We discover what Cadis and Victor get up to while everyone is at school... with an A/N that's far too long.
Cuteness One
The door closed as the last of the 'school attendees' left the house. Victor promptly grasped Cadis' hand and led him to the play room. Left to his own devices, Cadis wouldn't act until the naptime chime sounded. Victor didn't get why but Cadis never started games.
Going to the green chest, Victor released Cadis in favour of pulling out today's selection of toys, which was never exactly the same. Today, the wobble board had been replaced with a flat box. Upending the container made Cadis start. He sent Victor strong feelings of disapproval for making a mess.
"Uncle Lee gave us permission. This room can be messy while we play." Victor spoke back to him, knowing his brother's disapproval was entirely on Papa's behalf. It's not like they were given anything that could be damaged if dropped by accident, although this fall had been no accident.
Instantly reassured, Cadis looked at the items scattered on the floor. Pencils and paper, the box had held a drawing kit. Face brightening, he gathered most of the paper up and placed it on the small table. Victor brought over a few of the pencils and they commenced drawing, leaving the rest where it fell.
XOX
All the pages were covered in pictures, family, fish, plants and coloured feelings. So Cadis looked up with a smile, only to find Victor had started doing something else without his notice. That was not good, as the elder brother his younger brother should be under his protection when their parents were away.
Locating Victor in the other half of the play room, Cadis blinked. Victor was making faces and doing odd gestures in front of the mirror. Cadis sent feelings of query which had his little brother blushing as he spun to face him. Apparently not having found the appropriate words, Victor sent images back. Practice, he was practicing methods of expression. That was something Cadis needed to do too, and replying with happy he joined his brother. Victor was always full of ideas.
XOX
They were building a block tower together, trying to make it as tall as possible, when the naptime chime sounded. Cadis stood up and went through the curtains to the other section of the play room. He pulled his cot over to Victor's, then returned to the green section of the play room to bring his little brother back with him. Ignoring the "I'm not finished yet," he pushed Victor into his cot and tossed the blanket over him just as the lights started to dim.
Using naptime to sleep was one of the things Papa had asked of them. It was important that they did so not just to be 'good' but to stay awake longer when everyone was home. Victor's grumbles disappeared as Cadis rested on his own cot. The last time he had succeeded in getting Cadis to go against requests, Papa had brought home a strange man who he didn't like. Ahjussi they were meant to call him.
XOX
The light brightening was enough to wake Victor, but he needed to bodily pull his brother out of the cot before Cadis even stirred. Letting go of Cadis' arm when the other boy started to support his own weight, Victor quickly positioned him to look at the potted plants. It would give him time to finish his block tower before his brother remembered that Papa would be home soon. After Ahjussi arrived two days ago and the lack of hugs was accredited to the messy play room? Cadis had started packing up even before Dad arrived with the other 'school attendees'.
Inevitably, when he moved the chair - so he could continue building his block tower - something made the tower fall apart. Victor spent a few moments with his hands clenched until the sound of falling blocks brought his brother out of the silver 'play room' section. Cadis blinked at the mess and started tidying everything up. Resigned after yesterday's argument, Victor simply joined him.
Everything was clean. Cadis sent empathy to Victor for the loss of his tower. Somewhat cheered, Victor smiled at Cadis and coming up with something else Victor brightened further.
"Shall we practice speaking?" There was not much else to do that wouldn't make more mess. Cadis sent agreement, he would like that. So Victor demonstrated making sounds which Cadis tried to copy; the later more successful than not. The occasional failure meant Cadis still couldn't talk elegantly, to his own frustration.
Noise at the front door announced Raizel's return - that meant Yuna, Ikhan and Shinwoo had come – and Victor and Cadis both hurried to join them. The humans were fun.
The play room: Frankenstein had less than 10 hours to make it the first day and most of that was taken up making toys. So he converted one of the bed rooms into an instant play room, see the silver room. The next day after school he converted the room next door into a 'proper' playroom. The boy's wouldn't let him take the older play room away so adjoining doorway with a curtain not a door. Raizel couldn't use electric handles without instruction~
The green room: The walls are painted green and have all those stencils grass, plants, ectra that you see in professional playrooms. It has windows with semi-circle backless couches below them, a child size desk and tables with chairs, full length mirror and 'the daily toy box'.
The silver room: It still has most of the tappings of a bed room. Built in cupboard space (locked now), that patterned wall paper you see around the house in silver, low laying power points where the bed stand would be...
...It is now the 'quiet' room; there is a table by the window with terrariums' aka potted plants, the cots and not much else. The cupboard is full of children's toys that Frankenstein swaps out daily according to what he thinks the boy's developmental age is and just for variety. Frankenstein also put glowing stars on the ceiling at one point -all the constellations- around the time he made the auto light diming during nap time I guess. It only dim's in one room so they can't claim fear of the dark, there is always some light.
What's a 'wobble board'? ...It is a toy for children and adult gym equipment, both. One side is flat, for you to stand on; the other has a half sphere attached to the centre. You stand on it and if your balance isn't perfect to an inhuman degree it wobbles. The aim, for humans, is to keep the edges of the flat part of the board from touching the ground. The boy's can probably stand on it completely still, so not fun for long. It's in the story because my Google search for kids' toys kept putting it in the top ten.