3-9: The Fighter

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"I never pictured you growing up as a real estate agent..."

Variance snapped her eyes onto Hale, raising an eyebrow.

"What exactly did you picture me growing up as, then?"

Her hair was bright purple, tied high on top of her head. She crossed her arms over her chest, standing in the middle of what was potentially the band's new place in Los Angeles. 

"A stripper?"

Apollo squeezed his eyes shut as Variance scoffed, turning around and heading toward the stairs that led to the bedrooms that would belong to Apollo and Blake.

"I only do that in private settings. This is my day job.

And I'm not even an agent. I just own this place."

"You could always show me sometime. At night, of course."

Hale's lips went up in a smirk, and Apollo groaned, shoving him.

"That's my cousin, dude. Knock it off."

Hale shrugged, rubbing the spot on his arm where Apollo's hands had collided.

"Not my fault your cousin is really hot."

Blake put his arm around Paige's shoulder, touching a kiss to her forehead.

"You two are like teenage boys. All the fucking time."

Paige and Harpia nodded in agreement, but neither of them seemed very amused. Maybe because Variance was dressed far more like a stripper than a real estate agent.

Variance turned around, her hands on her hips.

"So do you guys want this place, or am I wasting my time here?

My mom said you needed a place, but she didn't inform me that one of your gross ass friends was going to be hitting on me. Again."

She directed her eyes back onto Hale, but when he winked at her, her cheeks went noticeably red.

"I like it."

Apollo glanced at Paige, and then at Blake.

"It's pretty big, but I guess it's fitting for all of us."

Variance reached into the pocket of her tiny skirt, pulling a set of keys that didn't even look like they'd fit out of it. 

She tossed them to Apollo, walking back toward the way that she had come. As she passed by Hale, he stopped her, slipping something into the palm of her hand.

Apollo didn't see what it was, but he didn't want to.

Variance, however, glanced at her hand, and back at Hale. Her cheeks went red again and she rushed away from the group of them and down the stairs.

"I think she likes me!"

Apollo snorted at the tone of Hale's voice, looking around the massive room.

"I think that if you knock her up, I'll cut your nuts off."

He turned to Harpia, taking her hand in his as the others dispersed to their own areas of the house.

"Not so bad here, yeah?"

Harpia looked around, shrugging a shoulder.

"It's busy. Sunny and hot as hell. But you're here. I think I can deal."

Apollo touched his lips to her cheek, running his thumb over the top of her hand.

"Something else is hot as hell..."

Harpia tilted her head to look up at him, rolling her eyes.

"Your anger problems?"

She pushed him away from her, watching the moving guys bring in the boxes.

"Also, you're lame as fuck, Hunter."

Apollo grabbed a box, tearing through the tape on the top.

"Always gonna be. And yet you're still here."

Harpia sat on top of one of the other boxes as Apollo told the guys where to put the frame to his bed.

"I am. I blame the fact that I'm obviously insane."

"Maybe a little."

He began shuffling through the boxes, glancing up at her periodically.

"The answer was actually you, by the way."

Harpia laughed, getting to her feet and going to the door.

"And you're still lame as fuck. By the way."

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Apollo leaned against the counter in their new kitchen, pulling bottles of alcohol out of a box. Why any of them needed thirty bottles of booze, he didn't know. But his guess was that it was Hale's box.

"Are you having a party, or trying your hand at liver cancer?"

Apollo slid the bottles into a cabinet, throwing a dirty look at Paige as she spoke.

"I'm sure you'd be informed of a party. Blake doesn't keep anything from you."

Paige dropped something onto the counter with a clatter. As soon as Apollo realized what it was, he threw another dirty look at her, reaching for it.

"That phone was expensive as fuck, midget."

Paige turned back for the door, shrugging a shoulder.

"Then maybe you shouldn't leave it in the bathroom, where it vibrates so hard, it almost falls in the fucking sink.

Bat boy."

The door slammed shut behind her and Apollo almost felt guilty for being an asshole to her. She was doing him a favor in a sense. But that didn't make her any less annoying.

He had three missed calls. All from his twin sister.

It was the first time she had even attempted to talk to him since finding out that he was moving. She had been more angry than he could ever imagine coming from her.

She was much like their mother, never angry about anything.

But this had been an exception. They'd never been apart in the nineteen years they'd been alive.

And now they were.

And it marred him just as much as her.

The line rang three times before her voice clicked on the other end.

"Hey, A."

She paused, and her voice was soft, like it always was.

"Hey, Apollo. How's Hollywood?"

Apollo took a seat on the barstool, looking out the window at the busy city streets.

"Different."

Her laugh sounded like their mother's, and a small piece of him felt homesick at the sound of it.

"I miss you. It's a lot quieter without your guitar being loud in the middle of the night."

Apollo laughed too, but he could tell by her voice that there was a legitimate reason for this call. Something was either wrong, or important.

"So... what's going on? Are you okay?"

Artemis paused.

"The only thing you got from our mother gets really difficult to deal with sometimes. But I guess your empathy makes you good at what you do, right?

It's the reason that you're out there in that big city, and I'm still here at home."

Apollo couldn't tell where this conversation was going. And he had no idea what she was trying to say.

But it didn't sound like it was anything good.

"You didn't answer either of my questions, Artemis."

She sighed, and the next pause was significantly longer than the previous.

"I'm okay. I'm just... I have some news.

I wanted to tell you before you left, but I didn't get a chance. I was busy at school and you were... distracted."

Apollo waited, reaching for a bottle in the box next to him. He pulled the top off, bringing it to his lips. Hale wouldn't miss one bottle, and they weren't recording until the next day anyway.

"What kind of news?"

"I'm having a baby."

Apollo choked on his next drink, his eyes burning.

"You're fucking what? I didn't even know you had a boyfriend.

Who is he?"

Artemis laughed, and Apollo could feel the anger burning in his veins. The fact that anyone had touched his sister, period, made him want to smash the bottle in his hand into pieces.

"Calm down, Apollo. He's a good guy. His name is Kenton.

We've been together for a while now, but like I said, you've been distracted. Getting ready for your new life change.

We're getting married in April. A little after the baby is due."

Something heavy dropped into his stomach at the mention of the dates.

Their tour was scheduled to start in January. It was the end of August, right after their birthdays.

"Will you be able to come home? I'd like you to be the best man."

Apollo took a long drink out of the bottle, spinning the cap on the counter's surface.

"I'll be there. And I want to meet this guy.

Bring him out here."

Her hesitation was obvious.

"I... I want to. But Apollo, Kenton is the Army. He's being deployed in September. I won't even see him for months.

Our time frame is small."

Apollo raised an eyebrow, letting out a long slow breath.

"September is fine. You two can have my room."

Her smile was clear in her voice.

"Okay! I'll see you in a few weeks, then?"

Apollo nodded, even though she couldn't see him.

Her goodbye was full of an emotion he couldn't seem to reciprocate.

He grabbed the bottle, taking it upstairs with him to his room after they hung up.

He was going to need it tonight.

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"How drunk are you?"

Apollo looked over at Harpia, swirling the remnants of the vodka in the bottom of the bottle.

"Not drunk enough."

Harpia rolled her eyes, knocking the ash off of her cigarette into the ashtray on his table.

"She's happy. Shouldn't you be happy for her?"

Apollo tipped his head back, draining the rest.

"Maybe. But that doesn't mean that I am."

He tossed the bottle at the trashcan, but it hit the wall, shattering into pieces on his floor. Harpia's reaction, the way she jumped, was noticeable.

"Shit. I'm sorry."

He walked over to the shattered glass, picking the pieces up and dropping them into the bin. Harpia was next to him in seconds, picking up the pieces too.

"You're fine, Apollo. You just... sometimes you drink way too much, you know?

I don't want it to become a problem."

He glanced at her, dropping in another piece.

"It's not a problem. I'm fine."

He reached out, twisting a piece of her sandy brown hair around his finger. The smile on her face seemed distant though. Like she didn't quite believe him.

But she didn't move away from him.

She dropped the last few pieces on top of the mess, sighing and leaning back on her heels.

"Can I ask you a question, Polly?"

He sat on the floor, his elbows on his knees.

"Go for it."

"Why am I here?"

Apollo stared at her. 

"What kind of question is that?"

Harpia mimicked his actions, sitting down on the ground flat.

"A serious one. So answer it."

Apollo blamed the alcohol for the lack of hesitation in his response.

"Because you're my home. This place wouldn't have been the same without you here."

Harpia seemed lost in thought for a moment, dropping her eyes to the floor between them. When she finally spoke, her eyes remained there.

"And... yet. You say that you don't know if you love me.

You know what what you're saying sounds like, right?"

Apollo shook his head.

"No. Apparently I don't. Because I already told you how I felt, Harpia."

Harpia bit her lip, finally looking up at him.

"Maybe you'll figure it out one day."

Apollo thought back to what Blake had said on the fourth of July. About how someday it could be too late. She'd be with someone else.

And the thought of that made him nauseous.

He didn't want her with anyone else. He didn't know if he loved her, but he knew that she was different. He knew that this was.

And different meant something, right?

"I will."

He reached out, pulling her onto his lap. He pressed a kiss to her jaw, her cheek, and finally her lips.

"I do love you."

Harpia nodded, looking up at him.

"I know that you do."

Her voice contained a definiteness. Like she knew something that he didn't.

And maybe she did.

Maybe they all did.

But he was still convinced that he would know, not them.

His fingertips found the hem of her shirt, and he pulled it up, over her head.

He traced his lips over the shape of her collarbone, her pulse beating against the heat of his touch.

Once, should have been enough. Once, should have been a stopping point.

But, then again, he couldn't take that back.

So, what was wrong with once more?

Her voice was gravelly, but coherent when he touched his lips to her neck.

"I love you, Apollo."

She got to her feet and he followed her to his bed. 

The only thing clear in his vision, was her.

"I still can't give you an answer."

She sat down on his bed, pulling him closer by his hand.

"It still doesn't matter."

He knelt to kiss her, his mind trying to focus on the task at hand.

He had a feeling that it did matter. That it was always going to matter.

That she brought it up again for a reason.

But that still didn't stop him.

When it came to Harpia O'Conner, next to nothing did.

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The fighter goes inside,
The doubt is creepin' in,
He swings with all his might,
At all that might've been,
And she's in love with him,
But lovers don't always win.