Length: 5,200 words

Characters/Pairings: Poly!Burners, with Dutch/Tennie

Warnings: Some very vaguely-implied/referenced sexual situations, but other than that not much!

Note: To steal my tags from AO3: #Polyamory, #Fluff, #rumors and gossip, #Magic: The Gathering knockoffs, #Texas's Nanay Didn't Raise A Ho, #The Duke has a Bonking Chart to keep track of who is Bonking, #The Oracle ships Muckles, #The entire Kingdom of Raymanthia are the protectors of Chuck's heart and will FIGHT you

If you have any issues with poly, this is not the place to have them! Please do me the favor of taking them elsewhere. Thanks!

Julie starts it, because when the Duke calls them up to triumphantly dish out dirt he's "dug up", she says, perfectly evenly, "—of course you saw Texas making out with Dutch. What did you expect them to be doing?" and hangs up the call on his startled double-take.

"It's none of his business anyway," she says, with cool dignity, and opens up the magazine she was reading again. "I wonder why he thought I needed to know about Texas?"

"Probably saw him pick you up the other day," says Chuck, without looking up from his screen. "He was touching your butt and you totally didn't even get mad."

"Oh yeah."

And then it's over. And it's not a big thing, but it…sets a precedent.

So when Ruby edges up to Chuck after a long day of questing, with the sheepish look of a friend who needs to impart some bad news, and the bad news turns out to be that she saw Mike holding hands with Julie on the other side of the Desert Brutal, Chuck blinks and smiles and says "…aw, nice. They're not great at stuff like hand-holding, y'know. Lovey-dovey stuff. That's cool."

"Chuck, I'm not talking about RPing," Ruby says, because it's important to clarify sometimes. She's still flinched up, like she's sure the emotional devastation is going to set in any time now.

"Oh no, I know!" Chuck smiles, utterly genuine and guileless. "I—shh! I think I see their flag." And then they're running again, fast and quiet as they can, and Ruby spends a lot of time staring at him, frowning a puzzled frown, but the subject is dropped.

"Okay, but," says Thurman later. "I thought Mike was…" an awkward sort of gesture. "Y'know, I thought him and Chuck—"

"I know!" The Oracle seems way more upset than Chuck actually was—he's been rooting for this for a while, not that he would ever admit to engineering campaigns where Mike and Chuck have to sneak off together to do stuff. "They totally were! Did they break up or what?"

"He didn't look upset though." Ruby's first idea was just to march up to Mike and threaten him (We wouldn't actually doanything to him, come on!) until he spilled everything—having her perfect plan shot down has put her in a less-than-sunny mood. She huddles sulkily in Thurman's hoodie instead, pulling her knees up inside with her and huddling down in it like an angry turtle.

"Ruby, you're gonna stretch it out," Thurman complains half-heartedly. Ruby scowls at him, then unfolds her legs again with an annoyed sigh. "Look. If he believed you and he was cool with it, they must've broke up, right? He's probably torn up about it but he doesn't wanna talk."

–

"I know you don't wanna talk about it, but you should probably tell everybody what's going on," says Tennie, when Dutch is distracted enough with painting he can't immediately dodge the point. Dutch blinks at her for a second, and then coughs and turns kinda red. Dutch is, in the words Tennie's mom woulda used, "easy to get in a lather". He tries to play the smooth artist, but really. Honestly.

"Nah," says Dutch. "Let 'em keep guessing."

"You…could do that," Tennie allows. "But, uh…the rumors are already goin' around."

"So? Let people talk." Dutch paints another line—it's harsher than he means it to be, she can tell by the way his shoulders tense when he looks at it. "…sorry. Look, I just…"

"I know." She kisses his cheek, just to put him at ease; he relaxes a little. "It's none of their business. I get that. But…rumors are getting around to, uh…to my dad."

Dutch actually turns and looks at her for the first time, eyes going wider. "Oh," he says. "Shoot."

"Yeah." Tennie bites her lip. "So…I think we gotta do something about this."

"Yeah," says Dutch, and when he drags his hands over his face he forgets there's a smear of paint on his hands. The streak of gold on his cheek looks really cute though, so she doesn't mention it. "How do you even tell somebody, though?"

–

"Junior started makin' noise at me today," Texas says conversationally, and pokes Mike in the side with one foot. "…hey. So he said he totally saw us smoochin' the other day, like, out on South Side."

"Oh yeah?" Mike shoves his foot away. Dutch, who's got his head in Mike's lap and was just about dozing off before everybody started moving around and talking, makes a grumpy noise. "—sorry dude. So what'd you say?"

"Told him he's dumb," says Texas, and glares a little jealously as Mike, apparently still feeling guilty about waking Dutch up, slides a hand under his neck and starts rubbing his shoulders apologetically. "And he's just jealous he don't have a boyfriend. Tcha. Whatever."

"Boyfriend?" Mike rolls the word over. "…boyfriend. Huh."

"Yeah, so?"

"Don't think you ever called me that before." Mike grins. "Like we're dating and stuff."

"Well chyeah," says Texas, like this should be obvious. "You think I'd be dishin' out sweet Texas moves on you if we weren't dating? Texas's nanay didn't raise a ho."

In the corner, Julie makes an undignified snorting noise and then breaks down into helpless giggles. Chuck looks up, startled back into the world of the living, and says "what? What's up?"

"Texas—oh my god—" Julie can't seem to stop laughing long enough to explain what's funny—Chuck looks at Mike, but Mike is laughing too, now. "A ho? What?"

"Texas is a ho?" Chuck looks at Texas—Texas sits bolt upright, affronted.

"Nuh-uh! Take it back!"

"Take what back?!" And then Texas, honor impugned, dives off the couch to put Chuck in a headlock, Mike scrambles to Chuck's rescue, Dutch falls off the couch and Julie laughs so hard she almost passes out.

–

"It wouldn't go over well upstairs," Julie says, the first time the possibility of making it public comes up. "Deluxe likesfamily units. It's efficient."

"Kane can efficiently eat my ass," mumbles somebody's voice in the dark, too quiet to distinguish.

"Who said that?" Mike's voice is that weird combination of embarrassed and amused it always is when somebody makes an off-color joke at Kane's expense. "Guys. Come on."

"Wasn't me," says Dutch, and "—wasn't me," Texas and Chuck chorus a second late.

"All I'm saying," Julie says firmly, as the boys start to shift and threaten to break up the warm comfort in favor of a shoving-match, "…if we ever tell everybody, we should be ready for people not to get it."

"I don't need them to get it," says Mike, and when he says it like that it's 100% believable.

–

"It's 100% above the board," says Tennie, and squeezes Dutch's hand tight under the table. His fingers aren't shaking, but they do feel very cold. "I know it's kinda different, but it totally works for us. I promise."

Bracket's face is about as expressive as the side of a cliff. Dutch takes a very slow, very shaky breath.

"…sir…?"

"I need to discuss this with my daughter," says Bracket, in that slow, grinding-stone voice.

He doesn't have to say, alone. Dutch nods and gets up. "Sure."

"I'll call you," Tennie promises as he walks out, and Dutch glances back and gives her a weak, shaky half-smile as the door closes between them.

–

"I think he rebounded," says Ruby, and pops her head up over the top of her piecemeal shelter. A ball of brightly colored cloth (fireball) almost hits her in the face (removes her head ingloriously from her shoulders!). She ducks back down again.

"Rebounded with Texas though?" Thurman has a bow and arrow, but his aim's not great and Ruby's technically down an arm as signified by the red handkerchief tied around it. He fiddles with his mace, glancing restlessly over his shoulder. "They're gonna close the gap if we don't get out there, we can't let them pick us off."

"The Lord of the Whirling Wind is a perfectly honorable choice for rebound makeouts," says Ruby, with dignity. "I'm telling you, I couldn't see much but Chuck—Lord Vanquisher— was injured and the Whirlwind was carrying him to a healer and he, like…leaned up and whispered something in his ear? And I couldn't see but they totally kissed."

"Okay maybe, but…" Thurman grimaces a little, dubious. "…Texas? I thought he didn't get along with Ch—Lord…Vanquisher."

"You don't have to like somebody to rebound on them," Ruby explains patiently. "Elyan totally hated the chick he ended up with after Jamie broke up with him, but he just wanted somebody to make out with."

"Your brothers are pretty different from Chuck though."

Ruby makes a sort of ambivalent yeah fair enough gesture. "You're telling me."

"We'll see after the battle's over," Thurman says, and waves the point off. "Go on three?"

"To death or victory," Ruby agrees, and draws her sword.

–

"So, Ruby totally saw you yesterday." Chuck closes his comm and levels a not-very-fierce glare in Texas's direction. Texas stares at him for a second, not comprehending, and then realization dawns on his face.

"Oh, y'mean she saw us." He grins. His eyebrows give two decisive wiggles.

"What were you doing, exactly?" Dutch looks up from his videogames, grinning. "Something fun?"

"Shut up?!" says Chuck, high and squeaky and red in the face. "I didn't do anything, I was just saying something to him and he—"

"You were totally sweet-talkin' Texas." Texas buffs his nails on his jumpsuit. "Texas knows sweet-talk, loverboy."

Behind his counter, Jacob snorts and slides a pan into the oven. Chuck sputters something like "—loverboy?!" Texas watches him stammer, grinning like it's a super-entertaining show, and then grabs him by one thin wrist and pulls him down, leaning up to whisper something right next to his ear.

"Oh my god," says Chuck, appalled; his voice is rising to ear-piercing frequencies, buoyed ever-upwards by sheer mortification. "Holy shit! I'm never talking to you again."

"See?" Texas leans back again. "Sweet-talkin'. Told you so."

"Whoa, what's happening over here?" Mike strides over and throws an arm around Chuck's waist. Chuck is, for once, actually too embarrassed already to bother being embarrassed about the casual contact. "Is this guy bothering you, sir?"

"He's an asshole."

"Oh man," says Mike, suitably impressed. "Sounds serious. Don't worry, I'll save you."

Chuck protests the entire time as Mike picks him up and walks off with him, but by the time Mike gets to Mutt his voice has dropped to inaudible levels and he's holding on to Mike's shoulders, so that's probably handled.

"Seriously though," says Julie. "Chuck's LARPing group is already asking questions. What did they see, exactly?"

–

"What did you see, exactly?"

"I saw Chilton, sir!" The ultra-elite is standing at attention, obviously uncomfortable. "He had three others with him, sir!"

"And?"

"And he…" the man coughs. "He was…kissing one of them, sir."

For the first time, Kane sits forward. "Oh? Tell meeverything."

–

"What do you mean, all the bots went after Dutch?"

Dutch is nursing a nasty burn on one arm—he shrugs. "Dunno, man. As soon as I showed up, they were all over me."

"Why though?" Mike is always on edge after a fight, especially after a fight where one of them gets injured, but with this news added on top of everything else he's a mess of angry, twitchy tension. "Why would Kane go after you? Is your family—?"

"Mom and Dad and Dar are all fine." Dutch winces as Texas pulls a bandage around his burned arm and knots it off. "I called them as soon as we got back. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"So why?" Mike rakes his hands through his hair. "What does Kane suddenly have against you?"

"Offended by Dutch's sick beats?" Chuck suggests, half-seriously. Dutch snorts and throws him a grin and Chuck grins back. "No but really, Kane doesn't like stuff that's loud. 'Disturbing the peace', y'know? Cars or music or…well, anything."

"Yeah, but Whiptail's had those sonic blasters for months." Dutch flexes his afflicted arm cautiously, wincing. "…thanks, man."

"Yeah, yeah." Texas pats the bandages firmly, then again much more gently when Dutch winces.

"Something must have changed," says Julie, and frowns. "…I'll see what I can dig up. I'll have to get going now though, if I want to get up there before the lights come back on."

"You're the best, Jules." Mike crosses the room to pull her into one of his tight, one-armed hugs. Nuzzles up against her neck ticklishly to make her laugh and push him away. "Seriously, what would we do without you?"

"Oh, you'd all be dead by now," Julie says, with carefully-exaggerated arrogance, and tosses her hair back over her shoulder. "I'll go take a look around. See if I can't bring back something for that burn, too—your mom would kill us if you had a bunch of scars next time you came to visit."

"You are the best," says Dutch gratefully, and holds out a hand to steal a kiss as Julie walks past. "Be careful, okay? Last thing we need is you getting hurt too."

"I thought Texas was the best," says Texas, sounding injured, and Julie is laughing as she drops down off the edge of the platform and slips into Nine Lives' driver's seat.

–

"—should have known Chilton would be knocking boots with at least one of his disgusting little friends," Julie's dad is saying at ten sharp next morning.

It's meant to be father-daughter breakfast—it's meant to be a covert operation to figure out where he got his intel from, and Julie expected a long morning of trying to wheedle the information out, but her dad is in high spirits. He emptied out the cafeteria for them, and the empty space and the empty tables echo the noise back as he talks too loud and pounds his fists on the table and lets his voice rise, full of bitter triumph.

He forks another throat cube into his mouth, takes a brief pause to swallow and take a breath and then keeps talking, apparently not noticing the frozen expression on Julie's face. "Of course he would be, nothing to convince somebody to join the cause like—"

"So—how do you know about this?" Julie's voice comes out a little bit strangled, but her father is apparently still too piqued to notice.

"One of my ultra-elites saw them in the act." He slams a fist down on the table. "Chilton should know by now that he's showing the world a weak point. And I intend to exploit it to the fullest."

"Love isn't a weakness," Julie says, before she can hold the words in, and her dad blinks and looks at her and then smiles that weird, almost indulgent smile.

"Of course it's not, Julie-bear," he says. "But do you really think any of that Burner scum is capable of love?"

–

"…do you love me?" she asks, and for a second nobody moves and she thinks no, no no you shouldn't have ruined it, you shouldn't have asked..

And then Mike smiles up at her, all tousled hair and dark eyes and flushed, sweaty cheeks, and says "Yeah, of course I do," like it's the most natural thing in the world. "I love all of you, Jules. I—man, haven't I ever told you that?"

"I love you too," says Julie, and the words are so strangely easy to say. Like there might not be anything to be scared of at all. "I…love you."

"Yeah," says Texas, and sniffs grossly. Finds the nearest hand and gives it one of those rare, too-fast squeezes, like he's afraid somebody's going to laugh at him if he lets himself hold on too long. Dutch reaches after him as Texas tries to let go—catches his fingers and smiles around at all of them, and he doesn't say it but it's written all over his face. It's there, in the softness of his eyes.

"Mnglskdlvvuhtuhh," says Chuck, and there are tones you have to learn, with Chuck, there's subtleties to the sounds he makes when he's too overwhelmed to put the words together. Usually it's fear, or shame or occasionally anger, but this is that rare, strangled sigh of a sound that means I'm feeling too much you guys are making me feel too many things I can't handle it. He bonks his head on Julie's shoulder—she twists awkwardly so she can kiss his forehead instead, and his face is hot with blushing against her skin.

"Yeah," says Mike again, and when he lays his head back and closes his eyes, smiling, something hot and soft and breathless spreads through Julie's chest and squeezes the air out of her lungs. "…yeah."

–

"Dad says he wants to talk to you again," says Tennie. She looks…tired. Dutch is suddenly, keenly aware of the burden he's put on her—hates himself, not for the first time, for wanting everything he has, for not wanting to give up a single miraculous second with any of them. He opens his mouth to say he's sorry, but Tennie is already shaking her head like she senses what he's about to say. "Don't even apologize, Dutch. No matter what he says, we'll make it work, okay?"

"Okay," says Dutch, and shakes his head to himself, leans back and closes his eyes. "…okay."

He repeats that to himself about five-hundred times on the way to the Cablers' Settlement; little shards of reassurance, answers to questions nobody's asking, okay. Okay. Okay.

Tennie answers the door when he rings, and for a second they look at each other, just look at each other with mirrored uncertainty and worry. Dutch reaches out—hesitates, and then squeezes her hand once, very tight, and walks past her into the house, letting the door slide shut behind him.

–

"You're—what?" Ruby squints at him, like she thinks there's some kind of braille explanation hidden in his freckles or something. "Together with who? I end my turn."

"With…each other?"

They're in the back of the Oracle's van. They were playing Enchantment: The Convocation, and then apparently out of nowhere Chuck put down Abrazar, Wizard of Darkness and blurted out something like "guys I know you've been asking for like two months now but we didn't know if we wanted to tell anybody or not but we're together."

"You're together with who, though?" Thurman lays down six mana, draws two cards, puts down Temple of Ocean Godsand garrisons it, apparently without looking. "Did you get back with Mike? I end my turn."

"Well I…" Chuck's hands make useless, stuttering half-gestures, like he's trying to spell something out but can't find the right shapes. "I—yes, but—no, I mean, not really, we—"

"Come on, dude." The Oracle says, despairing, and throws down two Shining Maidens. "I attack Abrazar with Piercing Rays. Back in the graveyard. But you've been totally into Mike forever."

"There's a temple on the field," Chuck says, apparently without conscious thought. "Abrazar raises skeletal minions to counter the attack. I am into Mike! Listen—oh, uh—I'm just gonna draw, end my turn. Listen, okay—"

"Man, I hate Abrazar," grumbles Thurman.

"So it was just a rebound with Texas!" Ruby shuffles her hand around, frowning at the cards, then puts down five mana. "—I cast Impenetrable Fog and end my turn."

"I'm not rebounding with anybody!" Chuck's face is scarlet. "I'm just—oh my god, is that Monstrous Guardian?"

Thurman grins and lays the card down with flair. Monstrous Guardian of the Deeps. "Read 'em and weep. I end my turn."

"A warrior never weeps for the strength of her enemies," Ruby intones, and then reaches over the board to smack Chuck on the shoulder. "Stop being weird! Tell us what you actually mean!"

"I mean—" Chuck takes a deep breath. "I mean—we're—all. Together. Us. Me and my—the Burners. We're, uh…"

"Oh my god," says the Oracle.

"Huh?" says Ruby.

"Whoa," says Thurman, and pushes his glasses up his nose.

"I mean—it was Mike's idea—"

"Of course it was?" says Ruby.

"Oh my god," says The Oracle, grinning like Christmas is here early.

"There was no break-up," says Thurman, like a man who just discovered the secret of eternal life. "Whoa."

"I didn't want you to think I was—was gross, but I didn't wanna keep lying and—"

"There was no break-up."

"Mike is making out with all of you," says The Oracle, with more than a touch of reverence in his voice. "Dude."

"Uh, we're…we're all making out with…all of us," Chuck points out, just a little bit timidly.

"You and Julie?"

"Yeah?"

"Mike and Texas?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Dutch and—"

"Everybody and everybody, okay?" Chuck is still scarlet to the shoulders. "I play Mutant Wolverine in defense. End turn. It just kinda happened."

"This is just like one of my fics," says The Oracle, very, very quietly.

"Huh?"

"Impenetrable Fog is still in effect," Ruby announces, "I lay down four cards face down and end my turn."

"So…" Chuck kind of squirms around the way he does when there's something he's not saying—nervous twitches and fiddles. "…so you're not gonna…it's not gross, though?"

"I'll tell you what I'm gonna do," Thurman says, and Chuck looks up like he's expecting somebody to punch him. "I'm gonna attack you with my Monstrous Guardian. SURRENDER TO THE ICY GRASP OF THE OCEAN FLOOR, MORTAL."

Chuck insists later that his eyes were watering because he was laughing, but nobody mentions that there was no joke to laugh at.

–

"Kids breakin' up I get," says the Duke, and swings one leg up to rest it casually on top of the car, almost absentmindedly. "…but you take the cake, Mr. Chilton!"

Mike just watches him, waiting for the point to eventually surface from the river of histrionics pouring past them. The Duke spins away from the car and abruptly he's way too close for comfort again, leaning in over Mike's shoulder.

"Every time I figure I know who's doin' who around here, you go and throw off my chart."

"You've got a chart?" Julie sounds like she's not sure whether to be disgusted, disturbed or kind of impressed. The Duke nods to himself, two fingers pressed to his forehead like he's some wise deep thinker.

"So satisfy my curiosity, Mr. Chilton," he says. "The masses gotta know."

"Okay." Mike sighs and shrugs off the arm on his shoulders. "Well…if you wanna get what we're doing, there's somethin' you gotta know first. It's a secret, okay? Something I bet you never heard of before."

"Oh yeah?" The Duke's eyebrows rise. "I've done everything under the sun, baby. Hit me with it."

"Mike…?" Dutch sounds less than thrilled—Mike flashes them the brief smile that means trust me. Chuck, who has seen that smile far too many times not to associate it with spine-knotting terror, makes a very quiet, instinctive whimpering noise.

"It's been around forever, but I don't think it seems like your style."

"Mm-hmm?"

"Yeah, so what we're actually doing is, uh…" Mike leans in and lowers his voice conspiratorially. "…sharing."

There's a moment or two of dead silence. And then Texas absolutely loses it, doubling over and clutching his stomach, howling his laughter to the ceiling. The Duke looks torn somewhere between confusion and automatic affront at being laughed at—the look on his face starts the other Burners laughing, cracking poker faces and breaking the tense atmosphere into a million tiny pieces.

"What are you talkin' about?"

"We're sharing," Mike repeats. "That's where you have something, but other people are also—"

"I know what sharing is!"

–

There's nobody like the Duke to get news around. Foxy gives Julie an appraising look next time Julie takes Claire down with her, and then says, "…well, you do know how to get what you want." In that permanently sultry tone of voice that makes every word sound like pure sex. Claire giggles and goes "huh?" and Julie and Foxy look at Claire, look at each other, look back at Claire, and then share that intense, narrow-eyed look they always seem to end up shooting at each other when Claire does something cute. Claire doesn't know yet—will probably find out eventually—and for the moment Julie sits back and leaves it that way.

She's not the only one feeling the ripples. Dutch comes back from the Cablers' Settlement looking shaken and kind of grey with shock, and says "…it's okay. Bracket says it's okay." And Jacob gets him a very hot cup of experimental tea and pats him on the back while the others congratulate him and crowd in close to warm the jitters out of him.

"Mom and dad are like '…huh?'" Texas reports, a couple of weeks after they tell the Duke. "They all wanna meet all of you, though."

"All of who?"

"My mom and my dad and my sisters," says Texas, like this should be obvious. "Duh."

"You have sisters?"

Texas blinks. "Chya? I got, like…six."

"You've got six sisters?"

"Real nice girls," says Mike absently, and holds out a hand—ROTH hands him a socket wrench with a soft whir. "Thanks, dude."

"You knew about this?" Chuck pops his head out the passenger's side window, diagnostics screen in hand, apparently flabbergasted. "Dude! How did I not know about this?"

"There were bots headed for UDM and Texas's mom called us." Mike shrugs. "You were asleep, it was just, like…ten bots. Had dinner, met the folks, headed home. His dad played for us, it was a good time."

"Grace and Angie think you're real dreamy," Texas rolls his eyes. "I told 'em about your dorky underwear, but they just laughed."

"Oh," says Mike, and opens and shuts his mouth a couple of times like he's not sure what to say. "Uh…oh. Well—okay."

"Your mom works at the University?" says Chuck, at the same time Dutch says "his dad played what for you?"

"Harp." Texas shrugs. "So?"

"You're full of surprises, Tex," says Julie, and lies back on the couch. "…full of surprises."

–

God knows how Kane gets the information, but he stops attacking Dutch specifically within weeks. The next time his face appears on a screen to challenge Mike, larger than life, he actually looks past Mike for the first time. Looks at the other Burners, eyes narrowed, and then back at Mike like he doesn't know what exactly he is.

–

Julie started it, months earlier. Because she was brave enough, and smart enough, and she noticed things nobody else seemed to.

"I think we need to talk," she'd said, and looked around at the circle of faces looking back at her. "We need to get some stuff out in the open." And it wouldn't have taken a super-spy to see the way everybody glanced at each other, too-fast and hesitating, hoping it was somebody else's secret that was about to come out.

Julie had a plan, but no plan survives contact with potential boyfriends and she made it about two words in before Texas went "TEXAS HAS A CONFESSION" and Dutch said "—if we're gettin' stuff off our chests—" and Mike said "Dude, are you okay?" Because Chuck was staring at Julie like she was holding his life in her hands, all huge eyes and red face and petrified horror because holy shit who could possibly know he was hopelessly in love with—

Julie wouldn't remember what she shouted over top of the noise, months later, but it was something like, ALL OF US LIKE MIKE AND MOST OF US LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE I HAVE PROOF AND I'M NOT LETTING US BE STUPID ABOUT THIS. Something like that. Something that made everybody stop dead and stare at her, and then at each other, double-checking silently. You too?

Julie started it, but Mike finished it because everybody looked at each other first and then at him second, and he just slumped over in his chair and went "Oh, good. Not just me then." And smiled around at all of them like every single one of them was special, and everybody dropped something heavy and invisible none of them knew they were carrying.

They started out revolving around Mike, the same way they did when they joined the Burners—Mike was the thing they had in common, back then, the guy who found people, the guy who led the way into danger and then watched their backs on the way back out again. And it was rough, for a while, and weird because Dutch needed Mike to work on the cars but Texas needed Mike to spar with but Julie had new intel but Chuck needed to talk to him, and jealousy is a tricky thing when it's among friends.

But just like the way they all settled into their places on the team, they settled. Settled into Chuck cautiously pecking Dutch on the cheek when he brought down coffee in the mornings, and Texas making clumsy overtures that boiled down to "come on Jenny, just lemme touch your butt or whatever!" Settled into Texas negotiating paintings of laser-dragons in exchange for backrubs and smooches, and Julie sneaking "viruses" full of old low-resolution e-valentines into Chuck's files for him to find when he's debugging.

It takes a while, but it's all worth it for the day Julie gets to the hideout and finds a pile of sleeping bodies, curled up on a mess of stolen blankets and pillows in a corner. Mike wakes up enough to reach out a hand to her, and the others all move around and make a spot for her right in the middle, and Julie lies down and thinks I'm home.