Eight, Nine, Ten

[2] T E N T H

Little footsteps stirred Tenth out of his sleep one morning, noises from the kitchen confirms his groggy thought that his guests have woken up before him. The journal had kept him up last night, staying as the main source of his insomnia for the past two weeks. When he felt eyes burning on him, he opened one eye to see Loki staring at him without saying a word; as if he knew his stare would wake Tenth up effectively-which it did. The child's sky blue eyes boring into him without fail until he slowly sat up rubbing his temples.

"I'm up, I'm up," Tenth muttered and Loki huffed before trudging towards the kitchen where Thania and Grace surely were. Tenth's eyes lingered on the boy, it was only two days ago when Loki started to warm up to him and a small part inside him had grown fond of the boy.

"Are you up sleepyhead?" Thania peeked from the doorway of the kitchen to check, "Are you sure you're not an FBI agent anymore? You sure seem act like you're on a case or something,"

"None of your business Thania, worry about your own problems," Tenth sighed, getting up and headed towards them to see the table ready with breakfast.

"What's stuck up your ass so early in the morning?" the raven haired woman snorted earning a glare from the other woman in the room.

"Language, Loki is still in the room," Grace sighed looking at Loki who just ignored them and sat on his usual seat, waiting for them to also sit down.

"See he doesn't mind. Besides, he knows a lot more language than you think," Thania snorted as she sat down, already eager to fill her stomach with food. "Your food is heaven sent Tenth, I haven't had this quality of food before coming here,"

"If you're so grateful then pay for half of the grocery. I only had enough savings for myself when I resigned. Didn't expect boarders," Tenth stated dryly, following her lead and ate without waiting for them to start. He noted Grace and Loki saying their prayers again before eating while Thania followed his example and ate without saying grace.

"So what's your plan? You just can't expect for them to stop searching for you?" Tenth asked Thania a while later, after noting she has considerably relaxed.

"I have some few leads on who's nearby, I'll go out today to scope up the area. How about you? Any plans on your secret mission?"

"I'll stay here for the day. If you're right and someone managed to follow you guys here, either you or I should be with Grace and Loki," Tenth shook his head, finishing his breakfast and now picked up his cup of coffee.

"Right," Thania frowned a bit.

"Won't we be safe here? I don't want us to be a burden when you need something to do," Grace spoke up quietly, looking briefly at Tenth before averting her aways again anxiously. The brunette is still a bit jumpy around him and Tenth couldn't blame her after coming out of a notorious gang.

"If your problem is the normal stalker type then you should be. But we're talking about true criminals here Grace. We all know what they're capable of and I won't risk your safety. Besides, my other business isn't that risky," - yet - he mentally added.

Grace's forehead creased with worry yet again, but Loki distracted her from her dark thoughts as he tugged her arm and motioned for a refill of his milk. Grace smiled at the young boy, putting aside her worry and focused on Loki's needs. After two weeks of living with them, Tenth can say the woman unconsciously needs Loki more to keep her grounded than Loki needing her to look after her; as he acted more mature than his eight years of age.

"Well, I should leave soon if I want to catch my first lead," Thania muttered looking at her watch when the doorbell suddenly rang.

Thania stiffened as Grace instinctively moved closer to Loki, Tenth on the other hand stood up and retrieved a handgun from below the table to his guests' surprise before walking towards the door. Hiding the hand holding the gun behind him, he slowly opened the door to only find his twin and younger brother standing there; the former looking impatient as Twelfth waved with a silly grin on his face.