(Will do)
Vaughn glared at the TV screen when a photo came up as the man talked in the background. It was a photo of him as a child, with his sisters who was only a baby, and his parents. All grinning for the camera. He flicked the TV off before roughly chucking the remote across the room and into a shelf.
(oh no, Vaughn's upset) Kaz sank into the couch, watching someone assemble a model of the Apolo 11. He smiled. He had his own model, an accurate one made of wood he had constructed when he was 12. It was safe on a shelf in his room, right next to the other shuttles and motorcycles he had constructed. They were a nice way to take his mind off things, a sort of mindless distraction. It was a nice alternative to killing his liver with alcohol, or stuffing his lungs with cigarette smoke
(He gets upset pretty easily about that stuff. It’s either just violent anger or panic attacks)
Vaughn walked back into the backroom, searching through boxes on a shelf. He took out a bottle of pills, pouring a few into his hand, not checking the label. He popped them into his mouth, dry swallowing them. He felt like there was a pressure on his lungs. It made it difficult to breathe, and his breaths game in short, sharp intakes. He changed into his more professional outfit while waiting for the medicine to start working.
(oof) Kaz sighed as the program ended. He checked the time on the TV's menu, and rubbed at his eyes as he realized it was time to take his meds. He grabbed his coffee and got up, making his way to the kitchen to fish through the cupboards for the day's pills. He grabbed a couple bottles, grabbing various tablets and pills out of each. He took the four or five in his hand, trying to beat back his gag reflex with coffee. He hated the pills, really. Didn't know anyone that liked them. He leaned against the counter for a moment, eyes wandering. They flickered to the knife holder next to the sink. It would be so easy, wouldn't it? To go back to old habits, to stop taking the pills again
Vaughn heard a buzz come from his phone in the front, and he walked over, snatching up the device. There was a text from someone named Karen, and she wanted to meet up. He had been speaking with Karen on the matter of her husband. He hadn’t been convicted yet, but he had beaten her and her 9 year old son, Ben. He had met Ben, and he already loved the kid. Ben was very bright, very innocent too. He liked that family, so he agreed to go over to Karen’s home while her husband was at work.
Kaz mentally slapped himself. No. He wouldn't do it, not again. It would ruin the ink on his wrists, and he was doing so much better than a year ago. If you could call his current state better. He turned away from the counter and walked back to the couch, flopping down onto it and grabbing a fresh cigarette from a pack on the table. He actually used the lighter this time, lighting the cigarette and taking a quick puff before taking another sip of coffee
Vaughn stepped from the gas station, AMT Automag V stuffed into the waistband of his trousers. He got into a nearby truck and started it up, driving into the smaller town. He glanced around as he drove, focusing his attention on the bar from the night before as he drove by it. He wondered if Kaz was awake yet.
Kaz got off of the couch, his tenancy to get bored easily causing him to pace around the room. He wandered over to the wall that was almost entirely a series of small square windows panes, glancing down at the empty street below. Or, empty except for a single truck driving through the road. He squinted at it. Was that…Vaughn's electrical signature? He leaned forward a little more, and sure enough Vaughn's signature made itself clear through the rain
Vaughn’s fingers lightly tapped on the steering wheel as he continued down the road again, shaking the looming idea of Kaz from his thoughts. He drove the short distance to Karen’s home, parking across the street and keeping his head low as he walked up to her front door. He knocked and waited, glancing around anxiously before the door was opened. An older woman, maybe in her thirties, with brown hair and hazel eyes, opened the door, smiling cheekily.
“Vaughn, come in!” The woman, Karen, said in a friendly tone. He gave her a polite smile and came inside after wiping his shoes on the front mat. He looked around the cozy home. Not a place you would expect terrible abuse to be happening. “Anything recently?” He asked in a low tone.
Karen’s delighted expression faltered and she nodded, lifting up the side of their shirt to show a terrible looking bruise on her waist that made Vaughn scowl. “I’ll get him for that, dont you worry about anything besides you and Ben.”
As if on cue, a shorter boy with messy brown hair and big hazel eyes ran over, hugging Vaughn around the legs. “Vaughn!” He exclaimed, not quite pronouncing his name right, but he didn’t correct the boy. He simply smiled warmly and lifted Ben into his arms. “How’ve you been, Ben?”
“Good! I got to get new toys today! Do you want to see?” He asked excitedly. Vaughn glanced at Karen, who nodded. He agreed and set Ben down, letting the boy pull him into another room.
(ok so Vaughn is now officially one of my favorite characters in existence) Kaz's expression fell a little as Vaughn's signature disappeared down the road. The man hadn't even glanced his way. He took another drag of his cigarette, trying and failing to keep himself from mentally telling himself off for thinking Vaughn really wanted anything to do with him. He started to pace a little, his mind running a million miles a second. Why had he even bothered giving Vaughn his number? What was he thinking?
(Lmao Vaughn is a nice, mentally ill serial killer that is good with kiddos)
Vaughn was led into Ben’s room, his jacket being tugged on by the boy’s hand until he sat down. Ben sat next to him, rummaging through a large box. He grabbed a handful of what looked like little green army men, holding them out for Vaughn to see. “I got these guys! They’re soldiers, see?” Ben said in a happy tone, sticking them right in front of his face.
Vaughn gave a low chuckle and took one from Ben, looking at it. “Oh man, I had some of these as a kid.”
“Really?” Bed squealed, his eyes bright.
“Oh yeah. Look,” Vaughn said as he shifted so he was laying on his stomach, and Ben did the same as him. He took the small toys from Ben and made two lines, the lines facing each other. “You can put them across from each other like this, and pretend one side are the bad guys, and the other side are the good guys. Which should be which?”
Ben looked at both sides before pointing at one. “They are the good guys.”
“Okay. Now, you just have to make the good guys win,” he said, pausing to shift through the toy box, taking out a handful of small bouncy balls. “And you can take these, and toss them at the bad guys. Once you knock all the bad guys over, the good ones win.”
(aaaa Vaughn and Ben are giving me life rn) Kaz scowled, finishing his coffee and walking over to the sink to rinse it out and put it up. He took another drag of his cigarette, leaning against the counter with his head resting in one hand. His headache was finally starting to go away, but something in the back of his mind tried to tell him to take more pills. He ran a hand through his messy, unbrushed hair, sighing. It was too early in the morning to listen to his literal inner demon piping up
Vaughn sat back and watched as Ben tossed the balls at the line of ‘bad guys’. He smiled when Ben would cry out with delight when he hit one of the little toys. Eventually, they were all knocked over.
“I did it!” Bed squealed, grinning brightly. “I got the bad guys!”
“I wish I had some sort of prize to give you. Maybe your mom and I can make cookies or something later,” Vaughn said with a smile.
“Really?” The boy gasped, throwing his arms around Vaughn's neck in a hug. “Thank you!”
“You’re welcome,” he responded, and Ben let go of him, continuing to show him his toys.
(Yes, Vaughn being the cookie baking uncle is good content I would like more of)
(Lmao, once he gets more comfortable around people, he gets super generous like that, so he would most likely make Kaz some too)
(Aww, that would be adorable) Kaz huffed, blowing bored rings of smoke as he paced in the kitchen. He had nothing planned for the day, and was bored out of his mind already
After a few more minutes, Karen and Ben had left, leaving him waiting for the husband to get home from work. He paced around the house, cleaning up where he could. He heard a crinkling noise in his suit jacket pocket, and pulled out the small sticky note from the night before with Kaz’s phone number. He had an hour or so to kill anyways. It couldn’t hurt to call him.. so that’s what he did. He dialed the number and called, putting it on speaker as he lounged in the living room.
Kaz almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of his phone ringing. He padded over to it, unplugging it and putting it on speaker. "Hello?" he asked, not bothering to check the caller ID beforehand
“Kaz? It’s Vaughn,” He said, looking at a photo of the family that wa sitting on a table nearby.
Kaz's eyes widened, and a small smile crossed his lips. "Vaughn. Hey," he said, beginning to pace circles around the couch like he usually did when he was on the phone. "Didn't think you would actually call," he chuckled, flicking a few stray ashes from his cigarette before cracking a window to help air the room out
“Why’s that?” Vaughn questioned, walking over to the kitchen now, setting the phone on the counter as he searched through various cabinets and the pantry. He supposed he would make the treats now.
"Well, uh. I was under the impression that you didn't actually like me," Kaz said, smiling through his awkwardness even though he was the only one in the apartment
“I never said that I didn’t like you. I don’t trust you completely, but I never said I didn’t like you,” Vaughn explained, getting a carton of eggs from the fridge. He began to get the ingredients together. As he went to put the flour in, though, he bumped his hip on the counter, and flour went all over his most black outfit. “You have got to be kidding me,” he muttered, looking down at himself.
Kaz frowned at the sound of something falling over the phone. "What's wrong? Are you alright?" he asked, taking another drag of his cigarette
“No, I’m fine. Just- Don’t worry about it,” Vaughn said quickly, doing his best to begin cleaning up the mess he just made.