darker_london | The Littleton 3? (Joe, Julian, Thomas)

Despite his name, it wasn't often that Thomas Littleton felt small. He was well over six feet tall, and built like a brick wall. But when you knew your friends and your girlfriend were out facing a cast of thousands...it tended to make you feel minuscule no matter what. And Thomas knew he needed someone who could make him feel better. The had many people to choose from, but he wanted a dad. He hadn't had one beyond the age of about seven, of course. But he'd always had Joe. His oldest brother had been that person to all the Littleton children, and Thomas wanted to go to him now, even if he couldn't talk...

Thomas stuck his head around the door shyly and Joe, who was sitting propped up against pillows, looked up and smiled. Thomas gave a cute little wave and then he walked into Joe's hospital room, trying to avoid looking at Joe's bandaged neck. He'd had his throat slit. And that wasn't nothing... "I thought you might be asleep..."

Joe shook his head and he held his hand out to his youngest brother, indicating that he wanted the company. Thomas sat by Joe's side and he scooted the chair as close to the bed as he possibly could without risking it looking a little weird... "Julian isn't here? You guys were attached at the hip before."

"Told him to take a break. He deserved one." Joe whispered hoarsely. It hurt, but dammit, he was talking.

"Hey! Talking!" Thomas grinned, and he felt his heart lift with momentary happiness. "It's good to hear you voice, Joe..." God was it good to hear it...

"Good to have one. Hurts."

"I'm sorry..." Thomas frowned. "Littletons and neck injuries, hmm? At least Adam only got clotheslined. Remember the time with the dental floss?!"

Joe chuckled silently and he nodded. "Mum was so aggro after that."

"Well he had that line there for days. I think he drew it on again to get me in more trouble. It kept changing shape." Thomas winked.

Joe was silent for a moment and then he said, "I wish we could erase yours as easily as his would have been."

"Yeah well...not too many ways to erase a crushed windpipe, save for angel's grace. And...Julian's quick action." Thomas said, referring then to the damage that had been done to Joe, and how much worse it would have been only seconds later.

"They tried to stop him. They wouldn't let him leave the hospital..." Julian had seen Joe being attacked, but the hospital staff had just assumed that he'd somehow gotten ahold of drugs and when he tried to rush out of the hospital, he was talking gibberish and trying to escape. And Thomas couldn't really blame them, considering how Julian had been just 3 weeks ago... "But he made sure they saw you anyway."

"It hurts. That he was in a position where people couldn't trust him."

"He'll work to make sure that doesn't happen again, now he knows how it feels. It had to be terrible. Knowing that if he just hadn't fucked up, they'd take his word for it. Hell...they might have believed the cafeteria burst into a shower of pink confetti spontaneously because Julian said it before."

"And that would be his kind of thing." Joe laughed, and then he coughed, and then he looked miserable.

"Joe." Thomas reached out and he took Joe's hand. "Are you really okay?"

"My boy is my boy again." Joe said with a contented little smile. "And I'm not dead so...little else matters." The safety of his friends mattered. But his pain didn't. "I'll be fine. Julian and I were joking like old times. It felt...it just felt good."

Thomas grinned. "Yeah. He's a great kid you have there."

"I know. That's why it hurt so much when he was gone. Thomas...I feel the same way about you."

Thomas looked into Joe's eyes for a moment and then he swallowed roughly. "Heh...thanks, Joe." He cleared his throat so he wouldn't cry. "My Mary went to Rome..."

"I know."

"I miss her. And I'm scared for her..."

"Your Mary will rip the balls off of anyone that touches her and you know it, Thomas. She's...kind of scary herself..."

"Yeah. I just don't like missing her. She's here and I can't see her. It's bollocks. And our little Deirdre...and Kay and Rosa. Just...augh."

"Why don't you go find Julian. And then we can all have lunch together. Well...mine'll be from a tube...but you two can eat with me?" Joe suggested.

Thomas grinned. "Sounds wonderful, Joe. Thank you."

"Of course." Really, it meant as much to Joe as it did to Thomas.

Thomas headed out of Joe's room and down to Julian's. He could hear the music as he approached the room, and he smiled when he realised it was his Spectre's music. Mmmm. Spectre. Thomas glanced around the doorframe to find Julian, dancing in the middle of his room. He was doing a rather impressive impersonation of Michael Jackson actually.... And then he spun around and instantly flushed, which was good. It made his skin look like it had colour in it. "Uncle Thomas! I was just..."

"Pretending you're a member of the dance team in Thriller while dancing to my gorgeous hunk of boyfriend's music?" Thomas suggested.

"Heh...yeah."

"We are related!" Thomas grinned and then he moved into the room to dance with Julian. If there was one thing Thomas could to without question, it was dance. As long as he didn't sing at the same time...he sounded like a camel in distress when he sang. So he let Julian and Spectre do the work there, dancing around Julian's room, mostly because it was just nice to see Julian having half the energy he used to pack around with him in that skinny little body.

When the song ended, Julian grinned and he ran to turn the CD player off. "Did you see dad?"

"I sure did. He wants us to have lunch with him. And I just bet he'll tell you all sorts of stories about me thinking I was Michael Jackson in high school if you ask him."

"Hah hah! Did you dance around with one glove?!"

"You know it, Baby."

"Excellent.."

Thomas laughed and he and Julian headed out of the room. But not before Thomas preformed Michael's patented crotch grab, paired with whoop and then a moonwalk.

Julian just shook his head. "Okay, now we're really not related."

"Fair enough!" Thomas laughed, and he followed Julian towards Joe's room once more.