"Did the both of you murder him?" Jaxon asks in apprehension when he bumps into Dia and Renee coming up the third floor.
"I wish." Dia mutters.
"Not yet, Virgil knocked him out." Renee offers with a bright eye smile, helping Dia pull Alex up the last step.
"Jaxie, meet Hayden's father, Alex." She introduces brightly.
"And also my husband." Dia tags on.
Jaxon's eyes go wide at this, the files in his hand clutched close to his chest as he realizes the implications of this. "Oh wow." He looks around desperately. "Where's Virgil?"
"He's coming up, do you have any rope?" Renee asks seriously, tugging on Alex's right leg. "He looks like he's waking up and he gets really aggressive when things don't go his way."
"W-what?" Jaxon splutters, clutching his files tighter.
"Too late, Ren." Dia mumbles with hard eyes, kicking Alex hard on the side of his head when his eyes fluttered open.
Renee doesn't hesitate to join in, Jaxon, lending them a hand by whacking the downed man with his files.
Ian walks in on this and freezes up, surprise in his eyes. "What the fuck?" He mutters under his breath.
The ladies and Jaxon also freeze up, halting up their attacks.
"Aww, Ian, why are you such a spoilsport." Virgil comes up the rest of the stairs. "I was enjoying the show."
"And I'm the schizophrenic one okay so who's the guy?" He nods down at Alex who is out cold again, his shirt shifting at the motion.
"Is that a hickey?" Jaxon narrows his eyes suspiciously.
"Are you telling me who it is?" Ian repeats, his empty expression not shifting.
"He's Dia's husband who's also Hayden's father." Jaxon finally says, his eyes still narrowed.
"Why don't we move this to my office?" Virgil invites, leading the way.
"I'll call up Hayden." Renee says, already bringing out her phone. "He's out with Dream, his half brother wait! This means I'm their step mom!"
"Renee, I don't think it works that way." Jaxon frowns, Ian had been the one to cart Alex to Virgil's office and he was now seated at his usual spot on the couch while Alex was placed in a seat, his head flopping.
"Nonsense, Jaxie." She waves him away. "They're Hayden's half siblings so they're my kids too, ooh I need to call Maggie and daddy, and"
"Hayden?" Jaxon reminds her dryly, Dia chuckling at her excitement.
"Oh yes! One sec" she smiles, dialing him up.
~
Hayden and Dream strolled hand in hand, bags slung over their shoulders as they bypassed other shops and went straight for Starry Outfitters, although Dream protested.
He already had enough of the store and he had only gone there once but he had told Hayden about it, once.
"I can't believe you still even remember." Dream half groans, letting himself be dragged into the flashy place that didn't sit well with him.
"I just want to be the mean, rich friend for once, please Dream, I promise we'll go anywhere else you want, I can even convince Leon and Darian to let us go to Paper District."
Dream makes a face at this, remembering that Leon and Darian had literally called to ask what store they were going to first so they could check the place out.
"Yeah... no, I wouldn't bet on that." He glances at Hayden who is looking at him with hopeful eyes. "But I really want to see you be mean, this might just be worth it, let's go." He agrees.
And that's why they're currently at the front doors of Starry Outfitters, a look of disgust on Dream's face at the pink doors.
The doors open automatically and they both stride in, Dream immediately recognizing Sharon, the snotty clothes attendant that he he bumped into the first time he came here - was this really the place he met Kieran for the first time?
Dream is in front and without recognizing him, she has that ever present look of scorn on her face as she appraises him by his dress choice - it makes him want to just wake up in the morning, dress shabbily and come here to upset her.
"I'm sorry, the thrift store is that way..."
Hayden steps forward at this, anger on his face. "Is this how you treat your customer?" He sasses her and Dream can see the way Sharon's eyes widen, his tiny brain no doubt calculating the amount of Hayden's outfit.
He steps back and watches Hayden tear her down, he has to say, a mad Hayden wasn't bad at all.
"N-no sir, I-I mean..."
"Where's your boss? I'd like to have a couple words with her." Hayden bulldozes tight over her.
"I had no idea he was with you, your assistant perhaps?" She tries to suck up to Hayden.
He flinches at this, sharing a stunned look with Dream. "The nerve of this bitch..." He curses under his breath, swinging his satchel at her, catching her easily on the side of her face.
"Hay..." Dream quickly holds back his friend, uncaring about Sharon who was currently wailing loudly, trying to garner attention, more worried about a pregnant Hayden working himself up.
No one else but Nikka hurries out, looking like she was ready to throw hell, at least until she catches sight of a livid Hayden who looks like he might like to go after Sharon again, the salesgirl, hurrying behind her employer.
At least Nikka has a working head on her shoulders.
"What's going on here..." She starts to rage, recognizing Hayden only to choke and splutter.
"Miss. Clay, these two men came in here and assaulted me..."
Nikka doesn't even let her finish, grabbing her hair to yank her closer. "What the fuck did you do?" She accuses her worker, her eyes wide in a panic.
"W-what... I don't u-understand..." Sharon splutters looking lost.
"Those two men as you rashly described, one of them is the Luna of Crimson Pack, the pregnant Luna, tell me Sharon, do you want to lose your life? Or worse still shut down my fucking store?"
With that she pushes Sharon to the side and hurries forward, terror in her eyes. "I sincerely apologise for whatever my employee did..." Nikka starts to bow furiously, appealing to Dream who was still more or less holding back and angry Hayden.
"I want her to apologize to my younger brother." Hayden bites out at Sharon.
Nikka is quick to get with the program, pulling Sharon over who goes through the apology and bowing routine.
"You know what, Hay, this isn't so bad." Dream smiles.
"Thank you." Nikka bows some more. "You can shop free, whatever you buy, it's on the house."