Take a Deep Breath

Eight

"What's up losers!" Antonio greeted as he entered the apartment, Lovino following closely behind him.
"We're not losers." Gilbert insisted.
"Yeah. We're the opposite of that." Matthew agreed.
"Yeah! We're winners." Francis cheered. He had already gotten into the wine.
"More like wieners." Lovino rolled his eyes.
"You are what you eat." Matthew winked.
Lovino went silent and stared at Matthew, long and hard. The rest of the room watched tensely.
Suddenly, Lovino broke into a casual smile, nodding. "I like this kid. Where'd you pick him up?"
"A dirty street corner, just like your mom." Gilbert quipped.
"Never insult mi mama again! Not unless you want me to stab you in the eye with a spaghetti strainer."
"I like your accent. Where're you from?" Matthew asked.
"I am Liberian." Lovino replied in a different accent.
"Oh...sorry..." Matthew whispered, "I like your accent where're you from?"
"Toni, I'm leaving you for this guy."
"What the fuck?"
"You never quote vines with me. This relationship was doomed from the start."
"Awe come on!"
"Nope. I've got a new man now." Lovino went to sit next to Matthew, but Matthew held up his hand.
"Sorry, you can't sit here."
"Actually, Meghan, I can't sit ANYWHERE. I have hemmoroids."
"Then sit your ass down. I'm Matthew."
"Lovino."
"Italian?"
"No. Liberian. I fucking told you..."
"Gil, if your man steals my man, we're gonna have an issue." Antonio hissed.
"If you man steals mine, I will castrate you."
"Gilbert, sweetie, you don't have a man." Matthew tossed his hair.
"Oh shit. Where's the Aloe Vera?" Francis asked.
"I'm so hurt right now." Gilbert held his chest like he had been stabbed there.
"Good."
"Does this place have any food?" Lovino asked.
"There's leftover pizza in the fridge." Gilbert announced.
"Hell yeah!" Lovino cheered. He rushed to the fridge and grabbed the pizza like his life depended on it.
"Lovi, we are before we left. How are you still hungry."
"My stomach is a bottomless pit and I'm always game for pizza."
"Same." Matthew nodded.
"Seriously, I'm not losing Lovi to him after years of work."
"Then maybe you should treat me better." Lovino said, stuffing more pizza in his mouth. "Take me out some time. Dress up for once. Do that think with your tongue that I like. Geez."
"Oooo what's this tongue thing you're talking about?!" Francis asked.
"You don't want to know."
"He can lick his own eye." Lovino bragged.
"Francis can do that too." Arthur stated.
"For the last time, I'm not actually a real frog..."
"You croak when we fuck."
"Only when you choke me out!!"
"I didn't think you would be into that Arthur."
"Yeah, well, I didn't either and then the next think I know, his hands are around my throat and he's telling me that I'm a worthless hag." Francis moped.
"You are a worthless hag, Francis."
"Not outside the bedroom, Arthur." Francis blushed.
"But you're my worthless hag."
"That's sweet of you, Arthur." Francis leaned over to kiss his fiancé.
"Gross." Lovino muttered.
Matthew only laughed.

To celebrate finishing the book two rewrites I have prepared a short clip of what the third book is going to be like. I know I haven't done novel excerpts in, like, years but here you all go!

????:
"Have you ever gotten used to it?" She asked, fiddling with the brown hat on her head.
"Used to what?" He wasn't attached to the conversation in the same way she was. His focus was on the tiny, fraying hole in the side of the hat and the blonde hair peeking through.
"Killing people."
"I've been doing it for a while. Since my teens."
"That was, like, a hundred years ago." She rolled her eyes, sliding the silver case across the wooden tavern table they had agreed to meet at. "I remember it like it was yesterday."
"That one was an accident."
"Sure didn't feel like it."
"Shut up."
"Anyway, you didn't answer my question."
"I'm used to it. Give me the key to the case."
"You don't trust me? Have I ever done you wrong before?"
"Uh, yeah. Tons of times."
"My ratio is one to ten. Don't be dramatic."
"Six..." He sighed. "I don't have time for this."
"You have more time than most."
"Stop playing around."
"Alright, but I have a request."
He groaned. Requests from her were never a good thing. 
"What is it?"
"I want to help this time."
"Hell no."
"You don't think I can handle it? I've got much better medical skills than you and I can change my looks."
"Listen, I don't take accomplices, I don't work with COMI, and I don't show mercy to Traders. Those are my three conditions."
"Okay. Have fun getting poison and untraceable drugs from somebody else." Six stood, lifting her case.
"Wait..." He sighed. "Maybe you could...help me with the security system at his house. It's advanced."
"It's a stupid job, but it's a starting point." She sat back down, unlocking and opening the case. A needle and a clear vial of an ocean blue liquid sat in the foam exterior. He inspected the liquid closely, determining it's substance.
"Thanks."
"I want to say 'no problem' but you drug me across the continent for this, so have fun, I guess."
"It's not my fault you decided to be all over the place."
"Actually, it is."
He grimaced. That was one of the many things they just didn't bring up.
"I'm sorry:"
"You're gonna be sorry for what happened for the rest of your life. We all are." Six lowered her gaze. "But, I have to admit. It's good to see you again, Rory. We were getting worried about you."
"Why worry? I'm an adult."
"You're some kind of lone wolf serial killer with a grudge over something that happened when you were a kid."
"They killed my parents, Six."
"They killed mine too. That doesn't mean I lurk in the shadows waiting to attack on site."
"By the way, it's vigilante, not Serial Killer."
"COMI has you classified as a serial killer, so that's what you are."
"I never liked that classification system."
"You've never liked anything they do."
"Not true. Their plan for keeping peace between magic countries is the reason I don't have to travel through war torn villages and across paranoid borders."
"Speaking of paranoid borders...why do you keep putting walls up? There are people who want to hear from you."
"Tell them that I'm fine."
"Are you, though?"
"I'm fulfilling my purpose."
Six rolled her eyes. "You have the stuff. Meet me at two thirty this afternoon."
"See you then." She wouldn't.
Rory was going to get the job done a bit earlier than he had planned.