Romano laughed a little at Jai’s reaction and nodded.
“I’m sure. I don’t feel obligated, I want to at least give it a shot. I might not be sure if it’s love or anything, but I know I like you. I know that the idea of going on a date with you is exciting.” Romano said. _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
Jai was on cloud nine post confession. He felt lighter, and just full of love and excitement. There were plenty of text exchanges after their little overnight, trying to plan a date. Jai and Romano were both new to the concept but both eager to find their footing. There was some talk about getting dinner in the city potentially, that is if Verona would let Jai go, as Joy was still a concern. But Jai had nearly forgotten, 12 hours later and Joy was the furthest thing from his mind. All he was thinking about was Romano and their date, what he would wear and if he should bring flowers.
But that would be a mistake, as Joy shouldn’t be far in mind as she was never very far in physicality. Jai had mentioned he thought he could see Joy’s car parked under the underpass before you hit their neighborhood, he was right. She didn’t believe Romano for a second about not knowing or seeing Jai. She knew she was right, she just had to wait to catch him. Joy watched from the end of the block, as Verona snuck the little pink haired boy into the house under her arm at the beginning of the night and Romano sneaked him out in the middle of the night. She watched them, talk and drink; she even watched Jai get transported into Romano’s house.
And in the morning she would watch Jai return at the crack of dawn. Joy’s own eyes bloodshot from waiting all night in her car, there were smeared streaks of cocaine on the dashboard. Joy was a habitual user, for her own comfort and entertainment, something she picked up in her fallout with Jai. She looked tired, a little furious; her knee bounced anxiously in the driver seat as she continued to wait. But she would only have to wait an hour more or so before she watched Verona and Jai leave in her car, Joy assumed it was to get breakfast. She was right. Jai didn’t waste time to tell Verona about the date in attempts to get permission to go. But Verona was tired and had to go to work, she needed coffee and donuts before she could even consider an appropriate answer. Joy watched the old sedan cruise right past her, if he wasn’t so distracted Jai might’ve noticed her. But he was thinking about other things, leaning on his Mom playfully in the front seat. He was smiling but his eyes still tired; he was always a morning person, Joy recounted many mornings where she would wake up to Jai sitting on the edge of her bed with coffee and eggs. His then blue hair was messy with bed head, sleep still in his eyes but grinning widely as he delivered breakfast to her bedside. Always such a pleasure, happy to serve. At least for the most part.
Joy watched in the rear view mirror as the sedan disappeared into the distance before she hit the pavement. She shrugged on an oversized coat and let her inky black hair down to hide her face in. Then she changed out of her heels into sneakers for silent traction, and lastly grabbed a little bag from the backseat of her car before climbing out of her car and marching down the sidewalk with purpose.
The last time they saw each other was in court. He trembled in the stand and wouldn’t look at her, his face was all bandaged up his voice quivered badly, barely carrying beyond the first row of people. Joy did as her father and her lawyers suggested, cry and lie, she sobbed and screamed in the stand; the best performance of her life. They would do this for a few months, while Joy had to keep her distance, her friends and dads people would terrorize Jai at school and at home. Eventually there would be enough to put Joy away, noting too heavy. A juvenile rehabilitation center, the best in the state with all the funding and privileges. It still felt senseless to Joy though, she only roughed him up a little...This time, it would be worth it.
Joy didn’t need to investigate the house to know there wasn’t surveillance, to be honest she didn’t care. But when she had come by initially knocking on doors, she did check out the houses. None of which had a sophisticated security system beyond dogs behind chain link fences. It appeared to her that Romano’s window was directly across from Jai’s. But these were tract homes, that meant they were all set up the same. Walking down the street she could see a bedroom window on both sides of Romano’s house, that would mean Verona’s bedroom was just on the other side. She shrugged through some overgrown foliage on the other side of the house before coming to a window. Dropping the bag and standing on it for a step up, she pulled out the screen with ease and pushed the window up as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She tossed her bag in before hoisted herself up in, Joy was a cheerleader and dancer, her upper body strength was pretty impressive.
Verona’s room looked the same more or less, a little smaller. Their apartment in the city had less square footage but the rooms were afforded a majority of that space versus the living spaces. It appeared the opposite in their new house. There was pictures of the family on Verona’s dresser, some clothes carelessly strewn about the room as though she couldn’t decide what to wear. On the nightstand there was a little photo of Jai when he was small, it was at a diner, maybe one of his and Verona’s first meals together. Verona was smiling awkwardly and Jai was hiding his mouth behind a stuffed bunny. His hair was long and pulled back in a little ponytail, his eyes looked big and sad, scared.
“Delicious…” Joy remarked with a smirk before reaching to put the picture facedown. “R-I-P!” She laughed then before wandering out of the bedroom and into Jai’s bedroom that was directly across from Verona’s. The hallway was narrow, she suspected both doors couldn’t both be open at the same time. His bedroom looked a little different, in the city it was more eclectic and random, he was still finding himself. This room was pretty decidedly a certain vibe, lots of fairy lights and tuell fabric, soft pinks and pastels, Quil, his hedgehog, chirping angrily in his cage on the floor. Joy smiled again before kicking off her shoes and tossing her bag on the floor before flopping onto the massive duvet on the bed. She wriggled in the sheets a little, scooting up so she put her face in the pillows. It smelled like him.
Jai finished his breakfast with his Mom, they talked a lot about Romano. Verona had a feeling there was more there than friendship, but she was of course apprehensive given history. Jai insisted this was different and rattled off all the things he liked about Romano with a mouth full of donuts. Verona relented that they could go on their date, wherever it might be. But Jai would have to check in, and Jai would have to be home by nine. On the car ride home, Jai was already texting Romano about the conditions of the date, excited to hammer down the details. When they pulled up in front of the house, there wasn’t an obvious indication there was anything wrong.
“I gotta go into work, will you be okay here on your own?” Verona asked, checking that he was in fact, no longer afraid that Joy was going to be waiting for him around a coroner.
His nose was buried in his phone, he barely looked up as he opened the front door.
“Yeah, Mom. I’ll text you, love you!” He called before disappearing into the house.
He kicked his shoes off in the entryway, once again the sedan could be heard turning around in the cul-de-sac and pulling away. Jai continued to do his thing, he went into the kitchen and turned the stove on to heat up the kettle for tea. He felt like relaxing this afternoon before a potential date. He’d take his time getting ready, he’d put a movie on and do his extended skin care routine. He didn’t notice the wind wafting in from Verona’s window as he rounded the corner into his bedroom.
“Surprise.” A voice greeted with a sinister giggle.
Jai’s head snapped up from his phone but it wouldn’t prepare him. Joy was there, the room was so small she was already basically at his feet when jumping up from the mattress. Her hands clasped onto his cardigan as she yanked him down onto the ground with great force, in seconds she was on top of him, grabbing at his arms to contain him. Quill was squeaking violently and thrashing wildly around in his cage as Jai immediately began screaming and calling out for help.
“Help! Mom! Mama! Romano, help!” He screamed over and over again frantically.
Joy could only laugh, Jai was always slight. Joy was an athlete and a lunatic, powerful in her frame and in her cause; it didn’t take much to pin Jai’s hands above his head though he jerked under her. It was always this easy, and it would always be this easy, Joy thought, laughing once again at the thought.
“You’re so fucking stupid,” She laughed. “Did you really think you could escape me?”
She leaned down into his ear then.
“There isn’t a place you could go where I wouldn’t find you.”
With her so close, Jai turned his face and bit her, right on the cheek. Joy howled and released him, Jai threw her off and leapt to his feet but it wouldn’t do him much good. They wrestled around the room, lots of pushing and shoving as things fell and crashed all around them. But it wasn’t long before Joy grabbed one of the projector lights Jai had in the room; a moon with a little wooden frame to hold it. The nightlight was perched perfectly on the edge of the nightstand for Joy to reach, she cracked it over Jai’s head; that was plenty to immobilize him. He yelped and fell to the floor, crumpled in the wreckage of the room now.Joy kicked Jai in the side ‘gently,’ panting from all the physical activity. But Jai didn’t respond, and there was some blood running from his hairline, getting lost in pink. When there was no movement, she sank to her knees again, climbing on top of him and straddling his hips. She watched with careful intent, leaning down to listen for his heart; it fluttered still. Slowly, she sat upright again and reached for her bag before fishing out a knife. It looked like it was just a kitchen knife, but it looked new. The blade was clean and shiny, the daylight from outside gleaming off it when she held it up to the light.
Much like Jai, Romano couldn't be more excited for their little date. They had been texting each other options and ideas all morning long and Jai had just let Romano know that Verona gave them the go ahead with a few minor conditions, which Romano was more than happy to comply with so long as it meant that he and Jai got to go on their date.
Romano didn't have a job like some teens his age, but Remedy and Romulus always made chore work available and were more than happy to give their kids cash for their work. Usually, Calloway did most of those sorts of jobs, since he was probably the most responsible (fiscally or otherwise) out of the siblings, but Romano had asked to take the jobs for the day so he could have a good chunk of change for the date. He'd already done a few little things and was in the process of taking the trash out and taking the bins out to the curb. He was humming giddily to himself as he came out the side door of the house where they kept the recycling and trash.
He was tossing the bag into it's can when he heard a series of loud thumps and what he thought was Jai yelling for a moment. He furrowed his brows in confusion. He was sure that Jai had gone and gotten breakfast with Verona and the car wasn't back yet, however. he became more sure when a sudden waft of coppery scented blood hit him. It was light, but he was able to pick it up still.
"Jai? Verona?" He called, worried, as he immediately hurried over to Verona and Jai's yard. He went to their side door and banged on the door, hoping that maybe he was right, that no one was home. Hoping that maybe, if someone was home that they had just gotten a papercut (though it didn't smell like just a papercut). _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
Joy looked up quickly when she heard a voice and banging on the door, it sounded like Romano. While she was looking over her shoulder, Jai’s eyes opened partially, though half lidded. He gathered what energy he could muster to yell out again.
“Romano, help!” He yelled, Joy’s attention snapping back to Jai, in the same instance she slashed the knife across Jai’s face; blood spattering on the plush white rug under them.
Romano felt a quick and sudden rush of adrenaline when he heard Jai call out for him, followed by more of the coppery scent associated with blood. He tested the handle once and when it didn't immediately give way, he instead used what otherworldly strength he had to yank the door open with such force that the hinges were barely able to hold onto the door, losing some of their screws even.
Romano rushed in.
"Jai!" He called again as he hurried to the source of the scent, following it to Jai's room. He was horrified to see Joy pinning Jai to the ground. "What are you doing to him? Get off! Get out!" He yelled. _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
Joy didn’t immediately jump up, instead she stared at Romano for a moment. Deciding if he would do anything, or if she should do something. She debating a moment pretending she was attacked, but she wondered if Romano would believe it.
She’d give it a go.
Joy’s eyes teared up on queue and she dropped the knife, she clasped her hands over her mouth as she began crying.
“Thank god you’re here!” She cried, climbing off Jai and actually rushing to Romano as though he’d receive her warmly. Once his figure wasn’t obscured by Joy’s body, it could be seen Joy had left a generous slash across Jai’s face in addition to the head wound.
Jai had told enough about Joy that he knew better than to fall for crocodile tears. Furthermore, it was Joy holding the knife while Jai lay prone on the floor with a cut on his face and his head bleeding.
It was enough to set Romano off.
His chest puffed and his eyes took on a feral, yellow glow as he reached out and grabbed Joy's wrist tight in his hand and yanked it upwards with force. He craned his head down to be nearly literally face to face with her as he snarled.
"What did you do to him?" He growled. _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
Romano felt the urge to throw Joy at her reaction, infuriated by her, but he resisted. Instead, he kept his grip tight on his wrists and looked to Jai.
"Jai, can you call your mom? 911? Can you do that?" He asked. _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
Romano exchanged a nasty glare with Joy, knowing she was right, however, he wasn't going to make it nice for her. Still very much restraining himself, he dragged Joy over to the closet in the room. With one hand, he opened it up before shoving Joy roughly inside. _________________ Butts n' butts n' butts n' butts.
Joy grunted a little upon being thrown into the closet but didn’t resist or fight it. Jai was still writhing on the floor, whimpering and holding his face.
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