Chapter Text
Lighter sat on the edge of his sheetless bed and stared at the four sides of his empty room. Years of souvenirs, memorabilia, and other such knick-knacks had all been cleared out and stashed away in a variety of cardboard boxes over the course of the last 3 hours. He had woken up early that morning eager to get it all done in time to be picked up. After all, today was the day he moved in with the proxy siblings.
If he was being honest with himself, it felt strange. He had lived his whole life in the Outer Ring and had never once thought about moving to the city, in fact he had been staunchly opposed to the very notion for as long as he could remember. But love really is such a weird thing. It makes people do stupid things, it makes them do dangerous things, and it also has the power to flip somebody onto their head. It has the ability to make anybody suddenly toss aside any rationality for their old beliefs in favor of new ones to accommodate for the extra presence that takes up their mind.
For Lighter, that presence was Wise.They had been dating for about 8 months at this point, according to the other members of the Sons of Calydon, Piper, Lucy, and Caesar. Although the two had technically only made it official 5 months ago, the girls insisted up and down that 3 months of an agonizingly slow talking stage and making everyone uncomfortable with their reciprocated goo-goo eyes is, in fact, dating. Lighter couldn’t make any sense of their reasoning but went along with it anyway to spare himself the trouble.
Things had been moving steadily for the last few months between them. Most of the time they talked it was over text or call because as much as Lighter was willing to drive hours everyday to see Wise, it was a major inconvenience to all his fellow gang members. The same could be said of Belle and Wise. But, with their hands tied and no immediately obvious solution in sight, the couple was willing to make due with a weekend in each other's company every month or so.
That was until the month previous Lucy inadvertently offered a solution when she soared down from heavens, carried in a white silk hammock suspended by a crowd of boar thiren cherubs, imploring them to “get a room” when they got too handsy with each other on a group visit to Cheesetopia. They weren’t doing it on purpose they just liked touching each other, Lighter especially enjoyed PDA in the form of from-behind hugs and hand-holding. But despite Lucy’s words being a mere attempt to save everyone around them from the cavities induced by the couple’s sweetness, all she did was set off a lightbulb in their heads.
The past month had been both a blur and the longest of Lighter’s life. Everything was moving so quickly but at the same time he couldn’t wait to sleep every night in the same bed as his boyfriend. He could only be grateful that moving from the Outer Ring was so easy. He didn’t technically “own” his trailer so much as all the buildings out there were up for grabs due to being in the middle of absolutely nowhere, everyone just kind of lived it up Wild-West style in the Outer Ring. It was also nice that he really didn’t have much to pack, everyone who lived there also made do with very little, whether it be from necessity or habit.
Suddenly, a knock at his door brought him back from his idle daydreaming and reminiscing. When the door opened it was Caesar on the other side. She leaned cooly against the doorway and wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead, the result of some light labor and the head of the Spring morning in the desert.
“We got all your stuff gathered up and ready to go,” she started while continuing to lounge coolly in the doorway. “You just about ready to go?” Lighter looked around the room a little bit after this question, getting one last taste of his soon-to-be former residence, before flashing a content smile and standing up to face Caesar.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
The step out into the desert morning would’ve blinded him had he not been wearing sunglasses. The usual chill of autumn mornings was now replaced with the slow crawl of sweltering heat of the blazing Springtime sun. Lighter couldn’t help but think that he really wouldn’t miss being caked in sweat every time he was outside, but didn’t dwell on it too long when he caught a glimpse of his ride.
Belle was leaning against the back of the Random Play van talking with Lucy and Piper when she shot a look over to Lighter and Caesar and gave an enthusiastic wave, before she ran over and wrapped her arms around lighter in a tight hug, clearly very eager to see him. Lighter stumbled back a bit at the impact and chuckled before returning it. He looked up and scanned his surroundings for the other proxy but saw no signs of him.
Belle broke from their hug and plastered a wise grin across her face before she started speaking “ AAAGHHH, I’m so excited!” she exclaimed. Lighter snickers to himself a bit. “It sure seems like it, where’s wise?”
Belle gave him a look that was halfway between an understanding glare and a teasing smile that jokingly said: Really? I’m right here throwing myself at you for a hug and all you can ask about is your boyfriend?, but she didn’t say that out loud. “Oh he was busy with a short notice commission this morning, so you’re stuck in the car for six hours with me instead…” she replied with nothing but the most concentrated sort of mischief worn all over her face.
Lighter laughed at her joke before bowing his head and clasping his hands in faux-submission. “Please ma’am, have mercy! I can only take so much catchy pop music and exaggerated road-rage!” Belle was a fun driver, he’d ridden with the siblings before on this same roast trip though it was just for a weekend at their place. She was always playing top-100 hits and pretending to get furious at other drivers who so much as tapped the brake while she was behind them.
All that to say it was no problem that Wise wasn’t joining them. Actually the more lighter thought about it he was kind of grateful. 6 hours to hang out with Belle before the inevitable “honeymoon phase” in which Lighter and Wise would likely be glued together for hours at a time with no room for Belle to interact with either of them. This way they both got a perfectly suitable fill of each other without compromising Lighter and Wise’s alone time, a win-win situation really.
Lighter then turned his attention to his fellow gang members and suddenly he felt a sharp pain amidst all the comfort in his soul. He hadn't even left yet and now the tears in their eyes (not Piper, she was somewhere between daydreaming and literal dreaming, being the insomniac that she is) already had him homesick. He choked down that uneasy feeling and walked over to give each of them a hug.
“Aw come on now girls, don’t tell me you’re cryin’ over little ol’ me.” he said snidely, using his usual smooth-talk to hopefully convince them that he wasn’t about to shed tears as well (not a chance in hell that was happening, lord knows they all knew each other a little too well for that to be a possibility). He cleared his throat a little before piping back up. “Look, there’ll be plenty of opportunities for me to come and visit right? I mean either one of us was already making this trip every month to begin with, and on top of that I'm just a call away.”
Thankfully, his words seemed to have brought a bit of comfort to the others, as their expressions had now softened. “Well then you had better make good on that!” Lucy shouted almost defensively, eliciting a laugh from everyone. “yawn… ignore her… you just go out and live your lives you crazy youngsters…” Piper exited her sleep trance for but a moment to offer her encouragement. A few more back and forth comments were exchanged before everyone said their final goodbyes, and Belle and Lighter hit the road