Disclaimer: Hey I'm not dead! I also got some inspiration to work on this again, so uh. Hopefully that goes well.
Without Wings
IV.
They started off slow, but that was to be expected. The Super Soakers came out first as the two responsible adults (that phrase made Mia want to laugh herself sick when applied to herself and Diego) ordered them all out to the backyard and proceeded to wage watery war. Pesu made himself helpful by following Phoenix around and barking incessantly in enjoyment of the game, which had the effect of giving away Phoenix and Miles' positions.
It wasn't as difficult as Mia had feared to convince them all to play. Hit a few times with the water bazooka Diego had snagged for himself, competitive streaks began to emerge, and shortly enough the yard was full of yelling and laughter and barking and war whoops (from Diego) and the sound of five grown adults acting wonderfully like children.
They lost track of time, which Mia suspected the three youngest in the group had never done before without the aid of text books. The sun was setting when she snuck up behind Phoenix and Miles in the bushes at one end of the overgrown yard (she saw no need to tame the jungle out there just yet) and paused short of firing on them, because Phoenix was kneeling in the shadows of the bush while Miles poured water from his gun onto the edge of his shirt and tried to wipe the black off Phoenix's neck that was a legacy of the old choker.
Dusk and the loss of visibility meant the end of the game at last. Diego climbed on top of the fence, likely horrifying their neighbours, and proclaimed an armistice in ringing tones that were only slightly diminished by the soaked state of his clothing and the mud on his face.
"You got mud on your face! You big disgrace!" Mia shouted energetically at him, defiantly pulling Phoenix and Miles to her side. "I have hostages, Diego Armando, and I demand you surrender to me this instant! Or..." She struck an overly-dramatic pose, "We will rock you!"
Diego's face instantly transformed to puppy-dog sadness. "But kitten! I thought we were fighting on the same side! For love!"
"We've got to hold on to what we've got!" Mia shot back.
"But it doesn't make a difference if we make it or not!" Diego protested.
I feel like we're missing something, Phoenix signed in bewilderment. Miles nodded, watching the two argue back and forth. At least, he thought they were arguing.
This bewilderment only grew when the shouting match, which had appeared to be escalating, resulted in Diego suddenly bursting into song. "I can see a new horizon, underneath the blazin' sky! I'll be where the eagle's flying- higher and higher! Gonna be your man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels, take me where my future's lyin', St. Elmo's Fiiiiire!"
It was at this point that a frustrated neighbour began shouting at them and they beat a hasty retreat back indoors, where Mia immediately set up a game of Jenga in the hallway while they took turns showering. She had persuaded them to play- she was not going to lose her momentum now.
Mia managed to take photos of them all bedraggled and muddy from the water wars without being caught by anyone but Diego. For his part, Diego was seriously starting to wonder just exactly what the childhood pastimes in Kurain entailed for its residents to grow up so very sneaky.
It had also been sneaky of her to get them to play Jenga on the hallway floor, where the plush carpeting made it nearly impossible for anyone to actually win. They'd taken advantage of their kitten's strong competitive streaks to get everyone to start playing children's games, but to allow those competitive streaks to strengthen would defeat their purpose. So they subtly found ways to prevent anyone keeping track of scores.
With this in mind, as they sat down to dinner that night- peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and butter pecan ice cream, and it was a testament to the good the day had done them that no one protested this as a meal- Diego made up his mind to cheat wildly at every single board game in the next week.
After all, if it was so incredibly blatant that it was impossible for anyone to not realize he was cheating, then it wasn't really cheating at all. Right?
When he explained this logic to Mia during a game of Monopoly and after announcing that he was robbing the bank, she threw up her hands in despair and didn't bother to argue.
Because Diego refused to stop embezzling money from the bank after that, and shortly moved on to building a park in the middle of the board with the game pieces intended for his few properties, it was quickly hopelessly impossible to determine who was winning.
The fact that he'd taken to liberally redistributing the play money every time anyone left the table only served to further muddy the waters as far as scoring went.
Eventually Mia gave up and declared the game suspended for the night. By that point Diego had finished the park, started charging rent on the jail, and had exactly one dollar to his name. They left the game in place to continue the next night, fully aware that by that time money and properties would have changed hands impossibly again.
Mia herded them all into the living room to watch a movie. She glared at Diego when the first movie he handed her turned out to be The Lion King. Setting it down well out of sight Mia searched for another movie. Diego, clearly still feeling mischievous from the game of Monopoly, next handed her Cinderella and she told him to go and sit down in exasperation.
She didn't see exactly how he did it, but somehow on his trip from the television to the couch Diego managed to completely rearrange the seating arrangement in the room. While Phoenix and Miles had started out on the floor and Franziska in the armchair with Pesu, when she turned to check on them the sofa bed was pulled out and Diego leaned against the sofa back smirking. Phoenix was sprawled between Miles and Franziska so that Diego, and presumably Mia once she joined them, could see over their heads and the quilt was situated to cover everyone on the bed. Pesu wandered on top of it, not ready to settle down yet.
Eventually she settled on The Aristocats and went to make herself comfortable beside Diego as the movie started to play. There was some startled stirring as the three kids (and she couldn't stop herself thinking of them as kids, despite their ages and maturity) reacted to the fact that they were watching a children's movie. An animated children's movie, at that.
But a glance at Diego and Mia showed them thoroughly enjoying themselves, and Phoenix at least was clearly immediately enthralled. He signed something privately to Miles that made the other man choke on a laugh as the three kittens were introduced on-screen.
Safely out of their sight, Diego nudged Mia, then pointed at each of the kittens in the movie, then pointed at each of their three kittens on the bed and raised an eyebrow. Mia smirked and nodded.
The alley cat in the movie made all three younger lawyers twist around to look at Diego before returning their attention to the screen. Mia snorted in amusement at Diego's expression.
It wasn't a long movie and the night was still young when the credits were rolling. Diego started to get up so Mia didn't have to, but remembering his earlier choices she yanked him back down and went to change movies herself. Harold and Maude was next, and then Young Frankenstein, and somewhere between Shrek and Footloose Mia realized she was the only one still awake. Even Diego was snoring, resting his head on her shoulder.
Smiling contentedly, she clicked off the TV and the DVD player and settled down to sleep.
She woke early the next morning to find that everyone was slowly waking at the same time. Except for Diego, that is, who came from the kitchen with a smile crinkling his eyes as he handed her a morning cup of coffee. She took it from him while groaning inwardly at what the game board in there was likely to look like now.
Sure enough, when she swung herself off the sofa bed and went to make breakfast, the Jenga blocks had moved from the upstairs hallway to the table in the kitchen and there were six hotels perched precariously on top of the unsteady tower. Mia eyed this set-up with misgiving as she set about making peanut butter and banana sandwiches. She had them all on a plate to bring back out to the living room, when she stopped and looked at them again.
She cut the crusts off them all with a grin before returning to the other room and to old Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons playing on the television.
"I'm waaaaiting!" Diego called simultaneously with Sonic as Mia re-entered the room. He met her partway to the sofa bed and took the plate of sandwiches from her, freeing her to press her hands down lightly on Phoenix's shoulders as he started to sit up.
His reaction startled them both. Flinching heavily, Phoenix all but threw himself away from Mia's touch, pressing close to the sofa bed and shaking as he clenched his fists in the sheets.
Mia exchanged a look of alarm with Diego. He waited a moment, then placed one hand cautiously just beside Phoenix's shoulder, being very careful not to touch the younger man. Miles had shot up, startled as well, when Phoenix had flung himself down and now started to reach out to his friend. Mia waved him off as she watched Diego intently.
"Hey, kitten, it's okay," Diego murmured, slowly moving his hand so the tips of his fingers just barely brushed against Phoenix's shoulder. Phoenix flinched again. Miles had risen to his knees now. The look of anguish he gave Mia when she continued to keep him from going to his friend's aid was heartbreaking. At the same time, she knew she couldn't let him help- Phoenix needed to learn to accept comfort from someone other than Miles and now was as good a time as any to start.
But Miles' expression made her feel like she'd just kicked a kitten.
Diego kept talking as he very slowly let more of his hand come into contact with Phoenix's shoulder. "It's all right. It was just Mia, kitten, she didn't mean to scare you, you're safe. She just wanted to let you know you didn't have to get up yet. All right? She didn't mean anything by it. It's okay."
Slowly, Phoenix stopped shaking. Slowly, he raised his eyes again, and when Diego's hand was resting carefully on his shoulder and he wasn't trying to twist away Mia let Miles go to him.
Miles had only to start moving forward and Phoenix turned to him and wrapped his arms around him, burying his face in Miles' neck. Over Phoenix's shoulder Miles gave her the May we have some privacy? look.
Marvelling again at the level of speechless communication the two were capable of, and at the fact that it seemed to be spreading, Mia respectfully left the room with Diego. Franziska, who'd spent the entire brief episode silently petting Pesu and not looking at anyone, followed them after a moment's hesitation.
Franziska blinked at the new arrangement on the table and then failed to suppress a snort. "Diego Armando, you're a fool."
Wordlessly, Diego found a pen and wrote Buy Ziska a thesaurus on the magnetic list on the fridge. Theoretically it was a grocery list. What it actually said, alternating between Diego's careless scrawl and Mia's much neater handwriting, was I.O.U One (1) revolving cantaloupe as well as gullible, IGNORE ME, and Bum. Per. Cars.
No one even pretended to understand this list besides Diego and Mia themselves. For that matter, whether or not even they understood it was debatable.
While Diego clattered around the kitchen brewing more coffee, and Franziska started on tea, Miles was holding Phoenix in the next room and speaking softly to him.
"Sorry," he repeated inadequately for what felt like the hundredth time. Phoenix's hands moved on his back like he wanted to sign something back, but then he stilled and didn't say anything. Miles let his eyes fall shut and reflected that this, too, was ultimately his fault. He didn't even realise it when he slid one hand to the back of Phoenix's neck, running his fingers across it lazily, until Phoenix made a tiny sound far back in his throat.
Miles realised he hadn't seen the choker since discarding it so dramatically the day before. Thinking back, he suspected Mia had taken the chance to get rid of it for good.
...I should thank her. He'd have to find a chance to do so. For now, he focused on Phoenix and on making sure Phoenix was truly all right. "Phoenix...Mia's not going to hurt you." At least, I don't think she is. Miles still had some trouble placing this much trust in their self-appointed guardians himself, but he wasn't about to tell Phoenix that. "Diego isn't, either. And you know Franziska won't, and I won't, I promise."
Not again, anyway. He had let Phoenix get hurt far too many times over the years. Now that they'd finally found somewhere safe, somewhere he could prevent it...He would. Whatever it took.
It dawned on him then that he had at some point completely accepted this as their permanent home. This was all supposed to be temporary, wasn't it? When had that changed?
How had that changed?
Looking back, he didn't really recall what their plan had been past staying in Diego and Mia's apartment. It certainly hadn't included this house, or Pesu, or their current occupations as defense attorneys, though. They had an income again- they could get another apartment.
There was just one thing stopping him.
He didn't want to leave.
He didn't want to give up this airy home, or their new jobs. He didn't want to give up this feeling of family. Mia Fey and Diego Armando had enveloped them all into this strange new family with open arms and he'd been too overwhelmed to even truly notice at first.
It was Miles' turn to start to shake as he thought about this. Phoenix pulled back at last and looked up at him, a question written in his eyes.
"Phoenix, I don't want to leave," Miles murmured. Something that was either fear or close to it sparked in Phoenix's eyes. "No! No, I don't mean... Mia hasn't said anything about it. At this point in time I think she'd stop us somehow if we did try to leave, honestly. But I..." He stopped. He stopped, because he knew what he wanted to say, and he knew it was childish, and Phoenix said it anyway.
I want to stay here forever, and only Phoenix could make sign language come across as wistful.