hurricane;

“Yep! He’s still doing pretty well. I keep trying to convince him to open more, but I think his current one is his baby.” She was clueless over the fact that Alec didn’t seem too keen on discussing things like this, but she did notice that the joke fell a little flat. “I don’t know. Teachers are pretty important, I’d say,” she tried to reassure. “Did you not want to be a teacher originally?” Most people she knew had never ended up in their ideal career path, so she was curious if Alec had had something else firmly in mind before all of this. “Oof, no kidding, right? High school kids really can say the dumbest stuff sometimes,” she laughed. Cheeks flushing, Winter ducked her head, chuckling to herself. “Oh - no, I wasn’t saying that. I was just saying maybe being creative in that sense - with comparisons - means that you might not be as bad as you think.”

“Totally. I mean, I have my roommate, but I’m pretty sure a chinchilla would be a way better cuddler,” she joked, laughing at her own attempted comedy. Though, really, it wasn’t entirely false that she wanted the company the animal would provide. “Absolutely. Coolest uncle ever, if we’re being honest here. Little Chinchilla is going to have a great family around them. I really need to start looking up names and stuff, make sure I have good options.” Her head was already spinning through lists of potential names, a few of them standing out more than others. 

“I meant got work in the mornin’.” She teased, though he too had a point. Her eyebrows rose briefly, not knowing if she’d have pinned him for a teacher off the bat, but now that he’d said it, it made sense. “S’pose not.” Thinking about it for a moment, Marley laughed. “Someone told me once that the reason teacher’s show movies in class is because they’re too hungover to teach. That true?”

“I’ll argue with you all day, babe. I’m pretty good at it, too.” Sawyer’s hand dropped to Alec’s jaw, mainly so he could brush his thumb against it, “Less of an asshole? Of course not, baby. That’s not me. You love my asshole ways.” He picked Alec up, hands wrapping around the other’s thighs before he shoved open the bedroom door. He didn’t break the kiss, falling onto the bed with Alec finally, “Now take off your clothes.”

“Yeah, I kinda want something that makes noise. At least that way it kind of feels like they’re talking back and I’m not totally crazy,” Brady joked, flashing another grin towards Alec. As pretty as fish could be, she felt that she needed something a little more loving to fill the void that having a pet was intended to fill. “Oh, for sure. The internet will fix me up with any info I need and then you can just be the cool uncle that has fun with him.” Surely, if the chinchilla was friendly, it would love having more people around to play with and such. “Definitely. Gotta crowdsource it so I don’t screw it up. The name is the most important part of this.”

“Yeah, you are.” Sawyer felt like he had to say this before he got distracted, his fingers already pushing up Alec’s shirt, “You don’t get it, but I do. I always wanted to be like you – but I couldn’t. But I’m gonna try, now.” He shook his head, figuring he’d talk about the more serious things later. He pulled Alec into another kiss, “You ain’t gonna be able to get rid of me.”

“Don’t we all?” Marley laughed, thinking about the early morning she was in for with the breakfast shift at Kimi’s, but it not deterring her determination to have a good night out to make it worth it. “What do you do, handsome?”

“Yeah? My brother really liked football too. He was convinced that he was going to play pro. That didn’t exactly pan out,” she laughed. “He actually owns a sports bar up in California now.” Nodding her head, Winter gave him a crooked grin. “Different strokes for different folks and all that,” she laughed. “Do you enjoy coaching the team though?” With a wide grin, Winter nodded her head. “I’m pretty sure that qualifies you as the cool teacher, to be totally honest.” Wrinkling her nose, Winter made a face. “I’m sure there are plenty of people who would do just that but just…in my opinion, that’s so dumb. Let people drink what they want, honestly.” She’d never understood the need to belittle things that people enjoyed. “Like spring,” she mused, taking another drink and nodding her head. “I like that. That comparison I mean. Wouldn’t have made it myself, but I can see where you’re coming from.” She paused, a slow grin stretching her lips. “And you said you weren’t any good at creative writing,” she teased, “That was plenty creative.”

“Okay, true. There’s only so much entertainment you can get out of watching the same few fish swim in circles,” Brady agreed. Even if they were probably a little less demanding of her time, she had to agree that Alec was right on this one. The chinchilla was definitely looking more like the way to go as far as pets went. “Me and the Internet are going to coparent the hell out of this pet, absolutely. Maybe I’ll do a poll to pick the name or something. I’m sure I’ll have a few good ideas when I finally get them.”

Sawyer pressed into the kiss as much as he could, but Alec’s words rang true. “I know. But some of us ain’t as brave as you are,” he murmured, bumping their noses together before his other hand reached up to tangle into Alec’s curly hair, “I ain’t gonna mess it up. But I still got a lot of shit I’m trying to handle – might need some of your help.”

Marcus nodded, he could hardly do anything but nod and agree. The words leaving the man’s mouth putting words to what Marcus himself had been going through and felt about the whole thing. “You said it” He agreed. It was quite plain and simple, nothing could really live up to it, but whatever it was that was so great it had also ended, and maybe that was the most tragic part of it all. That if something that you thought was so good could end, then the was no guarantee anymore than anything else would ever last. “Sounds like you’ve been through some shit too"

He had a nice smile…but one that clearly showcased the fact that he truly did not feel like dancing. Her hand dropped from the space between them, though her smile remained, changing from one of hopefulness to one of genuine concern. “Don’t feel like dancin’? In a place like this?” She teased, looking around, as if to make sure they were both in the right place. “Is it the music? Are you more of a fan of the kind with actual words?” 

There was something about dancing that simply made Marley feel alive. It wasn’t good dancing–the impressive, practiced kind. Not by any means. In fact, it was really nothing more than the sexy, arms over your head, hips swaying to the beat kind of dancing, that required absolutely no skill whatsoever to pull off. It was perfect for Marley, who had suddenly become aware of the fact that she was dancing alone. This wasn’t something that particularly bothered her, finding absolutely nothing wrong with doing anything by herself, but if she didn’t have to? Well, she wasn’t going to. Eyes surveying the room for a potential partner, they eventually landed on one, no hesitation in the way she made her way over to them with a bright grin. “Dance with me?” She leaned in to be heard over the music, only pulling back in order to reach a hand in the space between them, making a grabbing motion without really making a move to touch them. “You know you want to…” Perhaps she was projecting, but she knew she could be quite persuasive when she wanted to be.

He pulled Alec into his arms, mainly because he could, holding the other tight against his chest, “Fuck, Alec. You shouldn’t. I don’t deserve shit like this. You know that.” Alec had always been the only one for him, but years of denial had brought them to this point. “Let’s try again, yeah? I’ve always – you’re it for me.”

“For real?” he echoed, like he’d heard that before. Most likely because he had. “I’m not – you know I’m not the same guy I was back then. My brother knows all about you, hell, it took me a while, but it’s not like I want you to be some secret, Alec. If you wanna let me try again, then I’m here for you.”

“This is fucking ridiculous.” Sawyer couldn’t help his bitter laugh, mainly because he knew this was entirely his fault. It always had been. What else was he to do? He could hear the tremble in Alec’s voice, and he wanted to take that away. He put his hands on Alec’s face, cupping his jaw before he leaned forward, “I understand, yeah. I do. Tell me what you want from me.”

“I’m here, aren’t I? I chose you.” Sawyer knew, in the back of his mind, that Alec hadn’t meant only that. If he was brave enough, he’d clarify, but instead, he moved closer to his ex, the one who kept him coming back for more – giving him more chances than he ever thought he would deserve. “Is that what you mean?”