InsaneJournal

It was a standard procedure with the Frye twins to enter rooms or surprise the other in increasingly outlandish ways. It was easiest to do in the train, but harder to do in the Underground. The Firehouse was still partially uncharted territory, Evie didn’t harass him there often, on account of it being a real job with real stakes.

But this was a little different. She’d wanted to tell Jacob the news first, and he was stuck with an overnight shift.

She’d slipped out of bed in the pre-dawn hours, with the quiet promise to Sara that she’d be back soon, and scoped out the firehouse before picking the rooftop entry. The rafters put her just above Jacob, who very well might have been suspecting something by that point. But she didn’t dawdle to give him more of an opportunity to sense her, and opted to slip through the ceiling and swing down next to her brother silently. “Slow night?”

Jacob had not sensed her. Mostly because he was annoyingly distracted by the sheet of inventory on his clipboard. There hadn't been any calls all night and so they'd stuck him with checking through the firehouse's gear and first aid supplies. It just figured really. A night away from the club where he had to do inventory all the bloody time, and here he was stuck doing it again.

Not only did he not sense her, he made an undignified little "ah" noise when she landed beside him. "Bloody hell, I could've smacked you with this shock blanket just now." He waved the boxed blanket in her direction before jamming it back into a drawer and making a note on his clipboard. "And yes it's very slow. I don't suppose you've come to tell me that you've set something on fire, just for me?" He gave her big puppy dog eyes, hopefully batting his eyelashes like a character out of a cartoon. It was possible he'd been watching too many of them with Serefin during his free time.

Evie’s grin wasn’t going anywhere, not anytime soon, and especially not because she got the drop-in on Jacob. That little noise would fuel her even when the elation of her engagement wore off (not that it would be anytime soon for that). She hopped up on a nearby workbench. “You could’ve tried.” He’d managed to smack her with random things before, though. Usually thrown across the cabin of the train and to the back of her head, but still.

At his question, her grin only grew. She probably looked like trouble right now, but was too pleased to care if that made him worried. “Afraid not. Unless you count the fire in my fiancée’s heart, then yes, but I’d rather you not put that out.” But she was all too happy to slip in that word right in the middle of a sentence, rather than making an announcement.

Jacob managed to look disappointed for all of half a second before she finished speaking and his eyebrows shot skyward. It wasn't really that much of a surprise and yet somehow it was. His sister, engaged. To a woman, no less. He suddenly felt a bright flash of gratitude for this place and everything it had given them. Their lives would have been - could still be - so different at home.

"The fire in your fiancee's heart? Christ. That was the epitome of sap. But…I suppose I can give you a pass." He turned towards her, his smile growing wider at the look on her face. "Since you're engaged. Blimey. Congratulations, brat." He laughed helplessly and ducked forward to snag her up into a hug, nearly pulling her off the bench she was perched on. "I'm really happy for you."

Evie’s breath was cut off as Jacob pulled her into a bear hug. It was just like him to hug as fiercely as he did anything else, and while they had a great deal in common, he was much broader than her. For a second, she made a little sound of protest, but it was short-lived until she gave in and hugged back.

“I’ve seen and heard some of the things you’ve said to Serefin. Pot, kettle.” Maybe it was an indicator of the era they grew up in that when the Fryes went sappy, they had a tendency to go all the way. She leaned back and playfully shoved at his shoulder while grinning wildly. “Speaking of, are you ever planning on making an honest man out of him? Or just waiting for him to ask you to be his prince consort?”

"Don't turn this around on me. We're celebrating your engagement, not plotting mine." Jacob's face flushed at the phrasing and the thought. He rolled his eyes as he backed up a bit. The firehouse was nearly empty this late. A skeleton crew was running various tasks. He peeked around her and then moved around the workbench she was sitting on.

"This deserves a toast. And I know the captain keeps his woe is me bottle of whisky back here somewhere. Keep an eye on the door." Crouching down, he fussed around in the drawers and cabinets until he came up with a small bottle of liquor and two shot glasses. They weren't drinking tumblers but they would have to do. "Here then," he poured and then claimed one of the tiny glasses for himself, waiting for her to raise hers for a clink. "To Evie Frye and Sara Lance. A long life of happiness and harmless irritations inspired by yours truly."

Evie wasn’t about to censure him on drinking his boss’s alcohol, not if it got left where any of them could get it. That was his own fault. She still flashed her eagle vision to the door and hallway, just in case.

When no one came and there was alcohol in her hand, Evie raised it to clink right back. “Cheers, brother. I don’t think either of us expected our lives to go down this path, or at least I know I certainly didn’t. But I’m not complaining.” Instead, she was smiling when she shrugged and downed the whole shot, then glanced down at her now empty glass appreciatively. “Oh this is good, well done.”

Jacob down his shot and poured them each one more before tucking the bottle back where it came from. His boss probably wouldn't notice. And shockingly enough, Jacob was well-liked. If he ever lost this job, it would be because of a much more significant fuck up than two shots on the clock.

"I'm glad things aren't the way I planned, honestly. Or anything like what the Brotherhood expected for us." He knew that wasn't true at home - that things very much were the way the Brotherhood expected them to be. But he was starting to really believe that their stubbornness could keep them here. They just had to dig their heels and hidden blades into the ground and bloody well bite anything that tried to shake them loose. "Any idea when the wedding will be?"

Evie wasn’t sure she could say the same for herself. She’d always appreciated the order and knowledge, that the Brotherhood had afforded her. It translated to how she handled her Coordinator position, and how she managed the Underground efforts - both the fight club and their black market dealings - and had given her a good amount of managerial knowledge to keep things running smoothly.

She’d been the perfect Assassin for so long. Now, things were a little more… normal. Less murder, that was for certain. But she was glad for one thing - that Jacob had shaken loose from something he couldn’t mold himself to. He was happier here than she’d ever truly known him to be.

Evie had to shake herself out of her inner thoughts to answer with a half-shrug. “Nothing we’ve set. But I’m fairly certain it’ll be small and private.” After a beat, she smiled expectantly. “Walk me down the aisle, if that’s an option?”

Jacob wasn't at all surprised by Evie's answer. If she'd said 'oh it'll be a lavish affair', he'd have assumed she wasn't really his sister after all. Bodysnatching was hardly new around here after all.

He was surprised by her question though, and it showed plainly on his face. But surprise gave way to joy. That they were in such a good place now that she would ask such a thing was both obvious and mind boggling somehow.

"Obviously." He clinked her glass one more time and threw back the second shot, smiling fondly. "If you asked someone else, I'd have to pitch a fit or kick them down the stairs or something," he joked. Sitting down on the edge of the desk, he knocked his shoulder against hers. "Seriously though. Whatever you need, yeah? Consider it done."

Obviously, he said that so easily, and Evie was glad for it. Too much hesitation and she would have walked back the idea, suggested someone else, or walked alone. It wasn’t as if Ethan Frye was here, nor would he have been the type anyway. At least she was relatively sure he wouldn’t have cared that Evie was marrying a woman, but it was a small consolation to his other disapprovals that would have racked up.

“Alright, good. I’ll spare you the murder, though it would’ve been amusing to see you and Diego wrestle on the stairs.” No doubt if Diego heard this story, he’d talk himself up about it.

She knocked her shoulder right back. “Is it asking too much if I tell you to reign your partner in? He’s bound to be obnoxious about all of this.”

"I'll wrestle Diego for free," Jacob shrugged cheerfully. That was an easy Friday night for them, really. Minus the murder, anyway. "As for the rest…" He closed one eye and made a face at her, like he was thinking it over very hard and not coming out in her favor.

"It really is asking a lot, you know. I like him obnoxious. It means someone else is annoying you for a change!" He made a big show of sighing and then gave her a tiny little smirk. "But I'll see what I can do for the bride to be."