Atonement, of sorts

[owingnobody]

Who: Nobody Owens, Neil Perry
What: An apology, a thank-you, and a promise kept
Where: ...it's a surprise!
When: Monday evening
Why: ...because?
Status: Sort of illegal, incomplete

Comments

[owingnobody]

The hamster got to the end of the counter, then looked at Neil again, as if to say, 'What, you want me to get down all by myself?' But as soon as Neil picked him up to put him on the floor, he got a wicked gleam in his eye, and the room swirled and dissolved around them.

Next thing he knew, Neil was standing in the middle of a darkened room, hamster in hand, between several tables with chairs up on top of them. Behind him came a rustling noise-- it was the tarp that was hanging over the door that still had yet to be replaced. Word was that Ara would be open for business again by the end of the week, but replacing the door had been an issue; the first time they arrived, the glass panes had been broken, the second time, the truck was attacked by giant crabs.

Near the stage was a table where the chairs were down, with the typical votive candle flickering cheerfully at the center of it. The stage lights were on, and somebody seemed to be attempting to figure out the sound system.

The hamster sighed. Boss? Howsabout you actually let me

[owingnobody]

Bod scrunched his shoulders reflexively as Neil's return-shiver made it's way down his spine. Before it had even completely passed, he tightened his grip around Neil's waist and spun the both of them around, taking Neil's right hand in his left. "Ha!" he laughed. "Sounds like a perfect evening to me!" Leaning over, he dipped Neil just a little, before asking, "Is there anything we need to pick up on the way home?"

[notdead_poet]

"Don't think so. I think we just need to get home," Neil answered with a laugh, pulling up from the dip and kissing Bod's cheek. "Just you watch, this will be the first night in history that Sherlock decides to come out of his room and socialize," he gave a mock-dramatic little groan.

[owingnobody]

"Ohhh- he would, too, wouldn't he?" Bod said. "He's just perverse enough to do something like that, isn't he? He has a sense about these things." Grabbing Neil's hand, he said, "We'll just have to... act... like we aren't doing anything worth interrupting." Grinning, he said, "Think we can handle that?"

[notdead_poet]

Neil laughed and nodded. "I've been told I'm a rather decent actor." He lifted Bod's hand to his lips and then lowered it with a squeeze. "C'mon, Beautiful. Let's go home."

He let go of Bod's hand and settled his arm around his back as they started to head for the door. "In case I hadn't made it clear enough before, that song was amazing."

[owingnobody]

"Funny, I've heard something similar," said Bod. "Rather decent, yes."

Allowing himself to be led, he wrapped an arm around Neil's shoulders. "Yes," he said. "Mr. Mayer wrote a nice piece of music, there, didn't he? I should write him a letter to thank him."

[notdead_poet]

"Damn straight you have," Neil grinned, squeezing Bod around the middle and carefully stepping over some of the fallen ceiling pieces on the way to the door.

Then he shook his head, looking sideways at Bod, still smiling. "No, you don't have to. It wasn't him that made it amazing. It was all you." He hadn't exactly meant to make the moment so saccharine, but then, that was often the case when it came to Bod, and he wouldn't change it for the world.

[owingnobody]

"But you're not partial or anything," said Bod, turning to grin at his Bunny. He hadn't been trying to make Neil be saccharine; he'd been deflecting the attention off himself, like he always did. Or trying to. It didn't make a great deal of sense for him to try, when he'd just done something that had drawn a lot of attention to himself.

So, he attempted to be gracious instead. "Thanks," he said quietly.

[notdead_poet]

Neil put his free hand to his heart in mock offense. "Moi? Partial? To you? Ha." He stopped for a moment just as they reached the door, turning to Bod to respond to the thank you that ordinarily, Bod might have continued to self-deprecate instead of giving. "You're welcome. But I think I mostly owe the thanks here." He kissed him again lightly before starting to move again, holding the door open for him.

"You know now that no one is angry with you, right? And, don't get me wrong I'm really, really glad you did this. But you know you didn't have to, to make me happy with you?"

[owingnobody]

"Of course not," Bod murmured, quirking a little smile. "My mistake."

He walked out, through the door and the tarps, then turned to Neil. "No one is-- I'm angry!" said Bod. "I made a plan, in an attempt to do something nice for someone, and as a result, I've become a complete and utter villain. Aiding and abetting underage drinking? Check. Getting friends attacked by giant monsters? Check. Maybe possibly inviting friends with similar interests to an event with the intention of having them realize that they already know that they're perfect for each other? Yeah, I did that too." Rubbing his eyebrow wearily with the long fingers of his free hand, he said, "Maybe no one's mad at me. But I'm mad at me. I'm not a gossipy person. I don't like to put people in harm's way. I don't like what this whole incident has made of me, Neil. I don't like it at all." Looking away, he said, "Partly, I did this because it made me feel a little better."

[notdead_poet]

As Bod ranted, Neil listened. He was surprised at first, not having expected the quiet moment to be so quickly broken. But once Bod burst, Neil realized he should have seen it coming. He tried not to, but he had to smile just a tiny bit that Bod's first point was 'aiding and abetting underage drinking.' His boyfriend was ridiculous and endearing

[owingnobody]

Most of his 'anger' at the situation had been spent the night before. Even now, it wasn't 'anger' so much as 'distress', which was quickly fading into a sort of murky, dismal sort of mood. It wasn't quite sad, or hurt, or upset... but some sort of combination of the three.

He tried to smile at Neil's comment about Hero. "For someone with such an assuming name, she wasn't very heroic," he said wryly. But Neil's words were helping immensely, lifting the weight of his heavy mood. He hadn't done it for attention or praise. He just wanted them to be happy. At least Neil believed him. "Kurt thinks I'm an awful gossip," he muttered.

[notdead_poet]

"Yes, well, both Hero and Claudio left a lot to be desired as far as characterization goes. Our portrayals were better," Neil grinned, tracing the beginnings of Bod's smile in hopes of making it grow into a real one. "Kurt doesn't think any such thing. He was overwhelmed and upset by a big, confusing situation. He shouldn't have taken it out on you. But I bet you anything, he's thanking you right now."

[owingnobody]

Bod couldn't help it. The minute Neil's fingers started tracing the curve of his lip, a dimple winked in his cheek, and he smiled, helpless to do anything else. "He said it, though," he argued, weakly. "He said I was worse than a hormonal teenager, and I needed to stop talking about his love life in public places. But I wasn't, even." Well, maybe a little. But hardly at all. "And really, if he's that blind to things, maybe it would be better for Blaine to look elsewhere, anyway." He wasn't feeling very charitable towards Kurt at the moment. "In fact, he told me I should thank him," he said, oblivious to his non-sequitur. "Though, to be fair, he did give me some good advice."

[notdead_poet]

Neil shook his head, chuckling because he had a ridiculous boyfriend. Ridiculous and perfect. "Hey now, we were a little blind at first ourselves. Not to mention, it took a little matchmaking from our friends to get us past the blindness." He curled a finger under Bod's chin and kissed him quickly.

"Good advice? What was that?"

[owingnobody]

Bod closed his eyes when Neil kissed him, unable to keep himself from smiling. He had no argument for that at all-- he could remember, all too well, Lulu's underhanded and less-than-covert attempts to push the two of them together. Not that she was wrong. And not that they needed that much pushing. Well. He'd been horribly clueless, that's all.

"Oh, he said that that song was the one I should sing to you," said Bod, settling his arm around Neil's shoulders again as they started walking towards home. "And he was right. It was good advice."

He was quiet for a moment, thinking. "I'm sorry, Bunny," he said finally, his voice soft. "I don't really know why the whole incident bothers me so much, except... trying to be helpful and being glared at murderously for it is a bit like saving someone's life and being called a monster." With a little sigh, he said, "How long do I have to live in this world before I feel like I actually belong in it?"