Who: Nat and Tony Wyrzykowski What: A rough breakup and Nat is DONE When: Saturday, December 15, 2018 | around 10 pm Where: Nat's house Warnings: A bit of language Monthly Challenge:TREE
A pop of apparition announced Nat's arrival home, but far more telling was the sound of her bag hitting the entryway table, and the half groan, half shout of annoyance she made as she crossed into the living room. "I'm done! I'm sick of it, all of it!" She stopped next to the Christmas tree on the way and fiddled restlessly with the ornaments, though her attempts at rearranging a few crooked ones were more yanking than gentle shifting. "I've worked too hard and too long to put up with it, and I'm an independent witch and don't need him."
She finally turned and looked at her brother, who she'd known from the start was camped out on the couch, and seeing him there chipped away a bit at her anger. She had Tony, their sister, and Uncle Jesse, and that was all that she needed. It was true, and she believed it, but it didn't make the reality hurt any less. "I don't know why I keep trying," she said with a sigh, sitting down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder, and promptly bursting into tears.
Tony, who had looked up from the rerun of Las pasiones de Las Panteras he had been watching the minute Nat had stormed into the room, was wearing his confused expression, but he gamely put his arm around her, transferring his attention from the screen to his twin. Her angst was more important than the convoluted love story of Rogelio de Alcazar and Blanca Maria Castilleja any day.
"Hey, Nat -- Neenee, Natalino Wyrzytino -- you're okay. I've got you," he said in his calmest voice, stroking her hair while she sobbed into his shoulder. Nat didn't cry very much, and he wasn't really sure what to do or say to make that stop. "What happened?" he added after a few more minutes of thought. "Did he do something to you? You want me to go beat him up?"
It didn't take long for the sobs to die down to something more like a trickle. It was stupid, she knew, but being tucked into Tony's side like this was the only thing that could put out her emotional fires like that. It was rare that she reached this level, thankfully, but when he wasn't around, it always dragged her down for days. Even more than a decade after she'd gotten used to living on her own, that was still true.
Nat shook her head against his shoulder without actually speaking for a moment. The details didn't matter, and she wasn't even sure she could go through them all coherently right now anyway. "No, it's nothing like that. I mean, it's done. For real this time. We broke up." Another stubborn tear slid down her cheek, and she wiped it away in annoyance. Her now-ex wasn't worth it. "I thought—ugh, I hate being wrong. But I always am." She looked up at her brother. "About men. I'm still right about everything else."
"Ha," Tony told her, and summoned the box of kleenex from across the room for her with a flick of his wand. "Keep telling yourself that." He rubbed her back a little, finding the spots of tension in her spine with practiced ease and working them away. He'd been told he gave a great back massage. "Men suck, anyway, and I know that because I am one. None of 'em deserve you. Especially not that asshole whose name we'll never speak again."
Honestly, he'd liked Nat's boyfriend just fine up until five minutes ago. But if he was making her cry, well, that was that. Tony was on his sister's side, always, and no guy who made her feel like this was worth her tears.
"You want some cocoa?" he offered hopefully. "I'll make it."
"I know, and I'm always right, therefore I don't have to tell myself." Nat would have stuck out her tongue, but it wasn't as fun if he couldn't see it. She closed her eyes and let herself relax. "I accept this taboo. No mentioning of the name on penalty of a year's worth of daily back rubs."
She stretched out her back, which felt much looser than it had only minutes ago, and pulled herself upright again. Enough wallowing. She'd had her allocated five minutes, and now she could be a functional human again. "Extra marshmallows, please."
Nat stood as he did, going back over to the Christmas tree to right some of the damage she'd done before. The decorations were nothing particularly special, overall, but there were a handful of ornaments she'd openly stolen from Uncle Jesse's collection because of the memories they held. She touched a pair of roughly-shaped gingerbread figures, painted up to supposedly be her and her twin. She'd accidentally broken off one of the arms on hers when she was six, and she'd cried so hard about it that Tony had broken his, too, so they'd still be alike.
She smiled softly to herself, brushing the broken edges with her fingertips. No, she didn't need that-wizard-they-were-not-naming. She had her family, and they were enough.
Hot cocoa was one of the few things that Tony could cook right every time. He'd always been about the powdered mix when he was a kid, but now he could make it from scratch -- he'd learned when he was living in Mexico, and he always put in cinnamon, vanilla, and just a touch of chili to spice it up. It didn't take long to make, and a few minutes later he was coming back into the living room carefully carrying two hot mugs, both piled with a precarious heap of marshmallows.
He came to stand in front of the tree with his sister and handed her one of the mugs. "Hey," he said, and nudged her shoulder gently. "You okay? Really?"
The smell of the hot chocolate brought further memories of childhood, and amusement as she considered that it was still pretty much the only thing Tony could make in the kitchen. She accepted her mug with a smile that actually wasn't forced, blowing lightly at the edge and watching as the half-melted marshmallows wiggled out of the way.
"I don't know," Nat said, but with a tone more of contemplation than defeat. She might have another good cry later, when she was alone in her room, but for now her emotions were well bolstered enough that she could look on it with at least some objectivity. "Feeling my age a bit, I guess. It's no wonder that I've read about wizards back in England who still do arranged marriages. You haven't been back long enough to work your way through all of the new blood," she added teasingly, nudging him back. "Ten years is a long time in a town like this."
Tony smiled down at her, glad at least she wasn't crying. He'd been accused of being self-absorbed and heartless because he never felt particularly sad after a breakup, but Nat took her love life a lot more seriously than he did. "There's new interns every year," he reminded her, mostly teasing. "And half of 'em are really cute this year. Plus, there's always online dating, and you look almost as great for your age as I do. You've still got options, sis." He slung his arm around her, watching the lights on the tree sparkle. "But hey, if you want an arranged marriage like they did in the old country, I bet me and Uncle Jesse could make that happen for you. How much would you say you're worth if we can make a trade?" He sipped at his cocoa, grinning, his eyes crinkled up in amusement. "About two sheep and a cow, or more like twelve chickens and a goat?"
"Half of them are practically half your age, too," Nat said with an eye roll. "If I start cruising the eighteen-year-olds, please hex me."
She leaned into the crook of his shoulder, carefully keeping her mug steady. "I didn't say I wanted one, asshole. Only that I can see why people might do it. But for the record, I'm worth at least six kelpies, two kappa, and a hatchling dragon. And I get to pick someone for you, too. Maybe I can get someone to take you if I put you up at a discount."
Tony laughed, keeping an arm comfortably around his sister. "Yeah, you'd have to, because nobody could afford me at my real price." He tilted his head to smack a kiss on her temple. "I'd charge way more than a dragon and some kelpies for you, you know. And I wouldn't even pick out some really old guy or anybody ugly. Only the best for my sister."
Honestly, he wouldn't have put money on either of them getting married at all. Jesse hadn't, and his life was awesome. He glanced over at the TV, which was muted but still playing out the sordid, over-dramatic lives of Rogelio and Blanca, and grinned. "Hey, you know, I go way back with Juan Esteban Navarro. He's stupidly handsome, and he's got to be rich, right? You want me to introduce you? We could go down to Jalisco this spring, get some sun, hang out on a beach with Quidditch players…"
Tony's laugh was as infectious as ever, and it didn't take much to get her started, too, especially with his spontaneous displays of affection. "Good to know I haven't depreciated too much since we were kids." She reached out and touched those gingerbread ornaments again. "Though, given your taste in men? I'd probably let Uncle Jesse pick."
Nat shook her head in amusement. "I will pass on the introduction, unless it's just because he's a cool guy we should hang out with, but I will absolutely take a trip down to the beach. Constant sunshine with several selections for a good view sounds perfect. You due for any time off soon, newb that you are?"
"Uh," said Tony, who was realizing more and more since starting at the reserve that he had no idea how normal jobs worked. "I dunno, but Jesse can fix it up for me, right? Isn't he in charge of that kind of thing?" He shrugged and sipped at his cocoa unconcernedly. "I'll make it work. Also, you're being very hurtful right now and I have great taste. In everything."
He dropped his arm from around Nat so he could reach out and pick up one of the ornaments she was inspecting. "Wow, these are old," he commented. "How old were we, like, five? I remember you being so upset when yours got broke, and you didn't want to show Uncle Jesse."
"You have great taste in some things," Nat conceded, licking some of the marshmallow foam off of her hot chocolate in illustration. "And besides, it's my solemn duty in life to keep your ego in check, and you know I don't shirk my duties."
She smiled, though she shouldn't have been surprised that he remembered, too. "I think we made them when we were five, yeah, and I broke mine the year after that. I was so afraid he'd be mad." It hadn't even been a logical fear, since those few years with Jesse had been so much superior to what little she could remember of before—but she'd still been young enough that those things lingered. Maybe some of them still did. "And when you broke yours and showed him, he only laughed because they looked so funny."
"Well, he was right, they do look pretty dumb." Tony grinned and tapped his lopsided ornament's forehead against her lopsided ornament's. "Boop. I'm glad he kept 'em all those years, though. They're awesome together."
He hung it back on the tree, right next to Nat's, and set his mug hovering in midair with a silent charm while he stretched his arms up and arched, cracking his spine with a sigh. Ever since he'd broken his back years ago, not to mention all the other bones in the vicinity he'd broken over various seasons, he got stiff quicker than someone his age in good shape should've. "You know what else is awesome together? Cocoa and Chinese takeout. You hungry? Maybe there'll be a fortune cookie that'll have all the answers to everything inside."
"Hey, this is fine art." Nat laughed as she added, "Probably still the best I've ever done." Because she was good at plenty of things, but she wasn't all that artistic. At best, she could manage a passable smiley face.
"Taking advice from a fortune cookie? Let's add that to the list of things I hope I'm never desperate enough to do." She rested a hand over her stomach as she debated the question. "I'm not all that hungry, actually. Let's blame that one on the asshole we're not naming, ugh. But if you order some vegetable fried rice, I might pick at it."
"You might pick at it - you mean you'll eat half the container and want to save the rest for tomorrow?" He laughed and turned to hug her again. "I'll get it because I love you." Growing a little more serious, Tony pulled back to look down at his sister and push her hair back behind her ear for her. "We all love you, Nat. Me and Stevie and Jesse. And you'll always have us, no matter what. I know this sucks, but keep that in mind, okay?"
"Damn right you love me," Nat said, her voice edged both with teasing and emotion. It was a miracle that she managed not to tear up again as he hugged her. "I know. I do. I'll get over it. I always do, right?" She shrugged lightly, then leaned up to kiss him on the cheek before pulling away. "You order food, and I'm digging out the most obnoxious Christmas movie I can find."