Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The dorm was a mess. Clothes strewn about the floor and costume makeup cluttering up every surface Neil could see from his vantage point on the desk beside Andrew.

Where did Nicky get all this stuff? He mused, examining two identical containers labeled 'face glitter' and 'body glitter' respectively. Was there a difference? Would something happen if you used the body glitter on your face and the face glitter on your body? Probably not...right?

It was Halloween of Neil's sophomore year and they were supposed to be celebrating in Colombia over an hour ago.

The upperclassmen had left for some fancy dress party on campus at eight; Neil wished he had accepted their invite to come along.
Surely a room full of drunk, sweaty college kids was more fun than listening to Kevin and Nicky squabble over who was going to wear the Roman gladiator costume, Nicky insisting it made his ass look great and therefore had dibs, while Kevin argued that he picked it first and 'you don't even know a thing about ancient Rome, shut up Hemmick!'.

Even Andrew was getting fed up.

This year Neil got to choose what he would dress up as, it had only taken him a minute to put on his cape and set of plastic vampire fangs; he still didn't really see the point of spending hours getting dressed up, just so they could do what they always did when they went to Colombia.

Although he was willing to change his mind as his eyes drifted away from what was quickly turning into a game of tug of war over a foam sword, to the short beefcake of a blonde sat next to him.

Andrew was dressed as Danny Zuko from Grease, a film Allison had finally succeeded in getting Neil to watch over the summer.
He had to say, the tight white shirt, leather jacket and greaser hairdo, looked really good on Andrew. He'd be sure to snap a couple of pictures later, for safe keepings.

The apathetic blonde must have sensed Neil's appreciative gaze because he huffed out, "Staring." Before turning to face him, unimpressed.
"Can you blame me?" Neil smirked, letting his eyes drag across Andrew's outfit pointedly. Andrew grunted, pressing two fingers to Neil's cheek and shoving his face away.

"–but I want to be the Greek radiator, gimme it!"

"It's ROMAN GLADIATOR! At least get the name right!"

"Same difference, Let go already!" Nicky's hold on the toy sword tightened, warping the spongy material slightly.

"Nuh-uh! It's mine." Kevin looked like he was going to have an aneurysm as he fought back, almost knocking Nicky over with a sharp tug.

"I bought it! Tell 'im Andrew!" Nicky almost looked close to tears as he frantically gestured to Andrew with one hand; the sword slipping from his grasp so abruptly, Kevin fell backwards into a big cardboard box labeled 'spooky-time bitches!' with a wail.

"–Jesus! You two are actual children sometimes! Just put some fucking clothes on so we can leave. I'm sick of your immaturity, grow the fuck up!"
Aaron yelled from his place on the couch, startling them into temporary silence.

Neil let out a quiet snort at the abashed looks on their faces. He watched in silent amusement as Kevin's frown turned indignant and proceeded to scoff, "I am not immature!"

"Yeah. Me neither! You're just pissy 'cause you're short."

"What?" Aaron admonished, "That doesn't–"

"If I'm such a child, how come I have my own bank account?" Kevin butted in, arms crossing over his chest before removing a fake spider web from his shoulder and letting it float unceremoniously to the floor.

"I can drive! What ten year old knows how to drive?" Retorted Nicky, all too proud of himself.

Aaron slouched backwards in his seat, palms pressed flat to his face before glaring at the two morons.

"I knew how to drive when I was ten." Neil offered casually, Andrew snorted.

Nicky whirled round, smugness replaced by surprise. "Wait wha– nevermind we'll get into that later. You're supposed to be on my side! You're not helping Neil–"

"Who said I'm on your side?" Neil mused with a small laugh "–And I hate to agree with him here, but Aaron has a point. You're acting like little kids, pick something else to wear and make it quick. We don't have all night." Neil stood up from his seat on the desk, brushed off his pants and pulled lightly on Andrew's sleeve for him to follow. Kevin opened his mouth to protest but was silenced again when Aaron threw a rubber bat at his face. Nicky, not wanting to meet a similar fate, hastily began rummaging around for a different costume. Giving up on his gladiatorial dreams.

Neil led Andrew to the kitchen and closed the door behind them. Seconds later, a new argument erupted, too muffled behind the door to really hear anything other than Aaron's occasional shout. Neil rolled his eyes and sighed. Children.

"Why." Andrew prodded, pushing at Neil's shoulder for attention.

"I could tell you were getting annoyed, so I thought it best to leave before there was any real blood to go along with all the fake stuff." Neil smiled, reaching for the hand still on his shoulder. "Unless you want to go back in there?" A crash sounded in the other room followed by more screaming.

Andrew hummed, gaze flitting to the door contemplatively before returning to Neil. "They are going to be awhile. Yes or no?"

"Yes." Neil's answer was immediate as he lent in.
"Wait." Andrew's hand splayed against his chest, ceasing his movements. "Teeth." He said unimpressed.

"Oh, yeah– just. Hold on a sec." Neil spluttered as he removed the fake fangs and buried them into his jeans pocket. Heat rising to his cheeks in embarrassment.

"Idiot." Andrew whispered without malice and pulled him in.

Neil doubted they'd make it to Colombia that night, but was content to spend his time kissing Andrew in the small kitchen instead.

Things were getting heated as Andrew pressed Neil into the wall, breaking their kiss to trail his lips down Neil's cheek and neck, teeth grazing his pulse point.
Neil couldn't help himself when he blurted, "Aren't I supposed to be the vampire?"

Andrew lifted his head to look Neil in the eye, eyebrow raised.
"Alright then, Count Josten". He said dryly tilting his head slightly, exposing his neck."Go ahead."

Neil huffed a small laugh and placed his lips to the skin of Andrew's pale neck. He'd only managed one or two small kisses before the door swung open, banging against the wall as a half naked Kevin barged in looking frenzied, drenched in a sticky red, glitter flying off of him as he made to stand behind Andrew.

"Ha. Try and get me now!" He sing-songed triumphantly.

Nicky and Aaron followed behind not long after, in similar states of disarray. What the hell were they doing in there?

The bickering continued, something about bagpipes or was it magpies?
It was honestly hard to tell.

Neil probably would have thought it funny if he hadn't been so rudely interrupted from kissing Andrew and those pleasant little shivers and tiny gasps he would make. He felt robbed.

"Stop." Andrew spoke clearly to the room, he seemed just as upset as Neil.
The others froze at his voice.

Andrew and neil spent the next hour, trying to wrap their heads around what the fuck happened after they stepped away to canoodle in the kitchen.

°°°°°°°°°

Unbeknownst to the remaining occupants of fox tower, a strange hooded figure was running past, several old books clutched between their arms.

The figure was currently being chased down by a furious looking campus security officer and in the rush to get away, the unknown tripped over their heavy cloak, falling to the ground, books scattering everywhere.

The campus security officer was quickly gaining on them shouting a "Hey! You there, freeze!"

The figure jumped to their feet and scrambled to pick up all the books before taking off again.

It wasn't until they had finally succeeded in evading security that they realised they were missing one of the books.

"Shit."

°°°°°°°°°

At 10:43pm, Jennifer Stoltz, a junior cheerleader was stumbling around campus with some friends after being kicked out of a frat party.

"Hey Kate? Didn't you say you had some schnapps in your dorm? The night is young an' I'm not nearly wasted enough yet!" Crooned Chrissa, a tall sophomore in a too tight miniskirt and plastic devil horns.

"Nah, sorry Chris. I finished the last of it two nights ago with Aaron." Katelyn apologized sweetly, cheeks flushed from two vodka shots and a solo cup of room temperature beer.

"Oooh, gettin' drunk with the boyfriend. I hope you had protection– don't want any little Minyard babies runnin' round anytime soon!"

"Shut up, Priya!" Katelyn giggled, playfully slapping the drunk zombie schoolgirl's hand, blush deepening almost tenfold.

Carly Lennon joined in on the teasing as Jennifer laughed, assisting a very drunk Carmen Delorenzo before dropping her when she tripped over something.

"Whoops haha, careful. Coulda–mmm–broke my face or sumthin'.. now 'm on the floor." Carmen slurred, too inebriated to really give a damn, smiling as she nestled her cheek on the damp concrete as if it were a particularly soft pillow.

"You are a hot mess." Jennifer sighed fondly before helping her up and apologizing.

"Mmm, you know it babes!" Carmen giggled and was lifted to her feet with all the grace of a newborn giraffe in six inch stilettos.

The four remaining cheerleaders, rushed to them exclaiming things such as:
"Oh my god are you alright?!",
"What happened?",
"Is anything broken?" And–
"Carmen, how are you this drunk? You only had like one beer!"

"It's a gift.." Jennifer could hear her friend's response as she searched for what tripped her up.

"What are you looking for?" Katelyn asked as she stopped beside her.

"Something tripped me– ah! There!" Jennifer exclaimed as she swooped down to pick up the offending object. It was a heavy leather bound book, with gold script on the front and yellowed pages, obviously very old and definitely not english. Weird.

"What's that?" Priya joined, leaving Chrissa to deal with Carmen.

"A book." Jennifer shrugged, examining it further.

"What's it say?"

"I don't know? Looks like Latin or some shit." Jennifer flipped through the pages before landing on one at random, the words underlined in blue pen.

"Here let me see." Carly outstretched her hand in request, Jennifer handed her the book.

"Et facti– sunt iunior puer…? Hol–horologiorum terga vertere...tredecim annis?" Carly began to read, squinting at the words, trying them out on her tongue.
"Spirituum det mihi hanc."

"What does it mean?" Priya frowned at the page.

"Hell if I know," Carly grimaced. "Let's just head to the next party already, I'm getting cold and it's creepy standing around in a circle under the moon like we're fucking witches or something reading from a weird ass book we found on Halloween!" Carly made to toss the book back on the ground before Jennifer grabbed it again.

Carly was met with unanimous support.

"I agree, but this must belong to someone. I'm gonna go take it to the lost and found and drop Carmen off to her dorm, Erica can take care of her. You girls go on ahead, I'll meet up with you later."

"Pffffft. I'm fine, I'm barely tipsy, see!' Carmen stretched out her arms, pointer fingers extended and brought them to the tip of her nose before missing entirely and poking herself in the eye. The others shared a look.

"You sure sugar bug?" Chrissa asked. Jennifer nodded, clutching the book and swinging Carmen's arm around her neck.
"Okaaay, don't get murdered or something on the way!"

"Chrissa!" Katelyn scolded, "I'll come with you." She said turning to Jennifer with a smile.

"Bye bitches! Love yooooou!"
Carly and Priya chorused, blowing kisses.

As the girls waved eachother off, promising to meet up again shortly to continue their night of fun and put the odd book out of their minds. A strange breeze rolled past as the clouds cleared.
The moon's light, shining directly into an unsuspecting third floor window, where five young men had finally given up their plans to go out and called it an early night.

"Guys, did you feel that? Felt like a ghost just caressed my ass cheeks!"

"You know, Carm. When you say shit like that, I worry about you. I really do."

°°°°°°°°°

Chapter Text

Matt Boyd was very hung over.

The room was too bright, he had forgotten to close the blinds when he got in last night. There was a faint high pitched squealing in his ear and his head hurt like a bitch but it was so worth it.

Man. What a night!

He still had pieces of confetti in his hair and half a sleeve missing from when he literally caught fire on the dancefloor, busting out some killer moves.
Neil should have been there, it was awesome!

Matt wondered if the other guys had fun on their trip to Colombia, judging by Aaron's empty bed, they must have stayed there.

After about five minutes of psyching himself up to get out of bed, he checked his phone for the time.

"9:23. Not bad Matty, not bad at all."

After a pat on the back, he shuffled out of the bedroom to shower, shave and see if he could wash off the weird drawing on his arm he hoped wasn't a tattoo.

Drying off and changing into some clothes that weren't burnt at the sleeve, Matt wandered to the kitchen to make some coffee. Maybe he should bring some to the girls too, lord knows they're gonna need it.

"What's on the agenda for today Matt?" He mused, tapping his chin thoughtfully as he stared at the mostly empty schedule taped to the fridge. "I don't know Matt? Looks like you're mostly free today, just one afternoon class. Score!"

"Are you talking to yourself out loud?"

Matt turned around to see the most beautiful angel, smiling at him.
No. Really, she still had her halo on.

"Dan! I didn't hear you come in. Coffee?" He offered, already grabbing a second mug.

"Please. You're the best Matthew Boyd," she murmured coming closer and wrapping her hands 'round his middle, stroking gently at his chest.

Matt loved mornings like these, minus the hangover part obviously, his head was still hurting. He relished in the simple domesisty, and knowledge that there was no rush to do anything or be anywhere. With the monsters in Colombia still, he could hope for a quiet morning.

"Thanks babe." Dan smiled, taking the coffee offered to her. "I just came to ask if you know what that noise is." She said between mouthfuls of steaming hot coffee.

Noise? Does she mean that squealing noise. Matt could've sworn it was just his ears ringing.
He tells her as much.

"Yeah. You don't know what that is? It woke me up, Allison said it was probably an alarm or something and went back to sleep. You really don't know?" Dan looked at him concerned.

"Babe, I just thought I was hearing things. We could go check it out.."
He trailed off already slipping his shoes on.

"Mmm yeah, let's." Dan said, placing her half empty mug back on the counter.

They left Matt's and Aaron's dorm only to bump into Renee in the hallway.

"I just came to see what that noise is." She spoke softly, a small frown tugged at her lips.

Suddenly a crash sounded from the monsters dorm and the squealing noise grew louder. Sounding more like a cry. Well that can't be good.

"I thought they were in Colombia?" Dan asked, "What the hell was that?!"

Matt was thinking the same thing, Aaron hadn't come home last night. He wasn't with Katelyn, Matt saw her at the party last night, she and her friends had gone home alone.

"I'm not sure, maybe we should go see if everything is alright." Renee was already moving towards the door with purpose and knocked gently.

It took a few tries before the lock clicked and the door creaked open slowly.

Ok Matt was definitely still dreaming. He probably fell asleep in the shower again. Why was some little Mexican kid opening the door? What?

Dan shared a look with Matt and whispered, "What the fuck have they done now?!" Urgency edging her tone.

Renee, ever graceful, smiled softly at the boy. "Oh, hello! Is everything alright? We heard a loud crash, I'm Renee. Can you tell me your name?"

The boy blinked a few times before relaxing, "Um, I'm not sure? We just kinda woke up here. I'm Nicky." He held out his hand for her to shake.

Renee actually looked taken aback as she politely shook his hand. He was only just shorter than her and was wearing what seemed to be a too large pirate costume.

The fuck was going on? That couldn't actually be Nicky, could it?

"I'm sorry, what did you mean by 'we just woke up here'?" Dan stepped forward, highly confused.

The boy, Nicky, shrugged before opening the door wider.

On the couch, was another young boy, probably eight or nine, with dark hair and green eyes. Staring at his surroundings with as much confusion as Matt felt. He was shirtless, only wearing baggy sweats. Kevin?

Peering into the kitchen, they could see two tiny blondes staring at one another in shock, a chair lying on the floor between them, that must have been the crash they heard. One of them was shaking violently, the other frozen. Aaron? Andrew?

Matt could hear tiny sobs coming from under the desk by the window and caught the sight of an even tinier redhead. Neil??

Ok what? Did someone slip him something?

"Hey kid, what's your full name? How'd you get here?" Matt couched so he could look 'Nicky' in the eyes.

"Nicky Esteban Hemmick and like I said, we all just kinda woke up here. Last thing I remember is my mom saying goodnight, now I'm here and I'm kinda freaking out, the only person I know is Aaron over there" he pointed to the kitchen, "He's my cousin, I know, we don't look like it though." He laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

Wow. If Matt didn't already have a headache, he certainly did now.

"This must be really troubling for you, I'm sorry you're going through this. We'll help the best we can." Renee reassured him. He relaxed further at the sight of the cross around her neck and led them in with a "Thanks".

Matt sat on the couch with Dan. So much for a quiet morning.

"The master will come pick me up soon. This is a test." The green eyed boy said to himself with a shaky nod. He had a smudge of black marker on his cheek, where Kevin's tattoo would've sat.

"Hey, I'm Matt. What's your name?"

The boy turned to him, hesitating slightly before answering. "Kevin. Where am I exactly?"

Matt didn't know what he should do, this was quite literally an impossible situation. So he settled for honesty. Kids appreciate honesty right?
"You're in fox tower, the athletic dorms at Palmetto state university, South Carolina,"

Kevin looked at him wide eyed, doing some quick math in his head. "How–why?"
"I'm not sure kid, I've been kinda chalking it up to some Freaky Friday shi– uh type nonsense”

Good save Matt, good save.

Kevin nodded contemplatively, "Oh okay? I think? I'm not sure."

"I'm gonna call Coach." Dan said beside him as she fumbled with her phone and went to stand outside. Nicky took her spot and looked up at Matt, a slight blush to his cheeks.

"You okay?" He asked the kid.
"Mmhm," Nicky nodded, suddenly finding his bare feet incredibly interesting.

Matt saw Renee crouching by the desk whispering something before the tiny redhead crawled out and stood awkwardly in front of her, dressed in a large black t-shirt that slid off one shoulder, exposing a burn scar and clutching a cape so tightly his hands shook and knuckles turned white. Matt's heart broke at the sight.
These poor kids. He couldn't imagine what they must be going through right now.

He was distracted by the sounds of shuffling feet as one of the blondes from the kitchen came and stood by Nicky, tears drying on his cheeks.

"Nicky, where are we? Who are these people? And why does that boy look like me?!" His voice shook, more tears threatening to spill as he angrily pointed to the kitchen door.

Matt could hear things being thrown to the floor and tiny grunts as Andrew attempted to reach things.

"I–I'm not sure Aar, but this is Matt, he's nice. Come here?" Nicky opened his arms to his cousin, who surprisingly accepted and buried his head into Nicky's shoulder.

Man, Matt might actually cry.

"Coach said he'll be here in ten, took a lot of convincing but–yeah, he's coming, Abby too." Dan entered the room again, Kevin's head perked up.

"Coach? Does he coach Exy?"

Of course. At least something's are still consistent.

Another crash came from the kitchen, someone should probably go in there.

"Uh yeah! He does. In fact Matt, Renee and I all play for a team,"
Dan answered Kevin's question with newly gained enthusiasm.

As though that was all he needed to hear, Kevin relaxed considerably and proceeded to bombard Dan with more questions as well as Exy stats and the obligatory "Did you know my mom invented Exy?"

With Dan, covering Kevin and Nicky and Aaron seemingly content to just snuggle together on the couch for the time being. Matt made his way to Renee and Neil, side stepping the kitchen entirely.

Sure Andrew was a kid and Matt felt bad leaving him in there, but it was Andrew. Matt was still kinda scared of the little rugrat.

"Hey little buddy! I'm Matt, how're you doing?" He greeted Neil. God, he was even smaller upclose. Matt just wanted to pick him up and never let go.

Neil, looked down shyly, hand still clenching the cape. "I'm fine." He said in a tiny voice. Yep. this was Neil alright.

"Nathaniel? I'm going to go check on Andrew in the kitchen, do you want to come with?" Renee asked sweetly.
Neil, Nathaniel, didn't seem to take to her kindness, still refusing to even look her in the eye.

When no answer came, Matt spoke up, "Hey bud, you wanna go sit on the couch with the others? I doubt the floor is all that comfortable."
Nathaniel still didn't say much but quickly made his way to sit with Kevin, keeping himself just over arms length.

"Man, I thought seeing even smaller versions of our teammates would be cute, but it's kinda bumming me out." Matt sighed to Renee.

"Mm, it's a shame. So young and yet they seem to have witnessed much cruelty." Renee had never sounded so despairing. "Come on, I'm worried Andrew isn't taking all this too well."

Renee was right, Andrew seemed to be having the hardest time adjusting.
When they entered the kitchen, Andrew was curled up tight on the floor, back pressed against where two walls met. Tense shoulders heaving with heavy breaths, barely a sound escaping. Everything that usually lay on the counters was now cluttered on the floor, open boxes of cereal spilling their contents, crushed under the weight of tiny feet, cupboard doors ajar, chairs upended on themselves. It was a mess.

Andrew tensed impossibly tighter as they approached.

"I'm sorry, you're so upset. Is there anything we can do to help?"
No response.
"Alright, we'll be in the other room if you change your mind. Come out when you're ready, take all the time you need." Renee spoke calmly, as if she were talking to grown up Andrew, not a scared child.

She was a godsend. Matt would've been lost without her.

He reclaimed his spot beside Nicky and asked if anyone wanted to watch some cartoons.

Kevin rolled his eyes as Aaron nodded demurely, having calmed down but still clinging to his cousin. And Neil...oh Neil, bless him. Looked so confused.

Matt was certain, astronauts in space could hear the sound of his heart shattering into a million tiny pieces.
These kids, his teammates and friends, were going to be the death of him.

°°°°°°°°°

Coach Wymack and Abby arrived at the door with a knock, just as everyone in the living room had settled into an episode of adventure time.

Matt got up to let them in.

"Someone better explain, what the flying fuck is going on here!" He said in lieu of hello.

"David! Language!" Abby reprimanded smacking his arm.

Neil or Nathaniel, cowered in his presence, hiding himself behind Kevin's arm. Kevin looked ready to tackle Wymack and insist to be taken to an Exy court immediately.

"Truthfully Coach. We're not quite sure ourselves…"

°°°°°°°°°

Chapter Text

After the upperclassmen had briefed Coach Wymack and Abby on the situation– or what little they knew of it anyway, there was a contemplative lull in the room.

Although things had calmed down considerably as everyone took the time to accept their new bizzare reality, Dan could still feel a lingering tenseness in the room.

Andrew had yet to come out of hiding, Renee looked the most troubled Dan had ever seen the young woman and tiny Nathaniel was clearly frightened of Wymack and would flinch away at any sudden movement, tucking himself further behind Kevin. The sight made Dan want to bring back Neil's 'family' just so she could have the pleasure of ending them again herself, evil sons of bitches– the lot of them!

After 10 minutes of silence, the door swung open bringing everyone out of their stupor.
Allison Reynolds stood at the threshold, perfectly groomed and styled, a complete juxtaposition of the sentient, hungover, trash heap they had left behind in the dorm.

Dan observed Allison as she blinked at the room opening and closing her mouth a few times before spinning on her four inch heel and walking away.

It only took a second for the leggy blonde in the tight designer pants to reappear at the door again.

Renee made to greet her, but before she could get a word out Allison stormed the rest of her way into the room and crouched down in front of a startled Kevin.

The confounded look of shock on her dear friend's face was very amusing. Dan wondered if that was how she appeared when a young Nicky opened the door. Most likely– although probably with a mix of righteous fury as her first thought about the whole ordeal was: 'wasn't aggravating the mob enough?? Now they're stealing kids?? What??'

Allison extended a manicured finger and poked Kevin in the face.

"What the fuck is that?" She asked, her finger still hovering over Kevin's displeased face. He swatted at it.

"It's a child, Allison. You've never seen a kid before?" Matt answered, amusement at her ridiculous display evident by the small grin on his face.

"Not funny, Matthew. What I meant was, why is there a half naked boy on the monsters cou– oh! There's more of them!" She exclaimed as she finally took in the sight of three other young faces.

"Allison," Dan started, "We would like you to meet Kevin, Nicky, Aaron and Nei–Nathaniel."

Allison looked Dan in the eyes and laughed. When she realised no one was laughing with her, she took a quick look around at the quite serious and 'we wish we were joking' expressions on the rest of her teammates and coach's faces.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh, indeed. Allison take a seat, we were just about to start discussing our next step. Hopefully we can figure out what exactly happened so we can undo it, we got a game next Friday and there's no way in hell I'm letting a bunch of prepubescent pipsqueaks on my court!" Wymack finally spoke again from his perch on the coffee table.

Abby was sitting beside him, rubbing circles on his back as if she were soothing a particularly overgrown and hairy baby.

If possible, Kevin looked even more displeased at that. Clearly the eight year old was expecting to be handed an Exy racquet and told to go ham.
"Humph, not fair. Bet I could play better than all of you with my eyes closed." He grumbled under his breath, an impressive pout graced his young features.

No one paid him any mind.

Coach sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, thinking over his next words. "Alright, do we have any– and I mean any, ideas on what could've caused the brats to magically de-age thirteen years overnight?"

"Fifty bucks says mass hallucination!"

"I got twenty on voodoo!"

Coach sighed again, "Boyd, Reynolds. Not the time! How is it you're so calm all of a sudden and placing bets?"

"Oh, trust us Coach. On the inside we're screaming. Plus it's our nature." Matt reassured.
Dan took a peek at her boyfriend, she swore she could see a few premature gray hairs that definitely weren't there a couple hours ago.

"Uhm, how about we get some supplies first– some food and clothes, maybe some toys. The boys could certainly use it." Abby offered.

Wymack turned to look at his 'friend' as if she just answered the million dollar jackpot.

"Brilliant! Yes. First things first, we stock up on the essentials, then we can work figuring out how we can fix this. Allison, I want you to go out and get some clothes, anything you find will do–" Allison looked ecstatic, she lived to style others and now she had five new models who couldn't refuse her assistance. It was practically her wet dream.

Dan fondly remembered all the times Allison would openly sneer at Neil and beg to take him shopping because 'those jorts should be illegal and not in a good way! Don't you want to look *good* for your man, Neil? You are a fashion disaster and should be ashamed!'

"–Matt, pick up something the brats can entertain themselves with, colouring books, Lego blocks a goddamn stuffed teddy bear. So long as it's child friendly I don't care."

"Yes sir, Coach, sir!" Matt saluted like a soldier to his superior officer and stood up to march out of the door.

Nicky laughed softly and Aaron smiled tentatively as they watched him hurry away.

Bastard. Dan wished she were the one leaving. What was she supposed to do with a bunch of traumatized kids?!

"You ladies stay here with Abby and the little Orphan Annie's– I'm gonna go get some groceries and see if anyone else has shrunk. For now this stays between everyone in this room. Who knows what will happen if this gets out.. ." Wymack cleared his throat awkwardly and made to follow Matt out of the room before stopping again. "Oh. And before I forget. Someone get Kevin a damn shirt, poor boy's turning blue!"

And with that he was gone. Allison stayed a minute longer to poke at Kevin a few more times, each time he would let out an offended grumble and swat at her arm, before she made her exit.

"And then there were eight." Dan uttered as she stood beside Abby. Renee was standing sentinel by the slightly ajar kitchen door. No doubt keeping watch over her friend.

Dan clasped her hands and rocked back and forth on her feet. What to do? What. to. do.

Abby cleared her throat and addressed the teeny tadpoles on the couch. "I assume you haven't eaten yet? How about some breakfast, hmm?" She spoke gently with a reassuring smile.

Thank god Abby was here. If Dan had been left alone to deal with the pygmy runts– well that didn't matter now, did it?

"Breakfast sounds good."
"Whatever.."
"Yeah, I'm hungry!"

"Do you have any pop tarts, lady?" Oh my, was that Nathaniel? How cute! That was the first time Dan had heard him speak all morning. Her ovaries felt like exploding at the sweet cadence and hint of a lisp.
"I've never had one befwore, but–but Lola said if I was extra good, I could have one,"

"You've never had a pop tart before?" Aaron asked, stirring in Nicky's lap. "My mom always buys them, sometimes we have them for dinner! The birthday cake ones are my favourite!" Aaron seemed excited as he began talking to Nathaniel, or rather at him about all his favourite toaster snacks.

Pop tarts for dinner? Dan couldn't help but feel a little forlorn. Knowing what she did about Aaron's home childhood. What the blonde probably saw as a treat, Dan saw as a drug addict failing to properly provide for her son.

Man, it was gonna be a long day.

"I'll just have a look, see what I can scrounge up," Abby smiled at the boys making her way towards Renee and the kitchen.

"Do you think he's ready to come out now?" She whispered to the pastel haired sweetheart.

"Hmm. I'm not sure." Renee spoke wistfully, "I may be able to find something for the boys to eat back in our dorm, while we wait. I hope this gets sorted out soon," The last part was said more to herself like a silent prayer.

"That's all right, I'll go have a look. You stay here in case he needs you. I won't be long– Oh, Dan? Do you think you could maybe start tidying up a little bit? It's quite a mess."

"Sure thing Abby, we can handle it. See you in a bit!" Dan and Renee nodded Abby off and Dan turned back to really look at the room.

Geez. Abby was right. How could they live like this? Dan hadn't ever really been inside the boys dorm room before, she never had any cause to, but this. This was practically hazardous.

Dan and Renee would have their work cut out for them. She didn't really want to ask the younglings for help cleaning up after a preliminary glance led her to spot some very un-child friendly things.

The room was trashed, Halloween costumes and makeup everywhere, glitter and what she hoped was fake blood all along the walls and soaked into the carpet, about six half empty bottles of alcohol, one actually empty, which had apparently been thrown at the bathroom door at some point– Christ what the hell were they doing in here last night?!– cigarette butts flowing out of a stolen hotel ashtray and lying on the floor, poking out from under the coffee table was what appeared to be a neon green silver studded thong. She already had a vague idea of who it might've belonged to and– nope. Not going there! Not even touching that with a fifty foot pole! No way!

"Ok how about I turn on the tv again hmm?"

°°°°°°°°°

Dan and Renee were in the middle of tidying when Abby came back. The most offending items had been dealt with. The alcohol was put up on top of a bookshelf, high out of the reach of trying hands. Dan made a note to come back later and take the bottles as payment for her services.

"I'm back! Nathaniel, Aaron, you're in luck! It appears that Allison had some cherry pop tarts, I'm sure she won't mind sharing–"

Dan scoffed while Renee bit back a smile. She certainly would mind.

"–I also picked up some cereal and fruit from Matt's room. You lot really need to start locking your doors!" Abby admonished, but with no real heat.

The boys, even Kevin perked up a little after Abby spoke. They must really be hungry. Speaking of… Dan supposed she could use something to eat right about now too.

The kitchen door creaked slightly.

"Hello, Andrew. Are you hungry? Abby was about to make some breakfast if you want any." Renee smiled at him, as she continued folding costumes back into boxes.

Andrew surveyed the room and the boys who had turned around to peer over the back of the couch before nodding once and pulling at his too large white shirt as he crawled onto one of the bean bag chairs far away from anyone else.

Dan had never seen Andrew look so openly fearful before. It was quite disconcerting. She was used to the emotionless blankness or the terrifying rage, but this? Whatever happened to this poor young boy to turn him into… well Andrew.

Dan was drawn out of her thoughts again when she heard Nathaniel speak, "Do you like poptarts, 'Drew? The nice lady brought back poptarts."
Nathaniel spoke softly, as if he was worried to show too much enthusiasm.

Andrew looked at him before shrugging. Aaron stared at his clone more intently.
Dan realised that this was the first time they had ever seen each other, neither of them knowing the other even existed till now.

Abby stepped into the kitchen, "Oh dear, you've certainly made quite a mess, haven't you?" She mused.

What she had intended as a light-hearted observation, caused Andrew to freeze and tense up.

Noticing his alarm, Abby quickly backpedaled "No, no. Don't worry it's quite alright. I'll tidy up after breakfast. Don't worry pet."

Andrew didn't answer, he didn't seem to believe her much either but allowed himself to relax slightly.

"Would you like any help, Miss Abby?" Nicky offered standing up from the couch. "I help my mom in the kitchen all the time." He smiled a charming smile.

"Thankyou Nicky, how thoughtful."

"I'll help too! I bet I can help twice as much!" Kevin shot up from his seat, jostling the six year old beside him, and sprinted to the kitchen as if trying to beat Nicky there.

What a little shit.

°°°°°°°°°

"Katelyn! Erica! Jennifer! Help!" Carmen Delorenzo screamed from the bedroom.

"What?! What's wrong?!" Katelyn rushed to the door still unsteady on her own feet.

"My pillow fell, an' I can't reach it!" Carmen made half-assed little grabby motions with her hands. She was sprawled out on her bed, clothes rumpled, mascara half way down her cheeks, one shoe suspiciously missing. All and all pretty normal for the girl.

"Christ sake! We thought you were getting murdered with all that screaming." Jennifer appeared behind Katelyn nursing a cup of coffee.

"Pretty please can you pass it to me?" Carmen sing-songed with a cherubic smile.

"Fine. But don't you have class today? Shouldn't you try and sober up?" Katelyn giggled.

"Nah. It's just my media studies course. All I have to do is let the professor rub my feet and I pass." Carmen waved off.

"You concern me, greatly."

°°°°°°°°°