Totally Not Kid-Friendly Creepy Old Mansion on Phoenix Way, Sunday Evening

[justlurkinghere]

As was probably shocking to absolutely no one, Derek did not socialize much at age ten. Which is why having a sleep-over was just crazy talk if you asked him.

Crazy talk.

But that wasn't going to stop him from trying out this whole thing. With friends.

[[Open for anyone who brave the creepy house!]]

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[newroutines]

Mike still did not know what to make of this weekend, or whether he believed anything he was told. But he'd decided just to roll with it and see if he ended up awakening from a random dream at some point or something.

So, the kitchen was stocked with various moddable kid-friendly treats (no name brand stuff, but he remembered being a kid and really not caring what it said on the bag as long as the chips were tasty and hoped kids today were the same), and Mike was committed to doing his best to make sure no one got hurt or anything.

This was not the best place for a sleepover. Derek.

[justlurkinghere]

"You brought food?" Awww, Mike. You were the best person who allowed Derek to squat in your creepy house ever! "Thank you," he said once he remembered those manners.

[newroutines]

Mike shrugged, opening up a bag of chips. "You're welcome. I just thought it'd be nice." He popped a chip into his mouth. "Everyone likes snacks."

[justlurkinghere]

"What else should happen at a sleep-over?" MIKE, IT BETTER NOT INVOLVE STRIPPING.

[robinonadderall]

"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever done in my life," Stiles said to himself, not even bothering to knock on the door before coming in. Mostly because his hands were full with a sleeping bag and pillow tucked under one arm and a couple of pizzas and his laptop balanced in the other hand.

Seriously, he was never ever telling Scott about this part of the weekend.

[justlurkinghere]

"What is?" SORRY FOR THE HEARING EVERYTHING YOU SAY, STILES.

[robinonadderall]

Stupid werewolf hearing! "Been awhile since I've been to a sleepover."

And he had definitely never had a sleepover with the child-sized version of a werewolf that enjoyed putting him through pain on a frequent basis, so.

"Take this," Stiles said, holding out the arm that had the pizzas and his laptop. "It's a miracle I didn't manage to drop them."

[justlurkinghere]

Well, that was something he could cross off his bucket list. Wasn't Fandom a magical place for allowing him to do that?

Derek took the boxes and laptop easily, frowning down at the laptop for a moment. "Is that a computer?"

It wasn't very brick-like.

[newroutines]

"Oh good, another adult!" Mike said in greeting. Then reconsidered. "Well, you're like what, fourteen? But it's close enough. Welcome, man."

[robinonadderall]

"Sixteen." The legal age of consent in Maryland, Mike, thank you very much! "I hope you don't mind all this...Derek's weirdly convincing when he's a child."

[newroutines]

"Yeah, I've noticed." Even if Mike was still kind of just glossing over the fact that the kid was supposed to be his grumpy squatter because... Well, that just made no kind of sense. "It's fine. It livens up the house a little."

[locointhecoco]

Pinkie wasn't afraid of anything (okay, she was afraid of most things, but her grandmother had always told her it was okay and she should just laugh them all away, so she was brave about things, too), and the idea of a sleepover . . . intrigued her. It sounded like that new fangled thing she'd heard rumors of on the rock farm, a "party".

And she was really, really tired of pushing rocks around.

So she was there. Standing in a corner not talking to anyone, but she was there.

Every sleepover needed a tiny pink pony in the mix, after all.

[justlurkinghere]

A tiny, anti-social pony at that!

Oh god, it was like they switched personalities, wasn't it?

"No more rocks to push?" Derek asked warily.

[locointhecoco]

It really kind of was, wasn't it.

"There's always more rocks to push."

[justlurkinghere]

"We have chips if you like them," Derek offered, assuming that ponies did not eat meat. Because that would just be weird.

[bitten_notshy]

Jan stomped up, an inquisitive look on his face. "Are you real?" he asked. "Ponies are not pink."

The babel gremlin gave him English. It could not give him tact.

[locointhecoco]

This was apparently what happened when a pony left the rock farm.

"Are you real?" she asked. "Bears usually have hair."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'm not a bear," Jan told her, giggling. "I'm a person!"

He thought about it for a moment. "But one time I saw a bear in the park, and people threw money at it to make it dance, and that was pretty cool."

[so_hawkward]

Clint wasn't afraid of the creepy old mansion, because he could see from peeking in the window that there were other kids inside. Sleeping in a biiiig house with just one other person? When that person was a girl? Way, way, creepier. So, Clint had a pillow and his pajamas and a teddy bear, and was ready to want to die tomorrow try this sleepover concept. "Hello?" he said, knocking on the door. "Can I come in?"

[justlurkinghere]

Derek opened the door a crack, eyeing the teddy bear and the kid for a moment. You know. In case this was some kind of weird trick.

"You're little," Derek said, opening it to let the kid in.

[so_hawkward]

Clint scowled up at Derek, and tried to straighten up to look taller. "I'm not that little! I'm gonna be bigger soon!"

[justlurkinghere]

"Littler than me," Derek pointed out with a shrug. "C'mon. There's pizza."

[bitten_notshy]

Jan, it should be noted, was not normally the kind of child to find himself in a creepy mansion well toward sundown.

But between not being able to read and a less-than-perfect sense of direction, it was where he was when the sun got low enough on the horizon that he needed human companionship. He tapped on the door of the closest house that seemed occupied tentatively, not having much of a plan beyond the hope the people inside were nice.

[justlurkinghere]

And the door was opened swiftly as someone was waiting for more people. "Another little kid?" Derek, stop being weird about this. "Now we really can't watch a scary movie."

[bitten_notshy]

Thanks to the babel gremlin, Jan even understood that.

"Why not?" he asked, frowning. "I'm not little."

He was five, and could pass for a slight four. The fact he didn't know what a movie was made little difference.