Finding Home Again - A Trollhunters story

Chapter Five - Threats and Dinner

Hello. It's been a little hard to write this chapter in the last few days, because I've been writing Bucky Barnes headcannons and fanfics off the top of my head non-stop into the night. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Share with friends and comment! I love to hear feedback!

This chapter feels a little short compared to the others. I would make it longer, but I'm really busy, so I'll make the next chapter extra good for ya next week! Merry Christmas, y'all!

   Zeke had left the phone shop. He'd been there to get his phone fixed, but the man at the desk that shift had been incredibly annoying.

   The employee had asked him how his day was going, then started chatting about his love life. Then, the guy went on to talk about more of his personal life in between questions about the broken phone.

   His feet pounded on the cement, hardly making much noise.

   "I'll have to go back tomorrow. Maybe after dinner," he muttered to himself.

   The second phone in his pocket rang loudly (Yes, he – like many other dads – he owned multiple phones). Ignoring the honking of cars, buses, civilians, and taxis, he answered the call, holding the phone up to his ear.

   "Hello there,"

   "Hi," Zeke's wife's voice came through, sounding muffled and slightly out of breath. "Hi, Zeke."

   "Is everything okay?" He asked, sitting down on a bench, avoiding the bird droppings on the one side.

   "Yeah– well, no, not really."

   "Oh?"

   "Well, see, this person phoned me today. We should talk about it when you get home, okay, Love?"

   "Ugh... Fine, I'll hurry home. Love you,"

   "I love you, too."

   She hung up.

   As he walked to his car and got inside, he thought about who could have called his wife.

   Helmut, maybe? No, he had more brains than to mess with his wife.

   Who could it be, then?

   The driveway had one car parked in it already that he parked next to. It was his daughter's new used car, which already bore scratches and dents on various places.

   Inside, he pulled off his coat and hung it up in the foyer closet, and his wife walked over to him with a troubled expression on her face.

   "Who called you?" he demanded.

   "A guy who said his name was... Jim Stooges? Jack Strurges? Ugly last name." Elena tucked her luscious blonde hair behind her ear, which a golden bangle earring hung from.

   Zeke sat down in shock. This couldn't be a coincidence. What did his old brother want with his new family?

   "He said, he said that you did something horrible and that he knows what you did. And that he's coming after you. Something like that."

   Zeke shook his head. "I don't know the name. I don't know what he means by that, either," he lied.

   He didn't like lying, but he was willing to do so in order to keep the peace he'd scraped together with this new family. Zeke raised his head, and said, "Priscilla, are you listening in again?"

   "Ugh," A new voice said, and Pris's head leaned into view from the top of the stairs, her dark blonde hair falling in a curtain, following the movement of her head.

   Her blue eyes sparkled with curiosity. "What's going on?"

   "Just some random man making threats." Zeke answered, taking off his glasses and putting them down on the table.

   "Huh," His daughter said, disappearing back up the stairs to go do whatever the heck teenage girls did in their afternoon.

   "Should we not worry about this, Love?" Elena walked into the kitchen, with her husband trailing behind her.

   "No. At least, I don't think so. I might do some research as to who this man is– this Jack stooges," He felt weird pretending not to know the name, even though he'd lied about his past and birth family many times to more than one person.

   "I know... that you can sort this out," Elena said, leaning over to him. She kissed his lips, and when she started to pull back, he grabbed her by the waist and kissed her harder.

It was 5:30 PM on Friday night, and Jim still hadn't cracked the code. Why didn't the sword work? 

"Uuugh..." he muttered, staring into the food oven. Jim pulled the enchiladas out and placd the pan on the stove.

He heard Toby's voice in the doorway, and his mom chatting with him as they made their way to the living room. Jim sighed. He would enjoy tonight as much as possible, and they all would talk about his mom's wedding plans and laugh and joke around with each other.

Jim hurried to where Toby was and gave him a hug. "Hey, Jimbo! Anythinng changed lately?"

"No," Jim bit the inside of his cheek. "But I'm sure we'll figure this out, somehow."

"Right. In the meantime, I heard there's updates about your mom's wedding! Please, please, please tell me!"

Jim laughed. "I can't! Not until dinner, okay? I think my mom wants to just say it once in front of everyone."

"So it's something big?"

The two friends sat on the sofa and talked aimlessly while they waited for the others.

Douxie rang the doorbell like a  gentleman and he was even dressed up. He smiled wide at them, hugging the both of them tightly.  "I know that I'm early, but puntuality always pays off." he said. Archie greeted them, perched on the master Wizard's shoulder.

A few minutes later, Claire's parents dropped her off and she ran inside, hugged all of them, said hi to Barbara, and gave Jim a kiss. "How is everyone?" she asked with a smile.

"Good," Toby said.

"Fine." Jim assured her (not very convincingly, though).

"Splendid. It's nice to see you all again!" Douxie added, shooting Jim a subtle concerned look that he ignored as politely as he could.

Barbara raised her eyebrows and asked, "Jim, how many others are coming?"

"It's just them tonight, Mom. The food is done, so we can eat whenever you all want."  

Toby raised his hand solemnly.

"Yeah?" Douxie asked.

Toby smirked. "Card game, anyone?"

A whole commotion erupted in the living room as they tried to decide which card game to play. Douxie voted for Blackjack, Claire voted for Kings in the Corners, Toby voted for Old Maid, and Jim voted for Hearts. 

Barbara cleared her throat loudly. "I vote for Cheat." she said definitively, raising her chin. 

The four friends looked at each other. 

"Cheat is good," Toby said.

And so they played Cheat.