uhhhh, that's not mine... {WES!}

[XANDER SYKES]

Xander hadn't exactly been prepared that day. For one, had he known he had chemistry homework beforehand, he would have done it at his home instead of at his dorm or anywhere near where his friends were. Xander Sykes doing homework? What a nerd! Nope. That would ruin him forever, being called a nerd.

Second, had he known that Nahnie's preschool was letting out early for some ungodly reason, he would have given himself time to get gas, drive home, and drive back up here. Instead, he only had the resources to drive to the preschool and back. Now he had Nahnie sitting on his bed, bothering the hell out of him.

"Xandy, what are you doing? Making drugs or somefin?"

"Shhhhh."It was safe to say that Xander was a bit of a failure of a big brother. Nahnie was aware of things she should not have been aware of at three, and used that against him to get what she wanted.

But he ignored her for now, finishing up the last of his homework. He started putting things in the closet when he heard the doorknob turning. Shit! And man, he hadn't had time to do that other experiment he was going to do! Oh well, he had to hurry. He stuffed the last of the beakers onto the top shelf of the closet sloppily, shut the door, and sat on his bed next to Nahnie, giving her the 'you better not tell anyone what you just saw' look that she knew well.

[WESTON BRODERICK]

There were times when Wes highly considered lecturing Angel on the importance of “playing the game.” Then again, the times were just as many that he wished he was quite as adept as she at avoiding things like that when she wasn’t around to drag him away. Either way, she had detention. He didn’t. Which meant he had alone time, seeing as he wasn’t exactly in the mood to go hunt down Tramp (he usually wasn’t) or head up to Paradise by himself. That was his rule about the place, after all—he couldn’t have it unless it was with someone else (namely Angel).
Naturally, that had left him with one option—head back to his dorm. Chances were Xander wouldn’t be there, as he was probably either off with Tramp, getting high somewhere else, or doing whatever it was he did with his sister that apparently classified as raising her.

Despite the possibility of the room being empty, Wes knocked. Force of habit. Almost instantly, he heard the sounds of someone scrambling to put things back in their proper place, and he smiled. So Xander was home. Of course, Wes couldn’t help but wonder what the hell it was he was trying to put away so quickly—his roommate was many things, but “neat freak” was not one of them. Out of respect for his attempt, Wes waited another two seconds before turning the knob completely and opening the door.

He crossed the room easily, offering a slight nod of greeting in Xander’s direction before heading towards Nahnie. Right arm extended, he held his fist out for her to pound, the look on her face instantly brightening his mood. It was strange, perhaps, but Wes loved Xander’s sister. She reminded him of Southerly a bit, perhaps—at least, Southerly when she’d been that old. “You normally home this early?” he remarked lightly, directing the question to Xander even as he gave the small girl’s hair a slight ruffle.

Wes smiled at her again as he straightened up and headed towards the closet, backpack now in hand instead of slung over his shoulder. He opened the door to chuck the thing inside when—THUNK! something rather heavy fell smack on his forehead, where it then bounced off his shoe and rolled behind him. Rubbing the spot that was sure to become a large lump, Wes swore under his breath as he bent down to pick up the object of offense: a glass beaker. It certainly wasn’t his. He held the thing out at arms’ length, clearly confused as he glanced between Xander and the vial; it looked freshly used. “This yours?”

[XANDER SYKES]

Xander wasn't surprised that it was Wes. But that really didn't matter. He felt like such a fucking boss right then that the quizzical look Nahnie gave him just before she saw Wes was not registered in Xander's mind. Nahnie didn't really care, either, though, because Wes was there and she had a MAJOR little kid crush on him. She pounded his fist with her own small one and smiled.

“You normally home this early?”

"Nah, man, I just didn't have anything to do," he said, shrugging. Total lie, of course, because he totally had plans that he had cancelled to do his homework. Not plans with Tramp, though, of course. He would never cancel anything falling under that category for anything.

Nahnie giggled as Wes ruffled her hair. God, she was such a girl. Xander told her that, too, a lot. Which wasn't a bad thing, but when he found out his mom was pregnant, he was hoping for a brother. Because that would have ended much better.

Then Wes went to the closet.

Oh God.

Shit.

Fuck.

Pleasedon'tseeanythingpleasedon'tseeanythingplease... Xander pleaded in his head, hoping some higher power up there would fucking listen to him for once.

Yeah, not so much.

Xander cringed at the sound of the think. Man, that thing hit him pretty damn hard, and it didn't break. Yeah, he had gotten
quality beakers, alright.

Well there was still hope for him, at least. He could say someone broke into their room or something and left it there because of some fucking reason Xander didn't know. Yeah, he had this whole story planned out.

“This yours?”

As soon as Xander opened his mouth to say something, Nahnie interrupted. "Yeah, that's Xandy's. He was making drugs."

Shit. FUCK. GOD DAMN IT. He would never hit his sister, like EVER, but there were days, there were days.

"Yeah. And I wasn't making drugs, I was doing my chemistry homework." He kept his poker face on, not knowing how Wes would react.

[WESTON BRODERICK]

Wes, unable to help but think of at least twelve things his roommate could typically be found doing besides coming home early, merely quirked a disbelieving brow in Xander’s direction. “Right.”

Sarcasm was so much sweeter when it was short.

It was almost unsettling, the utter lack of illicit activities going on in their dorm right now. Nahnie or not, Wes had come to half expect Xander to be sitting near the window when he walked in, dangling some manner of joint between his fingers. Or, at the very least, Xander wouldn’t be home at all. God only knew what he did on those excursions, and Wes honestly didn’t care to find out, especially if they involved Tramp.

Wes rubbed the top of his head rather vigorously for a few seconds, caught somewhere between disbelief and amusement at Xander’s reaction to the question. He bent down to retrieve the bottle with a small smirk, tossing it up and down as he waited for the inevitable response from—and he’d called it. A smile spread across his face at Nahnie’s accusation, followed by a small snort-turned-not-so-polite-cough at Xander’s facial expression.

There it was. The wide grin, the bemused smirk as Wes sized up his roommate (or pretended to, anyway. The reality of it was that he couldn’t care less) for a good five seconds before responding.

“What, so you’re like, playing mad scientist back here every time I leave the room, or what? Is that—oh wait, don’t tell me. That’s why it smells like burnt corndogs in here every Tuesday, isn’t it?” his eyes widened as the accusations grew. He brandished the beaker in Xander’s direction as she spoke, trying as hard as he could to get a reaction. Just one really good reaction. One he could hold over his head later if need be. Not that this wasn’t bad enough. Something told him Xander wouldn’t want Tramp hearing about this.

“I donno, Nahnie,” he took a casual sniff of the beaker, crinkling his nose dramatically. “Smells like drugs to me. You think your brother’s a liar?” he stared at the little girl for a moment, eyes sharp and full of mirth, hoping she’d take the bait.