[open] House of Dreams

[Lupe [Kristen Cominsky]]

The orphanage was quiet, the only noticable sound being the shuffling of a broom across the shabby floor. Lupe pushed his hair out of his face, not caring about the dirt he wiped across his face in the process. The red-headed teen was cleaning, trying to get up as much of the dirt as possible. He knew there was no point, the entire place being underground made cleanliness an issue. Rubbing his brow slightly, Lupe stood up and stretched his back. It was just him in charge of the kids today and any minute soon they'd all wake up and he'd have a even harder job to clean.

"Urgh, Men..." He grumbled to himself, knowing for a fact Noa was out above the surface and he probably wouldn't see him or the entire day. What he really needed was a pair of spare hands to help out but unluckily for him that wasn't likely to happen.

Picking up a small piece of paper off the floor, Lupe smiled to himself. Well, Noa wasn't all bad. He was teaching some of the kids to read and write and he did manage to get good food from the syrface. Lupe couldn't complain, even if he never saw him. Shaking his head, the teen placed the paper back down somewhere safe and carried on sweeping. He had to get finished before the kids woke up.

[Imogen]

Yawning, Imogen stretched her arms over her head. She'd just checked on all the kids, and she was sure they were all asleep, yet she could hear some weird noise coming from somewhere.

After wandering around for a while, she found the source of the noise - one of the 'staff' was cleaning.

Smiling to herself, she decided to surprise the red-haired male and began sneaking up behind him. When she was close enough she made her move, jumping onto his back and clinging tight.
"Guess who~!"

[Lupe [Kristen Cominsky]]

Lupe was almost finished cleaning when he felt a weight fall on his back. Falling forwards, he manage to stop himself faceplanting by holding out his arms.

Guess who~! Lupe laughed at the question, all his anger towards Noa gon from his mind. Standing up suddenly and holding onto the female's arms as he swung around slightly. He should have guessed the fourteen year old would be one of the first up, she tended to help out with the other kids and he knew she wanted to work there still when she was older. It made him proud knowing there was hope in the younger generation.

"Nice to see you too Immy." He laughed again, stopping still in case she wanted to climb off his back.

[Imogen]

Imogen gave the older male a quick squeeze before jumping off, beaming at him. She glanced at the broom in his hand, laughing slightly.

"Awh, you're cleaning! Why didn't you ask for help, silly Kristy?" she giggled, prodding Lupe gently in the ribs as she used a nickname to tease him. She was careful not to call him this in front of the kids as she knew he didn't like it, but when there was no one else around she didn't hesitate to mess around with him.

Sitting on one of the overturned boxes that was commonly used as a table, she looked around herself whilst tying back her long dark hair. It seemed like something was missing, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what...

After a few seconds of consideration, Imogen realised, clicking her fingers, "Ah! Where's Noa?"

[Lupe [Kristen Cominsky]]

Lupe roled his eyes at the nickname, leaning on the broom slightly. He'd told everyone not to call him that anymore, those few people who actually knew, bu for some reason a few select people still teased him with it. It didn't help that it sound so feminine at times. After watching Imogen sit down on the box, it took Lupe a few seconds to react to her question. His face dropped and he looked more annoyed than anything else.

"Urgh, don't ask. He's off doing something and all I have is some note I can't even read. He's so annoying." Lupe shook his head, sweeping up again to take his mind off it. He wasn't paying attention however, sweeping angrily at the same place over and over again. Asking about Noa tended to be a sore spot for him, one that either didn't bother him or started what some of the other workers called a domestic. Not that it was of course.

[Imogen]

"Aah..." Imogen nodded a little, giggling as she stood up and took the broom from her annoyed friend. She began sweeping up properly, tapping Kristen lightly on the head with the handle when she'd finished. The floor wasn't totally spotless, but it was a lot cleaner than it had been before.

Smiling, she handed the cleaning equipment back to the older male. She knew bringing up Noa was a risky move, but she didn't like it when the guys argued - it tended to make things a little awkward for everyone else.

"Well he is pretty annoying, I'll give you that, but... he is a pretty big help. And I know you like him really, you two get on really well when you're not bitching at each other."

[Lupe [Kristen Cominsky]]

Lupe smiled slightly, watching Imogen sweep up for him. He was glad to have help but he wished he could've done it himself. Taking the cleaning equipment back, the teen leant it up against the wall and leant next to it to face the girl again.

"Sure, he helps when he's actually here. But he could at least tell me where he's going." Lupe shook his head, rubbing his forhead slightly.

"That and he's off with some women a lot of the time"

[Imogen]

"Yeah well..." she shrugged, brushing a few stray hairs from in front of her face. They were too short to be tied up with the rest of her hair, but she was sure she'd seen a few little clippy things around here somewhere. She stood up and began to search, turning her head to look at Lupe when she spoke to him, "Well, that's just the way he is, I guess. And... are you jealous or something?"

She stopped for a moment, considering, "Hey, you don't have some kind of crush on him or something?" after a quick giggle she went back to searching, turning her back on the male as she did so.

[Lupe [Kristen Cominsky]]

Lupe nodded slightly, that was just how Noa was. He had a habit of trying to get with people and he guess he just had to put up with it. Not that he lked it, it was annoying that Noa didn't bother to help more. When he heard Imogen's added comment of being jealous he automatically went to deny it, stopping short when he heard her second question. His face went red, mainly with anger at Noa, and he got very defensive. Of course he didn't have a crush on Noa, why would anyone have a crush on the womanizer.

"No! No way! Why the hell would I have a crush on him! He's an idiot! That and I'm straight!"

[Imogen]

Following Lupe's outburst, Imogen turned to face him, blinking rapidly in shock. While she had expected the redhead to deny it, she hadn't anticipated that level of...enthusiasm.

After the initial surprise had faded, she chuckled a little, "No need to get so defensive about it. I mean, if I was an objective outsider, I might say you were in denial." She winked cheekily at him before returning to her search. Running her hands down the back of one of the makeshift cabinets, she found success, "Got it..." she muttered, pulling the hair slide out of it's hiding place and putting it neatly into her hair. She then turned to face Kristen again, preparing herself for another possible outburst.

[Lupe [Kristen Cominsky]]

Lupe's face reddened more, annoyed thoughts rushing about in his head. He grabbed the broom again and headed to the one area that looked dirtiest before sweeping angrily once again.

"I do NOT have a crush on him! And I'm not in denial! I'm straight! I don't like guys in that way! Even if I did, I'd never like HIM in that way!" He wasn't looking at Imogen now, his knuckles turning white from his grip on the broom handle. There was no way he was in denial, he wasn't gay. He wasn't being defensive, he was telling the truth.

[Imogen]

"Alright, calm down..." She backed away very slightly, just in case the male felt a sudden urge to hit her with the broom. It looked like he wasn't far off.

Despite being a little scared of being mauled at any second, Imogen was finding it difficult not to laugh. He was being so defensive right now, and he was just digging his hole deeper and deeper. It was tempting to tease the redhead a little more, but she didn't want to push her luck or upset him. Plus, he was getting loud enough as it was - it wouldn't be long before he started waking the kids up.

She took her seat on the table again, deciding to keep totally quiet for now and just watch the aggressive cleaning. To her it was clear that Lupe was in denial, and she was pretty sure he liked Noa. For a moment she was a little upset that he didn't even want to admit it to her - they were best friends - but then she comforted herself with the thought that he would tell her when the time was right.

[Lupe [Kristen Cominsky]]

Lupe let out an annoyed sigh, leaning his forehead against the wall with a soft thud. He pushed the broom to one side andheard it clatter on the dirt floor. He didn't move away from the wall, closing his eyes and breathing calmly. Imogen was right, he needed to calm down. It wasn't his fault Noa annoyed him that much, and any mention about that kind of thing annoyed him even more. It wasn't true, that was why. There was no way he had a crush on Noa, no way at all. He wouldn't admit it, no way. He wasn't gay and there was no way he had a cruch on Noa. That was even less likely than him liking a few guys. Sure if it came to it he didn't mind gender, although he was straight through and through, but Noa annoyed more than anything in the world and he hated his guts. Even if he did start to like guys he would never go for the purple haired idiot.

[Imogen]

After waiting for a few moments to make sure Lupe wasn't going to rage at her, Imogen got to her feet again and made her way over to him.

"I'm sorry..."[/color] she murmered, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind and leaning against him, "I didn't mean to upset you... you know I was just messing about, I didn't realise you'd take it so badly..."

She closed her eyes and sighed. It was hard not to wish Noa was here right now - he made things so much harder when he disappeared like this, it was understandable that Kristen got so annoyed with him...

[Lupe [Kristen Cominsky]]

Lupe smiled very slightly when he felt Imogen hug him, relaxing more and more. She always calmed him down someway, it was a talent she seemed to have. He knew she hadn't meant to uset him, and he didn't seem to worry anymore. He didn't hate Noa, they'd been friends for a few years now, but the purple haired idiot didn't help himself with his constant visits to the surface and girls.

"I'm sorry for snapping Immy." He didn't move away from the wall still, wanting to stay like that for a little while longer.