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turtle-steverogers · 5 years

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Blackened Hearts

part three to the Blackened series which i’ll put under my masterlist here in a sec if you haven’t read yet

ship(s): platonic ralbert, sprace

warnings: race is a ball of nerves

editing: no it sucks i’m sorry

Albert and Race sat in the lobby of the police station, waiting for the officers from the night before to call them back for questioning. Albert hadn’t slept at all since the incident, too busy calming Race down from anxiety and exhaustion induced fever dreams. The cycle had repeated itself several times. Race would wear himself out from panicking, fall asleep, have a nightmare, then wake up again, eyes frantic and breaths too heavy. By the time he was finally able to sleep soundly, it was 7:30 and the police were bound to be there any minute, but Albert had allowed him to sleep for a little while, waking him up last second to go with the officers.

“How are you holding up?” Albert asked Race, who was leaning heavily on the arm of the chair, head propped on a fist.

Race shrugged, shaking his head lightly and casting his gaze to the side. He looked incredibly worn out, eyes puffy from crying intensely for a prolonged period of time. He didn’t answer and Albert sighed to himself- he honestly couldn’t see how Race was going to make it through questioning. It was going to tear him up.

They lapsed back into silence, the sounds of the station creating unsettling white noise around them. Albert leaned on his respective armrest and closed his eyes, dozing uncomfortably for a few minutes until the officers came to retrieve them.

“You guys aren’t in any kind of trouble and this shouldn’t take very long,” The taller of the two said as they were lead into one of the interrogation rooms. They sat at a rectangular table, opposite of the two officers. Race had his hands in his pockets, his shoulder drawn up to his ears. His discomfort was obvious and Albert caught his eyes, raising his eyebrows in a silent question of worry. Race held eye contact for a moment, his expression swimming with a sea of emotions, none of which Albert could read entirely.

“I’m Officer Denton,” The tall one said, shaking Race and Albert out of their silent conversation, “And this is my partner, Officer Darcy. We’re just gonna ask you a few questions about what exactly happened last night so we can write up an incident report, then you guys’ll be free to go home.”

Denton pulled out a recording device, placing it in the middle of the table while Darcy took a pen and notepad out of his back pocket. Albert felt Race slide his foot into the side of his own and he applied pressure back, reassuring his friend of his presence.

“Okie dokie,” Denton said, pressing the recording button, “State your full names, please.”

“Albert Schuyler DaSilva,” Albert said, clearing his throat. Darcy began to scribble in his notebook.

Race had brought his hands onto the table and was wringing them together nervously.

“And you?” Denton prompted, turning his attention to Race.

Race didn’t answer, barely acknowledging that he’d heard the question. Albert nudged his foot slightly and he jumped.

“I-I’m sorry,” He stammered, “What was the question?”

“Just your name, sir,” Denton supplied patiently.

Race swallowed and Albert could practically feel his heart rate pick up.

“Uh, Antonio,” Race muttered, not meeting Denton’s careful gaze.

“Antonio...what?” Denton pushed.

“A-Antonio Nicolas…” He shifted nervously, “Uh, Higgins,” he finished, finally looking up at Denton, who’s face hardened.

“Ah,” He said, nodding hesitantly. Darcy looked up, surprise etched into his features. Race bent forward so that he was leaning on the table and tugged at the hair on the back of his head- something he did when he was stressed, or trying to ground himself. He was rapidly cracking the fingers on his other hand and Albert could imagine that he was craving a cigarette. He always got more fidgety when an urge hit.

It was quiet for another moment, then Denton seemed to recover from his initial shock, “So, talk me through what happened last night.”

Race was back to staring intently at the table, so Albert took over, “Uh, so I was asleep, I don’t know if Race, er, Antonio was-”

“-I was,” Race mumbled.

Albert flicked his eyes over to him quickly before continuing, “Yeah, so we were asleep and then this like, knocking sound woke me up and at first I thought Antonio was tryna get into my room. But then after I woke up more I realized it was coming from the actual apartment door so I peeked my head out to investigate and Tony was also looking. And so then the knocking kept getting faster until it stopped, then uh, he- Giovanni- uh he started to use a knife to break in and he eventually got in while I was on the phone with 911 and he started saying really creepy shit to Tony, then tried to attack him so I tackled him and got the knife away from him and locked me and Tony in Tony’s bedroom,” Albert finished, leaning back in his seat while Darcy scribbled down his words. Albert could see that Race was shaking and he frowned. He was getting worked up again, Albert could tell.

Denton seemed to notice too, because he reached over the side of the table to grab a water bottle from the ground.

He slid it to Race, who held it between his hands, but made no move to open it.

“Thank you, Mr. DaSilva,” Denton said, “Mr. Higgins-”

Race flinched and Denton shook his head, backtracking, “Sorry, uh, Antonio, I just need to ask you a few questions about this.”

Race drummed his fingers on the side of the water bottle, “Okay,” he murmured.

“Okay,” Denton said. He looked like he would rather do anything than question Race, and Albert couldn’t blame him. The boy was a mess, “Who is Giovanni Higgins in relation to you?”

“He’s uh,” Race twitched his nose, “He’s my dad. I dipped when he...yeah.”

“You were present when he murdered his wife and daughter?”

Race winced and nodded and Denton sighed, “Alright, wow,” he shuffled through his file, pulling out a small piece of cardstock near the bottom, “Ah, yes, it does say he has a son. Alright,” he stowed the paper back into the file and crossed him fingers under his chin, studying Race and Albert thoughtfully.

“Do you have any idea why he’d seek you out?”

Race’s eyes flashed and he sat up straighter, “Why d’ya think? To kill me, dumbass.”

“Race..” Albert warned.

“No, it’s okay, I understand his stress,” Denton waved Albert off, “Did he say that? Or are you assuming?”

Race huffed, “He said he wanted to finish the job.”

“Alright, thank you,” Denton said, pushing his chair back and standing up, shutting off the tape recorder as he did so, “I think we have a clear enough report. You guys are free to go.”

Darcy stood too, gesturing for Albert and Race to follow them out of the room. Once they got back to the lobby, Denton addressed Race, “There’s a possibility we may need you to come back in for further questioning on Higgins’ case, so we’ll letcha know if that’s necessary.” Race’s face fell, but he didn’t say anything.

“Take care, gentlemen,” Denton and Darcy shook Race and Albert hands before disappearing into a backroom. As soon as they were gone, Race collapsed back into one of the waiting room chairs, rubbing his eyes with his fists. He was pressing hard, almost angrily and Albert reached down to gently pry them away.

“You okay?” he asked, quietly so no one else could hear.

Race shook his head, taking another moment to compose himself before standing up, “Let’s leave. He’s in here somewhere and I don’t wanna be near him anymore.”

Albert nodded, “Okay, yeah let’s go home.”

They caught a taxi home after realizing that they hadn’t actually driven themselves there. Race was quiet and withdrawn, as he’d been all week. Albert let him pick up a pack of cigarettes at a kiosk, so long as he promised to not actually smoke one. Race obliged, opting to simply hold it between his teeth. It seemed to relax him to some extent.

“Did you ever talk to Spot?” Albert asked, pulling out an earbud to look at Race.

Race didn’t move his head from where he was leaning it against the window as he answered, “No, but I should.”

“You don’t needa if you don’t want to.”

“Yeah, but I should,” A pause, “Can you, uh, can you come with me when I do it?”

Albert softened, “If you would like me too, of course.”

Race hummed, “Yeah, I would. Thank you.”

It was quiet for another moment, then, “I wanna do it tonight.”

Albert raised his eyebrows at the sudden turn around, “Yeah? Alrighty, that’s cool. We’ll have him around for dinner?”

Race nodded, “Okay.”

Albert sighed. It was going to be another long night.

—

thanks for reading, chiefs

hmu to be added to my tag

part 4? lemme know

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