Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

Ender was in a fairly decent mood today. Despite the bad news coming in from Ben's side, Alai's reports had been slightly more optimistic - at least in terms of them setting up for whatever disaster was probably approaching.

They were in for some massive political trouble. That much was certain. Ender was just hedging his bets, and hoping the Jedi were smart enough to stay out of it.

That was not one of the things he was optimistic about.

But now he was at work, talking to Jane as they rifled through data from the Jedi Temple library together. It was obvious they had lost a lot of work only decades ago, but they were piecing together what they could.

So there he was. Reading, mostly.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben had--despite realizing the extent of the Sith infiltration into his galaxy--been in a really good mood since Friday.

Blame the boy in front of him.

"Ho, kreetle," he said, grinning as he walked into the shop.

[endsthegame]

It had been a good weekend for both of them, honestly.

"Ho, Skywalker," Ender called, looking up. "What's for lunch?"

[momslilassassin]

"Was I supposed to bring lunch?" he asked, feigning confusion.

[endsthegame]

"Yes," Ender informed him.

[momslilassassin]

Ben put a bag of sandwiches down on the counter. "But these are only for me," he lied.

[endsthegame]

"Give me a sandwich," Ender ordered. "Or I'll find a way to make you pay, young whippersnapper."

[momslilassassin]

"Promises, promises," Ben said, blushing lightly.

[endsthegame]

Ender rolled his eyes at him good naturedly, and reached over in an attempt to gank a sandwich.

[momslilassassin]

Ben leaned against the counter to steal a kiss first, then handing him a sandwich.

Apparently Ben still had some residual weekend giddiness.

[endsthegame]

"Extortion for my sandwiches?" Ender asked. "I'm not sure how I feel about that."

He wasn't entirely over the weekend giddiness either, because he didn't fully retreat back into his seat after acquiring his sandwich.

[momslilassassin]

"I was thinking more of payment for services rendered," Ben replied, smiling at him.

[endsthegame]

"Really?" Ender asked, smiling back in spite of himself - or the banter. "You haven't rendered an awful lot of services."

[momslilassassin]

Ben blushed. "I remember it slightly differently."

[endsthegame]

"Oh, really?" Ender prompted.

[momslilassassin]

Ben reached out to ruffle Ender's hair. "Brat," he said fondly. "How's your morning been?"

[endsthegame]

"Busy," Ender admitted. He finally sat back, sandwich in hand. "I'm going through a few books in the Temple library."

[momslilassassin]

"Finding anything you have questions about?" Ben replied, taking a sandwich of his own.

[endsthegame]

"Not so far, but then I haven't read all that much yet," Ender said.

... he'd been kind of distracted recently. "I'll make sure to let you know when I do."

He took a bite from the sandwich.

[momslilassassin]

"Were you busy this weekend?" Ben asked, pretending like he didn't know exactly what Ender had been doing.

[endsthegame]

"Just a little bit," Ender said. "Something kept eating up all my time..."

[momslilassassin]

"Tony's suit?"

Or the activities after that?

[endsthegame]

"There was a lot of adjusting to be done," Ender agreed.

[momslilassassin]

Ben snickered.

Because he was mature that way.

[endsthegame]

Ender thumped him upside the head. "Welcome to age seventeen."

[momslilassassin]

"Can you remember that far back?" Ben asked sympathetically.