There Are Flowers in the Garbage [Musebox]

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Expecting that school, both correspondence and not, was going to keep Howard and Diana busy was probably a vain hope. Howard's sleep schedule keeps him from usually having evenings free (either he's napping or he's zombified), but occasionally his and Diana's free time overlap. Tonight is one of those nights.

See, it's after Christmas, and the grocer down the street throws away most of the turkeys that weren't sold by that day. Some of them are well rotten by now, but some of them were frozen before they were tossed, and as such they're still more than edible. Howard told Diana about this heinous crime, and they spent the last night unable to really sleep without thinking of all the meat going to waste.

So tonight they're striking a blow for justice. Or for hunger. Whichever. Howard's donned black clothing to blend in with the background, and has brought his backpack and a shopping cart. At the very least they can get some emergency stores for the freezer. He waits outside Ian and Barbara's house for Diana, tapping his foot.

Comments

[splendid_roman]

Ian didn't say anything all the way to the car. He had plenty he wanted to say, but didn't want to do it with an audience. Besides, it was no use just telling them off - he had to think of something that would get through to both of them. And perhaps, for now, his silence might remind them they were in big trouble.

[keep_surviving]

Now they were actually out of the station and in the car, Diana seemed as relaxed as if it were any drive home. Though, unlike most drives she had spark of excitement in her eye, like she'd found the whole thing thrilling more than anything.

Really, the most she was upset about was the fact they hadn't actually gotten any turkeys.

Diana smirked at Howard as they sat in the back, leaning closer to play up the couple thing, but mainly to tease him. "So, apologies too damaging to that sexy pride of yours?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Shut up." Howard doesn't even bother with the couple thing. He all but snarls at her and stares out the backseat window.

He wonders how much their bond was. He'll find a way to pay it back.

[first_in_time]

Barbara looked down at her hands which were wringing together in her lap. Normally she'd have stood up for Diana, then pulled Howard aside to ask what was wrong once she had the chance, but she knew what was wrong. And it had been ages since she'd seen Ian so livid - not that he didn't have a good reason to be so - it made her want to sit in silence and think about what she'd done, despite the fact that she wasn't in trouble.

Once the car had pulled up in the Chesterton's driveway, Barbara got out and unlocked the front door. She went ahead to light the way into the kitchen, and put the kettle on. They could all do with a cup of tea.

[splendid_roman]

Ian hoped that during the journey Howard and Diana had managed to feel more contrite than they'd sounded when they got in the car. He wanted to go to bed, but he wasn't going to any sleep until this was sorted out.

He leaned against the kitchen counter, arms folded, and said, "I hope you have a good explanation for why you broke into the grocer's."

[keep_surviving]

Diana sat herself down at the kitchen table, leaning back on the chair so it rested on only two of its legs.

"We were taking good food they were throwing away. I think the more unpleasant way of putting it is we were 'dumpster diving', except in a much cleaner and smarter fashion."

Ever the blunt one.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"We thought we could sneak it into the downstairs cellar and sneak it upstairs one turkey at a time, as a gift, you know." Howard sits at the kitchen table too, staring at the surface of it as if he wished it were on fire. "It's the grocer's own fucking fault for wasting them."

[first_in_time]

"Mind your language, please," Barbara said, despite not even cringing any more when he swore in her presence.

Once their cups were out on the bench, she added: "while what the grocer does with his excess stock is none of our business, you could have asked for the turkeys, or worked out some kind of deal."

[splendid_roman]

Howard's statement about sneaking the turkeys up meant Ian would be suspicious if he produced food in the future. Nor was it helping his cause particularly.

"So I presume you broke in because you've spoken to the grocer and he wasn't willing to give you the turkeys." He supposed they'd done nothing of the sort, but he wanted them to think more about what they'd done wrong.

[keep_surviving]

"Oh, sure. Because a grocer is just happy to let someone take that many turkeys for free. And we definitely had the money for them all."

Diana was more concerned about her internal body clock, which had realized it was morning and so began its usual routine of harassing her. Ever since FAYZ, extended periods of times without food kicked her body into a panic, giving her stomach pangs to remind her what happened the last time she didn't eat, not that she needed reminding. Now, this had calmed down to only happening once a day; Diana's body was not still fond of the fasting period between dinner and breakfast.

So Diana could never miss breakfast. She stood up. "Can I make some toast?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"What she said." He jerks his thumb at Diana. "To the toast, too."

He's not meaning to be so hostile at the moment. He's just scared, and often fear leads to lashing out and shutting down. Not that he isn't legitimately angry too, at the grocer, at Diana, at Ian and Barbara for insisting this is a problem, at the world for changing its rules on him.

He stares at the tabletop and runs his thumb over a pattern in the grain of the wood.

[first_in_time]

Automatically, Barbara started making toast. It wasn't until she was slicing the bread did she actually reconsider, but since she started, there was little point in stopping. She focused on her task of making tea and toast, and listened to Ian.

[splendid_roman]

Ian started to wonder if banging his head against the table would have the same effect, certainly on Diana. "I don't think you realise how much trouble you're in," he said, looking at them both. "Unless you want to go to jail, in which case we won't have to worry about you any more." His tone sounded like he didn't care if that happened.

[keep_surviving]

Diana raised a skeptical eyebrow, calling his bluff. "You wouldn't send us to jail, now would you?"

She looked at Barbara, knowing the ladys soft spots. "Don't let him say that, Howard is already scared you're going to give us the boot."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard just covers his face with his hands, silently willing Diana to stop making things worse. He wants to be elsewhere, the uncertainty is fairly brutal.

[first_in_time]

"Diana, don't." Barbara was well aware of how well Diana could manipulate her from time to time, and often she was fine enough with being manipulated. It wasn't like she was asking for money all the time, or trying to sneak boys in their home without asking first.

"This is not the first time either of you have had a brush in with the authorities. And we're not always going to be there to pull you out of it. You need to make the correct decisions - the ones which won't put you in jail!"

[splendid_roman]

"There'll come a point where we won't be able to intervene and keep you out of jail," Ian added to what Barbara said.

Since he wasn't getting through to Diana and she wasn't helping Howard he changed tack and his tone and expression were more sympathetic as he said, "Why didn't you ask us for help speaking to the grocer about his turkeys?"

[keep_surviving]

Diana just folds her arms and continues leaning back on her chair.

"Isn't it obvious?" She answers in an infuriating way.

Her expression was bored and she was eyeing the toast. Clearly all she wanted to do was eat and go to bed.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"We didn't do anything wrong! It's the rest of the world that never has its priorities right!" Howard explodes. He clenches his fists and gets up hard enough that the chair nearly tips, rolling on its feet. "You don't want us to make the right decisions, you want us to make the easy decisions because it'll mean we're like everyone else and you can pretend we're normal kids!"

Clearly, he and Diana are the best foster kids ever and have no horrible psychological problems. And are never self-conscious about those problems.

[first_in_time]

Barbara sighed and gently placed her hands flat upon the counter just as the toast popped. She didn't move to get it, instead stared at the counter top.

[splendid_roman]

Ian ran a hand over his face. He was tempted just to give in and go back to bed but he couldn't. "I'm trying to keep you both from getting into more trouble," he said. "I agree that the grocer shouldn't be throwing good food away when there are people who need it. But breaking in and stealing them is not going to help him understand that, is it?"

[keep_surviving]

"It was a minor thing. Stop acting like we stabbed a guy. It's not like you guys have electronic systems to keep it safe, one little file for breaking and entering by a couple of orphans is going to be lost in paperwork."

Diana scowled, Howards paranoid anger rubbing off on her, the remnants of the mob mentally of FAYZ. "This is about reputation, isn't it? Sorry if we've ruined your perfectly family image of the perfect little couple on the perfect little street."

Her hand curled, dragging her long nails across the kitchen table, grooving the grain of the wood, turning to insults to calm herself down. "It might teach him the consequences of wasting food. And poor security."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Well aware that they're both digging themselves into a hole, and completely unsure what he can do to try and stop it, Howard backs down and sits back in his chair. He'll let Diana do the talking - the fact is that he agrees with every word coming out of her mouth right now, and feeling like it's them against the rest of the world just fuels how frustrated he is with everyone and everything.

He knows he should just apologize and promise not to do it again, and it's true he does feel guilty for waking them and making them pay a bond, but any promises not to steal again would be a lie. As would any remorse for the act itself.

[first_in_time]

"The issue is stealing," Barbara said firmly, "it isn't about Ian's and my reputations. You've broken a law no matter what your intent was. We want you to realise that."She buttered the toast and poured the tea while she talked, bringing out the milk and the sugar. "And this isn't like your time, where one little theft is forgotten with time. The grocer is going to tell all the businesses in the area, and you'll be lucky to be let into some places, let alone ask for work."

A plate with a few pieces of halved toast was placed in the middle of the table, and she took over Howard and Diana's teas, too.

"We're disappointed that neither of you seem to realise that."

[splendid_roman]

Ian supposed that it was good that Diana and Howard hadn't just promised never to do it again without meaning it. But he couldn't tell if what they were saying was what they really thought or it was bluster out of fear.

But he'd run out of ways of getting through to them, so he just waited to see what they had to say.