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 Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:55 pm
"I beat you, then," he said with a grin, although it really wasn't anything to brag about. "I had my first sip in third grade. First Communion, actually. I mean, I know it doesn't really count, but still." It was still alcohol, even if it was only a really tiny bit. "And it's not like I'm completely innocent, you know," he said with a small frown, although it was at himself more than anything else. Peer pressure could be rough on a kid, after all. He'd never gotten drunk before, hell, not even tipsy, but he wasn't exactly the ideal person he wished others would be. Sure, he did his best to use himself as an example, but it wasn't always easy.
He shook his head at her, though, leaning down to kiss her on her nose, teasingly. "I"m not concerned. I just didn't want you to get intimidated, to be honest..." Since, he had seen her house and knew there was a huge difference between their worlds... He didn't want her getting spooked off, really. "I don't think you could disappoint me, even if you tried... so don't worry about that..." At least he couldn't think of any way for her to disappoint him. She'd been honest with him, and even if she had bad habits, she was at least tell him him about them and not acting on them in front of him. Although, he hoped that him being her boyfriend would help her move out of those habits...
"Wait, you have a tattoo?" he asked suddenly, looking at her curiously. "You never told me you have a tattoo..." Maybe he just hadn't earned the right to see it yet? Boo... that wasn't any fun. "Can I see...?" he asked, trying not to look too horribly interested but... it definitely wasn't on any part of her body that he'd seen so far.
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 11:17 pm
Paris snorted at Chris's first encounter with alcohol, though he was at least pleased that he'd been right about him drinking it at church. It figured as much. He supposed it was something that he knew Chris well enough to be able to guess things like that, though.
When Chris asked to see his tattoo, Paris immediately forgot about the rest of the conversation, and grew quiet as he attempted to decide if showing him would be wise or not. If he'd been wearing a skirt, it would have been a simple matter of lifting up the back of his shirt, but since he was wearing a dress... that made things a tad more risky. Of course, it wasn't like the dress was short, and it wasn't like he'd have to lift up all off it for Chris to see, just the back, and so long as Chris didn't suddenly start putting his hands all over him after seeing it, he'd be okay.
He glanced around first, making sure Mrs. Gallo wasn't anywhere nearby to witness them being naughty. "Fine. But we have to go back up to your room," he said.
With his hand still holding Chris's, he turned to lead the way back through the big house and up the stairs. Once they arrived in Chris's room, he closed the door behind him and moved off to where they wouldn't risk being seen by any peeping Toms through the windows. He turned his back to Chris and glanced at him over the shoulder, still a bit worried about him making all the wrong discoveries, even if he didn't see why he should so long as he was careful.
"It's just a Tramp Stamp, and it's not very big," he told him, just so he'd know where to look once he'd uncovered it.
Carefully, Paris lifted up the back of his dress high enough for Chris to be able to see the blue rose placed in the center of a encircled pentagram. The whole thing was somewhere between the size of a quarter and a half dollar. As he revealed it to him, Paris was immensely thankful he'd worn cute underwear that day, and he made sure the rest of his dress still fell around his hips and covered his front. This was risky enough without exposing himself even more.
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:12 am
Of course his first encounter with alcohol was church related! It was a good guess for Paris, though.
Chris watched in slight bemusement as Paris pulled on his hand and lead the way up the stairs and back to his room. Oh, really? She was going to show him? Wow, just like that? He sputtered a little in surprise when he was pulled into the room and the door was closed behind him, staring with wide eyes at Paris.
"Wait, what?" he sputtered again when she said it was a tramp stamp, not sure if Paris lifting up her dress or whatever she was planning on doing was a good idea. They were still pretty fresh in their relationship and he hadn't even been allowed to touch her, but she was going to tease him by showing him her a**? That was just mean!
He blinked curiously though when she did lift up the back of the dress, although his eyes lingered a bit longer on her cute underwear before moving up to the tattoo. "What's the significance?" he wondered, before adding, "Damn, you do have a cute butt..." He knew his mom was right, but he'd never actually had the excuse to look at it without risking being caught.
"Chris, dad's h--Oh my gosh, what are you doing?! Jeez, can't you lock your door?! Seriously, I don't want to see that, are you trying to traumatize me?!" a younger voice came from the doorway, and Chris spun around to lunge for the open door to slam it shut in his brother's face.
"Get out of my room!! Learn how to knock, will you?!" Chris shouted, his face burning red as he shoved his brother out and made sure to shut the door.
"I'm telling mom!" came the voice on the other side of the door, and Chris wouldn't have been surprised if Paris was able to physically see his temper rising like one of those lame cartoon thermometers.
"SHUT UP, PETER. We weren't doing anything!!" What the hell...
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 11:04 am
He was just about to explain the significance when the door opened and Peter's scandalized voice reached his ears. Paris stiffened for a moment, then immediately relaxed, rolling his eyes and dropping his dress back down to smooth it out and make sure everything was back in place. Then, he turned around to watch Chris shouting at the door, and had to smile at his partially embarrassed, partially enraged expression and the angry red that suffused his face.
Very cute...
"Relax," he said, completely calm about the entire thing. "It's not like we were naked." What did Peter really expect to do about it? He told so many tall tales he wondered if Mrs. Gallo would even believe him. Or, if she did believe whatever Peter planned on telling her and she was as easy going as Chris made her seem, maybe she wouldn't even care.
Paris joined his boyfriend at the door, reaching out to take Chris's hand away from it before grabbing the knob and opening it back up to see Peter on the other side, grinning at him. "Hello, Peter. Long time no see."
He would not soon forget the brat wheedling money out of him at camp, and if Peter did happen to be traumatized by the innocent little display of his tattoo, well... that was fine by him. It'd teach him not to come barging into other people's rooms, wouldn't it?
"There's nothing for you to get all offended about. I was just showing Chris my tattoo," he told him, his grin widening. "Wanna see?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:56 pm
Not cute at all! He was going to strangle his little brother in front of his girlfriend at this rate. But Chris sputtered when Paris moved around him and opened the door to speak to the little brat, which left him grumbling to himself about how this was why he'd moved out. Seriously. His brother was such a little snot, how could anyone stand him??
"Don't show him!" Chris nearly yelped in horror at her, unable to believe what she was saying. Don't encourage him! He would just be worse!
—————————————————————
Not that it really mattered. He'd seen girls in bathing suits before. Heck, they had a pool so there were people over all the time, mooching off of his mom's generosity because she couldn't say no for some reason. It was annoying. And Chris was annoying, too.
Peter raised an eyebrow at Paris when she looked out the door, calling her bluff and saying. "Sure, I want to see." And then how would she feel? Showing a little kid her butt? Seriously, of all the girls Chris could have picked up to go out with, he had to pick the one with the least amount of class.
She wouldn't last an hour at a nice dinner party. He bet she didn't even know what silverware was what.
"Absolutely not!" came the nagging voice of his older brother, and Peter rolled his eyes.
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 1:11 pm
Actually, he'd learned how to use his silverware through the advice provided in Titanic: start from the outside and work your way in -- which made sense, really, because who would want to pick one at random when they were in a nice, convenient row? -- and it had yet to fail him during any of his nice dinners with Chris. He might have grown up in a shabby house among thugs and drunks, but he was resourceful enough to get by around rich people.
Paris rolled his eyes at Chris and smiled at him sweetly. "It's not like he'll see anything horrible," he said, though he didn't especially want to show Peter his tattoo. He wouldn't really care either way. If he saw it, he saw it; if he didn't, he didn't. He did, however, think Chris's anger and embarrassment were absolutely charming, and couldn't help but instigate just a little.
"Alas, I'm a horrible role model. If you want to see it, Peter, you'll have to ask your mom. I wouldn't really care, but I don't know how she'd feel about you seeing an older woman's panties, and I kind of like your house so I don't want to be banned from coming over again. If you can get permission, I won't be against showing you, though."
They were both boys, so what did it matter? Of course, none of them knew he was a boy, so he should probably look at the situation as if he really were a girl, in which case it was probably a bit questionable for him to be lifting up his dress to show a ten year old the tattoo on the small of his back. Yeah... kind of a creepy thought... Then again, he was sure Peter saw worse things browsing the internet. Kids these days...
"So your dad's home, huh?" he wondered, having assumed that's what Peter was in the middle of saying when he'd barged into the room, and using it as a means to change the subject before Chris blew a gasket -- as adorable as that would be. Paris glanced up at his boyfriend again and squeezed his hand. "Aren't you going to introduce me?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 2:16 pm
It would be adorable for him to blow a gasket?? How would that be adorable??
Chris growled after Peter as he watched his brother "tsk" and turn to leave. He could never tell if the kid was really upset about something or if he was just pulling their leg. It was annoying, either way, and he wished he would stop. Seriously.
"I guess so," he said, his voice still in a low growl. He probably wasn't the most charming person to be around at the moment, but right now he really was trying not to be furious at his younger brother. The kid could seriously get on his nerves.
He made sure Peter was on his way to wherever he was going, before squeezing Paris's hand and turning to lead the way to the stairs and down.
His father was with his mother in the kitchen and was sipping a glass of white wine while his wife continued to cook. The Admiral looked older than he was, but his most prominent wrinkles were the smile lines around his mouth. His hair was greying on the sides, and although the top was cut short, there didn't seem to be much balding going on, and was the same mahogany brown that Chris and Peter had. But instead of the golden eyes the two brothers shared from their mother, their father's eyes were striking azure blue.
"Dad, this is Paris. Paris, Admiral Gallo," Chris introduced her.
"Nonsense," his father said, smiling at Paris from the moment she'd walked into the room. "Call me Beau," he said with a wink, "Everyone does. Christopher likes being more formal than necessary." Beau changed hands with his wine and offered it to his son's girlfriend to shake. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 2:36 pm
Paris kept a smile on his face as he and Chris once again left Chris's bedroom, watching out for Peter as they descended the stairs, just to make sure the little brat didn't try anything else. He didn't dislike Peter, he just found him somewhat obnoxious, but not in a way that made him wish he wouldn't hang around -- or at least it hadn't grown to that level yet. He knew an attention-seeker when he saw one, being one himself, so he couldn't really judge Peter for it without then judging himself.
They arrived in the kitchen, and Paris was pleased to note that Admiral Gallo looked exactly as he imagined. Okay, so not exactly, but he hadn't been far off. Admiral Gallo definitely had that dashing but authoritative man-in-charge thing going on, though he seemed quite personable and not at all difficult to talk to. His age showed, but he was still quite handsome, and he looked marginally fit, too. He definitely hadn't let himself go once he'd gotten over the hill.
"It's nice to meet you, too, Beau," he said, taking a moment to make a mental note that 'Chris' was apparently short for 'Christopher' as he shook Admiral Gallo's hand. He'd assumed Chris's name was something like that, but as he'd never heard more than the shortened version before, he hadn't been sure, and he'd never bothered to ask, as he felt it was rather an awkward or pointless thing to randomly inquire about.
Naturally, Chris would have a good-two-shoes name to go with his goody-two-shoes personality. 'Chris' on its own was short, easy, and potentially douchey, but 'Christopher' put him in mind of a little mommy's boy who still had his precious little outfits picked out for him.
"Did you just get back from Washington?" he asked, not having any idea where else he would have been, except on a base somewhere, or overseas. "I'm surprised Chris managed to bring me over on a weekend that you're actually home. He's been putting it off for so long, I would have expected him to have conveniently forgotten that you were away," he commented, only half serious, and he showed his boyfriend a teasing smile as he did so, all 'hee hee, I'm making nice with your parents.'
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 12:49 pm
Yeah, well, he would like for his brother to just leave them alone and stop being an obnoxious little brat. How about that?
As for Paris making nice with his parents, he was happy about that. He hadn't really been worried about her doing so, but it was nice to see that she didn't seem intimidated by them. That in itself was a huge relief. His mother's personality could be a bit overbearing to some, and others thought of his dad as someone they couldn't possibly see eye to eye with, for whatever reason. Probably because of his lifetime of service to the Navy.
"Last night, actually," Beau said, seeming flattered that Paris would know that he spent a lot of time in Washington, as well as out of town in general. "Chris said he wanted us to meet you, so I had it especially arranged," he said, half seriously back. "Chris tells me you go to Crystal for dance? How is that?" he wondered, taking a sip of his wine and moving over on the island to offer a place for her to sit if she wanted.
"Do you want anything to drink?" Chris cut in, although not so much that he would interrupt their conversation. "Uh, there's water, apple juice, soda..." he listed off, hoping she'd take an interest in something they had. He was sure there was more than just the things he listed off, but it was just something to think about.
"Chris, could you set the table please?" his mother asked him and he nodded to indicate he'd do that as soon as he was done getting Paris something to drink if she wanted it.
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 1:20 pm
Paris supposed Admiral Gallo could be a bit intimidating, but it had less to do with the way he presented himself and more to do with his background and present occupation. Seeing as he was not currently in uniform, however, it was a bit easy to overlook that and focus instead on the fact that he, like Chris, was a very charming, very handsome man. Besides, it wasn't as if Paris had never found himself in the company of military men before; a few kids on his street had chosen military service as a way out, though he figured he shouldn't compare otherwise future-less twenty-somethings with a man who was far more illustrious.
He smiled at Chris's father, rather liking the idea that this little meeting of theirs had been important enough for him to return from his arguably more important work, whether or not it was true. Paris didn't even hesitate as the topic turned to his schooling, and he graciously took a seat beside the Admiral. "The dancing's wonderful. I'm glad for the opportunity even if the rest of it's not really my thing. If it wasn't for the scholarship, I wouldn't have gone to Crystal at all. The atmosphere's a little too prim and proper for me. I like a bit more freedom. I take classes outside of school, too."
It wasn't hard talking about it. The feelings he expressed were pretty much the same ones he had about being stuck at Hillworth, provided he replaced "prim and proper" with "oppressive and confining."
Paris turned his smile to Chris at his offer for a drink. "Apple juice is fine. Did you need any help?"
He wasn't used to sitting around and having others worry about the cooking and the setting of the table. At home, he did all that himself -- though he and his father didn't sit at the table so much as in front of the television, or in separate rooms entirely. Something told him neither Chris nor Mrs. Gallo would agree to help from a guest, but he thought he might as well ask. It'd score him a few politeness points, if nothing else.
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:53 pm
"No," both Chris and his mother answered at the same time, but Claire continued with "Thank you, precious. You just sit and relax, okay?" Chris held back an eyeroll at his mother's gushing, used to it after almost nineteen years of life. Chris went over to the refrigerator to pull out the juice for Paris and moving to get a glass down from the cabinet when he heard a chirp of: "May I have some, too, please?"
Golden eyes met for a brief moment and Chris grimaced, but pulled down another glass for the brat child as well. As much as the child annoyed him, he was at least trying to be on his best behavior in front of his parents and girlfriend. Although he placed the glasses down on the table rather stiffly and took a little more force to open the bottle of juice than necessary.
"Chris tried talking us into letting him go to Meadowview when we were signing him up for high school," Beau told Paris, giving her his full attention. "I don't think it turned out too bad, what do you think, Chris?"
Chris was already stiff from the interaction with his little brother, so when he smiled it was obviously forced, and focused on handing Peter the glass of juice and moving over to Paris, handing her hers as well. "Yeah, it was fine." It was miserable. He'd been one of the few jocks in a school of gifted geniuses. The kind of people who made history and won nobel peace prizes and cured cancer. What was he? He was good at math (which really only took a certain kind of memory for formulas) and had an excellent pitch that would only last as long as his arm did.
Being Valhalla, he knew, greatly increased the probability of damaging his arm before he was out of college. And he didn't have to be good at math to know that.
Either way, he went about setting the table, and conversation between his parents and Paris continued until his mother said it was time for dinner. Chris hadn't said much but yes and no answers as dinner was prepared, but waited until Paris went to sit down to sit himself. He stood behind her chair and pulled it out for her, making sure she was ready to sit before pushing it in for her. He took his spot next to her, and, as the good Catholic family they were, said grace before starting dinner.
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 8:19 pm
... awkward...
Very, very awkward.
Paris didn't know what to do during grace except sit there and hold hands with Chris and Mrs. Gallo, whom he was sitting between. The entire recitation meant absolutely nothing to him. Later, he wouldn't even be able to remember what the rest of them said. He kind of just sat there and zoned out for a few moments, staring blankly at one of the walls, before coming back to himself at the murmuring of "Amen" and releasing the hands of the two beside him to grab his napkin and unfold it to spread along his lap. He smiled at Chris in an attempt to seem as if he'd been paying attention, but he was pretty sure by this point that Chris knew -- or at least assumed -- that he wasn't Catholic, whether or not they'd actually discussed it.
Dinner passed quite amiably. Mrs. Gallo was exceptionally bubbly and asked a hundred and one questions that Paris didn't mind answering, and Mr. Gallo proved himself to be not only charming, but also rather funny. Paris found it easy to speak with both of them, and found himself having a wonderful time talking to them about his dance lessons, his plans for the future -- or ideas, really; he didn't have any concrete plans -- his parents' jobs, which for some reason wasn't as difficult to talk with them about as it normally would have been, before going on to share camp stories and chat with them a bit about what he and Chris had been up to over the summer so far. Peter made a few snide or obnoxious comments here and there, but Paris didn't mind and generally had some sort of a comeback ready for him, though Chris frowned and grew progressively more grumpy the more times Peter opened his mouth.
Once dinner was over, Mrs. Gallo rose from her seat to remove the dishes from the table and take them to the kitchen sink to be cleaned. Paris once again offered to help for politeness's sake but, as he expected, he was graciously denied and Chris was made to see to the dishes in his stead, at which point Paris spent a little more time speaking with Mr. Gallo and learning a bit about his time in the Navy as they sat enjoying one another's company in the living room, while Peter lingered off somewhere out of sight, but close enough for Paris to hear the sound of his voice every once in a while.
Not long after, Mr. Gallo excused himself with an apology and quickly went into his office to take a private phone call, and Paris was momentarily left to his own devices in the living room. He stood from one of the couches to stroll around the room, peering at things a bit closer now that he had the time to -- at the family pictures, paintings, and other such decorations that hung on the walls. For such a large place, the Gallo house had a warm, intimate atmosphere. Paris quite liked it, more than he thought he would.
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 8:56 pm
There was something strange about Paris. He'd noticed it at camp but hadn't said anything in case he'd been wrong. But the longer he looked at her, the more he began to suspect that she wasn't all she seemed to be.
Peter had been out in the kitchen with his mom, picking out what they should treat Paris to for dessert. There were a few things left over from a party the previous weekend, but his mother had also made some chocolate cake with home made ice cream. Personally, he wanted the cheesecake from the past weekend. He would have liked the ice cream if it had been strawberry instead of chocolate. Alas, he would have to get his strawberries in something other than ice cream then.
"Hi Paris," he said, smiling as sweetly as he could manage as he meandered out from the kitchen and into the living room in which Paris had been talking to his father. "Are you having a good time?" See? He could totally be nice. It was just a matter of using the right kind of smile with the right annunciation of words.
"That's Michael," he said, pointing to the family portrait that was hanging over the fire place. Both Admiral Gallo and Michael were wearing naval uniforms, while Chris, himself, and their mom were wearing nice dress clothes. Even Annabel was in the portrait. In fact, Annabel was running around the fenced in back yard since Chris had brought her over earlier, but that wasn't really the point. "That was done last year before Chris started college," he explained. "See? I have all my front teeth." He smiled at Paris again, just to make sure that he noticed the partially missing tooth — it was starting to grow back in by this point.
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 9:05 pm
Paris turned to watch Peter approach him and raised his eyebrows a bit in curiosity. He didn't buy Peter's innocent act for a second. Maybe he would have before camp, but he knew better by now. After all, this had been the kid who'd weaseled twenty bucks out of him after Paris had been nice and helped him up the flag pole he'd been itching to climb.
He could definitely see why Chris thought his little brother was a brat, but maybe because Paris didn't have to be around the kid all that often, or maybe because he'd never had a younger sibling of his own and for some reason had more patience because of it, he wasn't necessarily bothered by Peter's behavior. It could actually be pretty funny sometimes, so long as Peter's snark was directed at someone else -- Chris, for example -- and not him.
Paris looked at the family portrait Peter was pointing out, paying close attention to Michael now that he knew all the other subjects. Ah, another handsome Gallo. Looking at the older brother and Mr. Gallo, Paris was beginning to see the appeal of a man in uniform.
"I'm having a great time," he said off-handed, wanting Peter to know he wasn't concerned by his presence at all. If Peter was trying to make him uncomfortable somehow, it wasn't working. "I bet you got a good haul for that tooth of yours," he observed, figuring he must have gotten more for it than the measly dollar his own parents had snuck him when he'd lost any of his baby teeth. "Been spending your money wisely?"
He eyed Peter, letting him know he hadn't forgotten about the twenty dollars.
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 9:32 pm
What?? He wasn't doing anything devious! He was being completely innocent and harmless! How dare Paris think that he was up to no good?? Okay, so it was pretty common knowledge that he tended to get a little in over his head sometimes, but most of it was completely innocent! Honest!
Peter shook his head when Paris brought up his tooth fairy money. "I didn't get any money for it," he explained, "I got a PS3 and a couple games." Lies. He got twenty bucks which he put into savings. His parents bought him everything he wanted and he didn't usually play video games, anyway. He would rather save his money for a trip to Europe instead of wasting it on video games. That stuff rots brains anyway. Besides, if he wanted to play video games, he would just play on his's mom's Wii... She got it for the Wii Fit, she insists, but he's caught her playing other games on it, too.
"So you and Chris are going pretty uh... steady, right?" he asked, hoping he got the word in the right context. He'd heard his mom talk about it but it wasn't used all that often, he didn't think. Eh, if not, Paris should know what he meant. "Are you going to come to his birthday party in two weeks?"
Peter had to wonder if Chris had even told her. He usually didn't make a fuss about his birthday, probably the same reason he and Michael didn't fuss about their birthday — their mom did all the fussing needed for about five birthdays.
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