Magic Box, Wednesday

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

As far as morning walks go, Andrew had rather enjoyed the one he took to work. That is, until some loony bird decided to start dive-bombing his head. He had run the last two hundred yards or so, screaming at the bird and waving his hands about his head.

After opening the store, he took up a position by the front windows, where he could keep a wary eye on the sky.

That Magic Box was open.

Comments

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He slipped in, as he usually entered anywhere, and gave Andrew a faint smile.

"Morning," he started with.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"Hey, there," Andrew replied with a warm smile, that familiar knot of anxiety making its presence know in his stomach.

"How are you?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Good," he admitted. "And yourself?"

Then he held up a book, one with a few papers held neatly between the pages.

"You wouldn't mind if I looked at your crystals again, would you?"

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"No, not at all," he said, heading over to the case. "You've been doing some research?"

Obviously.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He nodded.

"I've found a few crystals that might work for things from Earth," he said. "Professor Ambrose gave me a book on Ozian crystals, though. I've yet to look through that. I was mostly hoping I could get something workable and try it out."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew took out the key and unlocked the display case, sliding its glass panel front open. "Any of these look like something you might be able to use?"

He stood back and hugged his arms to himself, fighting an almost compulsory urge to reach out and touch the other boy.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir didn't notice. The absence of touch was normal. More was merely pleasant.

"There was one mentioned in an article, barium titanate. You wouldn't happen to have any, would you? If not, I was considering calcite, since they share some properties, or so some of these books mention."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"Um..." Andrew took a step closer and peered into the case. The fully modable selection of crystals all had little description cards in front of them. "There might be," he added hesitantly.

In truth, he was a little too nervous to focus on the tiny writing.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He leaned forward and read the signs himself before shaking his head and reaching out to point at a piece of calcite.

"Could I get that piece of calcite then?"

It was a browngold piece with a surprising amount of clarity.

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

While it had been confirmed that Liir and Andrew went on a date... Teddy was an over-protective fake older brother and had to check out this Andrew guy.

Shut up, he was a dork like that.

"Hello?"

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew popped his head up from behind the counter where he had been sorting out and reorganizing the bags and package boxes.

"Hello," he replied. "How can I help you today?"

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

Teddy smiled brightly, wandering toward the counter. "I think so. I'm a friend of Liir's."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew face brightened momentarily. "Nice to meet you friend of Liir," he said.

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

Which was cute and made the whole threatening thing so much less necessary.

"Teddy. Unless you like the extra long titles instead of names thing," Teddy replied with a small grin.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"Teddy," Andrew repeated to himself. He had a nagging feeling that he should have known that already. "I'm Andrew."

He drummed his knuckles on top of the counter. "So, shopping for anything in particular?"

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

Blinking, Teddy looked around the shop. "Uhh, not really. Magic, from what I've seen, isn't the best thing to try out."

Unless you're Billy.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

"Oh," Andrew said blankly. "Just stopping in to, um, check out the store then?" He asked that last part slowly, wondering a bit at Teddy's intentions.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

With all the weekend wackiness and then getting entirely too buzzed on sugar the night before, Isabel hadn't had a chance to catch up with Andrew. So Wednesday afternoon, she took a walk through the increasingly balmy air down to the Magic Box.

"Hello?" she called as she came through the door.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

At first glance, well, at any glance actually, the Magic Box appeared empty.

Though if Izzy was listening very hard at the moment, she might hear the faintest of sniffles coming from somewhere behind the counter.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

She heard the sniffles and slowly walked around behind the counter. Without saying a word she took a seat next to Andrew and nudged him gently with her shoulder, an unspoken invitation to lean.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

And lean he did, though he really didn't feel like talking just yet.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel had no where to be till Project Runway time. And she'd cancel that if Andrew still needed her. She was more then willing to sit quietly until he was ready to talk.

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

After a little while, Andrew sighed and asked, "How are you Isabel? Everything going good?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I'm no longer pregnant, and I've finally gotten over the crash from last night's sugar rush," she told him. "I can't ask for much more then that."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

That got a little chuckle. "Though, just so you know, I think you would have made an outstanding mother," he said.