2029-July-1 Month after Twist.

One month later...to the day...

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Zeph heaved his purple rucksack up to the door, complete with duvet rolled up and bound to the base of the bag.

Holding the handle with one hand, he glanced briefly over his shoulder in faint paranoia and rapped the knocker.

Diana was in the middle of fixing curtains when she heard the knocking. "Darius, Honey, can you open the door?"

Darius nodded. "Vroom!" He went and opened the door.

Zephir attempted an awkward smile, which was really more of a wince.

"I ran away." He stated, in a distinctly direct fashion.

He just hoped they'd let him stay...he didn't want to go home...If his parents had noticed he was gone, he'd be in trouble...

...But if they hadn't even realised, he'd somehow feel worse.

"Zephy?" Darius said slightly confused. He wasn't expecting Zephy. "Zephy!" He went and gave him a hug.

Zeph half-smiled, relaxing slightly. He awkwardly patted Darius on the back and edged inside, dragging his bag, which now seemed a lot lighter, inside with him.

"I brought my stuff." He held the bag by a handle, loitering in the hallway as he waited for Darius to let go of him.

Diana poked her head in to see who it was. "Darius who is it?"

"It's Zephy, Mum!" Darius said excitedly letting go.

Zephir's lip twitched into an attempted smile.

"Hi."

Diana greeted him. "Hi Zephir," she said. Then she frowned in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Um...I..." Zeph paused, uncertain.

"I ran away." He stated again, as that was the only thing he knew how to explain.

"You ran away?" Diana said approaching him, casting a worried glance at Darius' direction. "Why would you do that?"

It was obvious really Diana felt rather stupid in asking.

Zephir glanced at the floor.

"'Cos they don't give a damn about me...and I thought...maybe I could stay here for a bit? I just don't wanna go home."

His voice remained emotionless, purely stating facts.

Darius blinked and then looked up at his mother. That sounded reasonable enough.

Diana put a hand to her lips. "Oh honey..." She said. "Of course you could stay here."

"Thank you." Zeph's face brightened up slightly, a faint hint of a smile on his face.

"I brought...um...stuff." He gestured vaguely at his duvet.

Diana nodded and helped him carry his load. "Are you hungry?"

"Darius honey, close the door please."

Darius did what he was told. "We were just about to eat!"

Zeph shrugged. "Maybe a bit." He admitted, feeling better with the door shut behind him...that'd keep his mother out, he assured himself.

"Yaaaaaay!" Darius said bouncing. "Zephy's here!!"

((Sorry, norton won't load onto my new laptop-am working on it :S))

Maybe he should've sent a note or something ahead first Zeph mused, glancing around at the familiar surroundings.

Much better than home.

He raised an eyebrow at Darius' bouncing, but almost laughed. Though he wasn't really his younger brother, Darius was still kind of a brother to him.

"What would you like to eat Zephir?" Diana asked.

((Hey is Darien home?))

((lol, he can be))

Darien slipped back into the house through the back door, and thence into the hall. "Zephir?" After noticing Celina was nowhere to be seen, he relaxed slightly.

Zeph shrugged. "Don't mind...Do you have those nice sandwiches again?" He perked up. Ham and cheese...good mixture.

"Sure I'll make some now." Diana smiled. She frowned a little when Darien came in. "Hey Zephir why don't you and Darius go up and get your self settled while Darien and I make some sandwiches?"

Zeph wondered why Diana was frowning, but decided it was probably some grown up thing. Grown-ups were always doing strange things like that.

He hoisted the bag onto his back in silence, waiting for Darius to lead the way.

Darien headed through to the kitchen, leaving the door ajar so they could see when the boys had gone upstairs.

Darius nodded and was about to make his way up stairs...

"Hey, don't I get I kiss?" Diana said smiling at Darius. Darius obliged his mother. Then Diana eloped him in a bear hug. "Muuuum!"

"You're just too cute. I couldn't resist." When Diana released him he staggered towards Zephir then ran up the stairs.

Zeph blinked at the display of parental affection, and felt both amused and sad.

He wished his parents did that...even if it was embarrassing.

Lugging his bag behind him, he followed Darius up the stairs.

Darius rushed to his room wanting to show Zephir his new toy. "Zephy, look at what Uncle Nick gave me!"

His room was littered with train tracks and in one corner was a train. "We can play train station!"

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Diana turned to Darien when the boys where out of sight.

"Zephir has ran away from home."

Zeph blinked at the trains. "How's it work?"

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Darien pulled an awkward face. "Oh."