Coloring

Summary: Alex and Justin argue over coloring, not for the first time.

Note: Inspired by David Henrie's tweet, "crayons or markers?"

2010

Her sketchpad on her lap, Alex carefully selected a sky-blue crayon, then used it to fill in the background of her drawing. The art class assignment was to create a landscape. Mr. Larritate hadn't said what medium to use, so she was going with crayon. Painting a landscape just seemed too cliché for her liking. To avoid another cliché, she'd chosen a dump as her setting, instead of the typical grassy field or beautiful beach.

After the school mural incident, Alex decided that her main goal as an artist would be to shock people, to show them the unexpected. And to make people wonder if they liked her art or not. Alex Russo was no people-pleaser.

Suddenly, a long shadow blocked the sun she'd been using from the terrace. She found that natural light was best when making any kind of art, so she was coloring at the dining room table. Annoyed, she looked up to find her older brother standing there, a smirk on his face. "What is it, Justin? I'm busy," she snapped.

Justin laughed as he, much to her further annoyance, sat down in the seat directly across from her. "Coloring? Really, Alex?"

"Hey, I'll have you know that crayons are a legitimate means of artistic expression," she retorted. The words flowed easily, thanks to practicing them for when Mr. Larritate questioned her medium choice as well.

Sensing that her answer was contrived, Justin chuckled. "Right. And so are those magic pen books." Frustrated, Alex held up her picture so he could see what she'd done so far. She then grinned when he shut up and stared.

She'd used different shades of gray, blue and brown to create realistic-looking garbage, sharpening the lines with colored pencils she also had on the table. Tufts of grass sprouted from mud, of which she'd been especially proud. She'd started with a light streak of brown marker, then shaded over it with various brown crayons. The effect gave the mud some lifelike texture.

"Huh," Justin finally said. "Well, I have to give credit where credit is due. You've got some good coloring technique." He then glanced at the mess of supplies on the table. "And one big art box. Where'd you get it?"

Alex huffed. "I'm an artist, aren't I?"

"You use paint. I'm seeing crayons, and colored pencils, and…fabric…" Justin glared at her. "You stole Harper's art box, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Don't tell her," Alex replied casually as she went back to her drawing.

While she colored, Justin picked up a red marker. "You should use marker in your garbage pile, too. Might highlight it more."

But Alex shook her head. "I didn't want to use them the little I did. You know how I feel about markers."

"Oh, come on! There's some cool colors here, and I think your picture would be much better," Justin argued, the marker still held out to her.

"Are you serious, Justin?" Alex groaned. "We're really going to fight about this again?"

2000

"Crayons!"

"Markers!"

"Crayons!"

"Markers!"

"Crayons!" Alex shouted at the top of her lungs. The deafening yell finally made Justin shut up long enough to put his hands over his ears. Eight-year-old Alex smiled with satisfaction. They were sitting at the dining room table, where they had both been coloring. Naturally, after more than ten minutes together, they'd started fighting again. "Crayons are so better than markers! They come in all different colors, and they last longer! Markers go dry in like a day!"

Nine-year-old Justin rolled his eyes. "That's because you never put the cap back on! If you did, they'd last longer!"

"Hah, another reason to hate them!" Alex insisted. "I just want to color. I don't want to have to remember a stupid cap!"

"It's not that hard! Just keep the cap right next to you!" Justin retorted.

As she defiantly held up a fistful of crayons, Alex argued, "Not everyone's perfect like you, Justin. Caps get lost. At least with crayons, if you find one, you can actually use it. And not have to worry if it ran out of ink."

"Well then…what about the effect, huh?" Justin snapped. "Everyone notices a sign made with markers. You put up a poster made with crayons, people would walk right past it. Markers are more…official, grown-up."

"So what? Crayons are cooler. And prettier. See?" Alex said while she held up the coloring book page she'd just finished with. Light, girly colors brightened up an outline of the Disney princesses.

Again, Justin rolled his eyes at the feminine display. "Yeah, I see. You're a little girl. That's why you think crayons are cooler."

"Nuh uh! You take that back, Justin Russo!" When he only laughed at her, she grabbed an open green marker nearby. "You like markers so much, wear them!"

"Alex!" Justin yelled in fright as his sister started coloring on his beige backpack, which had been innocently sitting in a chair nearby. In retaliation, Justin took her yellow purse and started doodling on it with a blue marker. This made Alex so furious that she grabbed one of his white tennis sneakers that had been on the floor and started coloring it in.

Eventually, they ran out of objects to color, and ended up glaring at each other. That was when they realized what they'd done. Justin's anger turned to raw fear. "Mom's gonna kill us. Our stuff is ruined," he said with a groan.

Alex simply gave him a triumphant grin. "It wouldn't be if we'd fought with crayons."

2010

While Alex laughed at the memory, Justin sighed. "I was right. Mom did kill us."

"Please, we were kids," Alex replied. She'd always liked that memory, mostly because it was one of the first of her and Justin's arguments that she'd won. "Mom just put us in time out for like an hour."

"That doesn't include the hours I spent washing the marker off my sneakers. 'Washable,' yeah right, that's a laugh," Justin grumbled. He then shook his head. "I still think markers are better, by the way."

"You're just saying that because I was right," Alex retorted.

"No, I mean it," Justin insisted. "Markers are better."

"Nuh uh, crayons!"

"Markers!"

"Crayons!"

They were interrupted when Max passed by on his way to the kitchen. Amused, he went over to the table. "You know, there's a simple way to deal with this."

Curious, Alex asked, "Oh, yeah? How?" Justin nodded in agreement, also intrigued.

Max held up a marker in one hand, a crayon in the other. Then he brought them together as he said, "Objectus Combinus." There was a bright flash of magic, and after Max held out his hand. In his palm was a strange object that had the top of a plastic marker on one side, but it thinned out to a waxy crayon on the other. "There. Problem solved. You two are welcome." He handed Alex the new creation and continued into the kitchen.

Though Justin was totally bewildered, Alex shrugged. "Okay. This works." She then went back to coloring her picture…using the crayon end, of course.