nottheboss | (no subject)

It's late at night. The corridors aren't quiet; they're full of men and women restlessly trying to sleep in their quarters. Bossie should be one of them. But instead he slips barefoot down the hallway to Carver's room, where he knocks.

"Hey, man, you up?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

nottheboss

"They treated you like shit, too." He'll never forget--or forgive--the way they skipped over Carver for promotion.

He goes to the sink to wash his hands. He hasn't slept yet and he's starting to feel it, in the jagged way his body is giving him energy. "I'm going to make some coffee, you want any?"

From:

fortitudosalutis

Yeah, well.

Carver sighs and adjusts Kali’s basket, stroking her gently before washing his hands in turn. He’ll make Bossie pancakes and a couple egg bakes for the rest of them. Lay out fruit and some sausages, plenty of protein. Good, hearty food.

“God, yes,” he murmurs. “I’m running on coffee these days.”

From:

nottheboss

"Austin ordered an espresso machine from Italy," he grins. "Soon as it gets here we can have the fancy drinks."

It sure beats the instant coffee they had in their rations overseas. Simple drip coffee still feels like a luxury.

"How long d'you think Anders will agree to stay here with us?"

From:

fortitudosalutis

"No shit?"

Carver cracks a smile at that.

"We even gonna be able to use that thing? We might need Anchetta to reprogram it for our simple souls."

It's easier to joke, to make fun of them all. There's no teeth in it. No venom. But the other question looms unanswered. Carver breathes out and turns on the burners, pulling out sausages and pancake mix.

"I don't know," Carver admits quietly. "Not much longer if we don't tell him about the demons."

From:

nottheboss

"Austin's girlfriend has been hounding me for answers too. We have to tell them the truth. But then we have to prove to them we're not fucking crazy. And I don't know how to do that."

Not without putting them in real danger.

From:

fortitudosalutis

He takes a moment to lay out the eggs and the oil, to get some of the remaining vanilla extract, because they might as well have good pancakes. There aren't any easy answers to be had.

"Think we gotta have Fifty do his teleporter trick," Carver admits. "I'm not seeing another way around it."

From:

nottheboss

"It's a pretty cool trick," he admits. "I think it'll freak out Rochelle. But maybe in a good way."

Maybe if they understand what's at stake they'll stay here, where it's safer.

From:

fortitudosalutis

"Better than springing a demon on her. But it's a good demonstration, yeah? Little shock and awe, then we ease them into the rest."

The demon shit, mostly. He flicks some water droplets onto the skillet, testing the heat, and begins pouring the pancake batter.

"I want Riley to stay," he admits. "I know he doesn't want to, but it's safer. Right?"

From:

nottheboss

"It is safer." No one can deny that it's safer inside the wards than without. "But it's gotta be hard on you, having him so close all the time. If it was my ex? I don't know, man."

From:

fortitudosalutis

Carver focuses on the pancakes for a moment. Getting the pour right. Making sure they're more or less even before he returns to the sausages. Everything has to be done just so. There's a sequence. An order to things. And in order, something like peace and calm.

"I kissed him," Carver admits after a moment, very softly. "He didn't get mad or anything. Just shook his head."

From:

nottheboss

"He still cares about you, Brandon. Even if he can't...be with you." It's plain to see. No one would be hiding out here, of all places, without there still being something like trust involved. "That's why I'm worried about you."

From:

fortitudosalutis

Carver bows his head, watching bubbles slowly forming in the batter. He listens to the grease sizzle and feels - better, maybe. Closer to himself.

"I miss him so much," he murmurs. "I know I can't get it back, but I miss it."

From:

nottheboss

"Yeah. And how are you supposed to not miss him when he's right there in your face here?" It was a mistake, he thinks, bringing Rochelle and the baby and Riley here. It's only going to be that much harder on Carver and Austin when they leave again.

From:

fortitudosalutis

"Yeah," he agrees quietly, watching the pancakes cook. Not quite time to flip yet, he thinks. Give it a few more seconds. "But what else could we do?"

From:

nottheboss

He thinks about the new rules Pope is coming up with. How bit by bit they're being taken out of the world. How much safer that is.

"We won't let anything happen to them," he promises. "I just wish it didn't hurt you to have him around."

From:

fortitudosalutis

"So do I," Carver murmurs. He flips the first pancake. "Hey, I'll give you first dibs on these. You like 'em crisp, right?"

He'll make them special for Bossie. This, at least, he can do.

From:

nottheboss

"Yeah I do," he grins, taking in the moment, enjoying being given special treatment. He sips his coffee. "Hey what was the first thing you ever learned to make?"

From:

fortitudosalutis

That gets a faint huff from Carver as he flips another pancake. "Pancakes, believe it or not. My grandma liked 'em with bananas. I was real messy with 'em at first, though. They were burned to shit."

He motions with his hand, smiling. "Trade you some coffee for the first ones."

From:

nottheboss

"Deal." He fills Carver's cup, grabs the cream out of the fridge and offers it, too.

He can picture a young Carver, a little kid, earnestly working in the kitchen for his grandma. "Man I bet you were a cute little kid."

From:

fortitudosalutis

He hums in thanks, doctoring his coffee, and taking a long drink. God, that tastes good.

“I was real quiet,” Carver admits. “Dunno about cute. But I didn’t get into trouble or anything. Real boring.”

From:

nottheboss

"I was like that, too. I never got in trouble at school. My dad found things to be pissed off about anyway, you know, but now that I'm older...I don't think I was such a bad kid."

He could have been so much worse, he could have been one of those kids who was so bad off the Army wouldn't even have wanted him. Thank God he was never that bad or he never would have escaped Tennessee.

From:

fortitudosalutis

He'd suspected that, Carver thinks. Maybe known on some level. None of them come from perfect families, the kind that'd want them back. He breathes out slow and flips a few pancakes onto a plate, offering it out to Bossie. "Doubt you were," Carver murmurs. "Some dads just suck, that's all."

From:

nottheboss

"Yeah." he's still reluctant to say his dad sucked. Even after everything. There are parts of his dad that remind him of Pope. That can't be bad, can it?

"What was yours like? Did you ever know him?"

From:

fortitudosalutis

"Ah..."

Part of him wants to wave it off. Change the conversation. But that wouldn't really be fair, would it? Not after Bossie told the truth about his own father, even if only in fragments.

Carver sighs, returning to his cooking.

"Dunno what he was like sober. I only met him the one time, when I was fifteen. He showed up with my mom when she was on leave. Just showed up on our porch when I came back from school. They were both sitting there, drunk off their asses."

He shakes his head.

"His name was Brandon, too. Maybe I look like him, I don't know. He told me to get him another beer and I did. That was all he said to me."