Adventures in Babysitting (Devs)

[Devon Wentsworth]

Midori's acceptance of his offer caused a bright, genuine smile to cross Devon's lips and he nodded enthusiastically. “Sure, not a problem! I'll have plenty of time; it'd be a pleasure.” He honestly meant that too, and a quiet chuckle left his lips. “It'll give me the perfect excuse to sit and do nothing for a few hours while I listen to them and decide what to put on it, so thanks for that.”

Devon's smile did not falter, and his gaze turned to his overgrown kitten as Midori spoke about her. “Yeah, I'm sure she will be. He seems to have a great way with them. And Uno hasn't attacked him, which is always a good sign.” Nodding again as Midori mentioned maybe showing him the drum kit when she came back to pick him up, Devon was starting to feel like one of those bobble-head dogs that some people kept in their cars. “Yep, that's perfectly fine by me. Heh, it'll give me a chance to decide what song to go for.”
Because he would need that time to decide. It wasn't like there was only one album's worth of songs to choose from.

The thought of Midori getting mauled by Uno was still forefront in Devon's mind and it was an image he really did not like the look of, but her words were a little reassuring at least. There was still a clear uncertainty in Devon's voice as he spoke, though. “Well... Only if you want to, and only if ya think you'll be okay. I mean... I don't want ya getting' all scratched up or anything.” Partly because then it would be awkward to explain to the repairmen how he ended up with a cat-shaped hole in the window.

Devon listened intently as Midori went through the care instructions for Tory, not interrupting and making mental notes as she went along. The kid being potty trained was definitely a huge relief – he wouldn't have had the faintest clue how to deal with that otherwise. Once she had finished speaking Devon gave a soft nod of his head. “Yeah, I'm sure we're going to be absolutely fine. You don't have to send food with him; I've always got plenty in. And failing that, I've got my own personal chef next door.” He chuckled softly, running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah, and I'll keep my phone on me so you can ring any time.” Devon pondered for a moment, his hand running down from his hair and fidgeting with his ear lobe on its way back down to his side. “When you drop him off I'll give you the spare key for the front door. Just because if we're downstairs or up in the studio we won't be able to hear the door, so you can just let yourself in.”

[Midori Hawkins]

Of course she had accepted his offer. It was sweet, and she trusted him to not be awful about it. If Zach had been the one offering, she might have been suspicious, but Devon was nice. He wouldn’t put anything truly awful on it, that much she felt safe in. She did have to laugh, though. “Trust me, I know sitting and doing nothing is a luxury.” Especially with a toddler underfoot. Even plane trips to recruit wasn’t often sitting still and doing nothing. She was usually reading up on the future student, or pre-filling paperwork. Doing nothing was absolutely a luxury.

As for Tory, who had taken interest in the much more interactive Bliss, gently running his hand down her back and tail (without pulling – pulling was bad), Midori smiled and shrugged. “He’s been taught since he was tiny that we have to be gentle to animals. I know from experience how much it sucks to have a tail or ear pulled.” It had taken time, and a lot of patience on both Zero and Midori’s parts, but in the end he had learned to be gentle with animals without many reminders now. Which looked like it would be a good thing with Uno.

Midori had heard the uncertainty in Devon’s voice before. Usually from the parents of students she was there to recruit. It was a little odd to be the subject of his worry, but she brushed it off. “I’d be okay, Devon. It’s really only if you’re worried about him, or something.” She wouldn’t push it if he didn’t really mind if Uno was grumpy without knowing why.

At least Devon seemed relatively confident that this was going to go well. Honestly, she was too. Tory was happy and unafraid, which were her two main goals for the test run. Even if they just ended up coloring the whole time, and playing with Bliss, she was sure they’d have a good time.

“Well, if you think so. I’ll still make him promise fifty times over on the way that he’ll mind his manners and all that, but that’s just a mom thing.” She had no doubts that Tory wouldn’t be a holy terror. It was with that in mind that she started to get him packed up and ready to go back home, still thanking Devon as she went.

~-~-~-~-~-~

The move had gone better than expected. ... Okay, it had gone exactly as expected. While she and Corbin had busted their butts, Zach had been messing around, playing with water guns, and generally being a nuisance. Midori had had half a mind to bite him into submission. Thankfully, before it had come to that, Corbin had grabbed him and put him into a headlock, cheerfully informing him that if he didn’t start helping, he was going to be all on his own, and no one was going to go for dinner and drinks afterwards.

Somehow, that had worked.

It had taken just a little longer than expected, and Midori had let Devon know via text, dotting the message with apologies. Not wanting to impose on him longer than necessary, she had skipped dinner with her brothers and parents in favor of getting back to Tory and Devon. Corbin and her parents had been given hugs and affection, of course, while Zach had been treated to a light smack on the arm before she dared to hug him too.

The drive hadn’t taken long, and despite looking like a train wreck (hair failing out of her braid, jeans and t-shirt absolutely having seen better days), she was just glad she was done. Now she could collect Tory, thank Devon for the millionth time, and go forage for dinner at home.

More out of being polite than anything else, she lightly knocked on the door before using the borrowed key, careful not to let any curious cats out onto the step. “Devon? Tory?” Everything seemed quiet, and the house wasn’t a terrible mess. It looks like things had gone well.

... A little too well, if the pile on the couch was anything to go by. Tory was nodded off, one arm around little Bliss. He was using what could only be Devon as a pillow. The recruiter smiled softly and carefully made her way across the living room to rouse them. Not knowing how else to wake him, she gently rubbed Devon’s head and shoulder. “Devon? I’m back.”

[Devon Wentsworth]

The warm-up of Tory coming around to his house had done just as much to settle Devon's nerves as it had Midori's. He was still a little anxious about it, of course, but not as anxious as he might have been normally and he had made Rome promise to keep his phone with him, just in case something went wrong and back-up was needed beyond what Ferris might have been able to help with. The house had been tidied (again) and Devon had a rough idea of several things they could do while Tory was here. Surely it couldn't go too badly, right?

Tory had arrived armed with a few movies, most of which Devon had never even heard of, and after saying goodbye to Midori the boys had gone upstairs to the studio to do some drawing together. Devon had been working on a little project that he was doing for a friend's birthday, and Tory had drawn a snowman named Olaf. After finding out that Olaf was a character in one of the movies that Tory had brought along with him, it had given Devon an idea.

The boys had drawn for a little while longer before going down to the kitchen, two more of Tory's masterpieces finding their way onto the fridge, and Devon had gotten Tory to help him make shortbread cookies. Devon had done the bulk of the measuring and such, but Tory had helped with the mixing and, since it was an egg-free recipe, Devon had let him lick the spoon after. Once they were in the oven Devon made sandwiches for them while they waited.

Decorating the cookies once they had cooled turned out to be the highlight of the day. Devon had helped Tory with the icing, and together they had made 24 pretty decent looking melted snowman cookies. Granted Tory did get a bit... over-enthusiastic and so some of the cookies looked a little more 'unique' than the others, but it had been a lot of fun and Devon had been remarkably surprised by just how much he had enjoyed it. All of his stress and anxiety over just how badly this could go had vanished, and even though he did get the odd nightmare visual of Tory falling off a chair and cracking his head open or something, he wasn't quite as wary and on edge as he had been at first.

Eventually the cookie decorating had been finished, and the poor snowmen cookies had been stacked onto a plate and carried into the living room so the boys could nibble them while watching a movie. Frozen had been put on, and after Tory very nicely asked if Devon could be a kitty, the art teacher had shifted into a Tayra and played with the toddler for a while before settling down on the sofa again to carry on with the film.

The next thing Devon was aware of was the feeling of a hand stroking his head and shoulders. The feeling was not at all unpleasant and, still not fully awake, he allowed himself to enjoy it for a moment before his brain actually woke up and reminded him where he actually was and that he was supposed to be watching a toddler.

Large grey eyes opened and Devon moved to get up, but he felt a weight on his torso and quickly realised that Tory was asleep and using him as a pillow. Turning his head to look at the woman who the hand was attached to, the art teacher tried to say hi and was for a moment confused why he was making a chuttering noise instead of words. He had never exactly been the brightest spark upon first waking up. The tayra looked up at Midori, giving a nod of its head but otherwise trying to stay still so as not to wake her son. Hmmm... awkward...

[Midori Hawkins]

At least Tory had had fun during his stay. Much more fun than he might have had otherwise. Midori owed Devon at the very least more cookies. Or a soul. Something.

The little tayra made her smile as he woke up. Clearly they’d had a good time, if the cookies and the movie on the television had anything to say about it. As for the petting, well... it was sort of instinctual, and it took a moment for her to remember that she was essentially petting the art teacher who was easily a head taller than her, and a fully grown man. ... Maybe she should have stopped.

But hey, tayras were soft, and he didn’t seem to be complaining.

She watched him attempt to get up and realized the problem was. Holding up a finger to indicate that he should stay still, she leaned down to scoop Tory up into her arms. It was a move she’d become well accustomed to since he was little, and she had a high success rate of him staying asleep. Even if he did wake up, he generally didn’t fuss much. Once he was out of Devon’s way, she gently set him at the other end of the couch before looking at Devon again. “Looks like you had fun, and the house is still standing. Um. Thank you, Devon. Really. You’re a lifesaver.”

[Devon Wentsworth]

Falling asleep had been completely unintentional. The last thing he remembered was the seriously unnerving stone troll things singing and Tory trying to sing along, but he couldn't recall anything after that. Looking at the TV he could see the DVD start menu was looping around, and he idly wondered if Tory had watched to the end of the movie or if he had drifted off part-way through as well.

Devon had not at all been complaining about the petting, as awkward as it now felt, and he was deeply glad he was in this form and not the one that would currently have had rather crimson temples. He could not recall ever blushing this much in his life before, ever, and the odd feeling in his stomach was as confusing as it was frustrating.

The art teacher stayed still as Tory was moved, and once the toddler was safely off him Devon stretched out his long, wiry frame and tried to work out the knot in his shoulder as Midori spoke. Then, rather clumsily as he tried to get his sleepy limbs to work properly, Devon hopped down off the sofa and scuttled into the kitchen next door. Whilst he generally had no problem with changing in front of other people, he knew that sometimes other people could get rather disturbed by the sight of a shifter changing their shape.

After taking his shirt off and then putting it back on the right way around, Devon made his way back into the living room, his dark hair a fluffy mess as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Hey... It was fun, we had a good time. My fridge is more colourful now.” He chuckled softly and then yawned, rolling his shoulder. He'd have to take another painkiller later. “Really, don't worry about it. It was good. How'd the move go?”

[Midori Hawkins]

Tory had seen the movie so many times that almost everyone in the house, likely including Zero, knew at least some of the words to almost all the songs. As such, it was easy for him to drift off to the familiar movie, though he’d lasted longer than his babysitter. Combining the familiar movie with the warmth from both the kitties (Devon and Bliss) had easily knocked the toddler out, after a day of adventuring.

Midori was used to being generally petted and manhandled by either her son, niece, or brother. As such, she hadn’t seen it as incredibly strange to pet Devon’s shoulder. She’d been waking him up, after all. Had he been human, she would have shaken his shoulder anyway, so... it was kind of the same, right? (Plus, really. How often did you get to touch something like a tayra?)

She watched as he scuttled into the kitchen, somewhat bemused. Some people might be off-put by shifters shifting, but other shifters? Not so much. Still, she respected his right to shifting in private and instead turned her attention to the napping Bliss. She rubbed her finger along the kitten’s chin, smiling at the purring the touch got out of the little animal.

As Devon spoke, she turned and was momentarily surprised. Sure, she’d seen him covered in paint, cleaned up, and now... well. Okay. She forced down any feelings that may or may not have existed in the first place and instead grinned at him. “I hope he was good for you. I’m happy you had a good time.” She glanced back at Tory for a moment to ensure he was still sleeping before looking back up at Devon. “Oh, it was fine. Everyone survived. Zach did the least amount of work, per usual. Instead he pulled out water guns and acted like a six year old.” Cue a small eye roll. “If he thinks we’re helping again the next time, he’s delusional.”

[Devon Wentsworth]

His joints were always worse in the cold months, his shoulders and hips especially, and whilst the aches and pains did not affect him anywhere near as much in his animal form, he really felt it when he shifted back. That was in part to blame for why he spent so very much more time in animal form in winter than he did in summer. That, and no amount of layers of clothing could ever be as warm as an otter or wolverine pelt.

The kitchen tiles were cool against his bare feet, and Devon had wasted no time in returning to the living room once he was back in his normal shape. Devon missed the surprised look on Midori's features as he re-entered the room, due to rubbing his eyes, but as he lowered his hands there was a content, sleepy smile on his lips. “Yeah, he was an absolute star. We did some drawings, made cookies, had sandwiches, watched the movie... I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, honestly. He's a real good kid, better behaved than half the brats at the school. You should be proud of 'im.”

Devon chuckled quietly as Midori spoke about her day, long fingers trying to persuade his hair to flatten a bit but giving up as soon as it became apparent no amount of teasing was going to fix the fluffiness. “Well, that's what little bro's are best at. Get everyone else to do the work while they play about on the sidelines.” He shrugged, amused. “Yet our siblings still help out every time. Funny that.”

As Bliss stirred fully and began to get up, Devon gently scooped her up and gave her a fuss so she wouldn't wake up Tory. “Would you like a drink? Some of the cookies might look a bit... interesting, but I promise they're edible.”

[Midori Hawkins]

Midori really was lucky in that her shifts were painful to come in and out of, but other than that most of the time she was fine. She did have a sneaking suspicion that that would change as she got older. For now, she just took it easy with the shifting, though even that was difficult now that Tory was more interactive, and much more curious about the different forms she could take.

Color sprang to her cheeks at his praise for Tory. She had never really understood growing up when her parents said they were so proud of something stupidly minor. Now, she got it. “Good. We had an agreement before he even set foot here today. I’m glad he stuck to it. And my one goal in life is to make sure he doesn’t end up like half the brats at Hammel. The fact he’s managing it at three is... either spectacular, or scary.” Right now, she was leaning towards scary.

As Devon played with his own hair, Midori fiddled with the tail end of her braid, wishing it wasn’t unraveling and looking worse for wear. Then again, any day she dealt with Zach, she couldn’t expect much else. “He’s too good at it. Acts like a brat when we do help it, and whines and acts helpless when we won’t.” She shook her head, but she couldn’t be that mad. Despite everything that he liked to put his siblings through, she still loved Zach.

The offer caught her attention, and reminded her that she’d skipped dinner in order to make it back. “That would be great, actually. Things ran way later than expected, so I kind of skipped over dinner with my brothers to make it back to rescue you from Tory.” The cookies did get a bit of an eyebrow raise, and she tentatively pointed to one of the more unique ones. “Tory’s?”

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon had, unfortunately, had issues with his joints since manifestation. His trainer had blamed a large part of that on the specific forms he could take, which made sense. If you turned into animals that had slinkies instead of spines, it was only reasonable to expect some discomfort when in a normal, much more restrictive shape. It was always worse in winter, but that's what the painkiller prescriptions were for. Besides, he never let it stop him from shifting as much as his heart wished.

“Yeah, he was great. He got a bit... enthusiastic at times, but he was really good and listened. And he didn't trash the art room, so he's already years ahead of the kids at Hammel.” Respect was something that was apparently not taught much over here. Granted it was sometimes really bad back home too, but he'd never had students breaking into his classroom and locking themselves in the supply cabinet or breaking other kids work or throwing paint everywhere before. “He's welcome back whenever he likes, or whenever you need a break.”

As the bratty younger sibling himself, Devon could fully relate to Zach. He had been there, done that, SO many times. But he could also understand Midori's point of view too. For as much as he and Cade bickered and argued and disagreed and picked at each other, both knew that the other would literally take a bullet for them. “Well, at least he's consistent. The day he's apologetic and pulls his weight, then you'll know there's something wrong.”

As Midori mentioned skipping dinner in order to get back, Devon gestured towards the kitchen. “Well, do you want some real food, maybe? Tory's sparked out and you wouldn't be in the way or anythin', I haven't got any other plans.” At the question about the cookie, Devon gave a playful grin. It was one of Tory's, but... “Nah, that's one of mine! I suck, Tory's FAR better than me; he did that one there, the neat one with the hat and the striped scarf.”

[Midori Hawkins]

Perhaps Midori’s general preference for forms that were upright, and definitely not slinkies with legs, aided in her joint happiness. New forms still left her painful for much longer than familiar ones, but it was something she’d simply learned to deal with over the course of having her power. At least with Devon’s help she had survived her first experiment with the slinky animal.

She had to laugh, albeit quietly at Devon’s expansion on the day’s activities. “Good, good. I’ve been trying to teach him to respect other people’s things. Looks like that lesson actually sunk in. If he’d done something like trash the studio, there would be words when we got home.” He was of the age now that he could be sat down and explained to why he was in trouble, and how to avoid it. It wasn’t a common occurrence, but as he got older and more adventurous, she suspected that it would become more and more common. “Thanks, though. That means a lot. I’m sure he’d love another visit.” It was nice to know she had another possible person to turn to in a pinch.

Midori had been the youngest of her three siblings, yet somehow it had been Zach that was the troublemaker. Such was life. She bit back a laugh, mostly because she knew it would wake Tory. “The day Zach behaves will be the day he was abducted by aliens. Or cracked his head on the sidewalk doing something dumb. Either way, we’d keep him.” The words might have been somewhat harsh, but her tone was far from. Even if Zach was a pest the rest of his life, she’d still love him. It was liking him that would come into question.

The recruiter had not been expecting... that. She had been banking on flying to Devon’s, picking up Tory, and bringing him back home to put him to bed. Dinner plans had more or less been whatever she could grab out of the fridge before crashing herself. She didn’t usually like imposing, but Devon had offered... why were things like this hard? “Are you sure? We can just get out of your hair, honestly, if you want us to...” She managed a shy smile. “But real food does sound a lot better than what I was going to do.” Tory would be okay for a little while. When he crashed, he tended to crash. As for the cookie comment, she shook her head and gave Devon a mock sympathetic pat on his arm. “The art teacher got his butt kicked by a three year old? That’s a little sad.” Yes, she was aware it was a little lie, but it was adorable. “I’m sure Tory will let you say you were responsible for all the nice ones. He’s good like that.”

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon's smile was a little groggy from sleep, but it was warm and genuine as Midori spoke. “Nah, he was great. The closest he came to trashin' the place was when he accidentally dropped the white paint pot while we were paintin' snowmen, but I'd put a sheet down so it was all good.” The art teacher yawned and rubbed the heel of his hand against his right eye, trying to will the sleep out of it. “Sorry, always takes me a min t' wake up properly.” At Midori's thanks he smiled again, giving a small shrug of his shoulders. “He's a good kid, I've got no problem keepin' an eye on him.”

Chuckling quietly so as not to wake Tory, Devon nodded. “I'm sure Cade'd say the exact same about me. He jests about pushin' me in the canal or feeding me to next door's dog or settin' my tail on fire, but... He's looked out for me my whole life, y'know?” Devon shrugged again, eyes taking on a heaviness beyond sleep. That familiar uncomfortable knot of homesickness curled in his stomach, as it so often did when Devon spoke about his big brother. “Yer brother's piss you off, but you'd still do anythin' for 'em. I get that.”

It had just felt... normal for Devon to make the offer of real food. He was British and it was the done thing to feed your guests. It was a kind of native hostility; bring a guest into your home, provide them with every bit of food in the house and go 'there, eat that!' If you couldn't provide sheets of ham and whole wheels of cheese and endless bottles of wine you were a bad person and would be spoken ill of in the community. But still... “You don't have to if you don't wanna, obviously. I can't promise a Michelin star banquet, but I can rustle somethin' up. Anythin' in particular you can't or wont eat?”

Speaking about the snowman cookies, Devon smiled and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, he was awesome at it. Give it a few months and he'll be teachin' me.” Pondering for a moment, Devon added “There's about a hundred pictures he did all over the studio walls... and most of the desk and hallway. You should pick some out to take with ya while I'm throwin' some food together.”

[Midori Hawkins]

It was near impossible to describe the feeling of relief a parent had at the knowledge that their child behaved themselves while a guest at someone else’s home. Even the word relief barely scratched the surface. Still, it was evident on her face. “Good. I mean, I didn’t think he’d be awful or anything, but kids can be unpredictable, and... still, thanks.” She could actually relax a little now. It was one thing for her brother or Eli or even James to watch Tory, but Devon was a friend. She didn’t know what she might have done if Tory had decided to be a horror show.

Being that they were both younger siblings, she understood what it was like to have your older siblings look out for you, no matter how much you irritated one another. A fond smile took over her face as she nodded agreement. “You’re right about that. Doesn’t matter how much of a brat Zach is, Corbin and I are always there to pick up after him or help him out of the messes he creates.” Of course, she usually found it difficult to forgive him when he appeared out of nowhere and pestered her about things like her love life (or lack thereof) and insinuated that things were intimate between her and Eli. (More than once she’d pointed out that sleeping with Eli would be like sleeping with her brother, which usually shut him up for a bit.) “And I know they’re always looking out for me too.” That had proven almost dangerous when she’d told them she was pregnant, and how. Corbin had had to remind Zach several times about assault laws, all the while trying to figure out if the punishment would be worth it.

Thankfully, it hadn’t come to that.

Regardless of the reasons behind it, Devon’s offer was appreciated, and certainly better than the recruiter’s original plans. As long as Tory stayed conked out, she was happy to visit. “Mn, no, not really. I was the good, non-fussy child in our family.” Who had not thrown epic tantrums at the table because oh-em-gee there was broccoli on the table. No names mentioned of course. (Zachary)

Well, it sounded like Tory had had a good time, if the descriptions were anything to go by. Grinning, she gestured upwards. “Just upstairs, right? But I’m blaming you if he throws a fit later because all the pictures were for you.” With that, while he worked in the kitchen, she slipped upstairs to look at the boys’ handiwork. Devon’s studio impressed her, as did the sheer amount of Tory’s pictures strewn everywhere. Yeah, they’d been busy. Most of them seemed Frozen themed, with lots of them depicting Olaf. Smiling fondly, she picked out a few before coming back down. “You’ve got some amazing work in your studio.” She held up the small handful of pictures. “And your projects aren’t so bad either,” she teased lightly. “How many times did he make you watch Frozen?” She could pretty much match the movie word for word now, but at least she liked the movie.

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon chuckled softly at Midori's obvious relief, giving a small shrug of his shoulders. “It's okay, it was fun. I think he enjoyed it too. Well, I hope he did, anyway.” Tory was a great kid and not prone to the temper tantrums or whining that Devon had feared, and it did surprise him just how much he'd had fun painting and baking with the kid. “I get being worried though. When I went home for Christmas, Ferris was looking after the cats and I kept being worried tha-”. Devon paused mid-sentence, a small frown crossing his brow. Comparing his worry over his cats to Midori's worry over her child. How fucking dumb was that? “Sorry, that was a really stupid comment.”

Glad of the distraction from the mounting homesickness building in his chest, Devon smiled when Midori said she wasn't a fussy eater. Good, because he hardly kept a stocked pantry at the best of times. He tended to shop from day to day; weekly shops were wasted on him because he couldn't keep to a meal plan and ended up just buying what he wanted at the time anyway, meaning good stuff would be going off in his fridge. Thankfully the plan for tonight had been a stir-fry, which meant there was enough ingredients for two meals anyway since he tended to make extra to have for lunch the next day. “Yeah, the room with the open door. Bathroom's to the left of it, if you need it.” He laughed brightly. “Trust me, there's so many I think you could take half of 'em and there'd still be enough to wallpaper half the house.”

But crap, his ingredients selection was hardly exciting. Chicken, broccoli, noodles, carrot, mangetout and red pepper might have been alright for just him, but hell, he needed to at least look like he'd made something approaching an effort. Sometimes having a next door neighbour who was a chef was a truly magical thing.

'Please can I yoink some baby corn, spring onions, kale and peas? Please? If you could put them on my kitchen windowsill ASAP I will pay you (and explain) later. Please.'

Five minutes after sending the text message, while Midori was still upstairs and Devon was frying off the thinly sliced chicken, there was a soft knock on the kitchen window. Peeking his head out, Devon saw a little basket loaded with the requested ingredients, along with some water chestnuts and garlic... and a coffee cake. If Ferris wasn't such an awkward bastard, Devon would have hugged him.

Making a mental note to make a ridiculous amount of goodies in thanks later, Devon got to work prepping the veg and cooking it off. Devon took the gentle teasing well, quietly laughing and giving a shrug of his narrow shoulders. “Well, they say a good teacher makes for a great pupil. Give it a year and my stuff'll look like stick men next to his.” Devon lightly tossed the chicken and vegetables in the sauce, making sure they were all nicely coated. “Not even once; I think I passed out about halfway through. The little rock-things were singin', I think.”

[Midori Hawkins]

Devon’s little laugh and the fact that he didn’t look like he was about to tear his hair out made Midori relax a little more. “I’m sure he did. He was talking about this all week. Kept asking me if it was the right day to go to your house.” Tory had had no lack of enthusiasm, which was a nice thing to see. Defiantly a hell of a lot better than whenever she’d let his father look after him for a weekend. There had been tears then, always. Granted, Tory had been a lot younger then, but still. Leaving him with someone was always cause for concern, but with everything having gone well, if Devon was willing to have him again, she wouldn’t have a problem with it. She did look up when he interrupted himself, though. Why would he... oh. Lifting a hand, she waved it slightly to dismiss the idea of it being stupid. “Don’t be sorry. I get it. People who have pets, not kids, get the same feelings. You should see my roommate if he has to leave his dog for any length of time. You’d think she was his daughter, not his dog. So it’s okay. Promise.”

While she was upstairs, Midori also made quick use of the bathroom prior to raiding the studio, doing a quick fix of her hair. The braid was hardly holding together anymore, and pulling it out made her feel so much better. So what if her hair was now wavy from being stuck braided all day? It looked better than the gigantic mess she’d arrived with, and made her feel that slightest bit more presentable.

Blissfully oblivious to Devon’s exchange with his neighbour, Midori just smiled at the fact that everything was starting to smell pretty good. Really good, in fact. While she was used to the fact that her best friend and roommate cooked, that was mostly out of necessity, and that he had a truckload of recipes locked in his head. It could have come across as slightly sexist, but the fact that Devon was actually cooking, rather than ordering something in or defrosting something ready-made was actually kind of... refreshing. Maybe she’d just spent too much time with her brothers. Zachary couldn’t be trusted in a kitchen, and Corbin... could cook if he had to, but things were usually better left to his wife. “It smells really good, Devon. Thanks. I mean it.”

At least Tory had only forced the Frozen issue once. That was good. “We know all the words to all the songs at home. The trolls are actually kind of cute, when they stop being weird.” Despite trying to force two main characters to marry one another when they barely knew each other, they were only trying to help, and it was sweet. If misguided. But sweet. “And I think you have way too much faith in Tory’s skills. I’d give him at least two years before he’s teaching you, not the other way around.” She leaned back against the counter, glancing around the kitchen after peeking out to ensure Tory was still passed out. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

[Devon Wentsworth]

It was both reassuring and slightly unnerving to be told just how much Tory had been excited about this little adventure. It was reassuring to know that Tory liked him and clearly hadn't been afraid of coming over, but it was also unnerving because Devon wasn't really used to people being on such quite good and close terms with him. As much as he liked Roman and Ferris his relationship with them was mostly playful antagonism, and there wasn't really anyone outside his family that he was close with that he didn't spend most of the time winding up in some way or another. It was an odd feeling, but surprisingly, not an unpleasant one. “Well, I'm glad I could keep him out your hair for a while, at any rate.” Devon chuckled softly, running a hand through his hair. “Hope I lived up to his expectations.” He was however very glad of Midori's dismissal of his stupid comment, and he gave a small smile. “Thanks. I never really had pets before; bit weird how quickly you get attached to 'em, ey?”

Devon knew there would be many questions from Ferris later. Many questions that Devon knew he would really, really struggle to answer. Telling the truth would invite a ribbing, but he was struggling to think up a lie that was even semi-believable. No doubt Rome would hear about it soon too. Oh Gods, Ferris better not tell Cade... As he absent-mindedly chopped the veggies Devon pondered his dilemma, and eventually decided that fuck it, he was going to tell the truth, ribbing or no. He was making dinner for him and a friend. How much could be read into that, right?

Everything was cooking away nicely when Devon heard the voice from behind him, and after turning his head to look at Midori he had to turn his glance back to the stir-fry and remind himself that no, she wasn't his type of girl. But oh, those tumbling curls were ever so pretty. Devon internally sighed in quiet frustration as he poked at a poor unsuspecting piece of chicken to see if it was done. “No problem. I usually make a stupid amount anyway, so it's no bother.” Yes, he was totally going to avoid telling her about the delivery from the culinary angel next door.

Devon was hardly the sort for Disney movies, and he wasn't sure he knew any song from any of them word for word. Still, what he had seen of Frozen hadn't been exactly bad. Weird perhaps, but not technically bad. He gave a quiet laugh. “Do they ever stop getting weird? The reindeer was kinda cool though.” Devon tossed the vegetables in the pan, making sure they were all coated in the sauce and softening down a bit. “I don't doubt for a minute he'll be better than me. I wasn't interested in art at all when I was his age; he's got a great head-start.” At her question Devon knew that he had to turn and face her again, and he started singing through One by Metallica in his head to stop his brain from wandering where it should not. “Ummm, if you want anything to drink, you could sort that out? There's drinks in the fridge, or there's some Ribena in the cabinet if you want somethin' still.”