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 Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 5:21 pm
Devyn was already eyeing the food vendors, and when Michael offered more food, he perked up again. “Yeah, you mentioned it. If you want to go, I’m in, sounds fun.”
Oliver glanced at Devyn, and then Michael, and then smiled again. “Well, I promise, you will never see me on the field. Hopefully. But it might be fun to go as a big group.”
“Might be fun to go on a date,” Asher suggested, a little quieter, and he leaned over to take a sip of Oliver’s drink. Oliver tilted it a bit to make it easier to share but he seemed like he had a bit of a hard time suppressing the grin that twitched onto his face.
“Oh, that, too. I don’t mind if you want to take El to watch Chris play. I know he’d be happy to have his friend come with him. I don’t think he gets to go on a lot of fun trips. We’ll have to see how the summer goes, I was thinking about planning some trips if we can afford it. Nothing big, but I feel like he’d like the aquarium. I fell in love with it the first time I went. The zoo was fun, but the aquarium just felt like going into a different world.” For a second he seemed like he was daydreaming, but after a wistful sigh and Asher’s hand resting over his own he snapped out of it and added, “Oh, and it’s always got good air conditioning. Very good for summer. You and Devyn are, of course, invited to come. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but they have two baby dolphins, now.”
Devyn gave Michael a look, because of course he’d agree to do anything, but he was not familiar with most Earth animals, and anything he couldn’t run into on Alastor or in Destiny City was foreign enough to him that it was practically another language.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 5:29 pm
Michael didn’t look at Oliver or Asher, but he couldn’t help the small grin on his face as well when he heard Asher suggest a date. Good, at least someone was thinking about taking advantage of Elliot being away for a bit. And Michael always loved the chance to hang out with the kid, even if it was just going to a park or throwing a ball around.
He caught Devyn’s look, and tried not to grin a little brighter in amusement. “Two? That sounds adorable,” he laughed softly. “We’ll definitely have to join you. I don’t think I’ve seen a baby dolphin in years. And I heard recently that Devyn has never been to an aquarium, have you?”
Maybe he was teasing a little, but he also wanted to make sure Devyn got to experience everything Earth had, including all the animals. He would just have to make sure to sit down with Devyn and go over a bunch of different animals, and make sure he knew to follow Michael’s lead when it came to being enthusiastic about anything.
“Well, if you don’t have any plans later tonight, what if we all go out to a restaurant. Your pick, my treat?” he offered, because he thought it would be nice to just sit in an air conditioned place and just talk. Although he would be putting Devyn’s reading skills to the test with the menus.
Or he would just pull up the menu online before they got there, so Devyn knew exactly what he wanted to order already.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 5:48 pm
“Oh, we couldn’t,” Oliver attempted to insist, maybe just a little flustered by the offer. He sat up a bit, quick to offer some polite denial, but Asher interjected to say, “We’ll ask Elliot, he might want to head home early if he’s worried about his friend. He might need a pick-me-up after the game, though, we’ll see how it plays out. Your generosity is unparalleled, Michael, but if you let us pick you know it’s going to fall to Elliot and he might just choose the hotdog stand down there.”
“It does smell good,” Devyn mused, and almost looked like he was ready to make a trip down there already.
Oliver noticed, of course, and couldn’t help but consider this because hot dogs were nothing spectacular and he couldn’t imagine that Michael, generous as he was, would let his friend show up hungry. Except, he was so busy trying to figure out if Michael and Devyn were sitting close enough to be friends or to be friends that he didn’t even see Elliot running up the bleachers and jumped when he spoke from behind him.
“Michael!” Elliot called. “You made it, hi. I was hoping you’d be here today.”
He looked around, like he still expected Chad to show up, and tried not to look disappointed that he still couldn’t find him. He still had a good few minutes before he had to worry about being anywhere on the field so he decided to break away from the team and visit. And definitely not just look for Chad. “You look more rugged since the last time I saw you. And I’ve grown almost an inch since you last saw me. How’s work?”
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 6:01 pm
“I thought you looked a bit taller. You’ll be as tall as Peter soon,” he sighed, despite starting off with a grin when Elliot ran up to see them. And, of course, Michael couldn’t just sit there. He had to get up so he could give Elliot a good hug. Both because he missed him and because he knew Elliot was upset about his friend not being there.
It was a good thing that Elliot showed up when he did. Michael knew his friends thought he was generous, but really? He was just lucky. He could be pretty selfish too, in that he only tried to pamper and spoil those he was close to. Him trying to offer to pay for food? It was the least he could do, with how privileged he knew he was.
“I’m trying to convince your dads to let me take you all out to a restaurant after the game. Unless you just want the hotdogs, then that works too,” he made sure to include, because he had a feeling that Devyn wouldn’t mind them. He had every intention of getting Devyn some food before he got too hungry.
“Work has been busy, but I’m sure your dads have been busier with their classes. Oh, El. This is Devyn,” he introduced, because of course he wanted them to meet.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 6:12 pm
“If I keep eating my vegetables, maybe I’ll be taller.” He probably wouldn’t, he wasn’t even the tallest in his class. “But the hot dogs sound good. I kinda want fried chicken. I’m going to be all gross after the game so if you want to go somewhere it shouldn’t be somewhere with a dress code. But a chicken sandwich sounds really good.”
Still no Chad but he tried not to deflate and focused on Michael’s--what, his friend? He gave him a good squeeze back and peered around his side to see Devyn.
“Hi, Devyn. It’s nice to meet you.”
Except, he didn’t really get a proper introduction so he had no idea who he was. A new teacher? He felt like he would have figured that out. Definitely not a student, and not a Gallo, probably. A parent? No, he would have brought his kid. Unless his kid was on the other team. No, then why was he wearing Elliot’s colors?
Devyn had heard enough about Elliot to know that he wanted to make a good impression, so he flashed a smile and waved.
Elliot stepped out of the hug after a minute so he could look over his shoulder and make sure nobody needed him on the field, but his attention quickly returned to Michael. “I made a new friend too. I wanted to introduce you, but I guess we’ll have to raincheck. Where’d you find yours, did you pick up a new hobby or something?”
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 6:31 pm
“You better be gross after the game. It’s no fun if you don’t get at least a little dirty,” Michael winked as Elliot pulled away to look at Devyn.
“I’m sorry your friend couldn’t make it. We’ll take him out for ice cream some time, how about that?” he offered, because kids liked ice cream, right?
“Devyn and I met in school a few years back. When I was getting my literature degree. He was getting a degree in art,” Michael explained as he glanced over to Devyn, hoping that the continued lie was good enough for him to follow along with. He seemed to be okay with it so far.
“He needed a place to stay, so he’s living with me.” And really, he didn’t want Devyn to think that he wanted him to move out, so he didn’t make it seem like it was only a temporary thing. Oh, but Oliver and Asher would probably pick up on that…
“We can get fried chicken. If you want to go home and get cleaned up, we can go somewhere close by. Nothing too fancy, I promise.” Besides, he wanted his friends to have the chance to get changed if they wanted. It was hot out.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 6:49 pm
Elliot sighed, in an almost dramatic fashion that made Devyn perk up because it was so familiar to him. “I guess I’ll get dirty, but I don’t want to go home and get cleaned up until I’m ready for bed. Any shower’s just going to put me to sleep. I’m kind of tired now and the game hasn’t even started. But I’ll stay up for fried chicken. You’d really take him out for ice cream? He’d probably love that, I want to spoil him. We were going to go out for lunch today.” Another sigh.
“Oh well, we’ll rain check. But he likes art too, a lot. We were going to go to the art store.”
Elliot was pining, he almost sighed again. “I never heard about Devyn before. You have friends from that long ago that you’ve never introduced me to? I’ve told you about all of my friends.”
Teasing, but he seemed obviously good-natured about it all. “You still have room for me if I want to come visit, right?”
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 6:57 pm
“Of course I’ll take you both out for ice cream. And whatever else you want. I’ll always have room for you if you want to visit,” Michael snorted softly in amusement. But he was a little concerned to find out that Elliot had so many plans with his friend, only for them to fall through. And he hadn’t been able to get in contact with him? Michael would just have to ask Asher and Oliver more about what was going on later. Oliver seemed to be worked up about it, but he wasn’t going to voice any concerns until Elliot was back on the field.
“Keep an eye on number fourteen. I remember him from the last time you played them. He tends to ground the ball towards third,” Michael reminded, in case Elliot had too much to think about already.
“Go on. Looks like they’re starting to get everyone ready. We’ll be right here to cheer, okay?”
Elliot really was a good kid, and he wanted to make sure he was happy.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 7:05 pm
Elliot glanced over his shoulder at the field and a part of him was excited to go play, but there was a part of him that obviously wasn’t really in it today. Still he nodded and when he looked back at Michael, he smiled.
“I’ll give you something to cheer about. Fourteen’s not going to give me any trouble this time, unless he’s got some new tricks up his sleeve.” He sipped from his water bottle and then nodded, determined, and couldn’t help but cast one last glance around just to make sure Chad wasn’t hiding somewhere.
Nothing, still, so he sighed. “Thanks for coming today, Michael. And for the heads up. Hope you’ve got some good stories about your college days, I want to hear all about it. Nice to meet you, Devyn. I’ll try to make it a good game. Michael, make sure he gets to try a hot dog, don’t wait until the last minute. They sold out the game before last, but they’ve been really good lately.”
He didn’t have to wait for a response; he could hear someone calling a whistle on the field so he said a quick, “Bye, love you!” to his parents, before he trotted back down to the field.
He’d do his best, he didn’t know how not to.
He just wished Chad was here, too.
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