"Every Loss and Lie": Chapter 2
So we'll see how this goes, I suppose. Maybe more people will find this interesting, which would encourage a certain writer's muse to keep working on this blasted story *hides* because the next few chapters are my responsibility to write and I've been rebelling for ages But anyways, story!
(and if you're ready for the next chapter, go bother limpycsiwombat, cos she's got the next one!)
Title: Every Loss and Lie, Chapter 2
Fandom: Silvermere
Characters: Matt, Luke, Penny
Rating: probably R
Spoilers/Warnings: heavy swearing again. Violence if you count the throwing of a bag of peas.
An eternity of a heartbeat later and the Conway boys were in the elevator on their way up to their apartment, both leaning against its wall as they glanced up at the ceiling.
“If it’s any consolation, my head already hurts like hell,” Matt said with a curl of a smile, head rolling against the wall to watch Luke. A hint of a smirk curled his lips, though it didn’t spread further.
“Not really, but at least you’re suffering,” he shrugged. Matt chuckled.
“Glad to know my pain is comforting to you. Although, you look rather as if you’ve been hit by a truck, so you can’t be fairing much better than me,” he commented wryly.
“I thought you were anti-mothering,” Luke replied irritably.
“Only to you doing so,” he countered. “I was just making an observation. Only Penny gets to mother us, just because she does it so well.”
The elevator trembled to a stop and the two stepped into the wide front room of their apartment, Luke leaning against a nearby sofa to peel his shoes from his feet.
“10:45? You guys are sissies, I thought you said you’d be out till dawn,” a woman said with a click of her tongue from the island countertop in the kitchen just to the right. As Matt and Luke stepped into her line of sight her blue eyes went wide, her mouth agape shock.
“What the hell happened to you two?” she demanded, slipping off her barstool to stride to the two of them to scrutinize their injuries. “You look like you got hit by a truck!”
“I told you,” Matt smirked as he escaped the woman’s prying fingers and made for the refrigerator, retrieving a bag of frozen peas to hold against his face.
“Yeah, sure. Penny, don’t have children, okay? Your uncle will corrupt them beyond recognition and you’ll be forced to sell them to the circus,” Luke told the woman ruefully as she grasped his chin and tilted it back and forth.
“I’m not planning on having any within the hour, but thank you for reminding me of your conforming ways, Lucas,” she replied sweetly with a gentle pat upon his good cheek. Matt snickered from his location in the kitchen, but she strolled over to him and snatched away his bag of peas to throw to Luke.
“Ha, very funny,” Luke drawled as he cradled the bag against his face. “No, Matthew here was saying you’d make a better mother than either of us. I think he’s going to sell you to the government to be cloned.”
“How much did you let him drink, Matt?” Penny sighed sadly to her fairer-haired brother as he pulled another bag of peas from the freezer. “He only gets into the conspiracy theories if he’s exceptionally drunk or if he’s just emerged from his room for the first time in days. He can’t have hit his head that hard.”
“Not a clue, he was somewhere else in the club,” Matt shrugged. “But you know him, he never drinks that much.”
“I can speak for myself, thanks,” Luke interjected sourly. “No, I did not drink that much, I voice logical opinions, not make up bullshit conspiracies, less often than I sneeze. Any head trauma I may have would be the result of Matthew’s thick head and poor tolerance for alcohol.”
“It’s always his fault,” Penny said dryly as if this were common knowledge. “Whose leg did he try humping this time?”
“Dunno, but he managed to piss off some big ass guy and start a riot in the club,” Luke shrugged. “I was trying to haul his ass out of there before he made an even bigger dick of himself when the fucker clipped me. Hope you weren’t too partial to the Nickel Den, because you’re probably banned from there as well.”
Penny spun on her heel, fast enough that her short hair fanned out in a short wing as she glared daggers at her brother. “Are you shitting me? Matthew Ericson Conway, are you fucking shitting me?” The impish grin on Matt’s face showed he thought she was joking, but she snatched away Luke’s bag of peas and hurled them across the room. Matt ducked and the bag caught the edge of the fridge, sending a cascade of frozen peas across the floor. “Answer me, you fuck! What compels you to knock down every single fucking thing that crosses your path, huh? We’re perched on toothpicks, Matthew, and everything you do threatens to knock them out from under us. There won’t be anything to save us once we fall. We will hit the water and fucking drown if the fucking sharks don’t eat us first.” Her gaze was steady with Matt’s, his face contorted in a scowl that threatened explosion as her chest heaved in the aftermath.
“Matt, you should go,” Luke said quietly as Penny tore away, crossing her arms and ducking her head. Matt opened his mouth like he was about to voice a reply but Luke cut him off with a look, and without a word the lightning man surrendered and strode from the kitchen. As the distant click of a door shutting sounded to the kitchen Luke walked to the pantry and pulled out a broom to sweep up the peas.
“Well, that’ll be a bugger,” Penny sighed after a few moments of silence, looking up at the remaining brother with a deep breath. He perked up and raised a charcoal eyebrow in hesitant questioning, and she added, “The Nickel Den. That was one of the few good bars left in the city we could get into. They actually played good music there, too.”
“Yeah, they did,” Luke sighed with a half smile, glad to see his sister recovering. After he corralled the loose peas into a pile he went back to the pantry to retrieve the sweeper, and as he scooped them up continued with a sigh, “It was always nice and dark in there, too. People couldn’t see you, and you couldn’t see people.”
“That’s why Matt always liked it so much,” Penny snorted. “He could cop a feel as often as his heart beat, and when he’d be in there it would be racing like a horse. Although,” she trailed as she caught the firm line to Luke’s mouth as he disposed of the peas, “Something tells me it was actually relevant to you, for once. Who did you see? It wasn’t one of your exes, was it?” she cringed. “That’s always awkward as hell.”
“Tell me about it,” Luke sighed as he rinsed his hands in the sink, moving slowly as he dried his hands and leaned against the edge of the stove.
“Oh God, who was it?” she winced, propping an elbow on a crossed arm and chewing on a finger. “It wasn’t Carina, was it? She was crazy.”
“Hey, I liked Carina,” he defended, but shook his head. “No, actually. I saw Peter.”
Penny removed her finger from her teeth, arms falling away ever so slightly. “Really. That’s… interesting.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”
“Did he come and say hello?”
“No.”
“Did he… well, that’s… good, I suppose.” Grasping hold of the counter’s edge Penny sunk into her barstool, sitting harder than intended. With a quick thought she looked back at Luke. “Was anyone else with him?”
Luke shook his head, rubbing his bright injury with a sigh. “No, not that I saw. Highly unlikely the… others would be there, let alone with him. Definitely not Isaac, parties were never really his thing.”
“No, they weren’t,” she agreed distantly, grasping her elbows upon the countertop, gazing at a point far off in space. After a few wordless minutes she sighed, rubbing her temples to disperse her thoughts. “But we’re fine in our niche of the city and he’s gone back to his, and as long as those remain two separate places then there’s no problem with me.”
“Yeah,” Luke replied, his own voice far away. Penny flicked an inquisitive look up at him, but he was at her side and kissing the top of her head before she could say anything else. “My head’s killing me, I think I’m gonna call it a night.”
“Don’t go dying in your sleep on me,” she replied wryly as he started to walk away. “I can’t control that monster on my own.”
“I’ll do my best to stick around,” Luke told her with a snort, then flapped a hand at her as he walked away for good. “Sweet dreams.”
“Yeah, you too,” she sighed, leaning against her hand as her hair fell into her face. As Luke’s door clicked shut in the distance she slipped from her stool and drifted to the couches and sofas on the other side of the room. As she sunk into the nearest seat to the window she gazed out the window into the darkness to count the stars of the city night, wondering how many of them were old constellations burning back to life.
(and if you're ready for the next chapter, go bother limpycsiwombat, cos she's got the next one!)
Title: Every Loss and Lie, Chapter 2
Fandom: Silvermere
Characters: Matt, Luke, Penny
Rating: probably R
Spoilers/Warnings: heavy swearing again. Violence if you count the throwing of a bag of peas.
An eternity of a heartbeat later and the Conway boys were in the elevator on their way up to their apartment, both leaning against its wall as they glanced up at the ceiling.
“If it’s any consolation, my head already hurts like hell,” Matt said with a curl of a smile, head rolling against the wall to watch Luke. A hint of a smirk curled his lips, though it didn’t spread further.
“Not really, but at least you’re suffering,” he shrugged. Matt chuckled.
“Glad to know my pain is comforting to you. Although, you look rather as if you’ve been hit by a truck, so you can’t be fairing much better than me,” he commented wryly.
“I thought you were anti-mothering,” Luke replied irritably.
“Only to you doing so,” he countered. “I was just making an observation. Only Penny gets to mother us, just because she does it so well.”
The elevator trembled to a stop and the two stepped into the wide front room of their apartment, Luke leaning against a nearby sofa to peel his shoes from his feet.
“10:45? You guys are sissies, I thought you said you’d be out till dawn,” a woman said with a click of her tongue from the island countertop in the kitchen just to the right. As Matt and Luke stepped into her line of sight her blue eyes went wide, her mouth agape shock.
“What the hell happened to you two?” she demanded, slipping off her barstool to stride to the two of them to scrutinize their injuries. “You look like you got hit by a truck!”
“I told you,” Matt smirked as he escaped the woman’s prying fingers and made for the refrigerator, retrieving a bag of frozen peas to hold against his face.
“Yeah, sure. Penny, don’t have children, okay? Your uncle will corrupt them beyond recognition and you’ll be forced to sell them to the circus,” Luke told the woman ruefully as she grasped his chin and tilted it back and forth.
“I’m not planning on having any within the hour, but thank you for reminding me of your conforming ways, Lucas,” she replied sweetly with a gentle pat upon his good cheek. Matt snickered from his location in the kitchen, but she strolled over to him and snatched away his bag of peas to throw to Luke.
“Ha, very funny,” Luke drawled as he cradled the bag against his face. “No, Matthew here was saying you’d make a better mother than either of us. I think he’s going to sell you to the government to be cloned.”
“How much did you let him drink, Matt?” Penny sighed sadly to her fairer-haired brother as he pulled another bag of peas from the freezer. “He only gets into the conspiracy theories if he’s exceptionally drunk or if he’s just emerged from his room for the first time in days. He can’t have hit his head that hard.”
“Not a clue, he was somewhere else in the club,” Matt shrugged. “But you know him, he never drinks that much.”
“I can speak for myself, thanks,” Luke interjected sourly. “No, I did not drink that much, I voice logical opinions, not make up bullshit conspiracies, less often than I sneeze. Any head trauma I may have would be the result of Matthew’s thick head and poor tolerance for alcohol.”
“It’s always his fault,” Penny said dryly as if this were common knowledge. “Whose leg did he try humping this time?”
“Dunno, but he managed to piss off some big ass guy and start a riot in the club,” Luke shrugged. “I was trying to haul his ass out of there before he made an even bigger dick of himself when the fucker clipped me. Hope you weren’t too partial to the Nickel Den, because you’re probably banned from there as well.”
Penny spun on her heel, fast enough that her short hair fanned out in a short wing as she glared daggers at her brother. “Are you shitting me? Matthew Ericson Conway, are you fucking shitting me?” The impish grin on Matt’s face showed he thought she was joking, but she snatched away Luke’s bag of peas and hurled them across the room. Matt ducked and the bag caught the edge of the fridge, sending a cascade of frozen peas across the floor. “Answer me, you fuck! What compels you to knock down every single fucking thing that crosses your path, huh? We’re perched on toothpicks, Matthew, and everything you do threatens to knock them out from under us. There won’t be anything to save us once we fall. We will hit the water and fucking drown if the fucking sharks don’t eat us first.” Her gaze was steady with Matt’s, his face contorted in a scowl that threatened explosion as her chest heaved in the aftermath.
“Matt, you should go,” Luke said quietly as Penny tore away, crossing her arms and ducking her head. Matt opened his mouth like he was about to voice a reply but Luke cut him off with a look, and without a word the lightning man surrendered and strode from the kitchen. As the distant click of a door shutting sounded to the kitchen Luke walked to the pantry and pulled out a broom to sweep up the peas.
“Well, that’ll be a bugger,” Penny sighed after a few moments of silence, looking up at the remaining brother with a deep breath. He perked up and raised a charcoal eyebrow in hesitant questioning, and she added, “The Nickel Den. That was one of the few good bars left in the city we could get into. They actually played good music there, too.”
“Yeah, they did,” Luke sighed with a half smile, glad to see his sister recovering. After he corralled the loose peas into a pile he went back to the pantry to retrieve the sweeper, and as he scooped them up continued with a sigh, “It was always nice and dark in there, too. People couldn’t see you, and you couldn’t see people.”
“That’s why Matt always liked it so much,” Penny snorted. “He could cop a feel as often as his heart beat, and when he’d be in there it would be racing like a horse. Although,” she trailed as she caught the firm line to Luke’s mouth as he disposed of the peas, “Something tells me it was actually relevant to you, for once. Who did you see? It wasn’t one of your exes, was it?” she cringed. “That’s always awkward as hell.”
“Tell me about it,” Luke sighed as he rinsed his hands in the sink, moving slowly as he dried his hands and leaned against the edge of the stove.
“Oh God, who was it?” she winced, propping an elbow on a crossed arm and chewing on a finger. “It wasn’t Carina, was it? She was crazy.”
“Hey, I liked Carina,” he defended, but shook his head. “No, actually. I saw Peter.”
Penny removed her finger from her teeth, arms falling away ever so slightly. “Really. That’s… interesting.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”
“Did he come and say hello?”
“No.”
“Did he… well, that’s… good, I suppose.” Grasping hold of the counter’s edge Penny sunk into her barstool, sitting harder than intended. With a quick thought she looked back at Luke. “Was anyone else with him?”
Luke shook his head, rubbing his bright injury with a sigh. “No, not that I saw. Highly unlikely the… others would be there, let alone with him. Definitely not Isaac, parties were never really his thing.”
“No, they weren’t,” she agreed distantly, grasping her elbows upon the countertop, gazing at a point far off in space. After a few wordless minutes she sighed, rubbing her temples to disperse her thoughts. “But we’re fine in our niche of the city and he’s gone back to his, and as long as those remain two separate places then there’s no problem with me.”
“Yeah,” Luke replied, his own voice far away. Penny flicked an inquisitive look up at him, but he was at her side and kissing the top of her head before she could say anything else. “My head’s killing me, I think I’m gonna call it a night.”
“Don’t go dying in your sleep on me,” she replied wryly as he started to walk away. “I can’t control that monster on my own.”
“I’ll do my best to stick around,” Luke told her with a snort, then flapped a hand at her as he walked away for good. “Sweet dreams.”
“Yeah, you too,” she sighed, leaning against her hand as her hair fell into her face. As Luke’s door clicked shut in the distance she slipped from her stool and drifted to the couches and sofas on the other side of the room. As she sunk into the nearest seat to the window she gazed out the window into the darkness to count the stars of the city night, wondering how many of them were old constellations burning back to life.