s h r i e k s !

"yeah, more than the ladies. don't sound so surprised. i'm a cultured man, antonio," he said, smirking as he did so. "many men have been lucky enough to have a little piece of this. maybe more than a little piece," he added with a wink. "and you know people who don't identify as either. i'm really not picky, dude. if they're hot and ready, i'm hot and ready," he added and shrugged. maybe it sounded crude of him but he was just being honest. he wasn't aware of how much his comment had been a shock to antonio or that it was something he was unsure about but hector was always happy to talk about his love life. or his sexual life rather. he had been a bit more nervous about it as a teenager but he had always been too full of himself to even be shy about it. it wasn't like he cared what his father thought and his mother, well what she didn't know didn't matter. it was his life after all.

antonio hadn't meant to sound surprised hearing of hector's successes with other people; a light blush comes over his cheeks, and he laughs at the other man's reactions. "sorry, i didn't mean to sound surprised," he tells him through the laughter - laughter that grows with each next word hector is speaking. it's nice to speak to someone as open-minded as hector. when antonio was in high school, he couldn't imagine speaking so openly about something like this, and the joy he feels from the comfort gained from hector reminds antonio that for the most part, he definitely was surrounded by the wrong people back then. he hesitates for a second, and then finally decides to speak his mind. "i've just never been with a guy before," he admits. "guess i was just trying to pick up pointers, or something," he admits, embarrassed, but not afraid to allude to his own sexuality for the first time. he's surprised at the lack of nerves and fear he feels, but even without them, adrenaline kicks in.

despite the fact that danny knows next to nothing about ted, he reads the man extremely well. it's easy enough to do in a moment such as this one; ted is still working on his people skills - on his life skills, even. knowing how to act and interact with others comes with so much difficulty, so it only makes sense that his emotions are so easily displayed on that frightened face of his. with no disrespect to danny, ted isn't strong enough to interact with somebody like him, not yet, and so it goes without saying that ted really is ready to bolt, feeling not only unwelcome and called out, but embarrassed, ashamed, terrified and incompetent, too. while ted went into the interaction believing that it was okay to have lapses in education when it comes to skillsets and hobbies outside of ones own, ted now feels like the stupidest person alive.

Davis was still getting used to life in Shrike Heights. After all, it had only been a week since he'd been here, and his life was drastically different than it had been back in Boston. Before he'd been a military man respected by both the army and his family. Now he'd been honorably discharged, so the military definitely still respected him, but his family was another story. Thousands of miles from the place that was no longer home, Davis felt a bit adrift. He'd been here before to visit his grandmother before she'd retired to Florida, so the town and the house were somewhat familiar. But everything was so different, and Davis hated the way that made him feel. He'd only been working at the mall for a few days, so whenever he could, he walked around, getting to know the place; maybe if his workplace felt more familiar, he'd be a little more comfortable.

it's one of those days where donnie finds himself struggling to stay focused as he stands behind the counter at dick's sporting goods. it's thankfully for no sinister reason, for no regression in his mental health journey, no trouble in his relationship, and no new activity from the killers to take his mind away from his work; donnie's only preoccupied by thoughts of the rapidly approaching and last minute planned wedding, which is nice to think about, but also quite stressful, and definitely not the right thing to get so caught up in while at work. thankfully business in dick's is slow today, slow enough to warrant donnie jotting down notes about matters he wishes to speak to bo or finn about later on, but as he does so, he completely loses focus on what's happening around him, to the extent where he's completely lost when the security guard comes in to speak to him.

“Grief is love’s souvenir. It’s our proof that we once loved. Grief is the receipt we wave in the air that says to the world: Look! Love was once mine. I love well. Here is my proof that I paid the price.”

"hey um! would you perhaps be interested in joining me?" cheeks were beat red, standing out all too well against pale flesh, "i was supposed to be meeting some guy but it appears as though he's stood me up. i uh, kinda anxiety ordered." rory said with a chuckle, gesturing toward the plethora of food that took up not one but TWO tables, "and got something from each place. way too much food." irish accent was thick with every word despite the fact that they've lived in shrike heights since the age of twelve. while you could take the lad out of ireland, you could never take the ireland out of the lad. "does a food court feast strike your fancy?"

despite having her fair share of days where she feels like an empty shell of a human being since enduring her traumatic experiences with the shrike killers, rosie still tries her very best to be true to the version of herself that is consistently and constantly looking for happiness and fun. now more than ever, rosie wants to live a good life, she wants to find every silver lining and follow every rainbow to its pot of gold. while nothing that extraordinary happens in shrike mall - not unless it's extraordinarily bad - in the quaint town of shrike heights, the mall is still rosie's go to place to find entertainment and positive distractions.

"oh extremely special huh? like what? you getting through puberty?" he grinned to let tony know he was joking, not actually interested in being mean to him. but hector was still who he was. "ah just you wait one day it'll pop out and you'll be a wolf man." he let out a louder laugh at tony's assessment and paused to grin and turn his face. "the ladies do love me, that they do. more than the ladies too but i think if i had facial hair i'd get more older women which would be...hot. you know we just might have to. get coupons for her to buy us dinner and shit cause i don't know if i can trust her cooking." he smiled again at tony's reflection on his interaction with juliet and then caught himself. did she feel like this whenever she heard someone talk about him? he didn't believe she did but there was a part of him that hoped she did. "yeah she let's you around to annoy her cause she doesn't want to admit she actually likes having friends," hector joked but he had known chandler for most of his life at this point and he figured he knew her pretty well. sure tony was eager and could be annoying in his own way but so could hector. he knew antonio had a good heart and good intentions and that's what mattered most to him. "alright then we're hanging out then. you can help me set this shit up. i'm trying to maximize space in here. i mean i'm no interior decorator but i like to think i have somewhat of an eye for this stuff." he led tony back into the apartment and set the boxes down before heading out again. "what about you though, huh? when you're not on chandler's ass, what do you be getting up to?"

"fingers crossed, i could reach it any day now," antonio plays along with hector's joke about puberty, grinning and laughing. only a few short years ago, such a joke would have left a bad taste in his mouth; while antonio isn't anywhere near happy about or thankful for the things - the trauma - that led him to grow up as a person, it is a life so much better lived, one where he can take a joke and have more fun. "more than the ladies?" he doesn't even really mean to say this out loud, but it sparks his interest; antonio knows that he's attracted to more than the ladies, but it's not something that he's ever been able to act upon as of yet. a feeling of half anxiety, half excitement washes over him as he thinks about potentially being able to follow hector's example and attract all sorts of people.

ted's stomach is twisting and churning with anxiety; he feels guilty, having come into the store with no knowledge himself, even though he knows that knowledgable employees are employed specifically so that they can help their customers. even being aware of the logic, ted doesn't feel any better about needing help from danny. "she does some tricks," he nods meekly. 'which you obviously don't' ted wasn't previously ashamed of his lack of knowledge - he still isn't, really - but having the fact pointed out to him makes him feel bad. it's not hard to make ted feel bad, but even when it's a feeling that he should be so used to by now, it doesn't get any easier to deal with it. "some of the grip tape and paint pens sound good," he suggests, glad to finally feel like he's getting somewhere with his attempt at getting something for his sister - and completely brushing past the fact that he indeed doesn't know who mark gonzales is. "i don't know," he answers, probably not to danny's surprise. "a good, decent, adequate sized gift. she's done a lot for me, so," he shrugs.