75 Godiva Street, Sunday

[vdistinctive]

"I found more pillows and blankets upstairs," Eliot said, trying to carry a pile of linens taller than he was down the stairs without tripping over Val. "I bet with these we could make the whole living room into a fort!"

He tripped on the last stair, flinging the linens in front of him and tumbling into them with a big *fwoof*.

"An' I found a whole bunch of toy swords an' knives an' things," he said from the pile. "This place is so cool."

[ooc: for the tiny boyfriend in particular, but also open!]

Comments

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Yeah, it was! Even for Alec, who was more inclined to be hesitant and diffident had to agree. Well, mostly. "No TV though," he pointed out. "Or even those computers the other place had." Not that they were anything like the computers he'd ever seen. These were sleek and black and so fast, responding to every keystroke like magic. The computers Hardison was used to were big, heavy, clunky, and beige. With monitors his skinny arms couldn't even lift and the computing power of a slug.

But it did have toy swords and fake knives, and so many pillows and cushions and sheets and blankets, and enough room to make a truly epic blanket fort. "I been makin' some blueprints," he said, holding up papers that he'd drawn over. "Cause you gotta make sure that everythin' balances right or it'll topple over." He couldn't exactly explain why he knew this would work, but he was certain he was. "See?"

[vdistinctive]

"Woah. You drew those?" Eliot draped himself over the back of the couch to peer over Alec's shoulder. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Alec shrugged. "Nowhere. I just know how. I draw a lot in foster. Stops me from askin' so many questions, they say."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot frowned. "What's wrong with asking questions?" No one had yelled at Eliot for asking too many questions, not since he'd grown out of his "why?" phase.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Cause I ask too many an' lotsa times people don't know how to answer 'em," Hardison replied, matter-of-factly. "Other times no one wants to answer 'em. An' then I'm a bother."

[vdistinctive]

"That's dumb. How're you s'posed to learn anything if you don't ask?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"That's what I asked!" Alec complained. "But good kids are seen an' not heard or somethin', I guess."

[vdistinctive]

"Ugh, they're those people. Those people are so dumb." Eliot straightened up and grabbed one of the cushions, tossing it up and down and spinning it. "So where do we start then, Mr. Architect?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Yeah, but they're my only chance of gettin' a forever home, so..." Alec went quiet, far more interested in building a cushion fort than talking about foster care. "We should start over in that corner," he decided. "The walls'll help support the rest of it. An' if we get it up really high, the top of the fort will be waaaaay over our heads!"

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"I found handcuffs!" Parker suddenly announced from on top of the TV system set-up. "Lookit lookit!"

They were about as real as the weapons right now, and she was having fun getting in and out of them.

[vdistinctive]

"Dude!" Eliot bounced. "This house is amazing!" He didn't so much mind the lack of electronics. "Though I had to get all the poptarts and pizza bagels myself."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"There's lots of orange soda and popsicles in the fridge," Parker pointed out, hanging down from the top of the entertainment center. "And Froot Loops! And we could get more at Luke's, probably." That Kenzi girl might let them have some, right?

[vdistinctive]

"We're probably good for tonight," Eliot decided. "But we should keep that in mind for tomorrow."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Yup!" Parker hopped down and surveyed the fort with pleasure. "This isn't a girls-keep-out-fort, is it?"

[vdistinctive]

"Nah," Eliot said. "I only make those when I need to keep out my sister." Which admittedly was often. And then Gertie cried even harder because Eliot totally let their next door neighbor come in and she was a girl and then Mom yelled at him for being mean to Gertie and also that bedroom wasn't going to clean itself, mister, if he didn't clean up by the end of the day she was going to come through with a trashbag and throw everything on the floor away!

There was a reason why Eliot spent most of his time outside hiding in improbable places.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Is she bigger or littler than you?" Parker asked, crouching down to crawl inside, pausing to sniff with approval.

[vdistinctive]

"Littler," Eliot said. "And so annoying!!!" He emphasized his point with his hands spread wide on either side of his face as he grimaced at the ceiling. "She can't do anything yet and all she wants to do is follow me around and get me in trouble."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker hunkered down and grabbed a pillow, hugging it to herself. "She might get more fun. When she's bigger." Her mouth was set in a thin grimace.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"This place has got tons of stuff in it!" Alec agreed. "An' it's way bigger'n the other place we were in."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but that was right over a diner." Parker was always going to value food adjacency. "But I like that nobody's kicking us out of *either* of them. And!" She pulled an Illinois Smith hat over her eyes. Now she looked like an adventurer! "There are cool clothes here too." Beaming at him she added, "I'm never going back."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"But you gotta!" Alec argued. "There's no grownups here! What about...about doctor visits an' school an'--an'--an'--" He tried to think of other things that adults could help with. "They'll come find us! They got our names in the system an' if they gotta drag us home, we ain't never gonna get a family."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker scowled. "Don't want one." She pouted at him. "They're stupid. Doctors are stupid. And teachers are stupid. And nobody wants me anyway, so. They won't come looking for me." She had to grudgingly admit they might come looking for Alec. She scowled at him. "Do you like school?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Yeah," Alec admitted. "It's not as loud an' crazy as the group home an' I get to learn new stuff. Didja know that mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell? I learned that lookin' in the science book of one of the big kids." He looked very proud of himself. "You gotta go to college an' get a good job an' that's how you get outta the projects. That or be good at sports an' I ain't."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

You could tell Alec was really smart because he was thinking about the future. Not just the big words. Parker scowled again to hide her embarrassment. "Yeah, well." Well. "I'm ... stealing that apartment. And this house. And then I won't have to get a job. Ha!"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"How you gonna steal it?" Alec asked, intrigued. "Ain't like you can put it into your pocket an' run off with it!"