Title: House Down
Rating: K+ (reduced cussing)
Genre: Humor, Friendship, (faint) Romance
Summary: It was all Teddy's idea, he told his mother.
Note(s): Trying to work on one-shot projects as a break away from my full story projects. BTW, I can totally see Lloyd and Teddy being best friends. Just do.
Warning(s): Funnies you may or may not find funny. Possible Out-of-CharacterNESS. Attempted (slight) romance as well.
Disclaimer: The Mother/Earthbound series could have belonged to me… but it got away.
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The out of place phone call should have given everything away. Ninten rarely gets phone calls for him specifically – that does not include his father. No, the phone usually rang out for the attention of his mother or sisters. He didn't really have much of friends since he usually chose to hang out with his… preference of company over others.
When his mother peeked over the doorway and told him he had a call, he was promptly shocked. It couldn't be his father, because she would have told him right off the bat. At the age of thirteen-going-to-fourteen, it was safe to say Ninten was a rather curious boy, running off at even the slightest thing appearing off or interesting to him. The phone call was no exception. He grabbed the lone phone from where it was settled on the desk, placing it next to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Ninten, my man!" He nearly jumped away from the phone at the booming voice.
"Teddy?"
"The one and only! Ninten, when you're going to invite me over to your place?"
"Whoa, whoa, what are you talking about?"
"I'm on my way to Podunk as we speak. This train's slow as crap, though."
"The train?"
"Yeah, we'll probably be in Podunk the day after tomorrow, so see ya then!"
"Wha-"
The phone call ended there. Ninten pulled the phone from his ear when the dialing tone began, staring at it as if it started sprouting leaves. His mother entered the room then, giving him a look over, asking him what was wrong.
He shook his head, for the life of him unsure what to say and do, and just wanting to leave the question at that. He would sorely regret not giving his mother proper warning the next day.
She left to go shopping in Podunk, and with the distance between their house and the town itself, she would be gone all day. That was fine with him, even though it meant having to babysit Mimmie and Minnie. His younger sisters never gave him any trouble.
The problem, however, meant that they were alone with no adult supervision, completely unprotected and unprepared for the disaster coming their way.
Ninten should have known better than to open that blasted door when he heard the sound of knocking. Process of elimination would have crossed out his father – he's working – his mother – she would open the door herself – and any neighbors – what neighbors? – so why, oh, why did he open it?
"Hey, man!"
He could have avoided this Godforsaken situation.
"Teddy, what the crap are you doing here?" To Ninten's annoyance, not only did his elderly friend not answer his inquiry, he also waltz right by him into the living room, standing not far from the doorway, head turning left and right to appraise the room. His sisters shifted on the couches, each watching with wide eyes as to what the stranger would do next. In his self-involved anger, Ninten didn't realize someone was trying to get his attention, a tap on the shoulder breaking him out of his reverie. "What?" He immediately bit down on his tongue when he saw the face of a million angels.
"Hey, Ninten." Ana smiled at him, giving him a wave of the hand. The boy stood on the spot, unable to reacted properly to the girl's greeting, body choosing to display him in an embarrassing manner. Whether she took note of his gawking mouth and bugged out eyes, she said nothing. "Can I come in?"
He gathered himself with those words, straightening up and holding the door out for him. "S-sure, you can all come in!"
"Aw, thanks man! My arms were getting tired from carrying all this junk!"Ninten stood immobilized at the voice, a silver headed boy walking inside the house in Ana's company. He set down a box next to the couch Teddy has claimed for his own – body splayed out, arms hanging on the back, his feet on the coffee table – wiping an arm past his forehead. He turned around fully, giving Ninten a glance at the other familiar face who found his way in (or rather he unintentionally let in). "So how have you been, Ninten?"
"Lloyd? What the heck are you doing here? I mean, not like you're unwelcomed, but you didn't give me the heads-up."
"Oh, Teddy invited me. He didn't tell you when he called?"
Ninten glared at the mentioned man, though he ignored him by way of talking to his sisters. He didn't like the way Mimmie started to blush.
"Teddy got us all together and told us you'd be throwing a get-together at your home. So we met up with him at the train station and came over."
If he wasn't glaring a moment ago, he was now. He would have made a beeline to the oldest person in the room if Lloyd hadn't walked in front of him, pulling out party decorations from the box.
"Hey, wait, Lloyd…!"
"Oh, I want to help you with that!"
Ana walked past Ninten, taking hold of the thing Lloyd past to her.
Despite his protests, his tongue remained tied, losing the words he was going to do. It was only when he saw signs of bottles with… questionable contents did he make his move, choosing to approach Ana despite his nervousness.
"Um, Ana?"
"Yes, Ninten?"
"Do your parents even know that you're here?"
"Of course, they do. Teddy dropped off at our place and introduced himself to them and everything. He told them he would bring me back in piece, considering he wanted all of us together to meet up with you." A blush formed on his face.
"Really?" He's amazed he didn't stutter.
"Yeah, I'm sure this'll be fun."
He was about to add his own comment to that, before he was interrupted by an outburst.
Overlooking the chaos in the living room, he watched as his friends and sisters started howling and jumping around with drinks and snacks in hand.
"Hey, wait, guys! I haven't put up the decorations yet!" Ana huffed, hands dropping to her side. Ninten could only laugh at her obvious dissatisfaction. If he had his way he'd put a stop to all of this. But looking at Teddy and Lloyd already out-of-control and singing while standing on the coffee table, managing to capture both of his sisters' attentions, he realized they deserved it. Just the other year, they had been under threat of losing their lives along with the rest of the planet.
He turned his attention to the girl next to him. As far as he was concerned she was the most interesting object in this room. "So Ana, what to talk about anything? Like how thing's been going in Snowman?" It was a simple question, yet she started to blush in a cute way at him. Maybe it had to do with the hand gripping her hand.
Needless to say, they deserved the break, even if his mother didn't think so when she came home to see the house a wreck and her children flirting with strangers (as far as she was concern). Ninten has to admit it's kind of alarming to see your daughter in the arms of an older man. Still, she didn't have to take out her anger at him, making him clean up the mess everyone else made.
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A/N: It's short but I like it, despite lack of details. Thank you for reading. Ja mata ne!