El Paso, Texas [Monday evening]

[weldedtomyspine]

The mission had been a success. It had been long, and busy, and incredibly demanding. He'd barely had time to sleep, worked himself into exhaustion every day, and managed not to think about anything but fighting alien invaders for a whole week.

Oh, and they'd actually beat off said alien invaders. That had been good too.

But mostly the distraction had been what Jaime had been going for. And while he felt a little bit guilty for his priorities, he was still grateful. And as his feet touched the ground in his back yard, he knew that tomorrow that distraction was gone, but that all that exhaustion from fighting would thankfully keep that from happening for at least another night.

And he'd be glad to see his family again.

Even Milagro.

So Jaime de-armored, sighed in relief at the breeze blowing across his skin, and headed for the back door.

Comments

[heromaniac]

"Pampered? Hey!" Momoko pouted. "I've totally been helping since I came here! I've had chores!"

Okay, she'd volunteered for them, but it totally counted.

"Mr Alfred, though. He totally would."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah snickered, then admitted, "Yeah, he would. I know you've got a ton of work and homework--" That Momoko had been sounding more and more dubious about over time, especially when the Nothing closed in. "But if Portalocity is actually fixed, you need to take advantage of it more often."

[heromaniac]

TOTALLY more dubious.

"I want to, but don't know when! Classes, homework, police work, and the occasional monster." Momoko mused as she let her hands collapse and fold on the table. "We have totally too many criminals and not enough villains. Ah! But I may not be doing as much at the station if Kaikei-san is back from the Gone." Hopefully people had remembered her?

"Believe me, I totally want to visit more. I miss everyone. Talking about something and not having to explain it is awesome."

[weldedtomyspine]

"You could also call more often," Jaime pointed out with a grin.

Though, really, he could too.

Do as he says, not as he does?

[heromaniac]

Momoko pouted lightly at that. "I do call! All the time."

...

"Don't I?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"You do!"

Dinah's mun, on the other hand, totally lost this thread.

"And some people shouldn't talk when we can get to Paco and poke him about how often they forget to call. Dork."

[weldedtomyspine]

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Jaime protested.

Very, very unconvincingly.

[heromaniac]

Momoko was totally glad to have the talk shifted away from her. She didn't know that she actually could visit more than she did. Especially after this long trip.

"Hey! I don't have Paco's number! I need to get that."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"You know, I don't either. I just talk loud enough that he can overhear."

Dinah gave Jaime an expectant look.

What? Paco totally wanted to hear from them!

[weldedtomyspine]

"No, no, no! Neither of you need Paco's number!"

That was just asking for trouble.

[heromaniac]

"But what if something happens and we can't reach you? Would you want us to call here?"

Momoko was totally cheating, yes. But actually it would be kind of interesting to talk to Paco on days when she was feeling a little down; he was totally fun.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I think Momoko's got a good point." Dinah's face went mischievous. "And we can always just ask Milagro to get it for us."

[weldedtomyspine]

"And worry my parents?" Jaime asked, eyes widening.

Wait...

"You're cheating!" he accused, actually sounding surprised by this totally obvious revelation.

[heromaniac]

"Would we do that?" They totally would. And were. "We're just trying to make sure we know you're safe!"

Although it really would be nice to be able to chat with Paco, it was now just purely fun teasing. It kind of felt like they were all back at school, just hanging out.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Because we care," Dinah insisted, lower lip pouting out. And restraining the urge to giggle. "Jaime, you know us." She leaned in to try and steal his food again. "Don't you trust Paco to tell us the truth?"

[weldedtomyspine]

"I do know you!" Jaime accused. "Which is totally how I know you're cheating cheaters!"

"And I don't trust Paco to tell you anything that he doesn't consider absolutely hilarious."

[heromaniac]

"That's totally no way to talk about your friend! He's sweet and funny and I'm sure he'd never mislead us about anything you're doing." That last part? Totally not sure how she said it with a straight face. She hoped if it was important, Paco would be honest, but yeah, Momoko had met Paco.

"How about Brenda, then?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"That's an awesome idea," Dinah confirmed, nodding hard. "Brenda will tell us how you are. What's going on. Who you're dating." Yay!

[weldedtomyspine]

"That's..." Actually, that wasn't a bad idea. Brenda was pretty sane.

"Actually, that might work." Though he was going to leave any mention of dating uncommented on.

[heromaniac]

"And Brenda can give us Paco's number!"

Yeah, it was totally about the teasing, now. It was good to be un-gone.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yes!" Dinah bounced, and patted the top of Jaime's head. "That totally completely awesomely works!"

[weldedtomyspine]

"No she won't!"

Except that Jaime totally knew she would, so his only hope was to convince Momoko and Dinah that she wouldn't. So that they'd never ask.

Good luck, Jaime.

[heromaniac]

Momoko was totally not falling for it, Jaime. "And why not? If someone who was a friend of Dinah's called me, I'd totally give them Ms Helena's number!" Uhm, no she wouldn't. At least not without totally calling Ms Helena first.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Exactly! And I'd totally give someone Kaoru's number if they needed to find Momoko."

... you know, if she had it.

[weldedtomyspine]

"Oh, yeah, like you guys are going to fool me. I've met you both, remember?"