Jupiters_Magic: Here's the next chapter!
Oh Thanksgiving, the one day every year when people can reunite as one big family to celebrate each other's presence. It's a time to reflect peacefully and to remember all the things that you're grateful for; it's also a time to enjoy Turkey Day football or to experience the fine cuisine prepared by your family as they gather around.
…Unless, of course, you're in the home of the four ex-Doma bikers. Then Normal gets bodily chucked out the door.
To be fair, though, it did start out like any other Thanksgiving.
"Did you set the table, Valon?" Alister asked over his shoulder as he finished preparing the sweet potatoes.
"Wha'? I was s'pposed t' do tha'? I thought Raph was s'pposed to."
"No Valon, we specifically told you that you had to do it," Skye countered, coming back in with Jasper after finishing his walk.
"You have to help out a little, Valon," Raphael said, coming down the stairs. He had changed into some nicer looking jeans and a dark red polo. "If we're all living together that means you have to pull your weight around here from time to time."
"Fine. I'll get it," Valon grumbled, heading toward the kitchen before stopping in mid-step. "But 'ow am I s'pposed t' get the plates if 'm not allowed in the kitchen?"
Skye and Raphael looked at each other and Alister groaned. "The ban's only in affect when you're in the kitchen unsupervised. Go get what you need to set the table," Raphael said at last, going into the kitchen himself to help Alister with the food. Skye also went into the kitchen to grab a soda and Valon followed after her.
"There is one thing I want to say, though," Skye started, starting to walk out of the kitchen. "Your shirts have to cover your stomach entirely, Alister."
"I know, I know," he said, sticking his head out of the kitchen briefly before disappearing inside it.
"Good!" she said over shoulder, heading up the stairs. "Valon, you need to dress better too."
"Wha'? Why? I dress fine!" he said indignantly. "Right?"
Raphael looked at what he was wearing; plaid board shorts and a tank top. "Valon. I don't think that a tank top is suitable for a family dinner with Skye's family. At least put on a t-shirt."
"When is the family coming, Raphael?" asked Alister as he finally emerged from the kitchen, turning to get an answer from his older friend.
"Around three. Valon, that means you better change now."
It was two fifty and Raphael was waiting with Jasper for the other three to finish up. Alister was the first to emerge downstairs, wearing male skinny jeans and a plaid button down shirt.
"The other two aren't done yet? They're going to be here in ten minutes," commented Alister as he sat down
"I know, but not much I can do about it," Raphael shrugged, scooping up Misha and setting her on his lap. She immediately curled up into a ball on his lap, purring sleepily.
"I'll be right down guys!" Skye shouted from upstairs. "Just getting shoes on. Damn boots won't go on!"
"So that just leaves Valon."
"Figures."
"They aren't here yet, right?" Skye asked, coming down the stairs. She was wearing a sleeveless, purple dress, made of a sheer looking fabric with flowers, and brown leather cowboy boots. She had applied a touch of makeup and her light brown hair hung down.
Raphael raised an eyebrow in surprise, noting her appearance before managing to reply (and ignoring that odd stutter in his chest when he had first seen her). "No they aren't. They will be soon, though. You look nice."
"Thanks,'' she replied with a smile."Where's Valon?"
"Still changing," Alister said, rolling his eyes. "I thought you would take longer, but clearly I was mistaken."
"Valon! Quit being such a girl and get down here already!" Skye shouted at the top of her lungs, causing a scream and a loud thump come from the teenager's room upstairs.
"I'm comin', I'm comin'! Sheesh!" he called back, opening his door and storming downstairs. He was wearing khaki shorts and a dark green polo.
Skye then noticed that the older two bikers were looking at her. "What?"
"Now to go over a few rules. Valon, no belching and you're banned from the kitchen for the rest of the day. You are to also be on your best behavior as well, please."
"'ow come you're givin' me all of the rules 'n' none t' Raph and Alister?"
"Because they aren't the ones who get into trouble in the blink of an eye."
Skye shifted her gaze to Alister and said, "You, no bickering with Valon. I just want this to be a normal dinner, so please please please try not to fight."
"No offense, but the four of us aren't exactly normal."
"Gee, I didn't know that at all, Alister. I was under the impression everyone else is crazy."
Just as she was about to continue, though, she was cut off by the doorbell. "Crap! They're here. Please don't screw this up," she concluded hastily, directing that last statement towards Valon.
"Alright," Valon replied.
Skye gave them a thumbs up, took a breath, and went to the front door to answer it."Hey bro," she said, hugging Declan as he came into the house.
"Hey sis. How's it—you do realize that Miley Cyrus wore that exact same outfit, right?"
Skye blinked and then face-palmed. "I wondered why this looked so familiar. Crap. Too late to change now."
Alister and Valon started laughing and Raphael looked as if he was trying not to laugh.
The next person through the door to was a woman who was in her early fifties. Her black hair was curly and her blue eyes were staring straight at Skye, a warm smile immediately lighting her features.
"Hi, Mom," Skye greeted, hugging her mother.
"Skye sweetie! It's been a long time. You had me worried sick when you vanished liked that!" she scolded, looking her daughter in the eye.
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Where are your roommates that I've heard so much about?" she said, scanning the room intently.
Skye sighed and motioned her mother to where the three male bikers were seated (all three instantly shifting uncomfortably under her gaze). "Okay. Mom, this is Raphael, Alister and Valon. Guys, this is my mother."
Raphael was the first to get up and held his hand out for a handshake. "Nice to meet you."
"It's a pleasure as well," she said, unfazed by his appearance as she accepted his handshake.
Alister got up next, offering his hand quietly to shake her hand. "Glad you could come over," he said with a shrug.
"Thank you for having us over, dear," replied Skye's mother with a gaily laugh. "You're a fine young lady."
If this bothered Alister at all, there was no indication of it on his face (although there was certainly something that flickered in his eyes when both Declan and Valon began roaring in laughter). "Ma'am, it's a common mistake. I'm a man, not a woman."
"Oh, I do apologize," said the woman, looking embarrassed.
"It's alright," he reassured her. "As I've said before, it's a very common misunderstanding."
"Hey Mom. Did you bring the turkey?" Skye asked, looking at her mother (who had started chatting with Valon when he had come up to introduce himself).
"Oh yes I did. Declan, dear, go get it would you?"
"Aye, captain," responded Declan with a salute before vanishing from view.
"Valon, don't you even think about it," Alister and Raphael said in unison when the boy tried to follow after Declan.
"I just wanna see it, is all!"
"Nice try. You stay put."
"So, do you three young men work?" Skye's mother asked curiously.
"I work, ma'am. Valon is in college—" (again, he found it best to stretch the truth)"—and Alister is looking for a job at the moment," Raphael answered.
"Theres no need to be so formal with me. You three seem like charming young men. Call me Theresa."
"Excuse me, but I'm going to get a drink," Alister said, making his way into the kitchen.
"Bring me back somethin' would ya?"
"In your dreams, Aussie!" Alister called over his shoulder, not turning back.
"Hey, Alister," Skye said, looking into the oven. "What brings you in here?"
"Human needs dictate that I need something to drink," he said, opening the fridge. "How come you're in here?"
"Checking on a couple things and getting the oven set up for the turkey. Mom undercooks the turkey every year."
Alister raised an eyebrow but left shortly afterwards with a soda in hand, and some time later Declan arrived with the turkey in his hands. "Surprise surprise. Mom actually cooked it right this year," he said, setting it down on the counter. "Need help?"
"Sure. Can you take the bread out onto the table? I"ll bring the yams and veggies, and then you can come back for the turkey."
A few minutes later, everyone was sitting down at the table with the food in front of them; the bikers were on one side, while Skye's family was on the other side of the table. Misha and Jasper watched the proceedings with hawk-like precision, waiting for someone to drop their turkey.
"Don't even think about feeding the animals, Valon," Raphael said sternly as he handed Valon's food-filled plate to him.
"I wasn' going to, Raph," he replied, instantly chowing down.
"Have you three been following the rules that I gave you?" Skye's father asked, looking at the male bikers.
"Yes, Dad," Skye replied, rolling her eyes.
"And no problems right?" Theresa asked.
"No, Mom. Nothing's come up at all. We're fine."
The doorbell rang and Skye looked at her mother questioningly. "I'll get it…did you invite anyone else?"
"Oh yes, your cousin. I forgot to mention he might be coming."
"Which one?" she asked over her shoulder, going into the front hall and opening the front door.
"Oh...it's you," she said, staring in surprise. Oh no.
"Why yes, it's me. How kind of you to notice," the man retorted, walking into the house.
"You are more than welcome to come inside. Thank you for allowing me to invite you in," Skye replied sarcastically, closing the door and returning to the kitchen, her cousin behind her.
"Who was it?" Alister asked when Skye came back into the room. She shot him an apologetic glance and moved aside to let her cousin enter.
"Hello Seto," her mom said cheerfully, welcoming the stranger.
Alister visibly bristled, his eyes narrowing almost immediately.
"Oh great. It's you three again," Kaiba sighed, looking at Raphael, Valon and Alister. "I thought you were still on your 'take over the world' campaign."
"All right, you got us. We're starting with the turkey population first," Alister said sarcastically, an edge to his voice.
"Seto, there's no need to bring that up now. That's over and done with; please let it go for just a little bit," Skye said in an undertone. In a louder voice she said, "Now sit your moneybag ass down, please."
"Skyler Maria Kaiba! You don't speak to your cousin like that!"
"Sorry, Mom," she apologized half-heartedly, sitting back down beside Raphael.
"So you're related to Kaiba," Alister started distastefully. "How…interesting."
"Skyler, you mean to tell me that your friends didn't know you were a Kaiba?" her father asked in visible surprise.
"That particular topic never came up," growled the redhead, and Raphael shot him a warning look.
"Seeing as how he hates me, I'm not surprised," Seto said, gesturing to Alister as he took a seat and helped himself to the turkey.
"Shut up!" Skye snapped, chucking a piece of bread at him and managing to catch him on the side of his face with it.
"It couldn't be because your company was responsible for what happened to my brother," muttered Alister loud enough for Kaiba to hear.
"Save me the sob story and get over it, Alister," Kaiba replied boredly.
Alister's eyes flashed in visible hatred and not one of the three bikers liked the look on his face. Rather than lash out at Kaiba, though, he rose from his seat and said curtly, "I'm going to get some fresh air. Excuse me."
The remainder of the table (save for Kaiba, who looked extremely unconcerned) watched as the redhead stalked from the room, and a few seconds went by before they all heard his bedroom door slam.
"Way to go, moneybags," Skye grumbled, giving him her signature death glare. Kaiba merely raised an eyebrow before continuing on with his meal.
"Should someone go get him?" Theresa asked, looking concerned.
"It's best if he blows off some steam," said Raphael with a sigh. "He'll be back later."
"Eh, no worries, Raph! 'm finished anyway, so I'll go get 'im!" Valon chirped, rising from his seat and disappearing from view.
"Idiot. His funeral," Skye muttered in resignation. She felt a pair of eyes on her and looked up at her father, who had a look of sudden realization on his face. Inwardly she groaned. Great. Here come the questions.
"Skye, this job of yours that you disappeared for...was your boss trying to take over the world?" he asked, looking at Raphael and his daughter for an explanation.
Raphael seemed to realize how awkward this conversation was going to be, but any discomfort he had was very well hidden. "Yes sir. For better or worse, that was what we were trying to do," he responded, keeping eye contact.
Declan grinned. "I envy you. I always wanted to have a job like that," he said with a hint of jealousy in his tone, easing up some of the tension.
"Yeah, well, this was not your conventional 'take over the world' gig," said Skye heavily, though she couldn't help but be amused. "The four of us were helping a man named Dartz resurrect an ancient monster from Atlantis known as the Leviathan."
Kaiba rolled his eyes but said nothing, continuing to eat his dinner. Her mother looked surprised and her father looked skeptical, while Declan seemed to be visibly impressed. "How did you do that?"
"They supposedly took people's souls as sacrifices," explained Kaiba flatly, finally entering the conversation.
Her father and Theresa looked at the two of them in shock. "But no one was killed, right?" asked her mother.
Raphael seemed to hesitate for a moment before answering honestly, "The people whose souls the four of us took didn't die, no. I can't say the same for those who were taken by Dartz before we joined. I'm not sure what happened to those people."
"And anyways, once Yugi Mutou and his friends, including Seto, defeated both Dartz and the creature everything was over," Skye concluded.
"Why would you try such a thing?" asked Theresa, looking at Raphael (she decided somewhere along the line that Raphael was more knowledgeable than her daughter on this particular subject).
"The material we were working with turned out to be brainwashing us; Dartz tricked us all. By the time we realized what was happening we were caught in Dartz's scheme ourselves," Raphael said grimly, now looking visibly unhappy at the mention of Dartz's betrayal.
A long pause followed Raphael's explanation before Skye's father cleared his throat. "Well, I can't say I'm proud of you almost bringing about the Apocalypse. Since it seems that all four of you were being tricked, though, I can't say that your new roommates are bad people. "
Skye was about to say something when there was a scream and a loud thud came from the backyard.
"What was that?" Theresa asked, alarmed.
"That was Valon being pushed off the roof by Alister. He must have done something to piss him off again."
The others nodded their heads slowly, wisely deciding not to ask.
"Skye, what is the story about Declan and the turkey?" Raphael asked then, changing the topic onto something other than Doma.
"Well—"
"Hell no, Skye!" snapped Declan.
His sister ignored him. "Well, Declan was bringing the turkey out, and he didn't notice the dog sleeping on the floor in front of the dining room. The window is very close to the entrance and we'd opened the window earlier. So Declan didn't see the dog and tripped over her, and he went flying out the window turkey in tow," she said, starting to giggle when Declan sank in his seat. "But strangely enough, the turkey landed safely in its pot on the ground, while Declan landed in the thorn bush."
"…I hate you, Skye," Declan muttered when everyone else (except Kaiba) started laughing.
"Your family seems like a nice group of fellas," Valon commented as he placed a bag of ice on his head.
"They are," Skye said amicably.
"I'm surprised that they took the Doma news so well," Raphael said, bringing more dirty plates into the kitchen. "I was wondering when they were going to blow up at us or call the police on us."
"They're used to abnormal things. The one thing about my family is that they believe in all that magic crap that Doma was so full of; if I told them I was a witch they'd use me to scare away the pranksters on Halloween. How was Alister doing, Valon?"
"I don' know. 'e pushed me off before I could ask 'im," the teen grumped, leaving the kitchen with a Mountain Dew in his hand.
"Of course he would," Skye said, shaking her head. Realizing just what Valon had in his hand, though, she panicked. "Put down the Dew!"
"Never!" he cackled, running out of the room. "The caffeine is mine! All mine! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"He found the soda again?" Raphael asked with something of amusement, bringing in the final two plates into the kitchen.
"Yep." Skye sighed, looking at the older biker. "I need to hide it better."
"Where was it this time?" Raphael inquired, beginning to clean off the plates in the sink.
"My mini fridge," she shrugged, putting the leftovers of the pie in the fridge.
"…Not exactly a good spot to hide it."
"WHOOOOOO! I CAN FLY!" Valon screamed from somewhere outside, completely cutting off Skye's reply.
"Valon, you idiot!" Alister shouted at the teen from wherever he was. "You're not supposed to jump off the roof!"
"Those two, I swear, were brothers in their past lives. That's the only reason I can think of that they would bicker so much," grumbled Skye under her breath. She set the last of the plates in the dishwasher and redirected her attention to Raphael. "Thanks for the help. You didn't have to do that."
"I wanted to," he responded, placing the left overs in the fridge. "I live here too, you know. Besides, unlike the other two I don't take advantage of having a lady in the house."
She gave the older biker a smile as she started walking to the kitchen entrance, having finished cleaning the kitchen.
Unfortunately, Skye didn't notice the slightly damp dishcloth on the floor and she stepped on it. The towel skidded and took her foot with it, causing her to fall backwards and let out an alarmed squeal. Raphael, who had been behind her, instantly moved forward to catch her and she fell back against his chest.
"Th-thanks," said Skye shakily.
"Not a problem. You all right?" asked Raphael, looking her over briefly to see if she was hurt.
"No, I'm fine."
At that point they realized just how close they were to each other; when Raphael had caught her he had been forced to use his body as a cushion, but as a result their faces had ended up dangerously close to one another. They could actually feel each other's breath on their faces.
Something flickered for a moment in Raphael's eyes when he looked down at her, and Skye could almost swear that it was—
"Oy fellas!" Valon said loudly from somewhere close by, causing the two of them to jump and separate just as the boy rounded the corner.
"What is it, Valon?" asked Skye, flustered.
Valon grinned widely, his eyes slightly crazed from the sugar. "Does we gots any ice cream?" he asked in a sing song voice.
"In the garage," Skye said, jerking her thumb toward the door.
"Thank you!" he called over his shoulder cheerfully, humming something nonsensical.
"No proble—wait a minute, you don't need any more sugar!" Skye called after him, prepared to drag him away from the garage if necessary.
Raphael cleared his throat, redirecting her attention to him (and subsequently, back to what had happened before Valon had interrupted them). "I'll go check on Alister. We haven't seen him in a while," he said, shifting uncomfortably.
"And I might as well get Valon," she replied, equally uncomfortable.
The two of them practically fled the room in separate directions, both hoping that the other had not seen the flush in their faces.
