Jeff shifted the boy's weight to his hip and fumbled in his pocket for the keys. The boy - Andy, right, quiet one Andy, loud one Terry - looked up blearily but didn't seem inclined to make a fuss about being carried. Then again, the face resting against Jeff's shoulder was burning hot. Hard to mount a protest with that kind of fever.
Even Terry seemed worn out after all the excitement earlier, to Jeff's quiet relief. He wasn't sure what he'd do with a kid that could keep that level of energy up indefinitely. The kid watched silently with his armful of stolen food cans as Jeff shoved the door open - damn thing always stuck - and led him and his brother into their new home.
"You can drop those on the table," Jeff called over his shoulder as he navigated his way through the small kitchen/living room. He really needed to clean up the counter...and the floor...at least the table was fine, because there wasn't anything to put on it. Jeff kicked a couple empty takeout boxes toward the trash and hoped the low light would cover up the cracks in the plaster. He'd have to figure out what to do about those soon.
"Wow...pretty nice place you got here, old man!" Terry had obediently laid the cans on the table and was looking around in amazement.
Then again, four walls and a roof must seem like paradise compared to a rat-infested hole. It was all a matter of perspective. "It does the job," Jeff replied. "You two want anything to eat?"
Andy mumbled "...not hungry..." from Jeff's shoulder, and Terry gave him a long look before shrugging with an "I'm fine," that was probably more about keeping Andy in sight than not being hungry. Well, they wouldn't starve before the morning, and the extra time would give Jeff the opportunity to buy some real food. He just nodded and carried Andy in the bedroom, Terry right at his heels.
He barely managed to get Andy's shoes and jacket off before the kid was curled up under the blankets and dead to the world, and then had to grab Terry before /he/ climbed into bed with his shoes on too. Little barbarians. Jeff resigned himself to washing the bedding first thing tomorrow, since there was no way he was getting either of them in a bathtub at this point.
Terry gave him one last suspicious look from under the covers. "You'd better not be a cannibal or a pervert or anything," he said, but was out before Jeff could reply.
"Bit late for that, kid." Jeff sighed. Both of them were piled up right next to each other, like little puppies. It was, honestly, pretty darn cute.
He reached out and carefully laid the back of his hand on Terry's forehead. Yep, definitely warm. Not nearly as bad as his brother, but not exactly in the pink either. Honestly, the most surprising thing was that he was running around and picking fights with adults with any sort of fever. That kid was going to be trouble for sure.
So...food, laundry, baths, new clothes, a doctor, a full set of shots...Jeff could already feel a headache starting behind his eyes. What had made him decide to pick them up?
Not being able to walk away. Right, right.
And they were cute. Jeff gave them one last smile as he turned to leave, paused, then ran back to grab his private magazines off the dresser. That was close. He had to find somewhere to hide those, and he had the sneaking suspicion the only safe place would be the dojo. At least any prying students would be old enough to steal them instead of asking embaressing questions.
The pile of cans stared disapprovingly at him as he got a cup of coffee. They needed to be returned, and he needed to go grocery shopping, but even if the kids were out cold he couldn't just bail on them right away. And of course Cheng had gone back to Hong Kong and Geese...Geese hated kids and had to be knee-deep in crime to boot. You didn't get to be Southtown Police Commissioner without being at least a little mobbed up.
Police...he probably had to file some kind of report. Chances were no one was looking for the kids, unwanted orphans were a dime a dozen, but it would be good to know for sure. He could figure out how to get them properly adopted while he was there too. It was probably- it was definitely going to be a lot of paperwork.
First things first. Jeff drained the cup and reached for the phone to dial a familiar number. "Hello, Master Tung? It's Jeff. Listen, I just adopted a couple kids and I need some help- Yes, two kids, no idea how old they are. Under ten. Yes, I know I only left half an hour ago!"