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Renee is not sure when she’s ever smiled so much in one day. It’s overwhelming, mostly in a positive way, but she’s glad to be here - has told Elliott as much, and she even let him be gushy with her about how much he values her friendship; it is his wedding after all, he’s allowed some slack today.
Illias spoke to her early, a brief thank you for coming and for the help she’s been over the years. She’s just had a similar conversation with Hound, which has left her feeling much calmer. It is nice to have someone there who understands her lack of comfort in such settings, and isn’t affronted by it. There are quite a fair few friends at the reception, though this far into the evening people are pairing off to dance and thankfully the amount of people trying to chat with her has dwindled significantly.
She plans to go find another quiet corner to settle in and observe the proceedings, when she notices Fitzroy sat on his own at a table, smiling in a way that when she looks closer, seems borderline melancholic - the sort of smile she would expect from herself, but not him of all people.
What she wants to do is to crawl into bed and not talk to anyone for a week, but clearly Walter needs someone to bounce off of. And, well, it is a free bar after all.
She brings over two beers to his table, and sits down on the chair next to him, silently offering one out. Walter raises an eyebrow, impressed, and takes it from her.
“Didn’t take you as a beer drinker.” He says, as he takes a swig.
“On occasion.”
“Aren’t you full of surprises aye?”
She rolls her eyes but her smile is enough to keep the mood friendly.
He’d given a little speech earlier, nothing too big, enough to make Hound groan and the others laugh and he’d been so vibrant then. Wraith wonders what’s got him looking so… Strange.
“Nice event.” She says in an attempt to start a conversation and immediately cringes at herself. This is why she didn’t talk to people.
“Ain’t it swell? I bloody love a wedding, wish I got to go to more of them.”
“Fan of the free bar?”
“Aw c’mon now, is that all you think of me?”
She panics for a second, thinking she’s actually managed to offend him. It must show on her face because he laughs, and nudges her shoulder, his chair wobbling a little as he leans over to do so.
“I’m just joshing with ya. The free bar is a nice bonus, I admit, but I just like the atmosphere. Nice to see your mates happy, and not have to worry about a damn thing. Especially with this lot, we all spent so much time fighting each other, but we don’t have to worry about that here.”
He has a point, Renee supposes. She’d not attended enough parties featuring the Legends enough to really appreciate the difference. And still, Fuse’s words have a happy sentiment, but the melancholy look on his face mars their intent. She takes a swig of her own beer, watches to make sure that she’s not seeing things, but when that sadness doesn’t seem to budge she prods him again.
“So what’s really up?”
“Ey?”
“I’m sure you can fool people less sober than me, but there’s a glint in your eye Fitzroy, and it’s not a happy one. What gives?”
Fuse looks at her curiously, assessing her, but Renee doesn’t let her own gaze falter, prompting them into a battle of wits. Walter caves first though, accepting that he’s been caught out, and takes a long go of his drink before letting out a deep sigh.
“You got me.” He admits. “Guess there’s not much that can hide from those voices of yours.”
Renee scoffs.
“I don’t need the Others to tell me that something’s wrong with you. I’m not blind. You’re sitting alone at a table at a wedding and I had to come bring you a drink.”
“Is this how you make friends usually? Tell them about how they’re acting weird?”
Rightfully she should be offended, but she’s been friends with Elliott long enough to see a diversion tactic from a mile off and so she simply waits for him to answer her original question.
“Alright alright, maybe you’re onto something. An’ look, I really am happy for everyone.”
“So…?”
“Ah you know how it is. Lost opportunities looking you square in the face. Realising you should have said something sooner. Maybe it wouldn’t have gone anywhere but the chance to ever find out has sailed right past you.”
He’s not looking at her anymore, and so Renee follows his gaze until she clocks that he’s staring at Hound.
“Oh.” She says before she can hold back her surprise. Somehow she is both blindsided and also kicking herself for being such an idiot - she’d always seen him flirting with Hound, but she’d seen him flirt with most of their fellow legends, and she’d just assumed that’s how he was. She’d never… Well, it was never any of her business anyway. They’d hardly interacted much outside the games for her to have any interest in his life.
Fuse just chuckles though when he looks at her again, and clearly her shock must still lay on her face.
“Cat got your tongue?”
“I just… I had no idea, is all.”
“Listen I know I tell people I wasn’t born to be subtle, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to be. Probably for the best though, I don’t think they ever clocked it either. Any of them actually.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Nah, don’t be. They’re happy, that’s all I want for them. Besides, this lot getting together was an absolute trainwreck, not sure I could have handled all of that.”
Renee snorts in a most undignified way. God knows how much whining and pining Elliott did over Hound and Illias, it was reassuring to know someone else knew that pain of having to listen to it all.
It breaks the tension anyhow, and they sit in a comfortable silence whilst they nurse some more of their drinks, before Fuse raises his to her and tilts his head towards the three of them, who are busy looking lovingly into each other's eyes.
“What about you then?”
“What about me?”
“Well you know, gossip columns don’t usually get much right but there’s been a lot of talk over the years about you and Witt. Never found yourself with some unexpected feelings?”
Renee is glad she put her beer back on the table or she is certain she would have made a spectacle of herself.
“Are you serious?” Is what comes out of her mouth because there is absolutely no way Walter isn’t pulling her leg.
“These things happen, things can get romantic!”
“Oh my god, no- no absolutely not.”
“You sure?”
“Walter you…? You know that I’m gay, right?”
Fuse blinks slowly a couple of times before letting out a roar of a laugh.
“Well that’s twice you’ve made a fool out of me this evening Blasey.”
Renee feels blush stain her cheeks in embarrassment, though she’s not exactly sure why.
“I can’t believe you didn’t know.”
“Well, I am half blind, can’t blame a fella.”
“Besides, even if I wasn’t, I absolutely would never date Elliott, ew. He’s-”
Like a brother to her. The thought comes naturally, and the truth of it settles into her awareness. Elliott often talked about feelings with her, but they were never about her own, especially not if it involved the pair of them. But he was like family to her. And clearly he viewed her the same way, given that he’d asked her to be his right hand during the ceremony. Shit.
“Aw, look at ya, going all soft.”
“Shut up. It’s a wedding.”
“It sure is.”
It’s getting late. She’s very tired, and by the looks of it she’s lifted some of the clouds from Walter’s mood, so realistically this wouldn’t be such a terrible time to dip. But…
“You want another beer?” She offers.
Fuse smiles back at her.
“Yeah, alright. Cheers.”
Renee is at a stand off with a vending machine. She can see the items she bought smushed up against the glass, taunting her, because of course she has to face a minor inconvenience on what is already a very stressful day.
Hit it on the left , comes one of the Others and so Renee gives the machine a resounding smack and sure enough it drops the few packets of nuts and candy she’d paid for.
As she walks back to the rest of the group she allows herself to decompress a bit. The hospital is very bright and loud and Renee is already tired from a match, but between her, Walter, Elliott and Illias, clearly she is the most put together (which is a terrifying, hideous thought) so she needs to keep her shit together and be the voice of reason. Or at least, if not reason, be able to provide some sustenance even if it’s just vending machine food.
She rounds the corner back to the waiting area and is met with the sight of Elliott holding Illias, who is trembling and clearly in dire need of sleep but simply cannot let himself go, and Walter, who is clearly trying to put on a brave face and pretend that the sounds of Hound screaming down the hall in one of the hospital rooms isn’t absolutely haunting him.
Renee offers out a packet to Elliott. “Eat,” she says, “I know you haven’t yet today.”
He gives her a weak smile, and she doesn’t really expect him to eat it, but it’s there if he needs it. And he can share with Illias, but frankly his husband is clinging to him so hard Renee doubts he can unfurl his fingers to accept anything that isn’t Elliott’s embrace. It’s very intimate, and she feels strange being privy to it, and so she forces herself to look away, sitting back down in her chair and offering food to Walter.
“Ta.”
“Hey uh, Fitz?” Elliott asks, clearly trying to distract from everything that’s going on, “How uh- How many inta-intu-interplanetary laws did you break to get here so fast?”
Fuse, regrettably, is delighted by this question. Renee, remembering the car journey, is not.
“I should say just about all of them. Although we didn’t get up to any piracy I suppose… But hey, the night’s still young!”
“Actually,” Renee pipes up against her better interest, “Boone accidentally stole a towel from the respawn chamber. It’s at your place now.”
“Aha!” Fuse settles back in the plastic chair. “Tick that off the breaking the law bingo card.”
Renee frowns at him. “Is that actually a quest of yours?”
He winks at her. “A gentleman never tells.”
“Shut the fuck up, you are not a gentleman.”
“Aw spooky you wound me!”
There is audible sobbing from down the hall, and then two nurses emerge from Hound’s room, one of them wheeling off a cart which must have the baby in, whilst the other stands against the wall to catch her breath. Once she has, she barely has time to ask whether the Witt family are here before Elliott and Illias are scrambling to her, bombarding the poor woman with a thousand questions. Renee doesn’t catch any of what they say, but she sees the look of horror pass over both their faces before they dash into Hound’s hospital room. Before she can think about what she’s doing her feet are guiding her down the hall towards the nurse, and judging by the sudden rush of footsteps behind her, she gathers that Walter is coming to make sure she doesn’t freak anyone out too much.
“Excuse me,” She calls to the nurse, who turns back around and has a moment of recognition as her eyes flick between her and Walter, “we’re uh, friends of the family. I think, I mean I think we’re supposed to be put down as godparents. If that’s a thing you do now or-”
“We’re just wanting to know if the baby’s okay.” Fuse slides in, for which Renee is thankful for. “We’re not looking to go in yet, we just wanna make sure everything’s alright, if you’re able to tell us.”
Walter’s easy charm does wonders on the clearly exhausted woman, and Renee watches as she relaxes a little, the tension dropping from her shoulders.
“The baby has several respiratory issues. We’ve taken them to the ICU now to be put on a ventilator, but unfortunately we have a lot of newborns in that department right now. They can stabilise them well enough, but with the family’s current payment plan, this is all we can do until there’s space free in the general ward to see to them properly.”
Renee frowns and glances towards Walter to catch him looking back at her with a similar expression. Though apparently they both jump to the same conclusion wordlessly, as they turn back to the nurse.
“Is there any way someone else can pay for it?” He asks.
“...Hm, I believe so. You’ll have to sign a form, and the family needs to sign off on it too, but yes, that can be arranged.”
“Can two people cover it?” Renee asks.
“Yes, if you sign the same forms. You’ll need to talk to the floor receptionist.”
“We’ll go and do that. Thank you, you’re a gem.” Fuse smiles at her, and the nurse gives him a tired smile back before going back to her work.
“How do you wanna do this?” He asks once they’re left alone.
“I was thinking split it fifty-fifty? If you’re alright with that, I know it’s gonna be pricey.”
“Sounds good to me spooky.”
Renee rolls her eyes as the pair begin to walk back in the direction of reception.
“I really wish you wouldn’t call me that.”
“If you give me a better nickname I’ll use it, but until then you’re stuck with it.”
“Great.”
Sigri has a little collection of things she finds on her walks with her family, and she keeps them all on a special shelf in her room, which she has now gathered all the items from, and is busy giving a makeshift presentation to Renee and Walter about each individual one.
Renee is half tuned out, tired from a week of back to back matches for some event the orgs had decided on. But she’d agreed to babysit a while ago so that’s what she’s here for, and Walter has more than enough enthusiasm to keep up with the little one when she can’t. Her parents are busy on some date activities that Renee should have probably been listening to when Elliott gave her the details but admittedly she was just looking forward to sitting down on their massive couch.
“And this one is shiny like your eyes, Auntie Ray!” Sigri says, holding up some kind of cloudy quartz. Renee smiles at her - she’s a good kid.
“That’s a swell collection you’ve got kiddo.” Fuse grins. “Make sure you put them back safely, yeah?”
“Okay!”
She gathers them all back up in her knapsack and shoots off faster than Renee can keep track of her.
“You want another coffee?” Fuse asks as she leans back against the blanket draped across the back of the couch.
“Please.”
He similarly makes himself scarce, the sound of the kettle in the kitchen a soothing ambience as she closes her eyes for a second. The last time she came out of the respawn chamber she had noticed a very annoying crick in her neck, which she’s had no luck getting rid of. She tries again now to pop it but with no success, and resigns herself to a bath in the future, or if that doesn’t work perhaps she just has to accept the fact that she’s getting old.
Sigri bounds back from her room around the same time Fuse comes back with two coffees, holding one out for Renee to take.
“Thanks.” She smiles at him as she takes a good long sip, and when she lowers the mug back down from her face she notices Sigri staring at her.
“Auntie Ray?”
“What’s up?”
“Are you and Uncle Fitz married?”
Fuse chokes on his drink, scrambling to put it to one side and make it through his coughing fit alive, whilst Renee just stares, eyes wide, no doubt unbridled horror on her face. She can’t even muster up a response, and as she feels her face heat with embarrassment, Fuse recovers from his coughing fit and appears to be doing his best to not laugh.
“Nah chickadee, we’re not married. Promise ya.”
“Oh. But isn’t that what grown ups do?”
“Aw sure, grown ups get married all the time, but only if they fancy each other.”
Sigri tilts her head in confusion. “So you don’t fancy each other?”
“Nah. Your Auntie only fancies women, and I’m just a bloke. A handsome bloke, mind.”
“Do you fancy me Auntie Ray?”
“No!” Renee says quickly, wondering both why her parents have not explained any of this to her before, and why one of the Others hasn’t come to conveniently portal and swap dimensions with her to spare her from this utter embarrassment. “No, grown ups only fancy other grown ups.”
“Oh. Okay!”
The rest of the day goes off without any more awkward conversations, much to Renee’s relief, and thankfully the trio return home just after dinner, with Sigri eagerly running into their arms to greet them. They thank the pair of them for their help and Walter does most of the talking, as all Renee can think about is ordering take out once she’s home and eating it in bed whilst she watches some trashy TV.
Elliott waves goodbye from the front door and promises to come over and visit her soon when he’s got a chance, and then the door is shut and it’s just her and Walter standing out on the gravel. Her car isn’t too far, so she starts to walk, hoping that perhaps she can get into it before-
“So. Wife, aye?”
“Don’t. Not another word. I don’t wanna hear it, not now, not ever. No.”
Fuse wheezes with laughter, doubling over and reaching out to the roof of his own car to steady himself so he doesn’t fall.
“Shut up. Shut up . I’m going. Bye.”
“See you at home my sweet!”
“I will run you over!”
There’s knocking at the door.
Earlier in the day Renee mustered up enough energy to drag herself to her couch, but she’s not moved from there in several hours; she’s not even sure if she can at this point. But regrettably the knocking persists.
She’d messaged Elliott earlier, or rather he’d been messaging her, and she’d told him she was having a bad time. It can’t be him at the door though, because he said he had plans he couldn’t cancel, with a bunch of sad emojis.
She’s often found that if she just waits long enough the knocking will go away.
But…
She wouldn’t be surprised if Elliott has sent food to her door. He did that sometimes, when she was in one of her rough spots, and she never quite knew how to thank him, but he always seemed to understand. He was kind like that, and she hopes that he knows she appreciates it, both him and his efforts.
If it is food then she should probably go and get it before someone down the hall takes it. A task that unfortunately requires moving from the couch, but at least she’ll be rewarded for it.
Distantly she knows she should care that she doesn’t know when she showered last, and that the delivery person is probably gonna get a nasty whiff of her week long depression bender, but at this point she’s too far in the trenches to care. She’ll tip them if they look visibly freaked out by her. When did she last brush her hair? Doesn’t matter, she just needs to move.
She slowly trudges across the wooden floorboards until she reaches the door and opens it wide. And then blinks twice to make sure she’s not imagining things, because Walter Fitzroy is standing outside of her door, holding a large plastic bag and a small crate of bottles.
“You…”
She swallows, trying to rid her voice of some of its croakiness, and tries again.
“You’re here.”
“Sure am.”
“ How are you here? I didn’t- I’ve never told you where I live.”
“Are you gonna leave a fella out in the cold like this?”
His attempts at humour are simply not what she wants right now and she sighs, leaning against the door.
“Why are you here Walter?”
He drops the charming act for a second and his face becomes more genuine, and if anything sheepish.
“Ah, well, a little birdie told me you weren’t doing so well. So I figured hey, listen, I know we’re not close the way you and him are, but I brought some beer and some chinese cause I thought it might do you some good. We don’t gotta talk it out or anything like that, never took you for the talking type anyway, but a little company wouldn’t hurt. If you want it, of course. I can just drop these off if you’re not up for it. Your choice.”
Renee is awkward. She knows this. She’d accepted long ago that the only real friendship she was ever going to have was with Elliott, because in a way they just understood each other. Not perfectly, but they knew what each other needed. She’d never found companionship like that in anyone else, but that’s also because she’d never tried. Didn’t think anyone else would be interested. But Walter is standing outside her door with her favourite takeaway and a reassuring look on his face and maybe… Maybe…
Maybe it would be okay to let someone else in.
“...You like bad horror movies?”
Fuse grins.
“I can go for a little gore fest. Show me your collection spooky.”
Renee steps to the side and opens the door.
“Come in.”