It's a hell of a time too, but I am seriously beginning to regret letting Nine look with me at potential houses.
"That one's too small!" he complains, making a face and glancing at me, "besides, I can't play football or train or whatever in a backyard like that."
Rolling my eyes, I click onto the next place. It's one of the list-things some lonely soul made out of Google images, because some of these places look like total shit. (House in the dump yard anybody?) Restlessly, I reach up to scratch my face and being reminded yet again I have to grow out this ridiculous beard to cover up the sword scar. The least I can do is use our practically endless funds so the kid and I can live it up some.
"That looks like a Barbie house," Nine makes a face at the pink and yellow paint.
I roll my eyes, "We can always paint it over." I click to look inside, but he just makes fun of the painting on the inside and all of the girl toys scattered around until I click away.
After a while, I finally just go to Google Images myself and take a look. I find a great place for 'all your vacationing desires for the whole family- The John Hancock Center. Apparently the place is loaded with restaurants, pools, gambling centers, and has a hotel sitting on top of it. Upon further digging on the Internet, I learn that there's only 100 floors, but a lot of people don't go up that high because of all the attractions below. A slow smirk begins to spread across my face.
"What? It's a bunch of hotel rooms!" Nine points out with his lower lip forming a pout, "I thought you said no more hotels after this one!"
"Yeah, but what if they were all ours?" I smirk a bit wider and pick up the phone, "hello, yes? I'd like to speak to the manager about adding onto the John Hancock personally."
Nine coughs as we enter the 100th floor. I've finally purchased it, and it didn't take that long to build the last story with the advanced pay I offered instantly. Now they're simply doing the finishing touches, and we're all free to enjoy to our heart's content. I hand Nine his identity for Chicago- Stanley Worthington, as I opposed to my Damian Worthington. Since we barely look alike, I've decided he'll be my 'nephew' who follows me as a business man who hit a hot deal and can live it large.
"Go claim your room," I tell my Garde, waving away the still-lingering saw dust in the air, "I've got some work to do."
As he runs off to explore, I go to the elevator and insert the key for our reserved floors. Nobody will be able to come up here unless they have a key, and we're the only two. Smirking to myself, I remove the button control panel's cover and begin wiring.
"Hm?" I snort a bit when something hits me in the side.
The kid is standing there in his expensive new pajamas, looking reluctant. I sit up in the bed, switching on the light with the push a button and squinting in the brightness."What is it?"
He bites his lower lip, shifting his weight and finally confessing, "It's really big."
I chuckle airily, "It's a penthouse, kid. Get used to it."
Shutting off the light, I lay back down and stretch out a bit. Even as I resume my comfortable position, I can tell the kid hasn't gone back to his room yet. I lift my head slightly and raise an eyebrow through the blackness. That's about the time I hear a sniff, followed by a small puff of breath that comes from trying to withhold emotions.
"Nine, is it bothering you or something?" I inquire, "nothing's going to get us here; I've seen to that personally."
"B...but it's still big!" He half snaps as he says this, but it's blandly obvious he's upset.
It occurs to me that we've had to share the bed on more than one occurrence in the hotels we've gone to for 'limited spacing', and that this is the first time in about three months that he's had his own space. This is the first time since the ship he's had his own room, and there's about forty around us that are still completely empty of life.
No wonder he's so freaked out.
Lifting up the sheets, I offer, "Come on."
"I...I can get in?" He peeks over his shoulder from where he was going to trudge away.
I merely keep the sheets open, giving him the inspiration to crawl in and curl up at my side. His face is, as expected, damp, so I wrap one arm around him and roll to my other side. After a few moments, I hear him emit a relaxed sigh, and begin to task of falling back asleep.