December 23rd, 2022.

7:14AM

Vincent stroked his hand against the wooden wall, feeling every etch in the wall and every bump and crevice. He glared with searing apathy around the room. He listened to every thump, creak, and moan of the wooden floors. He approached Neo in the seemingly abandoned former home of some unfortunate individual, "Must we meet here?" Vincent grumbled, looking at the weeds growing through the floorboards with disdain.

"Only place I could think of," Neo replied, teasing weaseling its way into his tone.

Vincent scowled, before walking over to Neo, "Unless you're too sensitive to take it, go home~" Neo mocked.

Vincent sneered, before pulling Neo forward by his hair. Neo yelped and whimpered, before Vincent teased back, "How about you go home, If you can't take that! Weak." Vincent returned, Neo's face curling into some discomfort and something unreadable, "Don't you like being degraded, anyway?" Vincent

added, "Filthy boy," he berated, finally tugging Neo's hair before letting it go.

Neo gasped, placing a hand on the agitated skin on the back of his head from having his hair remorselessly pulled. Neo whined a little, "Alright, I'm sorry. Jeez," Neo whimpered, unable to meet Vincent's eyes.

Vincent scowled, before huffing and taking a seat in a somewhat molded and damp chair, "Why're we even here?"

"Plans."

"What kind of plans?"

"Oh, the you'll see kind of plans,"

"Heh.. I like those kinds of plans."

Runeos stretched, yawning a little and revealing his gums and fangs, before closing his eyes and mouth and shaking his head a little, like a dog in a sense. He fixed his black, fluffy wolf ears, before turning to the used glasses piling in the sink. He let out an exasperated huff, before approaching the mountain of dishes.

"Oi! Reo!" Runeos called, already getting to washing glasses, "Fetch the cutlery and dishes left before I get in the mood to make you do the dishes!"

Reo immediately came over, holding clattering plates, bowls, and silverware. Runeos burst out laughing in his usual booming, yet warm laugh at seeing Reo's immediate response. He smirked and took the tableware, "Go put the tablecloths in the washing machine, won'tcha?" Runeos suggest.

"Er, yeah, sure, Mr... er.. Mr Runeos?" Reo replied with a swift nod, even with his name struggle.

"Please, if you must, it's Talone, Mr. Talone," Runeos corrected with a hearty chuckle, "But just call me Runes or Runeos, kay?"

"Kay!" Reo chirped, collecting the tablecloths and running to the laundry room.

"What a nice kid," Runeos muttered to himself, "Lilian's a good mom, surprisingly," he softly laughed, kidding to himself.

Runeos then went back to watching Reo, and couldn't help but softly grin when he saw Reo's struggle to hold far too many tablecloths than he needed. Runeos walked over, taking some out the stack. "Need some help?" He chuckled, taking the cloths to the laundry room behind the main room.

"Yeah, heh," Reo sighed, "How do we even have a laundry room in a tavern, though?"

"Well, you see, Pen here asked a question they can't even answer, like an idiot. But mostly for the tablecloth and saving some trips home," Runeos chuckled, offering a smile.

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense, but who's Pen?" Reo returned, looking up to Runeos, even with his own occasional struggles to hold the cloths.

"Mm, you'll learn when you're older, kay?" Runeos said with a small smile. Reo just nods back as they enter the laundry room. Runeos takes the lead, stuffing his homemade tablecloths into the laundry machine. Runeos gave Reo a little pat on the head, suggesting, "You should probably go home,"

Reo let out an awkward little nervous laugh, "Yeah I should, before Mom gets too angry,"

"Take care," Runeos called, as Reo began to hustle out of the tavern. "What a nice kid," Runeos added to himself, walking to the back rooms of the tavern, sighing. He looked at the medals and awards, his pupils narrowing.

(‼️Tw! General abuse mention and flashbacks!)

"Man.." He groaned, "This life is much better... no fighting, no violence, no abuse." He muttered to himself. He remembered it so vividly: the shouts of the team to hurry up, his exhaustion, the brutal cut in his leg, and his desperation for his magic to work quick enough. He remembered the hurt, it felt like a sharp jolt with a wet tearing sound in his leg, he grimaced just thinking about it.

Runeos sighed, hugging himself a little bit, "It's all okay.." He muttered.

(Tw section end.)

"Yuma," Reve whined, "Yuma! You don't have to do that, it's fine!" He added, before giving in, since Yuma was already knee-deep in her closet, looking for old pictures.

"No!" She defiantly replied, before finally pulling out her old polaroid photos, all scattered about in a basket. "Aha! Finally!" She bellowed defiantly.

Reve sighed in defeat, as Yuma began to laugh at the old photos of Reve.

"Wow! No offense, but jeez, we were weird kids, huh?" She laughed, smiling towards Reve, almost reminiscently. Reve chuckled and nodded, his arms crossed.

"We all were," Reve chuckled to himself, looking off to the side, thinking back to the past a little.

"Heh, times are still good now, no need to reminisce!" Yuma finally exclaimed, breaking the silence, placing a hand on Reve's shoulder. Reve smiled at Yuma and nodded, his cheeks flushed a soft pink.

"Hah.. yeah, they really are, Yuma." Reve softly sighed, turning to Yuma with a soft, sweet smile.

"Mhm!  And I'm glad to share this with you," She softly returned, smiling back to Reve.

—————

Penny here, 904 words yall!!  Woo!  Still kinda short, better than nothing, though!  I'm so glad to have finished this!  I'm quite proud, and my friends have been engaging with my other universes, which has given me a lot of motivation!  I'm so happy to finish this, enjoy your dinner you lot i'm very very happy and proud👍👍

lmao sorry if i sound repetitive, i'm just genuinely proud of myself for once?!