Halloween Plot

[echolls_cursed]

They'd been spared.

It was Halloween morning, and there wasn't a pair of hooker-boots between them. It was a huge relief, one which they promptly celebrated with a little roughhousing and a lot of kissing. Both of which were going well until Logan backed into one of Neil's shelves, knocking it down and banging his head.

That sort of killed the mood.

After a brief argument about who's fault it had been, Neil had left in hopes of borrowing some nails and a hammer from the building crew, leaving Logan to tidy up and get dressed. He wasn't alone for long though, and when Logan heard the door open behind him, he instantly assumed it was Joe, coming to see just what the hell they'd been doing.

"You know, in some cultures, they have this thing called 'knocking'. Apparently it stops people from walking in on one another while they're getting dressed," Logan quipped, pulling on a t-shirt and turning around.

He really wished he hadn't.

""Nothing I haven't seen before," Aaron replied, his voice laced with that carefully practiced tone of a loving father. "I spent a good six years bathing you after all."

Something told him that Aaron wasn't going to simply vanish this time, and Logan struggled with himself for a moment as he tried to decide how to react. "You mean the Nanny spent six years bathing me," he corrected, forcing himself to stay casual and relaxed. "Rosalita always had a softer touch than you anyway."

Aaron laughed, a forced and cold sound that Logan was all too familiar with. The calm before the storm. "I've missed you, Logan. I'm really looking forward to becoming a family again."

Logan just shook his head. "You're not my family anymore," he said firmly, voice level and calm. "I'm twenty now, and you're not my father. You were never my father. Just the asshole that..."

He was promptly cut off by the back of Aaron's hand as it hit his cheek, snapping his head to the side with a sound that seemed to echo off the hut walls. "Don't be disrespectful," his father said simply. "I don't care how old you are, you are my son, and you'll show me some respect. You're right, you're not a child anymore, and I won't treat you like one if you don't act like one."

Rubbing his cheek, Logan glared, fighting back the feeling of fear that sat deep in his gut. "You're not my father," he said again, looking up at the older man for a long moment, and then trying to push past him so he could leave.

He really should have known better, but after all this time, he didn't want to be the weak child he'd been two years ago. He didn't want to cave and let Aaron shove him around. He'd built a new life here, and if would take more than a slap in the face to get him to give it up. When Aaron grabbed his arm though, fingers digging into his forearm as he shoved him roughly back into the room and onto the bed, Logan couldn't fight the fear any longer. In that moment, he was seven again, and Aaron... Aaron was the most frightening person in the world.

Mouth open slightly, there was an obvious look of panic on Logan's face as he watched Aaron move closer.

"Is this how it has to be?" he father asked. "Twenty years old, and you still need to be taught how to treat someone with respect? It's embarrassing, Logan, I hope you know that. You should be ashamed of this." Fingers moving to his belt, Aaron just shook his head as he slipped it free from the belt loops on his jeans. "We'll do it this way then."

Logan didn't even argue. He knew better than that. In the long run, the belt tended to be the better option. It was usually enough to calm Aaron down, preventing bloody noses or broken bones. That didn't make it any easier to swallow though, and Logan's stomach turned as he got to his feet and pulled off his shirt. He didn't need to be told to face the wall, he just did it, forcing his mind to go blank as he heard Aaron step up behind him.

"You know I only do this because I love you," he heard his father say... right before the first lash fell.

When it was over, Logan's back burned, and he wasted no time pulling his shirt back on. "I need you to leave," he said calmly, glancing at his father. "You can go to the compound... that big building... you can get a room or something. You can't be here though. Alright?"

Aaron just raised a brow. "Don't want to introduce me to your boyfriend then? You're lucky you're mother's not alive to hear about that. It would have killed her."

Logan just frowned, knowing that wasn't true. "Lucky you drove her to suicide you mean," he corrected coldly. And this time... This time he waited to hit the ground.

(Locked to those close to Logan, If you want to tag in and didn't already get an okay from me, just drop me an e-mail.)

Comments

[little_moons]

"I don't give a fuck about me," I argue, taking hold of his shoulders and slowly helping him to stretch out with his head on the pillows, "I can't leave you alone with him."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"He's less likely to kill me," Logan argued, pulling Neil down with him.

"I'm fine, okay? I just took a bad fall on that last hit. ..I don't want him talking to you."

[little_moons]

"Less likely?" I repeat, voice still strained as I lower myself down next to him and press my forehead gently against his, trying not to jostle him too much, "We need a fucking deadbolt."

I rest my hand against his cheek, thumb sweeping over his cheekbone and my fingertips burying themselves in his hair. "Nothing he can say to me means shit, Logan. I can handle it."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"I knew...I knew he was coming," Logan said quietly. "I knew, you know?"

Sighing, he buried his face in Neil's neck, letting the fear and pain he'd been fighting well up inside him. "He shouldn't be here."

[little_moons]

"I know," I murmur, wrapping my arms around him carefully and pulling him close without pressing on his sliced skin. "I'm... God, I'm so fucking sorry, Logan. I should've... I dunno, fuck... I just thought it was island shit, you know? I just..." I trail off, burying my face in his hair and breathing him in, letting out a broken sigh when something deep in my chest twists painfully.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

Logan wanted to tell Neil that it wasn't his fault, that they had no way of knowing...

All he could manage was a soft sob though.

"I couldn't stop him," he said quietly.

[little_moons]

That twisting in my chest? It's turned up by about a hundred, something breaking sharply, physically painful enough that I let out a sharp gasp and hold onto him a little tighter.

"It's okay. We'll be okay," I say quietly, even though I've got no fucking clue if that's true, and I could be just as likely trying to convince myself. "I'm not leaving you. I can't, Logan. Don't fucking ask me to."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"I just don't wnt him to hurt you, you know?" Logan said quietly, finding Neil's hand and squeezing it.

"He's... He hurt so many people that I love, you're not allowed to be next."

[little_moons]

"Well, you're not allowed to do this shit alone anymore," I argue quietly, lacing our fingers together and letting my lips smudge against his forehead.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

Logan just nodded, trying to ignore the way his body ached and protested as he moved closer. God, he was so tired...

"I know, okay?" he said softly.

[little_moons]

"Just... Just rest for a little while. We'll figure something out," I murmur, looking around the room for... fuck, I don't even know. Something to bar the door with? Something to knock the bastard in the fucking head with? Which the motherfucker deserves, by the way.

Hell, I'm really not completely against suggesting we just run and hide.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"I have to make sure Joe's okay," Logan said after a moment. "If dad's here... Bucky could be here."

[little_moons]

"Just give it a minute," I say, slipping away from him and sitting up slowly, my hand still combing gently through his hair, "Want me to run over there?"

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"No... stay, okay? I'll go later. I just need five minutes rest..." Logan said softly.

[little_moons]

"Okay," I whisper, turning around to face him on the bed and folding my legs up under me, fingertips brushing along the side of his unbruised cheek. "You hit your head pretty fucking hard. Try to stay awake, okay?"

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"I've taken worse hits from bigger assholes," Logan smiled weakly, coving Neil's hand with his own.

[little_moons]

"Yeah, who?" I ask, brow arching skeptically 'cause I'm pretty sure there isn't a bigger asshole than Aaron Echolls.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Weevil's goons knocked me out one time," Logan admitted, not sure he'd ever told Neil that story. It wasn't one of his best moments, crying and begging for his life.

"Weevil had them kidnap me for a few hours. Knocked me out cold, tied me up, threatened me with a gun. Can't say that was a great day... but i was out longer than I was just now."

[little_moons]

"Still not a bigger asshole," I point out, sighing a little when Max jumps up on the bed and flops over against my hip. Beating your kid from the time they're seven? That's definitely a new level of scumbag.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"I'm just saying, I'm okay," Logan said, watching the dog curiously as it sniffed at him.

[little_moons]

"Yeah, I know," I sigh, dropping my other hand to Max's head and scratching lightly behind his ears with a muttered, "Some fucking watchdog you are."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Too bad Ray has my gun," Logan said quietly. "Might have kept him away."

[little_moons]

"'s it still locked up in the IPD office?" I ask, brow pinching up in thought.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Dunno," Logan shrugged. "Probably, and Joe doesn't think they'll be giving it back after what happened."

[little_moons]

That's a pretty fucking good idea, as far as I'm concerned, but I don't say as much. There's no need to get him all riled up now.

Still, it'd be a damn good thing to have at a time like this.

I'm sorta wondering how tough the lock on that door is.