(Untitled)

[weary_head]

It's been over two months since the school term ended, and Dean still feels like he's cheating sometimes, spending his afternoon sprawled out somewhere being useless instead of hitting the books. Half the time he settles for hitting Caliban instead, who always does more than his share of hitting back, god bless him, but today Dean's chosen to

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[velation]

It takes a fair amount of maneuvering for Faye to keep hidden and out of Dean's line of vision, although she's fairly certain that this time, the fact that she manages can be attributed more to the food than anything else. She quirks a brow in Cori's direction, never knowing exactly how to act around kids, but if she remembers that day on the beach well enough, Cori's got a mischievous streak in her, and maybe the grin that curves faintly is enough for the toddler to keep quiet. Index finger presses against her lips, just in case.

Craning her neck, Faye can't help but wonder- as self-centered as the question undoubtedly is- if the magazine is just coincidence.

Her hand curls around his shoulder, Faye deliberately pressing herself against Dean's back, not quite subtle.

"Really?" she asks, tilting her head, a fold creasing under her brow. "I think you could do better."

[weary_head]

To his marginal credit, Dean manages not to jerk in surprise, narrowly avoiding lodging a bite of that magnificent burger in his windpipe. He can't do a thing about the blushing, though, and crooks a grin at her framed by red ears.

"Speaking from experience," he says, not half as smooth as he'd like, and shit, he probably has lettuce or something stupid in his teeth. It just figures that one of the few times he's managed to get himself in a room with Faye Valentine, he'd be acting like a jackass before she even arrived. "I'd have to agree."

Cori does not roll her eyes. It's a trick of the light.

[velation]

Faye's known plenty of men who behave in the opposite way that Dean does, all swagger and confidence until clothes are tossed off to the side with a soft hiss. It's strange to see Dean blushing to the tips of his ears after everything they've seen and done, but it's endearing enough that she doesn't make any complaints, simply doing her best to ignore the compliment- something about it doesn't sit quite right, tugging up the corners of her lips in a smile that she doesn't feel qualified to give.

"Cori, why don't you tell me?" Faye asks, chin raising in the air as she settles into the seat next to Cori, the slight tension in her voice only because she's afraid the girl will see right through her as Faye's chin rests in the palm of her hand. "Does Dean do this a lot?"

[weary_head]

"Do I do - " says Dean, looking between Faye and his sister. "What, the magazines?" And okay, it's definitely true that he used to peruse piles of these before this island, but Angua had somehow found that endearing, even going so far as to give him a stack for Christmas.

He should...probably not bring her up. "It's all the shelf would give me for paper," he says, staring hard at Cori as if willing her to agree. The girl just stares back, propping her chin on a chubby fist. "She's pleading the fifth," says Dean and beams. Anybody'd be loyal to a family like this.

[dichotomos]

Jesus Christ, this guy. When I walked into the rec room and took in the scene, for a handful of seconds I actually understood the way Niko had to feel every time he'd ever walked in on me doing anything over the entirety of my whole fucking life.

The feeling passed quickly, though, and was immediately replaced with envy. My gaze jumped from the burger to the tits and back again.

"Raising her on the classics, I see," I said, mostly to distract myself from the fact that I wanted to snatch that burger out of Dean's hand.

[weary_head]

Dean doesn't have to meet Caliban's covetous gaze to curl protectively over his burger. There's just something about sparring - tends to make a man crave red meat, and this bit of meat is too spectacular for sharing.

"Only thing the shelf'd give me," says Dean around a pointedly large bite. "Well, that and a '72 issue of Rolling Stone. Man's gotta hold something sacred."

[dichotomos]

I really didn't give much of a shit about music, but even I had to concede that much to Dean. "She can give them clothes," I suggested, although seemed its own brand of wrong.

After a moment more of staring at the burger, I headed into the kitchen and returned a moment later with three cupcakes. One I placed on the kid's highchair, the other two I kept for myself.

What? He had a whole fucking burger; if he wanted a cupcake, he could go get one himself.

[weary_head]

Dean spares the cupcake an envious glance, but he's more concerned with the sugar high his sister is about to embark on. It's too late to do anything about it, though, half the thing's gone by the time he even registers its presence, and Dean tips a glare at Caliban over his burger.

"Should make you watch her for the next hour."

[poison_lipstick]

When she spotted them, Saffron just leaned in the doorway for a moment, watching the scene. Very few small children stood a chance of worming their way into her heart the way Sam Halpert had, but Cori did rank a little higher than most, on account of who her big brothers were. Plus, the sight of a big manly guy taking care of a little one was always sexy.

"That's very nice, Cori," she said as she walked over, dropping a kiss to each forehead, and it was only after she straightened beside Dean that she really took a good look at what Terpsichore had been drawing on.

"Really, honey?" she said incredulously, arching an eyebrow. "Did you even pay attention to what magazine you'd pulled off the shelf before you handed it over for her to draw on?"

[weary_head]

Dean hadn't actually thought that freezing an innocent smile to his face would somehow make her miss the dirty magazine, but his shoulders still slump. "I figured it'd be dresses and makeup and crap," he says, taking a bite of his burger in case she means to take it in penance. "You know, girl stuff. Not girl stuff."

[poison_lipstick]

"You don't actually expect me to believe that, do you?" Saffron asked, the question more of a statement as she made clear with her expression that she didn't. Really, she was trying not to laugh at how Dean seemed to be trying to inhale his burger in case she tried to take it from him. "I'm guessing the shelf wasn't cooperating and giving you any plain paper."

[weary_head]

"Wasn't giving me anything," Dean agrees, relieved that they can all agree that everyone's the victim here. "But here," he says, reaching to tear out a nice, innocuous spread about tableclothes from another magazine, "we'll keep it holy from now on, eh Cori?"

[little_moons]

"What happened to that lady's clothes?" Mack asks loudly the moment she bursts through the rec room doors, making a beeline for Cori, her sister following along just behind.

I'm tired, it's been a long fuckin' week, but I feel... Good. Or better than I have in a while, at least.

With a snort of laughter, I step up beside him, reaching over to try and steal the bit of bacon hanging over the edge of the burger bun. "She must've lost 'em," I say to Mack, who squirms with laughter, 'cause apparently that's the funniest thing ever. "That's stupid," she says, reaching up on her tiptoes to try and pull down one of the magazines on the tray of Cori's highchair.

[weary_head]

Dean doesn't know what to defend first - his dignity, the assorted girls' virtue, or his bacon. He chooses the bacon, hunching over his burger and biting off the errant bit of fried fat. "Yeah," he says around his mouthful, showing Mack a solemn nod. "Pretty stupid, but you know, we all make mistakes. Can't blame a lady for getting one thing wrong when she got so..." His eyes fall back to the picture.

"So much right."

[little_moons]

Reaching over to swat him on the side of the head, I lean down to unzip the little pink backpack on Flo's back and pull out a pad of drawing paper from it. From the stack of magazines on Cori's tray, I pick out a fashion magazine and hand it to Mack, 'cause I know she'll like the pictures.

Then, I show Cori the blank pad and say, "Hey, kiddo, how 'bout we trade?"

[weary_head]

"Show off," says Dean, watching the smile break over Cori's face when she reaches for the pad. He can't hold onto his jealousy for long, though, not when she looks so happy, and grins when she sets her crayons to it with renewed vigor.

"Whatever," he says, taking another bite. "M'still the coolest brother." He chews, about halfway through the bite when he adds, "You look better."

[off_the_ceiling]

"Wow, I didn't know you could unhinge your jaw," said Jess, leaning over and looking in the general area of Dean's ear as if that could give her insight into the mechanism that made it all possible. "That totally explains why you always manage to snag more pie than I do. So, what, did the burger fight back?"

[weary_head]

"Really?" asks Dean, whose secondary talent is apparently not spraying crumbs despite a full mouth. "It's one of my greatest skills, and yes, it did. So I punished it with..." He peels back the top bun. "Covering it in the only meat better than actual beef, bacon."

[off_the_ceiling]

"You'd better guard that burger with your life or it's going to disappear right from in front of you," said Jess. "I'll risk the inevitable danger for bacon." She really should have had breakfast, apparently. "So...wow, what is that your sister is holding and what is she doing with it? More the second question than the first, actually."

[weary_head]

"Drawing paper?" Dean attempts, taking another bite before her eyes burn a hole through the burger. He really should be sharing, especially after all that she's cooked for him over the years, but it seems pies aren't the only thing that send Dean hording for himself.

"Really - " His head cocks sideways. "Yeah, really x-rated drawing paper, uh. Cori, let me see that again." He holds out a nice, g-rated soap ad out in return.