"...okay."
"So. Here's the situation. I told Margot at breakfast this morning that the midnight swim is a Graves family tradition. Has been since we were teenagers. She thought it was sweet. She actually said it was sweet, Atlas, can you imagine, Margot thinking I have a sweet bone in my body."
Atlas rolls his eyes.
"Smooth, right? I needed an explanation for why we were going to slip out tonight, and that is the explanation I came up with. So congratulations, brothers. We officially have a tradition."
"Zero, oh my god—"
"We have a tradition, Atlas."
"We have not done it every year since we were teenagers."
"We have now. Margot thinks we have. That's the point. We slip out after they go to bed, we go down to the beach, we get drunk on the wine I am about to drive into town and buy in absurd quantities—"
"You're not–"
Zero cuts Atlas off.
"I am going to drive into town and I am going to buy four bottles of red, two of white, a corkscrew that isn't whatever ancient piece of crap is in the kitchen drawer, and a bag of those salt-and-vinegar chips Bane likes that he won't admit he likes."
Bane, blank-faced: "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Mhm."
"I do not like those chips."
"I'll buy two bags."
"...fine."
I am laughing. I can’t help it. My ribs hurt from it. I take a bite of my sandwich to hide my smile.
Atlas looks at me. The amusement is still there at the corner of his mouth but his eyes have softened into something else.
"Yes?" he says. To me. Just to me.
"Yes what?"
"Tonight. You in?"
I am in.
The bonds are too strong to deny and all I want to do is revel in them. Three distinct currents running through my veins like a second, third, fourth pulse in my system. If these three are down at the beach tonight, that’s the only place I want to be.
I nod.
"Yeah," I say. "I'm in."
Bane reaches under the table. Finds my hand. Squeezes. Lets go.
Atlas tips his sunglasses back up and goes back to looking at the sea. It’s nice seeing him like this–away from work. Shoulders relaxed like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
"Bring bug spray," Bane mutters.
"Riviera energy from this one," Zero says.
"It's the beach, you idiot, not the goddamn—"
