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“You don’t have to do that,” Brutus said, leaning on the bar across from them. “We can-”
“I need to see Thomas safe,” he said, surprised when his voice cracked. He swallowed. “I need to be there.”
“Okay,” Brutus agreed. “I’ll tell Felinus. He’s securing passage with the locals and flights.”
“Use my office to do whatever you need to do, Snake,” Issac said and Seong turned around to see him sitting on the counter. Dark eyes bore into Seong’s and he was reminded that he wasn’t the only one in the room who was close to Thomas. Issac had all but adopted the younger man as a brother of sorts. His eyes darted towards Felinus then back. “Let them handle the travel. You make good on that promise to protect them from that bastard.”
“Right,” he agreed quietly, moving immediately for the repurposed closet. “Thanks.”
Guess
Thomas breathed in slowly as he hung up the phone. His hands shook and he tightened his grip as he took a deep breath in. Hearing Seong’s voice, his reassurance that Thomas had done the right thing with how he had handled everything, had been something he hadn’t known he had needed. But it had. He had needed to hear that.
Danny hadn’t looked at him once, not as they left the bar, not in the elevator, not when they came into the room. Currently, he could hear him talking to Sean out on the balcony attached to their room, could see him pacing restlessly back and forth.
“Mark, Kevin,” he shouted, walking over to the door and opening it. “Snake’s going to coordinate with everyone back home if you haven’t got through.”
“Oh thank God,” Kevin said, appearing in the doorway of his and Mark’s room. “Mark is talking to Marcus but I don’t think he knows what to do any more than we do. I’ve heard him say ‘it was supposed to be safe’ at least four times already.” He paused, staring at Thomas. “You…” He glanced behind him then back at Thomas. Stepping forward, he closed the door quietly. “Where’s Danny?”
Thomas’s jaw tightened as he jerked his head back towards the room then moved away from it. “Talking to Sean on the balcony. He put a chair in front of the door.”
Kevin glanced at the room as Thomas moved towards the couch.
“The Zoo will be coming,” he continued, not looking at Kevin. He didn’t want to watch him go check on Danny. “Snake said to keep our phones close but to stay off the internet. He’ll make sure Peacock doesn’t mess with anything and will fix anything he’s messed up already. We’re most likely on a no-fly list but Snake will fix it. We just need to stay here and not let anyone in or go out. We’ll be safe so long—”
Kevin’s arms wrapped around Thomas, pulling him into a surprisingly gently hug. “I’m sorry,” he said softly as Thomas stood stiff in his warm chest. “You’ve been handling all of this and- and we haven’t said thank you yet. I don’t know what would have happened to us if you hadn’t been here to see what we keep overlooking. So… thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for taking control of the situations. Just- thank you.”
Slowly, Thomas reached up to grip the back of Kevin’s jacket, hugging him back. “I- I’m just doing what anyone should do, Kev-”
“But anyone wouldn’t do it,” Kevin pointed out. “I’m sorry that this is all getting so messed up. We’ll make it up to you. I promise.”
Thomas buried his face into Kevin’s shoulder. “Thanks, Kev,” he murmured after a few moments. “You did a great job today too you know. It would have been a lot harder to scare Peacock off if you hadn’t shouted like that.”
“What was that about anyway,” Mark’s voice said. The two separated to see him perched on the arm of the chair. “I kind of got the idea of drawing attention, but you didn’t see his face when you told Kev to shout his name. He looked like he had seen a ghost or something.”
Thomas sighed, sitting down on the couch as he rubbed at his face. “People like Peacock and Snake can only be as effective as they are by being ghosts,” he explained, looking up at them. “Their anonymity is as important as their skills. Snake is a little different since his name and voice are somewhat known to the Three Rings and maybe beyond that but that’s why he wears masks in public. Between the treaty, the Family, and the Cat, digging into who he is would be bad news for whoever tried to fuck with him. The Zoo protects him as much as he protects the Zoo.” He waved a hand. “Peacock is… well, I don’t really know a lot about him. But that’s the point. The number of people who can connect the face and name is probably a small number. Given how he conducts himself, I’m willing to bet that of that number a large percentage of people who know who he is would gladly see him dead or at least fucked over.” He shrugged, looking down. “The threat banked on the idea that he would not want his name and face to show up on a video on the internet. Most likely he has safeguards in place to scrub his likeness off any video or image that gets uploaded, but live video is harder to catch. It would take a really sophisticated program with a lot of power behind it to manage something like that.”
“So you guessed,” Danny’s voice said from behind them.
Thomas looked up but not around, instead watching Kevin and Mark as their faces twisted with too many emotions for Thomas to try to puzzle out. There was enough that between their faces and Danny’s clipped tone he was sure that he didn’t want to see Danny’s face. He could understand Danny not wanting to be touched after being threatened like that. He could accept Danny being angry about the situation. But he wasn’t going to argue with him about it. He was too tired to fight about it. “We should make sure the bolt is on the door,” he said getting up. “Assuming the Zoo can get the necessary plane tickets and travel papers within the hour, they still aren’t going to be here before morning.”
Danny blocked his path. Sure enough his face twisted into that look between pain and anger. “You guessed,” he repeated. “You risked my future on a guess?”
Thomas sighed as his watch buzzed. He tapped his hand against it reflexively. “I was right.”
The shove was obvious. Thomas thought for half a second to let it happen, to let Danny get the frustration out by pushing him.
Fuck that, he thought, side stepping the outstretched hands and pushing them away. He’d had enough of people grabbing and shoving him to last a lifetime.
Danny staggered forward, catching himself on the couch. Thomas put a hand on his back, leaning his weight on him.
“I know you are upset,” he said softly. Muscles tensed under his fingers. “I don’t blame you for being upset and angry, but if you ever try to put your hands on me like that again, I’m done.” He didn’t wait for an answer, just took his hand away and walked over to the door to make sure it was locked.
Silent tension filled the room.
Someone got up and walked away, slamming a door behind him.
Thomas walked back into the living area to see Kevin and Mark still in the room, the door to his and Danny’s room closed. He didn’t say anything, and neither did they as Thomas laid down on the couch. Kevin turned on the TV, muttering something about a movie. Mark got up and went into their room, returning a few moments later with a blanket and pillow that he covered Thomas with before sitting on the love seat.
