"Will they hear me?"

Locke lifted up the pig mask and looked at Chase confused. Would who hear what now? He had thought for sure that Chase would have bypassed the door that held the party behind it. There was a desire to tell Chase to forget about that door, that you had to be someone on the inside to have any fun. Chase probably knew that there were times when you aren't allowed in the group. Didn't he get it now? "Guess that depends how much they had to drink," he answered in a daze.

Well, Chase wanted to try the door, and Locke wasn't exactly the touching type, so he couldn't exactly pull Chase away from the door. "Don't be surprised if nobody answers it ok? I mean there's got to be hundreds of doors to try in this building alone. And there's apartments all over New York."

>> "Guess that depends how much they had to drink."

Chase quirked an eyebrow, cocking his head at Locke. Did that really affect your hearing? Chase had torn through bottles of water plenty of times, but never once had taking in a copious amount of liquid ever effected his hearing. The things you learned. Perhaps Chase would drink less water, that way he didn't risk hearing loss?

>> "Don't be surprised if nobody answers it ok? I mean there's got to be hundreds of doors to try in this building alone. And there's apartments all over New York."

Chase nodded faintly, and knocked. Then, he waited. And waited. And waited some more. Nobody answered. He glanced back towards Locke, and opted not to wait any longer. He trotted back to Locke's side, and the two continued onward. How much did one need to drink before the hearing began to go, Chase wondered?

"So Chase, how old are you?" Locke asked, spotting a bowl up ahead. The more they walked the more familiar he was becoming with Chase's weight distribution. Also the more time that the two were spending together the more Locke was thinking of his brother and sister. Chase seemed about their age, maybe younger. Then again the Tori kids had a little bit extra height thanks to their father. Locke knew that Chase was young, he was getting excited over candy, and there was a lightness to his steps that you loose as you get older. The more experiences you had in life the more you seemed to be weighed down. Right before it was about to snow Locke's leg grew sore, and the reminder of all the stresses and struggles in his life weighed him down so that he didn't know how he managed to keep walking.

The bowl had a sign politely asking that you took ONE piece only. Either this building had already been swarmed or someone had chosen to ignore the sign. It wasn't empty, but the selection wasn't all that great either. Guilt took Locke as he plucked out one of the long skinny Tootsie Rolls and put it into the pillowcase.

>> "So Chase, how old are you?"

Chase kept pace with Locke, and gave a proud, "Eight-and-three-quarters. I'll be nine in January."

Three-quarters made a big difference to Chase, probably more of a difference than it did to Locke. The next door they came to had a bowl out front, blatantly declaring to only take one piece of candy. Chase did as instructed, combing through the candy with his eyes, before picking out an identical Tootsie Roll and depositing it into his own bag.

"How old are you?" Chase returned the question, still trotting about excitedly.

"I turned seventeen in August," Locke answered Chase. He didn't care about adding fractions onto his age. Unlike Chase it wasn't important to Locke. Seventeen was an awkward age, not only because that was the age Locke was. When you turn sixteen it's a big deal, you learn how to drive, and if MTV was any sort of indication of reality in the United States, you had a huge party and got a new car. Eighteen meant that you were old enough to vote, or smoke depending upon if you wanted to ruin your health. All that happens when you are seventeen is you stop being eligible to win some contests.

He had been wrong about Chase's age. The kid was actually older than his siblings, and a nice amount too. They wouldn't be turning eight for just a little under a year, and Chase's birthday was going to happen first. "Almost out of the single digits," Locke said, making himself sound impressed. Being nine, for some reason, struck Locke as the perfect age to be. It was before all the crazy that comes with being a teen. "Looking forwards to your birthday?" he asked.

>> "I turned seventeen in August."

"Wow, seventeen," Chase mused, his eyes widening, "You're... nine years older than me! That's a lot of years old."

>> "Almost out of the single digits. Looking forwards to your birthday?"

Chase grinned and shrugged, keeping pace with the older boy. While age was a big deal and something to boast about, birthday's had never been so important to him. Any celebration of Chase's birthday had really been focused on his twin brother, Russell, while Chase was just sort of there. He'd learned not to get too excited about birthdays.

And, now that he was staying at a school with so many other kids, he figured that birthdays were even less of a big deal.

"I guess," Chase hummed, as the two of them continued down the sidewalk. Who knew, maybe Miss Gemma would help him make a cake.