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"You got it all?" Mireille asked one last time, as she surveyed the stacks of cloth in colors bright and dark laid out over the guest room. Julien had slowly been taking over the whole of the upstairs, much like Mireille had claimed both of the downstairs 'bedrooms', one as her room and one as her office. A brightly-colored, hand-painted wooden sign hung from a thumbtack on the guest room door that read 'Julien's Projects', and was taken down only when they had a guest over to sleep in the room. For now, the sign hung proudly, and Julien wouldn't hear of Mireille removing it under any circumstances.

"I've got it," he nodded, setting out the book of various patterns and nodding to the desk that held his new sewing machine. "I think I'm ready. Maybe it'll even help him," he added, eyes a bit worried as he thought of Toulouse again. But all too soon, his clouded look cleared up. "We're ordering pizza tonight, right?" he added, as he headed downstairs, listening to Mireille follow him.

"We are," she agreed, then blinked as the doorbell rang. "Sounds like they're here..."

"I've got it," Julien called before Mireille could head to the door, and he moved to open it, grinning widely. His grin faded into surprise as his eyes were forced to move up from where they'd been fixed when he'd expected the much smaller form of the Toulouse he knew. Apparently, he was getting a dose of payback. "...You GREW," he managed, the grin beginning to return as he just stared, until Mireille peered past him, then elbowed her way through to wave to Felicity.

"Are you staying, too?" she asked the woman with a smile, as Julien continued to stare before finally stepping back.

"Oh! Come in, come in," he ushered, waving them in, though his eyes never left Toulouse.

Julien laughed, wrapping his arms around Toulouse in another hug before moving to take the box from Felicity and usher them all inside. "You look great," he said, cheeks warming just a bit. The pink showed up entirely too well on his pale skin, but he ignored it, moving to look down at the box. "You brought cloth too? Oh, I like this one," he noted, letting the aspect of cloth he had yet to see distract him from the weird mix of feelings he'd gotten at seeing Toulouse so grown. He'd sit down and puzzle them out... later.

"Of course," Mireille said as the boys moved out of her way, chuckling a bit. "We can have some coffee and discuss our childrens' future as basketball players. Do you think they'll ALL be this tall?!"

"My project room is upstairs," Julien said, letting Toulouse take the box without a fight. It was incredibly wonderful to see his friend so happy. "I thought we could do the work up there... keep the mess confined, as it were," he suggested, moving to head up the stairs ahead of Toulouse to guide him. "I picked up a bunch of fabric myself the other day at the store. I wasn't quite sure what sort of patterns you'd like, though I found this one of autumn leaves that'd look good for you. It's all golds and browns and reds and yellows."

Mireille laughed, watching Julien lead Toulouse off before looking over at Felicity. "He seems very different," she noted, nodding toward the kitchen. "Can I get you something?"

"Got it in one," Julien nodded, letting Toulouse inside and closing the door behind him. "I swear, if I didn't have this place, my things would end up all over the house," he admitted easily, moving with unerring accuracy to the bolt of fabric he'd mentioned, the vibrant color of the autumn leaves standing out starkly against the pale skin of his hand. Looking up at Toulouse, he held out the fabric. "It made me think of you."

"He's always seemed so unhappy before now," Mireille said thoughtfully, pouring them both some coffee and carrying it over to the table. "I think I'd let him have his glee. It's a huge change, really, and it must be nice, given that Jules was towering over him before."

"I like that," Julien said, moving to stand beside Toulouse. "Plain is just as good as fancy, in its way. If all you do is put fancy beside fancy beside fancy, eventually, it loses its impact." Julien paused for a moment, looking back at the golden-haired teen beside him thoughtfully before grinning. "Like you and me."

"Give it a bit of time," Mireille said slowly, considering the words. "Let him find his balance again before you start thinking that something's wrong?" She sipped her coffee, then shrugged. "We're the same as we always are. Jules is forever finding new projects to work on."

Julien blinked at Toulouse a moment before his cheeks bloomed pink and he looked back at the fabric, trying to gather up the broken bits of his train of thought. "This would actually make a good frame for another bit of fabric I picked up," he said, shaking his head a bit as he focused himself. "Let me get it." Before Toulouse could stop him, he'd started to move away, intent on finding the fabric he was thinking of.

"Jules is very big on cooking, but lately, he's been really focussed on figuring out how to create a quilt. He said something about it feeling like a hug," Mireille mused.

Julien hesitated for a moment, sitting down amidst several folds of fabric as he heard Toulouse apologize, then looked back, knowing his cheeks were still flushed and not bothering to try to hide it. "You didn't offend me," he said seriously, wanting to be honest about it, however mixed up he felt. "I just... don't think I'm supposed to think you're as handsome as I do. I think." He shrugged awkwardly, drawing a breath and looking back at the fabric. "I'm pretty sure we can. Do you want all sorts of shapes, or just squares?" he asked, throwing himself into the thought of the quilt.

"I'm glad we're friends, too," Mireille said, echoing Felicity's thought. "I wasn't sure I'd meet anyone when I moved here."