Toes
A/N: This story came into existence from random bouts of silliness taking place in the FB group created for the birds that got displaced from the forums overhaul. Thank you, fellow birds, for inspiring the humor out of my fingers and into type.
For a Saturday, things were actually pretty quiet. Ever since my life had been turned upside down since meeting the gaggle of guys, I managed to keep pretty busy between getting wrapped up in their business (whether I was trying to or not was beside the point) or drama and mischief managing to find me.
Gabriel, Luke, and I were at Nathan's house, waiting for a family meeting. I had the privilege of sitting in on more and more meetings, and I discovered more and more of said meetings were happening at this particular house. It made sense, really. Two of us already lived here, myself included, and the chances of people not belonging to this particular Academy team walking in on us during a meeting was quite low since Nathan's father started working in East Asia. Everyone else's houses had family members also living there, taking away total privacy. However, Mr. Blackbourne made a point recently. As strategically favorable using Nathan's (and I supposed mine to a small degree since I also lived here) house to discuss business was, it was wise to not make too much of a habit out of it. Once it became habit, complacency settled in, and with complacency, people would get careless. Carelessness led to mistakes and compromises.
I wasn't sure if I would ever get use to the mentality of always checking over my shoulder that was so ingrained into the Academy guys. It seemed paranoid to me. But then again, if I managed to learn such habits to always guard my back the way they did, I just might not wind up in as many troubling situations as I found myself in of late.
My attention wandered back to the movie playing on the television in the living room. We were lucky to find a movie in Nathan's collection that was not horror; it was a kung fu martial arts movie instead. That fact did not surprise me.
I sat in the middle of the leather couch, the boys on either side of me. Luke laid on his side, his legs tucked up behind my back. He wore a simple button up shirt with most of the buttons undone to reveal a lot of his chest. Gabriel sat close to the edge giving live commentary to the costuming and whether the use of wires to lift the actors into graceful, flying acrobatics was appropriate for particular choreography scenes. I leaned against his shoulder, bare from the neon green tank he wore, and I inserted my own thoughts every now and again.
Movement and some light tugging of my hair at the back of my head made me think of how Luke played with my hair when he sat behind me in school. After class, I had to pass my hand down my dirty blonde locks to see if I had to untwist my hair from dozens of loops or not. The sensations on my scalp felt familiar, and I assumed Luke was doing similarly as we watched the movie. His hands must have been bored and needed to fidget.
Gabriel turned his head to ask a question of Luke, something about whether running across a rooftop as quickly as they were in the movie could possibly be as silent as they were portraying it. The question was half out of his mouth before he erupted, shooting off the couch with his arms shooting into the air to wave around in a rage. "What the flying fuck are you doing to her hair?!" he screeched.
I flinched and jerked, startled at his sudden change in demeanor, but my hair was wrapped around Luke's fingers tight enough to pull painfully. I reached back to press my hand against my scalp to find Luke's fingers hopelessly tangled in my strands…
…only they weren't his fingers.
Toes. Big, hairy, monkey toes were caught up in my hair. Luke was petting my hair with his feet?
Luke burst into laughter, making his leg jerk, which pulled on my hair. I squeaked in pain.
"God dammit, Luke! Get your filthy feet off of Trouble! You're hurting her!" Gabriel bellowed.
Luke was gasping for air. "I'm stuck," he said in between giggles. He wiggled his toes, tangling them up worse. How I managed not to panic, I wasn't quite sure.
"Good, you bastard. I'll go get a knife and cut your toes off. You deserve it." Gabriel started stomping toward the kitchen.
Luke's eyes grew wide. "You wouldn't!"
A drawer in the kitchen opened violently, and the kitchen utensils rattled inside it. "Watch me," Gabriel called back to us. "I'll even be merciful and let Doc stitch you up after I'm done. I should just make your toes into earrings for Sang to wear at Halloween."
I cringed and whimpered as my hands frantically set to unwinding my hair from around Luke's toes behind my head. Luke sat up awkwardly and joined me when we heard the telltale sound of a knife blade being run across the honing stick repeatedly. We finished right as Gabriel came back into view, holding up a large butcher knife beside his head like he belonged in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. I leapt to one side of the couch, and Luke shuffled to the opposite side, both of us trying to put as much space in between us to help convince Gabriel his drastic measures were no longer necessary.
"Aw. My toe turned blue," Luke said as he inspected his foot. He wiggled his toes to encourage the blood circulation to return to normal.
I glared at the blonde at the other end of the couch. "Why were your feet in my hair?"
Luke looked up at me and grinned mischievously. "Why not?"
"I'll tell you why not," Gabriel growled as he circled the couch and grabbed my hand. He lifted me to standing and started leading me toward the bathroom. "You have cooties, Luke, and now I need to wash it all out of Trouble's hair."
Soon thereafter, I found myself in a position I frequently found myself in when Gabriel was around, bent over a bathroom sink with his hip pressing into my shoulder. His fingers were massaging my scalp rhythmically when he spoke. "We need to get back at that motherfucker." He said it softly so the words would not be understood outside the closed bathroom door. Anyone standing out in the hallway could hear there was a conversation taking place, but the words themselves would be unintelligible.
I didn't quite agree with the name he called Luke, but I nodded my agreement at the motion he was suggesting. "An eye for an eye?" I asked, my voice echoing weirdly as it bounced around the curve of the sink.
Gabriel's fingers picked up their pace in my hair. "Toe for a toe is more like it, but yeah. Except we can't do it. He'll be expecting it from us. We need to outsource."
I knew the answer quickly. "Dr. Green," I managed to spit out before Gabriel turned on the water to rinse the suds off my head. The doctor was goofy and playful in his own right, and I was positive we could easily convince him to help in our cause.
"Perfect," Gabriel said as soon as he turned the water off. "You keep Luke distracted. I'll recruit the Doc."
By the time Gabriel had conditioned and blow dried my hair, the other guys were starting to trickle into the house. We were forced out of the bathroom by Silas when he knocked. Silas was hopping back and forth on his feet in the hallway like a five year old doing the pee-pee dance, which appeared very odd coming from the biggest male of the group.
"Hi, Aggele Mou," he said with a grin as we traded places in the bathroom doorway. "Bye, Aggele Mou," he said as he closed the door.
"Freaky deek," Gabriel muttered over his shoulder as he went into the main body of the house. Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne were just coming through the front door as Gabriel and I emerged into the living room. "Oy! Doc. Can I talk to you for a bit?"
Dr. Green raised an eyebrow as he closed the door behind him. "Yeah. Sure. What's up, Gabe?"
Gabriel nodded his head toward the kitchen. "In private please? It concerns a personal matter." The both went off to where they could not be overheard.
Mr. Blackbourne nodded his head as he passed me. "Miss Sorenson," he offered his regular greeting before wandering further into the house and tapping into his phone.
I got hugs and twirls from North, Victor, and Nathan. We were just waiting for Kota to arrive before we could begin the family meeting. Victor asked me to sit by him on the floor by the coffee table, but I meekly shook my head at him. The fire in his eyes notched down a few degrees at the rejection, but I was on a mission. North tried to guide me by my hips to sit on his lap in the arm chair, but I resisted. The defiance made his eyes darken, but not in an angry way. If anything, it made him look hungry.
Instead, I grabbed Luke by the shoulders and pushed him down to sit on the center spot of the couch. I crawled up into his lap and curled into his chest, effectively trapping him into place. He seemed confused for a tick, but then relaxed enough to start petting my hair.
"Nuh uh," Nathan said from the floor in front of the coffee table. "You and Gabe had her all afternoon. Give her up."
Luke's arms snaked around my sides and pulled me in tighter to him. "I can't. I need to keep a close eye on this one, or she's going to get me."
Dr. Green poked his head into the living room and called out, "Owen! Come here for a moment."
My phone pinged and vibrated against my chest, and I hunched over to hide pulling it out of my bra. I checked the text message as Gabriel plopped onto the seat next to Luke and me. The way I was angled in Luke's lap prevented him from being able to see the screen.
Gabriel: This shit has gone political power play. Doc is vouching for us and getting Mr. B in on our cause.
"What do you mean?" Victor asked as I read the text.
"I got caught twirling Sang's hair with my feet earlier," Luke answered. The rest of the room groaned and cursed. Silas sat in the remaining spot on the couch next to us as he was faking dry heaves in response to Luke's confession. "I need to keep tabs on Gabe too. They're out for me. I can feel it."
North snorted. "Serves you right."
Kota came in shortly thereafter, and Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne rejoined us. Ten people crowded in Nathan's living room, and the family meeting started. To get comfortable, I wrapped my arm loosely around Luke's shoulders. My fingers mindlessly fidgeted with his long blonde locks. He caught my fingers quickly and smiled down at me, making sure I had not somehow managed to get my toes near his head. I smiled coyly back at him and continued to pet once he released my hand.
Mr. Blackbourne got everyone to report how their home lives were going, one at a time and straight down the line. There wasn't any new or interesting developments on that front. He then gave the floor to Dr. Green, who stood in front of the TV and focused our attention, providing a lecture on flu season, what we needed to know about the flu shot, and general hygiene practices to avoid spreading the virus. During this time, Mr. Blackbourne slowly paced around the entire living room, observing us much as he did to me during my violin lessons at school. He circled twice before stopping behind the couch and tilting to the side slightly. He caught my eye and his lips lifted in his signature millimeter smile. North in the armchair could also see him, so Mr. Blackbourne waved a simple hand gesture to alleviate any of North's curiosity and command him not to bring any attention to what he was doing.
Luke was focused on Dr. Green. He had no clue when Mr. Blackbourne lifted his leg behind him with his dress shoe and sock off his foot. Mr. Blackbourne and I made eye contact, came to an instant understanding, then he seamlessly replaced my fingers at the back of Luke's head and continued the same motions and rhythm I previously had in petting. I was in awe at how flexible Mr. Blackbourne was to maintain such a straight posture during this feat along with his amazing sense of balance to keep the prank up for several minutes straight.
Dr. Green's voice remained steady in his lecture about germs, but his expression became brighter and more animated as he watched the exchange take place. Soon, he looked like a madman who was much too enthusiastic and happy to be talking about the flu virus.
Carefully, I unwrapped my arm from around Luke as Mr. Blackbourne continued to pet and fiddle with Luke's hair. I readjusted myself in Luke's lap and brought his hands around me so I could play with both of this thumbs. Eventually, he looked down and took inventory of my limbs. His brow furrowed in confusion, then he looked over at Gabriel, whose own hands and feet were in plain view in front of him. A look of fear cross his face as he slowly turned to see who was petting the back of his head, the motion squishing me up against Silas's shoulder. Luke's nose met with Mr. Blackbourne's big toe.
Mr. Blackbourne wiggled his toes in Luke's face.
"What the hell?!" Luke screamed as he shot up to standing, sending me falling onto my butt to the floor. I was laughing too hard to notice any pain. Dr. Green was doubled over laughing just as hard. Silas was reaching down to gather me up off the floor, and every other head was whipped around to see what the commotion was about.
Gabriel cackled like a hyena. Mr. Blackbourne picked up his sock and shoe from the floor and made his way to sit on the edge of the coffee table to put them back on his bare foot. "Mr. Taylor, I believe you need to learn the benefits of making allies when it comes to warfare."