Be My Guest {Dom}

[DEIDRE NATALYA AVERIN]

Drey’s wireless headphones were blasting in her ears, the heavy bass of Dubstep accompanying each shake of her hips. The music was drowning out the sound of the vacuum she was using in the apartment she shared with her cousins. The three-bed place was nice, comfy, and well-taken-care-of, thanks to Deidre’s efforts. The boys weren’t overly messy, but she was near-OCD in her neatness requirements, so she cleaned a lot. She liked to think they appreciated it. She knew Dom at least appreciated her cooking talents. She wondered if he realized that he’s partially influenced her decision to actually invest in that skill. Probably not. The boy was perceptive, when he chose to be, but sometimes, her cousin was kinda dense too. But she was glad to be there to look out for them, in whatever way she could. And feeding them, cleaning house, keeping some of the records that could bust them suppressed? That she could do. And more. She couldn’t do everything for them, because they just wouldn’t talk about it or wouldn’t let her, but she could try. In some ways, she liked to think just being around was enough to take the edge off. Even off Dimitri, who hated women with a passion. He managed to tolerate, and even love, her. In his own way, of course.
The high-pitched whir of the vacuum engine changed as she went from carpet to hardwood, tapping and shimmying her way around the various rooms. She picked clothes up off the floor to avoid getting the caught in the vacuum and tossed them in a nearby hamper, humming and thumping to the song, one fist in the air. Next on her chore list were the dishes, then laundry, then maybe dusting… Maybe. She’d dusted a couple of days ago, so it couldn’t be that bad yet. Bedrooms finished, she wiggled her way back to the closet, winding the cord as she went, hooking it onto the vacuum and placing it back in the closet. A spin, a few fist pumps, and a few more steps had her in the kitchen, filling a sink with hot, soapy water. They had a dishwasher, yeah, but something about doing these by hand was soothing, and they came out much cleaner this way. Maybe it was the running water, or maybe it was her humming, or maybe it was the loud-ass music pumping through her head, but she didn’t hear him enter the apartment. Didn’t hear him enter the room, even. But when she turned around to grab a towel, there he was. He’d surprised the hell out of her. But Deidre was good at playing things off, and had nerves of steel. She arched an eyebrow and grinned at him, pulling the speakers down from her ears.

’Hiya sweetie,’ she greeted Dom, finishing her dry job and folding the little towel before putting it away. It was evening and… well, he was always hungry. ’You want something to eat?’ She turned her headphones down so that she could actually hear whatever he said. And regardless of the answer, she moved to the fridge, collecting up ingredients for French toast. Breakfast for dinner, straight up. And Dom wasn’t particularly picky, eating pretty much whatever she put in front of him. Still, who didn’t like French toast?

Drey grabbed a wide, shallow bowl and a fork and cracked a couple of eggs into it, tossing the shells in the trash. A dash of cinnamon, a sprinkling of nutmeg and a splash of vanilla and milk. She retrieved the thin, stale-ish toast- preferring her French toast to be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, instead of thick and vaguely soggy- and a frying pan. ’So how was your day, dear? Do anything new and exciting?’ Drey pulled the syrup out of the fridge, and placing it in a pan of warm water on the stove to melt a little bit, making it more pourable. The pieces of bread got dredged, then hit the pan with a sizzle, quickly crisping and turning a beautiful gold color. The demon lady smiled, happy with them. In the time it required to cook one side, Drey scampered to her room and disconnected the headphones, pumping the sound through the stereo speakers instead, quietly pulsing the bass through the apartment before running back to the kitchen to flip the slices to avoid burning. Perfect. Another couple of minutes, and she slid them onto a plate with a fork, and pushed them across the counter to Dom, handing him the butter and syrup too. ’Piece de resistance,’ she said with a little grin. ’I know I’ve said this before, but I don’t know how I can feed you so much, and you stay so slim. It’s a defiant miracle of nature.’

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clicketh for clothes!

[DOMINIC LUCIAN AVERIN]

dominic liked having deidre around the house to help him out. without her, he was almost positive he and dimitri would have gone insane. okay, dim was already pretty much there, but you know what i mean. the boys would have been so lost without having her around; she was the motherly figure they never had, the only remains of the family they had. it was only the three of them now. though dominic was sure there were a few distant relatives out there in the world, he didn't want to bother trying to find them and get in contact. after all, who would want contact with them? their father always made them out to be horrible kids . . . and everyone probably thought they were dead. after all, they had barely managed to escape the fire their father lit . . . he didn't want to continue thinking about that night.

in any case, the boys had never tried to really contact any family that might remain. the only person other than drey that the brothers even cared about was their father, and that was only to kill him. alas, there was no telling if the man was even still alive. dominic thought that would have made him angry, but it really didn't. he credited dylan to that fact; the male seemed to calm dominic down even more than he already was. speaking of the werewolf, that was exactly where dominic had just been. ever since dimitri had attacked dylan, dominic had made sure the two weren't near each other. he couldn't just abandon one, though he was sure he should leave dimitri to fend for himself . . . but he and drey were the only family he had. he couldn't leave them for any reason, could he?

walking back from dylan's house, dominic enjoyed the weather. it was warmer than it had been in the past few days, a sure - fire way of knowing that spring was almost here. the thin white t - shirt was actually enough to warm him up, a fact that surprised the hybrid. it had been a while since he could comfortably walk outside without a jacket, let alone with such a thin shirt on. because he had been enjoying the weather, dominic reached the apartment he shared with dimitri and deidre in almost no time. silently, he unlocked the door and went inside, not surprised that he didn't see dimitri anywhere. the boy had been running off a lot lately, and it probably didn't help that they had had a serious fist fight recently. dominic was sure he had hurt dimitri's pride a little after that - after all, dominic had the upper hand - but he didn't care too much. it was the least the younger brother deserved for attacking the older's boyfriend.

it took him a few moments to find out where deidre was - he had kind of spaced out and looked at the couch for a good ten seconds - but he found here nonetheless. her humming combined with the running water made it pretty dang easy to locate the girl. he didn't even try to alert her of his presence; by now she was probably used to him sneaking up all the time. it wasn't like he always did that, but he didn't like to disturb people when they seemed busy, which was usually whenever he approached people. it just seemed rude to interrupt what someone else is doing just because you feel like you're more important. no, instead, dominic just waited until deidre acknowledged him before speaking up.

he nodded. " hey. 'n yeah, that'd be amazing, " he said with a smile, watching as she went to the fridge for the ingredients. dominic sat down on the counter like how he would when he was a kid - before his father's disgusting abuse, before everything fell apart - and swung his legs slightly. a small smile played at his lips as he thought that this was how he should have grown up, but with one small detail changed: it would be his mother, not his cousin, cooking for him . . . cleaning up, helping pay. all the motherly tasks - including making french toast, which dominic was excited for - fell to deidre. sometimes, dominic wanted to let her have a break and tell her she can quit, but he'd hate to lose her.

" eh, same ol, same ol'. dimitri and i still aren't talking all that much. dylan's starting to get over it, though, but i don't think he'll ever be comfortable around dim. ever. " dominic sighed. his brother and his lover hating each other made it hard for him to get around, but he managed. " and how was your day? looks like it's been rather exciting. " he questioned back, smiling. the male slid off the counter when the food was served to him, a wide smile on his lips. he put the butter and syrup on and started to eat, humming happily. " exercise, i've told you. also, maybe if you stopped being able to cook amazingly i wouldn't eat so much, " he grinned with a face full of food, but what did he really care? after he finished eating, dominic moved to put the dishes away. " so, have you, er . . . talked to dimitri lately? "

- - - - -

notes: i'm tired, g'night |D
outfit: buh-bam!

[DEIDRE NATALYA AVERIN]

Her Dom was sad. Not outwardly, of course, because he was too much of a strong pillar to admit that. But the fight with Dimitri was clearly bothering him. She hadn’t heard the altercation, since she hadn’t been home. But he’d been down for a while, and all she’d gotten in the way of information so far was that he and his brother had had a fight- a big one, if she knew him at all, though he hadn’t said so. Granted, yes, he was calmer now that he was with Dylan- something about that boy settled Dominic’s nerves in a way that even her cooking couldn’t- but the argument was bothering him. And she still didn’t know what it was about. She would ask, but sometimes her boys were secretive- Dim especially- and she didn’t want to pry and lose the trust she’d gained from them. Okay, asking one little question about what was so hurting them wouldn’t get her shut out, but she didn’t like to push such boundaries. The boys had limits in the trust department, and she didn’t want to backtrack what progress she’d gained. Which, in the many many years that she’d known them, was quite a lot. They told her things sometimes that they wouldn’t even tell each other. She was neutral and fair as possible, and all she wanted to do was make them happy.

When her eldest cousin shaved his hair off, she knew- even better than she had suspected before- that something truly bad had gone down. Dominic occasionally did some drastic personal things when he was in pain. Emotional pain, not physical. A lot of his ink was in direct accordance with that fact. Drey had other ways of coping with pain- shooting, hacking, dancing- but she never had as much agony to deal with as her boys did. Gah, blyad their father and his mudak ways. She would find him for them if they wanted, but somehow, they wanted to do it themselves. It was a personal battle, something she couldn’t do for them. Though every fiber of her wanted to. Put out the hit nationwide and have them bring her his head. They- the set of them, which was surprising- wouldn’t let her find him. Neither knew she was part of her papa’s mafia, and that she could order an execution, but they knew her computer skills would let her seek him out. Still, neither of them would take her up on it, and Dom had specifically asked her not to, at one point. So she tried to make the rest of their lives here as pleasant as possible. She cooked, she cleaned, she bought groceries and did laundry because she didn’t want to burden them anymore. And Deidre knew that they appreciated that, even when they didn’t act like it.

It flattered her that Dominic said yes- a small sign of approval for her- and she got to cooking, happily humming a little lullaby she’d heard as a child, years and years ago. Childhood had been a damn long time ago, when she bothered to hearken back. She didn’t, often, but she was privileged in that most of her childhood memories were happy ones. The ones that weren’t… well, those generally weren’t the fault of her parents, to be honest. Drey had no idea how her uncle had gotten so very wrong. That wouldn’t make sense, except some of her scariest memories were the fault of him. It’s why she’d suspected so much whenever she saw the bruises on Dominic’s skin, and the blatant anguish in his eyes. He wouldn’t tell her though. He wouldn’t tell anybody, but she did what she could. It was part of the reason she’d learned to cook, so she had an excuse to talk to them, to take care of them. She was younger, but it didn’t matter. She’d always had that protective instinct, and when she had something to really care about, there was nothing she wouldn’t do to keep them safe. Including move all the way to Manuka with them when she couldn’t save them from their worst nightmare.

No matter what she did though, her cousins always had issues. More often than not, with each other. Drey sighed as she heard him mention Dim, placing the plate in front of him, before turning back to make a couple more. ’Meelyj, what is happening with my boys? All I know is, you have a big fight and you chop off your hair, and I see Dim less and less. And I didn’t see him much to begin with. What in the ad happened with you two?’ She spun back around then to flip the pieces of bread on her skillet. Alright alright, she’d said she wouldn’t ask, but she couldn’t help it. And Dom brought it up. She grinned when he asked about her day, adding the sweet little tease to the end of it. ’It’s been terribly spectacular. Cleaning and whatnot. Did some mild hacking earlier- planted a couple viruses and stole a couple things I needed- that proved fruitful.’ He seemed entertained by her words, and then complimented her, which practically made her glow with pride. She knew she was a good cook, but it was still special when her cousin gave her flattery. ’Psh,’ she said with a light chuckle, ’then may you forever eat too much. ‘Cause there’s no way I’m gonna lose this skill.’ She flipped the two newer pieces onto a plate and turned the stove off, silently offering them to him. He declined, slipping his plate into the sink, so she prepped them for herself, and took a bite as he spoke, asking about his brother.

After swallowing, she sighed and shook her head. ’Not much, meelyj. Just things in passing. The usual. He’s a locked little box, sometimes, even to me. I have a mild plan to hunt him down and make him talk, but in my nice way, you know.’ Drey nibbled again and arched an eyebrow at her companion. ’You tried yet? We both know he generally talks to you more… Note the ‘generally.’ She grinned at him wistfully, because she knew the two of them were more than a little tense at the moment. She hoped they could figure it out… She really hoped she could help. She’d like to try, at least.

[DOMINIC LUCIAN AVERIN]

small trigger warning!

dominic easily remembered the fight he'd had with dimitri. he remembered walking in and seeing dimitri trying to force himself onto dylan, remembered the fear in dylan's eyes. there hadn't been a question in dom's eyes about what was going on, of who was at fault. dimitri hadn't even looked surprised or shown any guilt, despite having his brother walk in on him in such a way. he didn't care that dominic loved the boy or that forcing yourself on people was wrong - which is why the fighting had started to happen. dominic had had enough of dimitri, had wanted to get it through the younger's skull that you can't just rape everyone that comes your way.

and the fist fighting got out of hand. as they screamed at each other, they threw punches, and the normally very reserved dominic was somehow on top of dimitri, throwing punches in the boy's face. even though dominic hadn't taken as much of a beating as he thought he would have - dimitri ended up with worse wounds, though they both healed completely within hours - he took much more emotional and mental pain. dimitri blamed him for what their father did. dominic had tried so hard to protect dimitri from their father, but was it really his fault that the younger had walked in on them? had been used as the new play thing? he was starting to wonder.

drey questioning about what happened made the hybrid sigh a bit. he figured they couldn't hide it from drey for too long; he was surprised they managed to hide it for as long as they did. maybe it was because they somehow managed to clean up any blood stains left around. " we . . . we had a fight. he, uh. he was trying to hurt dylan. and we exchanged words, and some punches. " he said, a bit ashamed. dominic was always the quieter one in the family, the " strong and silent " type, if you will. remembering how much he exploded on dimitri terrified him, especially since he didn't know if he would be able to control himself if he saw dimitri with dylan again. the thought of being violent like that again honestly terrified him.

dominic finished up his food before speaking again. " should hack into something that can get us a better apartment. or a house. but, yeah, don't stop cooking the way you do. it's infinitely better than fast food and fatty junk that we'd be living on without you. " he said with a smile. he didn't want to imagine living a life without drey; without her, the boys would probably have died of malnutrition a long time ago. the hybrid shook his head. " i doubt he'll talk to me. he . . . he blames me. for what our father did to us. i tried so hard to protect him and our sisters, but . . . i guess i can't really protect anyone. and i don't really want to talk to him, though i do. we'll prolly just end up fighting again. i hate fighting with him. " he rambled slightly, looking down at the floor. he wondered why he couldn't get the one thing he wanted: a peaceful life.

- - - - -

notes: rawr it's up finally lol
outfit: buh-bam!

[DEIDRE NATALYA AVERIN]

Deidre had known her cousins since she was young. Possibly since the day she was born, she did not remember. And while she had always been the baby, she had never behaved as such. Well, technically, she was third; Dominic, Dimitri, Drey, Nina, then Raisa. But after the girls and her aunt had died, she had been the baby. Despite that, she was just as protective as Dom was, if not more so. She had none of her own siblings to watch out for, so she protected them as if that was what they were. Besides that, they were still family, and she valued family above anything else. Not alignment, not affiliation, sexuality or species could draw her. She was about her family. And everybody else who made it into her inner circle, they did it on their own merits. Like Aquana. That one did not make sense to people, but it did not matter. Drey loved that crazy bitch, and other people could get the hell over it. But it was Dominic’s protective nature that had kept her so long out of the loop in the first place. And as much as she understood that, she still regretted it. Her poor baby. And now, when it was supposed to be better, he was supposed to be freer, he was still getting into… shit with Dimitri because they were complicated individuals. Which they proved, again and again, especially with each other.

The reason they abused each other now, worse than anybody else, was because they knew they could get away with it. Dom would still love Dim, in spite of the fact that he pulled some stunts that Deidre had to physically restrain herself from bitch slapping him for. Dominic, for all his quiet strength, shut people out, and that caused backlash of its own. She wanted to shake them sometimes. Especially after they ‘had a fight.’ As if it were that simple. Now that she knew it was about Dylan, she knew it had been more than ‘words and some punches.’ ’Oh, Dominic, what did he do?’ Her voice, the Russian accent correctly pronouncing his name, was resigned, knowing that Dim had likely done nothing kind. They had a fight. Of course they did. Dom was… he was something, with Dylan. The man calmed him, somehow, balanced him. And Drey could be nothing but happy for that. So having him threatened would have, naturally, inspired some anger in Dom that got directed at Dimitri. The demon shook her head, leaning on the counter with a sigh, running fingers through her hair. ’No wonder you two have been so avoidant lately.’ She huffed, finishing up the toast, and turning off the stove. She talked for a couple minutes, letting him eat and answering his questions in turn. She giggled when he suggested she hack her way into better living spaces.

The demon could. She would, even. ’Dom… you honestly want to move somewhere nicer? You know I can accomplish that with a click.’ She tilted her head, genuinely curious. The boys had found this place before she finished moving out here, so she’d just moved in with them. The ebony-haired hacker had no idea he wanted out of this apartment. She would have made plans sooner, had she known. ’As for my cooking, you will have to suffer my feeding you properly forever.’ She grinned, gave him a wink, and then cleaned up her own dishes, after watching him put his own away. And the words that came out of his mouth, the soft words- started simply by asking if she’d talked to Dim- broke her heart. ’Vazliublennyj, we both know there is no one to blame for that but Nikolai. And you did a better job protecting them, in the only way you could, than anyone gives you credit for.’ She briefly stroked her hand down his shoulder, comforting, before popping up on the counter to look at him. ’Perhaps you should let me talk to him first. He is just so… closed off, most of the time. I can just sweet-talk him with food. And I hate it when you fight, too. The wounds last much longer than they seem.’