The first ten minutes of the walk back to the QuickaSnack were spent in silence. For Elize, it was awkward, and he brain kept circling back to the fact that this big-shot lawyer was traipsing around town in socks while she wore his shoes. That.. just doesn't happen every day. On Darcy's end, his mind was still stuck on the moment when he had caught her on the Merriton steps.

Everything had blurred together (it had only been a second or two after all), but for some odd reason, one thing seemed frozen in time. Her eyes. He had finally caught a real glimpse of them. And they were more beautiful than he could have ever imagined.

They were a pale, graying emerald, the color of ponds and mist and pine needles surrounded by the barest hints of golden autumn. That is to say, they were grey-green, with hazel flecks. They seemed to explode with life, wide and slanting and expressive in a way he was not eloquent enough to describe. They pinned him down and lifted him up, piercing him with their cool green gaze. Magnificent.

"So you're really bad at the whole small talk thing, huh?"

"Huhuh—," Darcy said, stumbling as he was brought out of his thoughts, "Pardon?"

Lizzy grinned at him. "We're already halfway back, do you really want to just keep staring in silence? No talking at all?"

Yes. "No." Darcy cleared his throat. "So, um, what do you want to talk about?"

She chuckled, her gorgeous eyes rolling amusedly. "Dude, I don't know! Whatever you want to talk about!"

"Okay. But don't call me dude."

"But of course, my liege."

"Not that either."

"Begging your pardon, your grace."

"Stop that!"

"As you wish, o captain my captain."

They walked in silence for a bit more. Finally, Darcy spoke up. "Was that a Walt Whitman reference?"

"Maybe." She smiled cheekily. "Or maybe just Dead Poets Society."

"Wasn't Dead Poets Society referencing Walt Whitman?"

"Yes," Lizzy hummed, "But I think Robin Williams is better than Whitman, any day."

"I might have to dispute you on that."

Lizzy gasped. "WHAT?! YOU DON'T LIKE ROBIN WILLIAMS?"

Darcy, a little taken aback, held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Um, well, I uh, only ever really saw him in… that and Jumanji. I.. I appreciated his performance, but… not… a lot..?"

"Oh my god," Lizzy said, facepalming, "I HAVE to send you some of his comedy acts. They're kinda… above the PG, but they're FUNNY AS HELL. Seriously. You're missing out."

She stopped walking for a minute. "Wait. You… that's all you've seen him in?"

"Yyyyeah? Why?"

Her inhumanly gorgeous eyes were saucer-wide. "YOU'VE NEVER SEEN ALADDIN?!"

Darcy didn't answer. That was enough.

Lizzy went on an entire rant about how although she didn't agree with the terrible attempt at cultural appropriation and the shady morals of the main character, all of Robin William's lines had been improvised, and his performance was too good to miss. Along with a full rant about Disney's animation technique and how they revolutionized film and the decline of cinematography and a lot of other subjects that Darcy didn't understand.

This diatribe took up most of the walk back. By the end, Darcy was grinning ear to ear. It was cute how worked up she got.

"RIGHT?!"

"Right," he agreed, though not really sure what to. "I think we're almost there."

"Oh," Lizzy said, coming to stop to peer down the block to the QuickaShack. "I hadn't even noticed."

"Clearly," Darcy replied, decidedly NOT laughing.

"Oh, Hey!" She exclaimed, grabbing his hand to get his attention (which she already had [Darcy tried very hard not to linger on the pleasant tingles her touch sent up his arm]), "You should stick around for a bit! Ronnie'll want to meet you!"

At the mention of another guy, Darcy's stomach dropped. Of course. Lizzy was too much of a knock-out to be single. Just his luck. And now she wanted him to meet 'Ronnie'? No thank you!

"Um, I'm sure he wouldn't mind delaying the pleasure," Darcy said, quickly.

"Oh, Pshaw," Lizzy snorted, linking her arm through his and dragging him along, "No excuses! I'm sure he'll love you. He always likes when I bring friends around."

Shit, she only saw him as a friend, Darcy thought miserably to himself as he was pulled down the sidewalk (by a woman who was probably three heads shorter than him) His luck was just IMMACULATE today.

Then balked at the idea of meeting this guy. The awkwardness would just be TOO MUCH. "No, no," he said, "I'd just be a third wheel. Wouldn't want to make things awkward for you two."

Lizzy glanced at him, and recognition dawned in her eyes. Then her smile became a little bit more mischievous, or maybe that was just his imagination. "But I want you to meet my special guy!" She cried, batting her eyes, "He's sooooo cute! And I just love to cuddle with him and hug him and kiss his little face—"

"Jesus," Darcy murmured, blushing violently and feeling his stomach turn knots. "Details are not needed, Lizzy."

They were almost to the QuickaSnack now. Last chance to turn back. Then Lizzy (who had been carefully avoiding eye contact) took one look at her companion's face, and burst out laughing.

"Puta madre, I can't believe you fell for that!"

"What? Fall for what?"

"Ronnie isn't my boyfriend," she chortled, "He's like four years old! He's like a little brother to me!"

"Ohhhhh," Darcy said, relieved beyond measure.

"Pfffft, you were so surprised!"

"Yeah, I was," he smiled. Her nose scrunching in a way that made him desperately want to kiss it. He coughed and looked away.

"Me and all my sisters help out with Ronnie whenever we can," Lizzy explained at length, "He's still in pre-k, but since Mr G's so busy with the store (he has custody of Ronnie by the way), we all take turns looking after him. He's so sweet. He's like the baby brother I never had."

"That's nice," he said, and meant it.

"Yeah. Yeah it is."

Then, just a few more steps, and they were in the QuickaSnack, and Lizzy was tackled by a blur of Hulk T-shirts and light up sketchers. "LIZZZZZZYYYYYY!"

She fell back, wrestling the tiny boy off of her, tickling and shouting with laughter as he tickled back. "Ronnie, Ronnie, stop, please," she screamed, breathless with laughter as the little kid found the prime tickling spots.

"NEVEEEER," he screamed back.

Darcy watched with a mix of shock and interest. No one in his family had ever done something like this out of the blue. It was… cute.

Finally, the little boy rolled off of her, and Darcy got his first good look at him (and vice versa).

To Darcy, what stood before him was an abstract portrait of carefree youth— clashing colors, mismatched socks, a front tooth missing, and a short-clipped haircut on the boy's oversized head. His skin was the color of decaf, and he had a bandaid over one knuckle. Tiny and shrunken, his skinny little arms lost in a sea of shirt sleeves.

To Ronnie, what stood before him was the boogie man. He screamed.

"Woah, hey, Ronnie," Lizzy jumped up, pulling him to her, "It's okay, it's okay. That's just Will."

Ronnie gave her a look. "That wooks wike a wawyer," he said in a limped stage whisper.

Lizzy chuckled. "That's 'cause he IS a lawyer."

Ronnie squeaked and hid behind her. Lizzy shot an apologetic look at Will, and leaned over to whisper to him. "Every so often, Mr G gets.. ahm, visits, from Child Protective Services— just check-ins, to make sure everything's running smoothly. But Mr G gets really stressed about them, and Ronnie has kind of… developed a.. fear... of businessmen."

"You could have told me this before," he hissed.

"Well, I didn't think he could flipping sense it!" Lizzy hissed back, NOT swearing. "Do lawyers have, like, a scent or something?"

Darcy frowned at her, and she rolled her eyes. "FINE," she griped quietly, "I'll handle it. Just.. play nice."

She turned back to Ronnie, rubbing soothing little circles on his back. "Hey.. hey lil' tyke. It's okay! William here is my friend. And you know I would never be friends with anyone bad."

He peeked out from behind her legs, unconvinced. "He wooks scary though.."

"Well, he's not. See?" She turned to Will, popping her eyes out and mouthing some very non-child friendly commands at him.

Will crouched down, and tried to look as non-threatening as possible. "H-hey… buddy…," he said, softly. Ronnie watched him intently, warily. Lizzy did too. He swallowed. How in the hell was he supposed to talk to kids? "You like… cars?"

Ronnie's eyebrows shot up, and he ventured a little out from behind Lizzy. "Do YOU wike cars?" He asked, very intensely.

"Um. Yes."

"Do you have a car? Wha' car dya have?"

"Uh, a Tesla?"

He had struck gold. Ronnie's eyes lit up. "OH MY G-O-S-H THA' IS SO COOOOL! CAN I SEE IT? IT IS FAST?!"

"How 'bout you show William YOUR cars first, sport. We ARE at your home base after all."

"Oh yeah. Okay! Come on Ewize's friend! I wanna show you my Lexus, it's gween, and big, and supersuperfastIjustgotitforChristmasCOMEON!"

Darcy let a sideways smile take over his face as this energetic little boy bounded over to a back room (dragging Darcy along) and proudly showed off his model car collection. He normally didn't like kids, but he had to admit— the excitement was infectious.

He played with Ronnie for a good half hour (Lizzy taking shifts at the counter and periodically checking in on 'her boys' with a heartwarming smile). Ronnie, thankfully, did most of the talking. Darcy just made the appropriate 'vrrrrrrRRROOOOOM' sounds and drove the cars off a cliff (the edge of the table) when Ronnie gave the go sign. The kid had a thing for explosions.

Unfortunately though, Darcy couldn't put off his responsibilities forever. He had to meet Bing and assess the new property. So he made his excuses to a disappointed Ronnie and tried to leave. He said 'tried' because Ronnie stuck to his leg like a sea urchin, begging him to play "JUST A WITTLE WONGER!"

"C'mon Ronnie," Lizzy said, gently prying the kid off of Darcy's pant leg, "Will has to go now. Say goodbye."

"Goodbye," he sulked.

Lizzy smiled at Darcy, sweet and apologetic, and— for some odd reason— Darcy couldn't look away. He stared at her, a goofy grin on his face. He must have been drunk off of happiness and toddler excitement; usually he had better control of himself than this.

"Is he your boyfriend?"

Um.

What.

Lizzy looked about as awkward and startled as he felt. She paled a little, and her smile froze on her face. "Uh, Ronnie, sweetie," she said, her voice only a tad stilted, "Will and I just met."

"But is 'e your boyfriend?" The boy asked, looking up quizzically at the two adults, "You nevah bwing boys when you have friends ower. So is 'e?"

"Uhhhhh…"

"No, I'm not," Darcy filled in, feeling the crippling weight of awkwardness settle in. Yikes, he couldn't even meet her eyes.

"Oh," Ronnie said, then shrugged. "Okay!"

"Okay," Lizzy chuckled (forcedly). "So… see ya around, Will!"

"Yeah, uh, see ya."

With that, Will Darcy made a hasty exit, Ronnie went back to the play room, and Lizzy turned away to the counter. Only one of them wasn't blushing so hard they could feel the heat rise off of their cheeks and neck as they wondered why that comment had caused such a violent reaction in them.

And the other one went back to play with his cars, and hoped that Elize would bring around her not-boyfriend again sometime. He made good explosion noises.