#frm.chatzy

Ben glanced over to the hallway when he heard his roommate walk into the living room. He was idly playing his guitar, plucking out an aimless melody; the notes got a little quieter as he put his attention onto Jacob. "You look good," he said. "Are Caine and L here?"

Jacob headed over from his room to get himself a glass of water, pouring a second one for Ben while he was at the sink. He hummed to acknowledge Ben’s comment and wandered over to hand the cup to him, taking a seat beside him on the couch. “In the process of coming here. Five, ten minutes I would imagine.”

Ben stopped playing to accept the glass as Jacob came back to his side. He really did look good; Ben let his gaze linger as they settled into the couch together. He tucked one leg under him so he could turn himself and better face Jacob. "Cool," he said before he took a sip of the water. "What you guys doing?"

Jacob angled himself towards Ben on the couch, resting one arm along the back. He took a sip of his water, then leaned over to place it down on the coffee table. He faced Ben again. “Out to eat, and I believe we are discussing plans for the rest of the day from there.”

He watched Jacob's arm drape along the back of the couch. Ben slid the guitar out of his lap and propped it up against the coffee table as well, then turned back into place. After a moment's hesitation, he rested his head against the back of the couch, pressed slightly against Jacob's hand. He recognized this was a bad time to find his roommate so endearing, but he couldn't help himself. "Well, I'll try not to miss you too much."

Jacob smiled to himself when he felt Ben’s head against his hand and shifted closer so he could begin to card his fingers through his hair. “Oh, do count the seconds that I’m gone,” Jacob responded, amusement clear in his voice. “And tell me how many when I return.”

Ben breathed out, a smile spreading across his face. "Oh, of course. I already planned on it, I was just playing cool," he said, nudging Jacob's leg with his own. "Good thing you know me so well."

Jacob pressed his leg into Ben’s as Ben moved his away, touching his thumb to Ben’s cheek. “We do still have a few minutes,” he commented mildly, putting his hand on Ben’s knee and raising his eyebrows. “So there is no need to worry about that yet.”

When Jacob reached his hand out, Ben paused, going a little still. "Yeah?" he asked, moving his own hand to rest over Jacob's. He leaned over to put his water on the table as well, and then was right back in place before the moment could be broken.

Jacob laughed quietly at the speed with which Ben was back before him and leaned forward, touching his thumb to Ben's jaw now as he slid his fingers back into his hair. "Yeah," he repeated, guiding Ben forward slightly with a smile. "Why not?"

Normally, he was up for anything pretty much anytime, and today was no different, but Ben still paused. His eyes flickered to the door and then back to Jacob. "They'll let you know before they get here," he mumbled, both a question and an affirmation for the two of them. His hand went to the back of Jacob's neck, fingers lightly gripping his hair. He smiled again. "Why not."

Jacob pulled his phone out of his pocket, lifted it to show Ben, then put it down on the couch behind him. He splayed his hand across Ben's ribs. "We'll hear the text the text with ease," he agreed, leaning forward to press a kiss just under Ben's jaw. He spoke against his neck. "Plenty of time."

Ben's breath hitched. "Definitely," he agreed, his eyes closing. He slid himself a little closer and pressed his hand against Jacob's inner thigh, letting himself enjoy the feeling of Jacob's mouth against his neck for a moment longer before turning his head to kiss him.

Pleased with the reaction, Jacob smiled into the kiss as he leaned forward, pressing Ben into the back of the couch with the hand on his side. This had been far from his intention when he had come out to the living room, but he had noticed recently that his mood around Ben could change within seconds. With the hand on Ben's jaw, Jacob tilted his head and deepened the kiss.

He hadn't expected Jacob to join him on the couch at all before leaving, let alone those few minutes turning into this. Ben made a quiet noise as Jacob leaned more into the kiss, moving his hand up Jacob's leg. His other untangled from Jacob's hair to travel down his neck and collarbone.

Jacob sighed into the kiss and slid his hand from Ben’s side to his stomach, moving his hand up under his shirt. At Ben’s touch, the memory that he had to leave the apartment soon drifted further away from his attention- instead of leaning away and getting ready to go, he tilted Ben’s head to one side so he could press his mouth to his neck again, over his pulse.

"Gods," Ben exhaled, almost a laugh, as Jacob kissed his neck once again. His hands tightened around the fabric of Jacob's clothes and he pushed himself up, trying to close as much space between them as possible. Are you sure you have to go? he almost asked, but he just let out another soft noise instead, not wanting this to stop until it absolutely had to.

"So that's why I don't go to Coney Island anymore," Caine wrapped up as he and L approached Jacob's door. "By the way, do we have a reservation for lunch or are we just walking in?"

L nodded, following Caine's story, twirling a finger around a strand of hair. "So did they ever find the hotdog?" They squinted and shook their head. "It's not too busy a place, so I didn't make a reservation."

As Ben pressed up, Jacob leaned away from the kiss just long enough to move so his back was against the arm of the couch, pulling Ben with him by his shirt so he could reinitiate the kiss as soon as they were touching again.

Ben gladly followed the motion, now leaning over his roommate as he dipped his head in closer. He placed one hand against the arm of the chair to steady himself as he moved his legs to straddle Jacob's hips, and found Jacob's jaw with his other, eagerly kissing him again.

Caine nodded in acknowledgment. "Nah, they never found the hot dog. Frankly, I don't wanna know where it want." Caine stepped up to the door and gave two quick raps on the door before letting himself in. "Honey, I'm ho..." Caine's eyes widened as he stepped inside, interrupting an intimate moment. "...oly shit." He quickly turned around, but the damage had already been done. "L, they found the hot dogs!" Caine howled.

L laughed and dropped their hand. "I think it's best left a mystery." Standing behind Caine, L managed to not get a view of the couch, and from their brother's reaction, they weren't sure that they wanted to. They looked at the ceiling. "Uh, we can come back!"

Jacob heard the knock, but by the time the sound sunk in and he broke the kiss it was too late. "Fuck," he exhaled, running one hand through his hair to smooth it out as he pressed a hand to Ben's chest to push him back lightly. Ears burning, he sat up straighter with embarrassment curling in his stomach. "Sorry! Give me a moment!"

The sound of the door opening sent a jolt of realization through him, but Ben was slow to react. "Fuck," he said at the same time as his roommate. He immediately got up, moving so Jacob could get out from underneath him. His eyes flickered to Caine, his back turned in their doorway, and he mumbled another "fuck," under his breath.

"Come on, really? What kind of person invites family over and then five minutes later you're having a rodeo in the living room." Caine turned back around after hearing the noise settle and found Jacob and... Ben? "You? Really?" Caine knew that he had a tendency to talk in a way that made it hard for other people to tell whether he was genuinely angry or just being dramatic. In this case, he let the ambiguity hang in the air, wondering how Ben would react. "First my boyfriend, now my brother, huh?"

L imagined herself in this mortifying situation and grimaced, shoving her hands into her back pockets, still staring at the ceiling.

Jacob's expression was calm by the time Caine turned around, but his face was visibly flushed. He cleared his throat and leaned over to pick up the glass of water he had poured himself earlier, wondering if opening a window would be too much. "Sorry. I was under the assumption I would hear the text."

Ben felt a blush creeping up his neck and he kept his gaze on the table while he straightened out his shirt. He didn't want to look at Caine or risk another glance at Jacob for fear that it might make his face go even more red. He frowned, though, when the words made it past his swirling embarrassment and sunk in. "Um, what?" he asked, finally looking over to Caine.

Caine pointed back and forth between Jacob and Ben. "Is this, uh... Are you two an item now? Or is this an experimental thing?"

L rubbed the bridge of her nose and laughed nervously.

Jacob took his time finishing his sip of water, somewhat less dishevelled when he cleared his throat again. "We are not together, no." Although his voice was steady, he chewed on one nail once he finished speaking. "Sorry you had to see that."

L looked at Caine and, now that she was sure that she wasn't going to see anything, poked her head in and waved.

Kill me, Ben thought to himself while Jacob spoke. He took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, no, we're just... Yeah." He saw L and his face flushed again— only now did he remember hearing a second voice in the hallway. He waved back sheepishly.

"Interesting." Caine nodded in contemplation for a moment. "Interesting." He stepped further inside to give L room, his eyes still fixed on Ben. "So are you... Joining us for lunch? Or is this the, uh," he gestured to Jacob again, "the good-bye kiss?"

Jacob leaned towards the table and slid his hand until he found the pair of sunglasses he left there, putting them on with relief to cover at least part of his blush. "Still just us for lunch." Jacob wanted to lay a hand on Ben's shoulder in apology, but that seemed a bad choice to make at the moment. "We simply got carried away."

Ben wondered if Caine was purposefully trying to make this as mortifying for him as possible or if he was just hypersensitive at the moment. He shook his head while Jacob answered, and almost told Caine not to worry, but decided against it. "Yeah. Lost track of time." He sank a little into the couch.

L pressed her lips together to keep from laughing at Caine and nodded slowly. "So, uh, if you're ready, Jacob... we can... go?"

Caine held up a hand. "Well, actually, you know, since you're here," he gestured to Ben, "Maybe you can give your opinion on a song Jacob and I put together for the band. L, you too," Caine offered. "Since we're all family here, right? And special friends."

L gave Caine a slightly disapproving look, assuming he just wanted to stay and make fun of Ben more.

Ben put a hand over his eyes. "You're not gonna be late for your, uh, lunch?"

"Nah," Caine waved a hand. He couldn't help the smile growing wide on his face now. "L didn't even make a reservation. Isn't that right?"

L gave Caine a stern look and jutted out her jaw. "I guess I didn't."

Jacob sighed, though one corner of his mouth lifted in vague amusement. "Shall I fetch my keyboard?"

The hand over his eyes pulled down over the rest of Ben's face, and he let out a short exhale. "Sure." He shifted so he was sitting crossed-legged on the couch, leaning forward to grab his own water and drink.

"That's the spirit!" Caine walked into the living area and took a seat beside Ben. He pat Ben's knee and gave him a smile that could have read as both genuine and threatening. "Look at us, collaborating on a song. Who would've thought? Not me."

Jacob got up off the couch and disappeared into his room for a few seconds before returning with his keyboard, significantly less flustered from the moments out of sight. "Oh, do try not to bully my roommate," he commented to Caine with a smile, stepping around Frank when he beeped. "I know it may be difficult for you."

L walked in finally, closing the door behind her, and picked up Frank before she took a seat on the floor near Caine.

Ben forced himself to relax but only succeeded when Jacob returned into the living room. "It's nothing I can't handle," he said with a little shrug. After a moment of consideration, Ben sighed and spoke again, trying a small smile. "Should we call up Fab and Quinn, too, or is this just for special friends?"

Caine returned a laugh after Jacob's quip. "Nah, they'll hear it later. This is just because you're here. Might as well seize the moment, right? Do a little bonding." Caine pulled the lyrics up on his phone and clarified. "I'm still working on the lyrics for the verse, but the chorus is what we've got solid."

Jacob pushed his sunglasses up and smiled in Ben's direction briefly before refocusing on his keyboard, running his fingers over the keys without pressing down on any of them. "From the chorus, then?"

"Sure. From the chorus," Caine agreed. He waited for Jacob to start playing, going over the words in his head.

Sitting back, Ben tried to shake off the last of his embarrassment and watched Jacob as he began to play.

Jacob nodded, running his hand over the keys one more time before he began to play what they had agreed on for the chorus.

Caine closed his eyes and let the music wash over him. When he opened his eyes again to sing, the whites of his eyes had washed over in a deep black. "Drifting the edge of the swallowing sea, The drowned and the deathless shall answer the plea. In the land of the dead, two kings shall meet. A cyclops will rise in desert heat. The son of Iris by phantom is slain, For the weaver of dreams, an old fear must drain." Caine inhaled sharply as the chorus ended. He blinked a few times and the whites of his eyes suddenly returned to normal. "Damn, that chorus really takes the breath out of you. Gotta work on that."

L patted Frank's head happily as they began their song, then felt her eyes grow wide with alarm as Caine's eyes shifted. "Um, Caine? Uh, I think that's... a prophecy?" She shook her head. "Do you remember it?"

Ben glanced over from Jacob to Caine as he began to sing, and flinched at the sight of his eyes. He scooted back just a bit but stayed quiet until he was done chanting. His eyes flickered to L and then back to Caine.

Jacob raised his eyebrows and repeated the words to himself in his mind after L spoke. "Hm. That.... huh. Hm."

"A—what?" Caine sat back as Jacob expressed his thoughts perfectly. "Huh... Well, shit." In the back of his mind, Caine swore he heard a whispered, "Thank fuck," but he didn't recognize the voice and so assumed he imagined it.

Ben frowned. “Does that happen often?”

L frowned. "Okay, so there was a sea, a desert, a cyclops." She rubbed her forehead. "And Iris?"

"You have it written down, yes?" Jacob asked Caine, brows furrowed. He took a seat on the arm of the couch and chewed one of his nails. "How did we not realize this?"

"Yeah," Caine confirmed. He passed the phone off to L absentmindedly. "Well fuck, how many of our other songs are secret prophecies?"

Ben shifted again, like he was going to stand, but then paused. "Do you want water?" he asked Caine. "Um, or anyone else, too?"

L took the phone and looked over the lyrics. She frowned. "I think most of your other songs are good. They don't sound like this, and your eyes are fine during them. But, uh. This really sounds like a prophecy." She almost laughed. "I guess you should bring this to Chiron?"

"His eyes?" Jacob asked, though he was only half focused on the answer. "I suppose we should. And I still have some, thank you, Ben." He tapped one finger against his lip. "Fuck."

"Sure, yeah, water's great," Caine responded. He turned back to L and asked, "What do you mean my eyes are fine? My eyes are fine all the time."

"Your eyes went black while you were singing," Ben said calmly as he stood. He picked up his glass and started for the kitchen.

"Huh." Caine tipped his head to the side. "Alright. Well... Okay. I'll tell Chiron then." He frowned down at the ground for a moment before looking back at L and Ben. "But did you like the song?"

L continued to pet Frank's head and nodded along with Ben. "I guess it doesn't feel like anything, and it makes sense that Jacob didn't notice, but... I don't know guys, this is like classic prophecy material." She shrugged and then nodded, smiling sweetly at Caine. "I liked the music, yeah. Lyrics are a little spooky."

A few moments later, Ben returned with two glasses of water. He handed one to Caine and held the other out to L. "Um, what's the protocol on using prophecies as lyrics? The music was cool, though."

Jacob cupped his glass of water between both hands as he took a sip. "It may be a first," he replied to Ben with a short laugh. "Although even if it isn't, I imagine Caine would have the rights."

Caine accepted the water from Ben with a "Thank you." He took a sip before responding. "You think my eyes are gonna turn black every time?"

L smiled in thanks as she took the water from Ben. "I don't know. Do you want to try saying it now?"

"Sure," Caine shrugged. He repeated the chorus out loud from memory, staring right as L as he did so. After the end of the last verse, he waited. "Anything?"

L shook her head and frowned. She looked at Jacob. "Jacob, can you play music at the same time?"

Jacob nodded and waited a few seconds so Caine was ready before repeating the same notes.

Caine tapped his foot along to the beat as Jacob started to play. He started singing again, trying to impart some passion and drama into the words to see if that would make a difference.

Ben waited until the end of the chorus, then shook his head. "Nothing." He frowned, not sure what that meant. "Maybe it only happens once? And you didn't have that reaction when you were working on it with Jacob."

Caine sighed. "Whatever. I guess." He downed the rest of his water, now feeling how dry his throat was from singing.

L shrugged and sipped her water before she went back to petting Frank.

"Odd." Jacob frowned in thought. "Well, it worked out in our favour. Should we speak to Chiron now?"

"Before or after lunch?" Caine asked, trying not to seem obvious about wanting to eat first.

"I think after lunch." L nodded, smirking at Caine. "Prophecies can be dangerous on an empty stomach."

"Are you certain?" Jacob started to carry his keyboard back to his room. "I'm aware this prophecy is already a few days old, but it could be urgent."

"I mean..." Caine sighed, already imaging Danny scolding him for waiting for lunch. "It's about the sea, right? It's not like anyone's out boating right now, right? The kid doesn't die until the very end, he's got some time. Alright, fine, fuck, we can go tell him now."

L patted Caine's knee sympathetically. "Okay, okay, don't talk about people dying in such a cavalier way, even if you're joking and hangry, please. I can stop by the cabin and grab some baby carrots to tide you over while you talk to Chiron."

"We also have some uh, apples or, something," Ben offered from his place on the couch— this time a healthy distance from Caine.

"We do have some apples." Jacob sounded unreasonably amused at the statement as he reemerged from his room. "Should you want one, please, help yourself."

"Alright, yeah," Caine agreed. "An apple is good, you don't need to go all the way back to your place."

For some reason, Jacob's amusement always made Ben smile, but this time, due to the company, he felt his face getting warm, too. "I'll get you one," he mumbled, rising quickly from the couch to hide in the kitchen. Once he came back he considered tossing it to Caine, but decided against it and just held it out for him to take.

Caine reached out and grabbed the apple. "Thanks." The taste of the apple made Caine realize how hungry he was. "Alright, well, let's get a move on then."

Jacob walked over to put his glass in the sink to wash later. “Chiron then lunch,” he agreed, moving to stand beside Ben. “Before you fade away to nothing.”

L picked Frank up and put him on the couch, then gave him a little kiss on the head. She stood and drained her glass of water. “Sounds great. Always good seeing you, Ben!” she said brightly as she put the glass into the sink and zipped around to stand by the door.

"Uh, you too, L," Ben said, giving her a little smile and lifting his hand in a wave.

"Yeah," Caine agreed. "Good to see you again, Ferrari. You always seem to surprise me, don't you?" Caine gave Ben a pat on the shoulder and a smile. He lingered there, with his hand on Ben's shoulder and eyes locked on Ben's, for just a moment longer than necessary. Then, with another pat, he stepped away. "Big House!"

Jacob took his time putting his shoes on and getting his keys so he could wait until both of his siblings were on their way out the door before turning to Ben.  “How about that goodbye kiss?” he asked quietly, tone teasing as he grinned at him.

Ben's shoulders didn't relax until Caine was in the hallway, and he sighed quietly. When Jacob turned to him, he grinned and checked the doorway to make sure they were out of his siblings' line of sight before leaning in and kissing him. He lingered as long as he dared, then squeezed Jacob's hand. "I'll see you later."

Parker knocked on Jack’s cabin door and smoothed his shirt, which was decidedly not a polo. He stood back and tilted his head to look up at the cabin. He never really understood why the people who designed the cabin went with this fucked up idea rather than one with bedrooms and wifi like his old one. He’d never been inside the cabin, but he figured it would be disorienting to see everyone walking by from the outside. “Hey!” He smiled when Jack answered the door, trying not to sound overly excited.

Lil' Jack had already beaten Jack to the door by the time Parker knocked. The huge windows made it easy to tell when anybody was coming near—not that anybody did—and they had become Lil' Jack's favorite place to pass the time people-watching. "Hey," Jack smiled as he opened the door. "Lil' Jack, sit," he tried to instruct as the dog raced forward to sniff Parker's shoes. "Sit!"

Parker smiled down at the little dog at his feet. "Hey buddy." He crouched before realizing that maybe Jack wanted to give his dog a lesson in discipline and that he might be reinforcing bad behaviors. "Is it cool if I pet him?"

"Yeah," Jack nodded. "He likes it when you scratch under his chin. I mean—I think he does? Sometimes he'll fall over but I can't tell if that means he's in ecstasy or if he's just given up."

Parker pet the dog that was jumping and wiggling at his feet. He scratched under his chin and the dog took a seat. He laughed a bit, looking up at (apparent) Big Jack. “Is he coming with us?” He laughed.

"So everyone can see the white-haired cyclops has a dog equivalent with the same name? Absolutely not," Jack declared. "He can take care of himself for a few hours."

Parker laughed again and gave the dog another pat before he stood. “Got all your putters ready?”

Jack stood aside to let Lil' Jack run back into the living room. "My... Oh. Um. Are we supposed to bring our own? Because, I don't—" He looked back into his house, trying to think of something he could use.

Parker shook his head quickly. “Oh! No, that was a joke.” He laughed a bit. “I just meant, like, are you ready for mini golf?”

"Oh." Jack smiled in relief. "Yeah, I'm ready." He started to step outside to close the door but paused halfway. "Wait, is what I'm wearing fine? I mean—I know we joked about suits but now I'm not sure what people wear to mini golf." He held out his hands so that Parker could assess his black shirt, black jean outfit.

Parker snorted and shook his head. “There isn’t , like, a dress code for mini golf. You look fine.” He rocked back on his heels. “I parked just over...” He motioned vaguely. “Have you never done mini golf before?”

Jack stepped out onto his porch and shut the door behind him. "Jack is really sheltered, surprise, surprise," he jokingly confirmed. "It always looks fun on TV though. The windmills."

Parker exhaled hard in a laugh and led them to the car. "It is fun! I haven't been in a while, but I like it when the tubes lead to other holes." He tilted his head. "You'll see what I mean when I get there. How was work?" He raised his eyebrows a bit.

Jack couldn't imagine what Parker was trying to say, but just nodded along anyway. "Work was... Nice," Jack lied. "I'm learning how to milk animals. Which I did not realize was going to be part of it."

"Ew," Parker said without thinking. "Uh, I mean, like... how was that?" He shook his head and opened the passenger door for Jack before circling around to get into the driver's seat.

Jack's heartbeat did a little flutter when Parker opened the door for him. He laughed and shook his head. "'Ew' is honestly a great word for it." He climbed into the seat and shut the door, then waited for Parker to get in before continuing. "It feels like... I'm violating the cow? But also weirdly satisfying. I..." He shook his head and put his hands up. "Okay, but that makes it sound like I'm a farm predator and that's really not what I meant."

Parker laughed as he buckled himself in. "Oh my God. I... guess I get it?" He laughed again and pulled out from where he was parked. "Can't say I've milked many cows though, fortunately enough. So you're, like, full milkman then? Like, get the milk, bottle it, deliver it?"

Jack pressed his lips together. "Yeah. Seems like it." He looked out the window, trying to remember the last time he was in a car. "Oh, but I don't have to wear a milkman outfit. To answer your question from the other day."

"Shame." Parker smiled and glanced at Jack as he pulled onto the road. "Not sure that's really your style though."

"Not really," Jack laughed. He looked over to watch Parker's hands on the steering wheel, occasionally glancing down to see his feet on the pedals.

Parker glanced at the GPS. "Can you tell me when my turn is? I hate when it talks so I mute it but then I have to constantly look at it," he admitted with a bit of a laugh. "Hard to drive without a navigator because of it.”

"Oh, yeah." Jack felt strangely excited about stepping into the role of a navigator. "You've got a mile," he instructed. "Then it's a right." He leaned back in his seat and checked his reflection in the side mirror. He wiggled his eyepatch around, trying to adjust it to look right on his face, but couldn't quite get it to sit the way he wanted. He sighed and turned back to the GPS instead. "Quarter of a mile.”

Parker turned when he was supposed to. "Thanks." He gave a small nod. "Sorry for taking you somewhere where you have a lack of experience, but I'm not gonna hold back." He grinned. "I'm gonna absolutely destroy you at mini golf."

Jack smiled. "I'd be kinda disappointed if you didn't. Like, if you took me on a date to mini golf but you're actually shit at mini golf? I'd judge you."

Parker laughed, a small flutter in his stomach as Jack mentioned the word date. "Yeah. I gotta play to my strengths. Last person I did this with could control the wind, and so I had to get really good to compete with that."

"Wait, what?" Jack laughed. "Ugh, people with powers are wild. Imagine being the wind god and that's what your kid is doing with their divine skills."

Parker shook his head. "Yeah. She could also summon lightning, but that was only when I won," he joked. "I think I'm lucky I don't have any powers, honestly, they seem..." He stopped himself from saying more, given who he was talking to, then wondered why he said anything. "Um, do I have another turn soon?"

Jack muttered a knowing, "Hm." He glanced down at the GPS and nodded. "Sorry, yeah—half a mile it's gonna be a left." He looked over at Parker and just watched him drive for a moment before chuckling. "I'm sorry—uh... Do you mind if I just, like..." Jack shook his head. "Never mind."

Parker glanced at Jack and raised an eyebrow before looking back at the road. "Do I mind if you...?"

Jack started turning pink and just shook his head, laughing. "Ugh, nothing. You're gonna think I'm a total loser if I ask and I'm already about to humiliate myself playing a sport."

Parker shook his head. "I can go easy on you. I promise I'm not that good at mini golf, I haven't done it in years."

"Sure," Jack said, his tone dripping with disbelief. He eyed the radio on the dashboard for a moment but said nothing about it. "This is the turn."

Parker shrugged one shoulder and didn't notice Jack's look. He put on his blinker and turned. "Uh, how's the gym going?"

Jack laughed. "Um. Fine. I have no idea what I'm doing so I probably look ridiculous." Jack shrugged. "I went at like, 2pm and there was nobody there. Hopefully it stays that way." He propped his elbow up on the window ledge so he could rest his head on his hand. He grinned at Parker coyly. "Do you lift?"

Parker smiled at the thought of Jack working out. He couldn't really imagine it. He snorted. "Yeah, gotta get those gains. Never skip leg day and all that. That's why I'm so hot."

Jack turned his face into his hand and laughed. "If that's what it takes to look the way you did in that ice cream jumper, then yeah. Never skip leg day." Jack saw a huge light up sign flickering ahead and pointed at it. "Is that the one?"

Parker grinned. "I still have it, if you want to borrow it and track your progress." He bobbed his head and pulled into the parking lot. "Yep! You ready for windmills and weird clowns?" He unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the car.

Jack paused. "Wait, what?" He climbed out of the passenger seat. "Weird clowns? What kind of place is this?"

Parker shut the door behind him and shook his head. "Like, they have a bunch of weird stuff like that, like you have to pass the ball through the mouth of a clown on one of them. Are you afraid of clowns? It's just one hole."

Jack laughed. "I'm not. I think they're kinda sad." Jack looked ahead at the entrance to the mini golf area and felt a shudder run down his back. "Um, hang on. Can I talk to you before we go in there?"

Parker tilted his head, confused. "Sad?" He raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Um, yeah, sure."

"Okay, sorry—I don't mean to be a huge drama queen all the time. I'm just..." Jack shook his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Just kinda nervous? It's been a while since I've been around people who aren't, like... Demigods. And I'm kinda just remembering now that normal people aren't, like... Used to me. What I do. Sorry—am I making sense?" Jack was bouncing up and down on his heels.

"Oh." Parker nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, yeah. Um, we can just make sure that nobody touches you? Or, did you not want to go in anymore?"

"No, I definitely wanna go in," Jack quickly clarified. "Um. I'm just—I don't really know how my powers work on people people? Sorry." Jack shook his head. "I shouldn't have brought it up. Everything's probably gonna be okay and I'm... Let's just—" Jack made a shooping motion toward the entrance.

Parker nodded slowly. "Okay. Let me know if you feel uncomfortable at all." He started walking to the entrance and smiled at Jack. "Um, I brought gloves."

Jack smiled back. "Oh." He couldn't tell if his nerves were coming from a place of happiness or anxiety. Jack told himself they were happy. He held out his hands to take the gloves and added, "Thanks."

Parker pulled plastic gloves from his pocket and handed them to Jack. When they entered, Parker didn't seem to notice the uneasy glances in their direction. He paid for both of them and picked out a few putters, trying to figure out which one was good for his height. "I grabbed us some balls, but they might be the same colour." He held out a red ball and a green one.

Jack tried to keep his head down, ignoring the glances of strangers as he passed by. He slipped the gloves on as Parker paid then looked down at the golf balls he picked out. Jack laughed. "Um, do you wanna get another color?" He plucked the green one from Parker's hand. "This one is green."

Parker put away the red ball and picked out a yellow one. "What's this?"

"Yellow," Jack replied. "Uh, how many colors can you see?"

"I've never counted!" Parker put away the ball and picked out a purple one. "This is... blue?"

Jack smiled. "Purple."

"Hmm." Parker nodded. "Well, it's different than that one." He walked to the first hole and put his ball down. "You know how this works, right?"

Jack scoffed. "I'm not an idiot Parker." He looked down the green and pursed his lips. "But just for your sake, maybe you should explain how it works."

Parker's face fell when Jack scoffed, afraid that he'd offended him, but then grinned. "Um, well, you have to start on this end." He put his ball down. "And then you hit it with the putter and try to get it in the hole. And then we write down how many hits it takes to get it in, and whoever has the lowest score wins." He nodded. "Do you wanna go first, or should I?"

Jack followed along. He had known how the game worked, it turned out, but was glad that he wasn't just imagining it. "Uh, let me go first. Before you destroy my self-confidence with your skills," Jack joked. He set his ball down, looked toward the hole, and haphazardly swung his putter, sending the ball bouncing down the green. "Fuck," he laughed.

Parker smiled and watched Jack. "Okay, now just go until you get it in." He swung his putter back and forth. "You know, I just realized that I keep trying to make you do sporty things. Next time we can do something more to your strengths, I promise. We can, um... milk cows?" He joked.

Jack shoved Parker. "Ew, shut up!" He laughed and crossed his arms. "Ugh. If that becomes my thing, I'm gonna like... Walk into the sea."

Parker laughed and wasn't even moved by Jack's shove. "Fine, fine, what's your thing then? Being cute and moody?"

Jack felt his cheeks warming. "I mean, duh." He stepped aside so Parker could tee up. "I don't know... Like... Music? I'm not really good at anything, TBH. It's something I've actually been thinking about. Kinda why I wanted to get a job."

Parker put his ball down and shot. The ball went straight into the hole, then he looked back at Jack. "And a dog? Or was that just because you guys match?"

"Uh, no," Jack tried not to look too impressed that Parker scored a hole in one. "I don't really know why I did that." Jack shrugged. "I guess... It's nice to have someone around who doesn't see me for what I'm lacking, or for what I can't do. I'm just... A person." Jack's eyes flickered to Parker's. "But also because we match."

Jack shrugged, following Parker down the green. "I guess it's because he's an animal? I haven't had any issues with the cows either, so..." He looked at his ball sitting ten feet away from the hole. "Do I hit it again or am I out because you already got it in?"

Parker shook his head and stood back. "You just keep going, and then we track how many hits it takes you to get it in." He swung his putter back and forth again. "He's sweet. Does he like your music?"

"Oh cool, so we drag it out for maximum shame. I love that," Jack joked, putting the ball once more. The ball came to a stop about two feet from the hole. "I guess? He hasn't complained about it yet. We'll see if he runs away." Jack walked over to the hole and putted once again. The ball clattered as it fell into the plastic cup. Jack smiled over at Parker and pointed at himself. "Jock."

"It'd be cute if he howled along with it or something. You can put him on a track." Parker laughed. "Your French needs some improvement." He started off to the next obstacle.

Jack furrowed his brow at Parker's joke, not quite getting it. "I'll... Think about that." Jack looked around at the three greens surrounding them and pointed at the nearest one. "Um, I'm assuming this is the next one because of this sidewalk thing, but you're the golf expert."

Parker didn't process that Jack wouldn't get the joke, so he moved on. "Yeah, it's pretty straightforward, kinda leads you right around the course." He tapped Jack's leg with his club. "This one's got a little hill, and I think the next one has the windmill, so it'll actually get exciting." He put the ball down, tapped it, and ran to the top of the hill to meet it. "What's your favourite food?"

Jack watched Parker putt so that he could try to recreate the same shot. Once Parker left, Jack lined up his ball the same way and gave a good, hard hit. "Um, not sure," Jack thought out loud as the ball careened down the green. "Maybe açai bowls? I, like... Eat them sometimes," he shrugged.

Parker moved out of the way so that he wouldn't mess up the shot, then took his own, managing to just get the ball into the hole. "Okay." He nodded, pocketing that information. "Do you... dye your hair that colour?"

Jack laughed as he lined up his shot. "No. That's the natural color. My mom had white hair when she was young too." He putted the ball, once again coming within three feet of the hole. "What else do you wanna know?"

Parker hummed and rocked back and forth on his feet. "Um, I don't know," he admitted with a small smile. "Have you ever seen Ratatouille? I think you'd like it."

Jack walked over to the ball and putted it. Another miss. He furrowed his brow at Parker with a hint of a smile. "What makes you think I'd like it?"

"The hair pulling?" Parker laughed as soon as the words left his mouth. "Um, but, like, um, it's just funny. Like, the rat is really sarcastic in it. It's like, your sense of humor."

Jack's face got hot as soon as Parker answered the question. He bit his lip and nodded his head for a moment. "So if I'm Remy..." He grinned at Parker. "Is this you asking me to pull your hair?"

Parker flushed and wondered if he could have avoided this situation? There was nothing he could have said or done differently that would have prevented this, he thought. "Um, please don't ask me if I want you to pull my hair while saying you're Remy."

Jack almost doubled over from the laugh that came out of him. He used his putter as a support as he bent over laughing. "Oh my gods." Jack clutched his stomach. "Fuck," he cackled. "Oh my gods. Ow."

Parker flushed somehow hotter and pressed a hand into his cheek as he laughed, shaking his head. "Oh my God." He squeezed his eyes shut and ran a hand through his hair. "Wow, please just... ignore everything I say, ever. Thanks."

Jack shook his head. "I like the things you say." He tried to regain his composure and his breath so he could line up to take the shot. Still chuckling, Jack putted his ball into the hole and scooped it right back up into his hand. He looked at Parker, then up at his hair, then burst out laughing again.

Parker kept his hand pressed to his face as he smiled at Jack, and then groaned when he started laughing again, though he joined him soon. “Shut up! Just... ugh.”

"Sorry!" Jack tried to calm down. "Oh my gods... Wow." As Jack's breath slowed, he pulled up the bottom of his shirt to dab his eye dry and blot under the edges of his eye patch. "Sorry, wow. That was..." He smiled at Parker. "Okay. Hair pulling. Got it."

“Ugh.” Parker rolled his eyes but didn’t deny it as he grinned, leading them to the next hole. “Your much-awaited windmill. Do you want to go first?”

"Sure," Jack shrugged. "I think I get how it works now." Jack lined up his shot and gave a solid putt, sending the ball halfway down the grain. Jack stepped off the tee and gestured for Parker to take his turn. "Mr. Linguini."

Parker groaned dramatically. “You’re...” He shook his head. “I’m never gonna live that down, huh? And you’re the one who called himself a rat!”

"I think you'll live it right up until the next time you say something equally incredible," Jack speculated. "I still think about Yeast Man."

Parker rubbed his cheek and wondered how he could still speak with how far his foot was shoved into his mouth every time he opened it. “You’re... annoying.” He was still grinning. He put down the ball, shot, and frowned as it bounced back after hitting against the windmill. “You’re up, Bacteria Boy.”

Jack made his way over to his ball and gave it another putt towards the hole without really thinking about it. The ball clinked as it sunk into the hole. Jack threw an arm up. "Oh my gods! Plus two for Bacteria Boy!" He sauntered over to Parker with a huge grin on his face. "Eat my bacteria, bitch."

Parker leaned on his putter as Jack walked over, and bit his lip as he smiled at him. “You’re... Cute.” He tapped Jack’s shin with his putter. “Especially since you think this means you have a chance. I’m still gonna destroy you.”

"I'll believe it when I see it," Jack taunted, tapping Parker's butt with the handle end of his putter. "Good luck."

Parker’s eyes glinted, the competition taking priority over flirting. He watched the windmill turn a few times, tapped his ball, and timed it so that it streaked past the blades and into the hole. “Ha! You eat my bacteria. Bitch,” he added as an afterthought.

Jack rested his head in his hand, watching Parker sink his shot. He shook his head, smiling. "Eat your yeast?" Jack made his way to the next hole, eager to play now that he felt like he had some actual momentum going.

“Ew.” Parker snorted as he followed after Jack. “This is one of the tube ones,” he said excitedly. There were three holes this time, and each one led to a different place, one being straight into the end hole, the other two slightly further away. “I’ll start!” He put his ball down and shot. The ball bounced around the green, careening straight past the hole that led to the end, and into one of the other tubes. “Hm.”

Watching Parker's ball sail past one hole and into another—spitting out at a non ideal location—Jack just nodded his head. "Okay," he mumbled as he took his place on the tee. Jack made a line in the air with his putter from his ball to the desired hole before putting. Then, Jack watched as his ball sunk into the tube, spat back out further downhill, and roll straight into the cup. Jack turned to Parker, mouth agape. "Eat. My. Fucking. Germs. Parker."

Parker watched as Jack’s ball went exactly where it was supposed to and touched his tongue to his teeth as he shook his head, smiling. “Whatever. I’m still beating you.” He poked a finger into Jack’s chest before scampering down to where his ball was. He tapped it lightly and it stopped about an inch away from the hole. He let out a frustrated breath and tapped it again, then pulled it from the cup.

"Uh-huh," Jack taunted as he watched Parker miss his shot. "Um... I'm basing my decision to date you again entirely on your performance tonight. So..." Jack tapped his putter against Parker's shoe with a smile.

"You know, that's not the first time I've heard that." Parker laughed. "And I've always gotten a second date."

Somehow, Jack was the one turning pink. He nudged his shoulder against Parker's as he passed him and headed toward the next hole. "I like the confidence."

Parker followed Jack with a spring in his step. “Thanks. Does it add to the performance for you?” He raised his eyebrows before dropping his ball on the next green. “Ugh, this one is my least favorite. You have to make sure it doesn’t get in the water.” There was a narrow bridge leading straight for the hole, and then larger passes over the sides. Parker considered his options and what Jack had just said about liking his confidence. He lined up a shot and sent the ball halfway across the narrow pass before it tipped over and fell into the water. “Shoot.” He ran over and reached in to fish it out, then shook the water from his hand. “Well...” He shrugged.

"It helps," Jack remarked. He surveyed the course as Parker lined up for his shot. It looked promising up until the ball swerved off the edge of the bridge. "What does it mean if it falls in the water?"

Parker shook his head. “It counts as a hit, but I have to start from where I last hit it.”

Jack nodded and lined up his shot. "Okay." He wasn't sure whether to take it down the center or to the sides and didn't quite make up his mind before he hit the ball. Jack watched as it rolled across the green and straight into the water. "Well..." Jack grinned and looked over at Parker as he went to pick up the ball. "This feels right."

Parker smiled and tapped his golf ball to Jack’s. “Cheers.” He dropped the ball and nodded. “Well, middle or bust, right?” He hit the ball hard, sending it straight into the water. “Hmm.”

Jack laughed as Parker confidently sent his ball into the water. "Ugh, oh my gods, I might be here all night." Jack lined up his ball at the tee once more. This time, trying to be more aggressive with his swing, he wound the club back a bit further before taking his shot. Jack swung his putter with gusto, missing the ball entirely and then sending it flying backwards on the rebound. "Oh my fucking gods—" Jack cackled, watching his ball bounced onto a different green. 

Jack looked both ways before crossing the small boundary to retrieve his ball. "Sorry," Jack apologized to a small child as he reached around them to grab the ball. "I'm just—" As Jack picked up the ball, giving a little small to the kid, the kid gasped audibly. "Oh no—" Before Jack could get out another word, the child let out a wailing scream and sprinted in a different direction. Jack, dipping his head, walked back towards his hole without saying another word.

Parker laughed as Jack sent his ball backwards. “Right attitude, wrong direction!” He crouched to pluck his ball out of the water, but his head shot up as he heard a scream. He frowned and tilted his head as Jack returned. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Jack shrugged, trying to hold a smile. “Uh, yeah. Just, uh... Freaked a kid out, I guess.” He shook his head and put the ball back on the tee. “Not a big deal. I’ll just—or sorry, it’s your turn, right? Let’s just—“ Jack scratched his head and pointed at the tee with his putter. “Yeah.”

Parker ran a hand through his hair and nodded, not wanting to push anything. He dropped the ball to the ground and swung, finally managing to make it over the small bridge, just barely. "Ugh, finally. Acai bowls are gonna be your second favorite food after how many of my germs you eat."

Jack mustered up a smile. "Didn't know we were gonna be having dinner on this date," he joked feebly. Jack lined up to putt again. A swing. A miss. Jack watched as the ball, clipped by the corner of the putter, rolled an entire three inches away before slowing to a stop. He closed his eyes and exhaled a laugh. "I... Suck."

Parker pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. "At least you hit it forward this time?" He tapped his ball and get it into the cup with a satisfying noise. He held his putter out towards Jack. "If you want, I can do that cute thing where I wrap my arms around you and show you how to line up a shot and then you can gush about how sporty I am."

Jack smiled and sighed in relief. "I was afraid that I was gonna have to be the one to ask." Jack stepped forward a bit and gestured to the space beside him. "Please."

Parker grinned, happy that Jack agreed and didn't leave him feeling like a jerk. He walked around the water, put his putter down, and wrapped his arms around Jack easily. He was always somewhat surprised about how small Jack was when he was this close to him. His hands met the plastic of Jack's gloves and his heart raced as he lined up the shot. "Okay, we're still going for middle or bust, obviously." He helped Jack swing, sighing in relief when the ball rolled smoothly over the narrow path, stopping close to the cup. "Oh, thank God," he said under his breath. He pressed a kiss to Jack's shoulder before he pulled away, smiling. He pointed to himself. "Jock."

Jack hoped that Parker wasn't actually trying to teach him anything in earnest, because all he could focus on was how firm Parker's arms felt against his. Jack cheered quietly when the ball sank into the whole, but his voice quickly rose into a crack when he felt Parker plant a kiss on his shoulder. Face thoroughly flushed, Jack laughed at Parker's assertion. "Jacques," Jack responded, pointing to himself. "I finally got it a few minutes ago but didn't know how to bring it up again."

Parker tossed his head back as he laughed and moved to grab his golf club again. “Oh, I thought you didn’t find it funny.” He leaned back on his putter and smiled at Jack. “Now you can gush about how sporty I am.”

Jack snorted. "Oh my gods, you're so sporty," he droned. "Do me in the locker room." Jack smirked in Parker's direction as he went to grab his ball. "We can be that jock quarterback and depressed gay kid trope in all the indie movies."

Parker laughed more, but couldn’t help but bask in the compliments, even if they were delivered sarcastically and at his own request. “My dream come true. Better than...” He shook his head and put his putter over his shoulder. “Ready for the next hole? I won’t help you cheat on the next one.”

"Are you sure? Because I don't think I totally got that swing, you might have to show me again," Jack chided as he stood beside the next tee.

Parker snickered and tapped the back of Jack's leg with his club. "I don't trust you. You're pretending you're being flirty when you're really just trying to beat me."

Jack scoffed. "I can't believe you think that I'd have to pretend to flirt. I'm literally never not flirting with you, Parker. Do you know me at all?" Jack shook his head and teed his ball. "Disgusting." Jack took his shot and watched his ball land a respectable distance from the hole.

Parker rested his hand on his cheek. “Ugh, whatever.” He dipped his head and hit the ball, sending it just slightly ahead of Jack’s. “So you were being actually flirty while also trying to get me to win for you.”

"Yeah, duh," Jack explained as he walked over to take his next shot. "I mean, if you help me win, it's almost like you still won, so it's kind of a win-win." Jack took his shot and the ball fell into the hole. Jack shrugged. "Just saying."

Parker rolled his eyes, still smiling. He rubbed his jaw and took his shot, getting the ball in after Jack. "Fine." He tapped his putter against Jack's shoe. "You've convinced me. I'll win for the both of us and then do you in the locker room." Even using the words Jack had didn't stop Parker from flushing slightly, and he tipped his head back so he wouldn't have to see Jack laugh at him. He turned to walk to the next green. "I think we're almost through the course. We've been doing pretty well, actually," he said as he checked the sheet of paper he was keeping track of their scores on.

Jack's laughter was diluted with a rush of nerves (hope?) that Parker was being serious. He followed Parker to the next green and peeked over at the piece of paper. "Who's winning?"

Parker moved the paper so that Jack could see it as well. “You have sixteen, and I have thirteen, so me.”

Jack snatched the piece of paper away from Parker and replaced it with his hand. "Okay, but barely. I'm like, a very close runner up."

Parker let Jack take it and smirked. "Second place is also last place when there's only two people."

"I guess that puts you second to last." Jack lifted up their hands to kiss his own thumb before letting go so that he could make his putt. The ball rolled across the green straight into a carpeted 'sand' trap. "Ugh."

Parker laughed and ducked his head, rubbing his cheek. "I guess so." He snorted at Jack's attempt and stepped up as though to show him exactly how to execute the shot perfectly. He hit the ball in an almost identical way to Jack, ending up in the same trap, then rubbed the back of his neck. "Hm. This is a harder one."

Jack's knees gave way as he cackled. "Oh yeah?" He walked over to see where Parker's ball had landed and laughed again. "Wow. Look at this skill. I'm so turned on right now."

"Shut up." Parker laughed and shook his head as he walked over to meet Jack. "I haven't done this in a while. It's intentionally tricky."

"I can tell." Jack stood in the sand trap and chipped the ball out. The ball bounced onto the green and rolled two feet from the hole. "See that?" Jack smirked. "Jacques."

Parker rolled his eyes and sent the ball out of the trap and closer to Jack's. "I transferred all my skill to you when I showed you how to do it." He reached out to poke Jack's arm. "Are you sure you can't control the wind?"

"Does this answer your question?" Jack sidled up to his ball and gave it a firm putt toward the hole. The ball stopped short two inches away. "Ugh. It was cuter in my head when the ball actually went in.

Parker smiled. "It was still cute."

Jack just tapped the ball into the hole with his putter before picking it up and walking over to Parker so he could take his turn. As he passed Parker, Jack pecked a kiss onto Parker's shoulder. "Good luck." In the distance, Jack thought he saw somebody pointing in his direction, but he chose to ignore it.

Parker poked Jack’s side this time, grinning as he pressed his shoulder into his cheek. “Thanks, not that I need it.” He tapped the ball lightly and pumped his fist as he watched it drop into the cup. “It would’ve been pretty funny if I missed it there.”

Jack smiled anyway. As he walked over to the next hole, Jack got a clearer view of a family in the distance, definitely staring and pointing at him. Jack turned his head away and dropped his ball on the tee, grumbling quietly.

“Good thing I’m too good to.” Parker walked after Jack, and turned his head, frowning as he saw the people staring at them. He turned away and rubbed his cheek.

Jack took his shot without thinking too much about it. The ball stopped respectably close to the hole, but Jack didn't seem too excited, his mind preoccupied with something else. "You're up."

Parker shot and the ball looped around Jack’s, landing in the cup. He smiled and didn’t look behind him again as he tapped Jack’s wrist with the handle of his putter. “Did you ever play that game where you had to spell out a word and then the other person had to guess what word you were spelling?” Parker blinked, realizing he explained it wrong. “Like, you spell out the word by tracing it onto somebody. And then they have to guess what you’re writing on them.”

Jack shook his head. "Sounds like a tough game to play for a dyslexic person," he joked. "Is it fun?"

"Yeah, kinda. I typically would tap out after like, four letters." Parker shrugged. "It could depend on who you play with."

Jack made his way over to his ball. "Where do you draw the word? Like, where on the body?" He lined up to take his shot.

Parker quickly ran over when he remembered that he didn't already take his own ball out of the cup. "Um, could be anywhere? I think on the back mostly, so they can't watch you do it."

Jack waited until Parker was out of the way to make his shot. A narrow miss. "Ugh. That sounds like a cute game though. You could write little messages on someone's back." Jack scribbled in the air, "'You're cute.' 'I like you.' 'End my suffering.' Stuff like that." Jack tapped the ball into the hole with his putter then plucked it out of the cup.

Parker exhaled a laugh. “I think that’s the point of it. You can be like ‘hi’ or ‘eat my fucking germs’ or ‘pull my hair’.” He smirked and looked away from Jack. “I think the last the next one is the last one, and then we can figure out how badly I beat you,” he said as he walked them to the next green.

Jack smiled, resisting the urge to just reach out and spell out any of those things across Parker's back with his tongue. "Ugh, great." Jack looked ahead to the final hole. "Ah, the clown mouth." As they stepped up to the tee, Jack was greeted by an oversized clown head with a ramp leading up to the back of its throat. Jack frowned. "This is some gay shit."

Parker laughed, shaking his head at the clown. "What's gay about two guys trying to get balls into a clown's mouth?"

Jack snickered. "Just stand five feet away from me while we do it." Jack lined up his shot and putted the ball straight up the bridge into the clown's mouth. He walked over to pick it up and noticed that the back of the clown's mouth was some dark abyss. "Oh... Is that it? He just... Eats it?"

Parker grinned and brought his putter up as though to measure out the distance between himself and Jack, taking a step back. He nodded and stepped up, dropping his ball onto the tee. “Uh, yeah, I think it returns the balls to where they’re stored. But you got a hole in one! Finish strong.” He smiled and took the shot, but his face fell slightly as it just bounced off of the clown’s tongue. “Uh, unlike that.”

Jack laughed. "Uh, well you've got like, ten tries left before I catch up to you, so... Literally zero pressure." He stepped in toward Parker and leaned onto his putter like a cane.

“Well there’s some pressure. If I take ten tries you’ll never want to speak to me again because I suggested doing something I’m bad at.” Parker rested his hand on his cheek and stuck out his lip in a pout. “You might need to blow me a kiss, for luck.”

Jack laughed and dropped his head. He pulled off a glove, held it up to Parker's cheek, and planted a kiss right over it. Then, holding it by one end, Jack playfully smacked Parker's cheek with the plastic glove. "Good luck."

Parker waited patiently as Jack complied, and brought his fingers up to his cheek when Jack smacked him. "Hey!" He laughed and pressed his lips together as he took his shot and willed the ball to go where it was supposed to. As it disappeared into the mouth void, he turned to Jack, beaming. "I win."

Jack gave Parker an unimpressed smile. "Okay, but you were always going to beat me anyway." He slipped his glove back on and reached out for Parker's hand. "Sorry I don't have a prize for you."

Parker folded up the score sheet and put it in his pocket before he took Jack’s hand. He rested his putter on his shoulder and sighed, though he couldn’t bring himself to frown. “I’ll let it slide, for now.”

The smile on Jack's fell quickly when he turned toward the exit and saw a woman walking up toward them. "Fuck," he whispered under his breath, trying to avoid her gaze. "Excuse me," the stranger called out sternly. "Did one of you say something to my daughter?"

Parker put his putter down in the return basket and only glanced at the woman for a moment before he shook his head. He forced himself not to let go of Jack’s hand. “Um, sorry, no. We’re actually just leaving too so...”

Jack kept his head down as the woman continued on, her voice rising. "Okay, well she's not crying for nothing. So why don't—" "It was me," Jack piped up. He lifted his head to look at the woman straight on, noticing her whole body flinch when she took in his scar. "My ball rolled onto the other course and I went to go pick it up. I guess your daughter was afraid of my face."

Parker raised his eyebrows at the woman and took a moment to think about what Kieran might say in a situation like this. "I believe that your time might be better spent comforting your child or teaching them manners, rather than haranguing strangers before they leave the park," he said sternly, giving Jack's hand a quick squeeze before he tried to pull him away. "Let's go."

Jack followed Parker's lead and started toward the exit, but not without first seeing the woman's face turn completely red. "I'm—I am so sorry, I didn't know," she blubbered. Jack pressed his lips together to hide his smile. As they stepped off the greens, Jack heard a splash coming from behind them. He turned around to see that the woman had tripped and falling into the artificial river where they had sunk so many shots. Jack clutched Parker's arm with his free hand, trying his hardest not to bust out in laughter. "Oh my fucking gods," he exhaled.

Parker didn’t pay the woman any mind as she apologized, scowling to himself about the entire interaction. He clenched his jaw and turned when he heard a splash, then shook his head and pressed a hand to his forehead as he watched the woman flounder and pull herself out of the water. “Jesus,” he said under his breath as she wailed along with her child. He turned to Jack and shook his head again, smile slowly appearing on his face once more. He ran a hand through his hair. “Oh my... wow. That was...” He couldn’t help himself and started laughing.

Jack turned in toward Parker, unable to stop himself from laughing along. "Wow. She..." He trailed off, too caught up in his fit of giggles. Jack clasped both his hands around Parker's. He bit his lip and focused on Parker's smile for a moment before shaking his head. "Uh, thanks. For sticking up for me."

Parker took a moment to compose himself, and then laughed again before he caught his breath fully. He pressed his cheek into his shoulder and smiled up at Jack. "What else would I do?" He grinned, then started laughing again. "Wow, a book club is gonna get an earful about me shoving that woman into a pond on a mini golf course."

Jack shut his eyes and laughed, squeezing Parker's hand. He peeked over his shoulder to see the woman dripping wet in front of her howling children. "Um, we should probably go before she comes over here and accuses you of assault."

Parker let out another small laugh and brought his hand up to kiss Jack through his glove. "Yeah, let's go." He turned fully now and started back to the car.

Jack followed Parker back to the car in a dreamlike state. He tried his hardest not to stare at Parker the whole time, but failed a few times along the way. Jack didn't realize how alluring it was to have his crush stand up for him against a bully, but he could definitely get used to it. Once they got back to the car, Jack leaned over and kissed Parker's shoulder before letting go to climb in.

Parker had to resist the urge to kiss Jack’s head while it was right there, but grinned at him as he get into the car. He tapped out a happy tune into the roof of the car before getting in himself. He buckled in and pulled out of where they were parked. “Do you like mini golf now?”

Jack clicked his seatbelt in and tipped his head back to smile at Parker. "I like you," he joked. "But I guess the mini golf was pretty fun too."

Parker smiled back at Jack before moving his eyes back to the road. "I think mini golf was more fun with you."

Flushing pink, Jack reached across to squeeze Parker's shoulder. He bit his lip for a moment then looked away. "Uh, remember how there was I thing I was gonna ask you earlier?" Jack asked meekly, his smile audible in his voice.

Parker glanced at Jack for half a second. "Yeah?"

"Ugh," Jack ran a hand over his face, turning an even deeper red. "I can't believe I'm telling you this but I don't know when I'll get the chance again, so..." He looked over at Parker. "I've always wanted to do that cheesy movie thing where you roll down your windows and blast some 80's anthem and just like... Drive away from the camera."

Parker laughed and fumbled around to see if there was anything for Jack to plug his phone into. "Um, go ahead!" He grinned. "Who are you putting on?"

Jack fished around for a cord for a bit then plugged his phone in once he found one. "Um... I only really know the Breakfast Club song," Jack confessed. "Or like... So Emotional."

Parker tapped the steering wheel with one hand. "Play So Emotional! I love Whitney Houston."

Jack wasn't sure why he found Parker's enthusiasm so funny, but he laughed anyway. "Sure," he replied, tapping on the song. Jack turned up the volume dial until the intro percussion was vibrating in his seat, then rolled down his window. Right on time with the music, Jack called out, "I don't know why I like it... I just do!"

Parker rolled his window down as well, grinning widely as he glanced at the GPS and turned. "I think this is great! I... This is great!"

Jack laughed along, still bopping to the music. He turned to watch Parker drive as Whitney nailed the verse. Jack couldn’t resist reaching over and brushing his fingers over Parker’s cheek before resting his hand on Parker’s shoulder. “See I remember the way we touched,” Jack sang along. “I wish I didn’t like it so muuuch!”

Parker struggled to focus on the road. "I get so emotional baby!" He laughed as he sang along. "Every time I think of you!" He didn't point at Jack because he was driving and regretted every moment of it.

Alec half slid down the ladder from the loft in their scramble to open the door, flinging it open wide and spreading their arms in welcome. "Hey! Come on in!" they exclaimed, stepping to the side to give Kieran room to enter, then turning around completely to saunter over and hop up to sit on one of the card tables. "So I know hanging out on Thursdays was going to replace Tuesday movie nights, but we didn't say specifically it was also going to be a movie night, so I figured we could go out and do something fun instead of staying in?"

Kieran stepped into the cabin and shut the door behind him. He knew to come with zero expectations and was glad that Alec's suggestion proved that he was right to do so. "What sort of fun do you have in mind?"

"There's a tipsy painting night at a university and my friend said it'd be chill if we crashed it and they're already heading that way anyway so they can give us a ride?" All the words came out in a rush– Alec's excitement at the prospect was evident from their smile, fast words, and how they could barely sit still on the table. "I can lend you a shirt too so you don't mess up your clothes?" They gave him an expectant look.

"Ah," Kieran uttered in reply, thoroughly amused at Alec's enthusiasm. "Funny that you've phrased both statements as questions when your heart already seems dedicated to an answer." He nodded. "That sounds like an excellent plan and I would appreciate some loaned apparel. Thank you."

Alec laughed and hopped off the table to retrieve the shirt they had in mind, one that was on the verge between 'well worn' and 'threadbare'. "If you didn't want to then I'd be okay with staying here. Heartbroken, totally devastated, but okay with it." They presented the shirt to him. "But you agreed, so my heart is intact! Is this shirt okay? I have some others in better shape if you want, but I was gonna cut this one up tomorrow anyway."

"This is just fine, thank you." Kieran accepted the shirt with a smile. He laid the shirt on the table and start unbuttoning the one he was wearing. "So is this going to be any particular style of painting? Watercolor? Abstract expressionism? Bob Ross?"

"Bob Ross I think? I'm pretty sure there's a video to follow along if you want, but they let you do your own thing." Alec hopped up to sit on their kitchen counter now, grabbing an apple to snack on while they waited. "No way I can follow along fast enough so I'm just gonna go nuts with some colours."

Kieran laid his own shirt on the table and pulled Alec's over his head. He couldn't help but notice the way it smelled as the fabric caught on his face before falling flatly onto his torso. "All the best artists are rule-breakers," Kieran pointed out. "I'm interested to see what you'll create." He wandered over to the kitchen counter so he could lean up against it.

Alec smiled down at him, pressing a hand to their cheek for a moment. "It fits!" well, their brain supplied as an end to the sentence, but they brushed that to the side. "Not that that's surprising. Do you paint? Is it one of your artistic talents?"

"I do not paint," Kieran confessed sadly. "But I imagine the principles of composition, color, movement, et cetera all still apply, even though the medium and canvas have changed." He shot a cocky smirk up at Alec. "I'm confident that I'll be able to adapt my skills with ease."

"I bet you will!" Alec clapped a hand on his shoulder with a grin, then slid off the counter to stand beside him. "We should get going to meet my friend at their car. Wouldn't want to miss the chance to make your masterpiece!"

"Surely," Kieran agreed. "Does your friend live here in New Athens?" he asked as he started for the door.

"Mhm!" Alec tossed their apple core away and grabbed their coat as they followed Kieran out. "I don't know any Americans outside of camp. It's nice of them to give a ride, eh? They're not even going to the paint night, just to do work, so try not to get too attached." They laughed.

Kieran snorted. "Not once have I tried to attach myself onto anybody. All of my friendships are fortunate accidents," he admitted as he stepped onto the grass. Kieran gestured for Alec to lead the way once they were out of the cabin. "Happy accidents, I should specify."

Alec kept up a near-constant stream of chatter from the moment they stepped into the car until they came to a stop outside of the university, broken up by moments of silence where they were distracted by something whizzing by outside the window. They waved at the car until their friend was out of sight, then turned to Kieran and exhaled. "Oh, man, I felt like a golden retriever. It's been so long since I was in a car my brain short-circuited on the thrill."

"I wouldn't have pegged you for somebody stimulated by car rides." Kieran laughed and took in their surroundings. "Do you know which building we're meant to go to?"

Alec closed their eyes for a second, then started walking. "I think this way! They said there should be a sign outside, and this feels like the right direction."

Kieran followed Alec along the path. "Lucky guess?"

Alec wiggled their fingers at him. "Intuition." They came to a stop beside a handwritten sign with an arrow. "Here we go!"

"Powerful inituition," Kieran remarked as he pulled open the door for Alec. "After you."

Alec pressed a hand to their heart and entered the building. “Thanks! What a gentleman.” They spotted another sign and followed the path until it opened up into a room where a number of strangers milled about, chatting with glasses of wine in hand. Alec motioned towards two free easels. “After you? Just look like a student.” They flashed a grin at him.

"Fettered and unrested?" Kieran joked. He moved toward the free easels, looking about the room. "This isn't a BYOB function, is it?"

Alec scanned the room then pointed between a few easels. “Looks like they got some sorta bar set up o’er there! Wanna head? I could go for some wine to get the creativity going.”

"Absolutely," Kieran agreed, heading to the bar. He tried not to be too judgmental about the selection of wines as he grabbed a glass for both himself and Alec. "What type of wine do you typically prefer?" Kieran asked as he poured himself a dry red.

Alec was pleased to recognize two of the brands as ones they could drink. “I like red!” they chirped. “And the one you’re pouring is vegan, so I like that even more.”

"Ah," Kieran smiled, holding the bottle up by his face. "I can assure you that I very intentionally selected this wine for that exact reason." He filled up the cup beside his, stopping just shy of the rim. "Just say when," Kieran joked as he put the much-emptier bottle back on the table.

Alec laughed and took the cup carefully. “Are we gonna bankrupt this paint night?” They held out their glass towards him. “We gotta cheers here so I can take a sip and not spill this on my way back.”

Kieran waved a hand as he picked up his glass. "I'll leave a tip with the porter." He clinked his wine glass against Alec's with a santé and took a big sip.

Alec repeated Kieran’s cheers back to him and cupped the glass like a goblet as they took a long enough sip that they weren’t in danger of spilling it. Around them people were beginning to return to their easels, still chatting, and the woman Alec assumed was the coordinator began pulling a video up on the projector screen. “Looks like our clue to put our painter’s hats on!” Alec took another sip as they headed back towards the available easels. “I’m gonna start from the top and paint down so I can see how it changes as I get more tipsy.”

Kieran laughed at the idea. "I'm sure that will be... Compositionally interesting." He stood by his easel and took another big sip of wine before setting the glass down. "I'll follow the video to some extent. I'll do an interpretation. Depart whenever I feel that the instructions have become inhibiting."

“It’s gonna be great,” Alec agreed, choosing to take it fully as a compliment. “Are you still chill with chatting or do you wanna get in the flow of painting?” They took another sip of their wine and examined one of their paintbrushes.

Kieran snorted. "Believe it or not, the appeal of this event was not the opportunity to replicate one of Mr. Ross's master works. I would be happy to keep chatting. Unless of course, you don't want me to interrupt your own flow, which I would completely understand."

Alec laughed and lowered their wine to start mixing some paint colours. “My flow can stand some chatter. What was the appeal?”

Kieran gestured vaguely in the air. "You know..." He furrowed his brow. "The social nature, the... Invitation." He felt a strange heat rising in his neck. Weird. "And the alcohol, of course." He picked up his glass of wine and took another big sip. "Why, what was yours?"

Alec picked up their paintbrush and drew a line across the top of their canvas. They turned to give him a wide smile. “I wanted to spend time with you.”

Kieran scrunched his lips to the side to hide his smile. He turned away from Alec as he picked up his brush then set his glass down. Kieran took a step back to consider his whole easel before looking up at the video projected on the screen. "So I was right," Kieran remarked as a Bob Ross video started playing. He smirked at Alec, wiggling his fingers as they did before. "Intuition."

Alec threw back their head and laughed. “You got me beat!” They wiggled their fingers back, a couple drops of paint dropping onto their already battered sneakers as the paintbrush shook. “I’m some excited to see all the trees people paint,” they sighed, genuinely thrilled. “Something about looking at nature on a canvas is so relaxing. And nature off a canvas! But the colours are brighter in paint.”

Kieran started on his easel, following along with the video. He looked down at the colors beside him then over at Alec's. They were the same. Kieran furrowed his brows, wondering why he expected them to be different. "What color are the trees where you're from?"

Alec paused their sequence of horizontal lines and cocked their head to the side. “Same as here, why?”

Kieran exhaled a laugh. "Sorry, I should have been more specific with my phrasing." He shook his head, but still didn't rephrase his question. As he painted a long brown stroke on his canvas, Kieran muttered. "They used to be white." He lifted his brush and considered the brown line before relaxing his arm and looking at Alec. "In Maine, there was a birding trail I liked to hike through. Where I would spend the majority of my time, if I'm being candid. The trees were long and bare. Their barks were white. And then in the fall, when all the leaves would turn, the sky would light up like a pimpernel. Just a fiery orange."

Kieran shrugged and resumed painting. "Not that the colors don't turn around here. But it just looked different," he muttered. "Against the white."

Alec hung onto each word, nodding along slowly and trying to picture the trees in their head as Kieran described them. “That sounds right beautiful,” they breathed as he returned to his painting. “I wish I could see that. The trees back home are kinda sad, to be honest? Short and stubby like. The ocean’s where the beauty is, and the shores and houses. Everything’s designed to be colourful to brighten up the gloom.” They added a vibrant streak of yellow across the blues they had layered along the top of the canvas.

Kieran watched as Alec painted a streak of yellow across their canvas. "Hm," he muttered as he looked back at his own. "Maybe I should do the same then." Kieran dipped his brush into the red and painted a big scarlet line beside the brown.

Alec glanced over at Kieran’s canvas and beamed. “Good plan! Join me off book.” They looked back at their own canvas. “But I’m not following the video at all, by the way,” they laughed, realizing how mismatched their canvas was to the one on the screen. “Just painting some lines, filling some background space.”

"I've noticed," Kieran laughed as he glanced over at Alec's canvas. "Perhaps I'll land somewhere between you and Mr. Ross. Where structure meets whim." Kieran looked back at the video and started recreating the strokes on his own canvas, making some bright red trees in the foreground. "Or at least where structure meets red wine," he laughed.

“Who knows! What if I was just that terrible at taking direction?” Alec painted a third of the way down their canvas, mainly blues with the odd splash of yellow or green, then picked up a tiny brush and began meticulously drawing a pattern in white paint overtop. They had their glass in their other hand the entire time, pausing to take sips here and there. “I love how you keeping calling him Mr. Ross. He sounds like an art teacher- I guess he is, eh? But I mean like a high school art teacher, like from Degrassi or something.”

"Degrassi," Kieran laughed. "Were there teachers in that show? All I remember is when Drake got shot and when the pregnant girl hit her head on a rock." Kieran took another sip of wine. "For a high school drama, the learning seemed secondary."

“I’ve never actually seen Degrassi,” Alec blurted out in confession. “It’s just what I think of when I imagine high schools. Drake got shot?”

"Famously," he chuckled. "His character became wheelchair bound. It was quite the shocker for a teen show, and I promise that I am not as much of a fan as I am probably coming across as right now." He dropped his head and laughed. "I wouldn't have retained that memory if he hadn't later gone on to become Drake."

Alec shook their head and smiled fondly at him. “I can’t believe I’m in the company of the number one Degrassi fan. It’s an honour.”

Chuckling, Kieran shook his head in surrender. "Alright, alright." He resumed painting, rushing a bit now to catch up to the video. "I'll accept that because it truly is an honor to be graced by my presence."

Alec had to catch their breath from laughing again so they could take another sip of wine. “I couldn’t agree more.” They returned to their tiny patterns across the dark blue part of their painting. “I’ll get the next glasses of wine when you’re done yours! Then you can keep up with the video.”

Deciding to skip the next part of the painting, unsatisfied with the way the mountain looked in the video, Kieran resumed drinking. "That would be lovely." He looked down at his cup and tilted his head back and forth a few times before deciding to go for it, downing the rest of the wine in one big gulp. He covered his mouth and burped quietly before setting the glass down beside Alec with a smile. "Thank you."

Alec, upon seeing Kieran down the rest of his drink, quickly followed suit. They made a face and shook their head like a dog shaking off water at the taste of it all at once. “Jeez, I’m bad at drinking.” They scooped Kieran’s glass up and smiled back, lifting both glasses in cheers and tapping them to each other before turning to scurry back to the bar. Fortunately, someone had opened a new bottle of the red they were drinking, and Alec refilled both glasses to the top. They slowly made their way back. “Delivery?”

"Ah, the porter," Kieran joked as he took back his glass. "I suppose I'll just leave my tip with you then," he suggested as he held up his glass to cheers Alec.

Alec tapped their glass against Kieran’s, spilling only a couple drops. “Paying me for my company now?” They grinned.

Kieran took a sip of wine before setting down his glass. "It's funny. I've paid people to rid myself of their presence, but never paid somebody to stay. Perhaps you could be the first."

“You have?” Alec tilted their head to the side and laughed. “I’d be honoured. Except not actually, obviously.”

Kieran laughed as he resumed painting. "Unfortunately, I have not. I was just being facetious. I think my general rudeness and impatience for social niceties is enough to drive people away. Not that I'm complaining."

Alec blinked at him. “I’ve never thought you were rude or impatient?” They lowered their paintbrush and took an absentminded sip of wine. “Not even when we first met.”

Kieran smiled a bit as he dipped his brush in the paint. "That's very kind. A minority opinion." He turned to Alec and smiled fully. "But thank you."

Alec beamed back and pressed one hand to their cheek, leaving a smudge of yellow paint behind when they dropped it a few moments later. “It’s true! I think you’re...” they searched for the right words. “Super charming.”

Kieran's smile twisted into a crooked little grin. He turned back toward his easel, but his mind had fallen off the painting. Super charming, he echoed in his head. I am a son of Aphrodite. Kieran laid down his brush just a second after picking it up and tapped his own cheek with his finger. "You have some paint."

Alec added a couple spirals in the middle of the canvas, deciding they were tipsy enough to fill in the middle third. They blinked when Kieran spoke and started rubbing the wrong cheek. “Am I getting it?” Now there was a smudge of blue on their other side.

"Yeah," Kieran smirked. He shook his head and chuckled, looking back at his easel. He picked up his brush, looked up at the projector, then sighed. "Okay, sorry, no." He laid down his brush and gestured for Alec to come closer. "You've actually made it worse."

Alec laughed and put their brush down to step closer. “You coulda got me there.” They pointed to their cheek with the yellow, an inch above it. “Here? Sorry to make you miss the teachings of Mr. Ross.”

"Mr. Ross's teachings are like publicly funded fireworks. You've seen one, you've seen them all." Kieran held Alec's chin with one hand and used his thumb to swipe away the yellow. He wiped the paint off on his shirt before switching to the other cheek.

Alec closed their eyes when Kieran took their chin and laughed. “You’ve really got a way with words, that’s exactly what they’re like. But still fun every time!” Unconsciously, they leaned into his brief touch to their cheek. “If it’s gonna keep going this way I’m sure glad I wore painting clothes. First my shoes, now my face. I’ll be blue top to bottom in an hour.”

Kieran laughed, swapping his hands to wipe away the paint on their other cheek. "Better blue on the outside than on the inside." He gave them a pat on their chest once he was finished and wiped his fingers dry on his shirt. "Though this shirt can only sop up so much paint. So if you're blue from head to toe," Kieran shrugged. "You're on your own."

Alec made sure to wipe their hands on their own shirt to avoid smearing more paint on their face, at least for the time being. They smiled at him. “I’ll try and avoid it then.” Picking up their glass of wine again, they returned to their spirals, drifting towards a warmer colour palette now.

Kieran glanced back up at the video. The landscape was much more populated now than Kieran's was. He decided to just pick up where Bob was and painted a red river running through the scene. "Hm. Maybe I should have opted for a different color," Kieran chuckled as he painted another red stroke onto his canvas. "It looks like I've turned my still-life into a war crime."

Alec put their paintbrush down for a break and picked up their wine glass, taking a couple steps over to stand beside Kieran. They grinned at him and swished the wine around in what they hoped was a pretentious manner, resting their chin on one hand as they examined his painting. “A modern-day Guernica,” they announced the way they imagined art critics to speak. “A vivid portrayal of war and the violence of deforestation.”

Stepping aside to let Alec asses his easel, Kieran took another sip of wine. He almost spat back into the cup after snorting at their appraisal. "Cubism? Oh, no, no, no. I was going more for a Motherwell or Cy Twombly vibe." He looked around the room to make sure nobody was watching before picking up the small cup of red paint and splashing it onto his canvas. He slammed the empty cup down and gestured to the painting with aplomb. "There. Now do you see my vision?"

Alec laughed. “I meant in subject not style, but sure.” As Kieran tossed the paint onto the canvas Alec gave an ‘ooh’ of appreciation and tapped their fingers against their glass in an odd sort of clap. “Clear as water! It’s a masterpiece. Your chef-d’oeuvre.”

"Thank you, thank you," Kieran rolled his hand and gave a regal bow. "The bidding will start at one million. Euro." He lifted his wine glass to take another sip.

“I can give you...” Alec went through their pockets with one hand. “Five dollars, a twenty-sided die and half a fortune teller?”

Kieran just smirked over at Alec. "I'll just subtract the total from what I'm paying you for your company."

“An artist and a businessman? Incredible!” Alec considered their glass of wine, then downed another part of it. “Is this the final product? You’re making me want to throw paint on my canvas.”

"Finality is a construct," Kieran quipped. "But please, don't let my decisions influence your masterpiece. Do what feels right in your soul."

Alec squinted at their canvas. "The final third is for the final third glass of wine," they decided. "If the paint pouring spirit takes me I'll do it." They bumped his shoulder with theirs lightly then moved back to in front of their own easel.

"Alright," Kieran nodded, mentally preparing himself for a third glass of wine. He took a moment to reassess his canvas. The splatter of paint was interesting, but now the whole canvas was overwhelmingly red. Kieran wondered if he should try to salvage it or just stop there. Rather than decide, he just swirled his brush in the little cup of water and looked over to see what Alec would do.

Alec continued adding colours to the swirls in the middle section until their wine glass was empty, which only took a minute or two. They took a step back and nodded to themself, pleased with how the assortment of colours was coming along, then looked over at Kieran. "Gathering inspiration?" they asked brightly.

"Letting the ideas marinate," Kieran confirmed. He picked up his glass and took a long sip to catch up with Alec. "Are we meant to bring these back home once they're complete?"

"Letting them pickle?" Alec suggested instead, holding up their empty glass. "If we want! If you like it. We could swap paintings!" They laughed. "Or put them both up in the Tyche cabin, your apartment seems much more, uh, curated? Than mine."

Kieran snorted. "Yes, I don't think my angsty, red portrait would feature very nicely in our living room." Kieran took the last sip of his wine then held out his hand toward Alec. "May I?"

Alec laughed. "Maybe not." They looked at his hand, then at his face. "Are you asking for my glass or my hand?"

Kieran smirked. "Your glass? For your final third?"

Alec handed their glass over to him and gave him their best look of disappointment. It was ruined by how they couldn't stop smiling for more than a few seconds. "I'm crestfallen."

Kieran rolled his eyes as he passed Alec. "I'm sure you'll recover." He looked through the bottles at the bar, but most had seemed to be poured out, save for a different brand of red and a half empty bottle of white. Kieran looked around to make sure nobody was looking at him before ditching their cups at the table and bringing the bottle of red back over to their easels. "I wanted to confirm with you that this is in fact a vegan wine," Kieran explained, holding the bottle out toward Alec. "If you would do the honor of assessing it."

Alec took the bottle and examined it, then pulled out their phone to Google it. They frowned and shook their head. "Aw man, no, it's not. Was there anything else left at the table?"

Kieran nodded his head. "Indeed there was. If you'll excuse me." He pranced back over to the table to swap the bottles, returning with the half full white. "How about this?"

Alec only had to look at it long enough to figure out what the brand name was. "Oh! Yeah! That's vegan." They blinked at him. "But it's white, are you okay with that?"

"Pfft," Kieran scoffed before taking a big swig straight from the bottle. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand then pressed the bottle to Alec's chest. "I'm white. Are you okay with that?"

Alec laughed hard enough that they had to grasp the bottle with both hands to make sure they wouldn't drop it. "You're some secret party animal, eh?" They followed his lead and drank straight from the bottle, only noticing their glasses were missing when they went to refill them. They didn't ask. "I think I can manage."

Kieran snorted. "Good. And I'm not sure why you would think it's a secret, I'm very obviously a beast of the party. Do you not very fondly recall our Pixar movie night from a few weeks ago? Rollicking." He clapped his hands and loudly repeated, "Rolicking!"

Alec almost wheezed they were laughing so hard. "Lord liftin', I'm stunned either of us remember that night!" They held the bottle out to him. "But yeah, a right fond memory. Just like this one! Like this one's gonna be."

"I remember everything, Master Masters." Kieran tapped his temple before taking the bottle from Alec. "Like a proverbial pachyderm." He took another sip of wine then wearily muttered, "Some men would tremble before the memories stored in this hippocampus."

Alec understood maybe half of the words coming out of Kieran's mouth. "Should we be headin' her once this bottle's done?" They picked up one of the cups of paint and drizzled it along the bottom third of their canvas. "Make a break for it 'fore they notice we drank half the free wine?"

Kieran leaned in toward Alec and loudly whispered, "As far as I'm concerned, my painting has achieved its maximum potential for pathos. If you feel like your painting is similarly complete, we can always grab the easels and the wine and make a run for it."

Alec broke into a lopsided grin. "We've reached the crime part of the night, eh? Are you planning to take your easel with you?"

Kieran held up a hand. "Sorry, I misspoke. Just the canvas. I would never steal an easel when art departments are already so criminally underfunded. But yes," he nodded. "We have indeed reached that part of the night. That is, if you agree that it's a good idea. If you don't, then I'm absolutely just kidding, I would never do that sort of thing."

Alec just held a finger up to their lips and put their coat back on. They held out a hand. "I'll tuck it in my jacket here, got an inside pocket. They'll be none the wiser on our way out the door."

Kieran passed the bottle to Alec before lifting his easel up off the canvas. "Oh, that is still wet. That is very wet." He stepped back as a drip of red fell off the edge and onto the floor. "Okay, new plan, I'm just gonna run," he hissed. Without waiting for a response, Kieran pranced toward the door that they entered through and pushed on straight outside.

Alec dissolved into laughter and shoved the wine into their inside pocket, grabbing their own unfinished painting and bolting after him. As they caught up they slowed down, but kept to a brisk pace. They grinned over at him and slung an arm around his shoulders once they were outside and heading away from the building. "I'd say that was a success! We unlocked some hidden talents."

Kieran grabbed Alec's wrist, letting his arm hang off of theirs. "Yes! I never knew you were such an artist, I'm very impressed with your lack of inhibition on the canvas. I applaud you." Kieran let go of Alec's wrist for just a moment to give tiny butterfly finger claps before grabbing on again. "I for one have learned that I have very little patience for still life paintings and that April is still a very cold month."

"Just call me A-lack of inhibition Masters." Alec grinned at him. "Want t'find somewhere to perch and send 'er?" They tapped the outline of the bottle in their jacket with their spare hand. "Or are you rarin' to call a cab back toward camp?"

Kieran thrust a hand in no specific direction. "Let's send her! Onward, A-lack!" He pulled them toward a light post in the distance, assuming there would be seating there. There was not, but there was a concrete planter that Kieran walked right up to and sat down on. "Let us."

Alec followed along easily and sat beside him, dropping their arm from his shoulders on the way so they could could their canvas with both hands. They propped it up against the canvas and crossed their legs. "5 star accomondans," they remarked. "Accomadatons. Accommodations." They gave a satisfied nod once they got the word right. "Right comfy." Pulling the bottle of wine out of the inside of their jacket, they scooted their position around so they were sitting facing him and held it out. "Your wine, monsieur?"

Kieran wrapped his arms around himself as Alec got settled, rubbing his forearms to create friction. "Ah, merci," he responded as he took the wine from Alec. He held it up to the light to see how much was left. "Alas, drunk all and left no friendly drop to help me after," he moaned. He took a tiny sip and held the bottle back out toward Alec. "The rest is yours, friend."

Alec pressed a hand to their cheek as they watched him, smiling. Their face felt warm to touch. "Can't say we didn't get our money's worth, eh?" they joked as they took the bottle back. They lifted it up and down a couple times to judge the amount left, then tilted their head back to drain the rest. Placing the bottle down carefully on the ground beside their canvas, they whistled a couple notes of a random song and settled into a position leaning their elbows on their knees. They returned to smiling at him. "Fun first Thursday! Next time we can hang out without gettin' drunk, unless that hurts your party animal spirit."

Kieran pulled his legs up into a cross and turned to face Alec. "My party spirit animal never wavers in its strength. Rather, it simply descends to a frequency undetectable to most when I'm sober." Kieran shook his head with a laugh. "But no worries, I'm sure you'll learn how to hear it in due time. It's always there. Singing."

Alec laughed and ran a hand through their hair to mess it up. "You betcha I'll figure out how to tune into that frequency. A constant singing party animal, like a radio show. How's it feel to be so cool?"

"Oh, poppycock," Kieran scoffed with a shooing hand. "I'm nothing of the sort. You're cool, what with your inverted suspension and high elevations. I am, however, cold," Kieran confessed with a grin as he started to shiver. "So maybe we could find a warmer place?"

"I think you're cool!" Alec exclaimed earnestly, reaching forward to take both of Kieran's hands. "I think you're really cool. But also cold, yes." They smiled and squeezed his hands before letting go. Glancing around, they tried to figure out where somewhere warmer could be, already shrugging out of their jacket. "Y'wanna head back or look around for somewhere? Wear this for now." They held out their coat for him. "I'm way warm enough. And hey, matches with the shirt! 'Cause it's mine, I mean."

Kieran bowed his head as he accepted the jacket. "Thank you. For both your generosity and your curatorial eye." He slipped the jacket on and did a little turn. "Eh?" He mimicked Alec's accent poorly. "Head her out and slap 'em in the galleys, eh?"

Alec clapped for him as he turned. "A new wave in fashion!" It took them a few seconds to clue in to the fact he was making fun of them. "Hey!" they laughed, not even bothering to try and sound offended. "That's a right good impression. You'd fit right in on the Cape."

"Ah, you flatter me," Kieran dismissed. "And I thank you for it." He stepped forward to sling his arm around Alec as they did earlier and gestured forward on the path. "Let's onward to warmer sands. Wherever they may be, I have no preference."

Alec picked up their canvas and bottle. "How's about we wander 'til a cab strolls by? Drives by. Walking'll warm us up anyways." They leaned into Kieran and tucked the empty bottle back inside their jacket. "Let us onward."

Kieran walked along the path, taking in their surroundings. After a moment of silent contemplation, Kieran spoke again, his voice much softer and calmer now. "You know, I never knew there was a university so close to New Athens."

Alec took his wrist the way he had theirs earlier. They hummed as he spoke. "It's cool, eh?" They glanced at him to see his expression and try and judge what he was thinking. "Easy commute."

"Easy commute," Kieran repeated. He looked over at the campus buildings beside them for a moment, before looking at Alec. "Thank you," Kieran said with a smile. "This was a lovely idea."

Alec smiled back at him fondly. "I thought it'd be a fun time to get outta camp, get some new scenery."

"Yes, well, you thought correctly." Kieran looked ahead and dropped the arm he was holding around Alec so he could sprint forward. Leaping up, he grabbed onto a light pole and swing around it, his other arm flung out dramatically. "Ma n'atu sole, cchiu' bello, oi ne'!" Kieran belted in his best feigned operatic baritone. "'O sole mio, sta 'nfronte a te!"

Alec watched him swinging around the lamp post singing opera and felt a pleasant warmth spread through their chest, coupled with the desire to press their hands to their cheeks which they made no effort to resist. "Holy mackerel," they whispered to themself in tipsy delight before jogging forward to catch up with him. He's so cute. "A rising star! A new talent sweeping the nation!" They spread their arms wide, canvas still clutched in one hand. Even with just a t-shirt, they didn't feel the post-sunset chill in the air. "Encore! Encore!"

"Oh, stop! Stop!" Kieran feigned joyous weeping, his hand clutched over his heart. "Oh, alright! 'O sole, 'o sole mio!" Kieran continued, rounding out the end of the chorus. "Sta 'nfronte a te! Sta 'nfronte a te!" Kieran sustained his last note as he jumped off the light pole and held his hands out to Alec, gripping the sides of their face with dramatic urgency.

Alec smiled so widely at him between his hands that their eyes closed. They rested their free hand on his forearm. "A voice like none I've heard before!" they continued with their over-exaggerated tone of awe. "And such a rare roadside performance!"

"You are much too kind, truly!" Kieran relaxed his grip on Alec's face, letting his hands rest on their cheeks. For a moment, he just stood there quietly, not knowing what to say but not wanting to move. Then, he let his hands fall to Alec's shoulders and shrugged. "I suppose the hidden talents just continue to be unlocked."

Alec dropped their hand when Kieran moved his, grasping onto the front of the jacket he was wearing. “They do, eh? I find out more about you every time.” Their smile softened as they watched him. “Can’t wait to see what I learn next.”

Kieran smiled. "You and I both." His eyes flickered to the road, which was still empty as before. "I have not noticed any taxis, I must say."

Alec blinked and let go of the jacket. They looked to the road as though expecting a cab to appear if they checked. “Huh, yeah. Should I call one?”

Kieran held up a hand. "Allow me. You've already done quite the job arranging this evening thus far. I would be glad to extend some sort of effort to even out the playing field." Kieran pulled out his phone to order an Uber.

Now that going home was an immediate prospect, Alec could feel some of the haze clear from their head. A pleasant warmth was still settled through their chest and they watched Kieran order the Uber, holding onto their own arms. “Look at me, a right organizer.”

Kieran went through the motions and ordered an Uber. "Alright, looks like Gregory is just... Eighteen minutes away?" Kieran shook his head. "Preposterous. We'll have succumbed to hypothermia by then." He gave Alec a mournful glance. "I can already hear the Celine Dion."

Alec laughed and put their arm around Kieran again, rubbing the side of his shoulder in an attempt to warm him up. “I’ll give you space on my floating door.”

"Your generosity truly is limitless." Kieran gestured down at the curb. "Shall we take a seat?" He didn't wait for an answer before sitting down on the curb, pulling his knees into his chest.

Alec sat as well and stretched their legs into the street, tilting their head back to see if they could make out any stars past the glow of the streetlights. Soon growing bored of that, they leaned back on their hands and looked over at Kieran. “Did I end up smudging any more paint on my face?”

Kieran looked over at Alec and smiled. "You did, yes. You've made yourself into art."

Alec touched their painting, then purposefully put a dot in the middle of each of their cheeks. “Finishing touch.” They tapped Kieran’s chin to smear a small circle of orange on it and grinned. “Perfect.”

Kieran gasped when Alec marked his chin. "What?" He laughed and went to wipe the dot away with his hand, but paused. "Alright... Fine. But if you're going to harlequinize me, at least make it complete." He turned toward Alec and gestured toward his cheeks. "Master artist, here's your canvas."

Alec turned to face him as well and considered their painting, deciding to stick with orange after a moment of thought. They wiped one of their hands on their shirt and used that to hold Kieran’s chin steady as they drew a spiralling pattern on each of his cheeks. It didn’t seem complete, so they added a tiny heart on the tip of his nose. “Perfect!”

Kieran sat still with his eyes closed. He laughed as he felt Alec drawing on his cheeks. "Why does this seem more elaborate than the one you gave yourself?" Once they were finished Kieran opened his eyes and smiled. "Am I museum-worthy?"

“‘Cause I can see you!” Alec chirped, wiping their other hand on the shirt Kieran was wearing. “Yep, for sure. You’re gonna have to stand next to my other painting the whole time, it’s a matching set.”

Kieran snorted. He pulled out his phone and checked his reflection in the dark screen. "I appreciate your color consistency." He smiled over at Alec, his eyes flickering over the patterns on their face. "May I return the favor?"

Alec slid their canvas towards him and closed their eyes, leaning forward. “Yeah! Make me art!”

Kieran dipped his fingers in the wet paint and started recreating the patterns on Alec's face. A swirl on the left cheek, a swirl on the right. Kieran took Alec's chin in his hand and made a dot just below their lip with his thumb. "And..." Kieran eyes trailed up looking for the tip of their nose, but got caught somewhere on their lips. 

 A moment later, Kieran's lips were against Alec's. Then a moment later, they weren't. 

"There." Kieran made a small dot on Alec's nose and dropped his hands. He smiled. "Now we match."

Alec barely had time to realize Kieran had kissed them before it was over, and they found themself leaning forward to follow it. They caught themself and leaned back again, blinking their eyes open and touching their lips absently. Huh. The warmth in their chest was spreading to their fingertips.

Within a couple seconds they snapped out of it and smiled back at him, cheeks hot. “We do, eh?” They cleared their throat. “I’ll have to stand on the other side of the painting to balance out the set.”

"Ah, like that Gotye song," Kieran joked. His heart was firing rapidly in his chest but his mind felt like it was suspended in air, floating freely somewhere above him. "Hopefully sans all the angst."

Alec wondered if it would be okay for them to take Kieran’s hands again, like they did early. They traced a few lines on their leg instead. “I’m A-OK with the most angst being drinking white instead of red.”

"Good," Kieran smiled. His gaze fell to watch Alec trace lines on their leg. Subconsciously, Kieran started painting small spirals into the concrete behind him.

Alec lifted their head as lights came around the bend, and they squinted to make out the shape of the car. It seemed a fair assumption that it was their Uber, so Alec climbed to their feet and picked up their canvas. They held out a hand to help Kieran up with a smile. “Ready to go?”

Casey didn't bother changing out of his joggers and company tee after work. Teaching children how to walk on a balance beam, Casey barely ever broke a sweat, so the clothes were about as clean as they were when he put them on. Besides, Casey wouldn't be surprised if he and Alec somehow found their way into doing some sort of physical activity. Casey felt the tall weeds smacking against his shins as he neared the lake. "Hey!" he called out to an Alec-shaped person 20 yards away.

Alec spun around, flat rock ready to skip in hand, and threw their hands into the air. "Casey!" they called back. They started to jog over to him, tripped over a stick, pedalled their arms through the air for a few seconds to regain their balance, then continued until they were close enough that they didn't have to yell. "What's up?" they asked, holding their hand out to start their handshake. "Come here often?"

"Not in the daytime!" Casey chirped back. He slapped his hand into Alec's, pulled them in for a bro hug, then tenderly laid a palm on Alec's butt cheek. He rested his head against Alec's, completely still and silent for a few seconds before pulling away. "Glad you could make it!"

Alec copied Casey right down to the seconds of silence, then laughed as they pulled away, handshake completed. "Me too! Here." They pressed the rock into Casey's hand without any other explanation. "No twister and oil, but still gonna be a fun time!"

Casey just blinked down at the rock in his palm. "Are we... Stoning each other?"

Alec ran their fingers through their hair to mess it up. "Kinda one-sided if we were, eh? Let he without sin." They grinned at him. "We can get stoned!"

Casey smiled and clasped a hand over his chest. "A person after my own heart. Please don't tell anybody, but—" Casey pulled his pen out of his pocket. "I took like, three hits before teaching my class today."

Alec mirrored him and pressed a hand to their own chest. "You say like you're only learning that now!" They leaned forward and lowered their voice to a whisper. "I'm going to tell everyone and get you fired."

Casey gasped and smacked the side of Alec's arm. "Don't you dare! Those children are grubs but their parents tip me so well." Casey held up his pen. "They're even sponsoring this afternoon, don't you know?"

"You guys are getting tipped?" Alec grinned at him and plucked the pen out of his fingers. "Thank you, parents! Think if I email them they'll sponsor my bad habits?"

"If you offer to take away their children for two hours, I think they'll sponsor anything," Casey half-joked.

Alec laughed. "I thought you meant like, threaten kidnapping for a second! Blackmail them!"

Casey clutched Alec's arm and guffawed. "That's so evil, oh my gods! How much money do you think they'd offer? Don't answer that, you'll go straight to hell." Casey shook his head and stepped toward the water. "Brilliant mind, Alec Masters, brilliant mind."

Alec shook their head vigorously. "No! I'm not condoning that at all." They winked at him. "Not at all."

Casey closed his eyes, smiled, and shook his head. "You smooth talker." He turned to gesture out toward the lake. "So what's the vibe then? A stoned swim? A baked boat race? Some fazed fishing?" Casey looked back at Alec, grimacing. "Please don't say fishing."

Alec looked out over the lake when Casey gestured to it. "Fishing? Gross, I left that behind when I was fifteen." They started heading back towards the water. "Can we combine them? Make our own game?"

"Yeah!" Casey agreed. "I love a good game. Or—that's not true. I love a good win. The game is secondary." He looked at Alec. "Are you thinking some sort of athletic competition?"

"I love a good win," Alec agreed. "No matter what." They picked up another rock and hucked it into the lake. "We should find a way to balance this shit out, you got crazy time powers and I'm lucky as all fuck." Laughing, they picked up another rock and tried to skip it, getting a solid few bounces before it sunk into the lake. "Some sorta middle ground, eh?"

"Interesting," Casey muttered. "We could play Russian roulette. I doubt you'll get the bullet and then I can just try dodging it."

"Huh. That's is an idea, but if you readily have a gun on you, I gotta go." Alec squinted at him.

Casey grinned. "Do you think I seem like the gun-totin' type?"

"Gimme a second to think on that," Alec joked, bumping their shoulder into Casey's. "I'm gonna go with no?"

"Damn, guess I bought those chaps for nothing then." Casey shook his head. "What about a tourney? Five game spread, half skill, half luck, winner takes all?"

“I’ll still admire you in them.” Alec continued speaking immediately after saying that. “Amazing. Ideas for games or are we making them up?

Casey smiled and nodded at the first part of Alec's sentence before continuing onto the next. "We don't have to make them all up, but maybe the tiebreaker—assuming we'll need one—should be a custom challenge. So we make sure the odds are dead even."

Alec messed their hair up again. “I like it. What’s the winner get?”

"Hm..." Casey looked out onto the water. "The chaps?" he joked.

Alec grinned at him. “I’ve never wanted anything more.” They tossed a rock into the water. “I’m kidding, please don’t actually give me them if I win.”

Casey laughed. "I'd have to actually get them if you did, so I can stand behind that." He shrugged. "Is there something that you want? Maybe the loser can grant some sort of wish or service to the winner."

Alec took a seat on the bank of the lake. “Yeah, sounds good. Winner gets a wish?”

Casey nodded and joined Alec on the ground. "Winner gets a wish," he repeated. "Better if it's not something of monetary value, I think. Might make it more special. Not to say that it can't have a cost associated, but more than just getting you something off Amazon."

Alec made a face. "Yeah, I can't afford anything of– what is it? Monetary value?" They laughed. "I was thinking more of the favour kind."

“Perfect.” Casey leaned back onto his elbows. For a moment he tried to think of something he could get Alec to do if he won, but realized the possibilities were too endless and shelved the thought. “Got any ideas for games?”

"That I could win? So many, you bring any cards?" Alec laughed at the idea someone could leave their room without a pack of cards in their pocket. "I mean, for you it could be dodging shit the other throws."

Casey tipped his head back and forth. "Could be..." Suddenly he clapped and looked at Alec, eyes widened. "Paintball gun. Sixty seconds each, fish in a barrel style. Nail the other player with as many balls as you can."

Alec's eyes widened. "Do you have a paintball gun? I'm so down."

Casey pumped a fist in excitement. "I don't, but I bet you fifty bucks my friend Cameron knows where to get one. Rhetorical bet."

"Awesome!" Alec scooped up another rock. "What do we do for right now?"

Casey shrugged. "We could race? Opposite shore and back? Or lap the lake on foot."

Alec looked down at the condition of their sneakers and judged they’d probably last a lap around the lake. “On foot, ready set go!” they blurted out, already launching themself forward to start running.

"Oh, fuck you!" Casey shouted after Alec, scrambling to get up. With his eyes locked on Alec's back, he took off in a sprint. Suddenly, Casey was very glad he decided not to change.

Alec laughed, losing a couple steps of speed as it took some breath from them. They continued on, jumping over sticks and large rocks as best they could without careening headfirst into anything. “I need the head start!”

As Casey veered off the path and the ground turned into stones and sticks, Casey closed his eyes and flipped a switch in his mind. When his eyes opened again, the earth was gliding below him in slow motion and each of Casey's bounding strides felt like flight. He watched carefully each time his foot hit the floor, aiming for the flattest parts of the earth too give himself the best leverage to spring forward. He could hear Alec droning ahead of him, but was too focused on his footholds to parse what the actual real-time words were. Casey just shouted back, "Cheater!" hoping it would come through even in hyper-time.

Alec glanced over their shoulder when they heard Casey say something and promptly tripped over a root. After windmilling their arms for balance they succeeded in not wiping out, but definitely lost their early lead. “Fuck!” they exclaimed with a laugh. “S’why I needed it!”

Seeing Alec's form crumple, Casey thought for a moment that he was about to witness his friend eat dirt. He snapped out of hyper-time and watched as Alec flailed, caught their balance, and then whiz by as Casey gained the lead. He laughed and yelled out, "I thought lucky kids don't trip!"

“Lucky kids don’t fall,” Alec exclaimed although they still had no idea how their powers worked. Determined not to lose any more ground, they fell silent and tried to grab for Casey in front of them to pull him back.

Once Casey had the lead, he stayed in real time to try to gain ground the "fair" way. That is until he felt Alec clutch onto the back of his shirt, pulling him back. Casey stumbled and found himself running alongside them. "Fucking cheater!" he yelled in a glee-tinged rage. "Unreal!"

Alec grinned over at him, hopping easily over the next root that came up. “Don’t be a sore loser!” they yelled back as they cut to the side, ducking under a tree in a shortcut they had spotted a few seconds earlier. Once they skidded to a halt on the beach a few minutes later, in the lead, they sat down, trying to catch their breath. “Fun!”

One moment, Casey was trailing Alec, fully engaged in hyper-time. Then, suddenly, Alec veered sharply off-course and even in hyper-time, Casey couldn't shift his momentum quickly enough to give chase. Cursing himself under his breath, knowing he had lost the race, he kept running anyway. Sure enough, when he arrived at the beach, Alec had already beaten him there. Casey used what little breath he had left in him to sprint forward and leap onto Alec, knocking them flat down onto the sand. Hovering over them, Casey pointed an accusatory finger. "You dirty, little bastard! I see your game!" His voice thundered, but Casey was smiling cheek to cheek. "You wanna play dirty? I can get dirty!"

Alec grinned up at them from the position they now found themself in and took a second to wonder how long it would be before they stopped finding sand around their cabin. They shoved Casey’s chest and laughed. “Threat or promise?”

"I fucking swear," Casey replied, panting. He pushed off the sand and collapsed onto his back, his chest heaving as he breathed. "You are so in for it," he laughed almost maniacally.

Alec rolled onto their side to face him, still grinning widely. They rested their cheek on their hand. “I’ll believe it when I see it. What’s next?”

Casey turned his head to look at Alec. "Just give me a minute to stop dying," he laughed. Slowly his breath returned to him and Casey propped himself up on the sand to look at Alec. "Alright, fine. Maybe this is a mistake, but since I picked something, you should pick the next thing."

Alec sat up as Casey propped himself up. They clasped their hands together. “I was hoping you’d say that. How biased am I allowed to get?”

"Fuck," Casey hissed, falling back onto the sand. "I already hate the sound of this. What is it?" He asked, afraid to know.

Alec laughed at his reaction. “Not that bad! Since I cheated and all.” They put the word ‘cheated’ in air quotes. “How about diving in the lake and seeing who finds the coolest stuff?”

Casey narrowed his eyes. "Okay, but are you secretly a merperson? Are you gonna try and drown me this time?"

“Yep! I brought you here to drown you!” Alec replied cheerfully. “Wanna check me for gills?”

Casey grinned. "Okay, well you know nothing turns me on like a good threat." He stood up on the sand and shook his legs out. "Is there a time limit?"

“Five minutes? Keep it short and sweet?” Alec started shaking sand out of their hair.

"Five minutes," Casey repeated. "Let's do it!" He kicked his shoes off and started pulling off his socks, making a small pile of them on the sand.

Alec followed suit and pulled their shirt over their head before running into the lake. “Starting now!” They dove down and opened their eyes underwater to search for anything out of place along the bottom of the lake.

"What the fuck!" Casey was still getting undressed when Alec ran off into the water. Quickly whipping his shirt behind him, he started toward the water, hopping out of his joggers as he went. Once he was in, he held his breath and dived deep, paddling toward the floor of the lake. He tried opening his eyes underwater to search for anything, his hands patting at the mud and sand.

Alec noticed a faint glimmer at the bottom of the lake after their third time coming up for air, and swam down to clear enough silt away to figure out what it was. A minute later, they emerged at the shore, holding a tiny chest, maybe half a foot long, over their head in victory. “Got something! Wanna open it?”

Casey was catching his breath on the sand after dropping off his third empty alcohol vessel. He looked over to see Alec emerging from the water, holding something of actual interest. "What the fuck," he sighed in exasperation. "How did you even find that? Yes, obviously. Crack that bad boy open, baby."

“Luck?” Alec chirped, sitting down on a log instead of the ground so all the sand didn’t stick to them while they were soaking wet. It took them a few tries but after slamming the clasp into the log, it sprung open and a collection of coloured glass marbles poured out into the sand. “Aw, fucking sweet. I love marbles.”

"Oh my gods," Casey gasped as the marbles spilled out onto the sand. "You're..." Casey held up a hand to block Alec from his field of vision. "You're a fucking cheater and you know it, with your lucky bullshit, but I can't even hate you because I think you're so cool, and that disgusts me."

Alec laughed and tried to push Casey's hand to the side so they could still see him. "What? How is it cheating if I can't control it?"

"Don't make me explain my logic, Masters." Casey dropped his hand and pointed accusatorially at Alec. "This is a purely emotional argument and I stand by it 100%."

Alec started gathering up the marbles to return them to the chest. "Should we put this back? I don't wanna get cursed." They slid off the log to kneel down. "But okay, okay! Your turn to choose, you can cheat now!"

Casey waved a dismissive hand at the chest. "It's marbles, how bad could the curse be?" Casey sat down in the sand, then quickly clambered up to his knees when he felt granules of sand find his way into his boxers. "Fuck. Okay. Uh..." He closed his eyes, tipping his head side to side. "I don't know. I need to catch my breath for a minute."

"If each marble is cursed it could be really bad," Alec offered as they closed the lid to the chest. They had one green marble still in their hand, and they held it out towards Casey. "A souvenir! Sure, let's take a break. You can brainstorm ways to beat me at a game. Mind map, maybe?"

Casey laughed and leaned away from Alec's hand. "Why would you say that every marble is cursed and then give me one? I'm not taking one unless you take one!"

"I said if they're all cursed!" Alec laughed and tossed the marble at Casey anyway. "I'm not risking bringing pirate treasure into the place I sleep! What if there's ghosts?" They considered the chest anyway. "But they are nice. Maybe I'll leave it here and see if it's disappeared by tomorrow. It could belong to one of the naiads, I don't want to steal it– but what if it doesn't belong to anyone, and we were meant to find it, and I'm spitting in the face of destiny by not keeping it? It's a treasure chest! That's some find, eh?"

"Okay," Casey laughed, standing up on the sand. "Just get this thing away from me because now it's just cursed in my brain. Like hashtag cursed." He walked over and placed the marble beside the chest. "And listen—I wouldn't have to brainstorm ways to beat you if you weren't such a cheater. I'm not over here, confounded by your skill, let's just make that clear."

"Sounds good!" Alec picked up the mini chest, walked to the edge of the water and hucked it back into the lake. They dusted off their hands and headed back over to Casey. "Whoa, okay, there was no cheating going on in that last game. No skill, either, but no cheating!"

"Uh-huh. How am I supposed to know you didn't run over here this morning and chuck that same box of marbles into the lake?" He shrugged. "Seems kinda convenient, don't you think?"

"Sounds like way too much work for me." Alec grinned at him. "Out of character."

Casey smiled. "Fine. I'll concede, it does seem like more effort than I can imagine you putting in." Casey walked over to his joggers and started dusting the sand off his thighs and calves.

Alec picked up the marble that they had left behind originally and threw it into the lake as well. "No loose ends!" They scooped their shirt up to pull it back on, only realizing after it stuck to them that they were still dripping water and now also covered in sand. "Aw, fuck."

Casey laughed seeing Alec's mistake. "Shit. I didn't think this through." He looked at his own clothes that he had strewn about the sand. "I mean... Guess I have no choice. Just gonna be sandy."

"We'll be smooth like rocks after it exfoliates us!" Alec sat down to put their shoes back on, giving up entirely on not turning into a sand dune. "Probably shoulda taken my pants off before jumping in the lake, eh? Too late now. I'm right tempted to just roll around and get as sandy as possible so I can stop avoiding it."

Casey laughed. "Okay, you can do that. I'm gonna wait." Casey spread his legs and held his arms out to the side, facing the sun in the hopes that it would dry him off faster.

Alec considered going through with it, but the sand was less appealing by the second. They stood up and joined Casey facing the sun instead, closing their eyes and focusing on the warmth against their skin as though concentration would aid in the drying process. "How many rounds is this competition out of?"

Casey shrugged, his eyes closed. "I don't know, five? Wait—" he looked over at Alec. "Did those two just count as rounds? Did we already start?"

Alec cocked their head to the side. "Did they not?"

"Well, if I knew they were gonna count I would have tried a little harder!" Casey argued. "Cheated a little more," he added with a smirk.

Alec grinned and shoved his shoulder. “You still got three more chances.”

Casey laughed and shoved Alec's shoulder back with a bit more force. "That's not how majority works, asshole. I only have three more chances if I win the next two rounds. If you win one more time, you already win by default."

Alec leaned when they were shoved but didn’t move their feet. “Easy solution! You just gotta win the next two rounds.”

"Alright, fine. Then I know what game we're gonna play." Casey dropped his arms and instead turned to stand completely straight facing Alec. "Ninja. One on one."

Alec huffed at the game choice, still smiling, and turned to face Casey too. “Times like this I wish I knew how to control my powers!” They shook out their arms. “Remind me the rules?”

Casey stepped away, just in case Alec tried to pull any funny business and start before Casey was ready. "We take turns. Single, one-strike movements, try to hit your opponents limbs. When a limb is hit, it's out. First person to lose all four limbs is the loser. Got it?"

Alec nodded, well aware of how this round was going to turn out but willing to give it a shot anyway. “Got it. You start?”

Casey smiled and in the blink of an eye, time skidded to a near halt. His eyes focused on Alec's leg—the closest limb to where he stood—as Casey aimed a sweeping kick at the back of their heel.

Alec tried to lift their leg up out of the way but started too late, and only succeeded in unbalancing themself as the kick landed. They winced as they hit the ground. “Can I get up or am I disqualified?”

Casey laughed. "You can take a turn to get up or you can try to strike me from the ground."

Alec grinned. “I dunno if I agree with these rules.” They kicked one leg forward anyway to try and hit his shin.

Almost too easy. Casey watched as Alec's leg swung toward them at a glacial pace. As they reached his shin, Casey just picked his foot up and set it back down after they had passed. Then, without waiting more than a second after Alec had reached stasis, Casey brought an arm down to try to take out one of Alec's.

Alec expected the next hit to come immediately, but without knowing where Casey was aiming, they still pulled their arm back too slowly and got caught on the wrist. They tucked their arm behind their back and grinned up at him. “Cheater,” they sing-songed as they lunged forward for one of his legs again.

Casey realized too late that he was overzealous in his previous attempt to take Alec out because it left him prone to a straight shot in the leg. But somehow, Casey managed to spring up as Alec lunged and hop away from their strike, landing in a more upright position this time. "Oh shit! Close call!" With a spin, Casey swiftly turned and went for Alec's remaining leg.

Alec gasped when Casey managed to dodge them and, with their momentum from the lunge forward, there was no chance of dodging Casey’s attack on their other leg. “What! That was such a good dodge!” they exclaimed, momentarily pulled out of game mode by how impressed they were. “That was awesome!” Realizing they still had one arm left, they tried to swing towards Casey’s leg without using any of their other limbs.

Casey watched as Alec came for his leg. He tried to lift his leg up over Alec's arm but underestimated how much force he'd have to apply. Casey felt Alec's hand clip his foot and cried out. "No!" He fell to one knee and assess his opponent. "Thanks. Guess your luck is rubbing off on me," he smiled. Then, after calculating his best move, Casey lunged forward to attack Alec's remaining arm.

Alec tipped backwards in a last ditch attempt to avoid Casey, but they were too slow and ended up both losing and sprawled out on the ground. “I got you once!” they exclaimed as they sat back up, rubbing their heel where Casey had kicked them originally. “That’s more than I expected! Good game.”

"Good game," Casey agreed. He held out his hand to Alec to help them up off the sand. "Your heel's okay?"

“Just bruised,” Alec replied cheerfully, taking Casey’s hand and pulling themself to their feet. “That was a sweet kick. And that dodge! Fucking awesome.”

"Dodges are my game, babyyyy!" Casey tapped Alec's shoulder as they came to a stand. "Can't get beat if you don't take heat."

"That's a fantastic motto! Rhymes and everything, full poet." Alec widened their eyes as a thought came to mind. "Did you kill at dodgeball when you were a kid? Not actual murder. Like, make your opponents cry. Emotional murder."

"Oh yeah, dodgeball was child's play. Way too fucking easy, it was almost sad," Casey mourned. "But also actual murder."

Alec laughed. "Dodgeball is child's play, that's kinda the point, eh? I can't think of it without getting flashbacks to grade 7 gym. A fuckin' time."

"Maybe we should make it adult's play," Casey suggested. "Could be our next round?"

"Adult's play," Alec repeated with a laugh. "Sounds like a sex shop. For sure, let's do it!"

Casey chuckled at the observation. "Great. Then we should change venues. And clothes, I guess, unless you wanna play wet."

“Guess we need a sorta ball, eh? Or more than one.” Alec sighed and tipped forward so they were leaning against Casey, chest to chest. “Where do you even get those?”

Casey smirked. "You trying to see my balls? Is that what this is all about?"

Alec laughed and wrapped their arms around Casey, resting their chin on his shoulder. “My Masters plan.”

Casey snorted, returning Alec's embrace. "You know, for a vegan, you're so fucking cheesy."

“I’m gonna choose to take that as a compliment!” Alec swayed side to side. “Are we gonna find a ball or just chuck rocks at each other?”

Casey lowered his arms to Alec's waist so they could slow dance more properly. "We could chuck rocks, but it'll suck a lot more for you when I peg you in the face with one."

Alec put their hands on Casey's shoulders and leaned back enough to grin at him as they followed his lead. "I can try and find the cursed marbles again, dive back into the lake."

Casey laughed as they swayed gently. "Why would they be cursed? If somebody was going to bury a treasure chest and lay a curse on whoever found it, do you really think they'd just fill it with marbles?"

"One hundred percent! Why wouldn't you fill it with marbles? What else is there to put?"

"I don't know, bones? Gold? Something more exciting?" Casey started turning them in circles as he spoke. "If I got cursed with a chest full of marbles, I literally would not tell anybody. That would be the lamest curse. I would rather let it kill me."

Alec snickered. "Maybe that's why. The true curse is the embarrassment that comes with."

Casey sighed longingly, looking into their eyes. "You just get me."

Pretending to swoon, Alec leant against Casey again. "Is the third challenge seducing me?"

Casey smirked. "Depends. Is it working?"

"Like a charm." Alec pressed their cheek into his shoulder. "But that doesn't mean you win."

"Are you sure?" Casey tipped his head to rest on Alec's. "'Cause I'm already holding a prize, baby."

"Oh my god," Alec whined under their breath. "You're so smooth, what the fuck."

"You've been hit by—" Casey thrust his hips to one side. "You've been struck by—" Then to the other side. "A smooth criminal."

Now, Alec was holding onto Casey for balance as they laughed, moving with him. "And he's talented too! Triple threat!"

Casey laughed. "Gotta have those smooth karaoke skills." He gasped. "Oh shit, we should have a karaoke party."

Alec gasped in unison. "We should– fuck! Yeah! I love karaoke." They laughed. "That can be our tiebreaker if you win the next round!"

Casey exhaled a sigh of bliss. "I am so down for that. How do we determine who wins? Won't we need an unbiased third party?"

“Aw, man, yeah. It’d be better with like, music too.” Alec took one of Casey’s hands and tried to spin him. “And karaoke’s meant to be bad! Trying to be good at karaoke goes against the laws of the universe.”

Casey lifted his arm up and spun through it. "Mm, those are some straight truths." Once he spun around, he lifted their hands to get Alec to do the same. "Okay, whether or not it's part of the game, let's make this happen for us because now I have the idea and my soul will never be at rest until we do."

Alec spun too and let go of Casey’s hands to flop back onto the ground now that they deemed themself dry enough. “We gotta! Can’t have you sticking around to haunt me ‘cause we failed to make karaoke happen.” Alec grinned up at him. “I bet we can set it up in the rec room, make it a whole thing.”

Casey clapped in excitement. "Yes! Oh my gods, are you friends with Blue? She would eat. This. Up." Casey clapped again on each word for emphasis. He joined Alec, siting on the ground beside his sweats. "Wow, look at us. Party planning committee. Who woulda thought? Not me."

Alec leaned against Casey as soon as he was seated next to them. “We got a lotta friends in common!” They laughed and twisted to flop over Casey’s lap, looking up at him. “I’m more the ideas guy than the planner. Are you good at actually getting stuff like this to happen? ‘Cause we can always rope Ime in, they’re right organized.”

Casey wove his fingers through Alec's hair and scratched their chin with his other hand. "Yeah! I organize Asian Dinner Club and I'm also doing a thing with Akira. A party's a straight shot, no problem. But definitely ask Ime anyway because they're just a legend and I would like them to be there."

Alec closed their eyes, their expression drifting from excited to content. "Aw, sweet, double the planning, half the work. Ime'll be down for karaoke night, they love watching people get embarrassing. Whatcha planning with Akira? They're so intense. Like, in a hot way."

Casey groaned. "Oh my gods, don't even get me started. Like... Oof." Casey shook his head. "We're planning a fight night. I think right now it's gonna be an elimination-style bracket, but we haven't really worked out the safety details of how to make sure people don't die." Casey squeezed Alec's cheeks together to push their lips into a pucker. "Aw. You're so cute."

“I’m guessing you agree,” Alec laughed. “But that sounds cool! I like the rhyme. Fight night.” They moved their mouth like a fish a couple times as Casey pinched their face, then snickered and lifted a hand to push his face away. “I’m cuter when my face is normal!”

Casey laughed and dropped his hand by his side. "Everybody is cuter as a fish," he disagreed. Casey scooped up a bit of dry sand and began sprinkling on Alec's chest. "Do you think we should have a theme? Or do you think 'karaoke night' is the theme?"

“There’s gotta be a theme. Pyjamas? Oh man, what about like, borrowed clothes, you can only wear shit you take from your friends. Vibe swap.” Alec traced a fingertip along Casey’s collarbone.

"Oh, cute!" Casey exclaimed. He scooped up some more sand and continued sprinkling it over Alec's chest. "Wow, that's a great idea. Huh... Except if we invite Akira, I have no idea what they look like with a shirt on," he snorted.

“They can borrow one of my cropped shirts,” Alec laughed, starting to trace spirals into the sand on their chest. “Maybe that’s close enough?”

Casey laughed. "Hot. I might ask you for one of those too." Casey scooped up another handful of sand and sprinkled it on their stomach this time to avoid ruining their pattern. Then suddenly, he gasped. "Oh my gods, you can wear my sporty spice outfit. Loved that text, by the way."

“We can swap outfits from that party! But you can wear real shorts.” Alec beamed. “I forgot about that text until I saw it again the next morning, I was some wasted. But I remember the outfit! It’s stuck in my brain. In a good way.”

"It better be," Casey grinned. "That was easily, like, top five hottest things I've worn." Casey started to scoop up more sand, then added, "Oh, but you have the wear the little white shorts. The outfit is a set. The cleats are optional," Casey joked with a wink.

“I’d never leave them out! The shorts were the best part!” Alec continued the spiraling pattern down to their stomach. “I dunno if your cleats would fit, which is a national tragedy. An international tragedy.” With a dramatic sigh, they finished their pattern and started tracing spirals along Casey’s chest. “I have the perfect pair of shorts I can lend you.”

Casey laughed and shook his head at Alec's sensationalism. Tracing their pattern, Casey spiraled his finger up Alec's torso. "Ooh, describe them to me. Paint me a picture."

Alec tapped their fingers above Casey’s heart in a moment of thought. “Nope!” they decided, grinning at him and dragging their fingers across his chest again. “It’ll be a surprise.”

Casey's jaw dropped in offense for a moment before closing back into a smirk. "Should I..." He narrowed his eyes in contemplation before shaking his head and laughing. "Fine."

“Should you what?” Alec chirped, lifting their hand from his chest to card their fingers through his hair. “You’ll like them, they’ll be funny with the shirt I wore to the party. Maybe I should offer to lend everyone my clothes for the party and start an army of short shirts.” They sighed. “But I only have three. I should buy more. But money.”

Casey shook his head. "Nothing. I thought I would surprise you back but the idea I came up with feels like an uneven tradeoff. Too inappropes." Casey put his finger on Alec's chest and resumed tracing it along the patterns on their chest. "But we could make some of my old t-shirts into crop tops. If you don't mind me stealing your look."

“Too innapropes?” Alec threw a look of clearly exaggerated offense at him. “That sounds even more fun.” They closed their eyes again. “That can be a different themed party, where everyone gets sloshed. ‘Short shirts and shoot shots’.”

Casey laughed. "It would probably be too intense for this kind of party, so maybe we'll just save that in our little back pocket for later. But yes—" Casey tapped on Alec's solar plexus. "Fucking love the sound of that. Short shirts and shoot shots. I want both of those things."

“Aw, I hate mysteries.” Alec drummed their fingers on one of Casey’s shoulders. “Imagine we call the party that and people show up ready to get wasted, but it’s really an amateur basketball league?”

Casey's eyes widened and he let out a laugh. "Wow! Oddly enough, that's exactly the kind of party the surprise would be perfect for." Casey shook his head and looked off into the distance. "Has anybody ever told you that you have a beautiful mind, Alec Masters? Beautiful, mystical, and chaotic."

“You’re killing me,” Alec whined, pressing the back of their hand to their forehead. Before they could continue complaining, their momentary frustration was erased by compliments. “Other than you, right now? Sure gotten the chaotic part a lot!” They started brushing the sand off of their chest. “My mind thanks you.”

Casey grinned. "Your mind is so welcome." Casey leaned back onto his hand so Alec could dust themself off.

Alec sat up as Casey leaned back and brushed the remaining sand off. They climbed into his lap, kneeling on either side of his legs, and rested their arms on his shoulder with a smirk. “Keep the compliments coming, it’s distracting me from how much I want to know the mystery.”

Casey hummed as Alec climbed up into his lap. He slid his hands up to Alec's waist and smiled up at them. "Wow, if it gets you on my lap, then I'll compliment you all day long, baby."

Alec laughed and started running their fingers through his hair again. “Aw c’mon, it wouldn’t even take that much. Not that I’m turning them down.” They traced the fingers of their other hand along where his neck met his shoulder.

Casey laughed and shook his head. "Okay, you say that, but I feel like we've said this to each other before and nothing has happened, so clearly it takes a little more than compliments."

Alec scanned his face for a moment then gave a lopsided grin and ducked their head to press a kiss to the side of his neck, an inch below his jaw. “And what do you want to happen?”

Casey's smirk grew into a full-on smile upon feeling Alec's lips against his neck. He wrapped his arms around Alec's waist and replied, "This." Then, Casey leaned back onto the sand, pulling Alec down with him so they straddled his hips.

Alec moved with him easily and leaned over Casey, one hand on his shoulder pressing him into the sand. “Smooth,” they commented, voice lower though they were still smiling, and leaned down to kiss him.

Casey just hummed back happily and slid one hand up to thread through Alec's hair as they kissed.

Alec broke the kiss for a second to move to lean on their elbows, half to get closer and half so their hand was free to tug Casey's head back enough that they could kiss along the underside of his jaw. They grinned against his skin. "Does this count as the fourth game?"

Casey tipped his head back to relinquish his jaw to Alec. He traced his fingers down their neck and along their spine. "Mm, depends," Casey teased. "How do I win?"

Alec hummed in thought as they continued their trail of kisses along Casey's jaw and down his neck. They released his hair and brushed their thumb along the other side of his jaw. "Not a clue."

When his fingers couldn't crawl any lower, Casey began sliding them across the rivers of Alec's ribs. "We'll call it a win-win."

Alec considered this as they dragged their teeth over his pulse. They pressed a final kiss to his skin, then sat up abruptly and grinned down at him. "I thought you were competitive.”

Casey shrugged, his hands falling to Alec's legs as they sat up. "There's no winners in love and war, right?"

Alec glanced idly around the lake. "Fair point. Wanna go back to my cabin?"

Casey smirked. "Would it make me sound too eager if I said I'd race you?"

With a laugh, Alec rolled off Casey and climbed to their feet. "Game four, race to my cabin?"

Casey reached over to grab his joggers and started pulling them back on. "If that's game four, I can't wait to see what game five is."

Alec waited for him instead of launching into a head-start this time around. "Assuming you're gonna win this race?"

Casey pulled his shoes back on, but just balled up his socks in his pockets and tucked his shirt into his waistband. "I don't know, are you gonna push me?"

Alec grinned at him. “Only if you’re in the lead.”

Casey shook his head, grinning. "Fucking ridiculous." He rose to his feet. "Alright," he announced, starting a slow jog. "Let's do this."

Alec immediately took off towards their cabin at full speed.

Casey waited until Alec was ahead of him to start picking up speed. With any luck, Alec would cramp up or run out of breath by the time they got to the cabin. Then again, Casey wasn't the lucky one. Casey slowly built up to a run, keeping at least two meters to the right of where Alec was running in case they decided to get tricky again.

Alec managed to keep up their pace until the cabin was only a minute or so away, at which point they slowed to check behind them as to where Casey was in comparison.

Casey had kept pace with Alec the entire way there. Right when Alec turned their head, Casey bounded forward to run right at their side. "Feel like cheating?" Casey taunted.

Alec huffed a laugh and tried to pick up speed again. “More with every second!”

Casey matched Alec's pace, running ahead along with them. "Sorry I have to do this! Casey prefaced before shoving Alec to the side and sprinting even faster.

Alec yelped and somehow managed to grapevine their way into keeping their footing. They found an extra burst of energy from the adrenaline, running faster to try and catch up. “Fuck off!” If they weren’t so focused, they’d be grinning, but it was still clear they were amused by the tone in their voice.

In one last mad dash, Casey burst into a sprint toward the cabin. Casey extended his hand out toward the door. As soon as they connected, he yelled, "Safe!"

Alec skidded to a stop before the door and slumped against it. “Close,” they answered, catching their breath. “Really close.”

Casey turned around to lean against the door frame. "GG." He smiled and extended a hand toward Alec. "Ready for round five?"

Alec slapped him a high five, then realized what he probably meant and grabbed his hand, tugging him inside after them. “Tiebreaker.”

Casey followed them inside, kicking the door shut behind them. "First to bust is the loser."

“Wasn’t a given?” Alec paused to lock the door behind them then reached forward to pull Casey closer.

Casey stepped on the heels of his shoes to swiftly pull his feet out as he moved toward Alec. "No cheating."

Alec turned once Casey was close enough to press him against the door. “No promises.”

Casey hummed as his back hit the wood. His eyes flickered over to the various game tables. "You ever get fucked on one of those?"

“More times I can count.” Alec slid their hands over his chest to his hips. “You interested?”

Casey feigned a sigh. "Well, I don't wanna be contrived." Casey's hands mirrored Alec's, grabbing their hips and pulling them in. "But I can't say I'm not interested."

Alec lifted one hand to touch his jaw as they leaned into him when pulled. They moved to speak into his ear. “You wanna get fucked on one?”

"Interesting," Casey replied, in a tone of voice that sounded genuinely interested. "Porque no los dos?"

Alec laughed and kissed him briefly. “Take turns?”

"Fuck yeah," Casey replied with vigor before kissing them again.

Alec pulled the tucked up shirt out of Casey's waistband and tossed it to the side, pulling his lower lip between their teeth as they pressed against him. "Yeah?"

Not wanting to break their kiss, Casey just responding by gripping Alec's thighs and hoisting them up into a carry. He moved across the cabin to set Alec down on a card table. "Hope this thing is strong," he mumbled against Alec's lips.

Alec exhaled a short laugh against Casey's lips but closed the distance again as soon as possible. "S'not a machine," they teased as they were lowered to the table. "Breaking promises."

"We can make the rounds," Casey chuckled as he moved to trace kisses along Alec's jaw.

Kieran missed the feeling of walking on dirt. Feeling his boots sinking into the loam earth of camp, he was reminded of the one nice part of living in Maine. As the weather warmed and the chirps of insects and animals slowly returned to New Athens, Kieran felt more rejuvenated with each new day. Kieran had never been to the Tyche cabin, but the ostentatious decor made the place easy to find. Even from the outside, Kieran could hear the chiming and clicking of old casino games. Would Alec even hear a knock at the door? Thinking better of it, Kieran pulled out his coveted iPhone (11 Pro Max, 512 GB) and texted Alec:

I'm outside.

In line with their attempts towards A) a reasonable schedule and B) something that resembled a degree of responsibility, Alec had taped a roll of wrapping paper to the wall of the fourth 'bedroom' with the pattern of the paper against the wall, to use as a schedule. Each day was split into its own square with a permanent marker, and they had started scrawling plans onto it to keep track. As such, they were not only expecting Kieran, but had the projector and disk fully prepared for his arrival– two hours too early, but ready nonetheless. The time Alec had to spare once realizing they had overshot the mark was spent on tidying up the various knick knacks lying around their cabin. By the time their phone pinged a notification they were elbow deep in dishes and, deciding they had done enough that it appeared the dishes were only from the day prior, they wiped their hands on their jeans and bounded over to the door to open it. "Hey! T'es prêt d'regarder the film? I'm right excited!"

Kieran smiled as the door swung open. "Le sentiment es mutuel." As he stepped inside, Kieran raised an eyebrow at all the stimulus in the cabin. Flashing lights and chirping games—Alec's demeanor seemed very at home. Maybe it was a Tyche thing. Kieran slid off his coat and folded it in his hands. "This cabin is surreal."

Alec beamed at Kieran as they closed the door behind him. When he spoke, they glanced around their cabin in an attempt to put themself in the shoes of someone seeing it for the first time. "Ah bon? I haven't had anyone new in here for a while, j'imagine qu'it's a titch overwhelming." Alec patted the top of one of the pinball machines. "The noise is nice, since I'm here by myself. Like white noise!" Moving further into their cabin, they spread their arms to gesture to the rest of it, then noticed Kieran holding his coat and laughed. Usually they would say to toss it anywhere but instead, they held out a hand. "Want me to hang that up?" they offered brightly.

"That would be great, thanks." Kieran had no idea how anybody could sleep with this much noise, but Alec seemed to operate at a much higher threshold for life than most people. Kieran followed them deeper into the cabin, noting the distinct lack of architectural separation between the main area and the sleeping area. He stuffed one hand into his pocket, holding out his coat with the other. "Remind me, est-ce que toute ta famille parle français?"

Alec took Kieran’s coat and hung it up in the little-used open closet beside the door. Once that task was completed, they spun around to follow Kieran further into their cabin. “Ma famille de Tyche?” they questioned. “‘Cause, no. Just my, uh-“ they almost said sister, but corrected themself with an uncharacteristic pause, surprised at their mistake. “My step-mother. She taught us. So all mortal.” Already recovered from their confusion, they sauntered into their ‘kitchen’, which was the part of the living room that had a fridge. “Did you want any water?”

"Sure, water would be great, thanks." Kieran strolled around the space. He was surprised to find that the longer he was in the room, the homier it felt. Gesturing toward the lofted area, Kieran asked, "Is that where you have the projector set up?"

Alec took a clean glass from the drying rack and filled it with tap water for Kieran. "Yep! Careful though, sorry, the ceiling may be a wee bit low for you. I even have to duck my head a bit." They held out the glass for him, then retracted it. "I'll carry it up, unless you're proficient in ladders." They laughed. As usual, even their teasing lacked even a single note of malevolence.  "Ça marche? J'peux essayer de move le projector down, but that's the comfiest place in the apartment."

"Not proficient in ladders, just chutes." Kieran gestured toward the ladder for Alec to go first. "Don't trouble yourself, the loft works just fine. I've always wanted to hang out in one of these, actually. Never had the opportunity before."

Alec laughed at Kieran’s joke- they hadn’t forgotten how funny he was, but the effect managed to not be dampened by expectations. “Awesome!” Glass of water in one hand, they easily scaled the ladder to the loft. “You’ve never been in a loft before?” they asked, poking their head over the edge so they could still see him. “I thought the Hermes cabin had one.”

"I didn't have to spend any time in the Hermes cabin, fortunately." Kieran followed Alec's lead and climbed up to the loft. As they predicted Kieran bonked his head on the ceiling as he reached the top step. "Ow." Crouching down, he crawled into the space. It was small but homey. Kieran made a bet with himself about how long he'd last up here before becoming too uncomfortable. "This is really charming. I like the way you've dressed it up."

"Fortunately?" Alec questioned, pretending Kieran didn't hit his head as they fiddled with the projector to readjust it to the proper area on the wall. With how old the machine was, it tended to slowly dip its focus towards the floor after an hour or so of focus. After fixing it, they pulled a pillow to a comfortable distance from the 'screen' and sat down with crossed legs. Instead of starting the movie, they turned to Kieran. "Really? Thank you! I tried to make it comfy even though the roof is low. I think keeping one window open really helped, even though it's kinda too dark to see out now."

"I don't do so well in cramped social situations." Kieran looked at his surroundings. "Current circumstances excluded." Kieran found a small pile of pillows to lean on and pulled them towards him. He tried lying down several ways before getting comfortable. "I'm sure this nook is really picturesque during sunrise. With a proper breakfast and bed, you know. The works."

"Fair, fair." Alec pulled a few pillows towards them as well but didn't change their position yet. If they wanted to lie down during the movie, they didn't wish to interrupt by dragging cushions around. "It is! Making a smoothie and crawling up here is the best way to start a day, really. Wait! I changed my mind. T'peux monter sur le roof et voir le sunset in the morning. Lying on your back, feeling as the first rays of sun wash over you, y'really feel amazing. Like a new person."

"The sunrise?" Kieran smirked. "Sorry. That does sound really wonderful. I actually used to wake up a daybreak when I was still living in Maine. On the weekends, I'd make a habit of getting up before the sun so that by the time the sun was rising, I was already out of the house. I'd take long hikes or just walk around the city."

Confused for a few seconds, Alec went back over their words, then threw their head back in a laugh. Their body followed soon after as they sprawled across the floor of the loft. "Sunrise," they corrected themself. "But that sounds awesome! I've never been to Maine. That's on the East coast, eh? I say 'eh', but I'm really not sure. I'm pretty sure. It is, yeah?"

"Yes," Kieran laughed. "It's on the east coast. But the coast up there is much more beautiful than the ones down here. I mean, you have to be vaccinated to enter the waterways here. Up there, there's more rocky outcroppings and greenery. It's almost romantic." Kieran gestured toward Alec. "How about you? You're from Canada, right? Were you close to the coast?"

"Oh, I love romantic scenery." Alec sighed and pressed the back of their hand to their forehead. "If I don't feel like I'm in an old, like, pastoral novel at any point, I'm living my life some wrong." They rolled over onto their stomach and hugged a pillow under their arms as they turned to Kieran. "From Canada? What gave it away, the accent?" They laughed at their own joke. "Y'could say I'm close to the coast." As they said it, they realized Kieran wouldn't get the humour in it. "I'm from Nova Scotia, in the Maritimes. As close to the coast as you can get."

Kieran laughed, following along with Alec's words. "Oh, you don't say? I've always been curious about Nova Scotia. A lot of great films have been shot there. It sounds like a beautiful place."

"It's cool," Alec answered, dipping down a degree in enthusiasm to only a mid-level of eagerness– which for a regular person, was still high. "Lots of lighthouses. Halifax is really the best place to go, smaller towns, pretty boring." Recovered already, they smiled at Kieran. "It is beautiful, I love the ocean." They barely took a breath before continuing. "I'm really glad you came over! You seem really interesting, y'know? And we've only talked a few times."

Kieran laughed at the quickness of Alec's train of thought. "Likewise. I don't think I've met anybody else that matches your level of enthusiasm for... Most things." Kieran gave them a genuine smile. "I'm glad we made these plans."

Alec beamed back at him. "I love things!" Immediately, they realized how that sounded, and they laughed. "Most things, I mean. J'sais pas une reason to not be enthusiastic? I mean, I know a lot of reasons to not enjoy specific things. But I think going into anything new, or anything old and proven true, if I assume it's going to be good, things tend to work out! Like talking to you."

"That's a great outlook. I grew up with the 'if it doesn't have monetary or social value, it doesn't have value' type of outlook. Open-mindedness came in short supply. And then coming here, I mean," Kieran waved his hand. "Judgment comes very easily for me and now I have siblings to share that quality with. But it's refreshing to think in a different way."

Alec listened carefully, not so much filing everything Kieran was telling them away as they were committing the impression of this moment to memory. "I think I kind of get it? My parents are right judgemental, but I got lucky with siblings." They tilted their head, alarmed momentarily."That's not saying you didn't! I just meant growing up with them." Breathing out the mood change, they brightened up again. "I'm glad I can help with that! I mean, I hope that you meant me." They laughed, not worried in the slightest. "Or that'd be awkward."

Kieran chuckled. "Yes, I meant you." He gestured at the projector. "Anyways, sorry to have diverted our attention from the thing we came here to do. Thanks for setting all of this up."

Alec had forgotten about the projector. "Right, right!" They crawled over to their ancient laptop and tapped the space bar until the screen finally lit up. "I think you'll like this movie? Like I said, the DVD is old as death, but it's better quality than streaming it online." Glancing back at him, they smiled. "Comfortable?"

Kieran made a makeshift nest to give some padding between his bony frame and the floor. "As comfortable as I'll ever be." He had trusted Alec's choice in cinema, given everything they had discussed previously. Kieran was legitimately excited and hoped that it showed through his RBF.

[LINE]

Alec waited until the final credits rolled to pause the DVD. They sat up from their pile of cushions, stretched forward like a cat stretching, then smiled at Kieran. Anxious was too strong a word, but there were certainly still some nerves present. Something about Kieran made them want to... not impress him, but find more similarities. "Qu'est-ce que tu penses?"

Kieran, who had slowly come to an upright position as the film progressed, had his chin cradled in one hand, brows furrowed in thought. He let Alec's question hang in the air for more than a moment before responding. "What can I say? It was... Brilliant." Kieran gestured carefully in the air, trying to parse his thoughts. "Firstly, the way that the film maximizes the medium by telling a story in real time, letting the audience steep with Cleo as she goes through this soul-searching two-hour period—there's a level of intimacy shared between the filmmaker and the audience that is so often neglected. And then the way Cleo's superficiality and narcissism is constantly contrasted with her morality and the direness of her circumstances—I mean..." Kieran shrugged. He wasn't used to having an outlet to voice these thoughts out loud and found himself at a loss for words. Kieran was beaming. "It was wonderful.”

Alec pressed both of their hands to their cheeks as though trying to contain the grin that was spreading across their face. "Câlisse, I know, right?" They were too excited to stay sitting and moved up onto their knees. "The titles built in, that specify the time? Genius. Especially because, hear me out, this is crazy, the film isn't actually keeping pace with us! It's like, fifteen minutes off overall, but because it's so close– since they only have scenes last a minute or two over what the time in the movie says it is– and they put the timing right on the screen, like 'Cléo de 8 à 8:15', it feels like it's only fifteen minutes 'cause they trick us into it!" They shook their head. "And don't even get me started on how they tie her narcissism into the constant mirror imagery and her admiring herself, and that the turning point, that the moment Cléo realized she had to change was when her own pocket mirror broke? Crisse, goosebumps, every time."

Kieran nodded along, hanging onto Alec's words. Once Alec finished, Kieran gave them a smile. "You know, you're very insightful."

Alec ran their fingers through their hair to fix how it had been flattened to one side from lying down. “Yeah? Thank you! I’m glad you think so!”

"Yeah," Kieran laid onto his side, propping himself up with his elbow. "You're very interesting."

"'Cause of my movie views?" Alec changed position again, this time moving back to sit with their legs crossed. They grinned at Kieran. "Or in general?"

"In general," Kieran clarified. "In part because of your interest and knowledge, for sure, but also because of your personality at large. Maybe I just need to meet more people, but in my experience, most people don't have your joie de vivre." Kieran let himself lie all the way down, his elbow already protesting his position. "You're also a surprisingly good listener."

“I make other people listen to me so much that I figured I should return the favour,” Alec laughed. “But thank you! I hope I can keep proving that!”

Kieran laughed. He idly ran a finger along the seam of a small throw pillow beside him. "So do you live here by yourself?"

Alec sighed as they stretched their legs out in front of them now. “Yeah, both my siblings moved out. It’s right quiet now, other than the machines, so I try to have people over whenever I can.”

"Are you the type of person that craves company?" Kieran suspected that he knew the answer but asked anyway.

“I dunno if I’d say crave.” Alec pressed a hand into their cheek as they considered it. “I mean, I have a lot of hobbies that I can do by myself. But I definitely prefer being around people than not! I’d go crazy being by myself all day.” They cocked their head to one side. “You?”

"Well..." Kieran felt a small hiccup of self-consciousness. "I spend a lot of time by myself, actually. Most of the time." Kieran deliberately omitted the fact that 90% of his time was spent in solitude. "I never find myself yearning for social interaction. It's actually taken a lot of conscious effort the last few days to go to all of these outings."

“Hm.” Alec drew their eyebrows together, trying to imagine what that was like. “Why have you been going to them? Pushing your comfort zone?”

"Yes, in a way." Kieran folded his hands behind his head. "I suppose I'm realizing that I'm reaching... Adulthood. And I spend most of my day lounging, pursuing hobbies, not really contributing to the greater culture in any meaningful way. And then the other at the party when I got so unreasonably emotional about what my siblings were doing..." He shrugged. "I guess I'm realizing that all of my brainpower is going toward my siblings and watching movies. And I love those things, of course. But I'm realizing how small my world is. I'm like le petit prince, still stuck on my little planet with my vain, little rose, but I need to explore the rest of the universe."

Alec smiled at the reference, especially at how Kieran related to the story. “That’s why you wanted to hang out alone, then? Build some new connections?” They leaned back on their hands. “Makes total sense! Do you have any other hobbies?”

"Yep, exactly why." All of Kieran's instincts were screaming at him to stop talking. He was incredibly unpracticed with sharing his feelings and doing so now felt simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating. "Not many other hobbies. I sometimes do some freelance videography for small businesses or whatnot. I've considered taking up documentary filmmaking but I haven't come up with a subject that inspires me." Kieran turned to look at Alec. "How about you?"

"I was going to ask if you wanted to make your own films!" Now too excited to stay still, Alec returned to half sitting up on their knees. "Chouette! I wish I knew more about making films. I've seen my friends do it but I don't think I have the broad vision for it." They made a frame with their fingers and smiled at Kieran through it. "But you seem like you would. I get too caught up in the wee tiny details and then nothing gets done." As they speak they make the frame smaller and smaller until they can only see part of Kieran's face, at which point they drop their hands onto their lap. "I'm way better at stuff with like, a singular focus, that doesn't need to tie a bunch of things together. Like origami! Or baking, or card tricks, or sewing. Even though sewing is kinda literally tying things together?"

"There's some advantages to that approach. Completion being one," Kieran shrugged. "I'm not sure if I'd be the same way. I suppose I haven't yet found my niche."

"Isn't that good you haven't found it yet? Now you have way more time to explore more interests!" Alec ran their fingers through their hair again, this time messing it back up. "Y'never know what you could stumble across while still looking. Like, my step-mother took a Creative Writing class in college 'cause she thought it'd be a throwaway, and now she's writing a book! Focusing all your interests on one thing at our age seems kinda boring? At least, if you aren't trying anything new because of it."

Kieran laughed bitterly. "Well I'm not trying anything new, but I'm hardly focusing all my interests on one thing. They're not really focused on anything, truly." Kieran gestured toward Alec. "Do you have some grand ambition?"

Alec was undeterred. “The first new thing you could try is trying new things!” They shook their head when Kieran gestured to them. “I’m bad with ambition. It’s my fatal flaw.”

"I think meeting new people is enough of a new venture for a while. Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Kieran nodded. "You and me both."

“I’ll dial it back then,” they laughed. “Sorry. I can get a bit too...” Alec made a heaving gesture with their arms. “Ahead of myself, sure. I’m working on it though! The ambition, not the enthusiasm.” They sighed. “I don’t think any of my skills are really great for work?”

"I don't think that anybody at camp has skills that are particularly suited for corporate America," Kieran joked.

“Whaaat?” Alec grinned at Kieran. “You’re saying I can’t make a career out of avoiding lava while rock climbing?”

Kieran laughed. "I'm sure Michael Bay would find you an invaluable asset."

Alec doubled over laughing. It took them a solid ten seconds to regain some control. “Oh my god. Yeah, I’m sure, I’ll keep that in mind!”

Kieran let his head roll back so he was looking straight up at the ceiling. He usually never had to fill these silences and found himself having nothing more to say.

Alec was fully used to being the one to fill silences, so they easily launched back into conversation. “Have you talked to your siblings?”

Kieran laughed. "Uh. Yes. The day after, actually. Went surprisingly well."

“Yeah? I’m so happy to hear that!” Alec sounded genuinely delighted. “Amazing followthrough. Ten out of ten.”

"Thank you, it was a proud moment for me." He chuckled and turned to face Alec. "Actually, though, thank you. Our conversation was a bit of a turning point for me and I really appreciate that you helped me parse through those... Emotions."

Something inside Alec’s chest warmed up. Nothing felt better than knowing they had helped someone out, even a little bit. “I just listened, really. And I’m really down to do it again, if you need to talk to someone! Like I said, the degree of separation is golden sometimes.” They paused for a couple seconds. “And we’re friends, right?”

Kieran smiled up at the ceiling. He let the question hang in the air for a few moments because the answer felt warm in his head. "Yeah. We're friends."

Alec exhaled nerves they didn’t know they had once Kieran answered. They would have brightened up, had it been possible to smile more than they were already. “Really?”

"Don't make me say it again, it already took me three years to admit I was related to Parker and Malia," he joked.

“I won’t, I won’t,” Alec laughed, waving their hand. “That’s just nice. You seem like you choose your friends carefully.”

"I maintain a pretty high barrier of entry, yes. I guess you just managed to jump right over it."

“Like a horse, in a competition! Jumping over a barrier.” Alec didn’t know why they said that. “How did they react to being disinvited? Uninvited,” they corrected themself.

Kieran snorted. "Exactly like that." He ran his fingers across the weave of his sweater. "They took it well. They were actually very supportive of my reasoning."

“Yeah?” Alec leaned forward, propping their chin up on one hand. “That’s awesome! You must’ve explained it well, eh?”

"Eloquently?" Kieran suggested.

“Eloquently,” Alec confirmed. They sat up again and ran a hand back through their hair to mess it up once more with a half grin. “You talked to them about everything you wanted to?”

Kieran joined Alec in sitting up and pulled himself into a cross-legged position. "I told them that I'm trying to make friends with people outside of just my siblings, that I'm looking to find my own space. I didn't get into the nitty gritty of my quasi-existential crisis, but I think the point was made all the same."

Alec nodded along as Kieran spoke. “Yeah, y’don’t have to tell them every detail.” They sat back down into a cross legged position to mirror Kieran without realizing. “I can introduce you to way more people, too! You might get right along with my sister.”

"Who's your sister? I'd be happy to meet her." Kieran wasn't sure if he meant this, but he figured that if he was going to try to meet new people, going with friends of a friend would be the safest route.

“Fizzy!” they exclaimed, ridiculously pleased by his answer. “Fizz Caner. You could not, but I dunno, I have a feeling it’d work and those tend to be right. Tyche intuition?”

Kieran pursed his lips together. The impulse to comment on their sister's name was overwhelming. Kieran swallowed the thought and smiled in return. "Well, seems like you've been pretty lucky thus far."

“Right you are! We wouldn’t be friends otherwise.” Alec leaned over to grab a loose pack of cards from beside the wall and started shuffling them so they wouldn’t fidget. “You know any good games?”

"Rummy? Solitaire?" Kieran hadn't played cards in years and wasn't sure if he even remembered the rules to any card games. "Go fish?"

Alec laughed. "I love Go fish." Looking at the cards now, they found they didn't especially want to play, but they continued shuffling the pack between their hands. "Did you eat before you came over?"

Kieran nodded. "A bit. I had some Waldorf salad left over from lunch. Have you?"

"Nope! Just snacks. Want me to make something?" Alec started putting some of cushions around them back against the wall. "There's this recipe for black bean and sweet potato burritos I've been wanting to make for centuries."

“Oh, I didn’t you know you cooked.” Kieran tried not to sound too awed. “That sounds delicious. Sounds like the kind of thing I usually order for myself, actually.”

"Makes it easier to be vegan if you can cook your own food!" Alec started stretching, turning to crack their back. "Awesome, I'll get started on that then. Doesn't take too long. How spicy do you like things?"

Kieran laughs. "I don't." He plants his hands behind him to arch his back, getting a much needed stretch. He could already tell he would be sore the next day from being curled up for so long.

"Order taken! No spicy." Alec started down the ladder. "Do you cook?"

"I assemble." Kieran followed Alec, waiting at the top of the ladder as they climbed down. "Raw things, I can prepare just fine. I'm okay with a stove, but my brother is much better. He usually cooks."

Alec hopped down when they were just a few rungs off of the ground. "Parker? Huh. I don't think I knew that." They headed over to start pulling ingredients out of the fridge and cabinets. "Wanna help me out then? I can teach you the recipe!"

Kieran followed down the ladder, being careful not to knock his head this time. “Sure. Whatever you need me to do. I’m not particularly speedy but I know how to follow directions.”

"It's simple too," they chattered, lining everything up on the counter. "Basically three ingredients and some spices. Not spicy spices, just spices." Alec put a pot on the stove to start boiling the sweet potatoes. "Can you drain the black beans?"

"Yes I can," Kieran nodded. He grabbed the can opener and went to work. "How long have you been vegan?"

Alec twirled a knife and started slicing the sweet potatoes. "Eleven years or so! I think I was ten? So yeah, that makes eleven." They laughed. "I can do math, totally."

"That's pretty young. Was it a familial decision?" Kieran punctured two holes in either side of the can and started pouring the bean water into the sink.

"Oh god no, my dad's a fisherman." Alec made a face. "I wanted to when I was nine but they said I had to wait, so I waited a year and then refused to eat meat anymore. And I was already allergic to dairy, so."

"Well that worked out conveniently, then." Kieran opened the can of beans up the rest of the way once they were drained and slid the can toward Alec. "What's next, chef?"

Alec finished cutting the squash and rinsed the can out, leaving it in the sink for later. They laughed. "Honestly? Nothing until the squash is boiled. It's a super simple recipe, just gotta wait and then mash it, fold the beans in, put them in the tortillas and spice and bake them." Alec stretched their arms out behind them. "Five minutes prep, twenty minutes bake."

"Alright," Kieran leaned against the counter, wiping his hands on a random towel. "How should we spend twenty minutes?"

"I'd love to get to know you more!" they said earnestly, wiping their hands on their jeans. "Or if you don't wanna just talk there's a bazillion games around, or I could show you the roof? Not sure if climbing out a window is really your thing though."

"Not really," Kieran admitted. "But neither is talking, so why don't we go up to the roof, I'll tell you more about myself, and we'll call that the game?"

Alec blinked a few times then broke into a smile so wide they could barely see. "Amazing! You're a real innovator, eh?" They turned the stove off so they could quickly complete the final few steps and set a timer on their phone for twenty minutes once the burritos were in the oven. "So y'know, I do mean actually climbing out the window, there's no ladder."

"Shit. Okay, well, let's see it." Kieran already knew he was going to have objections, but maybe it wouldn't be as bad as it sounds. "Lead the way."

Alec triple checked their phone was in their pocket before heading over to the ladder. They tapped their collar quickly then scaled it with ease and waited for Kieran at the top. "It's easy to get up there! Just thought a heads up is good, eh, so you don't re-climb the ladder just to sit in the loft again like some intense deja-vecu?"

"I think you might be overestimating my athletic ability." Kieran followed after them, making sure to duck his head this time as he reached the top. "I might need a hand getting up there, if that's going to be possible."

"Of course!" Alec chirped, pausing to smile at Kieran over their shoulder midway through opening the window. "The ledge goes out a few inches so it's pretty easy to get up once you're standing anyway." They pushed the pane outwards and rested one hand on the inside of the wall, one on the outside to steady their balance as they stood, then pulled themself up to get to the roof in one fluid motion. A second later, their head appeared upside down in the window frame. They grinned. "Hi."

"Inches," Kieran repeated in a whisper. He walked up to the window and grinned at Alec. "This seems potentially injurious." He stuck his head out of the window to assess how bad the fall would be and sighed. "How am I supposed to do this?"

Alec scooted back on the roof so their head wasn't in Kieran's way. "If you stand on the ledge your head should be above roof level, and then you just gotta pull yourself up." They rested their chin on one hand and smiled down at him. "I can help you up too, if you take my hand."

"If I survived a war just to fall off a roof..." Kieran sighed and climbed onto the windowsill. "I might need your hand," he mentioned as he stood on the sill. Grabbing onto the edge of the roof and suddenly imagining all the grisly ways he cool fall and maim himself, Kieran's adrenaline kicked in. With one assertive push, Kieran managed to get high enough to swing a leg over. With one desperate pull, Kieran flopped fully onto the rooftop, his heart pounding. "Fuck."

Alec sat back, ready to grab Kieran if he needed it, and instead was astoundingly impressed. They whistled a surprised note and scooted backwards on the roof to give him space. "Câlisse, I only try the ol' leg trick when I'm feeling fancy! You're a natural."

"Funny, I only try it when I'm fearing for my life." Kieran took a moment to catch his breath before sitting up. "You do that often?"

Alec leaned back on their hands and nodded their head towards the plastic cushions strewn about the roof. "Couple times a day! It's great for stargazing or watching clouds, or if you just gotta get away, eh? No one can see you from the ground up here."

Kieran crawled over to the plastic cushions, collapsing onto a small pile of them. Folding his hands behind his head, he looked up to the sky. "I could see why this would be worth the effort."

Alec followed him and lay down a couple feet away. "You ever think about how big the sky is?" They rethought their words and laughed. "That sounded weird. I meant like, it really puts everything in perspective. No matter what's going on down here, the clouds keep drifting and the sun keeps shining and the wind keeps blowing, eh? Nature's a force way beyond us."

"True." Kieran thought beyond the sky, of the insignificance of their position in space, of the minuteness of humanity in the timeline of the universe. He wondered if that was too cynical to mention. "This is a nice spot."

"Yeah," Alec exhaled happily. "It is. It's the best spot to just think on things." They rolled onto their side to face Kieran. "Do you have somewhere like that in your apartment? The 'calm' spot?"

"My bed?" Kieran chuckled. "No, Parker and I are pretty calm. There's not really a calm spot, it's just the climate of the apartment in general."

"Huh." Alec laughed and rested their cheek on their hand. "Maybe I gotta set apart different spaces, 'cause I live by myself? I dunno, it's nice to have a place to be even more alone even though no one else lives here. Does that make sense?" They shook their head and moved so they could lie on their stomach now, still facing Kieran.

"Sure." Kieran turned onto his side to face Alec. "I suppose I'm just so often alone that I never feel the need designate a special area for it."

Alec considered Kieran's response carefully, adding it to what they already knew about him. "Do you like being alone so much?"

"I don't think about it," he admitted. "It's my default. I've always been by myself, even when I was younger. I didn't have any siblings, no neighbors. Not too many friends, honestly. Not to sound tragic, I truly did not mind being alone."

The corner of Alec's mouth tugged down but they didn't fully frown. "That sounds really lonely, Kieran," they said after a moment's pause. Going over his words again, they blinked a few times. "Not even neighbours?"

"No," Kieran sighed. He didn't love to talk about his home life, but supposed this is how relationships were formed. "My father is fairly well-off, so we lived on a pretty large property at the end of a long drive. We had no neighbors by design. But again, it suited me just fine. I mostly spent my time hiking trails or watching movies. I was never really very social."

"Because you didn't want to be, or 'cause that's how things were?" they questioned, then shook their head. "Sorry, you don't have to answer anything I'm asking if you don't want– I'm just curious." Alec made a face. "Not like, curious in a way that I'm examining you or anything, I just want to get to know you better?"

"That's okay," Kieran responded. "It was a little bit of both. If you raise a child in a room with no light, he learns to thrive in the dark, right? I mean, ethics and morality aside. The metaphor is flawed." Kieran chuckled. "But I think you get my point."

Alec nodded along slowly as Kieran spoke, hanging on to every word. "No, no, it makes sense. But in that case, when exposed to it, even if the light is glaring for a while, your eyes adjust eventually, eh?" They smiled at him. "Let me know if I'm shining a flashlight at you. Metaphorically."

Kieran laughed, nodding in understanding. "Excellent point." He fell onto his back again and looked up at the sky. His eyes had adjusted to the dark and he could see all the stars, pinpricks of light in the sky.March 30, 2020

Alec watched him for a few more seconds before following his lead and turning to stare at the stars instead. "How long've you been at camp?"

Kieran thought back. "Eight years." Saying it out loud, he suddenly realized how long he had been here and how much time had passed. Kieran knew that he must have been a different person after all that time, but wondered why he felt so much of the same. "How about you?"

Alec counted backwards on their fingers. "About four years? Three maybe." They laughed. "I think I was seventeen, but that could be wrong."

"I was fifteen," Kieran reflected. "Strange how time passes." The words sounded hollow, but Kieran meant them. At the very least, Kieran did find it all strange.

"Really is, eh?" Alec turned their head to look at Kieran again. "Ever wish you had like, a normal high school experience? I sure don't."

Kieran pressed his lips together. He thought about it all the time. Kieran knew the only reason he came to camp is because his father didn't want to risk his own safety and didn't think twice about sacrificing Kieran's chance at a normal life. "Frequently," he replied.

Alec frowned and rolled back onto their side. "Yeah?" they asked to prompt him to continue.

Kieran held his silence for a moment. "This is not where I belong, Alec. I think it's painfully obvious that I don't have any of the skills that Chiron is grooming these kids to have. Every altercation I've been a part of, I've needed to be rescued." Kieran shook his head. "The things that I'm good at aren't valued here. Maybe they would have been great assets in a formal educational institution, but my dad robbed me of that opportunity because he was afraid of his own life getting messy. So," Kieran shrugged, "Yes. I do wish I had a normal high school experience and not this lethal bootcamp for super-powered individuals, with whom I have no place."

Alec rested their cheek on their hand as Kieran spoke. Once he finished, there was a solid silence as they mulled his words over. "What's the reason you've stayed for so long?"

Kieran's voice fell to a murmur. "Where would I go?"

That was the answer Alec had been expecting, but a solution hadn't come to mind in the two seconds of lead up. They bit the inside of their cheek. "Where do you think you'd be if you hadn't come here?"

"Dartmouth," Kieran speculated without missing a beat. "It was my father's alma mater and he's an annual donor. They'd have to take me."

"Have you thought about getting your high school degree online?" Alec asked, pulling one of the cushions closer. "If that's what's stopping you?"

Kieran half-chuckled. The idea of an online education sounded laughable, but Kieran realized he wasn't in a place to judge. "Maybe. I suppose I haven't considered it." He shrugged. "Honestly, at this point the idea of attending an undergraduate program when I'd already be older than 99% of the students is... Unappealing to say the least."

Alec frowned slightly, not understanding. "But if that's what you want to do, why let something like that get in your way?"

Kieran furrowed his brows. "I guess... I don't know what I want."

Tracing a few patterns on the pillow, Alec continued. "You have plenty of time to figure it out. And maybe more of a blank slate? Following what you think you should do doesn't leave much room to learn, y'know, who you actually are or what you want. They're called growing pains for a reason, eh? S'never easy."

"Hm." Kieran fell quiet, Alec's words sitting in his brain. He was just now realizing how easy it was for him to deflect these thoughts—apparently he had been doing so for eight years. "I suppose."

"Sometimes just knowing you want something is ambition enough until you work the rest out!" Alec gave Kieran a soft smile, then flopped onto their back again to stare up at the sky. "Part of being kind to yourself is being patient, eh? And if you're already studying film and your other interests without school, you've sure got the drive to do anything you want, with or without it! Trust me, I have none of it. The drive, I mean. I've had enough of school." They laughed.

Kieran contemplated Alec's words. "That's an interesting assessment." Kieran sat up and looked around. "How much time is left on the oven?"

Alec checked their phone, following Kieran's lead to a seated position. "Five minutes! We can head back in now. It's easier getting in, I think, 'cause you just gotta step down." They stood up and made their way over to the edge of the roof.

Kieran sighed, not totally convinced. "I'll have to watch your technique more carefully this time." He followed Alec to the edge of the roof and tried not to look at the distance to the ground.

"Okay!" Alec got down on their stomach on the edge of the roof so they could swing their legs over the side, then moved one hand to the inside of the window and wiggled down an inch until their feet were touching the window sill. "I'll be just inside, so if you need a hand to pull you in, I gotchu!" With that, they let go of the roof and pulled themself into the loft with their other hand.

Kieran crawled over to the edge and yelled down, "I'll definitely need a hand!" With his best effort, Kieran recreated Alec's maneuver. With one foot landing firmly on the sill, he stepped down slowly with his other before slowly crouching, trying to step back inside.

Alec reached forward to take Kieran's forearm and help him inside. They grinned at him. "You're a natural! Ça va?"

Kieran caught his breath as he landed inside. That was enough risk for the entire month. "Ça va," he replied, dusting off pants and palms.

"I have a lint roller if you need it," they offered with a laugh. "Gotta get the cat fur off somehow before the Morph cabin makes me die."

"That's okay." Kieran shook his head. "It's just clothes." Kieran made his way down the ladder. "It smells delicious in here."

"It does, eh?" Alec turned the timer off on their phone and followed Kieran down the ladder. They grabbed the towel hanging from the bar on the oven and used it to remove the burritos. "Can you grab a couple plates from the drying rack?"

Kieran did as he was told, making a neat stack of plates on the counter. "Should I set a table?"

Alec tried to remember what that would entail. "Sure! Silverware's in the drawer in front of you there. And I have... cups? What else do we need?"

"Napkins?" Kieran pulled a pair of forks and knives from the drawer, laying them on top of the plate. "May I use your restroom before we eat?"

"Right, yeah, napkins! I have paper towel?" Alec gave him a sheepish grin. "I'll figure it out. And yeah, right over there!" They wondered if hand towels folded small enough could pass for fancier napkins.

"Thank you." Kieran stepped back to the front of the cabin to fish a small pouch from his coat pocket before heading to the bathroom. "I'll just be a few minutes."

Alec's forehead creased in confusion as they watched him, but they shook it off and set about figuring out the napkins. Quickly, they remembered one of their main hobbies and folded two hand towels into miniature swans, setting them in front of each plate on the poker table they had chosen to serve as a dinner table. Once it was arranged to their liking, they took a seat to wait for Kieran.

After a few minutes, Kieran emerged from the bathroom and joined Alec at the poker table. "Resourceful," Kieran smiled. He sat down across Alec, laying the pouch on the edge of the table. "Thank you for cooking tonight."

Alec beamed at the praise. "Thanks! Figured I'd put a talent to use!" They rubbed their cheek against their shoulder at the second compliment, taking it more genuinely than the first. "No problem! I love cooking. Especially for friends." They glanced at the pouch. "Can I ask what that's for?"

Kieran couldn't help smiling a bit at the mention of friends. "This?" Kieran put a hand on the pouch. "It's just for my glucose meter and insulin."

"Oh! Okay." Alec nodded in understanding. "Good to know." They picked up their knife and fork, then put them down again. "These're burritos. Oops." Instead, they picked up their burrito and lifted it to Kieran with a laugh. "Cheers?"

Dressing up like a monster had lost all its appeal for someone who lived in constant fear of being one year-round. Jack looked at himself in the mirror, clad in a blue jumpsuit and a grey industrial harness. He was dressed like an anime character but still felt monstrous seeing his scarred, red eye glaring back at him from the glass. "Ugh. I don't know," he called out through the bathroom door. "I'm scared to show you."

Parker, admittedly, thought that Halloween was kind of dumb. However, he thought the same thing about animals, and was a fan of a small dog because of Jack. So if this was something his boyfriend enjoyed, he was going to be as enthusiastic as needed. “Shouldn’t I be the one who’s scared?” He joked. “Of, like, your costume?”

Jack snorted. "I'm not dressed scary." He glanced at the mirror again. "Or... I guess it could be. Ugh." He sighed. Jack had never let Parker see him without his eye patch before. The scar across his eye was a disgusting reminder of the pain he had inflicted on someone else and he could barely stand to look at it himself. But after months of dating Parker, Jack had slowly warmed to the idea of coming out of the closet, so to speak, about his face. 

The deciding factor was seeing the character Todoroki for the first time. Contrary to Jack's deep insecurity about his facial scar, this character was somehow considered a heartthrob despite the red splotch across his eye and his cold, reclusive personality. A perfect costume, Jack thought. 

Jack took a deep breath and turned the knob of the bathroom door. "Ta-da," he muttered weakly as he stepped out into the living room, his red scar exposed bare on his face. "It's..." Jack shrugged, gesturing to his eye. "It's part of the costume."

Parker sat on the edge of the couch expectantly, and raised his eyebrows as Jack walked out. It took him a moment to place the character, but once he realized that it was something that Jack had shown him. "Oh! Yeah, yeah." He clapped and pointed at him. "You're that guy! From the anime show. Yeah." After a moment, he added an enthusiastic, "It looks good!" He stood, crossing the room towards him. "I think you look very cute."

Jack was anticipating some sort of comment or wince in reaction to his eye. When one didn't come, Jack was almost disappointed. "Yeah? Is it, like..." He shrugged. "I don't know. Like... You know?"

Parker blinked. "Cool?" He raised his eyebrows. "I think so." He pointed at Jack's chest. "I recognized him, so I think you did a good job."

"Uh." Jack exhaled a laugh. The combination of nerves and being flattered did something really strange to his heartbeat. "Uh, I mean more like... I don't know, do you think it's too much to just, like... Have my face out?" Jack looked away at a far wall. "I don't know, I thought it was, like, accurate to the character but like, I don't know if people will get it. It might just be, like... Gross. I don't know."

Parker furrowed his brow as he listened to Jack speak, then reached out to take his shoulders. "Hey, what? It's not gross at all. I like your face being out. You know what's gross? Having makeup on for like, however many hours and having it slide off your face later that night."

"Yeah, I guess," Jack agreed half-heartedly. He shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, starting to feel self-conscious about his costume. "I mean, like... Do you think people will get it?"

Parker dropped his hands and tilted his head at Jack as he considered the question, then nodded. "I think so, yeah. If they watch the show, which, I'm pretty sure a lot of people do, right? At least someone will get it." He paused. "I wasn't talking about me, but that is at least one person." He nodded sagely.

Jack snickered as he wrapped his arms around Parker's waist. He dropped his head forward to rest on his boyfriend's and groaned. "Ugh. I hate personal growth."

Parker laughed and swayed back and forth. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, just like..." Jack shrugged. "It's so awkward. Like, one of two things is gonna happen if I don't wear the eyepatch. One, someone is gonna see my face and be like, 'ew', or two, someone like Brent is gonna see my face and be like, 'wow look at you, little buddy'. It's like... Terrible either way."

Parker couldn't help but laugh at Jack's comment about Brent. "Oh my God, that totally sounds like him. I'll tell Mace to kick his ass if he says anything." He shrugged, leaning back slightly to look at Jack once more. "I don't think anyone is gonna say ew or anything though. Like, literally everyone here is covered in scars, it's like... I dunno, there's your trainer dude who is legit covered in them and has one leg and nobody says anything beside that he's like, mega ripped and hot." He shrugged. "Like, you're probably the person that thinks about it the most, since you're the one who looks at it the most."

"I guess," Jack mumbled in response. He hadn't ever really thought about it that way. Jack knew that everyone else had battle scars but his just felt... Different. "Yeah, I guess," he repeated. "So... You think my trainer is mega ripped and hot?"

Parker smiled slightly, bobbing his head as Jack agreed with him, no matter how begrudgingly. He laughed at the question. "I mean, that's probably like his credentials for the job, right?" He moved a hand to rest on Jack's waist. "Not really my type though."

"Ugh." Jack squeezed Parker's waist. A smile grew on his face between his reddening cheeks. "I really like you."

"Shit, I hope so!" Parker laughed, leaning forward to rest his head against Jack's again. "I like you too," he said genuinely, not laughing anymore, but smiling. "Like, all of you." He looked up at him. "Was I supposed to dress up too?"

"Um, yeah," Jack responded, as if it should have been obvious. "And you have to go as something sexy so we can, like... Power couple it," he insisted. "Brent and Macey are way too confident, we need to give them a run for their money."

Parker laughed and shook his head. "Shit. I told Macey I wouldn't dress up as Shaggy for her. She's gonna kill me." He shrugged. "Okay, what's a sexy costume? Am I supposed to be like, one of those nurses?"

Jack snorted. "Um... You could do, like... Sexy Colonel Sanders?"

"Ew!" Parker laughed and shoved Jack's chest. "I'll go as a super hot chef, and you can change your costume to a rat."

"Oh my fucking gods!" Jack clutched his stomach and started wheezing with laughter. "Stop! No! Not that again!"

Parker laughed harder and turned his head away from Jack, shaking his head, annoyed at himself for making the joke. "Okay, yeah, we'll ignore the fact that I said that and I'll think of a hot costume."

"Sexy Linguine," Jack considered, still shaking with laughter. "Ugh. I hate that you'd probably pull it off."

Parker shook his head again. "Don't worry, I won't even try it." He ran a hand through his hair. "I’ll do, um... I don't know. Is it weird to go as a soccer player?"

Jack snorted. "That's so jock. But I guess it's not weird."

Parker rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, still smiling. “Anime guy and jock. Is that not the vibe we’re going for?”

"We sound like a crackship," Jack pointed out with a chuckle. "I mean, I guess we kind of are."