Hannibal and Jono's house, Saturday morning

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal slept even less than Jono these days, but that didn't stop him from lying in bed and enjoying the closeness and occasionally drifting off. When he woke again and stretched, it was still early; he decided to increase his chances of waking Jono up by wandering down to make coffee.

There were odd differences in the decor of the house that he couldn't quite place - what had Fandom been doing today? But it wasn't enough to bother him until he headed back upstairs with the tray. And stopped short at the top. "Beethoven?" He knelt carefully and held his hand out to the old cat, who sniffed it a little suspiciously before turning around and heading to the bedroom.

By the time Hannibal set the coffee service down on the nightstand, Beethoven was curled at the foot of the bed and Hannibal was running confused possibilities through his head.


[OOC: Expecting the one there, but open post!]

Comments

[furnaceface]

It was the smell of the coffee that roused Jon, just as Hannibal had predicted. He had given a little smile, made a little 'hmm' sound, and then stretched before cracking open one eye to look Hannibal's way.

Or, at least, that was the plan. Joni had been curled up next to his head as she usually was first thing in the morning, and he had accounted for her. But he'd gotten a rude swat at his foot when it bumped into the other, somewhat more unexpected one.

"... Huh?"

And now Jono was sitting up, blinking at the old grey cat at his feet.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Your guess is as good as mine," Hannibal said. He handed Jono his coffee and took his own. "Has Fandom ever brought back old pets from the dead?" he reached down to soothe Beethoven with light head rubs, and the cat settled, purring.

[furnaceface]

"If they have, I've managed to completely miss that one," Jono admitted, blinking down at the cat, then up at Hannibal. "I suppose it's at least somewhat less traumatic than people, though."

Jono loved his great granddad, but if given the choice between Beethoven and Jack Starsmore, he'd probably choose to have the cat back for a weekend, himself.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Somewhat," Hannibal agreed. "There are other possibilities, though." He waved toward the doorway. "The house has changed in a few minor ways. I'm fairly certain I spotted that chair Asher broke, whole and sturdy."

[furnaceface]

Jono paused for a moment that that, frowned down at the cat in thought for a few seconds, and then, with a bit of a decisive nod, he rolled over and tugged open his nightstand drawer.

"Ah, alright."

Most of the contents really hadn't changed in twenty years. Guitar picks, some pens and notebooks for jotting down song ideas in the dead of night. But there was one thing that he hadn't kept close at hand in a long while. With a raised eyebrow and a bit of a wry smile, he pulled out the roll of leather bandages and held them up for Hannibal to see.

"I'm guessing time travel."

[sharp_as_knives]

"That would seem to be the logical conclusion," Hannibal agreed. He shook his head. "Although whether the island has moved us backward, or everything in our house forward, is certainly up for debate.

Occam's razor rarely applied on Fandom.

"Still, as it's unlikely to apply for longer than the weekend, I suppose we should enjoy it. Along with the rest of the reunion and our weekend off."

[furnaceface]

"You'll get no argument from me," Jono replied, shaking his head as he put the bandages back into the drawer. "So, we're going to make the best out of having grey cat hair all over everything, then?"

The possibilities!

[sharp_as_knives]

"As opposed to having only white and black cat hair all over everything?" Hannibal asked. "And one or more children prone to walk in at awkward times?"

They had mostly gotten beyond that, thank god, but when one of the littler ones had a bad day, there was no telling.

[furnaceface]

"... As opposed to that, yes," Jono agreed, smirking faintly as he pulled himself out of bed and actually got around to that stretching that he'd failed at before. "We really ought to get a lock on that door, you know. It'll actually work on most of them."

Except for the one who could actually phase into the wood and then re-form again on the other side. And the one who had made three doors just vanish and re-appear again in the backyard three weeks later. But she hadn't meant to, and she was getting a handle on that one now.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal shrugged. "They'll only pound on it instead." He got back out of bed himself and wrapped his arms around Jono. "Look at us - an entire weekend alone, and we're still speaking of the children."

God, they were so married.

[furnaceface]

So married.

"Clearly it's been that long since we've had a whole weekend alone," Jono chuckled, leaning back and shooting Hannibal a grin. "We should get Lee to take care of the little ones more often."

And ship the older ones off to the Savage Land on a field trip more often, too. Because that always went so well.

[sharp_as_knives]

The idea was to raise them to adulthood, not to feed them to dinosaurs.

"I doubt she would mind; she adores them." Usually. And when they were being obnoxious, she could keep them in line. "It's not a bad idea."

[furnaceface]

Nonsense. Dinosaur attacks were character building, Hannibal.

"Maybe we'll have to talk to her about having an us weekend every now and again. She has been getting on my case about taking more time off."

Because she knew you, Jono. She knew you.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Only because your idea of a vacation is to come to Fandom to teach. When was the last time we went off on our own and had a bit of fun?"

Any time they'd been attacked didn't count. (Though if they'd done the attacking, it might.)

[furnaceface]

"... Did you mean with or without something blowing up that wasn't intended to?"

Look, sometimes Jono had to check.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Without any interruptions that forced us to return home or spend more time in the hospital than the hotel," Hannibal said.

[furnaceface]

See Jono. See Jono shudder.

"I hate that bloody hospital," he muttered. "Sooner or later I'll be able to convince them that I don't actually need to go."

Just... not any time soon.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal shrugged. "They worry. I got you out of it as soon as I could make my way there. But it does mean that hardly counts as a vacation."

[furnaceface]

"True enough," Jono sighed. "It sort of undoes any of the relaxing we're meant to be doing, I know."

[sharp_as_knives]

"It does," Hannibal agreed. "So, how long has it been, then?" he asked pointedly. "Do you wonder that she thinks you need a bit of time off?"

[furnaceface]

"Too long," Jono replied, wrinkling his nose a little. "But I'm happier when I'm keeping busy. Lee knows that."

He was less prone to going insane, anyway. He got twitchy when he wasn't throwing himself at something that wanted him dead, or at least throwing himself at the playground with at least four mutant children using him as the jungle gym.

[sharp_as_knives]

"And she also knows that you need to recharge yourself from time to time. Mentally, if not physically." Hannibal ran a hand through Jono's hair and kissed him.

[furnaceface]

"Well, yes, but that's what school days are for," Jono replied, putting his nose into the air. "We ship the kids off to class, we take the day to do whatever else we need to do..."

... It maybe missed the point. A touch.

[sharp_as_knives]

The look Jono was getting for that was epic. "Such as caring for the little ones, planning our own lessons, and ensuring your team isn't in too much trouble?"

[furnaceface]

"It's the little things," Jono agreed, a touch wistfully.

...

"Fine. Fine. I'll start looking into portal tickets to somewhere quiet. Even if Lee can't babysit, I know Logan likes to when we'll let him."