Sirius had done a fairly good job of keeping his mood enthusiastic that night. Despite not feeling like the world was a great place to live in at the moment, every time he caught sight of Bonnie in the crowd while he was hosting, it gave him a boost of reassurance. It only cemented what he felt for her, for the twins, and their little family unit - that this was the only place he needed to be and he was a very lucky man to have it.
Remus was gone. James was gone. Maybe Ras would be next. Emme. Or Tonks. The Weasleys.
Harry.
Poor Harry, who was struggling so hard to find his place in this new world, who couldn't let go of the past no matter what he tried.
Any of them could be next, but what could be done? So Sirius held onto the hope that he would get to keep them all, but he could survive anything so long as Seren and Zayna stayed with him. With Bonnie. As a family he never expected to have, it's all he needed these days. Everyone else was just an extra blessing.
The karaoke crowd dispersed from the little corner they took up every other Thursday, until it was just him and Bonnie putting away the extra chairs. Once they were done, he reached out for Bonnie's hand and held it. "Stay with me?" He asked, repeating the request from earlier on the network. Holding up a bottle of bourbon, he explained, "There's a quiet little corner we can take up, away from everyone else."
This place, like Tumbleweed, liked to give and take. It had given a lot to Sirius, and then just as quickly had taken most of it away. Bonnie couldn’t imagine losing her best friends like Sirius had. Her friends were her family, they were the only family she had, much like Sirius, but for different reasons. If she was in his position, she’d be a mess. So she was relieved when Sirius asked her to come drink with him after Karaoke. At least she could be there, and the twins were safe with Regina.
She kept a smile on her face through Karaoke, despite the consistent worry. She knew Sirius’ smile was just as fake as her own, but she kept it in place because that was what he needed right now.
As much as she really did love Karaoke, she was glad to see the end of the night. “I’m not going anywhere.” Bonnie looked over at him as she stacked another chair to be taken away. Plus he had bourbon, and Bonnie rarely turned that down. “Especially when you pick one of my vices.”
Once the last chair in her section was gone, she quickly washed off her hands, and then headed to the section that Sirius had pointed out that was away from the patrons that were staying longer like they were. Away was good, she didn’t think either of them felt like dealing with more of other people right now.
Bonnie settled back in the booth in the corner, making herself comfortable while Sirius poured the drink into the glasses.
American bourbon was fairly new to Sirius, but he had grown fond of it, just as fond as he had grown of Bonnie, over the past few years. It was no surprise that both had been introduced into his life around the same time.
Depositing her glass, which had a healthy offering of bourbon, in front of her, Sirius shot her a small smile and raised his own glass in a toast. "To another successful karaoke night." The words were somewhat hollow, but he threw his drink back anyway, drinking it faster than he should have. The burn was welcomed because even with a smooth bourbon, you never just chugged it like that.
Turning soft eyes on Bonnie, he said, "Tell me something new going on in your life." There was very little that he didn't know about her life, with how easily they shared information like that with one another. It was more than just co-parenting, it was friendship, which was how their relationship began in the first place.
Bonnie had learned to appreciate bourbon a few years ago, even if it practically had been by force, and she still very much enjoyed it. She raised her glass to Sirius’ cheers, but didn’t bother to smile. She could hear how void of meaning it was, and she wouldn’t have to know he was going through something to be able to detect that. Bonnie sipped her drink more slowly, taking the time to detect the aromas from the drink, and taste the flavour as it rolled over her tongue. After the first drink or so, she wouldn’t notice it anymore so might as well appreciate it while she could.
Something new going on in her life. That almost seemed impossible. There was hardly anything Sirius didn’t know about her life here in Vallo. She could mindlessly talk at him for as long as he’d listen to her, from conversations she had at school (before they were on break), to the more interesting customers that came into the shops, and her latest roadblocks or connections with the covens. The face she made said she wasn’t sure she could actually do that.
“Something new.” she repeated, leaning back in her chair. “I don’t know. I think I’m boring now.” she said, feeling slightly appalled as she said it out loud. She’d become predictable. Twins, work, covens, twins, work covens, sleeping was in there sometimes. No one had tried to kill her in months, and there’d been no crisis situation where she was absolutely needed. There was always someone else just as, if not more, capable. “Is this what adulting is? I think I might be more boring than my dad.”
Sirius let out a laugh at Bonnie's somewhat horrified tone, at the thought of being worse than her father when it came to excitement in her life. It was a fond laugh, not at all mocking in the least. "You're one of the most fascinating people that I know, Bonnie Bennett. Might be fantastic at being an adult, but boring? You're certainly not that."
Pouring himself another glass of bourbon, he took his time drinking from it this time around. He tried another question, this time adding in specifics so that Bonnie would not have to cast about in an attempt to figure out what he wanted to know about. "How was the aftermath of that gremlins excitement, once you reached out to the other covens? I know it can't have been easy going."
Fascinating? Things around her seemed more fascinating than her actual life. If she was fantastic at being an adult, it was only because she had been forced to grow up at a young age, which he probably knew a lot about as well. “I don’t know about fantastic. More like just used to crazy things happening all at once.” Even as a teenager she had been juggling school, with saving the town from vampires and other threats.
“Half the time I’m never sure if the Covens appreciate the heads up, or if they secretly blame us for the insanity.” Magic had existed in Vallo since the beginning, but she didn’t think anything like the insanity they faced happened before Outlanders came along. “Probably both honestly. Some appreciate it, some link the insanity that happens to the arrival of Outlanders. I can’t say I blame them either.” But at least the Outlanders also solved most of the issues as well. “But I’m used to it at this point. At least the ones I talk to directly are usually supportive. But at least the warning prevented any major damage from happening for the Covens.”
"Well, the ones that are smart will keep their opinions about us to themselves if they want to keep this peace between us going. Just like we've had to when some of their covens tried to shift blame to us when things were not our fault." Here, he was very much talking about that fight club nonsense at the school and Nick Scratch's expulsion. It still annoyed him deeply that they were so quick to try and pin it on one of their own.
Reaching out, he touched her hand. "I want you to take a spa day or something similar soon. You've been working too hard with everything that's been going on and the Olympics that are coming up. You're too important to me to watch you grind yourself to the bone constantly." And as he said those words, he knew them to be true. Bonnie was easily one of the most important people to him. As the mother of his children, as his friend, as someone who held a very large part of his heart in her delicate fingers. "Or let me take you to the beach. A nice dinner. Anything."
Bonnie tilted her head in consideration at the idea of ‘keeping the peace.’ “We are guests here, in a sense.” She said, mostly thinking out loud. “Or new citizens? Either way. There are far more locals than there are us, with a deeper understanding of Vallo than we may ever have. I think it’s us who need to be more concerned about keeping the peace.” As much as she wished that was different. For the most part, the Outlanders had to play a delicate balancing game.
She knew what he meant about Nick, though. But Geliara had come through, even if their approach had been wrong, in her opinion. They’d lost an Outlander student to an Outlander run school in the end.
Bonnie honestly thought she took more time to herself than she should. At least she always took some time to herself. Her nails, her hair, she usually took at least some time to herself. “I’m fine.” she said, reaching out her free hand to rest on Sirius’ hand that was holding hers. “I’m not the one to worry about.” She hadn’t lost her best friends recently, but he had, and Bonnie knew all too well how much that could hurt.
“Guests, maybe, but we weren’t the ones that behaved abhorrently in regards to one of our students,” Sirius said, raising an eyebrow. Bonnie knew exactly what he was talking about. “Anyway, it doesn't matter, we’re moving forward. With dinner on the beach maybe? I’m not letting you get out of this,” he teased, reaching out with his leg to nudge her foot with his.
That was true, Vorerra was a special breed of crooked. Some of them seemed more criminal mastermind, others more petty and spoiled. They were a group of people that Bonnie did not enjoy navigating in the slightest. “Sometimes I wonder how members of Vorerra don’t get tired of themselves.” she said with a sigh, one of annoyance than anything else.
Bonnie nudged him back under the table, a grin spreading across her face. It was hard not to smile at him when he was like this, even if she herself didn’t see a need for a break at the moment. But dinner on the beach she could probably manage. Though the fact that he had completely changed the subject away from him had not escaped her attention. “Are you coming with me to this dinner on the beach?”
Sirius was a master at avoiding talking about himself when it came to his feelings on how he was doing. She already knew. It was just a matter of getting through these next few weeks without drowning in his sorrow. And maybe finally giving in to the feelings he has been having for Bonnie for well over a year now might have been a better prospect than spending time worrying about who disappeared next. He had put his life on hold too many times before, but looking at Bonnie's smiling face now, he was wondering why he had bothered to avoid giving in.
Yes, there was the chance that any one of them could be sent back. But it wasn't happening today. Living day to day was exhausting. Looking to a future...that had all the appeal in the world, when he looked and saw the twins in it, saw Bonnie in it.
Merlin, he had been an idiot. All this time wasted, when they could have been doing more than just co-parenting, more than just friendship. He vowed to fix that, soon. Not now, when it could easily be mistaken for the grief of losing his best friends again.
"I think I could make it to dinner," he said, lightly teasing. "If you insist."
“I insist.” she responded immediately, looking somewhat triumphant. She had no idea if that was what he planned the whole time, for it to be both of them. But he was just as deserving as some personal time. Bonnie was not the only one of the two of them that probably had too much of her day scheduled.
Bonnie reached for her glass with her free hand, and finished off the contents, before pouring them both another drink. He might be a master at avoiding his feelings, but that wasn’t going to stop her form trying to look out for him. Even if he might out-stubborn her
“Mom and dad both deserve a little down time, don’t you think?”
Eyes soft, hand reaching out again to hold hers, Sirius nodded. "Maybe they both do. Come on. Let's finish these drinks and go for a walk, yeah? I need fresh air." Because if he stayed inside for any longer, looking at Bonnie's face under the muted lights of the bar, he was liable to throw his whole plan about her out the window.
She wasn’t going to argue, getting some air was better than getting obliterated over their bottle of bourbon. Even if it was good bourbon that she could easily have a few more of. Instead, she picked up her glass to finish off the mouthful, savoring the taste, but not regretting the hangover she wouldn’t have to deal with tomorrow.