Jace Herondale (uniquetake) wrote in worldsapart_ic, @ 2019-02-08 22:17:00 |
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Flicking her pair of rather large and bold-red outlined heart-shaped glasses a top her mess of hair, Kira stooped out from the driver’s side of her dad’s car. There was still a decent amount of time before she had to be at Tooth and Nail to start prepping the bar, so having a little quality time with Rhys seemed to be the best way to spend the latter half of her afternoon.
It probably didn’t hurt that in the passenger side of her car she had a huge paper bag with take-out fajitas and all the fixings.
Reaching across the console to grab the bag, Kira only managed to shut the door by banging it with her hip. Rhys was already exiting his home, probably as prepared as she was to dig into the food she’d promised was on its way, well over an hour ago, because Kira wasn’t always the best at punctuality.
Waving the bag she grinned broadly. “Your UberEats has arrived, but I have to warn you, she got a little hungry on the way and ate all the complimentary chips, so I’m sorry about that.”
She held out the bag for him to take so she could lock him into a very firm side-hug. “Please still give me a five-star rating? I can’t take any more hits.”
---
Rhys hadn’t at all been waiting for Kira’s arrival with bated breath, no, not him, but in actuality he was excited to be spending some quality time with his fellow packmate. Of course knowing Kira as well as he did he didn’t actually move off the couch in his place to go outside until roundabout the time he knew she would actually arrive and it would seem his timing was perfect.
“Is that right?” He asked, crooked grin, and arm wrapping around her to return and reciprocate the very firm side-hug. “I mean, not cool, but alright I’ll take pity on you. Just this once.” With the food in one hand and his fellow wolf wrapped up in his other arm Rhys began them in the direction of his apartment.
A couple digits later and the door buzzed and opened. “So, how’s things?”
---
When Rhys’ strong arm wrapped around her and returned the hug -- in familiar, bear-strength fashion, of course -- Kira melted somewhat against him. It always felt good, right, to be with her pack mates; being with them was like coming home, every time. And with Rhys, that was probably stronger than with most, with the exception, maybe, of her little sister.
“Thanks,” she scoffed, but while still smiling, when he claimed that he’d take pity on her. “I’ve gotten fired from a lot of gigs, but I don’t know that my ego could handled getting canned as an UberEats courier. Can you even imagine the shame?”
She snuggled her head a little firmer against his shoulder and squeezed in so that, when they entered the front door of his apartment, she didn’t have to quite disentangle from him yet.
“I mean, I’ve had couriers show up more than an hour late with cold food and another guy show up with his dog’s hair all over my sub. They will literally hire anybody.”
She shrugged in response to his question. “Y’know, the usual. Work, go home and smoke a bowl, work, go home and play Call of Duty, rinse, lather, repeat. What about you?”
---
Rhys wasn’t about to let go, not when it came to pack, and in particular Kira. He was nothing if not very physically affectionate with her which might explain why Ryder had gotten the mistaken impression that they were dating. He still didn’t think the other wolf believed him when he said that they weren’t. “Yeah, that would be pretty bad,” he admitted with a warm laugh as he headed into his kitchen and rummaged them out some plates and cutlery because contrary to what vampires might think of them they weren’t actually animals all the time.
“Same, more or less,” he shared with a shrug. “Just minus the smoking and Call of Duty. Won a couple fights and made more than enough to cover rent and a couple other things.” Which in his book made for a pretty successful week. “I also got talking to that workmate of yours, Ryder?”
He cracked into the bag of food and started serving it up.
---
Once in Rhys’ apartment (which at this point felt like an extension of her own basement-apartment), Kira walked to the sofa and flopped down, extending her legs across the span of the cushions and over the arm rest. One arm draped lazily off the side of the couch, and the other extended above her head, making sure that she took up the maximum amount of space possible. “Won a couple of fights,” she repeated. “You say that like it wasn’t already a given.”
She laughed warmly at how that earned his rent, and “ a couple other things”, which was really good for him, long-run-speaking. Kira paid rent to her parents for taking up their space into her late 20s, but if she wanted to move out, working at Tooth and Nail couldn’t possibly cover a place of her own, even with the good tips she sometimes earned.
As soon as the food was cracked open, Kira sat up and eagerly rubbed her hands together. Her attention perked upon hearing Ryder’s name, and she eyed Rhys carefully. “Yeah, I heard,” she replied. “He’s a sweet guy. Really shy, but nice. Finally talked him into giving me his phone number so I can harass him long into the night. Maybe give you a break--maybe.”
---
Rhy’s eyebrow arched at the knowledge that Kira had managed to snag herself Ryder’s phone number, wondering if he should be offended or maybe he’d read that exchange between them all wrong. He served up the food onto plate and then carried one over to where Kira had made herself right at home but that was okay because his home was as much her home after all.
“Yeah, he seemed nice,” he affirmed as he delved into the food and took his first mouthful. “And when have I ever complained about you harassing me long into the night?” He glanced up at her through his lashes, his eye colour difference seemingly more noticeable in this light than it was normally. “Don’t you go replacing me with some other hot bartender.”
And he wasn’t ashamed to say that. Ryder was hot. Rhys had eyes.
---
Kira immediately began tossing bits of steak onto a tortilla shell and scooping out a massive amount of guac to cover it and the veggies and cheese -- god, she was so hungry. “You should spend some more time with him, I think y’all would get along,” Kira said before sticking a good portion of the fajita into her mouth.
When have I ever complained about you harassing me long into the night?
She reached over and booped his nose (with a clean finger, of course) and chuckled once she swallowed her bit of meal. “Point taken. I am very interesting. It would be really difficult to get bothered by me.”
The mere idea that Rhys could ever be replaced caused her to scoff. “Oh my god, stop. As if. What planet are you on? Don’t you get it by now? Doesn’t matter how hot the bartender is, no booty call is ever going to replace you, Rhys.” Not that Ryder was, or ever would be, a ‘booty call’, and it certainly wasn’t why she’d asked for his number.
He just seemed lonely, really.
“You’re fuckin’ stuck with me.”
---
Rhys settled his metaphorical ruffled fur at the reassurances given to him by Kira that nobody, not even a hot bartender, was going to replace him. Not that he had issues or anything. No, not him. Nope. Totally fine here.
“Oh, I intend to,” he assured her with a razor sharp grin before another mouthful of tortilla. “I mean I get the feeling he’s kinda lonely and doesn’t really know what it means to be a wolf which suggests to me that he’s turned.”
Or maybe he was reading him wrong. Nah, he’d definitely got his number. Not literally, figuratively.
---
Something in his posture seemed to ease, a little tension drained, when she pointed out that nobody was going to replace him. How could anyone? Rhys had seen it all; her best and her worst; he’d been invited to sit at her family’s table with more regularity (and pride from her father) than anyone else in her life; and he had been there for her (and vice versa) for whatever was needed in this world.
Nobody was going to replace a bond like that.
Kira smirked in response to his assertion that he intended to talk to Ryder some more. Her expression turned somewhat sad at the reminder of what it would be like to be a wolf, a new wolf, and one without a pack. “Fuck, it must be so brutal.” She shook her head and went back to chewing on her food. She’d have to get in contact with Ryder soon and get him out and about.
Reaching for the sunglasses that were still atop her head, Kira put them on Rhys’ face and grinned at the big, red-outlined hearts now framing his eyes. “But we can probably help with that, right?”
---
“Mmhm,” Rhys hummed around a mouthful of food as he chewed and swallowed a further mouthful. He’d never been without a pack as he’d always had one from the moment he’d been born into the world and he couldn’t imagine being without them. He knew well enough that if a wolf spent too long alone then they’d go crazy and he didn’t like the thought of that for Ryder. He’d only just met him sure but… you know, whatever.
Rhys smirked as Kira put her glasses on his face and rocked an arched an eyebrow and a blue steel look. “Good look?”
He chuckled a moment later and nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah we can. Make sure he knows what it means to be a wolf.”
---
“An incredible look,” she smiled proudly. “Definitely something you should wear into the ring some night. It would be really fuckin’ imposing, y’know?” She winked and went back to furiously eating her fajita -- there was no attempt at trying to be graceful about it. Rhys had known her forever; he knew what her appetite was like.
She smiled warmly and nodded. “Good. I think he needs it. Plus, with a couple of pros like us, he’ll get the hang of it in no time.”
Well -- a pro like Rhys, at least. Rhys would be an incredible resource for a new wolf. He’d be an amazing leader, one day.