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“Well, what do we have here?”
Leif didn’t look up. He didn’t care enough to look up when he heard Minsky’s voice. No, he was far too busy spinning himself in the seat of a swing, his concentration kept on his feet as the chain of the swing twisted up and up until he stood on his tippy toes. Minsky didn’t matter in the slightest when there were clearly more pressing matters at hand.
“It looks like you’re having fun,” Minsky said as he made his way over to Leif.
“Not in the mood,” Leif said. He held onto his spot with the tips of his boots, but at any second he could fling himself out and knock Minsky to the ground. That sounded like a good plan. The man deserved it, Leif thought.
For some reason, this little playground felt like a good place to stop. Leif hadn’t been to a playground since he was so small. He could remember trips to the park with his mommy. He climbed the jungle gym, sat proudly at the top with a smile on his face until she took his picture. Leif slid down the metal slide and scraped himself up terribly on more than one occasion, but it was okay since his mommy always kissed it better. Then, of course, the swings were his favorite as a kid. Leif loved to twist the swing chains all the way up until his feet couldn’t touch the ground, then let himself unfurl at a speed that always flung him off the seat. It was fun, no matter how many times he was fussed at for it.
His mommy tried so hard to get him to just swing. She would pull back the chains and push him forward, but the higher she pushed him, the more Leif wanted to circle the top of the swingset. He knew he could do it with the right leverage, but his mommy never let him try. Instead, Leif always jumped off the swing to see how far he could fly. He only broke his arm once in the endeavor.
When they stopped on this planet, Leif had a goal. He swept the entire city for Verge, he took all the tech he wanted, and he looted whatever seemed valuable. That only took a few hours, and still the Teds hadn’t made their threat yet, so they were killing time. Why did those bastards never work on his clock?
“I see you’ve hit the bottle again,” Minsky said, picking up an empty bottle of some no-name alcohol that burned the whole way down. “You know, when we met, I never saw you as someone who would drink quite like this.”
“When we met, I was twenty and still cared,” Leif grumbled. “What’s there to fucking care about, now? No reason to stay sober.”
“Mm, I don’t know if I’d put it that way,” Minsky said. “You miss them, don’t you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Leif said through his teeth. He let go of the ground and spun rapidly, his legs flying out and nearly swiping Minsky onto the ground. He yelped, surprised, and Leif snickered.
“How mature,” Minsky groaned.
Leif giggled, but he slipped off the swing onto the ground, his hands barely catching him. “Dizzy…”
“Well, that is what happens when you spin around in circles, Leif,” Minsky said dryly. He straightened his suit, and he coughed into his hand. Leif looked up at him from the ground, but he didn’t move. No, instead, Leif laid in the grass and spread out like a star.
“Have the Teds said anything, or why are you here?” he asked, kicking his heels against the ground.
“I haven’t heard from them,” Minsky said. “No one has, as far as I’m aware.”
Leif whined, and he rolled over onto his belly. “I wanna leave.”
“That is much easier to do from inside the ship, sir,” Minsky said. “Instead of laying on the ground—what are you doing?”
“Look,” Leif sat up with a bug in his hand. “I dunno what it is!” The bug wasn’t very big, maybe the length of his thumb, with large pinchers and five sets of limbs. It didn’t have wings, but it wriggled like a worm or centipede. At least, until— “Ow!”—Leif flung it back on the ground. “It bit me!”
“Leif, don’t play with bugs…” Minsky said through a sigh.
“What was it?” Leif asked. “Why’d it bite me?”
“Probably because you were annoying it, my captain,” Minsky said, a coo in his voice. Leif looked up at him with furrowed brows, confused. Why did he say it like that? “That was a poisonous arsonbug, by the way.”
“What?!” Leif yelped, jumping to his feet. How did he not know about poisonous arsonbugs?!
“When you light them on fire, they emit a very toxic chemical that will incapacitate anyone within ten yards of the flames,” Minsky said. “They might actually be fairly useful to you if you wanted to capture some of them…”
“What about bites?” Leif asked, scared. He didn’t want to be scared, but poisonous arsonbugs sounded scary!
“Relax, it’s the sac inside their ass that has the toxins, not their heads,” Minsky said, rolling his eyes. “Shall we go inside before you find another bug?”
“I don’t wanna,” Leif said, though. “I’m busy.” He plopped back down in the swing seat, to twist himself back up.
“Seriously?” Minsky deadpanned. He sighed, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was he so annoyed…? What did Leif do…? “It’s time to come inside, Leif.”
“No,” Leif said with a huff. “We don’t leave ‘til I say so.”
He was the boss, after all. Minsky was supposed to listen to him, not the other way around. Minsky saying that they needed to leave just made Leif want to stay, no matter how he felt otherwise. Why was Minsky even acting like he was in charge?
“It would be a very smart decision to leave, Leif,” Minsky said. “Let’s go.”
“No.”
“Leif,” Minsky reached over and snatched his wrist, yanking Leif in his half-twisted seat. Leif stumbled, and he yelped in pain when the chains pinched his skin. His finger got stuck in one of the links, though it came out with a little pop that had Leif cry out in pain. “It’s time to go, so let’s go.”
“O-Ow!” Leif cried. He stumbled after Minsky, and he bit his tongue to keep the tears inside. “I-I don’t wanna go inside…!”
“Well, that’s a pity, because it’s time to leave,” Minsky said. As they approached the ship, he dropped Leif’s wrist, and Leif had half a mind to make a break for it. “If you leave my side, Sluggo will just have to chase you down, got it?”
Leif squeaked, eyes wide.
“Good, I’m glad we’re on the same page, now,” Minsky cooed. He patted Leif’s shoulder and unlocked the door. “Let’s go.” He kept a hand on the small of Leif’s back to nudge him inside. “Just act like everything’s fine, and head to your quarters,” Minsky said. “I’ll let everyone know we’re leaving for you, alright?”
“Okay…” Leif said quietly. He turned down the hall toward his room, and he could hear Minsky behind him telling the others that he said they needed to leave. Why did that scare him so much? Oh, Leif knew that one. If Minsky could just say that he told them to do something, what power did Leif have? He needed his power. He needed this command.
…He needed Minsky to fear him. Leif couldn’t fear Minsky, even if he seemed scary. No, Leif needed to put fear in him.
Leif plopped down at his desk, and he woke up his computer. He needed to figure out a plan…
…But Leif still wanted to play on that playground. He wanted to explore the grounds for more bugs; there were so many bugs that he never knew about, always too focused on the big life on different planets, but they were so cool… Maybe if he went out to see the others, he could tell them that he actually didn’t want to leave yet.
………Why did leaving his room seem scary? Talking to his crew felt impossibly scary. But Leif didn’t get shy.
“Ah, good, you stayed put,” Minsky said from the doorway. Leif wondered how mad Minsky would get if he bit him. “I apologize for the rough handling out there, but there are times when you should just listen to me, Leif…”
“I’m in charge,” Leif grumbled, never looking in Minsky’s direction.
“You are,” Minsky said, but Leif didn’t like the way he said it. “This is your ship, your crew, and I am nothing more than your lawyer. Your advisor. And as such…there are times when what I say is in your best interest, whether you agree with it or not.” He leaned his hand on the desk, but Leif kept his eyes forward so he didn’t have to see Minsky. “Oh, don’t pout, Leif…it’s not a good look on you, my captain.”
“Leave.”
“Come now, don’t be like that,” Minsky cooed. “Are you really that upset with me?”
Leif blushed at that, wondering why in the world Minsky spoke to him like a child. Why did it feel so nice…? No, no, it did not feel nice. It felt bad, because Leif was in charge, and Minsky was just an advisor. “Leave.”
“Alright, alright, I supposed I’ll just pour out this bottle instead…” Minsky said, and Leif gasped, spinning around in his seat to face that smug grin. “I thought you were enjoying these, but apparently you don’t like them that much…” Minsky said, smirking as he pushed off from the desk. In his hands was a baby bottle, one filled with juice, that Leif wanted so badly—
“Give it!” he shouted.
“No, no, I wouldn’t want to force it on you, my captain,” Minsky said. He stopped at the sink in the corner of the room, and he untwisted the lid. “I’ve tried a few times to let you enjoy these, but it just seems like a burden on you, on me…”
“Minsky!” Leif cried. He jumped to his feet and ran over just as Minsky started to empty the bottle, and he yanked it out of Minsky’s hand. “No!”
The relief of saving half the bottle only lasted a faint moment before Leif felt a sting across his cheek. Shock coated his entire being, and Leif dropped the bottle, spilling the rest of the juice on the tiled floor.
“I think we’ll try this again when you’re more agreeable, my captain,” Minsky said, but Leif couldn’t say a word. Tears stung his eyes, and he didn’t fight it a bit as Minsky led him to his bed. “I think it’s time you sleep off that alcohol, and quit fighting with me, don’t you think?”
Leif sniffled, but he nodded. He rolled over in his bed, doing his very best to keep quiet as more cries bubbled in his throat. Minsky sighed, and he patted Leif’s reddened cheek gingerly.
“I’ll check on you in just a little while, see how you’re feeling,” he said. “Maybe if you’re good, we can try again with this bottle, alright?”
“O-okay…” Leif managed out. He heard the door shut, and Leif fell apart.