In the Beat of a Wing {boyxboy}

Chapter Twenty-Three

~Saturday 9th March 2013~

"You think it was hunters then?" Pria asked as she helped Eden clear one of the booths, both holding plates and cups in their hands.

"It had to be, who else do you know that would do that to a little girl?" Eden couldn't withhold anything from his friends, it wasn't fair for him to be a bad mood and take it out on them without any explanation. Plus, he trusted them, they weren't going to go run to some sleazy newspaper and sell the story for a few hundred.

"Are you having a funeral?" Eden followed Pria into the kitchen, shrugging plainly as he placed the crockery next to the sink for Hailee to wash. She shot him a playful glare, no one liked being on dishwashing shift.

"I wouldn't know, Malcolm won't talk to me," Eden returned to the booth, wiping down the table, splitting off from Pria, who seated a different group of customers and took their order.

"Why? Don't tell me he blames you," Eden was stood behind the counter, next to the cash register where he waited when there was no one seated in his area, watching Pria ring up her drinks order.

"No, he's just not dealing well. I've tried texting him, I get one-word responses, and he won't even answer my calls. I don't want to pester him, he needs space to grieve," Pria nodded, disappearing to collect the drinks for her customers and delivering them to the table. Eden checked his phone, finding a bland response from Malcolm to his earlier question.

Malcolm: Busy on a case, sorry, raincheck? Not even a kiss at the end, great. Eden hadn't considered it earlier but maybe Malcolm did harbour some sort of blame toward him, even though he wasn't sure what he could have done wrong. Surely not.

Eden: Sure, don't forget to eat though, doll. Call me when you get time, I miss your voice x. Eden had wanted to see Malcolm that night, had wanted to talk to the man, make sure he was OK. Eden wasn't sure how he was dealing with everything, he wanted to understand the man's mental state, a downward spiral wouldn't be any good at the moment.

The response wouldn't be immediate so Eden simply slid his phone back into his pocket. He was used to the silence by now, used to the replies from his lover coming hours later, or not at all on some occasions. It worried him, but Eden knew what Malcolm was going through. Losing Archer wasn't the same, Eden wasn't knew that, but the boy was familiar with grief.

Grief was a monster, that was the way Eden had described it. Some people said it was acceptable in small doses but Eden would have preferred to have never felt it at all. It swallowed you whole, shredding your sanity, ruining everything you ever were and decimating the potential to what you could become. Eden didn't have words for it, he couldn't think of a suitable explanation, all he knew was the grief was a thousand times worse than the actual loss.

"Hey, Rei," Eden stepped into the back office when Reivon picked up the phone, wanting a second to speak to the vampire alone without interruptions.

"Morning, angel, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Eden could even hear the smirk in Reivon's voice, which wasn't unusual.

"I just wanted to know how Mal's doing, if you knew. He's... he's been distant recently," Reivon didn't answer immediately, which didn't fill Eden with any sense of hope.

"He just needs some time, Edee, he'll be back to normal soon enough. I promise," Eden ran a hand through his hair, pacing around the small room.

"Will you, um, if you see him, will you tell him I love him, please? It doesn't feel like it sounds the same when it's written down over text, and he's been pretty slow with replying today anyway. He just worries me," Eden sighed quietly, his instincts leading him to play absently with the blue-silver chain around his neck.