How you turned away and left without a trace Who: Tessa, Naoki, and Tessa’s big brother Troy, plus familiars (all NPC’d) Where: Troy’s apartment above the Red Dragon Dojo When: Morning
Fuck being angry, Tessa Rogers was livid.
Graham was gone. It wasn’t like it was her fault, that he was leaving town because of her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Tessa knew that. Admitting it was something else altogether. A fire elemental needed other people to survive, and Tessa was no exception - and the fact that Graham could send her a text at ass o’clock in the morning and just go hurt. It hurt a lot, actually, even though they hadn’t really been dating. Just fucking.
Like she was just nothing to him at all.
She didn’t remember actually driving to the dojo, only that Calista wasn’t around and she couldn’t be alone. Troy lived in the apartment upstairs and she knew that no matter what time of day it was, her big brother wouldn’t turn her away. She didn’t even bother to knock on the door, letting herself inside and storming into the living room, collapsing on the couch.
Troy was in the kitchen, setting on some water for tea before Naoki was due to arrive. The two men had planned to have an early spar before getting some breakfast, and the earth elemental was looking forward to it. It had been a while since he’d gotten out of the house for much of anything besides dojo business, and his little sister was constantly reminding him that staying shut in wasn’t going to do him any good. Hearing the door to his apartment slam, he came out, coffee mug in hand. “Naoki?” he asked, and the expression on his face immediately changed when he saw the look on Tessa’s face. “What happened?”
Inaki trailed behind her, brushing up against Tessa’s legs. Graham -
“Don’t you even dare say his name,” Tessa snapped, not meeting Troy’s eyes as she stared at a point somewhere in the middle of the couch. Every ounce of her being was concentrating on not lighting anything on fire, knowing that Troy would burn, as would everything else in the apartment.
“Ah.” Boy trouble. With Tessa, eventually it always came down to boy trouble. Troy took a seat next to her, leaving his mug on the coffee table. Naoki would be here any minute now, and from the looks of it, Troy could probably use the help calming her down. First things first, though. Troy wrapped an arm around her shoulders, keeping her close. “It’s all right, I’m here.”
It was about damn time that Troy got his head out of the dirt and decided to do some socializing. Naoki was all for some breakfast and sparring. He wouldn’t have had it any other way. A morning with a friend of his was nice in comparison to the mornings with Liliya. At least Troy wouldn’t suck his blood. Though when he drove on up to the dojo, he noted another car in the parking lot. One that looked a lot like Tessa’s. The fire girl never struck him as the early bird type and instantly he began to worry.
You need to relax, Snowball muttered as they slipped on out of the car and made their way up to the apartment. And once there, Naoki opened the door quietly and poked in. “Hello?” He wouldn’t know if anyone was there until he saw them, but might as well let Troy know that he was there. Snowball, on the other hand, left her master’s side and made her way over to Inaki to glomp him. INAKIIIIIIII! I missed youuuuuu! While the fluff ball gave the fox some playful licks, Naoki finally followed and spotted Troy with his little sister. He didn’t even have to be a psychic to know that something was wrong. Eyes flicking back and forth between the two, Naoki’s face tensed with worry. “What’s up?”
Inaki spotted Snowball and Naoki first, and left his master’s side to greet the dog properly. No other familiar - not even Troy’s - was allowed to approach the fox like Snowball did, and that was as clear evidence as any to the fact that Inaki was a bit sweet on the puppy. I missed you too, he said, nudging Snowball’s ear with his nose. I am glad you are here. My Tessa will need you both.
Looking up, Troy waved Naoki over to join them on the couch. No sense in leaving their friend standing in the middle of the doorway, though sadly breakfast and their spar would have to wait until later. Tessa had a habit of trumping everything else when she was in a mood like this, and Troy knew her well enough by now to know when his sister needed him, and when it was best to leave her alone. Doing the latter right now would only result in the dojo burning down, and all of Troy’s hard work along with it. “Bad news, I’m guessing,” Troy said. “Tess? You gotta tell me sometime.”
Tessa, curled up into Troy as she was, didn’t really want to move. She didn’t want to talk, either, but she knew that with both Troy and Naoki here, it wasn’t like she could avoid that forever. She sat up enough to pull her phone out from her purse, bringing up the text message she’d gotten. “That,” she said, “is what happened.” Troy took the phone first, read it, then passed it to Naoki.
The only thing that sucked about couches was trying to sit in a good enough position so that he could read both Tessa and Troy’s lips. Snowball was there, though, so maybe she could relay him information if he had ever missed it... even if she seemed way too preoccupied with snuggling with Inaki. It was kind of pathetic that his familiar had a better love life going on than his own. Once the phone was passed in his direction, Naoki took it and read it over. It didn’t click right away, but when it did, his eyes widened. He remembered Tessa talking about a certain boy keeping her entertained. She didn’t seem serious with him, but Tessa was a fire and if there was one thing he learned, it was that they needed another soul to survive. This was devestating, regardless of how casual they were. Gently handing the phone back, Naoki leaned in with sad eyes. “Tessa, I’m sorry...” He wasn’t the type to say he’d hunt the fucker down and kill him. That also wasn’t right, but he could be there for Tessa if she needed a shoulder to cry on or even a body to punch. He could just heal himself after.
To be fair, Snowball and Inaki had a better love life then all three of them combined at the moment. Tessa could only glare at the fox, wanting to shove the two familiars away from her, because right now any reminder was a bad one. In a day or two, she’d be fine, but right now? She didn’t want to think about it. She reached over for Naoki’s hand, even as she was still leaning against Troy. “It’s not you,” she told him. “I should have known. Because it wasn’t like it was anything, you know? Should’ve known he’d leave. They always do.”
Troy, on the other hand, was lucky he was an earth elemental. Anyone else might not have had the patience to deal with his sister, much less decide that, no, going out and finding the guy and beating him to a pulp was not a good idea. Not that he was scared to take on a vampire or anything, because he wasn’t. “Don’t,” was all he said to his sister. “You know that’s not true, so don’t even go there.” The tone in his voice said he wasn’t to be argued with, and hopefully Tessa would listen. Between himself and Naoki, he was hoping they could calm her down, or at least try to.
Naoki couldn’t hear the tone in either Tessa or Troy’s voices, but he could see the pain in both their eyes. And he knew exactly who Tessa was talking about when she said they always left. Not everyone was Jacen and he hoped she would come to realize that. It just happened to be a shame that this last guy left. She was so happy the other week, Naoki mused to himself. Part of him was happy it wasn’t a serious relationship or else half of the town would have been on fire. Regardless, it still hurt. Naoki understood that pain to some extent. “I don’t think this guy left in hopes to hurt you. I know it was a shit move for him to do to you, but I would think that if he really didn’t care, he wouldn’t have said anything at all.” He reached out to Tessa’s hand and gave it a light squeeze. Sadly, there wasn’t much they could do in bringing this guy back for Tessa.
No, Graham wasn’t Jacen, and logically Tessa knew that. He’d just been a fling, but right now it hurt, and though she knew she shouldn’t take it personally, she was. Tessa was not the kind of person who ever wanted to be left alone and the fire elemental in her needed someone right now. She was with the two best people for that, her brother and her friend who might as well be her brother. Hopefully her friends, especially Calista, realized that she was going to need them more in the next few days, and if she remembered, she’d apologize for her actions later. Right now, the thought never even crossed her mind. “Maybe,” she conceded to Naoki, and then her eyes filled with tears. “He still left. He’s still gone.”
Troy looked up at Naoki, nudging Tessa into the witch’s direction. Right now he knew his sister, and she wasn’t going to just let him get up if Naoki wasn’t there to hold her too. Needy fire elemental was needy, and he’d been dealing with her like this for as long as he could remember. She’d snap out of it - if she could get over Jacen, she could get over this Graham too. “I’m going to make some tea,” he said. “It’ll be all right, Tess. It always is. You’ve always been the strong one.” Standing up, he made sure to catch Naoki’s eyes, apologetic. They might not be getting to that spar today after all.
He might have not heard Tessa’s voice falter or the sobs that left her lips, but he could still see the tears and that was enough for Naoki to be overwhelmed by the emotion, too. He did catch Troy’s look, giving him a nod in response. They could postpone everything for another day. Tessa was way more important. Though with her brother gone for the time being, that left him alone with the weeping fire elemental. Naoki closed the gap between them and carefully placed an arm around her. “I know it’s not saying much, but you know I’m here for you Tessa.” Granted, he wasn’t exactly on the same level of what this Graham was to her, but whatever. “I just want to see you happy and smile and I’ll do whatever it takes to cheer you.” He made sure she could see his face and thus see him giving her a reassuring smile. Hell, she could cling onto him and cry if that was what she needed. He just didn’t want to see her like this. It was like seeing one of his sisters from back home in tears. He never wanted any girl to cry.
Feeling Naoki put an arm around her was all Tessa needed. She leaned against the witch and started to full on cry, not strong enough to keep it all in anymore, try as she might. She’d feel better once it was out of her system - or, more likely, she’d stop being sad and just get angry. Good thing her brother lived above a dojo and she could go downstairs and beat the shit out of something all she wanted. Maybe later. “You have no idea how much I need that,” she got out, the words muffled since she was speaking into Naoki’s shoulder. Remembering half a second later that he couldn’t hear her, she looked up and said again, “Thank you. Being here is good.” Because if Naoki told her he was going back to Brazil anytime soon? Fuck that, she’d be pissed. She rubbed at her eyes. “Sorry.”
Naoki really didn’t have any idea as to how much she needed that because did he not hear those initial words. That aside, he could understand to some degree what it was like to go through all of that. Being torn apart from his family was one situation, even if Naoki volunteered to leave. Him and Caelia drifting apart was perhaps a better case, but that seemed more mutual than one of them packing it up and skipping town. Regardless, he didn’t let go of the tiny ninja. She could cling and cry all she wanted, even if he wanted to see those tears vanish. When she did face him, he took in those words and smiled to her. Of course he was going to be there for her. Saying sorry, though? Didn’t cut it in his book. “Hey hey... none of that now.” A hand brushed locks of hair out from her face while wiping away some of her tears. “Never be sorry. It’s my choice to stick by you, for better or for worse. You never have to apologize, Tessa.” He pressed his forehead against hers and brought his voice down a couple notches. “Never.” To cement that, he gave her another tight squeeze.
Deep down, Tessa knew this was exactly what she wanted, someone to hold her and pay attention to her and tell her everything was going to be all right. Hearing Naoki say he chose to be here - that he wasn’t leaving any time soon - she could almost feel the fire elemental in her doing flips. She moved closer as Naoki leaned in, closing her eyes underneath his touch, one hand around his waist and the other reaching up to rest against his shoulder. “I’ll try to remember,” she whispered, wondering if he could read lips when they were this close. If not, he could tell her to repeat it; sometimes she honest to god forgot he was deaf, because it wasn’t like it changed how she thought of him.
Troy came back over with three cups of tea, setting them down on the coffee table. He reached over to tap Naoki’s arm lightly to get the other man’s attention, if only so he didn’t startle the witch without meaning to. “I’m assuming you’re not teaching today,” he told Tessa, looking his sister over with the critical eye of not only a big brother, but a boss examining an employee. “We don’t have that many classes, I can take care of it.”
Without pulling away from Naoki, Tessa settled instead in the crook of his shoulder. “You work too much as it is,” she told Troy. “I’ll be okay.”
“You are not teaching the little ones how to blow someone up with their minds. I’ll teach.”
Considering how close they were, Naoki wasn’t able to make out the words her lips were forming, though he figured if it was anything major, she would have made sure he understood her. For now, he let her stay close for comfort, even stroking her back idly to help soothe the fire elemental. It wasn’t until he felt the light hand on his arm that he turned his head and saw Troy, along with the tea. From the angle he was at, he couldn’t exactly tell word for word what the two siblings said. Something about work, but that was it. Either way, it wasn’t Naoki’s business and he pulled away to grab some tea, handing one cup over to Tessa before indulging in his own. After a couple of sips, he looked over to Tessa. “Doing better?”
At this point, Tessa did not want to pull away from Naoki, at all. He was holding her close and stroking her back and all of that meant the fire elemental was, indeed, comforted and happy there. Well, happier than she’d been when she arrived, anyway. But, when Naoki passed her a cup of tea, she had to sit up, though she kept herself close. She nodded, taking a sip of the tea. Troy had remembered to add just the right amount of honey, her brother was good like that. “Yes,” she told Naoki, reaching over to squeeze his free hand. “Thank you.” Anyone who could put up with her when she was like this deserved the praise, and she knew it. Not everyone wanted to deal with her when she was happy, much less when her emotions had taken a turn for the worst.
To Naoki, it didn’t matter if she was in a good or bad mood. He was there for her. No one deserved to be alone in that. He did his best and he liked to think that was better than what most people did around Tessa. Seeing her mouth that she was doing better brought a smile to his face. With the tea cup in one hand, he squeezed back at Tessa’s hand to let her know everything would be fine. Maybe not right this minute, but over time it would be. If she could get over Jacen, she could get over this. At least this time around, she had both her brother and friend to lean against for support.