Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Angel was packing his things. He didn’t have a bag big enough to take everything so he took what he thought would be the most important. Clothes, a few pictures, a stuffed animal Huxley had gifted him a week ago, his favorite shoes, and the multiple necklaces his moms had gifted him a few years back. He knew that everything else he would be leaving behind could be easily replaced.

Well.

Almost everything.

He couldn’t replace his brother, or his moms. And he knew that. He hoped that they would understand his decision, or rather the decision Michael made for the both of them. Angel believed Michael’s words, telling him that they needed to go somewhere else if they wanted a better future for each other.

And who was Angel to refuse him?

Once Angel finished packing his things, he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a note for Huxley. He wanted to write one for his moms too but Michael had called him telling him it was time to go before he could. He placed the note on his bed and started walking out the room. On his way out he accidentally knocked a book down, making him walk out the room faster before Huxley woke up.

Once he got downstairs, he grabbed his coat and walked out the door to Michaels car.

“Did you get everything you need?” Michael asked, helping Angel put his bag into the trunk of his car.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to go to dahlia!” Angel walked to the passenger seat of the car and got in while Michael started up his car.

When they started to pull off, Angel could have sworn he heard Huxley calling out his name, but he was easily distracted when Michael asked him to turn on the radio so they could listen to something on their way to their new home.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Huxley woke up. He had heard a noise coming from his brother's side of the room. When he turned over to look his brother wasn’t there, but in his place was a note. He stretched and walked over to read it. It was around 12, and Huxley knew his brother had a tendency to wake up with the inability to fall asleep again

He liked that Angel left him notes so that he wouldn’t worry about them too much.

Once he got to the bed he picked up the note. He had thought it would be a note saying they were downstairs, playing on their Nintendo DS because they couldn't sleep again, or getting some late night munchies. They liked to leave notes so he wouldn’t worry that they weren’t in the room, and he in return did the same when it was him. But the note wasn’t what he was expecting to read.

“𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘏𝘶𝘹𝘭𝘦𝘺,
𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺.
𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭, 𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.
𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.
𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦,
𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭”

He couldn’t believe what he had just read.

He never liked Michael. In fact, Michael was the reason Angel became distant from him and their moms. Michael was about the only person that Huxley could proudly say he hated.

Constantly making him feel bad for hanging out with his family instead of him.

Constantly making his brother believe that they were talking about him behind his back. He was the reason his brother grew so distant from him and their moms.

He didn't automatically going to hating people he didn’t like at all, but knowing that he's got so far into his brother's head to convince him to run away for a “Better future” made his blood boil.

He heard the door open downstairs and he ran. He ran to try and convince him to stay, to make him change their mind. But when he got downstairs he was already pulling off in Michaels car. He screamed at the car to wait, calling out Angels name but the car never stopped.

He stared at the car as it disappeared down the road.

He wanted to cry. He wanted his brother to come back, but he knew he wouldn’t. Michael would make sure of that.

The tears came before he could stop them, and soon he was sitting on the floor crying. His moms found him like that, comforting him before asking him what happened. When he explained to them that his brother was gone they asked where he went.

“I don’t know.”

“What?” Diana questioned. She thought he would know, Angel told Huxley more things than he told his moms.

“I-i don’t know mama, he’s gone. He ran off with Michael and I don’t know where they went.” Huxley started. “He left a note on his bed, he said he might not come back.” He handed the note to his mother, Anna, as he continued to weep. Diana tried her best to comfort him and reassure him that his brother would come home. She was doubting what she said though. She didn’t like lying to her son, but she wanted to make him feel better.

She saw how her son was when he was with Michael, a wall formed between them a while after they started dating. She would constantly question Angel choice of a boyfriend but Angel would constantly brush it off saying, “I could change him” and “He’s changing”. Diana knew that all of what Angel was saying was a lie, but stopped questioning him after seeing that he wouldn’t listen or even consider what she was saying.

Anna gasped and started to tear up too, handing the note to Diana and pulling Huxley into a hug, rubbing his back. Huxley clung to her, sobbing into her shoulder. When Diana finished reading the note, she automatically went to comfort her wife and son. Diana couldn’t believe Michael got that far into Angels head. None of them had expected this to happen, they didn’t even think anything like this could happen ever.

But the truth was there.

Angel was gone.

And there was no guarantee of him coming back.

After that night nothing was the same.

Chapter Text

Two years passed.

Huxley was moving out to dahlia to attend D.A.M.N and get a better understanding of magic besides his own and his moms. He hadn’t seen his brother since the day he left. He spent many birthdays wondering if he would come back, and many days hoping that they were okay.

“Hey Hux, you okay?”

Jolting slightly, Huxley turned around to his mother(Diana) standing behind him. “Yeah ma, just a little nervous” he said, rubbing the back of his head. He wasn’t used to leaving home, but he was sure he would settle in dahlia once he got comfortable. “It’s okay to be nervous Hux, just make sure you call us once you get to dahlia. Oh! And don’t forget to bring this.” Diana holds out a stuffed animal. The stuffed animal Angel had given to Huxley a few weeks before they left.

Huxley took the stuffed animal and put it in his bag. “Thanks ma, where's mama?”

“Right here Hux!” Anna exclaimed, rushing downstairs in her pink floral dress. “Make sure you call us when you get there, and make sure you don't forget anything before you leave. Oh, and make sure you text if you ever have to stop at a gas station or anything. And don’t forget-”

“Alright mama, I got it” Huxley laughed, hugging his moms. He picked up his bag and gave his moms a kiss on the cheek before walking out the door and putting his things in his truck. Once he got everything in his truck he got in and started the engine. He gave his moms one final wave goodbye before pulling off and heading to dahlia to start something new.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

“How many times do I have to tell you Michael, this isn’t helping us get to the future we want! And I'm starting to think you never even wanted to start a future with me, you just wanted to get me away from my family!” Angel screamed. It’s been two years since he left and Michael has been doing nothing to make the future they wanted come anytime soon, or at all. “You just need to be patient! I can’t do this for you because you constantly hold me back!” Michael exclaimed, standing up from where he was sitting. He was taller than Angel, by a few inches, but he still knew that Angel couldn’t fight him even if they wanted to. And he used that to his advantage.

“If you would stop bitching all the damn time then maybe what you and I wanted would be our reality. But it isn’t! And you only have yourself to blame!”

“Well if my bitching is holding you back then I want to break up. You aren’t trying to get to our goal, you are just telling me lies so that you can keep me away from the people I love. And you know what Michael? I’m done! I want you out of my apartment in the next few hours or…” He paused. “Or you don’t wanna know what will happen.”

“Fine Angel, but when you regret this later on don’t come running back to me” Michael said as he walked to their shared bedroom to pack his things.

Angel sat down on the couch, wondering if he was making the right decision. He left his entire life behind just to be with Michael. He left his family, his friends just to be here. He was starting to regret leaving. Regret listening to Michael. Regret meeting Michael in the first place.

Michael walked out the room with a suitcase, staring at Angel before throwing his keys onto the coffee table and walking out the door. When the door slammed shut, Angel let the tears fall. He left everyone behind for someone who wasn’t worth that.

He wanted to go back in time and reverse all of this. Live happily with his moms and his brother, but he knew he couldn’t.

And soon, Angel was sobbing on the couch. He had no way of contacting Huxley or his moms because Michael deleted all of his contacts but his and Angel was sure their numbers had changed by now.

The next few weeks for Angel were absolute hell. He knew that breaking up with Michael shouldn’t have affected him this much but it did.

He needed a break.

Angel decided to go out and walk around. He put on a hoodie and some jeans before walking to the front door and putting on a pair of converse and walking out to his car. The mall was always his go to place to calm his head.

Who knew that some really tall guy would accuse him of stalking?

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

“Yes ma I’m here, I just got into my apartment.”

..

“No, there were no troubles on the way here”

..

“Ok I'll talk to you tomorrow, bye ma, bye mama!”

Huxley hung up and looked around his new apartment. It was a fairly decent size, one bedroom, a bathroom and a decent size kitchen and living room.

It was plain so far, most of his furniture wouldn’t be there for a few hours so there wasn’t really anything he could set up at the moment, but he started to open boxes so he wouldn’t have to later.

Each box had different labels for each. He was happy the truck was able to carry most of the things he wanted in boxes, while the rest were on the way with the rest of his furniture. His clothes and hangers were something he could put away, so that’s where he started.

He put all of his clothes in a colored order. Most of his clothes were green because that was his favorite color, but he did have clothes that were not that color. He put everything green on one side of the closet while the rest went on the other side. Once he finished hanging up everything he decided to go through the other boxes to see if there was anything else he needed to put away.

He came across the box full of food and decided that was next.

He refused to take anything that would need to be refrigerated or put in the freezer in fear that it would go bad, so he only brought things that could be put in cabinets.

After he finished unpacking everything he could unpack, he decided to take a walk outside. He had gotten to dahlia pretty early so it was around 12 in the afternoon by the time he decided to leave.

It’s a good idea to explore the place you’ll be living at for a while.

Huxley had fully planned to go back home when he graduated from D.A.M.N but who knows. Maybe he will find someone who will make him want to stay here.

He put on his shoes and headed outside. He hadn’t really taken a look at the place he was going to be living at when he first arrived, wanting to get everything inside before he decided to take a look around. The truck with all of his furniture wouldn’t be there until 3 so he had plenty of time to take a look around.

He walked down the street, taking in the scenery. A convenient store, a flower shop, and a school further down the street. There was a lot of open area here, a lot of places he could see himself hanging out to relieve the stress of a school day, or hang out with potential friends.

He was going to like it here.

He decided to make a quick stop at the 7-Eleven. When he got inside he went straight to the back to get a big gulp. He didn’t drink them often but he thought he should get one while he’s in the area. There was a man standing there though, like he was waiting for someone. Huxley didn’t want to disturb him so he just continued on with grabbing the big gulp cup and filling it up.

“Um, sorry to bother you sir, b-but have you seen a guy here anywhere?” The man asked. Huxley stopped putting the lid on his cup to turn around and look at the man in front of him.

“What does he look like?”

“H-He’s around uhm, 5’11. Pink hair with uh pointed ears. H-he’s wearing pink and he has dark skin?” The man explained gesturing his words with his hands. Huxley thought back to when he first started walking over to the 7-Eleven.

Had he seen a man with the description?

He kept thinking before realizing he hadn’t.

“Sorry man I haven’t, but I hope you find him, is he a friend or-?”

“A friend! Yes! J-just a friend haha..” The man exclaimed, blushing profusely. Huxley noticed the change in tone and the way his face turned bright red, but didn’t want to question him. He didn’t know the guy after all and it wasn’t really any of his business.

“M-my name is Lasko by the way, w-what’s yours?”

“My names Huxley, nice to meet you man. And I hope your friend shows up soon.”

“Y-yeah.. Well you don’t have to wait here with me or anything. N-not that I’m saying you were going to! I just don’t want to hold you back from whatever you were going to do, a-and I can just wait here haha!”

“Nah man your good, I’ll see you around Lasko!” Huxley called out as he walked to the cash register.

After that encounter, Huxley was sure he would be just fine. Maybe Lasko could be a new friend.

He should have asked for his phone number. Maybe Lasko could help him learn more about dahlia, but it was too late to go back and ask. He was sure Laskos friend got there already.

He spent the rest of the day unpacking, and moving furniture around once the truck arrived. He would go out and buy some plants tomorrow but for now he just wanted to rest. It was around 7 by the time he finished putting everything away, so Huxley took a shower and put on a pair of briefs before settling down into bed.

He wouldn’t start school for another week so he had time to settle in.

It was going to be a good year, and maybe more.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Angel did not expect his day to go the way that it did. He got the number of a cute guy, went on a date with said guy, and his day was better than it had been the past few weeks.

He texted David about their next “date” to which he replied by saying they hadn’t even gone on a date yet.

It made Angel giggle. He felt like David could be the person he spent the rest of his life with, but he didn't want to get too ahead of himself. He texted David for a while before David texted him saying he had to go to sleep for the night, having to work early in the morning.

Angel also had to work early so he told David goodnight and decided to take a shower and go to sleep.

When he woke up the next day it was 6 in the morning. He liked to wake up a little earlier on work days so that he could have a bit of time for himself before having to get ready for work.

For the first time in weeks, he was actually happy going into work. His day was more productive and he felt better with himself when he got off of work.

He had been texting David throughout the day, both of them talking about how their days were currently going. He had asked if David wanted to go on another date that weekend.

David agreed and Angel felt butterflies in their stomach. Despite his rough exterior, Angel was sure there was something hiding underneath it. He thought back to when he said that about Michael and it turned into something he wasn’t expecting.

No.

He wasn’t going to do that to David, maybe he was different and there was something to change in him, plus he was extremely attractive.

Angel let himself relax as he walked to his car.

He drove home, feeling better than ever.

There was definitely something good coming to him in the near future, he just knew it.

Chapter Text

3 years later…

Today was a special day for Angel. He was meeting up with a friend from highschool, and he saw it as an opportunity to potentially get back in contact with his family.

He was going to ask them if they were still in contact with Huxley, and possibly get his number to try and talk to him. He was so excited that he was practically jumping up and down. He had little doubt that Huxley would turn him away, but if he did, Angel would understand.

Angel didn’t think that would happen though.

The excitement Angel felt transferred to David as he sat on the edge of the bed while Angel found an outfit to wear.

He was giving his mate advice for each part of his outfit. The parts he thought would match and the ones he thought wouldn’t match. It was something the both of them enjoyed doing together while the one of them was choosing an outfit.
Angel however, seems to take pleasure in making mitch match outfits for David, making him choose his own outfits in the end.

“Should I wear the blue tie or the pink one?” He said turning around holding out two ties. The blue tie had a tuxedo sam pattern, and the pink one had My melody. David wouldn’t have known anything about either characters if it wasn’t for Angels large collection of Sanrio merch and his extensive knowledge on each character.

“The blue one fits the rest of your outfit more.” David observed. “The pink one would just look out of place considering you aren’t wearing anything pink.” Which was true, all he was wearing was blue, white and denim.

“That’s a good point, I’ll go with the blue one then”

While Angel was putting the tie on, David got up from the edge of the bed to grab his mates shoes out of their shared closet. That was the last thing his outfit needed and David wanted to be the one to choose the final part of his outfit in full. He pulled out a pair of light blue moon boots to go with the theme of his mates light blue outfit.

“My love, can you help me with this tie?” Angel asked, holding the tie out for David to grab.
David places his mate's shoes down and walks over to Angel to help with his tie. “I’ve taught you how to tie this before, Angel. I’m starting to think you are doing this because you like watching me do it for you.”

Angel gasped dramatically, putting a hand to his chest and looking away from David. “How could you accuse me of such things! I simply forget how to tie a tie every time I need to.”

“Oh well forgive me for assuming you have the memory of a goldfish.”

“Is that how you feel David?” Angel remarked with a smirk. “I may have the memory of a goldfish but you, my loving davey.” He paused dramatically.

“Have the ass of a planet”

“Really? That has nothing to do with what I just said.”

“But it’s true.”

David snorted, “Be quiet you snot.”

Angel giggled, thanking David for tying his tie before giving him a kiss and grabbing the shoes David had put down in the closet.
“These are the shoes you want me to wear?” He asked, holding them up.

“Yea, they look best with the rest of your outfit, and I know if you picked, you would give me the option of two pairs of shoes that didn’t match your outfit in the slightest.”

“You know me so well, thank you love.”

Kissing his cheek and putting his shoes on, Angel and David continued talking for another 5 minutes before Angel announced that he had to go.

David gave Angel a kiss on the lips before wishing him good luck.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Everything went how Angel wanted it to. He caught up with an old friend, gossiped about people they both knew in high school.

And lastly, they got Huxleys number, the thing they wanted most from this meetup, and his friend knew that.

“That’s great news Angel. I’m sure he will be excited to hear from you again.”

“Thank you Davey, I..really needed to hear that. I’ve had a slight doubt that he would want to hear from me, considering the circumstances I left in.”

David stroked Angels hair. “I promise you, from what you’ve been saying about him, he will be delighted to hear from you again.”

“Thank you Davey, so much.”

He was elated that they were still in contact with Huxley. The only downside to having his number now is trying to convince him that he was his brother and have him agree to meeting up at a park or somewhere in nature.

He knew Huxley loved nature, as did he, and he wanted the environment to be somewhere Huxley would be peaceful at.

He decided that he would text Huxley in the morning, and since it was a Saturday they could probably meet up that same day.

That Saturday morning, Angel and David got into their usual routine.

David made the both of them breakfast before they both sat on the couch to watch the morning's news.

“Do you think it’s the right time to do this Davey?”

“You said yourself he gets up early to go on morning runs, I don’t think it’s too early to text him Angel.”

“I’ll be back”

And with a kiss on the cheek, Angel left to go to his and David’s shared office. He sat at his desk and pulled out his phone.

He clicked on Huxleys contact before hitting the message button.

“Hey Hux, this is Angel! I know I haven’t seen or talked to u in a while…and by a while I mean years. I hope you are doing well and are happy. I’m not even sure if u want to hear from me, so feel free to tell me to leave u alone if u don’t want anything to do with me. But I rlly want to see u again. I know that I hurt u by leaving when we were 18 and I want to say I’m sorry for doing what I did. I’m no longer w/ Michael, i’m with a new man and he is the best thing that has ever happened to me in a romantic relationship since my last 2. If u ever have the time today, please respond even if its to tell me u want nothing to do with me. I hope that I can see u again. I’m living in dhalia too, and I have been since I left with Michael, and I heard that u live here too. -<3 Angel”

When he hit send, he stared at his phone screen.

He didn’t expect a response so fast.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

“Thanks for coming on this run with me dames.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Hux. You know I always go with you, unless I have things to do.”

Huxley snorted, “I like to thank you anyways.”

Damien walked to the fridge in the kitchen to grab a few water bottles. The ones they had been drinking when they were on the run were nearly empty by the time they got back home. Huxley was going to sit on one of the kitchen stools before his phone buzzed in his pocket.

He pulled his phone out to check his notifications. It was a message from an Unknown number.

He wouldn’t normally open random messages, knowing scammers could use messages as a way to get into his phone, but this message was different. The only reason he opened it was because of the first few words of the message.

It was from his brother.

He opened the text fast and read through it. He hadn’t expected to hear from his brother at all since they left, but to see this message made him feel like he was in a dream.

Damien had grabbed the bottles of water and saw Huxley staring at his phone in disbelief.

“You okay Hux?” Damien asked, placing the water bottles on the island in the kitchen.

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay just…I need to make a phone call”

And with that Huxley left the kitchen to go to his and Damien's room. Damien stared in Huxley's direction in confusion, but didn’t follow after him, instead opting to open one of the water bottles and settling in the living room to watch the morning news.

Huxley walked into his bedroom.
He hit the call button for the number that had texted him. He hoped that this wasn’t some kind of dumb prank. He hadn’t seen or heard from his brother in years, so to get a text from him after so long had him near tears.

As his phone kept ringing, he thought the person on the other side of the call wouldn’t pick up. He sat there for what felt like hours before a voice hit his ear.

“Hello?”