"Heath" Heath's mom poked her head out of the kitchen "Tell your little friends I made dinner"

"Oh guys." Heath turned to his 4 creepover buddies. "Dinner's ready."

"We heard." said Gil.

"Aw man I smelled it but I didn't know it was ready…" Clawd panted happily.

"Mom!" Heath yelled back, though the living room was connected to the kitchen and not too far away "Do you need me to tell dad?"

"Oh no, I got it" his mom reappeared "BUNSEN! DINNER!'

Jackson was helping the others put the instruments away before seeing his uncle rumble out of his room. A much larger man, muscular, bearded, more orangey yellow, like a darker Heath. Or if Heath had eaten nothing but protein shakes for the last decade.

He glanced at the party with a serious expression before joining his wife in the kitchen.

"Oh, there's my hot buns!" they heard in a feminine squeal.

No one said anything but there was a slight snicker in the group regarding the pet name.

Jackson slid Holt's headphones back up to his ears, messing with the iCoffin. Of course it was beginning to set in that being at this sleepover was a situation in itself.

He still had unfinished business after all.

Everyone was filing into the kitchen already though, and it was hard to avoid-

"Holt are you coming?" his aunt asked sneaking another peek at him "I thought you liked spicy."

Family…

"Sure Aunt Cel."

He was pretty sure he had his backpack with him after all. If anything else he had his work with him, but he needed a way to fix this before the party.

He could always sneak out later… maybe wait til everyone was asleep? He briefly remembered to put away his glasses. Thinking what he could do. It might require… help.

Most of all he had a feeling he might have to sneak into Monster High.

Jackson hung back while everyone got food.

"How many hotdogs can we have Mrs. Burns?" Clawed asked excitedly.

"Oh um, maybe just go back later if you're still hungry." she answered sweetly, waiting by the fridge near Jackson while everyone served themselves.

"So Holt." she began in a lower volume reserved for privacy "Still settling in?"

"I mean we've been living here for a bit…"

"And in the daytime too…"

"Yeah that's been happening for awhile as well."

"You're getting so big." she smiled looking at Heath in comparison "How's your mom? Still at the hospital?"

"Oh yeah" Jackson tried to remember details about his mom's work "She's got her own lab now I think?"

"That sounds interesting. You know she never really tells me much, I don't think she likes our side of the family as much."

Jackson smiled sarcastically "I didn't think that was a secret."

His aunt started laughing to herself for slightly too long.

"Aw Holt. You're so sweet. I'm glad the three of you are all here now."

"... Three?" Jackson wasn't sure if she meant…

"You know you and Jackson and your mom." she poked at his face "I know we've got something of a two for one deal going on here but he's still in there somewhere~ I can see it in your eyes" she grinned.

Jackson made a wary grimace back.

"So what's she need a lab for?"

Jackson had to actually think about that one. His mom could be private but from what he understood "I think she helps monsters customize their medicine…" he squinted "Like if they needed a more potent or diluted dosage?"

He shrugged "All I know is she's not getting kicked out of human hospitals anymore. And the less we have to move the better."

"Aw that sounds neat. You sound so smart when you talk about this kind of stuff, you know you sound almost exactly like your brother sometimes." his Aunt finished beginning to walk off to seat herself, Jackson trailing after, heart immediately beating fast.

"Umm." he coughed, feeling squicked from the term "Maybe don't refer to him like that."

"Brother?" she tilted her head "If you say so. Can't say I understand the preference though."

"Mom…" Heath whined, half catching the conversation.

Jackson began serving himself from the narrow food selection. Overhearing Heath mumbling something to his mom about terms for her nephew, and his aunt's confused rebuttal.

"So curry and … hotdogs." Deuce commented as Jackson sat down "That's an… interesting combination."

"Well I knew non elementals were gonna come so I tried to think of something less spicy." his aunt explained, not a vegetable on the table.

"Appreciated…" Gil mumbled with a single plain hotdog.

Clawd had packed his side of the table with plenty of both "Yeah really!" he was already eating "Thank you Mrs. Burns."

"You're just happy you don't have to fight for any of it…" Deuce murmured into his drink.

"I sure am!" Clawd announced brightly, then looked suspiciously at the table "None of you were planning on it right?" he asked suddenly.

"Planning on challenging you for your… food?" Gil asked with much confusion.

"Don't worry about it, Clawd" Heath smoothed things over "Mom made enough."

"Oh I hope so, I forgot how much 4 and a half teenagers could eat." she looked at Jackson and he guessed he was the 'and a half "Flame elementals burn a lot of calories." she added.

"And it's totally smokin' mom!" Heath exclaimed flaming up as he ate.

"Heath." his dad seemed to scold.

Heath's flame went down a little like he'd done something wrong, though his eyes remained white.

"He can flame up, Bunsen." Heath's mom began "He's just happy he likes it so much" she smiled.

"No. It's because it's spicy and he can't control himself." Heath's dad reaffirmed "If we can help it than he can too. He's too old to be burning everything."

"Aw, but he's still a baby" Heath's mom defended.

Heath's flame went out. "Mom…" he glanced at his slumber party guests who seemed more uncomfortable at parents being too involved at the table than any potential pet names for their son.

"He's fifteen, Celsius" Heath's dad continued "He should know better by now."

Jackson was trying to ignore it deciding if he quietly ate he wouldn't have to be involved. The curry was pretty spicy and he could understand why Heath flamed up. He was feeling pretty heated himself.

"I mean look at Holt, he's not inflamed and he's not much older" he heard his uncle direct the heated discussion towards him.

Jackson looked up to the table looking at him.

Well except for the slumber party that seemed to be deliberately looking elsewhere. Save for Clawd who was too busy eating to maybe even notice the tension.

"Dad…" Heath seemed embarrassed "Holt can't really.. Um."

Oh.

"Hun-bun, I think what Heath is saying is Holt's a bit of a late bloomer for that comparison." his aunt said quietly.

Jackson hunkered down not wanting to add to the discussion of something that wasn't even quiet his problem. Really that was Holt's hybrid issue.

"Can he not flame up? I'm confused." Gil added quietly "Then what's he doing to his napkin?"

Deuce nudged Gil hard.

And Jackson let go of the napkin that was flaking black in his hand, and coughed.

Heath swung an arm around Holt smiling uneasily "Heyyyy! I think the point is…" Heath spoke up "Mom made a flaming hot meal. Right guys?"

"Yeah…!" there were half hearted agreements at the youth end of the table.

Heath's dad made a disgruntled noise, and leaned in to whisper something to his wife before leaving the table.

Jackson could feel Heath steam as his dad left the room.

"Thanks for taking some of the heat off of me…" Heath whispered before getting back to dinner.

Jackson still hadn't said a word.

He may have looked excessively depressed in Holt's body because his gorgon friend soon looked at him smiling.

"So! Holt! Are you excited for the party tomorrow?" Deuce asked with a tone of desperation.

The table's focus was back on him, and he had a feeling he wasn't going to be able to survive being this quiet.

"T-totally" he raised a hotdog up like a gesture, but felt like no one was quite buying his tone.
He needed a distraction or topic change, or maybe just something where he wouldn't need to talk that could buy some time "After this… who's down to watch some human horror movies?" he asked trying to sound vaguely normal.

"I'm down!" Clawd licked his plate, then looked at Jackson's unfinished hotdog "Are you gonna eat that?"

Deuce sighed "Clawd stop begging."

"I'm not! It was a simple question."

Jackson looked back at his plate sighing internally with relief, checking the time on his phone.

He wondered what Frankie was up to.