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At the basketball courts, a child was presently standing alone shooting baskets and attempting not to show how bored and kind of lonely he was. Steve had decided to dash out of the house soon as he could to go play ball alone and now he was slightly regretting it.

Home was getting a bit stifling at times - everyone was just so GIRLY! He had three mothers - really, shouldn't Orii and Nolan be his aunts since they were his mom's sisters? - and three brothers. And yet, his mom was more manly than his brothers, and she was a girly girl! Aiden pouted and whined and fluttered around with his fancy necklace and his boa, Riya giggled like a schoolgirl and wore high shoes and fancy clothes, and Roshan...well okay, Roshan actually acted kind of like a boy, but he'd rather dance and sing than play games.

And if anyone DID want to play games with him? Steve shuddered at that. None of them could remember the rules and unless it was a simple game with a big soft beach ball and no tackling, they couldn't handle it. Aiden'd start crying or running away with the ball if he thought he was losing, Riya'd trip over his shoes, Roshan'd get distracted, Nolan would throw too lightly, and Orii would cry if it got too rough. Only Mommy was able to play with him right, but she was softer and couldn't play rough games like basketball or football, even if she tried.

Really, it was tough being Steve in his house. And outside too - he didn't know any boys to play with! He'd met a few people, like Mel and Ily and Sandy, but he didn't know their numbers and they probably wouldn't want to play either. Mel'd probably get upset if she hurt him, Ily'd get bored too fast, and Sandy? Sandy'd be scared of upsetting Steve if he did it wrong. Where were the normal kids when he wanted to play?

Steve watched in amazement as an older boy slam dunked the ball. Holy crap! That was so cool! Hey, wait, when'd he even get here?

Steve stopped the ball with his foot, leaning down to pick it up with his tentacles and hold it out to Bovi. "Wow, that was cool!" he told the older boy when the spawn came over to fetch his basketball. "Can you teach me to do that?"

"Uhhhhhhhh." Steve blanked on an answer to that. How high COULD he jump? "Lemme try?" he asked, holding his ball out to Bovi for a second. It'd just get in the way with Boris and Natasha flailing about, he was sure.

Steve nodded, backing up to the back of the court to get a running start and jumping with all of his leg strength. It wasn't MUCH but Boris and Natasha did reach up to grab the edge of the backboard, holding on even when Steve found he couldn't reach.

"Bah, they do that." he laughed, swatting the tentacles to let him down and going back to Bovi. "How was that?"

"I'm Steve, nice to meet you." he greeted the other boy with an outstretched hand. Had Bovi met tentacled children before, he might have noticed that Steve's were less insistently grabby with people and more interested in playing with the basketball. And that the boy's had googly eyes.

"You think so? I dunno, I've been practicing my free throws."

"Eh, getting better. I haven't had much practice. My family doesn't play much and I don't go out alone much." the boy said with a distasteful look. "How're yours?'

"You got it to the rim at least." Steve commented, picking up his ball and heading to the line now. He bent his knees a little and threw - hitting the backboard and bouncing off. "That's better than I usually get."

Steve was about to explain he'd meant that hitting the backboard was better but he decided to refrain, leaning over to catch his ball and dribbling it a bit. Boris and Natasha liked when he dribbled the ball because they could try and poke and catch it.

"So, do you have any siblings?"