Alteration AU

It didn’t take the other man long to reach him and, before sitting down on his left, draping a blanket around Terrence’s shoulders. Randy himself had grabbed a coat before coming outside, Terrence hadn’t wasted any time on that.

“… What are you doing…?”

“Wright already told Sven that I’ll take care of you.” Randy chuckled. “And I don’t want to be reprimanded for letting you freeze your butt off. Or give him any more work in that regard.”

“That’s not… Nevermind…” Terrence sighed and pulled the blanket tighter around him.

“Did you mean to ask why I am here?” Randy leaned forward a bit to get a better look at his friend’s face. “I didn’t really feel like listening to Reginald and Carol bicker with each other and I think Wright is more qualified to handle the two.”

“That doesn’t mean that you need to take care of me. Nobody should need to take care of me.” Terrence groaned and started to rub his temples. “There shouldn’t be a reason for them to argue. Just once… I just wanted one evening to…” His hands sunk down onto his lap and he sighed again, defeated. “I guess that’s the problem… I was the only one who wanted us to just… be together. I told Reg and Carry that it was their fault… but I was the one who wanted them both to be there…”

Randy couldn’t really dispute that. As far as he knew, Reginald and Carol weren’t seeking each other out to argue in their normal daily routine. He still smiled understandingly. “They’re still your wife and your best friend. Nobody can fault you to want to spend time with both of them.”

Still looking defeated Terrence just stared at him for a few moments. “… You hate her just as much as everyone else around me.”

Randy’s smile faded a bit. Yes, he didn’t like Carol very much, never had appreciated her attitude and overall character and how she treated Terrence in particular. But Terrence had always loved and adored her and, just like Reginald, Randy had kept his disapproval unspoken. It had been none of his business and he wasn’t nearly as close with Terrence and Carol as Reginald and Right Hand Man were. He wouldn’t accuse Carol of not loving her husband, only of not loving and treating him how he deserved it.

And despite everything that had happened, Terrence didn’t hate her. At least not completely. In return Carol was showing him her nastier and petty side. Clearly spelling it out for Terrence when she was upset with him. To Randy it seemed like Terrence had never seen her like this, while Reginald was very much used to this behavior.

“I don’t hate her-” “You’re a bad liar.” “Ah.” Randy raised his finger. “Let me talk.” He waited a moment and when Terrence stayed quiet he continued in an almost uncharacteristically serious tone. “I don’t hate her like Reginald does. I hate how she talks and treats you. You never showed her anything but love and devotion. You always did what she wanted. You never said anything against her, no matter how much she disregarded your feelings. And that is what pisses me off about her.”

“… You could’ve just said ‘yes’ and called me an idiot. Would’ve been shorter…” Terrence turned away and looked at the black sky again.

“Don’t put words into my mouth. I don’t think you’re an idiot.”

“Then what am I?” Terrence dug his fingers into the fabric of the blanket and glared at the railing’s metal bars. “I know that Reginald is right, I know that you’re right. Hell, Sven and Burt and even Howie know better than me. A teenager thinks she knows what’s better for me. I just… never wanted to create a broken family, like my own parents did…”

There wasn’t much the average person could say against that. Randy wasn’t an average person though. “Your family breaking apart isn’t just your fault. All the shit you pulled on heists, getting yourself injured, yeah, that’s on you.” He pulled a golden pin out of his pocket and stared to play with it, the three letters on it flashing in the moon light. “Setting free an anomaly at the start of your leadership, maybe a bit your fault for grabbing something you weren’t supposed to. But your family isn’t only on you.”

For a few moments Terrence just watched the pin reflecting cold light while being flipped and turned before looking at his own wedding ring. A normal person probably wouldn’t even be wearing it anymore. “… I really didn’t want to deal with this on Christmas…”

“It’s not Christmas yet, Terry. And you don’t have to. We could still see if you can leave the airship for a few days. Maybe just with Reginald, Right and the boys?”

“… I’ll think about it…” Terrence pulled one of his legs up on the platform to turn around to face Randy. “Thank you, Randy.”

“No thanks needed, Terry.” Randy’s smile suddenly turned into a grin and he reached out to ruffle

Terrence’s hair above his right ear, a spot he hadn’t been able to see till now.

“What are you-.” Terrence paused when Randy pulled his hand back again, holding a piece of a mistletoe. 

“Guess this one got stuck.” Randy held it between them and both men looked at it in silence before he chuckled and threw it over the railing. “Maybe next year… Come on, let’s get back inside.”

Stunned by the implication and his own thoughts, Terrence stayed in place while Randy got back up. ‘Maybe next year…’

This did not help. Growing frustrated again, Terrence clawed his hands in his hair. Why was Randy always-. When his fingers bumped against something that wasn’t hair or his head he froze again before slowly pulling it out.

Another mistletoe.

“Hey! Are you coming?” Randy was already halfway between Terrence and the door and had to raise his voice above the noise of the rotors.

Terrence looked from the twig to him and back. “… Screw ‘next year’.”

Burt never had a coping mechanism.

If he had any emotional trouble he mostly tried to ignore it.

He couldn’t really ignore his crush on Sven. Or now his parents. Or how his sister was threatening to kill the woman who had been his mother all this time.

Despite all this he still had to work for around sixty percent of the time he was awake on any given day. So it was Henry who was around him the most and he suggested to put his turbulent feelings into words. Or drawings, like he had been doing for almost the entire time since the mistletoe-incident.

Had it been an hour? Maybe it was already more than that. Just sitting in the dark corner of the records room, scribbling in some basic drawing program on his tablet. That was the easiest. He could just delete all this after he was done.

Or rather until he had to do something else.

His hands slowed and he lowered his tablet. He actually had something else to do.

He didn’t know how ‘being done’ felt like anyway. Before he could get up though he heard someone enter the room.

“Burt?”

‘Being done’ definitely didn’t feel like this. He stayed quiet, but Sven didn’t leave and eventually found his way to where he was sitting. For a moment they looked at each other, with Burt feeling more silly and immature every second.

Finally, Sven sat down next to him and leaned against the wall. “Are you alright?”

Burt hated seeing Sven worried. Or Earrings. Or any of the others. “… Yeah. I’m just being-.”

“You’re not being stupid.” Sven interrupted him. “The others were assholes, Hattie and Howie were being immature and… I’m the one who’s stupid.” The swede was pretty upset with himself. How many other things had he missed over the years?

“You’re not stupid, Sven…”

“Then what else do you call this? I missed something so important… that everyone else seems to know for forever.”

“It’s…” Burt pulled at the collar of his jacket, feeling his face heat up. “It’s not important… And it’s my fault for not telling you.”

Sven gave him a stern look before turning towards him, ending up kneeling in front of him. “It is important. To me.” He gently placed his hands on Burt’s shoulders. “Because you are important to me.”

“You…” Burt averted his eyes and tried to pull his collar even higher, to no avail. He was blushing like an idiot. Any feeling was hard to hide. “You’re important to me too…” Very important. While looking away he noticed the mistletoe Sven was still carrying around, now trapped between his shoulder and Sven’s palm. The cause of the current turmoil.

Seeing Burt focusing on the bundle of twigs, leafs and berries, Sven pulled his hand back and dropped it on the floor next to him. “Sorry… Don’t know why I kept this thing.” That was somewhat of a lie. He had held onto it to have something to hold onto. It was true that Burt meant a lot to him. Burt made him feel happy and content, but the same could be said about Howie and his dads. They were his immediate family; the people he’d trust with his life.

He couldn’t say the exact same thing about Hattie, Earrings and Burt.

Hattie was a child; his adoptive daughter. It was his responsibility to care for her. It wasn’t a chore and he loved her just like he loved his little brother. The feeling of her possibly getting in trouble whenever she was unsupervised in a clan of criminals would probably subside when she was older.

Earrings was a dear friend, and he would never leave her hanging, if she needed his help. Since they were all adults now, he never consciously worried about her safety though. Somehow it didn’t really occur to him that she ever could be in danger, instead of being the danger. He was acutely aware of how fast even he could be six feet under, if he ever pushed her to her limits.

Burt wasn’t any of that.

He was quiet and calm, listening whenever Sven needed someone to ramble to. Burt was a lot smarter on an academic level than him, Earrings or Howie. He could shut some of the older toppats up faster than they could even attempt to explain what they wanted. Making Burt the head of his department wasn’t a decision Reginald made without practical reason. He had other options. Mr. Jobb had been in the clan a lot longer and would’ve been a good pick as well. But Burt was better.

“… Sven?”

Sven blinked a few times. His thoughts had drifted off a bit while he was still holding Burt and staring into his eyes. “S-sorry… Just… thinking…” He pulled his hands back and started to tug around on his sleeve. He was stupid. He never noticed for years and now he had nothing better to say than ‘You’re important to me’. He should’ve had plenty of time to think about it while he was searching for Burt, but he still turned up empty handed.

“This… doesn’t have to change anything… right?” When Sven just looked back at him, slightly confused, Burt averted his eyes and continued mumbling “It… never really mattered before… and I don’t want us to… I just don’t want to ruin our… friendship. Things were almost normal… I’m… used to them being around now. And Annie won’t try to kill Carol again… Can we just… forget that this happened…? The others will forget it eventually too…”

There weren’t many occasions where Sven was at a loss for words. Having to articulate his feelings was unfortunately such an occasion, but this was a crucial moment. One that he had already made more awkward than it needed to be, at least in his opinion. “N-no, I…” Sven had no romantic experience, the only thing he thought he had was an understanding of the gravity of this situation. Telling someone ‘I love you’ could carry so much weight. He hated seeing Burt upset like this, feeling worthless and like what he wanted or needed shouldn’t matter. Maybe saying it would make him feel better. Maybe it would bring back that tiny smile that made his yellow eyes light up.

But what if it wasn’t true. Sven started to feel like he needed to rip his own hair out.

“No.” he finally repeated “I won’t forget this. This is important and I need to deal with it now. I am mad at Carol for how she treated you, and now I’m supposed to act just like her?!”

“That’s not-”

“I don’t want you to feel like this, I want you to be happy and be treated like you deserve it. You don’t deserve having your feelings ignored.” Sven visibly deflated for a moment “I’m… sorry for doing that… You have all reason to be mad at me… But I want to make it up to you. I want to make you happy again. I- I don’t know… if I’m in love with you… I don’t want to say it now and then realize it’s not true and hurt you.”

Burt was just stunned into silence at this point, still with his hands at his collar. Sven just grabbed his hands to hold them in his while he continued his rambling. “I know it’s stupid, idiotic even. How can I not know if I love someone or not… but I really can’t and you’re too important to risk hurting you even more. S-so… maybe we could try doing… things couples do? Maybe together with Henry and Earrings? I really wouldn’t care about any teasing towards me… At this point I just deserve it. And I know she wouldn’t say or do anything that would hurt you. And that’s… that’s my priority now…”

The shade of red his speech had brought to Burt’s face looked almost unhealthy and he didn’t doubt that his face looked much different. It was silent for an agonizingly long moment before Burt, still red-faced and wide-eyed, nodded and managed a silent “Okay…”

Undoubtedly this could’ve been a a lot more romantic and less awkward conversation, but at least this one ended with them in each other’s arms. Pretty much lying on the floor, but still feeling like giant boulders had fallen from both their hearts.

On their venture to clean up every trace of their ‘plan’, Howie and Hattie had made sure to try and catch at least a glimpse of Terrence and Randy coming back inside. The former hiding his face behind his hands and the latter blushing an unusual amount.

They also did not miss Burt and Sven getting to Sven’s office unseen, holding hands and both blushing madly.

“’Threatened’ is a harsh word, but yeah, pretty much.” Henry looked slightly annoyed while Earrings was just amused. “I had plans… And I really didn’t want those two to interfere with them. Apparently they already ignored Matilda, so how am I supposed to stop them?”

“So my man adapted and confessed. Like a smart and collected boy.” Earrings grinned and leaned over to kiss Henry’s cheek. “And that is a compliment, Hen.”

“I’m happy for you two, but why? We’re not in High school, why would they think this is a good idea?” Sven was more talking to himself than the others. It was his responsibility to reprimand his two family members. Before they messed with the wrong person and agitated them enough to do something about it.

“Hattie is still a child, despite how she wants to be treated.” Burt remarked. “It’s not too farfetched for her… I don’t remember Howie ever doing something like this.”

“Yeah… Maybe he wasn’t in the mood for that after watching his… Terrence is like your uncle, right?” Earrings had tried to keep track of the whole family situation, but she had also been furious for about two months whenever thinking about it as well, so some details still weren’t entirely clear to her.

“He is. And you’re probably right…” Sven sighed and then shook his head “But there’s still no reason for this. He’s 23 for god’s sake.”

For a few moments the other three tried to remember what exactly they had been doing when they were 23. Most things were potentially more dangerous, but mostly less nonsensical than this.

“At least we haven’t heard anything of them actually doing it. Maybe Matilda has gotten through to them. We can look for them after dinner.” Burt tried to keep Sven optimistic. They honestly had other things to deal with now.

Earrings looked past Henry and over Sven’s head at Burt and smiled “Who knows, maybe they want to dump it on you first.”

Ever since Burt had been confronted with his parents it was a lot harder for him to hide his more negative emotions. Maybe the positive ones too; there just hadn’t been a lot of occasions for those so far to notice. Now he looked horrified before shaking his head and quickly trying to regain his composure.

Confused, Sven looked at Earrings and therefore didn’t notice Burt’s reaction at all. “Why? I’d rather expect them to avoid us at all cost. Just like they’ll probably avoid Matilda.”

Henry sighed while Earrings groaned an “Oh my god…” towards the ceiling “Well, if I understand their ‘plan’ correctly they don’t really have a reason to go after Matilda anyway. There’s not many… destined couples on the ship who aren’t already together. If you want to call it that…”

While the gears in Sven’s head turned and a few toppats who were walking behind them, overhearing their conversation, laughed more and less obviously, Burt changed the topic. “No matter what they’re planning, we don’t know where they are and we’re already late.” He really didn’t want this conversation to continue down this route.

They had reached a junction in the hallway now and stepped to the side to let a few people walk past them.

“So your dad really went through with his whole dinner plans? Do you want me to tag along?” Burt looked at her as if he couldn’t tell if she was serious or not. “Earrings… You wanted to kill Carol like… until last week. I’m not taking you to have dinner with her.” “I’ve calmed down…”

Henry was more concerned about something else “I don’t know how your parents are behind closed doors but… Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“No.” Sven and Burt said in unison and Sven continued “But they all agreed to it and the worst thing we can do now is leave them alone… Can you two maybe keep an eye out for Hattie and Howie?”

Earrings smiled and playfully saluted “Will do. You two call us over if your dinner gets out of hand.”

“We will not call you if someone over there gets violent, Earrings…”

The retort Earrings was about to give was interrupted by something falling from the ceiling and ending up dangling on a red string right above Sven and Burt. It looked a little bit squashed but the small, white berries and the shape of the leaves were unmistakably. Sven’s head snapped upwards and he glared at the vent cover the plant had been shoved through. He couldn’t see them, but there could only be Hattie and Howie up there. Although he had to ask himself how his brother could still fit into these vents.

A few other pairs of eyes followed his but most of the toppats surrounding them didn’t seem interested in where the mistletoe came from. Earrings looked from it to Burt, doing her best not to laugh. Someone in the crowd was a bit more vocal about it.

“Come on! You know what to do when you’re under a mistletoe!” The voice belonged to Katie. She was grinning and she was teasing her friend. Maybe it would’ve been fine if it was just her. If the hallway had been empty aside from them and her. But it wasn’t empty, and others joined her. Some with a few comments that were going beyond playful taunting. To “Finally man up.” and “Stop being a coward.”.

Most of it went right over Sven’s head and it wasn’t long and the crowd mocked him for being oblivious and an idiot.

Even Katie herself looked around the crowd, bewildered by how everyone just seemed to have lost any kind of filter. And completely forgetting who they were mocking.

Sven was getting angry, but what was more dangerous, Earrings was as well. And instead of starting a verbal rant like her friend, she just grabbed the nearest offender and threw him right into the middle of the mob, knocking down at least three other people. “Shut up!”

It did not shut up everyone. Someone’s “Come on, it’s about time-.” got cut off by a loud screeching noise coming from the intercom above their heads. Everyone had to cover their ears and after it stopped Henry, still with his phone in hand, spoke “You are done now.” He looked over at Sven who was visibly boiling.

“… Gå vilse… You know the size of the brig. Get out of my sight before I make you all test how many of you fit into one cell.”

Some hurriedly moved on, some looked from the swede to Earrings cracking her knuckles before clearing the hall.

Sven glanced at Henry and his phone before ordering “Every single one of them will be locked in their rooms during all Christmas celebrations.”

Katie came over to apologize and now looked a little shocked “But… Randy planned those. They’ll at least take two days.”

“I know.” Sven glared at her. “Be glad you decided to be less of a tik than you usually are…”

She took that as a last warning and exemption from house arrest and ran off.

Henry looked up at the camera. It should’ve caught everyone’s face enough to identify them. It would’ve been easier to get all their names now instead of telling them to ‘get lost’ though.

“Where did Burt go?”

The two men turned around to Earrings, who was looking down the corridor. It led deeper into the ship and had a few more splits and plenty of public spaces. None of them had noticed Burt leaving.

Sven looked up at the mistletoe for a moment and then grabbed it and ripped it down, leaving only the red band hanging from the ceiling. “Please take care of those…” he swallowed the insult and started walking “I’ll go find Burt.”

Henry and Earrings looked after him until he turned a corner. Then Earrings huffed and turned towards the direction most of the others had gone. “Oh, I’ll take care of them…” “That’s not what he meant, Earrings…”

---

The ceiling of the small storage room was low enough for Howie to not need a ladder to reach the vent there. And thanks to him, neither did Hattie.

Both of their excitement about their plan had pretty much vanished. Dented by the disaster with Burt and Sven with all the other toppats around, and completely destroyed after their mishap with Terrence and Randy. They had already given up after listening to just part of that conversation but the plants had betrayed them. More than they already had.

No. It wasn’t the mistletoe’s fault.

As the two stared down at the rest of the tangled mess they knew exactly that it was their ‘plan’ that was the problem.

“I… didn’t think it could go this bad…” Hattie mumbled after a moment of regretful silence.

“Yeah… Guess Matilda was right…” thinking back to her speech actually made Howie a bit mad. At himself. “We really only did cause chaos.”

“That you did…”

Both toppats literally jumped as the slightly open door to the room was pushed open completely, revealing Sven standing in the hall outside. The three spend a few moments just staring at each other, Hattie and Howie in a bit of shock about being found this fast, until Sven started to tap his foot and his stern look started to get a bit darker. It wasn’t easy for the other two to tell how mad he was.

“… Do you have anything to say? About this”, Sven pointed at the mistletoes on the floor and then back over his shoulder “and about what happened back there?”

“I… How did you even find us?” Howie was still trying to figure out if an apology or an explanation would be the better thing to say right now. Maybe somewhat changing the topic would give him a bit more time.

“I know where the vents lead… And Right Hand Man called me after the disaster you caused with Terrence and Randy.” Sven crossed his arms and looked from his brother to his daughter. “What were you thinking? You should both know enough about the situation to see how horrible this would go.”

“We didn’t mean to.” Hattie opted for explaining first. “I know how upset Burt and his dad are with Carol. He and Randy are really good friends and care a lot about each other… I think they would be better together.”

“And uncle Terry does like dad more than like a friend.” Howie added. He was pretty sure that Randy would be happy about a relationship too, but… “And you two thought Carol would just watch and approve?” Sven scowled at them “Or that Terrence wouldn’t mind being put into a situation like that? I do not disagree with you, but they’re not two single men. Or both 100 % emotionally stable.”

Howie and Hattie looked at each other, feeling both ashamed and like living a déjà vu. Matilda had argued the same main point of Terrence still being married, but their mutual disrespect for Carol and belief that Terrence and Randy would be much happier together had lead them to disregard everything.

“You’re not children, you know your actions have consequences and you know that you’re not dealing with teenagers at a Christmas party.” Sven pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “Hell… Even with teenagers you would risk a fight. Terrence has issues with his emotions, my dad hates Carol’s guts, Carol would love to throw Randy off the balcony. The only direction this could’ve gone is a bad one. And that’s exactly the direction it has gone.”

“We know now… And we didn’t want to do it anymore after listening to them argue. The vent cover somehow broke…” Howie knew that this wasn’t an excuse for anything and he did feel bad for the pain he’d caused his family now. He didn’t expect them to really get violent and attack each other though. “How bad did it get…?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that Carol is furious, my dads want me to punish you accordingly and Randy is the one taking care of Terrence. Which apparently includes finding him.” Sven still had to do the same thing with Burt. He was surprisingly good at not getting found. “You’ll have to apologize to all of them later…”

So far the two younger toppats hadn’t thought much about the consequences their actions would have for them personally. They had been a little overwhelmed with how bad everything went for the people they wanted to help. Now it dawned on them that they wouldn’t just be scolded by a family member. Sven was the third in command. Dealing with troublemakers within the clan was his responsibility. Making them apologize to everyone wasn’t even part of their punishment.

“… Why did you drop it on Burt and me?”

Still not knowing how mad he was about the whole ordeal, Hattie and Howie glanced at each other and both decided that the truth would probably be the best way to go now.

“Because you’re oblivious and you didn’t notice anything for years.” Howie couldn’t help but feel at least a bit frustrated at still having to spell it out and Hattie added “And Burt wouldn’t say anything because he didn’t want to risk your friendship.”

Silence followed and Sven looked at them like he expected to hear more. By now he had put two and two together himself and wasn’t very happy with himself about it either. “… And you thought this would help? Ignoring Burt’s concerns and putting him and me on the spot like that would do anything good? Did you expect people to watch and clap?”

“I… I didn’t expect them all to care. And yell at you…” Hattie admitted. She was sorry and the reactions of the other toppats had shocked her even more than Katie. “I didn’t mean to upset Burt or you. Or Randy and Terrence. I just wanted you to be happy…”

“And you just joined in?” Sven asked before Howie could say anything.

Ashamed, Howie nodded. “… I know that I should’ve known better… Matilda already said I’m supposed to be the adult and see how childish and foolish we are…”

Sven was still upset, but he could see that the two were sorry and truly were aware of how bad their plan had gone. He still couldn’t just let them get off the hook like that. “You should’ve… But it’s too late for that now. Next time you’ll listen and consider what other people tell you. For now, clean up all the mistletoes. Here and in the meeting room.”

“… That’s it? Just cleaning up those?” Howie knew his brother and he didn’t expect to get a lighter sentence than the toppats who yelled and taunted Sven and Burt before. Hattie was also quite surprised and confused by that but Sven wasn’t done.

“No. I’ll go find Burt now and after that I’ll call you to my office.” He crossed his arms. “I have about thirty help requests from different departments. The kitchen needs help with clean up during the holidays, Accounting needs help with inventory, the records still all need to be sorted through and it looks like the vents need some cleaning too. I’m sure I can keep you two busy till the end of January.” There was a plethora of tasks that no toppat wanted to do and for which no department wanted one of their members to waste their time on. Going through more than sixty years of records to sort them and check if everything was complete and all heist reports matched the accountant’s inventories would take days.

The two didn’t even ask if that would mean that they wouldn’t celebrate Christmas.

“I can’t believe that you want to let her get away with this.”

“I am not.”, Reginald narrowed his eyes at Carol “I said I will leave that to Sven. As her father it is his responsibility to care for Harriet. You know, like any parent should.”

Carol glared back at that obvious jab at her own character and growled “Do not start that again, Copperbottom…”

“I would never start anything, Cross… Contrary to you I have respect and empathy for certain people.”

While Reginald and Carol were staring at each other intense enough to spark a fire between them, one of said certain people was on the opposite side of the table, holding his head in his hands. Right Hand Man was sitting next to him, keeping an eye on the situation, ready to step in when necessary.

After a moment of just staring, Carol huffed “You act as if I’ve never cared about him.”

“When did you ever care about him?”, Reginald cut her off before she could answer “As a mother, not as a self-absorbed superior talking to a recruit. You would’ve never even told him who you were if Terry wouldn’t have come back.”

“Why did it matter? Burt was doing perfectly fine on his own.”, now it was her turn to talk over his response “If it was so important, why did you never tell him? Shouldn’t you have been his ‘uncle’?”

“It wasn’t my place to tell him, or anybody else for that matter. He’s your son, not mine.”, Reginald crossed his arms and looked at her with one eyebrow raised “Would you have preferred to be outed as an uncaring parent right then and there? I’m sure that would’ve gotten you a lot of respect from our members, especially the ones around his age.”

Carol smiled in a manner that was more reminiscent of an animal baring its teeth as a last warning “I was and am an elite, Copperbottom. They have to respect me. They cannot question my authority.”

“Well, maybe I should’ve demoted you then.”, Reginald gave a very similar smile back “And might I add… Among those who ‘cannot question your authority’ is the third in command of the entire clan, the heads of communication and accounting, an elite who’s wiring a lot of money to-.”

Finally, Carol snapped “None of them were anything back then!” She glared across the table “Are you just going to let him talk to me like that?!”

It was silent for a moment, bringing a smug look to Reginald’s and a dark shade of red to Carol’s face.

Until Terrence groaned and leaned back in his chair so far, he almost fell over backwards, before taking his hands off his face. “One day… One day is too much to ask of you… Wipe that shit-eating-grin off your face, Reg.”

Reginald leaned back in his own chair and looked at Right Hand Man, who just looked back with confirmation that this had indeed not gone in his favor. “Little bit too far, Reg…”

It hadn’t gone in Carol’s favor either, despite what she seemed to assume with her arrogant smile. Terrence continuing made that very clear. “And you shut up. I don’t want either of you to talk the way you do to each other or to me or Wright or anybody.” He gestured to the closed door to their room and the half-finished Christmas decorations. “I asked both of you to have at least one time during this month where we could at least act like a halfway functional family. And you both agreed! Hattie stealing decorations or Sven and Burt being stuck in their offices for longer than planned is not what is ruining this evening.”

Carol and Reginald went from looking at Terrence to side glaring at each other again, which did nothing to better the ex-Chief’s mood. “It’s you two and your constant… I don’t even know anymore!”

Right Hand Man raised his hand, maybe to calmingly pat the younger man’s back, but Terrence got up and walked over to the wall to lean against it, bringing some distance between himself and the two others.

“… You are adults… You’re supposed to be better than me. I’m the one with the bad temper. How is it me who’s having splitting headaches every time we’re in a room together?!”

Reginald at least had the decency to look like he felt bad; not for anything he said to Carol, just for agitating his friend.

Carol still needed to double down “Well, maybe if you wouldn’t allow your ‘best friend’ to disrespect your wife we wouldn’t-”

“I don’t care! You can disrespect each other as much as you want. I disrespect you as the mother of my child, but I love you as my wife. Do you know how fucking tired I am off all of this?!” Terrence was boiling and Right, ignoring a “Don’t encourage him.” from his husband, grabbed one of the wine bottles from the table and held it out for Terrence to take. The brunet looked at it for a moment before snatching it and smashing it against the wall.

While Terrence was breathing heavy and staring at the mess he had just made Right turned around to Carol and Reginald “Anything else to say?”

Carol shook her head, eyes full of disdain, while Reginald decided to try and be diplomatic “We… I am sorry, Terrence. Maybe we can all cool off and meet up tomorrow?”

Terrence looked from the puddle of wine over to him, now seeming more tired than angry. “… No.”

Reginald’s smile faltered and Carol raised her voice “No? You hounded me to do this and now you don’t want to go through with it?”

“I’m sick of both of you!”, Terrence pointed the broken off bottle neck first at her, then at Reginald and then at the door behind them “I’d rather spend the rest of the month with whoever comes in next than with any of you two!”

He most likely expected Burt or maybe Sven to be that person, since they were the only ones missing from their planned dinner. Aside from Hattie, who was still hiding away with the whole airship’s supply of mistletoes. But, unbeknownst to any of them, Sven and Burt had been held up in an incident. Coincidentally involving mistletoes. So they weren’t the next people to enter the room. In fact, the next person to enter was the least helpful in this situation.

There was a knock and, when nobody inside answered, Randy just opened the door. “Hey, I heard you yelling from down the hall. Everything alright?”

Terrence just stared at him for a moment. With the Santa-hat pulled over his pink top hat and miniature Christmas lights wrapped around the whole construct plus the armful of full sized Christmas lights he was carrying he looked a lot sillier than anyone else in the room. Noticing the glass shards pointed at him, he took a closer look at all the people present “I’ll… take that as a ‘No’.”

Instead of actually answering Terrence let the bottle neck fall to the ground before burying his face in his hands again and leaning back against the wall.

Everyone in the room knew how much of a headache Terrence’s feelings towards Randy caused him. In addition to the conflicting feelings towards his wife, he would rather jump off the airship again than actually deal with them. Carol meanwhile would definitely prefer if Randy accidentally fell off.

“We’re fine, thank you.” Carol got up to shut the door in Randy’s face, but he pushed back.

“I just checked, and you aren’t the one looking like contemplating life right now.” He said it with a cheery smile, but Carol knew she was on the verge of another staring match. Randy wouldn’t leave without checking on his friend.

She took a deep breath before letting go of the door and Randy didn’t waste much time to move past her without another word. He could feel her staring daggers in his back, but at this point he was used to that.

“Your family dinner plans didn’t go so well, huh?” Randy leaned against the wall next to Terrence and looked from him over to Right and Reginald.

At this point Reginald looked just pained and contemplated on what to say to their sons once they showed up so Right answered “I’d say it went as expected.” Now the redhead couldn’t help but smirk “But you actually showed up at the perfect moment.”

Randy tilted his head “How so?”

Terrence banged the back of his head against the wall while Right explained “Terry just decided he’d spend the rest of the month with the next person coming in.”

Randy blinked a few times and glanced over at Carol. If looks could kill, he should be dropping dead right now. Then he smiled brightly and turned to Terrence “Sounds fun. I’ll still have a lot of decorating to do, but maybe we could watch a few movies. Like old times.” He paused and chuckled “Well, not exactly. The boys probably are too old for movie nights with their dads by now.”

“You weren’t supposed to be here.” Carol growled from next to the door, just loud enough for Randy to barely hear her. Quiet enough for him to reasonably ignore her.

Terrence didn’t react to it specifically either. He just sighed and crossed his arms, stepping away from the wall “Just… I need a break… Okay?”

“I mean… I’m sure we can arrange that too.” Randy walked the few steps to stay next to him and looked at Reginald “Doesn’t the clan have a few safe houses where-.”

“You won’t go anywhere with him!” Everyone looked at Carol who, in addition to her yelling, slammed the door shut, as if she expected Randy to snatch her husband and run away.

Reginald was the first one to speak, a lot more obviously angry than before “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Carol?!”

Carol completely ignored him and just gave Randy a death glare “Terrence is my husband. I decide where and with who we are spending this holiday. Not you!”

Randy looked back at her for a moment before wordlessly raising his hand and, without even looking at him, placing it on top of Terrence’s hat. And Carol looked like she was about to explode. “Seriously, girl…” Randy pulled his hand back and placed both on his hips instead. “You’re in your forties and this insecure about your relationship?” He pushed up his glasses, as far as his hat allowed it “Are you really this bad at giving your husband a reason to love you? To look past all your flaws, how he’s always done in the past? Has it really gotten this bad?”

Carol was shaking “How dare you…” but Randy wasn’t finished “I never said anything about going with him. All I meant is that he could get away from here and only bring the people he wants to spend time with right now. Maybe his son? Maybe Reginald? I don’t know if he wants me to be there. That’s his decision. Not mine. And not yours.”

Reginald was always filled with an anger that had been built up for decades, and he very much tended to act like it and shout back at Carol, just like she shouted at him. Contrary to that, and a bit to his usual behavior regarding anything else, Randy stayed calm. He didn’t yell back and his eyes weren’t filled with fury and disdain. Just stern and disapproving.

Their tense stare down was interrupted however.

First by the vent cover above Randy and Terrence suddenly clattering to the ground, just missing them. There was barely any time to react to it before something that looked like a piece of shrubbery fell out of the vent, accompanied by two different voices cursing and hands trying to catch and pull it back up. They were partially successful in pulling most of it back into the vent, but more than enough still landed on the two ex-Chief’s heads. Judging by the noises, whoever was in the vent was quickly retreating to wherever they had come from.

There weren’t many candidates for who it could be.

Everyone in the room was too baffled to do anything for a few moments. Eventually Randy pulled on one of the twigs that had gotten tangled in his hat decorations “Mistletoes?”

Terrence still stayed standing like he had through Randy’s whole speech, arms less crossed and more hugging himself and staring at the table. Randy just took it upon himself to get the romanticized plant off of them. Reginald and Right both got up and while Reginald rounded the table to check on them, Right picked up the vent cover. He knew very well who had been in that vent and they would get an ear full after this.

Feeling Carol glare at him again, Randy huffed “Are you really-.” Terrence suddenly pushing him and Reginald aside and storming off interrupted him. There were still enough mistletoes for Terrence’s hat to stay stuck and some of the twigs getting caught in his hair when he pulled away. Carol tried to stop him at the door, but for once didn’t receive any special treatment and was caught off guard enough by that to just topple over from the shove.

He didn’t look back and just slammed the door behind him.