(A/N): We're back with Lisbet, Leo, Jerremyah, Danniel, Greygorry, and Jo.

Lisbet

I'd had to force myself to react- to distract- in service of making sure that Leo didn't realise what he'd said... or the effect it had on Jerremyah. When I say I had to force myself to do so, I don't mean because I didn't want to distract him, but that it had nearly frozen me just as completely as it had my mate; to hear Leo refer to Jerremyah as a parental guardian- as a paternal figure- hurt on an almost physical level, especially because he'd done it so casually. With so little thought, and absolutely no artifice. He'd spoken of the difference between instinct and habit, and I couldn't help but wonder if maybe said instincts were kicking in- and he was responding to us treating him like a kit, by unconsciously acting as one.

Danniel had helped me distract- had done better than me, actually, by declaring us all family, and boldly telling Leo that we'd adopted him. I wasn't sure I would've told him that quite so blatantly, but I suppose that was the benefit of Danniel being... well, Danniel. He'd started to say that it was too bad if Leo didn't want us to have adopted him, and Leo... he smiled this impossibly wide, almost blindingly bright smile, and started purring just- So. Loud. "Well," I said softly, trying to hide my extreme fondness with amusement. "I think he might be okay with it, after all."

The smell of happiness radiated off of him- not just contentment, but genuine happiness; joy, even- and Jerremyah seemed to recover slightly, if him pulling Leo more snugly to his chest was anything to go by. Leo glanced back at him briefly- down, even- but luckily, he didn't seem to notice the furrow to Jerremyah's brow, because it certainly would've put a damper on his mood if he had. He couldn't speak, obviously- not without having to stop purring, or at least quieten down- so I did the talking for the both of us. Though... I guess since Jerremyah was still silent, the three of us. "We're clan," I told him firmly, and he peered at me with those big blue eyes. "And we're family."

I was worried it would be too much- and predictably, his head did dip again, but rather than hiding his face entirely, he simply pressed his mouth to the front of Jerremyah's shoulder, which left him purring into the jumper. Into the flesh beneath it. "Yes," Grey said with a weary sigh. "We're family." Leo's head cocked to the side, and I couldn't tell whether he'd intentionally butted his temple against Jerremyah's cheekbone or not, but he certainly had no compunctions about leaving it there. "I bagsy being the third cousin twice removed, by marriage." I shot him a reproachful look, even as Leo made a noise I suspected was a snort muddled by the purr; I knew Leo was likely to take Grey's attempt to distance himself- even jokingly- personally, and I also knew Grey was only trying to distance himself because of everything that had happened with his family. The biological one, I mean.

"Buddy," Danniel said, clapping his hands down on Greygorry's shoulders and squeezing. By the way his arms moved, I assumed he'd tried to wiggle him around, but since Grey hadn't allowed himself to be shifted, he remained completely unmoved. "Friend." Grey made no attempt to hide his eye roll, even as Danniel met them with his own, rather earnest, gaze. "Don't be a prick." His tone was friendly- and I didn't doubt it was real on at least some level- but below that, hidden beneath the friendliness, was a surprising level of firmness. Those of us who could hear that firmness below the surface could also hear the real message he was trying to convey: 'Don't be mean to Leo, or else.' What that 'or else' consisted of coming from Danniel, I wasn't sure.

Grey, for his part, seemed to admire this, if the way the corner of his mouth twitched up was anything to go by. Unfortunately, as it turned out, we weren't the only ones who could see through Danniel's... facade? Sort of? "Danniel- lay off." It was barely recognisable through Leo's- now slightly less intense- purring, but it was still recognisable... which meant that Danniel immediately took both hands off of Grey's shoulders to raise them in a placating gesture.

"Right," He said somewhat sheepishly- though, I highly suspected it was more for the fact that he'd gotten caught, than his actions- then glanced over at me pointedly. "...sorry, Lisbet." My brow furrowed before I had the chance to think about stopping it, not grasping right away that he was trying to use my 'language mandate' to play coy, but when I did realise, I shook my head quickly.

"It's... alright." Which absolutely wasn't what I would've said if I'd actually been worried about protecting Leo's ears, so that might have been why he rolled his eyes at me over Jerremyah shoulder.

"Don't- cover him." I had the feeling he'd wanted to say 'don't cover for him', but struggled with it because of the purring. "Sh-shoddy." Danniel's attempt to cover was shoddy, or mine?

Danniel crossed his arms over his chest, and his eyebrows drew together as though he was more than a little confused by this, too. Or maybe offended- it was hard to tell. "Oh, come on- it wasn't that bad." Offended, then, I guess. Leo clearly didn't think so, considering his snort. "Hey!" Danniel's objection only served to make Leo actually laugh- which was always a blessing.

It was even more of a blessing this time, however, because the sound inspired Jerremyah to tilt his head, pushing his cheek further into Leo's temple. Even from a distance, I could hear the quiet rasp of facial hair dragging against skin, and in order to distract from this as much as possible, I said, "In my defense, I'm trying to support my fellow cla- family members. As someone who's known Grey for over three hundred years... not only do I know he can handle it, I know he perhaps deserves it, in some ways." Grey rolled his eyes at me.

"Don't worry about it, kid," He said, genuinely waving Leo off. "First of all, it'd take a lot more than calling me a prick to get me to- well, stop being a prick. Second of all... he's right." Ah. I see Grey was being Grey- the nice version, anyway. Even Danniel looked surprised to be told he was right. "It's not okay for me to push you away like that just because I'm uncomfortable. It isn't fair to you- and while Lis and Jer know how to tell when I'm being facetious... you don't have the history and experience to be able to tell." It was a nice sentiment... and one Leo seemed to appreciate, thank God.

"So what you're saying is," Leo started. "You don't want to be family?" Or- Or not.

(A/N): Danniel: 'Buddy. Friend. Keep being mean to Leo and they won't find your body.'

Grey: '...y'know what? Respect.'

Leo: *squirts Danniel with a water bottle* 'Stop that!'

I don't know why they didn't expect Leo to recognise that Danniel was threatening Greygorry, considering that Leo always picks up on that sort of thing... except when it's positive, and directed toward himself.

So, I didn't mention it last week, because I was still a bit worn out, but last Sunday my dad and I went to the South Australian Aviation Museum, since he's a HUGE plane nerd and they were having their roughly annual engine run day, as well as open cockpits on a few of the planes they don't typically have open. It was a really great day, but there were A LOT of people, and obviously, with my social anxiety, that isn't the best thing for me, mentally. Still, I enjoyed myself, and didn't have a full on anxiety attack, so I think it went pretty well- even if we did spend like $60 on tea towels for my mother that she refuses to use because they're microfiber and she can't stand the texture, so we're going to end up framing them... even though we didn't buy a picture dad was interested in because we 'didn't have the room to hang it' (smh). The funny thing is, I walked into one of the bigger planes with my dad and immediately said, 'wow, it smells like Pup's shed in here', because it had that characteristic 'dusty old canvas and vinyl' smell that I associate with my maternal grandfather's shed, back before he passed. So we were in a plane (my dad's thing) and it smelled like my grandfather's shed, which means it sort of smelled like my dad's shed, since he acquired a lot of his old stuff, but my dad's shed mostly smells like metal (specifically welding related stuff), so it didn't remind me of that so strongly. I just thought it was one of those interesting moments where the smell of something is so specific that it brings you to a specific place or time.

Also, as of posting this (about 12:10am 4/11/24), I JUST finished Chapter 646, which is the chapter set to come out on 29/6/26.