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 Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 3:34 pm
It was the kind of laughter that made everything seem a little easier to bear. Chance found it rather brightening, and he ran a hand through his mess of curls, reaching out to push at Otto's shoulder again.
"I tried to long board once, it definitely did not go well," he said, half bent over with his other arm around his stomach to hold it as he'd laughed. "I went down the street and was pretty damn proud of myself...for all of two minutes before I crashed into a pole."
He let go and rubbed at his face, exhaling a long sigh as he turned to look at Otto, expression softening.
"You're pretty interesting, you know," Chance said. "I know it was a little awkward at first, but you've turned out to be some pretty nice company, I have to admit."
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 3:41 pm
"I crashed into just about everything before I got a grip on it. Banged up and bloody to get there but I did it." Otto admitted. Skateboarding had been painful to learn. The tricks alone had him crashing and skinning his elbows, knees. Everything. "Y'gotta wanna really want it to get through the pain and failures." He supposed that was true for a lot of things. He'd wanted to learn so badly, that he was able to push past skinned knees to do it. He looked at Chance, his face reddening from.. embarrassment? Flattery? It didn't matter. His face was red, all there was to it. He turned away, rubbing his neck bashfully. "Thanks.." He wasn't sure what else to say. It was nice to hear. "It's easier when I don't.. I dunno.. feel so self aware, maybe." Which he'd managed to let go of in his fit of laughter. "You're pretty cool too. Sucky Santa Clause, but good company, I mean." He decided to shoot him a compliment too, even if he'd already done so a moment or so earlier.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 3:51 pm
"I think I was just not in the right frame of mind when I tried it the first time," said Chance with a laugh. "It was shamefully more of me thinking I could do it in one go, since it looked easy enough; and, needless to say, I sincerely misjudged the level of his difficulty.
He shook his head, recalling the memory with a relative amount of sheepishness; but his eyes had flickered to Otto's face, which had steadily grown redder beneath the compliments. Chance smiled at him, in spite of Otto turning away, and leaned back a little.
"Well, you don't have to be aware with me," he said lightly, and then winced slightly. "I know that sounded like a terrible, cheesy line, but I mean it. I think you're pretty cool just from what I've already seen from you, even with what you're going through."
A snort passed his lips, another burst of laughter. "I'm glad, thanks for that. I'll make sure not to add Santa Clause to my list of possible occupations for what I want to be when I grow up."
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 3:59 pm
Otto smiled, not finding it too cheesy. He hid behind the layers of hair that had fallen back to cover some of his face, and allowed the barrier to give him a moment of privacy. He didn't want to come off as too flattered, even if Chance had said not to feel too aware. Finally he pushed away the curtain of hair, turning back to Chance now that he was semi composed. He gave a grin to go along with the other man's laughter. He was so glad he'd come out here. So glad for the cricket less night that brought him peace he didn't think he'd deserved. He felt so good. So secure with himself and who he was. So happy that things didn't have to make sense right away. That messing up wasn't capable of taking away his sense of self. People would hurt him, but he was always Otto. Expectations from himself and others would come and go. At the end of the day, he'd just have to do the very best he could.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 4:05 pm
He let Otto have his moment of silence, not wanting to push him or pressure him into talking when he didn't want to. Chance sat comfortably beside him, both legs drawn up so that his arms were resting around his knees, fingers linked together, head tilted back to look up at the sky.
He felt, rather than saw, Otto shift, and Chance caught the grin and returned it with one of his own, an easy smile.
"Just so you know," he said, "I come out here pretty much every night. Sometimes I don't lug this thing around - " Chance indicated the telescope with good humor, a fond tone in his voice. " - because it's kind of heavy and bulky, but if you ever find yourself awake and you're having another one of these moments, I'll be here."
His expression had grown a little gentler, still calm and comfortable. "Or if I'm not, and you just want to take a walk or whatever, I'm in Room 196, door's usually unlocked so you can just come and find me anytime you need a breather or some other s**t."
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 4:09 pm
Otto gave a nod, his face settling back into his calmer default expression; mistaken for sullen, simply because his face rested like that. "What If I just wanted the company?" He asked uncertainly. "And not just cause I'm feelin' off.." "I'm good for sittin in silence. Or readin' a book." He did the same with Cami, enjoying her company sometimes without a word spoken.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 4:12 pm
"Anytime," Chance repeated, and smiled. "I realize this might sound odd, since I just asked you a s**t ton of questions in the past twenty minutes, but I'm not one for prying usually."
He gave a little laugh. "If you walked into my room, sat down, pulled out a book and started reading without saying a word, I probably wouldn't ask you a damn thing unless you wanted me to. If you wanted the company just because you wanted the company, like I said, the door's always open."
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 4:23 pm
Otto was amazed. He'd never be able to offer his room so freely. Or his company. But like Chance had said before; everyone was different in their creeds and comforts. Otto coveted his private time, but he also craved human company. He felt warm, even in the night air. "Thanks." He said casually. He wanted to tell him just how much he'd appreciated all Chance had done. All the questions that had gently eased him into understanding himself and what was bothering him so much. Maybe he didn't know precisely what had bothered him... but he found himself again. That was more important than anything. One day, he might be able to return the favour; but he wasn't about to base a possible friendship on solely a debt to be paid. He wanted to enjoy his company for reasons aside from doing things for him. He'd at least learned one thing from his past mistakes, and that was not basing a relationship off of flattery and duty. He wouldn't throw himself into something because he'd been helped, flattered, or butt patted. Still.. it would be hard not to imagine Chance without that shaggy Santa beard he imagined, now. Otto laid back down, closed his eyes, and started whistling Jingle Bells.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 4:47 pm
"You're welcome," came Chance's easy reply, and he smiled. The concept of friendship was something that he was still working through himself; he didn't understand it a lot of the time, mostly because the sole basis of his own relationships were shallow on purpose - but he found he liked Otto enough to actually attempt what people kept telling him and accept that friendships did, in fact, exist.
Chance had put his eye toward the telescope again, peering up into the night sky; he heard the whistling, and without saying anything, he stretched out a foot and nudged Otto's ankle with his toes, casting a smirk over his shoulder at the other.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 4:49 pm
Otto snickered at the slight kick. His whistling turned to loud humming. The song changed to Here Comes Santa Clause. He was egging him on. Taunting and teasing. He could have easily just laid there in silence, but the urge to be a brat was sudden and strong.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 4:56 pm
The nudging became more insistent as Chance attempted to not give in, staring resolutely through his telescope - but when the song changed to humming, he gave in, reached over and pressed a hand on the top of Otto's head, squashing down and ruffling up his hair.
He was still looking through the telescope, however.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 5:01 pm
"Noooo~." Otto snickered, wiggling under the grasp of Chance, who'd still stubbornly kept his eyes looking through the scope. He finally swatted his hand away, easing up on the teasing. He let himself enjoy silence again, and enjoyed the night sky. Maybe if he got bored, he'd ask to look through the scope. Actually.. he really wanted to look through the scope. A lot. Did the stars look bigger? Could he see planets and meteors? He sat up after a few minutes, and scooted closer. "Can I see?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 5:06 pm
He pulled his hand away, smirking, and feeling childishly victorious.
For a few moments more there was silence, and then he heard Otto's voice again; Chance dragged himself away from the lens of the telescope and blinked, looking surprised, but also gratified, because stargazing was something immensely important to him.
"Of course," he said, smiling at Otto. He shifted back a little to make room and gestured for the other to move in front of him.
"There's a pretty badass star cluster off to the right, if you wanna swing it that way," he said, gesturing.
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 5:30 pm
Otto crawled in front of him, leaning and squinting through the lens. He lightly steered the device to the right to see what Chance spoke of. And that's when he was able to see the difference between seeing the stars with the naked eye, and with a telescope. He made an impressed noise, his thoughts kept to himself for now. It was beautiful. He could see how one could lose hours to this hobby. He didn't even need to know what he was looking at to appreciate the beauty of it. "This is so cool.." He murmured, wondering if he should invest in something like this for himself. He had the money. A lot of it. More than he knew. He pulled away, not wishing to keep Chance from his beloved scope and stars. "You do this a lot, yeah? Man, you must be glad the island doesn't fog anymore. It used to be layered in it 24/7. You'd ********' starve for night skies."
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 5:34 pm
A satisfied smile touched Chance's lips; there was something pleasing about being able to show someone else at least a portion of how he saw things, even if it wasn't quite the same. And Otto's small sound of astonishment was all the validation that Chance needed.
"It's ******** awesome," he said happily, shifting again to let Otto move back. "I used to grow up on this kinda thing, you know?"
He smiled fondly at the telescope, then turned back to the other. "I used to climb on the roof of my house and the boy's home whenever I wanted to get away from things for a while, so I learned to appreciate the stars and the sky and pretty much all that comes with it."
His eyebrows rose a little, Chance letting out a low whistle. "******** glad I came here after that, then," he said with a laugh. "I don't know how I'd manage without at least some open sky, that would suck a**."
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