it hasn't been very long but it's also been forever. sam has always been bad at texting, but knox has always been his exception, but putting his mom's affairs in order had also sucked away pretty much all of his time. and their phone calls had ended abruptly with sam falling asleep and knox frowning in bed, but it hadn't been all that bad, because he never ended the call. he just listened to sam's breathing on the other end. 

and waited for him to wake up again, because neither of them slept well without the other. 

but now he's coming back and everything will be right again. now he's coming back and everything has changed. the future is theirs and they're only just now catching up to it. 

their home is still new, not really lived in, but knox still does his best to make sure it's tidied up to sam's impossible standards. he's in bed, though, and reading a comic, when captain's ears twitch. oof. the wind gets knocked out of him as she jumps on his chest and leaps out the door, but he scrambles up. 

the comic is thrown on the floor and before sam can finish his sentence, knox has run at him with full force and barreled him over. arms come around his sides and he twists his head, roughly taking sam's lips in his own. 

samuel carter

☉

he holds his hands up in mock surrender. 

"you're a shrewd one, sister mine," he says playfully, though the situation is anything but. clearly finished with his food, a server comes to clear the plates for them. she still hasn't taken a drink, even with how much he's pushed her buttons.

"are you so miserable? you're the head of the whole operation. in the seat merrick groomed you for." his eyes are flinty. "don't lie to me, summer. we were both his playthings, but you enjoyed your part."

the power. the respect. the suave silver tongue. their current contacts are frightened of her - of summer prescott! empress to a bloody throne.

Summer Atreides

☉

if he could be a fly on the wall and watch the two of them talk to each other, he would. he'd pop some popcorn and plop himself down and it would probably make him angry and sad and tired, but it would also bring him joy, knowing he's watching fiction. he's never really cared for true-to-life documentaries.

he doesn't owe gunner anything, but he scoots a little closer in his seat anyway, enamored to have the spotlight turned back on him. 

"hmm. i was born in mauville and absolutely do not fucking live there. i'm a younger brother, nothing like you. i also always come up short and gotta make the best of it." his smile quirks. "and i think you and i could be best friends."

Gunner Graves

☉

oh, right. jayden doesn't partake in the product. it's wild, thinking of all the fools who move this shit and have the audacity to think them above it all. if they're gonna be bad, why not be bad?

sam doesn't care anyway. doesn't care that i got all cleaned up and pretty.

jayden holds his hand and is saying they should go home, but the music is loud and knox is slippery and too good at what he does. so he hooks and grips harder like a parasite and stumbles backwards, using weight and momentum to drag jayden with him. "oh, c'monnnn. one dance."

jayden cross

☉

ah and there's that glower. just like their father. shared carmine eyes and a taste for looking down on him. it makes the food in his mouth taste all the more better knowing just how disgusted she is as it goes down. he does, though, make a point to primly pat his mouth with his napkin when he's done. 

"'course i care, sums. what else am i gonna do?" probably go home and dip his head down into a couple more lines. 

it makes missing sam easier, and worse, at the same time.

Summer Atreides

☉

"i saw you pack them," he says with a nod. hell, is this really the end? it seems so awful to waste away like this. and she's doing it with a damn smile on her face. loss is a funny thing for knox. he's never really lost anyone. 

well, except for ollie.

"anything i can do to help." sam moves in closer and knox knows that means he's looking for support. despite the somber air, he manages a soft smile. how far they've come. how special it makes knox feel to know sam will only gravitate to him like this.

"c'mon. let's get you some food and coffee."

samuel carter

☉

okay, so maybe not that hard of a sell. the little bird's probably had a few drinks himself. knox can't really tell because the world kind of looks like a mirror made of puzzle pieces and everything is sharp, sharp, sharp. he sucks in a terse inhale through his nose and reaches into his pocket to pull out his bag of goodies. 

"yellow ones take y'up. blue takes y'sideways. and 'course, the powder's the best part. come and join me, jayyyy."

jayden cross

☉

only a couple months. 

the gates open. the light floods in. everything makes sense. summer's playing pretend again. summer has her little dolls and wants to play nice, happy family, but she can't hold that charade very long. 

he's seen her try, and fail, before. 

so he smirks.

"you poor schmuck." he blinks his pretty, sparkling lashes. props his elbows on the table and plops his chin in his hands. "you're a cutie. 'n i get it. she's hot, right? and you're looking at me thinkin' this guy's whack. shh, i see it on your face.

"but see, here's the thing. she is also whee-whoo." he taps his temples; the rest of his fingers curl on his cheeks, shifting with his smile. "she's just better at hiding the crazy."

Gunner Graves

☉

aw, just like me? knox thinks as he bats his pretty little eyelashes and tries his best to absorb gunner's story. but what he takes from it, he tosses into the dump bucket to join the sparkly nuances that accompany summer's other 'boyfriends.'

to see her claw so desperately for a good guy, if he really is one, is pitiful. it won't right all of her wrongs. it won't make her less of a twisted, fucked up person. and he could end it here, right now. this doll's house she's built for the two of them.

but he's getting ahead of himself. 

and he promised to play nice. 

"oh?" he says, interest piquing. so is he working for them? tidying up the business and steering them out of trouble, maybe?

"i like reading comic books. red says it's 'cause i'm an idiot. paralegal's cool though. how long's it been with her? like, a couple months?"

Gunner Graves

☉

"me? anchoring you to reality?" knox reaches up to fiddle with some of sam's hair. he presses down a spiky part of it. they'd slept a little weird on the boat ride over and his bedhead had never really gone away. under any other circumstance, it would have been enough for knox to pepper him with kisses and tug playfully on the locks. 

instead he smooths them down and the grim reaper tells him of their misfortune. 

"we'll stay at the hospital tonight then. i'm sure i can charm a nurse to get us some blankets or something." he hesitates and touches a pokeball at his hip. "i know it's kinda dumb and the doctors are prob'ly doing all they can, but would blue help?"

sam's seen her aqua ring pass over knox's nose on a handful of occasions. it could at least ease some of her suffering. 

samuel carter

☉

"apology accepted," knox says with a wink. he narrows his eyes, gives him the once-over, and then his lips pop into an o. he nods sagely, leans back in his chair, and exhales. 

"nevermind. you're not an asshole, are you? you're a nice guy. oh, buddy."

summer's sacrificed a lot for you. 

knox snaps at the samuel carter in his head. at the sam on his shoulder. at the sam standing behind gunner and shaking his head and thinking, i'm gone and dealing with my dead mother's affairs; the least you can do is be nice. but that's not what sam would say at all so it's a moot point.

"fuck, okay. i'll hold my judgment. tell me about yourself."

Gunner Graves

☉

honestly, he'd forgotten his name. it hadn't seemed that important at the time. so when he introduces himself - gunner - knox cracks a smile because oh, that's ironic. that's hilarious, actually. he blinks and sees summer's pretty face, glock cocked under their father's chin. does she see that, every time she says his name? every time her lips form the word gun?

knox's hands sparkle with glitter. some of it's on his neck, across his cheeks. not much, but enough that some of it lingers on gunner's hands after knox shakes it. 

"you're makin' it sound like it's business. relax, dude. sooooooo, we can cut straight to the point all official-like. what kinda asshole are ya? 'cause she only likes assholes."

he thinks back to casey. "and weirdos."

Gunner Graves

☉

knox gives her one brow raised as she lifts her glass of water to her lips. they obviously haven't been on the best of terms and wouldn't you know - drugs and alcohol tend to bring out the worst in each other. so, for his own sanity, he hasn't pushed to party with her, but it's unbecoming to see daddy's little princess not drinking something to complement her dinner. 

maybe she's trying to get sober again. 

he stifles a smirk. "fine, fine. what right do i have to complain anyway? that money's funding this delicious steak." he pops a piece of it into his mouth, chewing slowly for emphasis. 

"mmmmm. so," he says through a mouthful (which he knows she hates), "how're you?"

Summer Atreides

☉