Welcome!

[Avery Kenneth Emerson]

"Verily, my gregarious vocabulary is well beyond the finite barriers of stationary speech, but with so many mots in the English language, why not use them all?" Avery paused at the inquiry towards his own middle name. "Well, I know your surname and your middle name, and you know my first name and my last name... giving you my middle name would give you an unfair advantage, wouldn't it?" Ave paused deliberately before adding, "Kenneth. For my uncle, Kenneth MacDougal. And rest assured, I have my ways." This was accompanied by a somewhat more noticeable leer, as well as a hand through his hair as he yawned imperceptibly. It was late. Early. Whatever.

Avery feigned illness as Fox sang the first few lyrics, clutched his head dramatically. "Stop, stop, the teen-pop, it burns," he moaned. "What did I ever do to you?" He stopped his act as Fox questioned his vocabulary again, and he shrugged. "You know. Pandiculation." Ave yawned and stretched exaggeratedly, running a hand through his hair and fixing it idly as he finished. "That."

Ave wasn't a sadist -- well, alright, maybe he was a bit of a sadist, but he wasn't a complete sadist, so while he smirked somewhat self-satisfactedly at Fox's flustering, there was a bit of him that felt kind of maybe perhaps a bit sorry for the blonde. Ah, but he was so cute when he was flailing internally. Wait -- cute? Naive, yes, innocent, perhaps, blindingly pure, certainly, but cute was an adjective entirely supplied by his subconcious, something Avery tried at all times to drown out with rational thought. I mean, Fox wasn't even his type. And he was kind of young. Even if he was taller than Avery -- most people, it seemed, were. Of course, as all of this internal banter occured, the only thing Avery said was "But of course. I'm well-practiced."

"Andy with blonde hair and an affection for showtunes," Ave remedied, smiling softly. It was the kind of smile that only happened at 3 am when one's guard has gone down like so many hapless brunettes on oak staircases, and it was more directed at Avery's knees than Fox, specifically. It made Avery look younger than he acted -- which, admittedly, wasn't very hard to do. He snapped back to attention as his leg was inspected.

"Corrective rehabilitation?" He paused for a moment, not even bothering to acknowledge the Bender comment, tapping his lower lip pensively. "Grab your laptop and use the screen light to make sure I'm not bleeding or something. If I'm dying, I'll go to town and get some Ace wrap or something." As he shifted back on his palms, he added, "So you're gay?", much like he was commenting on the weather or the color of Fox's shoes.

[Ariel Foxworth Mallory]

Fox gave a weak smile and nodded slowly as Avery lectured on vocabulary. He knew most of the words this time around, but his poor brain was horribly tired, and it made him wonder how even someone like Avery could come up with such a sentence this late at night early in the morning. “Because it confuses innocent bystanders?” Fox answered, and he wondered if perhaps that was part of the reason why Ave allowed his vocabulary to be so… extensive. He bit his lip as Avery noted the unfair advantage. Ave was right – how fair was it of Fox to ask him his name if he himself wasn’t willing to provide the same information?

The guilt further burrowed into his brain as Ave provided his middle name, Kenneth. Fox smiled and his gaze found the brunette’s eyes. “I’ve always liked that name,” he admitted, and resisted the urge to crack a corny ken-doll joke. Reluctantly, Fox opened his mouth to provide his first name – it was only fair – but before he could speak, Ave assured him of his ways of persuasion. Curiosity and guilt fought a great battle inside of Fox’s mind – karate kicks, swords, axes, and mud wrestling. Curiosity was ultimately the victor of the war, and Fox withheld his first name. “What might those be?” Fox asked innocently. He had made up his mind to just tell Avery, but he decided to try just this once before finally revealing his moniker – Fox was curious!

”A little teen-pop is good for you,” Fox teased, “Trust me, it hurt me more than it hurt you.” It was a joke, but slightly true regardless. He wondered which boy it hurt more – Fox for the embarrassment, or Avery for having to listen to what Fox wholeheartedly believed was a horrible voice. “Oh!” Fox exclaimed, “Yawning! It is yawning… right?” Having watched Avery expel his faux-yawn, Fox found himself emitting a genuine one, stretching slightly and blinking a few times in order to stay awake. What time is it? Fox wondered, hoping that no one would wake him up at some abysmally early time tomorrow today.

“Oh.” Fox stammered as Avery admitted to being ‘well practiced.’ One thing Fox wasn’t was ‘well practiced,’ and he was beginning to think it showed. He didn’t really think it would be overly obvious, but apparently it was something which he couldn’t hide very well… though he hadn’t really attempted to try either. What was the point? He was a pitiful liar at best, and honesty was something he actually valued. It probably hadn’t been evidenced tonight, but it was important to Fox that the people around him be honest with him.

A chuckle leaked from Fox’s lips as Avery described a Fox-Andy combination… Fandy? “That’s me,” Fox admitted with a shrug and a smile that accompanied another arising blush. Why was he blushing?! Ave hadn’t even done anything this time around, and the thought of his prior escapade made the blush creep from his face down into his neck. Thank heavens for dark, Fox thought, though he felt as if his face was a crimson-coloured beacon in the night.

“Yes, it’s… complicated.” Fox provided, shifting his eyes slightly in discomfort. He didn’t want to reveal just what kind of corrective rehabilitation just yet, if ever. Fox glanced back at Avery and noticed him tapping his lip and smiled – it was an interesting habit to have. He found his gaze drawn from the tapping finger to Avery’s lips, and after a moment he realised that he was staring. Jerking his head, he began to inspect Avery’s ankle even more thoroughly in the dark before Ave recommended grabbing the laptop for light. “Ah!” Fox exclaimed – the brunette was resourceful, that’s for sure.

Fox went to fetch the laptop, lifting it with his hands before fumbling and nearly dropping the expensive machine. He looked at Ave cautiously, “I warned you. I… um… drop things.” Returning to Avery, Fox set the laptop in front of Avery’s shin, adjusting the screen for the best lighting. Fox didn’t see any blood at first glance – which was good, as he was terrible with blood. Blood equaled fainting in the world of Fox, and it wasn’t exactly an appropriate time to be fainting. He was about to examine further when Ave uttered in a shockingly casual manner, “So you’re gay?”

Shifting himself slightly to look at Avery’s face, Fox’s eyes widened as his mouth fell open in shock. He certainly wasn’t expecting that – maybe fainting would occur after all. “I –” Fox started to say, though he couldn’t seem to find the words. He blinked a second, demanding that his blonde turn to brilliant brunette just long enough to give him an indication of what to say. “I mean… yes. I am.” He almost laughed in spite of himself – that had been easy enough. “So,” Fox continued, “You aren’t… I mean, do you…are you?”

[Avery Kenneth Emerson]

Avery scoffed dramatically. "It's their fault for not completely grasping, embracing, understanding and adoring the language. Although it's a bitch of language, to be frank. But our bitch of a language, or something." He vaguely remembered a quote comparing the English language to a street rat, but it was much too late -- early -- it was much too much for him to remember it fully and thus he could not quote it.

"Really? I've always hated it." Ave smiled brightly in response. "It makes me think of Ken dolls and that's not an image I'm entirely sure I'd like to be associated with." He cocked an eyebrow at Fox's question, tucking a curl of hair behind his ear. "Oh, come on. I've been trying quite valiantly not to be overtly sexual for the sake of your personal comfort, virtue, and sanity, but if you insist on being so blithely curious then I suppose I should have to indulge you. I could always just suck you off." Which was a horribly vulgar thing to say, but God, Fox was practically asking for it. People that innocent shouldn't be allowed out of their homes. Really. What kind of house did he grow up in? What kind of high school did he go to? Was he raised by crazy, overprotective religious zealots? Or did that kind of purity just come naturally?

"It hurt my very soul. A plague on Kelly Clarkson and all her brood to come after. Eurgh." He smiled lopsidedly as Fox yawned himself. "Yes, yawning. Or rather, the act of yawning and stretching is pandiculation; on its own, I don't know if it quite qualifies."

"And if that's you," Avery continued, "I suppose I'd be something like Brian with Allison's temprament and Bender's dashing good looks. And perhaps Andy's popularity whilst retaining Bender's edge. What can I say, I'm a jack of all trades." Avery shrugged as best he could from his position, shifting his battered shin slightly. Please, whatever God exists, don't let it swell, he thought fervently, not anticipating a sore, ginger morning when he woke up and had to dress -- dress! -- despite his wounds.

"You don't seem like you need much correction," Ave mused, still tapping his lower lip and quite obviously in some other world of his own. He looked up when Fox retrieved and nearly broke the source of light. "Just don't drop it on my leg. This entire relationship is founded on a basis of pain and I'm really not much of a masochist, so I might have to never speak to you again if my leg is broken or something."

Ave tilted his head slightly at Fox's reaction. "Do I what? Have sexual inclinations towards the same gender? Certainly, I should think it would be obvious by now. You, on the other hand," he continued, settling into psychoanalysis!Avery mode, "are so overtly homosexual that my gaydar may have exploded -- no offense meant -- and yet you seem suprised that I bring it up, which either means you're repressed, socially unaware, still coming to terms with it or suffer from delusions of masculinity. And you don't really seem like the delusional sort." Avery leaned forward, trying to get a good look at his own shin despite the angle. "Your parents send you here?"

[Ariel Foxworth Mallory]

Raising his hand as if he were a student and Avery had been taking attendance, Fox cleared his throat slightly, “I grasp most of it; I embrace what I can, understand it for the most part, and adore it unless it’s being icky… which it does often.” He scratched his head a second before continuing, “So why can’t we all just speak French or something?” French… yes, the language of lurve! Fox had picked the language out of the air, but it seemed like an appropriate language to use. There was a certain romantic quality to the French language, and he had always wished to learn it as a result.

“Could be worse,” Fox assured Avery. “You could be named after a Disney princess. Or Barbie.” He decided to keep his original Ken-joke to himself, as he knew that Ave would only have some infinitely cleverer retort that would ultimately either embarrass him or make him feel intellectually stunted. He needn’t have bothered worrying about that, as with each word that Avery used to inform Fox just what he had meant by his ways, Fox rightly felt a sense of impending doom for his intelligence quotient. He gulped heavily when Avery reached his conclusion. “A-A-Ariel,” Fox muttered in shock, clearing his throat awkwardly before clarifying, “M-my name.” He had grown up in a rather strict environment, and he hadn’t encountered very many people who were quite so… blunt.

“All her brood?” Fox asked of the Kelly Clarkson reference, “Like Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan?” He winked – Fox would kill him with images of sugary pop-princesses! “Ave,” he admitted, “I think my IQ has either skyrocketed or plummeted since meeting you. I can’t decide which.” Blinking, he traced his lips with his finger in thought – he felt stupider, but on the other hand he had learned at least two new words tonight. And he had even more to Google later.

“So,” Fox clarified of Avery, “You’re a Brian, an Allison, a Bender, an Andy, a Bender again, and… a Jack.” He had no idea how to put all of those names in a super-couple style name similar to ‘Fandy.’ Perhaps ‘Briallibendyback’ or somesuch thing – it sounded like a Justin Timberlake song, and Fox almost mentioned it just to get a rise out of Avery, but bit his tongue. He wasn’t sure he wanted a rise out of Avery – he seemed pretty perky as it was.

“I don’t need any correction,” Fox clarified, “They just… never mind. I think your leg is okay. My night vision is terrible, but I think it’s okay.” He ruffled his blonde a moment and nodded before adding, “Visually, anyway.” At his insistence not to drop the laptop, Fox cocked his head at him and replied, “You? Not talk? I have doubt that you could restrain yourself from it even if I had dropped the laptop on you, Ave.” He chuckled in the smaller boy's direction to signify he was joking, but Fox couldn’t help but think it true – if Avery was one thing, it was… loquacious!

Fox stammered for a moment – he wished he were as comfortable with expressing himself as Avery seemed to be. Especially when it came to… that. “Is it really that obvious?” Fox asked of Avery genuinely. He tried to be mindful and keep some of his more flamboyant mannerisms and tastes either in control or hidden, but sometimes he just couldn’t help himself. Sometimes he felt like a living stereotype, and it was awfully frustrating. “And… yes, my parents sent me here.” Fox answered, gesturing around the room to signify where ‘here’ was. “Who sent you here?” He asked, feeling a little nosy, but added, “More importantly, why would you want to stay here?”

[Avery Kenneth Emerson]

"Mais, si nous parlons en francais, nous devons fumar aussi, et je n'aime pas tout des jeunes qui fumar. C'est degoutant." Avery mimed smoking a cigarette, exhaling in the pursed-lips sort of way that French smokers tended to. "And everyone would be unbearably sexy," he added in English, stamping out his invisible cigarette.

"I don't know, I wouldn't mind being named Jasmine. At least my nickname could be something moderately bearable; Jazz or Jazzy or something of the like. Or, oh, there would be inevitable Minnie jokes..." He seemed to seriously ponder the idea of being named Jasmine, only jolted from his reverie when he was at last graced with Fox's first name. He couldn't help from blurting out "What, like the mermaid?" Trying not to laugh seeing as with a name like that, Fox had to be self-concious about it, he added, "and I take it the sexual favors are unnessecary, then?"

"I can't hear you. The names you are saying are Oscar Wilde, Pierre Rosnard, and Socrates. La la la." Avery put his hands over his ears petulantly, removing them as Fox's IQ was brought into the conversation. "Your IQ doesn't actually change, you know. Ever. And it's possible for someone with an IQ of 100 to be more scientifically recognized than one with an IQ of 144, seeing as ones intelligence quotient only refers to ones capacity and not knowledge. I mean, I could very well have an IQ of 110. I dont," he admitted, "but I could."

"What, like McFarland?" Ave blinked at the Jack comment, biting his lower lip and deciding not to go off on a winding tangent about the phrase 'jack of all trades' and its origins. "I'll have you know I'm perfectly capable of keeping my mouth shut," he interjected stubbornly. "Although I'm usually inebriated or asleep at those sorts of times."

Avery smiled, for once not obviously condescending, and nodded. "Sorry, but you might as well be in heels," he replied with a shrug. "It's not a bad thing. At least you're not an ubertwink." Avery yawned, stretching slightly and leaning back to lay on the floor and look up at the ceiling as he waited for his leg to somehow spontaneously heal. "My dad sent me here after I went to prom with my boyfriend instead of the nice redheaded girl that lived across the street," he responded, attempting to somehow make the floor more comfortable than it was. "I just kind of fell in love with the place. Antebelle, it's beautiful. Have you been out to The Dead Woman? Gorgeous. It's a dream out here." He smiled at the light fixtures. "Much more preferable to life." Ave almost attempted to cross his legs, remembering not a moment too late that his shin was, in fact, trying to eat the rest of his leg in its agony. "Hey," he said suddenly, "listen, your parents? Fuck them. Not literally, of course, that's illegal and frankly frightening, but they get used to it or they lose you. It's a harsh ultimatum, yeah, but if they don't take you for what you are they won't love you when you're what you're not. You know?" He folded his hands on his stomach placidly, tilting his head back to look at the staircase from which he had fallen. "Just wanted to say that."

[Ariel Foxworth Mallory]

Quite suddenly, Avery began sputtering French, leaving Fox wondering if perhaps he had chosen the wrong language to use as an example! He watched as Ave did… something. It was like Ave was speaking another language with his body as well as his words! “And that’s a good thing… right?” Fox inquired, though he really had very little idea as to what had just occurred.

”Minnie jokes?” Fox repeated quietly, not quite knowing what Avery meant, but he decided that perhaps he didn’t want to know what Avery meant. “Yeah,” Fox countered, “You’d enjoy it until everyone around you started erupting into, “A Whole New World” every five minutes for funsies." He scrunched his lips at the Ariel-blurt and stared at Ave for a moment. “Yes. Like the mermaid.” Fox huffed, and smacked his forehead before spouting, “Under The Sea, Part of Your World, Poor Unfortunate Souls and all that sort of thing!” Fox’s palm remained on his forehead a moment, before dropping to his side in shock as Ave mentioned the sexual favours. He gulped before muttering, “Um… I think?”

Fox recognized Oscar Wilde – who wouldn’t recognize Oscar Wilde? Pierre Rosnard was a complete blank to him, but Socrates he had heard of at least. Two out of three wasn’t bad. On an impulse, Fox sprang to his feet, hopping on the nearest chair as he shouted at the top of his lungs, “B R I T N E Y S P E A R S!” If that didn’t kill Ave, nothing will, Fox thought to himself with a giggle. Fox’s feet, however, nearly fell from beneath him as he stood on the chair and listened to Avery’s lecture on IQs. “I see,” Fox said, attempting to sound intellectual and thoughtful while thinking, What the whoa? “What is your IQ?” Fox thought to ask after a moment.

Biting his finger in contemplation, Fox wondered for a moment what McFarland Ave was referring to. He hoped that Avery was referring to the Jack McFarland from Will and Grace, but with Ave, one could never be too sure! It could end up being some intellectual-thing that Fox just… didn’t get. “Yes?” Fox tried, nodding while pretending to know what Ave actually meant. The nod turned to a roll of his eyes as the smaller boy insisted that he had control over his mouth, Fox teased, “So that’s what you’re really in for!” He wiggled his eyebrows before continuing, “Chronic lying!”

A smile weakly displayed itself upon Fox’s features before he muttered, “You should try it – in heels.” He blinked a moment after his statement before deciding that perhaps spouting showtunes wasn’t the best way to avoid suspicion! At Avery’s mention of an ubertwink, however, Fox shrugged and shot Avery a doubtful look. Nope, he didn’t have a firm grasp on what that was either. He had an idea, but the doubt was still there. He started to frown before Ave mentioned the redheaded girl, to which Fox barked a laugh and couldn’t help but comment, “You’re the gay Charlie Brown!” He exploded into a fit of giggles before attempting to forcibly restrain himself by biting his lips and staring at Avery as he tried to keep a straight face.

“I’m sorry,” Fox apologised genuinely, as he felt kind of bad for the outburst. “If it helps, I’ve always adored Charlie Brown.” He managed to suppress his giggles long enough to hear about the fabled Dead Woman and shake his head ‘no’ – while he had heard of the Dead Woman in passing, he hadn’t been there yet. “Lakeside is okay for a bin of loonies and everything, but New York is where I’d rather stay.” He barely managed to get out the sentence before noticing the other boy in pain. A grimace finding his lips, Fox crept closer to Ave in concern before asking, “Did you need help back to bed? I don’t think you’ll be sliding around on anymore floors tonight.”

Fox perked suddenly at Ave’s, “Hey.” As he listened to what Avery had to say, Fox thought about it and smiled slowly in realisation. Ave was right. He kept looking at the brunette, even as Avery peered at the staircase, before placing his hand over one of Ave’s. “Thank you.” Fox uttered sincerely, his eyes never leaving Avery’s face. “I needed to hear that.” There were times when he wondered if it were wrong to be born the way he was born. There were times when he wondered if he belonged at a place like Lakeside Valley – somewhere he could be fixed or repaired.

For once, Fox didn’t feel as if anything needed to be repaired.

[Avery Kenneth Emerson]

"The first bit? No. The second bit, depends on your self-restraint." Avery cocked his head to the side slightly. "Did you not take a foreign language in school? Sorry, it's just that practically everyone around here has parents rich enough to buy them into Ivy League, Eton or better."

Avery jumped at the pop diva's name being shouted, dissolving into horrified laughter and waving for Fox to get down and shut up. "Anyone that didn't get woken up earlier is going to wake up now and throw a fit," he hissed, still cackling and trying to bite back his laughter by covering his mouth with his hand. "159," he added as he calmed, "my IQ, I mean. As of two years ago, so it should have stopped fluctuating."

"I don't really think I'm a Jack McFarland. I'm nowhere near that perpetually kinetic. I think." Ave rolled his eyes as Fox guessed at his 'illness'. "My brother is a compulsive liar, actually; if I actually was a chronic liar as you say, you'd probably know me as Avery Thomas Peterson and I would have said I preferred Rosario as Mimi anyways."

He waved away Fox's apology for the Charlie Brown comment, hiding a smirk. "It's fine, I deserve it for the mermaid thing." Ave smiled nostalgically. "Yeah, you say that now, but give it three days with me as your tour guide and you'll want to live up here. And I'm fine," he added, "I doubt I'll be going to up to bed tonight anyways. It feels better already, really."

For being a legal genius, Avery could feel intensely dumb. "Y-yeah," he replied, trying to forcibly haul his mind out of the gutter as Fox's hand touched his and reached Distinctly Not Comfortable territory. Did he stutter? Ave didn't stutter. Ave didn't do the stuttering thing. "Well, I mean, I've been there. But it's worth it." He turned his hand over slowly, lacing his fingers with Fox's on a whim. The fact that he was feeling impulsive should have been a sign; though he could be spontaneous when pressed, Avery rarely did the impulse thing, especially in situations like these (like what, exactly?). Impulse pushed him up to a sitting position, folding his good leg underneath him so he could pull himself level to Fox. His pulse beat a crazy rhythm and he felt like he was 13 as he leaned over, close enough to touch, close enough to kiss, close enough to realize what the fuck he was doing and stop breathing completely.

"I..." Like you? Avery cleared his throat, smirking awkwardly. "Think my leg's better." He started to stand, ignoring the screaming pain and daggers of protest that assaulted his shin. Better to nearly pass out than do something reckless and completely idiotic. He berated himself mentally as the stinging in his leg made his eyes water, shaking his head slightly so his hair obscured the most telling parts of his face.

[Ariel Foxworth Mallory]

“Yes,” Fox answered, “But it wasn’t French, and truth be told… I didn’t do too well in the subject.” He bit his lip in thought, and though he tried to summon some of his prior knowledge of the language to show off… he couldn’t think of a single phrase. He stretched a moment yawned again before uttering, “My parents do okay for themselves, but the school cared more about learning scriptures than other languages.”

Fox gasped with a look of, ‘oh crap’ and quickly jumped down from where he had shouted She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He bit his lips before giggling, “Well, considering the time, I think people needed a wake up call anyway.” It had gotten remarkably late early, with the sun attempting to shine through the windows, and as Fox searched for a clock, he offered, “That’s a nice number.” He said it. He didn’t know why he said it, but it did seem like a rather nice number!

“Perhaps you’re a Grace Adler?” Fox tried, grinning slightly at the thought. Ave didn’t really fit the bill for any of the characters that Fox remembered, but he just wanted to play with Avery a little bit. At Ave’s mention of his sibling, Fox asked, “You have a brother?” For some reason, he imagined that Avery was an only child. “I don’t have any siblings,” Fox provided, rubbing one of his eyes and possibly looking very much like a tired toddler. “I’ve always wanted one, but it’s just me.”

“Yes,” Fox emphasized, “You deserved it for the mermaid thing.” He stuck his tongue out at Ave before quickly slurping it back in and blushing at the remembrance of the aforementioned sexual favours. Shaking his head clear of such thoughts, Fox inquired, “Is that an offer to act as tour guide, my friend?” He winked, and then nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’ll probably just catch a nap later or something. Catnaps are the magic cure for everything.”

Fox smiled slightly as Avery stuttered, as it seemed suitably cute when the brunette did so. He nodded as Avery assured him it was worth it, and gave the smaller boy’s hand a slight squeeze as they laced their fingers together. Even if it meant making a complete fool out of himself, he decided that he was glad to have met Avery. Perhaps it would make his stay a little easier if people like Ave were around Lakeside Valley. As the other boy raised himself up, Fox felt as if it were one of those dramatic moments in a movie where time almost comes to a halt. He felt Ave’s pulse increase as he continued to hold his hand, and his companion was shockingly close to him.

“Yes?” Fox asked to Avery’s ‘I…’, barely moving and barely even breathing as he awaited the boy’s reply. “Oh,” Fox spoke, returning Avery’s awkward smile with one of his own before continuing, “That’s good, I’m gla – whoa… be careful.” He quickly bolted upwards, ready to assist Avery should his legs spontaneously fall off or something equally as ghastly. “I swear, even one wobble out of you, and I will hoist you off the floor and carry you myself, Avery Kenneth Emerson!”