fandomhighdorms | Third floor common room [Sunday afternoon]

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Third floor common room [Sunday afternoon]

It had taken most of yesterday for it to sink in that Cade had no real supervision. He had spent most of the morning jumping on his bed until he'd catapaulted off if it and landed in his closet (...he'd pretend he meant to do that...), and was now looking for something to eat in the common room.

He levitated a box of cereal from the cabinet and sat down on the sofa, eating it by the handful.

Life was astral when you were three.

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"Not picky. Good trait to have," he said, glancing back and giving what he hoped was an easy looking smile. This had been Jude's thing, not his. He was just recalling what Jude had done for him when he was a kid.

"Okay, so there's pizza," he said, straightening up and pulling open the freezer before adding, "and ice cream. Tough choice, kid. Which one do you want?"

Neither of those were things she got often, but Emma was old enough to know ice cream on pizza would be a horrible waste of both.

"Pizza." It'd be more filling and there was at least a chance the ice cream would still be there later.

"Hot or cold?" he asked, pulling someone's leftover pizza (he really didn't care if it was stealing or not) out of the fridge. "I'm a cold guy myself but to each his own. I won't judge if you want it heated up."

If you didn't want to lose your food, you didn't leave it in a common area, everyone knew that.

"Cold." Otherwise she'd have to wait for it to warm up and cool down enough to eat, and she was hungry. Not to mention..."Reheated pizza's soggy."

Which she'd still eat, but it was nice to have the choice.

"It really is," Flick said, dropping two greasy pieces on a plate for her and holding it out. "Not as good as the first time it's been heated. Loses some flavor. Here you go."

He watched her idly while he held out the plate. Somewhere in the back of his head, he had a niggling sense of who this little girl might be but he wasn't sure.

"I'll get you more if you're hungry when you finish these."

Well, how many blonde, bottomless pits with trust issues did you know, Flick?

Emma took the plate with a "Thanks" then got stuck into the pizza with great gusto. The first slice all but vanished, but she slowed down with the second.

"Wow."

That was pretty impressive. Flick had barely taken a few bites of his stolen pizza before she was done with hers.

"Don't eat too fast or you'll get a stomachache." That was definitely Jude's influence. It was weird and he shook his head at himself. "What's your name, anyway?"

Just to see if his guess was right. He was pretty sure it was.

Emma paused in her chewing and swallowed before answering, since manners were a thing she was supposed to have, or something.

"Emma," she said, picking at a stray bit of cheese. "What's yours?"

His guess had been right. And he couldn't stop the smile that appeared on his face when she said his name. He hid it by taking another bite of pizza.

"Flick." He nodded at her. "Strange name, right?"

Well, she hadn't going to say it but since he brought it up. "Pretty weird," she agreed. "But in a cool way."

"Yeah?" That wasn't something he heard often. Most people didn't care what he called himself. "Thanks. Your name's not too bad either. First Emma I've ever met, even."

"I've met a couple of others. In group-homes though, not placements." Emma, you were too tiny to be this world weary. "No Flicks before."

Flick stored that bit of information away but didn't prod her on it. It wasn't surprising, though. The weariness would have been sad if it wasn't so familiar. Still, he felt some sympathy for her right now.

"Just means I chose well," he decided, wondering if she'd remember his bit of sharing. "It's not my real name."

He could give that much up. He figured she'd probably guessed that already.

"Why'd you pick Flick?" Emma'd met enough kids who didn't like their real names to know better than to ask what his was.

Flick paused when he realized not a lot of people asked him that. They just went with it. Huh.

"Well, if I tell you, you promise you won't tell on me?" Flick asked, putting a finger to his lips to mime that it was a secret. "I don't wanna get in trouble or anything. Been there, done that a lot."

Emma usually went with it, but she was tinier and curiouser than usual today.

"I know how to keep a secret."

"Okay."

He snickered and held out a hand. "It's because I like to steal things and can do it with just a flick of my wrist."

He gestured a few times before dropping his hand back to his side. "I'm really good at it."

"Really?" If Emma sounded more intrigued than scandalised, well, she only had one thing of value and she doubted Flick was interested in baby blankets.

"Yep."

He nodded and finished off his pizza before kneeling down so he was more at her height.

"C'mere, I'll show you something I took the other night," he offered, pulling a thin phone out of his back pocket. He held it up so she could see it.

"What's that?" Emma asked, being from the far off past of 1992 when cell phones were for yuppies and resembled bricks.

"Telephone," he said, holding it out to her. "You can call people or you can play games on it. I tend to go for the games. Want it?"

He was just going to sell it so he didn't have a real use for it.

"I'll even stick my number in there in case you do wanna talk to someone and get bored of the games. You can call me."

Emma nodded. Even if she had to hide it so no one took it, that sounded too useful to pass up.

"So it's like a Game Boy and a phone?" It was like something out of Space Battles.

"Just like that," Flick said, turning the phone and at least putting his number in there, just in case.

Then, he pulled up the assortment of games and handed it to her. "There's a lot of them on here so you'll have a lot of things to try, right? Don't stay up too late playing them though. Sleep's cool too."

Wow, he sounded like Jude and Flick had to blink a few times to clear that thought out.

"Thanks," Emma said, taking the phone and trying to figure out how it worked. Oooh, shiny.

"Welcome," he said, standing up again. "Enjoy. Just dial up my number if you need any help."

Flick nodded and tossed his plate away.

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Third floor common room [Sunday afternoon]

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