Misfits Like Us (Like Us #11)(29)

“You call everything the shit lately,” Kinney tells him with attitude, “so this Tetris figurine is just as good as your Pop-Tart this morning.”

He gapes. “Teclis, and he’s better than a Pop-Tart.” His amber eyes soften with tender hurt. “And I said I agreed with you about the vendor halls, Kin.”

“Yeah, I heard that.” She sounds a lot less harsh. “It’s definitely us and maybe Moffy versus Luna.”

Kinney and I butt heads often, and I like to think that we just don’t speak the same language. I’m the one talking in some intergalactic dialogue and she’s speaking English.

Moffy gives me a sympathetic look. “I don’t know; fighting through the vendor hall crowds could be fun.”

Xander’s face scrunches. “In what universe?”

Eyes back on the map, Kinney says, “He’s just trying to make Luna feel better.”

He is. But Kinney had to say it out loud.

I shrug. “It’s fine. It was a dumb idea.” Before anyone else can jump in to console my feelings—because I see that look on Xander’s face—I say quickly, “So what should we do first?”

We all agreed to stick together this year, since it’s one of the few years in a long time we’ve all been able to attend. But having my siblings around plus their bodyguards is going to make my triple date search a lot tougher.

Especially with Donnelly in attendance. I’m just really glad he has no idea that he was my first choice for the triple date. Rejection avoided. I should cheer inside, but I hardly feel like rocketing to the moon.

Glancing around Naked Thor’s shoulder, Donnelly stands on-guard about ten feet away, his watchful eye on a cluster of teenagers that gawk at Xander. I like that he’s so attentive about the hazards and disasters my little brother could face.

I skim him up-down out of my peripheral. He wears black slacks like most of the bodyguards on-duty, and a little Agents of Shield emblem is pinned to the breast pocket of his black button-down.

I heard through the bodyguard grapevine that the two security firms that protect my family—Price’s Triple Shield and Akara’s Kitsuwon Securities—have been doing their best to work together this past month. Which includes agreeing on bodyguard attire for big events.

Frog was bummed when she learned Akara surrendered to Price’s order of no costumes for bodyguards. So I came up with the Agents of Shield idea. Just a tiny nod to Marvel. She pitched it to her cousin and then Akara talked to Price. Signs that the two firms are working somewhat symbiotically, all the bodyguards are now Shield agents.

I thought I’d been staring slyly at Donnelly, but when my focus returns to the Hale Huddle, Moffy’s toughened eyes flit from me to Donnelly, then back to me. It should be noted that Moffy’s tough eyes carry mountains of concern.

I try to act like nothing is awry or wrong. My brother is one of several people who are tasked to keep Luna & Donnelly’s Good Head Experiment secret. Yes, he found out Donnelly went down on me.

No, he did not kill him. (Donnelly is not a droid. He’s still human and alive.)

Yes, he’s asked if it has happened again.

Yes, I’ve assured him it was a one-time thing. To never repeat.

I know he’s doing his best to believe me. To believe the truth, and I love that about Moffy. Even though I’m not so forthcoming with everything, he’s accepting my word as truth.

He peers at Kinney’s map. “Let’s do the Lord of the Rings panel first,” Moffy suggests, “and then we can head over to the Marvel panels.”

Kinney fixes her Lady Loki horns. “It’s a halfway decent plan.”

“Halfway decent?” Moffy smiles, adjusting the Cap shield of his Captain America costume. “I’ll take it.” Kinney already roasted him and Xander for being lazy and going with the same boring costume choice for every convention. At least I got sister points for changing it up this year.

Xander checks the time again. “Now we have ten minutes until it starts.”

Moffy eyes the nearby bathroom, probably wishing for X-ray vision just to see what’s going on with his son. It’s sweet that he stayed out here for the Hale Huddle though.

“I’ll go ahead with Xander,” I propose. “In case Ripley had some diaper explosion or something. We don’t know how long that’ll take.”

Xander’s face transforms with pure worry. He rarely can hide his emotions, and today is no different. “We’re going to be late, aren’t we?”

Kinney shoots me a look like I called upon Gorr the God Butcher to smite us all down. “No splitting up,” she reminds me.

Xander turns his expressive doe eyes on our youngest sister. “Kinney, come on. Just let me and Luna go ahead. We’ll save you seats.”

Kinney’s lips draw into a line, but I can see Xander’s pleas working their magic.

“Please.” Xander cups his hands together in prayer formation.

Kinney huffs like she’s a big bad wolf, but I see through it. She’s soft somewhere inside just like the rest of us. “Fine. But make sure to save us seats. We’re right behind you guys.”

“Thankyouthankyou,” Xander squeezes her in the tightest hug.

“Ew.” She acts allergic to him, but her lips rise when he shakes her side to side.