why didn’t you tell me :: grey

Two weeks had passed since Grey and Wil had disappeared from their apartment, leaving Pen shocked, hurt, and nervous for them. One week had passed since Pen’s mom had shown her the article in the paper about “the cute boy her age that had been brought forth as the new Overloridian”, leaving Pen shocked and hurt.

She knew she was just a silly soccer playing seventeen year old, but Grey could have had the decency to at least tell her he wasn’t interested in hanging out anymore. Instead she’d gone over to hang out and had been met with an empty apartment. Even Lotus, the weird dude Wil was friends with, had vanished into thin air. Shed been worried—she’d even talked to the cops in Stonecraft, for gods’ sake. They’d told her that clio like Wil and Grey moved often, and that there was no reason to worry—kids like that never stayed in one place for long.

Pen laughed at that now, staring at the gate to the Dian estate. Now Grey and Wil were living in the fanciest home in Dian, and Grey was basically those cops’ boss. It was thrilling and wild, and made Pen smile, but she was also still pissed neither one of them had mentioned to her that they were leaving.

“Is His Majesty ready for me yet?” Pen asked the guard stationed outside the gate of the estate. She’d been waiting for what seemed like forever for word to be sent to Grey. Apparently they didn’t just let clio in off the street to visit Overloridians.

“He’ll be here when he’s ready,” the guard said, looking her up and down. She was wearing her jersey and shorts, and her hair was in its usual messy ponytail. Probably not what most clio wore when they paid visit to the most important dude in Dian.

"Why do I have to wear this?" Grey asked for the umpteenth time, tugging at the silver tie around his neck.

Viola smacked his hand away. "Stop that." Noor had introduced Viola as Grey's junior advisor, someone who would help him adjust to his new day-to-day life. However, Grey felt that babysitter was a better term for what she was. Always telling him what to wear, how to talk, who he was allowed to even talk to.

"Let me focus on the important things right now," Noor had said. "It's going to take some time before you're ready for all this. In the meantime, Viola will act as a guide for you."

Grey never would have imagined that being the boss of everyone meant doing what everyone else told him to do. Begrudgingly, though, he had to admit that Noor was right about one thing. He wasn't ready for this. Not any of it.

"You'll wear it because it makes you look respectable," Viola told him. "Especially since you're visiting with a citizen today."

"What? What citizen?" That was another thing. No one ever told him anything.

"Oh, I could swear I mentioned it to you," Viola said, waving her hand dismissively. "A Penelope Barclay is here to see you. I had the guards tell her to wait until--"

"Pen?" Grey jumped to his feet. "She's here? Now?" In the chaos and confusion that had upended his entire life, he hadn't had the chance to contact Pen. Any time he'd thought he had a moment to send her a message, he'd been whisked away to yet another meeting.

Ignoring Viola's protests, he took off down the ridiculously long hallway that led to the stairs that led to the foyer that led to the front entrance that led to the front courtyard that led to the front gates. He was pretty sure he'd run a full kilometer by the time he finally saw her. "Pen!" he called, slightly out of breath. There she was, a refreshing, familiar, pretty face compared to the sea of strangers he'd been trapped here with. He was so happy to see her.

“Oh, now he remembers me,” Pen said. Despite her words and nonchalant attitude, seeing Grey come out of the estate and run toward her calling her name was endearing. Strange, but endearing. She slipped off the stone wall she’d been perched on and walked to the gate.

“I think you can let me in now,” she said to guard dude. Guard dude let her in.

“Wow, I knew they made you Overloridian but who knew they’d be able to get you into a suit.” She smiled brightly. “They’ve aged you twenty years, my friend.” In all actuality he seemed strangely younger than he had last time she’d seen him. The suit was not at all suited for him, and it was hard to think about her friend Grey wearing something like this every day. Living in this giant mansion of an estate. She knew all overloridians started somewhere, and it’s not like she didn’t have faith that Grey had it in him, but...he wasn’t exactly what she pictured when she thought of the leader of an eilemaiden.

Grey blinked, then scowled. "Oh, shut up," he grumbled, half-embarrassed and half-pleased. He felt oddly self-conscious with Pen seeing him so out of his element, but he was also glad that she wasn't going to treat him any differently than usual. Even if 'no different than usual' meant 'make fun of and annoy him.'

He led her down the long walkway to the front entrance. "So this is..." He let out a sigh. "My...house, I guess. Pretty crazy, huh?"

Loren, sitting on his shoulder, flicked his ear. Psst. Isn't there something you should say?

What? Oh.

He turned to Pen. "Look. I wanted to talk to you sooner. Things have just been..." He gestured at the giant mansion that he now owned and lived in. "A lot."

It wasn’t just crazy, it was fucking insane. How often were clio plucked off the streets and expected to run an eilemaiden? Pen had always assumed there would be rigorous training involved. It seemed so very strange that Grey had literally been stealing food to survive just weeks ago.

“Apology accepted,” Pen said, turning back to Grey with a smile. Pen did not hold grudges, and that was as close as she would get to an apology, anyway. “I have a feeling you’ve been pretty tied up since they found you.” She paused for a second. She didn’t have to wonder about any of her questions, she realized. She had a real life Overloridian right here in front of her.

“How did they find you, anyway? Did you even know?” It seemed like a pretty big thing to have left out from all the time they’d spent together before he’d up and disappeared, but it seemed equally strange to think that the gods would have let one of their chosen few spend his first sixteen years living on the streets of Stonecraft.

"Yeah, I knew. I only chose to live on the streets instead of in a huge mansion," Grey said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Then, seriously: "Of course I didn't know. They found me with this...thing. This magic Dian star thing. It was the last overloridian's daughter who found me."

Noor. Noor Batel. Grey couldn't say he liked her very much, and the feeling lately seemed to be mutual. But they needed each other. He had the title, and she had the knowledge. It pissed both of them off.