A Restless Night
Fandom/Pairing: Elsword; hints of LPMM Rating: K Word Count: 5,022
Summary: Being friends sometimes means standing outside of Psyker’s house in the dead hour of the night because your son accidentally fed a stray kitten chocolate. Psyker is suddenly entrusted with taking care of Arc and Mastermind needs a nap. MMLP Modern AU developed with @blazingsnark, where MM and LP are single dads to AT and PT.
Note: Rest of MMLP Modern AU can be found here.
It was still dark when Psyker woke up to his phone on his dresser, vibrating to a ringtone he had been hearing more often. Rolling to his side, he reached out to unhook the phone from the charging station (Dear gods, the sun wasn’t even out yet.) and slid his finger across to answer in a groggy voice.
“Hello?”
“Lusa!” Mastermind’s voice was loud and clear. “Hey, I know it’s kind of early…”
“It’s four in the morning,” Psyker fought the desire to bury his face into a pillow, instead looking up at the ceiling. He had early morning schedules for work and exercise, but this was too early even for him. A nagging thought tailed at the back of his sleepy mind, “What’s up?”
“Can I bring Arc over?” He sounded embarrassed, “I need someone to watch him while I’m out.”
“Did something happen?” Psyker grew suspicious with narrowed eyes, sitting up to straighten his back and glared at the phone, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Mastermind said with weakness. His voice was breathy, but he sounded okay, so Psyker didn’t question him further. “But I need to take a little guy to the hospital.”
“I’ll come over,” Psyker said and lowered his phone. “I can come back if Psych wakes up.”
“You won’t have to…”
His hesitance made Psyker stop when he heard the sound of something closing shut from the other side of the call. Was that the car door? He opened his window, peeking out to see Mastermind stepping out of his car with Arc wrapped in blankets and wiping his eyes. Father and son caught Psyker’s eyes and gave a tired wave for a greeting. What the hell. They were standing on his lawn.
They were at the door when Psyker opened to see the pair half asleep with red eyes like neither of them had much sleep. Mastermind prompted Arc into the house and led him over to where the sofa was in the living room before turning to face Psyker, who still processing what he saw. His friend and kid showed up at his house without warning and Mastermind was pale as a ghost like someone was dying. A quick gaze over the two found no signs of injury, but it was alarming to see either awake at this hour.
“Where are you going?” Psyker asked as Mastermind tucked in Arc. “Are you hurt?”
“It’s not me,” he shook his head. “Arc found a stray kitten and we’ve been waiting for the mother, but she hasn’t returned. I saw it eat something last night and the vet told us to monitor, but it got worse this morning when Arc woke me up.”
A cat, Psyker mentally shook his head in disbelief. All that panic over a cat. The way Mastermind talked over the phone made him believe another family member or neighbor was hurt. If this was later in the day, he would have called out Mastermind for making him worried.
“How long has it been?” Psyker asked.
“A few hours at most,” Mastermind said. “We were planning on leaving him at the animal shelter, but it looks like he already made his decision.” He said without humor, a barren smile forming across his lips.
“Where is it?”
“In the car,” he said. “I’m sorry for dropping on you like this. I’m worried about leaving Arc alone or taking me with him when it’s still early.”
“It’s fine,” Psyker crossed his arms and glared. “And stop apologizing! Of course, I’ll look after him.”
He followed Mastermind to his car and saw something lying inside a bundle of quilts, a small white head sitting out of the pile with its eyes closed. Its body twitched when Psyker reached out to pet it, crying a weak mew.
“Text me if anything comes up. I left Arc with his homework, snacks, toys, and some clothes in case I’m out longer.” Mastermind said when he stepped into the car to fasten his seatbelt. The kitten was placed in the back and secured in a baby car seat with the seat belt pulled over.
How about you? Psyker wanted to ask the man, who could barely keep up with his own words and stumbled over them in a rush. He wanted to tell Mastermind that things were going to be okay and he and Psych will keep Arc company, but a mixture of morning drowsiness and fear struck him from saying any of that. Did Mastermind say how old the cat was? It couldn’t have been older than a few weeks old judging by its size. He and Psych adopted Doomsday when he was a couple of months old, but he was unsure how things worked for younger kittens.
Instead, he gestured for Mastermind to wait and ran back into the house to grab the first thing he saw on the kitchen counter, sprinting back out to toss it at the other. Mastermind caught it without thought and opened his hands to see a Kit-Kat bar.
“Sugar for the drive,” Psyker said.
“Thanks,” Mastermind opened the bar to chomp off a big piece, chewing it with a thoughtful expression. “This is the first time Arc and I took care of a pet outside of the occasional goldfish.”
“It’s not your fault,” he was quick to shoot down whatever doubt Mastermind intended to say. “Get that cat to the nearest hospital and then we can talk about taking care of pets.”
“You make it sound like it belongs to us,” Mastermind chuckled.
“It kind of does now that I’m involved with it,” he joked. “Is that everything?”
Mastermind nodded and checked his watch for the time, scanning the back seat one more time to see the kitten wiggling inside the blankets before closing the doors and locking them shut. As he backed out from the driveway, Psyker stood at the lawn even after he drove off and left the neighborhood. By the time he returned back into the house, he sunk into the seat next to Arc and decided to catch up on sleep before the boys woke up.
Morning arrived sooner than he thought it would. It felt like he didn’t sleep at all, a quick dreamless slumber that ended when the sun rose and he heard something crashing. Psyker’s eyes snapped opened, jumped off the chair, and scrambled over to see a child standing over the counter on his tiptoes to reach for a bowl. Lying on the tiled floor were plastic containers, more tumbling down before Psyker ran over to catch them and shoved them back into the shelves.
The child looked embarrassed, “Sorry, Lusa.”
“Already up?” He grinned, easily reaching his hand to grab the bowl and handing it to the boy.
Arc nodded and mumbled a thank you, taking it with searching eyes for the cereal before pouring the bowl, carefully pouring the milk to avoid spilling. The ten year old was still in his pajamas, purple ones with cat imprints on them and sat on a high stool at the counter.
Psyker was in the middle of checking the fridge for food when he was greeted by a loud meow. He looked down to witness Doomsday walking into the kitchen, looking up at him with expectation when it sat in front of his bowl. The gray cat meowed again when Psyker didn’t react to it as if saying, Hey, what’s for breakfast?
He laughed and reached down to ruffle the cat’s head, “Look who’s home today!”
Course, I am, Doomsday licked his paw, or at least that’s what Psyker pretended that was what he was saying. He laid on his stomach when Psyker opened the canned food, pupils growing bigger at the sight of breakfast
“You think the cat will be okay?” Arc asked while watching Doomsday eat, “I mean our cat.”
“Your dad is doing everything he can to make sure it feel better,” Psyker wasn’t sure how to answer that question without giving the kid false hope. He noted the absence of Psych and made a mental note to check on him later.
Arc accepted his answer, “Dad said he’ll call later, right?”
Psyker nodded, “But for now, you’ll have me and Psych to keep you company!”
How much did Mastermind tell Arc? He didn’t look surprised to wake up in their house, but he was unusually quiet since Psyker found him. The kid was moving his food around the bowl, eating the cereal pieces individually and only stopping to sip the milk. His legs dangled from his seat and seemed more interested in Doomsday because his eyes was on the gray cat, who finished his meal and was already meowing for more.
“If you eat more, you’re going to get fat.” Psyker teased the cat when it pawed his knee for more. Yellow eyes looked up at Psyker and let out a lazy yowl, rolling on his back to expose his belly as it to make a point.
“Is Dad mad at me?”
“Why would he be mad at you?” Psyker stopped rubbing Doomsday’s belly, guilt pangs in his heart when he saw Arc’s fearful expression. The kid kept looking at Doomsday like he was seeing a ghost, was this about the white kitten?
“I didn’t mean to do it,” Arc whispered and choked on his words. “He ate the chocolate I dropped. When I made it open his mouth, it was already gone. I told Dad what happened and the vet told us to watch for signs, but now he’s sick because of me and he really liked that cat.”
“Your dad was telling me this morning how brave you were to wake him up even when no one in the house was,” Psyker chose his words with care. “If you waited longer, the cat wouldn’t have made it when he dropped you off.” He noticed the heavy bags under Arc’s eyes and asked gently, “Did you get any sleep when the vet told you two to watch the cat?”
Arc shook his head, “I couldn’t sleep.”
Psyker nodded, fair enough.
“You and your dad did all you could,” Psyker said. “Psych is going to be awake in a bit, you want anything? Books? Games?”
“I think I’m going to go back to sleep after this,” Arc rubbed his eyes, letting go of the tension in his shoulders and finished the last bit of his cereal. “How long will dad be out?”
“I don’t know,” Psyker said. “But I’ll tell you if he messages me. Tell you what, when you and Psych are up, let’s try this new online game I found. They just released these new classes I think you guys will like.”
The game had been running for years, but something about the recent updates perked his interest when he was checking out games to try out with his son. He already had the game downloaded on the computer. It was a colorful game with lots of characters and seemed easy enough to play, although the new classes he mentioned to Arc struck him as eerie for reasons he couldn’t pinpoint. What was the game called? Add Sword, Grand Chase? Something like that.
“I think I heard Psych talking about it.” Arc mused, but agreed, “Okay, I’ll try it.”
“Awesome!” Psyker beamed, “If you need me for anything, I’ll be in the kitchen.”
There was still concern written on his face, but the wrinkles were gone at least and he was smiling again, a good sign by all means. Psych was still asleep, so breakfast could wait. After cleaning up the dishes leftover from Arc and himself, he wiped down the countertop and made sure to place the cat food where Doomsday couldn’t reach it. When he left to brush his teeth, he caught Doomsday lying in front of the TV with Arc lying on the couch with his eyes closed.
“Aw, come on!” Arc slammed his keyboard with frustration when he missed another combo with defeat. He didn’t have a laptop yet, so he was playing on the family computer with Psych playing against him on the other computer.
“I win!’ Psych bounced in his seat.
“No fair!” Arc pouted, “You cornered me before I could move!”
“Too bad,” he stuck out his tongue. “Wanna pvp again?”
“No,” the other moved his hands away from his keyboard and exited the sparring room. “You keep using the same combo against me.”
Before Psyker could debate if he should sort out their bickering, the phone he had been clutching on all day vibrated in his hand. Even after cleaning the kitchen from breakfast and running some errands around the house, he checked his phone every so often for messages or phone calls from Mastermind. It wasn’t until half past one did he see the text message.
>>Chocolate poisoning. Vet says he’ll need to stay overnight.
His heart stopped beating, drawing in his breath and almost didn’t hear the boys still arguing in the background. Psyker barely texted back a message, having to go back and delete misspelled words that came out as a jumble of letters before hitting send.
>It’s okay? Arc told me the details and says he’s sorry. He’s been asking for you all day. You coming back?
He watched the screen dim while waiting for Mastermind’s response before it lit up again, a longer message this time followed by frantic sentences.
>>Yeah, they said he’ll be released tomorrow to rest for a few days at home. Is Arc okay? What happened? I’m coming back in a bit after I grab something to eat.
Psyker bit his lip and gave up trying to text back when the phone failed to pick up his words from moving his fingers too quick. This wasn’t something he wanted to carry through text messages when the idiot couldn’t hear his voice or that he had a dozen other things to say aside from this cat business.
“Hey, Arc is fine.” Psyker was relieved when his call was picked up almost as soon as he pressed the call button. “He thinks it’s his fault for it getting the cat sick.”
Mastermind’s voice was quiet and hushed, “I told him it was an accident and he didn’t mean it.”
He retained himself from saying, Of course he does, he thinks of you highly and he doesn’t want to disappoint you.
“I want to talk to Arc,” Mastermind said. “Is he there?”
“Why don’t you come over for lunch?” Psyker suggested. “You plan on heading home today? I thought maybe Arc could stay a little longer.”
He couldn’t see Mastermind, but he imagined the other nodding in agreement when he said, “That would be good for him. I guess I can drop by for a bite.”
Psyker stifled a laugh when Mastermind walked into the house later that day, navigating through the clutter of books and toys on the floor. The other male nearly popped a vein when he walked by an arrangement of legos, wanting to avoid the death of stepping on one, something Psyker could sympathize with. He stubbed his foot more than once thanks to Psych sometimes forgetting to clean up after himself.
“I thought you got lost!” Psyker said a little too cheerfully when he greeted Mastermind. Tired and irritated from lack of sleep and caffeine, but the concern over the cat and Arc from this morning were gone for the most part.
“Traffic was hell,” Mastermind grabbed a chair and sat behind the sofa with his head resting on the armrest. “This stupid driver nearly rammed into me.”
“Alas, a typical Saturday afternoon.” Psyker said with a grin. “Lunch is in the kitchen, by the way. Want me to get it for you?”
“That would be great,” Mastermind glanced around the house. “Where are the kids?”
“In Psych’s room trying out a new game,” he went to grabbed a sandwich from the fridge and slide the plate over to Mastermind. “You want pickles with that?”
Watching Mastermind eat was always interesting to Psyker. Always starting from a corner, he would nibble through the crust before taking bigger bites into the middle, but careful not to spill out the food even if it was something like a sandwich. Today however, Mastermind was ravenous and ate through the whole thing in minutes, only pausing to gulp down water to make sure he wasn’t choking. Did he forget to eat while he was out again?
“I’m glad you’re back in one piece,” Psyker sighed.
“The cat is sick, not me.” He rolled his eyes. “Things were looking bad, but I think the cat will be fine. Arc’s going to be happy when I tell him.”
“You want to talk to him?” Psyker said, “I’ll take care of the dishes.”
Mastermind gave him a grateful look and left the dishes in the sink for him to take care. He watched the other walk down the hallway to where Psych’s room was. When he was done washing the dishes, he saw father and son talking amongst themselves in the living room, too quiet for him to catch what they were saying. Arc was showing a picture he drew to Mastermind, the way his face lit up reminded him of Psych. Mastermind was still holding onto the picture when he slipped back into the kitchen with the boys moving back the living room to clean up the mess when Psyker came out to remind them.
“You wouldn’t want Masi to fall over them and break his back, would you?” Psyker lightly chided them when he pointed at the mess.
“Dad…” Psych whined, but Arc cackled.
“I’m not fragile,” Mastermind feigned annoyance, but a smile slipped through. The way he draped himself over the couch with his chin resting on his crossed arms reminded him of a cat. He looked up at Psyker in confusion when the other laughed at the similarities. “What’s so funny?”
“Your hair's a mess,” he teased Mastermind. “You look like Doomsday.”
Mastermind snorted being compared to the gray cat, who was short furred, but then remembered the one time Psyker gave it bath and turned its fur into a little mohawk before cackling and sending pictures to him. Nonetheless, he self consciously patted his hair down and used his phone camera as a mirror to look at himself.
“Do you and Arc want to stay over for dinner? I can order pizza.”
It was shockingly easy for Psyker to ask this question without thinking twice. He figured why not when Mastermind and Arc were already here and it was getting late. The kids were wrapping up on cleanup, chattering away with something that sounded like a debate between video game characters. Mastermind was flipping through his emails on his phone and only looked up when Psyker made the offer.
Mastermind rubbed his temples, “Fine, but let me choose the toppings this time.”
“Of course,” he beamed, giving Mastermind a sly smile. “Don’t forget I like pineapple.”
Mastermind groaned, “Lusa, that’s disgusting.”
“But it’s sweet,” Psyker sang.
“And sour,” he scrunched up his face.
“Like you.”
“Lusa,” Mastermind looked at him with exasperation.
“Masi.”
He bumped his fist up in victory when Mastermind planted his face into the couch in defeat, but not before dialing the pizza place to place their order. The pizza’s aroma was quick to herd in the kids and the adults when the doorbell rang, Arc and Psych fighting over the paper plates and Mastermind pulling out his card while Lunatic Psyker searched for a place to put the pizza without Doomsday getting to it. Amongst the chaos and liveliness of fighting for a bite to eat, it wasn’t the first time Psyker thought he wished he invited Mastermind and Arc over more.
Psyker woke up to the sound of scratching from the back of the house. Cursing at the familiar sound he once thought belonged to ghosts, he found Doomsday meowing at him and pawing the glass door leading to the backyard. He slid the door open and watched the feline run off into the darkness. He was going to get anxious later that day about Doomsday not returning home, but he was too tired to be concerned about that when he walked back into the house.
“Lusa?”
He spun around to see who it was and grasped his hand over his chest in the sudden sound of their voice. Gods, that scared him! Having white hair and a pale complexion made him thought Mastermind was a ghost.
“Sorry for waking you up.” A wave of deja vu hit him of interacting with his friend at an ungodly hour yet again. Was this becoming a norm for them?
“What time is it?” Mastermind pulled out his phone to read the numbers, “Two?”
“You were out since nine,” Psyker said. As soon as they finished their dinner of a strange combination of pizza toppings that looked like a rainbow, Mastermind collapsed on the chair and slept.
“I was supposed to take Arc home after dinner,” Mastermind bemoaned. “I thought it was going to be a quick nap.”
“I told Arc not to wake you up,” Psyker said. “You were out all day, so I thought you needed the sleep.” Arc’s sleeping bag was still here from last time, so it’s just another sleepover for the kids. They fell asleep not too long after Mastermind after he pulled out a cartoon movie for them. It was a movie that was out the year before, something about robots and superheroes.
“But I’m here too,” Mastermind said.
“Eh, we already live at each other’s houses.” Psyker waved it off and joked. “Want to merge our houses?”
“Ha,” he snorted. “Only if you do the taxes for me.”
Psyker grinned, “And you do the cooking?”
“You don’t like my casseroles,” Mastermind rolled his eyes.
“Only because you use green bell peppers,” he teased him.
Mastermind snorted and played with a loose strand of his hair, twisting the ends until it tangled around the curls. For the first time that day, Mastermind had a genuine smile that stood out under the dim lights. Had this been him two years ago when they just met, he would have complained about waking up in disoriented and in a house of another person’s, but he looked comfortable with himself.
Mastermind walked back to the living room where the boys were asleep in sleeping bags on the carpeted portion of the floor with only a bit of their head sticking out. Arc was easy to spot, clinging to a pillow he borrowed from Psych. Unsure on what to do, Mastermind awkwardly stood in between the chair where he passed out and where Arc was. Psyker saw the man holding a mental debate and decided to save him from his dilemma.
“Stay,” Psyker walked over to place a hand on Mastermind’s shoulder. “Feel free to use the guest room if you want. I have a spare toothbrush if you need it.”
It took Mastermind what felt like minutes to register what Psyker said and opened his mouth, only to close it shut again and gave a tiny nod in understanding. He gave Psyker a grateful look when offered a toothbrush and left to brush his teeth. When he came back, he saw Psyker sitting in the chair with a worn out expression. Psyker thought he was gone until he cleared his throat.
“Thanks for taking care of Arc for me,” Mastermind said. “I don’t know what I would have done without you. I’m glad he likes you enough to talk to you too when I’m not there.”
“Hey, that’s what friends do,” Psyker replied. It went unsaid that he was happy that Arc was comfortable with him too. Not too long ago did Arc shyly let Psych do most of the talking to Psyker if he needed anything. “I know you would have done the same for me if I needed you to look after Psych.”
“Friends?” Mastermind repeated the words as if he couldn’t believe it. “Yeah… Psych is a good kid.” The gentle smile made Psyker’s heart stop for a moment, one that wasn’t directed to anyone, but he was glad the lights were too dim for Mastermind to see his face. “What’s a good name for a white cat?”
“Hm? Thinking of a name now?” Psyker was amused, “I thought you weren’t planning on keeping it.”
“No, but I spent so much money on that operation that he might as well be ours.” Mastermind growled. “Not even a month old and he’s already a brat.”
“Fair enough,” he laughed. “Doomsday got into trouble a lot when he was a kitten too.”
“You phoned me because you thought you lost him to the trash can,” Mastermind pointed out.
“Hey, I found him digging through the trash once.” Psyker tried thinking of name suggested, “How about Snow? Frosty?”
“Too generic,” Mastermind sighed. “How annoying.”
He grinned, “Welcome to the joy and pain of having a pet! Congrats.”
“I can already feel the pain,” Mastermind said with sarcasm, but there was no venom in his voice. He yawned, “It’s late, I’m going to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
With Mastermind retreating back to the guest room for the night, it left no reasons for Psyker to still be awake. He checked on the kids again to see them fast asleep before going back to his room. When he hit the covers, he passed out into a dreamless sleep.
The next time he went to Mastermind’s house to pick up Psych, he was greeted by Arc, who was showing him the science project he and Psych worked on that afternoon. With Psych sprinting to the car despite warnings from Psyker not to, he scanned the house in search for Mastermind. After walking through the living room with Arc behind his trail, he soon found Mastermind with his knees on the floor with his head ducked under the coffee table.
“Sorry about being late, the interns messed up something and it took hours for me to untangle.” Psyker ran his hand through his roots with worn out eyes. He and Mastermind were past the stage of getting annoyed at each other for being a little late, both of them understanding the nature of their jobs, but he despised running late out of the need to feel in control.
Mastermind pulled his arm under the sofa, reaching out for something Psyker couldn’t see. It wasn’t under Psyker cleared his throat did he notice his presence and promptly stood up to face him with an awkward cough.
“I didn’t hear you,” he apologized. “Did Psych already leave?”
“Yeah, he’s in the car.” Psyker said. “Did you lose something?”
“I can’t find Apocalypse.” Mastermind groaned when Psyker gave him that weird look, the kind that questioned his sanity. It didn’t help that Arc was laughing when he said the name and added, “You know, the cat? Arc, go look for him in your room. He might be hiding in your closet again.”
Arc was still giggling when he went down the hallway and made a right turn to where his room was before slamming the door shut. Mastermind pulled his hands down his face and rubbed his eyelids before pulling them away to see Psyker staring at him.
“You named it Apocalypse?”
“Arc named it,” Mastermind explained. Wasn’t that the name of a super villain from one the comic books Arc and Psych loved so much? He grumbled when Psyker started laughing at the name, “We call it Apo for short and HEY, your cat is named Doomsday.”
Still cackling, Psyker rolled up his sleeves and grinned, “Doomsday is a great name, our cats’ names match!”
Rolling his eyes, Mastermind said, “I wouldn’t know.” Right, Mastermind wasn’t as well verse with comic books as he was. Anything he knew about them were limited to whatever movies he saw in theaters with him or Arc.
His attention snapped back when he heard a soft squeak coming from the bookshelf hugging the living room wall closest to the kitchen. He and Mastermind followed the noise to discover a small white ball of fluff sitting in the trashcan. It waved its paws in the air when Mastermind picked it up and gently scolded at it.
“Naughty kitty,” Mastermind placed a finger on its forehead, trying not to smile when it mewled. “I thought you wandered off where the birds could pick you up.”
Psyker chuckled at its liveliness, “It looks healthy.”
“Yes, a real trouble maker,” Mastermind feigned annoyance. “He’s a little brat.”
“Now you an extra mouth to feed,” Psyker teased when Mastermind went to the kitchen to open a can of cat food.
“Hey… thanks for the other day.” Mastermind said. “I know I said it for Arc, but I mean it for myself too. Having someone to talk to is nice.”
Again? He wasn’t uncomfortable with Mastermind, not when he was always joking with him like he was just now, but it felt like something was stuck in his throat when Mastermind thanked him for what felt like the tenth time that month. The giddiness he experienced reminded him of his high school days, clouding his judgment about Mastermind’s last statement.
“You don’t need to thank me for every little thing I say or do,” Psyker said. He didn’t mean to be rude, but he wasn’t sure how many more times he could take these thank yous ever so formally when he and Mastermind have known each other for nearly two years. It made talking to Mastermind awkward sometimes, although overtime, he found it cute. “Just say, ‘you’re awesome, Lusa.’”
In deadpan expression, “You’re loathsome, Lusa.”
He looked at Mastermind with a thumbs down and pulled down his lips into an exaggerated frown in attempt to make the man laugh. All he got from Mastermind with a twitch in his facial features before shaking his head with a small smile. He may have lost the conversation, but he won a smile.
Apocalypse, too, mewls in approval from its spot in Mastermind’s arms.
