(no subject)

[bullfightposter.livejournal.com]

Time: July 11, 2000
Place: Outside the manor, sunset
Status: Public
Summary: Brian has an evening jog


Brian had moved in several nights ago, and was already feeling better. Being around Adam always made things seem so much more purposeful. Adam was generally a good thing.

As he'd grown up, he'd come to understand a bit more of what happened-- but only a bit. He didn't feel like trying to decipher it all, cos it'd worked out for the best, really.

Despite purpose and faith, Brian wasn't completely satisfied, not yet. He did want things to do. Weekends down at the park wouldn't fill up all his time...

For now, though, he wasn't sure what was to do (perhaps meet this Hugo chap, learn about room service), so he was going on a jog. The manor was beautiful in the sunset.

He should have wondered how Adam'd come to have hold of such a huge house. What was meant by he 'kinda' owned it. But that was a flaw of his, wasn't it? Brian generally didn't wonder much, especially not when it came to Adam. Other things he might show some curiosity to, but not so much. He'd never liked deconstructing the world.

Brian was, in fact, a born follower. This isn't such a bad thing. Followers rarely start wars, and they usually wind up being essential. They can also appreciate beautiful things without asking themselves pesky questions..

He would have said 'wicked,' if he'd had much breath-- the place was full of gardens, though they needed a bit of a trim, and there were woods and a field...

It really was nice, here.

Comments

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper could have crowed in triumph. He was blushing, she could tell by the way he held his head. So it had worked, she had made him uncomfortable, she had won that match, and now he was... looking at her?

It didn't last long, but she caught it. And she started whirling a little because she wasn't quite sure what to think about it. Maybe it was best that she didn't, or that she challenged him on it more, or that she... well, watching him surrender was pretty good. As she was braver and stronger and -

- what? Was he actually going to say...? No, she'd heard that wrong, must have. He'd never say a thing like that to her. Not that she had anything to lose by trying to find out. She wasn't going to stop now, not when she had the advantage...

"What was that?" Pepper asked in an obnoxiously over-loud voice, knocking Adam's shirt-waving hand off to the side. She leaned forward just a bit more; he had brought it down on himself, anyway, putting her in clothes like this (which she was trying not to think about, or she might notice just how much skin wasn't covered), he should have know better than to think she wouldn't take the challenge. "What was that one word, I think you tripped over it a little? Braver, stronger, and...?" She smirked expectantly at him.

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

He knew he'd lost. There was nothing for it. She'd never give up. If he wanted to escape, he'd have to just admit it and hopefully get it over with quickly.

Unable to meet her eye and face blazing (whose idea had it been to make him fair anyway?), he murmured, "...prettier."

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper was probably blushing too, but since he wasn't looking at her it couldn't make a difference, really, could it? She just had to keep playing it up, and figure this whole conversation out later. Clapping a hand over her heart dramatically (normally this gesture was reserved for dying, but then, she'd never played a girl before) she swooned a little and said, "Well, bless my tiny skirt, Adam Young thinks I'm pretty! I may never recover! Though, you could speak it a little louder next time, as I'm liable to go deaf tryin' to pick the words out..."

The overacting collapsed all at once and she absolutely did not giggle. "Anyway, one would hope I was prettier, seeing as your the gentleman and I'm the lady." And to be perfectly ladylike Pepper stuck out her tongue for good measure. She tried to sit up, then realized that doing that the normal way would have her opening her legs, and decided to stay where she was.

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

Adam rolled his eyes. There was only so much sarcasm he could take at once, especially when it was directed at him for daring to compliment someone.

"I dunno 'bout that. Lots of people think I'm pretty," he said, trying to figure out how to get up or roll over or something. "Could you move? You're squishin' me."

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper snorted. "Yeah, fine, you're pretty all right, just not in a girl way. You think I don't remember school?" The way the girls had fawned over Adam since they'd all reached about thirteen or fourteen had been something of an annoyance for her to deal with. Not that the girls ever thought to try anything while she was around.

He squirmed a little and she checked her options. She was squishing him like he said, and while Pepper wasn't alien to being this close to a boy, he probably wasn't used to it. Didn't change the fact that she couldn't sit up proper. "Not without giving you a view that you'd normally have to pay for," she told him honestly. "Unless you'd like to give me my clothes back, O Great Destroyer of Dignity?"

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

At least he didn't have to explain who currently found him pretty. That would have been even more awkward. "Yeah, I remember. You ever stop chargin' those girls money to touch my gym shorts?"

Then Adam's eyes widened comically before he slammed them shut. Definitely too much information. Especially from a childhood friend. "I'm not lookin'. You can get up now."

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Oh, I never really charged them money. That whole thing was blown way out of p'portion." Well, not entirely. If she'd told him what those girls had wanted to do with his gym shorts... well, it didn't bear discussion.

He looked like a cartoon charater for a moment, and then he closed his eyes. Pepper waved a hand in front of them just in case, just to make sure he really had them closed, and sat up. She pushed the skirt down and pulled the shirt up. How this really made things any better was escaping her at the moment. It was still too much skin to be showing in her book. "I guess you can look now..."

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

Instead, Adam rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up. Then he opened his eyes carefully, so as to not look directly at Pepper in her skimpy clothes. But it wasn't like they were any more revealing than her bathing suit. Or at least that's what he told himself.

"Looks like it's gettin' dark. We should start headin' in."

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you 'fraid to be alone with me in the dark? Do I turn into somethin' sinister under starlight?" she teased. Though, in actuality, it sounded like a game they would've played at a sleepover as kids.

Pepper wasn't in the habit of asking people for help, so she scrambled into a crouching position and got up carefully as she could. She tugged the clothing this way and that again, wondering how women could normally wear clothes like this when they hindered so much movement and had to be adjusted every five seconds. Waste of time, that. "You better not 'ave sent my real clothes to another dimension or somesuch. I want 'em back." As an afterthought, she added, "You hungry? 'Cause I am."

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

Adam grinned easily. A few answers came to mind, but he didn't want to be hit again.

"You can have your clothes back when you admit to bein' a shoe-stealin' witch. This is s'pposed to be your torture, remember?"

He looked around the clearing before focusing on Pepper and giving a passable smirk. "Yeah, I'm hungry. Let's find Brian and go get somethin' to eat. If you confess first, you can even change before we go into the restaurant."

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper folded her arms across her chest, locking her posture in resolution. "I can just go up to my room an' change if I want. It just means that you an' Bri'll have to wait longer to eat." He could be stubborn all he wanted. She could be every bit as stubborn as he was, and while there was no way that she'd allow anyone else in the manor to see her in this getup, there was no way she was giving up that easily.

"Besides, if I'm a shoe stealin' witch, then you're a clothes stealin' sorceror."

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"Who says we'd wait for you? Or that you'd be able to get to your room? You could get stuck in the lobby like that..."

Adam laughed. "I'll admit to bein' a clothes stealin' sorcerer if you'll admit to bein' a shoe stealin' witch."

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper blinked confusedly. "Stuck in the lobby? What for?"

She glared and stomped around a bit, back and forth on her feet. Then she accidentally stepped on the stiletto she had threatened to gouge his eye out with, causing a blue streak of colorful cursing and some hopping up and down before she settled again. Picking the strappy shoe up off the ground, she smirked. "Sure, I'll admit it, if you do. And if you walk 'round in these for a day."

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"Not for anythin'," said Adam innocently. "Just unable to go further in for some reason..."

He laughed. "I'm not wearin' those." He was going to add, 'I've got an image to maintain,' but he realized that wouldn't go over well, so at the last second he changed to, "They wouldn't fit."

Adam was determined to win. He always did in the end.

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

"You can't hold me in the lobby against my will," Pepper teased. "That's 'messin' people about', if you recall."

She stared at the stiletto in question and shrugged. "You can materialize these clothes out of thin air, then you can make the shoes fit. I dun't see how it would be a problem."

She knew that glint in his eye far too well. But she wasn't willing to go down that easily. It wasn't her job to make things easy for him, that was Wensley's job.

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I 'spect I could, really. I've been messin' people 'bout a lot lately..."

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

She snickered a little and fingered the edge of the skirt. "I s'ppose that's true, if these clothes are any indication of how lax the rules have gone. How else you been messin' people 'bout, then?"

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

Adam frowned. "Um, apart from givin' people costumes at Halloween, I've stopped a rape and a murder, did surgery, helped a boy with his nightmares, and stopped a bunch of people from attackin' the Manor. But I buried someone and helped out in hospital without usin' any powers. I been tryin' not to. Mostly."

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper blanched and bit her lip. "You.... I wouldn't call that messin' people about Adam. I'd call that savin' 'em."

Maybe she and Brian had endured a slew of experiences in their time away, but Adam... oh, why hadn't he told them? "I'm sorry, Adam. I'm sorry you had to do all of that without us." It was all she could think of to say.

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

He brushed some leaves off his jeans. "Sometimes messin' and savin' are the same thing. But that's why I'm tryin' to be so careful all the time."

Adam took Pepper's hand. "It helps more than you know to have you here, though, Pep. Brian and Wensley, too. An' I know that you can handle this kind of stuff. I guess I just hoped you wouldn't hafta."

*edited*

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

He had her hand, which was comforting seeing as the night air was a little chilly and his hands were warmer than hers. She squeezed his fingers and hoped that she was comforting too, rather than awkward like she felt. "It's our job, though. To be here with you. We were the first time, and we're supposed to be this time too. Never was anything we four couldn't do if we was together."

Her mum explained it better than she did. Something about spirits that have intertwining paths or somesuch. That's what she used to call Them.

Re: *edited*

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"That's true," said Adam, a faint smile tugging on his lips. "There's nothin' we can't do together."

In a blink, Pepper's clothes had been entirely replaced and he pulled her hand gently. "C'mon, Pep. It's gettin' cold out here and I'm hungry. Let's go in."

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper gave a gloriously relieved sigh when she felt her own clothes back on her skin. Adam tugged her along for a moment, but she couldn't resist. After all, she had to make up for the chase he'd put her through on her arrival and the one from a few minutes ago.

"I win," she whispered in his ear before breaking off and sprinting full-speed toward the manor. "And you still have a shoe-stealin' witch in your manor, ole! Come on now, time for supper!"

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

Adam gave a little shiver that had nothing to do with the cold and tore off after her, yelling, "Only for now, senorita. The inquisition resumes tomorrow! C'mon, Brian, we're goin' in."