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Things were still strained between the Burns and Fairmont families, even as much as Calliope wanted to pretend that they were not
Jack still hadn’t warmed to Juliette, and Talia was getting there slowly.
Theo was a strange case, he had a bond with Juliette ever since she had turned him. Even after Carmen had turned him human again, they still remained close and for that, Calliope was grateful because it made family dinners less awkward
Family dinners were something that had become more frequent and verging on tradition. Most Monday’s, Juliette would come over and eat with the Burns.
Over time, they became less awkward as her family warmed up to the vampire clearly understanding that she wouldn’t be going anywhere.
Talia would try and make small talk, about anything unrelated to monsters - usually school, a safe topic.
And her girlfriend was as polite as usual, smiling and chatting her way through the meal as she rambled on about how she was beginning to finally understand equations
Jack would eat his meal, showing minimal interest, and Theo would engage the conversation. Apparently he had tutored Juliette in math, unbeknownst to Calliope.
So things were relatively easy, Cal thought. Because she knew where her family stood with her relationship. The only exception was Apollo.
He was happy for his sister, Calliope knew this. But at the same time, he was weirdly distant at first and didn’t want to get close to Juliette.
She briefly wondered if Elinor was anything to do with it, pushing the thoughts down in relief that there was no conflict arising between the families anymore
Lessons had overran that day, and Juliette had text Cal to ask if she still wanted her around for the weekly Burns dinner.
Calliope had thought it would be a good idea to tell Juliette to let herself in and hang out till she arrived a few hours later, since her girlfriend knew where she kept the spare key.
Juliette had agreed, and that was several hours ago. Now, the lessons were finally finished and Calliope was free to go home and relax
She begun walking home, and wondered what her girlfriend would be doing. Usually she just read a book, either from her collection she’d bring or from Calliope’s giant bookshelf
Or once, Cal had found her in the kitchen awkwardly perched on a stool and stirring a huge pot whilst her mom explained the perfect recipe to a lasagne
The house was eerily quiet as she approached, and the lack of cars parked at the driveway alluded to only Apollo and Juliette being in
There wasn’t a great distance between the houses, but she knew Juliette liked to walk over instead of drive, primarily because her driving wasn’t great and sometimes resulted in a few disasters with a bin and even the fence
”I’m back” she called, unlocking the front door. She frowned slightly at the silence. The burns household was many things, but silence was not one of them
Usually she’d be greeted by someone, or hear the racket that Juliette would make when rarely assisting her mom with making dinner. Never such silence.
Calliope enters her room, but no sign of Juliette. She prides herself as being a calm person, but the quietness in the house is alarming
Suddenly a loud bang interrupts her thoughts. Dropping down her bag with a heavy thump, Cal rushes out to the garden
Juliette and Apollo are locked together, his arms tight in a deadlock around her neck and Calliope panics. She dives into the pair, pulling Apollo away from her girlfriend
“Stop! Stop!” She demands, hands reaching for Juliette’s face, searching. “Are you okay? What happened?” Her fingers touch a bruise and the vampire winces. ”Ouch”
Apollo is dusting himself off. “We were just...” Satisfied she is fine Calliope let’s go of Juliette and strides across the garden, hands shoving at Apollo’s shoulders
“I thought there was no drama between us and the fairmonts anymore Apollo” she sees red, shoving him again.
“Hey!” Juliette steps forward, hand still pressed against her cheek. “Cal it’s fine. Calm down” she smiles, and this makes Calliope even angrier
They were acting like children, fighting on the front lawn she thinks. But Juliette is soft, and despite being a vampire she is as harmless as an ant. So Apollo must have started the fight, she deduces
“I’m going to tell mom!” Calliope calls across, folding her arms angrily. “She’s going to be so mad at you! Juliette is off limits” she steps forward, chest to chest with her brother
Apollo laughs at this, and Juliette whispers a quiet. “Oh” she smiles dopily and Apollo laughs harder. “Dude you’re so whipped” he tells his sister, shaking his head
Juliette blushes at his words, and Calliope watches the pair. They don’t seem angry, despite being at each other’s throats only moments ago
Maybe she misread the situation. Apollo capitalises on her calmness and begins to explain. “We weren’t fighting Cal”
Okay, maybe wrong choice of words. “Dude” Jules groans and Calliope spins around to face her. “Since when did you call my brother dude? What’s going on?” She demands
Apollo sighs loudly and opens his mouth to begin. Juliette cuts him off, arms winding around Calliope’s waist to direct her focus.
”Apollo was teaching me karate” she beams, and Calliope’s jaw drops. “What?” Apollo nods with a grin, crossing the lawn to place a steady set of hands onto Juliette’s shoulder
”Look I tried making an effort, since dad clearly isn’t. And it’s not like this one” he jostles Juliette, who sways side to side uncertainly. “Is going anywhere anytime soon”
Calliope must still look confused because her brother sighs loudly. “Juliette wanted to learn karate, something about watching a film”
“It’s true” Juliette nods. “Ben showed me Karate Kid and I wanted to give it a try. Apollo said he has some skills” she smiles goofily and Calliope can’t help but return it
”So you weren’t ..” she trails away, thumb reaching for the bruise lightly. “That was an accident” Apollo holds out his hands and Juliette nods frantically. “My fault! Two left feet here” she jerks her hands downwards and laughs nervously
With the initial shock worn off, and knowing that they were not actually fighting Calliope feels herself warming to the idea of the two bonding
”You should be more careful” she tells her brother, focused on the small bruise marking pale skin. “Cal she’s a vampire, it’ll heal” he complains, but Calliope doesn’t drag her eyes away from Juliette’s face
”Its reasons like this why I need to learn some moves” Jules explains with a laugh, hand stretched out in mock karate chop. Calliope laughs too, at the ridiculousness of her girlfriend
Apollo winds an arm around both girls shoulders. “Well she won’t be winning a black belt soon” he pats her back teasing.
“How long have you two been...” Calliope thinks for a moment. Friends? Acquaintances?
But Apollo, as always, breaks the silence. “Bros!” He smirks, hand dropping to offer Juliette a fist pump.
”Bros!” Juliette returns the fist bump, her hand comically smaller than his. Calliope again, is stunned. “Uh..” she starts then stops
“How long have you two been .... bros” she manages. Juliette perks up at this. “I wanted to learn some fighting skills a few weeks back and Theo was busy so Apollo was my best bet”
Both siblings speak at once. “You wanted Theo first?” “A few weeks??” Juliette takes the time to address both comments, she turns to Calliope first.
“Remember I watched a movie around at Ben’s for his birthday?” Calliope nods. “Well he chose Karate Kid, and I thought it would be fun to learn”
This seems to make sense, Juliette would always pick up the most random hobbies in the most random context.
One time, she had helped an old lady carry back a bag of shopping, then turned up at the Burns dinner the following day clad in a mismatched, hole-ridden knitted sweater and hat explaining the joys of knitting
(which lasted all of one week until Calliope accidentally poked her finger on a loose needle)
She took up gaming, after spotting one advert during the annual Burns Super Bowl watch. This meant spending hours strapped to various gaming devices with Ben, until it got to the point where Calliope had to physically un-strap the plastic gun from her grasp after eleven hours of uninterrupted gaming.
Calliope begun to blame Ben, because he would introduce these hobbies offhand to her girlfriend. This would develop, and sometimes consume hours upon hours of her time.
She didn’t even want to think about the trampolining debacle. Juliette could barely walk to the store without tripping and face planting into the concrete
Calliope was sure the one thing that could kill legacy vampires was trampolining. She still had flashbacks to watching Juliette bounce higher and higher, before losing her balance and almost fly into the neighbours garden
The next day, a larger fence was installed and the trampoline was taken down. Talia had sternly told Juliette that she was one warning away from being banned from the garden, so she swore off physical hobbies from that moment.
Karate must have broken this. “You could have asked me. I know some skills” Calliope contemplated. “Back up. Back up. Theo was your first choice?” Apollo demanded
Juliette frowned. “No hard feelings dude” she nudged Apollo who barely moved at the contact. “This was before we were like ..” she gestured between the two.
”Bros?” Calliope added, unamused. “Yes!” The two grinned, high fiving each other with vigour. “What is happening” Calliope murmurs to herself
”Theo was busy so I thought I’d ask Apollo, and he’s been training me for a weeks” Juliette announces with a proud grin, and her joy is so infectious that Calliope feels herself smile too
Apollo nods his approval. “I was teaching her some more physical work, since you need coordination for kicks and most karate moves” Juliette grumbles at this. “I’m totally coordinated” she huffs with indignation
”Sure, sure” Apollo winks. “Anyways, that’s really it. Totally not trying to murder your girlfriend so cool it down”
And Calliope is relieved that they aren’t actually fighting, but her brother is the most annoying person in the world at the moment so she slaps his shoulder, hard
”Oooh” Juliette claps her hands together, suddenly struck by inspiration. “Do you want to see some of my moves?” Calliope slaps a hand to her brother’s mouth before he can let an innuendo slip
Admittedly, no. She does not want to see Juliette fumble her way through a five year old’s karate routine that Apollo learnt years ago
But Calliope cannot deny her girlfriend anything, so she nods instead. “Awesome, great” Juliette psychs herself up, rolling up her sleeves impossibly higher and clapping her palms together
“Let’s do this” she tells Apollo, who cracks his knuckles and moves to position. “Be careful” Calliope warns, taking a few steps back and leaning against the trunk of a tree cautiously.
”Me or him?” Juliette asks, scrunching up her nose adorably. “Both of you” Calliope replies, thinking maybe this wasn’t such a good idea
But before she can question things, they lock into a tussle and begin.
“What is going on?” A voice booms, and Talia enters the garden, just as Apollo loses his grip on Juliette and drops her with a loud thump
”I don’t think I am cut out for martial arts” she groans from the grass