ot4 - 57 (lunch)
Title: looking for narnia
'Verse/characters: ot4 (megan and francis)
Prompt: 57 - lunch
Word Count: 885
Rating: g
Author's Notes: francis is six. i have absolutely no idea if the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe is appropriate for six-year-olds, but francis' folks are the kinds of people who read lotr and isaac asimov to small children, so. if you haven't read the book or seen the movie and are unfamiliar with the story, this won't make a whole lot of sense.
It's a rainy Saturday and Megan is alone in the house, the big boys having vanished and left her with the small boy. She's perfectly happy to be left alone with her son, since she likes her son and it's not often that Nash and Neil and Daniel are all out at the same time without any of them having taken him - or her - with them.
She would however be much happier if she could find him. And it's not like him to miss a feeding opportunity.
After a few minutes she figures out where he might be.
"What are you doing in there?" she demands, having found Francis in the back of Neil's closet. "Aren't you hungry for lunch? I thought we'd have meatloaf sandwiches with barbecue sauce."
"I didn't look here yet," he says. His voice sounds muffled. But then, he seems to be more interested in moving Neil's shoes out of the way than in talking to his mother.
"Lucy found Narnia in a wardrobe, honey, not the back of her daddy's closet."
"We don't have any wardrobes. Daddy says they're the same as closets anyway."
She and Daddy are going to have a discussion when he gets home, Megan thinks. It doesn't even matter which daddy Francis means - she's going to sit them all down and they're going to have a talk about how to appropriately encourage Francis' weird flights of fancy. It's one thing to move all the living room furniture for a reenactment of The Lord of the Rings. The actual fighting only lasted about fifteen minutes and the single casualty was a mysterious stain on one of the couch cushions, which was easily fixed by flipping the cushion over. And she though the boys trying to perform the Council at Rivendell was really funny. Constantly losing Francis because he keeps diving into closets and closing the doors behind him is something else entirely.
She doesn't want anything to happen to him as a result of him accidentally locking himself in a closet. The best she can say about the situation is that at least he isn't afraid of the dark. And, well, she should probably be glad her kid has such a vivid imagination and so much determination. She just wishes it was aimed at something a little less likely to end up with him being buried under a pile of someone else's clothes and shoes and coats and all the other crap living in the house's various closets. Besides, a search like this is bound to end in disappointment, and she'd like to avoid Francis' disappointment with the world as long as possible.
Francis has apparently pushed enough of Neil's shoes out of his way that he can now reach the bottom of the wall and start knocking on it and pressing his ear to the wood. Megan kneels on the floor near him, not actually inside the closet, because she won't fit, but close enough to be able to hold a conversation with her son.
"What do you hear?" she asks him.
"Nothing," he says. He shrugs his six-year-old shoulders. "Maybe it's not this closet. Do you think the door moves?"
"The wall isn't going anywhere."
"The door to Narnia, silly." Megan can't help but grin at Francis' fond exasperation. He probably gets that from her. "I looked in all the closets...."
"I have an idea," she says. "Let's have lunch, and then we'll look in the pantry. It's kind of a closet." Francis does not look convinced. In fact, he looks at her like that's the stupidest idea he's ever heard, and she's torn between wanting to hug him for how adorable his face is, and wanting to smack whichever of his fathers taught him to show disdain like that. "Meatloaf sandwiches," she reminds him. "Barbecue sauce. Cinnamon ice cream."
(Daniel and Neil both think the cinnamon ice cream is disgusting. Francis thinks it's the best thing ever, next to Ben & Jerry's Fossil Fuel, which he likes for the little chocolate dinosaurs.)
"You can't help me look," Francis tells her, scooting backwards out of Neil's closet. "Lucy did it without her mum."
Mum. She's pretty sure he picked that up from Daniel.
"Please tell me when you start looking for Narnia again, so I can find you if I need you. Ok?"
"Can I take snacks with me? I don't think I like Turkish Delight."
"Let's have lunch first and then we'll talk about it."
"Ok." Francis jumps up and heads out of the room and (hopefully) down to the kitchen. Megan closes the closet door and follows, mentally composing a speech to Francis' dads and wondering how long it's going to be until his search for Narnia follows Francis to his friends' houses.
When she gets to the kitchen, Francis is standing on a chair so he can reach the cabinet where the glasses are kept, and Megan realizes things could be worse - he could be trying to assemble flying contraptions and throwing himself off the roof. In the grand scheme of things, and considering the shenanigans his dads have gotten into, looking for Narnia in his parents' closets is pretty harmless. She'll just have to keep reminding herself of that when Francis goes missing in his own house.
'Verse/characters: ot4 (megan and francis)
Prompt: 57 - lunch
Word Count: 885
Rating: g
Author's Notes: francis is six. i have absolutely no idea if the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe is appropriate for six-year-olds, but francis' folks are the kinds of people who read lotr and isaac asimov to small children, so. if you haven't read the book or seen the movie and are unfamiliar with the story, this won't make a whole lot of sense.
It's a rainy Saturday and Megan is alone in the house, the big boys having vanished and left her with the small boy. She's perfectly happy to be left alone with her son, since she likes her son and it's not often that Nash and Neil and Daniel are all out at the same time without any of them having taken him - or her - with them.
She would however be much happier if she could find him. And it's not like him to miss a feeding opportunity.
After a few minutes she figures out where he might be.
"What are you doing in there?" she demands, having found Francis in the back of Neil's closet. "Aren't you hungry for lunch? I thought we'd have meatloaf sandwiches with barbecue sauce."
"I didn't look here yet," he says. His voice sounds muffled. But then, he seems to be more interested in moving Neil's shoes out of the way than in talking to his mother.
"Lucy found Narnia in a wardrobe, honey, not the back of her daddy's closet."
"We don't have any wardrobes. Daddy says they're the same as closets anyway."
She and Daddy are going to have a discussion when he gets home, Megan thinks. It doesn't even matter which daddy Francis means - she's going to sit them all down and they're going to have a talk about how to appropriately encourage Francis' weird flights of fancy. It's one thing to move all the living room furniture for a reenactment of The Lord of the Rings. The actual fighting only lasted about fifteen minutes and the single casualty was a mysterious stain on one of the couch cushions, which was easily fixed by flipping the cushion over. And she though the boys trying to perform the Council at Rivendell was really funny. Constantly losing Francis because he keeps diving into closets and closing the doors behind him is something else entirely.
She doesn't want anything to happen to him as a result of him accidentally locking himself in a closet. The best she can say about the situation is that at least he isn't afraid of the dark. And, well, she should probably be glad her kid has such a vivid imagination and so much determination. She just wishes it was aimed at something a little less likely to end up with him being buried under a pile of someone else's clothes and shoes and coats and all the other crap living in the house's various closets. Besides, a search like this is bound to end in disappointment, and she'd like to avoid Francis' disappointment with the world as long as possible.
Francis has apparently pushed enough of Neil's shoes out of his way that he can now reach the bottom of the wall and start knocking on it and pressing his ear to the wood. Megan kneels on the floor near him, not actually inside the closet, because she won't fit, but close enough to be able to hold a conversation with her son.
"What do you hear?" she asks him.
"Nothing," he says. He shrugs his six-year-old shoulders. "Maybe it's not this closet. Do you think the door moves?"
"The wall isn't going anywhere."
"The door to Narnia, silly." Megan can't help but grin at Francis' fond exasperation. He probably gets that from her. "I looked in all the closets...."
"I have an idea," she says. "Let's have lunch, and then we'll look in the pantry. It's kind of a closet." Francis does not look convinced. In fact, he looks at her like that's the stupidest idea he's ever heard, and she's torn between wanting to hug him for how adorable his face is, and wanting to smack whichever of his fathers taught him to show disdain like that. "Meatloaf sandwiches," she reminds him. "Barbecue sauce. Cinnamon ice cream."
(Daniel and Neil both think the cinnamon ice cream is disgusting. Francis thinks it's the best thing ever, next to Ben & Jerry's Fossil Fuel, which he likes for the little chocolate dinosaurs.)
"You can't help me look," Francis tells her, scooting backwards out of Neil's closet. "Lucy did it without her mum."
Mum. She's pretty sure he picked that up from Daniel.
"Please tell me when you start looking for Narnia again, so I can find you if I need you. Ok?"
"Can I take snacks with me? I don't think I like Turkish Delight."
"Let's have lunch first and then we'll talk about it."
"Ok." Francis jumps up and heads out of the room and (hopefully) down to the kitchen. Megan closes the closet door and follows, mentally composing a speech to Francis' dads and wondering how long it's going to be until his search for Narnia follows Francis to his friends' houses.
When she gets to the kitchen, Francis is standing on a chair so he can reach the cabinet where the glasses are kept, and Megan realizes things could be worse - he could be trying to assemble flying contraptions and throwing himself off the roof. In the grand scheme of things, and considering the shenanigans his dads have gotten into, looking for Narnia in his parents' closets is pretty harmless. She'll just have to keep reminding herself of that when Francis goes missing in his own house.