A Little Boulder (Lyric/Keith/kid)

[Trent Frey]

Lyric was silent for some moments, looking sightlessly through the room at nothing. "Prove it," he said at last. He turned his gaze to Keith at last, burying insecurity as well as he could, then took half a step back toward his bedroom. There were no lies in bed, just stark truths they'd faced together long before they'd accepted them in themselves. Keith's need to be needed, Lyric's need to be accepted, scars and all, and their mutual need to be in control sometimes, and to follow blindly other times.

Prove it.

[Keith Evans]

Keith glanced back toward the kitchen, then strode forward toward the taller man. They probably shouldn't be doing this with the other two in the flat, plus the skittish little girl, but he couldn't quite turn away from that challenge. As soon as he was close enough he reached out to pull Lyric in for a kiss, determined to prove it to himself as much as to his partner.

[Trent Frey]

Lyric's arms didn't wrap around Keith, they seized. The intensity was a constant somehow, from that first kiss two years ago, and it was exactly what he needed. It was a purging, a taking of everything he needed, and a closeness that didn't need looked at too closely. It just was.

He pulled Keith back into his bedroom and kicked the door shut, a quick nonverbal setting a lock he'd never needed before. Then it was a push to the bed and all hell breaking loose.

[Keith Evans]

Keith was breathing heavily by the time they parted, and he knew the other two men in the flat would be able to tell unless he took a detour for a long, scalding shower. He lay back for some moments before propping himself up on an elbow to look at Lyric. After that, it would be stupid to continue to keep himself from saying it. "I love f~ing you," he said, though he was unable to keep a straight face and laughed. "And you, of course. I love you. There, said it, how about that?"

[Trent Frey]

"Jeg elsker deg," Lyric returned breathlessly. He'd said it, he'd really said it. And he'd say it again so Keith could understand, but he'd said it. "If I ever loved anything..." He pulled Keith close, skin to skin in a way he'd never been with anyone, sober or otherwise, and kissed him to put off saying the words. "I love f~ing you too." he murmured, then laughed. "I love you. Jeg er glad i deg means I love you, but jeg elsker deg is like... the heaviest sentence in Norwegian. Don't expect to hear it a lot."

It was bizarre saying it, and Lyric's skin heated, his face heated like he and Keith hadn't f~ed each other's brains out hundreds of times by now. He kissed Keith again just to hide the strangeness he felt.

[Keith Evans]

It gave Keith a thrill to hear the words. The last time he'd heard them from someone other than family had been a definitely-not-sober Rowan, and he'd hated it. Before that, it had been from the bastard that was Skylar, and he'd hated it then, too. He couldn't hate it this time. He drank in the kiss, but forced it to close sooner than he would have liked. "I don't know how to be a dad, but I'll do whatever I can to help you."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Did you hear a door slam? Dare had asked some time ago. It had only been one door though, not two. The door to the shop hadn't been disturbed, and neither had the one downstairs. It hadn't taken much of a stretch to figure out what Keith and Lyric had gotten up to.

There'd been no discussing it with a small child in the room, so Dare had set about trying to make Reprise comfortable. Lyric's Reprise. Lyric's Silent Reprise. He'd tried to coax her into talking, but either she couldn't or she didn't want to, because not a single word came out. Everything she tried to communicate was through pointing, shaking, pounding, squeaking, and occasionally nodding or shaking her head. It was strange, but Dare kept thinking that at least she wasn't catatonic. At least she wasn't screaming.

To fill what might otherwise have been an awkward silence, he told stories. He'd grown up with Muggle fairy tales, for the most part, but had learned wizarding ones quite well since the twins had gotten interested in them. The Fountain of Fair Fortune had Reprise rapt.

[Rhys Moreau]

With the obvious tension that had been in the room, Rhys couldn't hold it against hte pair that they'd needed some time alone. From what he knew, their relationship had been kind of static from the declaration side and this was likely enough to send them over the edge. So he hadn't really commented on it, and had instead listened to Dare, tried to engage the little girl, and marked important places in the books he'd brought. It would be best if both Lyric and Keith read the books front to back, but giving them the most important places to start with couldn't hurt.

[Keith Evans]

Keith would have showed up with damp hair after his quick rinse were it not for a convenient spell, but he knew better than to think the two men in the kitchen wouldn't know what had happened. "How's she been?" he asked, as though he did believe they didn't know. He went directly for the coffee, ready to meet the issue again with a relatively clear head.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare took a long, slow breath while he searched for words. "Reprise is very smart," he started, though he really couldn't tell. He'd heard that kids believed what you said about them though, and that they'd try to be those things. It couldn't hurt. "Quiet, but I know you're thinking, aren't you?" he asked her.

No response.

[Keith Evans]

Keith gestured toward the other two to silently ask if they wanted coffee as he poured his own mug. "Of course she's thinking," he said. "She's in a new place with new people, but we're all nice, I promise." He smiled at her, though he had no idea if he would get any response from the silent girl.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Reprise didn't say a word, but she actually looked at Keith, which was more than she'd done for Dare and Rhys. She'd glanced at them now and then, but appeared to watch Keith.

Dare accepted a cup of coffee gratefully. He didn't tend to drink it black even when he drank it, but he could use a pick-me-up about now. "I didn't want to leave Rhys and Reprise alone, but now that you're back I can run down to the store for you," he offered. "Grab some milk and stuff." If that was taking his help too far, he didn't mind.

[Keith Evans]

"I won't ask you to do too much," Keith said. "At least not on your own, anyway. I'm going to have to learn it all, anyway. Might as well tag along if you feel like you need to help out like that. Besides, I've already left her with the two of you, haven't I? I shouldn't do that too often." He smiled again at the girl, feeling much better about the situation now. Maybe much of it was due to the confessions and attachment of the little scene in the bedroom, but he was willing to draw it out.

[Rhys Moreau]

Keith had a lot to learn, if he intended to be anything resembling a father. "We can give you some help. I'm sure Dare more than me," Rhys said. Dare at least had children. Most of what Rhys knew was second hand, from books, or involved children who didn't belong to him.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare looked at Reprise, who was still watching Keith over her new toy's head. He'd almost suggest them all going together, except he didn't know how Reprise would do in public, and didn't think anyone but him would think to pick the girl up and carry her out if there was a problem.

"Is Lyric coming out?" he asked. "I could take him to the store, leave you two here, or I could take you to the store, leave Rhys and Lyric." Rhys would probably rather go home, but he was here for more than his books. He was Dare's emotional support.