In the building adjacent to the cafe that had been artfully styled to make it look like a cup of coffee on the outside, Joseph sat in front of a glass of whiskey, his fingers swirling its contents round and round and round before he suddenly picked it up and downed it in one go.
Knocking twice on the table, he signaled for a refill. The man beside him grunted and finished his own drink, too, so that the bartender could serve them both without intruding on their privacy for even a second longer than required.
After the bartender left, Joseph picked up the tablet that he had hidden when he saw the man coming. It showed the feed of a security camera, grainy but still clear enough to distinguish faces, and on it, he could see his nephew talking like a lovestruck little kid to the woman was taking full advantage of his innocence.
Peeking over his shoulder, his companion grunted again. That was how he usually communicated; a deep grunt to indicate that he was satisfied, a lighter one to show that he was unhappy. The man weighed his words as if they were made of gold, and even now, he remained silent, not saying a single thing, not even asking why Joseph had asked them to come along.
With each second that passed, though, Joseph found his vision going redder and redder as he saw the woman whose name he had found out to be Jessica brush her fingers across different parts of Al's body each time it seemed as if he might realize what was going on, and understand that he was being targeted just as surely as if this was an odyssey. Hell, it was worse because it was real life, and as it was something that he really wished he could protect him from.
He knew, in the back of his mind, that it was probably the dumbest thing he could do, but it didn't stop the urge that was pushing him to get up, go across the street and haul that woman out by her dress before throwing her on the street. His hand shook a few times, especially when she bent so close to him surreptitiously, making it look natural, but in fact, always angling it so that her breasts would be pushed in Al's face, causing another rush of hormones that were definitely drowning out any logical thoughts on the boy's mind.
"Scrap the idea. You know it's a bad one…and you brought me here so that I would tell you it's bad. Well, it's definitely bad."
Hearing his companion finally speak, Jospeh turned and came eye to eye with the bald eagle. The two were connected so perfectly that the same emotions could be seen in both of their eyes, so he didn't even need to turn to his friend to understand what he was thinking.
He was the one who granted, this time, and downed the whiskey again before cursing as he would have to call upon the bartender once more. He hated the situation, but he also knew that his friend was right.
Deciding to answer only after the entire ordeal was done, he held himself by the very edge of his teeth and continued watching. He switched the cameras, sometimes, to see the scene from different angles, but no matter what he did, the sheer rage that he felt didn't listen by even an iota.
He heaved a small sigh of relief when both of them finally got up. Two hours had passed since his nephew had been forced into an odyssey by that kid whose identity he was still finding out . The camera couldn't record sound, of course, but he knew enough lipreading to find out what had happened. They walked out of the store, their hands brushing but not holding each other, but right before Joseph thought this was a consolation…the woman stumbled on an invisible rock and fell into Al's hands, forcing him to catch her by her naked waist.
"Oh…she's good. He's done for."
Hearing his friend chuckle and finish his own whiskey, Joseph growled, making a few people nearby look at him with and move further away, as if he was a crazed animal on a very thin leash that had to be kept at a distance. That was how he felt, of course, but keeping his eyes fixed on the screen, he hoped that it was over.
He was wrong again. Outside, on the street, she first waved at him and seemed ready to leave. His nephew still seemed to be caught up in how her waist must've felt in his hands, so he just waved, too…but then, right before she stepped away, she came forward once again and brushed her lips on top of his.
"His first kiss. She stole his first kiss! Fuck this! I'll kill her!"
He just barely managed to keep his voice to a growl. Getting up, he almost headed to the door…but he paused when he felt his friend's hand on his shoulder.
That hand was much heavier than the slim frame of the bald man suggested. The eagle looked at him reproachfully, and after a moment, he collapsed onto the bar stool.
"It's good that you did decide to bring me, or you would have made a decision you'll definitely regret. If you interfere, you just become the villain. He needs to learn, by himself…after all, you won't be there forever to protect him, right? He'll be hurt, but he'll know never to trust vixens like that again. Isn't that a lesson worth the pain? And besides…a kiss is a kiss. I actually feel happy for him…but I don't begrudge the pain of heartbreak that he's soon going to go through. It's gonna be a bitch."
That last part made Joseph want to get up all over again, but this time, he reigned himself in. He knew that his friend was absolutely right, but that didn't help, at all, as the protectiveness that he had always felt for Al was just too strong.
Knocking on the table so strongly that the wood creaked, threatening to cave in, he waited for the whiskey to be poured then downed it in one go. After refilling it again, the bartender left, and when he felt a nudge that made him turn to the bald man with a snarl, he noticed what the man was pointing at.
Al was still standing in front of the cafeteria, buffeted by people passing on the street but ignoring them all. His eyes were fixed in the direction the woman had gone, and squinting, Joseph saw that his face shifted between different expressions.
Most of the time, he looked in that direction with his eyebrows drawn down, as if he was thinking hard about something. Finally, when he left, it was with a shake of his head, and after watching this, Joseph clapped and exclaimed "He knows! Or maybe he suspects it…but that's better than nothing! Haha! That's my nephew! I knew he could take care of himself!"
The bald man's remark made him bury his face in his glass.
"Really? Then I guess you're not the one who almost stormed out just now…oh, here he is."
Joseph looked up when his friend turned to his right. A man was walking down the bar counter towards them, looking around furtively as if he was afraid of drawing attention.
Even when he reached Joseph, he didn't pause. In a gesture that was perfectly hidden even from the security cameras of the bar, he pushed a folded envelope into his hands and left.
This was the second reason behind their outing. Leaving after paying the tab while being given a wide berth due to the scary gaze of the bald eagle perched on his companion's shoulders, Joseph waited until they were in an alleyway with no security camera's to open the piece of paper.
On top was written a message that read "It wasn't easy to get this without drawing attention. Don't be stingy when I come asking for a favor!"
It made him chuckle, as the man who had given him the paper had always been the type who gave, but never asked for anything. Below the message was a list of names and descriptions that he went through, one by one, before tearing up the paper into tiny pieces that flew away with the cool breeze that wafted into the alley just then.
The bald man was waiting for him to say something. He did so, and when he was done, he started to walk in the direction of his store with his friend while looking as if he didn't have a worry in the world.
"All of them are pipsqueaks overestimating themselves. My nephew will chew them to bits and spit them out on the pavement. Even that guy who just tricked him into an odyssey isn't a very big deal. I see that they're all still underestimating him, so for the moment, he is lucky. Let's see how long that luck holds…"