Jace Herondale (uniquetake) wrote in worldsapart_ic, @ 2019-09-07 20:37:00 |
|
|||
Rhys and Koa had a long standing arrangment. The kind that meant that regardless of how busy they were they always met up at least once a week, drank or ate depending on their mood, and checked in with one another.
Koa was pack after all and Rhys, well, he might be the Beta, and it was sort of his job to check in but he was also really good friends with the other wolf. Had been since they were pups running around together.
"Hey," he greeted with a friendly nudge to Koa's shoulder as he rounded on the booth the other wolf was sat in, slipping in to make himself at home in the other seat. "You ordered anything yet?"
His leather jacket was taken off and rested next to him.
"Nope," Koa admitted with a lift of his shoulder. "Figured I'd wait for your slow ass."
He leaned his elbows on the table, "By which I mean of course I have, I ordered food when I got here so it shouldn't take too long to arrive and I took the liberty of ordering for you, too, 'cause you're predictable as fuck and spend ten minutes looking at the menu before ordering the same thing."
He shrugged, pushed a few strands of hair behind his ear and then smiled at his packmate. Though Gabe was his best friend, Rhys was something else. Pack was someting else.
"How's it going?"
"Hardee ha ha," Rhys drawled as he smirked, leaning back into the booth and stretching his arms out across the back of it. "Goes alright, can't complain aside from the fact there's this all pack meeting happening in the next couple weeks and I gotta drag my ass halfway across the city to neutral ground to take part."
Still, it was part and parcel of being a Beta.
"You?"
"Rather you than me, dude," Koa said honestly, flicking a crumb in Rhys' direction. "All that responsibility shit doesn't do it for me." But he knew that Rhys was a good Beta and he'd make a good Alpha. Of that, he had no doubts.
He cleared his throat, thinking about his last conversation with Gabe, and the one before that, and the one with Ainsley.
"Yeah, I'm- I'm pretty good too."
Rhys snorted softly as a crumb was flicked in his direction by Koa. "Yeah, that's why I'm Beta and you are not." He grinned a second later and leaned forward, folding his arms atop one another as he rested against the table.
He angled his head at the slight hesitation in Koa's voice.
"You sure?"
"And, no offence, but when you take over I don't wanna be Beta either. I'll just heckle from the sidelines."
Koa hummed. "Yeah? I guess? I should be."
"So, why aren't you?" Rhys challenged, eyebrow lifted as he regarded the other wolf.
"Pretty sure Gabe's only two steps away from letting himself get burned by the sun." Koa leaned his chin on the table and looked at Rhys, large eyes impossibly sad. "And I should be happy that he's here and alive, and that we sorted our shit out together and kinda with Ainsley but- he's just- he's so fucking miserable, dude, and I can't-"
Rhys frowned as Koa admitted that Gabe was in effect as suicidal as a vampire could get. Honestly though it wasn't a surprise to Rhys as he knew how difficult a transition could be especially if you'd basically been murdered into it courtesy of a crazy stalker vampire who couldn't take no for an answer. And a witch at that which meant along with his humanity he'd also lost his connection to that power that had been with him since birth.
"Have you spoken to him about it?"
"Kinda?" Koa admitted, fingers catching on a coaster and starting to rip it into small pieces. He didn't have many anxious habits, but those he had were destructive; he tended to pull things apart when he was uncomfortable, or anxious, and he was both of those right now. "In the sense of 'the fuck are you thinking' and making him change his daylight ring to something more permanent he's not gonna just 'take off and forget', I have, yeah. But I-"
He wet his lower lip again and drew it between his teeth. "Fuck, I just, I know he wants to be human again and the only thing I can think of to do that for him is so fucking stupid-"
Rhys tipped his head. "How fucking stupid is fucking stupid?" He was both friend and Beta to Koa so it was important for him to keep the distinction clear and the lines separate. Difficult but had to be done. "What exactly are you thinking?"
"If I could find a genie," Koa said, tapping his fingers on the table before he finished shredding the coster in his hand and reaching for the one underneath the drink that had been placed in front of Rhys, "if I could find a genie, I could wish him human again. It's like, the only thing I can think of 'cause you can't just reverse being a vampire."
"A genie?" Rhys repeated. "You do know how dangerous those creatures are, right?" They were also very tricky creatures, took wishes and twisted them just because they could. There were a lot of stories about them, lots of cautions involved.
Koa nodded. "Yeah, but this is the only way to help Gabe. I just need to find one." He shrugged, "Besides, long as I'm specific with the wish then it'll all be okay."
"Really specific," Rhys cautioned. "Last thing you want to do is to either make things worse or get yourself into a world of trouble because that is not what I want or Gabe would want for you." He could tell though that Koa had his mind set on this and there would be no talking him out of it so he might as well help, make sure it got done right.
"You want help?"
Koa nodded, "I don't even know where to start, dude. Like, it's not like I can just go on craigslist and ask for a genie in a fucking lamp."
Rhys rubbed a hand through his hair and pushed a breath out. "Or you could ask your very awesome Beta to talk to his contacts to see if they can turn anything up."
"At the same time as I ask my awesome dragon extended family member that's not my dad - please don't tell my dad - to do the same." Koa grinned, "I'll owe you one for, like, ever."
"Yeah, you really will," Rhys assured Koa with a smirk. "I'll reach out, see what I can find out." James was a good contact, he knew a lot of things and could lay hands on them as well without asking too many questions.
"Thanks," Koa said, lifting his head as he caught the scent of food. "I think our shit's on the way," he added, "Hope you're hungry. I ordered a lot."
Rhys grinned. "I can always eat, you know that." He made a mental note to get in touch with James after lunch was had and see if the witch couldn't help Koa out.
Koa echoed the grin with one of his own that softened around the edges as he said, sincerely, "Thanks, man. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Struggle," Rhys shot back over the table with a teasing grin and wink. Koa knew he didn't mean it and Rhys was confident in that fact.
Koa snorted. "That's only the half of it," he reassured, deciding a subject change was needed because thinking about Gabe's situation was enough to make Koa's chest clench painfully. "Uh- so- how's Ryder?" he asked, dunking the fries in his fingers into the ketchup that had arrived in a metal bowl.
Rhys to his credit didn't react too evidently to the mention of Ryder's name and instead just dunked his fries in a nearby ketchup. "He's good, yeah. Gonna be meeting my dad soon, to see about potentially joining the pack." No mention of the fact they'd basically been fucking each other's brains out since that first time in Tooth and Nail.
He also knew he didn't smell like him because he hadn't seen him in a few days.
Koa smiled a little and nodded his head, "That's good, it'd be sweet to have him as part of the pack."
It might not have been obvious, but Koa spotted the slight hesitation of Rhys' hand and his eyebrow lifted. "Good like 'we meet up for food' good or good like 'if anyone hurts him I'll kill them' good?"
Rhys cleared his throat and absently scratched at some stubble on his chin. “Good as in he’s good.” Evasive Rhys was evasive.
Truth be told he had no fucking idea what was going on so he had no way of explaining shit to anyone.
Unfortunately, Koa knew him better than that. A wicked glint caught in his eye and he leaned forward. "Good like how good?" he asked, tongue touching his canine. "Like... you never wanna sleep with anyone else good?"
Rhys promptly chucked a handful of fries in Koa’s direction. “You’re an asshole, you know that, right?” He shook his head as his lips pulled into an affectionate smile.
"You love me," Koa announced, picking up one of the fries that had been thrown at him that had skittered across the table and popped it in his mouth. "You know you do. Besides, I've seen his ass and those pants he wore at Tooth & Nail when I first met him left relatively little to the imagination."
He wiggled his eyebrows. "So...?"
Rhys glanced up at Koa, a heat in his eyes, and a worrying feeling of annoyance and possessiveness bubbled up inside his chest when Koa made remarks about Ryder's ass. "Fine," he bit out through his teeth. "He's good, really good."
Definitely a surprise for somebody that had until Rhys been completely inexperienced.
Koa watched Rhys carefully, tipped his head and his lips quirked up into a little grin. "Good, huh?" He picked up his burger and kicked Rhys under the table. "Glad to hear it, man."
"Yeah," Rhys muttered with a small shake of his head before he just settled down to tuck into his food and enjoy the company of pack.