𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐓𝐃𝐅: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞

𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐔𝐩

Cyprian looked into the kitchen, rubbing the drowsiness from his eyes to see her standing over the stove. The smell of honey-glazed bacon spreading throughout the large condo. "That smells great" he slipped his arms around her waist, kissing the right side of her neck. The still tender area caused her to flinch at the sudden chill. "It's bacon, I'm not sure if any of you have had it before" she flipped a few strands of the red meat over, petting the boy's hair as he laid comfortably against her shoulder.

"Morning love birds, what's that smell?" Helia stumbled from his shared room, taking a sleepy seat in the bar area. "It's breakfast, we've got French toast, eggs and bacon, OJ and apple juice" she pointed to the variety, using this as a bargain as to not pay rent for the short while she would be staying.

"I have no idea what any of that is but it smells amazing" Skye and Brandon stumbled out of their room, taking heavy seats on the large red sofa before quickly falling back asleep. Soon came Nabu then almost immediately after, Riven and Timmy. Each of them asked what the plethora of smells came from.

"Bon appetite" she smiled, placing eight plates of food on the table as the boys took their seats. "Thank you for the meal" each of them spoke before nervously picking at the unknown food. A look of awe and preciousness was immediately thrown on their faces after the first bite, Ares laughing at the sight as it reminded her of children looking at sweets.

"The girls want you guys to meet them at theirs. I might go too but a little bit later, I have work then I'm going out with Andy for coffee" Ares nonchalantly spoke as the other's eyes turned to Cyprian. "What?" She looked up, rolling her eyes after realizing what they were thinking.

"Isn't that one of those guys we saw being all touchy with them the other day?" Riven gripped his napkin. "Are you guys that insecure about a couple of dudes? That's...so sad" she placed a hand over her chest, over dramatically flipping her hair. "But Ares, you should have seen the way they behaved with them." Nabu tried to justify.

"Listen, Bloom and I grew up with these guys. Yeah, they might behave a certain way with them but that doesn't mean they don't love you. And besides, they might think it's just a little bit pathetic you guys are jealous over a couple of humans" She had been comfortable with her newly awarded title of "couple therapist" for the groups and was used to these sorts of conversations. "I don't have a good feeling about that Andy guy, he gets too close to Bloom" Skye grumbled, stabbing his eggs with the fork before flipping the yellow fiber into his mouth.

"You have nothing to worry about, yeah they're close but it's nothing to worry your kingly little head about. The other two-" she stopped to think about it, noticing the strangely engaged looks in each of their eyes as they waited for her to continue.

"Mark and Rio are nice guys, total flirts though" she knew saying that would only cause them to worry more, but Cyprian seemed more interested than worried. "How do you know so much about them?" She paused, slipping the fork from between her teeth before making eye contact with the silver-haired prince. "I was a part of their band" silence. Pure silence as she continued to plainly eat.

"What?!" Spoke loudly almost a minute after the statement causing her to jump. "It's not a big deal! It was only for a year, I played drums and sang for his band. I owed Andy a lot so I didn't really have a choice when he asked me to join" she realized an explanation was now needed, having never wished the topic was brought up. "Andy gave me a place to stay for a few months after a big accident that happened with Bloom. He and his family literally saved my life so when he asked me to sing for his band I agreed. The drums were just a way for me to get out the extra anger and stress".

"Did your parents kick you out?" Another pause of silence, she supposed the group hadn't realized the severe toxicity of her relationship with her adoptive parents but she didn't think they were that clueless. "Lots of things happened, Riv...I got my first job at fourteen because my parents refused to continue paying for my personal expenses, I made friends with Andy at work so when he heard I needed a place to stay he offered his home, and when I couldn't afford to buy my own food, he would pay for it..." she paused, slowly dropping the handle of her fork against the rim of the plate. Drowsily lifted herself from the table as they watched. Noticing the change in mood as even their heartbeats seemed to slow in the intense mood.