To Riordanlover16- I LOVE these kind of stories. Depths of despair, crawling back to some shadow of what was... Ooooohh, I love it XD Writing it is much more fun than reading it :3
To LooneyPeach- hey, my dude! I thought it was you! Long time no see, how ya been? :D (Chapter 1) YES SHE IS! (Chapter 2) Goddamn (Chapter 3) Dat's his name! ^_^ (Chapter 4) Shorter chapters are easier to write too. You are not dumb, though, and if you say that again, I shall kill Storm O:) (Chapter 5) What kind of chair? Asking for science :P
Hey, we know these weirdos!
Jessica came back with more than just shopping. She insisted she had needed the extra hands for the all the diapers and things, though she had failed to mention the extra hands were attached to Louisa's friends.
Leo got reintroduced to them then. Dylan and Connor, scarily alike despite no relation, with strawberry blond hair and pale grey eyes, towering head and shoulders over Leo. Dylan was taller and more sturdily built. Connor, only an inch or so behind, was wiry and lean. Leo made sure to remember that very carefully, though for a while he addressed them simply as 'dude'.
He remembered Mikey quickly enough. No-one could forget Mikey because Mikey made sure of it. Similar in height to Leo with a mop of sandy blond hair and merry hazel eyes. He grinned on seeing Leo and greeted him with a rib-breaking hug rather than a handshake like the other two, almost lifting him off the floor.
"It's you, it's you, it's you!" he exclaimed delightedly, swinging Leo around. He did not elaborate on that, however, distracted by motion behind Leo. Mikey squealed, a shrill almost inhuman noise and he vanished in a blur, crying "LOOOOUUUUUIIISSSSAAAAAA!"
Leo blinked, stretching his jaw to pop his ears. Dylan and Connor— Connor and Dylan? — grinned at him. They were well adapted to Mikey, long-suffering with a learned resilience. Leo had some catching up to do.
Louisa, on having heard Mikey's Mikey-isms, had come out of her bedroom, frowning at them all. Mikey had tackled her and now they lay in a heap on the floor, groaning from bumping heads in his haste. "Hi, Lou," Mikey said, laughing when she swore at him. They were tangled together; it was impossible to tell where Louisa started and Mikey ended.
"You bastard."
"You bastard!" Mikey accused, purposefully butting their heads together this time. "Where did you go? You left me with Dylan." Dylan, used to such jibes, did not react. He was examining his hands, noticing Leo had left oil stains on his fingers. Leo held his hands up guiltily, scurrying when Jessica sent him back to work.
Mikey put his hands at Louisa's throat, miming throttling her. His grip was non-existent, hardly featherlight. Louisa glared up at him, unimpressed. Mikey grinned and ducked down, nose-to-nose with her so they had to go boss-eyed to look at each other. "Jessica was buying diapers."
"Yep."
"Tiny diapers."
"Yeah."
"Itty bitty tiny diapers."
"If you wanna see the baby, you could just ask."
"Where's the fun in that? Show me my nibling!"
"Nibling?!"
"The child of a sibling. 'Niece' and 'nephew' both start with an 'N'. 'N' add 'sibling' equals 'nibling'. Why am I explaining this to you? You're wasting time! Get me my nibling, woman!"
"Get off then!"
"That would help, wouldn't it?"
"Mm-hm."
Mikey scrambled to his feet, arms windmilling and spinning on one foot. He caught Louisa under her arms and hoisted her up. He was right on her heels as he pushed her into the bedroom, giggling and whispering to himself excitedly.
Connor raised an eyebrow at Jessica.
"I think that went rather well."
It went very well indeed. Mikey was besotted with his nibling, cradling him close to his face and refusing to share. Bradley's eyes were open, though how much he could actually see was open to debate. He stared at Mikey, or the shapeless blur that Mikey could be, with big round blue eyes.
"I think his eyes are going to be green," Mikey observed. "I can see greeny bits in there. Are you going to be like your mama? Yes, yes, I bet you are!" He talked non-stop to the infant after that, detailing every story he possibly could about Louisa.
Leo, working in the living room, slowed down his work, quietened down his work. Curiosity had got the better of him and, while he didn't turn around, he listened as best he could. Mikey told stories of monsters and gods that Leo hadn't heard before, including something called 'Popadom'. He heard about their years in school, the rumours of a feral child feared by all substitute teachers going strong to this day. Beach days and seashells and sharks, someone called Denise, someone called Roxanne, someone called Lizzie.
He heard the soft clomping of hooves on the carpet and looked over his shoulder. Storm had returned from her morning flight and was settling on the rug, whickering in greeting. Mikey leaned forward, pointing the pegasus out to Bradley and launching into a new line of stories. Storm huffed or snorted in places, clearly adding her own part.
"Hey." Leo startled, smacking his elbow on the window frame. Hot numbness flooded to his fingers and he cringed. Connor— Dylan? Connor? Possibly Connor— winced sympathetically. "Ooh, funny bone."
"I leave everything to Festus," Leo hissed between gritted teeth, clutching his dying arm. Connor— Dylan? Connor? — smiled in polite confusion.
"Who's Festus?"
"My dragon."
"You have a dragon?"
"Yeah, he's over there. He's the suitcase." The confusion tripled and Connor/Dylan ogled at him. "I'm not entirely mad," Leo assured, trying to inspect his elbow. "He's an automaton dragon. He's in suitcase mode so I could bring him upstairs."
Connor/Dylan tilted his head.
"Lou!" he called.
"Connor!" Louisa called back, Leo silently blessing her. She was sitting on the floor next to Storm, working tangles from her mane with her fingers.
"Your friend says his suitcase is a dragon."
"Yeah, that's Festus."
"OK, just checking." Connor regarded Leo again. "Who's your godly parent again?"
"Hephaestus."
"You're Greek?"
"Yeah."
"What are you doing with the window?"
"Planning its death." Leo narrowed his eyes at the offending window frame. "My elbow will never be the same again."
"Cool, cool. What are you really doing though?" Leo smiled slyly, pulling a screwdriver from his belt. Connor listened intently as he explained what he was building, his eyes sharp and attentive, taking everything in. He seemed to understand what Leo was on about, not once teasing him for technobabble. His only queries were about the functionality of what Leo was constructing, about power supplies and methods of application and how did it pick up what the Mist usually hid?
Leo marvelled at him once he was finished. Connor was running his hands up and down the window frame, inspecting it closely. There were some wires sticking out, but Leo was still working on that bit. Everything else he had finished was already neatly concealed.
"Amazing," Connor whispered, his breath puffing on the glass. "I can't see any of it. Would anything detect it? Metal scanners, anything like that?"
"Mmm," Leo scrunched his nose, "depends on the quality of the scanner. Not all mortal scanners can pick up celestial bronze or imperial gold."
"You're using both?"
"Yes."
"Like Lou's sword."
"Uh, yeah. I guess so."
"Amazing," Connor said again. Leo sniffed.
"Lou!"
"Leo!"
"I really like this one!" Louisa, now sitting on the couch beside Mikey, swivelled, resting her arm on the back of the seat. She looked from him to Connor, who was still examining the window frame, and back again. Leo grinned. "I made a new friend!"
"That's 'cos he's a nerd like you."
"Hey!"
"Don't worry," Dylan said from the armchair. "She's got a thing for nerds." Louisa threw a cushion at him and he laughed. "Aww, come on, Lou. We all know it's true. I mean, why else would you turn this down?" He gestured dramatically at himself. Mikey snickered.
"How long have you got?"
They fell into bickering. Leo sat back, Connor sighing next to him.
"Some things never change," he murmured. He raised an eyebrow at Leo. "You'll get used to it." Leo glanced over at Louisa. She was standing in front of Mikey and Bradley, arms out and ready to catch the cushion Dylan was threatening to throw back. Mikey was yelling, mind my nibling, mind my nibling!
He looked around.
"Where's Jessica?"
"Taking refuge in the kitchen," Connor half-smiled. "A wise woman. Can you show me what you do?" He pointed at the wires. "Is there a mainframe for all this? Do you do your own programming? Does everything have its own power supply or is it all connected on one system? I take it you've got a back-up power supply too?"
"Three back-up power supplies, thank you very much."
"Three?"
"The main power comes from the electricity of the apartment anyway, and then I came up with extras of my own. I've hidden them all and they're all isolated from each other so if one goes down, the other two won't be affected." Connor squinted at him.
"Do tell."
"Man, you are my new favourite person."
"Thanks. I'm interested and, truth be told, I also want to see that dragon."
"Everyone wants to see the dragon."
Jessica emerged with food sometime later. She had waited for the bickering to subside, the usual arguments she had heard many, many times over the years. She bore a tray of sandwiches and chips for the kids— they would always be 'the kids' no matter how old they got— and apples for Storm. Dylan, under her orders, retrieved the tray of drinks she had left on the kitchen counter. Juice and water and a warmed-up bottle for Bradley.
"Dibs!" Mikey cried, snatching the bottle up. He had yet to return his nibling or let anyone else have a turn. Louisa sat beside him, though she did not seem too worried.
Connor and Leo joined them. Immediately, they were both kicked out to go and wash their hands first. Connor had been helping, Leo teaching, quite enjoying the rapt attention. Louisa listened to him when he went off on one of his tangents, but he knew she didn't understand most of what he came out with. It was nice to have someone with some knowledge in his field.
Most of the living area was done now. The windows were secured, motion sensors had been installed and the locks on the front door had been upgraded. His next job was to install high-grade barricades over any and all forms of entrances. Retractable, indestructible sheets of top-quality celestial bronze that would bar doors and windows at the slightest hint of an intruder. They would only release when someone put the top-secret passcode into the panel hidden behind the light switch in the living room.
That job was going to take him a little bit longer as he would have to pull up parts of the walls to install the sheaths for the barricades. He would have to be careful how he did it as well, otherwise Jessica would have him redecorate too— she had already mentioned it a few times, smirking and dropping great big hints.
He could do the front door today. The windows he would have to do tomorrow and maybe the day after, if Connor didn't come back to help. He had plans to do all the windows and doors, although he had had to tweak it for Louisa's room— he still had to allow for Storm's comings and goings.
Connor was a studious apprentice, fascinated. More so when he asked Leo for a welding torch and Leo just set his hand on fire. Between him and Leo, they ate most of the sandwiches. Mikey was too busy feeding Bradley and delighting in this chore. Louisa was trying to eat while fending off Storm— apparently three apples wasn't enough for the pegasus. Dylan was safe in his armchair and Jessica had already portioned her food, having had first pickings when making it all.
"I've got to burp him now, right? How do I do that? Ooh, what's that smell? Oh, it's you!" He gaped at the baby in his arms. "I am not qualified for diapers, young man! I have a sensitive disposition."
"Give him here," Louisa instructed, shoving the last of her sandwich in her mouth. Storm bit at her sleeve, ear flicking. "Alright, alright. Mike, can you feed Storm while I sort Bradley out?"
"Yes! That I can do. I want him straight back though, when he's not so smelly."
"Yes, Master Mikey." Louisa gave a sarcastic salute, carting Bradley off to her room. Mikey bounced to the kitchen and they heard him banging and crashing in the cupboards. He returned a few minutes later with a bucket of grain and seed peppered with apple slices. He scratched Storm behind the ears as she ate, though his head was canted in the direction of Louisa's room. He saw her door was shut and grinned.
"Right," he said, head snapping round. Leo froze— everyone was looking at him. "Connor?"
"I approve."
"Dylan?"
"Could be worse."
"Jessica?"
"With Connor on this one."
"Whaaaaat's going on?" Leo asked cautiously. Mikey pursed his lips. "What have I done?" Dylan leaned forward in his chair, holding his glass of juice on his knee. "I feel like I'm being judged," Leo whispered nervously.
"You are," Dylan smirked. "We've got our eye on you, Leon."
"I'm Leo. And I'm confused."
Jessica motioned and the boys settled. Dylan rested his elbow on the arm. Connor picked another sandwich from the measly remains and Mikey went back to fussing over Storm.
"Don't take it personally, Leo," she advised. "They're very protective of Lou and they mean well, really. Uh, why don't you go and see how Lou's getting on? Let them get it out of their system first." It wasn't a suggestion Leo could say no to. The three mortals were watching him and he could feel the weight of each of them gauging him, measuring him up. Jessica smiled warmly. "Trust me, Leo. There's a process."
"For what?"
"Go and see Lou."
Leo did, but not before taking the plate with the last of the sandwiches on. He knocked on the door, hearing whispers break out once he was on the other side.
"Lou, why are they judging me?"
"Ugh, that. Ignore 'em, Leo. They're just being nosy."
"Nosy?"
"Mm-hm." Bradley was on the bed. Louisa had got him in a clean diaper and only a clean diaper. Bradley lay on his back with his legs curled up, his feet in the air. He was awake, his hands clenched in fists over his chest.
Leo walked over dazedly, perching on the edge of the bed. He set the sandwiches to one side, Louisa eyeing them curiously. Bradley's foot was smaller than his thumb and jerked when he touched it, ticklish. He kicked, one leg and then the other.
Louisa squeezed Leo's shoulder, moving away from the bed. She rummaged in the dresser by the window, humming to herself. "He pooped all over his jumpsuit," she said over his shoulder. Leo noticed the soiled article on the floor. "Luckily it weren't too bad on him though, but…" She shuddered, sticking her tongue out. "Stinky baby."
"Stinky baby," Leo agreed. She turned back to see he was holding Bradley, sitting him on his lap and cradling his head in both hands so they faced each other. Louisa stood still a moment, rooted by the fondness softening Leo's usual mischievous features. Bradley stared up at him, mouth open, drool lining his chin. Leo smiled and wiped it away with his thumb.
Louisa shook her head. She closed the gap, holding out the new jumpsuit. The material brushed Leo's cheek and made him jump.
"Here," she said belatedly. "You dress him."
"What? Me?"
"Yes. You."
"How?"
"Uh, I can fly a helicopter just by touchin' it," she said, going cross-eyed. Leo huffed and whisked the clean clothes away. She smirked and stood back, folding her arms.
"Organic lifeforms are different to helicopters," Leo muttered. He carefully manoeuvred Bradley back onto the bed. He lay the jumpsuit out next to him, seeing the silver circles of poppers all up the legs and then up to the neckline. "Mama's testing me," he told Bradley. "She thinks this is funny, doesn't she?" He started with Bradley's arms, heart thumping. So tiny, so small, so fragile. "Well, we'll show her, won't we, chiquito? Mama thinks she's so clever. We're cleverer."
He got the other arm in, pausing to give himself a mental pat on the back. Bradley kicked his legs again, huffing.
"He's cold," Louisa commented bemusedly.
"Not on my watch!" Leo declared. Bradley kicked a couple more times, more than likely enjoying this, but Leo successfully tucked his legs into place. The poppers were the easiest part and he did those up quickly. "Looking snazzy, chiquito!" He beamed. He tucked his hands under Bradley's arms and lifted him, noticing his legs curled up again.
He lay the tot on his chest, tucking one hand under his padded diapered bottom and the other supporting the back of his head, the silky soft baby hair tickling his fingers. Bradley settled against him readily, leaning into the warm.
Leo turned to Louisa, chin tipped up smugly. She gave a mock applause, tapping her fingers on her palm three times. "Thank you," he grinned. "He's dribbling on me."
"He does that."
"I will take it as a form of affection."
"Yeah, he does seem ta like ya."
"Valdez Charm."
"Sure."