cinnamon

There was a jabber of sound from the man in front of him but the words blurred together, only the rise and fall of them cutting across the cleft in his concentration enough to wring a grunt out of Grey. His lips curved faintly, blue eyes narrowing at the screen as he thumbed the message open. Not the first of the day, but filled with that exuberance he’d seen knocked out of her. Driven out by Leah’s hands and his own. Not for good though, Tinkerbell had fought back, even against him. Destiny had torn something open inside of him spilling some of that poison out like the whiskey that he’d scrubbed from the floor after she’d left. It still wasn’t entirely patched but the blacklight party had slapped a plaster over it at least, had at least allowed the right conditions for it to start to mend.

She was doing the rest.

The man jabbered on, his tone growing brisker. Grey didn’t look up but he lifted a finger, aimed it at him until he sputtered into silence and then he started tapping a message back. ”Out already, but I’ll be heading back soon. Won’t come up until you’re ready.” He’d hover at the desk, skin feeling raw with that awareness of where Destiny was, Cat watching him – knowing but too discrete for anything but that tiny play of a smile around her lips. His first line of defence if Leah did come calling, today of all days.

Grey cleared his throat, looked at the man in front of him. A genealogist from these parts, chest puffed, lined cheeks florid, pushing the bunch of papers across the desk again. ”As you can see, Mr Maddox, I’ve made some progress in tracking some of the names you provided for me but none appear to still be in the Mystic Falls area.” There was an edge of apology to his voice. Did he know? The likelihood that there’d be a snap of temper and frustration in return.

Not today buddy.

Sighing, already pushing to his feet, Grey began gathering up the papers. ”Then look further afield. There are connections from somewhere in that list I gave you to here and I need it found.”

The man began to babble again but Grey was already rising from the table. His coffee had barely been sipped from, the biscotti he’d ordered with it complete except for that one perfect bite. Nothing more of this was going to colour his day. It had already cast too dark a shade over things with Destiny and not an ounce more of that oily stain would touch her. Today the sons of bitches who had tipped all of this into motion generations ago and the rotten fruit of his father’s loins were gonna be shoved back. For Destiny.

As Grey trailed around town, killing time looking in shop windows, making those dozens of phone calls that kept Grey Haven and his own life running as it had since he’d dragged himself out of that mud, he knew that he could’ve gone his whole life without bothering to, or even wanting to, celebrate the day he’d shrieked his way into the world. She wanted to though, to show him what he’d been missing, and for her he’d do it. To see those big blue eyes light up with something that had torn at him to see dimmed.

An hour and a half after he’d gotten the message he’d trailed into the hotel. Cat had looked up from behind the desk, that hint of a smirk exactly where he’d known it would be. He aimed one back, a faint chuckle emerging as she flicked a finger up to towards the ceiling. ”No other arrivals?” Not guests. He knew the minute they checked in, the system kicking that ping automatically towards his phone. The others. The last thought of them before he packed it all away and left the stink of it outside of the apartment.

”Nope. All quiet’s on the western front.” He knew she’d watch though, for him, for Destiny.

For another half an hour he hung out there, quiet conversation filling the voids between the bursts of work that came throughout the afternoon. A little laughter, a tease that had that hint of heat rolling in when the phone pinged again. Grey rose slowly, blue eyes ticking up to see Cat having to restrain herself a little more. ”I’ll make sure you’re not disturbed. Happy birthday by the way…”

”I didn’t say it was…”

She was cutting him off there, a flick of a finger towards the ceiling again. ”It’s kinda hard to hide some things.”

Grey hesitated, tip of his tongue pressed to the roof of his mouth. He could’ve asked but he could already imagine Destiny puffing up with the anticipation of this, what she expected to see on his face when he walked through into Neverland. ”Thanks.” The gratitude felt stiff in his throat but as he walked towards the elevator, hands slipping contemplatively into his pockets, he realised he’d meant it. Maybe the walls had kept some of this locked away for too long.

He stepped into the elevator, punched in the code for the penthouse and kept his eyes on the miniscule slit between the doors as it rose. Muscles bunched and released in his jaw, nerves he’d never felt for this sort of thing jumping in the pit of his stomach before the door pinged open. Not even a step outside of it and no more than a glimpse of the table set, a froth of tissue paper spilling out of a bag and the balloon Cat had probably been hinting at bobbing beside it all before Destiny was there.

Catching her, he felt something in the pit of his stomach release. An arm automatically slipping around her waist, drawing her into him as she teetered slightly. Grey’s lips curved, dark brows rising slightly for him to give the place another once over. ”Thank you,” he murmured. The other hand rose, fingers curling into her hair, his thumb skimming her cheek as she spilled all that excitement into a kiss.

A low sound rolled from Grey’s throat as she babbled about the cakes, plural. ”We’ll be eating it for days,” he mused, but some part of him was already touched. ”You’re not gonna make me blow out the candles on both of them, are you?” At least he’d assumed it was happening. He’d seen other kids do it, those little birthday celebrations that were still allowed in schools then, kids gathering round to sing and clap as candles were blown out. Calls for wishes he knew wouldn’t come true for most of them. No cakes for him, no candles, plenty of wishes but he might as well have been peeing them into the ocean for all the good it had done.

The giggle held all the promise of what he hadn’t had and more though. Fingers laced with Destiny’s as she pulled him towards the table. Grey stopped as they reached it. Set with plates, candles, that gift bag. More than he’d ever been given. He reached for her other hand, towed her in with it. ”Starving. I meant it.” That faintly rough edge to his voice that had him clearing his throat. ”Thank you, for all of this. I can’t believe you did it for me. You cooked it all? Decorated … no purple fur though.” He’d have clucked his tongue, feigned disappointment but how could that five year old who’d stared into the window of the shop in the village for months in the hope that somehow his dad would put his hand into his pocket and find money for that bike he’d been desperate for when he hadn’t even been able to pay the full price for the bottle of vodka on Tuesday that hadn’t made it to Wednesday morning not light up now. All that darkness he’d spread into her life, on top of what Destiny had already suffered pushed aside for this. For him.

Tagged: DESTINY BACCARI * Word Count: 1349

Tinkerbell joy in the air, sparkling around that tiny form, tinkling in her laughter, almost visible at the edges of the vision like glitter in the air. Had she? Grey narrowed his eyes faintly, flicking around the two of them, lighting on everything she’d set out in his place. No, there wasn’t actual glitter in the air but it almost felt like Destiny was capable of it. There was so much light in her, a sparkle neither Tanner or Leah – or him – had managed to wring out of her.

Now it was all aimed at him. Somehow that seemed weirder than the thought that maybe there really was some Disney like fairy in her. The spotlight had never been somewhere he was entirely comfortable being, not as himself anyway, no one wanted every flaw, every weakness picked out with no escape. Now he stood on the edge of it, not him, that little kid Leah had almost taken him back to being, or the angry teenager he’d regressed to when her fingerprints had ended up on all of this, claws hooked in like she could take everything away. Him, who Destiny saw when she looked at him, who she’d brought those cakes and wanted wishes for.

His fingers wrapped warm around hers, the grip she had on her heart tight enough that he felt it was they trailed towards the table. He’d never had one cake, let alone two, not even the pack going that far to give that little boy any sort of a childhood. ”Double the wishes,” he echoed. ”That make them twice as likely to come true too?” If it did he’d darken both that he made, dimming the light of hers that glowed through all of this with that momentary burst of hatred. To rid himself of Leah once and for all. To leave this and her untouched.

Not wanting her between them tonight, or his dad, none of the tattered remnants of his childhood still hung up in the back of his mind like shredded grey curtains doing nothing to hide the damage behind them, Grey pushed them all from his mind. Stuffed back into that little box, locked tight, that fairy dust sprinkled over the top.

He lifted their joined hands between them, thumbs rubbing lightly over the tender skin of the inside of her wrists. His grin grew a single watt at a time, eyes crinkling at the corners. ”No fur,” he said with certainty. Not in this, although he’d have wrapped himself up in it tonight. Boas snared around his wrists, feathers everywhere, spiked through glittery party hats. ”You’ve got me something of you but I know it’s not that.” Certainty might have been in short supply lately but never a question of it with her.

Grey made a low sound, his palms sliding down Destiny’s forearms to settle over the inside of her elbows as she reached up to cup his cheeks and kiss him. ”Thank,” he rasped again, his lips brushing against hers, ”you.” Not just for this, although those words were still stoppered up in his throat. The dam had been breached multiple times after they’d been pushed on by outside forces with this, but they hadn’t been brought down entirely yet and so it caught. A log jam of emotion and hope.

It left an ache in his throat that gripped til he was sat opposite her. That beaming smile easing it so that the food, Jesus, the food, went down easy. He took another bite, quick, his lips curving around it. Grey swallowed, brows rising as he tilted his head back and forth like he was considering it. ”It’s incredible. What you did, all of this, Des…”That log jam again. It was incredible.

The knife sliced easy through the steak, carving off little bits of that incredible to swallow down out at a time. He’d been prepared to mete it out, a little at a time like going too fast would have it all disappearing in a puff of smoke but the nerves he could feel radiating off of her in those glittery little bursts had her cutlery clattering down to the table. Grey swallowed his mouthful of the potatoes, watching her gesture to the bag. ”I’m not even waiting til after the dinner? Someone’s impatient.” He crooned it out soft, eyeing the bag as she brought it back like there might’ve been pink fur in it after all.

He swivelled in his seat, one hand curling around the back of her thighs as the other took the bag, set it down in his lap between them. That faint line sprung up between his brows as he started pulling the tissue out of the top. There was some weight to it, shifting subtly as he revealed the contents. He hadn’t known what to expect but every kid’s sweet toothed dream stared back at him. Colourful wrappers that’d littered the counter at the corner shop, pennies counted out to pick a few out every couple of weeks. A treasure to be held in his sweaty palm until he was back in the confines of his room, tasting a sweetness that was missing in every other part of his life.

Grey tipped his head back as she slid her fingers into his hair, a light coming up in his blue eyes. ”I think he’d appreciate the business. I’m gonna rot everyone one of my teeth.” Indulging with her later, limbs tangled around one another, anchoring, as they shared all that should’ve been … all that still could. He pulled free a Curly Wurly, tapped the tip of the foot long length of chocolate and caramel against her belly. ”How’d you track all of these down? God, I didn’t think they even made these anymore. You’re a miracle worker.” Time and time again she’d been his miracle worker. Not worrying about crushing the bag, he slipped the chocolate bar onto the table next to his plate and pulled Destiny down into his lap. That smile as slow and sweet as the caramel curving the lips he pressed against hers. Later he’d chase the taste of it from her mouth, candy and that innate goodness that radiated in porcelain skin and big blue eyes, filling himself up on it.

Tagged: DESTINY BACCARI * Word Count: 1048