16 OC Questions

🌲 What is the kindest thing your OC has ever done for someone? What is the kindest thing someone has ever done for them? On the flip side, what is the worst thing your OC has done to another person?

🌳 What does your OC do when they see others upset or in pain? An upset friend? A stranger?

🌿 What is something true about your OC that they refuse to admit about themselves? Is there any reason to this besides embarassment?

🍃 Describe a regular day for your OC. What is their schedule (if they have one).

🍂 How does your OC think they will die? Does death scare them? Is there any reason for this?

🍁 What is your OC’s most traumatic experience? (If they don’t have just one traumatic experience either pick one or describe them all!)

🍄 How would your OC react to the death of a friend/family member/loved one? Is there anyone they can confide in?

🌾 What would your OC be like if they were evil. Or if they’re already evil what would they be like as the good guy?

💐 How would your OC react to somebody telling them that they love them? (+ bonus give another characters/OC name!)

🌷 What does your OC hate about themself? What lies about themself do they believe? On the flip side, What does your OC love about themself?

🌹 Does your OC have any scars? How and when did they get them?

🥀 What is something your OC blames themself for and is it really their fault? Does it keep them up at night and is there any lingering trauma?

🌺 In what situation would your OC be pushed to commit an act of violence? Would they go as far to kill someone if they had to? How would this affect them and their relationships with others?

🌸 What would your OC do if they were given god-like powers or the ability to change anything about the world for a whole day?

🌼 Describe one of your OC’s worst nightmares.

🌻 What advice would your OC give to their younger self? What advice does your OC need now?

Life. It sucks. It does! But nothing sucks more than having to help clean the school’s attic for “community service.” Especially with some red-head.

David, at the tender year of 16, was more than tired of “community service”. There were so many more interesting things he could be doing! …nothing came to mind, but it could be there!

“Stupid school with their stupid rules and their stupid giant boxes full of junk!” he grumbled, awkwardly shuffling backwards to drag a box over to the “dump” pile. From the corner of his eye, he could see the red-head girl watching him. “What’re you lookin’ at, weirdo? You’re in here too for whatever misdemeanor the school slapped on you, so get moving!”

@red-rad-and-rod

“Huh? Yeah, I am! I just…”

Then came the wrist communicator with a similar beeping sound. He ripped it off his wrist and tossed it in a different direction before trying to reach for the controller. Kieran let out a whine as he struggled to reach the controller.

“Aw, c'mon! That’s not fair! I thought you were cool, man! You’re being as bad as my older brother! …Okay, maybe not totally, but still! You’re being a buttface; I wanna play!”

Unfortunately, the commotion was ill-timed, as it distracted the kid enough to where he didn’t notice a set of looming shadows outside…

–

David leaned away, using his arm as a defense against the child’s onslaught. “Aw, come on, I’m almost at the best level! You’re the one who wasn’t fast enough to get the controller when you had the chance!”

Honestly, he was just teasing, and even though he felt a bit petty, he knew he’d need to give back the controller eventually. He pushed the character a few more steps before hitting pause, dangling the controller over the kid’s head before letting the cord slide through his fingers and into Kieran’s hands. “There y'go, kid, knock yourself out. Let’s see if you can beat my high score on the'Pawsitively Cat-astrophic’ level.”

He fluffed Kieran’s already curly hair, chuckling as he glanced to the window.

Uh… there were… a lot of things going by. “Whaaa…” David whispered, drawn to the window by the sheer weirdness of it all. Those were some dang big shadows, but he couldn’t tell what the heck they were. Trying to get a better look, he pushed the window up and stuck his head out, trying to figure out of those were just really big birds or-

Something grabbed him under the armpits and yanked him clear out the window, zooming away and leaving behind a trailing scream of “WHAT THE HEEEEEEEeeeeee-”.

Kieran snarled something under his breath as he tried to re-do his hair. As soon as he got it how he wanted it, he was about to slug David’s arm…but the next thing he knew, there was a kerfuffle, and he was gone.

With his communicator still going off, he scrambled to find wherever he unceremoniously launched it. A minute or two later, after sticking his hand under the dusty (when was the last time someone vacuumed under there?! …Oh…wait…it was his turn this week. Dang it), he hit the answer button. “Helloooo?”

“FINALLY!”, came the voice from the other end, “What took you so long?! Here we were thinking you got kidnapped or somethin’!”

“We?”

“Yeah! I got the rest of the sector here, too! We’ve been trying to call you- we got a Red Alert and need all available operatives! …You…weren’t kidnapped, right?”

“Uhhh…noooo?” Kieran looked around, “But…my babysitter was, apparently.”

“Who cares, it’s just some teen! They can handle themselves, can’t they?”

Though the voice on the other line couldn’t see the expression on his face, Kiernan had a mixture of offense and “Really?” on it. Perhaps his next sentence would convince them otherwise: “Would it change your mind if I said it was…oh, I dunno, ‘Numbuh Dad’ as we called them?”

Cue the frantic “WHAT?!“s on the other end.

"I’ll explain later; what’s the soonest you guys can get here?”

Looks like a mission was on the menu today…

In their treehouse, the sector was crowded around the watch communicator, each of them trying to yell questions into it. One of the twins was nearly wailing, “Not Numbuh Dad! He doesn’t even know how to throw jacks! Or marbles!”

The other twin shoved her sister’s head down, hands on her shoulders. “AND he hasn’t been trained in 2x4 technology! He’s going to be flattened into a depressed teen puddle!”

The kid holding the communicator had it up to his ear, trying to talk to Kieran. “Don’t worry, we’ll get him back somehow! Let’s rendezvous so we can come up with a plan-“

The sound of something like engines revving roared up behind them. Startled by the noise, the kids whipped around, their Code Red staring down at them from their jet boots. A swarm of Teen Ninjas were hovering above them, pinpoint faces hiding behind their black-plated helmets. Their leader, someone who could only play football based on that size, raised his arm to launch something. “Cower in fear, tiny dweebs, for the Green Lightning has arrived! Go get ‘em!”

With one expert throw, the ninja threw…

David.

Who, with the highest-pitched squeal heard outside of a cheerleading squad, was pitched face-first into the treehouse floor, rolled a few times, and finally stopped with his nose on the ground and splinters in his hair.

What happened next looked like something out of a comedy movie:

WIth a launch of the communicator to the side, a couple of the kids scattered in different directions to attack the incoming onslaught, one went to get out of the way...and one tried to catch David, going "I got 'im! I got 'im! I-"

Cue the Looney Tunes-esque complete miss and the impact.

"..I don't got 'em."

A few sharp inhales through gritted teeth came from a couple of the teens, along with a few well placed "Ooooof!"s from both kids and teens alike. Kieran, of course, not being there just yet was now the one yelling questions: "What? What happened? Wha' did I miss?"

"...Is he dead?" one of the kids asked, tentatively.

"Nice going, pizza-face! You 'murder-lized' him!" one of the twins piped up, ready to start mauling him. Their sibling, however, had a solid grip on the back of their shirt, not letting them go anywhere and just flail in place with a "Lemme at 'em!!"

"Hey-'ey-'ey-'ey, woah; I ain't no murderer!" they rebutted, waving their hands and backing up, "I've got a huge biology test next week, I can't go to prison!"

"You're not, numbnuts," another teen spoke up, "Bean Pole's still breathing." She gave him a slight nudge with her foot, eliciting a small groan.

In a moment of brief respite (truce?), the kids and some of the teens stood over David in a circle, watching him for any other signs of life. One kid looked to one of the teens, curious.

"...Y'think you can poke 'im with your staff thingy? See if that'll do anything?"

((You ever feel that sort of tired where no amount of sleep can really fix it? That's me right now. A case of "(most likely academic) burnout but still have another 9ish weeks to go before graduation ". Can't exactly take a mental health day, don't have a clinical day I can call out on, so just gotta suck it up and deal.

Sooo if replies are slow or non-existent for a little while, that's why. I'm still having fun with RPs, of course- kind of like a brief "yay, playtime!", if you want to look at it that way.

In short: feeling blah, will pop in when I can. If you got thru my whining, here, have a Pecan as a reward:)

UPDATE

...Long story short: leave of absence. Mental health was NOT in a good place. Getting better, though.

So I'm free for a bit. Probably still going to be slow on the uptake for replies and whatnot, but...schedule has opened up.

No, Calvin was right

Calvin was 100% right.

Life. It sucks. It does! But nothing sucks more than having to help clean the school’s attic for “community service.” Especially with some red-head.

David, at the tender year of 16, was more than tired of “community service”. There were so many more interesting things he could be doing! …nothing came to mind, but it could be there!

“Stupid school with their stupid rules and their stupid giant boxes full of junk!” he grumbled, awkwardly shuffling backwards to drag a box over to the “dump” pile. From the corner of his eye, he could see the red-head girl watching him. “What’re you lookin’ at, weirdo? You’re in here too for whatever misdemeanor the school slapped on you, so get moving!”

@red-rad-and-rod

“Huh? Yeah, I am! I just…”

Then came the wrist communicator with a similar beeping sound. He ripped it off his wrist and tossed it in a different direction before trying to reach for the controller. Kieran let out a whine as he struggled to reach the controller.

“Aw, c'mon! That’s not fair! I thought you were cool, man! You’re being as bad as my older brother! …Okay, maybe not totally, but still! You’re being a buttface; I wanna play!”

Unfortunately, the commotion was ill-timed, as it distracted the kid enough to where he didn’t notice a set of looming shadows outside…

–

David leaned away, using his arm as a defense against the child’s onslaught. “Aw, come on, I’m almost at the best level! You’re the one who wasn’t fast enough to get the controller when you had the chance!”

Honestly, he was just teasing, and even though he felt a bit petty, he knew he’d need to give back the controller eventually. He pushed the character a few more steps before hitting pause, dangling the controller over the kid’s head before letting the cord slide through his fingers and into Kieran’s hands. “There y'go, kid, knock yourself out. Let’s see if you can beat my high score on the'Pawsitively Cat-astrophic’ level.”

He fluffed Kieran’s already curly hair, chuckling as he glanced to the window.

Uh… there were… a lot of things going by. “Whaaa…” David whispered, drawn to the window by the sheer weirdness of it all. Those were some dang big shadows, but he couldn’t tell what the heck they were. Trying to get a better look, he pushed the window up and stuck his head out, trying to figure out of those were just really big birds or-

Something grabbed him under the armpits and yanked him clear out the window, zooming away and leaving behind a trailing scream of “WHAT THE HEEEEEEEeeeeee-”.

Kieran snarled something under his breath as he tried to re-do his hair. As soon as he got it how he wanted it, he was about to slug David's arm...but the next thing he knew, there was a kerfuffle, and he was gone.

With his communicator still going off, he scrambled to find wherever he unceremoniously launched it. A minute or two later, after sticking his hand under the dusty (when was the last time someone vacuumed under there?! ...Oh...wait...it was his turn this week. Dang it), he hit the answer button. "Helloooo?"

"FINALLY!", came the voice from the other end, "What took you so long?! Here we were thinking you got kidnapped or somethin'!"

"We?"

"Yeah! I got the rest of the sector here, too! We've been trying to call you- we got a Red Alert and need all available operatives! ...You...weren't kidnapped, right?"

"Uhhh...noooo?" Kieran looked around, "But...my babysitter was, apparently."

"Who cares, it's just some teen! They can handle themselves, can't they?"

Though the voice on the other line couldn't see the expression on his face, Kiernan had a mixture of offense and "Really?" on it. Perhaps his next sentence would convince them otherwise: "Would it change your mind if I said it was...oh, I dunno, 'Numbuh Dad' as we called them?"

Cue the frantic "WHAT?!"s on the other end.

"I'll explain later; what's the soonest you guys can get here?"

Looks like a mission was on the menu today...

Life. It sucks. It does! But nothing sucks more than having to help clean the school’s attic for “community service.” Especially with some red-head.

David, at the tender year of 16, was more than tired of “community service”. There were so many more interesting things he could be doing! …nothing came to mind, but it could be there!

“Stupid school with their stupid rules and their stupid giant boxes full of junk!” he grumbled, awkwardly shuffling backwards to drag a box over to the “dump” pile. From the corner of his eye, he could see the red-head girl watching him. “What’re you lookin’ at, weirdo? You’re in here too for whatever misdemeanor the school slapped on you, so get moving!”

@red-rad-and-rod

“Sounds about right.” Kieran noted as he wrote, “Syd tells me that sometimes she gets into fights with her little sister. It was really bad when, like…she was my age and Syd was almost 11, but it’s calmed down a bit now. From what she tells me, most of the time when she fights it’s other teenagers or sometimes adults.”

At the “loser” comment, he snickered. “I dunno. I mean, I’ve only known you for…what, ten? twenty minutes? I don’t think you give off ‘loser’ vibes. You’re not lecturing me about how ‘video games are bad’ or how ‘you should always be listening to adults’. I do appreciate you helping out!”

—

David was glad that he was in another room because he couldn’t help but turn a little pink at the compliment. Apparently, he wasn’t used to positive feedback! He tried to bluster through it by mumbling, “Yeah, well, can’t help how people view me, but uh- thanks. You’re not so bad either, you aren’t being a total brat about having to do your homework. And if nothing else, video games teach good hand-eye coordination, so if you ever need to throw something like Syd does, you’ll be able to pop a guy in the eye.”

Dishes finally done, he wiped his hands on the dishrag - why was it crusty? When had it last been washed?! - his sweater and went back to the living room. He still felt a little awkward just hanging out in someone else’s house, so he scooted some of the toys off the couch and took a seat. There were a ton of movies stacked up on the entertainment stand, with a bunch of them being boxing shows. Someone must’ve been really into Muhammad Ali to have that many movies of him.

Popping his lips just to make some noise, his eyes drifted over to the controller. Hm, a little test drive of the game shouldn’t hurt, right? Luckily the remote was nearby and he turned down the sound a little. “Okay, let’s see if all those years paid off,” he smirked, hitting start.

Kieran smiled. Finally, another teenager that understood!

As he started working on one of the longer words, his hearing picked up the unmistakable theme of the video game. Wait a sec!! He was getting started on it without him!

He whipped his head around, glaring at the TV and then David. “Heeeeey! You said you’d wait! You lied, you liar!”

As if he’d been holding a hot frying pan, David half-threw the remote to the side, where it clicked as if offended. “No I didn’t!” he said too quickly, his face pulling in startled shock. “I just wanted to fiddle with the controls and see if I could still play it!”

But even as he said that, the controller was still on its side, holding down a button. On the screen, the Doberman went from flying straight to turning into an abrupt nosedive, careening towards the ground. Before David could clamber back to grab the controller, the little red airplane disappeared from the screen, a cloud of dust poofing into the air to show where the poor pup had crashed. A tiny white flag slid up from below, waving timidly to signal defeat.

…well… that was a great start.

His lips now in a thin line, he mumbled, “I’ll get you back to the right level…” Shouldn’t be too hard, right? Giving Kieran another apologetic look, he grabbed the controller and hit start. Dang, he forgot how bad the graphics in this game were! “Just bring your spelling words in here and finish them up fast so you can get this back.”

Kieran gave him a slight glare, but did as he was told. “It’s a good thing I’ve got so many lives…” he mumbled to himself. He thought that one’s hand-eye coordination was supposed to get better as they got older…

As his pencil scribbled across the paper, he tried to ease some of the silence (save for the little blips, bloops, and ‘rat-tat-tat-tat-tat’s from the game) between them.

“D'you have a favorite level? I know there’s a few where he’s not in his plane. I personally like ‘Zip Zoom Speedway’, cuz you get to design the little car however you want. The part of ‘Castle Catula’ where you can explore the castle is pretty neat, too. The plane part of the level can be kinda tricky cuz of the whole ‘fighting in a thunderstorm’ thing, but I still think it’s cool.”

“UGH, the stupid thunderstorm where if you get hit five times you die? The absolute freaking worst, man! It took me eight times to finally get past that level, but it would’ve taken less if my dumb brother hadn’t been sitting there all, ‘You know, if you do it like this you’ll get through the level faster!’ only for me to try it and then for him to gloat that it wouldn’t’ve worked anyway.” David groused, his frustration spilling out before he could even formulate a better reaction. Way to air out ten years of dirty laundry.

He coughed, changing the subject so things wouldn’t be so awkward. “Uh, my favorite level is when you get Goldy the Retriever, just big ‘good boy’ energy. A heart of gold. And the way they introduce him when he saves you from The Muzzle of Mayhem, and you think he’s going to be a villain because of the way he stands, but then he turns around all 'I’m so happy to meet you!’ and you think, 'oh yeah, I’m gonna love this guy’.”

Though the controller pulled to the right, it worked well enough, and luckily he didn’t lose another life. It didn’t take him long before he was close to the level he’d accidentally lost at. “I forget just how hard these old games are. Not like it’s terrible, but geez, I forgot how wild some of the mechanics are. The fact that you can even fight while in the plane is some next level stuff, you know?”

“Yeeeah, so you can definitely see where my trouble is. I can’t remember if I heard there’s supposed to be a sequel to this one coming out or a remastered version. Wonder if that means it’ll be harder or not…”

Oh good, someone shared his gripe with the thunderstorm level! “Right?! Doesn’t help that you’ve got Catula’s mad scientist lackey all up in your grill like…”

He bent his fingers to make them look like claws, bared his “fangs” as best as he could, and mimicked the digital desperado:

“ 'Mya-ha-ha-ha-heow! Face my furry wrath!’ …Heh; I almost sound like that crazy cat lady that lives a few blocks down.”

Kieran’s eyes brightened, “You like Goldy, too? He’s one of my favorite characters! I also like Gustav the German Shepherd, cuz he’s tough as nails but has that heart of gold. Then there’s 'Havok’ Heeler, who’s just so…chaotic and makes things blow up!”

Was he nerding out? Yeeeah, maaaaybe a touch, but hey! They at least had something to connect on!

“Oh dang, I forgot all about Havok Heeler, I think he’s the reason I like watching movies with explosions,” he chuckled, giving the joystick a toggle. In response, the little plane zipped over a falling piece of debris, thrown down by the cartoonishly evil Catula. The feline threw boxes out the side of his cargo plane, attempting to slow down their intrepid hero. Every so often, the hero had a chance to smack back a box, which exploded upon impact and made Catula jump like he’d sat on a bee. It was so comical that it still made David smirk.

The level closed out with Catula knocked back into his plane, the whole contraption veering wildly in space before disappearing behind a mountain with a puff of an explosion. “Oh yeah, Havok would be proud,” he grinned, leaning back across the couch. “The one thing I wish we had more of was Bunson Bunny, the merchant guy. Everyone thinks he’s helpless, but then he comes in clutch in the last moment… at least if you buy all his stuff.”

“Alright, I think I’m pretty close to where you were before, you ready to take over?”

“Bunson’s the beeeeest. Yeah, sometimes his stuff’s a bit pricey, but hey; definitley worth it.”

Kieran giggled as he watched the teen take on the pixelated foes. It’d been a while since he had this much fun with a teenager.

…Okay, yeah, there was all the shenanigans he’d get up to with Syd, but that kind of fun was in relation to his job as an operative. That was “work” fun. Slightly different, one would argue…

When David asked if he was ready to take over, he gave him a playful salute. “Spelling’s just about done, so a little game time won’t hurt!” He was all set to go and finally advance in the game…until he heard a familiar chiming sound coming from his backpack.

Kieran had to hold back a small groan, knowing exactly what the source of it was, and that specific chime pattern; this was signifying an incoming message in regards to an urgent mission…and it was going to keep making noise until he answered it. Man, he was just about to explore new, digital lands, what could the KND possibly want right now that couldn’t wait?!

More importantly…how was he going to sneak away from David and go on this mission? It wasn’t like he could drag him along. Or could he? Then it’d be a question of “Who’s Babysitting Who”.

David looked up at the severe lack of Kieran kicking Catula’s minion’s butt. “Dude, you playing or what?” he started, but it looked like the kid was having a bit of an internal conflict. His backpack was beeping and buzzing like he’d won the jackpot, but if anything, Kieran looked like he wanted nothing more than to slam it on the ground until it stopped making noise. Maybe not that violent, but the frustration was there.

Seeing a golden opportunity, David grinned mischievously and plucked the controller from the kid’s hand. Just his luck he’d be able to play the game just a bit longer! “Oh no, gosh, you have to get that, oh, so sad,” he said in a soft voice that was absolutely condescending. He gave Kieran a cheeky grin before exiting the menu, getting ready to sprint the character across the screen before the kid had a chance to grab it back.

"Huh? Yeah, I am! I just..."

Then came the wrist communicator with a similar beeping sound. He ripped it off his wrist and tossed it in a different direction before trying to reach for the controller. Kieran let out a whine as he struggled to reach the controller.

"Aw, c'mon! That's not fair! I thought you were cool, man! You're being as bad as my older brother! ...Okay, maybe not totally, but still! You're being a buttface; I wanna play!"

Unfortunately, the commotion was ill-timed, as it distracted the kid enough to where he didn't notice a set of looming shadows outside...

Life. It sucks. It does! But nothing sucks more than having to help clean the school’s attic for “community service.” Especially with some red-head.

David, at the tender year of 16, was more than tired of “community service”. There were so many more interesting things he could be doing! …nothing came to mind, but it could be there!

“Stupid school with their stupid rules and their stupid giant boxes full of junk!” he grumbled, awkwardly shuffling backwards to drag a box over to the “dump” pile. From the corner of his eye, he could see the red-head girl watching him. “What’re you lookin’ at, weirdo? You’re in here too for whatever misdemeanor the school slapped on you, so get moving!”

@red-rad-and-rod

“Sounds about right.” Kieran noted as he wrote, “Syd tells me that sometimes she gets into fights with her little sister. It was really bad when, like…she was my age and Syd was almost 11, but it’s calmed down a bit now. From what she tells me, most of the time when she fights it’s other teenagers or sometimes adults.”

At the “loser” comment, he snickered. “I dunno. I mean, I’ve only known you for…what, ten? twenty minutes? I don’t think you give off ‘loser’ vibes. You’re not lecturing me about how ‘video games are bad’ or how ‘you should always be listening to adults’. I do appreciate you helping out!”

—

David was glad that he was in another room because he couldn’t help but turn a little pink at the compliment. Apparently, he wasn’t used to positive feedback! He tried to bluster through it by mumbling, “Yeah, well, can’t help how people view me, but uh- thanks. You’re not so bad either, you aren’t being a total brat about having to do your homework. And if nothing else, video games teach good hand-eye coordination, so if you ever need to throw something like Syd does, you’ll be able to pop a guy in the eye.”

Dishes finally done, he wiped his hands on the dishrag - why was it crusty? When had it last been washed?! - his sweater and went back to the living room. He still felt a little awkward just hanging out in someone else’s house, so he scooted some of the toys off the couch and took a seat. There were a ton of movies stacked up on the entertainment stand, with a bunch of them being boxing shows. Someone must’ve been really into Muhammad Ali to have that many movies of him.

Popping his lips just to make some noise, his eyes drifted over to the controller. Hm, a little test drive of the game shouldn’t hurt, right? Luckily the remote was nearby and he turned down the sound a little. “Okay, let’s see if all those years paid off,” he smirked, hitting start.

Kieran smiled. Finally, another teenager that understood!

As he started working on one of the longer words, his hearing picked up the unmistakable theme of the video game. Wait a sec!! He was getting started on it without him!

He whipped his head around, glaring at the TV and then David. “Heeeeey! You said you’d wait! You lied, you liar!”

As if he’d been holding a hot frying pan, David half-threw the remote to the side, where it clicked as if offended. “No I didn’t!” he said too quickly, his face pulling in startled shock. “I just wanted to fiddle with the controls and see if I could still play it!”

But even as he said that, the controller was still on its side, holding down a button. On the screen, the Doberman went from flying straight to turning into an abrupt nosedive, careening towards the ground. Before David could clamber back to grab the controller, the little red airplane disappeared from the screen, a cloud of dust poofing into the air to show where the poor pup had crashed. A tiny white flag slid up from below, waving timidly to signal defeat.

…well… that was a great start.

His lips now in a thin line, he mumbled, “I’ll get you back to the right level…” Shouldn’t be too hard, right? Giving Kieran another apologetic look, he grabbed the controller and hit start. Dang, he forgot how bad the graphics in this game were! “Just bring your spelling words in here and finish them up fast so you can get this back.”

Kieran gave him a slight glare, but did as he was told. “It’s a good thing I’ve got so many lives…” he mumbled to himself. He thought that one’s hand-eye coordination was supposed to get better as they got older…

As his pencil scribbled across the paper, he tried to ease some of the silence (save for the little blips, bloops, and ‘rat-tat-tat-tat-tat’s from the game) between them.

“D'you have a favorite level? I know there’s a few where he’s not in his plane. I personally like ‘Zip Zoom Speedway’, cuz you get to design the little car however you want. The part of ‘Castle Catula’ where you can explore the castle is pretty neat, too. The plane part of the level can be kinda tricky cuz of the whole ‘fighting in a thunderstorm’ thing, but I still think it’s cool.”

“UGH, the stupid thunderstorm where if you get hit five times you die? The absolute freaking worst, man! It took me eight times to finally get past that level, but it would’ve taken less if my dumb brother hadn’t been sitting there all, 'You know, if you do it like this you’ll get through the level faster!’ only for me to try it and then for him to gloat that it wouldn’t’ve worked anyway.” David groused, his frustration spilling out before he could even formulate a better reaction. Way to air out ten years of dirty laundry.

He coughed, changing the subject so things wouldn’t be so awkward. “Uh, my favorite level is when you get Goldy the Retriever, just big 'good boy’ energy. A heart of gold. And the way they introduce him when he saves you from The Muzzle of Mayhem, and you think he’s going to be a villain because of the way he stands, but then he turns around all 'I’m so happy to meet you!’ and you think, 'oh yeah, I’m gonna love this guy’.”

Though the controller pulled to the right, it worked well enough, and luckily he didn’t lose another life. It didn’t take him long before he was close to the level he’d accidentally lost at. “I forget just how hard these old games are. Not like it’s terrible, but geez, I forgot how wild some of the mechanics are. The fact that you can even fight while in the plane is some next level stuff, you know?”

“Yeeeah, so you can definitely see where my trouble is. I can’t remember if I heard there’s supposed to be a sequel to this one coming out or a remastered version. Wonder if that means it’ll be harder or not…”

Oh good, someone shared his gripe with the thunderstorm level! “Right?! Doesn’t help that you’ve got Catula’s mad scientist lackey all up in your grill like…”

He bent his fingers to make them look like claws, bared his “fangs” as best as he could, and mimicked the digital desperado:

“ 'Mya-ha-ha-ha-heow! Face my furry wrath!’ …Heh; I almost sound like that crazy cat lady that lives a few blocks down.”

Kieran’s eyes brightened, “You like Goldy, too? He’s one of my favorite characters! I also like Gustav the German Shepherd, cuz he’s tough as nails but has that heart of gold. Then there’s 'Havok’ Heeler, who’s just so…chaotic and makes things blow up!”

Was he nerding out? Yeeeah, maaaaybe a touch, but hey! They at least had something to connect on!

“Oh dang, I forgot all about Havok Heeler, I think he’s the reason I like watching movies with explosions,” he chuckled, giving the joystick a toggle. In response, the little plane zipped over a falling piece of debris, thrown down by the cartoonishly evil Catula. The feline threw boxes out the side of his cargo plane, attempting to slow down their intrepid hero. Every so often, the hero had a chance to smack back a box, which exploded upon impact and made Catula jump like he’d sat on a bee. It was so comical that it still made David smirk.

The level closed out with Catula knocked back into his plane, the whole contraption veering wildly in space before disappearing behind a mountain with a puff of an explosion. “Oh yeah, Havok would be proud,” he grinned, leaning back across the couch. “The one thing I wish we had more of was Bunson Bunny, the merchant guy. Everyone thinks he’s helpless, but then he comes in clutch in the last moment… at least if you buy all his stuff.”

“Alright, I think I’m pretty close to where you were before, you ready to take over?”

"Bunson's the beeeeest. Yeah, sometimes his stuff's a bit pricey, but hey; definitley worth it."

Kieran giggled as he watched the teen take on the pixelated foes. It'd been a while since he had this much fun with a teenager.

...Okay, yeah, there was all the shenanigans he'd get up to with Syd, but that kind of fun was in relation to his job as an operative. That was "work" fun. Slightly different, one would argue...

When David asked if he was ready to take over, he gave him a playful salute. "Spelling's just about done, so a little game time won't hurt!" He was all set to go and finally advance in the game...until he heard a familiar chiming sound coming from his backpack.

Kieran had to hold back a small groan, knowing exactly what the source of it was, and that specific chime pattern; this was signifying an incoming message in regards to an urgent mission...and it was going to keep making noise until he answered it. Man, he was just about to explore new, digital lands, what could the KND possibly want right now that couldn't wait?!

More importantly...how was he going to sneak away from David and go on this mission? It wasn't like he could drag him along. Or could he? Then it'd be a question of "Who's Babysitting Who".

Life. It sucks. It does! But nothing sucks more than having to help clean the school’s attic for “community service.” Especially with some red-head.

David, at the tender year of 16, was more than tired of “community service”. There were so many more interesting things he could be doing! …nothing came to mind, but it could be there!

“Stupid school with their stupid rules and their stupid giant boxes full of junk!” he grumbled, awkwardly shuffling backwards to drag a box over to the “dump” pile. From the corner of his eye, he could see the red-head girl watching him. “What’re you lookin’ at, weirdo? You’re in here too for whatever misdemeanor the school slapped on you, so get moving!”

@red-rad-and-rod

“Sounds about right.” Kieran noted as he wrote, “Syd tells me that sometimes she gets into fights with her little sister. It was really bad when, like…she was my age and Syd was almost 11, but it’s calmed down a bit now. From what she tells me, most of the time when she fights it’s other teenagers or sometimes adults.”

At the “loser” comment, he snickered. “I dunno. I mean, I’ve only known you for…what, ten? twenty minutes? I don’t think you give off ‘loser’ vibes. You’re not lecturing me about how ‘video games are bad’ or how ‘you should always be listening to adults’. I do appreciate you helping out!”

—

David was glad that he was in another room because he couldn’t help but turn a little pink at the compliment. Apparently, he wasn’t used to positive feedback! He tried to bluster through it by mumbling, “Yeah, well, can’t help how people view me, but uh- thanks. You’re not so bad either, you aren’t being a total brat about having to do your homework. And if nothing else, video games teach good hand-eye coordination, so if you ever need to throw something like Syd does, you’ll be able to pop a guy in the eye.”

Dishes finally done, he wiped his hands on the dishrag - why was it crusty? When had it last been washed?! - his sweater and went back to the living room. He still felt a little awkward just hanging out in someone else’s house, so he scooted some of the toys off the couch and took a seat. There were a ton of movies stacked up on the entertainment stand, with a bunch of them being boxing shows. Someone must’ve been really into Muhammad Ali to have that many movies of him.

Popping his lips just to make some noise, his eyes drifted over to the controller. Hm, a little test drive of the game shouldn’t hurt, right? Luckily the remote was nearby and he turned down the sound a little. “Okay, let’s see if all those years paid off,” he smirked, hitting start.

Kieran smiled. Finally, another teenager that understood!

As he started working on one of the longer words, his hearing picked up the unmistakable theme of the video game. Wait a sec!! He was getting started on it without him!

He whipped his head around, glaring at the TV and then David. “Heeeeey! You said you’d wait! You lied, you liar!”

As if he’d been holding a hot frying pan, David half-threw the remote to the side, where it clicked as if offended. “No I didn’t!” he said too quickly, his face pulling in startled shock. “I just wanted to fiddle with the controls and see if I could still play it!”

But even as he said that, the controller was still on its side, holding down a button. On the screen, the Doberman went from flying straight to turning into an abrupt nosedive, careening towards the ground. Before David could clamber back to grab the controller, the little red airplane disappeared from the screen, a cloud of dust poofing into the air to show where the poor pup had crashed. A tiny white flag slid up from below, waving timidly to signal defeat.

…well… that was a great start.

His lips now in a thin line, he mumbled, “I’ll get you back to the right level…” Shouldn’t be too hard, right? Giving Kieran another apologetic look, he grabbed the controller and hit start. Dang, he forgot how bad the graphics in this game were! “Just bring your spelling words in here and finish them up fast so you can get this back.”

Kieran gave him a slight glare, but did as he was told. “It’s a good thing I’ve got so many lives…” he mumbled to himself. He thought that one’s hand-eye coordination was supposed to get better as they got older…

As his pencil scribbled across the paper, he tried to ease some of the silence (save for the little blips, bloops, and ‘rat-tat-tat-tat-tat’s from the game) between them.

“D'you have a favorite level? I know there’s a few where he’s not in his plane. I personally like ‘Zip Zoom Speedway’, cuz you get to design the little car however you want. The part of 'Castle Catula’ where you can explore the castle is pretty neat, too. The plane part of the level can be kinda tricky cuz of the whole 'fighting in a thunderstorm’ thing, but I still think it’s cool.”

“UGH, the stupid thunderstorm where if you get hit five times you die? The absolute freaking worst, man! It took me eight times to finally get past that level, but it would’ve taken less if my dumb brother hadn’t been sitting there all, 'You know, if you do it like this you’ll get through the level faster!’ only for me to try it and then for him to gloat that it wouldn’t’ve worked anyway.” David groused, his frustration spilling out before he could even formulate a better reaction. Way to air out ten years of dirty laundry.

He coughed, changing the subject so things wouldn’t be so awkward. “Uh, my favorite level is when you get Goldy the Retriever, just big 'good boy’ energy. A heart of gold. And the way they introduce him when he saves you from The Muzzle of Mayhem, and you think he’s going to be a villain because of the way he stands, but then he turns around all 'I’m so happy to meet you!’ and you think, 'oh yeah, I’m gonna love this guy’.”

Though the controller pulled to the right, it worked well enough, and luckily he didn’t lose another life. It didn’t take him long before he was close to the level he’d accidentally lost at. “I forget just how hard these old games are. Not like it’s terrible, but geez, I forgot how wild some of the mechanics are. The fact that you can even fight while in the plane is some next level stuff, you know?”

"Yeeeah, so you can definitely see where my trouble is. I can't remember if I heard there's supposed to be a sequel to this one coming out or a remastered version. Wonder if that means it'll be harder or not..."

Oh good, someone shared his gripe with the thunderstorm level! "Right?! Doesn't help that you've got Catula's mad scientist lackey all up in your grill like..."

He bent his fingers to make them look like claws, bared his "fangs" as best as he could, and mimicked the digital desperado:

" 'Mya-ha-ha-ha-heow! Face my furry wrath!' ...Heh; I almost sound like that crazy cat lady that lives a few blocks down."

Kieran's eyes brightened, "You like Goldy, too? He's one of my favorite characters! I also like Gustav the German Shepherd, cuz he's tough as nails but has that heart of gold. Then there's 'Havok' Heeler, who's just so...chaotic and makes things blow up!"

Was he nerding out? Yeeeah, maaaaybe a touch, but hey! They at least had something to connect on!

Life. It sucks. It does! But nothing sucks more than having to help clean the school’s attic for “community service.” Especially with some red-head.

David, at the tender year of 16, was more than tired of “community service”. There were so many more interesting things he could be doing! …nothing came to mind, but it could be there!

“Stupid school with their stupid rules and their stupid giant boxes full of junk!” he grumbled, awkwardly shuffling backwards to drag a box over to the “dump” pile. From the corner of his eye, he could see the red-head girl watching him. “What’re you lookin’ at, weirdo? You’re in here too for whatever misdemeanor the school slapped on you, so get moving!”

@red-rad-and-rod

“Sounds about right.” Kieran noted as he wrote, “Syd tells me that sometimes she gets into fights with her little sister. It was really bad when, like…she was my age and Syd was almost 11, but it’s calmed down a bit now. From what she tells me, most of the time when she fights it’s other teenagers or sometimes adults.”

At the “loser” comment, he snickered. “I dunno. I mean, I’ve only known you for…what, ten? twenty minutes? I don’t think you give off ‘loser’ vibes. You’re not lecturing me about how ‘video games are bad’ or how ‘you should always be listening to adults’. I do appreciate you helping out!”

—

David was glad that he was in another room because he couldn’t help but turn a little pink at the compliment. Apparently, he wasn’t used to positive feedback! He tried to bluster through it by mumbling, “Yeah, well, can’t help how people view me, but uh- thanks. You’re not so bad either, you aren’t being a total brat about having to do your homework. And if nothing else, video games teach good hand-eye coordination, so if you ever need to throw something like Syd does, you’ll be able to pop a guy in the eye.”

Dishes finally done, he wiped his hands on the dishrag - why was it crusty? When had it last been washed?! - his sweater and went back to the living room. He still felt a little awkward just hanging out in someone else’s house, so he scooted some of the toys off the couch and took a seat. There were a ton of movies stacked up on the entertainment stand, with a bunch of them being boxing shows. Someone must’ve been really into Muhammad Ali to have that many movies of him.

Popping his lips just to make some noise, his eyes drifted over to the controller. Hm, a little test drive of the game shouldn’t hurt, right? Luckily the remote was nearby and he turned down the sound a little. “Okay, let’s see if all those years paid off,” he smirked, hitting start.

Kieran smiled. Finally, another teenager that understood!

As he started working on one of the longer words, his hearing picked up the unmistakable theme of the video game. Wait a sec!! He was getting started on it without him!

He whipped his head around, glaring at the TV and then David. “Heeeeey! You said you’d wait! You lied, you liar!”

As if he’d been holding a hot frying pan, David half-threw the remote to the side, where it clicked as if offended. “No I didn’t!” he said too quickly, his face pulling in startled shock. “I just wanted to fiddle with the controls and see if I could still play it!”

But even as he said that, the controller was still on its side, holding down a button. On the screen, the Doberman went from flying straight to turning into an abrupt nosedive, careening towards the ground. Before David could clamber back to grab the controller, the little red airplane disappeared from the screen, a cloud of dust poofing into the air to show where the poor pup had crashed. A tiny white flag slid up from below, waving timidly to signal defeat.

…well… that was a great start.

His lips now in a thin line, he mumbled, “I’ll get you back to the right level…” Shouldn’t be too hard, right? Giving Kieran another apologetic look, he grabbed the controller and hit start. Dang, he forgot how bad the graphics in this game were! “Just bring your spelling words in here and finish them up fast so you can get this back.”

Kieran gave him a slight glare, but did as he was told. "It's a good thing I've got so many lives..." he mumbled to himself. He thought that one's hand-eye coordination was supposed to get better as they got older...

As his pencil scribbled across the paper, he tried to ease some of the silence (save for the little blips, bloops, and 'rat-tat-tat-tat-tat's from the game) between them.

"D'you have a favorite level? I know there's a few where he's not in his plane. I personally like 'Zip Zoom Speedway', cuz you get to design the little car however you want. The part of 'Castle Catula' where you can explore the castle is pretty neat, too. The plane part of the level can be kinda tricky cuz of the whole 'fighting in a thunderstorm' thing, but I still think it's cool."

Life. It sucks. It does! But nothing sucks more than having to help clean the school’s attic for “community service.” Especially with some red-head.

David, at the tender year of 16, was more than tired of “community service”. There were so many more interesting things he could be doing! …nothing came to mind, but it could be there!

“Stupid school with their stupid rules and their stupid giant boxes full of junk!” he grumbled, awkwardly shuffling backwards to drag a box over to the “dump” pile. From the corner of his eye, he could see the red-head girl watching him. “What’re you lookin’ at, weirdo? You’re in here too for whatever misdemeanor the school slapped on you, so get moving!”

@red-rad-and-rod

“Sounds about right.” Kieran noted as he wrote, “Syd tells me that sometimes she gets into fights with her little sister. It was really bad when, like…she was my age and Syd was almost 11, but it’s calmed down a bit now. From what she tells me, most of the time when she fights it’s other teenagers or sometimes adults.”

At the “loser” comment, he snickered. “I dunno. I mean, I’ve only known you for…what, ten? twenty minutes? I don’t think you give off ‘loser’ vibes. You’re not lecturing me about how 'video games are bad’ or how 'you should always be listening to adults’. I do appreciate you helping out!”

—

David was glad that he was in another room because he couldn’t help but turn a little pink at the compliment. Apparently, he wasn’t used to positive feedback! He tried to bluster through it by mumbling, “Yeah, well, can’t help how people view me, but uh- thanks. You’re not so bad either, you aren’t being a total brat about having to do your homework. And if nothing else, video games teach good hand-eye coordination, so if you ever need to throw something like Syd does, you’ll be able to pop a guy in the eye.”

Dishes finally done, he wiped his hands on the dishrag - why was it crusty? When had it last been washed?! - his sweater and went back to the living room. He still felt a little awkward just hanging out in someone else’s house, so he scooted some of the toys off the couch and took a seat. There were a ton of movies stacked up on the entertainment stand, with a bunch of them being boxing shows. Someone must’ve been really into Muhammad Ali to have that many movies of him.

Popping his lips just to make some noise, his eyes drifted over to the controller. Hm, a little test drive of the game shouldn’t hurt, right? Luckily the remote was nearby and he turned down the sound a little. “Okay, let’s see if all those years paid off,” he smirked, hitting start.

Kieran smiled. Finally, another teenager that understood!

As he started working on one of the longer words, his hearing picked up the unmistakable theme of the video game. Wait a sec!! He was getting started on it without him!

He whipped his head around, glaring at the TV and then David. "Heeeeey! You said you'd wait! You lied, you liar!"

Syd was initially in the middle of semi-belting (not exactly following the hospital-friendly rule) the lyrics, but as soon as she saw Audrey, she stopped and smiled widely.

"Hi!!" she chirped, the volume of her voice going down considerably. "Are you doin' any better? Are they gonna release you soon? Don't tell me I've..well, we've, gotta spend all our time here...they're nice people, yeah, but...I don't like hospitals."

"I'm still hurting, kiddo," Audrey admitted. "But they're prescribing me some painkiller for after we leave, so hopefully with that and rest, I'll be better soon. I think we're just waiting on test results now. So, hopefully, not much longer." Audrey let out a sigh. "I'm really sorry this happened, Syd." "It's not your fault," Chloe reminded. "It's not like you put the deer in the road. You're, like, the most careful driver I know."

"Ooooh. Weeell...here's hopin' you pass, an' you don't have to spend an overnight here. Like...getting an A+ in Bones or whatever."

I'm really sorry this happened, Syd.

Derek's voice stayed in the back of her head, the comments about Audrey from earlier swimming around. Although...Chloe might have had a point? It's not like she put the deer in the road.

...Unless she did, and had some weird, secret X-Men powers that she hadn't disclosed.

She gave Audrey a small, sympathetic smile, keeping the suspicions to herself (cuz if she did have powers and she blabbed about them, the hospital would not be the best place to do so). "It's okay. 'S only some bumps and bruises. Could be worse..."

Life. It sucks. It does! But nothing sucks more than having to help clean the school’s attic for “community service.” Especially with some red-head.

David, at the tender year of 16, was more than tired of “community service”. There were so many more interesting things he could be doing! …nothing came to mind, but it could be there!

“Stupid school with their stupid rules and their stupid giant boxes full of junk!” he grumbled, awkwardly shuffling backwards to drag a box over to the “dump” pile. From the corner of his eye, he could see the red-head girl watching him. “What’re you lookin’ at, weirdo? You’re in here too for whatever misdemeanor the school slapped on you, so get moving!”

@red-rad-and-rod

“Fair, fair.”

As he left, she took a minute to rub her shoulder, letting out a quiet “owww…” before getting her stuff and heading out. Once she was sure she was alone, she made a call to the parents of the kid she was supposed to be babysitting, letting them know about her situation. Well, sort of…

“…Yeah, unfortunately, this whole thing was last minute. I mean, it’s not like anyone plans on getting sick, right? You don’t have to worry, though! A friend of mine is going to be covering for me…”

(…)

“…Yep, I gave them the info, it’s all set in my end. …No, not Roddy or Mina, actually; another friend from school…”

(…)

“I trust them, yeah…Are they good with kids?”

She had to hold back a snicker, the mental image of David being swarmed by her “kids” popping up in her mind.

“I’d say so, yeah. They know what they’re doing. You don’t have to worry about a thing; should something go wrong, or if there are any questions, he has me on speed dial. You guys go on and enjoy your dinner! Kiddo is in good hands. …Great! Thanks again for being understanding. Bye!”

Letting out a sigh of relief, she shot David a quick text, telling him to let her know when he got there.

—

David’s fingers were drumming on his phone as he read through the message again, all the details from Syd about who he was babysitting and where. “Okay, so Kieran… That was the, uh, right! The curly haired kid from the other day. Looks like he likes artichokes on his pizza, the little weirdo… at least it’s not pineapple. And he has to be in bed by 8:30… huh, didn’t think the babysitter fight club HAD bedtimes…”

He was mumbling to himself as he walked, trying to remember at least some of this information. Even though he wasn’t entirely sure where this condo was, he at least had an idea; after all, he’d lived in this town nearly his whole life. While he may not know every street name, he could find his way around pretty decently.

Flipping his phone closed, he caught sight of the dangling Rainbow Monkey charm, it painted face smiling up at him. The sight of it made him smile for some reason he couldn’t place. Did he even know anyone who owned a Rainbow Monkey anymore? It was pretty lame, but even he had an old Yipper! toy that he held onto, more out of sentiment than anything else, and for when he was lonely.

“I’m not lonely,” he said out loud, maybe a little too loud, because he quickly hushed himself. It’s not like he was lying to himself! See?! He was even going along with Syd’s plea to babysit for her, he had a friend! Friend? Person? Acquaintance? Whatever!

He glanced up at the street signs. Good, he wasn’t far. And he wasn’t lonely! Grumbling to himself, he jogged the rest of the way to the address, finding himself in front of one of those narrow condos that were always packed too close, kind of like teeth crammed into a mouth. Blowing out a mildly nervous breath, he mumbled, “Here goes nothing,” and knocked on the door.

From inside came a happy sort of clattering and a “I got it, I got it!”. Finally, someone to help get past the level he was struggling on with “Yipper! Doberman Danger Zone”. Adults could be so clueless, sometimes.

“Hiya, Syd, you’re-!”

Hold up. Who was this guy? Last he checked, Syd was a bit shorter, had red hair…and, oh yeah, was a girl! Who the heck was this bean pole?!

“Whatever you’re sellin’, Mom says we don’t want any. …Unless it’s pizza, aaaaand I don’t see any pizza boxes. Where’s Syd?”

And so it begins...

Oh! This was definitely not the curly-haired kid! In fact, David didn’t know this kid at all! Which made things way the heck more awkward for him, now some random teen standing on the doorstep!

“Oh, uh, hi, I’m David, I’m filling in for Syd today,” he said stiffly, his hand clamped to his backpack strap. His mouth was even pulled in that stereotypical straight-lipped face he’d seen in memes.

An idea suddenly came to him, and he frantically searched his pockets until he came up with the charm Syd had given him earlier. “Here! Does this prove it?”

Kieran eyed the charm suspiciously. He’d seen something like that on Syd’s phone. Who knows, though; maybe he stole it off of her and repainted it!

“…Uuuuh-huh. Listen, if you’re here to see my brother, just say so; you don’t have to be all secretive. Buuuuut you juuuuuust missed him aaaand my mom says I can’t let strangers in the house, soooo, bye!”

He was about to slam the door in David’s face before another voice, this one more motherly, cut in with a “Kiernan, don’t be rude!” and stopped the door from slamming. Apologizing for her son, she gave the teenager a smile.

“You must be David! Come in, come in…Sydney’s told us about you. We want to thank you again for looking after Kieran today. It’s taken my husband and I three months to try and get reservations for dinner, and we were just about to give up hope!”

David gave a stiff nod and shuffled in, trying to avoid the unwarranted stink eye the kid was giving him. There was the immediate evidence of a rambunctious family and some small attempts to organize the chaos, like a basket overflowing with toys and a shoe rack of haphazardly tossed boots. This looked like a shoes-off house, so he carefully popped off his sneakers and let his eyes wander.

They wandered very quickly to the TV, where “Yipper! Doberman Danger Zone” flashed on the screen. “Oh hey, I know that game,” he said without thinking, then mentally cringed that he’d just admitted to playing a kid’s game.

Kieran’s mom’s eyebrows came up and she clasped her hands in delight. “You do? That’s wonderful! Kieran has been saying he needs a player two for this level,” she smiled, and he thought her smile got a little wider when she heard her kid groan.

“I’m not exactly a ‘player two’, but I know this level kicked my butt,” David admitted, finally setting down his backpack.

Weeeell, at least this guy isn’t totally useless, Kieran thought to himself. At least there was some common ground they could start off on.

“Now don’t spend all your time on that game, young man,” the dad spoke up as he adjusted his tie, “You still have some homework and a couple chores to do before we get back.”

“Daaaaad!” the little boy whined, “But I’ve gotta get to the next level before the kids in my class do! I’ve already got a three-level lead, but they’re catching up fast!”

“Ah-ah!”, he held up a finger, silencing the whining, “All you need to do is take out the trash and put the dishes in the dishwasher. And you said you only had to do your spelling. I think Yippo can wait twenty minutes.”

“Yipper.”

“Eh, close enough.” He ruffled the little boy’s hair, chuckling at his spirit. He looked to David, smiling as well, “Little rascal here’s a bit of a handful, as you can see. However, if Sydney chose you to help, I doubt there should be any issues. She’s got a way with the kiddos.”

Geez, Syd really talked him up to these parents, huh? Normally, he’d be flattered, but right now it felt closer to a death sentence. If he wasn’t able to hold up the standards Syd already set, how was he supposed to ever show his face around her or the other kiddos? N-not like that was supposed to be a problem or anything!

Giving what he hoped looked like a confident smile, he silently wished he’d taken that drama class. “I’ll do my best?”

“And that’s all we ever ask for, except for making sure Ki-Ki has something to eat before we get home,” the mom said, making her son groan out loud again. She had to hold back a laugh, her lips puckered to keep in the noise. David gave her a slightly wary smile, trying to figure out if she was like his own mom and was teasing him to get a rise out of him or because she genuinely liked seeing his frustration.

“I’m sure I can get something together,” David said, then pulled out his phone and scanned Syd’s message. “Just so I know, there’s not supposed to be any more Yipper stuff after 8:30, right?”

The dad nodded in pleasant surprise. “Syd really did pick a winner here, she sent you all the stuff and here you are checking the details! Nice one! No yippo after 8:30 and lights are out at 9.”

Weeeeell, it’s not like he said anything about comics~ Kiernan held back a smirk, thinking of the few issues he had stuffed under his mattress- waiting to be read once everyone was asleep. “ ‘Kaaaaaaay.”

With another tousle of the hair from Dad and an almost cartoon-y kiss from Mom (and the subsequent whine of embarrassment), the parents made their way out- giving the two a “Have fun, you kids!” before leaving.

Once the car pulled out of the driveway, Kieran looked to David, and tried to puff up his chest…but looked more like a kitten than some tough guy.

“You may be watchin’ me and technically the boss of me, but this is my house. Got it?” he started, “No funny teenager business! I’ve already got my dumb brother to worry about when it comes to that. …Though, if Syd chose you, then…”

“Syd’s the one who knows what she’s doing. I’m doing this more as a favor,” David mumbled, feeling even more awkward than before. At least with the parents around, they had confidence in him that kind of bled into him, but alone with a kid? Another story entirely.

Well, if kids were anything like teens, then a little bribery could go a long way. “Here’s the deal: you do the things you’re supposed to, like the dishes and your spelling and whatnot and I’ll get you past this level on your game.”

Kieran narrowed his eyes eeeever so slightly. He really didn’t want to, but if he was offering to help with the level…maybe he could let his guard down.

“Fine.” He started backing out of the room towards the kitchen, keeping his eyes on David and making the “I’m watching you” sort of motion. “But don’t touch that game until I’m done. I’ll be quick…ish. Trash and dishes should be easy, spelling’s may be a little bit. 20 words that we have to write 5 times each, that kinda bullpucky.”

David sighed and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. “Fine, then here’s what we’ll do: you get started on your spelling words, I can do the dishes. I do ‘em all the time at home. Besides, spelling words take forever, so the faster we get those done, the faster we can get to the game.”

Oh boy, he wasn’t actually getting wound up about this game, was he? That was dumb. It was just a dumb game that kicked his butt when he was a kid. All the jumps and having to do the loop-de-loops with the airplane-… okay, maybe he was having a bit too much fun remembering.

Shaking his hair out of his face, he moved into the kitchen, which was about as haphazard as the rest of the house. The dishes were at least piled up in stacks on the counter, and the dishwasher had a magnet that, when upside down, said ‘clean’. This would be a good place to start, and since his own mom didn’t fully trust dishwashers, that meant he had to wash them all by hand.

As he got the water running, he his head out and yelled, “Hey, if you have a brother, isn’t he supposed to be babysitting you instead of some random teen?”

“Deal.”

He had to admit, he could follow this guy’s logic. And even better, he wasn’t being a total jerk about it! So maaaaaybe this guy could get on his good side.

After taking out the trash and getting to writing his spelling words, he heard him asking something from the kitchen.

“See, you’d think so! But he said somethin’ about him ‘having plans’ today with his friends…something super important. I asked him what he could be doing that was soooooo important, but he gave me a noogie and told me to mind my own business. Then we started fighting and then Mom had us both go to our rooms to calm down. What is it that teeangers do, anyway?” He figured since David was one, he night know…

“I mean, I don’t really do much. Most days I go home and do my homework then play games. I’m thinking one day I can make it bug with streaming if I can find the right crowd. I might have to cut my hair for that, but- never mind.” He felt a bit self-conscious talking about that particular future plan, considering he hadn’t even saved up enough for a decent microphone yet. Instead, he gave a wok a particularly thorough scrub, thinking of Kieran’s statement about his brother.

“I guess fighting’s kind of a normal thing with brothers. Mine’s been out of the house for a year, only comes home on weekends to do his laundry, and I avoid that guy like the plague. He was fine until he turned thirteen, and then he just turned into a jerk. Must be the magic of puberty or something,” he grumbled, staring at his face in a plate. If he squinted, he could see the face of his older brother Marty there, with his brushed-up hair and shaved sides. He stuck his tongue out at it and dumped it in the dishwasher.

“Anyway, I figure most teens either gossip a lot or just pick fights. No in-between unless you’re labeled a loser like me. Not my choice, by the way.”

"Sounds about right." Kieran noted as he wrote, "Syd tells me that sometimes she gets into fights with her little sister. It was really bad when, like...she was my age and Syd was almost 11, but it's calmed down a bit now. From what she tells me, most of the time when she fights it's other teenagers or sometimes adults."

At the "loser" comment, he snickered. "I dunno. I mean, I've only known you for...what, ten? twenty minutes? I don't think you give off 'loser' vibes. You're not lecturing me about how 'video games are bad' or how 'you should always be listening to adults'. I do appreciate you helping out!"

Life. It sucks. It does! But nothing sucks more than having to help clean the school’s attic for “community service.” Especially with some red-head.

David, at the tender year of 16, was more than tired of “community service”. There were so many more interesting things he could be doing! …nothing came to mind, but it could be there!

“Stupid school with their stupid rules and their stupid giant boxes full of junk!” he grumbled, awkwardly shuffling backwards to drag a box over to the “dump” pile. From the corner of his eye, he could see the red-head girl watching him. “What’re you lookin’ at, weirdo? You’re in here too for whatever misdemeanor the school slapped on you, so get moving!”

@red-rad-and-rod

“Fair, fair.”

As he left, she took a minute to rub her shoulder, letting out a quiet “owww…” before getting her stuff and heading out. Once she was sure she was alone, she made a call to the parents of the kid she was supposed to be babysitting, letting them know about her situation. Well, sort of…

“…Yeah, unfortunately, this whole thing was last minute. I mean, it’s not like anyone plans on getting sick, right? You don’t have to worry, though! A friend of mine is going to be covering for me…”

(…)

“…Yep, I gave them the info, it’s all set in my end. …No, not Roddy or Mina, actually; another friend from school…”

(…)

“I trust them, yeah…Are they good with kids?”

She had to hold back a snicker, the mental image of David being swarmed by her “kids” popping up in her mind.

“I’d say so, yeah. They know what they’re doing. You don’t have to worry about a thing; should something go wrong, or if there are any questions, he has me on speed dial. You guys go on and enjoy your dinner! Kiddo is in good hands. …Great! Thanks again for being understanding. Bye!”

Letting out a sigh of relief, she shot David a quick text, telling him to let her know when he got there.

—

David’s fingers were drumming on his phone as he read through the message again, all the details from Syd about who he was babysitting and where. “Okay, so Kieran… That was the, uh, right! The curly haired kid from the other day. Looks like he likes artichokes on his pizza, the little weirdo… at least it’s not pineapple. And he has to be in bed by 8:30… huh, didn’t think the babysitter fight club HAD bedtimes…”

He was mumbling to himself as he walked, trying to remember at least some of this information. Even though he wasn’t entirely sure where this condo was, he at least had an idea; after all, he’d lived in this town nearly his whole life. While he may not know every street name, he could find his way around pretty decently.

Flipping his phone closed, he caught sight of the dangling Rainbow Monkey charm, it painted face smiling up at him. The sight of it made him smile for some reason he couldn’t place. Did he even know anyone who owned a Rainbow Monkey anymore? It was pretty lame, but even he had an old Yipper! toy that he held onto, more out of sentiment than anything else, and for when he was lonely.

“I’m not lonely,” he said out loud, maybe a little too loud, because he quickly hushed himself. It’s not like he was lying to himself! See?! He was even going along with Syd’s plea to babysit for her, he had a friend! Friend? Person? Acquaintance? Whatever!

He glanced up at the street signs. Good, he wasn’t far. And he wasn’t lonely! Grumbling to himself, he jogged the rest of the way to the address, finding himself in front of one of those narrow condos that were always packed too close, kind of like teeth crammed into a mouth. Blowing out a mildly nervous breath, he mumbled, “Here goes nothing,” and knocked on the door.

From inside came a happy sort of clattering and a “I got it, I got it!”. Finally, someone to help get past the level he was struggling on with “Yipper! Doberman Danger Zone”. Adults could be so clueless, sometimes.

“Hiya, Syd, you’re-!”

Hold up. Who was this guy? Last he checked, Syd was a bit shorter, had red hair…and, oh yeah, was a girl! Who the heck was this bean pole?!

“Whatever you’re sellin’, Mom says we don’t want any. …Unless it’s pizza, aaaaand I don’t see any pizza boxes. Where’s Syd?”

And so it begins...

Oh! This was definitely not the curly-haired kid! In fact, David didn’t know this kid at all! Which made things way the heck more awkward for him, now some random teen standing on the doorstep!

“Oh, uh, hi, I’m David, I’m filling in for Syd today,” he said stiffly, his hand clamped to his backpack strap. His mouth was even pulled in that stereotypical straight-lipped face he’d seen in memes.

An idea suddenly came to him, and he frantically searched his pockets until he came up with the charm Syd had given him earlier. “Here! Does this prove it?”

Kieran eyed the charm suspiciously. He’d seen something like that on Syd’s phone. Who knows, though; maybe he stole it off of her and repainted it!

“…Uuuuh-huh. Listen, if you’re here to see my brother, just say so; you don’t have to be all secretive. Buuuuut you juuuuuust missed him aaaand my mom says I can’t let strangers in the house, soooo, bye!”

He was about to slam the door in David’s face before another voice, this one more motherly, cut in with a “Kiernan, don’t be rude!” and stopped the door from slamming. Apologizing for her son, she gave the teenager a smile.

“You must be David! Come in, come in…Sydney’s told us about you. We want to thank you again for looking after Kieran today. It’s taken my husband and I three months to try and get reservations for dinner, and we were just about to give up hope!”

David gave a stiff nod and shuffled in, trying to avoid the unwarranted stink eye the kid was giving him. There was the immediate evidence of a rambunctious family and some small attempts to organize the chaos, like a basket overflowing with toys and a shoe rack of haphazardly tossed boots. This looked like a shoes-off house, so he carefully popped off his sneakers and let his eyes wander.

They wandered very quickly to the TV, where “Yipper! Doberman Danger Zone” flashed on the screen. “Oh hey, I know that game,” he said without thinking, then mentally cringed that he’d just admitted to playing a kid’s game.

Kieran’s mom’s eyebrows came up and she clasped her hands in delight. “You do? That’s wonderful! Kieran has been saying he needs a player two for this level,” she smiled, and he thought her smile got a little wider when she heard her kid groan.

“I’m not exactly a ‘player two’, but I know this level kicked my butt,” David admitted, finally setting down his backpack.

Weeeell, at least this guy isn’t totally useless, Kieran thought to himself. At least there was some common ground they could start off on.

“Now don’t spend all your time on that game, young man,” the dad spoke up as he adjusted his tie, “You still have some homework and a couple chores to do before we get back.”

“Daaaaad!” the little boy whined, “But I’ve gotta get to the next level before the kids in my class do! I’ve already got a three-level lead, but they’re catching up fast!”

“Ah-ah!”, he held up a finger, silencing the whining, “All you need to do is take out the trash and put the dishes in the dishwasher. And you said you only had to do your spelling. I think Yippo can wait twenty minutes.”

“Yipper.”

“Eh, close enough.” He ruffled the little boy’s hair, chuckling at his spirit. He looked to David, smiling as well, “Little rascal here’s a bit of a handful, as you can see. However, if Sydney chose you to help, I doubt there should be any issues. She’s got a way with the kiddos.”

Geez, Syd really talked him up to these parents, huh? Normally, he’d be flattered, but right now it felt closer to a death sentence. If he wasn’t able to hold up the standards Syd already set, how was he supposed to ever show his face around her or the other kiddos? N-not like that was supposed to be a problem or anything!

Giving what he hoped looked like a confident smile, he silently wished he’d taken that drama class. “I’ll do my best?”

“And that’s all we ever ask for, except for making sure Ki-Ki has something to eat before we get home,” the mom said, making her son groan out loud again. She had to hold back a laugh, her lips puckered to keep in the noise. David gave her a slightly wary smile, trying to figure out if she was like his own mom and was teasing him to get a rise out of him or because she genuinely liked seeing his frustration.

“I’m sure I can get something together,” David said, then pulled out his phone and scanned Syd’s message. “Just so I know, there’s not supposed to be any more Yipper stuff after 8:30, right?”

The dad nodded in pleasant surprise. “Syd really did pick a winner here, she sent you all the stuff and here you are checking the details! Nice one! No yippo after 8:30 and lights are out at 9.”

Weeeeell, it’s not like he said anything about comics~ Kiernan held back a smirk, thinking of the few issues he had stuffed under his mattress- waiting to be read once everyone was asleep. “ ‘Kaaaaaaay.”

With another tousle of the hair from Dad and an almost cartoon-y kiss from Mom (and the subsequent whine of embarrassment), the parents made their way out- giving the two a “Have fun, you kids!” before leaving.

Once the car pulled out of the driveway, Kieran looked to David, and tried to puff up his chest…but looked more like a kitten than some tough guy.

“You may be watchin’ me and technically the boss of me, but this is my house. Got it?” he started, “No funny teenager business! I’ve already got my dumb brother to worry about when it comes to that. …Though, if Syd chose you, then…”

“Syd’s the one who knows what she’s doing. I’m doing this more as a favor,” David mumbled, feeling even more awkward than before. At least with the parents around, they had confidence in him that kind of bled into him, but alone with a kid? Another story entirely.

Well, if kids were anything like teens, then a little bribery could go a long way. “Here’s the deal: you do the things you’re supposed to, like the dishes and your spelling and whatnot and I’ll get you past this level on your game.”

Kieran narrowed his eyes eeeever so slightly. He really didn’t want to, but if he was offering to help with the level…maybe he could let his guard down.

“Fine.” He started backing out of the room towards the kitchen, keeping his eyes on David and making the “I’m watching you” sort of motion. “But don’t touch that game until I’m done. I’ll be quick…ish. Trash and dishes should be easy, spelling’s may be a little bit. 20 words that we have to write 5 times each, that kinda bullpucky.”

David sighed and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. “Fine, then here’s what we’ll do: you get started on your spelling words, I can do the dishes. I do ‘em all the time at home. Besides, spelling words take forever, so the faster we get those done, the faster we can get to the game.”

Oh boy, he wasn’t actually getting wound up about this game, was he? That was dumb. It was just a dumb game that kicked his butt when he was a kid. All the jumps and having to do the loop-de-loops with the airplane-… okay, maybe he was having a bit too much fun remembering.

Shaking his hair out of his face, he moved into the kitchen, which was about as haphazard as the rest of the house. The dishes were at least piled up in stacks on the counter, and the dishwasher had a magnet that, when upside down, said ‘clean’. This would be a good place to start, and since his own mom didn’t fully trust dishwashers, that meant he had to wash them all by hand.

As he got the water running, he his head out and yelled, “Hey, if you have a brother, isn’t he supposed to be babysitting you instead of some random teen?”

"Deal."

He had to admit, he could follow this guy's logic. And even better, he wasn't being a total jerk about it! So maaaaaybe this guy could get on his good side.

After taking out the trash and getting to writing his spelling words, he heard him asking something from the kitchen.

"See, you'd think so! But he said somethin' about him 'having plans' today with his friends...something super important. I asked him what he could be doing that was soooooo important, but he gave me a noogie and told me to mind my own business. Then we started fighting and then Mom had us both go to our rooms to calm down. What is it that teeangers do, anyway?" He figured since David was one, he night know...