i'll set the world on fire

radiantarrow:

It’s a blow he’s not willing to show, but the secrecy hurt. Did he ever hide things from her? He’s not sure whether or not he can even remember, but now he kind of wants to. “Well, I hope whoever it is, they aren’t a bad person.”

Leo runs he hands through his hair when she’s not looking, now stressed as he thinks back to when they started drifting apart. Was it something he did? When she’s facing him again, he can’t stop himself from reassuring her he’ll always be here, “Just… promise me you won’t hide like Tsura did if anything happens? I can’t be a proper brother if we hide things from each other.”

Ariella hated making him feel like this. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, she trusted him more than any other soul on this planet. She didn’t want to disappoint him. Staring at him, she tries to come up with something to say that doesn’t sound like a blatant lie. 

[ Ari could never tell him, not after what Vinny had done to Tsura. Though Tsura wasn’t entirely innocent either. She smiles at him, tight and forced. ]

     "Not for awhile if I can help it.“

[ She steps away from her brother, moving to the fridge to find something for lunch. Leo wouldn’t understand how Vinny had changed, how Ari had brought out the good in him. Vinny was never a bad person, he just never had a chance. She takes out one of the sandwiches her mami must have left in fridge for them this morning, and then returns to the counter. ]

It’s a blow he’s not willing to show, but the secrecy hurt. Did he ever hide things from her? He’s not sure whether or not he can even remember, but now he kind of wants to. “Well, I hope whoever it is, they aren’t a bad person.”

A laugh escapes her, not mocking, but genuinely surprised. “A mate? Heavens, papa, no.” She sits back and shakes her head at him. “No, they’re just… nontraditional.” That’s one way to put it.

She is excited to talk to him now, wiggling in her seat a bit. “The alpha, his name is Wolf but he’s passed the torch to his daughter. So technically she’s the alpha now, and there’s other humans. There was a vampire once, and witches. Papa, it’s perfect for me.” She’d never felt like she’d belonged anywhere before this. Taking a calming breath, she tries to settle down a bit. She’d missed talking to him like this but he was always so calm and collected. She felt silly bouncing around like a child.

“That’s very nontraditional.” Leo smirks and spins a little in the chair he occupied, “That sounds wonderful, sweetheart. The world needs more of that, peaceful coexistence.” He missed this, being able to talk to her about anything and everything going on with her day. Leo is done fighting with her or lecturing her about anything because she’s been an adult for years now, but he doesn’t know what he’s doing that drives her away. He tries to stay on topic, keep it where she wants it instead of moving toward something... difficult.

Mina feels her muscles ease, the tension slowly leaking out of her. Who was this man? She stares at him for a moment before slowly sitting in her chair. Suddenly she wants to tell him everything. And that feeling made her fingers tremble. She curls them in, holding her hands in delicate fists on her lap. 

“They’re my pack now,” she says, still a bit nervous. “They’re good people. A little… crazy… but good.” She looks into his eyes briefly, she really did look so much like him. “I haven’t seen Kurt in awhile, he’s got a new litter.” Sometimes Mina wondered if Kurt was just building a pack of his own. Wasn’t this Riley’s third or fourth litter now? She shakes her head to focus on her father again.

“Dad,” she says quietly. “I’d come home if I could, you know that right?” 

Leo can’t keep his eyebrows from raising in surprise. “You’re part of a pack?” That was a little strange because as far as he knew, wolves didn’t have packs with humans or witches in them unless they were mates. He is almost afraid to ask, but he is curious if she found someone to spend the rest of her life with. He doesn’t say anything else about Kurt, the guy is already ten light years out of his mind because of her next statement.

Leo doesn’t want to talk about it, but he has to reassure her that she’s not hurting him. Or at least make it seem like this doesn’t hurt. “Oh I know, I just worry is all. I want to see that you’re doing okay.” he waves his hand and turns to look at the rain again.

“No one in particular,” she lies through her teeth, and expertly so. Mina doesn’t know when the lying started, the constant hiding. Leo wasn’t a particularly bad father, sure he’d made mistakes but what father didn’t? It’s not like he had a great role model, someone to teach him to be a dad. But she loathes him sometimes, loathes the father she knows he could have been. Loathes that there were nights she was desperate to be sung to sleep by him but he was half a world away.

Stirring a cube of sugar into his cup, she stares at her painted fingernails on the spoon. Looking at him proved harder every time they were together. “Well…” she hesitates. “A couple of…wolves.” She braces herself for his chastising. Wolves were untrustworthy, reckless. The only wolves she should trust were the ones in her family. Sometimes she wondered if he was just bitter that he kept losing the women he loved to them.

The thought is spiteful and she feel guilty for it every time it crosses her mind. Taking a depp breath, she sets his cup on the control dash in front of him. “A pack, actually.”

“A whole pack of wolves?” The news isn’t surprising really. Leo had accepted the fact that Mina would always attract wolves. It wasn’t really Kurt’s fault or even her uncle Vincent’s. Leo was icy toward both of them earlier in their lives, but after all these years he realized a good person can be any species. “Were they good ones or bad ones?” he assumed so because she’s still alive, but at the same time she’s strong enough to take some out. 

It takes Lisbeth a moment to realize the change in his demeanor. She found it hard, to recognize what someone is feeling as they speak to her. She knew it was a part of her… defect. “Oh.”

Gingerly, she touches her bruised cheek and traces it as if doing it for him. Delightful. He found her face delightful. Now she was all black and blue and red. Her fingers tremble as she pushes her hair behind her ear, eyes on his shoes now. “I just- Th- Thank you.” This must be such a hard time for him, these people were his family. Her only family lived back in the states, and her father was safe and sound. “I’m sorry,” she says suddenly, like she just realized what was appropriate to say. “You shouldn’t have to clean up this mess. I can help.”

It wasn’t her fault, it was normal for people to express condolences but he didn’t want them. He nodded his thanks and looked away for a moment at the rubble.