Ethan loves his mom, really. He does.
He just finds it very annoying when she constantly hovers over him in the weeks following the almost-Apotheosis. Ever since his step-dad left last year, actually.
He'd been pretty cool, actually. Cool enough to buy Ethan his first leather jacket, cool enough that Ethan wanted to take his last name, Green. Max and Beck had been married for eight years, together for three before that. But then Max had left them, quite abruptly, for another woman. And ever since, Beck had been a bit overprotective of Ethan.
She started enforcing a stricter curfew— before it had been 11PM on weekends, 10PM on school nights. Now it was an hour and a half earlier for each. It certainly made taking Lex on dates more difficult.
And the day after the almost-Apotheosis? Jesus H Christ, his mom had been freaking. The fuck. Out. Even telling her where'd been— safe, with Lex and her family at a biology professor's house on the edge of town— didn't help. If anything, it seemed to make her freak out even more for a few minutes. But she did, eventually, calm down.
Today, Lex and Hannah ware coming over after school. His mom loves them, especially Hannah. Beck has a way with small children, and she often volunteers to watch her for a bit so Ethan can take Lex on their dates. Not tonight, though. Tonight Beck was insisting that the Foster girls come over for dinner.
"Hi, Lex," Beck says warmly, hugging Ethan's girlfriend as she lets herself in. Hannah trails shyly behind her, and Beck gasps like she hasn't seen the girl in years. "Hannah Banana, is that you? Look how big you're getting!"
Hannah giggles a little, and hugs Beck.
"Okay," Beck says, pulling away and standing back up. "We don't have mac and cheese tonight—" Hannah frowns a little, and Beck smirks. "But that's because we're having spaghetti and meatballs."
Hannah immediately perks back up. Lex huffs out a laugh at her sister's reaction, as Ethan comes over and kisses her on the cheek.
"Hey, babe," he whispers in her ear, and Lex kisses his cheek back.
"Hey," she says, too.
Ethan's mom leads the three of them to the kitchen table, and serves up their plates for them. "So how's school going, Lex?" She asks.
Lex hesitates slightly. "It's... it's okay. Most of my classes are fine, but I've got this one teacher that's just— ugh. He's really impatient, always grumpy, and just kind of gives me bad vibes, you know? Half the class is failing, and I'm right on the edge of it. I hate him."
Beck nods sympathetically. "We've all had teachers like that," she says. "He's clearly not doing his job to teach if half his students are failing his class. You should talk to the principal."
Lex shakes her head and says, "We can't, not really. He has tenure. He's been teaching at Hatchetfield High for like, fifty years."
"Oh, Mr. Donner?" Beck winces, and Lex nods. "The US History teacher? I had him... I was so excited for that class until I found out I was getting him instead of the other one we had at the time, Mrs... oh, what was her name? Poe, I think?"
"She retired last year," Ethan says. "Mr. Donner clearly needs to. He's like, eighty."
"I like my teacher," Hannah pipes up. "Her name's Miss Jefferson, and she's really nice. She only gets mad at the kids who really deserve it."
"Lucky you," Lex teases her.
They eat dinner, continuing to chat about school— other classes and teachers, their friends—
"Oh!" Lex almost drops her fork when she remembers. "Alice is moving in with her dad! I totally forgot to tell you earlier— Deb was telling me all about it. After what happened a few weeks ago, she and her mom have been arguing a lot, so they all finally agreed it would be best for Alice to come back to Hatchetfield permanently."
"Alice... Alice Jones?" Beck asks, and all three kids nod.
"Does that mean she'll be my babysitter again when you guys are busy?" Hannah asks hopefully. Excitement shines in her eyes— Alice had always been her favorite, other than Lex and Ethan themselves.
"Probably," Lex says, shrugging, but she's smiling, too. She turns to Ethan. "And now that Peter's sitting with us at lunch, we'll need to find a bigger table for Alice, too."
There's a few moments of silence after Ethan agrees, where the only sound is them eating.
"So what are you planning for Halloween, Hannah?" Beck asks, grabbing another slice of garlic bread.
"'M gonna be Belle!" Hannah says cheerfully. "With the gold dress, because that's when she becomes a princess!"
"Is that all it takes for someone to be a princess?" Beck teases. "A gold dress?"
Hannah giggles and shakes her head. "Just some of 'em. If they aren't born a princess," she clarifies, "they either have to marry a prince or wear a really fancy dress and damce with one. Then they become a princess! That's how Disney works!"
Lex and Ethan snicker at the five-year old's logic. Beck shakes her head slightly as she tries not to do the same.
"I guess you're right," Beck allows. "Do you already have your costume? You know... I used to make costumes back in high school and college for the drama department. I could make you a really fancy gold dress if you want."
Hannah's eyes light up as she looks to Lex. "Can she? Please, Lexie?"
"That's not up to me," Lex says, laughing. "That's your guys' choices. Do you want her to make the dress?"
Hannah nods, looking back to Ethan's mom. "Will you, please?" She uses her puppy dog eyes, but there's no need.
"Of course, Hannah Banana," she chuckles. "I'd be happy to. Will you let me measure you once we're done eating?" Hannah nods again, and starts to wolf down her last few bites.
Beck takes the all four dishes to the sink, then takes Hannah upstairs to take measurements. While the teens wait, they move to the couch in the living room, and Lex decides to tell Ethan about her plan.
"I'm gonna meddle in my dad's love life," she announces, and Ethan almost chokes on his soda.
After coughing it out, he weakly says, "Maybe we shouldn't—"
"Oh, I'm gonna meddle," Lex says confidently, and it almost sounds like a threat— to Ethan, or to her own dad, he wasn't sure.
"Do you already know who you're gonna set him up with?" Ethan asks, sighing. He knows better than try to deter his girlfriend when she sets her mind to something like this.
"Dr. Hidgens," Lex reveals, and there's a small crash from upstairs, then Hannah's giggling. Both teens freeze, waiting to see if they're called for, but resume the conversation when a few moments pass and there's nothing.
"I thought you said he was kinda weird about your dad," Ethan, says, confused. "That there was something off about him."
"I know you were joking when you said maybe he thought my dad was hot," Lex says, "but I think you were right. And Peter thinks so, too. My dad definitely gets all flustered whenever Hannah or I talk about the professor, and Peter says that he did the same thing when he took Peter my notebook and found out Dr. Hidgens wasn't home."
"Why would he— never mind," Ethan mumbles. Lex probably planned the whole thing as either a test or first attempt at getting the two men together.
"Peter also said that Dr. Hidgens gets a little flustered whenever Dad gets mentioned," Lex adds in a conspiratorial whisper.
Ethan rolls his eyes a little, more amused than annoyed, and asks, "So do you guys have a plan, or are you still trying to figure that out?"
"We have most of a plan," Lex admits. "Hannah's part of it, since she and Dr. Hidgens are so fond of each other already. She's gonna bug Dad a lot about going to visit the professor, and you and I are always gonna be busy when she wants to go."
"Busy?" Ethan smirks, raising an eyebrow suggestively. Lex laughs and shoves his shoulder playfully.
"Like datenights, or too much homework," she says, still laughing. "Maybe what you're thinking, sometimes, if you're lucky." She winks at him.
"Oh, I think that would make me very lucky," he teases her, kissing her cheek, and Lex blushes slightly. "What else is there to your plan, other than trying to force your dad to be the one to take Hannah to go see the professor— if he even says yes to that to begin with?"
"Peter's working something out on his end," Lex says, shrugging. "He said he'll text me when he has a plan."
Hannah comes racing back down the stairs, Beck following at a more reasonable pace, laughing to herself.
"I'm gonna be a princess!" Hannah shouts gleefully.
"Don't you have to dance with a prince in your fancy dress first?" Lex asks, and Hannah climbs into her lap with a small, brief frown. Then she perks up again with an idea.
"I could dance with Ethan!" She suggests, looking to him with her puppy dog eyes.
"I'm not a prince, Banana," he chuckles.
"You're close enough for Lexie," the five year old says innocently. "Daddy says that when she was my age, she used to say she was gonna marry a prince one day, and now you two are—"
"Okay!" Lex says quickly, standing and picking Hannah up in the process. "We should probably get going— we all have school in the morning. Don't we, Hannah?"
Hannah nods. Ethan and his mom walk their guests to the door, the former with a wicked blush on his cheeks.
"Um, I'll see you tomorrow, babe," he says quietly, and kisses Lex's cheek one more time.
"Yep," she says, just as quiet. "I'll text you as soon as Peter tells me his plan."
The girls leave, and Beck closes the front door.
"What plan?" She asks her son.
Ethan shrugs a little. "Lex is trying to set her dad up with the biology professor we stayed with a couple weeks back. She thinks they both seem interested in each other, so she's getting me, Hannah, and Peter involved."
"Peter who? Why him?" Beck asks. She hasn't heard of this 'Peter' kid before tonight.
"Uh, Peter Robinson," Ethan clarifies. "He's been staying with the professor because his mom died during the— the blackout, and has nowhere else to go. Dr. Hidgens actually adopted him last week."
"So if their plan works, they'll be step-siblings," Beck says, amused. She freezes for a moment, as though she's just realized something. "I need to go finish the dishes and get started on Hannah's dress!" She dashes off, and Ethan chuckles.
The things people do for that little girl...