to do so; if the redhead had been worn down and was already hurt.  William was another story — when Vyncent leaped to protect him, it was usually at random; not done with thought so much as feeling.  Out of the corner of his eye, he’d see his friend about to shoulder a particularly nasty blow or catch the fear in his eyes, and Vyncent would lunge without care for his form in front of him.  Once, he full-body tackled the other to the ground out of the way of a villain with a gruesome-looking battleax — that had been a little awkward, in hindsight.  William hadn’t even been scared, and he hadn’t even been hit yet.  With Vyncent still on him, he embarrassedly said he had that one under control.  Right, Vyncent had said.  His friend was very capable, he reminded himself.  In the end, though, Will still smiled reassuringly at him and said thanks.  Vyncent felt pleasantly warm somewhere under the humiliation.

It was quiet, current day.  Vyncent almost wasn’t used to it – there had been so much chaos in their lives in recent days that having downtime without any underlying threat felt strange, especially coming back from Fauna again.  The previous day had been normal, as well, with the three of them spending a night awake in the Winnebago as Will and Dakota told ghost stories and Dakota made them help teach Bobo tricks.  They didn’t often pull all-nighters, but Dakota happened to be wired, and they deserved to have some normal fun now and then, anyway.  Regardless, it made today a rather tired and leisurely one, but they needed food.  Well, Dakota more than the other two.  While back in New Haven for a bit, they made a stop at a Rusty’s.  

Vyncent and Will waited for their friend to finish picking out an abundance of junk food by the entrance of the store, where there was a bench to loiter at.  Will sat, tapping away on his phone, while Vyncent stood in a cool-guy manner beside him against the sliding door entrance, striking a balance where it somehow didn’t open.  They were holding a casual conversation; William was explaining some video to him in excruciating detail, which Vyncent was fine with even if he couldn’t totally follow.  He liked listening to Will talk, and it could be hard to get him to dump without backing out from shame, so if he started unprompted, Vyncent let him go on.

“So then he goes, ‘Vanessa, can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?’ And it’s like a multi-level meme, right?”

“Uh-huh.”  Yeah, he knew what a meme was, now.  Will taught him that one pretty early on.

“Yeah, because it like– not only was the whole Freddy video thing already a meme, but the airplanes in the night sky thing is like, from that other one I showed you– remember, with the pony and the bird?”

Vyncent squinted at him, thinking about it.  “Uh, yeah, I think so.”

“Yeah, where it’s like a crossover and they’re in love.  Which makes the meme even more multi-level.  But so they like, combined the memes– and the best part about this one is like, the actual voice actor read that one in the voice–”

Will was cut off by the sound of an electronic doorbell and the sliding doors to Rusty’s opening abruptly as some new patrons entered, catching Vyncent off guard and causing him to fall back towards the outside pavement.

“Shit–” William, his head whipping up from his phone at the sound, instinctively ghost-shaped a big hand that steadied his friend swiftly from the back.  Noticing the two individuals walking by, however, his eyes widened and he quickly dispersed it, sitting up rigidly straight and staring at them.  “H– hey.”

Vyncent was still steadying himself and ungracefully turned around with the motion to check who had just very well seen Will use his powers in broad daylight, as well.

Looking at them with furrowed brows was a pale-skinned girl, could only be a little younger than Vyncent, with long pink hair pulled up into a high ponytail, in a lime sleeveless crop tank top, green jacket down around her arms, and in otherwise white athletic wear.  Her hoop earrings jangled with the movement of her head.  Vyncent noted that she didn’t have pupils, which was somewhat jarring – her eyes just being pure white.  What was more jarring was her companion, though– glancing over bizarrely at Will was what seemed to be a humanoid cat-woman, with fluffy brown fur and long fangs poking from her mouth.  She was in a loose-fitted white top, tied at the bottom, with a popped open collar, and pale brown shorts tied with a dark belt.  Vyncent had seen kind like hers back home before, but never on Prime.  He stared at her in particular for a bit too long, causing her green eyes to flit over and meet his, and he coughed awkwardly.

“Hey there.  Sorry about that.”

“What was with that hand thing?” The pink-haired one quickly questioned in an excited and inquisitive tone, Vyncent barely getting his apology out before she asked.

As Will stuttered behind him, the cat added, “Yeah, what the hell was that about?”

“What hand?” Vyncent played stupid – something he was good at.

The cat growled at him, actually growled, her thin tail lashing behind her.  “Do you think I’m stupid or something?”

“No, no,” Will put in.  “It’s just we have no idea what you’re talking about right now,” he backed up the other.

The pink-haired one’s eyes squinted at them as she smiled wider, and pointed at William.  “No, I definitely saw something happen there!  Some kinda blue-floaty hand– did you do that or something?”

“Guys!!”  Dakota ran over past the registers at this very perfect moment, holding two filled plastic bags at both his sides.  “Alright, I got everything!  Let’s go!”

William immediately stood up.  “Great!  Yeah, let’s leave!”

“Oh, who’re your friends?”  he looked over at the two that Vyncent was still staring at.

Will quietly answered for him, “No one, they just walked in– tell you at the Winnebago.  Let’s go,”

“Okay, okay!”

Dakota and Will started brushing past, and Vyncent went to follow them out, noting how the cat lady’s eyes widened ever-so-slightly at the sight of Dakota, and her eyes followed him for a split second.  As Vyncent exited with his friends, and the sliding doors began to shut again, he heard the pink-haired one mumble something inaudible.  He picked up his step walked a little closer to the other two.

When they got back to the Winnebago, Vyncent told Will to start driving the moment he sat down in the driver’s seat.

“Is– there a rush, Vynce?”

“I just don’t like how those girls were looking at us.”

“Villains?”  Dakota perked up, eyebrows furrowing with intensity.  “Do you think they were villains?”

“I dunno if I’d go that far,” Vyncent said, a little exasperated.  “Th–”

“I’ll beat them up!”

Not letting Dakota’s interruption trip him up too much, he went on.  “They just seemed a little too interested in Will’s powers.  It’s dangerous for people to know we’re superheroes around here and if they do now, that could be… a problem.”

“Why would they know he has superpowers?”

“Accidentally made a ghost hand to stop Vyncent from falling,” William mumbled in a rush, embarrassed.  

“Yeah, thanks for that, by the way,” Vyncent said, trying to reassure him.  Will gave a very small, slight laugh and smiled, not looking at him.  It made his stomach clench a little.

“And they saw ?”  Dakota put a hand on his forehead, looking a little worried, now.  “Okay, well like, if they’re civilians it’s really no big deal – like who are they gonna tell?  And who's gonna believe them?  But… yeah, let’s go, I guess.”

Will drove.  They immediately almost hit a light pole in the parking lot.  Vyncent would never get used to how Will drove.

They drove until they were at the edge of New Haven, by a stretch of an open field just outside the final few buildings.  The sun was beginning to set, and all of them – but William, especially – were very, very tired.  Will began moving to pull the Winnebago over to park in the grass.

Dakota was sitting at one of the table seats, elbows across the table with his head down.  He yawned as he spoke, making his tone lower than usual.  “We stopping?” Bobo, who had been sitting on top of the seat’s headrest, crawled atop his shoulders and laid down, effectively giving him a monkey scarf.

“Uh-huh,” Will slurred, barely audible.  

“Sure we shouldn’t go a little further?  Put some distance?”

“Between us and who?”  Vyncent glanced over at his friend.  “The guys at the Rusty’s?  Why the hell would they be following us?”

“I dunno, maybe they wanna snap a picture with superheroes,” Dakota joked, then looked serious.  “Or maybe they’re really villains.  You said you ‘didn’t like how they looked as us’, remember?”

“We went over this, Kota.” Vyncent sighed.  “I’m not that worried about it.  I just didn’t like them being so suspicious.  We don’t need to run away from anyone.”

“Alright.”  Dakota shrugged, making Bobo go up and down with the motion.  “Whatever.  Let’s stop here, then.”

The Winnebago had already come to a stop when he said it, Will having parked them at a sharp angle in the grass and laying his head against the steering wheel.  Vyncent huffed and heaved himself up out of the seat he was in, going over to Will and physically pulling him out of it.  The man groaned in protest, which Vyncent felt was a little endearing, but let his friend guide him over to the bunk beds at the back of the vehicle as Dakota also climbed his way up to his.  They all bedded down from there, ready for some much-needed rest.

Said rest was interrupted by the low-pass sound of Dakota’s yelling.  

“...uys! …Guys!”

Vyncent shot up out of bed, eyes extremely heavy.  Out the windows of the RV, he could see it was still night, stars twinkling against the darkness.  He stumbled into a standing position just as William was clumsily climbing down from his bunk, almost falling on the other in the process.  Vyncent helped steady him when his feet were on the ground.

“What’s going on?”  The elf asked as if Will would know.  His friend shrugged and made a noise that Vyncent knew meant “dunno”, looking frazzled.  They both made their way to the door, Vyncent stopping him to peek out the window first.

Dakota was standing in a fighting stance a little further outside, a bit further into the field, in front of… a cat woman, with fluffy brown fur and long fangs poking from her mouth.  She was wearing a loose light gray tank top tied with a black cloth belt.  Her eyes looked as if they were lit with white flames.  She stood in a similar stance to Dakota, appearing to be in a stalemate at that very moment.

“Fuck.”  Vyncent’s eyes widened and darted about as he grabbed the door handle to prepare to exit.  He caught sight of another figure, who looked similar to the cat’s companion from earlier but, he realized upon taking in their features, not identical; long pink hair, pale skin, in a long brown coat with a turtleneck undershirt, wielding two knives.  They were standing with some space between but otherwise adjacent to the cat, ganged up on Dakota.  As the two of them piled out of the Winnebago, Vyncent manifesting his golden knife in hand and bracing himself, he looked around and gauged, immediately, 3 more.

Mostly because they came from behind as Dakota called, with ever-perfect timing,

“Lookout, there’s–!”  The cat socked him in the face, claws out, not letting him finish.

Vyncent veered around to see a woman in a full-black suit, and a gray, metallic mask with bright yellow wires and currents running throughout it, with a black sweatshirt wrapped around her waist, holding dual whips in both hands.  She was immediately near on top of Vyncent, sending one whip thrashing towards him.  It made contact, and he was physically shocked by an electrical current, causing his entire body to temporarily seize and convulse.  He let out a pained scream and tried to grit his teeth through the pain.  His eyes, now wild, managed to catch sight of another; the familiar pink-haired girl with white eyes from earlier, grinning sadistically at him as she came up behind the one currently electrocuting him.  The moment he regained the ability to move, muscles still twitching a bit, Vyncent threw his knife with expert precision and caught the electric one in her exposed abdomen, and she made a choked sound.  He side-stepped out of the way, simultaneously, of her second whip cracking at him and dove at her to retrieve his knife.  He snatched it away as she reoriented herself, and swiftly put some space between them, as the pink-haired girl began to shift strangely, physical form becoming warped and unclear for a split moment before suddenly, there was three of her; four, five, six… Too many of her, all around Vyncent, in a circle.  His eyes flickered over to Dakota – the one who was holding the knives had already been knocked out by him in the mere seconds that had gone by and was laying in a heap a few feet away, but the cat was holding her own, catching him with her claws again the moment Vyncent looked over, leaving a gash across his leg that narrowly missed colliding with her head.  He was screaming, not in pain, Vyncent recognized, but pure aggravation.  His focus shifted to William.  There was another figure looming over him, jaw clamped down on a ghost-shaped plank of wood he was currently using to protect himself.  Vyncent didn’t know what to make of them – what looked like a humanoid possum , with disheveled black hair and unkempt fur peeking out of basic clothes; a torn and shoddily patched up hoodie similar to Will’s and ripped up dark denim jeans.  Their furless tail, which appeared to have seen more than a few scrapes and scratches in its day, lashed violently from side to side behind them.  Their eyes could only be described as crazed, unfocused, and darting from side to side, assessing the situation.

As Vyncent turned his attention back to the two ganging up on him, dashing back towards the one with the electrocuting powers while doing his best to ignore the clear illusions of the other, he heard a voice from Will’s direction and assumed it was the possum speaking.

“It’s five on three!” they hissed, voice rough.  “You’re not gonna fuckin’ win!”

“Yeah, fucking watch us!”  Dakota hollered in response.  “And that’s four on three!” he added, scoffing towards the one he’d already knocked out.

“Yeah, you don’t know who you’re dealing with!”  William backed him up, making a ghost fist to punch the possum back, which worked for a long enough moment for him to put some safe distance between them.  They made a sound as the breath was knocked out of them.

Vyncent, meanwhile, ducked underneath the electric girl’s whip again, slashing along her torso and stepping behind her in one fluid motion.  She doubled over and cried out, effectively incapacitated for the moment, one of the whips clattering to the ground.

“Oh, we do!”  All six of the pink-haired ones said, in unison, making Vyncent’s head hurt.  He stood up straight, feet planted firmly, looking around at all of them, trying to decipher the real one.  “Stupid Virion!” One of the duplicates, alone, said.

Another, “You don’t know who you’re dealing with, either.”

Another, “Only 20 and already living in a trailer, huh?  Life hit you hard, I guess…”

“Purple is not your color, by the way.”

“Who made that suit?  You look like a shitty RPG character.”

“Yeah bud, the larping convention’s a few blocks back.  You need directions?”  They were all talking over one another, making Vyncent’s head spin; causing him to feel disoriented.

Shit.  Ok, maybe they were dealing with a bit of a problem.  Vyncent narrowed his eyes, glaring every which way at the various copies.  Never show weakness.  

“Are any of your fakes gonna throw a punch, or are you just gonna blab?!”  He spun around, his back now to the villain on her knees, looking for any indication of which one was real, going forward and slashing his knife through one, then two, getting no resistance on either.  

While he was trying to determine that, the villain he incapacitated got back up and once again cracked one whip at him, now catching him entirely off guard.  It caught his thigh, wrapping around and lighting up.  As the horrible, piercing pain of being electrocuted coursed through Vyncent’s veins again, making him screech and fling his knife across the grass with a jerking motion, Dakota was saying,

“I knew you guys were villains!  What do you even want?!”

“What kinda question is that?”  the possum snarled.  As his leg went strongly numb and the rest of his body tingled uncomfortably, Vyncent heard William make a weird noise from the same direction the possum’s voice was coming from.  Dakota physically growled, sounding savage.  Distantly, Vyncent prayed he didn’t go feral right now.  Hesitating in his movement being his downfall, he felt the second whip catch his other leg.

“Fuck!” he cried, trying to wrench away from it to no avail, and was then zapped.

“Yeah!” the cat yowled, meanwhile.  “We’re here to beat up heroes!”

“Just ‘cause?!”  Dakota roared back.  “Man, Vyncent, I told you we should’ve just attacked them!”

Somehow, through how muddled his brain currently was from all the electric shocking, Vyncent confusedly thought, No you didn’t?   He didn’t have time to expand on the thought, however, as his legs both gave out from under them and trying to step to the side resulted in him plummeting to the ground, knees hitting the grass.  He heard his assailant step closer towards him as he went down, cracking a whip and catching him around the whole middle, but not shocking him.

The way he fell, though, gave him a pretty good view of Dakota and Will, he found as he turned his head to the side.  Vyncent tried to prop himself up to at least a half-sitting position on his elbows but abruptly found force upon him.

“Oh no, you’re not going anywhere,” said the six-layered voices of the pink-haired girl, growing closer.  One of them, Vyncent assumed to be the real one, kneeled beside his head to peer down at him, smiling still.  “I didn’t even get to see all your powers on display.  Can’t you do a whole bunch of other things, too?  You should bring out that big sword you got sometimes.  Or, ooh, show me something new, actually!  That’d be helpful.  Haywire, don’t shock him too much– I need him to be able to do stuff.” 

Haywire was the one guilty of shocking him, and currently weighing him into the floor, he guessed.  She merely grunted in acknowledgment of the other’s words.  He could feel a few shocks on his back from her hands that made his hair stand at all ends and his whole body tingle in anxiety.  More importantly, however– How does she know about Alphonze?  How much more do they know about us?

“Oh yeah, smile!”  The pink-haired bitch started rummaging around in her pocket and pulled out her phone, scooching more to the side of Vyncent and leaning further down to take a selfie with him.  His eyes were wide, expression of pure befuddlement as she snapped the photo.  Still, his heart was pounding rapidly, made more intense by having his chest pressed against the ground.  He looked back up at her at an angle with wide eyes.  “Who the fuck are you people?”  He felt Haywire pull and tighten the whip around him, crushing his ribs a little, her other hand pushing his shoulder flatter against the ground.  Vyncent turned his chin against the dirt to angle his head to still see his friends, needing to check on them.

Dakota was a little bloody in places, but right now looked to be handling things alright, barrel rolling to the side out of the way of a full-body lunge from the cat, who hissed and spat in anger.  She looked worse for wear, herself, fur on all ends and bruises in a few places, moving with a bit of a limp.  When he turned his attention to Will, however, Vyncent felt a strong pang of dread and lurched in Haywire’s grasp, struggling.  His friend, chest heaving, was still backing away from the possum, who was zigzagging towards him with a nasty-looking, curved blade that Vyncent hadn’t seen on their person before.  Will was attempting to hold them back by creating ghost vines shooting up from the ground, that tried and failed to find purchase in grabbing their legs.  He looked like he’d already been bit and scratched in a few places; Vyncent could see his arms bleeding, as well as a gash through his hoodie in the chest area.  He looked tired.  That was very bad.  Vyncent knew he tended not to function as well when exhausted, his mind uncharacteristically sluggish.  As he watched the possum lunge at William, knocking him onto his back and looming over him, slicing into an arm with the strange knife, he felt heat pulse through his entire body, rage brewing.

With renewed vigor, the elf kicked and thrashed underneath Haywire, trying to get out of her grasp.  “ Will !” he screamed, feeling his ears flatten against his head, and heard the possum laugh in a crazed manner.

“What, what’s wrong?  Scared The Wisperer’s gonna die ?”  He heard the cat and Dakota scuffling, and she made a strange, confused noise in the back of her throat.  Then, she yelled,

“Wait– huh?  You don’t mean that, right?”

“Scared I’m gonna kill him ?!”  On the mark with their words, Vyncent saw them raise their arm with the blade up and then bring it down on Will, and, in the brief pause of relative quiet, heard a disgusting squelching noise accompanied by a high groan from his friend.

“Hey, um–!  We didn’t agree to kill anyo– augh!”  The cat woman was cut off by, presumably, Dakota roundhouse kicking her.  Vyncent couldn’t say for sure, his eyes boring into the back of the possum as Haywire tried to wrench his arm behind his back to stop him from struggling.  

“Dakota, do something!” Vyncent managed to get out, breathless as he unnaturally felt his arm crunch.  “Will—!  Will is—!”

Dakota was screaming continually now, in rage and exhaustion.  The sound made Vyncent’s tears that were already welling up in his eyes spill over.  Through pure adrenaline-induced strength, he tightened all his muscles and heaved Haywire off of him, shifting the weight of them both and slamming her onto the ground.  Still half on the floor with her, he tore at the whip tangled around his body, loosening it enough to move out of it.  The moment he was free, Vyncent dove for his knife, which was a little past the pink-haired one still kneeling beside him.  She went to grab him the instant he began moving, but wasn’t nearly quick enough to keep up with Vyncent’s swift movement; he twisted around and viciously stabbed her with his blade in the upper shoulder once, yanking it carelessly out and stabbing back in and out of the side of her chest as her arms came up to shield herself, taking the opening.  He then knocked her over with a boot kick.  

“Ugh, shit–!” she yelled, grasping at her wound.  Vyncent then went back for Haywire, tackling her as she went to grab for her whips, slashing her recklessly up the throat once, then clean in the abdomen, and leaving her unconscious, bleeding out.  He heard the possum laugh sickeningly behind him as he stumbled back to his feet, and whipped around to go for his next victim, body moving on autopilot.  I have to protect him, his mind said, in a mantra.  I can’t let anything happen to him.   As he hastily moved towards his friend, Vyncent caught a glance of Dakota finishing off the cat, his calf colliding brutally with her ribs – as she stared, distracted, in horror at the scene of the possum and William – and sending her down with the force of it.  The redhead’s breathing was rough and heavy, but Vyncent didn’t stop to check on him on his way past; he went straight for his target.  In five rapid steps, he was behind the possum, looming over them for a split moment before grabbing them by the fur of their scruff, easily lobbing them to the side, off of Will, in a show of strength Vyncent didn’t ordinarily possess.  Once he had moved them away from his friend, he shot a glance in his direction and saw that he was lying in an ever-increasing pool of his blood, the curved blade the possum had stabbed him with still stuck halfway into his abdomen, off to the side by his ribs.  His breathing was shallow, chest rising and falling quickly, mouth open with blood spilling out of it.  His eyes were glassy and unfocused.  One hand was brought up where the blade was, framed around it on his torso.  Vyncent was seeing red.  His heart was rattling in his chest.  The possum made a strained noise after being thrown.  Vyncent went and weighed them down with his body on top of their legs and swung his knife down straight into their torso as he had with Haywire, drawing a guttural groan from the creature.  Their groan turned to a scream as Vyncent savagely ripped out his blade in a long, downwards dragging motion, causing blood to spew out of their wound in a gruesome scene.  Vyncent tripped to his feet and let the second villain bleed out, truly looking like roadkill at his feet.   

 He stabbed his knife down into the figure underneath him twice more as Dakota yelled,

“Vyncent!” in horror, though not facing him.  “Did you kill this one?!”  There was a heavy waver in his voice.  Vyncent didn’t answer, but Dakota followed up with, “Oh, God, she’s breathing, okay!”  Barely listening, he threw himself in Will’s direction and went down on his knees, looming over him.

“Will.” His voice sounded like shit, even to his ears, from screaming, voice hoarse.  “Will, stay with me.”

“Okay, no, this one might seriously be dead, though,” he heard Dakota say from closer by, likely referring to the possum person.  “Um– is Will okay?”

“No!” Vyncent snapped, angry, eyes burning, not caring about the other that Dakota was currently standing over.  “Get the fuck over here!”

He obeyed and joined them; skidding to a halt on the ground in a kneel on the opposite side of William.  Vyncent started crying freely, stress from the entire situation boiling over.  He reached down to try and remove the blade from Will’s torso, not thinking, and Dakota hastily grabbed him by the arm.

“Don’t!” he cried. “It’ll make it worse idiot, we have to call an ambulance or something.”

Right.  It’s not like Vyncent could just heal him; Ram wasn’t here anymore.  He had no healing gun.  Nothing.  Useless.  Vyncent clenched his jaw near-painfully.

Will was looking up at him with unfocused eyes, his gaze continually drifting off to the side.

“I’m fine,” he abruptly told them both, voice flat though surprisingly coherent given his state.  “I’ll be fine, Vyncent, it’s fine.”

“William, you have a fucking blade sticking out of you right now!” Vyncent cried in response as Dakota fished around in Will’s pocket to confiscate his phone.  

“Vyncent, shut the fuck up!” Dakota barked, bristling.  “Not the best thing to say to him!”

“I’m sorry,” Vyncent quickly apologized, Dakota’s words hitting him like a rock being thrown into his chest.  Why would he say that?  He instinctively reached down and grabbed Will’s hand off of his abdomen, taking it firmly in his own.  He then became very aware of the blood that was soaking into the fabric of his pants, and how it was smeared on his hands, now.  He began trembling.  

“Will, I’m sorry.” I should have protected you.  I should have done better.  I’m sorry I let this happen.   All the words wanted to tumble out of Vyncent’s mouth at once, competing, and as a result, none came out at all past that.  He leaned over Will a little more, as if to shield him with his body from a danger that was no longer there.  Dakota was on the phone, speaking into it urgently, and he promptly stood up, looking frantically around, presumably to describe their location or find any indication of landmarks.  Vyncent couldn’t hear him, his head swimming.  He felt so scared.  Seconds felt like hours.  William wasn’t even gripping his hand back, his fingers limp in Vyncent’s.  They occasionally twitched.  He looked so small.  It reminded Vyncent of when he had died.  Could William Wisp get a third chance at life…?  Vyncent didn’t think anyone was that lucky.

“Vynce…” Will spoke again, voice noticeably weaker.

“Hey, save your energy, don’t talk, help will be here soon.  I’m sorry I can’t heal you,” he replied in a rush.  Will let out a puff of air through his nose.  I should have protected you.  I should have protected you.  This should be me.  Vyncent was starting to feel like this wasn’t happening.  Like he wasn’t even there.

“I’ll be fine,” William said again as if trying to convince himself of the same thing.  “I always… am.”

“Yeah,” Vyncent said distantly, his voice not sounding like his.  “You are.  Just breathe.” He took his own advice, trying to settle the rattling in his chest.  Vyncent hadn’t noticed until now, but Dakota had run off completely.  He’d bring help to them.  

Refocusing his brain after a moment, trying not to slip away, Vyncent tried to think of what to do.  Was there any way to help stop the bleeding with the blade still in him…? There had to be some way to help him yet.  He tried to remember how his mother had treated that man on the side of the road once when he was young.  Will’s hand in his was starting to feel clammy.

Putting it down gently, the elf reached down and gripped his own sleeve, tearing a strip of it off up to his elbow, done easily with the adrenaline still coursing through him.  He loosely wrapped the fabric around the blade sticking out of Will, who simply groaned in response, and pressed down on either side of it with the cloth.  He was pretty sure this was right.  Will’s breath was starting to get heavy, which made Vyncent’s ears twitch in anxiety, his chest tightening more.

“Will,” he said, with no idea of where to go from there.  “…You okay?”

“…Don’t wanna die again,” he croaked, beginning to hyperventilate.  Bad sign, Vyncent heard in his head.  “ Sucks .”

“Save your energy,” Vyncent urged him, pressing harder around his wound.

“Ow…”

“Sorry.  Please, just hang in there.” An ear flicking, he could hear sirens in the distance.  Dakota reappeared.

“I tried to get them to let me just fucking carry the car here but they wouldn’t let me,” he said, breathing heavily.  Vyncent doubted it was from the exertion.  His eyes looked wild.  “Is he okay?” He came back down to the ground beside them.

“I’m trying… I’m trying to stop the blood,” Vyncent said weakly, looking down at Will again.  If they lost him again this time, would the tightrope he mentioned all that time ago finally snap?  Vyncent wasn’t sure he could handle this again, regardless if it did or not.  Not to mention that William just didn’t deserve to go through it.  Three times, this would make.  The elf could almost laugh.  Not quite, though.

William suddenly coughed, causing more blood to soak into the fabric Vyncent was pressing into his wound.  “Sorry, I…”

He couldn’t watch William die again.  And he wouldn’t.

The ambulance showed up after what felt like forever, veering off the road and onto the field they were in.  The flashing of red and white lights instantly made Vyncent a little dizzy.

He and Dakota began lifting Will in a joint effort, trying not to move him around too much as three paramedics stepped out of the back of a vehicle, carrying a stretcher for him to be laid on.  

While this was happening, two more ambulances were arriving in succession, with multiple more paramedics hopping out and running for their assailants who lay in varying states of disarray across the ground.  As Will was put down onto the stretcher and carried into the ambulance, Dakota and Vyncent piled in after him, Vyncent sparing a glance back at the villains being tended to, lingering on the possum person for but a moment.  

Words were exchanged during the ride, mostly between Dakota and one of the paramedics, while Vyncent stared wordlessly at Will, who was being attached to an oxygen mask and having his pulse taken as they spoke.  

He cared about him so much, he thought.  He should have protected him.  He started crying again, bottom lip quivering, before reaching out and taking William’s hand again. Vyncent rubbed his thumb over the back of it as if to soothe him, but he was too out of it to notice, let alone be comforted.  He felt so cold.  So cold.  He normally was – Vyncent thought briefly, fondly, of a few times when Will had scooched close enough on the couch during a movie to be right in his space and pressed against him, stealing his warmth to Vyncent’s empty complaints – but this was a whole new kind of cold; nearly as bad as when he had died, after they’d put his body on ice.  Vyncent sobbed grossly.  One paramedic briefly squeezed his shoulder before moving past him.  Dakota did not move to hug him.

“I’m not feeling a pulse,” the paramedic who had applied Will’s oxygen mask (a very short, stout woman with short-cut blonde hair and large glasses) said.  She was holding the wrist that Vyncent wasn’t.  He tried not to let that panic him; Will’s pulse could barely be felt under normal circumstances.  He didn’t know how to explain that to her.

“He’s really… faint,” Vyncent tried, pathetically, barely above a whisper.

“His heart rate is really slow,” Dakota said to her.  “Just for the record.”

“He’s not dead,” Vyncent added.  

The rest of the ride to the hospital was quiet and tense, aside from the paramedics talking amongst themselves and the beep of machinery on the vehicle.

When they got there, the paramedics forced Dakota and Vyncent to stay outside.  They could have stayed in the waiting area, but Dakota was yelling and begging to be let in with Will, so they were effectively banished to the parking lot for causing a scene.  It’s not like Vyncent was going to go in alone and leave him.

They probably should have had their injuries checked and tended, too, but Dakota wouldn’t let anyone touch him, and Vyncent was inclined to follow. 

Outside under the stars, Dakota was still yelling.  “ Aaargh !” Enraged, he kicked a lighting pole nearby and bent it at a sharp angle.  Vyncent flinched violently at the sound, sitting on the pavement in an open parking spot, his tail lashing back and forth against the ground.  

“Fuck!” Dakota screamed.

“I’m sorry,” the elf said in a whisper, in his friend’s direction without looking at him.  “I should have—”

“Shut up, Vyncent!” Dakota was pulling at his hair.  The words were harsh, but he caught the tone.  “You didn’t do anything.  It was those fuckers.   We couldn’t have done anything different... Except for listening to me in the first place and driving further out, maybe.”

Vyncent ignored the last part.  “I hope he’s okay,” he said, voice foreign in his ears.  It didn’t sound like he was saying the words himself.  Once again, he felt like he was almost somewhere else; eyes unfocused, head muddy.  

“He’s going to be fine ,” Dakota quickly rebutted, despite his teeth grinding and the way he paced back and forth.

In the brief moment of quiet, thoughts raced through Vyncent’s mind.  Yeah, he’ll be ok.   He let Dakota’s words, even if strained, comfort him, grasping onto that hope in desperation.  William would be fine, and they’d get him back, into their arms and the contained safety of the Winnebago.  Vyncent didn’t think he’d ever be able to let go of him once they saw him again.

William was his best friend.  There was no question in Vyncent’s mind about that.  He loved Dakota, and they were both his family, but when he looked at Will, he often felt a unique twist in his chest and stomach so prominent and raw that he simply couldn’t deny that he was his favorite person.  In a world alien to Vyncent, where he’d been scared and homesick, William became part of his new home.  Home...  He was home.  Not the first base in Rockfall, not the Hall of Elements, hardly the RV.  William was Vyncent’s home.  Is that normal, to feel about a friend? he offhandedly wondered.  Could a friend be home?  Sure, of course.  His mind wandered from there, though, and wanting to kiss his wounds better was a little harder to defend as being friendly.

“What’re you mumbling about?” Dakota’s voice brought Vyncent out of his thoughts.  

“Huh?”

“You were, like, mumbling some shit. Didn’t make any sense.”

He hadn’t even realized he was saying anything.  Talking to himself in Elvish, maybe?  Probably.  When they’d lived alone for those 10 months, William told him he did that a lot.  He always said it with a fond smile on his face that made his eyes crinkle up a bit in a squint. Vyncent had told him a little about the language before.  He knew maybe three words, but it made Vyncent happy.  That was a nice thought; it made him feel warm.  “Um… I guess.”

“That didn’t answer my question at all, man,” said Dakota.  He limped over and sat down heavily beside Vyncent on the concrete.  He looked over at his friend, now painfully aware of how dry his throat and mouth felt.  He took a moment to take the sight of Dakota in for the first time since this chaos began.  He looked disheveled, to say the least.  His hands and knees were relatively clean of blood, unlike Vyncent’s, but he was covered in dirt and debris, his tank top torn in multiple places.  The cat woman left Dakota with a couple of nasty gashes here and there.  Some of his blood was dried on one arm from a four-tiered gash, and there was one across his chest of similar nature, and multiple shorter ones littered around through his pants and arms.  He had his flannel off, tied at the waist.  He was even missing a shoe, interestingly.

“You look like shit,” said Vyncent gracelessly.  Dakota grumbled, unappreciated.

“Yeah, you too, asshole,” he snapped.  “At least I’m not covered in blood.”

“It’s mostly Will’s,” the elf replied, emotionless.  Some of it belonged to those villains, too, he mused.  He glanced down at himself.  He looked like he’d just been on the set of a gory horror film; it made him a little nauseous, knowing most of the blood belonged to Will, and for no other reason.  Blood didn’t bother him, ordinarily.  He was bleeding out of a couple of his own scrapes but was primarily singed and burned from being electrocuted, his hair also standing at odd ends he couldn’t see.  The white of his tracksuit was near invisible now with the red soaked into it, and a whole chunk of his sleeve was missing.  Vyncent let out a heavy sigh, ears folding back against his head in upset.  His tail was still swishing against the pavement, though a little slower now.  “Hey, good on you for not going feral during all that,” he told Dakota honestly.  “That must’ve took a lot.”

The redhead didn’t respond for a long moment.  “Yeah, it did.”  He picked at a healing scab on his hand.  “I think you killed that one guy,” he dropped immediately after.  “The one who stabbed Will.  They weren’t moving.”

Vyncent swallowed, saliva extremely thick.  He almost choked with the effort.  “Oh.”

“We’re going to check and make sure they’re all alive, later,” the redhead said, voice solid, unwavering.  This was a non-negotiable fact.  “Villains or not, we can’t kill people.  We’ve been over this.  What’s with you?  That wasn’t Alphonze, this time.”  There was a hint of disgust in his tone, all of a sudden.  Vyncent was sweating, bringing his knees up to his chest and leaning his chin on them, arms coming around the front of his legs.  “We’ve been through this before.  It makes us no better than them.”

“I don’t know,” Vyncent responded because he didn’t know what else to say.  “I can’t give you a good answer.”

“All that time ago, I told you I wouldn’t be on a team with a murderer,” Dakota said, strained, still not looking at him.  “I still mean that.  Even if they fucked up William.  It’s no excuse.  I know you were probably scared, but you didn’t have to do that.  You know he wouldn’t want you to kill someone on his behalf, right? …You better hope that guy’s alive.”

Vyncent thought about saying something but didn’t.  He let the silence filter between them instead.  They sat like that for a long time, watching people walk to and fro, cars pull in and out, until finally, as the sun rose on a new day, a lady in scrubs came walking out of the hospital towards them, waving.

He was alive.  William Wisp was still fucking alive .  Vyncent was almost convinced that nothing could kill him again.  Or at the very least, he had some 9-lives cat shit going on.  Dakota and Vyncent both burst into relieved, sleep-deprived tears when the nurse relayed the news to them, holding each other.  Much to both their frustration, however, they had to get cleaned up first before they were allowed near their friend again.  So, the two of them were wiped down, bandaged, changed into hospital scrubs, and disinfected when they got into the place.  Vyncent let Dakota go in to see Will alone first, nervous and feeling emotional himself, trying to gather his feelings up and tuck them back away.  He stood outside the door of the room, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, eyeing each nurse that walked by to distract his brain in some small way.  A doctor had spoken to them before Dakota went inside; said Will would be fine and make a full recovery, but they had still found it curious (concerning), they said, that his heart rate was so low despite becoming coherent again, and they wanted to keep him another day to monitor it.  Vyncent and Dakota knew nothing would change, and if they tried to keep Will there, they’d just bust him out, worst-case scenario.

Dakota had been in the room for upwards of 10 minutes by the time he reemerged, and Vyncent immediately took notice of how red his eyes were.  He sniffled thickly, rubbing at one and gesturing dismissively for Vyncent to go in.  Giving a single nod, and ducking away, the elf slipped into the room.  

He’d never been in a hospital room before then, but it looked virtually just like the ones he’d seen in movies (and one really dramatic TV show he and Will sometimes caught).  Put simply, it was stark and uncomfortable and impersonal.  He was a little disappointed by that.  William was laying in the bed in the room, a single IV drip stuck in his arm; probably fluids.  For some reason (likely the overconsumption of dramatized media involving hospital visits), Vyncent expected him to be hooked up to way more wires and bags and breathed out a little sigh of relief when he found that wasn’t the case.  His head was also propped up by a large pillow, and he smiled in a lazy way upon seeing Vyncent that made the elf’s chest ache and tail wag a bit.  He stepped over a little quicker.

“Hey, Vynce,” William said as his friend approached.  He looked so small like this, Vyncent thought.  He didn’t initially reply, going straight in to hug the other around the shoulders, being mindful of how and where he was touching him.  He lingered there for a moment, tears once again burning his eyes, and he felt the other’s hands come up and lay softly against his lower back.  He leaned his face against the side of Will’s head, brushing his cheek against his hair and shutting his eyes.  They remained like that in total silence for a bit longer, Will’s fingers digging ever so slightly into Vyncent’s shirt.  Interestingly, Vyncent’s ears picked up the slightest increase in beeping from Will’s heart monitor.  When he moved away, Vyncent gave him a full look over.  He looked paler than ever, having lost so much blood — nearly just plain white at this point.  The heavy bags under his eyes were more pronounced, making him appear gaunt.  Vyncent could see — aside from the bandages on his arms and the IV connected to his right arm — the beginning of larger wrappings around his waist poking out from the top of the blanket that was draped over him,  gauze stained a little red from excess blood.  

“I’m glad you’re ok,” William said quietly, and Vyncent looked back up to meet his eyes.  He smiled and let out a laugh, not able to bite it back.  It held no humor.  

“You’re glad I’m okay?” He shook his head. “You almost died a third fucking time, dude, don’t worry about me .” Maybe not the best thing he could’ve said, he quickly reflected.

“Yeah,” said Will, voice hollow and distant.  At his friend’s words, he seemed to zone out a bit, almost looking past Vyncent.

“Hey,” the elf hurriedly said, noticing this, “It’s okay. Everything’s good now. I won’t let… I won’t let anything like that happen again.” I swear I will keep you safe from here on out.

Will’s eyes refocused somewhat, eyebrows furrowing at him. He could feel the other analyzing his thoughts like he loved to do, reading him.  “It wasn’t your fault, Vynce.  Shit happens.  If anything, it’s mine.”

“Yeah.” He shook his head again a little, and then his brain caught up with what Will had said.  “Okay, hey— that’s not true. We were all tired as fuck, you more than anyone, you were driving for like two hours on no sleep.”  He sighed, waving his hands out in front of him.  “Listen, whatever. What matters is we’re all fine.  It wasn’t your fault you got stabbed , Will, you dumbass.”  His friend didn’t respond, just sighed quietly.  Vyncent walked around to the other side of the bed and gingerly crawled in beside William, who began to try and move to the side somewhat, but Vyncent stopped him. “No, don’t; there’s enough room as is.” Will sagged back down against the pillows at his words.  Crammed in beside him, halfway off the edge, Vyncent sought out the other’s hand.  He was bandaged up in places on it, and there were still hints of dry blood smeared across it, but he paid no mind.  Vyncent’s tail came up and over his lap, contentedly coming to rest at the edge of Will’s legs, the fluffy tip of it swishing lazily against the blankets.  Glancing sideways at his friend, Vyncent smiled.  Will smiled back, tired looking, but happy.  Vyncent thought for a moment.

“I was pretty scared,” he admitted.  Will nodded in reply.  “You gave me a heart attack, man.”

“It’s what I do best, apparently,” his friend joked.  “Sorry for almost fucking… dying again.” He squeezed Vyncent’s hand. Vyncent squeezed back, leaning a little closer to him.  He didn’t ever want to let go.  “I was a little scared… too.”

“No, no, you— you don’t need to apologize, seriously Will,” Vyncent insisted, his heart distractedly flip-flopping like it did whenever he and Will sat close like this.  “Obviously.  I didn’t mean for that to— I just— I was just really nervous for you.  I don’t know what I’d have done if… if I let…”  He paused to think about what he was saying, suddenly nervous.  Why?  William was his best friend.  It’s perfectly normal to express concern for a friend.  It’s not weird to tell them that you’d be crushed if they died.  So why was it so hard to get out?  Was he just worried he’d say something wrong, or too much?  That he’d come off awkward?  William was peering over at him, giving him a weird look that Vyncent couldn’t read. “N... never mind.  You get it.  Let’s just… hey, let’s just relax for a bit, alright?  I’m sure Dakota will come back in a bit and we’ll just… rest.  I, uh, also think he still has your phone, by the way, so—”

“Oh, God, it’s gonna be all cracked, damn it,” William groaned, though there was a noticeable lack of annoyance in his voice.  “Oh well. I’ll get it fixed later, I guess.  Maybe we’ll do another pit fight to get the money for that .” He was silent for a moment as Vyncent chuckled, and then his face fell.  “Which, um, I just realized — how are we paying for this visit, exactly?”

“Oh, we’re so not. We’re just busting you out.”

Will opened his mouth, presumably to protest.  “Uh…” He gave up quickly, though, shrugging.  “Yeah, sure.  I guess.”  A beat of comfortable silence came over the room.  “You’re really warm,” William put in groggily.

“So you’ve said before,” Vyncent teased, but wriggled a little closer to offer the other more warmth.  “I think that you’re just really fuckin’ cold.”

“Maybe,” said Will with a small laugh.  “Hey, do you want to hear the rest about what I was saying earlier?”

“About the Freddy meme?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, of course.”  So, he went on about it.

Like Vyncent predicted, Dakota reentered the room a few minutes later.  When he opened the door, he stared at them for a prolonged moment without saying anything.  He was holding a half-eaten red popsicle in one hand. 

“Dakotaaa!” William greeted weakly but full of affection and good-naturedness, smiling over at their friend.  Vyncent ducked his head down a little to look away from him.  “Welcome back, bud.”

“Hey,” the redhead said, finally shutting the door and walking in.  He flopped down into a cushioned chair off in the side of the room after pulling it closer to Will’s bedside before biting straight into his popsicle, making Will visibly cringe.  “You’re gonna have another sick ass scar after this heals, y’know, man.”

“Yeah.  Pretty cool, we’ll almost be matching.”

“Hey, you’re right!  We’ll be like… scar twins, dude.”

Dakota and William’s small talk went on, with Will faking annoyance at not being brought a popsicle, as Vyncent’s ears tuned more into the very slow, but still rhythmic beeping of Will’s heart monitor in the room.  He was so glad he was alive , whatever that meant for William Wisp.  He wondered about the people who’d attacked them, who were somewhere in this very same hospital right now, and felt a surge of anger go through him again.  They had made Vyncent feel so helpless.  His best friend, someone he dearly loved, nearly died again because of them, and Dakota had still threatened to stop being his friend for retaliating.  It upset him.  He understood Dakota’s point of view, he really did, but he couldn’t lie that a part of him hoped, deep down, that the one who had put William in here, the vermin, did die for it, and he felt it was somewhat justified.  It’s what they deserved, attacking the Prime Defenders unprovoked like that.  Vyncent hoped that at least one of them died, but also hoped none of them did for his relationship with Dakota’s sake, and even if he felt guilty for how it made Dakota feel, he didn’t ultimately care what happened to them at all.  He gripped Will’s hand a little tighter.

“—cutting off my circulation a little there, Vynce,” Vyncent heard his friend telling him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled back, relaxing his hand.  “My bad.”

Vyncent let the sound of Will’s voice and the feeling of his hand squeezing his back, however little, comfort him and draw the anger away.  

“Dude, do you guys need like another minute alone or something?” said Dakota in a sharp tone, like he loved to do lately.  Vyncent never understood why he implied it like that but was too exhausted to say anything.  He also didn’t like how defensive it made him feel; like he had something to prove.  He didn’t have anything to prove.

“Shut up,” William deadpanned.  Dakota threw his hands up and grumbled.

“‘M just asking!”

“Uh-huh.”

“Y’know, I think Vyncent killed one of those guys.  You could be cuddling with a murderer right now.” He sounded like he was half-joking, half-serious.  William gave him a weird look and Vyncent cringed.

“Didn’t I tell your mom we were preventing you from stabbing people?  Are you trying to make a liar out of me?”  William asked, though his tone lacked any anger.  

Luckily, a nurse entered the room to check his vitals just as he was opening his mouth to speak again, saving Vyncent at least another moment of having to explain himself.

Later the same day, Dakota dragged Vyncent along with him to prowl around the hospital looking for their assailants.  They found the room the cat lady was put in, but no others.  When the staff’s backs were turned, Dakota squeezed through the door and ushered Vyncent along inside.

The cat was laying in bed, one arm and one leg in elevated casts that looked like they’d prevent her from moving them at all.  She was snoring lightly, head tipped back and mouth open.  She kind of reminded Vyncent of Dakota in this state, ironically.

“Hey!”  Dakota yelled at moderate volume.  The cat startled awake, her tail that was dangling limply off the side of the bed puffing out instantly in shock and head whipping straight up. 

“Agh!” she cried, eyes wild looking over at the two.  “Shit!  What are you doing here?!  Back for a rematch?”  She jerked her free hand out at them, claws unsheathing with a sharp sound, but didn’t move otherwise.  Dakota snorted.  “Okay, yeah, maybe not the time for a rematch.  What do you want?”  she grumbled.

“Where are your friends?”  He cut right to the point.  “Are they all alive?”

“Huh?  What’s it to you?”  the cat sneered.  Dakota cracked his knuckles at her.  “Okay, okay, they’re alive!  I don’t know if they’re all still here, though…”

“Even the weird one?  The… what were they, a possum?”

“Oh, The Possum.  Yeah, they’re alright.  Always are,” the last part was mumbled a bit under her breath.

“What’s your name, by the way?”

“Catnip,” she replied quickly, then tried to backtrack.  “Wait, I mean– I’m not telling you!”

“Alright, Catnip,” said Dakota through a smirk.  “So you’re all seriously cool?  No one’s dead?”

“...Yeah, we’re fine.”  She grumbled, then seemed to hesitate for a moment, eyebrows furrowing at them both.  She peered past the redhead at Vyncent.  He looked back at her with thinly veiled contempt.  “Is your friend okay?”

“What do you care?”  Vyncent tried to reel in the venomous tone in his voice.  “You came after us.  With intent to kill, according to that one.”

“I would never kill anyone!”  Catnip said incredulously, looking serious.  “The Possum can just get… carried away.  Is your friend okay or not?”

“He’s fine,”  Dakota answered, putting a hand on Vyncent’s arm.  He relaxed a little.  “Listen, thanks.  Sorry for breaking your bones.  But never fucking attack the Prime Defenders again,” he told her.

“Yeah, okay,” Catnip reluctantly said, barely holding back a growl.  Vyncent’s tail lashed.

They exited without another word to her.

“Good thing they’re all alive,” Dakota told him as they headed back to William’s room.  “Or else we were gonna have problems.  But seriously, stop almost killing people.  We gotta put bubble wrap on that knife or something, man.”

Vyncent didn’t answer.

They did have to break William out of the hospital the next day to avoid paying anything, and also because it looked like they weren’t very inclined to let him go when his heart rate situation didn’t change.

The group was straight back on the road again, with Will at the wheel like always despite Dakota begging their friend to let him take over for a few days while he continued to rest.  William refused, though, he always did.  He was their designated driver, and no near-death experience would change that, he claimed.

Will drove for quite a while at first, the lot of them wanting to put some distance between them and New Haven after that.  They talked about a few different places they could go, but when Vyncent passingly mentioned the cabin they’d briefly visited with Mark and Ashe when the whole sentient-planet thing happened, Will backtracked to it and suggested they go and check it out again.  He said it would probably be pretty safe there and would allow them some time to recover from what had happened – but Vyncent also got the sense, knowing him as he did, that he wanted to snoop around pretty bad, too.  Dakota was only down once Will argued that Bobo would have a bunch of trees to climb on since they’d be in the woods; it would be like he was in his natural habitat for once.  The redhead liked the sound of that and agreed.

Once they decided on a destination, the rest of the drive passed pretty quickly.  Mostly because of William speeding and cutting slower cars off, but also because he remembered how to get where they were going.  Even if the one time they’d been there was amidst blood rain and what essentially amounted to end times (and William especially was having a hard time during all that), he somehow still memorized the roads.  Vyncent was consistently impressed by how intelligent his friend was.

They pulled up to the cabin by sunset, Will narrowly missing crashing the Winnebago into the steps of the porch.  Dakota cheered at the accomplishment.

“Hey, you didn’t crash us!”  he said excitedly.  “Great job!”

“Yeah, look at that,” Will replied, a little proud of himself.

Vyncent stepped out of the RV, taking the sight of the run-down, long-abandoned place.  It wasn’t a good memory, per se; his skin crawled at the recollection of how the “rain” that day had felt against his skin, thick and staining.  The elf unconsciously rubbed an arm, stepping up the porch and to the door as his friends piled out after him.  He found it unlocked and it creaked open with a light push.  The place was precisely how they’d left it the first time, and just as dusty.  William immediately pushed past further in, only limping a little, heading for the small kitchen at the other side of the room to test the tap.  Vyncent full-body plopped down on the musty old couch in the small living space, causing a cloud of dust to kick up from where he sat.  He made a disgusted noise.  Dakota, meanwhile, let Bobo loose in the space, and the monkey immediately began crawling around, picking various things up and putting them back down in curiosity for a bit.  Vyncent heard the sound of water flowing from behind him, and pulled out his notebook and pen in the meantime from the bag he kept at his hip and started mindlessly drawing.

“Huh, no way,” said William with a slight scoff.  “The water still runs in here.”

“It’s probably all gross and got dirt in it.”  Dakota stuck out his tongue.  “Here, let me drink some.  I’m thirsty.”  He ran up behind Will to get to the sink.  Vyncent was sketching out a lizard-like monster he’d fought in a video game he and Will had played together a while back.  He snickered, thinking of Mark, and started adding bandages across the face to the drawing.

“I dunno, looks pretty clear to me.  Go for it.”  Will stepped back and let Dakota stick his head under the tap, watching.  After a long pause, he said, “You’re just like… a creature, y’know that?”

“Noo,” said Dakota, the words coming out garbled like he was drowning.  Vyncent laughed.  He transitioned to drawing Ashe, then, suddenly thinking of their friend.  He wished he was there with them.

Will then joined him on the couch, sitting beside him.   “Whatcha drawing?” he asked, not looking over unless Vyncent gave him an indication it was ok.  He didn’t want to bring the other down at all, eyeing Will’s bandaging that was visible on his arm.  He was back in his hoodie, which was still a little torn up, and the slice in the front of it showed a peek of the dressings around his torso, as well.  “I drew Mark as one of those things from that, um… what was that game…?”  He covered the half-done sketch of Ashe with a hand and tilted the paper towards Will to show him the other drawing.  His friend furrowed his eyebrows at it for a moment before saying,

“Oh, a Lizalfos.  Like from Zelda.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Heh, nice.  You really captured his likeness,” Will joked.  “It’s a good drawing, by the way.”  Vyncent abruptly felt shy and pulled away, shutting the book.

“Thanks,” he sheepishly said.

“Did someone say Mark over here?”  Dakota came up behind the couch, wiping across his mouth with a sleeve.  “I hate that guy.”

“Yeah, he sucks,” Vyncent agreed.

“He sucks so bad,” William added.

“Alright, well I’m gonna go take Bobo outside.  Bobo, c’mere!”  The redhead patted the couch and Bobo, who had been turning a cup that had been left on the coffee table up and down, immediately dropped what he was doing and bounded over and up on top of the couch, then scurried up Dakota’s arm.

“You’re not worried about bears?”  William asked.

Dakota stared at him.  “Why would you say that?”

“Sorry, I just–”

“If there’s a bear I’ll fucking kick its ass !”  he yelled, face red, and Bobo screamed, riled up by his energy.

“Yeah, you will!”  William cheered but sounded nervous.  “Go get ‘em Dakota!” he called after him as their friend bounded out of the house, door slamming harshly behind him.  They could hear him yelling even once he left.  A moment of silence passed over the two.

“He’ll be fine,” Vyncent said flippantly.  “I doubt there’s any bears around here.”

“Well, if there is, he’s definitely finding them.”  

“He’d be alright.” Vyncent waved a hand.  “This is Dakota we’re talking about.  Remember that one he woke up with?”

How could either of them forget?  William laughed.  “Yeah, that’s true.”  He pulled out his phone and began playing something as their conversation wounded down a bit and they simply sat in one another’s company.  Vyncent’s eyes dragged over to linger on his friend, eyeing the area where his wound was.  It still made him buzz with anger, even if it was healing fine.  They’d have to replace the bandaging, he thought; it probably wasn’t the best to run out of the hospital without getting more of that.  They’d have to pick some up somewhere soon.  William quickly noticed him looking and raised an eyebrow.  

“Vynce?”

“Oh, sorry, I was just… thinking about… um…”  How did he not make it sound strange?  Sorry, I was thinking about how mad I still am that I let you get hurt?  I was thinking about how to redress your wound later?   William was looking at him like he could physically see the gears turning in Vyncent’s head as he debated what to say.

“You with me, Vynce?” he interrupted his thoughts.  “You’re overthinking… something.  D’you need to talk?”  He was too perceptive.

“Just… looking at you,” Vyncent said dumbly.  He could’ve sworn Will’s breath hitched a little.  “Sorry, I don’t know.  I’m still upset you got hurt,” he admitted.

Will laughed nervously.  “You don’t have to worry about me so much, Vyncent.”  He gave his friend a playful shove.  Vyncent let himself be moved by it, swaying to the side.

“I’m trying,” he insisted.  “Can’t help it, honestly.”  They made awkward, prolonged eye contact.  It was hardly the first time.  “Uh– um, anyway!”  Vyncent tried to change the subject.  “Written any more poetry lately?  I liked the ones you showed me last week.”

“You always say that,”

“No, 'cause it’s true.  I think the wolves are a really cool, um… what is it?  Hyperbole?”

“Metaphor.”

“Right.  Yeah, I think you’re a really good writer, Will.”

“I have a few more I could show you,” his friend said, looking a little less awkward.  “But you have to show me some more of your art.”

“Alright, deal.”

Will always kept his notebook on him, too.  He pulled it out and held it, hesitating for a moment.  Then, he opened it and started flipping through, biting his bottom lip a little.

“What?”  Vyncent asked, wanting to know what he was thinking.

“Oh, nothing.  Here, um… Read this one.”  He passed it over to his friend.  Vyncent mused how neat his handwriting was; it was always impressive to him.  There were a couple of poems written on the pages that the book was open to, and Vyncent’s eyes wandered a little from the one Will was pointing at, but he focused after a moment and started reading the words, slowly.

your heart doesn’t really beat the same when you’re dead.

sometimes it feels like it isn’t beating at all.

but when you’re next to me,

or when you look at me,

and when you hold my hand,

it beats a little faster

enough to feel it

and makes me feel like maybe

I’m alive again.

Huh.  Well, it was really good, as always.  Vyncent wondered who it was about, though.  It had to be about someone, that was pretty obvious.  He reread a couple of lines, squinting.  Maybe it was about Summer.  The thought annoyed him a little bit.  He wished it was about him.  He was not about to unpack that.

Vyncent handed Will the notebook back.  “It’s good,” he said.  “I liked it.”

When he looked over at his friend, he looked extremely nervous.  Vyncent raised a questioning eyebrow at him.  

“Yeah?” Will said.

“Yeah.  I didn’t know you felt like that.”  I wish it was about me.

Hesitating only slightly, William reached out and took his friend’s hand.  He took a breath and Vyncent cocked his head to the side at him.

“Y’know, you’d think it wouldn’t take almost dying twice since I’ve known you for me to be able to say this, but, uh…  Well– actually dying once and almost dying another time… But, whatever, um, not important… I, um… really like you, Vynce.” He spoke very shyly, not making direct eye contact.  Vyncent tried to meet his gaze, puzzled at the other’s sudden apprehension.  He wasn’t really following.  Regardless, his response came without question and made warmth bloom in his chest just to say.

“I really like you too, Will.”  His friend’s eyes darted back towards him as if he didn’t expect him to say that.  Vyncent squeezed his hand gently.

“W… Really?” he asked, leaning in a little closer into Vyncent’s space, making him feel weirdly nervous, stomach fluttering.  “Like, you’re… for real?”

“Yeah, of course, man,” Vyncent replied in a sure tone, unsure as to why William would ever think otherwise.  “You’re a little bit of a dork,” he teased, “but I think you’re great.”

William was leaning extremely close to him now – closer than they’d ever been face-wise.  His friend laughed a little, awkwardly.  Vyncent smiled back at him, the two of them lingering in one another’s space before Will’s eyes fluttered half-closed, and Vyncent was staring wide-eyed back at him, confused as he closed the distance between them.  Too stunned to move or speak for a moment, their lips grazed, and Vyncent reeled back instantly at the unexpected contact.  The movement caused his chin to bump Will’s nose, and the other shot a hand up instinctively and rubbed it, muttering a quick, “Ow…”  Vyncent’s heart was rabbiting around in his chest like mad all of a sudden; so much so that he physically reached up and clutched the front of his shirt, hoping that would help settle it.  William’s eyes shot open a second later, belatedly processing the other’s reaction, and he quickly backpedaled away from Vyncent, turning his head away in obvious shame, fingers still holding his nose for a moment.  

“Uh– sorry, I’m sorry, I thought that– I thought– well, I…”  Words tumbled out of his friend’s mouth in a rush, breathless.  Vyncent’s face felt so hot.  “I’m– I’m seriously so sorry.  I totally misinterpreted… Everything.  Um.  Uh, I should just go, before I...”  The rest of what he said from there was inaudible mumbling.  He stood up ramrod straight from the couch, still looking down.  Vyncent’s mouth was too dry to respond at first.  “Oh, God, I’m really um– nauseous all of a sudden.  Just me?” he rambled, starting to step away.

“Will, I–”

“I’ll leave, sorry!”

Vyncent didn’t know what to say.  “W–what was that?”  he asked because he seriously didn’t understand what just happened.  Though his tone held no disgust but rather genuine confusion, Will laughed humorlessly, the way he did when something sickened him.  His body flickered a little, turning translucent for a moment before he pulled the hood of his sweatshirt overhead and tugged harshly on the strings to pull it taut, hiding his face.  Then, he went fully invisible.

“William, you can’t just–!”  He could hear William’s footsteps running out of the room, and his eyes went after the direction of the sound.  “You can’t just turn invisible and run away, man!”  Regardless of his words, Vyncent slumped back in a huff on the couch, putting his hands up to his face and rubbing his eyes.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the front door to the cabin open and slam shut rapidly.

What the in the nine hells just happened?  Well, the basic answer was that William – his dear friend William – kissed him on the mouth.  The issue with that was that it was not a basic thing; it was a very layered thing.  Why did he kiss him on the mouth?  Why did he kiss him on the mouth and then run off?  Was this some kind of elaborate prank?  Why was Vyncent’s face still hot?  He vigorously rubbed his cheeks up and down a couple of times, hoping the feeling would fade.  It didn’t.  His heart was still going, too, and once he pulled his hands away from his eyes, he caught a glimpse of his tail frantically swishing over the edge of the couch, out of his control.  Vyncent stared straight ahead, across the room at the dark screen of the broken TV, blankly for a few minutes.

He didn’t even know you could do that.  Kiss another guy, that was.  Maybe that was a stupid thing, actually; now that he thought about it from a strictly realistic standpoint, there’s no reason why that wouldn’t happen in life.  Like, it’s not like a guy trying to kiss another guy would cause some kind of invisible force field to spring up between them and prevent it from happening.  So ok, yeah, maybe it was stupid to be that shocked at the very concept of it.  However, the more important, and less stupid aspect to this was why it happened.  Why would William kiss him?  Maybe even more importantly – why was Vyncent not upset about it?  He should be upset about it, right?  He thought about it.  It hit him.

Oh, my gods.  The poem was about me.   His blush returned full force.  William had a crush on him.  He was starting to connect some long-separated dots.  All at once, the elf thought about all the times that Will snuggled up to him a little close on the couch; thought about how he’d slotted their hands together for the first time when they were at Ashe’s place, and how it became a regular thing.  He thought about how jealous he’d acted when Vyncent flirted with Cantrip in the pit, and when Shauna had later kissed him – like Vyncent was committing the highest acts of betrayal he could have against the other.  He was angrier then than he had been when Vyncent worked that deal with Mal.  

He wasn’t sure how to react to this information, outwardly.  He wanted to tear his hair out at his stupidity, but he was also too freaked out beyond belief to do anything at all.  He let his mind wander, openly thinking about his feelings.  When William came into his space, he welcomed it, even with how cold he ran.  He’d put his arm around him at the drop of a dime and hold him through whatever movie they were watching.  William may have taken his hand the first time, but Vyncent was more than eager to reach out after then; grabbing for him almost whenever he could.  And when Will had been jealous, Vyncent couldn’t understand why it was so important to him that he proved to him that there was nothing between him and Shauna, or Cantrip.  He didn’t have to worry about anyone coming between them.  William was his best friend, after all.  There was no room for anyone else between what they had.

Not to mention, he allowed himself to reflect, the way that the thought of losing him scared Vyncent like nearly nothing else.  They had been through so much together that Vyncent could no longer imagine life without him, but even just the idea of Will in pain made him shake with anger.  When he’d seen him splayed out like he was, near death in the field, Vyncent had seldom felt smaller or more scared.  That urge to lunge out and protect him, he got the feeling suddenly, might not be as simple as he thought it was.  Do I have a crush on William? the elf dared to wonder.  Thinking that made his heart pulse in his ears a little stronger.  If he asked, would I let him kiss me again?  His stomach did another weird fluttery rollover at the prospect.  The way his body was answering the questions for him was kind of astounding.  

Vyncent sunk further into the dusty cushions of the couch the longer he sat.  His face was still burning, and he could feel that burn reaching his ears at this point, to make it all worse.  The elf took a breath, exhaling heavily.  Alright, he had to talk to William.  Not only was he realizing that he liked him, but Vyncent also liked him back in the same way, apparently, and even if it was all overwhelming and bizarre and nerve-wracking, he had to say something to his friend.  He’d go insane if he didn’t.  Just as he was gearing up to stand and go outside to look for him, Dakota, Bobo on one arm, barged back in.

“Hey,” he said in acknowledgment.  “Where’s Will?”

Vyncent’s throat tightened a little.  “Oh, uh, you know, I don’t know,” he ground out.  “He just, um, ran out!  It was crazy, I don’t know, he just…” he trailed off, not knowing where he was going with it, to begin with.

Dakota stared at him, smile falling slowly.  “Are you lying to me right now?”  His voice was low all of a sudden, squinting at the other.

“No, no!”  Vyncent cried, practically leaping up from the couch.  “Dakota, I would never lie to you,” he said, laughing nervously.

“Okay, not true!  You have .  And I’m pretty fuckin’ sure you’re doin’ it again right now!”  Dakota barked.  Bobo screeched in discontent and leaped off of his arm onto the ground.

“No, I’m not lying, he really did run out!”  Vyncent frantically tried to explain.  “We were just talking, and then y’know, one thing led to another and he just got– I don’t know, he just decided to go for a walk, I guess!”

His friend, whose jaw had begun clenching and veins popping a little from the mere prospect of being lied to, faltered a little, then relaxed.  Vyncent let out a breath.  

“Oh.  Okay.  Why’d you say it all weird then?!”  Dakota demanded, eyebrows furrowing as he came up closer.  Vyncent braced himself for a kick, just in case.  “And what the hell does that mean?  Were you guys making out in here or something?”

“No,” Vyncent replied much too quickly, eyes wide.  He felt his tail flick.  Dakota stared at him dead in the face for a long moment.

“Oh, my God,” he said in a near whisper.  “You totally were.”
“No, it wasn’t– I have to go, actually–”

The redhead grabbed the back of the other’s shirt as he tried to move past and tugged him back, causing Vyncent to stumble.  “Did you guys get in a fight after you got done making out or something?”  he asked, tone accusatory and a little sharp, weirdly.  “Did you say something to him?  Why’d he run away?”

“Maybe I could find that out if you let me go!”  Vyncent cried, desperate to exit this interaction.  Dakota let him go, face suddenly twisted in a scowl.

“I’ll kick both your fucking asses if you’re fighting again,” he promised.  “Stop being stupid.”

“Yeah, man, you got it,” said the elf, straightening his shirt back out as he made for the door.  He took a glance back at Dakota as he left, the redhead sitting down on the couch and crossing his arms tightly across his chest.  “We’re not fighting.”  He kept it simple.  “I promise.”

“Uuhh huuuh,” said Dakota.  “Just go ‘n talk to him, then.  Do whatever it is you gotta do.  And then get the fuck back here so we can play Jenga or something and like, have a good time!” 

“You got it, man.”  He slipped out the door.

William was sitting in the Winnebago; it took mere minutes to find him, even with it being invisible.  When Vyncent found the door and entered, for a split second he saw his friend sitting in the driver’s seat, hands gripping the steering wheel and head completely down on the horn, though not setting it off.  At the sound of the door opening, though, Will’s head shot up and eyes bulged upon seeing the other.  They spoke simultaneously, over one another.

“Hey, Vynce–”

“Hi–”

“Sorry.  You...  Go.”

Alright, how to start this .  “Okay, so I’m kinda bad with words.”  Great start .  “You know that; you know me.  Um… but you usually follow, so… Uh…”  His eyes darted around the space, not wanting to look directly at the other yet.  He wrung his hands together nervously.  “I didn’t realize this til literally like, fiiive minutes ago now..?  But, uh… Okay, well, first off, the poem was about me.  I got that.”

William made a strangled noise; one Vyncent recognized to be of pure, utter embarrassment.  He half expected him to go intangible through his seat and leave this conversation.

“Anyway!  Uhm!  So yeah, I like, figured that out!  And it was actually pretty cool, ‘cause then that made me realize that I was glad it was about me.  ‘Cause like, I thought it was about someone else, and it kind of pissed me off.  Uhm, yeah… And so that made me think about… Everything.  Yeah, just like, everything, and I realized that basically I really like you and like– I know I said that earlier, too, but not in the right way, and–!”  He paused to take a breath, face red.  When he stole a glance in William’s direction, he was staring right back with unblinking eyes.  “I meant it like in a friend way but then I realized after you left that I actually meant it in like the same way you meant it but I didn’t know it and– sorry.”

There was a beat of silence.  Then, William said,

“Vynce, you almost gave me a fucking heart attack.”  Vyncent couldn’t help but laugh a little, even now.  “You are so stupid.”  He said it with so much affection dripping from his voice that Vyncent didn’t even feel insulted.

Still, he replied, “Hey, man, c’mon… It just… took me a minute.”  He tried to will his heart to settle, as it thumped wildly in his chest.  “But yeah… about what happened back there.  Do you, uh… want to try again?”

“Huh?”

Feeling a surge of bravery, Vycent said, “Y’know, kissing… Do you want to try it again?”

William stood up from the wheel, facing him.  “Uhm– yeah, uh, sure, that’d be cool.  If you want to.”  He stumbled over himself a little, trying to play it cool.  A little smile tugged at Vyncent’s lips.  “So do you like,  want to head this or should I…?”  He asked. 

Vyncent moved into his space, hesitating a little before reaching up and placing a hand on his shoulder.  “I think I got it,” he said, shutting his eyes before tilting his head a bit, leaning down, and going in for the kiss.  He heard William suck in a nervous breath before moving up a little to meet him.  His shoulder felt so tense under Vyncent’s hand at first, but the other went lax after a moment.  Will’s lips were so cold against his, but he found that he didn’t mind, wanting his warmth to bleed into him.  They stood like that, not moving with their lips pressed together, for a few beats before Vyncent was hit with the overwhelming urge to wrap the other up in his arms and not let go.  Leaning into the feeling, he snaked his arms around Will’s chest and embraced him, mindful of his wound below, hands coming to rest under the nape of his neck.  His tail came around between them and tried to curl around his waist, but it wasn’t long enough to make a full wrap-around.  In response, Will moved against him and brought his arms up and around Vyncent’s neck, locking him in.  Will exhaled through his nose against him and he breathed it in.  Vyncent pulled back a bit, the other chasing after him slightly, pressing another kiss to the corner of Will’s mouth, then his cheek, before going back to his lips.  Even when they pulled away to breathe and Will’s arms went lax on his shoulders, Vyncent’s grip on him remained the same.  

“Hi,” William said in a deep, dreamy tone that Vyncent had only heard him use maybe once before.  

“Hey,” he replied, ear flicking at the sound of his own voice – a little throaty.  He suddenly felt self-conscious.  “How was that?”

“It was— yeah, good, really— nice, like… I liked it,” he struggled to say.  Vyncent was sure if he could blush, he’d be red right now.

“Good,” he replied through a laugh.  William started laughing with him.  Vyncent hid his head in the crook of his friend’s neck.  “I don’t know how I… How did I not know I wanted to do that sooner?” he mumbled against him, not necessarily prying for an answer.  Regardless, Will teased,

“I don’t know either.  You were always putting down some pretty strong signs… I just thought we were on the same page.”

“Sorry,” said Vyncent, embarrassed again.  “I just thought that we were, like… y’know, really good friends.”

William laughed again, louder.  Even though it was directed at his own silliness, Vyncent’s heart swelled at the sound.

He never wanted to let go.