The Glass Knight

"Where's Grandma Thalia?" Pip asked, trailing behind her mother as they walked into the private room at the Korean restaurant. The restaurant was small, tucked halfway into an alley, but when they walked through the door, the teenage hostess had greeted Artemis like she was family and led their group immediately to the back, not far from the kitchen.

"In Rome, I think," Artemis said, dropping down into the seat her husband Jason had pulled out for her. Before Pip could ask why, she elaborated. "There's some sort of conference there they wanted her for. And then Dad is in Thailand, stopping that tsunami and dealing with the aftermath."

"Yeah, I knew about that," Pip said, dropping into a seat. She glanced across the room, making eye contact with Vivainne as her roommate trailed in with little Vanya's hand in hers. She made a small beckoning motion, and a smile broke out across Viv's face. Before she could take the open seat, Vanya made a break for it, racing across the room in her light up sneakers and landing in the seat Pip had saved for Vivainne.

"Hey," Vivainne said, pulling out an overexaggerated frown, planting her hands on her hips. "That's my seat."

Vanya giggled, refusing to move.

Pip poked her in the side, only increasing the giggles, before looking up at Viv with a teasing grin. "Guess she's my date tonight, sorry."

The expression on Vivainne's face flickered for half a second, enough to make Pip's heart skip a beat. Damn it, why did I say that?

"For the record," Athena said, taking the seat to Pip's left. "Mom also missed my parents' weekend."

"No, she didn't," Artemis said.

"Yes, she did," Athena refuted. "She was busy with some fight, and she didn't make it. Dad did, of course, but she didn't show up until that night."

"I don't remember that."

"She showed up to ours," Charles said, sitting down opposite Uncle Jason. "In uniform, covered in blood."

Pip laughed. "I'm sure that went over well."

"I don't think anyone believed until then that The Archer had raised these two," Uncle Jason said. "Me included."

"Yeah, you couldn't shut your damn mouth," Artemis said, flicking lightly at his chin. "Just gaping."

"She was the biggest hero in the world," Jason protested. "How was I supposed to not?"

Pip nodded. It made sense. If The Archer had showed up today, she had to imagine she'd get the same reaction she had thirty years ago. Even Athena showing up had been enough to draw some stares, though for the most part, everyone had been polite enough not to swarm her.

"Can we order?" she asked, pulling a menu toward her. The table only had one, propped up in the middle on one of those metal holders.

"We're still waiting on some people," Artemis said, swatting her hand back without moving a muscle. The tendril of glitter exploded against Pip's hand, leaving carnage—pink glitter—in its wake. She sighed, pulling back. That glitter would never go away.

"Who are we waiting on?" she asked.

"That would be us," said a familiar voice as the door opened. Florence stepped through, trailed by his parents, Janean and Nicoli.

"Stop," Pip said, raising a hand. "No gingers allowed."

"That is discrimination," Florence fired back, while Nicoli raised a hand to his hair that was, admittedly, even more red than his son's. "I'm filing a lawsuit."

"All right, fine," Pip said, dropping her hand. "I guess you can come in. Though, I thought this was just a family dinner."

"Oh, come on," Florence said, taking a free seat. "I'm basically family. I'm your grandma's favorite grandchild."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"We'll just have to ask Thalia next time she's around," Florence said, folding his hands on the table in front of him, a supremely proud look on his face. Pip wanted to wipe it off. With her fists.

Favorite grandchild, her ass. Grandma Thalia had dragged her all the way to New York to convince her to train here just so she'd be close by. And Florence wasn't even a Carter.

"Now can we order?" Pip asked, pulling her narrow gaze away from Florence.

"Not yet," Artemis said. "We're still waiting on someone."

Frowning, Pip glanced around the table. Artemis and Uncle Jason, Florence and his parents, Charles, Vivainne, and Vanya, and then herself and Athena. Who else would be coming?

She didn't have a chance to ask before a soft knock sounded against the doorframe. Vivainne's back went stiff before Pip saw around her, eyes landing on Damien, shuffling awkwardly in his baggy jeans and dark hoodie. What was he doing here?

"Good," Artemis said, smiling up at him. "Come in. I hope you like Korean."

He shrugged as he walked into the room, taking the only free seat. With a bit of quick shuffling, he was soon sitting beside Florence, the annoyingly doting boyfriend. Pip still didn't understand how he could be dating, or hooking up with, him. Vivainne hated him. Maybe without reason, but…

She pulled out her phone beneath the table, typing up a quick text and sending it off before returning her attention to her roommate.

Vivainne jumped slightly before pulling out her phone. She stared at the screen for a moment before turning to Pip with a slight nod.

Pip let out a sigh of relief. She was okay.

"So…" Pip began, turning her attention back to her roommate's nemesis. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited." He glared at her, as if daring to question the claim. Before she could, or accuse Florence of being thoughtless, Artemis cleared her throat.

"I invited him," she said.

"Why?" Pip blurted out. She couldn't help it. What would possess Artemis to invite some random student to dinner with them? It wasn't for Florence's benefit, was it?

"Well, not everyone has family like you," Damien said, and though the words were meant to be cutting, they just sounded sad. "I can go."

He pushed back from the table, only for Florence to grab his hand. "No, stay."

"I invited him," Artemis said again, the warning clear. Pip shut her mouth, then reached out again for the menu.

"I guess we can order now."

They ordered too much food. Pip had every intention of packing up the leftovers and taking them home so she didn't have to worry about food for the next week, or at least a few days, so long as Florence didn't get to it first.

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Vivainne remained tense, focused on her sister as the adults traded conversation. Either they were oblivious to the tension at the table, or purposefully ignoring it, talking about adult things that Pip had no interest in listening to. They could have at least been sharing stories of their hero work, but no. Artemis wanted to find a date for Charles, and Athena was all in, while Charles argued back that she definitely didn't need to do that and Jason just laughed.

Artemis was always matchmaking, apparently.

Pip wasn't interested in the love lives of adults.

She leaned forward over her plate, trying to get away from the conversation. "When you say you don't have parents…"

"You can't just ask that!" Florence exclaimed.

Damien shot him a look before turning to Pip with a sigh. "They're dead."

"Really?"

"No," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm lying about being an orphan for fun."

"Oh, great," Pip said. "I was just asking, you know."

"Well, ask a better question."

"Is that why you're training to be a hero?" Florence stared at her like she was an idiot, but really, what good did it do to dance around the subject? She wasn't being insensitive, she thought, just curious. Curious was fine. Damien could always refuse to answer.

He stared down at his plate, pushing food around with a pair of chopsticks he didn't quite know how to use. "I guess," he said finally, shrugging. "I'm here because they died, yeah."

Pip nodded, satisfied. It made sense to her.

"That's also where the hand came from, for the record," Damien continued, eyes no longer on Pip but glued to Vivainne, who continued to pointedly ignore him. He lifted the prosthetic hand, flexing it over the tabletop. "Had to have my hand amputated after the accident, and some charity covered the prosthetic."

Vivainne looked up slowly, lips pressed tight. "Is that so?"

"Do you want records?" he asked. "I'm sure I can find them. Actually, they're probably in my file over at the program." He twisted, looking down the table at Artemis. She met his gaze for a minute, never breaking stride in her conversation. Apparently, they were meant to figure this out on their own.

"Why weren't you involved with Unity from the beginning?" Vivainne asked. "Why hack into their computers?"

"Key word there is tried," Damien said, looking away. "But, I don't know… It's complicated. I didn't think the hero world cared for me at all. It certainly didn't feel that way after everything that happened. Obviously, I was wrong."

They fell into silence after that, only broken with Vanya's loud yawn. Charles, apparently eager to escape conversation, jumped on it.

"I should probably get Vanya back home," he said, pushing back from the table. "It's late. Way past her bedtime."

"I suppose that's reasonable," Artemis said with a sigh. "But you're not getting out of this so easily."

Charles walked around the table, looking pained. "Will nothing I say convince you to drop it?"

"Nope. It's my job to make sure all my siblings are happy and content."

"Then you've already done your job, because I'm both," Charles said. He grabbed Vanya out of her seat, pulling her sleepily into his arms. She curled against him immediately, eyes falling shut. "Maybe try focusing on Orion for a bit."

"He's been evading me."

"I wonder why," Charles muttered. He stepped toward the door, Vivainne rising and following him, talking quietly.

"I should probably get going too," Athena said, drumming her fingers against the table. "I need to make sure they didn't burn down the tower in my absence, or my house."

"Tell everyone I said hi," Pip said. "And to stay out of my room."

"I will," Athena said, chuckling. "Keep working hard. You're going to do great things. And talk to me before choosing your hero name. The last thing you need to do is pick something stupid."

Pip lit up, eyes going wide. "We get to pick our hero names soon?"

"Not this semester," Artemis said, glaring up at Athena. "You have to pass midterms first."

"What's that going to be?" Pip asked.

Athena opened her mouth, only to be cut off by a sharp jab from Artemis' glitter. "No," she said, pointing a finger at her. "You're not going to spoil it."

"Well, all right then," Athena said. She wrapped an arm around Pip's shoulders, squeezing her tight before walking around the table to do the same to her sister and brother-in-law.

With final goodbyes to her mom, Pip turned back around, mouth dropping open as Florence piled leftover food into paper takeout containers.

"Hey! That's supposed to be mine."

"You snooze you loose," he said, not looking up.

Pip grabbed a container, fighting for the last of the leftovers and managing to snag some for herself and Vivainne. Not as much as she wanted, but at least it was breakfast for tomorrow.

Leaving her aunt, uncle, and Florence's parents, Pip stepped outside, Vivainne not far behind. Florence and Damien followed, their hands intertwined. Annoying, stupid boyfriends.

"So…" Pip trailed off, not sure where to go. If she was being responsible, she'd probably go to bed, but it was still too early for that, and they hadn't even gotten in any training today. She'd been fighting every day for so long now, not getting any punches in left her feeling strange. "Anyone want to spar?"

"With you?" Florence laughed. "No. Not a chance."

"Oh, come on," she said. "I'll be gentle. Viv?" She flushed hot as she met Vivainne's eyes, imagining their bodies pressed together as they sparred. Fuck, she needed to get over this.

"Maybe another time?"

Pip sighed, trying to look disappointed while secretly being relieved. Thank god Vivainne had said no. If she'd said yes, Pip probably would have done something stupid, like asking to kiss her.

Still, she couldn't go back to the apartment like this. She'd barely done anything all day, she needed something to do. Something to get her mind off Vivainne and drive off all this pent up energy.

"We could go back to my place and watch something?" Florence suggested. "Harper might even be done with her parents by now, so you could invite her over?"

"I think I'm just going to go to bed," Vivainne said, shaking her head.

"I need to find someone to spar with," Pip said. "I'm too restless to sleep."

Pip accompanied Vivainne back to their apartment, putting the leftovers in the fridge and then changing before heading back down to campus. She shot off a quick text as she walked, hoping it wasn't too late for Violet to respond.

She didn't even have a chance to put her phone away before it went off again and brought a smile to her lips. Violet was on her way.

Settling into one of the smaller protected rooms, Pip threw her stuff to the side and began to stretch. She was bent over, face to the floor, when Violet came running in, clearly visible between Pip's legs.

"Nice view," Violet quipped.

Pip straightened, face going hot as she turned around. "Just warming up," she said, wondering if that was the best choice of words. "How was the visit from your parents?"

"Fine," Violet said, shrugging. "They don't really understand what I'm doing, but they're supportive. Do you need more time to warm up, or are you ready?"

A grin stretched across Pip's face. This was exactly what she needed. "Ready."

Pip had never sparred with the girl in earnest, despite the fact that they were in the same combat class. As a strongman, Violet was normally paired against others with enhanced strength or physical durability, just to be safe. The good thing was, with the safe room tech activated, she didn't have to worry about it.

Much.

The punch sent her flying several feet before she managed to summon a glass shield to catch herself. She wheezed, holding her stomach as she struggled to catch her breath. Fuck. Without the protections going, that punch might have torn through her stomach, or at the very least, broken several ribs.

Violet paused, unballing her fist. "You good?"

Instead of responding, Pip launched herself at the girl. The flurry of blows didn't last long before Violet managed to block one and grab Pip's arm, sending her slamming to the ground.

The last of the air in her lungs escaped with a whoosh, tears springing to her eyes. Through the pain, she let out a thrilled laugh. This was exactly what she needed. "Fuck," she breathed, opening her eyes to find Violet above her, pinning her down. "That felt good."

Violet stared down at her, one hand still on Pip's shoulder, eyeliner smeared darkly across her eyelids. "Ready to submit?" she asked, the words twisting her mouth into a smirk.

"Not a chance."

Pip twisted her legs, catching one of Violet's and trying to use her hips to send her off balance enough to escape. It would have worked, if Violet hadn't been so much larger, knocking free of Pip's hold. She swung a leg over Pip's torso, pinning her at the waist.

Pip's hips ground into the rubber mat to no avail. She was pinned.

She stopped struggling, breathing hard as she stared up into Violet's face, chest heaving.

"Call it, Carter," Violet said.

"I don't know," Pip said, shifting slightly in place. She couldn't go far, all too aware of Violet's thighs on either side of her, of her hand pinning her shoulder to the ground. Skin burned where Violet's fingertips touched her. "I kind of like the position I'm in."

Violet stared at her, mouth half open, working for a moment before she let out a strained laugh. She sat back, still pinning Pip's hips to the ground, though she released her upper body. "Fuck, Pip, you don't know how that sounds."

Pip swallowed, but couldn't get the heat in her throat to go away. "I think I know exactly how it sounds."

She propped herself up on her elbows but didn't have a chance to move further before Violet's mouth crashed against hers, hot and urgent, like they were still sparring. And Pip wasn't one to lose.

They managed to make it back to the locker room before Pip's top came off. As for the rest of her things… she'd collect them later.