Chapter Text
I
THE BEGINNING
This story doesn't begin here, but it is where we start. On a typical rainy day, freezing and dark, when all you can dream about is just a warm cup of tea, a blanket and your loved one cuddled up next to you.
After few long, difficult months Shieda Kayn can finally do exactly that. Hug someone tightly, hide his nose in his lover's hair and breath in his sweet, rosy scent with a soft vanilla note.
Kayn trails down Aphelios' spine with his fingertips, making him shiver in response. He sighs happily and lifts his chin, searching for that strong gaze of his. It's so full of emotions these days. It's so full of everything Shieda's ever wished for.
There's only one magical candle burning brightly on a table in this small bedroom. Yellowish light makes Aphelios' eyes look so much warmer, as equally pretty as any other time. Kayn leans in to whisper something into his ear, something important, something he's been wanting to share with him on that very special day. Phel chuckles. Nods. Then switches their positions, climbing atop of Kayn's lap. His legs wrap tightly around his hips, hand moves to his neck, lips brush sensitive skin.
They share a smile and it seems to be the only thing that matters right now. Them, being here together, all alone, cuddling up, touching, kissing. Just a few weeks prior none of them would believe that this could ever happen. But here they were. Happy.
It's been six months since Aphelios walked into Kayn's life and, luckily, stayed in it to finally make it a little better, somewhat bearable.
And it's been a little bit over a month since everything around them went downhill. A lot has happened during that time. Like, a lot . Relationships fell apart, the trust was broken, some friendships ended, some just freshly started. But for you to understand it all we need to take you back.
All the way back to the beginning.
◦ ❖ ◦
"You suck, Shieda," those are the words Kayn hears after he enters a small cafe right across the street from the university building.
It's Monday morning, all of his friends look tired like they barely slept- and Kayn couldn't feel better. That's because last night he stayed in finishing up an assignment. And sleepingㅡlike a baby, while Talon, Ezreal and Sett decided to head out to a frat party.
It was a wild one from what he's already heard.
"It's nice to see you too, guys. So lovely, you assholes," he says with a grin on his face. Of course it's a jokeㅡto an extent, since two out of three of his friends are actually assholes. Some may say big ones. Some would be too afraid to say anything.
Like Talon, for example, a little piece of shit who steals stuff for fun and gambles all of that away whenever he can. He is the one who right now holds the title of Kayn's best friend and yes, Kayn loves him with all of his heart and would jump through fire to save him. All platonically, of course.
Hopefully Talon would do the same, but who the hell knows.
There's also Sett, the guy some people call 'The Boss'. He's great at street fighting and doesn't give a fuck about… well, anything but his own mother. A tough guy with a soft spot, you could say.
Ezreal is the nicest out of that little group. He's also the youngest one. A sunshine who's just slightly too pure for this world - and that's kind of why they started to hang out with him in the first place. Maybe the three of them suck in a way, maybe they are terrible people, but they do want to protect him.
Ezreal happens to be the one who is not present at the cafe on that day. He's not been around much for the past week and Kayn does start to worry a bit. He's gonna have to try calling him one more time tonight, even though he didn't pick up before.
"When will you finally get it, Sett?'' Talon says, lifting a small, black dog from the ground and putting it on his lap, "we're friends with a real nerd. Kayn’s a nerd now. Get over it."
"Piss off, I'm just trying not to fail another year." Kayn sits down next to them, throwing his red hoodie over the backrest. "College is expensive and I don't know about you, but I've never seen money growing on the trees before."
The very first year of university was hard enough for Kayn, as he had to repeat it once. As much as he loved art, as much as painting was his entire life before that point, he did end up in a wrong group of people, got caught up partying and drinking his troubles away, forgeting for a long while why he came to college in the first place. To get his shit together and follow his dreams. To become the person he always wanted to beㅡ the person his mother has always seen in him. He'd just lost her and was still mourning her, perhaps drawing all of these emotions in one drink after another. That's how the entire year passed and that's when Talon came back to town. Right on time to pick up the pieces of Kayn's broken heart and pull him back together, with some help from Ezreal and Sett.
Two years have passed since then and nowadays Kayn is honestly trying his best. In his eyes, the essay he's finished last night on modern art and the influence of social media on it may be one of the best essays he's written in his entire life. And yes, Kayn is very much proud of itㅡ so is Talon, although he is never going to say that out loud.
Talon sighs, "just start stealing, it's fun. You won't need to worry about the tuition anymore. Like... ever."
"Or fight, even funnier," Sett grins, showing his sharp cat-like teeth. He's a half blood vastaya and it is hard not to notice. All you need is one closer look and you just know. Pointy ears poking out of his naturally red hair and not-so-human golden eyes. "You missed a great- no, legendary , you missed a legendary party last night. You'll regret it forever, I'm telling you right now. We're never gonna stop talking about that night, man. Never."
"Yeah, I heard there was a magical duel, someone blew up a fireplace and, I'm actually curious about this one, was there a horse? Lux said there was a horse."
"It was made of metal!" Talon perks up. "I wanted to touch it but Rell wouldn't let me…"
"Umm… okay."
"Everyone, stop , nobody moves, nobody breathes !" Sett lifts one of his big hands up, one finger in the air, trying to quiet them down.
"Oh no, I know this look…" Kayn shakes his head. "He's fallen in love again…" as he's saying it, he puts up a big quote in the air for those two most important words.
In. Love.
Sett has a weird understanding of love. He truly believes that it's the initial attraction, the moment you look at someone and feel the spark of interest. That that's love.
Yes, they've tried to explain that's not what love is. And no, he doesn't get it. So they just let him be, no matter how annoying it is to them to witness him "fall in love" every few days.
Sett looks at something- or rather someone above Kayn's shoulder. His eyes are pinned on the new target.
"Gosh, he's cute. And that tattoo on his eye? Amazing!"
They both hear him mumbling something on the lines " I gotta have him " as he walks past them and towards the counters.
"How long will this one last for? A week?" Talon asks, staring at Sett's back. Kayn shrugs. "How long was he dating that last girl for? Two days?"
"I don't know, couldn't give a fuck. But three. I think it was three days. Besides… we don't even know if this guy will like him back."
"Well… he's definitely smiling."
"Sett's a customer of this cafe, workers gotta smile…"
"He's blushing now. The guy, I mean," he says and Kayn feels the need to scream. Those poor people keep falling for the vastaya like there's no tomorrow. “By the way, it’s kinda funny, I’ve never seen Sett blushing. Have you?”
“Nope.”
“Dude, c'mon. Quit sulking, would you?” Talon looks at him, frowning.
“I’m not sulking, shut up-”
“It’s been three months. Shit happens, get over it.”
“I have.”
“Sure… keep telling yourself that, maybe you’ll finally feel better, yeah?”
There’s not much to say about it. Talon’s right and Kayn is sulking. It's been a hard time for him. When it comes to love, he just has absolutely no luck. The very first love of his dumped him the day after they said I love yous and the last relationship he had ended like three months ago with her cheating on him with an older man. Kayn may be, possibly, still pissed after what happened- but he ain’t telling that to Talon, cause Talon tends to get way too cocky when he’s right.
“I’m gonna grab a coffee, you want one more or…?” Kayn asks, standing up. He couldn’t care less about Sett and the game he usually plays with the victims of his natural charm. After all, there’s a chance that his coffee is going to stay with him longer than Sett with that new guy.
Now we can already tell you that Kayn was wrong. So wrong. But more about it later.
“I’m good, one is enough. But you know that Sett’s going to kill you if you interfere before he gets that guy’s number, right?” Shieda nods. “I’m not going to help you when he smashes you into the ground, just so you know.” He nods again. “Wait,” Talon says, “actually, I could drink one more cup. Soy milk cappuccino, please. With cinnamon.”
The guy who could rob you in bright daylight and you wouldn’t even notice is lactose intolerant and loves a good cappuccino with cinnamon in the morning. Sett, the one who could send you to the hospital with just one punch, is getting all cute and soft whenever his mother calls him. Those are the kind of badasses Kayn spends time with daily.
“Oh my, oh my,” Talon stops him again, “he got the number. Looks like you won’t get in trouble today.”
“Like it even mattered.”
Life’s pretty boring most of the time. We wake up in the morning and do the same old things over and over again - in Kayn's case it’s studying about the art, painting and meeting with the guys whenever there’s some time left. At this point he is already used to the idea that it’s gonna be that way till he graduates. No more surprises. No more dating, no more heartbreaks for another year and a half. (He truly believed it was doable.)
That’s why when he sees Aphelios for the first time, he tries his best to push everything, all those feelings away.
The barista is tall and well built, he has black hair with dark purple highlights here and there and deep brown eyes. There is a very interesting tattoo that goes from his eyebrow all the way down to his cheek. It’s also purple-ish and it looks like a crescent moon.
It reminds him of something, but at that moment, he doesn't remember what it could exactly be.
“Hello, how can I help you?” the barista asks.
“One soy milk cap-”
“Soy cappuccino with cinnamon on top?” A soft smile appears soon after he asks the question. That’s a very pretty smile. “Your friend's already had like two cups of it.”
“Liar.”
“Me?” the guy asks all surprised and it makes Kayn chuckle.
“No! No,” he shakes his head, “my friend, the cappuccino guy. He said he had one, but, well…”
“I made it myself both times so you can trust me on this.”
And he does trust him. Maybe because the Moon Boy has never stolen anything from him yet and never lied about it. Yes, that's probably it.
“Alright.” Kayn puts his credit card on the counter, but the barista doesn’t take it right away. They look at each other for a second, his eyebrows rise a little.
“Nothing for you?”
“Oh… Yeah. Just one americano, please.”
“A simple guy.”
“Sometimes.”
He takes the card, the money disappears from the account and once again Kayn is left thinking why the hell is he paying for Talon’s coffee, if he can steal some from the market anyways.
Kayn can't help himself at that time. He pretty quickly ends up staring at the barista just a little bit, checking him out when he's sure the guy’s not looking. And boy, does this man look hot in black skinny jeans, no matter the barista apron on. His lips are quite thin and he has lots of small freckles on his nose. His hands are covered in scratches though and the first thing that comes to Kayn's mind is that he has a cat. Or at least has been spending time petting one very recently.
Even a year later Kayn could recall quite a few things from the day they met and one of them was how gentle Aphelios seemed to be. Kayn has seen people making coffee before, obviously, and it's usually not that interesting… but he could stare all day if it's Phel who's making it. There's just something hypnotizing in the way he moves his hands.
"My apologies," the barista says quite suddenly.
Kayn looks up at him. When their eyes meet like that it's hard to look away.
"Huh?" he replies in a way that a highly educated man obviously would.
"The cappuccino," they both look down at the cup filled with hot coffee, "I love doing this stuff but it somehow never goes my way. I'm just not that good with latte art, so it looks… bad."
Does it now? Kayn thinks, actually checking the art made of milk. It's not the prettiest leaf he's ever seen and… it does look a little bad.
"Well… it does look like a leaf after all."
"Yeah," he laughs, "it was supposed to be a heart but thank you for trying to cheer me up."
"Oh…"
A moment of complete silence passes by and the barista finally makes his way to the ice cubes maker to finish up the order. It's weird, the way Kayn doesn't know what to say next because nothing sounds right. Out of the blue words lose their meaning and the ability to speak is getting harder and harder.
He's still making up his mind when the mugs are being placed on a trace right in front of him.
"Here you go-"
"I'm actually in the art major," he says quite abruptly and it may sound even worse now than it would have if he just casually said it a few minutes ago. Blinking away the embarrassment, he then continues, "it's not really the same as making the art on coffee but… maybe I could help you out anyways."
A very pretty smile brightens up the barista's face. "Maybe you could. That would be… amazing, actually. Your friend already has my number, feel free to get it from him and give me a call."
Kayn's throat tightens but he somehow manages to reply, "will do."
"Oh, and I'm Aphelios, by the way. Nice meeting you."
"Kayn. And likewise, of course."
He forgot. How's that even possible? He doesn't really know, but for a second he actually forgot that Sett was already hitting on that guy. That Sett already got his number and that sooner or later they will go out. Not that it mattered, of course. After all, Kayn was just trying to be friendly. Right. Because he has made himself a promise to stay out of the dating world until he graduates. And he's going to keep that promise, he really is. Besides, it's not like he's even interested in that barista. Obviously he isn't. Not even a little bit.
That weird feeling hangs on him when he comes back to the table. Something feels off and this time it has nothing to do with coffee. Talon’s face is pale and Sett is clenching his fists like he’s about to knock the table up in the air.
“What happened?”
They exchange a weird look.
“Ezreal got into a fight-” Talon tries to say, but Sett jumps right in.
“He didn’t get into a fight . Those motherfuckers jumped on him when he was on his way back home! I’m going to fucking kill them all, one by one!”
Kayn sighs because, sadly, it’s not the first time something like that has happened. And it probably isn't the last time, either.
There’s a group of guys who, for some reason, absolutely despise Ezreal. And then there’s his brother who seriously needs therapy; he’s been abusive towards him his entire life. It’s hard to watch, that even though he's been treating him like shit, Ezreal still sides with him and stops his friends whenever they try to interfere. And they have been trying a lot. No matter how many times Sett threatens those little shits, they never actually stop with the bullying.
At that time Kayn finally starts to think that maybe Sett is right. Maybe the only way to stop them is to fight the fire with more fire. Or maybe not.
“So… what’s the plan?” he ask worryingly.
“We should go see him-” Talon says, but Sett interrupts him again.
“No, it’s time to fight those bastards. Who’s with me?”
Kayn shares a look with Talon. They don’t have much experience in fighting and it's that thought that stops Kayn from nodding along. They both know how to get into places quickly without people’s knowledge, but they get out as fast as possible. They don’t fight. They run.
“I don’t think that’s the best idea… Ezreal will hate us for it. You know how much he hates violence,” he bit his lower lip after saying that.
“That’s bullshit!” Sett stands up, almost knocking up the table.
Kayn takes a look at the counter.
Aphelios is looking their way, confused.
“Calm down, Boss, it’s not really our battle to fight,” Talon agrees. “Let’s go see our boy, check if he’s alright.”
“Let's do that,” Kayn nods.
Sett sits back on the chair and takes a really, really deep breath. “Fine,” he says almost through his teeth. “But next time I will go there and fight them myself!”
“Sure, Boss. Sure...”
◦ ❖ ◦
“How are you feeling, Ez?” Talon asks right after they enter Ezreal’s room.
His mother hates it when they come over. Maybe because she’s scared of Sett- or scared of losing her precious pearls. Talon stole her earrings once. Kayn gave them back to Ezreal the next day. Surely, it was funny to him, but not to his parents.
“We were so worried about you,” Kayn sits down on the edge of the bed. “But you look… okay, right guys? He looks like a real hero!”
Looking at the black eye and swollen nose, he definitely doesn't appear to be fine. The opposite, actually. But he’s smiling, as usual, cause that’s just how Ezreal is.
“It’s fine, it’s nothing. Been through worse,” he says and licks his lips. There’s a bit of dried blood on them. “Just… tell me about you guys. I want to take my mind off of this.”
Kayn shares a look with Talon and just like that he knows that deep down he’s battling with himself. He probably wants to know what happened, with details, like they all do. But he also wants to make Ezreal feel better. So he doesn’t push it, he just says, “Sett got a date.”
“Already?” Ezreal’s reaction makes us all snort. “Damn, you should slow down. At this rate, there won’t be anyone to date in this town. You know, since you’ve dated them all.”
“I never dated Du Couteau,” Sett jokes, “or Shieda.”
Kayn bursts with laughter, cause there ain’t a chance he and Sett would ever get together like that. Simply no way.
“So tell me, who’s the lucky person?” Ezreal changes the subject back. “Or should I say unlucky, actually.”
“Unlucky-”
“So unlucky,” Kayn says and Talon follows.
“Fuck you all,” Sett sits down on the old armchair, almost breaking it. He's a big guy, tall with thick bones and lots and lots of muscle mass. “I’m going to give that man a very magical night.”
“One night,” Talon repeats and Ezreal frowns. “What a romantic guy you are.”
"Hey, I can be romantic when I want to!"
"Do you ever want to?"
Sett rolls his eyes. "When I meet the one, sure. But that won't happen anytime soon, I'm sure of it."
"Maybe it doesn't happen cause you simply won't let it fucking happen," Kayn snarks and immediately regrets it. That's not the conversation he wants to start now, on a day like that, next to an injured friend. "Whatever."
"No," Sett shakes his head, "not whatever. I'm kinda getting tired of you guys looking down on me only cause I wanna have some fun in life."
"You can have fun in life. But with people who also search for fun, not with those who actually legit fall for you and your charms just to be dumped a week later. That's just cruel man, cruel shitty behavior and you know it."
"I tell them I don't wanna be tied down. How is it my fault that they don't get it and act all surprised when it ends?"
"Okay guys, chill the hell down," Talon steps in, still giving Sett the side eye. "Maybe it's not a good time to fight about it now."
"It's not a good time to fight about it ever cause we all know Sett won't change," Kayn adds, slowly shaking his head. "Like I said, whatever ."
It's not the first time Kayn feels bad for someone who's going out with Sett. Like, if he could, he would put a stop to this right now. But there’s no way Sett would ever listen to him. If he told him not to go, he’d have even more fun on that date. Because he simply loves doing things that are forbidden in one way or another.
His friends change the subject and Kayn tunes out for a moment or two. He thinks about the moon on Aphelios’ face and the purple line on his chin. He's trying to remember where he has seen those before, but his mind shifts again and now shows him that soft, pretty smile. He doesn't know why he enjoys that smile so much, why - in a way - it makes him feel better. Happier? Like he wants to match his good energy.
He clears his throat.
Everyone is laughing at something so he chuckles as well. Ezreal is smiling, Talon is looking at Ezreal and Sett is playing with his bracelet, sitting comfortably in the armchair. If not for Ezreal's injuries, it’d feel like just another day, another meeting with the guys, sitting around, joking, doing nothing at all.
They spend one more hour in his room and then they head off, letting him rest.
“Wanna grab a beer?” Sett asks on the way back.
“I think… I’m just gonna go home. I'm tired.”
“Yeah, after seeing Ez like that I also don’t really want to go. Maybe I’ll go video call him, check if he’s really okay.” Talon looks more than concerned at this point. Kayn gets it. He's always been close with Ez but Talon is the one Ezreal always comes to when he has a problem, the one he confides in.
“You guys are so boring.”
To Sett they're always boring.
◦ ❖ ◦
Kayn doesn't remember when he's fallen asleep. He wakes up in the middle of the night, sweaty, heavy breathing. It’s the Akali nightmare all over again, but this time around she’s had a real knife in her hand and the moment he's turned around to walk away… Well, let’s just say there’s no happy ending for him in this one.
It’s hard to say why that situation got to him the way it has, but it’s clear at this point that he can’t get over it by himself. Sure, he wishes he could talk about it to any of his close friends, but there’s just nobody that’d listen without giving him shitty advice.
He doesn't want to hear that he should sleep with someone new to finally get over Akali (this is exactly what Sett has said). He doesn't mind people sleeping around, but he simply isn't into that and he knows it won't fix any of his issues.
He also doesn't want to hear again that he should steal her heart back- and then break it in the worst possible way (this lovely piece of advice was Talon’s). And that’s because he doesn't want to see her again, ever . He wouldn’t be able to look at her the way he used to, not to say touch her.
He's not really to forgive her either, as the wound is just too fresh. So Ezreal's angelic way of looking at things doesn't help here either.
Oh well, looks like Kayn needs a new friend. Someone who’d like to just listen to him- and maybe someone who thinks more before they speak.
He sighs, pulling the blanket up, covering his face with it. Then he tries to drift off; he lets his mind wander around.
And it’s a mistake. Big one.
From his friends to his mom who passed away three long years ago. From her to his father who left them when he was just a kid. From him to his entire fucking miserable life.
Sometimes it’s better not to say anything and let it be. Sometimes it slowly kills you inside and letting it be is the last thing you want to do. So Kayn does what he knows best and tries to clear his mind again - there’s no way he can fall asleep with all of that shit still stuck in his head. So he shifts his focus to something else.
The crescent moon on Aphelios' face.
Well, that's something new. It doesn't really happen that much for him to be thinking about people he knows before going to bed. He's more of a creator type, a creative guy who paints in his head with eyes closed when he's getting overwhelmed.
It doesn't help much though. Somehow, it’s getting even worse. His thoughts are racing now and so is his heart. Then he starts to feel it again. The irritation, the anger. The betrayal.
At this point he knows he's not going to fall asleep anytime soon. So he gets out of bed, ties his long, black hair into a bun, wears a hoodie, earphones and a pair of old shoes and goes out.
Then he goes for a long run.
We can already tell you that everything is going to get even worse in the next half an hour.
But let’s skip the gross part.
◦ ❖ ◦
“What the fuck happened to you?!”
It'd be silly of him to think his friends wouldn’t notice a black eyepatch on his eye. He's somewhat ready for this conversation.
“Well, I almost lost an eye yesterday night,” he touches the material covering the still painful eyebrow. It’s not the only part of his body that hurts, unfortunately. Now he looks similar to Ezreal, with a black eye, a split lip and a few big bruises on his arms and ribs.
Kayn knows it’s not okay of him to think that way, but right now he feels slight hatred towards Sett.
“This we can… kinda see…” Talon continues, standing up from the booth. Tonight they’re meeting at a bar. The lights are dim, but his friends can still see all of the injuries. Talon reaches out to touch his face. “What did you do, Kayn?”
“I didn’t do anything! But The Boss over here surely did. Wanna tell us about it?” They look at him, waiting. Sett looks guilty. No wonder why. “Why would you go to those people last night? We told you not to. Ezreal asked us not to do anything so many fucking times and you-”
“I did what was right!” The vastaya says angrily. “Just sitting around and waiting for them to hurt our friend again isn’t in my nature, okay? I needed to give those motherfuckers a lesson. A real one.”
“Awesome, and thanks to you now I can’t see with my left eye. Really, thank you very much!” Kayn raises his voice, a few customers look at him, curious. Most of them go back to their drinks and conversations but one guy is still staring at his eyepatch. So, obviously, he shows him a middle finger.
“Wait, you can’t see? You won’t be able to see with that eye, like ever…?” Weird, how Talon is the one feeling sorry for him whereas the guy who kind of contributed to his injury is boiling with anger instead.
“I don’t know yet,” and that’s the truth that scares the shit out of him, “that’s possible. We’re gonna know in a few weeks, maybe longer.”
Look, Kayn likes to think that he's a 'tough guy'. Most of the time he even acts like it, cause that's what the world has taught him to do. It’s not easy to make him cry, but right now that's all he really wants to do. To break into tears, hug Talon and pray to gods his eye will be okay. And if it won’t, he doesn't know if he'll be ever able to forgive Sett.
If he wasn’t that reckless, nothing would’ve happened. And that’s a fact.
“So it was them? Are you sure?” Sett asks. Still no apology. “Tall guy, blonde hair. Short one with green-ish skin. One of them carries around shurikens. The other one is a mage?”
“Yes… I honestly don’t even need to know what they looked like. What they’ve said is more important,” Kayn sighs, trying to remember the exact words they used. It’s hard to think about it though, it makes him twitchy and his eye is starting to hurt more. Not a nice memory to carry in your mind, the day someone tried to cut your face. “It went something like this: 'tell The Boss it’s a warning. Touch one of us again and you won’t be able to help your little friend.’ Which means, I’m gonna translate it for ya, cause clearly you can’t understand what those words mean, stop fucking with them or they will kill us. So just fucking stop, cause I ain’t loosing another eye because of you!”
“How did you even… how did they find you?”
Still, no apology.
“Does it matter?” he asks and Sett nods. “I went out for a jog around two in the morning, I couldn’t sleep. I saw them next to the park. Obviously , I had no idea they are a threat right now cause someone sent their friend to a hospital a few hours prior .”
“Sett… This shit is getting serious. You really gotta start thinking before you throw punches,” says Talon, taking a seat again.
Now the three of them are sitting at the booth, thinking, considering. Being angry. Kayn can’t stop myself from staring at Sett. He’s making him so mad just by breathing . That’s not good.
“I’m sorry about your eye, Shieda,” he finally says.
Too little too late.
“Whatever.”
“Kayn-”
“I said, whatever. Let’s not talk about it now. It pisses me off. You piss me off today.”
That's not the first misunderstanding he had with Sett, but this may be the biggest one so far. Never before have he gotten hurt because of him, at least never that badly. So it looks like they both don't know how to act. Sett sits still, holding a beer in his hands and Kayn looks at the glass instead of looking at him. It's when he notices big bruises on vastaya's knuckles. Nothing compared to his face being cut open, but still.
"Ah, I really need a drink," Shieda breaks the awkward silence and Talon looks up at him from his phone. He's been texting someone for the past couple of minutes and Kayn has a feeling it's Ezreal.
"Aren't you on meds? Painkillers or something?"
"I am, but one beer won't kill me."
"I mean… it's your choice but-"
"Just let the man drink," Sett interrupts him. "Actually, I'll bring it for ya. You just rest."
"No, guys, common. No drinking on fucking meds."
"My gods, fine! Non-alcoholic thing it is."
"On my way," Sett announces.
"And now he's being considerate?" Kayn asks when he leaves the booth.
"I wouldn't expect anything more than that. And somehow I'm not surprised he went there last night. It's Sett, for gods sake. We should have known better."
"We wouldn't be able to stop him anyway. He needs to start using his brain, we can't always babysit him like that." Now that he's finally calming down, he starts to look around. He's been to this bar before, but a lot has changed since then. There's a ton of decorations on the walls, new colorful lights above the bar and probably a new speaker, cause tonight the music is getting loud .
"Here you go, my man!" Sett puts a huge glass of… something in front of him and smiles, like he's waiting for a praise.
He doesn't get one. Kayn just gulps down on it, quickly. It's sweet and tastes like strawberries.
Talon tries to pick up the conversation right where they left off but just as he opens his mouth, Sett's phone starts to ring.
"Ha, just about time," he says.
Before he leaves the booth again to go somewhere quieter, Kayn sees the name on the screen.
Honestly, Kayn regrets a lot of things he's done or has not done in his life. Not saying 'I love you' to his mom when she was still alive. Not saying 'go to hell' to his father when he met him once, a few years ago. Not asking Akali why the fuck did she cheat on him - was it because of him or because of her?
He was soon to discover that he was about to regret one more thing. And this one was going to be just as big.
It’s something new.
Something that's going to bug him for a long, long time.
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