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Hernando cooks. He's the only one trusted to pull it off. After witnessing literally through their own eyes the various members of the cluster decimate even the simplest of meals, Lito doesn't think he can give the role to anyone else (also, Daniela would never forgive him for keeping her from trying another Hernando specialty).
Wolfgang’s attempt to cook Apfelstrudel was particularly memorable, in an attempt to impress Kala one evening that ended in disaster. The look of utter disappointment with flakes of pastry strewn through his hair and the rest of the kitchen.
Wolfgang's face in a cloud of smoke was decidedly wonderful for everyone else though. "Eight people." He'd cursed as the fire alarm wailed, "Eight fucking people and not one of you could have helped me? How come we have a kickboxing champion but not a cook?!"
Kala had just giggled, and Wolfgang's rage and embarrassment had melted in the face of her joy.
Still, the fact that none of them could really cook (not well enough for all of them) meant the task was passed on to the one man who could, and who could flawlessly. All the others had experienced the incredible flavours Hernando pulled off through their shared link, and were dying to taste it in the flesh.
This did mean that Hernando was currently pacing their kitchen like a man possessed, parsing instructions ("No, Daniela, you don't grind the garlic, you shred it." "Lito, honey, I love you, but if you start trying to cook the beef you will inevitably fuck it up so I would rather you stuck to your whisking station.") between putting things in the oven and throwing food together like it was simple.
He was noticeably more short tempered than when the evening had began, which was possibly Lito's fault because he burnt the first attempt at a cake. But really, who could blame him when Hernando took his shirt off and tucked it into the waistband of his jeans meaning Lito could see every drip of sweat trickling down his sculptured chest. He’s only human.
But still, the end result is stunning, the house warm and welcoming, lighting soft and mellow. Lito has changed multiple times, because this is the first time his heart will meet his soul, and so the nerves clog his throat and turn his stomach. But it's the good kind of nerves, the ones that preclude a first date he knows will change everything, the ones before a big movie premiere. They are the ones that keep him moving, keep him forward toward the inevitable. Cause that’s what this feels like, utterly inevitable and as inescapable as gravity.
The door knocks once, softly, and the entire room stills. Both Hernando and Daniela were skeptical at first when Lito told them, but Daniela remembers that moment filled with pain and dread as Joaquin pulled her back once more only to watch Lito shrug off, change, morph into something more wild and angry that she had never seen from him before, and she believes. Lito watches her agree and convince Hernando, smiling so wide it splits his whole face and wondering how on earth did I think my career was more important than these people?
Hernando deals with it in his own way, taking a day to come to terms with the fact he shares the love of his life with seven others, before he launches into it with the same passion he does everything else. If Lito wasn't already in love with him, he would be by now.
Lito runs to the door, hands shaking so hard he's surprised he can unlock it. Outside stands his little crying Korean woman, and it's mere seconds before he has her folded into his arms. He'd worry he was holding her too tightly if she wasn't robbing him of breath with her own grip. He pretends he can't feel the trickle of tears down his face, and the mirror sensation he feels from her. They untangle slowly as though they worry if they let go it will become a sensate visit rather than a real one. Lito turns and sees his little family smiling, understanding. Daniela rushes forward and hugs Sun herself, before passing the small woman onto Hernando who holds on fiercely.
"Thank you for looking after my Lito." he says into her hair, and Sun looks to Lito wonderingly. He can feel how unused to unconditional and instant love she is, even with the adoration the cluster throw at her regularly, and his heart aches for her.
Soon, the rest filter in, like Sun was the opening of a dam. Nomi and Amanita are the next to arrive. Lito catches up with Amanita, finally able to grasp her hands in his own and thank her for just how amazingly brilliant she is, thank her for every time she's been there for Nomi when he wasn't, how thankful he is that Nomi had a lodestar throughout all the shit she had dealt to her. He’s not sure she would have survived otherwise.
Hernando is likewise engaged with Nomi, thanking her for guiding Lito when he could not (because of course Lito told Hernando everything about that dark moment, those dark days, through tears and apologies) and Lito feels though he could burst with love.
Riley arrives soon after, Will a permanent shadow at her back. Lito is just thankful to hear his voice once more, an absence within the cluster that they all ached for. It seemed, for a dark desperate while, that the void was permanent until they could deal with Whispers, until they could wake without fear clogging their throat.
But hell hath no fury like a cluster scorned, and no matter how good Whispers was, Sun, Wolfgang and Nomi were better, even on a bad day. The day the cluster felt Will back in their minds unencumbered by the haze of drugs, they spent the majority of the daylight visiting in Will's flat just basking in the feel of the united group once more.
When Capheus arrives Lito can feel the entire room just lift. He doesn't think he has ever met a man so joyous, so happy to be simply alive. When they initially suggested the idea of a cluster meeting, Capheus was instantly dismissive.
"I cannot leave my mother. Not here by herself."
When Lito offered to pay the pairs tickets, Capheus had cried. But not before insisting he would pay back tenfold. Lito had just grinned and nodded along, happy to see the other man giggling and whooping like a young boy.
Kala and Wolfgang arrive together next, the love and happiness radiating off them like a heater. They don't let go of each other for a second, fingers intertwined, eyes drawn to each other constantly, secret grins like they can't believe they are allowed to do this, that it is real. Lito grabs Wolfgang close in a fierce hug, the other man surprised and resistant to the contact at first before the tension unrolls and unwinds off his shoulders like water sluicing off his back.
When Lito had first seen Wolfgang stomach down, face bloody, the entire demeanor of the man was decidedly different. Truly apathetic to whether he lived or died through the encounter, the banked rage the only thing still keeping him moving, keeping him straining for the gun under the body of the car.
Now, he could feel the happiness, the contentment, soaking through his pores from the contact and his heart sings.
They stand together in silence for a moment, not sure what to say now that they are suddenly within arms reach of one another.
"So despite Nomi telling me about you all, she didn't mention how utterly divine you all are. I'm happy to recreate that telepathic orgy anytime." Amanita purrs, and the tension evaporates as quickly as it built. Capheus, Sun, Kala and Riley looked confused, Will's face becomes aflame in a matter of seconds, Wolfgang grins and Nomi huffs a laugh into Amanita's hair.
From there, conversation just flows. They fill in the spaces of each other's pauses as easy as breathing and Lito feels Hernando and Daniela's awkwardness cling for a minute before throwing themselves in feet first and sharing jokes with the others like they are part of the cluster themselves.
It seems like only minutes have passed before Hernando announces dinner is ready, and the group forgo sitting at the dinner table to sit out on Lito's balcony in the hot Mexican summer night, cushions sprawled across the wooden panelling and food on the floor between them.
The food itself is stunning and the cluster cannot praise Hernando enough, to the point he is near drunk with the adulation thrown his way. Lito sits in between his lover's legs and strokes the knees of the man he adores, still wondrous that he can have this and everything else too.
Wine has been flowing freely, and Lito believes that Kala drunk is possibly the most adorable thing he has ever witnessed. She giggles quietly and constantly, in the pauses she hiccups and steals kisses from Wolfgang who has an arm thrown round her shoulder. He stares down at her as though she holds his entire world in the palm of her hand, as though she is Ganesha in the flesh and he will pay divine worship until the day he dies.
Sun and Capheus are stood by the lip of the door, exchanging moves. Sun is a patient teacher, but when she barks out a loud laugh at the sight of Capheus attempting a high kick with a high pitched screech the entire room goes silent, the unfamiliar sound going through them like a balm.
Will is shoulder to shoulder with Nomi, and Lito knows that the thanks for getting Riley out of that Icelandic hellhole falls squarely on their hacktivist's shoulders, and that is something Will thanks Nomi for endlessly. Riley is smiling wide beside them and her left arm is linked through Will's right, dwarfed by the broad shoulders.
He's so caught up in watching his family, so thankful for whatever brought them together and created a hole in his soul for them to fill, that he misses Amanita and Hernando slink off and appear minutes later with a massive cake, baked into sections of each of their favourite flavours (and Lito will thank Hernando later with interest for the dark chocolate orange and praline section made specifically for him) and covered in candles of all sizes and brightness.
"Happy birthday my darlings." Amanita says softly, and the group bask in the warmth and adoration clogging the balcony.