WHO: Aderyn Ceredig, Henry Claus WHEN: Friday night WHERE: Claus apartment WHAT: Addy bein dumb lol WARNINGS: Nah
It was Friday night, and Henry loathed the weekends. He had spent until about nine pm at work just because he was putting off coming home and having to face two days with nothing to distract himself from the yawning nothingness his life had become.
Well there was the news of Michael's death and Lucifer calling the city an open buffet for demons for the next however long, but that wasn't a great distraction...
The second he was in the door, Henry started to pull off his tie as he headed for the liquor cabinet. He wanted to down about half a bottle of scotch, and retired to his room to read through his messages from Iestyn yet again, while he cried himself to sleep. He had just grabbed the alcohol when there was a knock at his door, and he turned to it, his eyebrows raised. He hadn't ordered food. And he didn't think Tinsel had said anyone was coming over.
Curious, Henry moved to the door to open it, only to find no one in eyesight. And then a familiar Welsh voice said from around the corner, "go shut your blinds!"
"Holy shit, Aderyn!" Henry hissed, turning to see her standing there, pressed flat against the wall so she was not visible from his apartment windows. "What the f-" Instead of standing there questioning her, he shook his head and moved to comply, rushing into the apartment to shut all the blinds so no one could see inside. Then he turned to see Aderyn sprinting into the apartment, right on past him.
"Sorry, gotta piss!" she yelled, the bathroom door slamming behind her.
"Whaaaaat the fuck?" Henry groaned. He made sure the door was locked behind him and then he realised the scotch bottle was still in his hands, so he took a deep swig of it. Addy was here and if he didn't already know Iestyn was safe he would have been panicking. Instead he was mostly confused, with a side of relieved to see her.
When Addy emerged, she made a beeline for Henry's kitchen, grabbed a glass, and helped herself to some water, which she gulped down quickly. "Uhm. Addy, wh- what's...going on here?"
"I should ask you the same thing, you look like an accountant!" she shot back at him before going back to her water.
Henry looked down at himself and frowned. The day after his father had allowed him back into the family fold, Henry had taken himself to a tailor and had some suits fitted. He had spent the money he had been quietly socking away for an overseas adventure with Iestyn and Addy at some point, and ended up with a new wardrobe he could wear to work. Then he had gone through his closet and put everything silly in it away into plastic tubs, and stored them so he was left with things that gave off a more serious air. "I don't...think it's that bad-"
"You're wearing a tie!" she pointed out, but the second she put the glass down she was in his arms and Henry gladly accepted the hug. God he felt so starved for physical affection already, this was fucking awful.
"Hey," Addy said over his shoulder. "You feel thinner."
"Alright," Henry pulled back, and raised his eyebrows at his friend. "Since you showed up at my doorstep every word out of your mouth has been judgement. What's going on? How- Why are you here, Addy? Don't get me wrong, I am...so fucking glad to see you," he reassured her, "but uhm...I thought it wasn't safe."
"I didn't get to say goodbye!" Addy pouted. "And I was judging you so it would distract you because you are about to super judge me..." She shoved her thumbnail into her mouth and she started chewing. "So- I might have dropped Evie off this morning and then made my way to campus and uhm...spent two hours searching for your car in the underground car parks. And then when I found it I sort of..picked the lock and climbed in."
Henry blinked at her, and whether it was out of horror or confusion, he wasn't sure yet. "You-"
"Broke in and sort of hid in your boot," she admitted. "Because, see- Underground there to underground here- It's sneaky! No demons could follow, right? I made sure no one else was in the car park when I climbed in and then I hid-"
"Not...super thrilled someone was in my trunk and I didn't know," Henry said, looking extremely uncomfortable. "Glad it was you and not- Yeah, Just...gonna check that from now on."
Addy gave him a guilty smile, and continued. "I thought you would come home when your classes finished-"
Then Henry's eyes widened when he realised what Addy was getting at. "Oh my god! You were hiding in there for-" He had left college around four and work around eight thirty, so she had been there at least four hours. "What time did you crawl in there?!"
"Uhm. Around two..." Addy trailed off.
"You are someone's mother!" Henry pointed out, but he was going for his delivery menus. "You must be starving, let's get some food into you. Hiding in my boot for seven hours. You lunatic."
"I miss you!" Addy protested, and she went to hug him again, and Henry finally, blessedly laughed. It was short and tired but at least he'd done it.
"I miss you too," he said fondly. "You know Iestyn's going to murder you, right?"
"Probably," Addy sighed.
Henry ordered some dinner for them and he led her into the living room so they could sit and wait for the food to arrive. As he did so, he watched her carefully. "Are you alright? What...brought this on? I get you missing me, but hiding in my car trunk for seven hours is a little extreme?"
Addy pouted and flopped back against the pillows of his sofa. "I just- I don't know. Lucifer takes everything and Iestyn's so miserable so he's throwing himself into his acting and it's taking up all his time and you were my friend too and I don't have very many, and I wanted you to be my brother-in-law okay! This is so stupid!"
That was a lot she had just said, and Henry could get himself lost in any number of those claims. He hated knowing Iestyn was miserable, even though he was too. Addy had wanted him to be her brother-in-law? She cared about him that much? "It- It is very stupid," he agreed on that. "Addy, I- I hope you know how much I love you."
Addy frowned sadly back at him. "I do," she said, her voice flat. "And this is not related, but why the monkey suit?"
"It's not a- I'm uhm...I'm working at my family's company, and I wanted to look official."
"The...family that makes you feel like shit?" Addy asked, her eyebrow arching towards the heavens.
"My sisters don't And Tinse is the one I'm working with. Look, it's- I lost everything. You and Iestyn and David and Evie- My family is all I have left I don't want to push them away any more."
"So that's where you went after classes?" she asked, heaving a sigh. "I guess I get it," she lied. "And you're thinner because-?"
"Liquid diet," Henry confirmed, though he had the presence of mind to look guilty about it as he pointed to the scotch bottle. "Haven't felt much like eating lately. I'm...I'm really glad you came, even if you were really, really weird about it," he laughed. "I haven't been- I'm not doing...amazingly."
"I sort of caught on to that," Addy nodded, but then she added, "but you didn't hide in the boot of a car, so...maybe I'm not doing amazingly either. We can still talk a little, right? As long as it's careful and private?"
Henry perked up then, lighting up like a Christmas tree. "We can?! Oh, I- I would really like that! As long as it's safe, I would really like that. I feel so cut off."
The pair of them sat together, chatting and when the food arrived they ate in the living room, the conversation never really reaching a lull. At least not until their plates were cleared and the leftovers had long gone cold.
"I should- I should probably go," Addy said with a sigh. "Do you want- You could write a quick note? For Iestyn? I could deliver it personally so it'd be safe."
"I don't know," Henry hesitated, even though more than anything he wanted to pour out everything he was feeling into a note for Addy to bring back to him. "It doesn't feel fair to him. I don't want to bring him right back to where he was when we broke up. But- Oh-" Henry reached into his shirt and he pulled out the little cross Iestyn had given him to wear. "Here. I forgot to give this back to him when he- I'm sure he wants it back," Henry said, handing it over.
Addy didn't look sure, but she took it anyway, playing with it a little in his hands. "I'll give it to him," she said sadly.
"And maybe just a-" Henry stood and went to get a bit of notepaper and he just doodled a heart and then an H on it, and handed it over to her. "I uhm...I've been reading his journal still. I can't help it. Just to see what he's up to. I'm so happy he's doing well with his job."
"I think half the time he updates it just so you know what he's doing," Addy explained easily.
"Oh god, same," Henry admitted. "I update just so he knows I'm still here. Still safe. Sad and miserable and missing him more than anything, but- Alive, you know?"
"I thought that might be the case." Addy moved to kiss him on the cheek and then she frowned. "I should go. I'll sneak out of the parking garage and catch a Lyft from a few blocks away. Ugh, I don't want to leave. I'm so sorry, Henry."
"Yeah," Henry nodded, his stomach knotting up. "Me too. But hey, you got me to eat dinner. 'smore than most people have managed in two weeks."
"And I am going to text you reminders then," Addy said sternly. She leaned in to give him one last hug, which she held for a long time because she never wanted to let him go, and then she groaned. "Better go face the Iestyn firing squad. Bye, Henry."
"Bye, Addy," Henry said, feeling torn between crying, and just being glad someone had wanted to see him so badly they had spent half a day in a car trunk. "Love you." He closed the door on her and when he went up to his bedroom he didn't take the bottle of drink with him for the first time in two weeks.