fandomtownies | Demon Marcus, Sunday

But Octavia was already trying him again this week, since last week had been that job fair thing that she really didn't understand, and didn't really care to, either.

"You okay?"

She didn't sound very concerned. But with the way he looked, she had to ask all the same.

"I... will live." Sparkle straightened up and offered Octavia a smile. "Here for your jacket? It's good to go for you, should be the right fit and everything."

"Yeah, thanks," Octavia said, and almost left it at that. But, she was learning... a little, about the expectations people had for conversations.

Namely that you should try having them, every once in a while.

"Was it difficult?"

"Nah," Sparkle said, which... honestly, he would have said even if it had been. "Pretty standard adjustment, really. Pulled some things in around the seams, mostly."

He ducked behind the counter for a moment, and then surfaced with the jacket, neatly folded with a sticky note with 'Badass Leather Chick' written on it.

... They hadn't exactly exchanged names. Small island. Sparkle figured he'd know her to see her.

"Try it on, see how it works out?"

Octavia shrugged off the jacket she was wearing, and reached for the new one. Removed the sticky note (which amused her, even if she was far too closed-off to let that show). Pulled the jacket on. Then she did the same test of range of movement she'd done the last time, extending her arms up and to the sides, her gaze down on the jacket.

She was so serious about this, it was ridiculous.

"Yeah, this seems better."

"Cool." Sparkle grinned a little. "So, that's winter, set for you?"

Yessss, good. He always kind of worried about people who didn't have good gear for the winter, here.

"Should be."

Well, she could always buy more stuff if she started feeling cold, right? And it was the coat/jacket situation that she'd been most concerned with.

She gave the hem of the jacket a little tug, testing the fit that she already knew was good. Then she looked up at him again. "Thank you."

Sparkle smiled crookedly and shrugged.

"Not a problem," he replied. "I actually kind of like doing that sort of thing. Kept me busy for a little bit."

Octavia nodded. Couldn't really think of anything to say to that - but something to do with the sticky note, instead.

"I'm Octavia, by the way."

Sparkle nodded a little, smiling easily, making a mental note.

"Good to meet you, Octavia. I'm Sparkle."

One of these days he would say his name to someone for the first time without sounding vaguely defensive about it. Today was not that day.

Hannibal had missed the last few hated weekends of Sparkle's, but now Jono was doing much better, and Hannibal had already held office hours, so he was dropping by with coffee, plenty of sugar, and lunch.

He took in Sparkle's position and smiled. "Having an interesting day so far?"

"The day... has been fine," Sparkle decided. "It's been perfectly dayful, full of day things. Like a day should be."

A pause.

"I should've skipped the morning to go steal brunch. Gotta get something outta these weekends."

"Would you accept my brunch instead?" Hannibal raised his thermal bag. "pumpkin pie croissant pudding, spicy honey-glazed bacon, and smuggler's coffee, with orange zest, cinnamon, and rum."

Sparkle was quiet for a few moments before he nodded a little.

... A lot.

"That sounds... kind of amazing," he confessed. "I've been kind of halfway living on the Perk's whipped cream since yesterday."

"I suspected as much," Hannibal said. "And I'm afraid I've been neglecting you lately regardless. Please consider this my apology."

He unpacked and plated the food, poured the coffee and set a spoonful of whipped cream and shaved chocolate on top, then set out a fork and knife for Sparkle.

"Enjoy."

"I mean," Sparkle said, looking down at the plated food, "you don't need to apologize. Life happens. There was that shit with the woods, right? Anyway, I've been away a lot."

A lot.

August had happened again.

Hannibal nodded acknowledgement. "Jono suffered somewhat. It's taken time. Still, I have a responsibility to you as well, and I have neglected that." He lowered his head to catch Sparkle's eyes. "Don't let me or anybody get away with that."

Sparkle glanced up again, and then nodded, just a little. Kind of tentatively.

"Okay."

He used to be so, so afraid that people would go away and not bother coming back to him. Now he had no fucking idea what he wanted from people, anymore.

"Okay, yeah. So, don't do that. That sucked."

It actually kind of had. He'd been trying to hold his shit together for a while, now, while everyone else collapsed around him. He was wearing thin. The seams were fraying.

Hannibal nodded. "I shall do my best not to in future. Are you spending more time on the island these days? It's been some time since we cooked together. Perhaps a Halloween party, or your Thanksgiving? Or simply a quiet night in creating food you can bring home later?"

"Kaidan's already tapped me for Thanksgiving," Sparkle noted, "but I did say I was gonna bring a veggie."

While kind of halfway squirming about doing the whole 'family meal' deal in the first place, because fuck holidays sideways anyhow.

"... Halloween could be fun."

Please don't ruin Halloween for him. It was all he had. That and, like, Labour Day.

"It could be," Hannibal agreed. He wouldn't ruin it at all! "It's one of Jono's favorites," he confided, "and I've become rather fond of it myself. We could have a party."

"That's... actually really tempting," Sparkle admitted. "I mean, uh, I would totally bring garbage candy and then you'd have to judge me, though."

He liked the little shitty sticky brown toffees. The ones that got right in your teeth.

Hannibal shook his head with a rueful smile. "Even if I tell you we can take the time to make our own?"

Why had he ended up in familial relationships with so many people who adored trashy food?

"I mean, I'd be happy having both," Sparkle replied. Because he was willing to compromise on this one. "But I need my shitty little brown toffee squares and not even you can take those away from me."

DON'T FUCK UP HIS HALLOWEEN.

"In separate dishes," Hannibal stipulated. "So long as they're clearly marked so that nobody should think they're my doing."

Sparkle gave an expressive roll of his eyes at that.

"They're individually wrapped with the brand name all over each one," he said. "But I will lovingly craft a little, 'from Sparkle' sign for like the two people that actually like those things."

"In that case, it's a deal," Hannibal said. "You may even have an entire table of awful, mass-produced candies if you like. A small one."

Sparkle considered this very, very seriously.

"Only if I can find a good supplier of Canadian candy," he decided. "Otherwise I just want my sticky regret toffee."

"I'm certain there must be one online somewhere," Hannibal pointed out. "Or you could speak with whoever runs the shop here; they likely have any number of suppliers."

"Wonka's?" Sparkle looked thoughtful. "Or maybe T&C. You don't usually go to a candy shop for Halloween candy. They sell that in, like, drugstores and dollar stores and stuff."

Which, in hindsight, seemed a little backwards.

"I'm certain Summer would be willing to help," Hannibal said. He smirked. "Particularly if you tell her it's for a party."

"Summer, huh?" Sparkle nodded a little. "I mean, I guess if there's anyone out there who can get their hands on Canadian candy without taking a run across the border..."

He shrugged a little.

"Or I could just, like, order it from the internet, like you said."

Hannibal nodded. "There are always ways. Should we plan for the party to be held at the Boards? While we could have any number of people at our house, you could have more free rein with the decorations there." And there would be less clean-up; Hannibal had no problem hiring out the cleaning of Jono's business.

Or of volunteering it, come to that.

"Could be fun. Think he still has any of the costumes from back when it was still a theatre?"

Because hey, Halloween party...

"I'll have to ask, but I believe so," Hannibal said. "You're thinking perhaps we could have them at the door, for those unable to find one on their own?"

"I mean, how many people on the island actually show up knowing what Halloween is, right?" Sparkle shrugged. "If you're gonna do a Halloween party on an island full of people who aren't even from Earth, you can't expect people to run out and buy costumes for it."

"Quite true," Hannibal said. "Should we have a theme?" he pondered. "Or is 'Halloween' sufficient?"

"I'm not gonna tell people how to Halloween," Sparkle replied, shaking his head. "Nah. It can be a 'live your truth' party or something, but there's no fun making everyone be, like, superheroes if half the population of the island already is."

Hannibal chuckled. "I was thinking more the former than the latter, in any case, but perhaps we should keep it simple. So, we'll need a menu, and we have weeks to complete it. I'll ask Jono about the Boards and the costumes."

Sparkle nodded, a little bit bemused.

"Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good," he replied.

Thanksgiving with Kaidan, Halloween with Hannibal. Really, at this rate, it was a wonder he wasn't already booked for Arbor Day.

"Woooow," Nina said, surveying her saviour. "Should I, like, go away????? You look like maybe you're not up to being a hero today????????"

"Nope." Sparkle threw an arm into the air, not half as listlessly as he could have and straightened up. "I'm so a hero today. I'm just, like, undercover hero today. That's a thing, right?"

He HATED these weekends.

"It's totally a thing," she assured him brightly, wandering into the store and looking around. "Like, I think I've got five or six romance novels with that as a premise?????? It's a super sexy thing, if you want it to be????"

Sparkle blinked, and then laughed a little.

"Maybe I'll leave the 'super sexy undercover hero' gig to people who are better at undercover," he decided.

... Also people who didn't mind being called super sexy by a fourteen year-old girl.

"Into the romance, though, huh?"

She hadn't been calling him that, just commenting that if he'd wanted it to be, it could be! Totally different!

"Oh my goooosh, yes!!!!!!!!" Nina beamed at him. "Especially if there's, like, knights, you know?????"

Totally different! But not different enough that Sparkle wasn't still going to flail about it. He'd once been that fourteen year-old, after all.

"... Ooooh," he shared. "Now I want titles, girly! Those sound fun."

Demon Marcus, Sunday

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