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Ninteen, twenty, twenty-one…twenty-three. The young Naga counted his Focalin pills, wondering if his dad was actually taking his supply to use it for himself. It was the second day he'd taken pills from this bottle of thirty. He had twenty-three pills. That didn't add up, “KEVIN!" he called, almost on the verge of crying.

Kevin rushed to the room to find his son, tail curled around his torso in a ball of sobbing Naga youth. “Th…they…d…don't a…a…add up!" He bawled. “Twenty-three! I got this bottle two days ago!"

The human patted at one of the Naga's coils. Trying to comfort the hatchling. Sighing, “I didn't want it to be true, Ricky. You know I didn't. But It's hard to argue with lab results."

“B…but whYYYYYYYYY?"

To see his usually reserved and aloof son so upset, it crippled the human's heart. He hugged the ball of saddened Naga. “My guess, he was trying to focus for work. Those cases of his are hard work. I just don't understand why he didn't just get a new prescription from the doc."

The younger Naga looked at his human adoptive father and took a deep breath, “He needs help. We need to stage an intervention."

“I was thinking the same thing," a new voice said from the hall. Leaning on the door frame, a picture of nonchalance, was none other than Ramirez. He was wearing his usual black suit with a whimsical duck-pattern tie and a teal collared shirt, his head fur slicked back to make it look less puffy.

“Vic, what you doing here?"

“The Commish sent me. Said he wanted to make sure you don't go off and do anything stupid."

“Hey, Uncle Vic!" Ricky said lightly.

“Hey there, kiddo." The lean lutrin replied warmly, smiling. “Keeping outta trouble I hope?"

“Uhuh." The young Naga replied, noncommittally. The otter patted the hatchling on the head. The Naga blushed.

“So, where is the male?" Vic asked his partner.

“At the DA's office. I've called a few of his work buddies and asked them to come, too. They said they were too busy with their case load. They sent their support, though. This isn't really something I'd thought I'd have to do when I got involved with Richarde, Vic. You gotta believe me."

“Neither did Naqut. He wouldn't have let you date a drug abuser."

The shadow that overtook the human's face instantly had the otter trying to recover. “I'm sorry, Kev, truly. I know that's still a sore spot."

“H…he died…he died in my arms, Vic."

“I know, and I am sorry, Kev."

***

Richarde looked at his watch for what felt like the hundredth time in the last five minutes. And to say that he wasn't any closer to the five in the afternoon cutoff for the workday, was putting it mildly. He'd had a decent amount of time to get familiar with the people in the DA's office. And while he may not make ADA any time in the next year, he was confident that he'd become a useful part of the team. It was nice to be helping people seek justice from the “right" side of the bench. While the prosecution wasn't always correct, they generally were putting away criminals and making the world a safer place. While his old firm often times was putting mafiosos back on the street, his new teem was working on at least three cases involving putting long-time mafia dons behind bars.

The dons. Not the underlings. Several crime families were in their sights. The Di Maggios, the Medvedevs, and the Giulianos were all under investigations for several charges ranging in severity. He was really quite proud of his work on the Giuliano case. The Don of the Giuliano family was Don Raymond Giuliano. He was currently under investigation for the death of a city official. The team knew he was involved, though he didn't slit the man's throat, the detectives on the case had gotten some info from the cleaner that had done the job. His pride came from connecting the seemingly unimportant man to a very specific project which had been on hold for a decent time and that was the destruction of the derelict shell of the old Giuliano home.

A knock came at the door. The DA walked in, carrying an attaché case and peering at Richarde over the top of his phone through his thick horn-rimmed glasses, “Lawrence, you're coming with me." His olive skin shone darkly under the fluorescent lights installed in the ceiling. His salt-and-pepper hair was combed back in a style reminiscent of the gangsters of the twenties. Rick got up and followed the DA. As if to complete his “gangster" attire, the man grabbed a black fedora off the hat stand. Though the only thing off-putting about the fedora was that instead of the usual bow-tie shape on the hatband, an Oscar Wilde-esque green carnation stood out brightly from the back. The DA also wore a crossed flag pin which was the city-flag of Caulder city crossed with the Rainbow flag.

The man had been hailed in Caulder city for being one of the first conservative elected officials in the city to so outwardly support gay rights. While marriage had been legalized years ago, there were still many battles ahead. Namely, dealing with other institutions. Many banks still felt it right to deny a person a loan based on the fact that they were legally married to another man. This and the fact that LGBTQ++ teens still made up a majority of the homeless youth in the country always made Richarde a little sad.

As the two lawyers exited the office, Richarde checked the time once again. This was the second half of their court case against the Mafioso. He was hoping for some minor victory. He was hoping that this case would put another organized crime lord behind bars.

***

Kevin and Ricky and Victor waited on the couch. Shooting the breeze with idle conversation the pill bottle had remained the elephant in the room. Not one of them discussed it, but it sat on everyone's mind heavily. The looming confrontation with their friend and family member lorded over them and brought down everyone's spirits. It was not that they didn't believe that Richarde wouldn't see reason, especially since Focalin wasn't the most addictive substance, but it was addictive.

People with drug addictions weren't always the easiest to handle when you confronted them with their problem. It was a reality that Kevin and Victor both understood but neither dared voice. They hoped a heartfelt come to Jesus moment with the Naga's son being the one to voice the necessity of him seeking help would help Richarde to acknowledge he had a problem and seek help.

They held no delusion, though, that the situation could turn against them quickly.

It was as Ricky finished discussing some of the latest gossip from school that they heard the kerschlunk of the key entering the lock. And the clicking of the mechanism as the door swung inward revealing the handsome Rattler Naga. “Hello, Kev? I'm home." He said and then he saw the three of them sitting on the couch in the living room, “What's this then?"

Kevin stood and faced his lover. A smile plastered on his face. He felt the probe to his mind and freely allowed his love entry. There was no point hiding what they had found. What they were about to do and try to accomplish.

Richarde's eye ridges raised in surprise and possibly a little fear, “You knew?"

“I knew," Kevin sighed, “The doc told me that he found traces of Focalin in your system after the incident with Maxim. He said he doubted that they'd given you it, because it wouldn't have helped them achieve the desired result. I put two and two together. Richarde, love. You know you can tell me anything. We can work through this. If you're taking it to help with work: a legitimate reason, we can get you a prescription. If it's something else, we can get you help."

Richarde hung his head, “I've been taking a few here and there to help when I'm working on a case. It helps me focus. I had hoped Ricky wouldn't notice."

“Dad! How could you! I'm not mad at you about taking the pills, more the principle of the thing. You are invading my privacy!" Ricky replied, then softer, “We all think it's time to seek help, Dad."

Victor remained silent. Richarde noticed. He looked to the mustelid with a very keen eye. “And you, what do you have to say about this?"

“I'm here to take you in in case you decide to make this difficult, Rick. Also as support for the family. Don't make me do that, Rick. I like ya. Naqut trusted you. Thought you were a good guy for Kev here. We all worried about him. His love of bigger scaled males made us think he'd end up with some abusive dragon or something potentially worse. Please, Rick don't make us do this."

“What? Take me in? I'd like to see you try, seaskunk!" Richarde joked. Then he let out a heavy sigh, “Alright, I might have a probem."

The tension that had seemingly built within the room instantly left. Whooshing out as if not having been there in the first place. The three interveners let out sighs of relief. “Oh. Thank god, Rick. You had us worried for a moment." Victor said, relieved.

“I'd been thinking about quitting anyways, to be honest, but its just been like 'Oh I'll stop tomorrow'. Tomorrow's never come."

“There's a wonderful facility for Ritalin, Adderall, and other ADD Med abusers. We'll take you there tomorrow."

“Will we be able to afford it?" Kev asked his partner.

“It's not expensive at all. You'll see."

The youngest among them hugged his father in almost a constrictor-like grip, relieved as he was. The two Naga shared thoughts, causing their eyes to swirl in their own unique patterns. Kevin and Victor watched on as the two serpents communicated in the way they were most comfortable.

“This turned out better than I expected." Victor sighed, “See you later, Kev."

“See ya, Vic."

“Bye Uncle Vic!"

“Bye kiddo!"

Victor exited the apartment feeling better than he expected. He walked down the creaky steps outside the apartment to his vehicle and right as he was about to get into his car he felt something hit the back of his head and everything went black.