They laughed, pulling themselves up to perch on the counter above the dishwasher, poking buttons until it started beneath them. “A job for the great Axel Leclere?” They tilted their head. “You could be a model, you’re attractive enough. Or one of those people who are famous on the internet. Do we have a webcam? You could do livestreamed book readings and accept donations, maybe review stuff on Youtube. You’ve got a good voice for that sort of thing,” Sage offered, half-joking given they had no idea if there was a market for any of those things: they figured everything was available online. “Wait, the point was to get you out of the house — uh, do book readings on the subway?” They shook their head, kicking their feet absently. “Exactly. It’s impressive you’ve managed this long, given no one really taught you how to, you know. Run a household, or whatever it’s called. You can chuck the magazines in my room, if you want. She never goes in there.” Or, if Giselle did, Sage had never seen her, which — was actually sort of a creepy thought, come to think of it. They did not want their ex-boyfriend-slash-current-roommates mother poking around in their music and clothing. “I’m figuring dad’d finally have that heart attack he’s been threatening all my life if left alone with your charming mother,” Sage admitted, perhaps a little too cheerily considering the whole risk of tempting fate. “Or maybe that I’d die laughing at the end of that hour. Hey, maybe I’d finally find something awkward enough to make me back off, wouldn’t that be a change?” Sage drummed their fingers against the counter. “So, it’s decided, then? I’ll pay you to talk math to my dad, you’ll pay me to tell Giselle off.” They rolled their eyes. “This all sounds like a fantastic idea.”
Axel groaned and rolled his eyes at the idea of being a model, all his life he had tried to avoid being part of the fashion industry. "Yeah, that's a resounding no." Just the thought of it made him cringe, although he appreciated the compliment. "Webcam? Sage, it's 2018 everyone has one," he teased them before listening to the rest of their idea. "I doubt anyone would use YouTube for that." If he truly wanted a job, he could go and ask his father or any of his many friends to give him one, but that was the thing, he didn't want one. "Reading books in the subway. You really hate my mother and want to kill her, right?" She could barely fathom the idea of her son using the subway, let alone work there. "Also, I do go out of the house. I go to college and spend most of the day in the library and sometimes, on really rare occasions I go out with friends." As much as he loved the apartment, even him needed to go out once in a while. "There you go! That's one reason why people use YouTube, tutorials. That's how I learned to run this place and it doesn't look too bad, does it?" His scanned the living room, trying to find anything else his mother would find outrageous. "Nah, I think I'll leave them here. Maybe she can get entertained reading them." Although, she probably had read every issue already. "She's not that bad, I mean, sure she's a bit demanding and sometimes makes consider the thought she might have born without an empathy gene, but she can be pleasant." Sometimes, rarely, almost never. That's how he should have finished that sentence. "And let her win? I'm sure that even if I was the worst roommate in the world, you'd stay just to annoy her, which I kinda like," he chuckled. "Sounds like a fair deal."
