Chapter Text
By the time Homeschool got to the scene of the crime, this is what he saw.
There was an overturned table in the middle of the room. Couch cushions were strewn around, and the children stood facing away from each other right in the middle of it all. Preshy pouted, head turned down and eyes glistening with prepped tears. Rafferty stood with a deep scowl, his head facing towards the ceiling and his arms crossed tightly to his chest. Champeen was frantic, pacing the floor and talking a mile a minute while the kids stood silent.
All in all, much less chaotic of a scene than expected.
When Champeen looked up to meet Homeschool’s gaze, she froze- as if startled to see him (in his own home?)- and took a deep breath, looking frazzled. She turned to Preshy and Rafferty, who both faced her now, and exhaled. “Could you two just… try to explain what you could have been doing to make this much of a mess?” Rafferty huffed angrily and turned his head away, his scowl wobbling a bit. Preshy looked tense, opening and closing her mouth as if she was losing her words with each passing moment. Homeschool recognized the look… all too well for his liking.
The tension in the room was palpable, and Homeschool felt like he was choking on it. He was never really good at this sort of thing, and the fact that he was out of practice certainly didn’t help. He could feel himself sweating through his collar despite himself (and the broken window).
Before the room could get any more awkward, he cleared his throat and blurted out “Are… are you hurt?” Both children looked towards him in unison and stared for a bit, and Homeschool regretted every decision that led him to this moment. They then blinked, looked themselves over and relaxed their bodies just a bit, both giving a small “yeah” or “mhm” in confirmation without looking back at him.
“Phew” Homeschool sighed audibly, mostly to himself. He let himself relax and wiped the sweat from his brow, content with that answer. No need to talk to his lawyer yet, at least.
Speaking of, Homeschool thought to himself, he still needed to find his phone. Champeen went to say something, but she was interrupted with “Okay, well, now that that’s been cleared up, have either of you seen my phone? I could have sworn I had it on my person just a bit ago…” He trailed off, doing a quick scan of the room to check for it. Champeen just huffed in annoyance while looking straight at him, trying to psychically tell him how pissed she was. He remained oblivious to her message as he scanned the room.
The kids suddenly looked panicked, and rushed around the room looking for the phone as well. Homeschool could hear Preshy repeatedly saying “oh no oh no” under her breath, while Rafferty was breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating. Champeen yelled out “Oh no you don’t!” and grabbed Preshy and Rafferty by the shoulders as they tried to run past her. They took a few steps back, nearly avoiding glass shards as they stood straight up. Champeen squatted down to look them both in the eyes, keeping her grip steady. Rafferty was already calming down a bit, trying to steady his breathing and Preshy took a deep breath and gulped, maintaining eye contact.
Champeen loosened her grip a bit, pity overtaking her face at the pathetic display. “Hey, it’s alright guys,” she half-whispered, confidently enough to keep the kids grounded while still showing enough patience in her tone. “You’re not in trouble or anything. It’s just-... thanks for not going too rough.” She smiled at the end to punctuate her sincerity.
“And also,” Homeschool voiced from behind Champeen, startling her out of balance. Homeschool didn’t seem to notice her fumble, and continued “it’s not like that phone was special or anything. It certainly wasn’t my only one, so don’t worry too much about it.” The words fell clumsily out from his mouth, and he looked almost frightened from their sudden outburst.
“So, wait.” Preshy immediately took an indignant tone, all the tension gone from the room. “You just- You just have more phones? That’s kinda stupid. Why would you need that many?”
“Good to know you weren’t that worried about it in the first place.” Homeschool spoke casually, and smirked slightly afterwards. Rafferty smiled back at him, and Preshy just stood awkwardly with indignation. Homeschool then turned to Champeen, still with the same expression. It quickly changed to confusion, since her face was already turned to him, something unreadable in its quality. They stayed like that for a small while, before Homeschool asked “What?” in a stern tone.
“Hmn?” Champeen shook her head a bit, as if snapping out of a daze. “Oh, I-”
A loud blaring sound interrupted her, and Homeschool grimaced at the sound, turning his head away from the window. Champeen, however, perked up and gasped, smiling widely. “She’s here!” she shouted, and opened the door forcefully, only taking a small moment to look at the knob before running out towards the street. Homeschool sputtered a bit in outrage, before grumbling to himself and trudging out to figure out what fresh new idiot he had to deal with now.
Now it was just Preshy and Rafferty in the living room. Preshy quickly glanced towards the general area of the couch, then scooted back to kick the broken remains of Homeschool’s phone underneath it.
“Okay,” Preshy started, barely above a whisper. “Just cause he isn’t angry right now doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. Good job with getting on the same page about the phone though. Keep it up, and I’ll go sneak around and see if there are any snacks around here for ya!”
Rafferty just stared at his sister tersely for a moment, before huffing and walking out the front door. Preshy looked after her brother confused, then sputtered to herself in indignation. She grunt-sighed after a moment, muttering about “how stubborn Raf could be” as she made her way outside with the rest of the group.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Homeschool stood slack-jawed at the bottom of the stairs to his home, a mix of shock and awe plainly visible on his face. The vehicle in front of him had to have been the biggest thing he’d ever seen, and he wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it had been in a monster truck rally of some sort. The bed of the truck overflowed with all sorts of Decemberween junk, including miniature trees, piles of tangled tinsel and lights, and what looked to be a hand-crafted ceramic statue of Champeen, Preshy, Rafferty, and… an angry blue thing with a horrid expression on it’s face. Champeen peeked out from behind the giant mechanical monstrosity, smiled snarkily and made her way out from her position. She carried boxes of miscellaneous objects as she walked to where Homeschool stood, before stopping for a moment to proclaim “It kinda looks like you, doesn’t it?”
Homeschool shook his head, snapping out of his daze before scowling deeply at his half-sister. “Yeah, like that!” she teased, snickering to herself as she made her way inside.
“Not. Funny.” Homeschool grumbled through gritted teeth. He could feel a headache coming on, and started walking towards the truck at a brisk pace, facing back to the front door. “I don’t know how you did this, nor do I want to. Whoever you got to do this had better understand who they’re dealing with, because I certainly won’t hold back-”
He bumps into a presence as he’s monologuing, stumbling back a bit before turning his head forward. He stands there confused for a bit, taking in the image of the person before him. They were tall, even more so than Champeen, with the biggest cotton-candy pink hair he’d ever seen. For a chilly winter's day, their choice of dress was insufficient, wearing a sleeveless navy blue dress and bright yellow tights. They stood at an angle, casually holding a box of miscellaneous ornaments between their right hand and hip. With a toothpick in between their ruby red lips, they held a constant gaze with Homeschool, scanning him with a judging look. Homeschool felt surprisingly threatened by the person in front of him, which was a near-foreign experience in his modern life. He took a step back, and looked away from the stranger as they continued to stare sternly.
“Miss ‘Cane?” Preshy questioned loudly from the porch, snapping them both from their tense state. Homeschool looked back to find both of the kids standing by the front door, an air of familiarity on both their faces. Rafferty was shaking with excitement, nearly bouncing in place; Preshy simply leaned back and shook her head in bemusement, chuckling to herself.
Rafferty ran forward, and Homeschool watched as he nearly barrelled into the person in front of him, clasping them into a tight bear hug. Their gaze softened instantly, a kind smile on their face as they used their free hand to ruffle the kid’s hair. Homeschool felt a slight twinge of… jealousy something. He decided not to think about it too hard.
Champeen wandered out of the house in a distracted manner, humming to herself before looking up and slowing quickly at the base of the stairs. Seeing Homeschool, a slight bit of panic set over her. Preshy piped up from behind “So, did you ask before inviting Miss ‘Cane over? ‘Cause I know how much fun she is, and Homeschool is kind of a fun hater.”
“Ah, shut it.” Champeen joked, trying to seem nonchalant before turning back and walking over. Preshy looked mildly annoyed at being waved off as Champeen yelled out “Ay, Homeschool! I see you’ve finally-”
“Who is this.” He interrupted, hastily and in a half-whispered tone. Champeen could see his eyes darting back and forth between the perceived stranger and herself, all while the other person was still distracted with Rafferty. “You… know them?”
“Oh, yeah. That’s The Hurricane! Don’t- oh wait no, you’ve never even met her. Um… What kind of music do you like?”
“Wh- What does that have to do with anything?” Homeschool replied, with a louder, less panicked tone. “And what kind of name is ‘ The Hurricane’? ”
“Yeah, you’re named Homeschool man. You don’t exactly have a lot of ground to stand on there.” Champeen retorted, rolling her eyes as she made her way closer to The Hurricane. Homeschool stood there, feeling ridiculed but also admitting to himself that, yes, Champeen had a point.
He looked back up at the group and realized at that moment that it was eerily quiet. He could hear some soft whispers from Champeen, but very little else. Peeking around his half-sister, he noted the way that “The Hurricane” moved their hands during the pause in the conversation (or rather, the audible portion). He even recognized a few of the signs, having memorized them for a meeting a few years back with an investor. A lot of things started making sense.
The Hurricane looked straight at him, and he panicked a bit before she put down the box and started lifting herself up from her kneeling position. “‘Cane, this is Homeschool. I mean, you probably figured that out already, but it’s still nice to introduce people you know that don’t know each other, ya know?” The Hurricane nodded with a smile on her face, before turning to face him again, with a much nicer expression this time. Homeschool (never one to return niceties) just sat there puzzled. “Homeschool,” Champeen continued, “The ‘Cane here is-”
“Your girlfriend?” He interrupted, out of genuine curiosity more than anything. However, Champeen immediately looked mortified, blushing instantly at the comment and tripping over her words in response. The Hurricane covered her mouth, seemingly on the brink of a laughing fit. Preshy actually did have a laughing fit all the way from the stairs, flopping onto the floor and rolling around the whole time, while Rafferty seemingly had no idea what happened and was jumping to get The Hurricane’s attention. She took some deep breaths, then tapped on Champeen before signing something along the lines of “you never told me he made jokes” and lightly punching her in a playful manner. Champeen paused for a moment, then muttered “Aw, shut it.” before shoving The Hurricane lightly and stomping her way to the door. The Hurricane chuckled silently to herself, before picking up the box she put down and following after her. On the way, she patted Homeschool on the shoulder and smiled, before turning back.
Homeschool could only stand there, mostly shocked by the physical contact as the others went inside. It’s not like he hadn’t been touched before, but he couldn’t recall any time in recent memory where it had been something so… casual.
He wondered if this was how Rafferty felt when he hugged her.
He wondered if his mom ever did that for him.
Before he knew it, he was snapped back to reality by a loud clattering from inside his house. He shook the daze off, before bolting inside, barely even noticing the first tiny snowflake falling to the ground right behind where he stood.