#elsfic

Third Grade

>Hey, Psych was wondering if Arc wants to come trick-or-treating with us this year?

Mastermind blinked at Lusa’s text, mind scrambling to get out of thinking in Javascript and back into English.  Trick-or-treating.  Oh, was it already that time of year?

The moment he thought it, he felt like a terrible parent.  Of course it was that time of year.  Arc had proudly brought home one of those tiny pumpkins with a smiley face and cat ears taped onto it yesterday, the kind you’re only ever enthusiastic about in third grade.  His entire office was festooned with orange streamers and bowls of candy.  What had possessed him to forget Halloween?

He stretched, pushing himself away from his desk and scooping up his phone.  His fingers flew over the keyboard.

>>It depends.  How long were you planning to be out?  And where are you going?

Now that he thought of it, he should probably go costume-shopping with Arc sometime this weekend.  Mastermind sighed and reached for a post-it note, scrawling a reminder to himself and sticking it on his computer monitor.  Yay for responsibility.

He tucked his legs up under himself and went back to his code, adding missed semicolons and trying to get back into his focused mindset.  He’d barely begun typing out the next function call when his phone buzzed again.

>Probably just a few hours - 6 to 8, since Psych’s bedtime is 8:30.  We can pick Arc up from school if that’d be easier for you.

Mastermind stared at the text, trying to decide if he trusted Lusa enough to take care of Arc for that long.  Lusa seemed pretty dumb, but then again, most of Arc’s teachers seemed dumber and Mastermind trusted them to take care of his son.

(But that was mostly because school was mandatory and he didn’t have quite enough money to send Arc to private school.)

Then again, Arc was pretty responsible for a nine-year-old.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard, then he sighed and shook his head, tapping out a message.

>>No, I’ll drop him off at your place at about five thirty.  And I’ll pick him up around 8:15.

It took a while for Lusa to respond, the typing icon appearing and disappearing over and over.  Finally, a message slid up onto Mastermind’s screen.

>Fine.

Mastermind shot him a thumbs-up emoji, clicked his phone off, and went back to his code.

Fourth Grade

“So they were talking about Halloween costumes in the backseat,” Lusa said casually, jamming his hands into his pockets.  Mastermind cursed himself.  Yet again, he’d nearly forgotten Halloween.

“Dad, can I go show Psych my new Lego set?” Arc asked, tugging at Mastermind’s sleeve.  Mastermind nodded, and Psych and Arc ran off into Arc’s room, leaving Lusa and Mastermind standing by the door.

“Yeah?  What’s Arc planning to be?” he asked, focusing back on Lusa.  Lusa shrugged.

“They’re not sure, but they want to do a pair costume.  Which is sort of wasted if they go trick-or-treating separately.”

Mastermind shrugged, resigned.  Their kids had been almost inseparable for the past year; why not Halloween, too?

“I’ll take them shopping if you do the trick-or-treating,” he said.  Lusa grinned.

“Fine by me.  And, y’know, you can come with us, too.”

Mastermind laughed, privately thought he hadn’t been in a Halloween costume since one of his more quirky college professors said he’d give extra credit if his students came dressed up on the day, and shook his head.

“I’ve got a software release deadline the first, I’m afraid.  I’ll be jumping around at the whims of asshole quality assurance managers.”

Lusa chuckled.  “Perhaps next year, then,” he said amicably.  “Should we try a sleepover?”

Eh.  It would be a hassle for Mastermind to get away from his computer long enough to drive over to Lusa’s house and pick Arc up, especially on a software release night.  And Lusa knew Arc well enough not to do anything dumb by now.  Probably.

“Sure,” he said.  “Drop him off at about nine on the first?”

Lusa grinned and mock-saluted, then leaned around Mastermind to yell into the house.  “Oy, Psych!  Let’s go!”

Silence for a moment, then the two kids poked their heads out of Arc’s room, disappointed.

“Already, Dad?” Psych whined.  Mastermind rolled his eyes.

“You’ll be spending Halloween together, so don’t complain so much,” he said.

“And Arc, if you’re okay with it, you can sleep over,” Lusa added.

The sheer delight that spread over Arc’s face and crackled between him and Psych was almost enough to make Mastermind think that, for once, he might have made the right decision the first time around.

Fifth Grade

Arc and Psych prowled - really, that was the best word to describe it - along the costume store’s aisles, bickering about what to be.  Since last year’s joint costume had gone off so well, with Arc being Iron Man and Psych being Batman, they’d wanted to do it again this year.

Mastermind followed in their tracks, ignoring the phone buzzing frantically in his pocket and watching them fondly.

“Salt and pepper’s dumb,” Arc declared, spinning away from two packaged costumes.  Psych stood up from where he’d been peering at the bottom shelf and agreed.

“These are all really dumb,” he groaned.  “Why can’t there be cool costumes?  Like, oooh, we could be two of the Tracer’s paths!”

Mastermind blinked for a second before realizing Psych was talking about that video game he and Arc had recently been so obsessed with.  What was it called, Addsword?  Grand Chase?  Eh, it was Lusa that fed their video game addiction, not him.

“Yeah!” Arc chirped, spinning around and glancing up at the aisle headers.  “Let’s try and see if they have those!”

After a few moments, both of them spun around and headed for the other side of the store at a dead sprint.  Mastermind followed at a more leisurely pace, pulling his phone from his pocket and texting Lusa.

>>New ideas on the table: cosplay.

He’d barely slipped his phone back into his pocket when it buzzed with Lusa’s reply.

>Let me guess.  Tracers?

Mastermind glanced down the next aisle, seeing Psych and Arc having an animated argument.

>>If you gave them this idea, Lusa, I swear…

>Yeah, well, you might enjoy it more if you took time off your work to play with us. ;)

Mastermind clicked his phone off and shoved it down into his pocket, deeming Lusa’s winky-face not worthy of a response.  Was it just him, or had Lusa gotten almost flirtatious over the past year?

Might just be him.  It was only a year or so ago that they’d been at each other’s throats, after all.  Mastermind shook off the thoughts and headed for Psych and Arc.

“Figured something out yet?”

“Yes,” Psych chirped.

“No,” Arc snarled.

Mastermind raised one eyebrow.

“Okay, then.  I’m glad we’ve come to an agreement,” he said mildly, then turned and scanned the rows of plastic-packaged costumes.  “Have you thought about being Darth Vader and Kylo Ren?”

Arc tilted his head, thoughtful.  Psych whined, “that’s not original enough.”

Mastermind pulled an Emperor Palpatine costume off the shelf, making sure it was in Lusa’s size.  “Yeah, but you could pretend to kill your dad.”

One overblown reenactment in the middle of the aisle and a fair bit of cackling later, there were three costumes on the checkout belt - two kid sized, one adult sized.

Mastermind sent an upside-down smiley face to Lusa.

Sixth Grade

“You look like a stripper,” Arc cackled.  Mastermind looked up from his book, debating with himself if he should call Arc out for language.

Last year’s cosplay idea had come back in full force.  Mastermind had taken them to get supplies yesterday, and for two hours now, both boys had been sprawled all over the living room floor with assorted needles and fabric markers and bits of clothing.

Psych shrugged off the leather jacket and chucked it at his best friend.

“Yeah, well, it’s detail-accurate,” he grumbled, scooping up his phone to check the Tracer’s Rebellion path.  “And you’re forgetting something on your jacket.”

Arc blinked and checked his jacket against the Tracer’s Imperial path.  “Nooo, it’s perfect.  Slightly less puffy, but perfect.”

Psych grinned and rotated the 3D model they were basing their costumes off of, pointing out the cat ears on the hood.

Arc groaned, flopping backwards.  “How do you even sew those on?”

“Two pieces of fabric, quilting padding between them, and wire around the edges to hold them stiff,” Mastermind suggested, turning a page of his book.  Arc frowned.

“That’s complicated…. I don’t wanna ruin my jacket.”

Mastermind looked up from his book just in time to see Psych sling on his own jacket and check his reflection in the mirror, ruffling the fake fur around the collar and making a face.

“Dad, can I practice on your lab coat?” Arc asked.  Mastermind blinked.

“Uh, sure.”

Arc grinned and raced off, coming back with Mastermind’s coat.  Suddenly concerned, Mastermind put down his book and coached Arc through making the ears.

Later, when Lusa came to pick Psych up and complimented the kids on their costumes, he also saw the slightly-crooked ears sewn onto the hood of Mastermind’s coat.  Mastermind nearly had to smack Lusa to make him stop cackling.

Even so, he did keep the ears.

Seventh Grade

“So, you three thought about your costumes yet?” Mastermind asked, shoving Apocalypse away from his book yet again.  The white cat gave a mrrt of displeasure and poked Mastermind’s stomach with outstretched claws.

“We’re too old to go trick-or-treating,” Psych declared, sitting up straighter and stopping the near-constant movement of his fingers on the game controller for two seconds.  It would have looked more mature had his demeanor not almost instantly devolved back into that of a thirteen-year-old engrossed in a game.

“You’re never too old for Halloween,” Lusa protested, draping himself over the back of Mastermind’s chair.  “Whatcha gonna do instead?”

“We’re gonna marathon horror movies!” Arc chirped, looking up for a second.  “We’re the only kids in our grade who haven’t seen The Shining.  Or Dracula.  And we were thinking of doing The Exorcist too?”

Mastermind looked up at Lusa with his lips pressed into a thin line.  Lusa looked down at Mastermind with a raised eyebrow.  Silently, they agreed there was no way that was going to happen.

“Why don’t you play Silent Hill instead?” Lusa asked.  Neither kid answered - they were too focused on the end of their in-game battle, Arc blowing his bangs from his face and Psych’s tongue sticking out between his teeth as they concentrated.

“Silent Hill?” Mastermind asked quietly, marking his spot in his book and laying it aside.  Apocalypse took the chance to flop down on Mastermind’s lap with a loud meow.

“Horror game.  If they want to do something scary, they will, so why not something they can control?” Lusa murmured.  He ruffled Apocalypse’s head fur, playing with his ears before he scratched under Apocalypse’s fluffy chin.  Apocalypse purred at Lusa and glared at Mastermind as if to say see, this is how you should be petting me.

Mastermind hummed thoughtful agreement.  Lusa was fantastic with kids, he had to admit.  And with people in general.  And animals.  All three of which generally did not like Mastermind.

Lusa gently ruffled Mastermind’s hair, tugging the ponytail holder from it to let the soft white strands hang.  Mastermind grumbled something mainly for the sake of having a response.

“Gross,” Psych groaned, the onscreen battle apparently having come to a conclusion.  Arc looked quite satisfied with himself.

“We know you’re all lovey-dovey, you don’t have to shove it in our faces,” Psych said.

Lusa gave his son a cheeky smile, reached down to take Mastermind’s hand, and brought it up to brush his lips across Mastermind’s knuckles.

Psych turned away in a huff.  Arc cracked up.  Mastermind did his absolute best not to blush and failed.  Lusa’s breath was warm across the back of his hand.

“So, Silent Hill.  Should we grab a copy?” Lusa asked.

“Sure,” Arc said.  Psych glanced back with his eyes gleaming in agreement.

Eighth Grade

Psych and Arc went back to trick-or-treating.

Silent Hill had scared both of them pretty badly.  Arc had finished the game, but they’d had to turn the lights on halfway through and Psych recited random video game lines to distract them from the onscreen shenanigans during most of the final battle.  So this year, they both decided immediately they didn’t want to repeat that.

But they’d also decided they didn’t want Lusa and Mastermind coming with them.

“Text me every fifteen minutes,” Mastermind reminded Arc as he and Psych did a last costume check.  Again, they’d made their own costumes - Arc as a vampire, Psych as his blood-smeared servant/victim.

Arc made a face.  “I know, Dad,” he groaned, and grabbed the two fake blood bags they’d gotten to put candy in.  He shoved them both at Psych, who grinned and took them.

“The blood on my neck’s not smeared, is it?” he asked Lusa, glancing back at his dad sprawled on the couch.  Lusa gave him a thumbs up.

“You’re good.  Go give yourself diabetes.”

Psych and Arc both smiled at that.  Mastermind leaned against the counter as they walked out, tense with excitement, into the night.

“C’mere,” Lusa said as soon as the door clicked shut.  He lifted his cat, Doomsday, off the couch next to himself and patted the spot.

Mastermind walked over and sank down, pulling out the scrunchie holding his hair back with a practiced flick of his wrist and running his fingers through his hair.

“Hmm?” he asked before he saw the loading screen of Silent Hill come up on the television.

“You’re kidding.”

“I wanna see if you can get through it!” Lusa said, waving a controller at Mastermind.  Mastermind took it reluctantly, debating if this was worth it.  He’d always been good with horror - in fact, he used to put horror movies on to keep himself awake while studying in college - but he was certifiably terrible at video games and Lusa damn well knew that.

Then again, staying calm through the entire game could be a fantastic laugh in Lusa’s face.

“Fine, but that means you’re passing out candy,” he said.  Lusa grinned and tucked his feet up underneath him.

“Alright by me.  Now play the game, Masi.”

Mastermind rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck, and picked up the controller.

====

“Why do I hear Silent Hill’s final theme?” Psych asked as soon as he and Arc came in the door three hours later, blood bags full of candy and his makeup smeared.

“Because your father is a terrible, terrible person,” Mastermind gritted out, glaring at the incubus boss that had killed him twice already.

Lusa cackled.  Arc groaned, grabbed Psych’s wrist, and towed him into his room, shutting the door as they went.

“I hate you,” Mastermind grumped at Lusa, restarting the battle.  Lusa smiled and sat down next to Mastermind.

“Nooo, you don’t,” he teased.  Mastermind glared.

“Finish this game for me if you want to convince me otherwise.”

Lusa took the controller.  Mastermind leaned into Lusa’s warm side, appreciating with new eyes the expertise with which Lusa took down the boss.

High School: Freshman Year

Mastermind looked up from his laptop as Lusa came in.

“How'd the haunted house look?” he asked.  Lusa shrugged.

“Psych and Arc wanted me to drop them off in front, so I didn't really see it.  They looked excited, though.”

Mastermind hummed and reached for his phone, checking the time.

“We've got an hour before I'll go pick them up, then,” he said, and saved his code before closing his laptop.  Doomsday pawed at his ankle and meowed to be petted.

Lusa chuckled and walked over to pick up the kitty.

“An hour, hmm?  Then maybe I can finally get you into a costume.”

Mastermind reached over to ruffle Doomsday's ears and stood up, stretching. “What do you mean?”

Lusa grinned.  Mastermind felt a pang of trepidation as he watched Lusa drop Doomsday, hold up one finger, and rush into his room.

The doorbell rang before Mastermind could follow Lusa in and demand an answer.  He pivoted, scooping up the bowl of candy on his way to the door and opening it.

“Trick or treat!” chirped a small zombie, a smaller fairy, and a not-so-small ninja who was trying and failing to look disinterested. Mastermind flashed a practiced smile.

“Treats, not tricks, I think,” he said lightly, dropping three pieces of candy into each kid's bag.  They grinned up at him, said 'thank you', and spun around, racing each other to another house.

Mastermind closed the door and picked a Kit-Kat from the candy bowl.

“Lusa, what are you-”

Lusa reappeared with a grin and a hanger draped in a garment bag. Mastermind tore open the Kit-Kat.

“You have a PhD, so you're a doctor, riiiight?” Lusa teased.  Mastermind had a bad feeling about where this was going.

“In a sense, yes.  Though not a medical doctor.”  Mastermind broke the Kit-Kat into two and took a bite of one piece.

“Well-!” Lusa grinned even wider and tore the garment bag off.

Mastermind choked on his candy.  The costume on the hanger was a skimpy nurse's outfit, half-transparent white fabric looking like it would cover almost nothing.

“No way.”

“Masi,” Lusa whined, looking genuinely disappointed.  That was almost enough to make Mastermind reconsider, but then he noticed straps dangling beneath the barely-there “skirt” of the costume.  Was that a thong?

“Nope. Not happening.  I can say it in three different languages, if you want,” Mastermind offered, turning away.  And then he squeaked when Lusa pounced on him from behind.

“I think it'd look nice on you,” he said, holding the outfit up to Mastermind's front.  Mastermind ducked away.

“Still not wearing that.”

“C'mon,” Lusa said.  Mastermind glanced back to see him doing his best impression of Psych's puppy-dog eyes.  “During the whole two years we've dated, I've never seen you in a costume – hell, I haven't seen you in a costume the full time we've known each other.”

“And that's not going to be the first one,” Mastermind grumbled, popping the rest of his Kit-Kat into his mouth.  “I don't think I've worn a Halloween costume since college.”

“You're no fun,” Lusa sighed, hanging the costume on the back of a chair with a distinctive “click” of metal against wood.

Mastermind froze as all his old insecurities came rushing back with those three words.

Lusa thought he wasn't any fun Lusa was going to break up with him Lusa wanted someone who wasn't Mastermind-

Lusa's arms slipped around his waist from behind, warm breath brushing across Mastermind's ear.

“Sorry, did I make you feel bad?” he murmured, genuine regret saturating his voice.  “I've said it once, I'll say it a thousand times, Masi. I'm not going to leave you.”

Air stuttered in Mastermind's throat.  He opened his mouth to say something – not sure what, though – but was cut off by the ringing of the doorbell.

Both Lusa and Mastermind's eyes went to the skimpy costume hanging in full view of the door.

Lusa scrambled to get it out of sight while Mastermind composed his blush and went to satisfy the trick-or-treaters.  Not for the first time, he cursed Halloween.

High School: Sophomore Year

The haunted house had gone off well, Psych and Arc thought, so this year they'd lobbied Lusa and Mastermind again to let them watch horror movies. With varying degrees of reluctance, both fathers had agreed.

“Let's start with The Ring!” Psych declared, plopping himself down on the nest of assorted pillows on the floor.  He dragged a protesting Apocalypse into his lap.

Arc hummed thoughtfully, bringing over their drinks and a bowl of candy. He nestled the bowl in between himself and Psych.

“No, let's watch them in chronological order.  So The Shining, then The Ring, then Ouija.”

“Why?” Psych stopped reaching for the remote, blinking at Arc.

Mastermind leaned down and grabbed two pieces of candy from their stash, tossing a Milky Way to Lusa and keeping the Kit-Kat for himself.

“Either way, you're going to scare yourselves out of your pants,” he said mildly.  “I've got a night-light for your room, Arc, don't worry.”

“Dad!” Arc exclaimed, going bright red at Psych's laughter.  “I'm not gonna need a night-light!”

“Sure you won't,” Mastermind said with a wink.  Lusa shoved him lightly

“Let's watch the newest first.  I haven't seen Ouija yet,” he said, deftly plucking the remote from Psych's fingers.  Psych only offered token resistance, curling with Arc into their nest of pillows and candy as the first movie started.

Mastermind curled up against Lusa's side with a sigh of contentment, his fiance's strong arm going around him and pulling him close.  By the end of the movie, though, it was Lusa that was nearly crawling into Mastermind's lap with fright.

And, as a side note, Arc and Psych didn't end up needing the night-light. Mastermind checked on them a few hours after they'd finished the movies to find them both curled up in Arc's bed, lights still on, with the closet door locked tight.

Mastermind smiled at the sight, turned down the lights to a low burn, walked over, and unplugged the unused night-light to bring back to his own room – where Lusa was half-buried under the covers and jumping in fright at every little noise Apocalypse made in the kitchen.

“Naughty cat,” he said affectionately as he passed Apocalypse.  The white fluffball looked up from batting at the secured spice rack and meowed.

High School: Junior Year

“Text me-”

“Every hour, I know, Dad,” Arc groaned.  He waved his phone in the air, glaring at Mastermind, before he pocketed it again.  “Jeez.  Don't nag.”

“I'm not nagging, I'm making sure I don't worry so much that I track you down and drag you out of whatever party you're going to.”

Lusa laughed, walking out of their room – their room, the thought made Mastermind slightly dizzy even though they'd married and merged their households almost a month ago – and leaned his chin on Mastermind's shoulder, arms twining around Mastermind's waist.

“They'll be fine.  Don't drink.  Have fun.  Call us if your car breaks.”

“You're worse than Mastermind, Dad,” Psych groaned.  He glanced at his phone’s selfie camera and fixed the positioning of the bloody bandages around his head.

“We'll call if we need anything,” Arc said, dragging Psych out the door and shutting it.  Before the garage door opener drowned out their voices, Mastermind could hear Arc giving Psych yet another runthrough of the scripted lines they'd practiced for their “creepy twins” joint costume.

Lusa could hear it too.  He snorted with laughter in Mastermind's ear.

“Now watch Psych forget everything and be his normal, cheerful self,” he said.  Mastermind smiled.

“Arc won't be happy if that happens.  They've been practicing this all week.”

Lusa laughed.  Mastermind winced.

“That's my ear you're cackling into.”

“Whoops, sorry.”  Lusa pressed a kiss to Mastermind's neck before disentangling himself.  Mastermind thought of the garment-bag covered costume in their closet and took a deep breath.

“Hey, Lusa, I'm gonna change.  Queue up something on Netflix for us?”

“Mmm, sure.” Lusa spun and pulled the remote out from under Apocalypse, who half-heartedly hissed.  Doomsday flicked his battered tail and rolled over on the couch.

Mastermind went to change.

The black garment bag parted easily as Mastermind unzipped it, pushing it off to reveal the incubus costume he'd ordered off the internet. With a fair bit of fumbling, not helped by his hands shaking with nervousness, he managed to get it on himself.

“Hey, Lusa,” he called, glancing in the full-length mirror to make sure it was on correctly.  The black and purple straps were a sharp contrast against his pale skin.  At least the 'collar' of the costume helped cover the scar around his neck, left there from his father's abuse.

“Yeah?” Lusa called back.

“Remember that doctor costume a couple years ago?”

“Mmm-hmm. You didn't like it.  Why?”

Mastermind took a deep breath and opened their bedroom door.

Lusa's eyes latched onto him, jaw falling slack.

Mastermind forced himself to stand still, cool air brushing against his exposed skin.  He and Lusa had seen each other before, of course – they'd had sex quite a few times – but this almost felt more exposed than just being naked.

Lusa stood up and padded over to Mastermind, searching his husband's face. “Is this... Are you...?”

Mastermind felt his heart pounding furiously, blood rushing to his face.  “If you don't like it-”

“No no no,” Lusa protested, cutting him off.  Warm hands clutched Mastermind's upper arms, keeping him from pulling away.  “I like it. A lot.  I just want to make sure you're okay with it.”

Mastermind looked up through lowered eyelashes, a glance he knew always made Lusa hot and bothered.

“I wouldn't be wearing this if I weren't okay with it.”

Lusa grinned and pushed Mastermind back into their room.  Mastermind stepped back willingly, continuing until his knees hit the bed and he collapsed backward onto the sheets.  Lusa only paused to undo the buttons of his shirt before straddling Mastermind, sharp canines poking out as he grinned and leaned down for a bruising kiss.

High School: Senior Year

“What, no surprise sexy costume this year?” Lusa joked after Mastermind came out of their room in his pajamas.

Mastermind snorted and scooped two pieces of candy from the trick-or-treaters' bowl by the door.  A Milky Way for Lusa, a Kit-Kat for him.  As always.

“If I want my coworkers to ask me why I can't walk straight or sit properly for a week again, I'll let you know,” he said dryly.  “So. Are we finishing the Silent Hill series?”

Lusa hummed agreement, holding the controller out to Mastermind.  “I thought we'd better play the first one over, too, since it's been a while.  Psych and Arc have a curfew of midnight.  We've got six hours to finish everything.  Two hours per game.”

“Shouldn't be too hard.”  Mastermind took the controller and sat next to Lusa, tucking his feet underneath him.  “Whoever doesn't have the controller has to get up to deal with trick-or-treaters.”

“Deal.” Lusa let Doomsday jump up on the couch, lifting the scarred gray cat into his lap and petting him.  Doomsday purred.

Mastermind hit 'start'.  Lusa leaned his head on Mastermind's shoulder with a sigh, both of them watching the opening cutscene and mentally prepping themselves for the horror games.

Though if Mastermind was being honest with himself, something about being with Lusa made the horror a little better, made the frantic voice in the back of his mind saying he shouldn't be wasting time on games go away.  He glanced at Lusa out of the corner of his eye, noting Lusa’s passive expression, the way he was chewing on the inside of his cheek like he tended to do when he was nervous or concentrating.

Mastermind turned and kissed the top of Lusa's head.  Lusa glanced up and raised one eyebrow.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Mastermind said, turning back to the game and reaffirming his grip on the controller.  “Let's get this done before Arc and Psych get back.”

Lusa chuckled and nodded.

=====

“Dad,” Arc asked when he and Psych walked in just a few minutes after midnight, “what is that?”

He pointed to the screen.  Mastermind groaned and passed the controller back to Lusa, massaging his temples.  He had an exhaustion headache.

“It's God.”

“What?”

“The final boss of Silent Hill 3. God.  And it's killed us five times.”

Arc, when Mastermind looked up, seemed supremely concerned about his father's sanity.  Psych yawned and grabbed Arc's wrist.

“Have fun with that,” he muttered.  “Arc, c'mon.  Let's go sleep.”

Arc shook Psych's hand off, marched over to Lusa, and held his hand out for the controller.

“Lemme try.”

Lusa sighed and handed over the controller, then turned to gently and repeatedly hit his head against Mastermind's shoulder.

“That damn thing... I keep running out of ammo,” he groaned.  Mastermind lazily ruffled Lusa's fluffy hair.

Arc sat down determinedly, crossing his legs and flexing his hands around the controller.  Despite his best efforts, he only managed to take the boss down to half health.

After Arc died, Psych took a turn.  Mastermind felt his eyes closing, mind drifting despite the game's sound effects.

“Yep, this'll do,” Ryota murmured to themself, examining the opal-set gold bangle they'd just gotten from one of their contacts. Was it fairly bought?  Probably not.  Would it be fairly sold? Definitely not.

“Hey, Ryota!”

Ryota looked up from the bracelet at the sound of their name.  Oh, fantastic.  That little Guardian brat was sprinting towards her. They casually dropped the bracelet and kicked it under a shelf, leaning on one of the counters holding their wares and grinning as Chung slowed to a stop in front of their shop.

“Ey, look who it is?  Can the Great Thief Ryota do something for you today, laddie?”

They grinned at him as he bent over, bracing his hands on his knees, and they silently wished him a bloody death for interrupting them. Now they'd have to polish that bracelet all over again.  Just their luck.

“I forgot... my anniversary with Els.”  Chung straightened up, still breathing hard.  Ryota noted his fast recovery time.  Yeah, they'd better keep their illicit activities away from this kid. Tangling with him would be a bad idea.

“So you're hurrying to me for some great gift?”  They gave him a giant smile and swung around the counter, humming as they surveyed their shop.  “I'm sure we can find something for you.”

“Really?  I know he wanted something from Steel, but I can't find her anywhere, so you're my last hope!”

Ryota was pretty sure Steel was off somewhere with her dad. That or she was sick again, and Pesop was making up the months of rent he'd lost by taking care of her.  Both had happened before.  Both had given Ryota a chance to sneak in and steal some of Steel's more expensive metals.

“Really.  Well, not to worry, we'll find your Els something! There's nothing I can't help steal!”  They gave Chung an exaggerated wink.  “Including your boyfriend's heart!”

The giggle from Chung was rather gratifying.  It almost eased the half hour of scouring their shop with a kid who would gladly murder them if he caught them doing their actual job.

=====

Chung finally went away, with a wrapped pendant for Elsword's hair clutched in one hand.  Ryota watched him go for long enough that they were sure he was gone before wiping their brow and going back inside, kneeling on the floor and reaching under the shelf for the hidden bracelet.

“C'mere, precious....” they hummed, their fingers brushing the cool metal.  Ryota snatched it and pulled it out, blowing off the dust and making another mental note to clean their shop soon.

“Did you miss me?  I'll bet'cha did,” they cooed, standing up with the bracelet.  “Let's get you all nice and cleaned up, yeah?”

They hopped over the counter, padding into their shop's back room and reaching for the jewelry cleaner.  But their hand froze an inch from the bottle as they heard their shop door bang open.

“Ryota!”  Elsword sounded panicked.

Ryota sighed and put down the bracelet, muttering a curse word under their breath before heading back out and grinning at Elsword. “Problem?”

“I forgot my anniversary with Chung and he's going to kill me! Help!”

Elsword flung up a rune just in time to block Chung's bullet.

It pinged uselessly to the ground and he grinned, leaping forward with his practice sword glowing green and a shout of “GOTCHA!”

Chung snorted and dove underneath Elsword, tucking into a practiced roll and coming up on one knee with a Silver Shooter leveled at Elsword's chest.

“Dead!”

“Oops.”  Elsword rolled his eyes and waved away Chung's laughter.  “I can still handle a sword better than you handle your gun.”

“-he says,” Chung dropped his voice and turned away, pretending to speak to an audience- “after he's lost three matches out of three and still can't get that new move he was talking about to work right.”

“Hey!”

Chung chuckled, dismissing his Silver Shooters and walking over to Elsword, patting him on the shoulder.  “Seriously, don't you have enough mana for it yet?”

Elsword playfully shoved him away. “I think I do.  I just, uh, don't know what it'll do to the trees. Yeah.  Rena'll kill me if I hurt any trees, you know.”

“You've been so worried about training in parks before.”  Chung tilted his head.  “Wasn't it you that burned your initials into a tree?”

“Sssh!”

“I mean, the handwriting was too messy for Miss Elesis.”  Chung grinned and got poked in the chest with Elsword's training sword.

“Fine, fine.  I'll try it.” Elsword turned away and grumbled something under his breath.  Chung sat on his cannon and propped his chin on one fist, watching.

“Here goes....” Elsword muttered, turning around and closing his eyes.

Chung glanced over at the river flowing sluggishly a few meters away, just to make sure he could quickly dunk Elsword if he caught on fire.  Hey.  It had happened before.

Flame started spiraling out in the air around Elsword, a rune spreading from beneath his feet.  He opened red eyes – holy fuck they were glowing – and flung his free hand into the air.

“Phoenix Strike!”

The fire coalesced into a flaming bird, which shot up into the air, singing the nearby trees on its way.  Elsword quickly threw his sword up – either blocking or brandishing, Chung wasn't sure – but nothing else happened.

A second or two passed.

Elsword lowered his sword and shaded his eyes with his hand, looking around.  “I don't-”

A screech cut him off.  Chung yelped and threw himself out of the way before the bird-shaped fire plunged back down, following the direction of Elsword's blade and shooting straight past Chung and into the trees.

“Hey!  Shit!  Come back!” Elsword yelled futily, then groaned and turned to Chung.

“Come on.  We've gotta catch it.”

“What, you can't just call it back to you?”

“You really want me standing here, gathering magic, and making the mental equivalent of coaxing birdcalls while that thing sets the entire park on fire?  Come on!” Elsword sheathed his sword and started sprinting, leaping over Chung's cannon in pursuit of the phoenix.

Chung sighed and scrambled to his feet, sprinting after Elsword and holstering his cannon on his back without breaking stride.  The phoenix didn't look like it'd be hard to follow.  Giant flaming wings left giant flaming swathes of land, after all.