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"What did they do this time?" said Vander sighing, putting down the glass he was cleaning down on the counter.
Seeing Silco and his two girls was normally a joy. Yet these days it seemed like it was more of a sign of an oncoming migraine.
"We didn't do anything!" said Powder, close to tears. She looked up at Silco’s raised eyebrow before looking down at the floor. "Well, nothing big."
"Oh!" said Silco with a theatrical flair. "So what you did was 'nothing big'? Then surely you could tell everyone exactly what happened."
Powder mumbled something to the floor as she tugged on her shirt nervously.
"Hmm? What was that?” said Silco, voice dangerously light. “Do speak up about this small incident so everyone can hear. There's nothing to be afraid of, child.”
"Oh leave it, Uncle Silco!" snapped Vi, seeing her sister so distressed.
Vi took a deep breath and looked at Vander in the eyes, unflinching. "Powder blew up Silco's house."
"Vi!" cried out Powder, betrayed. How could her sister rat her out like this!
"See, nothing big," said Silco with a terrifying smile, and Vander wiped his face with his hand and groaned.
His old friend always put on his sinister thespian voice rather than be angry like a normal person. Honestly, it was rather creepy. Still, perhaps it was better than yelling at his girls.
Vander saw Silco stalk over to the table, dangerous like a snake. Maybe it wasn't much better though. Still, he knew how to take care of this mood.
The big man started to pour out drinks, and Silco came up to the bar, leaving the girls to bicker with each other near the door.
"How bad is it," said Vander as he slid the amber drink to his friend.
"Oh, not much, as they said,” said Silco, looking nonchalantly at his drink, as slim fingertips played with the rim.
“It was the entire house, wasn't it.”
“It was the entire house.”
Silco grimaced as he took a sip of the drink.
“I told the girls no more explosives,” said Vander as he looked at his girls now tussling on the floor.
Vi, he noticed, still didn't have a good guard and was getting slapped silly by Powder.
“Girls, no fighting!” shouted Vander before sighing.
“They're like their mother,” said Silco ruefully. “When is Felicia and Connol’s shift over?”
“They should be here to pick them up soon.”
“Wonderful,” said the man dryly, sipping some more.
Vander picked up another glass to wipe. “So, do you have a place to stay? Perhaps with Sevika?”
“No, she's a lone wolf, and I don't feel like staying with her. She's always inviting people over for poker or tellstones.”
“Business as usual, eh?” Vander peeked up at the morose man. “Out on the streets tonight then?”
Silco looked up, his other hand idly tilting the cup, letting the drink swirl round and round. “I guess I am, unless you know somewhere warm I can stay the night.”
The man's voice went low and rich, and there was a glint in his eye that Vander couldn't quite put his finger on. On the word, ‘warm’, and seeing the glint in Silco’s eyes, Vander felt something hot in his belly, like taking a shot of some very rich whiskey.
Just before Vander was going to respond, and maybe with something foolish, the door to The Last Drop burst open.
“We're closed today—”
“Vander!” came a desperate shout, and the two men at the bar looked up to see a temple attendant with white hair and red robes run past the two girls straight to the bar.
“Owen, is something wrong?” said Vander, coming around the bar to question the heavily panting man.
“It's Maryam,” said the man, looking up. “It's happened again.”
Vander pressed his lips together. “I'll bring the kit.”
The temple was dark, the candles blown it seemed. No electricity or chem-lights were allowed in the temple. Candlelight always revealed every gust, so it was the favoured source of light.
Despite that, Zaunites were pragmatic, and flashlights were available in emergencies.
Vander's large leather case jangled as he took it with him, following the attendant to the back rooms of the temple.
“We had to evacuate. This time was pretty bad.”
“Lead me to her.”
Vander was glad to see the temple being brought back to the city. The fresh air and the calming disciples helped cool off the tempers of the people in the lanes.
It was a part of his world now, and he would be damned if it fell apart. And Maryam was the heart of the place.
They opened the door and the red robed man poked his head into the dim office.
“Hey there, Maryam, is everything—Wagh!”
Owen dropped the flashlight as a face popped out right in front of him.
The previously kind and not horrifying temple caretaker took him by the shoulders and delivered a horrifying prophecy.
“You’re going to be hit by a pie and be completely wiped out.”
The man took a step back, gasping, face turning pale white.
“Well that doesn't sound too bad, Owen” said Vander.
“No,” said the man in a trembling voice. “It's a terrible revelation.”
The temple attendant looked at Vander with tears in his eyes. “I love pie. And now every time I look at one I have to worry about whether it'll send me to the hospital!”
The spry man ran away, tears streaming down his face.
“You also get hit by an anvil right after! An anvil… in a pie!” She shouted down the hallway, and they both heard the man’s answering sob.
“Why don't we have you sit down then,” said Vander, gently turning Maryam around and back into the office, the room still dark except for the flashlight.
“What's all this then,” came a sudden voice behind Vander— who definitely did not scream, and only gave a manly grunt.
Vander led Maryam to her chair as she muttered to herself and turned to face Silco.
“Shouldn't you still be with the girls?”
“Their parents came back and are looking after them. I still don't have anywhere to go since, you know, my house is gone.” Silco picked up the flashlight and put it to his chin to illuminate his face.
“So I decided to see if you needed any help,” said Silco the light making him seem like a blood sucking vampire, stalking some old castle ruins.
“Put that away, you're frightening Maryam,” admonished Vander.
“Oh the misery!” she cried out. “Everybody wants to be my enemy!”
A gust of wind suddenly burst through the door, flinging the flashlight out of Silco’s hand.
“What in the shadows?” cried out Silco, raising his arms to protect his face.
Vander pushed against the wind to grab onto Silco’s arm, and pull him to his side.
When they did that, the wind died down.
“My my, Vander. I didn't know you had it in you,” purred Silco.
“Had it in me to do what?” said Vander gruffly, confused.
Silco sighed as he took out his lighter and flicked it on. “Nevermind.”
Silco’s face illuminated in the dark room, Vander couldn't help but notice the way shadows played on Silco’s face. His friend always had a magnetizing air around him. You just couldn't look away when he entered a room.
Vander felt this throat go dry. Was Silco’s neck always so long?
He couldn't follow that train of thought as a croaking sound came from behind him.
“Oh my god,” said Vander as Maryam rose from her chair, her eyes rolled back.
Silco chuckled as the large man jumped behind him.
“You,” intoned the woman, pointing at Silco. “Hear my prophecy!”
“Oh, this should be good.”
“Don't make fun of her, Silco. Maryam is a respected leader of our community!” admonished Vander.
“You,” croaked out the old woman, staggering about. “Shall rule the undercity, through drugs, violence, and fear!”
Silco rolled his eyes as he went to light a candle.
“What an imagination you have. I think I have my hands full enough with this lot here,” he said, smacking his hand on Vander’s chest.
“Hey, that's not nice,” said Vander, frowning.
He dipped his head closer to Silco to whisper to him. “But do you have something to tell me?”
Silco spun around, shocked. “Excuse me?”
“Well,” said Vander helplessly. “They say she can tell accurate prophecies. So are you getting into drugs?”
“No!” said Silco, scandalized. “Do you really think that I would tear apart our… our family? Our friends? Still?”
“Silco…”
“The war is over, Vander.”
“But it just seemed like—”
“Like what?” spat out Silco.
“Like you changed so suddenly. Like you, maybe we're supposed to keep fighting and then take over this city. You just…” Vander swallowed, feeling all of his deep worries and fears pour out after hearing Maryam's prophecy.
“You just seem so much more… like you are supposed to do so much more.”
“More?” said Silco darkly. “More than being a back alley pharmacist? I'll have you know that any drugs I sell are medicine for the people and I will not abide any suggestion that my business is not legitimate!”
“You have your own daughter inject you with the illicit drugs you sell!” warned the old woman, still gibbering to herself.
“Excuse me?!”
“You have a daughter, Silco?” said Vander, hurt that his best friend wouldn't tell him that he had a child. And that the child was peddling drugs!
“I don't! And don't change the topic, what exactly did you mean by ‘more’?” asked Silco, pressing a bony finger into Vander’s chest.
“You know, more than…” The large man felt so off balance, like he was tripped into one of the polluted rivers of the undercity.
“More than what, Vander?” demanded Silco, tired of all these falsehoods and assumptions.
“More than me!” shouted Vander. “More than what I could give you!”
Silco’s eyes widened and he stepped back.
“Vander—”
“No, you wanted to hear it. So you're hearing it.”
“He also sticks you full of the drugs too,” interrupted Maryam.
Vander took a breath. “Not now, Maryam, we're having a moment here.”
“He orders a monster to kill your daughter,” said the woman in a dark voice.
“Alright, I have had enough of this,” said Silco, looking at Vander.
They looked at each other with silent understanding. Silco raised an eyebrow. Vander took a moment to think, then nodded.
After using some handkerchiefs to gag the venerated temple caretaker, and taking her to her bedroom next door, the two lit more candles and continued their conversation.
They may now be what The Lanes affectionately thought of as kind community leaders, they both knew how to get their hands dirty to get things done.
Vander quietly sent a prayer to Janna to forgive him for doing that to her temple's caretaker, but Maryam didn't seem like she was going to stop anytime soon.
“Now that we're finally alone and that the mood’s gotten a little better, maybe you'll be kind enough to let me know exactly why you think…” Silco searched for words as he waved his hands in a circle, leaning casually on the edge of the table. “Whatever you were thinking about me. And you.”
Vander sighed and he opened his kit that he brought in. He took out a large bottle of Shuriman Arak, and two glasses.
“It's for Maryam. She sometimes, as you can see… isn't well. This is one of the only things that calms her down when she gets like this,” said Vander, answering Silco’s silent question.
“But…” said Vander, thinking about how Maryam was humming a melancholy tune as they hauled her into her room. “She seems worse this time. I guess something she saw really spooked her.”
He handed Silco the filled glass. He took his own and brought it closer to his friend. After a quiet moment, Silco clinked their glasses.
Silent sips.
“I thought about it,” started Vander. “You and me, and how we fought together. Fought each other. Then one day you came up to me and said to let bygones be bygones.”
“You brought business to The Lanes. You became the man you needed to be for the girls. But somehow, in the back of my mind…”
Vander took a long swig of his drink. “Somehow it feels like we're still fighting. Like some part of us still can't make amends.”
“You came by and gave me peace, buried the hatchet,” Vander said lowly, looking down into his cup. “Yet inside me, it seems like I can't. Like there's something wild inside me, every time I look at you.”
Vander looked at Silco who was giving him a strange calculating gaze.
“What do you feel when you look at me?” said Silco, softly, yet because it was Silco, it always seemed to have a hint of steel.
“I feel like… like I want to attack you,” said Vander, horrified at what he admitted. “It feels like there's something inside me that wants to get out and just pick you up by the collar and slam you against something, if only to make you stop making me feel this way.”
Silco put his drink down and stood up from the table. “So I'm the one making you feel this way? Only me?”
Vander nodded, feeling the heat inside him rising. “I know it's wrong, to want to hurt you.”
Silco came up to him and put his fingers over Vander’s quickly beating heart.
“And will you? Hurt me?” whispered Silco.
“I know that I'm being a horrible friend when I have these… urges in me.” Vander noticed Silco’s eyes flare when he said the word ‘urges’. His friend must be furious at what he was saying.
Then, Silco broke Vander’s heart. “Maybe we should stop being friends then.”
Vander felt ice cold, like all his blood was frozen. He was back in the river. “You don't mean that, Silco.”
“Oh, but I do,” said the man, the light of the candles making the texture of his scar more prominent. His hands snuck up to the side of Vander’s neck.
“Please, don't,” begged Vander. He couldn't lose Silco to his own weakness. Not again. He swallowed, trying not to let any tears come out.
“Don't leave,” said Vander thickly.
“Oh I have no intention of leaving,” smirked Silco, in that quiet way of his that let everybody know he knew more than you. “But I have no intentions of staying friends.”
“So that's it? You're going to stay for the girls and just leave me to rot?” said Vander, moving towards the familiar feeling of anger. Better than feeling cold and weak and vulnerable.
“Oh I have no intention of letting you out of my sight,” purred Silco.
“But you won't care for me anymore,” said Vander, feeling a sense of dread creep back in.
“Oh my dear,” said Silco, smiling, which confused Vander more. “I think you'll find I'll care for you even more than I did before.”
Suddenly Silco pressed into him, surging up past his defences. Vander was expecting perhaps another knife to his gut, but instead he felt something soft on his lips, and hands going to the back of his neck.
He might have preferred the knife.
The feeling of his best friend's lips on him made him explode with heat, and he finally understood what he was feeling this whole time.
It wasn't rage. It was lust.
Vander pushed Silco to the desk and pushed everything off it, letting the glass shatter on the floor.
Silco only laughed, delightedly. “Oh dear, I hope that wasn't sentimental.”
“I love you, Silco,” said Vander, his eyes gulping in Silco, and his hands holding the slim man posessively in his grip.
Silco’s eyes widened. “Well, aren't you one to change face quickly. I thought you said you wanted to hurt me.”
“You knew,” said Vander. “You knew what I felt for you.”
“Well you are rather obvious,” said Silco still smiling. Vander wanted to wipe that smile off the smug man's face.
Silco lifted his head so that his lips almost grazed Vander’s. “Lust and violence, so inexorably intertwined.”
Vander just stayed put, breathing deep, using every bit of self control to not… do whatever it was he was about to do.
Then Silco snapped up and bit Vander’s bottom lip, and all he could see was red, red, red, and Silco’s pale skin.
It was a testament to Vander and Silco’s importance in the community that they were only banned for a month for putting the temple’s caretaker into bonds, destroying her office, and also being found naked in the morning, scratched and asleep on the floor of said office with just a blanket covering them.
“What happened to you two?” said Felicia, worried at her two friends’ coming home late in the morning looking scratched up, with their clothes almost falling apart with how ripped up they were.
“Did some animal maul you?”
“Yep,” said Silco at the same time Vander gave an empathetic ‘No!’.
“You two seem different…” said Felicia observing them.
“We're engaged,” said Silco, and Felicia dropped her cup of orange juice.
“What?!” she shouted before running up to them to give them both a hug.
“Yes, well Vander promised me a lot of things last night,” said Silco with a sly grin. "A place to stay, and a home to take care of, and all sorts of romantic things."
Vander had nothing to say to that and could only blush furiously.
Then she took a step back and looked at them again. “So you finally got him?”
Silco reached his hand to ruffle Vander’s hair and beard. “I got him Felicia!”
Silco took that moment to kiss Vander on the lips, but quickly. They both learned that if they kissed longer than a second, it was over for whatever the closest surface was.
“Oh, did Silco finally get Vander?” said Connol, walking in with his two daughters.
“That's right, and I believe you owe me a date night!” said Felicia cheerfully as she went down to give her girls a hug.
“So Uncle Vander and Uncle Silco are dating now?” asked Vi, squirming out of her mom's embrace. She was too old to be babied like this!
Felicia just smiled and ruffled her pink hair.
“Even better. They're going to get married!”
“Married?!” exclaimed Powder. “Does that mean we get a big cake? Maybe it could be blue, and pink, and oh my gosh, we could have fireworks?”
Connol picked up his excitable girl and put her up on his shoulders as she giggled.
“Well, what do you two think?”
The two newly engaged men smiled at the family in front of them. Their family.
“I think it sounds perfect,” said Vander.
“We can't invite her,” said Silco looking through the invitations.
“We have to though, she's the temple caretaker. And the officiant,” said Vander, licking another envelope. Vander was put on envelope duty after it turned out that if Silco put his tongue out too far for too long, whatever clothes they had on would be ripped into shreds soon after.
They already ruined two outfits that way.
“Janna, save us,” said Silco, deadpanned.
“And it is with great pleasure that I announce the union of our beloved Silco and Vander. May you both go freely with Janna’s blessing and find whatever path you two wish to champion, together!” cried out the temple’s caretaker, her voice carrying through the temple.
The wedding ceremony had been going on without a hitch. Truly it must have been a blessing from Janna, that things went as smoothly as a calm spring breeze.
Maryam had agreed to do the ceremony, but it took some of Vander’s greatest bottles he had kept in the cellar to convince the woman.
Silco and Vander looked at each other with joy in their eyes, but underneath it, there was a dark swimming undercurrent that only a few astute people could see as well. Their ‘fights’ became infamous, only because it was obvious to everybody that the ‘fights’ were the kind of ‘fights’ you would want to do with a really hot date.
Of course, no day goes perfect, and especially no wedding.
A strong breeze came by, blowing out a few candles near the altar, and Silco and Vander looked at the temple caretaker, alert and frozen with their hands clasped. They both thought about their pocket squares which could easily turn into fresh binds for the sudden reappearance of a party disrupting prophecy.
Luckily she didn’t seem to be taken by some horrible vision, and they both softened in relief.
“You may kiss the terrifying blood hunting wolf!”
They both stared at the woman, who was smiling benignly at them. They looked at each other and shrugged. In the end, this was Zaun, so who cared if some people were a bit odd. This was their town, their home, and they would celebrate all of its wild eccentricities, and protect it. Together.
They kissed as everybody cheered for their two unofficial leaders. Then they stopped cheering when the kiss went on. Then it was a mad dash to the doors as the suits started to come off.
“Someone please take the caretaker away from there!”
“Mom, what are Uncle Silco and Uncle Vander doing?”
“I have no idea, Powder, but let’s run outside, I think the fireworks are going on– Hey, can someone turn on the fireworks? Now!”
“Hey man, this is not a free show, get out of here!”
“Sevika, I’m barely looking– okay, ow! I’m going, I’m going!”
In the rapidly emptying temple, with the sounds of the fireworks outside, Vander looked down at Silco underneath him, clothes ripped, hair askew.
“What are you looking at, husband?” said Silco, his hands trailing his throat. “Do you like what you see?”
“This just reminds me of the day I tried to drown you in the river,” said Vander, his heart racing as his heart filled with guilt and lust.
“Good times,” said Silco, smiling up at his dangerous wolf. He loved the power he had over the man, how he could just turn, smile, or say a simple word to let a flood of chemicals rush into Vander’s mind.
“Let me show you a better time,” said Vander, as he went down to bite Silco’s neck, who sighed in pleasure underneath his dangerous pet.
The temple decided it was better to keep the building closed for the whole night.