TRP: Gavi and Hansel (Amends)

**Abby:**

 [Setting: Reception Night. Post Blessing.]

They had a real pretty lake here at the castle. Real pretty.
Gavi was gonna go for a swim.

She'd left Griffin bawling on his new husband's shoulder- so
sweet that kid, Gavi loved him so much- and wandered off to were there was less
folks. Less folks meant less folks that was mad at her. Weren't getting in no
fights on Griffin's wedding day- well, no she wasn't starting no fights. No
other fights. Point was just- no more fights.

Swimming was fun. Help her- cool down a little. Hot under
all that armor. Gavi pulled off bits and pieces as she made her way over. Took
a deep breath, stretching out, and then ran and jumped. The water was just the
right cool-but-not-freezing.

And, as she surface, Gavi noticed she wasn't alone. Hansel
was hanging around too. Maybe she should act like she didn't see him? Nah. Gavi
grinned, waving at him. "Hey!" she called. "Whatcha doing over
there all on your lonesome?"

**Izzy:**

 Hansel mulled over the fact that seeing Raef and Griffin
holding onto each other, sniffling, made him almost bust into tears himself,
and decided maybe he needed to go sit somewhere quiet and calm the fuck down.

He had no goddamn clue where his own husband had gotten to
-- probably up a tree, or something, if not passed out on Joan, still -- god,
he loved Joan, and he loved that those two were friends, that was fucking great
-- so he slipped away by himself to go stare at the lake. Lakes were good.
Calm, and all. He was gonna focus on being a fucking lake.

And he was so fucking focused that he didn't notice anyone
else was around until she crashed into the water, and then it wasn't goddamn
calm at all, anymore. Fuckin' Gavi. He wiped the droplets from her cannonball off
his face. Fuckin' Gavi. He wasn't gonna start shit. He was under strict orders
from his sober self to not start shit.

"Fuckin' ... sitting down." Yeah. That was what he
was doing.

**Abby:**

 "Y'know it's a lot more fun in the water," Gavi
teased. For good measure she splashed at Hansel too. (The nugget of common
sense she currently had told her maybe provoking Hansel wasn't the best idea.
Gavi ignored it.) "C'mon," she called, gesturing for him to come in.
"I only bite if you ask for it."

**Izzy:**

 He scowled fiercely, leaning away from the splash.
"Fuck off."

**Abby:**

 Gavi stopped for a second. This weren't working so well.
"Hey uh. You're still pretty mad about the-" she made a cracking
noise and bent a couple of her fingers. "Ain't cha?"

**Izzy:**

 He glared at her, then thought maybe the glare wouldn't
carry that far, and flipped her off.

**Abby:**

 Yep. Pretty much exactly what she expected. "Yeah,
sorry about that," she said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.
"I kinda had a- freak out a bit. Y'know, Griffin's my nephew, I wanted to
make sure he was safe and all and- panicked a little." She glanced off
towards where she'd last seen Griffin. He was out of sight now, but she still
knew. "Seems like it was for nothing," she said softly.

**Izzy:**

 He kept glaring, more vaguely. "Yeah, well." Well.
Well, he would've done the same fucking thing, if he'd thought Luci or Roddy or
Jonn were in danger. And -- actually he'd kinda fuckin' freaked out over it
being Griffin, and he barely knew the kid. "Well. Well, still fuck you,
but all right, yeah, fair."

**Abby:**

 Hey. All good then. "Hey, if you insist," she
teased, grinning and waggling her eyebrows at Hansel.

**Izzy:**

 "You fuckin' ..." He gestured at her wildly and
vaguely. "Fuck off. With that shit. I'm fuckin' ... married and
shit." Granted, that wasn't why. Fuck, she knew he had a boyfriend,
though. That was the one thing she knew about him. "Fuck off,
though."

**Abby:**

 Gavi laughed, holding up her hands. "Aright, aright.
I'll behave." Even if Hansel wasn't interested, Gavi still liked having
friends, and 'sides, other then Griffin, he seemed to be the only other orc
around. "Hey. You gonna snap my neck if I come over there where we don't
have to yell?"

**Izzy:**

 He grumbled. "Nah. Fuckin' ... ruin Raef's wedding
night an' shit. Nah."

**Abby:**

 Good enough then. Gavi slogged over and settled down next to
him, wringing the water out of her clothes. "Your Raef's buddy then,"
she said. "Saw you up there. Looking important. Never been to a wedding
that weren't orc-style so," she shrugged, "didn't 'xactly know what
was going on."

**Izzy:**

 "Man, I fuckin' didn't, either," he admitted
grudgingly, shifting away from her a bit to try to stay dry. "It was
fuckin' ... heartwarming, though."

**Abby:**

 "Yeah," Gavi said. And for most of it she'd been
sulking in the back, feeling half-guilty for not trying to stop it.

Eh, she'd done what she could to make up for it.
"Hey," she said, punching Hansel's arm lightly. "Your boyfriend
sure had an interesting speech. Such a little weirdo. I see why you like
him."

**Izzy:**

 "Yeah." Hansel couldn't stop himself from sounding
pleased and vaguely proud at the mention. It had been a good speech. Fucking
sad and strange at first, and then real goddamn good. "Yeah, he's fuckin'
strange 'n great. Love him so fuckin' much."

Wait. No. He was a lake. He was here to calm down, not get
all emotional about how much he loved his boyfriend. Fuck, now he was thinking
about Mishka, too. Shit. Fuckin' Gavi.

**Abby:**

 "Yeah. You think he'll talk to me again?" Gavi
asked, setting her hands behind her and leaning back. Goro was an entertaining
little weirdo. If she was getting back along with Hansel, then maybe Goro'd
give her a second chance too. Yeah. Gavi loved weddings.

**Izzy:**

 "Eh, fuckin' prob'ly." He was pretty sure Goro
hadn't really blamed her for the finger breaking thing, before. "Mean, he
didn't let me kill you, and all."

**Abby:**

 "Awesome," Gavi said. "Y'know that might be
my favorite thing about weddings," she said, looping an arm around Hansel's
neck. "The way they bring folks together."

**Izzy:**

 He knocked her hand away, grumbling more. "Don't
fuckin' push it. I'm still gonna be pissed at you when I'm fuckin' sober."

**Abby:**

 "Honey I turn pushing it into an art form," Gavi
declared, grinning. And for good measure, pushed Hansel a little too.

**Izzy:**

 He pushed her back, considering lobbing her into the lake,
but deciding not to. "Y'know, I fuckin' noticed that about you."

**Abby:**

 "Smart and good lookin'," Gavi said approvingly.
And then belatedly remembered. "Right. I was gonna cut that out."

**Izzy:**

 "Y'know, I just fuckin' thought to myself, I should
throw her in the goddamn lake, and then I went, no, Hansel, don't do that. I
fuckin' ... regret everything."

**Abby:**

 Gavi cackled, punching Hansel's arm again. "What you
wimp out? Fraid of throwing your back out?" she taunted, grinning.

**Izzy:**

 Hansel pressed his hands together in front of his lips
thoughtfully. "Would be worth it if I did."

**Abby:**

 Gavi snorted. Hey wait. "Hey, Hansel," she said.
"You go first." And then she shoved him hard as she could. Almost
sent herself in too, bad angle, but at the end of it she was sitting on shore,
cackling, and Hansel was in the lake.

**Izzy:**

 Hansel tumbled into the water, managing to catch a breath,
first, because he'd done a fucking lot of falling into water in his time, and
let himself sink down. Fucking cold. He stayed there, though. Just to see
what'd happen.

**Abby:**

 Gavi relaxed for a moment. Give Hansel a chance to see how
nice the water was. Except he wasn't coming up. She stood up, frowning down at
where Hansel'd gone down. Couldn't see him. Huh. Maybe she better go check on
him. "Hansel!" she yelled. Course he probably couldn't hear her. She
shrugged and jumped in, ducking under to see if she could spot him.

**Izzy:**

 He saw her plunge under, and while the bubbles would still
have her blinded, he backstroked away from her, going deeper, where the water
was darker. He bumped into the dock and grabbed onto the post, shifting around
behind it -- wasn't near big enough to hide him, but it'd obscure him.

**Abby:**

 Huh. Wasn't down there. Where'd he go? If he couldn't swim
he just woulda sank. Maybe she could lure him out. Gavi kicked up to the
surface, treading water. He'd threatened to throw her in, maybe he'd take the
chance to dunk her.

**Izzy:**

 Hansel peered up, watching her resurface. Hah. Bet she was
looking around for him again. Fuckin' showed her. He pushed away from the dock
to swim as far as he could under the water, keep her from spotting him come up
for air, staying deep to keep her from noticing any ripples. Fucking stealth,
that was what Hansel Granger was known for.

(It wasn't, but he was real fucking good at holding his
breath a long time and swimming.)

He broke the surface on the other side of the lake and
gulped air, dragging himself onto the shore and shivering, shaking off the
cold. He was kind of sober, now, after that shit. Fuck that. He wandered off to
fix that problem.

[END]

Title: Amends. Summary: At the reception, Gavi apologizes to
Hansel for breaking Goro's fingers, explaining that she was worried for
Griffin. He's forced to concede that he probably would've done the same thing,
but he's not happy about it. Bickering occurs and he makes his escape.