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“Dad behind you !” Lian yelled, lifting her controller and rearing back as if she was physically moving her character. Roy gave a startled yelp , jerking his own as he turned, attempting to fire at the zombie that had snuck up on him. But not before it took a nice hunk out of his life bar.
“Shit,” he mumbled, one leg reaching out, bare foot braced against the coffee table like he needed support. There were more, and he was screwed because he knew he had to reload -
“Got you,” Lian said, and sure enough, her cover fire was enough. She grinned, her hair falling over her shoulders, into her face, as the fake gunshots filled the entire living room. “You can’t die on me yet.”
“Thanks kid,” Roy said with a laugh, elbowing her. She grinned, pausing for a moment once the horde was gone, reaching for the bag of miscellaneous candy she had dropped on the coffee table when she promptly informed her dad, hours before , that he was going to marathon the latest revamp of House of the Dead with her.
She grabbed the bag and dropped it between them, rummaging around blind as the load screen popped up, taking them to the next level.
“Tell me there’s a blue raspberry lollipop in there,” Roy said, glancing down- and Lian grinned, pulling one out and passing it to her father.
“Saved ‘em all for you,” she pointed out, grabbing a root beer flavored one and popping it into her mouth. She tossed the wrapper on the couch next to her, before she held a hand out towards her father. “Hair tie,” she said, around the lollipop, and Roy laughed, pulling one from his wrist and dropping it against her palm.
“Gettin’ serious pumpkin?”
“Really dad?” she pouted around the candy as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Roy watched as the blonde streak she’d added a year ago mingled with all that dark hair she got from Jade. “I’m not a pumpkin.”
“Still got those cute cheeks,” Roy remarked, finally popping the lollipop into his mouth, and Lian huffed.
“ Dad you are… embarrassing. To say the least.” Lian reached up, pinched one of her cheeks, before the load screen completed and she was picking up her controller. She quickly forgot the comment, the room dissolving into the two of them yelling at the game and each other, pausing only to shove more candy into their mouths.
They were in the midst of yelling at the top of their lungs, fighting off a boss, when the front door opened and Jason walked in. The moment he did he cringed, knew exactly what he’d walk into- a mess of a living room, with a husband and a daughter shoving at each other on the couch like children, probably full of candy.
So much for the dinner he had planned to make.
He sighed, slamming the door- but it went unheard. Roy and Lian were off in their own world- once Jason knew too damn well, at this point. If he dared to count the amount of nights, after patrol, where they decided just a few minutes of video games would be nice to unwind- well, he’d probably wake up alone just as many times as he had, because Roy and Lian had passed out on the couch stuck on a main menu screen.
He headed for the living room, and sure enough- candy wrappers on the couch, both with their hair tied back. Roy’s bare feet on the coffee table, Lian almost leaning into her father’s lap because she had to move with her controller, just like he did.
Jason folded his arms, shook his head, before he cleared his throat. Thankfully, the enemies seemed vanquished , and both Lian and Roy heard him. They craned their necks, glancing over the back of the couch, before Roy offered a sheepish grin, first. “Hey baby,” he said, and the insides of his lips were blue . Jason could just see, from where he was.
“Hi Jay,” Lian offered, holding up a rather large bag of candy. “Wanna join in? Dad sort of sucks.”
“I do not ,” Roy said, and Lian rolled her eyes.
“I was going to make dinner,” Jason offered, walking over and leaning his arms on the back of the couch, resting against them. “But I’m starting to wonder where you two would even put it.”
“Dad has a second stomach,” Lian said, picking her controller back up and looking at the TV. “You’ve said it a thousand times. Going senile?”
Roy snorted, and Jason reached over, got his hand on his head and shoved him lovingly. “Smart ass,” Jason mused, and caught the side of Lian’s smile. “You two are cleaning up this mess, fyi.”
“Yeah, yeah. After the next boss.” Lian waved a hand, as she and Roy both looked back at the television.
“You know, Jaybird, we could just order a pizza,” Roy mused. “You don’t always have to cook.”
“Better yet,” Lian said, throwing her arms to the side and nearly smacking her father as she reloaded, “Order a pizza and let’s pull out the D and D books. We’re overdue- and you guys don’t have patrol on tonight’s secret hero calendar .”
Jason snorted- and okay, maybe he was guilty of having a calendar to help keep them on schedule. But he thought a little structure might do Lian good- lord knows she didn’t otherwise seem to get it.
And yet, she was a good kid , through and through.
“Family game night,” Roy agreed.
“With just the three of us?”
Lian shrugged. “I can call my friends. That last campaign we did with them was cool.”
Jason snorted. “Great, a kitchen full of teenage superheroes pretending to be orcs and wizards and what not.” He drummed his fingers on his arm, and Roy and Lian exchanged a glance.
“You can be Dungeon Master,” Lian pointed out, and Jason paused- before he pushed off the couch, heading for the kitchen.
“How many pizzas- and did you finish your homework?”
“Three!” Lian yelled, grinning as she dropped her controller, accepted the high-five her dad offered her. “And of course I did, like a week ago! You know dad wouldn’t play with me if I didn’t.”
Jason did know that. And he wouldn’t put it past Lian to be that far ahead- she was Roy’s blood, after all.Just as impressive and impossible as her father-
“Oh, Jay! I want you to look over my character sheets before we start, I think I might play that real bruiser I haven’t touched in months.”
And just as unavoidably loveable , as well.