Alistair was happy to find out that Will Scarlet, did in fact, not get drunk. However, he did come back to the apartment suspiciously wet, but Alistair decided to turn a blind eye to it. His only rule was that Will Scarlet come back sober, and any methods the boys saw fit to sobering him up was not his business.

As he prepared his famous, albeit quite disgusting hangover concoction for them, he thought back to the previous night's hangout with Everett. If it could be called a hangout at all. Everett had single-handedly ruined the date with Lili before it had even started. Smiling fondly at the memory, he added ginger, the last ingredient, to the drinks.

"Hey Alistair, where's that disgusting juice you always make for us, Need it now," Alexander groaned from the staircase, hand shielding his probably very sensitive eyes.

"It's here, on the counter," replied Alistair, putting things back into the fridge.

When Alexander dropped onto the couch, a hand beckoning Alistair to pass the drink to him, Alistair chortled.

"Get the drink yourself, it's better if you start moving, wake you up a bit. You have a job interview today don't you?" Alistair observed, looking at the calendar hanging on the wall.

Alexander lifted his head at Alistair's reminder, cringing. "God, why do I always get shit-faced at the most horrible of times? I'm an idiot, I swear."

A bleary-eyed Alexander trudged to the counter, eyebags akin to those of pandas. When Alistair gave him an encouraging smile, he did a doubletake. 

"H-hey Alex, why is your hair pink?" asked Alistair, eyebrows furrowed in disbelief. A pale pink, Alexander looked like an anime character, the only difference was that Alexander had small eyes.

Sitting up, eyes wide, Alexander shot up the stairs in search for a mirror, hangover temporarily forgotten. 

"Alistair! If you were just pulling my ass, I will kick you into next year!" Alexander shouted behind him, his voice a little higher than usual.

Alistair chuckled, shaking his head at Alexander's panic. His level of panic would unquestionably shoot up when he got a good look at his newly pink hair. Although somehow, he could kind of pull it off. At least Drunk Alexander still had a little bit of sense.

Alistair's belief on Alex's stress level was proved correct when a loud"Oh fuck!" came from upstairs, a string of spoken-aloud thoughts following it.

Man, Alexander seriously needed to get his shit together.

---

"Okay so, this is your stop." 

Alexander and Alistair came to a halt outside a quaint-looking studio, a sign reading: 'looking for graphic designers!' pasted on the window. Peering in, Alexander turned pale, staring at the people in line waiting to be interviewed.

"There are too many people in there who are better than me, oh God, I think I'm going to mess up," Alexander whispered, biting his lip.

Alistair sighed, giving Alexander an encouraging beam. 

"You-" Alistair fixed Alexander's collar, dusting off the small balls of lint on the shoulders of his coat, "- are going to do just fine. I've got so much faith in you and your skills. Remember that painting you sold for hundreds of thousands of money?"

Alexander nodded, licking his chapped lips, giving Alistair an uncertain smile. Dragging hand through his pink hair in self-consciousness, he gave the entrance to the studio an edgy look. 

Noticing this, Alistair coaxed him towards the door, pulling him into a hug.

"You've got this, okay? I'll be waiting out here for you, cheering you on, yeah?"

Alexander's hand immediately shot up, protesting. "I don't want to waste your time, go do whatever you want, just be back here when I'm finished okay?" he requested, pleadingly.

He rarely saw his normally confident friend this vulnerable, so Alistair took made sure that he felt supported every step of the way. Thus, he immediately agreed. 

"I'll see you at two, then?"

Nodding, Alexander made for the door, one cautious step at a time. Pulling it open, he turned back one last time to look at Alistair, who gave him a cheerful thumbs-up, before disappearing behind the door.

Deciding to head to the nearby slum that he had just recently visited, and hopefully buy some goods from the people there, he strolled towards it, occasionally tossing a dollar into a beggar's can.

Alistair wrinkled his nose at the sour smell of the slums, an odour that, no matter how many times he came, he just couldn't get used to. 

Sneakers slapping against the wet cobblestone, he came to a stop at a familiar house. Low ceiling. Small rooms.

Ani's house.

He contemplated knocking, yet not wanting to seem stalkerish or potentially seem like he was grooming Ani, he opted against it. But at the same time, Shyloh and Ani did say they wanted him to visit them again. And he did want to know how Ani was doing.

His clenched fist, ready to knock, hovered hesitantly in front of their door. From outside, he could hear Ani speaking to Shyloh. She laughed suddenly, a sweet carefree laugh, one that was both melodious and lyrical. 

Alistair smiled slightly at the sound, lifting his hand to rap against the door. Almost immediately, the small white door opened, Ani beaming up at him, pink cheeks a stark contrast to her pale skin.

"Hey, angel! I'm back to see you!"

Tittering, Ani wrapped herself around his leg. "Walk! Now!"

Shaking his head at her antics, Alistair nodded,  imitating a robot walk to saunter into their house. Ani screamed and laughed, urging him to walk faster. 

"Tickle fairy is here to tickle you!" Alistair growled in a playful tone, reaching out his hands to Ani's sides. She yelled, moving away, her infectious giggles filling the tiny room.

Shylock looked on at the scene in front of her, her child playfully interacting with this man who had crawled his way into her heart with cookies and misshapen cupcakes, and she blinked away tears.

"Hey, do you want to play hide and seek?" asked Alistair.

"Yes! And you be the seeker!" declared Ani. 

After they had played for over an hour, with Ani running away and giggling constantly, and him chasing after her, Ani began to complain that she was hungry and craving something sweet. Alistair was surprised that children got cravings at all.

His eyes crinkled at the corners when Ani told a joke, as he strolled down the streets of the slum with her, Alistair suddenly immune to the stench of it.

Ani had wanted to buy chocolates, and since Alistair knew that Shyloh had hardly enough money to pay bills, let alone by snacks, he offered to take Ani. 

The cost of the chocolates was a small price to pay for seeing Ani smile.

He couldn't remember the last time he had had so much fun with a child and felt like a child in the process. Even the children at the orphanage did not entertain him as much. 

Ever since his father- Alistair sighed. He had never really felt like a child anymore.

Maybe he felt this way because he and Ani were similar. They both had had had their rose-coloured glasses cruelly stolen too early. 

He glanced at Ani when she gripped his hand tighter, as a group of men walked past them, drunk and boisterous.

Much too early.

--

Everett was not having a good day. He had been trying to finish his online course, but the noise his parents were making was not helping.

They had been fighting all day about God knew what, but Everett did not want to go down and as them to shut up. Chances were, they'd ask him for his opinion and there'd probably be a family feud.

Deciding he wouldn't be able to finish the lesson when he was in such an awful mood, he closed the Macbook with a sigh. For some reason, his productivity levels were only high at the wrong times.

Gosh, he needed to get out.  Perhaps he could go to the supermarket nearby to buy some ingredients for raisin pita bread. God knew he needed it.

Wanting to avoid getting into an argument with his parents, he decided sneaking out through the back door was the best option. Rolling his eyes as he heard his mother yelling obnoxiously in a shrill manner, he crept past the living room and out the kitchen door.

Free at last.

Everett wrapped his hands around himself, trembling from the cold. Despite wearing a coat, he still felt like just turning back and going back into the toasty mansion.

Even so, nothing would make the idea of being the third party in his parents' fight sound appealing. 

As Everett walked into the supermarket, a wave of hot air hit his face like a balloon. Ah shit, the cold-to-hot temperature was sure to trigger his temperature-affected rhinitis.

This day was crappy.

Everett braced himself for the sneezes that he knew were imminent, his nostrils flaring. He knew he probably looked like an idiot then, standing at the entrance of a supermarket, eyes closed and nose red.

When the onslaught of obnoxiously loud sneezes finally began, Everett was partially grateful but mostly embarrassed. For sure the majority of the customers were staring at him. He was the mayor's son for god's sake!

Mid sneeze, Everett felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Tissue?"

Thank fucking god. Not wanting to dig around his coat for a packet of tissues that were probably finished, Everett accepted the packet thrust into his hands, eyes still closed.

When his nose had successfully calmed down, he opened his eyes, all his senses still sensitive from the constant "ahchoo-ing".

Turning towards the tissue giver, grateful, his eyes widened when he stared into familiar green ones.

"You again?"

Alistair chuckled at that, replying, "What, no thank you? You did look like you were dying."

Scowling, Everett responded, albeit quite acidly, "I resent that, but thank you."

"Uncle Ali, is this your friend?" 

It was only then that Everett noticed the small girl standing by Alistair's side, clutching onto his hand. She stared up at Everett, eyes large and curious, and he needed to admit, a little fearful.

Everett quickly replied no while Alistair nodded his head. At that, the little girl laughed, loosening up a bit, but still holding Alistair's hand rather tightly.

"Well, uh, anyway, I need to buy," Everett mumbled, before scuttling away, a little embarrassed. Why? He wasn't entirely sure. 

He bumped into Alistair again at the cashier, Everett in front of Alistair. Alistair snuck a glance at Everett's shopping basket and raised his eyebrows.

"All that just for you?"

"Of course not, I'm baking for my family," scoffed Everett, simultaneously staring at Alistair's basket.

He had bought two chocolate bars, both Cadbury, both Nuts N' Fruits. Everett wrinkled his nose at that, nuts in chocolate was the worst idea anyone had had in the history of chocolate innovation.

While waiting for their turn, they chatted idly, although more like debated, on whether  Nuts N' Fruits could be regarded as an actual type of chocolate, with the girl, who Everett found out was named Ani, commenting at times.

" Nuts N' Fruits is just a sales scam to make you think that it's healthy! The actual milk chocolate is super unhealthy," Everett rebutted when Alistair had brought up the point that nuts were good for you.

"Sure, but it makes people feel better about themselves. Who are you to take that away from them?"

"Ya, Everett! That's meanie," Ani added, grinning at Everett.

"But you're lying to people," defended Everett, placing his basket on the black belt for the cashier to scan his items.

The discussion continued until the two had both paid and they were standing, albeit quite awkwardly, outside the supermarket.

"So, Ani and I have to go. Everett, I'll see you around?" 

Everett nodded.

Alistair turned around, walking away with Ani gripping onto his hand. Everett watched them go, his stomach feeling a little funny, as though something important was missing. 

"Wait, Alistair! Do you want to hang out today?" Everett asked, checks red, not from the cold, but from blushing.

After the initial shock, Alistair agreed with an easy smile, saying he'd meet Everett at three at his mansion.

As Everett walked home, a small smile on his face, he couldn't decide whether the fresh air he had gotten or his plans with Alistair had put a spring in his step.

If he wasn't going to lie to himself, it was probably the latter.

---

-a/n: changed up the cover guys! do yall like it? I also just posted a brand new book called: hostage and it would be great if yall checked it out! it's about a sidekick who gets kidnapped by his archnemesis and weird things go down. its also lgbt themed because I'm missing someone :-(

last thing: WE REACHED 100 VOTES. ik its not a big thing but--thank you for reading and do you have any feedback for me on anything at all? <33

-sky