Is she making fun of him—? He needs to not think about that.

"I would love some chamomile."

"Coming right up." Though she does pour everyone else's cups first. It transpires that the water will, in fact, stretch to four.

Eliza takes peppermint; Joey takes Earl Grey. 

Eliza's lemon pepper chicken thing turns out to be a sort of chicken stir-fry with, in addition to the advertised black pepper, onion and sweet pepper mixed in, served on toast. 

"Thank you very much!"

He retreats into his pillow fort with his food and his drink, and intones from within, "Welcome to my humble abode!"

She giggles, half-falling half-sprawling sideways over her boyfriend's lap as she hands him his plate. 

Lenore, as soon as she has her tea and toast, follows Dylan into the fort with them. "Oh, it is cozy in here. Well done."

"I try!"

"Try not to un-cozy it with your crumbs, I've had breakfast in bed enough times in my life to know that toast crumbs can make pillows and blankets direly less comfortable."

"Fair point."

"I like to live on the edge."

"Suit yourself." 

When both of them have polished off their toast and tea, Eliza levers herself to her feet and peers inside the fort to evaluate Lenore's plate and estimate Crumb Levels. 

Lenore has done an astonishingly good job at keeping her crumbs contained! She hasn't spilled her tea, either.

Dylan is likewise done eating and has likewise maintained a reasonably clean environment, though he does actually have a couple of crumbs scattered in his vicinity.

Good enough. She wiggles her way in carefully. 

She curls herself into a mildly unnatural shape, gets situated comfortably, then calls: "Yeah, it's fine!" 

Okay, cool, pillow fort time. 

"Hey, Lenore, if you're done with your stuff I can clear your dishes?"

"Be my guest."

He leans carefully around the happy couple to get her plate and cup, then consolidishes and takes everything to the sink.

Lenore, freed of her burden, curls up cozily.

"I live here now."

"Well, I'm glad the fort is a success. How about you guys, you comfy?" he asks on his way back in.

"Yep," Eliza says, rubbing her face cat-like against Joey's shirt. 

He makes an affirmative noise and pets her. 

"Awesome."

Maintaining careful control of his movements (and trying his best to look like he's just trying not to step on anybody), he tucks himself back in under the blanketed roof.

Okay. Now he's got them all in one place, and he needs a way to test whether the pillow fort is a valid domain space. Honestly he should've built one in his room first; he just got excited. Except, he supposes, he doesn't have easy access in his room to small objects he doesn't already own, so figuring out a test wouldn't be the most trivial thing in the world... okay. Focus. He's in the situation he's in now, he has to handle the situation he's in now.

"So I think the traditional thing to do is talk about our majors, but I'm also up for declaring the pillow fort a No Business Zone if people would rather," says Lenore.

"Early childhood development."