Strings of Fate

48- Cartoons and considerations Harrison obviously isn’t buying it, but he doesn’t need to, he just has to cooperate. Which he does. We start to rearrange my living area. Soon the table is up against the bench with the chairs in front of it. Blankets cover everything. The back of the bench has becthe back wall of our fort. The table is the roof and the chairs mark the entryway. We stuff it full of pillows to make it comfy and make sure the charger for my laptop can reach a power point so it won't go flat on us. There aren’t any lights inside the fort other than the laptop, but the lights in the living area are still on which provides a tiny bit of light through the fabric of the thinner blankets. There isn’t a lot of space, but Harrison and | can fit even though we are a little squished together. It's comfortable enough.

We're just starting our second episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog when my phone starts ringing. | ignore it. | don’t want to deal with people right now, whoever it is can wait. As soon as the call goes to messages it starts ringing again. The third tthis happens | cave. | pick up the phone and check the screen. Megan. It's 10:30pm what does she want that’s so urgent? With a sigh, | answer the phone. Harrison pauses the cartoon. He doesn’t even pretend that he isn’t going to listen in to my conversation.

“Megan, what's wrong?” “My brother is going crazy and nothing makes him as crazy as you do. Where are you right. now?” she demands.

Well | guess Aaron did call him then.

“I'm at home.” | answer her honestly, but she can tell that there's more to it than that.

“And?” “And | have a friend over?” Megan groans.

CL “Is this friend a guy?” She questions.

“Yeah...” | trail off. Her groan is even louder this time.

“That explains a lot. You have a guy over in the middle of the night. Wait, who is it? Is he a Shifter?” she asks.

1/4 48- Cartoons and considerations “No.” “Someone from your work? A human?” she continues.

“No, a childhood friend. He's an Incubus.” I admit. She falls silent on the other end for a good thirty seconds.

“You invited an Incubus into your home, alone, in the middle of the night?” she sounds. somewhat horrified. I roll my eyes at the evil grin Harrison is giving me. | don’t think he minds that Incubii have a bad reputation at all, in fact | think he rather enjoys it.

“Yes, | did. He's my friend.” | answer defensively. Megan backtracks quickly.

“Oh, | get it, and it’s fine, great even. But Ryann, you can’t have thought Bellamy would react well to this.” she points out.

“I can’t live my life around what makes Bellamy most comfortable. Besides, he met Harry briefly once before.

We've already had this argument.” Megan sighs.

“I get it Ry, but seriously. You're driving him crazy.” “| seriously doubt that’s the problem. He's probably just annoyed that I'm making it difficult for my guards again since he has deemed himself personally responsible for my safety.” | argue. | can practically feel Megan roll her eyes. She insists that Bellamy cares abouta lot. more than he actually does. But he can’t. Because if he cared he would have cto talk by now. He did the other times we fought. So clearly something has changed.

“And are you safe Ry?” Megan checks. | have to repress a laugh. Harrison snatches the phone from my hands as | cover my mouth to attempt to hide my amusement.

“Hey there, friend of Ryann. | can assure you that Ryann has absolutely nothing to fear from me. You can tell the Alpha kitty cat to stand down. | think we were probably only seven years old when she toldin no uncertain terms that | would never have a chance with her because fate said so. Can't argue with that, now can 1?” | lean in closer so | can hear Megan's reply.

“That does sound like her.” she agrees.

2/4 48- Cartoons and considerations “I know, always unavailable.” He sighs, then smirks. His tone swaps to one of seduction.

“What about you then? Are you available?” | smack him on the arm.

“She isn’t for you Harry. Keep your charm to yourself.” | warn. He shrugs.

“Had to try Ry, backing off now.” | can hear Megan laughing through the phone. | take it back from Harry.

“Sorry about him. Everything is fine here as you can tell. We built a blanket fort and now we're watching cartoons. I'll see you tomorrow for hair and makeup alright?” “Yes definitely! 7:00 am sharp. | can’t believe tomorrow is my wedding!” “Um, yeah. It's definitely cquick. Ill talk to you tomorrow. Bye.” “Seeya!” She hangs up and | lean back against my pillows with a sigh. Bellamy clearly hasn't managed to make much progress in stopping Megan’s wedding. It’s getting entirely too close.

I'm really not sure what to do at this point.

smy “You gonna tellabout it?” Harrison interrupts my contemplation. | hesitate and he rolls his eyes.

“Ry, you invitedover to talk. Obviously, this is what you need to talk about. | haven't been a good friend to you in years. Or a friend at all really. | was mad at you for a while when you started avoiding me, but looking back | can now see it was probably my own fault. It's only in the last year or so that I've realised all the people | was close to before are gone and that | barely even noticed the distance. Running into you was perfect. I've been wanting to get in touch again but had no idea how. It took ages for you to finally messageso whatever this is has to be important. Talk to me.” Unable to avoid it any longer, | start. | tell him everything. About meeting Bellamy about my ties to him and Megan. | tell him about Tristan and Darrien and how Harry looks conting is screwed up. By the tI finish talking I'm crying again.

“What do | do Harry? Everything is so wrong.” Harry crosses his arms over his chest.

“I don’t think you needto tell you what needs to be done. The truth is hard but it's the 3/4 43. Cartoons and considerations only way to clear up this mess. Tell Megan about her ties, let her make the decision about Tristan herself, with all the information. Talk to Bellamy, tell him what you actually think of him. Tell him why you didn’t tell him earlier.

Tell him why you're so scared. Answer any questions be has for you. He's your fate remember? You don’t need to worry about scaring him off because you know it’s got to work out eventually. You are going to have to have a conversation with him eventually. There's no point in delaying it if it's just making you erable. You need to stop sitting around and waiting for fate to do all the work.” | shake my head.

“But it’s wrong to interfere with fate. It never turns out well.” | argue. Harrison sighs.

“Ry, the fact that you know your fate already influences how it is going to turn out. If this fate of yours is so all knowing, surely it can account for the fact that you know about it. It can’t expect you to pretend you know nothing. Even if you do interfere, fate will still cto pass. What are you so worried about? Making things worse? | hate to break it to you, but things are already pretty bad. At this point | think interfering is more of a calculated risk. Something needs to change, so change the only thing you can control. Yourself.” “I'm not sure | can change so easily.” | tell him in a small voice.

“When did | ever say it would be easy? Changing is hard. I've spent the last year trying to change and it is hard Ry. So hard. But look at my reward.” he waves his arms around himself.

“I have you back in my life. Consider this. Is the reward worth it?” His part said, Harrison turns and hits play on the all but forgotten cartoon.