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[brooklynishere]

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[jabbathehutt]

"Ew," says Ezra, who has nothing against kids but doesn't go out of his way to be near them.

"That's worse than anything mine will come up with."

[brooklynishere]

"Yea." He nods "Don't even get to skip the sermon since Sunday school is after, it sucks."

It's not just about commiseration, though, he's also extending a cautious 'yes, I do go to church every week' - the last thing he wants is to find out his new friend has a problem with that. It's not exactly by choice, and he isn't really a believer, but his grandmother is and he doesn't particularly want to hear a tirade against catholics that would be insulting to her.

[jabbathehutt]

Ezra exhales a sigh in commiseration, but noticably doesn't offer any immediate judgement for Spot going to church.

Mostly he's wondering if he should offer the equivalent information. Then he figures - Spot's got eyes, he'll have noticed, and if he doesn't, it'll come up.

So he eventually offers:

"At least I don't have to do that. Kanan doesn't even try to drag me to mosque."

Not least because the nearest one is a considerable drive from their suburban residency, and neither Kanan nor Ezra are particularly devout.

[brooklynishere]

"Lucky," Spot offers, casual enough that he hopes it doesn't across as any kind of judgement - people's religion is their own business, as far as he's concerned, he only has a problem when they try and use it against him (like his bitchy aunt Catherine who uses her religion as a club to beat everybody else)

[jabbathehutt]

If it's going to be a problem with anyone, Spot attending church, it's likely to be with Sabine, who has issues with her own Catholic upbringing. And she's not here to have that problem.

But he appreciates Spot's casual reply.

"But if he gets it into his head I need to answer to God I'm going to have to rethink this skipping class thing," he adds.

[brooklynishere]

Spot snorts.

"If he starts asking you to pray for forgiveness or guidance then you know it's only going to get worse from there," he offers with a grin

[jabbathehutt]

"He'd better not."

He won't - Ezra knows well what a complicated relationship Kanan has with religion, but he doesn't bring it up.

"Let's leave that to the Catholic grandmothers."

[brooklynishere]

That gets another laugh, and an impression of his grandmother;

"Don't apologise to me, apologise to Jesus."

[jabbathehutt]

Ezra chuckles, mostly at the impression, but also because it feels good to be trading banter with someone at school, where the nearest he has to friends are people who don't mind sitting next to him.

"He doesn't worry me," he points out, still grinning.

[brooklynishere]

Spot snorts.

"Yea, I guess he wouldn't, would he?" he agrees easily, also grinning.

"What time is it? S'pose we should probably get moving.."

[jabbathehutt]

Ezra looks up and towards the school, as if he can tell time by looking in that direction.

"Yeah," he agrees. "Bell's gonna go soon, I guess. If you wanna blend in with everyone coming out of class, you can head back that way."

It won't be Ezra's route out of school, but he's got other ways.

[brooklynishere]

"Thanks." Spot nods, appreciative of the tip. He shoves himself to his feet and dusts off his jeans, slinging his backpack over his shoulder before looking back to Ezra with another nod.

"Thanks for the company. I'll see you tomorrow?"

[jabbathehutt]

"Yeah," Ezra confirms, returning the nod. "Bring cookies."

He doesn't bother going back to get his stuff. He just waits for Spot to head back and then turns, disappearing into the trees around the school grounds and eventually vaulting over the wall, heading off to meet his friends, for dance practice.

[brooklynishere]

"Sure." Spot agrees with a laugh, heading off back into the school.

His good mood fades as he navigates the crowded halls and makes his way back home, spending most of the evening waiting for the other shoe to drop - but there doesn't appear to have been any truancy reports made, and his grandmother listens with obvious delight as he begrudgingly admits over dinner that he made a friend.

He finally relaxes after dinner, and while his grandmother makes a start on a fresh batch of cookies he heads down to the basement - it's not completely done up, yet, the floor is still bare and the one full length mirror is a little warped and spotted, but he has a barre attached to the wall and a decent amount of floor space and sometimes that's all he needs. He still doesn't know what he's going to do about the lessons, but at least he can get some practice in.

The next day, when lunch rolls around, he heads straight for the table from the day before.

[jabbathehutt]

Spot was lucky - Ezra did get caught immediately by Sabine, who demanded to know why she shouldn't immediately rat him out to their parents. He claimed 'I'm just looking out for this new kid' and she's now officially suspicious. But she hasn't ratted him out, yet; just warned him that if he falls behind in math she's not going to back him up.

But when he sees Spot heading towards the table, he smiles and brings back a jello cup from the counter which he slides over as he sits.

"Want this? I can't eat it."

[brooklynishere]

"Sure," Spot agrees to the trade, sliding the package of cookies to the centre of the table in return so they can both have some, and unpacking the rest of his lunch.

"You get in trouble last night?" He asks, taking a bite of his sandwich while he waits for the answer - it's as good a conversation starter as any, and he does actually care. He doesn't realise that Ezra was out there because of him, but he's still the type to look out for his friends and that includes wanting to know about them.

[jabbathehutt]

Ezra shakes his head. "My sister - my foster sister - she covered for me. I'll have to owe her or something, I guess, but something will come up."

Sabine gets in trouble as often as Ezra does.

[brooklynishere]

"Sweet." Spot nods "'s good she's got your back."

He takes another bite of his sandwich before speaking again.

"Oh, I got music this afternoon, so I guess I'll meet your dad."

[jabbathehutt]

"Oh fun," Ezra says, not quite sarcastic but not over enthusiatic either. "If you tell him you know me he'll know you're a troublemaker."

Which is half a warning not to, but he shrugs because he doesn't much care. Spot's not exactly going to volunteer the information, either.

"But I don't think he's that bad. For a teacher, I guess."

Ezra's noticed the hearing aid by now - not mentioned it, thought. But he wonders if Spot would even like music. At least he assumes Spot won't give Kanan any crap for being blind, but it hasn't occured to him to mention it.

[brooklynishere]

Spot snorts, but makes a mental note - Ezra is right, he probably isn't going to volunteer the information, he's not exactly the type to get chatty with teachers.

"Aw, you mean you ain't already told him all about me? I'm hurt." He jokes.

[jabbathehutt]

"I don't generally tell him who I hng out with when I'm skipping math, no."

Which - okay isn't actually true, because Kanan knows who it is usually.

"Why, you tell your grandmother all about me?"

He's teasing. He doesn't expect the answer to be yes.

[brooklynishere]

The answer is yes, of course, but since Ezra is teasing him about it he feels like maybe he shouldn't have, because it's probably not cool to share your day with your grandmother.

It's hard to explain how good she is at gently luring the information out of him.

"Yea, well, I had to make sure she made twice as many cookies, didn't I?" He brushes it off with a shrug

[jabbathehutt]

Not really having intended to embarrass Spot, Ezra takes that excuse and grins.

"Yeah don't forget to tell her I'm starving and no one ever bakes me cookies."

[brooklynishere]

"I tell her that and I won't be able to bring any books to school because my bag will be full of baked goods." Spot snorts. "She'll show up at your house with a truckload."

[jabbathehutt]

Ezra smirks.

"Not really seeing the downside here."