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 Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 4:52 pm
This was definitely one of the reactions that he'd been hoping for; Otto's expression of sheer joy made everything worthwhile. Chance grinned up at him.
"For real," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "No camping trip is complete without them, after all. There are paper plates and sticks in that bag too."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 4:55 pm
Was it wrong to be so excited about this? Regardless, Otto hurriedly started setting everything up to make smores. Gooey, hot, chocolatey smores. He watched impatiently as they melted on the stick, his stomach tightening in anticipation. He licked his lips, waited and waited. S'mores.... yummy... yummy....
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 4:58 pm
He could have sat and watched Otto being excited about the S'mores all night, just for the sheer amusement of seeing how pleased he was. Chance rested his elbow on his leg and propped his chin in his hand, a little smile on his face as the sky around them darkened.
"Napkin?" he asked, holding one out. "There's enough there for you to have more than one, of course."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:00 pm
"You don't want none?" He asked curiously, taking the napkin from Chance. He took a bite of the S'more, wincing at the sudden heat of it. But damn.. it was so good! Otto felt the thorns in his soul soften and melt off as the flavour reached the furthest darkened pits within him. " Mmmm...." He could die right there. Melt into the ground and die.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:05 pm
"I'll have some," he said with a laugh. "But most of that is for you. I will, however, help myself to a marshmallow, at the very least."
Chance plucked up one of the sticks and jabbed one of them onto it, holding the marshmallow over the flames until it was crispy and black around the edges, just the way he liked them. Then he stuck it on a graham cracker, added his own chocolate, and took a bite.
Otto was right - it was delicious.
"So," said Chance thickly, wiping chocolate from his mouth. "Good idea?"
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:09 pm
Otto nodded, licking chocolate off his lips and fingers. "Really good idea. Best idea." Chocolate fix and off island fix all in one. It was night now, and he could hear them. The crickets. He fell silent, slowly licking away the remnants of chocolate while listening to the ringing of the bugs. His eyes flicked up, as stars began to glow so bright they could be streetlights. He sat in silence, losing himself in the beauty and peace that was the noisy night air.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:13 pm
It was nice out here, quiet and yet not at the same time. The metallic sounds of the island were gone, replaced by only the simple tunes of nature itself, the chirps of crickets and the hum of cicadas. Out here, the road was far away enough that the sounds of it were muted into nothingness, and it couldn't even be seen from their position, only desert.
Chance shifted closer, moving beside Otto and drawing his knees up to rest his arms across them.
"I figure out here, there's room to breathe," he said quietly, eyes turning skyward to take in the tiny dots of white and silver and gold above their heads. He'd been worried that after his confrontations with Claude, that his enthusiasm for the stars would be dimmed, but he could feel the familiar buzz of excitement welling in his stomach.
"There's no one here to watch you, or judge you, or anything," said Chance, absently running his fingers through his hair.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:22 pm
"I just.. like moments when I can forget everything for a while." He murmured back. In the different atmosphere of the real world, of this alien landscape, he could forget. Forget his scars, his curses and his problems. They were nothing but a dream. Just a bad dream. He could be normal. He could be nothing but himself. Just a stranger to any who saw him, with no ties and nothing to weight him down. He leaned back on his hands, feeling the dirt between his fingers. The wind in his hair, against his neck. The pleasant chill. He could remain here forever. It felt so calm. He let all his nerves settle down and take a vacation. "Thanks for this. I needed it."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:25 pm
He smiled a little, watching Otto.
"That's what this is for, after all," said Chance lightly, bumping his shoulder against his gently. "And me, for that matter. For you to just forget and relax. I wanted to do it sooner, but there wasn't really a good time, and then I saw how you were during duty shift, and I figured..."
He trailed off, shrugging his shoulders.
"And here we are."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:30 pm
"I'm sorry." He murmured, "About the shift. I haven't been doin' too well. A lot of s**t kept happenin'. And I felt like it'd all come down on me." Chance was nothing but nice, and Otto felt he'd been bringing the man down like sopping wet clothing during a storm. "Whatevers wrong with me is my own fault. And I don't wanna bring people down cause of it. But I don't wanna deal with it all alone neither. I wanna be normal so bad, but.. I'm not. I never will be. So, I'm sorry for pushin' you away."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:36 pm
He turned his head to look at Otto, expression half hidden in the shadows from the night, half illuminated by the light of the flickering flames to his side. Silently, Chance tilted his head forward and let himself lean lightly forward, forehead pressed against Otto's shoulder.
"Damn right you should be sorry," he said, but the smile was clearly evident in his voice, low and gentle. "But I know I can be...well, who I am. I've spent a lot of time not wanting to make you feel uncomfortable, and I think I might have overstepped, so...I'm sorry if I did."
He lifted his head a little and smiled softly. "I have no idea if you're going to bring me down, but so far you haven't; so far it's been the opposite, and you're not alone, because I'm here with you."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:39 pm
"You never did. You're fine." Otto murmured, looking down at the fluffy head of hair leaned on his shoulder. "If I get uncomfortable, I'll let you know. Loudly." He promised casually. Chance's sappy promise to be with him made Otto flush in embarrassment. Promptly, he pushed his hand into Chance's face. "Sap."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:44 pm
He laughed against Otto's hand, batting it aside.
"You're the one making me a sap," said Chance airily, and pushed his head into Otto's arm again, exhaling a breath that sounded slightly relieved. He looked vaguely like a silly, curly haired puppy. "And by the way, I brought my telescope with me, if you wanted to look through that."
He'd so far tamped down on the irrational excitement that usually welled in him at the stars; the unearthly sense of euphoria that normally led to questionable things was bound to be a step too far.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:48 pm
"Dude, get it out then." Otto smacked the man's head. He wanted to see the ******** stars up close. "What ones are planets? They look like stars from here right?" He asked aloud as he looked up at the sky, waiting for Chance to set up the scope; impatiently.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:54 pm
"All right, all right," said Chance laughingly, dragging himself vertical and padding over to the tent. He disappeared for a few seconds and then reemerged with a long, thin bag, which he deposited gently, almost reverently onto the ground.
"Planets tend to be a bit larger, a bit brighter, because some of them are closer to Earth than stars," he said as he worked, fastening the legs of the stand together. Stars also tend to twinkle more, but sometimes that's subjective. If there's a very bright light near the horizon just after sunset or just before sunrise, that's most likely Venus, and if you see a bright red light that isn’t twinkling, then it's most likely Mars."
Chance readjusted the height of the scope, kneeling in the sandy dirt.
"Jupiter is a very bright, yellow light, but so is Saturn, so it's kinda hard to tell the two of them apart at all. Mercury is only rarely visible since it's really close to the sun, and the rest of the planets are too far away to see with just a simple telescope like this, we'd need an entire planetarium - "
Chance broke off, his face flushed with excitement.
"Sorry," he said breathlessly. "I tend to get a little, ah...worked up about this sort of thing."
Which usually leads to other things, he thought, before throwing that thought firmly away.
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