#or it could be just nica and dimitri

[applebunch]

so you know how the stamatis siblings each have something in common with one of the main antagonists? nica with emily, dimitri with oliver, and leon with ethan? there’s something i couldn’t help but notice.

leon’s parallels with ethan aren’t as meaningful as the others’. sure, leon and ethan have a lot in common, but the other dynamics actually have the characters compliment each other. like:

“oliver is kinda what dimitri would be like if he refused to give up chasing mysteries.”/“dimitri is kinda what oliver would be like if he gave up on his “empire”.”

“emily is kinda what nica would be like if she decided to keep hurting people in her anguish.”/”nica is kinda what emily would be like if she finally decided to stop hurting people in her anguish.”

ethan and leon’s characters gain nothing from each other aside from:

“leon is kinda what ethan would be like if he was good.”/”ethan is kinda what leon would be like if he was bad.”

we don’t actually know that much about ethan OR leon. so i’m thinking: if their parallels are going to strengthen from this point on, then maybe we’re about to learn more about them both as characters?

my actual point, though, is that nica and dimitri’s relationship with each other is ALSO reflected in their counterparts.

emily feels abandoned by ethan like nica does with dimitri/oliver is abandoning his family like dimitri abandons nica.

we don’t see anything like that with ethan and leon, either. ethan doesn’t seem to have any meaningful relationships at all, actually. (except with the robots.)

is it possible that we’re going to learn more about them, BOTH of them, by exploring ethan’s relationship with another character? and if so, who is this new character going to be a demonstrative reflection of? are they going to be new at all?

anyway. my guess is that we’re going to meet ethan’s version of michael.

[somuchbetterthanthat]

TW: grief, spoilers for season 4 finale

When Leon had died, Nica had spent hours genuinely believing that if Dimitri had been here, if only she'd had Dimitri at her side, she'd be okay. She'd imagined him saying light-hearted stuff about their childhood, or pulling out obscure myths from his pockets to explain where Leon might be now. She'd thought he would curl up against her, and hold her hand, and let her cry and cry and cry until she was all empty of grief and they could learn together to live without their big brother.

But Dimitri is quiet, when they get off the Ferris wheel. Gemma leaves them to fall into Charlotte's arms, and they hug each other so tight it feels like they're going to disappear into one another. In the end it's Nica who grabs his hand and squeezes it tight.

"Come on," she says. "We should have ice cream."

"There's ice cream here?" Dimitri asks, but his eyes are lingering to a point somewhere to the left of her. He's fidgeting already, like he wants to run off, and Nica feels a tinge of familiar anger try to coil into her chest, but it's worn out and tired and they're doing this better now. They are. So she swallows her venom, and she asks:

"Where are we going, then?"

And Dimitri startles, and looks at her, and opens his mouth, before he shakes his head. "I-" he sighs. "I know, I know he's gone. For good. I know. But I thought... I wanted... I think I need to see the ball."

The probabilities of finding some shard of glass amidst the whole dirty ground are so low they're near impossible, of course, and they both know it. They're both aware, also, that Dimitri is Dimitri.

"Okay," Nica says. "Okay. Let's go, then."

They walk towards the direction Dimitri had been looking at. It takes them a whole thirty minutes until Dimitri, breathless, voice tight, goes: "There." and yes, indeed; the remnants of the ball lay there, scattered across a rather large perimeter.

She remembers burying Leon. He'd looked all proper and nice. She didn't remember picking up his outfit, but in the casket he'd been wearing his favourite sweater, dark blue, the last one mum had bought him before she'd died. He'd never said it was his favourite, but he'd always worn in when it was chilly enough to justify it and that the occasion called for casual but not too much. Especially if this was a celebration of some kind. He'd worn it the day Dimitri had left.

Fitting, had thought Nica then, numbly.

She doesn't know what to think of the shards of glass, but when she glances at Dimitri, she realizes he's staring at them like it's Leon's corpse. Like he's seeing Leon, laying down on the ground, in his blue sweater. She catches Dimitri just in time when he crumbles and starts sobbing, loud and shameless.

Her own eyes are dried and perhaps she should feel guilty about it. Perhaps tomorrow she'll think about this again and she'll hate herself some more, for not being able to cry like Dimitri, but... Didn't she already do that? Didn't she already fall? She remembers how hard she'd prayed and begged and cursed at the universe, at people, at anyone -- please help me. Please hold me. I cannot do this alone.

And so she kneels with Dimitri, and she throws her arms around him, and she strokes his hair just like Leon use to do when they were little and they'd scratched their knees running to a new adventure. She says:

"It's okay, Dimitri. It's okay, i'm here. I'm here. We're both here."

and she knows, then; she knows, with acute certainty, that they will be okay. They will learn to live without Leon. Together. As they should have, several years ago.

[hephaestuscrew]

I relistened to Greater Boston Episode 1 yesterday and it reminded me that something I think this show does really well is the way it portrays the kind of shared mythology that can develop in families about the family members.

Like just in that first episode, we are told that Leon was the kid who refused to open his own presents because he hated surprises, Nica was the kid who hid the fuses so she could keep telling stories, and Dmitri was the kid who tore the answer pages out of the riddle book to maintain the mystery. And each of those stories have stuck with them and affected how they see each other and themselves as adults. They remember the games they played together as kids, they remember moments from their shared childhood, and they have taken those memories with them as part of their dynamic and their identities as adults.

It's such a good portrayal of the complicated way in which siblings can impact on each others' self-perceptions. Dmitri defines his own love of mysteries in contrast to Leon's dislike of uncertainty (i.e. "Disillusionment has never been a gift worth sharing… That idea probably makes no sense to you, does it, Leon?"). Leon defines his own unadventurousness in contrast to Dmitri's and Nica's different kinds of boldness (i.e. "He’d never been an adventurer, not like his little brother Dimitri, who had disappeared into the mysterious labyrinth of the world, nor a thrill-seeker like Nica, who grinned wider for every inch the line advanced"). Nica defines her (perceived) failure to take decisive action in contrast to Leon's and Dmitri's different ways of taking action (e.g. the whole anecdote in Episode 9 about Leon rescuing Dmitri from the snow while Nica didn't do anything when they were children).

There's this particular way in which some people understand themselves and their family members, where it's like 'I know that I'm not particularly [insert character trait] because my sibling is the [...] one'. I've noticed it in my own family and I think the Stamatis siblings definitely think that way a lot. Those anecdotes from when they were kids are still a big part of how they see each other, and the way each of them see themselves is shaped by the way they see their siblings by comparison.

[leonstamatis]

fuck it. dimitri dies au.

the thing that appeals to me about this is an idea that dimitri would become an urban legend just like all the things he was interested in while he was alive, and like, maybe at first he’s delighted by that and thinks it’s fun and now he gets to live on as a riddle and a mystery of his own.

but then nica. nica feels awful because she was supposed to be there and she could have stopped it, so she goes looking for him, goes off to solve the same riddles he was looking for but without him there to help her. nica becomes the one writing home to leon about what she’s found and what she’s thinking and feeling.

dimitri dies and becomes a myth and a legend and a riddle and he didn’t even say goodbye to anyone, and nica should have been there but she wasn’t, so now she’s going to be following in his footsteps to get answers as his ghost trails after her.

[greaterblogston]

the best thing about a big cast is that it makes you wonder about every single possible interaction, and that means i'm now fixated on a michael-louisa-dimitri-mallory team up to help nica (i know it's not really a question, i'm just putting the idea in the air for the fanfic writers *wink wink*) (also LOVED the halloween special!!!!!! tanja is the GOAT)

I will say that there *is* a scene currently written featuring all four of them in S4 - but it may not go how you think. Then again, what you're suggesting here is certainly in the realm of possibilities too. So it could go (and may go) either way. And thank you! Agreed! Tanja is absolutely the GOAT!

[specialagentartemis]

For the ask meme.... Leon Stamatis?

u get me… Greater Boston and especially the Stamatis siblings are all I want to talk about these days

Headcanon A: what I think realistically

Leon used to write articles about, like, trucking, right? His articles usually were meticulously researched pieces about traffic patterns, construction plans that would alter routes, interstate laws, and car parts, and were were always very precise, very accurate, very dry, slightly snarky, entirely boring, and wildly popular with his audience.

Headcanon B: what I think is fucking hilarious

Leon. Hates. Driving in Boston. Leon doesn’t hate very much—if you asked him, he’d probably give you a slightly impatient look and tell you “Hate isn’t a productive emotion. I don’t indulge in it.”—but he hates driving in the city. Boston drivers are aggressive at best and deranged at worst and it drives Leon crazy how he can do EVERYTHING right and still everyone will cut him off and honk at him and run lights that have CLEARLY turned red already and nearly T-bone him and Nica will always tell him to just bang a U-ie when an agressive driver won’t let him switch lanes and he misses his turn and he won’t do it because the sign says No U Turns Nica, he’s not going to break the law even though everyone else does!

The only thing he hates more is parking in Boston.

(The image of Leon sadly just trying to parallel park in Davis Square, which he is normally perfect at, but no one will let him do the backing-up part which is how you parallel park!!!!! because they are all riding his bumper and honking at him to get a move on already while Nica leans out the passenger window yelling obscenities at the car behind them… exquisite)

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

I don’t think Nica ever really realized how much Leon loved her. She’s desperately trying to stave off a feeling of disappointment and failure, so Leon—Leon with a respectable job, Leon who rescued Dimitri from the ice when they were kids, Leon who always knows what to do and seems perfectly content with it—he always felt to her like… the older sibling who set the bar too high and she couldn’t measure up. But at the same time, he was always there, was always reliable. Nica sort of took that for granted, but also, the way Leon shows his love is through his reliability, his steadfast presence. Which he isn’t great at communicating to Nica and Nica isn’t great at recognizing. (And, y’know, his expression of love is so much in his presence, his reliability, his calm clarity of planning… up and dying on that roller coaster is pulling away all of that from Nica.)

Also, less a headcanon than a prediction… SPOILERS AMBYSTOMA DO NOT LOOK I MEAN IT—I wonder how this guilt on Leon’s part and need to try to make it up to Nica will impact how he relates to the Narrator now? We’ve seen Leon cause problems in Oliver’s behalf to protect Michael, and now, he feels he needs to not only protect but make it up to Nica, and the Narrator is threatening Nica… what’s he going to do, to compromise, in order to protect her?

option D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

Man, Greater Boston is amazing and hardly shit ( if you really want answers in this category, send me Metal Gear asks haha) and I don’t know that I could make it better—so. hmmm. I guess I would say I refuse to believe that Leon was only 33 because listen to him, he is perpetually a 40-year-old man in my mind.

[theradioghost]

could you elaborate on the long term plot of greater boston? i don't mind spoilers! i tried it but couldn't get past the first episode :( but i trust your taste and i've liked every other show you've rec'd so i wanna keep listening

EDIT: okay for some reason the formatting of this post is EXTREMELY befuckened and I can’t get it to behave, so it’s possible that this isn’t going to display with a spoiler cut and if so I am VERY sorry. the “keep reading” break is in the ask instead of the body of the post I have no idea what’s happening right now but if you don’t want spoilers please be aware this post spoils like everything about the show

Sure thing! I will .... do my best, but because of the nature of GB’s plot it’s a bit difficult to describe it without ending up either way too detailed or way too vague. But I will absolutely do my best because if there is any show out there that deserves it, this is that show. Cut for Obvious Spoiler Reasons!

So, there’s a LOT of plot that goes on, but what a plot summary could never convey is that the real heart and soul of this show is the characters. There are a metric fuckton of them, and every one of them is multidimensional and dynamic and wonderful, even if it’s not always obvious at first.

Leon Stamatis of course starts the show by abruptly dying of Existential Crisis/Panic Attack on a roller coaster, which sets everything else in motion. Of that big ensemble cast, at first the most important players are

Nica, Leon’s little sister who wants to be famous but doesn’t really have any concrete plans as to how

Dimitri, Leon’s little brother who is currently traveling in a submarine attempting to find Atlantis and keeps sending Leon letters, unaware that he’s dead

Louisa, Leon’s recent ex, a wedding photographer who later quits and becomes a crime scene photographer slash detective

Leon’s best friend/roommate Michael, who is unemployed and has just had a relapse after being sober for 12 years because he has no idea what to do without Leon

Gemma, a lesbian who absolutely hates her job as an editor at Third Sight, a company which publishes magazines relating to astrology/psychic stuff/divination/etc

Charlotte, Gemma’s pregnant wife, who has recently lost her job as an animation background artist and is feeling directionless

Professor Paul Montgomery Chelmsworth, aka the Mayor of the Red Line, a slightly eccentric college professor and casual friend of Leon’s who is inspired by his death to call for a referendum declaring that the Red Line of the Boston subway system will become an independent city.

It’s that last one that is the real ~main plot~ of the show: at first, more and more of the characters getting caught up in the campaign to create the city of Red Line, and then the chaos that results when they succeed and actually have to run it. But you also have characters like Louisa and Nica and Michael, dealing with a whole rainbow of grief and distress as they cope with Leon’s death. His eccentric personality is the other driving force of the show’s events -- Leon was caring and compassionate, but also obsessed with timetables, organization, and scheduling every action in his life down to the minute.

The other major force in the show is Third Sight, a magazine publisher with a focus on fortunetelling and the like; Michael ends up working there, along with Gemma and several other major characters. Third Sight also has an enigmatic boss no one has ever seen, who turns out to be a manipulative little bastard named Oliver West.

While Red Line successfully becomes a city, “Mayor” Chelmsworth turns out to have some major commitment issues and vanishes as soon as the vote passes, leaving Charlotte and Gemma to clean up the mess. Charlotte ends up interim mayor, but also begins to campaign for the upcoming mayoral election, in which she has two opponents: Isabelle Powell, a Black realtor and an incredible character whom I absolutely cannot do justice here, and Emily Bespin, Literally The Worst Person Who Has Ever Existed, Holy Fuck I Hate Her So Much.

The election is being manipulated behind the scenes by Oliver West, who also takes advantage of Nica’s isolation and a near mental breakdown to convince her to help him by orchestrating several escalating ~pranks~ in Red Line. Honestly he’s manipulating literally everyone, and also heavily backing Emily Bespin, in an attempt to profit off of influence in the new city. Eventually this ends up with Michael kidnapped and imprisoned, several other characters attacked and one badly hurt during a wedding in Red Line, and Isabelle Powell’s nephew framed for the attack. That results in Powell’s supporters beginning a set of protests which throw Red Line into even further chaos, even as Charlotte and Nica begin to have some real moral epiphanies about how they’ve been acting.

As events continue to escalate and the election draws closer and closer, the now-assembled cast have to figure out just who exactly is manipulating events and how -- not to mention how to prove Powell’s nephew’s innocence, what the hell has happened to Michael, and what the hell they’re going to do if Bespin wins the election and makes good on her promise to evict everyone involved in the protests.

Meanwhile, Dimitri is traumatized by finding a mass grave at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, gets rescued and then imprisoned in Alaska by infamous vanished plane hijacker DB Cooper, finally makes it home to Boston disillusioned and lonely only to inevitably find out his brother has been dead for two years, and then gets totally rejected by his sister, because he basically can’t catch a break.

Also meanwhile, the same conflicts playing out in Red Line play out on a more metaphysical level, in the structure of the show itself. While the first season only hints at the possibility that Leon might not be quite as gone as everyone thinks, as the show progresses Leon’s ghost makes his presence known by starting to argue with the omniscient narration. Increasingly taking over the show’s narration until a brilliant scene where said narrator quits and audibly gets up from the microphone and leaves, Leon, the man who spent his whole life trying to impose order on the chaos of the universe around him, finds himself battling the very structure of the story they’re in, in an attempt to help his friends as both he and they are caught up in the chaos of Red Line and Oliver West’s plans. Unfortunately, the structure of the story has other ideas, and plans of its own.

None of this, of course, even begins to touch on the cheese robots; or Michael’s ongoing struggle with self-actualization and alcoholism; or Mallory the foulmouthed teenager who somehow manages to first witness and then be involved in nearly every major plot event of the show; or the in-depth examination of structural racism as it relates to things like housing and city planning and Boston’s history and well-intentioned white liberals and the imprisonment of Black youth; or Star Trek obsessed chaotic neutral gay reporter Chuck Octagon and that one time he flirted with his own mirror universe self; or the complex but beautiful process of Charlotte and Gemma working on their relationship in the midst of all this chaos because while they have troubles throughout they truly love one another and are trying to be better people; or the fact that one of the other major characters is an insufferable Loud Vegan member of a polyamorous commune who -- on the advice of his ~spirit advisor~ the ghost of 19th century feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft keeps changing his name throughout the show to things including Earthman, Panda Bear, Extinction Event, and Dipshit; or the unfortunately real Olive Garden food truck; or the laughter and the tears and the flamethrowers and the fact that one of the show’s most important and heartbreaking conversations takes place on an amusement park log flume ride audibly filled with liquid nacho cheese.

It’s a good show, is what I’m saying, basically.

[tanoraqui]

Oh. Mother of fuck.

I take back my previously brewing thoughts. This is a good use of narrative shenanigans.

Though I’m still not entirely satisfied with it matching up with any real themes? Nica and Dimitri’s conversation started getting into agency, there, but otherwise it’s so much about community and cooperation. The unexpected friendships and alliances and elaborate interconnectedness of relationships, the campaign and Legion ads all ALWAYS being about collections of people all endorsing one thing, and the genuine love of the Family. The unity of the people Red Line, rallying over and over when it matters most. The interview clips interspersed, reminding us of the real Boston community, how much they (and the characters, and we the audience) have in common.

Though I guess you could also view that as the interviewees being given the chance to tell their own stories? Boosting them toward the lovely thing in the story where people start narrating themselves, first person, when they achieve some measure of self-actualization (Michael, Isabelle). But these themes are still just not quite syncing up....maybe they’ll come together more in s4? But it’s tricky to juggle both community and self like that. Hm. What it really needs is climactic group control of the story, each person telling their own part but handing it off so smoothly, so united in purpose, that they lock the Narrator out. Plus maybe an explicit connection between monologues, letters, political crowd-riling speeches, and all other the ways we and the characters attempt to enforce our own perceptions and preferences on the rest of the world (ref: the initial Leon-Oliver conversation where the Narrator described Oliver’s mind’s eye ideal, Oliver was like, “I see what’s real”, and Leon was like, “no, you see what you see, like everyone else.” But if “everyone else” were to work in concert, could they achieve the city on under the hill...?)

[gemsofthegalaxy]

I’ve been saying for like a week now that I was gonna write something out about Greater Boston and the first two seasons, once I was caught up, so I’m gonna try to do that now. This contains spoilersss! It’s also just, like, my personal thoughts and feelings. It’s not a review or anything remotely objective.

First and most importantly, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Nica Stamatis. She was an instant favourite of mine. In the beginning, she sounded cute and she was quirky with her whole “wanting to become famous” shtick, I found myself VERY amused.

She continued to be my favourite as things started to unravel and as things started to get worse, for her. The way her path was going upset me greatly, but it was understandable. She lost her brother while they were doing something that she wanted to do, of course she was taking it hard, and I liked the realism, even though I wanted to see her happy. It was only understandable she might be feeling lost, alone, etc.  

And honestly, for a show that involves ghosts and a train becoming an actual city, the greatest strength, in my opinion, is the realism of the characters. So far I’ve only really mentioned Nica here, but it’s not only her. In particular, I find Isabelle’s, Gemma’s and Charlotte’s stories to be very grounded in realistic personalities and motivations, which I really appreciate.

All of the characters have frustrated me at times, their inabilities to see past themselves, or to reach out to each other, or COMMUNICATE with each other (looking at you, Linzer-Coolidges), but part of the reason it’s frustrating is because it’s so darn real. Things go unsaid, motivations are concealed, people slip through the cracks.

I was sad for the period of time at the beginning of season 2 when Nica wasn’t mentioned much. I was very concerned about where she was and what she was up to, but, as she says when she returns, in her big conversation with Louisa, she didn’t feel like anybody was concerned about her. Honestly, I loved Nica’s story so much, even though it was painful. It was so powerful to me in all of it’s complexity that I couldn’t pick up the podcast again for a couple days because I was still so emotional about it.

I haven’t suffered a loss like Nica, or felt the exact way she has, but it seemed like something that some people I know might have gone through (someone very dear to me has mentioned many times they relate to Nica for a variety of reasons, for instance). Part of why I love it is the importance of talking about the things she’s experienced. The loss, the way her cries for help were not answered, the fact the story moved on without her for a little while. The situation she ended up in was not entirely her fault but couldn’t exactly be blamed on anyone else either, because it was complicated. That conversation with Louisa hit me really, really hard. Hugggggggeeee kudos to the writing and also to Kelly McCabe for her performance in that. (It was also ironic to listen to, because I could remember texting my best friend during the time Louisa and Nica first hung out together, trying to figure out who was behind Leon’s calendar updates. I said something like, ‘oh I hope they become friends!!’ And, well… I still do hope they can become friends, now)

I sincerely do hope things get a little easier for Nica in the coming seasons of Greater Boston. I, personally, like my stories to have good or at least hopeful endings, I’ll admit to that. So, fingers are crossed. The writing has been really phenomenal so far, so I do have faith that wherever the story goes, it’s going to be good. And, I mean, it seems promising that she’s communicating with some of the other main characters again, and has found out about Dimitri, etc, so I have that hope. She’s a very strong character, and I can’t wait to hear more about her.

I do have some more thoughts and feelings about the other characters (boy do I love Gemma and Charotte but boy do they have problems!) but I think I’ll save that for another time.

[applebunch]

lol fun to learn that dimitri actually WAS at the trial. i was kinda starting to operate under the assumption that he was waiting at nica's cell to break her out the moment she got there

[applebunch]

okay nica is friends with louisa, dimitri, and michael.

michael is friends with louisa and nica.

louisa is friends with nica and michael.

all that’s left is for dimitri to become friends with louisa and michael, therefore making it so that all four of leon’s survivors are besties.

[applebunch]

leon’s survivors all have such interesting stories. louisa’s a defied “main protagonist” as she hardly gets the spotlight BECAUSE of her protagonistic merits, dimitri is a deconstruction of adventure stories as he’s away too long to put his “lesson” to good use. michael is a somewhat subversive ghost/love story as he plays the role of the haunted heartbroken lover despite his platonic relationship with leon, and nica is the joker.

[somuchbetterthanthat]

For precisely five minutes and 30 seconds after what Leon can only describe as his second death, he feels a very deep sense of inner peace; a gentler, softer echo of his certainty that death was the only choice he could make, all those years ago.

Then, somewhere near him, a voice goes: "ugh. I am starting to think the narration likes you too much. Aren't we supposed to be rid of each other now?"

Leon blinks; suddenly he feels more corporeal than he has in ages; if he concentrates he can feel his muscles tensing, his fingers trembling, his heart... beating. He blinks again, and looks at the figure in the shadow, whose lips are pursed in a disgruntled pout.

"Aren't you the Narrator?" he asks, and oh, his voice is rough and tired. "My story has ended. I made sure it was ending properly this time."

"Well, apparently, the crowd wants more," the Narrator points out. "And we get to explore what comes after-after death! Isn't that fantastic. I truly thought we were going to pursue the more capitalist themes of the story, especially with you gone. This is highly disappointing. Theology can only bring so much money."

"I'd rather you just left me to - where are we?" Leon cannot help but ask. He sees so little in here; he is real, and the Narrator looks real, solid in front of him, despite blending in shadows in his long overcoat.

The Narrator's eyes shine bright. "I don't know!" he says, and it sounds a bit too annoyed and honest for him, because he adds in a very over-the-top cheer: "Hopefully, your own personal hell! At least that would make for some entertainment."

Leon sighs. On a whim, and despite knowing it shouldn't work like that anymore, he tries to reach for his siblings - for Nica, Dimitri; when he's only meet with silence, he tentatively tries to call for Gemma.

"You gave them up," the Narrator points out, sounding lil more happy now that he can be properly mean to him. "Again. It's not about you anymore buddy."

"Fine," Leon says tiredly. "I'd rather their minds were fully their own anyway. I hope they can --" then, he blinks, once more. "Oh," he says, slowly. "Oh. We were bounded, weren't we?"

"Oh please, haven't we done enough mush feelings with your loved one in the previous episode? Come on, Leon -"

"No," Leon cuts him off. "No, I mean, you and I. We were bounded."

There's a beat of silence. Just terse enough that Leon almost laughs in relief. "Well," says the Narrator. "Truly I'm flattered, Mr Stamatis, but you did deny me each time I tried to flirt with you before-"

and oh, that makes Leon laughs, for real. "You don't have access to them anymore either," he notes and the Narrator's pout grows uglier. "It's just a setback," he snaps. "A little hitch in the story; bonus content."

Leon's eyes crinkle with satisfaction. "Perhaps," he admits. "Or we've ended up in your personal hell after all."

[somuchbetterthanthat]

Four times Leon danced (and one time he enjoyed it)

Mom

Mom is sad. She's been sad more often, ever since dad's death, but around Christmas she struggles even more. This year, Leon helped her picked everybody's gifts, including his own. When she said It'll ruin the surprise, he tactfully decided not to remind her he's always hated the surprise anyway, and only said I don't mind. This year, they'd actually gone back to mom's family to celebrate, hoping it would distract from the empty chair at the dinner table they still glanced at, from time to time.

But mom is alone in the living-room right now, and she's still sad. Leon can't sleep knowing he hasn't tried all he could to help. So he goes to meet her, and he gives her the CD he's been clutching at for the past two hours, trying to decide whether he was more at risk to overstep in his mother's grief or provide some relief.

"Oh," his mom say. "Oh, Leon." Her voice is very wobby.

"Do you want to dance?" he asks her.

Mom and dad used to dance a lot. Mom loved it best. Mom gives him a smile, filled with profound sadness and deep affection, she puts her hand against his cheek, going on her tiptoes and kisses the crown of his head. He's getting taller than her every day, now. It's sort of weird. "My perfect little man," she whispers. "Yes, let's."

She teaches him how to waltz on the first song. On the second, Leon has it, and they move through the room with surprising ease. On the third, mom starts to cry.

It is not comfortable at all, Leon will think, later. But mom needed this. And Leon helped. At least Leon did his best to help.

2. Nica

"Nica," says their mom aghast. "You can't take Leon to prom."

"Why not?" Nica asks, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's still better than Dimitri."

"Hey--" Dimitri huffs, from the couch.

"Surely, a lovely girl like you, you'll find a boy there--" Mom say, and both Nica and Leon wince.

"Oh, come on!" Nica scoffs. "Is that all I'm supposed to want? Finding a nice boy? Gosh, mom, thanks, nice to know what my life goals are!"

"I didn't mean it like that," Mom retorts, exasperated. "You're twisting my words again--"

"Right, I'm twisting the words here-- Anyway, I don't care what you think, Leon already said yes! And we're going to be late now. Let's go, Leon!"

She storms out of the house, gripping Leon's hand too tight in hers. Leon only turns to say to their mom: "It'll be alright, mom" before they're outside, with Nica fuming and Leon thinking that it is, in fact, a disastrous evening in the making. But Nica asked him, and he made the committment already. He doesn't think either of them are so kin on high-school prom, but Nica's pride has been touched now, and she won't back down either.

It's how they end up in the middle of the gymnase floor, Nica stubbornly putting her hands on his shoulders. "Let's show them how the Stamatis do it," she says, sharp and determined, her smile a little bit too wide. "Let's give them a show, Leon, okay?"

Leon could do with something a little bit more... Discreet, actually. Everybody here is wearing too much perfume, is standing too close, is making all the wrong movements though. Hopefully, Nica's desire will at least offer them some space.

They dance the rock. People do take a step back, but not enough for Leon, and they don't look impressed enough for Nica, if he trusts the disappointed line carving itself between her brows as they go faster and faster. Leon misses his college dorm. He has the guilty thought he'd rather have spent the evening quietly playing games with Michael. In fear that Nica might feel it, he buries the yearning down as fast he possibly can.

3. Michael

Michael's leg is bouncing wildly against Leon's. It's starting to make the table shake. He's been staring at the bottle of wine the other people at the table gleefully shared more and more as the night went on, and Leon can feel he's at the precipice of just saying yes next time some idiotic stranger insists that he gets at least half a cup. ("it's a wedding!" people have been saying, all night. "You can have a glass! You deserve some fun, Michael!")

Leon is a good friend. He was having a very pleasant conversation about trains with Elisa, but Michael clearly needs him, right now, and he's not going to let him down.

"Michael," he says, leaning to make sure Michael hears him. "Let's dance."

"W...What?" Michael laughs, nervous energy bumbling up, making his voice crack. "You don't dance!"

"That's a lie," Leon points out. Michael has seen him dance before, in fact. "I could use the break from sitting, as well."

"Well, why don't you ask Elisa--" Michael starts, and then he must see something in Leon's eyes, because he winces and mutters: "Oh. Oh. Yeah, right, sure! Let's dance!"

They get on the dancefloor. Leon tries not to clench his jaw too obviously as everyone around them dance nonsensically, seemingly without caring at all about the tempo and the clear rythm of the music. Michael shuffles his feet and moves his arms in a way that is also rather bad, but at least he's gesticulating wide enough that other people are avoiding him.

It occurs to Leon, a few beats in, that perhaps Michael is doing it on purpose, because he knows Leon's uncomfortable. It makes Leon's chest warmer. It is an odd feeling, to be taken care of; he's known Michael for so long now, and he still feels like he's getting used to it, all those little thoughtful, small gestures that Michael does seemingly on instinct.

the next song is slow. People start to pair up, a few single people dejectedly going back to their seats, waiting for it to be over. Leon and Michael share a look. Michael waggles his eyebrows. Leon rolls his eyes, and grabs him by the hips.

"Hey," says Michael, lips close to his ear. "I know you hate this. We really don't have to, y'know. I'm fine. I'll be fine. I've been doing fine all evening, right?"

Leon does hate it. Even if Michael, bless him, was not close to stepping on his feet every two seconds, there would still be everybody else, sweaty and drunk and so lost into each other they don't really care about bumping into someone else. But he thinks of this morning, of the paperbag, of Michael handling everything perfectly while Leon was loosing his sanity, and he decides to close his eyes, and hold Michael closer.

"I know you'd be fine," he says. "But I want to do this for you. Please?"

"Sure man," Michael answers, much softer. "Thanks."

4. Louisa

Louisa is actually a lovely dance partner, which makes it all the more aggravating, in Leon's eyes. She'd been talking about wanting to go dancing for a while, and he thought it might be a nice event to plan for their first Valentine's day, since she was - surprisingly, according to her - not actually working that year. He'd suggested it over dinner, three weeks ago, so that they could put it in their calendar, and she'd seemed pleased. She'd grinned at him and leaned over the table to kiss him and Leon had felt rather proud for starting to understand what she might like.

Of course, he hasn't anticipated that she would change her mind just as they left to the planned event of the Millow Club because they just happened to cross path with a group of street dancers performing latine dances. Before Leon could even steady himself she was pulling him amidst them, laughing, saying: "Well! We were going dancing, after all!"

Louisa dances very well, and so does Leon. She is warm against him, humming happily, and as he dips her all he can think about is: it was not the plan. We are supposed to be at the event. We'll be late. What are we doing here. He's bristling and annoyed despite himself, and, of course, that only makes him dance better when the next tango comes in.

+1. Mallory

"Hey dude, what's up?" Mallory asks, startling Leon badly and making him stumble. He's still not as steady on his legs as he wishes. "Shit, hey, you're okay?" she immediately reaches for him, patting his arm. "Sorry, man. I thought you'd heard me come or something. What were you doing, anyway?"

"I- nothing," Leon answers, clearing his throat awkwardly. It's a little embarassing to admit, and he and Mallory don't know each other very well yet -- or, well. Perhaps he knows Mallory too well, but she doesn't. He has to keep reminding himself that, these days, about pretty much everybody.

"Yeah, okay, that's as believable as Dimitri telling me he'll be here on time to go to the movies," Mallory snorts. "Spill it out. What am I going to do? Judge you? I mean, maybe a little, but who cares, y'know?"

"I suppose you're right," he admits, sounding perhaps a bit too affectionate for their degree of acquaintance.

"Hell yeah I am," Mallory approves.

"I was trying to dance," Leon tells her. "My doctor told me I should exercice more, and I used to be a rather good dancer, or so I've been told. I thought it would be a light enough exercice, but I... Forgot I used to dance with people more than on my own."

"Huh," Mallory tilts her head on her side. "Well, wanna partner up?"

"You really don't have to - I didn't mean to imply -"

"Yeah no, I get that, you love the whole Mr Darcy act with everybody, all reserved and shit, but we actually danced together before, dude, and no offense, but I didn't really get to feel out your skills when you were trapped in that ball, so, i'd like another try; plus we both know Dimitri's not going to be here for another hour, 'cause he'll have found I dunno the lost treasure of Boston on the way here or whatever, so, I could use some entertainment. Unless you think I'm too much for you, old man."

Leon snorts, amused. "Not at all," he says. "I think I could use some of your energy, right now."

"That's the spirit!" Mallory beams. "Let's put some music and go!"

It's the most fun Leon has had since he woke up. Perhaps it's the most fun Leon has dancing in his whole life. When Dimitri does show up, one hour and twenty minutes late, he finds Leon and Mallory in the middle of a lesson on how to waltz properly, both smiling wide, and Leon might be exhausted but his heart is beating loud in his ears and he thinks I am so glad I woke up. Thank you for letting me wake up. I want to dance for so many more years.

[somuchbetterthanthat]

Okay so. Dimitri is 30, Nico is ???, Leon and Michael are ?????????

For some reasons I thought Leon was 32 when he died but I guess I was wrong. Are there any official ages, or can I just invent. Cause I FEEL like Nica and Dimitri are like, so close in age that people might treat them more as twins than siblings when they were little, and Leon just hold enough that when their father ???left??? died???? he could pick up the role of substitute father