ONESHOT: Harvest Moon
Lucy's eyes snapped open well before her alarm clock went off-at least 30 whole minutes. She blinked and yawned, immediately jumping out of bed and rushing to disable the alarm. Unfortunately, she wasn't quiet about it and felt a consequence in the form of Hiroki's hand on her wrist before she could hit any of the buttons.
He stared at her blearily, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Lucy? It's 6:30…"
"Yeah, and?"
"You're not the only one in here…"
Lucy groaned and turned back to the clock, giving it a huff before marching out the door. This time, she made sure to be quiet; their room might've been at the other end of the hallway, but everyone in the house had enhanced hearing, and it was now very clear to her she was the only one up.
She made her way down the stairs one at a time, noting the mess of party decorations on the coffee table, and, a little further away, a massive pile of gifts stacked up in the corner. They were for her newest sister, and Lucy couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy at seeing just how many Minerva was getting. Maybe it was her- they'd gotten a comparable pile to celebrate theirs, but Lucy knew more were definitely on the way from her many relatives.
She'd just placed her stepstool down to take a plate from the cabinet when her brother stuck his face into the kitchen, followed by a yawning Leilani. Both were still in their pajamas, but then again, so was Lucy. Since she had a plate in her hands, the most she could do was give them a sheepish grin and shrug as she set it down on the table.
Hiroki wasn't impressed. "Luce…why're you up so early? Dads' aren't gonna be down until seven, so what's the rush?"
Lucy shrugged, "I've got my get-together with the others today, remember? We're going trick-or-treating again, and Brooke's gettin' to come with this time!"
"Well, I know, but…today's gonna be really busy as is." Leilani gestured towards the pile of gifts stacked in the corner, "Daddies might want you to split your time today."
Lucy furrowed her brow at her sister's words; she'd been worried about exactly that. Normally, she and her friends would stay out long into the night, gathering as much candy as they could before heading back to their parents' isolated home. While it'd crept more and more out of the woods since Heat and Kixx had adopted them, they still lived far away from most of Lucy's friends. It wasn't as though she could simply go to anyone else's…
And then…there was another problem.
Both their parents were very strict about the outdoors. It frustrated everyone, most of all the three of them. It wasn't as though their parents hadn't told them why-they knew well enough by now, but what'd happened was all long in the past, and Lucy didn't see the reason she-or her siblings, should have to stay indoors when the sun set.
The end result of all this was the three of them having to get creative about going outside at night, but Halloween quickly showed itself as the single holiday where Heat and Kixx would relax and turn them-especially her-loose with her friends. It was special for everyone, and Lucy was no exception.
But this year, with their parents celebrating Minerva's birthday on the holiday…
She sighed, casting a glance at Minerva's high chair as she set the final plate on the table. It was placed in between their parents' usual seats, and upon seeing it…Lucy felt her stomach burn.
Sure, it was her sister's first birthday, but…why did their parents have to celebrate it today?
The three had started making their breakfast when the remaining members of the family trudged downstairs. Joules was first, scratching her back through a sky-blue bathrobe. She raised a brow at them, rubbing an eye as she greeted them, "Mornin' dingleberries, why're you down before us?"
Hiroki silently pointed to Lucy, and Joules straightened up as she realized the reason, "Ah. Right."
"I'll warn; you might have to cut it short tonight, I'm sure you know why." She said, opening the fridge and placing a carton of eggs on the counter, "I'm helping set up, so you might have to call around if you're going out."
"I know…" Lucy said, following Joules to the fridge and handing her a package of bacon, "But I still wanna do it; dads're gonna let me, right?"
Joules nodded, "I'm sure they'll figure something out. They know this is your day too."
"At least I hope. Right?" She asked, twisting her head around to face Kixx. He yelped and jumped back before disapprovingly tapping his tablet to Joules' head, "Geez-don't do that to me!"
Joules was undeterred, "I asked you a question. Wanna answer?"
"What question?" Kixx irritably placed his tablet and a pair of eyeglasses on the table, "I just came down."
"Oh, okay; Luce wants to know if she can still go out with her friends tonight, same as always." Joules turned up the heat on the stove, cracking an egg in the pan and watching it sizzle next to the bacon strips, "I know Min's celebration's today, so she raises a good point about the timing."
"Ah, that…" Kixx sighed and leaned against the counter, crossing his upper set of arms. Lucy, Hiroki, and Leilani peered over at him expectantly, but he didn't seem to notice them until he glanced up, "...I do want you back here at some point Lucy. I know you go out every year, but this time…you know…"
Lucy rolled her eyes and returned to her footstool, this time dragging it over to the cabinet containing the cups, "How long is her party even gonna be? She can't even walk yet."
"'Bout six hours give or take. Depends on how long she lasts though." Kixx said, "And I wouldn't jinx yourself Lucy, she's close; it's only a matter of balancing that lower set of arms by now."
"You sure she'll be able to go for six hours?" Hiroki asked, hoisting a carton of orange juice out of the fridge and setting out the cups gathered by Lucy, "Or is this doubling as a Halloween party?"
"The latter; we figured to kill two birds with one stone. Speaking of!" Kixx turned to greet the final two members of the family, one tiredly trying to pull the claws of the other away from his ear and nodding to him to take her, "She wasn't too grabby with the meds back there?"
As soon as the words left Kixx's mouth, the face of their smaller, more uptight parent scrunched up in an exhausted grimace, "You'd think."
"Hoo boy; she didn't eat it, did she?"
Heat sighed, "She definitely tried. This time it got to the back of her mouth before I was able to catch it."
As if on cue, the newest of the five let out a loud burp, causing Kixx to hold her a safe distance from him as he picked her up, "Good morning to you too Minnie, how's the first hour of your birthday been?"
Minerva's only response to Kixx was a disgruntled snuffle, her gaze quickly turning to Joules at the stove, then Lucy, Hiroki, and Leilani at the table. Hiroki held up a hand in silent greeting through his glass of orange juice, while Leilani and Lucy gave her a round of Good Mornings and Happy Birthdays. Minerva's mood seemed to lighten when she saw them-as it often did; despite her subtle annoyance with how long Kixx said her sister's party would be, Lucy couldn't help but smile upon seeing Minerva's scowl disappear.
Her sister was moody-she always was. They knew the reasons why; after all, they'd been present for them. A brief image of a smashed tank flashed in Lucy's mind as Joules shook her egg and a strip of bacon into her plate, and she shook her head to clear it. In exchange, her prior annoyance at her sister retook her train of thought.
Kixx was right; she needed to come back at some point, but…what time? How much did she have? Her parents were being too cagey about it for her liking…
Kixx set Minerva up in her high chair while Heat took out a package of ground beef from the freezer. Lucy thought about bringing her thoughts up to him, but quickly decided against it when she caught a glimpse of the energy regulator strapped to his arm. There was no way he'd tolerate her questions when he was that drained.
It might've explained why he hadn't even bothered to tell them good morning…
Hiroki and Leilani were a lot more eager than her to greet him, the latter even offering him a strip of bacon as he sat down. Heat smiled, but waved it away and took the tongs for himself, "I'm not that drained Lei, it's okay."
"Sorry if I'm out of it today, didn't expect to wake up like this." He said to the rest of his kids; Lucy nodded, but cast a glance at Joules, who-she could tell-hadn't cared for his comment judging from her narrowed glance to him. That, or she thought he was lying.
Or both.
Either way, this was yet another wrench in her plans; if Heat was drained, then he'd probably sleep and leave the rest of them to pick up the slack-as was his usual. She was glad Joules was staying over for the week, but this did truly leave her without anyone to watch her and her friends that night.
"You uh…wanna ask him?" Hiroki muttered to her under their parents' ensuing conversation with Joules about the day's plans, "'Cause I can tell you wanna do your usual."
Lucy only shook her head, casting a slight nod towards Heat's regulator. Leilani took this as her cue to join in, "You'll have to eventually…"
"I know." Lucy sighed and looked over to Minerva, who'd been staring at her throughout their exchange. There was a lull in the conversation as Heat got up to finish preparing her food, which fully turned her attention to her three siblings. Leilani smiled and waved to Minerva, who returned it and reached out with an arm…all the way across the table.
"Agh, Min-you can't do that." Hiroki scolded. He gently coaxed Minerva's hand away from Leilani's face, causing Joules to glance over and grin, "Yeah she can, just like me, right Minnie?"
Kixx and a returning Heat were less than impressed, "And if she strains something?"
"She won't. I trust her, right Minnow?" Joules asked, and Minerva babbled in response, taking the opportunity to reach out again for the plate of her food.
Heat dodged his daughter's grasp and grimaced at Joules, "Don't encourage her."
"Why not?" The wrinkles on Joules' face deepened into a smirk, "She's the Birthday girl, isn't she?"
The only thing Heat could do in response was groan, setting Minerva's plate on the table and taking out her spoon, "Can you just focus on your food?"
"Sure. Can you set actual times for-"
Joules instantly stopped upon seeing Lucy shake her head, "For the party tonight?"
"Starts at three, ends at nine."
"Good to know." Joules said, raising her brows at Lucy and turning back to her food. Lucy gulped and quickly finished up, downing the last of her orange juice alongside the egg and bacon. The resulting combo was…interesting, but she didn't care, immediately dashing back up the stairs to get dressed for school. However, as she did so, she frowned at a thought growing at the back of her mind.
How on Earth was she going to do her usual today…?
Costumes were more than allowed in the school for the holiday, Spooky and Carmen's old mansion-turned-school being utterly stuffed with decor. They had class, but it was mostly just an excuse for the numerous experiment kids to have a school party thrown for them by their teachers. Lucy had gone without her costume thanks to its complexity, as had Hiro and Lei. She was…a bit alone when it came to Halloween; her siblings preferred to stay at the house and mooch off their parents' homemade treats, and while Lucy could see their reasoning, she still far preferred going out with her friends. Joules was too old and Minerva too young, so, for now, it was only her.
She didn't deny it got lonely.
A long, pale claw tapping her desk alerted her to Dina, who was peering at her with a raised brow and her head to the side to see her better, "You've been quiet today."
"I know." Lucy said, casting a glance at her activity sheet for the day, "You might already have an idea of why."
Dina sighed and tilted her head back, "Yeah…"
Dina shared in Lucy's situation; her uncle Hammerface had also been a captured experiment, and there was a pattern of them being way too overprotective in trying to keep their kids safe. As much as Heat could annoy and even upset her from time to time, Lucy couldn't fathom what having Hammerface as a dad was like for her cousin.
"How long is that thing again? Six whole hours or something? That's this whole school day!" Dina complained, "That and Dad's making me go at some point."
Lucy froze before staring at her cousin in disbelief, "You can't be serious."
"I know; I don't wanna get slapped by Minnie again, and we were supposed to go out tonight." Dina crossed her arms, long claws glinting in the overhead lights, "Dad told me I have to because it's Uncle Heat and Kixx. And you guys. Not sure how we're gonna do our round tonight Lucy."
"Was just about to ask." A new voice sounded out from next to them, followed by the other members of their group; Kaoru first, then Kasumi, Penumbra, and Brooke. Dina smiled and waved to them, while Lucy held up her hand in greeting, "Hey guys! Sorry about…"
"Your idiot dad?" Kasumi asked, and Lucy flushed in embarrassment, "It's fine Luce, it's just…man. Great timing on his part."
"Are you guys' parents making you come too?"
The rest of the group-save for Brooke-collectively sucked in their breaths and grimaced, causing Lucy to groan, "Oh GODS!"
"Llamita, indoor voice please." Carmen's comment caused her to purse her lips and nod in the direction of their teacher's desk, "Sorry."
Brooke, the odd one out of the group, partially concealed her face behind her clipboard and respective sheet, "And my Creator said I was good to go tonight…"
"That's because she doesn't know about these morons." Kasumi said, "Ya haven't been here that long Brooks, this is pretty typical for them."
Penny, who'd been carefully squinting at her own sheet for the conversation, placed a finger to her cheek and tilted her head at the word search in thought, "Hmm…Baba's too much like me and…they're all gonna be at your place at some point."
"There has to be someone on the outside. What about Aunt Yuna?" Kaoru asked, but Dina shrugged, "She's already in November. Plus, those transporters still freak her out a bit. I dunno about asking her…"
"And my creator only just gave me permission." Brooke narrowed her cyan eyes before lifting her neck over to glance around the room, "Maybe we can join up with another group?"
The rest of the group shrugged and grumbled amongst themselves, Kaoru being the one to shoot Brooke's suggestion down this time, "It would be a good idea until you actually meet them. My brother steals from my bag, Lucy's sibs don't like trick-or-treating, Dina and Penny're only kids, and Pandora's…."
Kasumi crossed her arms, "Pan's like Kekoa; steals from my bag, and I can't keep up with her. All of us're already on our own as is."
The group frowned at each other in mutual annoyance. Usually, they could see a way out of a situation like this-one of their relatives was always ready to swoop in and save their outing when their parents couldn't make it, but this time…
This time, everyone would be at Heat and Kixx's isolated house. And all of them knew they'd be expected to stay with them…
"Well…" Penny sighed, deftly circling another hidden word with her pencil, "Maybe one of 'em will remember…"
"I hope," Kaoru huffed, "I can't imagine being stuck with a stretchy, screeching baby for six hours. Who has a chance of giving me a concussion without realizing."
Lucy gave her a flat look, pointing her own pencil at her friend, "Hey. Rules. Only I get to say that about Minnie."
"Sorry. It's true though!" Kaoru said, shrugging and digging her finger into the tip of Lucy's pencil, "We all saw the bruise she gave Dina a couple months ago. And the ice pack."
"Don't get me started." Dina said, placing her head in her arms, "I know she was having one of those growth cycles, but that really hurt."
Lucy sighed, thinking back to the incident. Minerva was…unpredictable-easily the worst of the new experiments by far. Her little sister was born with a powerful charge like Heat, but for some reason, it only manifested in sudden, painful growth spurts for her. It was the cause of…well…everything about her; from her moody, irritable attitude all the way to her constant draining of Heat for energy.
She hadn't meant to swing at Dina that day; everyone knew that, but…Dina hadn't wanted to get close to her sister since, and Lucy could see why-even if she wasn't a fan of how Dina could talk about Minerva since it happened. Now that her sister was eating up their outing…Lucy wasn't sure how any of her friends would take to her, let alone Dina.
To be honest…she did want to spend a bit of time with Minerva; it was only fair, but…
Her head hurt. The Word Search blurred into a mosaic before her eyes. Lucy growled and shoved it away, having completed only around half of it and not bothering to care-it was just an activity anyways. She cast a glance at the clock, seeing it was almost time for lunch.
She'd think of something to get around this. She had to…
Lucy shuffled in place next to her siblings as the three waited to be picked up. Given Kixx's job, one would've expected the trio to always be last, but he was always among the first to come and get them. The delays-when they happened, were usually minimal, as was the case today. Kixx's car carefully rolled up in front of the three, Hiroki opening the door for his sisters before getting into the front seat with their father.
"Hey guys, how was school today?" Kixx asked, one ear swiveling back to the girls to get their input. Lucy pursed her lips, leaving Leilani to answer, "It was good! My class got to watch Coraline and talk about it when it was over."
"That's nice to hear; that's one of your aunt Lilo's favorites by now." Kixx finished his sentence with a snort, "Can't tell you how many times we used to watch it before we took you in."
Leilani smiled and leaned forward in her seat as the car hit a bump on the road, evidently enjoying the tiny jump it caused her to do, "I can see why-it's the Beldam right?"
"Well, not just her. It didn't make it into the movie, but the corridor's a lot weirder in the book. We'd spend plenty of time rereading the parts where she escapes and it collapses after her."
Lucy could see Hiro cast a momentary glance back to her before turning to look up at Kixx. If he noticed anything off, he didn't show it…
"Speaking of," Kixx's words made her heart jump in her chest-right before it settled back down upon realizing he'd turned to her brother, "anything interesting your end Hiro? I know you wanted to finish that Venom issue in the library, so did you make any progress?"
Hiroki shrugged, "It was only a couple of pages; we spent our day in the library getting to know today's history. You know, how jack'o lanterns used to be turnips and stuff like that."
"Sounds cool; was it?"
"I guess. Still wish I got to finish the comic before the day ended."
"That's unfortunate; you should ask Page if you can have a PDF mailed over-if you want, I know she can be abrupt."
"Maybe; she's nicer over the Internet."
"That is her main mode of communication. You should give it a shot."
Lucy was glad for her siblings in this case; she could feel the conundrum of the day weighing on her more and more, and if her friends couldn't figure out who'd watch them, and if they were all going to be stuck there for gods knew how long, then…
She hadn't realized she'd been glaring out the window until they turned onto the road leading up to the house; Hiro and Lei had kept Kixx occupied the whole way home, so she honestly didn't expect to feel his finger press onto her head before she could follow them into the house.
"Lucy," She looked up at her father to see a concerned look on his face, "can we talk?"
Lucy sighed and looked down at the ground; he'd noticed.
"Okay."
She sat down next to Kixx on the front porch. His feet touched the ground, hers hung off, one ankle twitching in the still air of their yard. Lucy placed both hands on her thighs and focused on the concrete, thinking back to her parents telling them how new it actually was.
Despite her tension, Kixx didn't seem particularly worried, moving his lower set of arms back to give her room. He gazed around the yard before focusing in on something and sighing, "...Did something happen last night Luce? You've come off upset all day."
Lucy remained silent, wondering what she should say…
It wasn't as though she was afraid of her parents-either of them, but this time…it was her sister's first birthday party…
"...Is this…is this about the party tonight Lucy?" Kixx's voice was gentle, but it still caused her to shrink. "Agh."
"Why does it have to be today?" Lucy asked, crossing her arms and leaning forward in frustration, "She was born on the 26th! It's like she's getting two of these, and…"
"Lucy, it's okay. Go on."
Tears brimmed in Lucy's eyes as she got the final thought out, hoping it wouldn't be taken the wrong way, "I…it's like she's gonna take up the whole night…"
Silence, then a sigh from above her.
"Lucy…she's not going to. I just want you back a little earlier this time."
"But who's gonna watch us?!" Lucy countered, "You hate us outside at night! You always want someone to watch us when we're out-we don't have anyone this time, they're all gonna be here!" She threw her hands up in the air in frustration before letting them drop down to her sides, sniffling from her outburst. She was looking ahead, but she could still feel Kixx's dismayed eyes watching all of it.
He let her cry; Lucy honestly appreciated that about him-she suspected he learned by watching Heat, but she wasn't complaining. The only time he stepped in was when she went to wipe her nose with the back of her hand, carefully pushing it back to her side. "It's okay Luce; I'll get a tissue. And…I'm going to get Heat, alright? I think all three of us need to talk after hearing this."
Lucy sniffed and nodded, faithfully holding her nose as Kixx walked back into the house. Being alone gave her a bit of time to herself, and a glance around the yard gave her a nice view of the family's Halloween decor…and the black and orange balloons set up for the party.
She felt her stomach clench upon seeing them-this time, with guilt.
"Right, she's just over here. Be careful, okay?" Kixx's voice sounded out from the front door as it opened, a surge of thermal energy telling her Heat had entered the porch. Kixx gently handed Lucy a tissue as Heat sat down on the stairs next to her. He waited for her to blow her nose before speaking.
"Lucy…what's going on? Are you alright?"
The most she could offer him was a sniff, facepalming with her tissue and hearing a rustle as Kixx took out another from the box he'd bought outside. "Don't…don't do that Lucy, come on."
It was a moment before Lucy calmed herself enough to speak, crumpling the tissues in her fists as she gazed at the ground. "How long do I have to stay here?"
"For…"
"For the party." She snapped, causing Heat to hold up both hands to calm her, "Easy. I just wanted clarification."
"Sorry." Lucy sighed and absentmindedly picked at a corner of the tissues, "But…we don't have anyone to take us and everyone has to be here at some point, so…we dunno how we're going to be able to do our usual tonight."
"I see." Heat crossed his arms and leaned back, casting a glance up at the wind chimes hung up on the porch, "Thing is Lucy…you can't do your usual tonight. You have to spend some time with Minnie, but…it's not like we forgot the day, you know?"
"Also, did you actually think you had to fix this on your own, or with your friends?" He added, squinting at her incredulously. His question got Lucy to pause, pursing her lips before grimacing at the ground in admission, "Kind of…?"
A snort from above her head drew her attention to Kixx, who was holding back laughter at the idea, "Sorry-Lucy, this is our fault, not yours! We know you're the one who goes out every year, so it's not like we haven't been calling around."
Lucy blinked, then felt her cheeks burn in realization; they really had remembered-she had less to worry about than she thought…
"So-wait, did you find anyone?" She asked, and Heat nodded, "Your uncle Chops volunteered this time. Said something about Kas driving him up the wall over this, same as you with us. Thresher also offered, but he went last time, so we wanted to give him a break."
"What about Uncle Plaz?"
Kixx grimaced, "He uh…well, we need someone with arms. And preferably someone who isn't as trigger-happy. No offense to him."
Lucy's smile mirrored Kixx's apologetic one, though for a different reason than listing off why Plasmoid couldn't watch them. "Thanks Dad. Dads."
She felt Heat's hand gently go to the very top of her head, "It's no problem Lucy; we're sorry for not letting you know beforehand."
Lucy grinned as she was let into the house, finding her remaining siblings seated on the couch. Joules headed them, raising her free hand to Lucy in greeting- as the other grasped her sister on her knee, "How'd it go?"
"Good-Uncle Chops'll watch us this time around."
"Thought so. Now, it's still early, so you've got a good amount of time before they come over. When're you leaving?"
Lucy shrugged, "Probably at 5? Same as always."
"Aw, you might miss her cake." Joules let Lucy's smile start to fall and the irritated eyes of Hiroki and Leilani on her before laughing, "I kid, I kid-she hates sugar anyways, you won't miss anything even if you can't be there."
"Isn't that right Minners?" She smirked to Minerva, who let out a fascinated babble and slapped a hand down on the spikes on Joules' arm. Lucy smiled at her sister's response before peering at Hiroki and Leilani, "Promise you'll save me some when I get back?"
Hiroki shrugged, "As long as you pay us."
"...Heath Bars again…?"
"Nah, more like those candy apple lollipops-"
"We HAVE candy apples already prepped." Joules cut in, casting their brother an annoyed glance. Hiroki only smirked in response, "But those are only for tonight! Lei and I need something to hoard."
"Ew. You clean that crap up if you forget about it."
"We won't!" Leilani countered, "And you're making Minnie upset!"
Both raised their brows at a newly irritable Minerva, who growled at the argument before chuffing and letting out a sneeze. Joules wrinkled her nose before turning back to Lucy, "Alright, that's enough of that. You go off and do what you need to, 'kay Luce?"
Lucy nodded, "Okay!"
Joules bounced Minerva in her arms as she watched Lucy leave with her group of friends, a frazzled Chopsuey leading Kasumi and Kaoru by their hands as they stepped down the path to the streets.
Things had worked out, just as she'd thought they would. Albeit a little messier than she'd expected, but they still had regardless. Joules felt someone staring at her and gazed back down at Minerva, who was surveying her with wide, curious eyes. She smiled, "You happy so far Mins?"
Minerva's response was to sniff at her nose, nearly bumping it with her own. Joules snorted before heading back inside, setting her down on the living room floor with her newer cousins-who were similarly aged and whose parents all had faint bags under their eyes. It was a symbol of new parenthood, since everyone else present lacked them-even the parents of the new 0-series.
"Doin' alright?" She asked, smirking at the two aunts she'd sat down in between. Angel and Bonnie gave her similar glares before the latter shook her head and placed a hand to her face, "Man Joules, you know what that response'll be…"
Joules raised her brows before crouching down to have a closer look at Bonnie and Clyde's twin daughters-who were eyeing the huge pile of gifts in interest, "I had to ask, alright?! You got a two for the price of one and I'm a lab tech! Ain't that right, Annie Oakley?"
The girls ignored her, but she hadn't been speaking to them; their father gently coaxed them away from the gifts and back to the main group, "Oh Gods…good catch Jewel."
Joules nodded before feeling a flick from her left and turning to smile at Angel. Despite her prior glare at her, she could tell her aunt had taken her joke in stride. "Lonnie's doing good, in case you wanted to know."
"I did, and that's good. She's really latched onto the Red One there." Joules nodded to Lana; she'd made sure to place Minerva within crawling distance from her cousin, and it was clear to her they were becoming fast friends, sitting together and playing with one of the toys laid out on the floor.
Angel smiled as she followed Joules' gaze, "She has. It's nice to see after last year."
"Yeah…it is." Joules sighed and leaned back in her seat, trying to get her mind off the mention. In a way, Minerva's party was one to celebrate how much she'd recovered from her traumatic creation, which was why Heat and Kixx had wanted it to be both today and her actual birthday.
Haywire abilities during creation were extremely rare for experiments-Minerva was the only one of her batch to have experienced it to the extent she did, and it showed. She was easily the fussiest and easy to scare of the new experiments, so seeing her calm and happy was something her parents strived for. Joules herself felt relieved to see her sister smiling and playing with her cousins, if nothing else, because Minerva's health conditions had lessened since she'd first come to the house.
It was then that she felt a tap on her shoulder, looking over to see the distinctive hammer-shaped head of her uncle. Hammerface simply looked to her, then grimaced and nodded in the direction of the screen door. Joules nodded and stood up-he hadn't needed to speak to her for her to know.
"I'll bring them back." She assured, leaving the crowded living room for the backyard…
"Alright, what kind of weird-ass pep talk do the two of you need this time?" Joules asked, crossing her arms at Heat and Kixx. She'd found them in the spot she expected-at the very back of the yard, on the bench under their miniature grove of fruit trees. Joules kicked a stray lemon at them before placing her hands on her hips, "Well?"
The two merely stared back at her, their solemn expressions standing in stark contrast to the party inside. Joules was used to how their faces could look when they were overthinking, but she still couldn't help but feel taken aback at the difference in mood.
She rolled her eyes, "Gods, it got fixed-"
"Yeah, and we made one of our kids cry before it was." Kixx crossed his upper set of arms at Joules and leaned forward in his seat.
"That and…well…" Heat sighed, "Joules, are we too…restrictive about letting them outside? Be honest."
Joules blinked in surprise at Heat's question; in truth, they were-even if everyone knew why, they were among the worst of the captured experiment parents about letting their kids out unsupervised. The thing was…this was difficult to tell them-they always had some kind of reasoning as to why their kids needed supervision when outside, especially at night like tonight…
She surveyed them carefully before answering.
"Do you really want the truth? Because I think you know by now-it will get worse the older they get."
The two exchanged glances before Kixx sighed, "We just…want to know, Joules. We don't want to fight with them in the future over this."
"Then cut it out and let them go with their friends. Everyone who you think will come after them is either in prison or doing community service light years away from us. You two need to calm down."
The two stared at her solemnly before Kixx nodded. Joules turned her attention to Heat and locked eyes with him, noting his hesitance to agree with his husband. She expected that-her words hadn't really been meant for Kixx, but for him, and he knew this.
Heat let out a deep breath before giving his own nod, "We'll…try. We can't guarantee anything."
"Then start tonight and work your way up from there." Joules cast a glance back towards the house, "I'm heading back inside; come in when you're ready, alright?"
Kixx nodded, "We will. Thanks Jewel."
Heat sighed as he carved up Minerva's cake; it…wasn't for her; he'd tried giving her some just to be sure, but she'd immediately rejected it, giving him a wrinkled nose and a disgusted expression when he held out a piece on a fork for her.
He worried about that; sugar was a staple for experiments like them, and while Minerva didn't have his laser, she did still have his thermal powers. They were more well-off than a fair few cousins by now, but meat was expensive, and already taking up a good chunk of their budget. She could theoretically live on carbs, but it was clear she preferred red meat like Kixx.
…And himself. And Hammerface.
Really, many of them.
"You still sulking about her hating this?" Plasmoid's voice came from below him as he stepped up to take a slice. Heat shrugged, "A little. And then there was the fiasco with Lucy earlier."
"Ah. Not much you can do about the former. The latter though, you can talk to her, right?"
"Yeah; I hope she's gotten her mind off what happened."
"Knowing her, she's carrying out some kind of scheme to get more candy out of Myrtle and Victoria. I wouldn't worry." Hammerface said, though not without placing a hand to the top of his nose as he leaned forward at the table, "Her and Dina both…"
"Let's try not to think about that too hard." 627 muttered, inching away from Spike as Stank perched next to him. She rolled her eyes in exasperation before casting a glance to the older new experiments who'd decided to stay-Kekoa, Pandora, Hiroki, and Leilani.
"I'd say they're doing fine; if anything, it's Chops we've gotta worry about." She said, purple eyes narrowing in amusement at the thought, "After taking the twins for one outing, I wish the best of luck for anyone dealing with them."
The spiky head of Kekoa reared up and gave his mother an irritated glare, "Mom! Come on…"
Stank shrugged, "I'm sorry, but I slept like a rock after I watched you two that night."
Kekoa opened his mouth to retort when there was a knock at the door. Heat immediately focused his energy sense on the door, finding what he probably should've expected; a tiny scattering of heat signatures with one larger blob standing over them. "Huh. They're back."
"I'll get it." Kixx opened the door to find the group of six…and one extremely frazzled Chopsuey holding several of their bags in his arms. Chops himself had dressed in a hockey mask and his mission wear for the holiday, but it was clear he'd been driven up the wall the entire time he'd had to watch them. Kixx stood aside and gently pushed the last of the kids inside with his foot before trying to greet him, but didn't get to. Chopsuey leaned downwards and removed his mask first.
"Hello." Kixx said, giving him a wide grin. Chopsuey hissed in response, "Pain and suffering."
Kixx snickered, "Sorry. They weren't that bad, were they?"
"Ugh-not as terrible as Kas and Pan when they go together, but they were up there." Chopsuey trudged into the house and dropped the bags on the floor, "Alright, take yours and start sorting. I want six Hershey's to make up for this."
"Aww, but I already have to pay Hiro and Lei!" Lucy complained, causing Chopsuey to sigh and hold up his upper set of hands in resignation, "Fine, fine…Kas you're still on the hook-"
"I AM NOT!" Kasumi screamed, yanking her bag to her chest and running to the far end of the room. Chopsuey snorted before turning back to Heat and Kixx, "There's still some food around, right?"
Heat nodded, "Plenty. We catered from Fry again and ordered pizza for good measure."
"Awesome. I'll get a plate then." He walked off to join 627 at the kitchen table-the latter placing his arm around him as he reached it. Heat smiled and was about to turn back to Kixx when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He followed it to where Minerva was and…
He squinted in concern at what he was seeing, "Lucy, what're you feeding her?"
Lucy froze, a sour patch kid inches away from Minerva's face. However, before either of them could react, Minerva's jaws snatched the candy out of Lucy's grip and swallowed it in one gulp.
Dead silence permeated the room. Heat stared at his daughters in disbelief, while other cousins were clearly resisting the urge to laugh. Minerva was oblivious to the sudden change, sticking out her tongue before laughing and reaching for Lucy's forehead. Her sister started when Minerva's hands touched the scar on her forehead, but Lucy quickly settled back down and smiled back at her.
"Sorry dad, just wanted to see what would happen if I fed her one…"
Heat sighed before placing a hand to his forehead, "Okay, just…be careful Luce. We have to deal with the end results."
"I don't think there'll be a bad one though." Lucy surveyed her sister, who was already pointing at the opened bag on the floor, "I also wanted to say sorry to her. Thinking she was gonna take up my night and stuff."
"I think she's fine Lucy. Though…you did give us a way to feed her sugar with that, finally." Kixx said. Lucy grinned as she returned to the bag on the floor, her group of friends curiously-but nervously-eyeing Minerva.
Dina, surprisingly, was the first to wave at her, "Hey Minnie, you're uh…you're happy tonight?"
Minerva giggled at her cousin's question, instantly reaching for another candy from Lucy. Dina seemed to calm down upon seeing this, nodding to her before turning back to sorting through her haul. Kasumi had rejoined them from across the room, though at the cost of being haggled for Tootsie Pops by Kaoru. Penumbra and Brooke quietly traded with each other, leaving Lucy to be the only person tending to her sister. She absentmindedly petted the top of Minerva's head, making sure to avoid the heating elements embedded in her forehead.
"Good party tonight Mins?" She asked, and Minerva tilted her head at her before…nodding. Lucy blinked in shock-she knew Minerva was a bit more intelligent than usual thanks to her accelerated growth, but she hadn't exactly expected her to understand her to that extent.
Lucy smiled at her sister, handing her another sour patch, "That's good to know. Wanna try out Toxic Waste next?"
Minerva snatched the sour patch away from her. Lucy felt her smile grow into a grin, "I'll take that as a yes."