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 Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:16 pm
A few hours later, dinner had been eaten, the kitchen was mostly cleaned, and Julian's portion of lasagna was wrapped and ready to be reheated later.
It had been good. Really good, actually. Riker had probably eaten more than he meant to, partly because Cassidy was a good cook, and partly because it had been easier to focus on chewing than the ebb and flow of worry and relief and anticipation and anxiety and eagerness and curiosity — and everything in between.
Now, standing just outside with a towel around his waist, all of that easy distraction had vanished.
The night was dark enough that Cassidy had been right — he didn't really need a swimsuit. The towel was enough to get him from the house to the water without feeling completely ridiculous. But he could feel the old self-consciousness crawl back up his spine anyway.
The scar on his neck was one thing. He was used to that one being visible. The one that cut down his chest and abdomen was newer and harder to ignore. And then there were his arms.
Those were worse, probably. Not because they were the deepest, but because they told the wrong story at first glance. Or maybe they told too much of the right one. People saw them and made assumptions. Some were close enough to the truth to make him want to flinch. Some were wrong in ways that still hurt.
Wearing long sleeves no matter the weather wasn't a fashion choice. It was armor.
He knew Cassidy had seen him before, but that didn't stop Riker from standing there a second too long, shoulders a little tense. And it made him feel stupid, too, because Cassidy had scars of his own. Scars Riker had traced with careful hands and never once thought made him any less beautiful. They hadn't changed who Cassidy was. They hadn't made Riker look at him differently, except maybe sometimes with lingering guilt that he hadn't been there when Cassidy needed him. So maybe Cassidy wasn't looking at Riker with judgment either. Maybe Riker was the only one doing that.
"This is stupid," he muttered, mostly to himself.
He wasn't talking about the hot tub.
With a steadying breath, he finally set the towel aside so he could climb in, moving carefully as he sank into the heat. There was a rush of relief that made his muscles loosen almost against his will. He sank a little deeper, letting the water cover what it could, and stared out into the dark for a moment before looking back at Cassidy. His expression was guarded, but not shut off. Embarrassed more than anything.
"I know you've seen it all before," he said quietly. "I just… It's different when I know you're actually looking."
He paused and made a face at himself.
"I'm not trying to make it weird." Because that was quickly becoming his greatest talent, apparently. Then, softer, with a glance that traced over Cassidy's shoulder before returning to his face. "I know you've got scars too. I'm not… judging you for yours. So I know you're probably not doing that to me either. I just needed a second. But… the water's nice."
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:18 pm
“What are you talking about? I’m always looking,” Cassidy hummed, lazy smile back in place. He was not discrete about where his eyes were roaming, and he seemed comfortable in shamelessness.
He had the option of wearing something more concealing, like any of his long sleeve swim shirts, or even just something he could have worn and didn’t care about getting wet.
Showing his vulnerabilities was strategic, though.
He reclined against the wall of the hot tub, arms stretched out and propping himself up.
The scars were healing nicely, as much as could be expected. They had started to pale a bit, thanks to steady care and an overzealous cosmetic routine, but he had a long way to go, and it wouldn’t ever look normal.
Cassidy’s hair was tied up in a messy bun, out of the water, but he was collar-bone deep and soaking while he had the chance. Riker’s insecurity meant another moment for him to relax his muscles before worrying about Riker’s.
“You’ve got a few new ones. How much trouble have you been getting into?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:19 pm
Riker's face warmed at Cassidy's easy answer.
"Yeah, I noticed," he muttered, but there wasn't much bite to it. If anything, it helped a little. Cassidy saying it so casually, like looking at him wasn't some big, awkward thing. It made it easier to breathe.
He shifted deeper into the water, letting the heat work into his shoulders. His hair was already getting wet, loose around his face and neck, and he pushed both hands back through his bangs to slick them from his forehead just to have something to do.
Then one hand dropped to his chest, resting over the newer scar for a moment. He glanced down at it, quiet and thoughtful.
"It could've been worse," he said after a moment. He leaned back a little further into the water. "There was some a*****e General harassing us for a while," he added, the words a little clipped and bitter. "I wanted to tell you. A few times. But every time I thought about it, I got stuck on trying to keep you out of it. Or protect you from as much of it as I could." He made a face at himself. "Which feels pretty stupid now, considering you already knew."
His hand slipped back into the water, drifting for a moment before he let his fingers brush lightly against Cassidy's leg.
"I just didn't want this to become one more thing you had to carry because of me," he explained, voice softer now. "Knowing about… magic and monsters already felt like too much."
He let out a small huff.
"So, yeah. That's where the new ones came from. Not me getting into random fights for fun. Mostly."
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:20 pm
“Yeeeah,” Cassidy drawled. He leaned back in the tub and sank a little lower, until his nose was just barely above the water. He watched Riker with an expression that was thoughtful–maybe a little guarded, but like he was looking for something.
For a sign that this was a good idea. Or a bad one.
He blew a few bubbles contemplatively–not enough to compete with the jet streams–and stretched his leg out over Riker’s lap.
“If it makes you feel any better, I already knew about that one.”
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:20 pm
Riker rolled his eyes, though the heat in his face deepened anyway.
"Well, you don't exactly keep your hands to yourself," he muttered, which was about as close as he was going to get to admitting that maybe Cassidy knowing about that scar wasn't exactly shocking.
He glanced down at the leg Cassidy had stretched over his lap, then set both hands on it without much hesitation. One settled near his knee, the other lower, his thumb pressing slowly into his calf beneath the water. It was easier to focus on that than on the way Cassidy was looking at him. Or on what Cassidy might or might not have already pieced together from all the times Riker had tried to be careful and not nearly careful enough.
"Not that I'm complaining," he added after a moment, not wanting Cassidy to think he in any way wanted him to keep his hands to himself.
His fingers worked slowly, rubbing along Cassidy's calf in small, absent circles of an attempted massage.
"It does make me feel a little better," he admitted, not looking up right away. "I mean… I still wish I'd just told you. But at least I wasn't as good at hiding it as I thought."
Maybe it should have bothered him, but Cassidy didn't seem upset. Didn't seem horrified. Didn't seem like he was about to ask for a full explanation or, worse, tell him he didn't want to see him if he couldn't trust him with the truth.
"You've got a lot of nerve saying that one like I'm supposed to be impressed with your detective skills," he huffed, trying not to roll his eyes again. It wasn't exactly a small scar. A hand under his shirt would have been enough to find it. "Pretty sure you just collect information because being nosy is your favorite hobby."
He paused for a moment, curling his fingers gently around Cassidy's ankle. "...I'm glad you're not making a big deal out of it."
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:21 pm
Cassidy hummed, letting Riker work his fingers into his leg. He wasn’t bad at it, but that probably came from years out of having to work out soreness after all their games.
He didn’t mind. It felt good, and it was distracting. Riker seemed focused on it, and it let Cassidy stay focused on him.
“What can I say, I like knowing what’s going on around me. I pay attention to the people I care about.” He shrugged. “It wouldn’t have mattered how well you hid things from everyone else. You let your guard down around me.”
Tilting his head just slightly, he admired the way the fairy lights reflected against the water, back up on Riker’s face. It was a dreary day, with too much cloudcover, so even the moon was hidden.
The rest of the world felt so far away.
It was just them, and all their secrets.
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:21 pm
Riker's hands slowed for a moment after that. He didn't look up right away, but continued to gently work his fingers into the muscle of Cassidy's calf, taking the moment to process what Cassidy said.
You let your guard down around me.
Not so long ago, an observation like that would have probably made him panic. Or at least bristle. There were so many things about his life that he wanted to keep locked behind secure doors, because it wasn't that he didn't trust the people who've proven they cared about him, but because he didn't want what was behind those doors to hurt them, if they managed to get inside.
Instead, the words made something soften in his chest in a way he didn't really understand. It wasn't like he was opening the doors on his own, but perhaps he was being carefully pulled away. Something like… absolution for self-inflicted punishment. Only probably less dramatic.
"Yeah," he said after a moment, quiet and a little rough with a strange emotion around the edges. "I guess I do." The admission didn't feel nearly as frightening as he thought it should have. Or that it would have been a year ago. But so many things had already changed in his life since then.
Riker finally glanced up, meeting Cassidy's eyes though the dim light and the steam curling around them. Even though he was obviously embarrassed, his expression was still open rather than, well… guarded.
"I don't really mean to," he added. "It's not like I decide to. It just… happens."
He slid his hand higher again, from Cassidy's ankle back up to his calf, fingers pressing more deliberately this time.
"With you, I mean." He paused to make a face at himself, because there wasn't really a point in clarifying when it was obvious. "You make it hard to keep things locked up all the time."
Riker let out a huff of a breath and shifted a little closer in the water, enough that Cassidy's leg stayed draped over him but the space between them didn't feel quite so wide. For a moment, he didn't say anything else. Just let his hand keep moving in slow, steady circles. Then he lifted Cassidy's knee just above the water so he could press a kiss to it.
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:21 pm
Cassidy hummed, enjoying the pressure as Riker worked his fingers into his muscles. This would have been great a few months ago, but Cassidy had been taking it easy recently. He wasn’t even running around much after dark these days.
The kiss was perfectly charming. Unplanned, probably, because Riker got so silly when he thought too much about what he was doing, and he didn’t seem like he was dying of embarrassment right now.
He looked so relaxed right now. Really, Cassidy was the one who was supposed to be giving him a massage, and–
Oh, but he didn’t want to move.
With a heavy sigh, he dragged himself closer, as much as he could without moving any part of him away from Riker too much.
“So, I have a question about your Knight stuff. I’m probably not the only person who knows who you are. How many people know? How do you decide when someone gets to know?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:22 pm
Riker let Cassidy shift closer without comment, though his hands adjusted to accommodate him. One hand slid from his calf to rest at the back of his knee, while the other drifted up to his thigh in a way that was probably a little too familiar to be considered casual.
But Riker was distracted with the question Cassidy asked. He frowned a little, brows furrowed a little in thought.
"There are… a decent number of people who know," he admitted after a moment. "More than I probably would've picked, if it were entirely up to me." His fingers moved absently against Cassidy's leg as he sorted through the answer.
"Most of them don't know because I told them. Either being there when I powered up, or…" He glanced down for a moment, and one of his hands left Cassidy just long enough to brush over the now over a year old scar on his abdomen before placing his hand back on Cassidy's leg again. "Or I got hurt badly enough that I passed out and powered down in front of them. Well…" he grimaced, because he knew Cassidy was smart enough to piece things together. "I guess I did more than just pass out. But I'm fine," he insisted before continuing.
"Some people figure things out because everything overlaps. You spend enough time around the same people, the same fights, the same places, and eventually stuff starts to click."
He let out a small breath, then glanced back up at Cassidy.
"You're the only person I would've actually told who I was," he said. "Like… Riker is Reims. Most of the other people who know, knew Reims first."
His fingers pressed lightly against Cassidy's thigh. It seemed to keep him settled with his thoughts heavy as they were.
"I did try telling someone once," he admitted, glancing back down. He'd mentioned it before, sort of. That he didn't want to mess things up again. "They already knew Reims. They didn't take it well when they found out he was also… me."
He made a face, small and unhappy.
"So after that, it got harder to convince myself that saying it out loud was a good idea. Even when I wanted to," he explained as his hand drifted a little further down Cassidy's leg as he leaned close enough to nudge him with his shoulder in the water.
"I wanted to tell you because… you're you. Not because I had to. I just…" He glanced up at Cassidy, embarrassed but sincere. "Took too long."
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:22 pm
Most of these things, Cassidy already knew. But he listened anyway, and waited. There was nothing to be gained from rushing things, and he wanted to take his time, too.
There was a lot on the line, after all.
“You did take a while,” he hummed. “I’m surprised you didn’t tell me before. But you were just being safe and protecting everyone.”
Himself, Cassidy, their friends. There were a lot of people involved.
Which was why it was so important to do this right.
“Well, that makes sense.” Some of it he knew, some he didn’t. Some he made a note to ask more about later.
“And, hypothetically, how long should you wait to tell someone about your ‘secret identity’ before it starts getting awkward? I mean, you’ve been sitting with this for so long. What’s the normal ‘safe to wait’ time?” There wasn't one, probably, so Cassidy amended, “I mean, when did you realize you wanted to tell me?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:22 pm
Riker's hand paused against Cassidy's thigh for a moment. Not because he wanted to pull away, it was just that the question felt heavier than it was probably meant to.
When did you realize you wanted to tell me?
He looked down instead of at Cassidy's face, fingers brushing against skin as a way to ground himself in his thoughts.
"This is going to sound stupid, but the night you met me as Reims, when I brought you to my Wonder," he admitted, glowering down at the water. "I think people like to assume I'm braver than I am. Or maybe they know better and I'm just the one pretending. Half the time I think I hide behind being reckless so no one notices when I'm actually just scared."
He shifted a little closer, hand still pressed warmly against Cassidy's thigh beneath the water.
"But… it was when you showed me your wallet. I kept weighing the risk of you finding out versus me telling you myself," he continued, voice a little quieter. "I wanted to hug you so bad it made me feel sick. I didn't know if that would give me away. Or make things worse. Or if you'd think it was pity. So I just sat there with this stupid secret that felt like chains."
He made a face at himself, then shook his head. "I hadn't told the other person yet either, so I was already messing that up too. I'm sorry I took so long," he sighed. "I just hate that I made it into this huge thing in my head when it was you. Turns out I'm more of a coward than the whole Knight thing makes me look."
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:23 pm
Cassidy hummed to fill the silence, though there wasn’t much of it. He hadn’t planned on staying quiet for too long, no matter what Riker wound up saying.
He placed his hand on Riker’s arm, above water, and ran his thumb over his forearm.
“Well,” he said slowly. “I don’t think you’re faking being brave. I mean, you are a little obvious with the whole ‘I’ll just push through it even though it makes me reckless’ but it’s better than freezing up, right? Being brave means you push through the fear, so don’t get that mixed up, Riker.”
Who was already so hard on himself. Who really needed to learn that it was okay to be human.
“It must have been hard to pretend like you didn’t know me.”
He wrapped both of his arms around Riker’s, still tracing small circles with his thumb. “Do you remember me introducing myself?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:24 pm
Riker leaned into the touch before he even thought about it, the way he always seemed to when Cassidy touched him so easily. Like his arm wasn't marked up with scars that didn't feel like they belonged to him. Thin pale lines. Some messier. Some from cruelty, and some from trying to prevent it from happening. None of them felt like choices he'd made freely, even the ones that technically were.
And still, after all of that, some stupid part of him had kept hoping his mother would look at him one day and realize she loved him after all.
So maybe he understood more than he wanted to, what it meant for Julian to be hurting over someone who'd failed him.
Riker let out a quiet huff at being called obvious about being reckless, but there wasn't much fight in it. "Yeah, well…" he muttered, then shifted to an easier topic. "It's hard to act like I don't know you when I do. Especially after seeing you as Riker, it got weird trying to come up with reasons why Reims hadn't been around."
At Cassidy's question, his brow furrowed. He was quiet for a moment, sorting through old memories that felt more like emotion than clear pictures.
"...Kind of," he admitted, his fingers shifting on Cassidy's thigh before stilling. "When I first started baseball, I was so anxious I thought I was gonna throw up. My mom had finally signed me up, and I wanted it so bad because I thought maybe… I don't know… Maybe if I did something right, people would want me around."
He made a face at himself, but kept going. "I was completely unprepared. Didn't have cleats. Didn't have my own glove. Elliot let me borrow one, and I was sliding around the bases and grass in normal shoes like an idiot." He looked up at Cassidy then, expression softer now.
"So… I remember how it felt more than exact moments. I remember being scared and trying not to look like I was. I remember wanting friends so badly it made me kind of stupid." He paused and grimaced. "Which… probably doesn't narrow things down much."
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:24 pm
Cassidy nodded along while listening, becoming more creative in what shapes he was drawing on Riker's arm.
"I thought it was cute how much you wanted to play. I mean, I did think 'who shows up to play baseball without a glove,' but Elliot told me not to tease you. He was born a goody-two shoes, you know. We already knew we were going to make the team, so try-outs were really just a formality. We played too well the previous year to be benched. And I told the coach if he didn't put me back on the team, I wouldn't go easy on them when we were facing off. I was going to be on the winning team no matter what," he hummed, quite proudly.
They'd been the winning team for a long time. Cassidy took it a little more seriously than Elliot, but Elliot played for love of the game. Which was why Elliot always brought extras, just in case someone else loved the game as much as he did but needed a little help getting started out.
Elliot, obviously, was always making friends.
"Anyway, we wanted you on the team. You had a lot of spirit. You were trying really hard. Who knew you'd grow up to be so sassy! What a thorn in my side," he laughed, so light and mirthful that it was impossible to think there was even the hint of insult.
"I was very confident we were going to be friends, right from the start. You made me work for it, though. But it was worth it."
He looked at Riker for a moment longer, admiring how soft his face looked in the golden glow. Not quite peaceful, but not with such deep worry lines as he'd shown up with.
"So. Did it feel the same way when Reims was meeting Cassidy?" he asked, tame but undeniably amused. "I mean, swapping introductions and all."
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:25 pm
Riker huffed at that, though there wasn't much heat behind it. "You say that like I was doing it on purpose," he muttered, already a little pink from the way Cassidy sounded so pleased with himself about it. Which, annoyingly, he had every right to be. Riker had made him work for it. Mostly because he'd been too high strung to realize Cassidy was flirting with him and not just finding new, creative ways to be a pain in his a**.
Which, in hindsight, explained a lot.
His fingers slowed against Cassidy's leg for a moment before resuming its lazy path, and he let himself lean a little closer in the water. "I thought you were teasing me," he admitted. "All the time. Which, to be fair, you were. Just apparently not in the way I thought."
He made a face, half at himself, half at Cassidy, then glanced away for a moment as if the steam might save him from his own embarrassment.
"As Reims?" he repeated, buying himself some time. "That doesn't really count. I already knew you. I was just trying very hard not to act like I knew you, which was…" He paused, then grimaced. "Harder than it should've been. And it wasn't exactly nice that you opened with telling me you had a heart condition." There was no real accusation in his voice. Maybe more like concern that continued to linger even after the reason to worry had passed. "That made it kinda hard to think about anything else."
His hand drifted a little higher on Cassidy's thigh before settling again, holding him there like Cassidy's leg belonged draped over him. Then he finally looked back at him, brows furrowed but softer than before.
"What was it like for you?" he asked. "Meeting Reims, I mean. Compared to meeting me."
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