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Part Twenty-Three

   "Maybe I'll come in," He told them, staring hard at the ground. "Only because I'm bored."

   "What's the password?" Sam asked, and Elijah grinned down at him.

   "I could hear you the whole time, there's no walls to block out the sound. You don't have a password."

   "Damnit, he caught us red handed," Elijah raised Sam up from his chest with two fingers and carefully set him back down in his hair, sitting up to make room for Leo inside the cramped fort. "Sam, how do we handle this invader?"

   "Throw him in the slammer!" Sam cried, only knowing the meaning from the movie they watched the day before.

   "Where did you hear that!?" Elijah full on burst into laughter, shaking Sam's body until he was forced to cling to a strand of silky red hair.

   "Doesn't matter. He has to pay for his crimes."

   "What crimes have I committed, your honor?!" Leo bent down to submit to both Elijah and Sam.

   "Treason. And spying on us from the outside this whole time. Sam, I think you need to take care of this one."

   Eli took Sam into his hands again and placed him in front of Leo, who's head was now level with the floor with his bow. Sam sauntered up to his forehead, covered with bangs that fell over in waves, and whacked him as hard as he could.

   "Wh- SAM! That's abusive!"

   "It needed to be done," Sam scrutinized, and backed up from Leo's face that rose in front of him.

   "Fine, no more Mr. Nice Guy," Leo reached down and grabbed Sam in a fist that seemed too gentle for any of the aggression present in his voice, and went right back to the same position that Elijah carried him before, tail up and swinging upside down in between pinched fingers.

   "Help!" Sam cackled out to Elijah. "The enemy got me!"

   "You're on your own, comrade."

   "Eli!"

   "Just remember, you started this," Leo spoke down to him, holding out his palm underneath for precaution.

   "Wait, don't actually drop me Leo."

   "I won't, Don't worry," he clarified, swinging Sam a little harder to force the laughter back out of him.

   While the two had their fun threatening one another, Elijah's ears picked up on the thud of a car door coming from outside the home. More specifically, the slam of a truck door, and he waited a moment before turning to his friends.

   "Did you guys hear that?"

   "Hear what?" Leo immediately stopped, holding his hand up closer for Sam to relax as he let go of the grip on his tail, which was starting to get sore anyways.

   "I think Skip might be ba-"

   Before Elijah could finish his sentence, the front door of Leo's home was slammed into, almost as if Skip tried to break it down to get inside. And after it didn't work, he began pounding on the wood with a ferocity that could only mean trouble for everyone else. Sam cowered into Leo's hands, while Elijah nearly tore the fort down to escape to see what was going on. He stood up to his full height, no longer caring about the blankets that fell around him and covered Leo in the process, marching over from the comfortable debris and making his way to the front door.

   Leo, still holding Sam to his chest, had to unravel the blankets first, and almost ripped them apart out of paranoia from not being able to see what was going on.

   When Elijah reached the front door, he could feel just how hard Skip was pounding, waiting to be let in but being as impatient as ever. He took no time to cease the tremors that flooded the door and yanked it open, leaving Skip in the entrance with a wild look in his eyes and uneven breathing in his chest.

   Instead of a greeting, or even a simple Oacknowledgement that Elijah was even there, Skip barreled past to the dining room outside the kitchen, leaving Eli in his wake with an open door that let in a bug or two.

   Leo, who had just managed to rip the damn blanket off his head and scrambled away from the broken fort of pillows and blankets, rushed to the dining room to see what the stomping was about. Had it been for nothing but a moody Skip, he would've berated him until his dying days. As it was, the stomping around was not for nothing, and Leo clutched Sam closer when he saw Skip leaning over the table, out of breath, in a hurry, and looking absolutely crazy with determination.

And the weirdest part?

   A single box of cereal in his arms.
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A/N: Everyone say thank you Eli for the fluff before the storm 😤
   After the next update, there will be less cliffhangers I SWEAR
   Thank you all very much for reading, and feel free to let me know what you think! ❤️
-D