Sorry it's been a while! I've been busy lately and haven't had much time for writing! I reread the story up to this point and I feel the need to explain some of my story choices, specifically the relationship between Darien and certain Loud siblings.

First of all, Darien and Luan. I decided to make Luan a liberal because most comedians and late-night show hosts are nowadays, and she most likely learned from them. However, she isn't as good in a debate as Darien is because Darien has had more practice. The debate scene was mainly written to get across that Luan and Darien get on each other's nerves while also referencing Darien's personality (having experience in debates and enjoying them) and beliefs.

Secondly, Darien and Lola. I have a sister who's a bit of a mix between Lynn and Lola, sporty but bratty. I do not get along with her IN THE SLIGHTEST. So Darien, having a similar personality to me, has a bone to pick with Lola.

Third, Darien and Leni. Darien, as we may all be aware, has very little patience with other people, so Leni's stupidity really doesn't help any sort of relationship between them.

Hopefully, this clears things up for those of you wondering why I spent a lot of a chapter seemingly pushing a conservative agenda.

Now, without further adu, the 7th chapter of the babysitting arc!

Gavin looked into the house to make sure Darien hadn't burned it down, while keeping Lynn in his peripheral vision just in case. Darien, while good in his role as the oldest sibling, wasn't always the most responsible one, which was one of the main reasons Gavin had come along.

"Which one're you looking at?" Lynn asked interrogatively.

"What?"

"Come on, I won't tell!" Yes I will.

"What do you mean?"

"You like one of them, don't you?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup."

"Well, I'm not one of them."

"No you aren't, miss buck-thrity-three-an-hour."

"What?"

"That's how much I get for each of you per hour."

"Oh, so you're just doing it for the money, huh?"

"Yep."

"What do you need money for?"

"Repaying loans from my mom, buying stuff, you know, the usual."

"Good luck with that."

"Thanks."

"How old are you again?"

"14."

"Oh, so are you in 8th grade or your freshman year?"

"Freshman, but I'm three grades ahead in math, and one grade ahead in English."

"Whoa..."

"Yeah, set to graduate in 3 years instead of 4, so I graduate the year after Darien."

"Well, do you have a Nobel prize?"

"Yes." Gavin responded sarcastically.

"Wait, really?"

"No."

"So are you just a savant?"

"I wish. I'm autistic, but I'm not a savant."

"You're autistic?"

"Yup."

"I have an autistic friend, and you don't seem anything like him."

"Yeah, well, I'm not your autistic friend."

"So are you the only one you know?"

"The only autistic kid?"

"Yeah."

"Nope. There's this other kid in my ward, his name's David. Then there's also Darien."

"You're BOTH autistic?"

"Yup."

"But you're so different!"

"Yeah, we're on opposite ends of the spectrum. He's more on the asperger's side."

"Did you just say 'butt burgers?'"

"No, a-s-pergers."

"Oh, right. Well, you both seem okay."

"Because we're high-functioning. We seem normal to most people, but if you look closely, we're definitely autistic. I mean, we once liked Five Nights at Freddy's!" Gavin joked.

"How else?" Lynn asked as she and Gavin passed the soccer ball to each other. Gavin didn't play in any sort of league, but he occasionally played in the yard, and hosting some British soccer coaches had taught him a few things.

"Well, look at Darien. Did you notice him snapping after he put the twins to bed?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, that's a stim of his. I don't really realize I'm doing mine, and I don't know quite what it is."

"Huh."

"Do you want to buy St. James Place for $180?"

"Nah, I'll do a 180 and auction." Luna had grabbed Monopoly down from the closet, and was joined by Lincoln, Lucy, Leni, Darien, and Luan.

"Alright, starting bid?"

"$10." Luan said. Hopefully I can get it for less.

"Alright, Lincoln?" Lincoln was to Luan's left, so he bid next.

"20."

"50." Lucy said, still as monotonously as usual.

"60." Darien followed. He tried not to exceed the previous bid by more than 20 or less than 10, the former his preference and the latter a house rule.

"180." said Leni.

"Augh, really?" Darien groaned.

Alright, I'm not gonna get it for less, but maybe I can still get it. Luan thought. "200."

"I'm out."

"Yet another property gone. Sigh."

"Yeah, no, I'm out."

"500."

"Leni, you're dumb."

"Hey!"

"Out." Luan said. Now she's $500 down. Then again, she wasn't much of a threat to begin with.

"Yay, I win!" Leni cheered, unaware of how much her 'victory' had crippled her chances.

"Hey, Lincoln, I've got a trade offer." Everyone else went silent. As another house rule, only the two people negotiating the trade could talk until the deal was off altogether or a deal was struck.

"Alright, Darien, let's hear it."

"Well, let's take a look at those two railroads you got there." Darien pointed to Reading and B.O. railroad. "It cost you $400 to get those, right?"

"Right?"

"And rent is $50 with two railroads."

"Correct."

"So you need somebody to land on either one eight times to make your money back, and more to make a profit, right?"

"Right..."

"Well, we'll double the odds of any given roll landing on any given space, because you have two. There are two dice, so maximum roll is 12 and minimum is 2. That means 11 spaces from which you can land on each, or 22 out of the 36 in the game. HOWEVER, you need to roll the right number. There are 36 combinations for the two die, and depending on distance, there are a certain number of combinations to allow you to land on those spaces. I've actually done calculations for this before, and the theoretical probability of landing on either of those railroads is roughly 3% each. So for every 200 dice rolls, you should have about 6 people landing on either, correct?"

"Correct..."

"That's a lot of rolls to have not even gotten your money back yet. So here's my deal: $500 for both railroads. Make your money back plus profit right now instead of having to wait for 267 rolls in order to just get your money back. So, do we have a deal?"

"Deal!" Lincoln shouted, grabbing his railroads and handing them to Darien, who gave him $500 in return. Darien smiled. In the long term, he knew, this would help him a lot more than it would Lincoln. And now that he owned all four, it would only take landing on any of them three times to get his money back, and it would theoretically take 12 rolls to do so, as every space was within twelve of a railroad.

Lincoln had just been fooled.