A Note to the Reader: I'm sorry this can't be an actual chapter this week, but I tried to make up for it by describing the house in a little better detail for you, as well as each kid's bedroom. Also, I think I'm going to add mini-summaries to each chapter.
Summary: A walk-through of the Coulson home. Enjoy your stay~
As you get out of your car, you look onward at the house you are to be visiting for the day. You're an old friend of the owner, but you've never seen his home before, so he invited you over for dinner. Who would turn down a free meal, anyway? You're a bit nervous as you step forward, getting a better look at the home. It's tall, taller than the two houses on either side of it, and the pearliest white possible. The house itself seems relatively modern, possibly built in the later nineties. It has tall windows everywhere and a handful of those windows seemed to lead onto the second-floor balcony. You step onto their wooden porch and ring the doorbell. You aren't standing in the autumn chill another two seconds before your polite friend answers the door. The two of you give each other the standard arm-hug and after pulling away, you notice the small child entangled in your friend's pantleg.
"And who's this?" You ask, grinning down at the black-haired little boy. He had an arm wrapped around Coulson's knee, and was currently tugging down on the hem of his too-large green t-shirt. You swap out your grin for a friendly smile and offer the boy a handshake, to which he surprisingly accepts.
"That's Loki, the youngest."
"Oh, so he's one of the seven? Can I meet the rest today?"
"You can meet them all, right now, if you'd like. They're all eager to see you, actually." Coulson says with a smile, stepping aside and allowing you to kick off your damp shoes and peel off your jacket. Loki stays between the two of you as you look around the front door. It's a medium-sized room with pictures of kids and the family and the wife littering the walls. There are a few cupboards full of Coulson's collectables, and a few pieces of furniture that seemed to date back a century and a half. The room has a staircase to the second floor, as well as a doorway that leads to the next room, which you promptly follow Coulson through. The next room is the dining room, with one long table against the wall and several windows hanging over it. Plates and silverware are set out, and one chair at the end stands out from the set of the other eight. You assume that the chair is meant for you. Other than the table, there are two doors in the room. You take the one to the far left, which leads you through a small hallway. This branches off twice, as well, the bathroom to the left, and the kitchen to the right. Phil steps aside and kneels down to face Loki.
"Can you give our guest, here, the grand tour while I find the others?"
"But they were supposed to be waiting in the kitchen, dad," Loki replies with some confusion. Phil only holds a smile and nods.
"But they've wandered off. Don't worry, I won't be too long."
"Okay, dad," Loki chirps and turns on his heel to face you, "This is the kitchen! We cook our breakfasts here, which are the best. We have a big 'fridge and over there's the pantry with the bananas and other fruit inside. There's also another staircase upstairs. So, we have two staircases. Not all houses have two!"
You listen intently as the boy rambles, nodding and smiling here and there, and he leads you up the stairs after he pokes his head into the pantry and offers you a banana, which you politely accept. You haven't eaten all day, because you've been too busy reading reports and and such on your computer all day. You scarf your banana down and discard the peel before following Loki up the thin stairs. At the top of the staircase is a tall red door.
"This is Natasha's room," Loki says, pulling on the knob, "Don't worry, we've all cleaned our rooms so you could see!"
You step into the girl's room reluctantly, not wanting to invade privacy, but your curiosity is nevertheless present as you look about the place. She must be older, you assume to yourself, because this place is barren. The room, in fact, has little furniture inside. The walls, however, are alive with decoration. It seems she must paint on them daily, because a piece of paper labeled "wet paint" hangs over a large, golden sun with black sunglasses. There is also origami everywhere, you notice. Tiny hearts, stars, birds and dogs litter the walls and shelves. The door-less closet at the far side of the room depicts a very confident girl, or at least someone with a good taste in summer-dresses, which it is almost too cold for.
"Tasha likes to wear dresses all the time 'cause that's what girls do, I guess," Loki mutters, as if reading your mind, "But she also wears leggings to keep herself warmer!"
You turn to leave the room and find yourself at the turn of the L-shaped hallway. On the left side, there are four doors, and the right claims three. Loki takes you to the one on the immediate left, which he excitedly tells you is his own room, which he shares with one of his big brothers. You step inside and are immediately smiling. There are blankets pinned against the walls, everywhere. The entire room is like a child's fort. There is a thin blanket draped over the ceiling fan, which Loki tells you doesn't work, anyway. The window has colored pieces of square papers taped onto the glass, which leaves colorful sunlight pouring onto the floor. In the corner to the left of the door is a bunk-bed, and Loki also tells you he sleeps on top and Thor sleeps on bottom.
"Lemme show you something!" He cries and ascends his tiny wooden bed-ladder. He then points at the metal rods screwed into the ceiling which have blankets dangling from them like shower curtains. They just reach the end of the sideboard of Loki's bed, so that the child can push the aside without disturbing the inhabitant of the lower bunk. They cover both open sides of the bed, but Loki tells you that he prefers to have a little light, so he has an outlet that has a green nightlight plugged in. While Loki scrambles back down the ladder, you look around the room some more. It's devoid of a closet, you notice, but instead has two sets of identical drawers. One is red and gold, and the other is green and gold. You don't have to guess to know that Loki's is the green and hold one, but he tells you so, anyway.
The next room you find yourself in is less colorful than Loki's, but it is certainly just as interesting. Against the windowed wall was a loft bed, which had golden blankets all strewn about it in the fashion of a bird's nest. In the bed sat the second child, you presume, and Loki didn't seem so cheerful to see him.
"This is Clint," He offers quietly, staying by you, "And this is his nest."
You glance from Clint to Loki, both of whom wear blank expressions, although Clint's seems ever so much more solid than Loki's. The two carry on like this for several minutes until you walk over to the loft, stand on your tip-toes, and outstretch your hand for Clint to shake. Surprisingly, he does. You smile and nod at him, but he only nods back and goes back to staring Loki down. You then walk back over to Loki and take one last glance about the room. There are cotton-ball clouds hanging from the ceiling, some gray storm clouds, others fluffy and white. There is a cello on its stand in the corner, but by the film of dust on it, you assume that it goes unused, aside from the tiny hand-prints around the base of it. Aside from Clint's bed, there was a mattress that lay on the floor not far from the cello. Loki muttered something about another boy named Steve, and you decide that that must be where he sleeps. Your tour guide suddenly turns and walks out of the room, and with one last questioning glance at Clint, you follow him. Loki completely reverts to his old self as he closes the door behind him.
"C'mon, there's only a few rooms left!" He says, pulling you along by the sleeve.
The next room, he tells you, belongs to Tony and Bruce. Two more boys. You begin feeling sorry for Natasha, as it is finally evident that she is the only one in the house that is of the fairer sex. Loki also tells you, when you ask about her, that she's the newest addition to the family. But you shift gears, anyway, and begin looking around Tony and Bruce's room. It's wallpaper is that of a circuit board, until you step closer and realize that it was all painted on. It is a very intricate pattern, and you find yourself deeply impressed. There are real circuit boards and machine parts littering a desk in the corner, with a tool box on the floor next to it.
"Tony's really into machines 'cause he's really smart," Loki says happily, "Bruce is pretty smart, too, I guess, 'cause he helps his brother with the projects."
"And what're you 'into', Loki?" You ask, genuinely curious.
"I like books and music! I can't play yet, but I was getting lessons..." Loki trails off, his voice nearly breaking. You decide not to ask more about that.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend."
"You didn't!" The boy cries, "I just...Well, I mean, I was receiving lessons from my mother, that's all."
"Oh...I'm sorry, Loki."
"It's okay."
By the time the two of you are back downstairs, you're both incredibly hungry, your stomachs rumbling like Pompeii. Phil has nearly finished the cooking, and you offer your hand in help. After fifteen minutes, the two of you have successfully concocted twelve sub sandwiches. You can hear the kids in the dining room, but before the two of you turn to leave the kitchen with the food, you catch each other's eyes.
"You have some extraordinary sons, Phil."
"Just wait until you meet the rest..." He replies, grinning, as he walks behind you into the dining room. There, at the table, sat seven children, who were all too busy talking to notice you until you set the plate of sandwiches down on the table. They all stared hungrily at them, but they didn't dare move until prompted. As you took your seat at the opposite end of the table as Phil, you look around and try to guess which child was which. That's when you notice Phil praying. You don't recall Phil being a religious man, despite his already outstanding morals and ethic, but you bow your head with the rest of them and think quietly to yourself. When you look back up, everyone is staring at you.
"...What?"
"Oh, nothing. I just like to go over the prayer that Sara always said. Thanks for being patient."
Everyone stuck their arms out at once and attacked the platter of food, and you knew you were too far to be able to reach one. But, luckily for you, the young red-haired girl who must have been Natasha, handed you a sandwich.
"Thank you, Natasha."
"How'd you know it was me?" She asks with a grin. Both of you laugh a little and begin chowing down on your food. Once you all finished, the kids formally introduced themselves and after they'd all left the table to play, you stand to go, as well. You walk across the room and shake Phil's hand again, with a new warmth.
"You have a wonderful family, Phil," You say, beaming at him, "I'm incredibly jealous."
"They are great, aren't they? Good kids, although they can be a handful sometimes."
"Yeah, I saw that. Clint and Loki don't seem to like each other."
"You noticed?" He gives you a pause to nod, "Yes, they've had troubles since Clint came into the family. They're both good kids, but Loki has always been scared of Clint. Unfortunately, one of Loki's favorite defense mechanisms is to cause some trouble, which he has done for Clint, already."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yeah, me too," Phil says, running a hand over his forehead, "But I'm going to try taking the two of them to a counselor tomorrow, anyway."
"I hope it helps."
"Me too. It was good seeing you!"
Review Responses:
Review Responses:
Magic Iris: Aw, thanks!
All Hail His Noodleness: asas;asdflas thanks o, wo
KP: Wow, you just pick up on everything! That makes me really happy, hehe. Anyway, I'm glad you brought up the length of this little series. As of now, I want to do a ton of chapters. After the next chapter, I'll be doing your request, the runaway one, unless I finish it early (no promises). Thank you so much for the prompt! I'll be using it soon. I love it!
ZS: Oh, yes, expect to see a lot more Phil/Tasha. They are going to get along great. Thanks for the compliment, by the way. And thank you for the prompt, I've chosen it for this week's chapter! I hope you like Steve here~ I've been meaning to focus on him more and more, anyway.
DarkMousyRulezAll: Haha, it's good to see that I've gotten you emotionally rattled.
Danik: Thanks! Expect more~