How lovely the silence of growing things

[Ripper Nightshade]

Oh.

Oh. He could feel the heat prickling worse than ever behind his eyes but for a different reason. Jack's sudden interjection scared him, too--he was certain that he was going to tell him off and he waited for it. But he only said... surprisingly nice things. Rip was precious. Worth protecting. But it wasn't until Mik started showing him his photos that the tears started to spill out again. Blinking them back fiercely, he tried to turn his gaze away but all he saw was--apparently--whatever Mik saw.

The person--person, not golem--in those images looked like a whole person. And a happy person. A content person. A cheerful, inquisitive person. Happy in his element with fish and kittens and Mik. Just being a person. Not doing anything particularly spectacular. Just being... a person.

For the first time since that horrifying moment back at the motel, the ugly numb chill freezing his heart and soul finally started to warm up. As much as it hurt, it still hit home that the people who mattered most didn't view him the way he viewed himself. A monster, a killer. But nobody was looking at him that way, not even... not even the one he killed. Blinking again, he turned his face into Mik's shoulder.

"We'll fix this," he heard Jack say softly.

"So," Prince Rhys said suddenly. "There's three of us here now. All three of us together can easily put a ward over him strong enough to keep that bastard out. Problem solved. Not even Keith can break a ward cast by three princes."

[Mikko Ashby]

Mik tucked the phone away and then held Rip, gently this time. He kissed the top of Rip's head and rubbed his shoulder and just sat  with him, letting him ride out the emotional moment. Why tell him not to cry when he needed it? He needed an outlet for his feelings; he needed a release from the guilt and pent-up doubts and insecurities.

"You're loved, Rip," he whispered, so as not to talk over the brooding guy who'd been giving him dirty looks (while his boyfriend stared at Mik like he had three arms). While Mik didn't know what 'casting a ward meant,' it sounded like a smart idea and a good thing to do to protect Rip. As a human he was kind of useless but... hey he was emotional support! That counted for something!

"Do you need me to... step aside?" he asked as he lifted his head, glancing around at the three princes. Curly dark hair, hazel eyes. Cori lookalikes... Geez he didn't notice them before but damn, their resemblance to each other was uncanny.

[Ripper Nightshade]

He didn't feel like he deserved it but he knew in his heart that what Mik said was true. Somehow, he had come to be loved and it was almost as overwhelming as the negative image he held of himself after... after... after looking down at Brayden and finding him glassy eyed and... He swallowed hard. But for some reason, people still loved him. His eyes stung fiercely and he squeezed them closed, but instead of seeing poor, sweet Brayden, he saw all those moments from those pictures.

Not the pictures. But the memories behind them. Cooking together. Learning how to feed small kittens. Delighting over how happy the previously sad goldfish looked now in their big tank. All the talks, in the middle of the night when Mik couldn't sleep. Rip technically didn't have to, but as his soul slowly grew, he found himself becoming less golem and more... human. Sometimes he napped with Mik, even if he didn't sleep through the night like he did.

He took in a breath, not lifting his head but hanging onto Mik, holding onto the hand over his heart. Even the curl of Mik's fingers helped somehow. He heard the others talking about the ward, about three princes being able to make an unbreakable ward but he was so happy/sad that he couldn't get a grip on his emotions.

Then he heard Mik ask if he should step aside and he looked up startled, clinging to him.

"No, please..."

It was a shivery little whisper but he didn't want him to go. Prince Niall looked sympathetic, moving his hand as if to touch somebody that wasn't there, and then looking somewhat bewildered as if he realized that whomever he meant to touch wasn't there. While confusion remained on his expression, Jack stood up, looking over at Prince Rhys, who also stood up.

"No," Prince Rhys said, "You don't need to move. Maybe it's better if you're both warded, since you two have a connection."

Looking over at Prince Niall, Rhys added, "Come on, Niall. We need you, too."

"I can't cast magic," Niall complained.

Rhys looked at him with a stony expression until Niall shuffled up out of his spot on the couch. Once they were all up, Rhys taught them how to cast a protective ward. Carefully. He seemed somewhat annoyed with Niall for some reason but eventually, the three of them began casting the spell.

Rip waited for something to happen. But if something did happen, he had no idea. "Is it... is working?" he asked.

A moment and then Rhys was looking at something that Rip couldn't see, then he nodded. "Yes."

[Mikko Ashby]

"We have to keep you safe, Rip," Mik whispered with a tinge of sadness, hearing the tiny voice by his ear pleading with him to stay. He wasn't going anywhere—literally he was going to be a few feet away—but he understood that Rip needed his strength right now. Rip needed someone to keep holding him and to keep the pieces together, otherwise he would fall completely apart.

"Oh! Me? Too?" That was kind of weird, knowing that he needed to be... warded too, whatever that meant. Mik knew lots of magical folks—hard to ignore them in this town!—but he'd never had magic done on him. Why would he? He was human and he was harmless to them.

He swallowed and clung to Rip a little bit as the others stood. The one called Niall looked... um... kind of sloshed but he got up anyway, which was somehow more alarming. If he couldn't do magic, was this a good idea? What if something went wrong? What were the consequences? Mik had a ton of questions but nobody to ask!

Eventually they got down to the warding part and he, too, felt nothing. "Um. So we're safe now?" He asked uncertainly, looking from one to the other. Rhys thought so, but did he detect some kind of hesitancy from the other two?! "Can we... go home soon?"

[Rhys McCabe]

Was the kid playing dumb? For fuck's sake. Rhys rolled his eyes. If he was connected to Rip and Keith decided he wanted to fuck with Rip the same way he fucked with Jack, then Mik was in real trouble, too. Especially if Keith was aware of what was happening between them. And he had to be. He was his golem, after all.

But then after the casting, Rhys checked everything and he could see that the spell had taken hold, cast over both at the same time. Rhys could see the spell like thin whitish blue lines over the pair. No holes. No vulnerabilities. It had taken some annoying hand holding to get Niall through it but Jack picked it up quickly. Rhys was becoming more and more annoyed that of all of them, Niall was the one who was his full-blooded brother.

"What? You don't believe me?" Rhys asked, noting that everybody around him seemed to think he was a liar. He snapped his fingers and the shields were visible to everybody in the room. "These wards will keep you safe from locater spells and psychic attacks. But that doesn't make you invincible. So I'd say... no. You can leave," he said to Mik, "But Rip's staying until we resolve this thing with Brayden first."

[Mikko Ashby]

"No I believe you," Mik said slowly, not sure why he was getting so much attitude from somebody trying to help! It was a normal question! Maybe this Rhys guy was always this crabby... Maybe he liked hanging out with no shirt on, being crabby all the time. Sheesh.

However! That didn't mean Mik wasn't grateful to him for the protection. "Thank you," he said in what he hoped was a friendly tone, to try and ameliorate his bad temper. "I appreciate it." The uh. Webbing? Weird. Totally not something that happened to him every day.

"And... I... um. I can take the... floor?" Like hell he was leaving Rip! Mik got right back to clinging to Rip, making sure he knew that Mik wasn't going anywhere.

[Rhys McCabe]

"Of course," he said with a lift of the chin, crossing his arms. He didn't care for humans, and Mik was as human as they came. Ugh. But he was apparently in connection with Rip now... Because Rip was a full on idiot. Not that it was his fault that he was an idiot. He was still ignorant to the world. But Mik the human also rankled at Rhys for other reasons that he certainly wasn't getting into right now. Or... ever.

"If you promise not to take Rip anywhere else," Jack said slowly, "you can hang out at Brayden's place. I know it's a little stifling here."

Rhys noticed Jack himself sounded tired and he definitely looked like he had seen better days. He lowered his gaze. He didn't know exactly what he must have felt like but he could sort of understand it better now. Jack wasn't going to leave, not with his lover in the other room. And Niall wasn't going to, either, with Ken in there, too. But it was probably fine to let Mik and Rip go across the courtyard. Rhys would be glad not to have Mik around whenever Raphael came back.

"You can rest there," Rhys said with a half shrug. "And there's tea if you want to calm him down." He almost said something horrible, like a slap to the face to... well, everybody but Niall, who had no personal stake yet against Keith. But instead of putting it that way, he said slowly, "And he likes his hair played with. That will calm him down even more. Chamomile and hair."

Jack let out a soft little half laugh. "Hair part sounds about right. Guess we still have some things in common..."

[Mikko Ashby]

"I promise we won't go anywhere. Scout's honor." Mik even held up a hand, palm facing outward. Yes, he used to be a boy scout and he did know how to tie 5 kinds of knots, how to bandage a broken leg and now, how to grow souls! So they'd better not look down on him just because he was human!

Chamomile and hair... Mik grinned. "I know about the hair thing. But tea?" He glanced at Rip. "You like tea? And here I've been giving you shakes and smoothies..." Huh. Tea. Not a typically American thing, but... then again Rip wasn't... American. Welp. That didn't seem quite so out of place now that he thought of it that way.

But wait—wait. Mik looked at them all in turn. Jack. Rhys. Niall. "You all like your hair played with?" He didn't mean to sound quite so skeptical. "Like all of you?" Weird... Brothers tended to like similar things but that seemed really, really unlikely! He should ask Lieve if Cori liked it too...

[Rhys McCabe]

See, tea was usually Rip's drink of choice because that was what he was given by Keith to keep him calm and complacent. He never gave him caffeine... and sugar, he always said, would make him fat. A fat golem! It must have been a joke; golems didn't even need food or drink. Rhys had never seen a fat golem before.

"I like shakes and smoothies."

Rip kept talking in such a small voice. So strange coming from a tall man, who should have--and could have--cut an intimidating figure if he tried. But he was sort of... broken right now. Maybe Mik would fix him. At least he'd be making himself useful that way. But the way Mik looked at him and the other two... Rhys frowned.

"That's not what I meant." And it wasn't. He only knew about the hair thing because every now and again, when Keith wasn't ignoring Rip's existence or telling him to go to the bedroom (shudder), Rhys had seen him, with his hands in Rip's hair. The contentment in his face had been real. When he's good, Keith plays with his hair. It would have been a gross thing to say. Nobody wanted to be reminded of him.

But... now that Mik brought it up... Rhys frowned, then shrugged, not committing to a response either way. Jack had already admitted to it. And Niall twirled a finger through his hair and said absently, "All of us? Maybe... Kinda funny..."

[Mikko Ashby]

It wasn't actually an uncommon thing to like—Mik liked it too. But plenty of people were also meh about it, so the odds of a family of four brothers who all looked so similar liking the same thing just struck him as being funny. He smiled as Rip backed him up and gave his hand a squeeze. Well, there was no reason Rip couldn't have all of those things—he could have anything he wanted! He was a free man now!

"I'm... just going to go now," he said slowly, feeling as if this was about to go down a very weird and uncomfortable path. Mik didn't know about the others but he liked having his hair played with after sex. Sooo... he didn't want to hear about the others' preferences if they were like his!

"Can you let Lieve and Cori know we're... I guess in one of the other apartments?" Pretty nice place to stay, actually! The Sunrise was a swanky, upscale apartment building and the rent here must have been steep. Mik smiled again at Rip. "We can treat this like a mini vacation. Plus, Aunt Shel can't keep walking in on us here, huh?"

That was SO awkward and frustrating, dodging his disapproving aunt at every turn. The number of times Mik had to hastily leap away from Rip and pretend nothing happened...

[Jack Ripley]

"I'll let them know," Jack said, not wanting to tell them what happened to Cori in the room. He didn't like this; all this hiding things in the closet business harkened back to high school and he didn't want to go back there for anything.

"Here," Jack said, taking a key from the bowl by the entrance of the door and handing it to Mik. "This is the key. It's the apartment right across from this one."

His heart lurched in his chest at the thought of that apartment. Reminders of the day he moved in, when he first realized that he and the co-worker he'd passed by after his last interview lived there. Jack never really believed in love at first sight. Lust, maybe. Love, not so much. But he was pretty sure he was falling in love from the very second he saw him. And at the time, he didn't know why. Brayden was so pretty, so cute, so precious to him. But he should have blended into the background. Everybody else at work acted that way.

But Jack saw him and he didn't know how they were missing what was standing amongst them.

His heart hurt, throbbed with the ache of never seeing him again. He dropped his gaze.

"Feel free to eat or drink what's there. Brayden would want you to. Maybe... give him a bath." Jack nodded to Rip. He wasn't stupid. He had seen the way Rip kept looking at his hands. Maybe he would never feel clean after what he did but the bath might help.

[Mikko Ashby]

"Thank you." Mik took the keys from Jack—the real one—and studied him at length, trying to see where the differences and the similarities laid. They looked alike. That was about it. Rip and Jack could have passed for twins but they were so different in every other aspect. There was a kind of deep melancholy coming off of Jack that even Mik the human sensed, and it had nothing to do with having powers—just having a heart. Realizing that Brayden Smith was his soul mate brought home the deep pain of loss, but he couldn't begin to imagine how that actually felt.

Slowly he reached out and took one of Jack's hands and gave it a squeeze. "Hey. Don't give up hope, okay? Cori can fix it. He's our little miracle baby, he can do anything. You'll get Brayden back."

Then he let go, not wanting to overstep his boundaries. "Come on Rip, I think a bath sounds like a good idea." Mik needed one too, honestly, if for nothing else than to soak away all of this weariness from having to deal with this whole situation. The magic, the death, the sheer panic he felt when Rip told him he wanted to be deactivated...

That wasn't happening on his watch! Mik tugged Rip out of the apartment and selfishly he was glad to be out of there. He couldn't handle seeing Jack that way, as though all the joy in the world had been snuffed out for him. It was just too painful. But once they were outside and walking through the courtyard, he felt a little better. There was a number on the key: 1B. "That one, I think." It was opposite Jack's, too, which seemed like a funny cute coincidence. Did they end up this way, neighbors living right across from each other, by accident?

Mik opened the door and peered inside. All clear. "So... this is..." This was where Jack and Rip's soul mate lived, huh? It was cozy and homey but everything was kind of faded and worn. Mik walked inside. "Let's get that bath going."

[Ripper Nightshade]

Rip obediently let himself be tugged out of the apartment and across the little yard to the other apartment across the way. He closed his eyes and he breathed in the cool evening air. It felt good, expanding his lungs and feeling his heart beat against his palm when he reached up with his free hand.

Stifling he called it? That was what it felt like back in that other apartment. Stifling. Suffocating. But inside this new apartment... Everything felt warm and inviting. Like walking into a whole apartment made of a hug. Despite everything, despite the dried tears on his face and the ache in his heart and the heaviness he felt over his shoulders... he felt better inside this apartment, with just him and Mik and the feeling of warmth.

He sighed as the door was closed behind them.

"Okay." Agreeable to a bath, he followed Mik to the bathroom. The layout of the apartment was much the same as the other one, but different. So different, in furniture and decoration and just... the feeling. There was a dark weight back at the other apartment. But it hadn't touched this one.

"I like it here," Rip said as the water started running and he automatically began to peel off clothes. Admittedly, a bath sounded good. They could just sink into the tub and let everything roll off them, all the bad feelings and... and the guilt. Nobody held him responsible and he was beyond grateful for that, whether he deserved it or not... he was so grateful.

His arms came up and it didn't matter what state of dress Mik was in or that Rip himself was naked. He wrapped them tight around Mik and held onto him. That awful frostbite inside finally subsided when Mik showed him those pictures. But it wasn't the pictures that really got to him. It was the point of view.

"Thank you," he whispered into Mik's shoulder.

[Mikko Ashby]

Somebody very warm and gentle lived in this apartment, Mik could tell just by that first cursory glance alone. Everything was worn but lovingly patched or repaired and very carefully arranged. The things on the shelves and hanging from the walls, they all told their own stories; Brayden Smith was a sentimental person. Where someone might have thrown a ripped cushion away, he'd patched it up by hand. Where someone would have bought a new coffee table, he'd replaced the broken leg with one that didn't quite match up. He couldn't have been poor; poor people didn't live in the Sunrise. He wanted to keep these things around, perhaps out of nostalgia.

Mik looked at everything but his priority was still Rip, so he didn't stand there for too long. After he found the bathroom, he turned on the taps to a comfortably warm temperature and then started to take off his own clothes too, laying them neatly on top of the toilet lid which he'd turned down. Before the underwear came off though, arms came up around him and he smiled as he brought up a hand to the back of Rip's head to stroke his hair.

"No need to thank me." Really, he wasn't doing anything special. Rip needed someone; Mik was here. He didn't need acknowledgement or to be thanked, that wasn't why he stuck around. Slowly he eased back so that he could pull down his boxers, and then he led Rip by the hand into the tub. After he turned off the gushing water, he sank down into marvellous warmth.

Mik curled into Rip immediately, letting his head settle onto the rim of the tub. It was one of those standalone clawfoot tubs, oval in shape and comfortably large. Not long enough for his legs, though; he sort of let one drift over Rip's legs, bringing him closer so that their bodies pressed together. Idly Mik scooped up some water and let it run down Rip's shoulder and upper arm, bathing him in gentle warmth.

"My poor Rip." He kissed Rip softly. "Things will start getting better. Trust me. It won't always be like this."

[Ripper Nightshade]

He found that he still preferred a warm bath to a shower, as it turned out. Although he could safely say he had never shared a tub with another man. The one in the apartment in Greenwood was small and cramped and there was no real room for one man, let alone two. This one was so large that they both fit, even if their bodies brushed against one another.

Rip took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, letting the steam of the water rise up into his lungs, letting the warmth of the water seep into his skin. As he was drawn closer, he made a small contented sound. His eyes slowly opened as water washed over his shoulder and arms. Turning his head toward Mik as the bath water trickled down his arm, his gaze lifted to meet Mik's. It only lasted a few seconds before Mik kissed him. Slowly, his eyes closed again.

This was, undoubtedly, the worst day of his life. There had been a few bad ones sprinkled in there and he didn't know if he was ever truly happy with his life or he was just too ignorant to know the difference. But at least the sharp edges were being softened down. Mik didn't bombard him with questions about what happened and he didn't ask for explanations. He just let him be.

But for things getting better, he didn't know what to say. Rip was still scared. Scared of what would happen if Brayden didn't come back. What it would do to Jack. What it would do to him. What it would do to everybody whose lives had been touched by Brayden.

No. He had to stop thinking about it. He lifted a hand to Mik's cheek and kissed him again in lieu of responding verbally.