fandomhighdorms | Deck | Afternoon | Sunday

Current Mood: discontent

Entry tags:

Deck | Afternoon | Sunday | April 17

So, there were kids running around the island again. Nathan could only guess that since none of them had found him and called him 'daddy' that this wasn't a repeat of what happened a few months ago. Nathan, for one, was damn fucking glad of that. He'd been a dad, fake or not, too much lately.

Since it was chillier than previous days, Nathan had the hood of his hoodie yanked up and a pair of sunglasses across his eyes while he had himself a lazy smoke on the deck. He'd thought about going up to his room to...well, he didn't know what he'd do but it didn't matter because he didn't go up.

Earlier this morning, he'd sent his mum a quick text with his answer about coming home this summer. He hadn't received a response but he wasn't too worried. She was probably off spending Jeremy's money while he had graphic fucking thoughts about his --

Ugh. He made a face and shook his head, trying to get back to just sitting there and not thinking of a single goddamn thing.

[Open, of course, to people of all sizes]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"No," he said, amused at the question despite himself. "I'm not actually sucking the hot part down. There's..."

How do you explain this to a kid? Nathan blinked at even having to ask himself that question.

"...special stuff inside the cigarette that I'm breathing in when I take a puff. It's like...medicine."

"Are you sick?" Ramona asked, very concerned. "Do you got a feber?"

Nathan chuckled and pushed some of his curls off his forehead. "I dunno. You wanna see for yourself? I feel all right but maybe you can help me out, see if I'm too warm and need to stay home from school."

Not that he could or would but hey, kids that weren't his weren't so bad. And Ramona (he was pretty sure that's who this was) was kinda cute.

Ramona scrabbled over to press a hand to his forehead, frowning in consternation. "It's warm! You're prolly sick!"

Of course, she didn't know what she was looking for, but she knew what grownups did when they were worried about fevers!

"Oh no!" Nathan said, feigning surprise. "What should I do, Ramona? If I'm sick, I should work on getting better, right? Does that mean I can eat lots of ice cream and sleep all day?"

He'd do that even if he wasn't sick.

"And soup!" she added, nodding. "And you gotta watch cartoons and play video games. S'part of getting better."

Nathan snickered and flicked some ashes away before looking back at her. "I'll be sure to do that, I promise. I wouldn't wanna stay sick and deny my awesome presence to those around me."

That, at least, was true.

"Are you cold?"

"Kinda but I don't need a hat when I go outside 'cause I'm not a baby," Ramona informed him.

That was what passed for logic today, apparently.

"Here," Nathan said, sitting forward to wiggle out his hoodie so he could hand it to her. "It's gonna be way too big but it'll keep you warm, I bet."

Nathan hoped Ramona didn't rag on him too much about how he was acting when she was older. He'd have to throw eggs at her.

But that was for later because now he was trying to drape the hoodie around her. He had long sleeves so it wasn't like he was going to freeze either. "See, this isn't even a hat. It's an awesome hoodie that I bought a few days ago. You should feel honored that I'm sharing with you. I don't do that with most people."

Ramona eagerly curled up in the hoodie, which was much, much too big for her, of course. "I'm honored!" she promised, trying to get her hands all the way through the sleeves. "Aren't you gonna be cold? You're sick! S'called a cold 'cause you get it 'cause you're cold!"

The chances of Ramona mocking him for this were slim to none, considering she was going to deny the fact that she ever was four, much less that she'd regressed back to it over a weekend.

"No, no, I'm fine," he said and shoved off his long sleeves. Besides, the cigarette was kind of keeping him warm and it wasn't freezing out. He pulled the sleeves of his hoodie up a little more so her hands could poke out.

"I'm pretty resilient too," he told her, nodding. "People can punch me, kick me, hurt me, and fuck me over and I just let it all roll off my back and get on with my life. It's a good trait to have, kid. I should teach it to you."

"I'm not apposed to say that word," Ramona told him, wide-eyed, balling the ends of his hoodie up in her little hands.

"Which word?" Nathan asked, not even realizing that he'd used a swear word. "Punch? Kick? Kid? The way I see it, you can say whatever the hell you want, yeah? Why not? You're living your life and if you wanna be comfortable with yourself, you shouldn't listen to anyone else. It just gets fucked up in the long run."

"That word!" she added, pointing at him. "It's a bad word! I get timeouts if I say bad words. Don't get a timeout!"

"Whose gonna give me a timeout?" Nathan asked, looking around. "You wouldn't, right? Cuz, you and me, we're friends. And if you wanna use that word, I think you should. It's fucking fun to say. Try it, Ramona."

She shook her head, wide-eyed. "I'll get in trouble."

But she still kinda wanted to try.

"From who?" Nathan asked, glancing around again. "Not from me. If you wanna say it, I won't tell a soul. Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye."

He mimed a cross over his heart and then zipped his lips.

Ramona looked around, like someone might catch her, and experimentally whispered, "Fuck?"

Laughing, Nathan made an encouraging motion with his hand. "Louder. Come on, let me hear you yell it! Be loud and proud, Ramona! Announce to the world that you don't give a damn about what you say because if they don't like it, they can kiss your ass!"

He was not a good role model.

"I don't give a damn what I say 'cause if you don't like it you can kiss my ass!" Ramona repeated, before falling over in giggles. "I can't say that at school or I'll hafta take a letter home that tells on me."

"Nice!" Nathan complimented, clapping his hands because that was impressive for a kid her age. "Trust me, I'm not gonna tell anyone. I say those things all the time myself. Look around, did anyone get hurt by that? Nope. And it felt good to say, yeah?"

"Yeah," Ramona admitted, giggling and hiding a little in the ginormous hoodie. "D'you have to turn your card to red if you say it at school? S'what happens when I'm bad and my teacher catches me. I don't get to be line leader anymore, either."

Preschool: full of cruel punishments.

Nathan was never going to let Ramona forget that she was proud of being line leader whenever she reverted back to normal sized. Never.

"Nah," he said, shaking his head. "I got detention once for throwing a water balloon at a teacher though. It's kind of like a timeout but it was totally and completely worth it. I'd do it again and take the timeout again. If it makes me laugh, why not do it, right?"

"One time, one time," she said excitedly, bouncing a little, "I put glue in a boy's hair 'cause he was mean to me, and I had to turn my card to red and 'pologize to him and I didn't get to have library time. He was a baby about it."

"And if you got the chance to do it again, would you even knowing that you'd get in trouble?" Nathan asked curiously.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject