Best For Last | Chmerkovskiy Household

Karma sat on the counter of the average sized kitchen, watching the boy across from her wash the dishes with a hungry smile. He was shirtless, and more than fit, and his pulse sped up the smallest bit every time he looked at her. Maybe it was her outfit. The form fitting black off the shoulder top and cargo shorts that was her usual ensemble had a newer glow to it than it usually did, due to the fact that it was Ciar's. Her feet were bare with the exception of white ankle socks, as she'd left her boots at the door, as instructed by one of the many brothers who'd past by on her way in. Her smile grew at every shifty eyed glance he gave her, and soon enough the only dishes left were pots and pans.

"Valirek?" She purred. "Am I distracting you?"

His shoulders tensed, and he turned to look at her, his eyes dark. Her pupils dilated the smallest bit, and he was coming toward her, resting his hands on either side of her on the counter, leaning forward until they were nose to nose. She resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow at his antics as he brought them chest to chest, his mouth going to her ear.

He let something out of his mouth, something thick and Russian, full of incomprehensible words that shivered with dark promises. When he moved back, their gazes locked, and Val murmured something that sounded a lot like her name in butchered english. She shook off the urge for her eyes to go to his throat, because then the game would be over. Karma did so love her games, especially when she was hungry.

She hadn't even used her Compulsion yet.

Feliks let out a call as he came into the house, frowning slightly at the unusual shoes but eventually shook it off - Darya or Stasia probably got a new pair.

Chucking his bag to the side, he rolled his eyes as no one seemed to awknowledge his enterence. Well wasn't that new?

Rolling his shoulders the boy wandered about the house and into the kitchen, only to stop for a moment blinking at what he saw there.

He couldn't say he was exactly surprise to find Karma in his house - even if he couldn't recall ever telling her where it was. She had managed to do lots of things that he hadn't thought possible before.

"You know," he told Val tiredly in Russian as he wandered to the fridge, "Just cause she has twice the brains as you, doesn't mean she isn't half your age."

He pulled a water bottle out of the fridge before looking at the two of them.

"I'll visit you in jail of course." He smirked at the older boy who just glowerd at him. HIs gaze returned to the girl.

"I see you made yourself at home, Darling."

"Liksie!!" She greeted happily, completely ignoring the older boy who had been her sole focus before. "There you are! I was getting bored." That was simply her explanation for playing with his brother, and it was true. Karma was dangerous when bored.

She idly played with Val's hair, smirking as he shivered at her touch. "Which brother is this again? I can't keep them straight. You have too many." Her eyes swept his face. "He looks like the one I punched." It amused her that Val didn't seem to understand more than a few words she said.

"Тюрьма приманки" Val cursed in russian, unable to move away from her. Karma didn't understand him in the least.

She cocked her head to the side to look at Feliks, smirking. "Make him go away, I have your Christmas Present, dearest."



((**Tyurʹma primanki / Jail Bait**))

"I can see that," he looked pointedly at his brother, his expression on of bitter amusement. "I see you were making friends too."

"I only have three; the rest are girls." He rolled his eyes before frowning at his brother, who was demanding to be told what was being said in angry Russian.

"You know, English isn't that hard to learn - you should try it sometime. I'm sure you will have tons of time to do so in jail ."

He rolled his shoulder and waved her away from him, "We'll go somewhere else. He won't bother following. And Val would look like Maks cause that's their twins. Twice the stupidity."

"I wasn't making friends." She pouted, sliding forward and against Val, who froze. "I was playing with toys." She pushed against him and slid down off the counter, stepping around him and skipping over to Feliks. "Where are we gonna go?"

"Twins? Jeesh." She yawned, reaching above her head and stretching, smirking as Val's eyes latched onto the small bit of skin that was revealed as she did so. "I didn't think most places could handle that much stupid." She intertwined their fingers, not understanding or caring about Val's angry mutterings.

"What's a..." She frowned, the Russian words coming out chopped and accented. "Ty...urʹma pri...man..ki...?"

He rolled his eyes at both her comment and her brother and waved his hand for her to follow him, "No one ever uses the playroom anymore - come on."

He laughed a little, the sound rumbling in his chest as he left the room, assuming she'd come with him.

"Yes, well unfortunatly we must have offended God at some point, for He decided we needed to be blessed with that gene twice."

A small smirk grew on his face as he glanced back at her.

"That, Darling, would be Jail Bait."

"Seems to me that you serve a cruel god." She teased, skipping after him. "Play room? Are there more toys there?"

Karma paused, pouting. "What's that?" She asked, cocking her head to the side slightly. She'd come across the term a few times when reading, but nothing had really clicked... nothing had explained what it was, and it wasn't in a dictionary. "Tyurʹma priman..ki." She said again, following him. "Jailbait."

As they came to the door that went into said room Feliks smirked and paused for the moment, "Not the toys you like."

He slid the door out of the way, and waltzed into the small room that had served as a sanctuary for every Chmerkovskiy at one point or another, but was now his, since as the youngest there was no one left to take over the place once he had outgrown it.

So he had just never outgown it.

He flopped onto one of the beat up beanbag chairs, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"You really don't know what Jailbait means?" he snorted, "And I would have though you'd invented Jailbait, Tyurʹma." The shortened phrase just rolled off his tongue.

"I'm sure that you are aware that it is illegal for people of a certain age to engage in... relationships with people of a certain much younger age," Feliks explained slowly unable to wipe the smirk off his face. "Well thats what Jailbait is... someone particularily young who...."

He trailed off and shrugged with a smirk, sure the girl could fill in the rest.

Karma pouted. "No leggos?" She asked, falling into a beanbag near him. Her eyes darted around the room, taking in her surroundings with a smirk. "No Xbox?"

"Invented it?" She asked, flipping around after deciding her surroundings would be much more interesting upside down. Her grin went lopsided slightly, and her eyes sparkled with mischief. "Really?" she purred, a smirk growing on her lips. "And how old is Val?"

She flipped forward again. "Right. Presents!" She said, reaching into one of the pocket of her cargo shorts and pulled out a small black box, from which she pulled her knapsack. She rooted around in it for a bit, frowning, before pulling out a golden wrapped box with a small red bow in the top corner. "Here it is!" She said, holding it out to him. "Oh. And there's a present out back. I hid it from the rest of your brothers. They would have stolen it." She shrugged and reached into her bag again, tossing him a set of keys. "Don't break it. I threw money at it."

Feliks raised his eyebrow questioningly, "Xbox?" He had not heard of this toy, nor was he completely sure what Legos were but he waved his hand towards a closet to the side of the room, "Most of the toys have been stored; blocks, toy brooms, teadies."

The only toys that were still out where an old child's art board, and a few bigger toys such as a large stuffed dragon.

"Twenty Three," he smirked at her grin and eyes.

"Presents?" he raised his eyebrow, taking the box and looking at it slowly before shrugging and pulling at the wrapping, eager to know what was inside. He caught whatever she threw at him absent mindedly, not focusing on what it was, or the last words she said.

Karma smirked, remembering the present. It was pretty, and it fit him perfectly. She bounced, raising an eyebrow as he showed no proof of hearing her part about his other present.

One he unwrapped it, she grinned. "Merry Christmas." She sang. "Put it on so we can go outside." She grinned and held up her hand, pointing to it. "And try to pay more attention to the things people throw at you."

Feliks smirked at the gold chain in the box. It looked...

Well it looked ... Badassed. He pulled it out of the box staring at it for a moment when her words came to him. Slowly he looked down at the keys, staring at the words on the chain.

"You go me a..." he blinked at it for a long moment, lost for words.

Karma grinned, standing and brushing herself off. "Maybe you wanna go see it?" She asked, cocking her head to the side slightly. "For yourself?" She grinned wider. "The engine's extremely powerful."

"Incase you haven't noticed yet, I'm flamboyantly rich for no reason. I got bored. I bought you..." She smirked. "One of Those."

"Do you understand why I had to hide it now?" She grinned. "Oh. And if you don't like it, we can always go get a new one. I'll give it to someone else." She took his hand and dragged him out of the playroom, past the kitchen, and out the back door. Trudging through grass, she ended up in his backyard, tugging the cover of the car off, she grinned.

"Ta-da!"

Feliks absent-mindedly remember to string the necklace around his neck as he let Karma lead him through his house. His head was numb as he walked through the house and when the got outside.

He stood frozen for a moment staring at the car, before his legs unlocked and moved forward, drifting his hands over the the paint slowly. His features morphing into a slow smirk.

"Maks is going to be so jealous."

Karma bounced. "That's not even the real present, neither." She made to go for the passenger side door before pausing. "...Can you even drive?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. She hadn't really thought about it. That was kinda why she'd gotten a charm put on it, similar to the one on the Knight Bus. Everything would literally jump out of the car's way, and it wouldn't even catch the muggle police's attention.

"Come on, Liksie. Get in the car. There's a GPS... it's like a map that talks. It'll show you where to go. Follow it's directions." She slipped into the passengers side door, not even concerned that the boy she'd handed keys to may not be able to drive.

He raised his eyebrow and pulled on the door handle, a smirk spreading across his face. HE knew the premice - wizard or not, what young man didn't want to learn how to drive? It was power, individuality...

It was everything Feliks always wanted.

He flopped into the drivers seat and smirk at her as the engine roared to life.

"Well I guess we'll see won't we."

Karma didn't bother to fasten her seatbelt as the car rumbled to a start, and she grinned as he pulled off. "You aren't half bad for a loser." She teased. Glancing at the GPS as it started spewing directions at them. "You should probably commit the way to memory. You'll want to remember where we're going."

When they pulled to a stop infront of the warehouse-like building in the center of an extremely nice neighborhood Karma hopped out, rushing over and nearly yanking Liks out of the car. She bounced with excitement, tugging on his hand and leading him inside. The building was neat on the inside, but seemingly deserted. She led him up the stairs, around a corner, past many closed doors, and finally to their destination.

She paused outside door number 21, suddenly looking timid. "Okay. So. Your present is in..." she gestured to the doorway, glancing away from him as she reached into her pocket, pulling out a set of keys. There were two identical keys on the key ring, and she slipped it into the dead bolt, unlocking the door. She turned toward him, her back to the door, countless words on her lips, before she sighed and pushed the door open. She just had to hope that the room spoke for itself.

It was simple, a huge living space with multiple layers; they'd have to step down to get onto the floor that was even with the two bedrooms on each side and the bathroom in the far corner, and step down again to get even with the rest of the floor. It was all plain and white, no furniture at all, except in the bedrooms, which each had a mattress, and the bathroom, which had two sets of towels. The far wall had a bay window that looked out onto what seemed to be an ocean at the moment, but that was subject to change due to the knob next to the window.

On the first level of the room, level with the bedrooms, was a musicians paradise. There were different types of guitars and electric guitars in stands against the walls, a white grand piano in the far corner, a keyboard against the far wall next to the sketchbooks. Other instruments, still in their cases, lined the walls also, and there was an amp around there somewhere, but Karma had forgotten where she'd put it. There was also a music player in the far left hand corner, near the bathroom. The surround sound would make it audible no matter where in the room you went.

All of the space in the center, bottommost part of the living room was covered by literally every art supply known to both muggle and wizard kind. There were a smorgus board of pastels, pencils of every size and shape and color, and paintbrushes thin enough to paint the detail from a fly's wing and thick enough to paint a wall. There were paints from every shade of the rainbow and every shade in between, markers of every color, even crayons. There were felt tip markers and sharpies and stamps and anything that would help Feliks on his way through his art career, even some things that Karma had had no idea what the hell they were, but had gotten anyway in hope that he would.

There were canvases leaning against every surface that wasn't covered in art supplies, and six neat stacks of sketchbooks against the far wall. Even with all this, there was still room to move around in the room; she had been extremely careful to leave him space to work.

All this was known from memory. She hadn't glanced up from her shoes yet, and when she spoke, her voice was small. "...Do you like it?"

Feliks frowned as the arrived outside of a buliding, confused as to what they were doing there. It was obviously a place for living.

"What did you do Jailbait? Buy me a place?" he snorted at his suggestion, thinking it completely ridiculous.

However, when she opened the door, and he followed her inside, and he saw, really saw...

He had to lean against the wall for a moment as he jaw went slack. It was-was-

He moved as if in a trance down to the first 'floor' picking up each instrument as he went, running his hands a long the Grand piano keys before moving on to the next floor.

It was all too much. He ran a hand along the canvas, picking up pecils testing their feeling in his hand. He swallowed hard, surprised to find a lump in his throat... and why were his eyes warm?

"Karma..."

Karma kept her eyes lowered, biting her lip. Why was he being so quiet? Didn't he like it?

She played with her fingers, stepping off the doorstep in order to close the door behind her. She didn't move any further into the room however, and her eyes had yet to leave her shoes. As always when she felt a bit uncomfortable, Karma started talking.

"There's a Fedelius Charm on the place. It doesn't exist to anyone, and you're secret keeper now." She rocked back and forth slightly on her feet. "I was only gonna buy you this, but then I saw the necklace and it reminded me of you, and then I thought, well, how would you get here? It was the closest building I could get to your house, but it was still far away, so I had to get you a car..." her voice disappeared for a moment, but then it was back. "Its too much, isn't it? I can... can..." she shrugged half heartedly, before tossing the keys at him. "The deeds in your name, but you don't have to worry about morgage or anything." She had a spare key just in case he locked himself out, but that was it.

Feliks shook his head. She was insane. Perfectly, wonderfully insane. That had to be the answer right here.

Glancing over at the girl, finding her staring at her feet, and talking as if..

As if he didn't want it.

"Jailbait," he said slowly, point to the spot in front of him. "Come here; front and centre, now."

Karma stepped down slowly, making her way into the room until she stood before him, still looking downward, her bangs falling over her eyes. Her shoulders were hunched, and she'd almost completely convinced herself he was going to shoot down her present in his next breath. She'd spent so much time trying to figure out how each person would like each of their presents, had planned everything down to the detail, but their reactions were the one wildcard. If he didn't like it, she was throwing in the towel. She'd have to find a place for all the art supplies, but there were schools that needed donations and such, and they'd do nicely. She could just rent out the apartment and bring in more money. That would be a good investment. It'd make Cici proud.

She'd gone completely motionless, so still she wasn't even breathing. She was terrified of his next words, had worked out everything else in her mind but those; fate seemed to hang on it, time seemed to pause.

It couldn't have been ten seconds yet.

Something tugged at her memory, pricked at her mind. If she were to stay here and visit Feliks sometime, she'd have to make sure she was fed. Being locked in a house with a human while hungry was never a good thing. Especially since this place was completely off the record. And if the boy had an appetite half the size of Tyty's she'd have to make sure to stock the...

Suddenly, she cursed, her eyes going from one side of the loft to the other. "Dammit! I knew I forgot something! There's no kitchen!! How are you supposed to escape to somewhere if there's no food?" She ran her hand through her hair in frustration, completely disgusted with herself for forgetting something important and resisting the violent urge to stomp her foot.

Feliks was human!! He had to eat! Without even thinking about it she opened her mouth to apologize, a million more thoughts going through her head. A kitchen. How had she forgotten an entire room?!

Feliks watched her as she slowly made her way towards him looking more timid than he had ever seen her before. Lord the girl really was insane. She really did think that -

"Jailbait," he intoned as she continued to talk, he placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her a little, "Shut up for a moment will you?"

He raised his eyebrow waiting to see if she'd continue.

Karma jolted as she was shaken, blinking as her apology died in her throat. She was babbling again wasn't she? She was going to have to buy him a huge apology gift, wasn't she? Maybe she could redecorate the guest room to a kitchen. That would solve that problem. Slowly she peeked up at him through her bangs, brown eyes wide.

Maybe she should just stop trying to make people happy. She never got it right.

"We listening?" he raised his eyebrow, looking hte girl over making sure she had actually shut up before contineuing. "Good."

"This." he spoke slowly, giving her a little shake between each word. "Is. The. Best. Gift. anyone. has. ever. Given. me."

He paused for a moment letting that hang in the air before his face broke out into a wide grin.

"God, look at the place. Who needs food when I can just..." he shook his head and on impulse picked the girl up, spinning her around quickly before setting her down again, feigning a shrug and a blase look.

"I mean. Its alright."

Karma's eyes widened with every word he said. They were positively sparkling by the time he finished. She blinked. Once. Twice. He liked it? Truly?

She remained motionless when he picked her up, letting out a little squeak of surprise when he spun her. Then, just as quickly he was back to normal, and she found herself smirking.

She leapt forward, wrapping the boy in a hug. She rested her ear against his chest and smiled. "Knew I'd get a hug out of you somehow, loser." She teased, sounding herself again. "Merry Christmas."