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Kai Whistler | Oliver Queen (greenhoodie) wrote in thereincarnates, @ 2017-11-21 23:12:00

WHO: Kai Whistler and Nick Bauer
WHAT: Kai’s meeting his new bodyguard and breaking him in. It’s not as easy as he thought it would be.
WHEN: Tuesday night, early evening
WHERE: The Whistler Mansion where Kai’s parents reside.
WARNINGS: Probably some language. Solid PG-13.


Was it possible to be both surprised and not surprised at the same time? It was a question Kai found himself asking into the void often, because he found that even things he thought he’d prepared himself for mentally had a way of shocking him. He’d suspected for a while that his parents would eventually want to hire some protection for him; Kai didn’t exactly exude responsibility to those around him who didn’t know of his extracurricular activities. Before he’d been in his accident, he was the typical rich kid brat who was in trouble so often that his father practically paid the police in monthly checks to keep it off of his record. Once he’d had his accident, his family had been so worried for him that when he woke up he was sure his dad was going to buy some muscle to keep and eye on him right then and there. A bodyguard wouldn’t be able to prevent an accident, but just maybe he would be able to persuade Kai to make better decisions that didn’t come with the possibility of death. He couldn’t exactly claim that he wasn’t still making decisions that reflected poor self-preservation, it was just that now those were more self-sacrificing as a vigilante and less acting out because he was bored and could.

The latest arrest was the last straw. Despite Adlai coming through to bail him out and thankfully not making it a big deal to their family, both of his parents had managed to find out thanks to their own personal informant in that particular department. Before Kai had even gotten back to his apartment he had at least a dozen missed calls, and several infuriated voice messages from his father. They all varied, but the gist was always the same; he had thought the lack of recent arrests had meant that Kai was maturing, but he now feared that the boy was slipping back into his reckless ways, and his mother couldn’t handle the heartbreak if something terrible happened to him again. They’d lost enough children, suffered enough close calls, they didn’t need to chance more tragedy, and how dare he put them in this compromising situation where that even had to be a thought on their minds. He was selfish, he was too old for this, etc., etc. The words probably would have hurt more if Kai had actually gotten in trouble for doing things most other young men in his social status did, but he was able to push most of the guilt down with the internal assurance that he’d been doing it for the greater good. Since he had to keep that greater good hidden, it didn’t change his father’s opinion of him, and it certainly didn’t change his mind.

It didn’t make what was to come any easier to swallow, unfortunately. There was no way to convince his parents to forgo the hiring of a bodyguard without telling his secret to them, and that wasn’t something he could do. Knowledge wasn’t always power; sometimes it was poison that brought danger and destruction, and he was content on containing that poison to only those who both had to know and were capable of protecting themselves. He wasn’t letting it seep into any more of his family members, thank you very much, even if he had to keep up the facade that he was a piece of shit spoiled brat who only cared for himself. And anyway, he didn’t think them knowing his secret would make them put a squash to this whole babysitting idea. If anything, they’d worry more and he’d end up with a dozen bodyguards to try to evade rather than the one. No, this was the lesser of all evils, and he’d have to make do.

“Could you at least pretend to be happy about this? This is for your own good you know.”

Kai raised an eyebrow at his father, his cheek resting on his palm as he did his best to look bored and miserable. It wasn’t a complete act; there were a lot of things he would rather be doing with his time right then, and none of them included alcohol or partying, but he hadn’t been able to come up with an excuse to do this another night, so he just had to suffer with his thoughts occasionally drifting to an arms deal that was in the middle of going down that he wasn’t going to be able to go take care of. It wasn’t the first one that he hadn’t interfered with; he wasn’t able to clone himself or anything. It didn’t make him feel better to acknowledge that, though; despite being part of a team, he often put the weight of the world on his shoulders regardless, and expected impossible things of himself. Thankfully his father assumed his sullenness was entirely due to the events solely happening in his home.

“Fine. Don’t pretend to be happy. But so help me, Kai, if you act like an insolent brat to him I’ll make sure you regret it, do you understand?”

Kai gave a mock salute before he leaned back in his chair, drumming on the table top with his fingers until his father got annoyed enough with the noise to leave the room. Not long after the doorbell rang, and he heaved a hard sigh when he heard one of his father’s servants answer it. It wasn’t typical for them to be working in the house outside of the usual 9-5 hours, but Mr. Whistler had offered them double pay for staying long enough to be hospitable to the newest member of the pay roll, and they were eager to take his offer. Even though Kai was sure that they were all fully capable of answering the door; but he had brains enough not to voice that opinion out loud either. Sometimes his father wanted to fully display the family wealth when new people came aboard to make himself seem more important; there was a point where Kai enjoyed it just as much, but it was no longer the case. He just hoped that this Nick guy wasn’t staying too long so he could get back to work.

“Sir? Mr. Bauer is here.”

“Yeah. Kinda figured. Thanks, though,” Kai stood, dusted himself off, and made his way into the other room that Nick had been led into. It took a lot of conscious effort to remember he was supposed to be some playboy whose party was being imposed upon by daddy, so he had to adjust his look accordingly once there was somebody else there to see it, but he managed to plaster the huge grin as he held his hand out to shake. “So you’re the guy saddled with trying to keep me in check? I feel like I should make my dad pay you extra.” A beat. “Your hair isn’t what I expected for a bodyguard.”