Got a week, gonna tweak, make it A-ok

[marcusisaspaz]

Spring break, 2044The wind whipped both Liam's hair and the mane of the jet-black mare he rode, wind generated not by air currents so much as by blazing speed. He could have switched to his own horse-form and ran himself, but his Aunt Cait would have had to slow down to allow him to keep up with her. No shame in that, even his father and uncles

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[verbal_vomit_1]

"Holy hell...Marcus, we have been out of school for a grand total of," Chuck glanced at her watched and rolled her eyes, "three hours. Chill."

Yes, he was driving her crazy. He was driving the poor dog nuts as well and as Marcus MacEibhir stood over the petite blonde smirking and bouncing on his heels he exclaimed, "You chill!" while pressing the frozen back of a spoon to Chuck's neck. The girl scream and jumped nearly six inches in the air which was somewhat impressive considering that she had been sitting cross-legged on the coffee table until then.

"I'm going to kill you dead with homicidal murder!" The tiny girl was laughing as she took a swing at her friend. Irritating boy that he was.

"Little redundant there, Chuck."

"I prefer to think of it as being thorough."

And this was the conversation Cait and Liam would walk in on...

[fey_fire]

To be precise, that was the conversation that Rory ushered his sister and nephew into when he opened the door for them, though they'd heard Chuck's shriek and subsequent death threat in the hallway. Rory chuckled as he shut the door behind the two and gave Liam and Cait each a hug, though he'd seen Cait only some hours previous.

"Good to see you, Liam. Alisha's got your usual room all set up for you." Turning to Marcus and Chuck, he interrupted the sparring with a quick whistle.

"Marcus, if you can avoid meeting a messy fate at Chuck's hands for just a bit longer, maybe you could relieve your aunt of Liam's bag and take it to his room?"

[liam_did_it]

"Room?!" Chuck scoffed. "He gets his own room and when I sleep over I end up in bed with Dweeb and Loopy." She wasn't complaining exactly, but Chuck did feel the need to rub this fact into the somewhat raw wound in Marcus' armor. After all, these days Chuck hadn't been staying over because Laura tended to, effectively taking up the petite girl's spot in Marcus' room

[marcusisaspaz]

"Hey, Tiny," Liam replied genially, grinning at Marcus' temporary blond attachment. He paused on his way toward the hall, watching his cousin's attempt to dislodge by squishing.

"Well, there's always the fact that murder is illegal," he said thoughtfully in response to Marcus. "And if that's not reason enough, I give you two words: Math. Homework."

[verbal_vomit_1]

That was pretty much all that needed to be said for Marcus to stand up straight and for Chuck to slide down the wall and slump against the floorboard. He may have actually given their tiny friend too much of a full-court press because she stayed put and looked more than a little winded. "You okay, Chuck?"

Marcus leaned down to take a closer look, somewhat concerned that he hurt her. But Chuck is a sneaky, clever thing, used to playing with these boys over the course of a lot of years. They might have a size advantage but she generally had intelligence and ingenuity (especially when it came to dealing with the redheaded one). She wasn't hurt, she was playing possum.

A well-placed kick from a small blue sneaker caught Marcus just under the diaphragm. When he doubled over and wheezed, Chuck stood up and asked cheerfully," Are you okay, Marcus?" She had the good sense to get out of the way before he took a swipe at her. She launched herself at the bag-laden Liam instead. "YOU

[marcusisaspaz]

"Mmph!" Liam certainly had no major objections himself, though he did have to drop his bags in order to intercept the tiny missile lunging at him. Chuck didn't have to do quite the monkey impression with him that she did with Marcus, Liam being the shorter of the two by five or six inches (depending on whom you were asking), but her feet still dangled. He didn't worry about Marcus, knowing his cousin could take much more than a slip of a girl could dish out.

So instead he gave Chuck a proper hug. Jesus, but he'd swear she felt even smaller than the last time he'd seen her, a barely-there wisp of a thing. As he embraced her, Liam reminded herself that he really didn't need to worry about snapping her in two, no matter how insubstantial she felt. "Good to see you, Pixie Girl."

[verbal_vomit_1]

When Liam hugged her, Chuck stopped trying to strangle him and instead slipped her arms around his waist for a moment, squeezing him back. He was warm, broad where Marcus was lanky and if anyone were to ask, she'd probably say that the shorter MacEibhir reminded her of a teddy bear. But no one did ask, so Chuck kept the thought to herself, along with quite a few other Liam-centric thoughts. Oy.

"You too. He," She stepped back and pointed across the room at Marcus then stepped to the other side of Liam as if using him for a shield, "has been impossibly all day."

"I have not." Marcus rubbed at his abdomen as he glared at the girl. "I was perfectly reasonable all through homeroom and Spanish and gym and lunch and study hall...okay maybe not study hall but..." Chuck had her hands on her hips, she wasn't buying it and she was letting everyone else know that Marcus had been anything but reasonable all without saying a word. "If I'm so impossible, you can go home, Charlene."

Oh, the look she gave him.

[marcusisaspaz]

"C'mon, you two." Liam had dealt with the pair of them often enough to know when to play referee. "No spats when I've only just gotten here." He reached down to reclaim his luggage, garment bag in one hand and backpack back over his shoulder.

Starting off down the hall, he tossed over his shoulder, "You guys can keep me company while I unpack." Plus it would be nice to give Aunt Cait a little time to unwind as well.

[liam_did_it]

"Hey!" That came as little more than a squeak as Marcus picked Chuck up and tossed her over his shoulder, following his cousin down the hall. Knowing when she was beat, Chuck simply went limp and let him haul her to the guest room.

"You know, that's the last time this week you get to tell us what to do. What's with you, you get into college and all of a sudden you think you're actually in charge?" Marcus has never been one to acknowledge that Liam is actually the older one.

He unceremoniously dropped Chuck on the bed then flopped down next to her, nearly on top of her. "Watch it, you weigh a ton, you redheaded freak."

Marcus ignored the name calling and opted to lay across Chuck's body, pinning her to the bed--not that she minded, really. "You get read the riot act before Aunt Laine let you out of the house?"

[marcusisaspaz]

Liam laughed at his cousin's question. "It's Mam, of course I did. I don't think she's let it sink in yet that I'm legal for anything except booze." He kept talking as he shook out the contents of the garment bag and hung them up in the closet. "Of course, she'll probably ignore that little fact for as long as possible." Like until he was thirty, if then.

"As for being in charge, somebody has to speak up for sanity and reason with you two around. At least--" He gave the pair on the bed a mischievous grin as he shoved a stack of shirts in a drawer. "--when the older generation are in the room."

Unpacking complete, except for the stuff that was going in the bathroom, Liam took up a cross-legged seat on the end of the queen-sized bed. "So what's on tap for this week, cuz? Any big plans, or are we winging it?" Either way could be fun.

[liam_did_it]

Marcus still laying on her, Chuck wiggled and squirmed until she had enough give to rest her arms over Liam's thigh, her head on her left forearm as she looked up at the out of town college boy. "He's going to make you meet his girlfraaaand." Chuck mangled the word and made it sound like something obnoxious.

Marcus just grinned. "Yeah, we'll probably do some stuff with Laura and since Chuck is supposedly a girl--ow, don't kick me, we can double-date or whatever. Sorry, Li. She's your lot unless you can manage to find someone hot in the next two days."

"First thing we are doing is smothering him in his sleep tonight." Chuck wasn't going to dignify his comments about her looks or 'dating' Liam. No way, no how. "Actually, I thought it'd be fun to do some stupid touristy crap. We haven't done that in a while and it's a nice cover story if we decide on more fun things to do sans adult supervision

[marcusisaspaz]

Liam grinned and gently ruffled the blonde head currently draped over his thigh. "I think any macho male rituals can cope with a witness, Pixie Girl." He'd heard enough about Chuck's dysfunctional relationship with her steps not to wish her back in that environment if they could provide an alternative. "You're welcome as far as I'm concerned."

Nor did he have any issues with hanging with Chuck on their outings. After all, on this trip he was here to relax and enjoy himself with family and friends, not play college boy on the make in the big city. Besides, this way he and Tiny Mighty Mouth could rescue each other if the new lovebirds got a little too gooey to deal with.

He grinned at his two partners in crime for the week. "Stupid touristy crap and whatever else we can come up with works for me. Been ages since I got to poke around the city."

[verbal_vomit_1]

"We're going on a tourist scavenger hunt." Chuck wasn't asking for input on the matter, she was declaring it law much the same way she used to try and dictate their play dates as small children. She liked devising games pulling entertainment options out of thin air. She also loved Manhattan and could be counted on to drag the pair of them all over the city. "And I'm bringing my camera."

Marcus groaned and dropped his head to rest against her back. "No camera. No pictures. I hate that."

"I'm not interested in taking pictures of you. Country Boy needs to take proof of civilization back to his college friends out in the Wilderness. Yogi and Boo Boo need to know that there is more to life than pic-a-nic baskets." She gave Liam a wink. "You know, like those cookies you lurv and real pizza

[marcusisaspaz]

Liam snorted roundly at her description of his home in Montana. "Gonna take you out to Yellowstone and feed you to a bear one of these days. Not that you'd make more than a light snack for one ..."

Liam had a camera of his own with him. He had a habit of shooting both people and locations at odd angles and challenging folks to figure out what they were looking at. He supposed he'd have to take straightforward pics as well, for Mam and Da's edification at least.

He barely stifled a smirk at the nipple twist. You'd think Marcus would have figured out by now that he couldn't keep calling Chuck the Titless Wonder and other variations without some kind of retribution.

"Nah, I'm not tired," he said in answer to the Chuckster. It was Aunt Cait who'd done the real work after all. "I am getting kinda hungry. Do you know if Uncail Rory has dinner plans made?" This of course was directed at Marcus.

[liam_did_it]

He was sitting up, rubbing at his chest while glaring at Chuck, who was still half-sprawled over one of Liam's thighs. Marcus was tempted to push her feather-light form right off the foot of the bed and onto the floor. "Yeah, I don't know. Food of some sort." Turning towards the bedroom door, he bellowed, "Hey, DA

[marcusisaspaz]

Liam, having a front row center view of Chuck's reaction, was sorely tempted to chuck a shoe at Marcus, hard. He settled for leaning over to grab a pillow and smacking him with it. "He's just jerking your chain, Tiny."

He maybe needed to say something to his cousin about aggravating this phobia of Chuck's. Marcus probably didn't even realize what he was doing; he could be thoughtless, but he wasn't cruel.

Uncail Rory appeared at the door just then with an amused smile for his son. "You rang?"