everything is under ctrl

Austin chuckles at the dramatics before he nods in understanding. “Bruises are’t fun in general,” he agrees without hesitation. He glances back at the crowd of people who are dancing and singing along then motions for Aidan to follow him. “So we can put a little distance between you and the pack of bruise pokers,” he explains. “And I hope it heals soon, that you’re taking it easy.” Bruises might be minor injuries in comparison to other common scrapes in the spy world yet Austin’s a dad friend through and through.

“a shoe check in?” austin repeats with a curious look on his face while he gives a shrug and gives a swift glance around. “doesn’t look like there is one.” it certainly didn’t sound outside of the realm of possibilities though. “but maybe the people at coat check would be willing to double up on their duties?”

“You’re not alone in that. I don’t really know it either, but it does look fairly easy to memorize.”

“I think those same people will readily fight you,” Austin chuckles as he takes a quick sip of water. While he can agree that some members of the student body have gone quite wild, he thinks this is an excellent way to close out the year. But the sympathetic, concerned look is quick to reappear on his face while he moves to join Aidan. “This might be a stupid question, but are you alright? I saw someone didn’t pay attention to the watch the ribs advice,” he politely questions.

“Not to be the epitome of cheesy, but I’ll keep you safe if you’ll keep me wild.” Did Austin butcher a Pinterest quote for the sake of applying it to their friendship? Maybe so, but the sentiment felt right for lack of a better word. “You’re right. Although I do hope that they come around eventually if they haven’t already. Even though things have been nothing short of eventful to put it in polite terms.” He couldn’t help but laugh in a warm manner when Ria said that Gallagher was stuck with him. “Damn right about that. Get ready Gallagher, I’ll be back and better than eve next year.”

“That would have been perfect,” Austin politely chuckled as he pictured it in the back of his mind. He would be lying if he said that it didn’t sound quite funny, if not a tad inappropriate. But it did sound like a perfect example of a rather rude and unexpected sense of humor. “Hopefully there will be another perfect occasion to do so. One that is hopefully not as rough as the whole Caledonia thing.”

“a handful of times, yeah.” austin has his own fair share of experience with edible consumption and making, but his firm belief is that type of baking is best left to the professionals. “but i mostly just make the weed free version of their favorite baked goods. i’ll happily make it an edible if requested though.”

Austin gave a dramatic nod of his own while the look on his face turned into one of faux offense. “So little faith in me and my fun-finding abilities,” he fired back with some teasing of his own before some chuckles escaped. When asked if he was wishing for Blackthorne back, he replied almost immediately, “Pardon my French, but fuck no, I’m not. Jokes aside, I would rather be tested like one of the MacGyver students before I would transfer there if it was still operational.”

“not lactose intolerant? or do you just not take it seriously like so many other people who are lactose intolerant?” austin questioned in a playful manner as he sat down next to her. he hummed gently while gigi explained how she felt then arched an eyebrow in a similarly light-hearted way. “punch him in the nose? is he a shark or something like that? but if you do want to talk and get the kinda pissed feelings off your chest, i’m happy to listen.”

“nothing particularly wild. but i’m also pretty new to the bingo card meme,” austin reported then took a moment to ponder what he would have put on his. after all, there were so many possibilities that it was almost overwhelming. “i probably also would have had the lake flooding. maybe something a bit more tame like people collectively thirsting over mr. darcy fifteen minutes into their first jane austen survey class,” he continued. “any other wacky things on your card?”

Austin poked his tongue out in a playful manner for just a split second in response to Ria’s teasing. “It will be something more thrilling than a movie. I like to think that I could plan a pretty cool night on the town when inspiration strikes.” He was definitely going to be on the look out for the best places in Paris whenever he started his research. “Agreed. There’s certainly something calming and comforting about familiarity, but even I can admit when the same old stuff gets boring. Got to shake things up every now and then to keep life interesting.”

Austin nodded in an understanding manner as he listened to Bash. "That’s cool of the dealer though,” he remarked. “I’ve only bought a handful of times or helped chip in if it was a group purchase. And that first part would probably sound bad if taken out of context.” He chuckled before he added, “But some of my dealers are also friends of mine, so I would do something sweet as thanks. Like figure out what their favorite dessert is and make that or get them a cool gift.”

Austin glanced up from his phone and pocketed the device to show that he was paying attention while Kiki explained the wheel. Once he successfully resisted the urge to chuckle and make a joke about a certain horror film series, he replied, “It does sound like fun.” There was a warm smile as he spoke and looked over the wheel, curiosity equally evident in the look on his face. Games never failed to brighten Austin’s day with some excitement so he was more than up for this. He removed his wallet so he could be prepared as he remarked, “Alright, I’m ready.”

Austin hummed gently at Blair’s remark because that certainly felt like the way things operated around here. While he still had some love for the school and appreciated how it housed and taught him, he also couldn’t bring himself to deny the existence of various faults. Hopefully things would start looking up sooner rather than later. “It would be, but based on past occurrences, I can see the logic behind those options being on a bingo board.”

Austin politely shook his head as he replied, “Thanks, but I’m good.” He gave a smile that was equal parts friendly and sympathetic when Bash said something about not knowing how much weed should cost. “Same here,” he continued with a light laugh. “It’s a trial and error process personally. But that’s also because I don’t smoke a whole lot so there are still plenty of things to learn.”

Austin gave Ria his most confident look while he answered, “Challenge accepted. Hope you’re ready to be surprised with some real fun.” He made a mental note to start looking once the animals were out of his arms, but for now he was going to cuddle them. There was something so comforting about holding them close whenever they were okay with it. “I look forward to meeting new people and learning from them. Maybe breaking out the charm every once in a great while.”

“I did not,” Austin responded with a slight chuckle. “Although looking back and with how wild things have been, I really should have seen it coming.” After all, there had truly never been a shortage of surprises at Gallagher these past couple of years. He took a small sip of coffee before he politely questioned, “How about you? What did you have on your spring semester bingo card?”