Guardian Angel

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Let me out! I'm three seconds away from fucking murdering him!"

"Oh, you fucking wish. I'd like to see you try."

I sighed, rubbing at my temples as I sat on the sofa with Wren at my side, his arms folded tight over his chest as he glared across the living room where Three was held back by Alaric and Niko by Hades.

"You know," I said dryly, "I'm starting to think maybe I'm ready to risk getting kidnapped again. Anything to make it stop." Wren nodded in agreement, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Welcome to my world. It hasn't stopped since he step foot in it," he muttered, raking Three with a less than impressed glare. Three was too busy glaring at Niko, his fists balled up and ready to swing. Niko, on the other hand, just stuck his tongue out around Hades, who grabbed his chin and forced them to make eye contact.

"Hey, can you do the world a favor and not antagonize everyone you meet for three seconds?" Hades demanded, squeezing Niko's face. Niko glared and stuck his tongue out through his puckered lips and Hades cursed, squeezing his cheeks harder.

"Ow!" The moment the yelp left Niko, Hades released him and gave him a surprisingly gentle push backwards toward the sofa.

"Sit down and stew for a second," he ordered, making Niko glare as he went to hop back up off the sofa, but I caught his arm and drew him back. Niko grumbled as Hades turned to Three, who was glaring at him like he was ready to fight him too.

"Sweetheart," Alaric started, getting between Three and Hades, "I need you to take a step back and count to ten, alright? Remember what we talked about? Big deep breaths." Three looked like he wanted to fight, not breath, but one glance at Alaric, who was looking at him pleadingly, and he seemed to deflate. He finally stepped back, clenched his teeth, then sighed in frustration and closed his eyes, clearly following Alaric's direction.

"Great," Alaric encouraged while Hades watched with a scowl, "Wonderful, baby, you're doing great. Just take a few deep breaths, maybe grab some fresh air, huh?" Three finally opened his eyes, still pinning Hades with a glare, then Niko, who started to stick his tongue out, but I leaned over and covered his mouth.

"I hate this," Three snapped, turning to look at Alaric, who sighed, "I want to go home. I want to see Six and Hadrian. I don't want to be here."

"I know, sweetheart," Alaric said gently, and his hands on Three's shoulders seemed to relax the artificial to a degree, "It won't be much longer, okay?"

"I don't feel safe here at all," Three continued, making Niko roll his eyes and throw his hands up, "Yeah, it might be cozy and warm for you, but it's not my house and I want my house!" Niko paused at that, frowning as he folded his arms over his chest. He glanced at me and I raised an eyebrow, wondering how he felt with Three practically repeating his complaints from when we first met. He looked at Three.

"Dude," Niko said, making Three glare at him, "Trust me, I get that, but being safe isn't always about being comfortable. I don't want you here either; this is my shit, my place, and you come in here and throw off the whole fuckin' vibe with your bitching and whining. I know you want to leave, and I want you to leave too, but right now we're stuck here. So why not make it less annoying and shut the fuck up and just survive for now?" Three clenched his teeth. He looked at Alaric helplessly and Alaric just reached up to cup his face in his hands. Three seemed to almost wilt at that, lowering his eyes and just looking overall pitiful now.

"I wanna go home," Three groaned, "I finally have a place to call home and I can't even go there." Alaric looked at him sadly, stroking his cheeks with his thumbs, then rising on his toes to give him a kiss on the forehead.