(A/N): We're back with Leo, Jerremyah, Lisbet, Greygorry, Jo, and Danniel.
Trigger Warning: Leo uh... dissociates? Yeah, that... pretty much sums it up. He gets overwhelmed (in a good way), and his body/brain tries to protect him, and he basically blue screens for a little while.
Leo
Jerremyah's shoulder was surprisingly comfortable. Like, really, really comfortable. Comfortable to the point where I was more than a little confused by it, but since I didn't think asking about it would go over well- if only because it would be incredibly embarrassing, and I likely wouldn't receive a satisfying answer anyway- I kept my mouth shut and just enjoyed it. Lisbet and Greygorry had moved off to one side to chat quietly, and while I almost certainly could have listened in on whatever they were talking about- training, hopefully- I trusted them to handle it on their own, so I mostly focused on Jerremyah. And making funny faces at Jo and Danniel, of course.
"Sweetheart." I perked up, head swiveling toward Lisbet as she addressed me; pretty much as soon as my eyes met hers, I watched her expression soften. "What are you looking for?" I blinked, confused, which only served to soften her further. "With the training. You said that the physical activity helps you... do you want something that'll make you move, something strenuous but more sedentary, or something that requires a bit of thought?" Oh. Oh, that was a good question.
"Well, I'd like to stop thinking so much, but I'm not sure there's anything you can throw at me that's capable of making that happen."
Lisbet and Greygorry shared a look that I really didn't like, and Jerremyah snorted from underneath me- I felt it in my thighs, pressed against his chest as they were. "Yeah, don't challenge those two to shut your brain off for a little while- you won't like the result." Well... on the list of things I wasn't going to read too deeply into, that was pretty high up there. Especially considering the simultaneously disapproving and teasing look that Lisbet sent his way that told me I was right about the extreme likelihood of it being sex related, one way or another.
"Um... right. Well. That's... advice. Thanks, for that." He seemed appropriately chagrined, which was... unexpected, to say the least. Jo and Danniel- though mostly Jo- thought so too, clearly.
"Do you ever think about anything other than sex?" She asked sharply, practically sneering, and Jerremyah snorted again.
Then, he sort of wiggled me on his shoulder as if he was trying to distract himself, and he turned part way around so both of us could see the Twins, even though we were facing different directions. "I think about killing people a lot, too," He said dryly, and I immediately made an unintentional sound of disapproval in the back of my throat- one I heard echoed from behind me, where Lisbet was. Jerremyah barked out a laugh at that. "That wasn't meant to be a threat," He said, and of course it wasn't. "I meant it in a more... general, sense. About- my control issues." Jo wasn't swayed by this, choosing to cross her arms over her chest in direct contrast to me squeezing Jerremyah's waist to reward him for his candidness.
"I think I preferred it when you were trying to get in Lisbet's trousers," She said- admitted?- and Lisbet made another, more choked, noise. I, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh, which served to catch both of their attentions.
"Reinvention requires sacrifice sometimes, unfortunately," I said as judiciously as I could. "And while I'm sure Lisbet would appreciate-"
She shot me a look, and I fell silent in an instant. "I would appreciate," She said. "My mate taking his time to figure out who he is, outside of our relationship. I know you wouldn't suggest anything less, Nounours." I didn't know how to tuck my chin now that I was upside down, so I settled for burying my face in the small of Jerremyah's back where the knitted jumper pooled. A long second passed with Jerremyah's body tensing under my touch, before I felt a hand- Lisbet's, no doubt- land on the back of my neck. "Where'd my teddy bear go, huh?" I flushed- Oh, that was so much worse in English. "Where's my little love bug?" O-oh... My mind went blank at that, and she leaned down to press a kiss to my temple- having to push the jumper out of the way in order to do so. She left her hand resting on Jerremyah's lower back, though. "Feel free to hibernate for a little while if that's what you need, cub-" The world blacked out around me as I buried my face fully, breathing into the fabric- through the fabric. I wasn't sure if Lisbet stopped talking or if my ears stopped working, but I certainly didn't hear anything for a while after that.
Eventually, some indeterminate amount of time later, I came back to myself and I heard a few different things at once. There was some sort of rhythmic thumping- at first I thought it might be Jerremyah's heartbeat, before I remembered that he didn't have one. Beyond that, I could hear harsh breathing- despite the fact that I was the only person present that had a need to fill their lungs on a regular basis- along with the usual outdoorsy sounds of wind and birdsong. What caught- and held- my attention the most, though, was Jerremyah's voice as he spoke to someone in a quiet, steady tone.
"-over and over. 'course, that was back before they figured out refrigeration- Hell of an invention, that. Sure, charms have existed to keep things cool for a long time- food, places, people- as well as warm, but when muggles figured it out, you wouldn't believe the difference. That, and the combustion engine. Steam was nice and all, and coal was a huge export, but- well- Oh, and when we went from sailing ships to powered vessels- reliably powered vessels, I mean-" I had automatically assumed that he was talking to someone else- Danniel being the most likely suspect, just judging by the subject matter and the fact that they were letting him ramble- but then I turned my head slightly, and when I cracked one eye open, the first thing I saw was Jo and Danniel sparring with Lisbet and Greygorry, respectively. But if Jerremyah wasn't talking to Danniel, then who- "Are you back with us, or should I keep blabbering about my favorite technological innovations?"
Oh. Oh, shit, he was talking to me! I saw Lisbet falter slightly, probably at hearing Jerremyah address me directly, and Jo took advantage of her distraction- something I highly doubted Danniel would've done, if he was in her position. I blew out a breath into the material again... then remembered that I was essentially huffing into Jerremyah's lower back, and pulled my face away with flushed cheeks. "No, I- I'm- I'm good." Though maybe not quite as 'good' as I thought I was, if my struggle to get the words out was anything to go by. Jerremyah shrugged easily, underneath me.
"Okay. D'you think being vertical would help, or hinder the cause?" I blinked- then realised that I was still upside down, slung over Jerremyah's shoulder. It should've been obvious, but I guess my vampire brain had adapted to the point where I hadn't even noticed.
"I- Yeah, maybe." I didn't actually think it would help any, I just thought that maybe if I could distance myself, I might have some chance at recovering my lost cool. Unfortunately- or fortunately, whichever way you look at it- Jerremyah didn't set me on my feet. Instead, he swung me around his body like some sort of- yes, backpack- until he was holding me in his arms like... well, like a sleepy child. "What- what-"
He shrugged again, and bundled me to his chest like it was nothing- maybe to him, it was... but it definitely didn't feel that way to me. It felt absolutely monumental, to me. "Five seconds ago you were unresponsive- if you want standing privileges, you're going to have to prove to me that you aren't going to keel over the second I put you on your feet." He was very clearly joking, there was a twinkle in his eyes and everything, but even as a dimple considered making an appearance, I saw the concern in the set of his mouth; he was worried about me... that simply wouldn't do.
Ignoring the others- and my own blush- I burrowed into him; burrowed my head into his shoulder, still warm from where my body had laid over it. "I'll let you know when I'm capable of getting by without you, 'myah." I was pretty sure I wasn't imagining it, when I felt his arms tighten around me almost imperceptibly. "Might be a while, though."
(A/N): Leo's three options for training are basically: Running on a treadmill, lifting weights, or like... rock climbing? In actuality it'd probably be something like running laps, doing something in reps (again, maybe lifting heavy objects, or like... boxing? The non-combative kind of boxing, I mean. Like with a punching bag, or where the other person has those pads on their hands- but I mean, they're vampires, so maybe they don't need the pads), and either some sort of obstacle course that Leo has to find his way through, or something like sparring or that time Nicholai and Shari chased Leo through the woods.
Leo is heavily affected by Lisbet calling him 'my little love bug' because, one, she said 'MY', which is extremely important to Leo (that sense of belonging, especially belonging to someone, in a familial sense). Two, she called him 'little', which to him unconsciously, again, made him feel like her child in a way, sort of like 'my little boy' but slightly different. The 'love bug' itself affected him because he still isn't used to be praised for his affectionate nature, and it's kind of unclear whether she means that he is someone who does the loving, or whether he's the one who's being loved (it's both, which affects him even further).
Leo is especially affected- and thus taken out entirely- by her calling him 'cub', because it really sort of is 'kit lite', and even though Leo doesn't know what a kit is or what it means, the vampire side of him recognises the sentiment and is VERY happy about it (particularly because they've all been dancing around the subject, and this is the first really strong declaration of it, at least in the vampire's eyes). He's also affected, on a conscious level, because to Leo (who's name literally means 'Lion' as Leo, and 'Son of the Lion' as Leonides), it's very much a 'I see you as a kid- MY kid' sort of thing, and while he struggles with that a lot, he really does see Lisbet as a parental figure, even if he can't bring himself to see her as a mother to him, just yet.
Chapter name is obviously a play on 'join the club', and I have to say that I love Jerremyah's random rambling an inordinate amount, because he's literally just saying whatever comes to mind in order to keep Leo anchored, and give him something to come back to.
Also, Jo taking advantage of Lisbet's distraction and Leo saying that he didn't think Danniel would have done the same is partially because Danniel, A) knows that Lisbet is stronger than him, and could absolutely take revenge if she saw fit to do so, B) because he's a gentleman, and would never hit a woman when she wasn't ready for it, and C) because Danniel fights fair. Jo, on the other hand, has no such concerns, and will hit whoever, whenever she can get a hit in. 'This is life or death, Danniel, you can't fight fair.' 'For fuck's sake, this is SPARRING, Jo!' (censored by Lisbet) (uncensored by Leo)