It's Guy Love....that's what it is....

[shut_up_wesley]

Who: Wesley and Open!
What: Wandering and thinking
Where: Around town
When: After school
Rating: PG
Status: Incomplete

Comments

[lulu8889]

Lulu wasn't sure if she was a masochist or what. However, she couldn't help but frequent Teaspoons, regardless of if Ianto were there. And yes, Ianto was once again, not in town. The blonde was sitting at a table drinking a coffee which was (if she was entirely honest with herself) not as good as when Ianto was around. "Hey Wes," she called as she saw a familiar face enter the shop.

[shut_up_wesley]

"Owwww... hi." staggering to his feet and rubbing a sore spot on his forehead, Wes slipped into a seat across from Lulu, glad to not have to sit alone. He was still worried, and nothing made that worse than sitting by yourself. "How have you been? Haven't seen you in a while..." he glanced disinterestedly at the menu, feeling all the more that he shouldn't be there-- but now that he was...

"I'll have whatever you're having, as long as it's strong." This was said with something of a sardonic smirk, remembering the last time those words had left his lips...at the bar, with Ianto, brooding over a past that wasn't his.

[lulu8889]

"I've been okay. Being pretty solitary." Ever since she thought she had a boyfriend named Dante, Lulu couldn't get this guy out of her head. It was a pre-occupation she couldn't shake. "How about you?"

Lulu laughed. "It's not nearly strong enough."

[shut_up_wesley]

"Me too...distracted I guess. Friend of mine...neighbor, actually, landed himself in the hospital somehow. He'd been gone for months I thought...well, you know what the usual assumption is if someone's gone that long from here." Wes shrugged, trying very hard, not too look around them as if Ianto were just hiding in the back taking inventory.

"Gimme a second, I'll whip you up something stronger if you need it." As if he lived there, Wes stood for a moment, slipped through the tabled to behind the counter and a few minutes later came back with a tray laden with a fresh pot of coffee, milk, cream, and a pot of tea for himself.

"This more to your liking?"

[lulu8889]

Lulu nodded sadly. She knew far too well what it meant for someone to disappear for a while from town from personal experience. "Guess it's a good thing he's around even if he was in the hospital, huh?"

She took a sip of Wes' tea and grinned. "Much better. Thanks."

[shut_up_wesley]

Wes nodded, taking his seat again, a little self conscious. "He doesn't remember anything though." A small, somewhat ironic smile graced his lips. "The truth is Lulu, I don't even know that much about him...it could be this is normal for him...but we met last winter and just..." He looked up at her again from staring into a half empty tea cup. "It just felt...right." There weren't many other words Wes had for the fact that Dok got Wes on a level no one else in town save Dairine had come close to.

"I had a spare key made up as soon as he bought the house next door, even..." He'd nearly forgotten that, but Dok's eventual return from the hospital made him remember. It was sitting by his communicator on the bedroom table.

[lulu8889]

"About being here?" Lulu could definitely empathize with that. Friends disappearing and then just not remembering anything. Well, to be honest, it was mostly Ianto who did that. She wondered if Wes had any sort of feelings for his friend.

[shut_up_wesley]

"Oh, no! He remembers being here just not where he was. It's opposite of what usually happens, isn't it? That's why I'm so worried. What if it's a new form of the ravine messing with people?" That was what had really been bothering him this whole time--that nagging 'what if' what wouldn't leave him alone until some sort of experiment were conducted.

Wes was barely paying attention to hoe Lulu was looking at him, but there was something quirked about her expression that made him...nervous. "What, do I have tea on my lip or something?"

[lulu8889]

"That is new," she muttered, taking another sip from her coffee. "I'm not sure. I suppose we should just keep an eye on it. Make sure it doesn't become widespread."

Lulu shook her head. "No, not that, I just." She paused for a second. Lulu had learned some sort of tact since arriving here but not enough to stop her from continuing. "Well, I was just wondering, is your friend just a friend or do you like like him?"

[shut_up_wesley]

Whatever response was half-way to becoming a coherent thought in Wes's mind died a spectacular death when he registered the emphasis in Lulu's question. He blinked, dumbly, twice, and the promptly chocked on his tea. The entire process took about a second and a half.

"I...no. Dok's a fellow scientist, a colleague." Although, come to think of it, a lot of how he said what he did could have been taken the way Lulu was implying. "Not that there's anything wrong with that at all but, no. He's old enough to be my father..." Really, how was it that that was where most people's minds seemed to go? He knew a few people from Bare who were gay, but Wes had never been inclined. There was no stigma in the 24th century, of course, not when there were alien races who were genders unknown to any earth classification

[lulu8889]

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with it at all. Nothing in the slightest." And Lulu meant that sincerely. "Oh, I didn't realize he was older than you." Lulu shrugged. "I mean, I like your attitude about not being biased and I wasn't trying to imply there was something bad with it. I mean, people love who they love. Sorry if I just sort of assumed."

[shut_up_wesley]

"That's alright." Wes had to remind himself to be careful, that Lulu was one of the more--if not the most open minded person in town. "I should have expected it. I guess some things you just don't get used to." He shrugged a little himself. "You seem a little...distracted." It wasn't quite like Lulu to slip like that, although he knew sometimes her curiosity got ahold of her.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

[lulu8889]

"Distracted?" Lulu looked up, taking a sip from her coffee. "Um. Yeah, I suppose I am a little distracted. I'm alright I just...you know how recently people became not themselves? Moira went total dark side, that sort of thing. I managed to think I'd never been to Aternaville. Just...preoccupied with that me."

[shut_up_wesley]

"Oh." Wes shifted uncomfortably. He hadn't thought about that. Of course, he knew he couldn't have been the only one affected, but he'd been so preoccupied at the time. "Yeah I got...hit with that too. Colliding with an alternate timeline isn't fun. I...was a totally different person, bitter, angry...everyone I cared about, here and back home were just...they didn't really matter to the other me, they were just ways of killing time." And that was being polite about it.

He sighed. "I still have a lot of the memories from the other me banging around in my head too..." He looked up at Lulu, "but, it's over, isn't it? The only thing we can do is move forward." He forced a small smile that he didn't really feel.

[lulu8889]

Lulu shrugged. "I guess. There are just all these things that would've been nice. I mean, my mom had woken up, even if she was in Europe, my dad actually gave a crap about me, I was in love...even if there was crap going on with some other people, it just seemed so real and so right. I love Aternaville, but lately I've been wondering if I don't belong back home."

[shut_up_wesley]

A familiar pang struck Wes at the mention of home. He'd never once doubted that was where he belonged, which at one point he supposed game him a leg up from a lot of people in Aternaville...at least until he'd gotten to know Dairine and Ianto and the others.

"I know what you mean. But then, you never know what might happen, maybe you'll still get there one of these days...or I'll find a way to send anyone who wants to back." There was a twinge of hope in the statement. "If you want to go home, Lulu, I promise I'll find a way. Besides, that was just one possible reality...if you look at it that there a millions...billions...of other possibilities, it gets easier to live with." Wesley smiled a little more genuinely. "It all depends on how you look at it. I mean, I've been in another alternate reality where the ship I was on was destroyed in a battle...in a war that never happened. But I'd stuck with Starfleet Academy, my mother was the captain of a science vessel and a none of the things that made me who I am now ever happened. It's