Family Activities (Alek)

It was one of those slow days at the store. Since school had opened back up there really wasn't much to do but make sure stuff got organized, and everything was clean. Miranda had kind of gotten into a routine. And today they were breaking that routine to paint the bathroom. It was a gross color, and Miranda thought that it needed a modern touch to it. Miranda had begged Alek to help her with it, and she had manipulated Phin into helping too. This could either go very wrong, or... no it was going to go completely wrong, and for once, she was ok with something going wrong in her life, because everything was going perfectly right.

She had ordered the paint, and it had came in. It was the exact shade of  navy, and Miranda was truly excited about it. This was the first thing she felt that she had complete control over. Her life had spiraled out of control the last few years, and finally she had something stable. No matter how weird and disconnected it was, it still felt normal in a weird and awkward way. Phin came in and was wearing old clothes, as instructed. He asked, "What we doing?" Miranda smiled and handed him a paint brush. He looked at it questionably, and she said, "We are painting the bathroom! Alek should be here in a few minutes. Or at least he better be..." She had begged him until he said he would show up, so he better. Like he promised.

Phin asked, "What color are we painting it?" She took the top off the paint and showed him the deep dark blue that she had picked out. She wanted to make it sort of like a midnight moon theme. She maneuvered around the paint cans and said, "I got this shower curtain!" It had moons all over it. She said, "I think a night time theme would be cool in here." Phin nodded in agreement. Miranda smiled and said, "We aren't telling him about the thing yet. Alright?" She glared at Phin to make her point. Yes she had adopted Phin, and no she wasn't ready for the "mum" jokes that she knew Alek would pull. She handed Phin a paint brush and said, "Well, he'll show up eventually, start painting." Phin nodded in agreement, and started painting.

Because it was a Monday and nobody came in to the shop on Mondays, Alek had taken the liberty to go out the night before and have a little bit of fun. Except it wasn't the night before. It was Monday afternoon. More specifically, one o'clock.

The sound of water running made Alek shift to the other side, the sheets providing warmth to his body. The water kept running, and in the middle of his dream Alek's eyes opened slowly. The red-haired woman he'd been with last night wasn't next to him, his arm was draped over a pillow, but the steam coming from the woman's bathroom let him know of her location. Sitting up, Alek glanced around the room for his pants, because he could easily leave the flat without a shirt but he definitely couldn't leave without pants. "Oh, there you are." Alek said to his own jeans before reaching out to the sofa in her bedroom. Slipping into the jeans, Alek picked up his watch and debated whether or not he had to go back to the shop, but a single look at the time sent shivers down Alek's spine.

He had to help Miranda paint the bathroom! "Shit!" He cursed before grabbing his shirt from the floor and practically running out of the flat, the woman calling something as he ran out the door. The good thing about older women was they weren't looking for a relationship, just the sex, and that meant Alek didn't even have to remember their name or pay attention to what they told him. But at the moment, he was cursing himself for sleeping in, because Miranda was going to kill him. Death didn't seem so bad, but at the hands of Miranda Cunningham.....well, shit. As he ran down the stairs for the building, Alek waited until he was sure no muggles were around to take a second to out on his shirt and apparated to Diagon Alley - most specifically, the front of Ollivanders.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuck." Alek exclaimed as he walked into the shop, thankful that Miranda wasn't waiting for him at the counter, ready to throw wands at him. There was one thing Alek couldn't stand, and that was making Miranda upset. He had known the bathroom idea was important to her because of some personal reason, one that Alek didn't have the courage to ask about, and he respected that. Being late wasn't exactly helping him, though. Alek went up the stairs two at a time, literally running through the hallway and into the bathroom where he found Phineas and Miranda. She was holding a shower curtain with moons on it, and Phineas was holding a paint brush, making reckless strokes on the walls.

Chuckling, Alek took a second to catch his breath and leaned on the doorframe, his eyes on the shower curtain. "That's why you wanted to repaint it Navy blue?" Alek asked, not exactly expecting an answer, walking in and looking at the paint. He flashed Miranda a smile before walking around her to pick up a paint brush. Hopefully, she wouldn't notice that he had just woken up because that would come off as 1) lazy and 2) it would give her the exact idea of why he was barely showing up. He couldn't handle Miranda knowing that, even though he was sure she wasn't stupid and most likely already knew. As long as she didn't point it out, everything would be okay.

"So, do we just start, boss?" he grinned at her, taking in the way the light from the window made her look different, angelic, one would say. Looking around, he saw that most of their things were still in their place. Sticking the unused paint brush in his back pocket, Alek walked out to get a box from the old stock and started putting their personal items inside. He hadn't realized how much stuff Miranda had until he was actually putting it in the box. "What the hell do you even need this for?" He asked, picking up a multicolored box of godknowswhat.

Miranda glared at Alek for being late. Even though it was only by a few minutes, she wasn't overly pissed at him, and she was glad he was here, so she didn't want to ruin the moment. She said, "Yes, this is why I picked blue!" She rolled her eyes but smiled at the same time. She was really happy that he was there. When they were together as a whole, it made her feel better. She didn't have to worry about anything, and she knew he would protect her to some extent, and she knew she would protect Phin. She loved the kid, and couldn't picture her life without him, no matter how awkward the situation would be. When Alek asked where they should start painting, Miranda said, "You get the ladder and start painting the top, and Phin and I will get from the middle down." Now that she had a plan, this was going to go smoothly.

They were going to get this done in a matter of hours, even though they could use their wands and get it done in a matter of minutes, she figured that it would be a good bonding activity. Phin was reaching above her to get a spot that she couldn't reach, and some paint had fallen off his paint brush and landed on her face. She gasped out loud, and stepped back. She tried to wipe it off, but it ended up just smearing the paint and making the entire situation worse. So, to get him back, she flinged her brush and some of the paint landed on his face, and accidentally onto Alek's. She laughed at his expression and Phin laughed along too!

She hadn't imagined that this would end like this, but she whipped her brush at Phin another time and got more paint all over him. Miranda was glad she was wearing old clothes, but the paint would take forever to wash out of her hair! But at that point, Miranda wasn't thinking about the consequences about the whole situation. She was glad that she was having fun for once in her life. She didn't have to think about school, or her parents, or her rotten attitude. The boys had changed her in ways they didn't even know. Well, Alek probably secretly knew and didn't tell her. He had known her at school, and how awful she had been. Miranda flung her brush at Alek again and made sure to get him good! She laughed again, and was finally proud of herself. She was happy and complete, and she had Phin and Alek to thank for that.