Justification | Deetranada AU

buoyant

Late Afternoon

(Lexy POV)

Lexy takes a deep breath, nervously fiddling with the tape in her hands. She knocks on the closed door, holding her breath as she waits for a response. Moments pass before she hears his voice telling her to enter.

She does, preparing for a smoke-filled room but instead finding it smoke-free. 'Hey,' she says quietly as she walks closer. She watches him nod as he focuses on wrapping a small box, a pile of them nearly complete by his side.

'I finished with the tape,' she says, motioning to it as she places it down. He nods again, growing frustrated with the small box. As she watches him, Dee's words echo in her head. 'Just be there for him.'

She clears her throat, 'You wrapped Dee's gift yet?' He pauses before nodding slowly, looking down at the gift in his hands. 'I can take it to her...if you want,' she adds. Nova looks up, eyebrows scrunched.

'Mami said she can't take Noah so I'm takin' everybody's stuff when I go to dinner at her place. I can take yours too,' she explains, doing her best not to rush through it. 'Yeah,' he says softly, a smile growing on his face. 'Thanks.'

She nods, exhaling a breath she held for too long. 'A-anything else you need?' she stammers. He looks up again, his eyes lowering as he tries to determine her sincerity. 'Nah, I'm good,' he finally says, resuming his attempt at wrapping the gift.

He actually spoke to me... She feels her throat start to thicken as she speaks, her voice barely above a whisper. 'Love you, bro.'

He looks up, a small smile forming as he stands. He approaches her slowly before engulfing her in a hug. 'Love you too, sis,' he whispers. She contains her sobs, the clarity coming from him new, refreshing but contradicting to the past four months.

He lets go and she quickly leaves, not wanting him to see her tear-filled eyes. She closes the door to her room and sits next to Zero, falling into his arms. 'I'm sorry, babe,' he whispers, rubbing circles on her back.

'H-he spoke to me,' she manages to say through her hitched breathing. 'Then why you crying?' he chuckles. 'I don't know,' she sputters, a laugh forming through her tears. 'I'm happy, for real.' He kisses her forehead, 'You should be, it's gonna work out, okay?' She nods, nuzzling into his chest.

A knock on the door causes her to let him go. She answers and gives Nova a small smile.'This uh, this is hers,' he explains, passing her a simple but elegant bag. She peeks inside and sees the box unwrapped. 'You need me to wrap it?' she teases.

'Please?' he begs. 'I don't wanna mess it up.' She nods, lowering the bag as he continues. 'I'll put a card in there too, I just have to figure out what to say.' 'Okay, just give it to me before I leave.'

'Thanks again, Lex,' he smiles before hugging her. She hugs back, savoring the moment, even if brief. 'Oh, hey Z,' he waves before walking away. Zero returns the wave before Lexy closes the door.

Zero's eyebrow raises as she places the bag down and pulls out the box. 'You sure you wanna do that?' he asks. She shrugs, the box already halfway open. She's stunned when she sees it, blinking to be sure that it's real. 'Oh. Shit.'

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Noche Buena (Christmas Eve)

(Nova POV)