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 Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 8:23 pm
"He fights with Lucas," Gabriella helpfully clarified with a big smile that was short one front tooth. "Lucas is mean to me, too, but Andrea is okay."
"I get to babysit a lot, but yeah, she's better than my brother. She at least recognizes that I'm in charge," Andrea added with a patient smile.
"And, well, he likes the b-o-o-bs, and I think he thinks that makes him mature." The boy shrugged again. "He thinks he's mature in general, at thirteen. Whatever. So I guess the hot mess worked for someone." Andrea winced slightly. "I mean, there's just a line between 'good-looking girl' and 'unnatural-looking girl', you know? But if we're strictly talking colors, Phoenix's outfit doesn't bug me."
With regards to the actress herself, "Ah, don't worry about it, I can't remember, either, clearly. I'm not good with too many names either."
Gabby frowned at both boys. "You're the ones with cooties."
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 8:54 pm
"You're right," conceded Finn. At least Phoenix was more or less covered, even if her breasts were individually, lovingly drawn in the box art. "Could be worse. Could be DC-Reboot Starfire." He was pretty sure that didn't need to be explained at all. "I never understood that thirteen-year-old boy fascination. Even when I was thirteen."
He returned Gabby's smile, and added a big thumbs up. "You should be nice to your big brother," he instructed. "Sounds like he's really good to you." It wasn't like he hadn't tried with his sister - just that she'd grown up into someone intolerable. "Better than my sister, anyways, but then she's fifteen and thinks she's both five and thirty at the same time. It is genuinely the worst thing in the world."
Smirking at the little girl, he added, "I assure you I have had all of my cootie booster shots. They wouldn't let me work here if I hadn't!"
Turning to Andrea, he waggled his eyebrows in a way that suggested hours of practice in front of a mirror. "What do you think? Do I look like a guy who would carry around cootie germs? Tell her I'm clean."
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:33 pm
Andrea cringed again and nodded. "The girls with big boobs and tiny waists bug me just as much as the big muscular dudes with the tiny waists. I'll believe that a dude can fly, as long as his body looks like it actually works, you know?" Granted, Andrea was a ballet dancer, not an artist, but he also figured he had spent enough time watching himself bend in the mirror that he had a pretty good idea what was natural and what was not.
Gabby nodded eagerly to the salesman, then her smile faded and her brows furrowed a little as she mulled over the idea of cootie booster shots. He had to get them to work in a toy store ... it made so much sense.
Andrea's green eyes met Finn's blue ones for a moment and he felt his face warming slightly. He may have, at one point, reassured himself that, if he was indeed gay, cooties would never be an issue, at least. Meeting a guy that liked superhero comics was hardly a difficult task, but, well, this Finn kid seemed really easy to talk to. Probably why he was a salesman, but Andrea also had to admit that he did have kind of really nice eyes.
Fidgeting with the boxes slightly, he crouched down to get his blush away from the other boy's eye-level, and pretended to focus completely on his sister. "Just think of all the cooties everywhere if they let someone who had them work in a toy store. He's fine, Gabby. You about ready to go?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:47 pm
Finn was tempted, just for a moment, to ask Andrea what he knew about dudes who could fly. Because god only knew he was more than familiar with that subject. (Well, not actually flying, but close enough.) But then he decided that he was pushing this too far as it was and would in all likelihood just be met with an odd look. Just because this kid had the same taste in hair dye as Vindemiatrix didn't necessarily mean he also had the same taste in super-powers, hats, skirts, and tights. Even so... he'd made a friend.
Grinning at the little sister, he explained, "Yeah! See all the kids around here? If everyone working here didn't get their booster shots, it'd be cootie city around here! The health department would shut us down!"
Adjusting the boxes of My Little Ponies carefully in his arms, he added helpfully, "If you're going up to checkout, I'll go with you. I've got to put these away, anyways, and that display's up at the front."
If Finn had noticed Andrea's blush (he had), he didn't make a big deal about it. Instead, he fell into step beside the other boy as they followed his sister towards the cashiers. "If you want to give me your number," he said quietly, "Maybe we could watch Marvel movies sometime? Seems like a common interest." It wasn't any kind of explicit proposition, but Finn was curious enough to give the coincidental hairstyle more investigation. Futile as it might be, he wasn't going to let this go until he had really solid proof in one direction or the other.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:23 pm
A momentarily horrified look crossed Gabby's face, but then she nodded, and grasped for her brother's hand.
Andrea walked with her and the salesman towards the counters, having selected a Phoenix in delightful bright colors for his brother.
He felt a prickly retort coming on at Finn's request, but took a deep breath to keep from saying anything that he might regret. Really, Finn had been nothing but helpful; Andrea was just uncomfortable and feeling sort of weird, and that was no reason to lash out at someone with whom he was getting along so well.
"Sure," he replied, just as quietly, though perhaps without as much enthusiasm as the other boy was hoping for. "I'll get some extra receipt paper and write it for you." Maybe less awkward if his sister was not right there.
Fortunately, there were enough toys that Gabriella remained sufficiently distracted. When they reached the counter, she put up her purchase with Andrea's, and, contrary to their original plan, they paid for everything together.
"Get me Pinkie Pie for my birthday, okay?" she urged as the Ponies and superheroes went into a bag together.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:30 pm
Finn gave Andrea a friendly smile and stuck a bit more of a spring into his step. "Sounds great!" he enthused, happy that this plan was coming together nicely. He gestured to the ponies in his arms. "I'll just go stick these back where they belong."
While the pair of sibling waiting to check out, Finn bounded quickly over to the MLP display and shoved the boxes back into place. He caught up to Andrea and Gabby close to the exit. "Thanks for shopping at Toys, Toys, Toys," he informed them with a cheesy grin and a jokey wink, holding his hand in such a way that Andrea could easily slip him the receipt at any point. "Have a happy holiday, and I hope Santa brings you everything you want."
It was scripted. It was politically correct. It was, hopefully, about to get him a probably-platonic movie date.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:35 pm
"Thanks for all your help," Andrea replied with a smile in return. He passed off the receipt with his number on the way out with reasonable subtlety, but could not help but take one last look over his shoulder as he and his sister left the store.
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