(A/N): Leo and Jerremyah's arrival back home, and Lisbet's reaction, from Jerremyah's POV.
Trigger Warning: Mentions of self harm.
Jerremyah
We had apparated in, and almost immediately, I had been practically overwhelmed by the stench of Lisbet's terror. The cloyingly sweet taste of it in the back of my throat damn near made me sick, but when I looked up to see her racing towards us, and my initial check of her revealed no wounds, I realised that what she was worried about, was that we had been attacked.
After that, I relaxed a bit. Started teasing her- much to Leo's dismay. Maybe I shouldn't have done that, knowing that what she was worried about was her kit's health, but with her hand on my cheek, things felt like they were... normal. Like... almost like the had been, once.
And then... then Leo had stood up for me. Lied to Lisbet, about me having been a gentleman. She knew it was a lie, of course- as she said, I've never been a gentleman. A man, yes, and gentle, sometimes, but those two together? No, never. Not bloody likely. But still, it... it was nice of him. I could tell that Lisbet was in two minds about it, as well. In the end, she settled for telling him to pick his lies better in the future- which was something I could get behind.
"Alright, now- let me see." Leo shook his head at Lisbet's thinly veiled order.
"There's no point. Can't heal it out here, and won't get a good look at it anyway. Let's head inside, and we'll-" He cut himself off, clearly surprised as Lisbet released him, and tucked herself under my other arm, in order to support me. There was silence for a second, where Leo just stared at her from across my body- still perplexed. Lisbet turned her head to look at him, and blinked, upon finding him already looking at her.
"Well? Shouldn't we get going? You said there's a deer to take care of, after, right?" Leo continued to stare at her, stunned, and I felt my lips twitch up into a ghost of a smile. I brought my hand up from his shoulder, and ruffled his hair. As he turned to look at me, I flashed him a bright grin, hoping maybe to reassure him- but I knew that Lisbet had always been much more of the reassuring type than I had. Still, Leo seemed to take something from it, because he shrugged, and started towards the house, with Lisbet quickly joining him in guiding me forward.
We were halfway to the house when Leo noticed the door- not just ripped off its hinges, but absolutely blown apart, by the force of her running through it- and froze in his tracks.
"What- What happened to the door?" On the other side of me, Lisbet blushed, obviously embarrassed by her... overreaction.
"I- er- um..." He glanced at her, took in her flush, then looked back at the door, clearly understanding that she was to blame for its demise.
"Oh. Oh, that's nothing! You should have seen what Brooke did to one of the shower stall doors- completely shredded it with her claws, it was wild." Brooke, the girlfriend- ex girlfriend. Lisbet's eyebrows furrowed, but at least she no longer looked embarrassed.
"Why did Brooke destroy a shower stall door?" With that one question, he completely clammed up. The bitter scent of anxiety filled my nose, considering that he was so close to me, along with a hint of peppery frustration. If I could smell it, so could Lisbet.
"It... It's a long story." Oh, so he was going with that, was he? "Speaking of... Lis, Jerremyah told me a few things that left me with some questions." She threw me a look that was half concerned, half preemptively murderous, before she turned her attention back to Leo, her face smoothing.
"I hope nothing..." She hesitated, briefly. "Unsuitable for young ears." Leo shrugged.
"What he said, no-" At certain points, that had definitely been a lie. "But the subject itself, maybe." She shot me another look, and I flashed her an unapologetic, cheeky smile. Before she turned away again, I saw the corner of her lips twitch upwards.
"We'll talk about it later- after Jer's healed up, and we take care of that deer." Leo blinked, then shook his head.
"No." Lisbet's hand tightened on my shirt, just mere inches away from his own. "Jerremyah and I will go back for the deer. An extra person isn't going to help- and we would've taken care of it already, if he wasn't in so much pain." Lisbet's head snapped around, tilting back, and I could feel her eyes roving over my face, but I kept my eyes on Leo's, trying to drive her clear concern from my mind. "Besides- I'm not done talking to him." He wasn't?
"You're not?" He shrugged, but other than that, gave nothing away. Finally, we reached the front steps, and we came to a stop again. "Right- how are we-?" I cut myself off with a startled yelp- not that I liked admitting to that- as Leo ducked, and hoisted me across his shoulders- carrying me much the same way he had carried Shari, just the other day.
One second, I was staring at the steps, upright, and the next, I was staring straight down at the ground. "What the- woah! Hey!" I heard him huff out a laugh, and decided that maybe I wasn't all that mad about it. The ascent up the stairs was a little bumpy, but I felt one of Lisbet's hands on my lower back through my shirt, ready to support us, if necessary.
When we reached the top of the stairs, I expected him to put me back on my feet, but he didn't. He continued towards the door, and turned to the side, reaching up to put a hand on the top of my head, so there was no risk of him slamming it into the door frame. He stepped through, and once again, I expected him to let me go, but also once again, he didn't. I was so surprised that I didn't find my voice to protest until we reached the dining room- or, well, the kitchen, with the dining table in it.
"What- What- You can put me down, now!" I grumbled, and I felt Leo shrug from underneath my body, before he slung me off of his shoulders. The world spun- or, I suppose, my body spun, and the rest of the world stayed still- and when I was upright again, I realised it was because Leo had set me down on my backside, on one end of the dining table.
It took me a second to get my bearings, and along the way I saw Shari smirking at me from the other end of the table- where she had Hercules's hair in her hands- and Grey, who had been seated nearby, clearly having been sufficiently distracted from his original goal of reading a book. As I looked to Leo, he quirked an eyebrow at me, clearly trying not to smile.
"There, you're down- any other requests?" If he were anyone else, I would have rolled my eyes at him. As it was, I huffed out a put upon sigh, trying not to betray the fact that I was secretly amused by all of this, just as much as he was- but I knew that Lisbet could tell.
"Well, some Firewhisky wouldn't go amiss." Now, it was his turn to roll his eyes at me.
"Maybe if you ask them really, really nicely, Lisbet or Shari will fetch you some from the cellar. You do know how to do that, right?" Oh, you little...!
"I know how to ask nicely, it's just not in my nature. Besides, I doubt it would work." I looked to Lisbet, and she shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I don't know, the novelty of it might sway me more than either of us expect." Was that her way of saying, 'try me'? I opened my mouth, then glanced at Leo, and closed it again.
"I can cover my ears if you need me to." He said rather graciously, but the curve of his mouth was giving him away- he knew, just like the rest of us, that covering his ears would do nothing to block out anything I had to say. Neither would saying it in French. So, I guess I would just have to watch my mouth.
"I don't think I'm quite dumb enough to risk that, just yet." He bit his lip, trying to keep his grin from growing too far. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lisbet watching us with a fond, and almost... dare I say, wishful, look? Maybe she was wishing that Leo had cause to smile more.
"Would anyone like to get a bottle of Firewhisky from the cellar?" Hercules clearly felt comfortable enough to be able to say no, but when he shook his head, it only earned him Shari's displeasure, as his movement pulled his hair out of her hands, from where she seemed to be trying to... braid it? Honestly, I couldn't tell. Shari herself, shrugged.
"Not if it's for him, and his little boo boo." 'Little boo b-' that- ugh!
"Well, if I said it was for me, I think Lisbet might have a conniption." He joked, and even as he glanced back at her, I saw her eyeing him pointedly, which he only seemed to find even more amusing.
"Oh, for God's sake, I'll get the bloody Firewhisky!" Grey snapped, slapping his book down on the table as he rose to his feet. Leo blinked, looking uncertain.
"But you've never-" Grey cut him off, arching an eyebrow at him.
"Even if Nicholai and I had never shared a drink together here, do you really think I wouldn't be able to sniff out a room full of alcohol?" Leo blinked again, then his face slackened slightly, as he realised that Greygorry most likely had a point.
"Fine- be on your way, then. Oh, there's also some mead down there, too. Some Metheglin, some Bochet, I think there might even be some Capsicumel- that might be fun to watch." Ooh, now he was speaking my language!
"Oh, there's definitely some Capsicumel." Grey said, then disappeared around the door frame, out of the kitchen. We could all still hear him though, when he said, "I think Nicholai was planning on offering you a little bit of a challenge, Jer." Oh? Well, he would have lost, no doubt! As I turned my attention back to him, I saw Leo watching me a bit strangely, so I shrugged. Before he could say anything on the matter though, Lisbet stepped forward, and put one hand on the top of my knee.
"Let me see." She was getting impatient- clearly, she thought we had kept her waiting long enough.
"Oh, I don't know- are you sure you can handle it? It's quite gruesome, you know- a bloody mess." I winked at Leo over her shoulder, and he huffed out a laugh before he could stop himself. "You know, I-" I cut myself off, as she yanked on the leg of my trousers again, much like earlier.
"Lis-" She put a hand on my chest, getting ready to push me down onto my back, but when I put my hand over hers, she paused.
"Not on the table, you two- we eat off that thing." Shari sniped from the other end of the table, and Lisbet rolled her eyes.
"No we don't." I craned my head around to watch Shari shrug.
"No, we don't... but Leo does." Oof, and if that wasn't the most effective option that could have been true. Lisbet turned to Leo, but he just grinned, and shrugged.
"That's what cleaning charms are for. If you two want to-" She cut him off.
"Don't finish that sentence- I really don't want to have to ground you over something this dumb."
(A/N): Shari: *braiding Herc's hair* 'So what do you want to do today?'
Herc: 'I don't know, what do you want to do today?'
Shari: 'I don't know, what do YOU want to do today?'
Herc: 'I don't know, what do YOU-'
Greygorry: 'Oh my god, SHUT UP!'
also
Leo: 'Brooke shredded a shower stall door with her claws, it was awesome.'
Lisbet: 'Wait, why did Brooke destroy a shower stall door?'
Leo: *remembering that she broke the door trying to get to him, while he was hurting himself*
Leo: *starts sweating*
Leo: 'Oh fuck, how do I get out of this without arousing suspicion?'
Leo: 'It's a... long story.'
Leo: 'Nailed it!'
Alcohol Info-
So, mead is an alcoholic beverage made with fermented honey.
Metheglin is a Welsh variety, that's a type of mead with herbs or spices added. Common types of Metheglin are ginger, tea, orange peel, nutmeg, coriander, cinnamon, cloves or vanilla. It's thought that 'Metheglin' is where we get the word 'medicine' from, as it means 'healing liquor'.
Bochet is a French variety of mead where the honey is caramelized or burned beforehand, which yields toffee, caramel, chocolate, or toasted marshmallow flavors. If you add berries like blackberries, elderberries, and black raspberries to this, you get Bochetomel.
Capsicumel is a variety where chili peppers are added to the mead, whether they're mild or hot. You can also get versions of this mixed with other fruits, like passion fruit. I don't know where this one is from, but I'm assuming somewhere with a lot of chili peppers?
Also, yes, apparently that is canonically how Firewhisky is spelt. It looks weird to me, because I thought it had a space, and I've always seen whisky with an e- Fire Whiskey- but no, I looked it up, and that's what it is in the books. Apparently Whiskey is used in Ireland and America, but Whisky is used just about everywhere else. There are still some brands in those places that use Whisky instead, but it isn't the norm.
Also also, I have just now decided that vampires are like cats- they want to be in the same room as each other pretty much at all times, but not necessarily interact with each other. Hence why Greygorry is reading a book in the same room as Shari and Herc, despite the fact that there's like... a ridiculous amount of other rooms he could be hanging out in.
This chapter has had a minor edit made to it on 26/4/23 - Added the trigger warning.