TEN, nature of the threat

italics — rues narration

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"mom! have you seen my keys?" athena rushed frantically around the house, opening every drawer and searching every counter she could to find her missing keys. "no, you probably misplaced them." she sighed, the home phone up to ear.

athena furrowed her brows as she went back into her room, searching in every nook and cranny to find her keys. "where the fuck are they?" she mumbled to herself, absolutely clueless as to where they were.

now i'm not the best driver nor am i in the right headspace to operate a motor vehicle, but early in the morning, around seven thirty, i stole athenas car keys from her room and took a trip to fez's.

i know i probably should've told her or something, but it didn't feel like a big deal at the time. plus, i wasn't doing any actual harm to her car, despite hitting the curb a couple of times.

i was running off of no sleep and in the same outfit i had been wearing the day before. i didnt need to sleep or change or shower or eat, i needed to figure this shit out. and to do that, i needed help.

"yo, fez. so you know how in every '90s thriller, right, morgan freeman plays, like, the same semi-psychic black cop. so, i know that's kind of racist, but the point is, in every movie, he's always calmly putting the fucking pieces of the case together, while everybody else around him is fucking freaking out, saying, "you don't know what the fuck you're talking about, morgan. "you're... you're a fucking bad husband. you should fucking retire."" she paused.

"but no. morgan is fucking hyper-focused. because he can see beyond the little details. he's looking for the big fuckin' picture. because all of this shit? it's connected, fez. and it is way bigger than any of us can even fucking see. the point is, that's me. right now, that is fucking me. i can see everything so fucking clearly. i know what happened, i know why it happened, and i know what the fuck i'm gonna do about it."

fez looked up from washing his grandma, nodding his head slightly. "word." he muttered. "word," rue nodded. she pointed to his grandma, who was very much exposed. "she can't hear me, right?" she asked. "she can't see you, either." he said. "okay, good, 'cause this is, like, some real top-secret shit." fez chuckled under his breath, "trust me, rue. she not gonna gossip." rue nodded, "okay, do you still have that gun?" she asked.

fez furrowed his brows, "what gun?" he asked. "the one from the couch, the one i saw you pull out like six times." she said. "i mean, i got a couple guns." he said. "why do you have so many guns?" she asked. he shrugged, "my grandma." she nodded, "that's cool."

"what you worried about my guns for?" she raised a brow. "okay, well, i was thinking... that maybe you could use one to scare nate jacobs." she spoke nervously. fez gave her a look, "are you serious?" he asked. "i mean, i'm not not serious." she said. "rue, that must be the dumbest shit you've said all fucking day." he shook his head.

"you don't have to fucking point it at him. you could just... you could, like... you could flash it." she motioned flashing a gun from her pants. "you really have lost your fuckin' mind, rue."

"fuck, it's a bad fucking idea, okay? i just was fucking spit balling, here. i mean, he fucked with me, he fucked with jules. and i want fucking revenge. okay? sorry." she apologized. fez sighed, "i would, but athena will fuckin' kill me. i would do anything for both of you, but i aint tryna get my head ripped off either." he said.

"she won't—" rue was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing, staring at fez whose face dropped. "fuck, mouse is here." he muttered, standing up quickly. "who?"

"my guy. he made athena trip on fucking fentanyl last time he was here," he clenched his jaw just thinking about it. "all right, so, stay in here. be quiet..." rue looked over to his still exposed grandma, "fez, i can't... i can't stay in here. like, i'm really..." rue muttered. "yes, the fuck you can. shh!" he tried to silence her. "i'm not good with awkward silences." she said.

"be quiet. listen, i'm really serious right now. you just need to sit your manic ass down, and be quiet for five fuckin' minutes, rue. i'm not fuckin' playin' with you. sit down and shut the fuck up." she said sternly, pointing to the chair by his grandmas medicine. due to his serious tone, rue sat down quickly. she watched as he nodded his head and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

she tried her best not to look at his grandma, out of respect and the fact that she felt genuinely uncomfortable. her eyes flared over at her and she shrieked silently, covering her eyes quickly.

okay. this is so fuckin' weird.

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