Page 27 of Finn's Solace

"Since Penny's coming home for a few days, I thought you could clean her room and change out the sheets. You know how she is about us going into her room."

"Penny's coming home?" How did I not know that?

"Oh, she didn't mention it? She has no lectures on Thursday and Friday, so she's coming for the weekend," Dad said, and I frowned. How come she didn't tell me?

"Angel, I think she wanted to surprise Finn," Papa said, a hint of reprimand in his voice, and Dad's eyes went wide as saucers.

"Oh no! Damn it. Sorry, Finn," he said sheepishly, and I waved him off.

"It's fine. I would've figured it out anyway. You aren't exactly chill when she's about to come home," I teased. She'd been in college for three-and-a-half years by now, and in that time, he'd never once been able to hide his anticipation.

I spent the rest of the morning deep-cleaning Penny's room, where the dads weren't allowed after the first time Dad found a note some kid in school had written to Penny talking shit about her because she was adopted and/or because she had twodads. I never found out what exactly it said because neither Dad nor Penny would tell me, but they had an argument where Penny told him she could take care of herself, and then got suspended the very next day for punching a senior in the nose. The guy was a shifter, so it wasn't like she misused her supe strength either. Dad was proud, Papa was flabbergasted, and Penny declared her room a no-entry zone for the dads. Fun times.

"What the hell," I muttered when I found a half-full laundry basket from the last time she was home. You'd think she would put her clothes in the wash if no one was allowed to come in to do it for her, but no. Whoever she ended up with would be one lucky guy.

After lunch, I ran a load of laundry for her clothes and some of mine, then made a grocery run to get some of Penny's favorite snacks, which was anything spicy that had the potential to make you tear up. How she ate any of it, I didn't know.

It was only when I returned home and took a peek at the clock and discovered it was five p.m. that I remembered the date. Somehow, I'd kept myself distracted all day. Then again, thinking about my siblings tended to have that effect on me.

I quickly put the groceries away, then jumped into the shower, washing off quickly. Since we were going out in the evening and I had a tendency of getting cold despite being a supe—a side effect of being constantly drained of blood, according to Dad—I wore a dark brown sweater and pale blue jeans paired with my brown boots. Getting my hair slickedback and tidy took some time, but I was ready with ten minutes to spare.

I spent the next ten minutes waffling between excitement and sheer terror that I would mess things up somehow. It was fun.

Eleven

Finn

At six thirty-one, I heard a knock at the door. I was on my feet and out of my room when I heard someone open the door.

There was a pause. Then Dad called out, "Finn! There's a handsome man at the door for you!"

Oh fuck. Kill me now.

Trying and failing not to blush, I hurried down the stairs, where Padfoot almost made me trip over the last step by trying to jump on me.

I scrambled back to keep him from getting a hold of me, knowing how easily he could ruin my sweater. His bed was covered in the ruins of my wardrobe already, and he didn't need more.

"Be good, Pads," I admonished, and he whined, but settled down and let me pass.

Of course, the interruption had given Dad the chance to do what I'd been hoping he wouldn't do: talk.

"I'm here, I'm here, let's go," I said over Dad, who had been in the middle of saying something that would probably make me want to dig a hole and bury myself in it.

"There's no rush," Levi murmured as his eyes roamed over me, and I shook my head insistently, taking his hand.

"Theresois. Let's go."

"Just—wait a sec," he said, squeezing my hand, and I sighed, resigning to my fate.

"Ah, sir," Levi started, and Dad grinned widely.

"Please, call me Raphael. We can talk about Dad once we get to know each other better."

"Dad!" I hissed, and he held his hands up in surrender.

"What did you want to say, Levi?" he asked, and Levi pointed down at his foot, on which Greta stood watching everyone.

"I was wondering if I could leave Greta here?"

---