Demons || Andrew

[tobiasredferne]

... God.

Running his fingers through his hair, Tobias reclined in the lousy plastic hospital chair by Pandora’s bedside. She was finally asleep, the sound of her light breathing filling the room. Seriously, the shock he’d gotten when he received the call that Pandora had been admitted to the hospital… it reminded him of the bone-deep chill that he experienced during the war whenever he thought that one of his brothers might be dead, and he’d originally thought that he would never feel that way again. But he was wrong, apparently, because even boring and mundane things like car crashes could result in hospitalisation and the fact that the silly person who had called him failed to give him more information didn’t help at all.

He’d been in the middle of Skyping Darius (from France) when his phone rang, and he just left the house immediately. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too offended, especially since his daughter Kendra was coming to Northvale soon enough—but just... God. His rudeness was for an acceptable reason. Pandora was basically his sister, and hearing that she had been involved in a car accident and that the doctors were unable to heal her was frightening. Tobias truly had thought that she was going to die; that the injuries were much too severe for the doctors to heal, and that was why they said that they were unable to heal her. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to handle losing Pandora—no one would, Liam would go mad and all the Redfernes would just die—ever, and especially not right after what had happened in France. After all of that, he really needed an anchor, something to ground him, at least one part of his life who knew who he was but didn’t have their opinion changed by the fact that he was their brother or anything. At least one person who wouldn’t hate him forever for all the crap that he’d pulled (not only by going to France, but also all the crap that he’d pulled in France).

Although, frankly, Tobias didn’t actually know if anyone in their right mind would think of what he did in France as “acceptable”. It certainly wasn’t—bringing a man near-death like that, only to freak out when he (thankfully) regained his senses and not even calling the hospital for help, instead calling the friend of a friend to help him clean up him mess and remove all evidence that it had been him—no matter whether the man was now in recovery or not. Which he was, of course, Tobias wouldn’t have just left him like that without going a bit creepy-stalker on him, but…

He could have died. He could have died and Tobias wouldn’t have had done anything, too afraid of the repercussions. Tobias would have been a murderer, and though Tobias hadn’t succeeded in killing the guy, he’d certainly brought him near-death. Plus, it wasn’t like it was the first time that Tobias nearly killed someone—there was Aria (his freaking sister, God), Panny (his pretty-damn-close-to-being-a-sister), and Andy (his reluctant potential in-law)—and, heck, the only reason why he’d managed to keep himself from killing was because he had people like… Liam, and Professor Roderick to help him. It was only due to extreme good luck that he managed to regain his senses before he killed that random French dude (who was, to be completely honest, a complete douchebag, and Tobias had every reason to curse him multiple times. He just went… overboard, that’s all). And it was due to even better luck that Darius had picked up his call, been nearby and helped save his ass.

Just like how Pandora’s good luck had left her in the hospital with only a broken wrist and a (very badly) fractured arm. It was kind of sad how Pandora’s good luck ended up saving her life while Tobias’ good luck ended up saving his ass from taking a life, and Tobias figured that there was probably some deep, Literature-y meaning to it, but frankly he couldn’t be bothered to think about it. He was exhausted, both physically (he’d basically run the entire way to the hospital) and emotionally (what with everything that had happened in France and now, Pandora’s car accident, who wouldn’t be?). Closing his eyes and letting his hands cover his face, Tobias tried his very best to stop himself from freaking out (it was actually quite surprising that he had the energy to freak out). What the heck was going on in his life, anyway? Why did he even return to Northvale—if he did anything bad here, there would instantly be people looking for his head (the freaking Enforcers, which he just found out that Aria was now a part of, making everything even better and topping Tobias’ what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-my-life cake nicely)—especially since he was having a perfectly good life in France? The laws there were a lot less stringent and at least there, he felt like he could breathe.

Tobias let his gaze fall to his best friend’s sleeping form again—and that was it. The reason why he returned. The few but absolutely wonderful friends that he had here, along with the family that he loved to hate and hated to love. Because no matter how much easier life was for him in France, no matter how much more shit he was going to be able to get away with and no matter how many war comrades he’d met back in France, it wasn’t going to be anything compared to being back at Northvale, bitching with Panny, laughing with Aria, secretly messing up Liam’s things when he wasn’t looking, stealing Cain’s potions ingredients for the heck of it… it was all nothing compared to Northvale.

Because Northvale, Tobias supposed, was the closest darned thing he’d get to home that he’d ever get in this lifetime; not only because of the fact that the Redfernes had always been pretty close to Northvale, but also because… there was his family, and there were his friends. And that was good enough for Tobias to try and be a less psychotic person in Northvale.

… or something like that.

Outfit: Clicky!
Tagged: Andy!
Notes: sorry for taking so long + the unnecessarily long and hard-to-reply-to post ;-;
Lyrics: This Is War by 30 Seconds To Mars
Credit: Chloe!

[andrew jason locke]

Considering that it would turn out to be one of his most unusual, Andrew Locke's day started out perfectly ordinary. Waking up to his beloved, creeping out of bed to make them both a secret breakfast, washing his face, showering, all the little things that make a day a normal day. As the warm water rained down on his light, sandy skin, Andrew took a moment to ponder on his current situation. He hadn't considered being so happy, not since his parents' death. Every waking moment felt like a new joy, at least while at home. Home – just being able to say that sent his senses tingling in a pleasure unlike one he vividly remembered. It was more like a nostalgic feeling, this belonging. He loved the pleasures of being with his lover physically, of course, but if he had to pick one of the two now, he'd take the home over the sex at a heartbeat.

It was a different matter when it came to outside the home, though. A teacher-student relationship was nothing to chuckle over, after all. The world had its own preconceptions about how “dirty” they were, what with the age gap, and the homosexuality, and those would be...difficult to overcome, to put it lightly. Andrew had to laugh at that a bit. Humanity, particularly stubborn humans such as himself, tend to take scorn like that and use it for the opposite purpose. For him and Cain, it only made their love stronger, corny as it sounds. But Andrew's grin sobered as another thought came to mind.

The Redfernes. Even as a gay lover, a family usually welcomes their relatives' romances with some warmth. Several of Andrew's in-laws-to-be, however, chose to hate him. They were so tight-knit! He got that, he really did, but did that call for Tobias trying to kill him?! Sighing, Andrew slumped to the bottom of the shower. The core of the problem was Tobias. It was a puzzle he'd attempted to work out on more than one occasion like this, but he still had no idea what on earth to do about it. From what he'd heard, most no one knew what to do about the puzzle named Tobias. He knew he wasn't the smartest person, by any means, but he'd like to resolve this, to some extent, if he could. Pacifism was ingrained in him, whether he liked or not. The big scar on his back still pissed him off, though.

Still thinking about all of this, his phone buzzed from the counter near the shower, and he fell over himself grabbing at it. Suds all over the floor now, he read a text from one of his acquaintances from class. It read: You know that Pandora girl, right? She's in the hospital, room number XXX, might wanna visit.

Shocked beyond reason, Andrew ran out of the shower room, naked. Only when he was halfway to the door did he regain his senses enough to not actually go to the hospital in that state. Humbled and embarrassed slightly, he returned to the bathroom to dry off and wear something decent. All the while he was jittery. Was she okay? What happened? Why did no one tell me? Why didn't she tell me? Was she too hurt to even text? Shit! Brainless thoughts threaded their way through the spool that was his mind. Truthfully, it was only when he went to quickly brush through his hair that he noticed his shirt on backwards, and he hurried to comically turn it the right direction. With a scribbled note left for Cain, he jogged out the door.

It would have helped to have taken a car, but the car was Cain's and he didn't want to wake him up. Considering that it was a Saturday, 8:30 in the morning wasn't much of an appropriate time to ask something of someone else. A bike would have been nice as well, but Andrew was kind of dead broke. And he wouldn't dare ask Cain for more!

A few minutes later and out of breath, he made it to the florist's downtown. He shoved the door open and laid a pile bills on the poor, astonished owner's counter and dashed out with a small bouquet of yellow flowers. He had no clue as to the type or species, but they smelled nice enough. Plus, he'd be surprised if Pan cared about flowers. It was just a gesture he figured he should extend.

Jogging again, he made it to the hospital. He had to lean against the concrete at the entrance to breathe. He hadn't run that much since...since high school, most likely. Swearing to exercise more in the future, he strolled inside the icky-smelling building as if he hadn't just run three miles, as if his wasn't flushed red and his breathing ragged. A nurse asked him what he wanted and he followed her to Pandora's room.

There she was, sleeping sound. As if she hadn't got herself landed in hospital. So typical of Pan, acting both brave and casual when the world was crashing down around her. That was one of the things that attracted him to her, Andrew supposed. Taking the few steps into the room that let him cross over to her bedside, he placed the now-slightly-limp flowers on a lamp stand in front of him. He forgot to bring a vase, of course, but whatever. This would have to do. Can't believe you, Pan, getting yourself hurt like this, he thought to himself. Bad shape as she was, at least he knew she was alive and being taken care of, so the worst of his fears subsided, but he still was worried for her.

Andrew would have gone on with his life not even noticing the other person in the room, had he not heard Tobias shift slight behind him. He took in sharp breath and tensed, frightened for a moment. On closer inspection, though, he need not have worried. Tobias seemed completely out of it. How long had he been there? A voice inside of his head told him to stop being an idiot and just leave while you're still safe, but he ignored like the idiot he occasionally can be. With an awkward sort of half-smile, he attempted a greeting. Yes, he by no means felt safe, and “freaked out” probably didn't cover his emotions at the moment, he couldn't ignore Tobias, either. If nothing else, he could always leave quickly. “You look awful. Okay there?”

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Outfit

[/b] -------------------------- Clicky!
Notes[/b] -------------------------- I'm gonna give him the text next post to settle him down more then[/i]
Tagged[/b] -------------------------- Tobias[/i]
Song[/b] -------------------------- When You Were Young – Killers[/i]
Credit[/b] -------------------------- Destie~ [/center]

[tobiasredferne]

A voice snapped Tobias out of his reverie—but maybe “snapped” wasn’t the best word to use, because what had happened to Tobias was equivalent to being violently shoved off a mental cliff on which he had been pondering about the answer to life, the universe, and everything—and returned Tobias to the boring and unfortunately complicated mortal realm. He was lost for a moment in a haze of his own thoughts, and he contemplated for a moment just remaining silent and letting whoever it was think what they wanted. But then again, one word wouldn’t be that tough, right? So Tobias finally opened his eyes and found himself staring…

… straight at Andrew Locke. What? God, why was Locke even here? Did Locke being here mean that Cain was going to appear soon? Because Locke he could handle, but Cain—no. He wouldn’t be able to deal with Cain, not at a time like this, not when all he wanted to do was just curl up into a ball on the floor and let the rest of the world deal with its problems. Cain, who seemed to love baiting Tobias and afterwards lecture him on his immaturity and lack of control—Cain, who was a complete and utter douchebag to everyone on Earth and seemed to be the only person who was unable to see it. Although, maybe Locke had joined Cain’s little group of people blind to Cain’s glaring imperfections.

Out of all his siblings, Tobias almost definitely loved Cain the least. Although Connor and Tobias had never been close, Connor always had more of a brain than Cain did, and at least Connor didn’t put on airs that he was better than you even though he wasn’t. Cain was different, though, because he seemed to derive joy from getting Tobias into trouble as a child, and now that he was an adult, he enjoyed being the most immature adult ever by doing things such as spilling secrets about Tobias’ 5-year old life on an anonymous site. Tobias had instantly realised who it was, of course—only one of his brothers would pull a prank in such poor taste—and while he’d been really pissed off then, it wasn’t so much of the embarrassment of having a childhood mistake let known to the entire school (although yes, a great deal of annoyance and anger stemmed from that, too), but the fact that his older brother, a grown adult, would do something so immature without even thinking. Gosh, even Tobias wouldn’t do something like that… okay, maybe he would, but it was just stupid that Cain did something like that. After all, Cain was the one who always prided himself on being mature and making informed decisions.

In fact, Cain had always been a source of trouble for Tobias. As a child, he’d looked up to Cain, thinking that he was oh-so-cool and admiring him for being able to survive being locked in the cellar with the vampire. However, Cain had never given Tobias the time of day, instead preferring to lavish all of his affections on Asher. And while it didn’t bother Tobias as much now as it used to back then, it still left a bitter feeling whenever Cain chose someone over Tobias. It used to be Asher—and now it was Andrew Locke, who had unceremoniously stolen Cain and changed him into a wimp. At least Asher was still a Redferne. What did Locke have going for him, anyway? A pretty face and a nice, tight hole for Cain to fuck?—because Locke certainly didn’t have much else. He wasn’t even powerful, and he hardly had a personality. How on Earth did Cain find Locke to be interesting or whatever, anyway? From what Tobias could see, all Andrew Locke was doing to his brother was to make him a giant wimp. They moved in together after dating for, what, 3 days! Even Liam and Panny didn’t live together. God. It was like Cain had always been mental, but Locke was his enabler.

Then again, looking at Locke right now… he didn’t seem all that bad. Nothing special, of course, but if he hadn’t made the stupid decision to date Cain, they… might have even been friends. Okay, not friends, but they wouldn’t have gotten on as badly as they do now. It wasn’t as if Tobias was heartless after all.

Oh. Realising that he’d kept silent (and stared) for much too long, Tobias quickly stumbled for something to say. What came out of his mouth, though, turned out to reflect 50% exhaustion and 50% wariness—not that he wasn’t wary of everyone nowadays, after France—instead of the 90% annoyance and 10% “what the fuck are you doing here” that he’d intended to project.

"What do you want?" he asked, letting his gaze fall back on the weaker sorcerer. "If you’re here to see Panny, she’s asleep right now. You should probably, uh," Closing his eyes, Tobias willed himself to remember what he wanted to say. It seriously felt like there was a tidal wave of exhaustion washing over him, and Tobias wasn’t being very successful at fighting the current—all that he wanted to do was to be allowed to stew in his fucked-up-ness in silence. "You… should probably leave. She’s probably not going to be up for a few hours." Thankfully. Tobias didn’t know if he was going to have the energy to interact with anyone for a few hours, much less Pandora, who was wonderful to talk to but rather draining at times. If Tobias couldn’t even string together a proper sentence to dismiss Locke, he was pretty sure that he wasn’t going to be able to have a proper conversation with Pandora.

Letting his body relax against the back of the hospital chair, he opened his eyes again, this time focused on watching Pandora’s sleeping form. "Seriously, go. Us being in the same hospital room isn’t going to make anything any better for anyone." Which was, obviously the truth, and Tobias didn’t exactly want to screw up any more than he already had. If Locke was in the same room as him, no matter what his energy level, Tobias didn’t think he would be able to resist cursing him if Locke decided to be annoying.

Outfit: Clicky!
Tagged: Andy!
Notes: overlong post again, gosh
Lyrics: This Is War by 30 Seconds To Mars
Credit: Chloe!