alternativewriting | (no subject)

Alec's scouted all the ice cream places. And other sugar places.

"I want a banana split with vanilla and strawberry ice cream, caramel, whip cream and peanuts." He says this promptly. "What about you?"

He frowns and looks over at the selection of various flavors and combinations with consternation.

"Vanilla, maybe," he finally says. Sugar has never been his thing.

"You have to get at least something."

Alec lives on sugar. At least, he'd like to.

The guy behind the counter smiles at Alec and looks amused. He recognizes the fact that the boy was there just an hour or so ago.

"I'll order for you first," Andrew says, and directs his comment at the guy behind the counter. "The young man here will have a banana split with vanilla and strawberry ice cream, caramel, whip cream and peanuts."

See -- he's capable of listening. Even if he thinks the idea is terrible and likely to result in a stomachache.

"And I'll have a small scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup."

"Yes sir," the man says.

Alec is going to have a major sugar buzz and then stomach ache later.

"It has fruit in it. It's healthy."

"The nutritional value is next to nothing, but it's your birthday, so I can ignore that fact."

The ice cream is handed to him, he pays, and then walks to a table, setting Alec's ice cream on one side.

"There you go. Knock yourself out."

"I don't see why I have to eat healthy things if you don't."

Still, he attacks the ice cream with rapid scoops.

"Because you want to grow up big and strong, et cetera, et cetera."

He doesn't sound exactly convinced, but feeding a child healthy, well-rounded meals is something you're supposed to do, right? He picks at his ice cream with his spoon, not taking a bite yet.

And that gets a bit of blinking. "You're funny sometimes."

The strawberry is gone and he's got whip cream on his nose.

"I'm surprised you think so. Most of the time, you think I'm utterly embarrassing, I imagine."

He's not going to comment on the whipped cream on Alec's nose. He'll just get more on him even if he wipes it off, at the rate he's eating.

"You're not embarrassing. You don't do anything like that. You're very proper and um..." he pauses, thinking for a moment. "Scary."

"Scary?"

He's not sure if being scary is really the best way for your pseudo-child to describe you.

"You loom scarily a lot. And looks like this." He makes an attempt to look like Andrew being Stern Like.

It's... actually a pretty good impression.

He raises an eyebrow as he finally takes a spoonful of ice cream. "I wasn't aware I generally looked so... unfortunate."

Finally! Alec was starting to wonder if he was going to let it melt or not.

"I dunno if it's unfortunate. It's just scary looking. At least that's what the other kids say."

"The other kids talk about me?"

Well, he supposes children do tend to talk about parents. Still, he wonders just what they say.

"Course they do. Well... I mean, I'm in the paper with you and they see it and so they want to know who you are and then what you're like and everything." He sounds smug about being in the papers with Andrew.

"And what do you say about me?"

Another small bite of ice cream.

Alec is halfway through his now.

"That you're gonna take over the world so that everyone can make lots of money and do whatever they want."

"I'm sure their parents are utterly thrilled about that little fact, when they inevitably repeat it around the dinner table."

Most people just don't understand Andrew's visions, he's found.

It possibly doesn't help matters that it's filtered through Alec's understanding of it all.

"They say you're crazy. I don't think you are."

"Well, I'm certainly glad that I have at least one person in my corner."

Crazy? Let them think he was crazy. He made more money in a day than most of them made in a year.

"You should have more people."

He did. Which, in Alec's point of view, proves that he's not crazy.

"I have everyone who works for me, of course. And the investors."

He's not quite sure how much Alec understands about business and how it works, but he never talks down to him as though he's too stupid to understand it. He figures Alec will learn more quickly that way.

He gets some of it. Business never really quite interests him, but he does try and pay attention.

"They should give you more money."

That's what investors did, right?