The Crowd: knock off twenty years and surprisingly, nothing is different.
So there was this really big and spacious backyard, right? It had a very kind and generous owner who generously donated it to the kids who needed it, namely the ones that needed looking after because they're parents couldn't juggle them and work during the day. And there were six little hellspawn altogether.
Three nine-year-olds, one of them too smart for his own good and one should have been refused at the door. One seven year old, and he tried so hard and failed each time. One five year old, who never stopped playing doctor. And one two-year-old, who was the easiest among them despite being at the worst age.
Sephiroth was currently king of the mountain: all he had to do was nothing. He spent time with a nose in a book far out of his reading level and ignored everyone else as much as possible.
Except Angeal, who was good to everyone, and thank god for that. The others listened to him, begrudgingly or not. He was definitely the middle man of every confrontation.
Which is what Genesis started at every turn. He constantly challenged Sephiroth, he constantly pushed the younger ones around (not the youngest, not after the first time), and made the most noise. Angeal tended to be his voice of reason. Reason often lost to Genesis' own discord, but the attempts were admirable, especially when it worked.
Koarin had such a crush on Sephiroth, even the babysitter had to take him aside and say, "It really isn't worth it." Genesis liked teasing him a lot, with hair tugging, mostly, and chants that didn't rhyme well. The babysitter suspected that his actress mother gave Genesis plays and scripts as reading matieral.
The second-to-youngest was Zack, who picked up where Angeal fell short in the mediator department: meaning Angeal could calm a room down and couldn't offer a substitute activity to save his life. Zack was there with a quick game or something-to-do. And when he wasn't cozy with Angeal, he was trying to talk Seph up.
And their youngest, currently resting on the hip of their watchful guardian-of-the-daytime-shift, was Cloud. When he did play with the children instead of haunting their babysitter's shadow, it was generally with Zack or Angeal. Koarin tried, but apparently blonds repelled each other. The chemistry never worked out.
As for their babysitter himself? He only wished there was more general estrogen pools included, Koarin not counting in that department. Girly as heck, but was still a boy. The babysitter knew: he had to give Koarin a bath plenty of times, thanks to Genesis.
Today, however, was a rainy March day, forcing the children inside and out of the mud and worms. The age group differences made television watching hard, because too childish would mean arguing, and too old the rating means having to find alternate entertainment for the toddler. "Alternative entertainment" being any ten things until one stuck for more than two minutes. At least Cloud was of the age to be able to communicate (rather crudely) what he wanted and did not want to do. It was like a treasure hunt.
And sometimes, he actually did have to force the older ones off the TV surfing for him, because Cloud liked TV too, and it wasn't fair they got it because they were older.
Regardless of the environment, Seph had found the chair he liked to occupy and stuck his nose back in the chapter he left off in. And today had Koarin tucked under the chair's arm with a book of his own, trying to imitate Seph, but with a considerably more age-appropriate book. That kept two of them quiet.
Who weren't quiet were struggling over the remote, until their babysitter stealthily snatched it. Zack clapped, impressed. Angeal frowned in guilt. Genesis pouted with denial.
They knew what was coming, when the babysitter caught them in the act of tussling for the remote. "Zack, what do you want to watch?" The remote goes to one who wasn't involved.
"This is boring," stewed Genesis, his temperament obvious in his scowl, slouched position, and tightly folded arms. Zack had chosen a program just right his own age group, and hit a littler lower than a nine-year-old could handle. or just redhead nine-year-olds. Angeal had no issue with the choice. "This is soooooo boring."
"You had your turn already, Gen," Angeal reminded him.
"This is so so so so so so sososososososososooooooooo BORING." Gen loved being obnoxious. He thought it got him things. Maybe in his parents' house, where he was an only child, but not here, where he technically had five other brothers, and even after all the time they've been stuck together, he still hadn't learned the meaning of the word 'share'. "BORING."
Cloud thought so too, but didn't have to say anything. He had agreed, at first, to watch it with them, but the lack of the babysitter quickly had him wordlessly sliding off the couch and into the kitchen to boost himself into one of the chairs at the table. The babysitter's back was just over the other side of it.
"BOR~ring!"
"Genesis!" boomed the babysitter from the other room. Dishes clattered. "If you do not suffer the consequences of your actions properly and humbly, you can look forward to carrots for your snack."
Genesis closed his mouth fast, but the stewing continued only in the silence.