𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗥 | the boys 2

»𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘦«

LATER THAT DAY

"Do they know you're here?" Neuman scoffed, opening her office door to let Hughie out.

"Not exactly." He got up out of his seat, "I didn't tell them but I'm sure it won't last too long."

Victoria smirked as she looked across the desks in her workplace, "You'd be right there, Hugh."

"What do you mean?" He quizzed, frantically searching around the large room for the towering builds of M.M. or Butcher. "Holy shit."

"So? Did you get it?"

"Uh... uh, yeah. I got it."

"Congratulations!" She hummed, holding out a paper cup for him, "Teeth-free hot drink?"

Hughie looked over Rowan carefully - she was wearing the exact same clothes, adorned the same facial scars, but it was somehow still different. Her eyes were glossy, but not in the way she could always be about to cry - they were gleaming, her smile glowed.

Hesitantly accepting the drink, he kept his bright eyes fixed on hers and finally spoke with some coherence, "How did you find me?"

"Well, that girlfriend of yours isn't exactly hard to spot, as you can imagine, so I just asked her, really."

"Rowan," He groaned.

"I was nice!"

"Were you?"

"Of course I was! Besides, I kept my promise, didn't I?" She cooed, "Wasn't I back before you knew it?"

Hughie couldn't help but smile, "Fine. But what the fuck happened back there?"

The smile dulled on Rowan's face, but she dismissed it by recreating a confident smirk as she raised her paper cup full of strawberry milkshake and took a sip from the stripy straw. "Not the time or place." She caught Newman's eye and inquired, "Mind if I kidnap Hugh for a bit?"

"Go ahead." Victoria shrugged indifferently.

She turned back around and whispered sweetly, "I'm not really gonna' kidnap you, you can go whenever you want."

With an eye roll as adorable as that, Hughie just had to follow her outside. After taking a brave sip of coffee, he noted the car keys now in her hand and followed the direction to a vehicle which seemed somewhat like Butcher's upon first glance. "I'm gonna' take a shot in the dark that that's stolen." He remarked.

"How dare you?! I'm just borrowing it!"

"I can't even drive this, it's not an automatic." He complained as they crossed the street and stood before the old, beaten up station wagon. "This thing is a fucking trash can on wheels." He chortled.

"Yeah, well, she's a little rusty but the old bitch's got a good pair of lungs on her. And I can drive us!"

"You can't-"

"Sure I can! Didn't I tell you before? That I've been learning?"

"Yeah... yeah, you did." Hughie rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Hop in, then." Rowan gave the biggest smirk he'd seen so far, it carved all the way through her cheeks up to her eyes.

Watching her, he felt something in his chest flutter - neither of them had seen the other flourishing so prosperously in their entire co-existence. His smile had felt a lot more genuine on his face today than it had since he stood on the sidewalk, clutching a pair of cold arms.

Innocent bewilderment controlling her expression from sitting down so swiftly in the car, she grabbed the steering wheel and yanked at the handbrake. "Buckle up, Buttercup."