A/N: Well, I probably will end up writing a chapter a day, since someone (HyperActivePsycho) won't ask her mom for a train ride from Ottawa to here… you suck, Rowan. Just kidding, I lurf you! (Not really). Hooooly crap, guys. Tomorrow is going to be 50 degrees Celsius, 118 degrees Fahrenheit where I live (South-western Ontario). HOOOLY CRAP!
A word to the wise: never go house-hunting with three tired, hot and bored mutant bird kids and a blind guy who won't stop making 'I'm blind' jokes every time you say something like 'Look at the view!'. Chances are you'll get annoyed very, very quickly.
"Why am I doing this again?" Max muttered to me as we walked down East 94th street. The kids were all complaining, even Angel. And she was usually the quiet, cute one. Now, I kind of wanted to smack them.
"If you want, Fang and I can take them to Central Park while you and Dylan look around." I offered, seeing that Max was about to kill everyone if they didn't shut up.
"Okay. Power to ya." Max sighed in relief.
"Just come find us when you find one." I told her, as it would be much easier to find six kids in one park than two in New freaking York. She nodded, massaging her temples. "Okay, guys. Fang and I are taking you to the park." I announced, realizing as I said it that Fang had no idea. I glanced over at him apologetically, praying he would play along. All the kids cheered, except for Iggy who seems to think he's to cool to act excited about anything. Or maybe he's just an incredibly dull person. Angel grabbed my hand and started skipping cheerfully down the sidewalk, her new rainbow streak shining in the sun.
"Good luck!" Dylan called over his shoulder as they walked in the opposite direction. Angel tugged on my arm, causing me to stumble forward. Fang smirked at me.
"Ooh! Fang, look! Slushies!" Nudge said, pointing to a street cart with some red, orange and blue slushie machines on top. Fang sighed, running his fingers through his now blue-streaked hair.
"How much do you have?" I sighed, as we were clearly going to have to buy some. He shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out a few bills and coins.
"Thirty bucks." He replied, counting them quickly. All the kids looked at me with hopeful eyes, and Iggy just kind of stood there looking bored, as usual.
"How much?" I asked Nudge, since it was her smart idea in the first place.
"Two forty-nine each." She responded. I sighed and closed my eyes.
"What do you think?" I asked Fang, so I wouldn't be held fully responsible for making or breaking their spirits.
"That'll leave us with… twenty dollars and four cents." Fang quickly added. Everyone turned to him. "Fine."
"Yay! I love you Fang!" Angel cheered, hugging him tightly. He looked like he wanted to drop dead. I couldn't help but giggle. He handed her the money and she, Nudge and Gazzy ran over to the stand. Fang, Iggy and I hung back.
"And what'll it be for you?" The chubby, bald man said with a huge, fake smile. The kids looked at him like he was God incarnate.
"Umm… I'll have blue." Gazzy said to the man, who immediately pulled the lever and handed him a blue raspberry slushie.
"Orange, please!" Nudge beamed. You know kids are deprived when getting a freaking slushie has the same excitement factor as winning the lottery would for normal people. The man handed her it, and she happily took it.
"I'll have a blue too, please." Angel said in a voice so sweet it could make you cry. The man grinned as if Angel was the cutest little thing he ever did see, which I wouldn't be surprised if she was. He slid the slushie across the counter top, and she gripped it tightly with her little hands. Little did the man know that those same hands have knocked out men three times her age. "Iggy, what do you want?" Angel called back.
"Whatever!" He responded. She pointed to the red one, and he pulled it and handed it to Nudge, whose hands could hold more than one slushie at a time, unlike Gazzy and Angel. Angel handed him the money and raced back to us.
"Here, Iggy." Nudge said, pressing the slushie to Iggy's stomach so he knew where it was. He nimbly grabbed it, and we started on our way. Once we were out of the vendor's view, we all stopped. As a rule, we never let the younger kids eat or drink anything unless one of the older kids tested to make sure there were no bombs or poison or something else that could hurt them. Ah, the life of a paranoid bird kid.
"Do you want to, or should I?" I asked Fang. He shrugged, which was pretty much his answer to most questions.
"I'll do it." He said, taking Angel's slushie and taking a short sip. He then did the same for Nudge and Gazzy. Iggy was old enough to do it himself, but he still had to wait a few minutes to see if Fang keeled over.
"Anything?" I asked after a few minutes.
"No, I think they're good to eat. Go ahead." Fang pronounced. All the kids put their lips to the straw.
"Wait!" Gazzy cried. Everyone stopped to look at him. He pointed to the bottom of his slushie, and Fang leaned in to take a look. Suddenly, Fang snatched it up and whipped it as far as he could. He did the same to everyone else's.
"What're you-" Nudge began to ask, but Gazzy cut her off.
"DUCK!" He shouted. Okay, when a normal nine year old says duck, you expect to be hit by a spit ball or water balloon. But when the Gasman says duck… well, you're probably going to die if you don't listen. This in mind, we all hit the deck and covered our heads.
About five seconds later, a chain reaction of four bombs exploded, right where Fang had thrown the slushies. Once the debris had settled, we all gathered ourselves to our feet.
"Was that a… slushie bomb?" Nudge asked, dumbfounded. Fang and I looked at each other. If he had been a few seconds slower…
"Death by slushie? Awesome!" Gazzy hammered his fists in the air. Okay, it's official. Gazzy needs to stop spending time with Iggy.
"Good eye, Gaz." I said, ruffling his gelled up hair. "Now let's get out of here before we get arrested."
"Fiorela?" Angel asked sweetly, tugging at my shirt.
"Yeah?" I said, taking her hand.
"The slushie guy is gone." She noted, pointing toward the now abandoned slushie stand. Fang and I exchanged glances, knowing exactly what each other was thinking. Hans.
"Okay, trip to the park is officially cancelled, mostly because Fang just blew it up. Let's go." I said, turning backwards and walking away from the park, where fires on trees and plants were being put out by firemen.
~x~
"Max!" Angel cried, running to her when we finally found them on the street. Max and Dylan had been running in our direction when we saw them coming around the corner.
"Guys!" Max shouted, picking Angel up in her arms and walking toward us.
"We heard there was an explosion in Central Park." Dylan said questionably, looking at Gazzy and Iggy in uncertainty.
"Yep. It was him." I said, pointing to Fang. He threw his arms in the air.
"It was the slushie guy!" He said, exasperated. I rolled my eyes. Details.
"Will someone please tell me what happened?" Max demanded.
"We bought them some slushies, and Fang did the whole poison test thing. We waited five minutes and he didn't die or anything, so we gave them back. Gazzy noticed something in his drink, so Fang took a look-see. He grabbed everyone's slushie and chucked 'em into the park. Like, a millisecond later, everything exploded." I explained. Max and Dylan's jaws were both hanging open.
"Well, on the upside, we found an apartment." Dylan said after a few seconds of silence.
"Yeah? How much?" I asked, trying to forget about being bombed for the second time this week.
"Nothing- it's abandoned." Dylan smirked. Great, just our kind of place. Free.
"Show us." I commanded. Dylan began walking down the sidewalk, and we followed after him, Max still carrying Angel.
We walked for about five blocks, and there it was, right in the middle of 57th street. A huge tower, seemingly at least a hundred stories. It didn't look very abandoned. In fact, people were going in and out as we spoke.
"Explain to me how that's abandoned?" I raised my eyebrows, pointing at the people rushing in and out.
"Not the whole building, just the top floor. Some guy fell out of it a few years ago, and they built a wall over the door so no one else could. The owners don't even know we were in there. We can just fly in and out the window." Dylan elaborated.
"It looks like someone's been living up there the whole time- everything works. The only problem is the electricity monitor thing in the basement, but I'm sure Gazzy and Nudge can make quick work of that." Max added. Nudge and Gazzy fist-bumped. We all smiled in approval. It sounded perfect.
"Let's go check it out, then!" I said happily. I had never had a home before, and neither had Dylan. Max told me they had once lived up in the mountains, but that it was a while ago.
The eight of us ran to the side if the building where no one could see us, and one by one began filing into the room. I looked around.
"Oh, my God, it's perfect!" Nudge squealed, clinging to my arm and jumping up and down. I shook her off and walked around the room. She was right- it was pretty cool. Bonus- it had five rooms, all fully equipped with enough beds for everyone.
"So, what do you guys think? Will we stay?" Max asked, already knowing the answer. Everyone gave some form of yes. Max and Dylan smiled. They'd found us a home. "Let's sort out the sleeping situation, and then Nudge and Gazzy can go kill the monitor. Three of the rooms have two single beds. Who wants to share a room with whom?" Max asked.
"Angel and I can." Nudge put forward. Angel nodded in agreement.
"Iggy and I will, right Ig?" Gazzy asked. Iggy shrugged, meaning yes.
"And I guess Fiorela and I will. Fang and Dylan get their own rooms." Max dictated. I'm glad se said that- Fang and Dylan would kill each other in no time flat if we made them share a room. They aren't exactly what you would call friends.
"Okay, Nudge and Angel, you get the room with purple walls. Get going." Max commanded, and the two girls took off giggling and talking excitedly about their new room. "Gazzy and Iggy, you're the one with red walls. Gaz, help Iggy get his bearings." Max told him, and they too started down the hall. "Dylan gets the blue walls and Fang gets green." The two started down the hall, separating at the very end, where they had rooms across from each other. "Which leaves us with white." Max smiled. We ran to our room, unpacking our stuff and putting it in the closets. It was a good feeling, sorting things in our room. It just made it feel less temporary.
After a few hours of redecorating, everyone was exhausted. It was about midnight, and Nudge and Gazzy had just returned from breaking the hydro monitor thing. We all showered and brushed our teeth and crawled into bed, feeling as if we had just been hit by a bus. It had been an overwhelming day, and I was just glad it was over.
A/N: It's more for me than for anyone else, but I drew up a floor plan of the apartment and will post it on my deviantART (wakamono-uchiha) as soon as I get the chance. It was just something to help me visualize the set-up better, but it'll be there in case anyone wants to know what it's supposed to be shaped like.