madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-fOoT FeTiSh-

Teqi blinked herself awake, she tried to rub her eyes as the dried tears had glued them together, but something else was in her arms. It was warm and smelled like ash, so she didn't mind. Her eyes hurt from the light streaming through the window, clouds floating past like big white sticks of fairy floss.

She didn't like fairy floss anymore, or carnivals.

When she glanced around, she noticed with surprise that her friends were there. It was a good surprise, a relieved sort of one that made her shoulders sink back down and her head feel like, well, fairy floss. Maybe she did like fairy floss, because Jason was curled up in a wolfish fashion on the pull out, Piper's bare foot pressed against his cheek. The girl with white painted toenails was on the end of Teqi's bed, Leopard sleeping in her arms, and she was snoring louder than the cat could purr.

Teqi shook her head, a little smile on her face at the sight of her sleeping friends. She tilted her head, pressing her cheek to the top of Leo's head, her smile growing. He was asleep on her chest, arms around her waist tightly. Teqi was holding him, and everything was warm and soft and she couldn't believe it was only a few hours difference from the pirate attack and the awful nightmares.                                                                                                                                                                                     

Leo's cheek was squashed against her, and Teqi noticed with a frown that one of the pockets on his magic toolbelt had been cut off. Then he sneezed in his sleep and Teqi screamed internally.

"He's happier now."

Jason smiled at her tiredly, then grimaced and pushed Piper's foot out of his face. He sat up with a yawn and checked his watch. It couldn't have been too late, because he flopped back down, propping himself up on his elbows.

Teqi cocked her head, "huh?"

Jason smiled at the sleeping boy, "when you and the girls went to see that ghost in the park, and we investigated the military submarine that Leo wanted to see, he was a mess. Didn't make any jokes... or even tease Frank."

Teqi chewed on her lip, trying not to feel guilty. She knew it must have been bad if he wasn't making jokes to cover up his feelings. "We had a fight."

A smirk crept onto the blonde's face, twisting the scar on his lip, "and then you made up?"

Teqi went red, and she looked away with a gulp. Then she nodded, which only caused Jason to start laughing at her with a wider grin. She tried to hide her face in her hands but then she would have to let go of Leo, so she used his fluffy hair instead, which didn't help her case at all. 

"Shuddup. You're an ass."

"Reckon there was some making out as well-"

Teqi let go of Leo and proceeded to start whacking a cackling Jason with one of her many white pillows. He rolled over on the pull-out bed and tried to push her away, but Teqi was determined to make him shut the fuck up. "I'm not wrong, am I!"

"If you tell a soul I will slit your throat!" Teqi hissed at him, holding the pillow over his face. Jason tried to shove her off as he opened his mouth to retort, but then Piper's painted toes went right into mouth. 

A look of horror lit his face up and he sat up with a high-pitched scream that could rival a goat giving birth.

Teqi fell back with her hand over her mouth as she gasped. Then Piper sat up with hair that could win a bird's nest competition by a mile, her face screwed up oddly. Leo shuffled over, half asleep, and wrapped his arms around Teqi's waist again with a grumble and a spark in his hair.