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THWUMP

One Johnathan Miller had successfully baked a lovely Dutch apple pie for his play-partner-person and successfully remembered to highlight his parts in the play and remembered to put the script in his ninja backpack before heading on out to Alex's place. Alex had the lead role which meant he was extra more special than everyone else, so of course his job was the most stressful. Therefore, Johnny baked him a pie to help ease the no doubt incredible amount of stress sitting on the boy's shoulders.

Now that Johnny had followed the directions on foot to Alex's apartment, he had smashed himself against the glass window, holding the pie high above his head to keep it from crumbling. He'd nearly been mugged twice for the precious baked good on the way over, but luckily, Johnny was good at running and hiding. This is what made him late. Whether or not Alex believed him was another story entirely.

"Alex! Aleeeex! I brought pie and script n I highlighted all the 'portant parts Aleeeeeex! Alex do you know how many hobos live on your side of town?!"

"Oh boy hot chocolaaaate!"

That was definitely the light at the end of the tunnel. Johnny was decked out in winter wear, but it was all black. This, coupled with his I'm a ninja so you can't see me backpack and the fact that he was in all black, carrying a pie made him look utterly ridiculous and out of place. He smiled warmly around the thick scarf tied about his shoulders. "Oh, yeah, a pie! Who doesn't love pie? Since you got the lead role n everything and you were nice enough to invite me over to your place to practice, I baked you a pie!" His grin widened to a beaming beacon as the boy looked for a place to set it down.

Once the pie was secure on the countertop, Johnny whirled about and attempted to remove some of his outerwear. "Yeah, you won't believe how many times I nearly got mugged for the pie. I guess it smelled really good but I can run faster than the hobos. Sorry I'm late!" His scarf took a good five minutes to untie and then the boy fumbled his highlighted script out of his small backpack. His lines were highlighted in a rainbow of colors and the script was slightly smashed, but considering in whose care it was, the script was practically pristine.

Alexandre should have known better than to feed someone already hyper! Johnny licked his chops like a wild animal at the thought of ice cream and pie and hot chocolate, all of which contained sugar. He'd really have to concentrate to keep it all together to even begin working on his lines. In a fury of movement, Johnny had fixed himself a plate of delicious pie and ice cream and kicked off his shoes to some suddenly designated area and bounced off to the living room to seat himself and eat. It was a wonder he had a napkin.

"Wow Alex, you live here? This is a nice place. But you're young, arentcha? I mean, you're older than me but out on your own like this? This'ss crazy!" he commented, munching away on pie. It was still warm (another great reason that he pretty much ran the whole way over here) and chewy in all the right places. If there was anything Johnny could do decently, it was cook. Oh, and clean.

The script was forgotten in his backpack for now, but with prompting, Johnny would happily go grab it. "I hear we get costumes and everything, Alex! Can you believe that? You're the king, right? So you get a crown and a court and maybe even a cardboard castle! That'd be awesome!" The blue haired boy silently wondered if those plush ponies on sticks would be part of the production, because those were super cool. And what knight-slash-king didn't have a stable full of plus horses on sticks?

Johnny stopped mid-munch to ponder Alex's question. What did he think of Galahad? Well, from what he'd read in the script, Galahad was a good knight with a pure heart and all that jazz, and he was stoic and kind of boring. But then again, anything not going nine thousand miles an hour was boring to the blue haired teen. Johnny chewed the rest of his pie thoughtfully. "He's definitely not like me, that's for sure! Miss Kyndall thought I did a good job with the pure heart and all that. Mom's glowing keychain." A wink. "But she said I was too dramatic..." Air quotes. "...so I have to learn to think of something super serious like a test or having to fold laundry so I don't start laughing in the middle of my lines. I don't think she'd like that."

Puffing out his chest, Johnny put on his best determined face. "But I'm gonna make her proud, Alex! I am. It'll be great. I've been practicin' in front of the mirror too, and now I don't dance too much when I clean the kitchen. More practice!" Johnny triumphantly pumped his fists in the air and smiled. Then he realized that they were supposed to be practicing their lines and he sheepishly sat on his hands. "Anyway, I gotta learn to control my.. uh... how'd she put it? Dramatic outbursts. Or something like that. But that's why they call it acting! You hafta be somebody you're not and look convincing. That's the hard part."

Screwing up his face, he continued. "So I gotta be quiet and reserved and strong-willed and... whatever else Miss Kyndall wrote down. She's a super nice lady! I got to see her in her office after the auditions and I nearly took a chunk outta her desk with my teeth! I fell. Really hard. Felt the wind rush past my face but now I don't have that costume anymore so I'm not tempted to wear it again." Johnny rocked back and forth and drew his hands out to push two index fingers together.

"Aww Alex, you're so nice to me. Why is that?" The rather addled young man blinked at his companion with wide blue eyes. He liked Alexandre a great deal (and with the same heartfelt enthusiasm with which he liked everyone) but Alex had been especially patient with him. Miss Kyndall on the other hand looked like she was about to blow a gasket... Johnny felt bad about that, but vowed to work extra hard to please everyone and show them he wasn't the terrible, terrible failure his parents had deemed him to be. He was out to prove them all wrong!

Johnny hung his head for a moment in a brief gesture of uncharacteristic sadness. It wasn't an emotion the boy experienced on any regular basis. "Dad says I need to learn to grow up, and faster. He says I need to be a man and help run the house, not just stay in the kitchen all the time. But... if we wanna work on the play and stuff, Dad's gotta be healthy, you know? Sometimes he has really bad days and some days aren't so bad. That's why I dunno when the best time to practice would be. Dad's health kinda..." The boy rocked back and forth, mimicking the rise and decline of his parent's health. "...it's sometimes good and sometimes bad, so I gotta be there for the bad times, you know?"

Shaking his head, Johnny attempted to force himself out of the sullen mood. "But... but I have a phone so I can call if Dad's doing well! And then we could practice, you know? Right?" The enthusiasm returned to his eyes in a flash as if it had never left at all.

Johnathan giggled and flushed visibly at his friend's kind words. Usually people just explained that Johnny was Johnny and that, being as young as he was, he needed to be cared for by someone who was more experienced and more mature. But Alex? Alex treated him as more of an equal, perhaps more like family than anyone else he'd met previously. It was a comforting thought to say the least.

Scratching the back of his head, the boy swallowed a lump forming in his throat. "Well um... Dad's been sick ever since I was born. I mean, I don't mind you asking! It's just that I don't know all the details. Mom keeps that to herself, she says it's for the best and all that but..." Johnny closed his eyes for a moment as if to try and remember bits and pieces of a conversation long since past. "...it's something about his bones, like something is happening to them and it gives Dad a lotta pain. Sometimes he can't even move, and that's when it's really bad. That's why I learned to cook and clean. Mom's gone a lot and she works two jobs so we can take Dad to the doctor. So she's not home a lot..." Something seemed to severely bother him then and he chewed on his lip, turning to Alex as the other boy got up to go into the kitchen. It was best they dropped it anyway.

Getting up to follow the boy, something loud and indeterminate hit the floor with a loud THUMP! and spooked Johnny to the point of insanity. Suddenly White Moon senshi were pouring in through the windows of his mind, hellbent on disemboweling poor Alex. The King! Leaping into action (and clearly without thinking), Johnny took this to mean he needed powering up to defend his friend. In a whirl of energy, Johnny was suddenly replaced with Bazzite, clawing his way onto Alex's shoulders as a perch from which to dispense justice.

"EVILDOERS BEWARE!" came an echoing shriek, paper shuriken at the ready.

Bazzite took a while to dislodge himself from his superior officer and when he did, it was a flurry of movement. The boy's hood covered what parts of his face his cluster of hair didn't and he sputtered to get it out of the way. His first thought was to protect Alex from The Evil Upstairs and the next thing he knew, he was standing on top of Benitoite! Blue eyes peeked out from behind a ninja hood and the boy sulked. "Beni, have you seen Alex? When did you get in... Oh! Oh HI BENI!" The realization was, obviously, slow in coming.

Reaching out a hand to assist his captain, Bazzite smiled broadly. "You're like the last person I expected to see here. Good thing you're not a senshi cuz..." He frowned suddenly, buried in a thought about as deep as a puddle, "...cuz then I'd have to kick your butt and you probably wouldn't like that, so!"

Once everything was back in order the younger boy stuck his tongue out. "See, now I can be an even better knight cuz I got someone even better to protect than the king! I got you, Beni."