Sharon Carter is a super spy (exshieldagent) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-12-01 21:50:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, leon orcot, sharon carter |
Who: Leon, Sharon, and NPC!Chris
When: Halloween
Where: Their neighborhood
What: Trick-or-Treating
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Leon hadn’t had a sober Halloween since he was nineteen. That had been his first year on the force, and his first Halloween. There’d been a fight at the bar that year, as there was every year, and as thanks for breaking it up, Leon got a black eye and thrown up on. He hadn’t worked a Halloween since. He’d have happily worked Christmas every year if it meant not needing to spend that stupid holiday alone, but the fact that it was such a hot holiday meant that he could usually kill two birds with one stone - he could usually trade it with someone for Halloween and Independance Day.
It worked out pretty well this year too. Sure, most Halloween’s he was happy getting drunk and possibly getting laid, but he was even happier getting to go Trick-or-Treating with his little brother - not something he ever thought he’d say. And having Sharon alone made the whole thing more fun.
“What do you think? One more block and we pack ‘er in?” he asked Chris and Sharon - moreso Sharon. Right now Chris seemed content to go until the sun started rising again, but Leon had the feeling that when the kid did start to feel tired, he’d feel tired very suddenly and then Leon would be stuck carrying him and all his candy back home.
Sharon dressed as a bandit. Black hat, black cowboy boots, black pants. She had a big belt with a pouch covered in dollar signs, and a black mask that covered her eyes only. The mask was off, though, as it impeded her vision. She tucked it into her back pocket as they walked along, door to door, trick-or-treating. Watching Chris’s thrill as the fun-size candies were dropped into his pillowcase one at a time really made the whole night.
“One more block sounds good.” The blonde gave the young boy a bright smile. “Or do you think you’re too tired?” She asked, playfully. “Think you might have to go home now?”
Sharon’s costume worked well with Leon and Chris’s costumes. Both of them wore cowboy boots and hats, plaid shirts and vests. The only differences were that Leon’s shirt was red while Chris’s was blue, and Chris had a big teddy bear head sewed to the back of his vest. Leon didn’t really get it - it sure wasn’t a tough kind of vest - but Chris seemed to like it so didn’t say much about it.
Chris shook his head emphatically. No, he was not too tired, and he definitely didn’t want to go home now. In fact, he held up five fingers which Leon interpreted as five more blocks. “Nope, sorry kiddo,” he said. “Just one more block. I’ve got to work in the morning.”
Sharon laughed. Five more? She wasn’t sure she was up for five more… though the prospect of candy seemed to keep this kid going nonstop. She shook her head. “One more sounds good to me. My feet are starting to hurt.” But she gave Chris a wink. “We’ll just make sure it’s a long block.”
Together they crossed the street and turned on the next block. It was a nice neighborhood, and there were lights on and decorations in front of most of the houses. They could stop at each on the way down and back up again.
“Go on!” Sharon encouraged, once Chris was on the walkway that led up to the front door. She turned to Leon once his brother was out of earshot. “...things going okay?”
Leon watched Chris make his way up to the house, and thought about Sharon’s question. No, things were far from okay. Bodies kept piling up - a fifth one had shown up on Sunday - with the serial killer that he was supposed to be investigating, and they hadn’t even so much as figured out what could possibly be the murder weapon. He’d spent all day while Chris was at school going over the case notes, looking for something, anything he could be missing, and he had interviews upon interviews to go through with the victims families, and, as was his custom, he’d gone to the funerals of each of the Vics which was, well, getting depressing.
The dreams and the weird things going on were the icing on the cake. Especially with the moon floating above them now in pieces. He’d very pointedly not mentioned that. He felt like he was being driven insane, slowly. What was that line in the Lord of the Rings movie? Like too little butter spread over too much toast. He’d been drinking and smoking more than usual - in fact, he was lighting a cigarette now - and the lines under his eyes attested to the fact that he wasn’t getting much sleep either. He did most of his off-duty investigations after Chris had gone to bed, and if that kept away dreams of man-eating rabbits, well, he was glad for his late night research.
“With Chris?” Leon asked. “Yeah, things are going great. Taking ASL together has really made things go more smoothly. He’s been making friends at school and his teacher seems to like him. And he’s the best behaved kid that I’ve ever met. Not a bratty bone in his body, which I would have thought was impossible until I met him. His babysitters are all great too. Except for Sans.” Well, Chris liked Sans at least, and that was probably all that mattered. It wasn’t like Leon got bad vibes from the guy, but anyone who could teleport wherever they wanted, made puns all the time, and enjoyed bubblegum ice cream was obviously bad news.
No, they were definitely not talking about work, or the shattered moon, or the crazy things happening around Orange County. Nor the Dreams. This was supposed to be a fun night for the pair of them, a fun night for Chris. Sharon was there if he ever needed to talk about those things, and would absolutely have talked to him about them tonight, too… but she was just as happy not talking about the serious stuff.
“That’s good,” Sharon said, smiling. She watched as Chris went up to the door, following some other little kids, and held up his pillowcase for candy. “What’s wrong with Sans? I don’t know Sans. That’s one of his sitters?”
Leon let out an annoyed sigh. “Nothing’s wrong with him,” he admitted grudgingly. “Nice guy, seems to know what he’s doing, Chris likes him. I just don’t. He makes these ridiculous puns all the time and can teleport and eats bubblegum ice cream. Who the fuck eats bubblegum ice cream anyway?” He looked up at Chris, who was now holding up his bag of candy for the residence of the house to drop it in. “I mean, who older than six-years-old eats bubblegum ice cream,” he amended.
Sharon was more curious than anything else about this character, but then Leon started listing his characteristics, and Sharon’s face fell into something more of distaste than anything else. “No one. That I know of, anyway.” Sharon said. Bubblegum ice cream? Sounded immature. No wonder Leon didn’t like him. “He must be evil.” She added, teasing just a little.
“Oh shaddup,” Leon grumbled, gently pushing Sharon’s shoulder. “I guess he could be worse though.” Chris trotted up to them, grinning ear to ear.
Who could be worse? he signed.
“No one,” Leon said immediately. After all, it would do no good to badmouth one of Chris’s favourite sitters in front of him.
Sharon gave a little laugh, and nodded. Though she spoke a few words in sign language, she had no idea what Chris was saying to Leon. Then she rose an eyebrow. “C’mon. Let’s get those last houses. Hopefully we’ll find a place giving out full size bars.” She wrapped her arm around Chris’s shoulder and guided him down the sidewalk toward the next house.