Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

Ender's Parents Weekend was starting to look pretty packed, with three guests coming. It was going to take a lot of logistics to make this work out smoothly - especially with his Peter coming - but he was fairly sure he could pull it off.

That left him some time to work on the plans he wanted to address with Alai. He spent a good chunk of the day poking through star charts from Ben's universe, making notes about the politics and cultures involved, and charting the position of the various military forces involved.

None of it was work that Ben needed to be involved in - yet - so around the lunch hour he cleaned up and grabbed a broom to sweep the strawberries off the floor.

Sigh, Stark Industries.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben came in at lunchtime with takeout from Goodvalor's--his class had made him hungry for nerfbergers.

"Ho, kreetle," he said with a grin. "What's with the strawberries?"

[endsthegame]

"You ask me as if I know," Ender commented, sweeping them off into a corner. "I think the store's just feeling like fruit again."

[momslilassassin]

"And I like strawberries," Ben offered, "just not ones that have been on the floor."

He did have standards. Sometimes.

[endsthegame]

"Once again, I wish for an audio recorder," Ender said, amused. "How's your day been?"

[momslilassassin]

"I got to cook in class," Ben said, "and didn't burn anything up!"

Because he made salad.

[endsthegame]

"I told you salad was the way to go," Ender said, setting the broom against the wall. "Less of a chance of burning that way."

[momslilassassin]

"Yeah, yeah," Ben grumbled good-naturedly. "You're a genius."

[endsthegame]

"I think that's more common sense," Ender commented. He made his way to the counter. "What've we got for lunch?"

[momslilassassin]

"Nerfburgers," Ben replied promptly. "I got hungry for home."

He made a face. "Which reminds me. Dad's coming this weekend."

[endsthegame]

"So is my Peter." Ender's face adopted a funny look - he and Peter might have squared a lot between them since last year, but some things were still a little funny to say. "So that will be awkward." He reached for the bag. "What did he sound like?"

[momslilassassin]

"Is the universe ready for two Peters in the same place?" Ben asked with a little smile. "Better question: is the universe ready for when Karla discovers two Peters in the same place?"

Avoiding Ender's question? Yes.

[endsthegame]

"Probably not, but we're excellent crisis managers," Ender said idly. Then he fell silent, and simply gave Ben a look; he didn't really need to waste words at this point.

[momslilassassin]

Ben shrugged in reply. "Business-like, but I could see Vestara in the background, so that explains some of it, at least. She'll be coming too. Astral."

There was a lot of sarcasm in that last word.

[endsthegame]

Ender released a breath. Well, that was going to work out well... He decided not to tell Ben about Alai just yet. "Are you planning to talk to him about anything important?"

[momslilassassin]

"Like the Jedi siege?" Ben replied. "Maybe, if I can get him alone without have Vestara wandering the island converting one of the Peters to the dark side..."

[endsthegame]

"Like how you look about ready to tear him a second asshole on sight," Ender replied. "And we don't do Dark Side in my world."

They kind of went Grey-and-Black morality there by default.

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, that," Ben said. "Probably not."

Mmm, healthy.

[endsthegame]

"Might be a good idea if you did," Ender said, mildly.

[momslilassassin]

Ben flopped down in his usual spot and let out a heavy sigh. "Maybe," he admitted, "but it's not like it's going to change anything."

[endsthegame]

"Maybe not," Ender agreed. "Luke is... often set in his ways. But it might be better than you carrying this anger with you everywhere you go."

[momslilassassin]

"No one but you notices, kreetle," Ben said softly.

[endsthegame]

"Luke notices," Ender said. "I just think he thinks it's an acceptable sacrifice."

He reached up just briefly to brush at Ben's bangs, then dropped his hand back to the counter - as quickly as he could without it coming off as too quickly.

[momslilassassin]

Ben's eyes closed just as quickly when Ender touched him and he let out a tiny sigh.

"Then why mess up the equilibrium?" he asked.

[endsthegame]

"Because it's not doing either of you any good," Ender said, and picked up his nerfburger. "One of these days, this is going to explode."

[momslilassassin]

"But not this weekend," Ben said. "I can wait until he has fewer things on his plate."