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1.
Steven thought it would be rude to decline an evening with his coworker- especially after the man had made attempts to befriend Steven after…well, being a bit of a dick- but the request to bring swimsuits should have been a red flag.
The drying sunscreen on his shoulders the icing on the cake.
“ No.” Steven takes a step back from the pool’s edge. His arms crossed as tight as they could be.” ‘M not getting in.”
J.B, already comfortable on his flamingo float, throws his head back.” And why not? It’s hot as shit out here, mate. Live a little.” He splashes a wave Steven’s way and giggles watching the grown man jump back in fear.
“ You scared of water?”
Steven hunches in on himself.” No…Not scared of it…uh.” He looks away, and when he turns back his face is tinted a bit dark.” I can’t swim.”
J.B doesn’t laugh, but a smile stretches his lips.” Is that all? C’mon Scotty, there’s nothing to be scared of. The pools only a meter and a half deep.” J.B slips out of the inflatable through the bottom and then erupts back up into it with his hair dripping in his face.
“ ‘m standing right here! No need to swim at all unless you want to practice doggy prattling.” J.B fixes himself back on his float, sunglasses shinning with water droplets, and gestures to the pools walk-in stairs.
“ Join me for a bit, would you? Doesn’t even have to be for long. My hands are pruning already anyway.”
Steven swallows.” Um, yeah. Alright. Just, just give me a moment.”
“ No problem,” J.B calls.” Just get in when you can! The warm weather doesn’t last long.”
“ Don’t I know it…” Steven grumbles to himself. He makes it so that J.B or any other swimmers- the few teenagers and adults there- could eye him rummaging around in his bag.
“ I know you’re in here, I bought you just last week.” Steven turns over and dumps the bag after pulling out everything he doesn’t want, and sighs to himself when the CBD gummies poke out form beneath his extra shirt.
He picks them up and packs away all of his things before opening the pack.
“ Peach rings, yeah?” Steven takes a cautious sniff and grimaces.” Don’t smell like it…though that’s just because you’re not made for children.”
Steven pops two of the peach rings in his mouth and closes the bag. He shoves it as far in his bag as it could go and wipes the excess sugar off on his swim shorts.
He finishes them off with a sour expression before heading back towards the pool stairs.
J.B, nearly asleep, greets him with a lazy smile.” Took you long enough. Powdering your nose?”
“ I’ll powder you one,” Steven sticks his toe into the water hesitantly.” Piss off, it’s freezing! How’re you standing it?”
“ Acclimation?” Steven raises a brow at him.” What? It’s a word, heard it in school once.”
Steven shakes his head.” Whatever.” He sticks his whole foot in and accepts the cold waters sting with a smile.
2.
“ Do you think- gods exist?”
Steven takes a deep inhale of the joint and holds it while passing it back to the women beside him.
It’s funny, actually. He doesn’t really remember asking this women out, taking her out to dinner or fucking her for that matter. Yet, here he is. His eyes just the slightest bit red and hair a tousled mess.
“ By what standards?” He asks, blowing the smoke out simultaneously.” Christianism? Judaism? Buddhism? On what lines are we talking about? Because, if any at all, it’s up to interpretation. I can’t say which exist and which do not, but I can say I believe in one over the other. Though that’s only because I was raised to believe so.”
The unknown woman rolls her eyes. She takes a few hits of the joint, Steven watching her nose bridge highlight shine under the moon, before answering.
“ Whats got you so chattery now?” She hands him back the joint.” Barely spoke a word to me at the restaurant and now you’re buzzing away.”
Steven flushes.” Must be the herbs, innit?” He smiles around the joint while the women laughs.” Helps me relax quite a bit.” The smoke curls around his lips while he talks, and the woman leans over to kiss him before he could take another hit.
Her uncut finger nails guide Steven’s jaw her way, the taste of smoke coating each other’s tongues as they kiss.
Steven’s breathless once they finally pull away, but he still manages to get one last hit in before passing the final puffs to his date.
“ You’re quiet good at that. Surprised you still haven’t gotten a husband.”
The woman slaps his bare chest with a raspy laugh.” You’re funny, flattering a woman like me…why haven’t you got a wife?” She finishes off the joint and disposes of the leftovers on a nearby ash tray.
“ Seems it would be a shame just to let you go…you’re a real catch.” She finds herself at Steven’s side, nuzzling deep into his warm skin
Steven brings her closer with an arm around her back.
“ Don’t really know.” He kisses her forehead and lets the loops of her curls tickle his nose.” At one point I think I almost had one, but it might have been a dream.”
The woman yawns into his neck.
“ Let’s hope it stays that way.”
3.
*Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voic-*
“ Hey mum. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Yeah. Sorry about that. The days just keep getting busier and busier. Donna’s a right cunt but who’s boss isn’t? Yeah…but it’s, it’s great. I love working with everyone. J.P’s a peach, so is uh…so is, well everyone else! Good customers, good people…good pay. What more could I possibly want?”
Steven pauses his rambling, and lets the voice message go silent. The speaker sounds as if someone is shuffling it around in the other end. But it only lasts for a few seconds before Steven- presumably- sets it down.
It’s quiet then, but a faint bubbling sound could be heard in the background. As if someone were trying to suck up water through a straw with multiple holes in it.
The sound stops after a while and is followed by the sound of scrapping glass and Steven’s cursing. More shuffling fills the speakers as the phone is moved again.
“ Mom? Still there, ha. Sorry, was just itching a bit…Anyway, how have you been? Dad alright? Tell him to call me once in a while, can never get ahold of the man myself- hah.” Steven pulls the phone away as a round of unprompted laughter shakes him. His giggles flutter in the distance, his phone speaker shuffling again, before everything is suddenly plunged into silence.
The voice box beeps.
*Your call has been forwarded to-*
“ Mom! Jeez, bloody thing hung up before I could finish. Sorry about that! How are you? Have I already asked that? But there’s no harm in asking again, would love you hear your voice again actually…so, if you ever get the chance, just call. I’m never busy. Usually I stack boxes at work, or count things…not busy at all. So, just call me. Anytime. Ok?”
The same cycle repeats. Steven sets his phone down, water bubbles in the background and then he’s back again.
“ Just another itch. I’ve gotten a fish, have I told you that? He’s golden and missing a fin, the poor thing. It was by pure chance I found him, just waltzed into the store one day and, yeah, there he was. Good ol’ Gus- his name is Gus. Bought him a massive tank and everything. Decorated it all…nice with ships and things from…from my books. I’m sure you’ve heard all about it from me, but it’s just a few pyramids and a boat- the duat- it’s an ancient boat used in the afterlife to travel souls across the duat. Where, where you weigh hearts and find the field of reeds. Or not, sometimes things don’t always-“
The voice box beeps.
*You call has-*
“ Please call me back. I miss you…Laters gators.”
4.
“ What was it you said your name was again?”
There’s another random woman in his bed tonight. The same type, too. Curly hair with a nice nose. Not someone he himself would have the courage to ask out, but his type nonetheless.
Steven’s finishes his second brownie. A pinched expression wrinkling his face as the strong taste turns the chocolate into a bitter paste on his tongue.
“ Steven,” he coughs into his elbow and reaches across the woman to grab his glass of water.” With a ‘v’. And yours?”
The random woman shakes her head, an endearing smile on her lips.” Won’t do you no good to tell you, you’ll hardly remember it anyway.”
“ Whys that?” Steven finishes off his water and sets the glass somewhere near his feet.” Not too keen on a second date?”
The woman shakes her head again.” Not so much that, more so how many brownies you’ve eaten.” She moves herself closer on the couch to smack Steven’s exposed stomach.” Didn’t think a lad like you- so scraggly- would think eating more than one would do any good.”
Steven grumbles. The slap on his stomach leaving a growing ache that creeps up and down his spine.
“ Not my first time with this, not a virgin.” He smiles cheekily and flicks one of her exposed nipples.” Unlike yourself.”
The woman squeals in laughter, she defends herself from Steven’s further attacks by standing up. She allows him to chase her to the bed and lets Steven throw her onto the sheets.
“ Now,” Steven straddles her with his thighs, breathing heavily across her skin.” Why not go another round? One I can remember?”
The woman laughs. She claps her hands around the back of Steven’s neck and pulls herself up to give him a kiss.
“ I’ll try my best.”
Steven smiles against her neck.
“ Great.”
And, funnily enough, he doesn’t remember what happened next.
5.
“ This your first time, Steven?” Layla hands the pipe to him, a lazy smile on her face that only grows with the look Steven gives her.
“ Not at all.” Steven flicks his lighter and holds it over the already burning herb. He takes a few deep hits and then sets the pipe down on the table between them.” Maybe the second time with a glass pipe, but I’ve smoked…give or take my whole life.”
Layla nods and lounges back in her chair.” Does Marc know?” She turns her head away from Steven, her nose a silhouette in the moonlight.” The last time we smoked together was…years ago.”
Steven lets himself admirer her for a moment. His mind slowly turning into a haze of thoughts.” I don’t think so…We, we haven’t spoken much. Since Cairo-“ He coughs near the end and turns to spit into his cup.
“ Pardon me…but, yeah. Haven’t had much a word with him…Don’t really think he has much to say to me, anyway.” He turns away from Layla, her sorrow filled eyes making him choke, and picks the pipe back up again.
“But I’m sure we’ll figure something out…I think he, we both just need time.” Steven flicks his lighter on, the burn of its flame distracting him from the conversation.
“ Damn,” He takes a puff and passes it back to Layla.” Burned myself again.”
“ You’ll get use to it,” Layla makes sure to be more careful with her turn, the last bit of herb charring with her final inhale.” Took me a while.” She puts the pipe back down and looks towards the stars. They chose the perfect night to sit outside. A nice dark purple sky with bright stars, clear as a picture. It was as if the London smog had lifted just for them
Layla blows the last bit of smoke out in phases. The wisps of white pool out between her teeth and kiss the warmth of her skin until they disappear with the wind.
The glow of the stars makes her appear like a heavenly figure. Her looping curls and perfect nose draw Steven in closer, their knees touching now while he unconsciously shifts.
If he so wished, Steven could lean forwards and-
“ Can Marc hear me right now?”
But he won’t.
Steven freezes and pulls his leg back.” Right, right now?” He inwardly curses himself a bit, Layla’s expression twisting in on itself.” I don’t think so…he’s most likely asleep.”
Layla nods and looks at her feet.
“ But not gone?”
“ Not gone.” He affirms.” Just sleeping.”
Layla hums. She pushes herself up with surprising grace and brushes pass Steven with a pat on his shoulder. Leaving him in the dark with her final words of the night.
“ That’s good.”
+1
Steven blinks, and only one- out of the three- reflections blink back at him.
“ I haven’t been slipped anything, right?” Steven breaks the tense silence with his question, three copies of his face- one his own- staring back at him from the mirror.” Like, I’m not dreaming? Or I’ve not mistaken a lolly for one of my chocolates, yeah?”
Marc can do nothing to hide the annoyed expression on his face. “ You’re stone cold sober, pot head. No one’s given you anything.” He pauses, angrily looking at their third counter part from the adjacent mirror.” And you ate all your chocolates last week.”
Steven’s forehead creases.” How do you-
“ I checked.” Marc snaps.” But I don’t give a shit about any chocolate. Who the fuck are you?” He points to the other man, their faces both filled with annoyance but the laters masked by a bushy mustache.
“ Es grosero de tu parte no preguntarme mi nombre.” The other growls, deepening his accent. He turns away from Marc and lets his frown lift up into a smile when noticing Steven’s attention on him.
“ I’m Jake. Jake Lockley. Y es un placer hablar finalmente contigo, Grant.”
Jake gives Marc a side eye and clenches his teeth.” And, you as well, Cara de águila.”
Marc’s frown deepens.” Fuck you, why are you still working for Khonshu?”
Steven jumps a bit at that.” You’re still with that old bird? Why?” He leans against the sink, calculating every single twitch on Jake’s face with his own barren one.” Are you not above yourself to ditch that pigeon? And, and what about our deal?”
“ Your deal.” Jake corrects.” I never said anything about breaking up with Khonshu. That was all on you two idiots.”
“ Don’t make this sound like some tragic teenage relationship.” Steven groans.” Why didn’t you talk to us?”
Marc nods along.” Why wait until now anyway, you’ve been here-“
“ Just as long as Steven, maybe more.” Jake grins.” Who knows, but I never chose to talk because…I didn’t want do.”
Steven thinks for a moment.” I guess…that’s a reasonable answer?”
“ What?” Marc spits.” That’s a terrible answer, you just didn’t want to stop working for him because you like to kill people.”
Steven hisses.” Marc-“
“ Me? You’re one to talk.” Jake laughs.” You got us involved with Khonshu in the first place, and liked it! So what’s so bad about me staying with him? It’s not like you guys noticed.”
“ Uh, guys?”
“ Quiet, Steven.” Marc snaps.” The only reason we didn’t notice was because you did it while we were asleep! How the hell am I supposed to know you’re fucking around with Khonshu at three in the morning? Huh? Most of the world is asleep!”
Steven tries to intervene again, but Jake beats him to it.
“ So? Did you not get your full eight hours or what, Grandpa?” Jake rubs a hand down his face, looking as tired as Steven feels.” I still don’t see any reason as to why me working with Khonshu is a bad thing! You’ve yet to name one!”
Marc grunts and Steven nearly faints as the two swap places. The refreshing air of their lemon scented bathroom now a stale dusty smell drying Steven’s tongue.
“ It’s not your call to say if we stay with him or not!” Now that Marc’s out of the mirror, he unconsciously slicks his hair back from his face and pulls at the collar of Steven’s shirt.” There’s three of us, dickhead! And, right now, it’s two against one.”
Steven groans at the acknowledgment.” Don’t bring me into this-“
Jake rolls his eyes.” Jesucristo! Khonshu has saved us a million times over, we owe him! So what if we get a little blood on our hands in the long run! We’re still doing what is right.”
“ And what’s right to you is killing people?” Marc asks, gripping the mirror Jake is in.” Is it?”
“ Bad people, yes.” Jake sneers.” I don’t kill children.”
“ Ok! Lads!” Steven pipes up, the force of their unexpected switch finally dulling to a supple throb.” How about we take a moment to calm down, yeah! Let’s just-“
“ You shut your fucking mouth!” Marc doesn’t hesitate to punch the mirror Jake was occupying. He slams his fist into it, over and over again until what’s left is nothing but a bloody mess of glass and wood.
He’s breathing hard, chest rising and falling rapidly.
Steven watches in silence. His horrified expression masked by nothing as Marc turns his attention to him.
They lock eyes- angry and sad- but say nothing to each other.
Steven doesn’t even remember when they switched until the only reflection left in the mirror was his own. The other intact mirror barren, and the broken one holding on by a thread.
“ Oh dear, that was such a nice mirror.” He goes to touch the splintered wood, but hisses instead. The pain in his hand has intensified from Marc’s blows. And it sickens Steven to have to look at it. The skin cut in multiple places, and glass lodged within the splits.
Steven bites his lip while pulling a piece out by hand, but drops it in the sink as he starts to shake.
“ Damn you, Marc,” He grumbles, grabbing the first aid from their bathroom shelf.” Leaving me to play doctor…but that’s who I am right?” Steven starts to laugh whilst pulling out the tweezers.
“ Doctor Steven Grant!” He sits himself down on the toilet seat, but barely a moment goes by before a sudden wind whips him back up.
The figure of Khonshu’s looming presence pulling him out of the bathroom until he’s face to face with the god.
Steven furrows his brows.” You’re here? For what?” An almost ludicrous smile stretches Steven’s face.” For Jake? He’s gone, as of right now, you dirty bird. And Marc wants nothing to do with you.” Steven throws his hands up, presenting one bloody fist next to his good one.” And I hate you…so, why are you-“
Khonshu lunges forwards with a speed Steven could never dodge and curls his long fingers around Steven neck.
“ I does you no good to speak to me in such a way when I have come to you for help.” Khonshu says stiffly, giving Steven’s neck the lightest squeeze.” Since it’s not me that cares so dearly for your…museum.”
Steven ignores the way Khonshu spits at him.” What? What’s gone on at the museum?” His worries pique Khonshu’s interest and the god releases him with a chuckle.
“ I’m afraid the trouble has already passed there,” he starts, looking around the room as if there were much better things to do.” A few…felons have stolen quite the relic. Not without the price of blood, I’m afraid.”
Steven lets the information sink in, his shock a barrier to the hand caressing his shoulder.
“ Who…who?” Steven closes his eyes, preparing with both fists clenched as the god takes a breath to answer.
“ Only a few guards…some of your policemen, nothing more…” Khonshu slides his hand up Steven’s shoulder and caresses his chin.” They arrived with the intention to kill from the start…and left just as much. No justice was served this night…”
Steven opens his eyes, a shiver running down his spine at the gods hollow eye sockets.” And who were they?” Steven lets the god guide his chin upwards, just until his neck starts to strain.” Do you know?”
Khonshu nods silently.
“ Ok.” Steven relaxes when the god pulls away, but stands his ground.” Ok.”
“ Do you wish to protect future beings of the night?” Khonshu simply asks, the air full of a tension that doesn’t leave Steven feeling as defiant as he was before.
“ Do you wish to protect others, once more?”
Steven’s stomach twists.” Yes.”
The moon flickers beyond the rooms open window.