"Of all the times they could come," Benny threw his hands up in the air. "It just had to be right now. While everything's still shaky and we've only made a tiny bit of progress!"
"You should have ended it while you had a chance," Justin shook his head. "It's only going to go downhill from here."
Benny hated to hear that. As much as he knew that these two were a difficult match, it was nice to see some progress. At least Jasper could somehow cheer Damien up when he was getting yelled at by his parents at the café.
"This is all my fault," Benny sat down on one of the couches, hiding his face. "If I had seen that missing paper in the first place, this would have never happened!"
The missing paper that had somehow dropped out of Damien's file when Benny had first grabbed it, was the most important when looking at his case. It was the red flag of pinning him with anyone, especially someone of the likes of Jasper. If Benny had saw that there was a missing page, and actually found it, he would have spent more time and looked for someone else for this case. Damien should have been a special case all in of himself. He was worthy of someone like Obasi's attention. Obasi was the oldest and most experienced cupid in the department, besides the boss, of course. He specialized in unique cases that took a more gentler or precise touch.
That's who Damien's case belonged to. Not screw-ups like Benny.
"I don't get it," Oliver said. He had come to visit them in the breakroom. His original plan was to deliver a message to Will, but that man had just up and disappeared from the second they got back to the department. "Why are Damien and Jasper a bad match simply because of his parents?"
"Oliver," Benny looked at the cupid. "I can't say I blame you for not knowing how to read that paperwork, being that you're still new and all, but can't you put two and two together?"
"But all your other cases in the past have had family problems," Oliver frowned. "And they've all still made it past. I just don't get why this is the red flag here."
"Because," the blond sighed, rubbing his face in frustration. "It means he's in a specific category that does not fit with Jasper."
"The pink category?" he opened the folder of Damien's just to be sure. "All that means is that he's gay."
"Light pink," Benny corrected him. "Which means that he hasn't officially come out of the closet yet, and is potentially afraid to."
"Which is why I was trying to get you to cancel this the moment that we found this out," Justin looked at Benny. "Do you know how much damage someone like Jasper could do to a case like his? He could make him hate himself!"
"Or he could make him love himself?" Oliver suggested. He knew that he wasn't in a good position to give an opinion, but he couldn't see why this was a bad thing. From what he had seen from the two, it looked like more positive things were coming out of it than negative.
"Jasper's a user," Justin sneered at him. "Trust me, all users like to do is push people around, and as soon as they find your weak spot, they'll use that against you for the rest of your life until you somehow get out of it – or you die."
The room got silent for a second, both Benny and Oliver looking at Justin in shock. It felt like that hit a little too close to home for the anticupid. There was something in those minty eyes that held so much anger and pain, and not for the person that they were talking about. He was lost in another memory, one that they knew nothing about.
"Uh, Justin?" Benny asked. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Justin shook his head, snapping back to reality. "Look, the point I'm trying to make is that you need to find a way to end this, before it gets too bad. As much as I would like to take on Jasper's case myself, I don't want it to be at the cost of Damien."
"But Damien still has the upper hand in the relationship," Oliver said, looking over to the both of them sheepishly. "I might be new, but I can see that. Jasper won't do anything without Damien's permission. And not even his blackmailing attempt worked on Damien."
He was a pretty strong kid, whether he wanted to admit it to himself or not. Oliver liked just how dramatic he was. It seemed like it got heightened whenever he was around people that he was comfortable with. Like he was opening up to all of his friends that he was close to, only speaking his mind to them while he kept his distance from everyone else in the world.
Sure, he might seem a little afraid, especially when it came to his parents, but he could still hold his own. He had proven that at the very beginning.
"Besides," Benny whined. "It's not like Will and I can do anything to put an end to them. I already tried going to the boss about it."
"I can't believe he's willing to wait and see how they play out," Justin shook his head. "This is ten times worse than the last two cases you were on."
They were interrupted from their discussion when two other cupids randomly popped in. One with a classy haircut and a pencil dress, and the other with sunglasses and a cap. The last one looked like he was going to never catch his breath.
"Larry!" Benny went over to their friends. "Are you alright?!"
"Yeah," the man panted, taking off his cap and wiping his forehead. It had been a hot day in that city. He bended down and rested his hands on his knees to better catch his breath. "I'll be alright."
"What happened to you?" Justin asked, just as alarmed and confused as Benny had been.
"The slow and casual college kid aint so slow and casual after all," Larry said. "That guy does more running around than I did when I was in my prime directing movies!"
"More so than Ashley, that's for sure," Suzy said, handing Larry one of her handkerchiefs. "It goes against your original plan for her, doesn't it?"
"Just a little," he stood up, face slowly losing the red flush that it had been. "But I think they could work out still, if they get a little encouragement, of course."
"Who are you two talking about?" Oliver asked as they all took a seat on the sofas and chairs around the room. He hadn't kept up on who Larry was assigned. There were so many cupids in the department that were assigned to so many people in the world that there was no way he would be able to keep track of all of them. He didn't know how his boss did it. Cassandra just had a knack for memorizing things like that. And her and Will still spent quite a lot of time together.
"Jasper's sister," Benny gave him the simple explanation. "I don't know though," he looked back to Larry. "I didn't think that messy-college-boy was her type."
"He is and he's not at the same time," Larry said. "You see, I didn't think he was her type at first either. That's why I originally wanted to put the two together. Ashley's had nothing but successful business type for her past lovers, all of which already had their life sorted out. And Waylon seemed like the perfect down-to-earth fellow to help shake up her life in all the good ways."
"He really knows how to keep a conversation going," Suzy giggled, shaking her head. "Waylon could talk about something as small as a blade of grass, or as grand as the economy of the world, and somehow still keep Ashley interested in the conversation."
"They talked after the café?" Benny asked, ready to distract himself from his own troubles.
"He's going to make a great journalist, I can tell you that," Larry laughed. "I followed him all around town for a few days. The guy was doing everything from working on that newspaper club that him and his brother are the leaders of, to asking people in front of a grocery store whether or not they had heard of trans fat and how bad it affects the body."
"Sounds like someone I'd try and avoid," Justin frowned. "I'm glad you found a potential match, though. Good luck."
"Oh, I'm going to sit on it for a while," Larry said. "When it comes to Closed Heart cases, you have to be absolutely sure that they're going to work out anyway. I'll see how the two of them do a little later on. Now," he clapped his hands together and rubbed them excitedly. "What's going on with Damien and Jasper?"
Benny let his head fall down on one of the throw pillows that was shaped like a heart, groaning out the same frustrations that he had before.
"I'm guessing there's more trouble looming?" Suzy asked.
"We're doomed."
"I object!" A voice came from the other side of the room, making them all look back at the door to the breakroom. With the door still open, and his hands on his hips, the missing link to the group finally appeared with a bright smile on his face and caramel eyes that shined with possibilities.
"Will!" Benny yelled. "Where have you been?! I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what do to here, and you just completely ditched me!"
"I have a plan," Will said, papers and folders loaded his suitcase. He looked like he was going to court with all that he had on him. "One that's going to involve all of you."
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like this?" Justin looked at Will skeptically.
"You will," Will opened his suitcase and pulled out a folder, handing it to him. "You're going to enjoy this very much."
"And what is this?" Justin wasn't sure if he even wanted to open it. He didn't know where Will had disappeared to, but it only made him more suspicious of the crazed cupid.
"Jurgen Klein," Will winked at him. "His wife as well. It's an interesting read. I highly suggest it. It's possibly worthy of your department, even."
"That's not like you to say something like that," Justin leaned in. "Who are you? And what have you done with our Will?"
"I'm with Justin," Benny said. "Why are you suddenly giving Justin the files to Damien's parents anyway?"
"Look at page 25," Will told Justin. "You'll see just what I mean there."
"Just what are you plotting, Will?" Suzy asked. "I don't understand where all of this is coming from."
"That's easy, Suzy," Will said, a twinkle in his eyes. "It's time to do more than just sit around and watch."
Oh no. Benny was waiting for the moment when Will would lose his mind. With all the crazy ideas that he had made and the events that had taken place, it was bound to happen soon. He just wasn't expecting this to be the final push to tip him over.
He could only imagine what this was going to entail.
"Will," Benny tried to reason with him. "This is a Last Chance case. We can't do anything for Damien or Jasper. That's the whole point."
"It would have been," Will told him, already prepared with his rebuttal. "If the boss hadn't already denied us canceling the whole thing."
"He did that because he wanted to see if they would work."
"Exactly," Will pointed towards his partner, even more excited than before. "And, since the boss wants them to work out, why not try to fight against the one element that could tear them apart?"
"Oh, I doubt that Damien's parents could make that much of a difference," Suzy shook her head. "This is just getting out of hand now, Will. If they're going to work out, then we should just let them be and have nature take its course."
"We can't if they don't want to follow nature," Will told her. "Look, we don't have much going here other than the fact that Damien's stubbornness has gotten Jasper to somewhat fall in line. That's enough to determine that Jasper still has a chance, but not enough to figure out if he can completely change."
"I like where you're going with this," Larry leaned in. "What's the plan?"
"The plan is to see if we can show both Damien and Jasper what love could feel like, and see if they want to keep it themselves," Will smirked. "And we're doing it with these." He pulled out some random items from the suitcase. Things like darts with hearts on it and a little teddy bear. It was a bunch of items that cupids had been known for back in the day.
"My babies!" Benny ran towards the box of tiny darts, hugging them as soon as he got ahold of it. "Oh, I missed these things!"
"What is that?" Justin raised an eyebrow at Benny. It wasn't often the guy acted that way towards a box. He was still in disbelief that Will was bringing those items out. They had been banned for all cupids to use ever since the Fate department started raising up a storm about them. The Fate Department were just a tad more powerful than them and of course, they just loved to brag about it whenever they came to visit. It was never a nice visit to say hi, either.
The Fate department had been the ones who even put regulations on the anticupids. That was why they couldn't go after every person who deserved punishment for their love crimes. They always had to keep a balance of good and bad, which of course meant that a lot of bad happened without the anticupids being able to do anything about it.
It was frustrating to say the least. For the cupids, they got annoyed of all of their gadgets and gismos because it could create a false veil of love, or potentially prevent them from meeting the one person that they were fated to do so, whether it be a good thing or a bad thing. It was a fairly new rule put in place, from what Justin had learned.
"Anti-lust darts," Benny answered, pulling out the tiny things. "I made them when I was doing a bunch of Young Love cases. It was the only time I could actually be successful with any of them."
"Anti-lust?" Justin grabbed one of them to inspect it. "I'm surprised that we don't have any of these in our department."
"It definitely came in handy back in the day," Benny chuckled. "I was working on a smoke bomb for it before this stuff got banned."
"Why?" Oliver asked, curiously peaking over at the pile of items that Will had created.
"When you have to deal with high schools and young adults with extremely high levels of testosterone and estrogen, you'll wish you had something like this too," Benny explained. "It was so hard trying to find the right match when these teenagers could only think about physical attraction. It was annoying just trying to get them to realize that one person wasn't a good one for them just because they were a popular kid or just because they were nice to you one time in middle school."
"Long story short: Hormones," Will answered for his partner. "Sometimes lust gets in the way of the love that you could have for someone."
"It might be good for Jasper," Benny said, his blue and pink eyes swirled together, ignited by a new kind of excitement. "It's only temporary, but it could be a good idea for a night or so."
"I was thinking this one, actually," Will said, picking up a little teddy bear. They were a common tool used by cupids back in the day. Everyone knew them as 'Cuddle Bears'. One night with them, and two people that weren't normally that close to each other could wind up curled up under the covers, happily holding each other. It was a great way to get something started at least.
"Where did you even find all of this, Will?" Suzy asked, poking her way through some of the things that were strewn on the table. "I thought these were confiscated from everyone and locked up a long time ago."
"They were," Will said. "This is just my personal stash."
"I still don't think it's a good idea to keep on trying with Jasper and Damien," Justin warned Will. "With all of this, it's only going to make the breakup worse."
"We gotta give it a shot at least, Justin," Will pleaded with him. "And I do still need your help."
"With the parents?" Justin asked. "Or with all of this?" He gestured at all that was on the table. "Because if someone walks in here and sees all of this, you're going to get in trouble again."
"This is nothing but an easy cleanup," Will said. With the snap of his fingers, everything was back in the suitcase, the top closing shut with a small click. "Did you finish reading that page yet?"
"I did," he answered. It was horrible what they had done, and the drama that it became. It seemed like that was the start to many issues in that family. It also made sense that Damien would want to move as far away as possible from them.
"And?"
"And," Justin sighed. "They're assholes. But they aren't assigned to the anticupid department."
"They technically aren't assigned to ours either," Will gave him a playful smile.
"I could get in trouble for starting something without permission."
"It's up to you," he told him. "I just would have thought that you of all people would have been interested in getting some justice."
"What does the page say?" Benny grabbed the file. His eyes read through it faster than he ever thought possible before they got wide with fright. "Oh, this isn't good."
"It explains why Damien's afraid to fully come out," Justin frowned. Will was putting him in a hard spot. He was technically on a short vacation at the moment after finishing up one of his larger missions just a while ago. But that didn't mean that he could go and just take files and deal with them how he saw fit. There were rules and regulations to everything.
But on the other hand, if he didn't do anything, then they might cause more issues for Damien than Jasper had been.
"Come on, Justin," Will gave him a confident look. "What's the point of your profession if you don't seek out your own justice?"
"Fine," he gave in, too curious about how this was going to play out. "Where are we starting with this?"
"Easy," Will pulled out a cute little bear. "Phase one is Jasper and the dorms."
"There are phases?" Benny asked. "Just how much of this have you thought out?"
"Quite a lot, actually," Will said, walking them all out of the breakroom. "It's time for the cupids to fight back."
Author's Note: Hi guys! I'm a day late with the updates, but I'm here now and that's all that matters. One of my new ideas for this story was to have the cupids in action a little more rather than sitting on the sidelines. And, of course, it had to be Will's idea. Will has all the crazy ideas when it comes to the group, lol. I absolutely love him for it.
Also, I had fun adding a little hint at Justin's background. He's been through quite a lot when he was mortal, but I'm not sure just how much detail I'm going to get into of his in this story. There's a specific story in this series that I was really thinking of bringing his background out a little more, so I just might hold back on that.
With that being said, I hope you all liked this chapter! Thanks for all the votes and comments and I'll see you all soon!
-Saturn