smilestopscars | Room 210, Saturday Morning

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Room 210, Saturday Morning

Ezra did not know there was anything weird going on on the island. You could have even said he was blissfully unaware. That really wasn't going to last for very long.

But, he was awake and he'd showered, and the door to the hallway was open while he lazed about flipping through a magazine he'd picked up somewhere. Celebrity gossip about hot people he didn't really care about. Mmmmm.

It was quiet. It wouldn't be for long.

[ooc: Open door, open post, beware the tiny Sagishis invading the island because they will steal all your small stuff, for real. SP warning for the next bunch of hours, though.]

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Most kids would be just assume that their father should know who their mother was. For them, the idea that there could be anyone else was preposterous. For Zeke, however, his home life was a little more...colorful.

"You should guess!" Zeke suggested, grinning. "See how many names you say first."

"You're cute but you're also evil, kid," Ezra informed him, raising his eyebrows a little bit. "Is it Kathy?"

He just had a feeling. A few factors were behind said feeling.

"How'd you know?" Zeke asked, too surprised to try to pretend it wasn't.

"Because I'm just that awesome," Ezra replied, shrugging. Really, it was to do with how the kid looked and just... probabilities, really. "But, I can't get too smug about that because I still don't actually know your name. And I don't think I can guess it."

"Allan," Zeke said immediately, before looking up at his dad to see if he was believed. "And you should call Mom. Make her come downstairs to us!"

"I would never call my kid Allan," Ezra replied immediately. "So either you're an impostor, or a liar. Possibly both."

But he was already getting his phone.

"I guess we need to call your mom down to sort that out."

"I'm not an imposter!" Zeke protested the same time Kathy answered her phone.

"H'lo?" Her voice was low and husky with sleep. "Ez?"

That extra syllable was for people who'd been asleep for more than three hours.

"Yep," Ezra said. "We have a kid situation here." That seemed like a good way to start. Because there were actually no good ways to start. "Got a boy here who says his name's Allan and that he belongs to us. I'm only buying one of these claims."

A beat.

"This is a Fandom thing, not a prank."

"Maybe Mom named me!" Zeke insisted. "You don't know! Maybe she thinks Allen is a great name! Maybe it was Grandpa's name!"

"My dad was born in Korea," Kathy said, confused. Her brain was not firing on all synapses yet. "His name isn't Allan, that's ridiculous."

"...Did you say we have a kid? But--but--we didn't even do that yet!"

"Even if we had, the ensuing kid probably wouldn't be here trying to steal my things," Ezra pointed out, all rational and calm. "It's a Fandom thing, like I said. He's pretty adorable. You should come down."

"Hurry up, Mom!" Zeke hollered. "I asked Dad to get me breakfast, like, hours ago and he refused and now I'm staaaaaaarving."

That was not at all how that had gone, no.

And with his dad's attention partially split towards the phone, he was definitely going to try to pocket something else. It was like a bonding ritual?

"Okay, okay, I'm coming, I'm coming!" Kathy yelped, hurtling herself out of bed. "Gimme a minute, I'll be right down!"

She was as good as her word--better, really, because it didn't even take a full minute. Kathy hadn't bothered changing, just run down in a tanktop and shorts, pausing only to find her slippers so she wasn't dashing about barefoot in the dorms.

"Ezra?" she asked, pausing in the doorway to look at...okay, yeah, that was definitely a kid right there.

"I did not refuse to feed him," Ezra said, letting that serve as a greeting. "I don't think he's very attached to being truthful."

Which... yes, he could respect that.

Kathy turned a disappointed face to her...son, she supposed. "Really?" she asked him, all big sad eyes. "Is that really how we raised you, Allan?"

Aww, Mom, that was just unfair! Zeke hurtled to the door and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "'M Zeke," he said, voice muffled. "And...kinda?" He looked up at her. "It's all Dad's fault. He's a bad influence. But you try your best."

Just throw your dad under the bus kid, good job.

"Hey!" Ezra protested, raising his eyebrows at this betrayal. "I'll cop to an apparent failure to teach you not to steal from family, or at least not to do it so obviously, but I refuse to believe I'm a general bad influence."

"Daaaaad," Zeke said, rolling his eyes. "It doesn't count if I try to steal from you. You always catch me anyway. Once I can steal from you without getting caught, I can steal from anybody!"

"Hey now," Kathy chided. "Do you have to steal from anybody? Really?"

Actualfax superhero, right here guys. In the room with you.

"Ummm...yeah?" Zeke didn't understand the question. "Mom, you're the one who taught me how to control my speed so the lift is perfect."

And now Kathy was glaring back at Ezra. "You are a bad influence," she declared.

Ezra spread his hands and shrugged.

"It's the fox way, we can't help it," he said. So, an apology was not a thing that would happen on that front. "Besides, you heard him! You're not blameless in this, either."

"You're foxes not magpies," Kathy huffed. "And who do you think probably taught me?"

She was just going to willfully ignore the drugstore she'd robbed in LA. And the two items she'd stolen for Gaunt. Those had been different!

...Somehow.

"But you get really good!" Zeke insisted, trying to help. He tried to think of something that would get across just how good she'd become. "Back when you ran with Dad, you even impressed the Coter--"

Zeke felt the last syllable of that word leave his mouth and wished for the ability to pull it back in.

"--ie."

Oops. Mom was very strict about not talking about the Coterie in front of Dad--or much at all, really. The Coterie wasn't a topic to be discussed lightly, she said. Of course, that didn't stop other people from talking about the 'old days' or Zeke from listening where he wasn't supposed to be.

"Sorry Dad," he said, wincing. "Sorry, Mom. I know I'm not s'posed to talk about it."

Ezra felt like something was shattering inside him. For a second he probably looked it, too, but he was pretty quick to pull that back. He breathed in through his nose, and forced his shoulders to relax.

"It's okay," he said, even if it wasn't. His words said it was, and his tone said it was, and that was enough. "But we probably shouldn't bore your mom with that topic."

He did his best to be gentle. He'd seen that wince, and he didn't want to cause more.

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