Donovan had asked if Nathan wanted him to come with when he asked Ian to play with them, but Nathan knew how they didn't get along. It would be better if he talked to Ian alone, though potentially traumatizing. The man had gotten exceptionally needy since they'd started sleeping in separate rooms. Sometimes, like today, Nathan hid in his room to avoid Ian being all over him, but he crawled down to the living room to find the man in his normal recliner. The man took one look at him, smiled, and went to stand.

"W-wait," Nathan said nervously, and Ian sank back into the chair. "I actually came down to ask you something." Nathan was surprised that he didn't hear the squeak of the tight joint in Ian's neck as he craned it in his direction. It was rare he asked Ian for much of anything except to leave him unmolested.

"Sure," Ian answered, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Would you come play at the basketball court with us today?"

Nathan was sure he'd asked without too much trepidation, but Ian's expression crinkled in displeasure. Ian made a sound, sort of like a sigh, maybe a gasped breath of agony. Nathan was unsure which as Ian slid his hand up his face

"Nathan... I'm not good with other people. I really don't think I should be around goody-two-shoes-better-than-the-rest-of-us-Donovan."

Nathan chuckled, and Ian's grimace lifted into a tepid smile.

"I..." Nathan reddened. "I want to spend time with you, but it doesn't seem to go well when we're alone. I thought if perhaps we could play with everyone, it might go better."

"Who exactly would I be playing with?" Ian asked as he stood.

It was even harder for Nathan to stand his ground as Ian took a few steps and stopped directly in front of him. Instead of his usual smirk, Ian had a contemplative, yet what appeared to be frustrated, expression. Nathan knew the man hid himself in the house for the most part, but was spending time with other people that frightening to him?

"Well, I play with Donovan, a neighborhood girl named Rachel, and like a dozen other guys from her gang. I think it might be nice if you got out of the house every once in a while."

"Donovan knows about this?" Ian asked with worry on his features.

"Yes. So do Rachel's friends. She told me to warn you that they are high school boys and might poke fun at you."

"Like I give a shit if some brats spit shit. Fucking kids have nothing better to do than trample on others until they get out into the real world and realize not everyone is as defenseless as they thought. Without the protective confines of the state education system, the world chews up and spits out just about everyone who was popular in high school."

"Ian, they're not that bad. A little scary on the outside, but they're friendly and not at all bullies. Can you try to be friendly?"

"Fine." Ian walked past him to put on his coat and then turned back to him, waiting. "Ladies first," he gestured to the door, and it wasn't like Nathan hadn't heard that one before.

Grumbling, Nathan passed him to head back out into the cold. Snow lined the streets today in a thick layer of packing snow, but it was only as deep as Nathan's ankles if he had to step through an unshoveled patch of sidewalk. The cold front had come out of nowhere and dropped on them like a bag of rocks. Maggie had gotten him a thicker coat, gloves, and winter gear so to speak, so it wasn't too bad.

They ended up walking side by side as they went down the sidewalk, but for the most part, they walked in silence. Nathan actually enjoyed that a bit, but wondered if Ian wasn't sitting there racking his brain for ways to get out of this.

They were at the court in no time and smothered in people faster than Nathan had expected. With the boys' reactions yesterday, Nathan had anticipated they would at least give Ian a bit of space, but man was he wrong. Tim was the first to approach him, eyeing Ian from less than a foot away with his arm still slung at his shoulder. Next to him, Leo, an ash-blond, half-Hispanic boy flanked him.

"Hi," Tim said curtly and with a cold expression.

"What are you?" Ian asked, leaning forward toward Tim, and the boy didn't move back in the slightest.

"The leader of the gang that plays with Donovan," Tim answered just about an unfriendly as Ian had been. There was tension for a moment as they stared at each other and then Tim couldn't help but crack a smile with Leon.

"I've been asked to give this to you." Leo pulled out a bouquet of flowers from behind his back and Ian accepted it with stiff hands, gritting his teeth in what Nathan knew would soon be rage. "For your date with Nathan."

The group of boys snickered and a few whistled. Ian's entire body tensed, and he threw the flowers back in Tim's face with enough force that it came apart and fell to the ground as individual flowers. Tim raised his eyes up with such animosity that Nathan took a step back.

This was about to get bad.

Something hit Ian out of the corner of Nathan's vision and he fell to the ground. Nathan paled and wasn't sure if should help Ian up or if that would make it worse. Stunned, Ian sat up, and wiped the remains of a snowball from his face before looking in the direction it had come from.

"Bullseye." Rachel giggled, sitting up on a ledge to one of the alleyway buildings. "Hi, Ian! I'm Rachel."

"Get down here, you brat," Ian growled.

Nathan offered Ian a hand to help him to his feet, but a snowball hit him square in the side of the face. Finding the ground next to Ian, Nathan groaned, and a few of the boys giggled, until Rachel screeched and toppled to the ground. Several of the boys gasped and went to her side to help her up. At just about the same time, Donovan laughed and came to Nathan's side, wiping the snow from his hands.

"We should run," Donovan said so excitedly that Nathan was lost. Donovan had always been so sad before, and ever since he'd come back from the courthouse, he'd been glowing.

Breathless, Nathan looked to Ian who was still trying to make sense of this.

"That was a cheap shot, Donovan!" Rachel howled, making a snowball in her hands, as did the boys at her side.

"Please, your side hit first." Donovan laughed, gathering up more snow.

"Shit, I hate kids." Ian stood quickly and yanked Nathan to his feet.

Much faster than Nathan, Ian rolled snow and took out one of the kids next to Rachel. The boy shook it off and several snowballs sailed toward them. Donovan backed up to Ian as he picked up more snow and whipped two at Rachel, but one of the boys shielded one and the other hit the wall near her.

"Down with the queen!" Donovan taunted, as he armed himself with more snow.

"Now, that I can get on." Ian chuckled, whipping his snowball at Rachel, but Tim shoved him causing the snowball to fall heavily to the side.

In a quick dart, Tim went to his queen's side and flipped Ian off with his good hand.

"You little shit! I'm going to nail you in the face," Ian said with spite though it drew both Nathan and Donovan's gazes.

Ian stopped with his mouth open, looked at them, reddened, and then covered his face, which was probably good, because a snowball hit him straight in the hand a moment later. Donovan threw a few snowballs at the kids as Ian got his bearings and Rachel's gang laughed. There were eight boys with Rachel today and three of them, so Nathan ran with Donovan and Ian.

It was fun, sliding down the back streets and darting and dodging snowballs. Somehow, Nathan ended up as their team's king, as Rachel was their queen. As such, Ian and Donovan shielded him as they bombarded the kids with snow, and Nathan was able to throw his from the safety of the two men guarding him.

Rachel was much more accurate, and Nathan felt terrible for the way Donovan and Ian were getting slaughtered, but he was also lost in the fun of it. Pumping with adrenaline and excitement, Nathan didn't even mind as Ian lifted him off the ground and spun with him to protect him from the snow coming at him. Only a moment later, Donovan was pulling him forward and blocking a snow ball to his shoulder.

They actually made it all the way back to the pen, and both Ian and Donovan were gasping for air as the boys spread out in their giant yard. It was early evening now, the sun setting normally around only five-thirty or so, and it drove the chill straight into their bones.

They were circling them, and Nathan swallowed hard as Ian and Donovan had him pressed between their backs. The way the snow was cold and wet, Nathan had been glad to not be hit in the face again. It was very unpleasant and about to be their team losing horribly as there was no place left to hide their king with only two people.

Damn Rachel and her posse!

"Are you guys getting murdered?" Nathan turned his head to a new voice.

Tanner came out of the garage to head into the house, which he normally did around sundown every day to make himself something to eat before Rick came home and made the house unlivable.

"Pretty much." Ian laughed with a snowball in hand and another tucked under his arm. "You want to help?" Ian asked, and Tanner just laughed.

"No way in hell. You reap what you sow. I'm not pissing off a bunch of kids. I hate kids." Tanner turned toward the door but never made it.

Rachel whistled, and Tanner took a step back as several snowballs landed in front of him. Tanner turned toward them with evident rage and then twisted his head to the side to dodge one that would have hit him in the face. It was difficult for Nathan not to be impressed by how he'd avoided both attempts to hit him.

"Coward," Rachel called over, chuckling evilly.

The way in which Tanner clenched every muscle in his body in aggravation actually had Nathan a little worried as Tanner turned toward them.

"Watch what you wish for," Tanner threatened, but Rachel just stuck her tongue out as she rolled more snow in her hands.

"I'm shaking in my boots." Rachel snickered. "Really though, I am. It's freezing out here." Rachel's laughter was cut short as she was yanked to the side and two snowballs took out Tim, from Ian and Donovan. The second from Donovan hit Tim right in the face, and Nathan hoped he was okay.

"What am I hitting?" Tanner asked, coming up surprisingly close to Donovan.

"Rachel." Ian snickered as Tanner hardened a snowball in his hand. "They're aiming for Nathan."

"Well, I'll make short work of this. Help me make some snowballs, Nathan."

Nathan had never seen Tanner with menace. Normally, that was Ian's thing, and Tanner came across as impatient and with a low tolerance for anything out of the norm. Seeing Tanner smirk as he took up position to complete an effective defensive tringle around him was as terrifying as it was invigorating.

"You kids are going to need medical attention after this. Don't blame me," Tanner threatened, and the boys took one look at him and turned back to Rachel.

She was standing up straight in defiance, only to be shoved back as another snowball sailed at her head from Donovan. As soon as Tanner joined them, the tides turned. No matter how many snowballs Rachel's gang threw, they couldn't get past the easily defensible position with the three of them, and Tanner was a huge shield.

Even worse, he was a weapon. Tanner was brutal and didn't waste time with going easy on them. His aim was even better than Rachel's as he hit her flank men in the stomach and chest. Tim took a snowball to the side of the face that finally put him out of the fight, and Nathan cringed as the poor injured boy wheezed next to a tree.

The boys could barely handle the barrage with Nathan supplying Tanner with snow. Ian and even Donovan were helping make extra snowballs for Tanner, who threw faster harder and more directly than they did. The boy's didn't throw as hard as any of the fully muscled men, and they were freezing from the fight they had already fought. Nathan felt legitimately bad for them as they skittered away, and eventually Rachel was alone. Those poor skinny boys were as cold as Nathan was, though he hadn't taken any snowballs to the face or body like they had.

Tanner had a snowball in his hand, arm pulled back to throw it at the only remaining person, but he hesitated, his smile dropping to indecision. Did he not want to hit Rachel?

Ian and Donovan were not so easily deterred. Ian hit her in the chest and Donovan smacked her in the side of the cheek, and she fell. Ian and Donovan's laughter drowned out Tim's steps in the snow as he went to her.

"Rachel, are you okay?" Tim asked, his knees shaking as he knelt in the snow to pick her up. Nathan had to really give him points for sticking around when the other boys had already fled to go home before their fingers fell off.

"Yeah, I'm all right." Rachel giggled as she sat up. "You win this time!" Rachel yelled over to them.

Donovan went to check on her as well, but as Donovan helped her up, she hopped to reach his head and rubbed snow in his hair. He cringed and pushed her back into the snow but laughed all the same.

"We should get inside before we all freeze," Ian said, as Tanner was already heading back in the front door. "You play basketball differently than I remember."

Nathan turned to him with a nervous smile. This hadn't been what he'd planned on.

"It snowed," Donovan said jovially as he joined them, and Rachel waved before she took off with Tim. "The court was too slick to play on, so we just improvised. I feel a bit poorly for Rachel though." Donovan came to his side, looking over him and Ian to make sure he was okay.

"That nut job girl should really stay away from the pen." Ian frowned at Donovan, who narrowed his eyes.

"We agree on that," Donovan said, lightening his mood and they went in the door.

"Welcome back... I guess." Maggie greeted them as Nathan came in with Ian in front of him and Donovan behind. "It's strange to see you guys coming in together. I did see you fighting with some kids outside." Maggie looked from Donovan's lighthearted expression to Ian's amused smile.

"Nothing like a group of brats and a snowball fight to bring a bunch of thugs together," Ian answered her implied question. "We had the task of protecting Nathan, which is something goody-two-shoes and I can agree on."

"Oh really?" Maggie glanced over to Tanner who was already shuffling back downstairs in some dry clothes to go to the kitchen. His eyes were shadowed as he met them at the landing. "Maybe not all of you enjoyed it."

"You know I hate the cold, Mags," Tanner said, stopping to hold the kitchen swing door for a moment. His eyes flashed over to Donovan and everyone in the room froze. "We have dinner planned tonight. Are you eating with us?" The question surprised Donovan, and he looked down to Nathan contemplatively.

"Join us, goody-two-shoes," Ian said with a smile. "You won't choke on the food just because we're eating it with us."

Tanner and Ian chuckled darkly as they headed into the kitchen together. They both cooked so they had been sharing the work since Nathan had arrived, though Ian cooked for him and Rick, while Tanner cooked for Maggie himself, and apparently Julian. Maggie had been taking his food up to him since he'd arrived here, and Nathan wondered what he was up to today.

"I'll eat with you guys," Donovan said down to Nathan.

"You guys are getting along too well." Maggie rubbed her chin in thought as she looked at them. "Even Rick has been sobering sooner than he usually does. I seriously think he's been coming home legitimately sober for several days. It's concerning." Maggie was talking to them, but also to herself as she wandered into the kitchen to help Tanner and Ian.

Nathan shared her thoughts as she walked away.

Whenever anything got too comfortable, something slapped him in the face.

Word count: 2879 -- Edited July 12th, 2020