Jaxon

Words

     Hace found it odd that Ardent kept pushing his book towards him while he was packing up his toys for visiting Iriie. He must have really wanted to take it for some reason. He just shrugged and put it in the bag for him. Ardent smiled and gave Hace a hug when he picked him up.

     "Look at you so happy to visit your friend." Hace laughed as he gave him a hug back.

     "You look rough." Iriie held the door open while Hace walked in. "Bad night?" Iriie paused as he looked at him again. "Bad week?" He added with a laugh.

     Hace just sighed as he walked up to the couch and set the extra bag down by the side. He pulled off the backpack and carefully took Ardent out. He set him up in his chair and plopped down on the couch next to him, making Ardent give out a small yip in surprise.

     "It's been a bad something." Hace mumbled.

     "That bad huh?" Iriie had shut the door and sat down on a chair next to the couch.

     "Family."

     "Oh... say no more!" Iriie got up and went into the kitchen.

     "Where's Sand? Did he know that we were coming?" Hace asked as he pulled out a few toys and the book. He set Ardent's seat up in the middle of them. He wondered if Sand was smart enough to understand that they would be there.

     "He was still asleep a bit ago." Iriie now had two cups in front of him and was filling them with something red. "Hold on." He let out a low long whistle.

     From the bedroom came the running of little feet. Sand ran past Ardent but suddenly tried to stop, causing him to slide and smack into the counter that separated the kitchen area. Hace cringed a little at the thudding sound, but Sand seemed to be just fine. He ran up to Ardent and sat next to him. The two started to chirp away like nothing had just happened.

     Hace might have been seeing things, but Sand seemed to be slightly bigger than the last time he saw him. Sand was already quite tall for the age they said he was. Hace wondered if the boys were going to keep growing like other young pups.

     "You look like you need this." Iriie handed him a glass full of firering.

     "Ah... I do need to drive home at some point." Hace said, looking at the dangerous drink.

     "It's only one and it'll be out of your system before you even leave. If it's not, that's a nice couch you're sitting on." Iriie smirked as he pushed the drink into Hace's hand.

     Hace shrugged at that logic and took a gulp of the drink. His eyes popped open, and his body heated to an insane level before quickly going back down to normal. He smacked his lips a few times and looked at the rest of the drink.

     "What level is this?" He asked... more like gasped out.

     Iriie took a larger drink than Hace just had, and a little smoke came out of his mouth. "Six." He smiled.

     "Six?! Are you trying to kill us?" Hace both laughed and was a bit shocked at the same time.

     "What? This stuff is tame compared to what my dad makes."

     "Your dad makes his own firering?" Hace laughed harder as he got up to set the drink on the counter outside of the reach of the Inchoates. "Why am I not surprised?"

     After finishing his drink, Iriie sat down and gave Hace a serious look. "We should probably get what we talked about out of the way so we can enjoy the rest of the day."