Breathing Room
Breathing Room
[The Players: serenityw, joey_wheeler, seto_kaiba_
The Scene: Everybody needs a day off. Serenity and Joey share theirs under Seto's protection, and manage to unwind - if only for a little. Backdated to Saturday, October 20, 2007.]
*************
"Seto...?" Joey's knock hesitantly preceded him as he framed himself in the open doorway of Seto's den. Tristan and Serenity were still chatting away upstairs; Joey had excused himself for a bathroom break, then detoured down to Seto's office on a whim. Belatedly, he remembered that his hair was still down, and finger-combed it into a hasty ponytail - only to realize that his hair elastic was not on his wrist. Stuck, Joey let it fall again and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Had a question."
"Yes, Joey?" Seto answered, looking up from his work. The desk was tidy, bare of any mementos or ornamentation. A monitor was positioned on the left, but it was the few neatly stacked pages in front of him that Seto had obviously been working on.
"Sorry for interruptin'," Joey said, coming further into the room. "Won' be a minute. I wanted to know...well, I'm gonna be callin' Red a lot, but I gotta say it's good to have her back, and well, thanks for takin' her in. An' the karate idea, and...just, the whole lot."
Joey raised a hand to his hair, stroking it back from his face and ears nervously. Damn him for forgetting the elastic. He was so comfortable around Tristan and his sister, all the more so because being within Seto's reach of protection felt so secure, and he'd indulged in that, relaxing enough to take his hair down in the company of the only two people who got to see him like that. Seto wasn't on that list yet by a long shot, so the simple feel of his own hair against his nape and shoulders unnerved Joey, made him jumpy and fidgety. He toyed with the seam of his pocket while he addressed what he'd come for.
"My question was, if I take a taxi out here, can I come in and visit her? When...when I can, after work an' stuff."
There was a small pause as Seto regarded the man in front of him. The excessive physicality was unremarkable, in his mind Joey was always moving, but he looked subtly different with his hair down.
"Of course," he replied gravely. "When you arrive, press the buzzer on the gate. I'll give security your name and whatever password you choose to verify your identity. They'll let you in."
"Should I...choose that now?" Joey wondered, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. "Like a code word?"
"You may if you wish," Seto answered, opening a drawer and pulling out a small notebook. "I'll take care of informing security this evening." With the same sleek pen he had been using earlier, Seto wrote quickly on the first blank page.
"Okay," Joey said, drawing out the sound contemplatively. It only took a few moments of thought before the perfect solution came to him. "Oh, wait. Got it." He grinned. "'Skate park.'"
Seto's pen stilled, his expression smoothing from grave to blank for the space of a breath. Then his eyes flicked up to Joey's and a slow smile warmed his face. "Appropriate," he said softly, before, lips still tucked upward, he bent over the paper once more.
With a chuckle, Joey nodded acknowledgment and backed softly out of the room.
* * * * *
Saturday, October 20th.
Joey knew Seto wasn't home, but he didn't know if there would still be staff present to unlock the mansion's front door by the time he got from the gate where he gave his password - "skate park" - to the front step. Come to think of it, he didn't know if there was any staff stationed at the mansion at all hours. Were there peak times for household help?
He shook the questions away and shoved three twenties at his cabbie. Freaking highway robbery, what they did to the fare as soon as you hit city limits, but there it was. Bookbag in one hand, palming his wallet in the other, Joey trotted up the front steps of the mansion and rang the bell, hoping his sister didn't mind he was a little bit early.
* * * * *
"--out from the city / come out from the town / build stone by stone a wild mountain home--"
Too much bass, where's the-- oh, got it. And volume down too... Serenity Wheeler sighed in satisfaction as the lyrics currently rattling the glass cabinets in Seto Kaiba's meticulously neat living room warbled down to a reasonable level. She flopped back on the couch, remote in hand.
"--we'll be moving on the plains / through the tall grass out to the sea / and we'll cross that water--"
Twangy bass and acoustic sounded GOOD on Bose speakers. Shoes off, she leaned back and crossed her ankles, eyes closed as Blitzen Trapper sang their hearts out about wolves and rivers.
* * * * *
On the front stoop, Joey blinked and rang the bell again. He could faintly hear music playing within the house - and he'd bet that Seto had nice thick soundproof walls to start with. He sighed and leaned on the button. This might take a while.
* * * * *
Blitzen Trapper's lead was wailing his way through the first verse of their cover of 'Crazy On You' before the odd counterpoint to the song's already-eccentric percussion registered. Huh--? Ohshit! Her first thought ran circles around the embarrassment of being caught blasting Seto Kaiba's personal stereo system with what was probably very un-Seto-Kaibalike music while Seto Kaiba himself was out of the house; her second and more reasonable thought was along the lines of 'doorbell', and she scrambled doorwards in a less than dignified fashion, remote still in hand. Now she regretted having told Maria to let her get the door herself; Joey had surely been waiting a while if he was leaning on the bell so hard by now. "Just a minute, just a minute!"
One open door later plus several hasty clicks on the volume button again: "Sorry," Serenity said apologetically, and hugged her twin. "Didn't expect you this soon. What'd you do, fly?"
"You been nappin'? I'm only fifteen minutes early," Joey challenged his twin, briefly returning the hug before shouldering past her and closing the door behind him. Safe inside the house, it felt more proper to set the bookbag aside and squeeze Serenity around the middle for all she was worth, just to hear her squeak. When he let her go he turned an ear to her music of choice, and let his disbelieving expression speak for him.
"Ribs, my RIBs-- What? Oh c'mon, it's not that bad." With a mock glare, the redhead cranked up the volume a notch. "Beats some of that stuff you like, and anyway this stereo's incredible, look!" She poked his arm with the remote (which looked rather like it might have been designed by NASA) before dropping the sound level again. "I didn't think your friend'd mind if I tried it out," Serenity added with a slightly guilty look.
"He's got a name, yanno," Joey pointed out, without heat, as he walked with his sister into the living room. Kicking off his shoes neatly at one end of the couch, Joey laid out along its length and sighed largely. "Mmm, nice. Red, let's just put a movie on or something, zone out for a few hours."
"I know he does. Just-- 'Good morning, Mister Kaiba'. Sounds weird somehow, so... I've kind of been avoiding saying it, I guess. Can't call him by his first name or anything either." Clicking the stereo into silence, Serenity slid down Indian-style crosslegged onto the floor and leaned comfortably back against the couch's edge. "A movie'd be good. Long day?" She reached back without really looking and feathered her fingers through her twin's bangs.
"Kinda." Joey shrugged and rolled his head to the side. Now he couldn't see much more than his sister's ear and the curve of her head, but it gave her better range on his bangs. He closed his eyes. To be honest, the day hadn't been much different than any of the other three that had passed since Serenity had temporarily moved in with Seto, aside from the fact that it was a Saturday. Joey'd been distracted and vacant all day, just like all yesterday and all through the rest of the week. Knowing Serenity was both so close and so far, so safe and so in limbo, was keeping his head full. It felt like he'd been stuffed with cotton batting, muffling his hearing and his thinking, throwing off his balance in little ways that only he could notice. It was like dancing a quarter-step off of the beat - at first it doesn't matter, but the longer it goes on, the more it becomes noticeable. Privately, Joey hoped they were about to stumble upon a ready solution, hoped Steven would show his hand and make the waiting game that much easier, hoped that Tristan and Serenity were holding up better than he himself was. But he knew that most of those hopes were unlikely, and the knowledge wore him down.
He wondered where Seto was at the moment, whether he was coming home soon, whether he was thinking about them. Whether Seto was worried about Serenity too, or if his concern was still only that of a friend-of-a-brother.
Whether his patience was wearing thin.
"Let's watch something brainless," Joey suggested, propping himself up on one elbow and glancing fruitlessly around the room for the television remote. "I bet he's got six million channels. Wonder if Transformers is on? You up for somethin' like that?"
Transformers met with general approval, and while Joey handled the channel-surfing his twin volunteered to deal with drinks and so forth. By the time he had located proper viewing material, a large bag of Doritos and two glass tumblers of iced tea had materialized. "The housekeeper got me the chips," explained Serenity as she dug out a handful. "Or we'd be eating fresh veggies. Not that I'd mind, but for some things you need junk food." She examined a chip thoughtfully and then ate it.
Sitting crosslegged again, Serenity tipped her head back to rest it flat on the couch, eyes lazy and half closed; the top of her head just barely brushed against her brother's shirt, and she seemed unwilling to let the contact go. The lines of stress from the past few days were still present-- how could they be otherwise?-- but were lessened, relaxed just a little; and if the shadows beneath her eyes showed that she hadn't been sleeping altogether well, at least she was sleeping.
"I called Mrs. J, did I tell you? She said to tell you hi."
"Good, good." Joey shifted the remote out of the way and arranged his hands so one was free for eating and the other rested on the top of his twin's head. The movie was already a half hour or so in, but Joey didn't care much. He just let it wash over him, zoning out on junk food and the feel of his sister's hair sliding through his fingers.
"Mmm." On the screen, several improbably-large mechas managed to skulk in equally-improbable silence around a middle-class suburban house, peering in windows. Serenity opened her eyes enough to follow the action on the screen, snorting once at a near miss; this led to lazy conjectures as to just what her Honda would look like as a movie extra, and she opened her mouth to pass the thought along before reconsidering.
Guess since it's broken right now it'd be a casualty... sort of a mecha Red Shirt. 'Cap'n, me engines canna take any more of this!'
Some time later, with one Autobot down for the count and Megatron facing off against the plucky human lead, she roused herself. "More Doritos?" Without looking she reached back and waved an empty hand around hopefully.
Joey fished a small handful of chips out of the bag, plied one free of the bunch with his mouth for his own consumption, and carefully placed the rest into his sister's palm, waiting till she'd curled her fingers around them to let go. "So which'n's your fave so far, you think?" he asked, already thinking he knew the answer.
Sparing a shred of her attention for the careful business of Chip Management, Serenity maneuvered the lot around without losing more than a few crumbs onto her shoulders. "The bit (crunch) with Mikaela when she fixes the (crunch) car," she murmured indistinctly. "Kickass character; I'm glad they didn't go with a wimpy cheerleader type or somebody with more bra than brains." Crunch. "You?"
Joey chuckled. "I meant which Autobot." He shrugged and dug his fingertips against his sister's scalp smoothly. "Course, yeah, that was a good one. I like the end though, the shot with all three'v 'em..."
She leaned back against the scratch. "Mm-- Bumblebee. I kind of liked Jazz, too, but... Camaro. And yeah, that last shot's good. God, I hope they don't screw up the sequel. Okay, which one d'you like best?" The redhead scrunched her shoulders up, attempting to push her head even more into the scratch.
"The Bee for me too," Joey answered easily, grinning widely though his sister couldn't see, and snickered. He raised the remote, dialing down the volume as the end credits theme was overcome by commercials for the channel's upcoming programming. "Come on, couldn't you'a called that one? I mean. Who's he remind you of? Honest."
At that she dropped her head back again, flat on the couch like before, and rolled her eyes. "Oh c'MON. Easy one-- Tristan. And okay, a few movie characters I can think of, but-- Tristan in a car suit." She let one eyebrow slide up. "Bet you two made a lot of noise when you watched this the first time." If the comment was a little wistful, it wasn't enough to spoil the good mood.
Joey patted his sister's temple fondly. "Bet you don' wanna know what kinda noise, either," Joey deadpanned. He lasted about three seconds after, then cracked up, overlaying his sister's dismayed squeaking. "Kidding, Red, kidding. You're right, tho, we both freaked like total geeks when we saw this thing, an' both of us over Bumblebee, too. I don' care how much the purists bitch, this's a damn good flick."
A stray chip was lobbed inexpertly in Joey's direction, bouncing off the back of the couch to land in parts unknown. "You ARE geeks," Serenity pointed out after the worst of her flailing was over. "This thing was MADE for geeks. What, you think you're the only one who bought tickets early? I saw it two towns over from Ash Springs with a couple of teachers I'd worked with." A little ashamedly she grinned and added, "and the guys running the movie theater had to tell us to quiet down."
"What, were you hecklin' Barricade or somethin'?" Joey wanted to know, knuckling his sister's skull with the end of the remote. He clicked the volume down another notch, then tossed the remote down to the floor at Serenity's hip and shifted around on the couch to pillow his head on one folded arm. "That was a good sequence, anyway."
She rolled her eyes. "No, we were throwing popcorn at the screen every time Megatron did one of those 'I Am Evil Incarnate' poses of his. You know the one thing that pissed me off, though? I hated that they killed off Jazz... that was just, I dunno, a little pointless?" She yawned, curling a bit sideways and leaning her temple against the couch's edge. "I kept thinking maybe they'd pull some sort of surprise effect and-- save his brain or whatever. Download him into another shape, anything. But they offed him." Serenity pulled a face, tucking one hand beneath her cheek.
"Adds seriousness. Ain't a "real" war without casualties." Joey's tone was perhaps just a tad bitter as he petted his sister's hair. "Hollywood," he scoffed, then caught himself, paused, and snickered, gleeful. "Heh! Hollywood!"
He got a second eyeroll for that last one, but she smiled anyway. And yawned again. "I guess... Another movie?"
"Or a nap. I could go for a nap. S'your bed a queen?" Working by touch, Joey curved his hand around the side of his sister's skull, thumb framing her ear, fingertips sliding against her jaw. "We oughta take a nap."
Serenity yawned a third time, eyes closing without protest. "Nap'd be good. Queen--uh, it's big, you saw; not sure. Everything in this place's big. But I don't want t'get up..." She tucked her other hand beneath the first, elbow leveling out how her head lay on the couch-cushion as she twisted around and curled up a little more comfortably. Head rubs-- anything to do with her hair-- tended to put the redhead into something pretty much approaching a very happy state of coma.
Joey shifted with his twin, getting to a point where he could comfortably keep his arm bent and his hand resting on Serenity's hair, and then let himself drift off too. The sound of her breathing lulled him to sleep, marked by the clattering murmur of the television. He imagined he could hear the silent pressure of shoes as Seto's hired security op paced the kitchen tile.
* * * * *
The garage door slid smoothly closed behind Seto's jet-black Elantra. He exhaled, a sound very much like a controlled sigh as he slid from behind the wheel. After four hours of careful maneuvering, he thought he may have saved the Tokyo investments, but he wouldn't really know until next week. It's not that Seto had anything else to do with his Saturday.
His intention was to stop by the kitchen and check with the staff before proceeding to his office and backing up the notes from today's activity. As he passed the hallway, however, the noise of the television at a volume considerably over what that room was used to caused him to check his step. After a moment of thought, he turned and made his way to the living room.
That's probably uncomfortable, Seto thought after long, still moments in the archway, watching the pair sleep. Serenity's head was nestled against Joey's thigh, her face untroubled in her slumber- which might have to do with the fact that her brother's arm was curled protectively around her head, hand buried in her hair. Seto stood for longer still, deep in thought, eyes drinking in the sight of the two of them, so alike and yet distinctly individual. With unnecessary quietness, he paced across the room, picking up the nearly empty bag of Doritos from beside the slumbering pair before stilling the television, so the noise would not sound too loudly in the sudden absence of-- whatever that was on the screen. Is there a movie titled 'An Excess of Explosions'? wondered Seto with a flash of humor as he paused to look back once more at the siblings.
Family.
With a distant, distracted gaze, Seto made his way down the hall to the kitchen, to dispose of the chips and retrieve his report. It was Saturday, and he had a company to look after.
* * * * *
Wild Mountain Nation (Blitzen Trapper)
Come out from the world
and into my arms
like wind on the water with me
come out from the city
come out from the town
build stone by stone a wild mountain home
When the red moon wains
we'll be moving on the plains
through the tall grass out to the sea
and we'll cross that water
my wild mountain lover
like wolves running silent and free
(chorus)
So if your love won't grow
and the rivers won't flow
just join that holy desert tribe
That's where we saddle up to ride
you know that wild mountain nation's
rising up and going home
Come out from the world
and into my arms
like wind on the water with me
with wings like the angels
and hearts like the sun
building stone by stone
a wild mountain home
[The Players: serenityw, joey_wheeler, seto_kaiba_
The Scene: Everybody needs a day off. Serenity and Joey share theirs under Seto's protection, and manage to unwind - if only for a little. Backdated to Saturday, October 20, 2007.]
*************
"Seto...?" Joey's knock hesitantly preceded him as he framed himself in the open doorway of Seto's den. Tristan and Serenity were still chatting away upstairs; Joey had excused himself for a bathroom break, then detoured down to Seto's office on a whim. Belatedly, he remembered that his hair was still down, and finger-combed it into a hasty ponytail - only to realize that his hair elastic was not on his wrist. Stuck, Joey let it fall again and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Had a question."
"Yes, Joey?" Seto answered, looking up from his work. The desk was tidy, bare of any mementos or ornamentation. A monitor was positioned on the left, but it was the few neatly stacked pages in front of him that Seto had obviously been working on.
"Sorry for interruptin'," Joey said, coming further into the room. "Won' be a minute. I wanted to know...well, I'm gonna be callin' Red a lot, but I gotta say it's good to have her back, and well, thanks for takin' her in. An' the karate idea, and...just, the whole lot."
Joey raised a hand to his hair, stroking it back from his face and ears nervously. Damn him for forgetting the elastic. He was so comfortable around Tristan and his sister, all the more so because being within Seto's reach of protection felt so secure, and he'd indulged in that, relaxing enough to take his hair down in the company of the only two people who got to see him like that. Seto wasn't on that list yet by a long shot, so the simple feel of his own hair against his nape and shoulders unnerved Joey, made him jumpy and fidgety. He toyed with the seam of his pocket while he addressed what he'd come for.
"My question was, if I take a taxi out here, can I come in and visit her? When...when I can, after work an' stuff."
There was a small pause as Seto regarded the man in front of him. The excessive physicality was unremarkable, in his mind Joey was always moving, but he looked subtly different with his hair down.
"Of course," he replied gravely. "When you arrive, press the buzzer on the gate. I'll give security your name and whatever password you choose to verify your identity. They'll let you in."
"Should I...choose that now?" Joey wondered, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. "Like a code word?"
"You may if you wish," Seto answered, opening a drawer and pulling out a small notebook. "I'll take care of informing security this evening." With the same sleek pen he had been using earlier, Seto wrote quickly on the first blank page.
"Okay," Joey said, drawing out the sound contemplatively. It only took a few moments of thought before the perfect solution came to him. "Oh, wait. Got it." He grinned. "'Skate park.'"
Seto's pen stilled, his expression smoothing from grave to blank for the space of a breath. Then his eyes flicked up to Joey's and a slow smile warmed his face. "Appropriate," he said softly, before, lips still tucked upward, he bent over the paper once more.
With a chuckle, Joey nodded acknowledgment and backed softly out of the room.
* * * * *
Saturday, October 20th.
Joey knew Seto wasn't home, but he didn't know if there would still be staff present to unlock the mansion's front door by the time he got from the gate where he gave his password - "skate park" - to the front step. Come to think of it, he didn't know if there was any staff stationed at the mansion at all hours. Were there peak times for household help?
He shook the questions away and shoved three twenties at his cabbie. Freaking highway robbery, what they did to the fare as soon as you hit city limits, but there it was. Bookbag in one hand, palming his wallet in the other, Joey trotted up the front steps of the mansion and rang the bell, hoping his sister didn't mind he was a little bit early.
* * * * *
"--out from the city / come out from the town / build stone by stone a wild mountain home--"
Too much bass, where's the-- oh, got it. And volume down too... Serenity Wheeler sighed in satisfaction as the lyrics currently rattling the glass cabinets in Seto Kaiba's meticulously neat living room warbled down to a reasonable level. She flopped back on the couch, remote in hand.
"--we'll be moving on the plains / through the tall grass out to the sea / and we'll cross that water--"
Twangy bass and acoustic sounded GOOD on Bose speakers. Shoes off, she leaned back and crossed her ankles, eyes closed as Blitzen Trapper sang their hearts out about wolves and rivers.
* * * * *
On the front stoop, Joey blinked and rang the bell again. He could faintly hear music playing within the house - and he'd bet that Seto had nice thick soundproof walls to start with. He sighed and leaned on the button. This might take a while.
* * * * *
Blitzen Trapper's lead was wailing his way through the first verse of their cover of 'Crazy On You' before the odd counterpoint to the song's already-eccentric percussion registered. Huh--? Ohshit! Her first thought ran circles around the embarrassment of being caught blasting Seto Kaiba's personal stereo system with what was probably very un-Seto-Kaibalike music while Seto Kaiba himself was out of the house; her second and more reasonable thought was along the lines of 'doorbell', and she scrambled doorwards in a less than dignified fashion, remote still in hand. Now she regretted having told Maria to let her get the door herself; Joey had surely been waiting a while if he was leaning on the bell so hard by now. "Just a minute, just a minute!"
One open door later plus several hasty clicks on the volume button again: "Sorry," Serenity said apologetically, and hugged her twin. "Didn't expect you this soon. What'd you do, fly?"
"You been nappin'? I'm only fifteen minutes early," Joey challenged his twin, briefly returning the hug before shouldering past her and closing the door behind him. Safe inside the house, it felt more proper to set the bookbag aside and squeeze Serenity around the middle for all she was worth, just to hear her squeak. When he let her go he turned an ear to her music of choice, and let his disbelieving expression speak for him.
"Ribs, my RIBs-- What? Oh c'mon, it's not that bad." With a mock glare, the redhead cranked up the volume a notch. "Beats some of that stuff you like, and anyway this stereo's incredible, look!" She poked his arm with the remote (which looked rather like it might have been designed by NASA) before dropping the sound level again. "I didn't think your friend'd mind if I tried it out," Serenity added with a slightly guilty look.
"He's got a name, yanno," Joey pointed out, without heat, as he walked with his sister into the living room. Kicking off his shoes neatly at one end of the couch, Joey laid out along its length and sighed largely. "Mmm, nice. Red, let's just put a movie on or something, zone out for a few hours."
"I know he does. Just-- 'Good morning, Mister Kaiba'. Sounds weird somehow, so... I've kind of been avoiding saying it, I guess. Can't call him by his first name or anything either." Clicking the stereo into silence, Serenity slid down Indian-style crosslegged onto the floor and leaned comfortably back against the couch's edge. "A movie'd be good. Long day?" She reached back without really looking and feathered her fingers through her twin's bangs.
"Kinda." Joey shrugged and rolled his head to the side. Now he couldn't see much more than his sister's ear and the curve of her head, but it gave her better range on his bangs. He closed his eyes. To be honest, the day hadn't been much different than any of the other three that had passed since Serenity had temporarily moved in with Seto, aside from the fact that it was a Saturday. Joey'd been distracted and vacant all day, just like all yesterday and all through the rest of the week. Knowing Serenity was both so close and so far, so safe and so in limbo, was keeping his head full. It felt like he'd been stuffed with cotton batting, muffling his hearing and his thinking, throwing off his balance in little ways that only he could notice. It was like dancing a quarter-step off of the beat - at first it doesn't matter, but the longer it goes on, the more it becomes noticeable. Privately, Joey hoped they were about to stumble upon a ready solution, hoped Steven would show his hand and make the waiting game that much easier, hoped that Tristan and Serenity were holding up better than he himself was. But he knew that most of those hopes were unlikely, and the knowledge wore him down.
He wondered where Seto was at the moment, whether he was coming home soon, whether he was thinking about them. Whether Seto was worried about Serenity too, or if his concern was still only that of a friend-of-a-brother.
Whether his patience was wearing thin.
"Let's watch something brainless," Joey suggested, propping himself up on one elbow and glancing fruitlessly around the room for the television remote. "I bet he's got six million channels. Wonder if Transformers is on? You up for somethin' like that?"
Transformers met with general approval, and while Joey handled the channel-surfing his twin volunteered to deal with drinks and so forth. By the time he had located proper viewing material, a large bag of Doritos and two glass tumblers of iced tea had materialized. "The housekeeper got me the chips," explained Serenity as she dug out a handful. "Or we'd be eating fresh veggies. Not that I'd mind, but for some things you need junk food." She examined a chip thoughtfully and then ate it.
Sitting crosslegged again, Serenity tipped her head back to rest it flat on the couch, eyes lazy and half closed; the top of her head just barely brushed against her brother's shirt, and she seemed unwilling to let the contact go. The lines of stress from the past few days were still present-- how could they be otherwise?-- but were lessened, relaxed just a little; and if the shadows beneath her eyes showed that she hadn't been sleeping altogether well, at least she was sleeping.
"I called Mrs. J, did I tell you? She said to tell you hi."
"Good, good." Joey shifted the remote out of the way and arranged his hands so one was free for eating and the other rested on the top of his twin's head. The movie was already a half hour or so in, but Joey didn't care much. He just let it wash over him, zoning out on junk food and the feel of his sister's hair sliding through his fingers.
"Mmm." On the screen, several improbably-large mechas managed to skulk in equally-improbable silence around a middle-class suburban house, peering in windows. Serenity opened her eyes enough to follow the action on the screen, snorting once at a near miss; this led to lazy conjectures as to just what her Honda would look like as a movie extra, and she opened her mouth to pass the thought along before reconsidering.
Guess since it's broken right now it'd be a casualty... sort of a mecha Red Shirt. 'Cap'n, me engines canna take any more of this!'
Some time later, with one Autobot down for the count and Megatron facing off against the plucky human lead, she roused herself. "More Doritos?" Without looking she reached back and waved an empty hand around hopefully.
Joey fished a small handful of chips out of the bag, plied one free of the bunch with his mouth for his own consumption, and carefully placed the rest into his sister's palm, waiting till she'd curled her fingers around them to let go. "So which'n's your fave so far, you think?" he asked, already thinking he knew the answer.
Sparing a shred of her attention for the careful business of Chip Management, Serenity maneuvered the lot around without losing more than a few crumbs onto her shoulders. "The bit (crunch) with Mikaela when she fixes the (crunch) car," she murmured indistinctly. "Kickass character; I'm glad they didn't go with a wimpy cheerleader type or somebody with more bra than brains." Crunch. "You?"
Joey chuckled. "I meant which Autobot." He shrugged and dug his fingertips against his sister's scalp smoothly. "Course, yeah, that was a good one. I like the end though, the shot with all three'v 'em..."
She leaned back against the scratch. "Mm-- Bumblebee. I kind of liked Jazz, too, but... Camaro. And yeah, that last shot's good. God, I hope they don't screw up the sequel. Okay, which one d'you like best?" The redhead scrunched her shoulders up, attempting to push her head even more into the scratch.
"The Bee for me too," Joey answered easily, grinning widely though his sister couldn't see, and snickered. He raised the remote, dialing down the volume as the end credits theme was overcome by commercials for the channel's upcoming programming. "Come on, couldn't you'a called that one? I mean. Who's he remind you of? Honest."
At that she dropped her head back again, flat on the couch like before, and rolled her eyes. "Oh c'MON. Easy one-- Tristan. And okay, a few movie characters I can think of, but-- Tristan in a car suit." She let one eyebrow slide up. "Bet you two made a lot of noise when you watched this the first time." If the comment was a little wistful, it wasn't enough to spoil the good mood.
Joey patted his sister's temple fondly. "Bet you don' wanna know what kinda noise, either," Joey deadpanned. He lasted about three seconds after, then cracked up, overlaying his sister's dismayed squeaking. "Kidding, Red, kidding. You're right, tho, we both freaked like total geeks when we saw this thing, an' both of us over Bumblebee, too. I don' care how much the purists bitch, this's a damn good flick."
A stray chip was lobbed inexpertly in Joey's direction, bouncing off the back of the couch to land in parts unknown. "You ARE geeks," Serenity pointed out after the worst of her flailing was over. "This thing was MADE for geeks. What, you think you're the only one who bought tickets early? I saw it two towns over from Ash Springs with a couple of teachers I'd worked with." A little ashamedly she grinned and added, "and the guys running the movie theater had to tell us to quiet down."
"What, were you hecklin' Barricade or somethin'?" Joey wanted to know, knuckling his sister's skull with the end of the remote. He clicked the volume down another notch, then tossed the remote down to the floor at Serenity's hip and shifted around on the couch to pillow his head on one folded arm. "That was a good sequence, anyway."
She rolled her eyes. "No, we were throwing popcorn at the screen every time Megatron did one of those 'I Am Evil Incarnate' poses of his. You know the one thing that pissed me off, though? I hated that they killed off Jazz... that was just, I dunno, a little pointless?" She yawned, curling a bit sideways and leaning her temple against the couch's edge. "I kept thinking maybe they'd pull some sort of surprise effect and-- save his brain or whatever. Download him into another shape, anything. But they offed him." Serenity pulled a face, tucking one hand beneath her cheek.
"Adds seriousness. Ain't a "real" war without casualties." Joey's tone was perhaps just a tad bitter as he petted his sister's hair. "Hollywood," he scoffed, then caught himself, paused, and snickered, gleeful. "Heh! Hollywood!"
He got a second eyeroll for that last one, but she smiled anyway. And yawned again. "I guess... Another movie?"
"Or a nap. I could go for a nap. S'your bed a queen?" Working by touch, Joey curved his hand around the side of his sister's skull, thumb framing her ear, fingertips sliding against her jaw. "We oughta take a nap."
Serenity yawned a third time, eyes closing without protest. "Nap'd be good. Queen--uh, it's big, you saw; not sure. Everything in this place's big. But I don't want t'get up..." She tucked her other hand beneath the first, elbow leveling out how her head lay on the couch-cushion as she twisted around and curled up a little more comfortably. Head rubs-- anything to do with her hair-- tended to put the redhead into something pretty much approaching a very happy state of coma.
Joey shifted with his twin, getting to a point where he could comfortably keep his arm bent and his hand resting on Serenity's hair, and then let himself drift off too. The sound of her breathing lulled him to sleep, marked by the clattering murmur of the television. He imagined he could hear the silent pressure of shoes as Seto's hired security op paced the kitchen tile.
* * * * *
The garage door slid smoothly closed behind Seto's jet-black Elantra. He exhaled, a sound very much like a controlled sigh as he slid from behind the wheel. After four hours of careful maneuvering, he thought he may have saved the Tokyo investments, but he wouldn't really know until next week. It's not that Seto had anything else to do with his Saturday.
His intention was to stop by the kitchen and check with the staff before proceeding to his office and backing up the notes from today's activity. As he passed the hallway, however, the noise of the television at a volume considerably over what that room was used to caused him to check his step. After a moment of thought, he turned and made his way to the living room.
That's probably uncomfortable, Seto thought after long, still moments in the archway, watching the pair sleep. Serenity's head was nestled against Joey's thigh, her face untroubled in her slumber- which might have to do with the fact that her brother's arm was curled protectively around her head, hand buried in her hair. Seto stood for longer still, deep in thought, eyes drinking in the sight of the two of them, so alike and yet distinctly individual. With unnecessary quietness, he paced across the room, picking up the nearly empty bag of Doritos from beside the slumbering pair before stilling the television, so the noise would not sound too loudly in the sudden absence of-- whatever that was on the screen. Is there a movie titled 'An Excess of Explosions'? wondered Seto with a flash of humor as he paused to look back once more at the siblings.
Family.
With a distant, distracted gaze, Seto made his way down the hall to the kitchen, to dispose of the chips and retrieve his report. It was Saturday, and he had a company to look after.
* * * * *
Wild Mountain Nation (Blitzen Trapper)
Come out from the world
and into my arms
like wind on the water with me
come out from the city
come out from the town
build stone by stone a wild mountain home
When the red moon wains
we'll be moving on the plains
through the tall grass out to the sea
and we'll cross that water
my wild mountain lover
like wolves running silent and free
(chorus)
So if your love won't grow
and the rivers won't flow
just join that holy desert tribe
That's where we saddle up to ride
you know that wild mountain nation's
rising up and going home
Come out from the world
and into my arms
like wind on the water with me
with wings like the angels
and hearts like the sun
building stone by stone
a wild mountain home