#im here to hold crims happiness hostage

[pastelgrungewrecker]

Return

((an au of an au with @criminarchy))

This: the song of sons and daughters Hide the heart of who we are Making peace to build our future Strong, united, working 'till we fall

Chrona swallowed hard as her eyes opened, Mimi’s old alarm clock trilling out the time.

Five forty five in the morning. The time she’d wake up to pack lunches for the younger siblings during gradeschool. The time on Saturdays she’d wake up to start french toast. A sound too familiar to give up.

So Chrona took on a role left behind when they called Mimi and Quickdraw away.

She still remembered the letters. Official and heavy, held in Perceptor and Whirl’s shaking hands as Mimi packed her bags and quietly advised Quickdraw.

The unhealthy tinge her older brother’s face had taken on before bolting to the bathroom to be sick. The deadness in Mimi’s green eyes as Perceptor propped a mourning Whirl up in silence.

Chrona sniffed hard, willing herself not to cry when she remembered saying goodbye. Quickdraw ruffling her hair and warning her not to cause any trouble. Mimi gathering the remaining to her in a tight hug and with a promise they’d come home.

Chrona’s back had begun getting sore from these mornings. 

But she trudged out, messily fixing her braid as she yawned wide and wondered if she’d stashed any energy drinks in the back of the fridge. She grunted at the figures she passed on the couch- seeing only the glimpse of a patch and a messy mop before she stopped in the doorway of the kitchen.

Whirl and Perceptor weren’t home.

They’d had overnight shifts, she was fairly certain.

She turned slowly, bare feet making no sound on the edge of the carpeted living room-dining room combination and covered her mouth before she could scream. 

Quickdraw yawned in his sleep, chin resting on his chest as bandages poked out from under a patch over one eye. Mimi lounged against him, snoring grandly with one leg out and one foot on the floor. Pantlegs tied to show newer prosthetics and a new tattoo on an exposed arm.

Quickdraw groaned and stretched, opening one gold-coin eye and nudging Mimi before his spoke, a serpentine rasp to the words.

“Oi, sis. C’mon. I think I hear your alarm ‘n shit.”

“Hmf. Hwa?”, was the half-awake answer, “Mm. Right, french toast day. help me oil my knees and I’ll start it up, you damn chowvoid.”

“QD?”, said Chrona weakly, her hand dropping to hold tight to the end of her braid, “Mimi? Are... is this one of those dreams again?”

They both jerked awake now, and looked at her. Quickdraw couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of him, and giving his old goofy smile- even if it looked more tired than normal.

A whine of mechanical parts as Mimi got to her feet and walked quickly over to Chrona- immediately beginning to fuss, “Kiddo, have you been using conditioner in that hair of yours? The right one? You know mine makes your hair all limp and raggedy-”

And then the tears came, and just wouldn’t stop. Chrona was two again, three again, wrapping her arms around Mimi and wailing her sorrows to the morning as Mimi cursed under her breath and went down with the weak-kneed Chrona’s crystorm. Quickdraws lumbering morning gait brought him close enough to kneel down with them as Chrona buried her face in his chest and shrieked for her parents.

Drift came first, armed and already aloof before stumbling against the wall as Mimi waved a hand dismissively at him to relax. She smoothed her hand over Chrona’s hair, kissing the top of her sister’s head and wrapping her into a hug as she sniffed loudly with watering green eyes. The den came to life, the figures of Ratchet and Perceptor stumbling in- Perceptor’s labcoat rumpled from sleeping where he shouldn’t and Ratchet half-ready for a hospital shift. Cyclonus was last, phone already in hand as he spoke in hushed tones.

They’re home.

They came back.

They’re safe.

Dani and Kickback, rubbing eyes and yawning wide, stumbled from their shared room before lighting up in tired joy as they saw Mimi and Quickdraw, running at them full force to leap into the puddled pile of tears and welcome backs.

Mimi carefully untangled herself, straightening the half-baked pieces of old uniform before smiling through her own sniffles.

“Who wants french toast, huh?”

Quickdraw stood, easily lifting Chrona like he had so many times when she was small and carrying her on a hip as she clung with clawed hands- no intent to let him go until she saw fit.

“Sounds good after what we’ve been eating.”, he laughed- before he was immediately bowled over by a wailing flash of messy white hair and baby blue pajamas.

“YOU CAME HOME OH THANK GOD I’VE BEEN SO SCARED ARE YOU OKAY WHAT DID THEY DO- OH SWEET GOD YOUR EYE HONEY WHAT-”

Quickdraw wheezed, quietly being crushed beneath his sister and Brainstorm before he could speak, “It was just a freak accident, Papastorm, no worries. I’ll be fine in a few weeks. Now c’mon, I gotta help Mimi with breakfast- she still can’t reach the plates in the cabinet-”

“I HEARD THAT, BEANPOLE.”

“...See?”

A splutter of thick-voiced laughter from Chrona as Perceptor seemed to float into the kitchen, only to collapse on Mimi with a single sob and squeeze her in a hug so tight it made her cough. Drift could only stare, blinking the tears out of his eyes as she returned Perceptor’s embrace, lifting him off the floor a few inches. Ratchet sat, dumbfounded but happy, at the dining room table and dazedly directed Dani and Kickback to find their seats as the smell of cinnamon soon bloomed into the air.

And then, Whirl came home. He had sped the whole way back, white knuckled and teeth gritted, and nearly shouldered the door off it’s hinges to find Cyclonus proudly smiling on the other side- the old warrior nodded at the slowly noisier kitchen and Whirl took heavy steps; afraid of what he would find.

He’d been told they were alright. he’d been told they were safe. But the shrewd and cynical part of him he’d never really gotten rid of warned him about the last time he’d been hopeful.

“DAD”, shrieked Chrona, “DAD THEY’RE HOME!”

Mimi waved, one hand wrapped in a towel to hold the frying pan’s handle as she fried eggs to match the tower of french toast. Dani and Kickback bounced excitedly in their seats, talking to-

Quickdraw.

QD looked up at Whirl, and smiled weakly, touching the patch over his eye. The patch that mirrored Whirl’s.

“It’s not permanent. Just until the stitches heal and I get get a vision test. Got me sent home permanently though. Mimi lost her other leg and then they just decided we’d both done enough. Longest six years of our lives though.”

“Peacekeeping my pasty pale ass though.”, griped Mimi as Dani slunk away from the table to stand by her sister and bounce on her tiptoes for a taste of the bacon and sausage already done and set aside, “We heard more damn explosions than the time Papastorm hid fireworks in Si-Si’s lab storage as a prank.”

Whirl nodded, silent and staring. Quickdraw, worried, rose from his seat and slowly approached his father with confusion on his face. Whirl looked down, seeing his son draped in old uniform scraps and boots Whirl himself once used to wear.

“Dad?”

Whirl hiccuped. He coughed softly, and hiccuped again. Then his arms went around Quickdraw’s shoulders and Whirl buried his face against his son’s neck-

And began to sob.

“I-I-I. I didn’t th-think-”

Quickdraw nestled into his father’s hold, and simply nodded.

“I know, pops. I know.”