We build defenses and secret hiding places Who: Brodie, Gavin, and Langston Where: The Worthington brothers' apartment When: Afternoon, a few hours before sunset
Gavin had thought he'd be more prepared, when this day finally came. He'd had a month. A month to know he'd need a cage, that he was a bitten just like Langston, that both of them would become that monster he'd seen. But then again, it was so much easier to approach this logically when he wasn't staring at the cage, knowing what tonight was. His heart was thumping away in his chest and he'd lost count of how many cigarettes he'd gone through. Not enough, he'd decided, as he lit up one more and looked at the stainless steel monstrosity in front of him.
And Brodie was still here. Gavin was beyond grateful for that, even while he feared for Brodie's safety. The last thing Gavin wanted was to hurt Brodie the way he'd been, to take away the abilities Brodie had. Not seeing all those fucked up visions would be great, he was sure, but Brodie was born a psychic and he should get to stay that way. No one else had to get hurt because of Gavin's mistakes. Granted, this wasn't the way Gavin wanted to introduce Brodie to his younger brother, but that was neither here nor there. He didn't think Langston would embarrass him that much. Not only purpose, anyway. He knew his brother was just excited to meet the "new guy" in Gavin's life... even if there was nothing going on between them. Nothing more than friends.
But would friends stick around when they knew someone was going to shift into a hybrid were? Best friends, sure, or maybe Brodie looked at him as something closer than that - jesus, he needed to stop thinking about this. Gavin took another drag off his cigarette, trying to keep himself calm. "Does it look like it will hold?" he murmured to no one in particular, gesturing to the cage.