Sixth Floor Ball Pit; Wednesday Evening [ 05/09 ].

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

Since the attempts of getting a good photograph at work was pretty much a failure, Britta was actually feeling a little bit glad that she had oh-so-handwavily promised to show Frank the ball pit she mentioned at the picnic. She did wonder why someone would need to be shown a ball pit; it was pretty easy to find. But, on the other hand, she also wouldn't be surprised if Frank had somehow managed to hurt himself on a plastic colorful ball, so if anything, she was there to supervise.

"So, there you have it," she said, gesturing toward the large pit filled with balls, just as the name and her earlier description would suggest, "the ball pit."


[[ Frank modded with permission and open ball pit is so totally open ]]

Comments

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

"Gosh," Frank said, taking in the room. "It really is a pit full of balls!"

Oh dear. Frank, your mid-twentieth-century was showing.

"So people just... jump in?"

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

Astute, this one.

"Or be pushed in," Britta offered, placing one hand over her heart and the other lightly on his shoulder, "which I'm not going to do to you, Frank, because that's mean."

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

"But it looks like so much fun!" he insisted. "Come on, I'll jump in with you on three, okay?"

PUPPY EYES. DEAL WITH THAT, BRITTA.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

Oh, now that was mean. Britta tried to muster up her best ice queen coldness to stare down those sweet, adorable puppy eyes, but she could feel her will bending a little.

"No, that's okay," she said with a little laugh to loosen the puppy dog eye mind control. "You go right on ahead. I mean, it's your first ball pit jump, I wouldn't want to infringe on that, and look at these boots. These boots are just going to be an accident waiting to happen in there."

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

"You're right," Frank breathed, and he promptly got to work taking off his own shoes. "Smart!"

And now his sweater vest was coming off too. He wanted the full ball pit experience, okay?

Fifties children were so deprived.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"Whoa!" said Britta, lifting her hands to cover her eyes if she needed to because Frank was, like, what, fourteen? Fifteen? And she was totally misinterpreting the removal of the sweater vest. "Also a really dangerous idea? Ball pits while naked."

Unless he was maybe a year or two older. Although....

Britta shook her head. "Just jump in, Frank."

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't gonna--!" Oh god, Britta, now you had him blushing. "I'm was just gonna be like this! Really!"

Shirt, pants and socks. Nothing weird!

"But the point," he added, "is that you should come in too. Because just think how much fun it's gonna be! Balls. In a pit!"

Come on, Britta. GET ON BOARD WITH THIS.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

Britta breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, good," she said, "because I didn't want to have to explain anything like corrupting freshmen in ball pits to my parole officer, which is exactly why I should probably definitely stay up here and you can go in and have fun."

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

Beat. "You have a parole officer?"

Look at him. Look at him all wide-eyed and curious and not judgey.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"Yeah..." Britta had the decency to at least try to look ashamed, wrinkling her nose a little bit, but that wasn't quite enough to cover up the fact that she was grinning with a bit of pride. "I dropped out of high school and then got busted for graffiti, so they decided to send me back. I guess it's better than juvie."

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

"That. Is so. Cool!" Frank, you future criminal little dork. "I mean, not the part where you were busted, 'cause that's really lame, but you have a record. You're like an adult!"

Frank had a very weird sense of what constituted adulthood. Clearly.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"Pffft," said Britta, rolling her eyes a little in a poor attempt at modesty, because she was clearly beaming underneath it all. "It's not like it's anything big. I mean, all I did was just organize an entire group of anarchist taggers to terrorize the billboards and buildings of Riverside. Come on."

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

"Which is only the coolest thing I've heard in my whole life," Frank insisted. "Was it just for fun, or was there a reason on top of it being fun? Oh! Was it an IRS thing? My dad hates the IRS."

Frank wasn't sure what that is, just that his dad hated it, by virtue of that, it seemed protest-worthy. Hush.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"Not an IRS thing," Britta was sad to report, "but I don't blame your dad. I mean, I wouldn't mind them if they actually used tax money for the things it should go to, like roads and schools and building bridges, but instead, I bet all that money is going in to padding the big fat pockets of big fat politions. And I did it for a statement. I'm not about to be bound by anyone else's idea of what's acceptable, and I planned on making that message loud and clear."

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

...

"Cool," Frank breathed.

It was possible that he had a new hero. And that hero was Britta Perry.

The earth was doomed.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

And that hero was getting the validation she so desperately craved, too.

Definitely doomed.

"Yeah, whatever," Britta said with more of some of the most terribly masked modesty ever. "Are you going to get in that ball pit, or are we just going to stand here talking about my criminal record all day?"

Of course, she'd be perfectly happy going with the latter, it's just that there wasn't actually that much more to cover on that topic.

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

"Oh, right!" Look, her criminal record was cooler than a pit full of multicolored balls. That was saying something. "Okay." He took a few steps back in order to prepare for a running jump. "On three?"

DO IT FOR THE FANBOY, BRITTA.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

A running jump. Could Britta seriously just take Frank and put him in her pocket? She snorted a laugh, shaking her head. "Okay. On three. One, two..."

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

"Cowabunga!"

And that would be one really, really, really excited Frank-shaped blur leaping into the ball pit.

Look, if it was your first time in a ball pit, you'd be excited too. Shut up.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

And Britta made it look like she was going to step forward and jump in with him, but, of course, at the last second, she didn't. She stopped at the end and looked in at Frank with an amused smirk, shaking her head.

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

Okay, so first Frank was going to tread... balls, and swivel around so he could actually look at Britta properly, which took some work.

And then, because she'd totally betrayed him, he was going to toss a ball, underhanded, in Britta's general direction. "Hey!" he called up at her. "Come on in!"

He was never gonna learn.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

Britta made an attempt to catch the ball, which failed and she mostly took it in the shoulder with an underwhelming, "Ow."

"And no," she said. "You didn't honestly expect me to jump in there, did you?"

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

"Uh, yeah!" Because Frank was naive. "Come on! You can tell me more about your adventures and stuff!"

FRANK, NO. FRANK, BRITTA WAS A TERRIBLE ROLE MODEL. STOP IT, FRANK.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"I can tell you about...my...adventures,"--not exactly how she would describe them, but okay, she'd roll with it--"just fine from here."

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

"No, you can't," Frank informed her somberly.

And down into the ball pit he went!

That was probably super unhygenic. But. All for a good cause.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

And Britta had even been good about not mentioning to Frank about how most places didn't even do ball pits anymore because of needles and broken glass and stuff.

But, fine, then, if he was going to just emerge himself in the balls, she could just sit down and wait. He'd have to come up for air eventually, and, while she was sitting there, she almost wished she'd brought her camera, because she was envisioning this great shot involving the balls and held up her fingers to sort of get an idea of the framing...as if she actually knew what framing was.

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

Okay, staying under the balls was only a feasible option for so long before air was necessary.

"Still no?" he called when he surfaced.

[shestheworst.livejournal.com]

"Still no," Britta confirmed, but she narrowed her eyes slightly, considering Frank very carefully. "Although...I think I'm having a moment. One of those...inspirational things right now. Stay here." She carefully climbed back up to her feet. "I need to get my cam--"

And it was then, at that moment, that the true folly of fashionable boots with really tall heels became evident. As she got up, she caught the heel on the edge of the ball pit, promptly lost her balance, and found herself caught in the cushioning embrace of a lot of plastic round sphere.

[catchmeifyoucan.livejournal.com]

Oh, Britta. Oh, shiny fashionable boots. You three combined were the greatest thing that had ever happened to Frank. Ever.

Please excuse him while he cracked up in surprised laughter. And then pelted her with a couple more balls, because come on, how could he not?