Dec 30, 2024
I should study but the shrimp was calling me
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I should study but the shrimp was calling me
When they get back to the main room Katie’s goddads are kissing in the kitchen
“WHY” she shrieks, turning away dramatically and putting her hand over Draco’s eyes
“Let me Live” Uncle Leo yells back, Uncle Jason breaking off into laughter
“Your ass is on the counter, we eat here!” Katie screams, trying to maneuver through the main room blind and leading a nine-year-old while still shielding him from the horror of dudes in their late forties swapping spit “We have guests, children no less! Go be gross somewhere with a door!”
“I'll show you a door” Uncle Leo mutters and then yelps, Uncle Jason must have bit him. Katie runs into a couch, she hears someone laughing at her expense as Draco starts complaining about his predicament
“What's going on?” the kid whines
“I'm protecting you dude,” Katie tells him “From horrors worse than death”
“Were they kissing?”
“They were absolutely kissing”
“I've seen kissing”
“This is worse,” she insists “This is old married kissing, the grossest kind”
“I'm not old!” Uncle Leo protests and then yelps again “Babe quit biting me”
“What, their eyes are covered” Uncle Jason chuckles
“Gross gross gross gross gross gross,” Katie complains as she feels their way over to the roof stairs “Climb to safety Draco, go go go!”
They make it to the roof garden without needing further eye bleach, thank the gods
“I thought you said they're nice” Draco murmurs to his older siblings as the adults disperse
“They are nice,” Gus tells him “We're just in big big trouble”
Draco looks awestruck for a second “This is in trouble?” he asks
“I mean we're probably gonna lose dessert for a month” Jackie says
“And be on double stable duty” Gus adds
“But yeah” she finishes “This is being in super major deep trouble”
“Oh wow,” Draco breaths “I guess they are nice”
And god damn it does that break Katie's heart, but she can ponder that later. She walks over to the other side of the main room under the rose window to make her call, quieter away from the bustle of the newcomers. It's easier to go through Janet when it's Papi than boot up a rainbow maker, she licks her necklace again
“Satan's Armpit, how can I help you?” comes Janet’s voice through the coin charm
“Hey girl,” Katie greets “Can you put me through to Papi?”
“The ass beating go that bad?” Janet teases, popping her gum into the speaker
“I am still waffling on the ass beating, we’ll see what the dads say”
“Oh hoho, tell me later then hun” the ghost cackles “patching you through”
The hold music goes for longer than usual. Katie doesn't sweat it, everyone at camp is probably in some kind of search party right now. She just leans her head back against the wall and lets The Seeds wash over her. Lettie is starting grilled cheeses in the kitchen, the comforting smell of browning butter reaching Katie on the other side of the room
Papi sounds frazzled when he picks up on the other end
“Hey, sorry Pippi. Nows not a good time we got some misplaced kids”
“Mayhaps the Steel siblings?” Katie prompts
“How did you-”
“I happen to be looking at them right now. In my kitchen no less”
“What the hell are they doing in Indiana?!”
“Kidnaping their baby brother apparently”
Papi lets out some creative curses in Italian, tells Katie to hang on, and then she can hear the crackle of the walkie over the call. She can't make out the words, but the voices are displeased and relieved. Katie relays what she knows as Papi acts as the go-between the two communicators, the Steels are losing more than just desert privileges when they get back from the sound of it
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“I don't think I can do this,” the nine-year-old tells her, his hands shaking around his death grip on the saddle horn “I don't think I can take any more weird shit”
“It's about to get a whole lot weirder, Piccolino ,” Katie tells him, “But I got you okay? Reaching back, remember”
“You're reaching back?”
“Yeah,” she smiles up at the kid on her borse “I'm not gonna let anything hurt you, haven't so far right?”
“You're reaching back,” Draco says more to himself than her. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath “She's reaching back”
Well nvm I finished it
“Hey Dads!” she greets, it's only been a few months but its so good to see them.
“Hey, Piccolina” Papi greets, all smiles. He puts his hand on Skeletor’s nose to push away his head as the borse goes to bite him “Need some help with the kiddo?”
“Sure” she turns to the kids “Draco these are my dads, my Papis gonna help you down okay?”
“Kay” Draco is too busy looking all around now that his focus isn't on his sibling or the race, it's a lot to take in
Papi helps Draco down out of the saddle, bracing his leg so he can swing the other one over and then helping lower him. Katie follows the kid down and sheds her helmet as she goes, mostly because Skeletor looks to be in chomp mode now that they're no longer ready to race and Katie would like to keep people in one piece.
Dad ignores the danger of the flesh-eating demon to pull Katie into a tight hug the second he's able, she can only hug back one armed to keep control of her steed but neither of them minds. He smells like herbs and antiseptic and sun-cooked wood and shes so happy to see him, relaxing into his safe hold
“Missed you bug,” he tells her, smacking a loud kiss into her gross sweaty helmet hair “Glad you got to come early”
“Me too” she tells him, then goes to give Papi a hug as well. Skeletor nearly gets ahold of Papi’s ponytail for the ninetieth time so he gets sent back to Ah-Pa’s stables, she will call Janet later and ask her to tell the handlers to give him a treat for being a good boy
“So which one of you is the Ghost Royalty?” Draco asks, squinting at them both like the ghosts might become suddenly visible if he looks hard enough
“It's me” Dad says without missing a beat, Papi elbows him in the ribs “Ow, hey! Violence against the heir of hell here, an affront to this noble house!”
Dad is lucky he doesn't break out into hives as it's not technically a lie, he does have an underworld title after marrying Papi. It's something stupid like ‘Prince Consort’ or whatever, he only uses it to pull people's legs without having to take a Benadryl.
Papi digs his elbow in good-naturedly “Shut up you big dork” he laughs before turning to the kid “That would be me, Nico di Solace. The other one is Will”
Papi gives Draco his hand to shake, Draco looks a little star eyed as he takes it and then Dad’s offered hand
“We've heard a little bit of your adventure from Katie,” Dad tells him “Come and see me in the Infirmary once Conner gets you sorted I wanna double-check your levels”
“Are you disputing my medical work” Katie accuses, hand on her chest in mock offense “Saying I do a shoddy job? You trained me yourself and then can't trust your own pupal, for shame”
“We have better facilities” Dad all but whines, Katie blows a very mature raspberry at him making Papi hide a laugh. But in hiding his laugh it makes Papi notest what Katies wearing
“Is that my shirt?” he asks, pointing to the Ramones shirt that she totally did not steal from him
“No” she says as straight faced as she can, unfortunately her lie makes Dad sneeze the fucking snitch. This is why she never learned to lie properly she blames her Dad and his dumb allergies
Papi narrows his eyes at her “Katie-“
“WOW Draco we should go get you situated with Conner!” She says louder than necessary, taking the kid by the shoulders and steering him towards the cabins “Bye dads see you at dinner!”
“I know where you sleep!” Papi calls after them
“Uh huh sure yeah, bye forever!” She hurries the kid a little faster
“Your dads are nice” Draco tells her as hes rushed along
“Yeah,” she agrees with a smile “They're pretty awesome”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“It's like when you crochet in round” Katie explains “Each person and action is a stitch, layering on top of each other over and over until you have the whole fabric. The many at the end are only there because of the few at the beginning making the base to build off of. Cycles on cycles”
“A snowball effect”
“Yeah like that” Katie waves off the easier analogy with her free hand “Lots of people came before, learned things told stories taught where they could. Safe places were established, tools made and treaties signed. All culminating in what we have today. Because we help each other, because we don't have to do it inside some stupid rule set. There's no price to be paid for kindness when we look out for each other”