☕︎Vacancy☕︎

~13~

Remy

"Fenry?"

I sighed softly as I listened to the sound of footfalls leisurely coming closer, almost as though they were cautiously approaching a skittish animal or child, fearing for their life. Afraid that something terrible was moments away from happening.

To Fenry, it was like that sometimes. The way that his chest heaved as he clutched his head closer and closer to his knees. As his breaths were jagged and shallow, trying to take back as much air as he could.

He couldn't help the panic that froze his limbs, shocked his nervous system, closed up his throat, choked off his words, constricted his heart, invaded every inch in his head to stop his lungs from properly functioning. Caused his hands to tremble as though he were left out in below zero temperatures for many hours. That made him fear for his life.

That was why Fenry sat in my lap, sobbing and sniffling into my shoulder, grappling the cloth that covered my back, leaning all of his feeble frame onto me. I had found him in his room as an emotional wreck.

Granger's face soon appeared above us and he gave me a very worried look as I just shrugged him off.

It was common for Fenry to have a negative encounter with someone or a barrage of bad thoughts and then just break down about everything afterwards. He was terribly upset and I still didn't know what was bothering him but whatever it was had upset him enough to give him a panic attack.

"Let me know if either of you boys need anything, okay?" Granger said softly with a defeated sigh, understanding the situation enough to back off but openly leave his help as an option.

"Thank you." I said softly and Fenry looked up at him, managing a weak, watery smile before wiping his face and looking down again.

"I'm okay, I think." Fenry huffed softly and rubbed at his eyes with his sweater paws before putting his hand on my thigh.

I stood up and then helped him stand. Granger gave us both a warm smile and Fenry suddenly threw himself into the man's arms, hugging him tightly.

It was a bittersweet hug that made me happy because Fenry wasn't always one to allow men to touch him or the other way around unless he was being paid or forced to.

Fenry being able to willingly hug Granger like that and not flinch or look so awkward was a huge step up for him already.

I was happy that he could express himself a little more like this now. It was definitely helping him heal the way that he needed to in such a short amount of time.

We left the confines of the somewhat small room and Granger led the three of us back to his own personal space.

He walked into his office room and I pulled Fenry onto one of the couches beside me and wrapped my arms around him from the side, resting my head on his shoulder.

I was so happy to have a friend through all of those years. Someone to comfort me and keep me sane through all of the rough times. A reason to keep fighting for. I was happy that he was here and that he was always here for me.

That I could go to him regardless of the situation. And that he hopefully felt the same way towards me.

We finally relaxed and Granger came back out with an ipad in his hands.

He took his cell phone out of one of his jean pockets and a chapstick from a small front pocket, setting both items onto the coffee table in front of us. Then he sat down on the couch, a little ways away beside me. He picked up the remote and gestured to the both of us, "Want to see if anything is on right now?"

I looked to Fenry and he nodded at me. I gently took the remote from Granger, our fingertips brushing, and went straight to Netflix. "I'm just doing some work so you can pick whatever, just please don't have the television too loud."

"Okay."

"Kay."

Fenry and I both replied at the same time and then we went browsing through the shows to see if anything interesting to us was on the app.

We both agreed on some animated show under the genre Anime and it was titled Sword Art Online.

There were multiple kinds and so I went to the one that I assumed was the first and we began watching the series, quickly becoming engrossed in the high definition television that probably very expensive.

__________
Granger

"What is that supposed to be?" Fenry grew bored of the show he watched with Remy fairly quickly. Now, he was next to me asking questions about what I was doing.

"This is a virtual layout of the interior of my club. We're in the middle of remodeling the place, so my assistants are helping me make sure everything goes smoothly." His blue eyes shined in intrigue as he scanned over the picture I had pulled up.

I was making some final adjustments we wanted to do on the second floor of the building before we picked a new color scheme for the place.

The interior was already fairly nice when the space was first purchased, but it was heavily damaged and worn from weather and the constant foot traffic. I continued to explain to Fenry about the plans I'd discussed with the employees I hired in my place to run the club and Remy eventually listened in as well.

"So, I know you own a business now, but what else do you do?" Remy asked me with his head tilted to the side.

I smiled at them a little before shaking my head and looking away. "Nothing much else to be honest. My father pays me to stay out of his face and out of the news now that his golden offspring are wedded with children."

I didn't often bring up my father to any of the boys, but they were rather curious about my life before we met. Which would normally be fine, except the only part of it with good memories were often spent with Deane behind closed doors. And that wasn't really something I just brought up without good reason to either.

Though, I knew that they didn't have the luxuries I had, or the privileges that constantly fell into my lap. Although I didn't get along with my neglectful family, I'd never wish to trade places with one of the boys. No child deserved an awful upbringing like theirs.

"Can you tell me more about your mom?" Fenry had asked really quietly, as though afraid to upset me. I carefully placed my hand in his hair and he didn't flinch, just got more comfortable on the couch while Remy had slid down to the floor by our feet earlier.

"My mom is... a strange woman." I chuckled and they looked even more curious. Remy turned around and faced us, leaning against the table with his head rested on his knees after he pulled them to his chest.

"Strange how?"

I looked around my room as though I could pull the words out of thin air with my eyes. But truthfully, I didn't really know what else to say. She was always so particular when I was young, and after a while, just never there. I guess she wasn't completely awful all the time.

"Well, she was never a very loving person. I can only really recall a handful of times I talked to her about anything other than business."

Fenry furrowed his brows at that, but neither of them spoke, so I continued. "She helped me get the money I needed last month, which is pretty rare of her. Helping, I mean. But, I know she's not the most malicious person."

"My parents have had an open relationship as far back as I can remember. So, knowing so much about their sex lives was a bit disturbing, considering how often we went through staff over the years. Maintenance men, maids, chauffeurs. You name it, they probably touched it at some point."

I wrinkled my nose in disgust and shook my head as though I could rid myself of those memories. "Otherwise though, I hardly saw her growing up. Most of what I know about my parents is from the media, believe it or not."

And we'd ended up spending the rest of that afternoon talking about my weird, shitty family together.

💋