everyonelives | there's something due any day

We tended to fly under the radar, yeah.

[Coop shrugs.]

I don't know what's coming after this. I can't think about it. Not until Monroe is dealt with.

Are there still other hunters that aren't aligned with her? Out there, somewhere?

( Denying her help, her money, and her tactics. )

Probably. The world of hunting is generally a wide, disparate and disjointed place. We don't really have a central hub of information.

[He hopes when this is all over his life could go back to what it was. But he's not so sure anymore.]

And your dad. How is he doing? How are you?

( He lost his brother. William can't lose sight of that. Maybe he should've asked it first, but their meeting had began officially. )

He's still towing the company line. We're still having disagreements about it.

[But not enough that he thinks his father would be suspicious.]

I mean. Your brother, Cooper.

( He's lost family and friends, too. He has to ask. He should've led with that, but, again. )

Oh.

[Right. His brother. His face flickers and he shakes his head before reaching for his coffee again.]

Yeah, we're not dealing with that. I mean, we buried him and all of that, but talking about it would mean acknowledging that he died pointlessly instead of for the cause, and Dad's not ready to deal with that yet.

And you. If you wanted to talk about it. At all. I'm here.

( For however long. )

I appreciate that.

[But he's not even really sure where to begin to unpack that. It's still not something he's fully processed as happening, finding himself reaching out for a phantom sibling that isn't even there.

And to think, that he died uselessly, it only makes him angry.]

But I need to set this right first. Then I'll worry about grieving.

[It is the hunter way.]

You will. We will, Coop. Cooper. Coop. What do you, what do you like?

( and the check comes, William grabbing for it immediately. )

[He smirks. He also definitely doesn't reach for the check because why use his fake hunter money when your boyfriend is super rich.]

Coop is good.

( boyfriend, brackets?

he sets a card inside and drops the check back down. )

Look, I - really like you. But, when we do go back, when you call Allison, Isaac will be listening in. I want to be transparent.

[It was shorter to type than "guy who I banged that one time after we survived a witch siege."]

I get it. I don't blame you all for being suspicious. I would be too.

( likely. )

Reading heartbeats, it's one of the good things about having a werewolf on the payroll. Or, I guess I'm on the payroll now and he runs things. I want this to work.

Definitely less creepy than sitting with someone's fingers on your pulse, worried if they're going to snap your neck if you fuck up.

[Because that definitely might have been Monroe's approach that she learned from Gerard.]

That's how hunters do it? And, there are people that don't survive two fingers on the pulse.

( Someone like Monroe, her followers, they'd snap someone's neck. They wouldn't hesitate. )

If the person acting as the lie detector thinks you're lying and the lie is egregious enough, you don't.

[It does vary, depending on the situation.]

Were you ever the person whose fingers...

( His dad has carried that darkness and he shouldn't be asking, but the words come tumbling out. He can't put them back. )

[He shakes his head. Not like that. If he's going to take you out, it's going to be a fair fight with weapons in both hands.]

No. That's not really my style.

( And from talk of fingers to his intertwining with Coop's. They were there, sitting and he wanted to. )

It's not. I'm - sorry I asked. I - well, you know who my dad is. And you met my sister.

[He shakes his head. But he doesn't pull his hand away. That's kind of nice.]

No, I get it. It's a valid question.

Maybe, but it's also crossing. It's crossing lines. And, it feels like that's what we're doing and I am good with it. I want it. I just - want to make sure you want it, too. And, you can also save your answer for after meeting Allison.

( There he goes again, trying to let someone make their own decisions because all his dad does is make decisions without asking anyone. )

[He nods in agreement because...]

I might do that.

[Not that the answer is no. But if Allison says no, it might not be safe.]

( He pulls his hand away again. )

We only have a few hours. Do you want to do this? I'll be right there.

Yeah.

[He glances around.]

Should we do this here? Or should we ... find somewhere more private?

[Where they can speak freely.]

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