OK, people. I have a chapter pre-written but it's not that good. I've gone off the idea of exchange student, so the idea probably won't last too long. I had a brain wave earlier and am now writing towards that. The exchange student bit is just to avoid a jumpy time-skip.

Also, for Parenthood, I do have ideas, but they're a year or so into the future. Would you mind if I did that or do you want me to try and think of something before that to extend the story a bit?

Really sorry for not updating lately, but it's been a long week and my brain has given up on me, but I guess it's woken up a bit knowing that I'M SEEING CATCHING FIRE TOMORROW!

Alvie didn't like Francis. He had only known him for five minutes and was disheartened and slightly annoyed to hear that Francis was staying at Crystal's for six months.

Francis was a bit full of himself, but he seemed an alright, charming and funny guy. He had blonde-brown hair combed back into a smart style and his pale blue eyes were cheeky and cunning. Everything about him oozed calm and confidence and collected.

He just made Alvie feel unbelievably nervous. Francis greeted them in French, kissing cheeks and shaking hands. Crystal told him outright that Alvie was her boyfriend, which intrigued Francis.

"And you have been dating how long?" Alvie couldn't follow the French accent and was probably standing there, staring at Francis as if he were from another planet instead of another country.

"Nearly three months." Crystal smiled.

"He talks, oui?"

"Yeah, he's just shy around new people." Crystal shot Alvie a reassuring look, taking his hand.

"Ah, but he has no need to be shy about moi!" Francis beamed, casually swinging an arm around Alvie's shoulders like they were old friends.

Crystal saw that Alvie was uncomfortable with the one-armed hug from her guest and saved him by redirecting Francis's attention.

"Why don't I show you to your room?"

Showing Francis around the local area and walking him through dos and don'ts and about school, Crystal noticed that Alvie was quieter than usual and stuck close to her- a familiar.

Crystal tucked her hand in his and looked at him curiously. He stared blankly at her for a couple of seconds before giving a wavering smile.

Francis was off buying ice-cream for them, allowing Crystal a few minutes to pry information from her boyfriend.

"Are you OK?" She asked kindly and concernedly. Alvie nodded, chewing his lip. "You're really quiet. Are you worried about Francis?"

"I… um… he just…" He trailed off, casting his eyes to the ground.

"Makes you nervous?" He hesitated before nodding admittedly. Crystal smiled supportively and linked her arm with his. "Hey, he's buying us ice-cream. Smile." She raised her free hand and rested her thumb and forefinger at the corners of his lips, making him smile.

They ate the ice-creams walking about and continuing the tour of their home city. Francis wanted to see the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, but they lived a bit too far away to walk and they didn't have money for a taxi.

"Besides, Mom's doing a roast tonight and you don't want to miss that." Crystal turned to Alvie. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"Um… no. I'm, uh…" Alvie glanced briefly at Francis. "I'm helping Max…"

"Oh, right. Let me know how that goes." He nodded.

"Who iz Max?" Francis asked.

"My… my brother…"

"How many brothers and sisters do you have?"

"Four brothers… and two… two sisters…"

"You are very lucky, monsieur. I have no brothers or sisters."

Alvie walked Crystal home, as he always did. Crystal demanded that he dropped by before school, earlier than usual, to have breakfast.

"So, don't stay up all night reading- get some sleep." She ordered. Alvie smiled weakly. Crystal gave him a farewell hug and kissed his cheek before leading Francis back up to Nico's apartment.

Joy attacked her the second she walked in the door, babbling excitedly and quickly- Crystal didn't understand a word- and there was a bit of paper being waved insanely fast in her face.

Nico came to her rescue, pulling Joy away and smiling.

"Mom, what-?"

"Look!" Crystal saw what the bit of paper was- a baby scan photo.

"Do you kn-?"

"No, too early, but look!" Joy waved the photo about crazily again, doing a happy dance and grinning enthusiastically. Nico had to grab her wrists and hold her still for Crystal to get another word out of her.

At school, Francis revelled in the 'OMG, a new kid!' attention. Crystal barely had to look after him, but he was a flipping boomerang, constantly returning to her side. Seeing as he was staying with her and her family, he was really nice to her, respectful and talkative.

But he made Alvie nervous and that was the only problem she had with her French guest. She asked Alvie several times if Francis was going to turn around and do something mean and berserk, but Alvie always said no.

"What's the matter then? Is he too noisy for you?"

"Little bit." Crystal snickered. Alvie looked down, biting his lip. Crystal curled her arm around his, tilting her head to smile sweetly at him.

"Come on. Let's go and see if we can make him quiet."

Francis was genuinely nice to Alvie, but the latter remained shy and mostly unresponsive, uttering the odd word or nodding or shaking his head.

It was like this for the next month or so. After that, Alvie gradually relaxed around Francis. They shared a love of books.

"Ah, ze Hunger Games! Zey were a good read, but I do prefer ze classics."

"Um…" Alvie was at loss as to how to reply.

"You have read The Secret Garden, non?"

"No…" Francis looked stunned.

"Why, you must read it!"

"OK…" Alvie glanced at Crystal bewilderedly. She gave a soothing smile as she moved over to him, sitting on his lap. Alvie seemed mildly surprised at first, but then unravelled her ponytail and started braiding it.

His fingers occasionally brushed her back and the tickles were somewhat relaxing. She was a bit miffed when he secured the hairband. "Good?" He asked.

"Yeah. Thanks, Alvie." She shifted to sit side-on and put an around his shoulders, resting her head against his. "You OK?" Alvie nodded, drumming his fingers on her thigh thoughtfully. Crystal ran a hand through his hair, tugging gently on the grey streak.

"Can we have ice-cream?" Alvie asked, looking up at her. "Please?" He added quickly.

"Blue?" He nodded eagerly. Crystal smiled. "OK." She got up and pulled him to his feet. She had learnt to mix blue food colouring into his vanilla ice-cream.

Francis followed like an obedient little puppy, rekindling the book conversation with Alvie. They made it to the living room before Alvie was called over by Joy. That left Crystal to organise ice-cream for all of them with Francis.

"What are you reading now?"

"That secret garden one. Bit different." Crystal sat on her pillow, shooing Pebble away. The cat meowed in protest and scampered to Alvie, curling up in his lap. Alvie scratched the feline behind the ears, gaining a happy purr. "I think your cat likes me more."

"Traitor." Crystal mumbled. Alvie smiled at her, tucking his bookmark on his page and setting the book on his knee.

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah." He looked at her inquisitively. "What?"

"You're red."

"Red?" He was suddenly horrified and smacked himself in the forehead with his book. "Hey!" Crystal protested, pouncing forward and prying the book from him. "Only I can do that!" Alvie seemed to be silently cursing himself. "What do you mean by red?" He sighed.

"I… I see… I see colours…"

"Well done."

"No, I mean… like… like around people. And they… they don't make sense, but I understand what they mean. Well, to some point anyway."

"Hold on a sec." Crystal jumped up and booted up her shiny new computer on the shiny new desk Nico had gotten for her. She knew Nico had paid Leo to modify and upgrade the computer so it was super-fast and unlikely to break.

Alvie got up, disturbing Pebble (who returned to the pillow), and leant on the back of her chair. She opened up an internet window and Googled 'colours around people'. "Do you reckon it's another psychic thing?"

"I-I don't know…" He was still watching her carefully. "You've got a bits of green and yellow now." He paused. "And blue."

"What about Nico? And Mom?"

"Nico's loads of different colours. Joy… yellow mainly…"

"Yellow?"

"Like… sunflowers… something bright and… sunny…" He trailed off, chewing his lip.

"Right, they're called auras." Crystal scanned through the text. "They… represent either a person's personality… or their mood." She looked up at him again. "Can you see colours around you?" He looked at his hands for a second and shook his head. "How long have you seen them for?" He suddenly looked sheepish, eyes wide and not meeting hers. "Alvie…" She warned. "What are you hiding?"

"I've… I've seen them… for a while…"

"How long's a while?" He pressed his lips together, fixing his gaze on the computer screen over her head.

"Before the quest…"

"Alvie!" He looked startled. "You said you'd tell me everything psychic!"

"Sorry." He mumbled.

"Does anyone else know?" He shook his head, watching her nervously. Crystal got to her feet and hugged him. "Sorry." She smiled meekly. "Didn't mean to make you jump."

"It's OK." He said quietly. Crystal held him at arm's length.

"Want to go to McDonalds?"

"Isn't your mom doing dinner?"

"Don't know. Oh!" He looked anxious again at another of her outbursts. "What did Mom talk to you about?" He relaxed.

"She showed me the baby scan photo."

"Did you get anything from it?"

"Sort of, but she told me not to say anything."

"Tell me?" She pleaded. He shook his head. Crystal's shoulders slouched as she sulked. "A clue?"

"No."

"You're no fun." He stared at her for a second and then held his arms out. Crystal studied him, her lips pursed, before relenting and hugging him.

Ugh, not much, I'm sorry. I've got out on some of the boring stuff and I'm hoping to develop more of Francis's character.

I've got a new one-shot up. It's REALLY short- maybe about two minutes worth of reading, not even that. I'd be real grateful if you read it!