𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈 𝐃𝐎 ─── 𝘩. 𝘥. 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴

19. father and son

act one chapter nineteen
﹝FATHER AND SON﹞
season one episode five
❝ no! save the clock! ❞

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"hey," william greets as he barges into his sister's room. a groan escapes his lips when he sees marie stretching on the floor while doing her homework. "you're practicing again?"

"recital's next month, will," marie replies, not once looking up from her history textbook. "plus, i'm multitasking by taking care of both my body and mind."

"wow, doing homework while stretching your legs in a split that looks terribly painful seems like so much fun," the younger walter drawls out as sarcastically as possible.

marie sighs and looks up at him, an expectant look on her face. "go on, then; spit it out. what do you want?"

"now we're talking." her brother pulls out a box from behind him and grins. "just one, then you can go back to doing this. i promise."

"i thought father was going to do that with you after you finished your homework."

"i did finish it, but he had to go back to the office." will pouts, knowing if he pulled the 'always busy dad' card, she'd eventually give in. "i was really looking forward to trying another one tonight, m."

marie stares at him, hoping he'd eventually get tired of trying to guilt trip her into doing one of one hundred science experiments from that kit of his with him and leave to do it on his own.

however, he was her brother, and her brother knew exactly which strings to pull and buttons to push to get her to spend time with him. that and she knew she had to give in because they were blood-related and all that annoying subtext that came with being a sibling.

"oh, fine," the brunette huffs after clicking her tongue. "but just one. we still have school tomorrow."

"yes! i'll be in the backyard!" william exclaims while running out of her room and bounding down the staircase.

"yay..." marie weakly cheers as she stands up with ease and follows her brother. she loved science, and she especially loved doing experiments with him, but she felt as if she was about to pass out at any moment.

she had been perfecting her routines for the past couple of weeks nonstop, sometimes even going past midnight. when practicing for a recital, she would always repeat a mantra she had come up with when she was younger: 'you'll know it's perfect when you forget how to breathe.'

it was a dark way of staying motivated, but she wouldn't be where she is now without it.

"okay. what are we doing tonight?"

marie walks out into the yard to see william excitedly setting up a mini workstation on the patio table. "potato clock," he replies, a giddy smile painting his lips. "i wanted to document this in the journal page behind my rock candy-making experience!"

"it's always about food with you," she teases, walking over to the table and picking up a spare set of goggles. "where'd you get the alligator clips?"

"they were attached to the jumper wires."

marie rolls her eyes at his lame joke and puts on the goggles. will follows suit and giggles. "i got them from billy."