Cola/Prune/Rhubarb/Wildberry smoothie
Authors: Marina and Casey
Story: Nothing is Ever Easy universe
Challenge: Cola 15 (nothin’ says lovin’ like somethin’ from the oven - My Treat: someone’s feeling down, Laura’s got the cure), Prune 3 (to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) [Marina]; Rhubarb 9 (oh what a tangled web we weave), Wildberry 17 (an insult) [Casey]
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Chopped Nuts, Smoothie
Word Count: 3,268
Rating: PG
Summary: Dean makes a pair of new friends without meaning to.
Notes: This particular AU begins just post-Paths, a week or so after this, and counts for leg 3 of the 1k Marathon.
Dean scanned the list of supplies again, other hand resting on the hilt of his knife automatically. He heard the noises first and jammed the list in his pocket, drawing his knife and creeping forward.
"Go away," a young boy's voice came from around the corner of the nearest building. Rather than scared, it sounded angry.
"I don't think so, squirt."
Dean rolled his eyes, slipping his knife back into the sheath and turning the corner of the building, crossing his arms as he took in the scene. Karl, Richard and their posse were gathered in a tight cluster behind one of the buildings. It was very much their usual style, except that this time, Dean wasn’t the one they were ganging up on.
Instead, it was a boy a bit shorter than he was, with gingery brown hair and blue eyes that glared around at the others. He had his hands behind his back almost protectively. "You'd better leave now, or I'll tell my father," he said.
"Ooh, we're so scared, aren't we, Karl?" Richard asked, smirking and cracking his knuckles meaningfully.
"Leave the kid alone," Dean said flatly. It was the first time he'd seen the bullies since he got home, and the sight of them made him forget about his new scars and still healing cut on the side of his head, until Karl turned and went a bit bug-eyed. The strange boy stared too, more out of surprise than anything.
"Gods' Breath, Bastard, did you find someone else to beat on you?" Richard asked, a bit more in control, although his eyes were still a bit too wide.
Dean's fists clenched, and he had to fight the initial desire to just pummel the hell out of the kids because he could and it might make him feel better for a moment. "Leave the kid alone," he repeated.
"I think someone broke him," Richard snickered. "What d'you think, Karl?"
Karl grinned, seemingly recovered. "Yeah, kicked his ass, definitely."
Dean shook a bit at the effort it took to stay still. "I'll give you one more chance to walk away without being beaten to a bloody pulp," he growled. The boy's eyes widened, and he took a step in retreat.
"Aw, he's so cute when he's angry, isn't he?" Richard cooed.
"Kid," Dean said, meeting the gaze of the other boy, "you might want to back up." He brought his clenched fists up, a little disturbed at how much he was spoiling for a fight. It was just so hard to act normally around his father, Russ and the others.
"Noted," said the boy, hastily sidestepping.
"Go get the Bastard, guys," Karl said, almost lazily, and the other boys moved in.
It took about ten minutes until they broke and scattered, bloodied, bruised and nursing a few broken bones. Dean ached everywhere, but folded his arms calmly as he stared down Karl and Richard, who had stayed out of the fray, as usual. The boy, whose name he still didn't know, stood off to the side where he had moved to watch, clutching a worn pink-and-yellow rabbit in both hands.
"Next time, Bastard," Richard growled.
"Think what you'd like," Dean told him, casually brushing some dirt off his shirt. The duo exchanged glances and then hightailed it out as modestly as they could.
Dean watched them go. "Try not to get on their bad side," he told the kid, before focusing on taking stock of the injuries. His father would be less than pleased, considering he hadn't fully healed from Vladimir and his grunts' tender mercies. The other boy merely stood there, too stunned to reply. He winced as he carefully flexed his arm, not particularly surprised to find that the old stab wound from Sage was bleeding again. He was having a hard time letting that one heal. Then he realized he was still being watched and looked up. "What?" he demanded, a bit more bluntly than he meant but, well, he was the first to admit his people skills were a bit out of whack at the moment.
"I...sorry." The boy's fingers tightened so much his knuckles went white. "Thanks."
Dean frowned. "Don't apologize," he said, trying to be a bit more reasonable. "And it's no problem. They bug me."
"I'd have been all right."
"You mighta had a problem considering you don't seem likely to put down the rabbit."
"Would've if I'd had to, but I didn't want to. They'd have hurt him." He lifted his chin as he spoke, as if daring Dean to say anything negative about it.
He glanced at the well-worn rabbit. "Yeah, you're right about that. They would have torn him limb from limb." He put his hand tightly over the bleeding wound, since it seemed to be the only one bleeding.
The boy frowned. "How did you get those, anyway?"
"Get what?" he asked, distracted by the amount of blood already oozing between his fingers. He glared at it.
"The injuries. I didn't think they hurt you that bad."
"Oh." Dean frowned as he stared at the other boy, realizing the kid had to be about his age. "They didn't," he said finally, when he realized he'd been staring too long for normal people interactions.
"You better come home with me," said the boy, after another pause. "My sister's great at patching people up."
"I...dunno," Dean said, resisting the urge to go for his knife. This was just another kid.
"Seriously. She's magic or something. I promise it'll be good." He smiled winningly.
Dean hesitated for another minute, but he knew his family wasn't expecting him back for a while, so it wouldn't worry them. Plus, his arm was bleeding an alarming amount. "Uh, okay, I guess," he said.
"Great." The boy turned more bashful, then. "I'm Chase, by the way."
"Oh. I'm Dean."
"Nice to meet you." Chase pointed off to the left. "My house is that way, come on." Dean nodded, falling into step beside him, and he led the way down the street.
They passed a handful of houses before coming up on a smaller one on the left side. Chase pushed open the door and walked right in. "Laura?" he called.
A girl about three or four years older than Dean stepped out of a back room at the alert. "Hey, Chasie," she began, but stopped short when she saw them. "Who's this?"
"This is Dean," said Chase, as if bringing home battered strangers were something completely ordinary. "We just met and his arm's bleeding."
A little smile filtered across the girl's face. "Hi, Dean. If you'd like, you can sit at the table, and I'll go get our supplies and have a look at it."
Dean did so before his brain fully registered that it was a suggestion, not an order. He scowled, clutching his arm more tightly. Neither Chase nor his sister seemed to notice. Laura disappeared again, and Chase crossed over to another corner of the room and rummaged two cups out of a cupboard. "D'you want some water?" he asked Dean.
He shrugged. "Sure." He then scanned the room automatically, looking in particular for the exits. From what he could see, they were in the main room, which had the front door they had entered through and a couple of windows. On the opposite side, an opening led to a back hall and probably a few back rooms. There was probably a back door beyond that, but not within his range of eyesight. Satisfied he could make a break of it if need be, he settled back in the chair, glad to take some pressure off his bruises and scrapes.
Chase came back with the cups and set one of them in front of him. "Thanks." He focused a bit more on the other boy. "You can't have lived here long." Shit, he thought, there I go being dysfunctionally social again.
Chase only shook his head. "'bout a month. Our dad's the new sheriff."
"Oh. That could be awkward," he blurted, without consciously meaning to.
The other boy blinked. "Why?"
"Um. Uh." Dean shrugged. "Just...um, nothing."
There was a short pause. "O-kay," Chase said then, very slowly, then went on blithely as if Dean hadn't said a word. "Do you live in town? I don't think I've seen you before."
"I live outside of town, out the south road about a mile. I...um, was away for a while until last week," he muttered, glancing down again at his bloody arm.
"Oh, okay." Chase's eyes followed his down to the wound, but he refrained from asking.
Laura reentered the room then, carrying a large cloth sack. "Here we go," she said brightly, sitting down next to Dean. He could see now that she looked very like her brother, although she was undeniably much closer to adulthood in appearance and manner. "Can I see it?"
He was a little hesitant but carefully pried his hand off. "I just broke it open again. It's an old injury."
She nodded. "I see. How'd you manage that?"
"Karl and Richard came after me again," said Chase, by way of explanation. "Dean stepped in and helped."
Laura took her eyes away from Dean's arm momentarily and fixed her brother with a stern look. "You really need to tell Dad," she said. Chase only shook his head.
"Karl and Dick are pretty...persistent," Dean said absently, trying not to wince at the pain shooting up his arm.
"So you've run into them before?" asked Laura, as she dug around in her bag with one hand.
"On and off for the last six years, since we moved here. We've had...words. And fists. Lots of fists."
She nodded. "They're awful. A lot of the kids here seem to be."
"Richard and Karl have gotten their hooks into most of the boys and a lot of the girls."
She began to clean the wound. "I see." She cast another furtive glance at Chase, but kept her attention on fixing up Dean's arm. Chase either didn't notice, or was set on ignoring her, because all he did in response was take a sip of his water.
Dean stiffened, fighting against the urge to pull his arm away. "It's easier to go along with them than fight it," he said through clenched teeth against the pain.
"That doesn't mean it's okay for them to do," said Laura quietly. She carefully put a clean bandage over it and secured it. "There. That'll hold you for the rest of the day if you're careful."
"Thanks," he said, wiping his bloody hand on his pants, then added awkwardly: "Not everyone is as strong as me, or apparently Chase."
"Well, that's their loss later, I suppose." She shook her head. "There's bullying everywhere, but it wasn't this vicious where we used to live." Getting up, she took a cloth and dipped it in warm water, then handed it to Dean. "Here, for everything else."
"You're the best, Laura," said Chase, with a wide smile the girl couldn't help returning.
Dean shrugged as he accepted it and got to work cleaning some of the blood off. "Where'd you live before?"
"Just outside Greensward," Chase said conversationally.
"Nice area. Sage grew up in Greensward. Said it was nice."
"Who's Sage?"
"Oh. Right. My cousin."
He nodded. "Awesome. D'you have any other cousins or siblings?"
"Uh, yeah, two little cousins. Renie's almost five and Connor's still a baby."
"Ooh, okay. It's just us at home but we have a cousin in Greensward."
"Cousins are pretty cool. Sage lives with us now," Dean said.
"Why's that?" asked Chase.
He smiled faintly, returning his gaze to getting the blood and dirt from the fight off. "Her dad's dead and her mom's useless, so she's moved in with us."
"That's too bad," said Laura, eyeing her brother in disapproval.
Chase did not seem concerned. "I bet your family's awesome, though."
"My family's...unconventional, but yeah, I'd say awesome," Dean said, flexing his arm before glancing up at Laura in surprise. "That feels really good. Almost as good as my dad! Where'd you learn that?"
"My mom taught me," she said, with a smile. "She used to volunteer at the big hospital."
"That'll do it. Did she work there through..." he caught himself, "through the Three's reign?"
Laura nodded. "That's how she got started."
"Good for her." Great, even more awkward, Dean thought, knowing that he should head home before he nearly slipped up again. It felt nice talking to people who didn't seem to mind his dysfunction, though, as long as they didn't mention rules or give him an order.
"Yeah. It's good work. And Chase here," she said, poking her brother in the ribs, "used to get massive scrapes and cuts when he was a kid, so I got to practice a lot on him and his friends."
Chase didn't seem embarrassed by the story. He merely grinned at his sister. "You loved it."
"You wish," she retorted, smiling.
"Can I ask about the rabbit?" he asked, pointing, as soon as he was sure that they were done.
Laura sat down again. "It used to be mine, actually. I stopped playing with toys a long time ago and he'd always been one of Chase's favorites."
"His name's Boo-boo," Chase volunteered.
"Don't laugh," added Laura, "I was two, I think, when he got named."
"And it's just not right to change a stuffed animal's name," said Chase.
Dean responded carefully. "I'll...take your word for it. If I had any they got lost in one of the moves when I was little."
Laura nodded, as if that wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "Some people just aren't that fond of toys, which is fine."
"I had toy soldiers and stuff, but yeah, no stuffed animals."
"Toy soldiers are great, too," said Chase, matter-of-factly. "Mine are all still in a chest in my room."
Dean frowned. "Mine must be out in the barn. We don't have a lot of storage and often way too many people around the house."
"That's okay. It's good to have people around."
"Yeah, it is. Although I could do with a few less right now," he said, wadding the cloth up.
"Is that why you walked all the way into town today?" asked Laura.
"Yeah, I volunteered to do the shopping so I could get out of the house. Sage went up to the...Oakbridge yesterday and everyone's just staring at me like I might break."
"I can't say I blame you, then."
He shrugged. "It's only going to be worse when I go home looking like this, but whatever, I guess."
"Well, you're considerably better than when you walked in, anyway," said Laura, lightly.
Dean smiled crookedly. "Yeah, usually not bleeding profusely is a good plan."
"I wouldn't have said profuse, but it was obvious you'd just reopened it."
He glanced up at Chase then. "You...don't mind that I stepped in, do you?" he asked, not really sure if that was something he should worry about or not. It wasn't like he'd even given Chase a chance to help, if he'd wanted to. Did normal people do that sort of thing? Not everyone was like him.
Chase blinked. "Are you kidding? I don't like fighting. I didn't really like you doing it, either, but I'm glad you wanted to help."
He looked away. "I...my reasons weren't fully unselfish."
The siblings glanced at each other. "What do you mean by that?" asked Laura.
"I mean, I wasn't going to let them hurt you or try or anything, but...I didn't...I try not to fight the whole pack of 'em. Dad says I shouldn't, because it's not fair, but they said stuff and I needed a release and...so I did."
"You're definitely better at it than they are," Chase agreed.
Laura studied him a moment. She looked like she wanted to ask, but she had much more tact than Chase did, so she changed the subject instead. "I just made sourdough buns. Want one?"
"I, um, sure," he managed, feeling a little red creep into his cheeks. He really needed to watch what he said. Being good in a fight hadn't gotten him anywhere against Vladimir. She smiled as though nothing were wrong and got up to get the snack.
Chase lowered his voice. "Seriously, thanks. I could always get away before, but..." He looked troubled. "I really don't want to tell my dad."
"Your dad couldn't do much besides arrest them. Russ has tried all sorts of things with their parents and nothing stops it."
He nodded. "And there's too many of them anyway."
"That's the worst, when they pack at you. Don't worry, with me back, I'll probably go back to being their primary target," Dean said, with a vague shrug.
Chase raised his eyebrows.
"What?" Dean asked. "I think I first ran afoul of them when I was seven or eight. They don't like to be original, so it's easy for them to come after me."
"It's still not right," said Chase.
"If my family keeps looking at me like I'll splinter, I'm going to need them to be assholes," Dean said bitterly.
"Got a better idea. Come see us instead."
He blinked dumbly at the other boy. "What?"
"Come visit us!" He grinned. "Laura bakes and stuff all the time and she's brilliant at it, and I'll show you my toy soldiers and we can walk around and all that."
"Wha...really?"
Chase rolled his eyes. "Yes, really."
Dean stared at him, weirdly feeling more broken than usual at that moment. Laura came back to the table with a plate of sourdough buns then, and Dean hoped that would change the subject, but he had no such luck. "Laura, tell Dean he should come visit us again," said Chase, snitching one as he made his appeal.
"We'd love to have you." She nudged the plate over to him and smiled in a welcoming manner.
"I...why?" he finally managed, unable to fathom it.
They exchanged another look. "We like you," said Chase simply. Dean took a bun absently, staring at them. Chase didn't elaborate, sitting back merrily in his chair and nibbling on his own treat. "Mmmm, Laura, these are great," he said, beaming at her.
"Thanks, Chasie," she replied.
Dean started and quickly crammed a bit of bun in his mouth to try and cover his awkwardness. Neither of them seemed to pay it any more mind, however. He watched them silently as he munched what he had to admit was a very delicious piece of bread, realizing that he felt more calm and relaxed than he had since Tourn had snatched him on the road into town.
When he finished the bun, he realized he needed to get moving if he was going to do the shopping and still get home without anyone panicking. "I should, um, go."
"Okay," said Laura kindly. "Thanks again for giving Chase a hand."
"You will come see us again, right?" Chase fixed him with a stern look. "Cause otherwise I'm coming to see you."
Because that wouldn't be awkward or anything, Dean thought. "You're welcome and...yeah, I'd...I'd like that," he said with a quick smile.
The other boy grinned. "Awesome."
"Awesome," Dean echoed. "Thanks for the patch up and the bun. It was really good."
"You're very welcome," said Laura.
He smiled again, waved and slipped out the door. It took him most of his shopping to realize his hand hadn't slipped towards his knife once while he was at their house. Yes, he would definitely be visiting Chase and Laura again.
Story: Nothing is Ever Easy universe
Challenge: Cola 15 (nothin’ says lovin’ like somethin’ from the oven - My Treat: someone’s feeling down, Laura’s got the cure), Prune 3 (to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) [Marina]; Rhubarb 9 (oh what a tangled web we weave), Wildberry 17 (an insult) [Casey]
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Chopped Nuts, Smoothie
Word Count: 3,268
Rating: PG
Summary: Dean makes a pair of new friends without meaning to.
Notes: This particular AU begins just post-Paths, a week or so after this, and counts for leg 3 of the 1k Marathon.
Dean scanned the list of supplies again, other hand resting on the hilt of his knife automatically. He heard the noises first and jammed the list in his pocket, drawing his knife and creeping forward.
"Go away," a young boy's voice came from around the corner of the nearest building. Rather than scared, it sounded angry.
"I don't think so, squirt."
Dean rolled his eyes, slipping his knife back into the sheath and turning the corner of the building, crossing his arms as he took in the scene. Karl, Richard and their posse were gathered in a tight cluster behind one of the buildings. It was very much their usual style, except that this time, Dean wasn’t the one they were ganging up on.
Instead, it was a boy a bit shorter than he was, with gingery brown hair and blue eyes that glared around at the others. He had his hands behind his back almost protectively. "You'd better leave now, or I'll tell my father," he said.
"Ooh, we're so scared, aren't we, Karl?" Richard asked, smirking and cracking his knuckles meaningfully.
"Leave the kid alone," Dean said flatly. It was the first time he'd seen the bullies since he got home, and the sight of them made him forget about his new scars and still healing cut on the side of his head, until Karl turned and went a bit bug-eyed. The strange boy stared too, more out of surprise than anything.
"Gods' Breath, Bastard, did you find someone else to beat on you?" Richard asked, a bit more in control, although his eyes were still a bit too wide.
Dean's fists clenched, and he had to fight the initial desire to just pummel the hell out of the kids because he could and it might make him feel better for a moment. "Leave the kid alone," he repeated.
"I think someone broke him," Richard snickered. "What d'you think, Karl?"
Karl grinned, seemingly recovered. "Yeah, kicked his ass, definitely."
Dean shook a bit at the effort it took to stay still. "I'll give you one more chance to walk away without being beaten to a bloody pulp," he growled. The boy's eyes widened, and he took a step in retreat.
"Aw, he's so cute when he's angry, isn't he?" Richard cooed.
"Kid," Dean said, meeting the gaze of the other boy, "you might want to back up." He brought his clenched fists up, a little disturbed at how much he was spoiling for a fight. It was just so hard to act normally around his father, Russ and the others.
"Noted," said the boy, hastily sidestepping.
"Go get the Bastard, guys," Karl said, almost lazily, and the other boys moved in.
It took about ten minutes until they broke and scattered, bloodied, bruised and nursing a few broken bones. Dean ached everywhere, but folded his arms calmly as he stared down Karl and Richard, who had stayed out of the fray, as usual. The boy, whose name he still didn't know, stood off to the side where he had moved to watch, clutching a worn pink-and-yellow rabbit in both hands.
"Next time, Bastard," Richard growled.
"Think what you'd like," Dean told him, casually brushing some dirt off his shirt. The duo exchanged glances and then hightailed it out as modestly as they could.
Dean watched them go. "Try not to get on their bad side," he told the kid, before focusing on taking stock of the injuries. His father would be less than pleased, considering he hadn't fully healed from Vladimir and his grunts' tender mercies. The other boy merely stood there, too stunned to reply. He winced as he carefully flexed his arm, not particularly surprised to find that the old stab wound from Sage was bleeding again. He was having a hard time letting that one heal. Then he realized he was still being watched and looked up. "What?" he demanded, a bit more bluntly than he meant but, well, he was the first to admit his people skills were a bit out of whack at the moment.
"I...sorry." The boy's fingers tightened so much his knuckles went white. "Thanks."
Dean frowned. "Don't apologize," he said, trying to be a bit more reasonable. "And it's no problem. They bug me."
"I'd have been all right."
"You mighta had a problem considering you don't seem likely to put down the rabbit."
"Would've if I'd had to, but I didn't want to. They'd have hurt him." He lifted his chin as he spoke, as if daring Dean to say anything negative about it.
He glanced at the well-worn rabbit. "Yeah, you're right about that. They would have torn him limb from limb." He put his hand tightly over the bleeding wound, since it seemed to be the only one bleeding.
The boy frowned. "How did you get those, anyway?"
"Get what?" he asked, distracted by the amount of blood already oozing between his fingers. He glared at it.
"The injuries. I didn't think they hurt you that bad."
"Oh." Dean frowned as he stared at the other boy, realizing the kid had to be about his age. "They didn't," he said finally, when he realized he'd been staring too long for normal people interactions.
"You better come home with me," said the boy, after another pause. "My sister's great at patching people up."
"I...dunno," Dean said, resisting the urge to go for his knife. This was just another kid.
"Seriously. She's magic or something. I promise it'll be good." He smiled winningly.
Dean hesitated for another minute, but he knew his family wasn't expecting him back for a while, so it wouldn't worry them. Plus, his arm was bleeding an alarming amount. "Uh, okay, I guess," he said.
"Great." The boy turned more bashful, then. "I'm Chase, by the way."
"Oh. I'm Dean."
"Nice to meet you." Chase pointed off to the left. "My house is that way, come on." Dean nodded, falling into step beside him, and he led the way down the street.
They passed a handful of houses before coming up on a smaller one on the left side. Chase pushed open the door and walked right in. "Laura?" he called.
A girl about three or four years older than Dean stepped out of a back room at the alert. "Hey, Chasie," she began, but stopped short when she saw them. "Who's this?"
"This is Dean," said Chase, as if bringing home battered strangers were something completely ordinary. "We just met and his arm's bleeding."
A little smile filtered across the girl's face. "Hi, Dean. If you'd like, you can sit at the table, and I'll go get our supplies and have a look at it."
Dean did so before his brain fully registered that it was a suggestion, not an order. He scowled, clutching his arm more tightly. Neither Chase nor his sister seemed to notice. Laura disappeared again, and Chase crossed over to another corner of the room and rummaged two cups out of a cupboard. "D'you want some water?" he asked Dean.
He shrugged. "Sure." He then scanned the room automatically, looking in particular for the exits. From what he could see, they were in the main room, which had the front door they had entered through and a couple of windows. On the opposite side, an opening led to a back hall and probably a few back rooms. There was probably a back door beyond that, but not within his range of eyesight. Satisfied he could make a break of it if need be, he settled back in the chair, glad to take some pressure off his bruises and scrapes.
Chase came back with the cups and set one of them in front of him. "Thanks." He focused a bit more on the other boy. "You can't have lived here long." Shit, he thought, there I go being dysfunctionally social again.
Chase only shook his head. "'bout a month. Our dad's the new sheriff."
"Oh. That could be awkward," he blurted, without consciously meaning to.
The other boy blinked. "Why?"
"Um. Uh." Dean shrugged. "Just...um, nothing."
There was a short pause. "O-kay," Chase said then, very slowly, then went on blithely as if Dean hadn't said a word. "Do you live in town? I don't think I've seen you before."
"I live outside of town, out the south road about a mile. I...um, was away for a while until last week," he muttered, glancing down again at his bloody arm.
"Oh, okay." Chase's eyes followed his down to the wound, but he refrained from asking.
Laura reentered the room then, carrying a large cloth sack. "Here we go," she said brightly, sitting down next to Dean. He could see now that she looked very like her brother, although she was undeniably much closer to adulthood in appearance and manner. "Can I see it?"
He was a little hesitant but carefully pried his hand off. "I just broke it open again. It's an old injury."
She nodded. "I see. How'd you manage that?"
"Karl and Richard came after me again," said Chase, by way of explanation. "Dean stepped in and helped."
Laura took her eyes away from Dean's arm momentarily and fixed her brother with a stern look. "You really need to tell Dad," she said. Chase only shook his head.
"Karl and Dick are pretty...persistent," Dean said absently, trying not to wince at the pain shooting up his arm.
"So you've run into them before?" asked Laura, as she dug around in her bag with one hand.
"On and off for the last six years, since we moved here. We've had...words. And fists. Lots of fists."
She nodded. "They're awful. A lot of the kids here seem to be."
"Richard and Karl have gotten their hooks into most of the boys and a lot of the girls."
She began to clean the wound. "I see." She cast another furtive glance at Chase, but kept her attention on fixing up Dean's arm. Chase either didn't notice, or was set on ignoring her, because all he did in response was take a sip of his water.
Dean stiffened, fighting against the urge to pull his arm away. "It's easier to go along with them than fight it," he said through clenched teeth against the pain.
"That doesn't mean it's okay for them to do," said Laura quietly. She carefully put a clean bandage over it and secured it. "There. That'll hold you for the rest of the day if you're careful."
"Thanks," he said, wiping his bloody hand on his pants, then added awkwardly: "Not everyone is as strong as me, or apparently Chase."
"Well, that's their loss later, I suppose." She shook her head. "There's bullying everywhere, but it wasn't this vicious where we used to live." Getting up, she took a cloth and dipped it in warm water, then handed it to Dean. "Here, for everything else."
"You're the best, Laura," said Chase, with a wide smile the girl couldn't help returning.
Dean shrugged as he accepted it and got to work cleaning some of the blood off. "Where'd you live before?"
"Just outside Greensward," Chase said conversationally.
"Nice area. Sage grew up in Greensward. Said it was nice."
"Who's Sage?"
"Oh. Right. My cousin."
He nodded. "Awesome. D'you have any other cousins or siblings?"
"Uh, yeah, two little cousins. Renie's almost five and Connor's still a baby."
"Ooh, okay. It's just us at home but we have a cousin in Greensward."
"Cousins are pretty cool. Sage lives with us now," Dean said.
"Why's that?" asked Chase.
He smiled faintly, returning his gaze to getting the blood and dirt from the fight off. "Her dad's dead and her mom's useless, so she's moved in with us."
"That's too bad," said Laura, eyeing her brother in disapproval.
Chase did not seem concerned. "I bet your family's awesome, though."
"My family's...unconventional, but yeah, I'd say awesome," Dean said, flexing his arm before glancing up at Laura in surprise. "That feels really good. Almost as good as my dad! Where'd you learn that?"
"My mom taught me," she said, with a smile. "She used to volunteer at the big hospital."
"That'll do it. Did she work there through..." he caught himself, "through the Three's reign?"
Laura nodded. "That's how she got started."
"Good for her." Great, even more awkward, Dean thought, knowing that he should head home before he nearly slipped up again. It felt nice talking to people who didn't seem to mind his dysfunction, though, as long as they didn't mention rules or give him an order.
"Yeah. It's good work. And Chase here," she said, poking her brother in the ribs, "used to get massive scrapes and cuts when he was a kid, so I got to practice a lot on him and his friends."
Chase didn't seem embarrassed by the story. He merely grinned at his sister. "You loved it."
"You wish," she retorted, smiling.
"Can I ask about the rabbit?" he asked, pointing, as soon as he was sure that they were done.
Laura sat down again. "It used to be mine, actually. I stopped playing with toys a long time ago and he'd always been one of Chase's favorites."
"His name's Boo-boo," Chase volunteered.
"Don't laugh," added Laura, "I was two, I think, when he got named."
"And it's just not right to change a stuffed animal's name," said Chase.
Dean responded carefully. "I'll...take your word for it. If I had any they got lost in one of the moves when I was little."
Laura nodded, as if that wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "Some people just aren't that fond of toys, which is fine."
"I had toy soldiers and stuff, but yeah, no stuffed animals."
"Toy soldiers are great, too," said Chase, matter-of-factly. "Mine are all still in a chest in my room."
Dean frowned. "Mine must be out in the barn. We don't have a lot of storage and often way too many people around the house."
"That's okay. It's good to have people around."
"Yeah, it is. Although I could do with a few less right now," he said, wadding the cloth up.
"Is that why you walked all the way into town today?" asked Laura.
"Yeah, I volunteered to do the shopping so I could get out of the house. Sage went up to the...Oakbridge yesterday and everyone's just staring at me like I might break."
"I can't say I blame you, then."
He shrugged. "It's only going to be worse when I go home looking like this, but whatever, I guess."
"Well, you're considerably better than when you walked in, anyway," said Laura, lightly.
Dean smiled crookedly. "Yeah, usually not bleeding profusely is a good plan."
"I wouldn't have said profuse, but it was obvious you'd just reopened it."
He glanced up at Chase then. "You...don't mind that I stepped in, do you?" he asked, not really sure if that was something he should worry about or not. It wasn't like he'd even given Chase a chance to help, if he'd wanted to. Did normal people do that sort of thing? Not everyone was like him.
Chase blinked. "Are you kidding? I don't like fighting. I didn't really like you doing it, either, but I'm glad you wanted to help."
He looked away. "I...my reasons weren't fully unselfish."
The siblings glanced at each other. "What do you mean by that?" asked Laura.
"I mean, I wasn't going to let them hurt you or try or anything, but...I didn't...I try not to fight the whole pack of 'em. Dad says I shouldn't, because it's not fair, but they said stuff and I needed a release and...so I did."
"You're definitely better at it than they are," Chase agreed.
Laura studied him a moment. She looked like she wanted to ask, but she had much more tact than Chase did, so she changed the subject instead. "I just made sourdough buns. Want one?"
"I, um, sure," he managed, feeling a little red creep into his cheeks. He really needed to watch what he said. Being good in a fight hadn't gotten him anywhere against Vladimir. She smiled as though nothing were wrong and got up to get the snack.
Chase lowered his voice. "Seriously, thanks. I could always get away before, but..." He looked troubled. "I really don't want to tell my dad."
"Your dad couldn't do much besides arrest them. Russ has tried all sorts of things with their parents and nothing stops it."
He nodded. "And there's too many of them anyway."
"That's the worst, when they pack at you. Don't worry, with me back, I'll probably go back to being their primary target," Dean said, with a vague shrug.
Chase raised his eyebrows.
"What?" Dean asked. "I think I first ran afoul of them when I was seven or eight. They don't like to be original, so it's easy for them to come after me."
"It's still not right," said Chase.
"If my family keeps looking at me like I'll splinter, I'm going to need them to be assholes," Dean said bitterly.
"Got a better idea. Come see us instead."
He blinked dumbly at the other boy. "What?"
"Come visit us!" He grinned. "Laura bakes and stuff all the time and she's brilliant at it, and I'll show you my toy soldiers and we can walk around and all that."
"Wha...really?"
Chase rolled his eyes. "Yes, really."
Dean stared at him, weirdly feeling more broken than usual at that moment. Laura came back to the table with a plate of sourdough buns then, and Dean hoped that would change the subject, but he had no such luck. "Laura, tell Dean he should come visit us again," said Chase, snitching one as he made his appeal.
"We'd love to have you." She nudged the plate over to him and smiled in a welcoming manner.
"I...why?" he finally managed, unable to fathom it.
They exchanged another look. "We like you," said Chase simply. Dean took a bun absently, staring at them. Chase didn't elaborate, sitting back merrily in his chair and nibbling on his own treat. "Mmmm, Laura, these are great," he said, beaming at her.
"Thanks, Chasie," she replied.
Dean started and quickly crammed a bit of bun in his mouth to try and cover his awkwardness. Neither of them seemed to pay it any more mind, however. He watched them silently as he munched what he had to admit was a very delicious piece of bread, realizing that he felt more calm and relaxed than he had since Tourn had snatched him on the road into town.
When he finished the bun, he realized he needed to get moving if he was going to do the shopping and still get home without anyone panicking. "I should, um, go."
"Okay," said Laura kindly. "Thanks again for giving Chase a hand."
"You will come see us again, right?" Chase fixed him with a stern look. "Cause otherwise I'm coming to see you."
Because that wouldn't be awkward or anything, Dean thought. "You're welcome and...yeah, I'd...I'd like that," he said with a quick smile.
The other boy grinned. "Awesome."
"Awesome," Dean echoed. "Thanks for the patch up and the bun. It was really good."
"You're very welcome," said Laura.
He smiled again, waved and slipped out the door. It took him most of his shopping to realize his hand hadn't slipped towards his knife once while he was at their house. Yes, he would definitely be visiting Chase and Laura again.