The cafe was decorated in a cutesy style, seeming meant to draw forth the young and impressionable with the way vines and flowers crawled along the bricks outside.
Colorful lanterns hung in the windows, giving it a glowing vibe of comfort and ease as he stepped through the door.
The booths and tables catered more to a black and grey theme, as though to offset all the natural colors that glittered on the edges. Arlan was already seated, parked at a nondescript booth in the back corner, discreetly waving with his hand in a come hither beckon.
Luan rolled his eyes, going straight there and bypassing any sort of purchase at the front counter that still held many customers, even at this late hour.
He raised a brow as he came to stand in front of the shorter alpha. Arlans glowered in response before sitting back with a huff and motioning to the seating across from his own.
Luan only sat because he wanted some answers, not because the man practically told him to. He was not a pushover, especially with a man like Arlan.
There were a couple moments of silence, neither seeming ready to share more than the other already knew. It was a bit agonizing, and Luan was this close to throwing the table at the coward seated in front of him. Just as his fingers found the edge in an annoyed clenching grip, a young beta waitress scampered over. Without a word or glance, she placed two cups of brown liquid in front of them, steaming and covered with whipped cream. She folded the tray to her chest as she quickly retreated, steps hurried and light, as if one of them might try to steal a limb or two if she didn't go fast.
Luan raised a brow at her retreating form, aiming it at Arlan as he heard a scratched throat clear itself in an attempt to draw attention. Real mature.
"So…. What exactly happened tonight?" Luan was more than surprised to receive such a question from the man who had promised answers.
"I thought you said you'd be the one explaining here." He didn't care to be polite, Arlan was being way too cryptic with his floundering search of how much Luan was aware of.
Arlan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he clenched his eyes shut. He was starting to look a bit haggard, surprising since he was always so put together at any other moment of their lives.
"I just… I don't want you to get more than you're prepared to handle. Tonight has been….. alot. " Arlan always acted so in control, even as he glowered and seethed at every passing soul that might try to strike up a connection. So, for him to act like he had just seen the end of the world on the edge of the morni g, was an oddity in and of itself.
Luan glanced down, taking in the frothy white of sugary drink in front of him. Taking a tentative sip, he found it to be a browned flavor he was all too familiar with. Hot chocolate slipped down his throat in a soothing warm of flavor and heat. The cream that lingered on his lips was quickly enveloped by his tongue, cooling the heat with its whipped milky taste.
Luan sighed at the deliciousness of the drink before setting it down and looking back at the man that had bags under his eyes and a tremor in his hands. When Arlan saw his eyes on his hands, he quickly reached for his own drink, taking a sip and physically forcing himself to relax into the leathery cushion on the back of the booth.
"I overheard a strange conversation earlier. I was trying to find, since you seemed so adamant about talking, yet instead, I found you planning something strange with a shady character." Luan made sure to maintain hard eye contact as he spoke, watching for any sign of deceit as Arlan took in his words.
There was a bit of surprise, as though he had thought it impossible for anyone to be around when they planned shady things in the building, hosting a crowded party just down the hall.
His eyes scrunched as he hid his face in the mug he held, glancing across the room as he thought.
"I wasn't planning anything, Luan. I was just… trying to send out a warning, I suppose." His fingers clenched, making brief eye contact before darting towards the entrance.
Luan would think someone had actually entered that drew attention, except Arlan was the only one in the room looking that way. Trying to deflect attention, no doubt.
"A warning about what, exactly?" Luan asked, leaning forward a bit as he tried to catch those jittery eyes. Arlan was really on one tonight. Not like he'd been poisoned with an unassuming pastry that was meant to create joy and delicious flavor.
Arlan looked back at him, noting the brusque attitude and domineering stance of the omega in front of him. His alpha instincts came to the front, eyes narrowing as he focused on his brother.
For a minute, the silence was filled with the fight of dominance between the two. Luan looked away, not wanting to ruin his chances at getting some quality information while he could. The huff of air, as though he actually won something, was a grating to Luans nerves, but he let it slide, if just barely.
"I heard that there was going to be a culling tonight. Don't ask how, I can't say names. I knew a few people on the list, people that needed to live, so I snagged one of them and had the word spread that they needed to make themselves scarce before it happened." It was a simple, vague explanation that left Luan wanting in the worst ways. Arlan was such a brat sometimes.
'A culling, you say?" Luan drawled, face falling into deadpan exasperation as he rested his head on his propped up fist.
"You didn't think to, I don't know, warn your brother before he got scooped up by the people mass poisoning everybody?!" Luan seethed, fangs catching the light as he growled quietly at the man.
Arlan gave a harsh sigh, falling back against the seat again as he huffed annoyedlat at him.
"I was trying to find you, you little brat! You are literally impossible to get a hold of! Do you even use that worthless heap of metal you call a phone?!"
Luan rolled his eyes, ignoring the heavy weight of his dead phone resting in his pocket as he folded his arms.
"I was announced at the door, you prat. It wouldn't be that hard to wait at the front and snag me before you had to run off and ruin a perfectly planned murder." Luan wasn't going to make it easy for Arlan to just slouch out of the fact he had prior knowledge of one of the top eight most horrific things he'd ever experienced. There was literally blood flying in every direction as it seeped from peoples engorged mouths and eyes as they clawed and gagged on the sour taste of death.
Luan probably couldn't eat cupcakes anymore. Plus, now death had probably seen his face, and would want to collect sooner than before.
Luan was already on the hook for his past. He didn't need another reason to want to live.
It was tedious, to say the least.
"I'm sorry, okay?" It was a softly whispered thing, barely escaping his mouth with enough breath to become sound as Arlan looked down at his drink. Luan had never heard him actually apologize before. He had frozen at the tiny utterance, eyes wide as he stared at his brother in shocked wonder. He felt that maybe he could let this go, just a little. Arlan was practically falling into himself, curling shoulders hunching and eyes surrounded by black and blue as they sagged in exhaustion. He looked almost defeated, clutching that cup of cocoa like it was the only thing going right in this moment.
"Fine. I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean to make you the villain here, and I definitely never intended to spy." Luan was being the bigger man, so Arlan better appreciate it. He felt how strained his hands were as they clenched around his biceps, eyes looking away and lips rolling inwards as he tried to be sincere. His relationship with his brother had always been strained, both having to vye for the attention of a ruthless man set on propelling the best candidate towards the highest future. It came as no surprise when Arlan won, but he was an alpha, so Luan didn't really feel like he'd been inadequate. Just, unlucky, really.
When he finally looked back at the other man, he found Arlan looking at him in surprise, as though he never expected an apology in response to his own.
They sat in silence for a bit, taking the occasional sips of sugary goodness and staring off into nothing as they each went off to their own thoughts.
Once the cups sat empty, brown and white, the only residue left over, Luan looked up and met the sunken green eyes of his brother.
He seemed so downcast, like a fading picture of who he used to be overlapping across the present tiredness that weighed his shoulders down
There were some glances cast, as though they didn't dare break the tentative stalemate that had been fostered before they each went separate ways into the cold darkness that enshrouded the city. There was much to ponder, and Luan felt perhaps his brother was trying, in his own way, to mend the bond that broke a long time ago.
He just needed to do some digging into those people that apparently had to live and find out just what Arlan had gotten himself into.
It was the least he could do, considering Arlan apologised and bought him a cup of cocoa.
The cocoa was the main reason he felt like he had to make sure Arlan was being safe.
The apology was overdo, so it mainly just righted what was already wrong.