LOCATIONS

[farrowday]

(placeholder-- will have toplevels for common locations, players welcome to add their own for private spots like dorms)

Comments

[ex_outofcontrol435]

[Three days in. Ryan comes to "study" and slips him the lighter every day, so his own tension about his work assignment is starting to dissipate. It's that act, his own intense gratefulness for it, that makes him eye Petre's pack of cigarettes on his bedside table thoughtfully and formulate a new plan.

They're nasty addictive, he remembers that much from his mom. And Petre's got pretty much zero opportunity to smoke right now.

He walks down the path to the gardens, finding where Petre is working and ducking behind a bush to light one of those cigarettes. Blech, disgusting, but he knows better than to inhale this time. Once he comes into view, he just holds it out to Petre with his head cocked. That choking blue-grey smoke rising temptingly from the ember.]

No one's around right now. I'll keep an eye out; if anyone gets close, the whole thing'll be ashes before they see anything, right down to the filter.

[broil]

[If nothing else, by the third day Petre's actually working with the tools he's given, rather than just frantically chewing on stale gum while he picks them up and lets them drop down again. He's at the stage where everything he does is wrong and is told to repeat until it's done right, which could really just be a way of him stalling and irritating his supervisors into giving up hope that he'll ever be a passable gardener. No doubt they'll arrange worse punishment for him if that's the case, but history will just repeat itself until it's no longer fun.

When John shows up and hands out the cigarette, Petre stares. His eyes aren't alert - quite on the contrary - when they narrow, lip twitching slightly. He isn't suspicious as much as he's just bemused.]

And you're doing this because...?

[ex_outofcontrol435]

You did it. You took the blame. [He shrugs, like that'd be enough to coax a truly selfless gesture out of him and not a fierce about fucking time.] I can't be appreciative?

[broil]

[Well.]

You can, I just don't see why you would.

[It was a fair trade. John showed him a good time, Petre took the fall for it. Fair's fair.

But he takes the cigarette anyway, after removing one those awful bulky gloves and tucking it under his arm. John certainly isn't going to smoke that for him.

Out goes the chewing gum, and in goes the cig.]

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Yeah, I can. Every day for as long as they keep you out here. As many times as we can pull off without it looking suspicious.

[Yes, he's very deliberately angling for something now. And Petre can probably guess what it is. Bodily autonomy is well worth a few mouthfuls of disgusting cigarette smoke and keeping lookout for a few minutes every day, after all.]

[broil]

You realize we're not supposed to be seen together outside of our bedroom, [he takes a drag, tilting his head bag easily to exhale smoke. There's a slight shine of sweat on his throat and forehead when he does that, skin already blushed from spending such a long time under the sun.]

I'm not taking the fall for you again.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Dude, don't insult me. I can pull something like this off without getting caught.

[His eyes flick downward, catching that rosy sheen on Petre's throat as it works around the exhale, but he pulls them back up.]

Just depends on how bad you need it.

[broil]

[He hasn't forgotten this time, John, just how their drunk night finished. Not on good terms, if there ever were good ones between them, so much that John's sudden act of generosity leaves him wondering just how it's going to backfire on him.

One can't say there's remorse for what he did or the things he said. Petre doesn't get remorse. If anything, he can just recognize that he could have played things out differently to have a more agreeable result.

(And then he remembers how John taunted him. The thought of Harry's hands and mouth on him.)

So he tries a different angle other than engaging on suspicion, tilting his head with his tongue on his lower lip, wetting it slowly.]

I need it pretty bad.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

[Blatant seduction. He knows this angle far too well from Petre by now, but Petre doesn't yet know that on some level, it could work. He's just too determined to let that distract him right now.]

So make me an offer. What's it worth to you?

[broil]

[He has to break character, now. There it is.]

What's it worth to me? I don't know. What's my offer worth to you?

[ex_outofcontrol435]

No games, Petre. You know what I want.

[Despite the sharp intensity in his eyes, his lips curl up a little.]

I just wanted to see how far you'd go.

[broil]

It'll take a lot more than cigarette contraband to earn my trust, Allerdyce.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

And if I never find out what it is, you never have to do it.

[He sighs. Should've known better.]

You want me to march Harry out here to tell you right to your face just how much he doesn't want to fuck me? He said he'd even take fun at his own expense, and I bet that'd be a good time for everyone. If he doesn't, and I don't, then - [Arms out at his sides. No point in carrying this on.]

[broil]

[Well, this could get interesting. He blows more smoke, sits back and removes his other glove. Looks like it's gonna be a conversation.]

So who do you want to touch? There's gotta be someone.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

You realize I can't just char the skin off everyone who pisses me off, right?

[Hmm. Maybe it's blatant lying time, but with a potential for truth.]

Not to mention a teacher tried to take the marker from me after I wrote something on the board yesterday and I nearly threw it across the room trying to get away from his hand. I look like a fucking nutcase. This is practical, not sexual.

[broil]

[Lips spread, showing teeth. It's an amusing thought - a vision he wouldn't have mind experiencing for himself. John making a fool of himself is always a good source of entertainment.]

So tell the teachers you don't like to be touched. No one's gonna blame the minor who got picked up off the streets.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

[Okay, yeah, misfire. He'd find it just as funny were it anyone else. He's just getting desperate here.]

Okay, just once, level with me. Is there anything I can do to convince you here?

[broil]

'Course there is.

[And he cuts off there. He's going to make you ask for it.]

[ex_outofcontrol435]

[Silence stretches out between them for a long moment, pure obstinance on his part, before he finally crosses his arms over his chest.]

Can I get a hint? Buy a vowel?

[broil]

[His eyes narrow slightly. Didn't get the vowel reference.]

Come here.

[He'll whisper it to you.]

[ex_outofcontrol435]

This is really bottom of the barrel, even for you. Maybe especially for you.

[Whispering as an excuse to get him closer? But he'll play along, stepping in to meet Petre and leaning in slowly and deliberately.]

[broil]

[He watches John while he leans in, smiling all throughout the comment. And then he blows some smoke to the side and does as he promised, lips against John's ear.]

I want you in my bed. And I get to do whatever I want to you.

[And he's fully confident that John's going to say no in some other comical way, so he's ready for another good laugh. It shows on his lips.]

[ex_outofcontrol435]

[It's odd: until that moment, John doesn't realize that Petre has really backed off the aggressive flirting since that first drunken night. John's been watching him more closely, been caught in guilty looks, moments of observation that could be used to put the lie to his continued objections, but nothing's come of them. It took the threat of someone else, not a flat rejection, to push Petre to the point they're at now.

And now he's playing his full hand, laid out on the table more explicitly than it's ever been before, and John's response is to flush so hotly that he knows it'll reach his face this time.]

That's what you've always wanted. You couldn't pick something more original?

[There's his comical no. Delivered with about as much force as a slap with a de-boned fish.]

[broil]

[And he leans back. There's more of a sense of victory to hearing his rejection than there would've been otherwise, and that's smack plain on Petre's features.]

So that's a no, then.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

[Of course there is. He's tied John's freedom to the one concession he can never make - the only acceptable exchange for him is one tiny freedom for the loss of every other one.

Why in god's name couldn't Petre just wake up sane someday? Wake up as something he could actually desire without dreading and avoiding the fact for his own sanity?]

You're only fucking yourself over right now. [His laugh is cold, but not arrogant. He knows he's been caught in checkmate again.] That's the best part, that you don't even get that.