because the lives of the wicked should be made brief

[somanyadjectives]

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[vampasm]

( There, beside his husband, Josh sleeps soundly. His (2) has him staying asleep when Aiden jerks awake in a sweat. Josh dreams of Aiden and his beginnings. Their courtship. Surviving the attacks when Hope was a teenager. Time together in the bayou. Signing their first lease together. )

[packguy]

[He watches Josh's back, watches him sleep, taking in the life-like quality of his skin and real feeling of his presence. He feels pieces of his memories falling into place but he doesn't know how he wound up here.

Quietly, he sneaks out of bed (14). He needs to go for a run, get his thoughts in order. Come back with coffee and hope he can still pretend to be the Aiden he was when he went to sleep.

He slips on his clothes, grabs the hotel room key, and makes his way out onto the quiet San Francisco streets.]

[vampasm]

( The front door closing wakes him, as he notices he's alone in bed and his husband is obviously going through something. Or, can't sleep. Or, both. When Aiden isn't doing well, Josh isn't doing great. For an hour, he tries to lay in bed and get back to sleep, but he fails at that, finding something on one of the movie channels.

He looks down at his phone on the dresser, to see if he gets a message - deciding to message his husband or not, neither. Both. He decides to give him time and space.

Without trying, he falls back asleep right before a horror movie starts. Tina is chased down the street by a long-armed Freddy Krueger as Aiden inserts his card back into the door, the beep sounding. )

[packguy]

[He returns just after sunrise, feeling a little bit better but no less confused. For now, he's decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Josh is here, and Josh is alive. Nothing else matters.

He makes his way inside and smirks at the movie, before making his way to his husband's bedside and setting the coffee down on the night stand as he wakes him.]

Sleeping with a horror movie on is not going to make your dreams any better, you know.

[vampasm]

( Oh. Good morning. He sits up, further, the sheets falling to expose his chest as he picks up his coffee, gratefully. )

And, sneaking out in the middle of the night isn't either. ( But, warm coffee. Mmm. ) Still worried about druid-Dahlia?

[packguy]

[He is, but he shrugs it off.]

Couldn't sleep. Decided to see if I could walk it off, and that helped. It'll help even more to head home.

[He tips his head to the side.]

Sorry if I woke you.

[vampasm]

( He sees right through him. There's something else. Different about him. Like, this awakened something neither of them saw coming. But, he doesn't say anything about it. )

You woke me for coffee.

( He raises his cup. He's forgiven. He turns the TV on mute. )

Thanks, for coming with Davina and me.

[packguy]

Of course.

[He would follow them anywhere, and attending Thanksgiving in California is not a hardship. Everything else, well. That's just business as usual when your husband is best friends with the regent of New Orleans.]

Scott's mom is great. She lucked out there.

[vampasm]

Seriously. Welcoming. Great cook. She only gave us the sassy third degree. And she's surprisingly cool about all of this. She didn't even blink when Scott, his girlfriend, Scott's ex-girlfriend, her boyfriend and us all loaded up to stake out a tourist attraction a few hours away.

( The perfect mom. )

[packguy]

I think when your son is the True Alpha, you learn to roll with the punches. Especially if anything I've heard about Beacon Hills is actually true.

[And he's heard a lot of really weird stuff.]

[vampasm]

We roll with the punches in New Orleans, too.

( He shuffles over, to make room on the bed if Aiden wants to sit, or crawl back in - or anything. His husband might shower. There's space if he wants it. )

So, Spike's on a flight with us, Ben, and Jed.

[packguy]

Is Davina staying a little longer?

[He raises an eyebrow.]

She seemed pretty in love with those trees.

[vampasm]

Pretty sure Davina's on a flight, too, but maybe she'll want to stay back with Scott. They might still be asleep.

( But, yeah, her magic really drew her to those trees, man. )

[packguy]

[He nods, because it's her choice. He won't judge her regardless. They can talk about it over breakfast.]

I like Scott. He seems good for her.

[vampasm]

He's also somehow too good for this world.

( Josh feels like his heart could break so easily. )

She's never been with anyone that smiley. Or, not Kol.

[packguy]

I think she could use someone smiley. It means she smiles more.

[And he thinks, overall, for someone like Davina who has the weight of New Orleans on her shoulders every day, someone who makes her smile is a good thing.]

[vampasm]

I think everyone benefits from a smiling Davina.

( The quarter, the witches, the other faction leaders. )

And they make a cute couple. Like us.

[packguy]

But not as cute as us.

[Aiden wants to make that distinction clear.]

They can have the silver medal.

[vampasm]

Who's cuter than us?

( Since he hasn't been joined in bed, he finally climbs out, stretching his limbs. )

[packguy]

[Sorry, they will have to save that for when they get home to their actual bed. Especially because both their phones vibrate with a text from Davina asking Breakfast?]

Are you hungry? Davina's asking about breakfast.

[vampasm]

I could eat.

( Fake eat. You get it. He studies his husband for a second. )

Maybe you can get some sleep after, on the plane. I'll give you the good dreams.

[packguy]

[He offers him a small smile before nodding.]

I'll take 'em.

[And with that, they will get dressed and head off to breakfast with the rest of the group.]