Impress Me Not: Neon Underground

Chapter 55

"Wow," Benny looked in shock at the screen. "That was worse than I thought it was going to be."

"You two planned this?" Cameron asked.

"I might have talked to a storm god," Will admitted. "I knew that Mateo's house wasn't in the best shape. I just wanted it to be enough for him to need another place to stay."

"That's low," Velvet laughed at the ridiculousness of it. "I can't believe you would destroy someone's house just to get them together."

"To be fair," Benny defended his friend. "We made sure it would all work out in the end."

"How?" Obasi asked, crossing his arms. "What kind of magic did you two pull this time?"

"The paper shuffling kind," Benny smiled. "Do you guys know what I used to do when I was mortal?"

"Do we want to know?" Justin asked, looking over the couch he was sitting at. This was going to be horrible for Mateo. He wasn't making any income, but surviving on his savings. And while he had a lot saved up, it went fast when things like this happened. This was the last thing Justin would have thought to do to someone who was healing from the realization that he was an asshole because of his horrible childhood.

People don't heal during high stress. They just bury their problems until they finally feel safe, and sometimes that never happened.

Justin knew that from personal experience.

"An insurance agent," Benny gave Justin an understanding smile. He could tell that the anticupid wasn't happy about it. "I got a lot of money helping people get their houses restored back to new after disaster struck."

"And you think things haven't changed since the 80s?" Justin asked. "I know people say that they're still in the 80s, but they aren't."

"No, there's a lot of differences and new laws," Benny said. "But it wasn't too hard to get the gist of it."

"What did you do?" Cameron asked.

"I just made sure that his home insurance covered the brunt of the damages," Benny said. "Especially since he's a new homeowner, there's a high chance that he could get them to pay the full price, since it happened within six months of him living there."

"What kind of paperwork did you do?!" Obasi looked at the blond incredibly. "This country isn't the best for helping its people out. Not without at least some copays."

"You'll see," Benny said, looking proud of himself. He hadn't been alive for too long, but it was long enough for him to hone his profession. Benny hated paperwork most of the time, but he enjoyed being able to go to people's houses and enjoy the scenery. Most of his clients were satisfied with his help. He couldn't make all of them happy, but he tried his best.

One of them he probably would have married if he stayed alive long enough. His ex-boyfriend used to be a client of his first. It was a fun memory to think about.

"Is this it for the surprises?" Velvet asked. "I didn't think you two disappeared for that long." These two were a different breed of cupid, that was for sure. No other cupid would go to such great extent to try and make a couple work. Most of the time they just tried to make it happen naturally.

That typically was their directives too. But she supposed when there were other factors involved, that changed some things.

"Actually yeah," Will shrugged. "The point was to have Melvin as Mateo if he wanted to live at his place. Then there would be a higher chance that someone would be around him when he got in his coughing fit and bring him to a doctor."

"It also could help their relationship," Benny nodded. "There's no better way to see if their compatible then if they can live together comfortably."

"Melvin can live with almost everyone," Cameron couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "If they don't keep his house clean, he just finds other ways to motivate them."

Cameron had watched Melvin through many of his relationships. They had always been wild, even when he was with the quiet ones. They always had a certain depth to them, even if they were short-lived.

They truly hoped that him and Mateo weren't going to be short lived. Cameron wasn't sure if Melvin's poor heart could take anymore sorrow.

"This is just going to turn into more things that I don't want to watch," Justin shook his head. "I like the televisions on our side better. At least it didn't feel like we were invading their privacy."

"Technically it all is," Velvet giggled. "It's alright though. I'm not sure Melvin's going to have too much time for that stuff. He's still obsessed with his business, like any other business owner."

"I just hope that his father doesn't cause any problems," Cameron rubbed their forehead. "Anton picked the worst time to bring him up."

"It was cute to see him joking with him before all this," Sarah said. "At least we know he's not mad at him."

"I don't think either of them could be mad at each other for long," Will smiled. "They both have a good family bond."

"I don't think I'll ever understand how families can be as close as good friends with each other," Justin said. "It just seems weird."

"I always enjoyed seeing people have that bond," Will stared off happily into the window. The sunrays shined in, even though it was dark in many other parts of the world. At the department, it was always sunny.

Even when the stories inside weren't.

"You probably had a brother or something you were really close with," Velvet looked curiously at him. "Didn't you?"

"I didn't have any siblings," Will told her. "The only family I had was my father. And he died just before I left mortality."

"Oh, heavens," Velvet put a hand to her heart. "You guys have to stop me when I start getting too personal with my questions. I am so sorry, Sweetheart."

"Nothing to be sorry about," Will put a hand up to stop her. "My father taught me a lot. But working here taught me the most about love. Especially that there are so many different kinds. And all kinds are beautiful, whether they're deemed strange by everyone else or not."

Love was truly a powerful thing. It is the backbone to many things. It keeps the world turning. All love boils down to the one core emotion of care.

The thought was interrupted by the sound of coughing coming from the television screen. Melvin really didn't seem to be doing well after being out in the cold. That was the only factor that Will didn't put enough thought on. It was more of a gamble. One that he needed to win above all others.

"You okay?" Mateo asked, coming into the room. The both of them had managed to get showers in and warmed up. Melvin was just making them something to eat while the storm continued to rage on. It was lasting a little longer than Will thought it would.

"Yeah," Melvin lied, wiping his mouth before the man could notice. "I just need some water."

"He's too good at faking it," Obasi shook his head. "I don't know how long it's going to take before Mateo realizes that its worse than what he's trying to make it out to be."

It was interesting, this case of theirs. Instead of simply trying to pin two people together and keep them from destroying their own happy ending, this case had its own factors that none of their other cases did. Obasi never thought he would be trying to be a doctor, and he wasn't planning on it. But trying to get someone to go see a doctor through a love interest was new to him.

"You can't hide it with how clingy Mateo is right now," Benny said. "I'm sure he'll find out soon. Then this can all get figured out, Melvin can get a clean bill of health, and then they can spend the rest of their lives happily with each other."

"That's the plan," Will agreed with the blond.

Now they just had to wait and hope that it would actually turn out that way.