We met at the disco

[Niall Gallagher]

Never again.

Never again did Niall ever want to experience that bunny... changing thing. He couldn't even believe it happened, but it was there, recorded for posterity on his phone. A selfie of a black bunny staring into his phone's camera.

"Typing as a rabbit was not fun, let me tell you, Kenny," he complained as they stepped off the bus and onto the concrete sidewalk. "I was trying my best the whole time and you just thought I was what, some retarded kidnapper? What were you thinking? I thought you were the smart one between us!"

Although to be fair, if Kenny started texting him in wildly shitty words... Actually, he would know right away it wasn't Kenny... Or he'd think it wasn't. So... same thing, really, since Kenny didn't believe it was him!

"But--but, here's the thing!" Niall quickly added, a hand on Ken's chest as they walked toward the apartment building. Apparently, somebody that could help was here. Seer or something. "I wouldn't know it was you because you're so... YOU. You know, so proper and all. But ME? Why didn't you just think I was drunk or high? I would've thought that immediately if it was me! I'm always high or drunk!"

And then thinking better of what he just said, especially since Ken was sure to give him a Look, he hastened to add, "Not that I am anymore but, you know what I mean...!"

He waved a flourish of a hand. Before he knew it, they were at the front gate of some fancy gated apartment building. Niall peered through the iron bars. "Think we slide through? Do we have to get buzzed in? Key? Number pad?"

Blue

[Kenneth Branagh]

Ken did give Niall a Look, specifically because he was told on a daily basis not to assume that Niall was either drunk or high, and then when it was convenient, Niall turned around and told him that he ought to have assumed that to begin with. Because that was necessarily better than Niall being a... whatever he was? Besides, they were talking about hunters and sketchy people laying in wait outside of their flat, so the natural conclusion was to believe that someone had snuck up on Niall.

He didn't reply because Niall was speaking so rapidly, but he listened. And he heard everything, even if his expression was severe but otherwise blank. The focus was to get away from those people waiting for them outside and to get Niall to the seer. It was a bit suspicious for a hunter to know a seer—when he was supposed to be hunting everything supernatural in sight—but that was never Ken's way. He didn't kill people just going about their lives. He killed dangerous monsters and, yes, there was a definite difference between the two.

That was something Jem wouldn't know about, obviously.

With good luck, he would be free of hunting altogether. Maybe this was a sign.

He steered Niall into the posh-looking apartment building, where they were stymied by a locked gate. While Niall peered in with his usual curiosity—and a half dozen suggestions—Ken simply took out his phone and texted the seer. In less than half a minute, the gate buzzed and unlocked and Ken pushed it open. "Get inside," he said tersely, seeing one of the hunters out of the corner of his eyes. It was the woman—the one with long wavy hair and a determined Look about her that he disliked very much.

Once he shut the gate behind him with a definite clang, he hurried Niall along into the courtyard. One of the doors opened and a woman with another determined Look about her waved to them. "That's her. Come on." Ken kept an arm around Niall as they approached. The woman took a good, hard look at them and then... rather rudely he thought, she rolled her eyes at them.

"Get inside, come on. We're running a special on gay fairy boys today."

Rude.

[Niall Gallagher]

"Or that!" Niall made another motion in the air, pointing in the direction of the gate as it buzzed and Ken opened it. Look at that. All it took was a simple text. And here Niall was about to suggest attempting to climb over it. (Never mind that his pants would definitely tear if he tried, and probably right down the bum, too.)

But no climbing needed. Just... one scary ass looking woman staring them down in such a way that Niall cowered away from her with his hands up in defense and slightly crouching like if he made himself small enough, he could crab walk past her without being seen. No such luck; she had eyes like a wolf and she watched him like one, too, the whole way into the apartment building.

Inside, he found a rather tidy looking apartment with old and worn items.

"Cozy," was the first word out of his mouth. It had a warmth about it that Niall definitely didn't remember feeling at his family cottage in Dingle. Then he sort of startled and gave a second glance at the sofa, where two boys were already occupying it. Neither of them looked very... cheerful. One was lying in a fetal position with a blanket, like he was sick and the other was all bound up with his knees to his chin like he just witnessed a ghost.

"Hello, fellows!" Niall said, too loudly, as if they were deaf and not sick or traumatized. He entered the home like he owned it, coming to sit on one of the old worn chairs and crossing his legs like he had been here before. It was his nature; he went to a lot of places and he got used to making them temporary homes.

"What's happening to the lot of ya? I never saw such downed spirits me whole life and I grew up with grim faced hunter types and I'm dating that guy." He gestured to Too Serious Kenny. Sitting his elbow on the arm of the chair and resting his chin on his knuckles, he eyed the one who was sitting up. His eyes softened.

"It's all right, you know. Whatever's happened, it's not the end of the world. It never is." He sat back after that, sliding his hand over the arm of the chair instead, picking at a piece of it idly before looking back up at the poor fella. "Ghosts and goblins might be real but reality is, they mostly just leave people alone until they tear up their forest homes and such. I met a goblin once, real nice fella... kinda frightful looking... and smelly. But nice enough."

He reached over and gently gave the boy a pat on the leg.

"It'll be okay, lad, promise. I've been through everything possible at this point so you can trust me." He paused. "I'm Niall, by the way."

[Kenneth Branagh]

"Isn't it.." Said the seer, who seemed terribly fed up with Niall even before he'd said two words. Ken got that. Niall took a lot of caffeine to get used to, or to keep up with. He nodded politely to her as he entered and while Niall immediately made himself comfortable in an antique (he wanted to be polite) chair, Ken stood beside him with a protective hand on his shoulder.

Meanwhile, the two boys on the couch were both little storm clouds. Ken could almost see gray clouds over their heads, dripping rain upon them. The one closest, sitting with his knees to his chest, looked at Niall as he started talking and... Shockingly the more Niall said, the brighter his expression became. He still looked quite down, but there appeared to be a little ray of sunshine breaking through the cloud over his head.

"Really?" He asked with the kind of guilelessness that would have made anyone want to pat him on the head and maybe ruffle his hair. A little brother type, wasn't he? No wonder Niall took to him; there was the suggestion of something sensitive about the mouth and a touch of innocence in the eyes that reminded Ken very strongly of Lorcan. This one also seemed eager to please and a touch coltish, just as Lorcan had been in life. "I'm Raphael. And this is—" He cast a half-fearful look over at the other boy, one with curly black hair and hazel eyes almost glaring at them—at Niall, correction. "This is Rhys."

"Ken," said Ken, and that was all he said while the seer came over to look at Niall. Right. Business first, introductions later. Ken touched her arm gently. "Can you see? What he is?"

The seer looked at Niall for a long moment, and then she looked down at the boy laying on the couch—the serious one who hadn't talked, the one called Rhys. He was about the only one who hadn't, honestly, which was refreshing (and quiet). "So. Got something you want to tell me?" The seer was talking to Rhys, not to them. "This is your brother, right? Don't even try to lie, you guys look way too much alike for this to be coincidence."

[Niall Gallagher]

"Raphael! That's a proper angelic name, isn't it?" He smiled and turned his attention to the glowering Rhys under his blanket. "Hiiii, Rhys! Same goes for you, whatever you saw, it's not so bad. The ghosties are actually quite pleasant to be around, actually. I quite like them."

He tilted his head and ran a hand over the back of his neck in thought. He was actually about to go on, about how he didn't think there were many people or creatures he didn't like, which was true to life, but the seer woman and Ken were bulldozing over the chitchat for the serious Business of being here to find out what was wrong with Niall. (Who had been freaking out previous to arriving but couldn't help chatting when he met new people.)

"Huh?" Niall looked over at the seer woman as if she was half-mad. "We're not brothers, lady. My brothers are all in Ireland, being somber hunting men. Most of them, some of them I hear retired--"

"Yes." The one called Rhys interjected before Niall could keep going.

"See, we're not--what?" Even that shut Niall up. In his confusion, he turned toward Ken with a raised eyebrow. Was this guy for real? Calling them brothers? Niall never met him in his entire life. And he knew all of his brothers. One had passed, this was true... but that was definitely not Lorcan he was looking at right now. The kid next to him was more like Lorcan, though maybe not fully in appearance. Definitely something about him, though!

"That's not true," Niall said to the woman. "We're not brothers. We've never met--"

"We are brothers," Rhys said, sounding and looking weary to the bone. "Your mother is my mother. Your father is my father. They switched the Gallagher baby out at birth."

"Wh... what? I don't... what?"

[Kenneth Branagh]

"My name is Marge, not lady," Marge said through clenched teeth, "and if you'd shut up for two minutes and let someone else talk, you wouldn't be so surprised by this."

Rude. Ken frowned at her but she gave him a glare and even he felt a touch hesitant to get on her bad side. He would if she made moves on Niall for any reason, no doubt about that, but she seemed formidable. Plus, they needed her skills to find out what Niall was.

Or... who Niall was.

Even Ken was taken aback. He stared at Marge, and then at Rhys. The way he confirmed Marge's statements didn't appear to be in jest. If anything he looked completely serious, and completely worn out, as though he didn't even have enough energy to begin lying to them. Ken curled his arm around Niall. "I grew up with him. His brothers—I know all of them. How can this be? Who—who is the other Gallagher baby?"

Switched out at birth? Niall was a changeling? Ken looked down at him, at his Niall with his mop of dark hair and with his dancing hazel eyes. Then he looked at Rhys laying on the couch, with his mop of curls and with his serious hazel eyes. There was a resemblance... Yes, there was. They were both tall, a bit lanky at that, and the physical resemblance was striking now that it was drawn to their attention.

"You are his brother," Raphael said softly, and now his hand was on Niall's knee. "You're the second prince of the Fallen kingdom!"

That... added confusion on top of confusion as far as Ken was concerned. "Prove it." He looked between all of them—surely this couldn't be a concerted joke on himself and Niall. These people looked totally serious. "Prove that they're—that you're brothers."

[Niall Gallagher]

Niall opened his mouth in protestation, holding up a finger, sitting up. Then thought better of it--she looked like she was getting pissed off.

"All right, who pissed in your whiskey...?" Niall gave her a sassy side-eyed Look before sitting back against the chair and flipping his leg up over the arm of it. Rude geebag... All he was doing was talking! He lifted his chin and looked over his own fingernails as if they were more interesting than her and her voice and her talking. An arm curled around him and Niall clasped his hand around Ken's arm, sliding down the back of the chair until his chin touched Ken's arm.

Who was this other Gallagher baby, though? That was what he really wanted to know. And although he was clearly sulking, he was also thinking. And remembering how his mother always treated him. Growing up, she definitely seemed to love the others more than him. And he remembered more than once, his parents fighting about him, but he just assumed it was because he was the strange one, the black sheep, the odd one out. Kinda made sense, if he was a changeling amongst hunters.

Also... kind of surprising he was alive. Why... was he alive? He contemplated his own hand on Ken's arm in silence, looking up only when he was startled back to the present by a hand on his knee. Then he laughed, because it was all so crazy and far fetched.

"Y'hear that, Kenny? I'm a prince! Somehow feels way wrong but appropriate at the same time, doesn't it? How's that song go? You should see me in a crown?"

Rhys, his apparent brother, closed his eyes, in a familiar way. Niall saw that sort of expression on a lot of people's faces when they were dealing with him. Nothing new.

"How do you want me to prove it?" Rhys asked. "A birthmark? A blood test?" Then he shifted slightly, turning to look at Niall sharply. Niall's eyes moved about, left, right, back at Rhys. What? What was he looking at him like that for?

"She's a seer. She can tell you he's a fairy, some kind of fae. But she probably can't tell you exactly what kind. Our mother is a pooka. You would have been a mischief maker... it's kind of the brand of a pooka. We can shapeshift into black colored creatures with golden eyes. Cats, horses, rabbits, goats, dogs, whatever. And if that's not enough for you--luck. You won't have mastered it so it might not always work in your favor but... pookas are masters of luck... good or bad."

Now he looked beyond Niall. Niall tilted his head up, to see that Rhys was looking at Ken now.

"Proof enough?"

[Kenneth Branagh]

Niall was being flippant, showing a kind of overdone careless attitude towards the situation, but Ken knew that this was his way of dealing with a most unexpected revelation. While his mouth flapped, his brain was working double-time, too. Niall wasn't stupid, no matter what people seemed to think of him. What they saw was exactly what he wanted them to see, Ken had no doubt about that.

Because Niall could be serious. He could be quiet and contemplative, he could be sitting properly in his chair and dealing with this like an adult. Instead he draped himself against Ken and he was agitating Marge, definitely, but not because he wanted to be 'difficult.' It was his way of coping. They weren't being given time to process this and new information kept coming. Even Ken was hard-pressed to take it all in and make sense of it at the same time.

He slowly tightened his hold on Niall as Rhys went on to explain a few things. The black rabbit, that part made Ken's brows lift. Luck—yes, everyone always did say that Niall was a lucky son of a bitch. No matter what he did, he always got out of scrapes with minimal damage. Even here, overdosing on all of those substances, he somehow managed to evade the terrible consequences.

The proof laid out before them appeared solid. Ken nodded slowly. "He turned into a black rabbit earlier. And sometimes... his eyes glow. Gold. They glow gold."

"When magic is being used!" Raphael piped up suddenly, sitting up. "Right? Rhys' eyes do that too, I see it all the time!"

"...yes. But why... Why was he exchanged with the—the other child? Where is the other one?"

"Satine," Raphael whispered to Rhys, and then quieted down when he seemed to have realized that he'd spoken out of turn. He even put both hands over his mouth, and squeezed up against the armrest, turning his face away.

[Niall Gallagher]

Pooka.

Niall had heard of them. They were Irish creatures. They hunted them, back home. They weren't easy to hunt, either, because of the shifting and the luck. How did it escape Niall? Everybody always did say that he was lucky as hell. And he had tried numerous times to meet his maker only to come right back. Pushed back to life by the hand of luck, apparently. He never shifted before though. Why... was it happening now?

Studying the brother he never knew he had, he wondered if he knew. But he didn't ask yet because they were getting all excited about the golden eye thing. Ken asked why and Niall held his breath, but he was asking about the other child. Oh, right. The... the real Gallagher baby...

Rhys glared at Raphael for some reason, after he whispered something to him.

"She's been watching you," Rhys said finally, as if he didn't want to impart the information.

"Me?" Niall asked. "Why?"

"It doesn't really matter anymore."

"Wait. Hold up, wait, wait, wait. Go back. Did you say she? She? I have a sister?!" Niall sat up, excited by the prospect of a sister!

"That's not really how it works," Rhys said dryly. "You're not even a real Gallagher. But the men you know as brothers... they have a sister, yes."

[Kenneth Branagh]

This was getting out of hand. Ken had too many questions; Niall did too, he was willing to bet. And out of everyone in the room, about half of them were glaring at Niall and not giving him much by way of answers. Marge had gone back to her phone now, texting with someone while occasionally flicking her gaze up at them. Ken supposed that her job was done... Not that she had told them anything of value yet.

While Niall grew excited by the prospect of a sister—although Ken had to agree with Rhys that she wasn't his sister as such—Ken kept his own counsel. He eyed the boy called Raphael for a long moment, and then reached over and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. "May I have a private word with you, Raphael?"

Raphael looked startled, like a deer in the headlights. "M-me?" He asked, pointing to himself. "But I'm not—"

"Just for two minutes."

"Oh. Well..." Raphael glanced at Rhys again, apparently thinking about it.

Ken leaned down so that he could speak quietly into Niall's ear. "Sit tight. I'm going to try and get some answers out of him." He gently eased his arm away, but gave Niall's hand a light squeeze. Rhys appeared guarded, dispensing with information only grudgingly; Raphael on the other hand appeared eager to please. Ken thought he could use that to his advantage to get some real answers, because he was almost certain that Rhys was hiding something.

[Niall Gallagher]

Disappoint. He sat back again, running his black tipped fingernails over Ken's arm idly. No sister. No family. Well, except a sullen brother who looked sick. Aw, maybe he was just sullen because he was sick. That made more sense. Niall wasn't easy to get along with when he was sick, either. (Though most people would have said he generally wasn't easy to get along with in general.)

"Okay...?"

Again, Niall looked at Ken, this time in confusion. Why did he want a moment alone with Raphael? Not with Rhys? Ooh, should he be worried? No. Not about Raphael--about the brother that looked quite like him! Niall gave him a distrusting look from where he still sat on the chair, like an overgrown child.

"What do you need with him?" Rhys asked, and he finally sat up from his fetal position. He really did look rather sick, Niall thought, when he sat up, all color in his face seemed to drain away and there were circles around his eyes. Not from makeup, either. Just like he wasn't feeling well. There was just a general sense of malaise in both expression and posture. But he sure made himself sit up when he thought Ken was going to take his... friend...?away?

"Whatever you have to talk to him about, you can say in front of me," Rhys said, looking pretty stubborn. Now that he was sitting up, though, Niall could see a family resemblance. But thankfully, he could also see differences. And he hoped they were differences Ken wouldn't care for.

[Kenneth Branagh]

"I'm not going to do anything to him. I simply want to ask him a few things while you and Niall get to know each other better." That was one excuse, at least. But ultimately he wanted to pump Raphael for information and he couldn't do it with everyone talking over each other. He also couldn't think properly or formulate cohesive trains of thought when everyone kept jumping in to offer new insights. It was better to sit down with one person than to listen to three.

Raphael reluctantly slipped off the couch. "I'll come talk to you," he said, with a kind of strange lift of the head. There was defiance in the act, Ken thought—though geared towards whom, exactly, he couldn't tell. Raphael was avoiding looking at Rhys, though, and Ken saw his hands balling briefly by his sides, then loosen and nervously slip against the side of his pants.

"Take the bedroom. Ignore the guy sleeping in there, he's a little tired," Marge lifted her gaze to them to say, with a little smirk. "And relax, baby boy, you've just reunited with your older brother. You could show a little more excitement. By the way Niall, there's another one across the courtyard, in case you were interested. He's a lot less... teenage angst than this little cutie here."

Ken slid an arm around Raphael's shoulders, in an attempt to appear friendly, and led him off to the bedroom. This was a delicate situation; he had to proceed carefully, so as not to spook Raphael. Obviously Raphael was willing to help them, but Ken could see that he was aligned with Rhys. That meant he had to choose his words with great care, if he wanted to get the whole big picture and not what Rhys only wanted them to know.

[Niall Gallagher]

"Well all right then, queen," Niall said with a z-snap and a sassy head waggle. It was that weird lift of the head coming from Raphael, like where did that attitude come from? Then he realized pretty quickly that it was coming from a fight between these two storm clouds because Rhys looked even more storm cloudy than ever. But boy did Niall know that look in his eyes. Fear and hunger in one.

Niall used to look at Ken the same way, when they were no longer innocent kids kissing behind churches and touching each other near creek beds. The reason he ran away. One of them, anyway. One that still hurt less than the biggest reason. But still hurt.

"Teenage angst doesn't bother me," Niall said. "I'm kinda immature. I might as well be a teenager." Not that it was something to be proud of. But Niall could be as petulant as a toddler and as adult as... something adult if he really wanted to be.

Draping himself over the arm of his chair, Niall smirked and spun a finger at Rhys.

"You're in love with him, aren't you~~"

Oh yes, he was. Look at that little nostril flare before he pulled up his protective blanket like a shield. If looks could kill, Niall would be fried right now.

"What's the big deal? I'm in love and I love it. What's the point in torturing yourself with denial? It's so..." He made an 'ew stinky' face. "It's pointless, my friend. Brother. Little brother, is it?" Niall got up and plopped himself down on the coffee table in front of Rhys, crossing his legs and scattering a couple of books as he did so.

"You could die tomorrow and where would that leave you and your denial then? Hm?" He stroked his chin. "And to that end, he could be dead tomorrow and where does that leave you and your denial? See?" He threw up his hands. "It's stupid!" He patted his own chest. "Feel what you feel. Because you're gonna feel it anyway. Fighting yourself about it is just wasting time. Precious time." He put his hands together. "Very precious time."

[Raphael Malai]

He saw the thought flash through Rhys' head: traitor.

Well fine! FINE. Raphael was going to be a traitor then because he was no longer interested in being Fallen or belonging to any sort of Fallen group or community! There was no community anyway, just a bunch of people held together by fear of their King. Raphael was over that. He had good people by his side now, people who cared about him and his feelings.

Heck, even a stranger like Niall was treating him nicely! And this Ken person who was leading him off to the bedroom, where the first thing Raphael saw was--

"Ooh!" He covered his eyes. There was a naked man sleeping in the bed! A tiny corner of the sheets covered his private parts but he was definitely very naked, and Raphael now knew why it took Margie so long to come outside. Ahem. Well Charles was a good-looking man, he supposed. Very fair haired, blue eyed, tall, that kind of thing. Raphael preferred men with dark hair though. (Curly-haired? Hazel-eyed? Hmph.)

Ken went over to pull the sheets fully over him, which Raphael appreciated. Then they went to the far corner of the room where Ken began to ask him questions, and Raphael answered to the best of his abilities. Ken seemed interested to know about Rhys and Niall's parents, why they chose to put him with a hunter family. Raphael hazarded to say that it was the King's idea; he gave Ken a general idea of the royal court, what it was like to grow up there. He told Ken about the Fallen, and a little about Satine, because he knew that Ken was perturbed about her following Niall around.

"The King wants to reclaim his sons so he can... I think destroy the fae. Or turn them all into Fallen, like him, so he can control them all," Raphael said quietly, avoiding Ken's sharp gaze. "But if a fairy falls in love, they can't be turned. And I think... if I'm not wrong... it's too late to turn Niall." He offered up a small smile at the look of relief that passed over Ken's rather stern face. "The rest, you might have to ask Margie about, or... Rhys. I'm only a servant, so they don't trust me with many of their secrets. I'm sorry, I hope I was helpful..."

To his surprise, Ken put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you Raphael You've been very helpful. And... whatever happened between you two, know that it will get better. It might feel like a terrible ordeal in the moment, but you know, something good will come out of it. If I'm not wrong, you'll come out of this stronger than before." And he smiled, a rather nice smile.

Raphael nodded. A lump came into his throat as he threw himself at Ken and hugged him, thanking him silently for his kind words. It did feel terrible in this very moment; it felt like he was losing everything he ever held dear and the future was frightening. Raphael didn't have all the answers, even if Rhys seemed to think he did. But if there were going to be people like this in his life, well maybe things wouldn't be so bad. Ken awkwardly patted his shoulder and then gently eased him back to arms' length.

They went back outside, leaving Charles sleeping on the bed. Raphael hastily scrubbed a hand over his eyes and put on a smile when he saw Niall sitting on the coffee table in an unconventional manner. Bonding with Rhys already!

[Rhys McCabe]

Rhys
hated him.

He hated him. Niall Gallagher was a pox on the ass of the earth. Somehow, he managed to annoy Rhys more than Raphael had ever done. He was too nonchalant and careless, completely unaware of himself and the way he sounded and looked, the way he just let books fall so he could sit on the table, the way he lectured Rhys like he had any right.

Rhys scowled at him and his influx of words. His onslaught of words. So what if Niall Gallagher was in love and he loved it? Who was he? He wasn't Rhys.

And deep down inside, Rhys was... disappointed. He thought that of all the brothers, he might like Niall best. They were full blood brothers, separated by cruel hands. But if they would have been good as brothers, Rhys would never know. Currently, they were basically strangers and this basic stranger was sitting here telling him off about love.

So what if he died? What if Raf died? And nothing was said? What did it even matter to this incessantly chatty weirdo? But fuck if he wasn't... if he wasn't like Rhys might have been, had his wings not been torn from him. And maybe that was why it was so painful to look at him and listen to him. Niall Gallagher was like Rhys if he'd never grown up, with that mischievous sparkle in his eyes. Rhys didn't want to but he could picture what kind of kid Niall Gallagher had been. The same kind as Rhys. The kind that explored the outdoors and made up stories and got into all kinds of trouble--and dirt.

Niall, though, had never had his soul essentially flattened and ironed out. His personality had never been stolen from him. Despite what a difficult life he'd led, it was still not the same as living in the darkness of the fae realm, in the Fallen Kingdom. Niall was free to be who he was, even if he had to fight to be that. He was stubborn, though. Nothing was going to hold him from his freedom.

But Rhys let his be taken away and he let the grey seep into his soul.

Just before the others came back, Niall leaned forward and looked him in the eyes and Rhys could see the little flecks of gold. There was no mistaking him. He was definitely Rhys' brother.

"You looove him~~ Just feel it."

He reached out and Rhys didn't know what his plan was but he immediately batted his hand away.

"Stop that."

Niall batted at his hand back but he took it back, setting it on his own knee and shaking his head. He looked like he was going to say more--please don't let him say anything more--when Raphael and Ken came out of the bedroom. Rhys narrowed his eyes and looked them both up and down, not sure what he was expecting to see or what he thought happened. Annoyingly, he felt a nudge to his leg from Niall that he steadfastly ignored. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he saw that shit eating grin.

He hated Niall Gallagher.

With an unnecessary little spin off the table, Niall was on his feet--kicking off another book--as he trotted over to Ken. What did a man like that even see in Niall? But Rhys saw the trust between them and it hurt to look at. The easy way Niall fit next to Ken as he leaned into him and whispered something to him before winding his arms around his waist.

Rhys looked away from them, at Marge, then at Raphael. What happened? But he didn't ask anything because Raphael didn't listen to him and Rhys was... mad about that, for whatever reason. It felt like everything was just... making him mad.

"...I'm going back home," Rhys said. This was all bullshit. If he was going to be sick and tired, the least he could do was rest in solitude.