fireworks: the cluster plan an Independence Day surprise for Will to take his mind off his father; it's not the easiest thing in the world to surprise Will though.

Riley's been in Chicago for the past two weeks with Will, but he's been unusually subdued: the fourth of July is coming up - Independence Day - and he can't help but keep thinking back to this time last year when he watched the fireworks with his father on a boat, and how he'll never get to experience that again. Riley picks up on all of this (as do the rest of them), but she doesn't bring it up, knowing that he doesn't want to talk about it; instead, she just allows him to nestle a little closer to her in his sleep and runs her fingers gently through his hair.

"We really need to take his mind off it," Nomi says, appearing to her one evening, a sad smile on her face as she watches Will sleep on Riley's lap. She nods in agreement, bending down to press a chaste kiss on his forehead as she tries to figure out what to do.

She waits until he's gone out to the gym, successfully coaxed out of the apartment by Diego, before she summons the rest of the cluster to the apartment; except when she does, only Nomi, Kala, Sun and Capheus actually appear. The four of them greet her in turn and join her on the rug in the room.

"Where's Wolfgang?" Riley asks Kala questioningly, knowing the two of them are almost inseparable nowadays.

"Swimming," she says, then glances around the room, noting that he's not the only one of the cluster missing. "I think he's with Lito."

They all smile at that. Out of all of the members of the cluster, the person that Wolfgang spends most of his time with now - besides Kala, of course - is Lito, having forged a strong friendship with the man after they helped each other out in their respective lives. It might have seemed odd to outsiders as Wolfgang and Lito act like polar opposites most of the time, but the cluster know that deep down, Lito's just as tenacious as Wolfgang, and Wolfgang's heart is just as big as Lito's. Riley, for one, thinks their relationship is adorable.

As if on cue, both Wolfgang and Lito suddenly appear: hair dripping wet, towels messily wrapped around their waists. Riley can't help but wince a bit as she sees water starting to pool around their feet and onto the wooden floorboards, even though she knows they're not really there and they're not really making a mess.

"Hello!" Lito says, pausing to press a kiss softly against her cheek, whilst Wolfgang just nods silently at her in greeting, moving quickly to stand behind Kala (who, Riley notes affectionately, is blushing fiercely already, her eyes fixed on Wolfgang's bare chest.)

Riley smiles softly at them both, before clearing her throat. "It's getting very close to Independence Day," she says simply as she looks at them all, and it's enough for the cluster to take a shaky intake of breath, remembering the grief that Will went through months ago over his father and the significance of this day to him. "Will's putting on a brave face, but I think—"

"—We should be there for him," Kala finishes.

The rest of them nod in agreement, exchanging glances with each other.

"What do you have in mind?"

Riley grins then, her face lighting up. She beckons them to come closer in a conspiratorial fashion, hand outstretched, and they all lean in.

"If you want this to be a secret, we'll need to be careful," Wolfgang says once she's finished talking, his words taking everyone by surprise. He shrugs at them, nonchalant. "Will's a good cop; he'll figure out what's going on if we plan altogether like this."

They squint at him. Sun nods.

"He's right," she says. "Let's split into groups. Mix it up."

They decide to form a rota, of sorts. Riley is excluded from it because she's actually present with Will in real life; even if she wasn't, she'd be excluded anyway, simply because she's the most connected to Will and it's safer that way. Wolfgang and Sun silently exchange glances, then move over to the desk in the corner of the room, hunching over it as they swiftly lay out the plans of who is going to be with Will at what time. Kala sighs at the sight, walking over to place a hand gently on Wolfgang's bare back in an attempt to get his attention; he doesn't turn around, just leans back against her touch.

"Wolfgang, Sun, do you really think this is necessary?" Kala asks, her eyebrow raised even though neither of them are looking at her. She bites back the urge to roll her eyes as she doesn't get a response, both of them talking rapidly to each other in low whispers. "I mean, this all seems a bit...intense." (She can tell that she's not the only one that feels this, based on the way Lito's now leaning back in his chair, watching them as if he was watching one of his movies.)

Wolfgang twists at her words to face her, shooting her a grin.

"This is important," he tells her, though his tone is a touch teasing, and she flushes as she feels him push a memory into her head of that day she had watched him play football and asked him if he had to do everything so intensely. Just the things that matter.

Kala sighs again, just as Sun nods and agrees. They both look weirdly invigorated as they plan and so, she leaves them to it. She thinks she vaguely hears Sun remark that "evading cops is fun" from behind her, followed by Wolfgang's answering chuckle, but she tries not to think so hard about that and what it means.

The first shift is taken by Lito and Wolfgang. After about ten minutes of persuasion, they manage to convince Will to leave the apartment and workout with them ("Come on, brother," Lito says, as he pouts at him and pulls at his arm. Will eventually agrees, though Wolfgang suspects it's more because he knows that Lito won't stop asking until he gets his way, rather than because he actually feels like going with them), allowing the rest of the cluster to meet and plot with Riley. They both notice that Will's quieter than usual, but it's not like Wolfgang is much of a talker and Lito, well, Lito can talk enough for all three of them.

"Do you remember what happened last time we were here?" Lito asks as Will walks into the gym, quickly bounding towards the weights in the corner. Wolfgang smirks, Will slowly goes red. Even now, Will's not sure he'll ever be entirely comfortable with the rest of the cluster being able to pick up on his arousal and share it; but hey, it's a small price to pay.

"Will, you're going to be okay," Lito says quietly as Will starts running on the treadmill in Chicago, running down the street in Mexico and swimming laps in a pool in Paris all at the same time.

Wolfgang nods in agreement, placing his hand firmly on Will's shoulder. "You will," he says.

Will doesn't reply, continuing to run, but they think they see the barest of smiles form on his lips.

Kala and Capheus go next. Will's just about to head to the fridge to pull out some leftovers to microwave when he feels himself being pulled to Capheus.

"Sit, sit," Capheus tells him, gesturing towards the empty seat opposite him. Kala's already sitting at the table, absentmindedly doodling on a notepad she's holding in her hand, and she gives him a smile in greeting as he does what Capheus tells him to do. Will blinks and tries to figure out exactly why they're sitting there, when suddenly Capheus turns to them, brandishing a plate of homemade food in one hand, cutlery in the other.

"You have to try this," Capheus says, as he holds out a fork excitedly at Will, dangerously close to stabbing him in the face. "My mother is an excellent cook."

Will takes the fork, but he does so warily; he knows through their connection that Capheus (and Kala, for that matter) likes his food significantly spicier than he does. Capheus' smile is both encouraging and proud though, so he slowly takes a bite. The sensation is odd, at first: the food tastes both spicy and not spicy to him at the same time, and his mind struggles between wanting to shovel more of it into his mouth and take a huge gulp of water. Capheus and Kala squint at him in interest, both of them clearly feeling the war going on in his head, and Kala is already asking probing questions and taking notes about him before he can protest that he's not a test subject ("Describe to me how you're feeling," she says, tapping her pencil on the table thoughtfully. "Be as specific as possible.")

Will's just about to tentatively try another forkful when his own senses outweigh theirs and he immediately snatches the glass of water in front of him, his cheeks going red, mouth burning. Capheus and Kala exchange amused glances, silently pushing their own glasses of water towards him.

"How are you guys breathing right now?" Will asks despairingly as he's halfway through the third glass of water. They both laugh at him, reaching for more of the food.

"What spices are in this again?" Kala asks, eyeing the dish in front of them. She's got her notepad open again and is writing down as many of the ingredients as possible. "This is delicious – I'll have to tell my father to try making this," she says, and Capheus' answering grin is bright enough for Will to (bravely) try another forkful.

After this encounter, Nomi and Sun appear to take Will to a park in San Francisco (for a picnic) and Korea (for meditation), Wolfgang and Sun offer to spar with him, Lito and Capheus hold a movie marathon with him ("How many cop movies do you think we can watch in one afternoon?" They ask, as they herd him towards the sofa, matching smiles on their faces), Nomi and Kala lose him in in-depth, complicated, very one-sided discussions about computers and chemistry respectively, and so on.

It's not long before Will has a sneaking suspicion that something is going on. The frequency of visitors he's been getting in the past few weeks is unusually high and, assuming he's done the time-zone calculation correctly, sometimes he gets visits from someone when they should really be fast asleep; in the end, he chalks all this odd behaviour up to the cluster picking up on his emotions and trying to distract him from them. He's overwhelmingly grateful that they're willing to do this for him, and he finds that their efforts do help, if only for a few hours. Because of this, he lets them drag him to the gym, to the park, and lets them feed him exotic food and talk to him about things he's not sure he'll ever understand. The days leading up to Independence Day pass by smoother and quicker than they would have if he was left alone to his own thoughts, and before he knows it, he's waking up on the fourth of July to the soothing feeling of Riley's fingers combing through his hair:

"Morning," he says, offering her a smile as he opens his eyes. Riley smiles back, leaning over to press a kiss on his mouth. He catches her hand in his, stopping her from pulling away and she nestles against his side. He closes his eyes again, listening to the sound of their breathing. He'll always miss his father and he'll always have certain regrets, but enough time has passed now that he's starting to be able to look back and remember the good times that they shared without feeling overwhelming grief and pain wracking his mind.

"I know that you've been thinking about your dad lately," Riley whispers after a few minutes, so softly that at first, he's not sure if he really heard her. She runs her hands gently along his jaw until she's clasping his face firmly with both of her hands, forcing him to meet her gaze. "I know I can't say anything to take away the pain, but just know I'm here for you – we all are."

Will nods, smiles.

"Thank you," he says sincerely, as he tugs Riley just that little bit closer.

A few more minutes pass before Riley's lifted her head to look at him properly, strands of her hair just brushing against his forehead. She's looking at him with an expression in her eyes that he can't quite decipher, even though he's supposedly in her head. It's a little bit unnerving to see at first, but then he remembers that it's Riley; he knows that no matter what, she's got his best intentions in mind.

"I thought that tonight we could maybe watch the fireworks," she says, though her voice is gentle and patient, giving him the opportunity to refuse if he wants. Will stiffens for a split-second, but then he relaxes in her embrace and she presses a kiss to his forehead.

"Yeah, that would be nice," he tells her, then lifts his head to kiss her properly.

That evening, Will finds himself on a boat, getting ready to watch the fireworks, a bottle of beer in his hand; this time though, he's not with his dad, but with Riley and six other people. He turns to them, just as the first burst of red sparkling lights explode in the night sky, breaking the silence that had momentarily fallen.

"Thank you," he tells them sincerely, slowly looking at each one of their faces in turn. "Thank you for distracting me these past few weeks. It means a lot."

They smile in response and Will's just about to turn back to watching the fireworks, when he suddenly catches them exchanging mischievous glances. Before he knows what's happening, they've started to count to three altogether, voices loud and full of energy. He blinks in confusion just as they've all yelled out "...three!" and then his mouth falls open in surprise as his head is suddenly tugged in five different directions all at once.

One second he's in Chicago with Riley, watching the fireworks from a boat, and the next he's on a rooftop somewhere in Paris. Wolfgang and Kala shoot him matching smiles as he turns to them, perplexed, his mouth still half-open.

"Felix, you can light them!" They shout, and Felix grins at them widely from metres away, lighting a bunch of fireworks balancing precariously on the tiles. ("This is fucking awesome!" Felix exclaims as they go off and he sprints back to them.)

He's just turned his head to look up into the air when he realises he's staring at a much bluer, warmer sky than he expected. He's in Mexico with Lito, Hernando and Dani, Lito's arms pulling him into a hug before he has a chance to react. Over his shoulder, Will spots Hernando, leaning down with a lighter in one hand. The fireworks go off in the sky with a bang, and then—

Will's in the park in San Francisco. He turns to see Nomi, Amanita and Bug, standing almost out of view, hidden amongst the shadows of the trees. Will walks towards them, eyebrow raised.

"We're pretty sure this isn't entirely legal," they explain matter-of-factly, as Bug starts singing Born Free and they light up their fireworks.

He's a bit fuzzy with the laws of California, but he's about to tell them that it's probably not legal, when he's suddenly in another park, but in Korea. It's almost noon and it's stiflingly hot, and he blinks to see a sparkler being pushed into his hand by Sun. He takes it, allows himself to draw a few shapes, fondly remembering a time when he used to do this with his dad, and then—

"Will!"

He turns to see Capheus, standing on the roof of Silas Kabaka's place with Amondi. Capheus grins at him, then quickly moves to light his own heap of fireworks, his grin getting wider as Amondi cheers.

When he returns back to Chicago, he immediately twists to catch Riley's gaze. "How did you— What was— I mean, that was—" She's grinning at him as he stumbles for words, reaching for his hand. In the end, he settles for a, "have I ever told you how much I love you?"

She laughs, presses a kiss to his lips. "We're here for you, Will," she tells him softly as they break apart. "Always."

A/N: let me know what you think! :)