WHO: Adrian Ivashkov and Raven Darkholme WHAT: Meeting a friend for Lunch WHERE: The Downtowner WHEN: Sunday WARNINGS: Nah STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
Adrian was in an incredibly good mood. He’d always dreaded the idea of getting engaged or married before he met her, because he was sure that his parents or his aunt or someone would push him into a politically advantageous marriage with some boring Moroi girl he couldn’t stand. But no. He was now engaged to the love of his life, and he couldn’t be happier. Of course, they hadn’t set a date or even really made any plans yet, but that didn’t matter. Sydney had accepted him, and the rest of it would come in time.
He’d stopped by and talked to Chloe earlier in the week, and now he wanted to stop and talk to Raven. He hoped that she wasn’t hurt by the fact he was engaged now. He didn’t think she would be. They’d had sex quite a few times, sure, but he was pretty sure their emotional relationship was nothing more than friendship. At least, that was how it was for him.
He’d sent her a message that they meet at a little local restaurant for lunch, and as usual, Adrian got there about five minutes late. He gave her a charming smile as he took the chair across from her.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said. “I’m just not very good with...clocks and watches and stuff.”
***
Having known Adrian for a while now, Raven wasn’t even remotely surprised that he was a few minutes late for their lunch plans and waved off his apology with an easy smile. She was in the usual blonde form she’d long used in public, preferring not to be the subject of confused, curious, or even frightened stares if she went out in her natural blue form.
She was happy for him that he was engaged. Sydney was a nice young woman and was clearly a stable and positive influence on Adrian’s life. When she’d first arrived in town, Raven was surprised to learn that Adrian had a thing for her given how straight laced she seemed, which was very much the opposite of Adrian himself. She supposed that whole ‘opposites attract’ thing held some truth.
“No problem,” she said. “I’m off today so I don’t have any other plans.” She supposed she wouldn’t be seeing him at the club much, if at all, anymore.
*** “It’s good to see you,” he said with a smile. It really was. He considered her one of his best friends here in Madison Valley. She’d been there for him when he really needed someone. Sure, he’d been in a very different place than he was now, but that didn’t make him appreciate it any less.
“How have things been?” He felt like he hadn’t seen her in a very long time, and a part of that was because he had mainly stopped going to the strip club. It just didn’t feel right now that he was engaged and he was so head over heels in love that he really didn’t want to look at girls other than Sydney.
“Sydney said you guys spoke on the network about our engagement.”
***
“We did,” Raven said with a smile. “I’m really happy for both of you.” She didn’t see herself ever taking that step with anyone, but she didn’t begrudge others the opportunity for that sort of happiness. Especially Adrian, who’d been through a lot of shit in his life.
Her own life was going pretty well too though. “I’m doing good,” she said. “Kurt and I are… getting along really well. He actually called me mom for the first time not too long ago.”
***
“That’s great!” he said. He knew about Kurt and more than that, how much he meant to Raven. He was glad that their relationship was working out. There were more than just romantic relationships in the world, and they were all equally important. “We’ll invite him to the wedding too. Once we figure out exactly when and where and what it’s going to be like.” The idea of wedding planning was a bit overwhelming to him, but he hoped that Sydney would be able to figure all of that out.
“I can’t believe I’m actually engaged. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled, but it’s like...surreal.”
***
Raven chuckled. “Yeah, I think I get that,” she said. It was the way she felt when she discovered she was a mother.
“I’d offer to help with the wedding planning thing, but… well, that is definitely not my area of expertise.” There were plenty of people in town who were far more capable of assisting that actually knew what they were doing. Raven would definitely attend though. Nothing could keep her from supporting Adrian & Sydney.
***
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be a dad,” he said, a bit softer. He wasn’t sure if Sydney would want to have kids. He didn’t know how her body issues would deal with being pregnant, and he certainly wasn’t going to push her into doing something she wasn’t perfectly comfortable yet. He’d like to have kids, just to show that he wasn’t his father. He’d be loving and gentle and kind...everything that his father hadn’t been.
“I’d kind of like to be, but I don’t know if it’s in the cards. My kids would be dhampirs. You know dhampirs, right?”
***
The word was familiar and it only took a moment for Raven to realize why. “Oh, yeah, there’s a couple of them running around here, right? That Rose girl.” She remembered him talking about her when he’d first arrived in town. “Half human and half vampire. They’d pass for human though.” Unlike her son, who unfortunately got a combination of mutant genes that made him stand out.
“I never planned on having kids, but Kurt’s a good one.”
***
“Yeah, Rose. Eddie. They’re usually Guardians in my world. They can pass for humans but are super good at sports and physical stuff and all that.” He shrugged. He didn’t mind a bit if his kids were dhampirs. He didn’t look down on them like some of the Moroi did, after all. Without Eddie, he would have been dead several times over, and the discrimination was stupid anyway.
“I’d never really thought of it before now. But I’m getting married, you know? I’ve always kind of thought those things go together.”
***
“They don’t have to go together,” Raven pointed out. “Unless that’s something you and Sydney both want. For what it’s worth, I think you’d be a good dad though. You know what not to do.”
Sometimes that was more important than thinking you knew what to do. Then again, Raven had done the exact same thing to Kurt that her parents did to her, so what did she know?
***
“Yeah, I know they don’t have to. And I want to marry Sage regardless. I love her, and if she doesn’t want kids, well, we’ll adopt or something. I’m not going to do anything to make her unhappy.”
That would kill him, knowing he’d made Sydney unhappy. The most important thing in her life was, and had been for some time, her happiness.
***
Raven nodded. “You could always sign up to be a guardian,” she said. “Give you kind of a test run at the whole thing.” There were always people showing up who were under eighteen and needed a place. She probably wouldn’t have ever done it if her own son hadn’t come to town, but plenty of other people did it.
“You guys will figure out all of that,” she said.
***
“We could, I guess. Of course, gotta run that past Sage too. She’s an equal in all this.” And he’d never do anything that would upset her in any way. She meant way too much to him for that.
“But yeah, we’ll work it out. Either we’ll have kids or we won’t. Either way we’re going to be a ridiculously happy couple.”
***
Being happy was what mattered. Or at least that’s what was supposed to matter. Raven wasn’t sure if she’d ever been truly happy in her life.
She shook off that thought. Now wasn’t the time for her to have an existential crisis. She was here to celebrate with her friend and that’s what she was going to do.
****
Adrian looked at his menu, feeling happy and hungry. There was a lot of delicious looking stuff, and he was looking forward to ordering some of it. Thankfully for Raven, he wasn’t his dad, and she had her choice of whatever she wanted.
“So, order whatever you want. It’s on me. I’m in that great of a mood.”
And she was his friend, and he felt like treating.
***
“Well, thank you,” Raven said. “And what do you say after lunch we catch a movie or something?” She didn’t have anything else scheduled today and would enjoy spending more time with Adrian.
***
“That sounds great,” he said. He didn’t have any plans for the day either, and it had been too long since he’d spent any decent amount of time with her. They might not be friends with benefits anymore, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t still friends. And Adrian had learned enough in court to value true friendship.