Chapter Text
Deeks laid back on Ron’s bed as Tony paced the small area in front of him.
Palmer was on his left and Mac was watching from his right, all three pairs of eyes tracking Tony as he went.
“Well,” Mac finally broke the silence. “It’s been a good meeting.”
“Yeah,” Deeks eyed the agitated Italian as he ran his fingers through his short brown hair.
All four were in Ron’s room, Tony having sent them all up there after getting the kids out the door, though three of them still weren’t entirely sure why.
“Okay,” Tony finally stopped and faced them, hair in disarray as he surveyed them. “We have a problem.”
Deeks looked from Mac to Palmer, but they also didn’t seem to understand the solemn tone. It was like Tony was telling them something urgent, but Deeks didn’t get it and the other two didn’t get it, either.
“And I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t handle,” Mac nodded. “I have to ask what, exactly, the problem is, though.”
Tony sighed. “Well,” he rubbed his mouth, “Fleur’s family has a wedding tradition. Each bride of the family is required to make a drink. One that has… excessive amounts of sugar.”
Deeks winced as he imagined kids bouncing off the walls. “So? Just limit what the kids get,” he shrugged. “We have some influence on them, after all.”
A glance at Mac and Palmer, however, told him that something was flying over his head.
Palmer looked sort of pale as Mac just sighed and rubbed her forehead.
“And I looked into it,” Tony nodded in silent agreement. “Everyone who is about seventeen and up has to drink at least three cups of this thing for the marriage to have good luck. No exceptions.”
Deeks tilted his head. “Okay. I may need a side drink to help me get through it, but I should be alright…” After racing around for a few hours. On the other hand, of course, sometimes the sugar made him sleepy.
“No, Deeks,” Mac smiled gave him a slight smile, brown eyes worried. “It’s Palmer. He’s diabetic.”
…
Okay, obviously there was something going on that he wasn’t getting.
“I may not know everything that goes on in the Magical world, but I do know there’s supposed to be potions to help with that sort of thing, right?” he shrugged.
“There are,” Mac nodded, “but there are some ingredients in the common ones that doesn’t sit well with Palmer. We have to get it custom made.”
“Unfortunately,” Tony added, rubbing his mouth, “the guy we go to hasn’t been able to brew it and there’s a process we go through in order to get the next person, but she’s down with the flu and there’s no one else. Plus, it takes two and a half months to actually get ingredients together and to make it anyway, so…”
“Why don’t you just tell Fleur that Palmer can’t drink it?” Deeks waved a hand. Surely it couldn’t be that difficult? “I mean, all you have to do is say something and they should understand.”
“It’s not that easy,” Palmer shook his head, rubbing a hand over his curly hair. “You don’t know because you haven’t lived in the Magical world for long enough to find out, but diabetic Wizards and Witches just…”
“There’s not many of them,” Mac picked up. “And, sure, Honeyduke’s has a line of treats for the diabetics, but others can eat them, too. Palmer needs to have a certain potion that not many can make – kind of like Wolfsbane -, but there’s always been this belief that diabetic Magic folk are more Muggle than Pure. There’s a discrimination against them that you really just have to experience for yourself. It doesn’t do anything justice unless you experience it with your own eyes.”
Mac and Tony both had that look that said that they had.
Palmer looked guiltily at them, which earned him reassuring smiles in response.
Deeks had not felt as distanced from the other three than he did in that moment. There was just a history there that he didn’t have and he bet the kids didn’t, either.
It was kind of daunting, the fact that he would have to dig through all that to find a connection with them.
“Okay,” Deeks simply nodded, making a mental note to ask Lyn later. “So, what are we going to do about it?”
“I did, however,” Tony looked relieved to find a new subject, “find a loophole. Deeks can get a water on the side as long as he can drink three cups of this drink. Now, that means that every cup has to have drunk from it three cups’ worth of drink. It is not going to matter who does the drinking. Now, I propose that me, Mac and Deeks take over drinking it while Palmer can drink the water. As long as his portion has been drunk, there should not be a problem.”
“I can do that,” Deeks nodded. He didn’t need the water all the time, so sure. Musical cups? Not a problem.
“But won’t someone know I’m not drinking?” Palmer fretted, wringing his hands as Mac started grinning.
“We’ll just have to make it look like you’re drinking it,” she assured. “And Tony can take care of that.”
“Deeks,” Tony turned to him. “All you would really need to do is to help drink it and give up some of your water.”
“I’m game,” he assured. He didn’t have the pre-programmed discrimination toward Palmer, so that wasn’t going to be an issue. The trick would be to drink everything without anyone being the wiser. “Don’t worry, Palmer,” he smiled at him. “No one’s going to know unless we want them to.”
“But,” Mac pointed out. “This means that the three of us,” she gestured to Tony, Deeks and herself, “are going to also have to drink our own.”
“We can handle it.”
Palmer didn’t look so sure.
“Of course we can,” Mac agreed.
Tony wrapped an arm around Palmer’s shoulders. “Don’t worry so much, Autopsy Gremlin,” he grinned widely. “We got this.”
** *