#pepper sisters

“Pap will you please just shut up?”

The half formed equations that he barely got a hold of disintegrated like ash. Ignoring the heaviness of his eyes, he unhooks his headphones and looks back.

On Lewis’s bed, the giant man was sprawled out with several plushies and sisters tucked in his arms and laying across them. His eyes were shut and breathing slow, along with Belles, who was curled similar to a cat against the wall, only connected to Lewis by his large fingers still half tangled in her hair. The one chanting one of us was Paprika in her poka-dotted onesie and with her stuffed rabbit in her arms. She was bouncing on Lewis’s knee, like she was ready to hop on Lewis’s stomach whenever, but more focused on an argument with Cayenne.

Cayenne, who’s swatting at Paprika, was half- nestled against Lewis’s chest. Tucked in a blanket and content to simply nap next to her brother.

Paprika gasps when she turns away from Cayenne and her meanness back to him.

“You’re ready?” She beams at him, and Arthur can only manage a slow blink before shaking his head.

“Not yet, Papi. I gotta finish this assignment.”

She slumps and sinks against Lewis’s leg. “How much is left?” She asks, eyes wide in a puppy dog stare. Arthur swallows and looks away, not wanting to be compelled by her again. Nope! No way. He’s got work to do and no amount of begging will stop him.

“Just a bit more, then I’ll join you-“

Little feet- more like a small body- hit the floor with a thud.

Arthur flinches, spins around, and finds that Paprika was no longer on top of Lewis. In fact- Lewis’s eyes were open and he was leaning up, scanning the room hurriedly. Shit she woke him up?

Little hands touch his knee, and Arthur snaps down to see the girl’s puppy dog eyes boring into his. “Can’t you join now?” She asks, pouting.

Fuck. Fuck. God dammit. God dammit why do I have to like you kids? I would punt you into the sun if you weren’t so precious to me-

Cayenne moans in disappointment, snapping Arthur out of his thoughts and letting him see the large form hunching down to scoop Paprika up. Lewis cradles her against his chest, rubbing his eye.

“Sorry about that, A-“ he covers his mouth, yawning, “Arthur. I didn’t realize I fell asleep. Do you want to move to the computer room? I’m sure papa won’t mind as long as you don’t touch the computer.”

Arthur stares back up at him, before glancing as his assignment.

Five more problems, with six sub sections for each.... not due for another two days....

Since when did his eyes get so tired?

Pushing aside the building regret made up of bullshit rationale, Arthur closes the book and stands up, cracking his back before shutting off the small lamp on Lewis’s desk.

“Nah, it’s fine. Better make room on the bed though.”

Away. Lewis didn't think the word—it was more like reading from some great stone monument, some source of undeniable truth. Not thinking, but accepting. He stepped through the door, walked forward to find someplace far away—

“That was awesome!”

Lewis stopped cold. Well, no, that wasn't quite right—he simply stopped. Any notion of temperature, or indeed any other sensation, was right out the window, as he stood stock-still.

That was what?

He turned around to see Bell running through the restaurant, veering around tables as she shot toward him. Strangely enough, faced with the exact thing he had been so desperate to flee, he found himself rooted to the spot.

Bell reached his vicinity and stopped a couple of feet away—far enough that she wasn't craning her neck to look at him, but close enough that her screams were a little uncomfortably shrill in his ears. “That was awesome! That thing was gonna hurt Dad, and then you transformed in this big ball of fire, like whoosh!” she said, without leaving any time for breathing. “And then you beat him up and burned him up, and then when he tried to escape you burned him up again, like Ghost Rider or something! You're a superhero!”

Lewis carefully considered her words, weighed his own, and finally replied with an impeccably chosen, “Whuh?”

“Lewis!” And now his mother was running out. She didn't stop at the radius that Bell did, but plowed into his chest and grabbed him in a tight embrace—almost bone-cracking. “Thank you,” she said, in a harsh voice that verged on a sob. “Thank you.”

“What? But—” He realized with a start, and a flinch, that he wasn't in his humanoid form. He didn't have a face, his hair was made of fire, and all his ribs were jutting out—they had to be poking Mrs. Pepper in the torso, and yet she was still squeezing him tight. Why didn't she care?

“You're not....” He looked up from his mother to see Mr. Pepper, and Ginnie, and Cherry making their way out of the restaurant. Mr. Pepper held the two girls' hands. “You're not afraid of me?” Lewis finally asked.

Mr. Pepper smiled a little. “Lewis, you're my son, and you just saved my life. Why would we be afraid of you?”

He pulled the two girls forward: Ginnie pulled her hand loose of his and marched forward, smiling up at Lewis, whereas Cherry shied away a little. Mr. Pepper's smile faltered a little, and he said, “She'll come around.”

Then, Cherry lifted her free arm and put it in front of her eyes, and tugged on her dad's arm. She walked forward, guided by the hand holding hers, until she bumped into Mrs. Pepper's leg: then she raised the arm a little higher to look up at Lewis. She flinched, but didn't step back.

Lewis stared at her, but movement in his peripheral vision managed to make him tear his gaze away, and he glanced up as the two final occupants of the restaurant exited. Vivi and Arthur were standing in the doorway, separated from the family gathering around him—but he could see their smiles.

His tear ducts didn't work anymore, but most of the rest of him did. Lewis felt the shuddering sensation racking his body, and the gulping fluid that seemed to rise in his throat: this was when he would have started crying.

“But I failed!” he choked out., head slumping to rest on the top of his chest. “I couldn't keep it in, I—I lost, I lost control! I....”

Mr. Pepper leaned in and put a hand on his shoulder. “Next time,” he said, “you'll get it.”

A single laugh burst through Lewis's sobs. Dad didn't know when to quit.

He leaned forward, and the six of them joined in the largest hug he could manage. It felt good, he knew, to be held.

“Oh my cheeses crust,” Vivi said, gagging with her mouth buried in her face. Lewis stared at her in confusion, and she continued, “Oh, not you—well, kind of you, but—the smell.” She jerked her thumb back at the restaurant.

Lewis realized what she meant, just as Arthur seemed to notice the smell as well: his knees buckled, and he staggered away down the street with a hand clenching his nose. When Lewis had burned the vetala, that had in fact involved cremating a year-old rotting corpse. There had to be some bad smells associated with that.

Mr. Pepper winced as the smell reached him, and he jawed silently for a few seconds before managing to speak. “Wow,” he managed. “I am so glad we didn't notice that in there.”

The girls covered their noses in various ways, and although Mrs. Pepper didn't seem to react, Lewis felt an increased pressure on his chest as she hugged him even tighter. “Sorry,” he said. “I can't really smell it myself.”

“We,” Mrs. Pepper said in a muffled voice, “will need to close the restaurant for a month.”

“Sorry.”

Mr. Pepper grimaced. “No kidding. Between the ovens getting ripped up, and that... that smell....” With a distracted manner, he turned around and—inexplicably—lifted his nose to sniff the air, as he ambled slowly toward the restaurant. After a few feet of this, he stopped. “That's it,” he said.

“What?” Lewis said.

“That's what it needs!” Mr. Pepper spun around with a wild smile arcing across his face. “That caustic, corpsey scent—lighter than this, of course, don't want it to be overpowering—but that is just the scent that's missing! That's the flavor that completes the Heaven and Hell Cake!”

Everyone on the scene turned to stare at him, without speaking. Finally, Ginnie let her hand drop from her mouth. “Dad,” she said. “What the fuck.”