Sharon shook her head and sighed, two fingers massaging the bridge of her nose.
A few feet away, frozen on the couch and against each other, Virgil and Richie didn't even breath, much less move. They had seen Sharon angry before, but this was bound to be something historic - if they lived to tell about it, of course.
To both of the boys' surprise, however, the unpowered Hawkins' girl only sighed and flapped one hand at the two of them. "Put yours shirts on!", she ordered, voice only slightly annoyed. Virgil gaped, mouth hanging open. Richie was so surprised he fell off the couch, something Virgil would have laughed at him for any other time.
"Uh...yeah, sure, sis.", Virgil said, keeping one eye on his older sibling as he groped for his shirt, which Richie handed to him from his spot o n the floor, the blonde having shrugged on his button-up shirt already. Richie was still working on the buttons when Sharon stalked back into the room - she'd left while Virgil had his shirt over his head, he was certain - and then the two of them paused, glancing at each other for a panicked moment before speaking at the same time.
"Yo, Sharon, this -", Virgil started.
"Sharon, we, uh, can -"
The pig-tailed young woman held her hand up, the other hand on her hip, usual frown on her face. "Oh, no. Ya'll don't get off that easy, with excuses an' all. Uh-uh." To her credit, Virgil was suddenly more scared of his older sister than he was of Batman, and that was saying something. "Sit down on that couch and explain, little bro."
Richie bolted up onto the couch, both he and Virgil following Sharon as she moved from the doorway in front of the TV and stood there, arms crossed over her chest, foot tapping against the pale, faintly yellow carpet.
"Uh...Well, Sharon, jeez, you can't be expectin' us to just-", Virgil started, defensive. Under that, of course, he was nervous. Richie, frankly, just felt nervous; Sharon had always intimidated him more than Batman.
Her voice like a whip, Sharon interrupted. "Oh, yes I can expect you to explain, little bro. You sit down there an' you explain, or I call Dad.", she threatened.
Virgil shot straight up from his defensive slouch on the couch cushion, his hands fisting against the fuzzy material, eyes wide. "Sharon, you can't - he'd kill me! And Richie!", the young hero added, relying on her caring a tad more about Richie's homicide than his own. The blonde in question wasn't sure whether to be grateful or not.
Probably not, considering.
"I can and will, 'less you explain why the hell you didn't tell me you an' Richie were dating!", Sharon told Virgil, cutting across his disagreement like it was oh so much warm butter.
Richie blinked, sharing a confused look with Virgil, whose brown eyes were as wide as his own blue ones.
It was Richie who responded first, with an inelegant, "You...aren't mad at us? For...?", the blonde asked, gesturing between he and Static vaguely.
"Richie, please!", Sharon said, shaking her head as if it were obvious. "I'm just glad my little brother has someone, finally!"
From the other side of the couch, Virgil made an indignant sound, for which Richie kicked his shin as smoothly as he could. Which, actually, wasn't very smooth. Nobody seemed to care much, really, although Virgil did send Richie a token annoyed look, just out of habit.
"Uh - thanks, Sharon!", Richie said, recovering from his shock after a moment of fighting down laughter.
Virgil wasn't very far behind him, although his reaction was less reserved than Richie's, as per usual. In such, that the dark skinned young hero leapt up from his spot on the couch and grabbed his older sister up in a hug, letting her go after a moment. "Yeah, thanks, sis! I knew you wouldn't want dad to kill me!" Virgil paused for a moment, regarding his sibling with a slightly worried expression on his face. "You aren't going to tell him still, right?", he asked, just to make sure.
Sharon shook her head, a ghost of a laugh coming out of her for a moment before she answered. "No. No, I'm not, but you owe me, little brother.", she added, poking said male in the chest. Virgil winced slightly, Richie was willing to bet more out of habit than actual pain, and nodded vigorously.
Richie piped up from the couch, minutely more relaxed than he had been a minute ago. "But, uh, why are you home early anyway, Sharon? I thought you had a date with Adam? Did he have to leave on - uh, business?", the blonde asked, alluding to super-heroics with another vague wiggle of his fingers at the window.
"Uh, no. She just wanted to come home early.", came Adam's sheepish voice from the doorway. Richie jumped slightly, turning around in his seat on the couch as Virgil turned to look at the stretchy male, mouth set in a frown, embarrassed.
"How much did you hear?", Virgil asked, regarding Adam with a glare. Richie didn't glare, but kept his eyes on the male, anyway. he was curious, too.
Adam shook his head, hands raised up defensively. "I was in the kitchen - didn't hear a thing." Seeing the two teens staring at him, he grinned. "Promise, guys. Didn't hear or see anything, really." He nodded his head in Sharon's direction. "I was getting her a drink from the kitchen, that's all."
Virgil seemed to take his word for it, reluctantly, so Richie did the same, not quite missing the slightly smile on the stretchy super-heroes' face as he turned around to face Sharon and Virgil again, who now had his hands hooked in his pants, which were sagging again.
Sharon scoffed slightly, heading towards the her boyfriend, who Richie suspected was loitering in the kitchen once more. "Jeez, you two. Adam's telling the truth."
At the doorway, she turned halfway around, one hand resting on the wall. Virgil flopped back onto the couch, directly next to Richie, whose hand slide into his as natural as anything.
"You two should tell Dad.", she said, seemingly out of sisterly righteousness. Virgil made a scoffing sound, and Richie knew his eyes were rolling. "But I won't tell him. So if you two get caught, it's on your head. Just warning you.", she said, retreating into the kitchen.
Richie could hear her voice, muted by distance, saying something to Adam. whose reply was also muted. Beside him, Virgil shook his head, running his free hand through his dreadlocks and sighing, face turned up to the ceiling. "I think she's right, bro.", Richie said. Somewhat to his surprise, Virgil nodded.
"I know, man. It's just...it's my dad, you know?", the dark-skinned male said, eyes regarding Richie askance. Richie nodded, squeezing his hand, he hoped, reassuringly.
"I know. I'll help. Be there for ya, so he doesn't kill you without a witness.", Richie supplied with a straight face, until Virgil snorted and laughed, punching him in the shoulder.
"Gee, thanks."