When the Cat's Away

[Ed]

Monday. 3/13/17.
Red Dragon Inn.

Boredom and loneliness had chased Ed out of his apartment. There was snow everywhere and the only option to keep his feet warm was to wear his fur-lined faux leather boots. He had painted his nails a lighter blue than royal but darker than pastel and thrown on comfortably warm clothes. His mint green hoodie was a favorite, and blue jeans went with everything. He had wound the rainbow colored scarf around his neck both to keep warm and have a constant reminder of Trick with him.

He had seen him last this morning, could still feel the phantom traces of his fingers on his skin and smell him on his clothes, but he already missed him so much. The bed had his scent all over it and he couldn't stand the other boy's actual physical body not being present any longer. So he went out in search of distraction.

The Red Dragon Inn was as bustling as ever. He was glad for the crowd. He wanted to be around people, certain they were just the distraction he needed. Trick hadn't even been gone a full twenty-four hours yet, but it felt like forever ago. The more time he wasted, the sooner it would be bedtime, and the faster another day would pass. The next two weeks were going to be the death of him. He wasn't sure he could cope.

Smoking a cigarette, all alone, Ed hopped up the stairs and stopped, because it seemed the doorway was not clear tonight. He bounced to the side, getting out of the way of the stairs, and waited as a tall pretty woman and a large muscular man made their way out. The woman immediately cleared the door and shooed him inside in a friendly, teasing manner.

"Go, go, get something warm!" Her chuckle was just a little raspy.

The large man held the door outward for him, saying, "After you boss." His head tilted in Ed's direction.

Ed's spirits were lifted immediately and he couldn't help but be charmed by these two. With a smile, he joked, "Must. Needs. Cocoa." He wasn't quite as cool as the Caterpillar, but he did try to make smoke rings with every word. Then, with a giggle, he scurried inside with a chirped, "Thank you!" Jo was so nice to hold the door for him.

He bounced further in, turning a circle to take a look around. There were some familiar faces. That was good. Regardless of who he knew and didn't, he cheerfully announced himself as he ever did.

"Hello, everybody!"

"Anyone need a drink?" he heard Annabeth ask the crowd. Thank goodness for her. Ed dashed to the bar.

"Cocoa please! Peppermint. With the stick. And the... oh! The little colorful marshmallows please? Pretty please?" He made with the puppy dog eyes for good measure. Annabeth laughed and served him his drink just the way he asked. The night was already off to a great start.

A brief conversation on the state of service at the Red Dragon commenced. Ed inserted himself into the topic with ease, and slid out of it just as smoothly. From there the discussion turned to the concept of installing robotic servers. And while Ed found the notion incredibly interesting, his attention was pulled away by the cry of the ever-cheerful Taneth.

"Ronnie!"

How or why she had come up with that name for him he would never know. One did not question Taneth. That was something he had learned quickly in Rhydin. So he did the only reasonable thing and turned with a bright smile to wave happily at her.

"Hi, Taneth!" He noticed that she was standing around with an undeniably attractive young man he had never seen before. Anyone that Taneth had attached herself to couldn't be bad, he reasoned, and so he waved a hello to the stranger too.

"Ronnie! Come meet Hammy! He adores us!" This so named "Hammy" had a kind smile, which he shared with Ed when he looked up to acknowledge him from across the room.

Conversation still buzzed around him, and he kept up with a little comment dropped here and there on the notion of how awesome it would be to have robot bartenders, but since Taneth had summoned him he grabbed his cocoa and disengaged from the bar. When he turned, he noticed that the young man and Taneth had taken seats at a nearby table.

"Hammy, this is Ronnie." Taneth insisted on the names she had given them, as she seemed to do with everybody, motioning while she introduced them to each other.

"Hello, Hammy!" Ed greeted as he approached. "I bet your name's not Hammy." He just had a feeling, because Taneth. "And mine's not Ronnie. It's actually Ed, but hi."

"Ronnie," the young man repeated with a wink for Ed. His smile flared brightly. "It's nice to meet you. I'm--Hammy. Or Goshen, if you prefer."

There was something utterly bewitching about the young man"s smile, and Ed found himself smiling in a somewhat devious fashion in response. "What do you prefer, though? That's the important part." He set his mug down on the table, deciding hanging out with Taneth and her new friend was the safest place to be in a room full of the usual miscreants.

"Give us hugs, Ronnie," Taneth demanded with open arms, drawing back his attention in the most spectacularly adorable way.

The young man at the table set his glass aside and tugged the sleeves of his thin, white sweater up to his elbows. "Goshen, please," he said. "I chose it; I intend to use it." He paused momentarily, setting his hands on his knees. "Should I call you Ed?"

"Yes, please." Ed smiled at Goshen as he swooped in to give Taneth her demanded hugs. This was much better than being leaped upon without asking. Plus, he felt he really could use a hug. Taneth hugged him as if she had missed him, and she probably did. He had to admit, even though girls made him uncomfortable most of the time, it was nice to feel accepted and adored by this one. He squeezed and released her, then turned to the young man and said, "It's nice to meet you, Goshen."

"Sit with us," Taneth decreed.

"Okay!" Ed fidgeted in place then backed up to pull out a chair, certain that disobeying a Taneth decree was a crime punishable by death.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Ed." Goshen smiled, sinking into a sprawl against his chair. Even at his leisure, he somehow managed to maintain a regal stature. "Please, join us. Have you been friends with Taneth long?" He asked because, "I only just met her tonight."

"What?" A large and frightening something had skulked by, distracting him momentarily. Ed blinked a dozen times before looking at Goshen. "Oh. Sit. Yes. Wait, no." He sat. "No I haven't really known her all that long. Um. Three months?"

Taneth hopped up and leaped to perch on the back of the chair. She had amazing powers of balance.
"We all have known each other for soooo long." He got the sense that a minute was forever for the Taneth monster.

"'So long' she says." Goshen snickered softly.

"I guess three months is a long time. It can feel like it." Ed shrugged, turned a sweet smile on Goshen, and pulled his mug closer.

"For forever." Taneth nodded as she turned and sank into her chair.

"It can feel that way with the right person," Goshen agreed quietly, nodding.

"Yeah." Ed agreed with a wistful sigh, his smile soft. He looked down into his mug and stirred the colored little marshmallows around with the peppermint stick.

"We like it." Taneth sighed and relaxed. "We have been so happy to meet Ronnie and Paul."

"Which one is Paul?" Goshen flicked a quick glance around them, not sure he'd heard that name yet tonight.

"Paul is Trick, but he's not here right now." Ed echoed Taneth with a little elaboration and looked up from his cocoa. Some marshmallows were sticking to the peppermint stick when he lifted it out of the mug. "He's offworld." Ed pouted in pause, then said, "Big race somewhere." He stuck the peppermint stick in his mouth so he could suck off the marshmallows, after which he dunked the stick back into his cocoa.

"He races?" Taneth was remarkably, genuinely surprised. Her eyebrows raised.

"Uh huh. He's really good," Ed said. "He won first place his first race. Second, I think, in the last one. Rookie of the year sort of thing going on for him." He was really happy for Trick's success, but also sad and lonely without him here. His emotions were in such a conflict.

"Is it running races?" Taneth asked.

Goshen canted his head, regarding Ed silently. A moment was spared to look the boy down and up. "What type of racing? Cars? Like the street races earlier this month?"

"No, no." Ed shook his head. "Faster than cars. Podracers. Kind of like jetbikes, but even faster. Space age stuff." Then he nodded for Taneth, or on second thought shook his head. "Not on his feet. In a machine."

"Oooh."

He smiled at the girl, and said, again, "He's really good."

Goshen smiled, too. A little knowing, perhaps.

"Do you know racing?" Taneth asked Goshen. Ed resumed stirring marshmallows until a bunch more stuck to the peppermint stick. Then he sucked them off the stick as before. He too looked at Goshen.

"Not this... podracing," the young man said. "But I'm curious now. I'd like to learn more. I have seen car races, though."

"Trick could explain it to you better than I can, if he were here," Ed told him. "But there's an arcade in Star's End that has a simulator you could check out. That's where he got discovered, actually. He had the highest score! Way, way highest than anyone else had gotten."

"Stars end is sooooo funny," remarked Taneth.

"Why do you say that?" Ed blinked at her.

"All the little robots get so funny!"

"Well I guess they can..." Ed trailed off because Taneth suddenly leaped up from her chair and went zoom. He watched, wide-eyed as she launched herself at a very familiar elf. Recognizing him, he giggled and waved. "Hi, Mist!"


---
( Severely modified and edited from the RDI log dated 3/13. )

[Ed]

Goshen took a sip from his glass. The peach colored liquid inside was nearly half gone. He blinked in surprise as Taneth sprung up from the chair and ran away. He gave Mist a smile, then turned back to Ed. "How long will your friend be off-world?"

Another pout twisted into place as Ed turned back, more to regard his mug of cocoa than Goshen directly. "Two weeks." He made it sound awful, because it was. In the background, he could hear Taneth obnoxiously smooching on Mist and directing him to come meet her new friend "Hammy."

Hearing his 'name', Goshen straightened up with a smile. Distracted, he looked away from Ed to smile at Mist again. Then he glanced back to the boy. "Maybe you could show me this arcade while he's gone."

Looking back at Goshen, now more directly, Ed's brows shot up, but his frown turned upside down into a cautious smile. "Yeah sure. I could do that."

Mist finally stepped closer, head tilting to bow a little to both of them. "Hello, Ed, hello... Hammy?" He sounded pretty sure Hammy wasn't the man's name, but he smiled with easy warmth, and leaned to give Ed a light hug. Taneth climbed around to perch on Mist's shoulder.

Ed stood up to exchange hugs with Mist. He gave the elf a squeeze and told him, "His name's actually Goshen." But, you know, Taneth.

"Goshen," the young man corrected easily, smiling brightly as Ed did the same. "And you are? I don't think I caught your name."

"Goshen, hello." Mist laughed softly, brows quirking comically as Taneth changed his center of balance. "I'm Mist. Or Misty." He glanced aside at Taneth.

"Mist," Goshen repeated, smiling. "It's nice to meet you, too."

"Misty!" Taneth crowed. She hugged Mist as she slid down and sat back in her chair.

"Misty," the elf echoed, much softer, with a hushing tone of laughter, and then shifted so that Taneth could sit. "I'm going to get something to drink," he murmured, slipping back and away, turning to the bar.

Smiling, Ed sank back sideways onto his seat. "Um," he said to Goshen, redirecting his thoughts to the previous topic with consideration. "Do you know where Stars End station is? I could meet you there after work sometime this week or something?"

Goshen picked up his glass again and took a sip, then swung his gaze back toward Ed, eagerly meeting the boy's eyes. "I do know where it is, though I've not been there -- Stars End -- myself. I'm currently... in between jobs at the moment, so I can meet with you whenever you like."

"Um. Well I..." Ed started, but Taneth placing her palm on his chest and sitting alert like a bloodhound gave him pause. Darting a glance aside at the bar, he noticed there were some newer people that definitely made him uneasy, but that wasn't what had set Taneth on guard.

"Rissa!" She crowed! "Meet Hammy!"

"Hi Hammy!" Lirssa called back from the hearth.

All the crowing and calling out between her and Taneth made Ed twitchy. He fidgeted with his scarf, seeking comfort from the gift Trick had given him since the boy himself was not actually physically present.

Goshen's chuckle was a warm thing, and Ed felt it helped alleviate a lot of his own tension. "I don't think I've ever met so many people in one night," the young man said. He waved toward Lirssa. "Hello, Rissa."

"We know everyone," Taneth said. Ed didn't think she was exaggerating, honestly.

Ed looked back at Goshen and cleared his throat after his nerves settled again. "I work until afternoon all week long. Clock out around three. I could meet you at the station tomorrow?" He had nothing better to do for the next two weeks.

Taneth leaned to sniff him curiously, and he sort of cringed away from her a little, giving her a 'what are you doing?' side eye. She blinked at him. He blinked back. He saw Goshen's hand turn over in a gesture meant to invite Taneth his way and away from Ed, but then she was up with a bizarrely heroic exclamation and darting off to tackle some new foe. Ed squeaked in mild alarm when Taneth growled and went leaping, again. That girl was going to give him a heart attack some day. Even Goshen's eyes widened.

"Sometimes, she is terrifying," Mist murmured to Ed with a soft laughter when he returned to their table.

Ed scooted over into the chair next to Goshen instead of across from him rather instinctively. There was safety in numbers, and subconsciously he had decided Goshen was on his side. Also this moved him one seat further away from the bar where he could keep a better eye on it. "You're telling me," he replied to Mist with a nervous giggle.

Goshen inclined himself toward Ed conversationally, but grinned across the way to Mist. "Terrifyingly friendly. I suppose it could be worse."

Nodding agreeably to Goshen, Ed said, "That's true."

"Meat on sticks," Mist offered, because he didn't actually know the words for them. He'd brought a plateful over to share, and nodded to it.

"I think those're called shish kebabs, Mist." Ed giggled again, this time a bit less nervously.

"Sheesh ...Kah bob." Mist echoed Ed with a lift of brows.

"Close enough." Ed giggled some more. He leaned to snag his mug and pulled it close as he sank back in his chair, the new one, much more at his ease at this point.

Taneth smooched her latest vanquished foe, a tall and athletically fit woman that Ed didn't recognize, then wandered back their way. She climbed in to sit with Mist for cuddles. "I protected you all," she stated proudly, with a grin.

"You are terrible and beautiful," Mist assured Taneth with soft laughter, shifting so she could invade his lap. He looped an arm around her easily. He seemed all too used to eating one-handed.

"We know," said Taneth, nodding. She knew.

"Have you known Taneth long, Mist? She intrigues me," Goshen commented, smiling at the girl. "Terrible and beautiful, to be sure."

"...Ah... I suppose. Six or seven months, perhaps? I'm not very good with marking time. Mesteno introduced us. He is a ... Strong soul. With a very strange sense of humor." Mist replied with more soft laughter. "He assured Taneth I wouldn't mind giving her a piggy ride or something."

Taneth commented with an air kiss for Goshen, and said, "For forever."

Ed noticed a half dozen or so ten year olds in various colored snowsuits roaming the bar like cigarette girls, and the sight of them was making him a little uneasy. His smile was twitchy. He fumbled a cigarette out of his pocket and brought it to his lips, then dug around for his Zippo.

"Baby Bear love us," Taneth commented idly. Not a half second later she announced, "Sussie is here!"

"Sussie... Oh. Hello, Spencer. Oh. What did Patrick get you?" Mist asked nosily, a smile turned to Spencer. Ed had looked around trying to figure out who Sussie was. When he spotted a Spencer and smiled. With Mist's help the world made sense again.

Goshen looked aside at Ed, then shifted in his seat to dig a matchbook from his pocket. "Here." It was offered freely.

He hadn't lit his cigarette yet. It was dangling from between his lips. When Goshen offered him a matchbook, he swiveled back to take it from him with a smile too. "Oh thank you."

"You're welcome." While it was a kneejerk response to most, the words were carefully measured when coming from Goshen. He meant them. The arrival of a new face drew his attention away from Ed.

Spencer clapped her hands together, rubbing them for friction warmth. The blue wool of fingerless gloves sparked had one the eye to see such things. Taneth's voice carried over voices. Spencer lifted two fingers in a salute to the girl, the tips stained with paint.

"Sussie is so cute," commented Taneth with a smile for Spencer.

Hopefully Goshen didn't want his matchbook back, because after Ed had lit his cigarette with one of the matches he tucked the entire book up a sleeve without even thinking about it. He then turned to lift his arm and wave. "Hi, Spencer!"

Spencer looked at Ed. She angled her shoulders and strode through the room, cutting around chairs, and people creatures that mingled. Eri was yonder, the delinquent was given a smile that was crooked at best. Two fingers to her lips, she kissed them, and blew the gift to Taneth before drawing to a pause somewhere near Ed. She cut a stare to the stranger with him before shifting her attention to Mist.

Mist laughed faintly and asked his question again once she was near. "What was it that Patrick was teasing you both about getting as a gift?"

Spence obviously didn't know at least one of the people he was seated with, so Ed politely introduced them. "Spence, this is Goshen. Goshen, that's Spencer. She's Trick's friend. Roommate. They share a house with a couple other people." Maybe he was giving a stranger too much information. He was rambling. And then, bouncing on his seat, he super excitedly jumped on answering Mist's question. "Trick got us tablets!"

Spencer caught the strap of her bag with both hands, releasing it only to point at Ed and nod. What he said.

"Tablets... the... the computer ones," Mist echoed, and paused, a bit confused, when his phone rang. He picked it up and glanced to it with a quick flicker of smile. "I'll see you all later," he noted, sliding to his feet. Setting Taneth back to the chair as he did. He turned and walked to the hearth, leaning down to offer a light hug to Shar before sliding away through the alley door.

Ed smiled toothily at Spencer and wiggled his fingers at her. Hi. "Yes. The computer ones," he confirmed for Mist, and then waved. Bye!"

Goshen echoed him. "Bye, Mist!" A wave for his new acquaintance.


( Severely modified and edited from the RDI log dated 3/13. )

[Ed]

"Patrick," Goshen said quietly. He looked from Spencer to Ed, eyebrows aloft. Realization sank in, though. There was confirmation in Ed's response to Mist's inquiry. Patrick = Trick.

Ed politely exhaled his smoke up and away from either Spencer's face or Goshen's. He was getting antsy, and decided it was best to stand while he was smoking so he didn't clog the table with a noxious cloud. He nodded a lot at Goshen. "He prefers Trick, though," he told the young man, for future reference, should he ever meet him.

Now that the stranger had been named, Spencer eyed him sidelong. "Ed." She was looking at him now.

Taneth blinked, making a sudden realization. "Our chair is hard now," she said, sounding so sad. Ed shared a pout with her. He realized how awful it was to be suddenly devoid of a lap to sit on. She grinned at him for totally getting it.

Goshen looked back to Spencer with a shining smile. "Hello, Spencer. It's nice to meet you."

Spencer tilted her head, squinting at Ed. It lasted seconds really before her eyes swept to Goshen. Her smile was quick. "Give it time." Another wink of a lip curve. "You from around here?" Begin the interrogation.

Ed's brows raised, not at all sure why he was being so scrutinized. He was making sure his smoke was going up! Should he give them more space? He stepped sideways, toward Goshen and away from Spence, then back, back again and sideways once more until he was standing behind his chair.

Goshen's smile went from cordial to amused. Ed's solitary dance distracted him from answering Spencer right away, but eventually he pinned her with a stare. "I wouldn't know for sure, though I'd wager a guess at 'no'. I do live here, though. Are you from around here?"

Ed's dance was the subject of another one of Spencer's squints as well. "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" she asked him.

"No." His eyes were a little wide. Spence just had a way of making him paranoid. It was like a superpower of hers: incite nervousness. Taneth had run off to pounce on some other unsuspecting somebody that Ed did not know, but she returned a moment later, bounding back to hug him. She attacked him from the side. He squeaked and wobbled!

"Sussie is totally giving you the look," said Taneth, stage whispering to Ed. She gave Spencer two thumbs from around his waist.

"Are you in the doghouse?" Goshen asked aside to Ed, curious.

"I know. I don't know!" He anxiously answered both Taneth and Goshen all at once.

Taneth hugged Ed once more and then released him. He swayed back into position behind his chair once she let him go. He took a really deep drag off his cigarette then. Oh blessed nicotine.

Taneth further encouraged the interrogation by motioning and saying, "Sussie, ask another question."

Goshen's answer finally drew Spencer's attention, pinned as she was by his. ".....you don't know..." The echo was soft. Taneth pulled her eyes away. "Hammy." Another repeat.

"Goshen," he corrected calmly.

"I don't know what." There it was again. The paranoia. The panic. Stronger now. Ed wasn't at all following the conversation clearly. "Did something happen?" He searched his coat pockets until he found his messenger device, just to make sure he hadn't missed texts since the last one.

Taneth was watching Ed. "You are being strange. Why is this? Was someone mean to you? Do you want us to bite someone?"

Goshen clarified, "No, I believe she's inquiring as to why I don't know where I'm from." Oh. He looked amused, if anything. Goshen tipped his head to peer up at Ed, just now noticing the boy's anxiety. "What's wrong?"

"Am I? I have no idea. No, and no biting really isn't necessary. But thank you." Ed tucked his messenger back in his pocket. Since Spence did not confirm anything had happened, and Goshen had cleared up his confusion, he felt he could maybe relax. He gave Goshen a crooked, sheepish smile, and shrugged.

Spencer had also effectively stepped into her own dance of avoiding the question poised for her to answer. She shifted where she stood, hip to hip, and cut a glance at Goshen. "Not Hammy?" A pale brow lifted.

"Goshen," he repeated again, ever patient.

"You tell us if you need us to, Ed." Taneth actually used his name. The world was going to end. She then started dancing around the little group of Goshen, Ed, and Spence.

Taneth's use of his actual name just made her offer all the more serious, and sink home. He smiled and nodded, gave her a little salute. "Will do."

Goshen did not offer up an explanation to Spencer, likely because she had not answered his question.

Spencer released the strap of her bag to flare her fingers in mock surrender. "Goshen." Forget the smile that wanted to be finished, half way pulled up as it was. "No," she said. "I'm not from here."

Genuinely pleased that she'd used his name, Goshen grinned at the girl.

Ed looked between Goshen and Spencer rapidly, as if expecting their combined stares to create a nuclear event or something. Taneth stared at Ed as if she might have had something to say to him. He could feel her staring, so he leaned down to her level in case she wanted to whisper whatever it was she had to say.

The Taneth rarely whispered, though; it was not in her nature. Instead she directly told him, "Our arm itches." Then she offered her arm out to Ed for help.

"Anywhere in particular or just generally all over?" He stuck his smoldering cigarette between his lips to dangle, skillfully, and held Taneth's arm with one hand while beginning to gently scratch with the nails of his other hand, his pretty blue painted nails. Taneth wiggled with the scritching. Ed smoked and scratched and watched Goshen and Spencer do battle.

One of Spencer's cheeks stretched out, tongue pressing from inside. Spencer was ruthless in her stare readings. "I just haven't seen you around. How do you know Ed?"

"We just met tonight." Ed answered even though she hadn't asked him. "Taneth introduced us." Because that's what Taneths do.

"She's really quite friendly," said Goshen. A smile spared for the other blonde girl. "I've been introduced to several people tonight, actually."

"Thank you," Taneth said, all darling sweet to Ed.

"You're welcome." Ed smiled, and assumed that was a cue that he could stop scratching, so he did.

Spencer glanced at Ed, Taneth next, returned her attention to Goshen. "She is. So you're new to the area?"

Taneth took Goshens smile at her as a sign that he clearly wanted a hug, so she hurried over to hug him. Ed straightened up and turned, leaning over an adjacent table to squish his cigarette out in an ashtray. He was done with that now. Extinguishing complete, he turned back and picked up what was left of his cocoa to drink, which was a good place to hide an amused smile.

Goshen shook his head faintly from side to side. "I've been around--" And he was hugged. The young man's eyes widened in surprise, but he hugged her back. "You worry me, Taneth."

"Why?" Taneth blinked at Goshen.

Brows up, Ed studied Goshen curiously, also wondering why Taneth worried him.

Where Ed was curious, Spencer lacked the softness needed. Her stare was entirely suspicious.

"Because," Goshen said. "What if I was a monster? Hugging monsters rarely goes well."

The Taneth just giggled so wildly. "Psh. We have hugged monsters." She tapped her lips. "We have scared many monsters."

Sparing a darting glance around, Ed noted the time somewhere. "I should get home. Trick said he was going to call me at bedtime. I don't want to miss him." He smiled at Spencer, turning it on Goshen. "See you tomorrow?" Had they confirmed that arrangement? He was confirming now.

Spencer's brows shot up.

"Tomorrow," Goshen confirmed, looking up at Ed with a bright flare of a smile. "I'll be waiting."

Spencer's eyes slid between the two. Brows up to brows in the slightest slant down.

"Boys are strange, Sussie," Taneth remarked.

"That's one way to put it," Spencer replied to Taneth.

Ed's own smile flared a little brighter, an inkling of excitement shining through. For certain he would not be bored tomorrow! "Cool." Thanks to Taneth's statement, his attention caught on Spencer. He laughed lightly. "I'm going to show him the arcade. He wants to see what podracing is. I thought showing him the simulator was the best way." He shrugged, and then he tugged on his hat and his gloves.

"We have to go now!" Taneth waved and ran off!

"See you tomorrow, Ed." Goshen waved to Taneth who was also darting off. He shifted in his seat, reaching for his drink.

Taneth blew out before Spencer could blink. She caught the tail end of the girl's exit and then tacked a stare on Ed. A tick slid to Goshen and then back. "I'm sure he'll like it."

"Yep! Have a good night. You too, Spence." He wasn't on hugging terms with her, yet, so he just waved, up close. Laughing, he added, "I hope so. It's the arcade. What's not to like?" Then he pushed his chair in, took his mug to the bar, and doubled back to head out the door. "Night, everybody!"

"Later, Ed," he last heard Spencer say. The boy's ridiculousness pulled a smile from her, he noticed, before he shut the door behind him.


( Severely modified and edited from the RDI log dated 3/13. )

[Ed]

Monday. 3/13/17.
Old Temple West.

Ed rolled home from the bar close to midnight, alone. It was a strange feeling. For a couple of years, that had been the norm for him. Go out to explore the city alone. Go home alone. Sleep. Throw some work hours in there. Then he had discovered the Red Dragon, and Trick, and his entire life had become more full. He should have been used to coming home alone by now. Having a companion to come home to, or with, was the anomaly, and it had only become a regular occurrence for two whole months. Not even three yet!

For the first time in forever, his apartment felt depressingly empty. There weren't even any rats to greet him when he strolled through the door. The upper levels were hauntingly quiet with Mrs. Oglesby gone. He sighed, crossed the room, and turned on the radio just so that there was some noise to keep him company. At least DJ Zazzy Yas was still here for him. Her voice was probably a recording, but he didn't let that bother him.

He stripped out of 90% of his clothes, which was mostly outerwear anyway, and climbed onto the bed. Trick's basketball jersey was right where he left it. Though by now it mostly contained his own scent, there were still lingering traces of his boyfriend, particularly on the back. He pressed it to his nose for a deep breath before tugging off his hoodie and replacing it with the jersey. Down to socks, underwear, and shirt, he pulled the sheets up to bunch into a pile, and then dug around for the tablet Trick had given him. He turned it on and spent several minutes, while waiting for the call, to prop it up just right on his makeshift blanket stand.

The call popped up on the screen nearly ten minutes later. Patrick had saved a picture of himself on the tablet already and attached it to his number, so when he called, his face (contorted into a funny expression, tongue out) filled the screen. When Ed accepted the call with a giggle, the real time image of the younger boy's (now smiling) face replaced the photo. Immediately, and excitedly, Ed waved at the screen. "Hiiiiiii!"

Patrick waved back, beaming, so very happy to see him. "Hiiii! Oh my God, I miss you." Right off the bat. It couldn't be contained. The miles between them were many, and awful.

"Eeeee! I miss you too!" Ed was overwhelmed by a combination of emotions. On the one hand he did in fact miss Patrick terribly, but on the other he was deliriously excited to see him. Though it was also torture, because while he was right there in front of his face, on a screen, he couldn't touch him. That was the thought that made him pout, and paw at the base of the screen with his fingertips.

The younger boy tried to tame his smile by gnawing on his bottom lip, but it didn't help. When it popped free, his smile was as big as ever. "How are you? I spent most of the day here sleeping."

"Urgh. You're not allowed to do that." Ed's first response was a frustrated noise at the sight of the lip biting. He pulled the spare pillow over onto his lap, crossed his hands at the wrist and pressed down. Calm thyself, libido!

"Do what?" He actually looked around as if something nearby could have told him what he'd done. Oblivious, Trick peered at the screen, squinting as he watched Ed move around.

"Make adorable faces like that. You're not making one right now, but you did a second ago. Never mind. I wish I could've slept all day, but I had to carry on and trudge through the daily grind, thinking about you and missing you the whole time." Ed sniffed dramatically. Patrick, having finally caught on, bit his lip again just to be an ass. "Quit it!" Ed whined.

Trick laughed softly and rubbed the sleeve of his hoodie across his face. Only the very tips of his fingers could be seen. He appeared to be lying down, hood up, with just a bit of the pillow's white plush visible along the edge of the screen. The rest of the room was pretty dark around him, the light from the screen washing him out with its technologic glow.

"I don't think you would want to trade places with me. Sleeping all day might sound nice, but I did it because apparently space travel sucks balls and doesn't agree with me. It's nothing like a podracer; it's worse. Connie says I'll get used to it, but I'm not sure I believe him. It was awful." Patrick sighed, but seemed to be doing a little better now. The smile had yet to really leave his face. "I miss you." They were bound to say it a hundred times more before the call was through.

"I miss you too." Sure enough. Ed smiled and leaned closer to the tablet, hunched over the pillow and his own lap. "The only nice thing about sleeping all day would be making the days go faster so I could see you sooner. I'm dying here without you." And it had only been one day. Not even a whole day. Dramatic much, Edgar?

"Nooo don't die. I need you to stick around for a long, long time. Or I'll die." The younger boy smirked and brought his sleeve-covered hand up to hide his mouth. Now all Ed could see was the upper half of Patrick's face. "Maybe you can come with me on one of these long trips. Someday." His eyes darted away, then back. "Jesse's kids tagged along."

Ed's eyes narrowed into a suspicious squint. He had a feeling Trick was hiding more lip biting from him! Just thinking about it put the image in his head and drove him crazy inside. Pushing back from the screen, lips twisting, he looked away with intense consideration. "I'd like to, if I can take the time off work." The twist of his lips was more like a pout when he looked back at the screen. Jesse's kids tagging along weren't even a factor; he dismissed them as a topic entirely.

"Hopefully someday you won't have to work."

"Pffff. Right. Maybe I'll win the lottery that I don't even play."

Trick's hand shifted up to cover his cheek instead his mouth, which was curled into a shy smile. "I guess marrying me would be like winning the lottery." He chuckled silently, evidenced by the way the screen shook faintly. The harsh glow of the screen on his skin made it impossible to tell if he was blushing or not.

Ed's brows shot up and his eyes widened significantly. Shock and panic mingled with the warm fuzzy feelings tumbling around in his ribcage. He scratched, and then rubbed, subconsciously at the big purple bruise on the side of his neck and averted his gaze from the screen. He could feel himself blushing. It was hot in his apartment suddenly. He tugged a little on the collar of the basketball jersey before dropping his hand to the pillow on his lap.

"Relax, I'm kidding," Trick assured him quickly. The boy scrunched his nose, grinning.

"Are you?" Ed's eyes darted back to the screen. He sounded skeptical. The question might also be a trap. Did he want Trick to be kidding, or didn't he? Don't answer!

He was wise enough to refrain from incriminating himself, shrugging lightly instead. "Connie jokes all the time that Oceane's only with him for the money."

Ed scoffed. "Well I started dating you before you got rich and famous, so... He flapped a hand to wave the notion away. Then he jumped on a relative topic. "I helped you get discovered, if you think about it. If I hadn't dragged you to the arcade that day..."

"You did," Trick agreed. "I'll be sure to mention that in my next interview. 'To what do you owe your success, Patrick?' My Boyfriend. Hands down. He's the reason I'm where I am now."

Smiling, Ed ducked out of the camera angle for a moment. The basketball jersey rode up and probably gave Trick a flash of hip skin. The older boy was giggling when he came back into view. He lifted up the keychain that contained one of the photo booth pictures in it and gave it a shake as a reminder as to why they'd even gone to the arcade in the first place.

"Noooo. You're where you are now because you're amazing at racing."

Trick had reached out to pull his tablet closer and appeared to have pushed himself somewhat upright. "You should put that back where it was." Without thinking, he bit his lip again. Anticipation written across his face, muddled with a bit of devious intent.

Again, Ed's brows lifted. At first he didn't comprehend why Trick might have said that. So demanding! Studying his up-close face, however, clued the older boy in. His smile took on that sinful sort of curve after a minute, and then he slowly leaned back sideways to stow the keychain away where he had gotten it from. He took his dear sweet time about it. The shirt hiked up a little higher to expose more skin. Ed pretended to rummage around for something else. Not wanting to come up empty handed, when he leaned back upright and into view as before he dumped a pack of cigarettes and his Zippo into his lap. He also had a matchbook in hand, which reminded him that his day hadn't been totally uneventful and he should maybe tell Trick about it.

"I went to the bar tonight because I was so bored without you. This guy I met through Taneth gave me this. Or maybe I took it." Either or with Ed! He shrugged. "I'm meeting him at the arcade tomorrow because he wants to know what podracing is, so I thought I'd show him the simulators. Can I pull up old vid feeds of your races on this thing do you think?" By "this thing" he obviously meant the tablet, because he tapped it.

Patrick must have needed a little time to get over the most innocent and yet somehow thrilling peep show ever because he didn't immediately answer Ed. The boy blinked a few times. Then the screen jostled around wildly as he sat up all the way. Using a sleeve-covered hand, he pushed the hood off his head to reveal a mess of dark hair. "Uh. Yeah, probably. I could send you links to the coverage." A short pause. "And that's... nice of you." Another pause, this one a little longer, during which time Patrick's eyebrows had come together to form a wrinkle on his forehead. "Why'd he need to give you matches?"

After carefully and suspiciously studying Trick's changing facial expressions, Ed shrugged. "He didn't." Dropping the matchbook to his lap, he slipped a cigarette free from the pack and stuck it between his lips. It dangled and bobbed as he spoke but otherwise did not interfere with his ability to do so. "I had a cigarette like this and then got distracted by Spencer coming in before I could get my Zippo out. Next thing I know he's handing me a matchbook. I didn't want to be rude, so I just took it." Here and now, he used the Zippo to light his cigarette with, and smiled. Then he leaned the other direction to expose more skin on his other side while tugging an old soda can off his tray table workspace to use as an ashtray. He propped it among the blankets while leaning back upright.

"Oh," was all he said at first. He'd gotten distracted by yet another flash of skin. Deciding to ignore the topic of this mystery guy, Trick flopped back down atop the pillow, tucking one arm under his head and used the other to keep the tablet propped upright on his chest. "This is torture. I'm so far away, but you're right there on the screen looking like that. Driving me crazy." Ed's smile was positively wicked, like he knew. "I'm gonna need you to wear more clothes next time. Thanks."

"Did you say less clothes?" Ed teased. He swept the cigarette pack, Zippo, ad matchbook off his lap with the pillow. This gave Patrick a glimpse of the older boy's underwear, tight and supportive briefs as usual, making him whine. Ed lifted his arms high overhead to stretch and flash Trick his midsection too, just to be a tease. He made a big show of yawning, tucked the pillow behind his back, and reclined against the headboard. Patrick had a nice view of Ed's torso from the hips up that way.

"Now who's the sadist?" Patrick pouted at the screen, but unfolded his arm from behind his head and brought it back down to his side. Unlike Ed, he was only visible from the shoulders up.

"I could be really mean. Go prop this up on the sink and make you watch me shower." Ed's smile, and suggestion, was purely sinful. He glanced over at the bathroom while taking a drag off his cigarette. Little wisps of smoke drifted across the screen here and there, but he mostly angled his exhales upward.

Patrick shook his head, biting his lip again. He made a strangled noise of frustration, then squinted at Ed with accusation. "What happened to my sweet, kind boyfriend? If you find him, let me know. I've got something he can help me with here." The younger boy smirked, a little shy, and looked away. Maybe toward a window, because he quickly changed the subject a moment later. "The sky here is crazy. Rhydin's moons have nothing on this."

Ed giggled as he sat back up. He could have said the sweet, kind boyfriend had been corrupted. If he was suffering from longing and desire, then by golly he was going to make Trick suffer with him! The change in subject was necessary for both of them, though. His own cheeks had pinked at all the filthy thoughts tumbling through his head. He pulled the pillow back around to his lap and leaned into it to bring his face closer to the screen.

"Show me?" Surely Patrick could turn the tablet for him to see. The inquiring inflection made it more of a request than a demand.

Glancing back toward the window, Patrick considered fulfilling Ed's request, but ultimately looked uneasy about the thought of getting up. "I felt like puking when I sat up a minute ago. But here." Shaking his hand from the hoodie sleeve, he proceeded to peck away at the screen with a fingertip. Soon, Ed's tablet received a file transfer that contained a picture. "Open it; it's pretty cool."

When the notification popped up, Ed tapped the corner of his screen. His brows knitted, uncertain if this was going to ruin the video call or not. Then his expression eased when the picture popped up in the same corner. Studying the image made him smile softly. "That is pretty cool." Another tap closed the image. He was much relieved at how intuitive this device was, but told himself he'd investigate it further at a later time. Probably after Trick came home so he didn't accidentally break it and ruin his ability to video chat with him.

"Why did you feel like puking? Are you still sick from traveling? Is that a thing? Air sick, car sick, and space sick?" Concern etched into Ed's brow then. He didn't like the thought of his boyfriend being ill! Why could he not be near to pamper him!?

The younger boy nodded. "It's just... yeah. A little space sick, I guess. I'm okay, though. Everyone assures me I'll be better by tomorrow. I've been taking it easy, sleeping it off as much as I can." He smiled, warmed by Ed's obvious concern.

Ed pouted. "I should let you go so you can get some more rest then." Though he didn't ever want to end the call. Never mind the tablet was going to need charged at some point anyway.

Now it was Trick's turn to pout. "I don't want to hang up yet. If we do that, then I have to lay here all night alone. I wish you could be here with me. I miss you."

"I wish I could be there with you too, or you were here." Ed sighed. When he leaned this time it was not so intentionally provocative, but there was still a glimpse of hip and skin. He doused the butt of his cigarette out in the few drops of soda remaining in the base of the can, set the can back on the tray table. He picked up the tablet, which made the image blur as he jostled around. He propped it back up with a pillow beside him and scooted down to lie on his side, facing the screen. "I miss you too," he echoed, once he was settled.

"So when can I call you tomorrow?" Trick was having trouble keeping his thoughts pure. They kept jumping into the gutter after he caught that brief glimpse of skin. Ed's body was a friggin' masterpiece designed, he thought, for the sole purpose of driving him insane. Images of the night before, when Ed had been on top of him, kept interrupting his train of thought. "Should I wait until late again?"

Ed's mind had been aswirl with naughty images since the call had started and he'd first seen Trick biting his lip. He swore he could still feel Patrick's fingers gliding over his skin, or he wanted to feel them so bad right now that his imagination was going wild. Lying on his side like this reminded him of this morning, when Patrick had woke up horny and woke him up. He turned a squirm into a shrug and tucked one arm under his head. He wished he could see more of Patrick but hadn't the nerve to ask him to adjust.

"What are you doing tomorrow? Will you be busy with press stuff? I could be home earlier than I was tonight. My only plans are meeting Goshen at the arcade after work, and it's not like I'm going to be there all night."

"Better not be," Patrick blurted without thought.

That thoughtless demand, the hint of jealousy perhaps, made Ed smile. He honestly only wrote it off as his boyfriend missing him so bad that he wanted him all to himself. "Nine? Eight?" Somewhere in there he was going to have to eat dinner, so he didn't want to suggest too early. Then again, "Six? I could eat while talking to you I guess."

"Eight or nine's good. Whichever's better. I don't have anything crazy going on until this weekend. We're just going to be getting familiar with the track until then. No press crap until Saturday. Then the race on Sunday."

"Eight, then," Ed decided with a smile. The earlier the better!

"Perfect." Trick smiled, too. "Hopefully I have something more exciting to talk about than sleeping all day or hugging a toilet bowl." He snorted with amusement, giving a faint shake of the head.

Ed pouted, because he didn't like hearing that Patrick had been sick! He wished he could magic him better from afar. "I'm sorry. It's not fair. I just want to hug you right now." That was partly a lie. There was a lot more he wanted to do to/for Patrick right now, but hugs made things better so he rolled with that.

"I want to hug you, too," Trick admitted. He went a step further and added, "And kiss you. Maybe a couple other things, but that's besides the point."

This time it was Ed's turn to bite his lower lip. His cheeks flushed and he turned his head to tuck his face partly into the crook of his elbow. That did a good job of smothering the whine that surfaced too. He squirmed a little, shoving his free hand between his legs to try to subdue the ache in his groin. At least, he thought, Patrick couldn't see him touching himself.

"Stop looking so..." There was a word for it, but he either couldn't force himself to say it or it had eluded him. Instead, he made another strangled groan of frustration. "I'm never going to get to sleep now."

"I'm sorry." Ed peeked out from behind the crook of his elbow, pouting. "I'd help if I could." Just thinking about it had him biting his lip again, because boy did he want to. "I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep either if it makes you feel any better." His version of a strangled groan was more like a whimpering whine.

"This is going to be a long two weeks," Trick whined.

"Too long," Ed agreed.

"You should take the day off work when I get back." He must be desperate if he, Patrick, was suggesting someone take off a day of work. His coming home wasn't a vacation, or a special occasion, but he just wanted to spend a whole day with Ed to make up for lost time.

"A whole day," Ed practically echoed longingly. He sighed, incapable of keeping his hand out of his briefs any longer. Just the thought of Patrick touching him again made him horny. Or more so than he already was. "Did you, um... Did you want to keep this on until we fall asleep?" Yeah. Fall asleep. That's it.

A ripple of uncomfortable guilt made Trick squirm. "Um. I... I should probably try to take a shower or something before bed. Maybe a bath, if I can crawl in there." He chuckled lightly.

"Okay. You should. You should go do that." Maybe he could make it just sound like he was reluctant to stop talking to Trick. That was also true. He didn't want to end the call, but he was too embarrassed to clue his boyfriend in on what else he wanted to do. So he feigned a yawn instead. "I'm going to fall asleep any second now anyway. I didn't get to sleep all day like somebody." He smirked playfully.

Trick scoffed, then pretended to be wounded. "I'm sorry I was ill all day."

"Oh quit." Ed giggled. "I love you." His smile was full of how much he did, brilliant like a beacon. "The sooner we both sleep the faster we can talk again tomorrow." And take care of other things, but that was besides the point!

"I love you too, babe." Patrick's smile was back, bright and shining just like Ed's. "I'm glad we got to talk. I don't think I could do this without being able to at least see you like this. It's like, you know, I got so used to having you around all the time. Like that's how it's supposed to be. Being apart is shitty."

"I know exactly what you mean." Ed sighed and pouted again, but he wouldn't be caught dead saying shitty. "I miss you so much. So, so much. I really don't want to turn this thing off, but if I don't I never will and the battery will die and we won't be able to talk again unless I charge it." He paused to gasp for the breath he needed. "I love you goodnight!"

"Okay fine I love you, too, goodnight!" A shorter run-on sentence to match Ed's. Trick grinned, bit his lip just to drive the older boy wild, and then ended the call.


( Co-written with Trick. )

[Ed]

Tuesday. 3/14/17.
Stars End Arcade

He'd been instructed to meet Ed at the Stars End station at around 4:00. Not wanting to be late, Goshen had planted himself in the middle of the platform an hour earlier to wait, seated in the exact middle of an empty bench that offered an unobstructed view of the train and its passengers as they got on and off. His attire was more relaxed than it had been the night before. An arcade begged comfortable clothing, with room to move around. The laces of his shoes were loose, the only thing on him, apart from his jacket, that wasn't snug. Black jeans and a plain, tan colored tee left little to the imagination.

Ed had decided to be brave, suffer the teasing jibes about the enormous hickey on his neck, and had showered with the rest of the men after work. Though he'd been quick about it. In a rush to make the train, he had hastily scrubbed, rinsed, dried, dressed, and dashed out the door as quickly as possible after clocking out. His hair was a little damp under his hat still by the time he disembarked with the rest of the crowd some time a little before four. Trains were never on the hour on time.

Spotting Ed almost immediately, Goshen stood and waved to get his attention. "Ed!" he called out, smiling.

One of the things Ed liked most about Rhydin was how uncommon a name like his was. Though there had been odd moments here and there where a person had called for an Ed who had not been him, he was pretty sure that was not the case today. Craning his neck to peer over the heads of anyone taller than himself, he spotted the wave and the familiar face, smiled, and lifted his arm high to wave back. After that acknowledgement, he trudged through the crowd and closed in on Goshen.

"Hi!" As soon as he was close enough, he looked his new friend over. Though he had the weirdest feeling that looking him over too thoroughly was forbidden and that on a planet in a galaxy far, far away his boyfriend might catch wind of it, causing all hell to break loose. So he hastily looked away, without complimenting Goshen on how nice he looked, as if trying to get his bearings straight. He actually knew exactly where the arcade was, but his new friend didn't need to know that.

"Hello. It's good to see you," Goshen said smoothly. If he thought Ed was acting strangely, he didn't comment on it whatsoever. He slipped his hands into his back pockets and looked around in the same direction as Ed. "Which way is the arcade?"

"It is, in fact, that way," Ed answered with a smile. He had caught Goshen looking in the same direction, so he tapped a finger in the air to point thataway. He stole a look back, incapable of not turning it into a once over. The words fought their way out. He couldn't hold them back either. "You look nice. I mean... It's nice to see you too, but you do look nice. I like your outfit." He couldn't help it. Nice clothes attracted his eye! Especially that hood.

Goshen blinked once, turning his head back toward Ed in surprise. Maybe he hadn't been expecting a compliment. He pulled a hand out from his pocket to grasp the tawny fringe of fur that was on the hood of his jacket, slender fingers curling elegantly as he gave it a slight tug.

Ed's smile was a guilty, almost prideful, sort of thing. He looked away with a dorky sort of giggle and scratched his cheekbone. To think that he could surprise somebody by giving them a compliment! He felt a little powerful in the moment, but then instantly weak again when his attention was drawn back to that fluffy hood. Gosh it was so nice. He kind of wanted it and had to mentally chide himself: no stealing.

"Thank you, Ed." Goshen's smile was almost shy. Almost. He even ducked his head to hide his mouth into the soft fur for a moment. Afterward, he raised his chin and took a step in the direction they were to be heading. A smug sort of confidence had crept its way into the expression he wore when he looked over his shoulder at Ed. "You look nice, too. I like your scarf."

This young man was acting way too cute, and Ed was sure he was going to be the death of him. He rocked on his feet, swaying backward and then forward before uprooting himself to follow along. He skipped a couple hurried steps to catch up and match Goshen's stride. His smile tore into a delighted, toothy thing at the compliment paid to his scarf. He ran his fingers over the fringe and said, "Thank you! It was a gift from Trick." He liked it a lot too.

Goshen replaced his hand into his back pocket as they walked, leaving the platform behind them. After Ed caught back up, he glanced aside at him and was less discreet about looking him over. "He sounds like a nice... friend?" Except he didn't give Ed time to correct him before going on. "My curiosity got the best of me last night. I ended up looking into podracing after I said goodbye to your friend, Spencer."

Ed's mouth had slowly worked itself closed from the aborted correction, and when Goshen finished he was smiling again. It was so nice to meet someone who was kind to his friends and interested. Though, there were times he questioned just how friendly Spencer was to him. Half the time he felt like he was under her constant scrutiny and disapproval. He did just kind of swoop in and steal her best friend out from under her nose, so he guessed he couldn't blame her, but still! He exhaled a short, breathy laugh and sent a darting glance around before looking aside again at Goshen.

"I'm sure whatever you discovered explained it a billion times better than I could even try. I talked to Trick last night. I can probably pull up some video feeds of his races on this tablet he gave me. He's racing this Sunday, too. I'm pretty sure they'll be feeding it to the big screens here at the spaceport too." He pointed southward to the biggest building in the sector.

"I don't doubt that," Goshen agreed in regards to the race being streamed live. "I didn't realize just how big a deal it was, even after everything you explained last night. But it's a big sport, isn't it? Bigger even than the car races I've been to. He must be very busy, your friend."

"Oh yes. Very big. Intergalactic big!" Ed's eyes widened with the spread of his arms. He sighed as they dropped, slapping against his sides. Nodding dejectedly, he said, "Yeah. He works late sometimes with press conferences and public appearances and stuff. And then there's big races like the one this weekend that take him offworld." He cut a path through the air with one hand, as if pretending it were a spaceship that he sailed into the sky. "He'll be gone for two weeks. It's awful."

Goshen smiled kindly, reaching over to smooth his hand across the other boy's upper back with a light touch that did not linger. "Two weeks is a long time to be alone," he said. Then he skipped ahead a few steps and spun around to face Ed, walking backward so they didn't have to stop. He slipped his hand back into his pocket. "Maybe our time in the arcade will help distract you. For a while, anyway."

"That is my hope." A short, nervous giggle escaped him. Ed smiled, pleased for the company and the sympathetic understanding. He was beginning to like this guy. He had a great sense of fashion and didn't seem to have any problem hanging out at a video game arcade with him. He was also easy on the eyes, but Ed was trying very hard not to think about that, or look for too long, which was proving difficult with Goshen being directly in his line of sight.

"I don't think anyone else would've come with me," Ed went on to say. "Trick and I hang out here at least once a week. Spencer seemed to turn her nose up at the idea when we mentioned it once. She probably thinks it's a waste of money or something." Mallory still sort of terrified him too much to hang out with alone, but he didn't mention that since Goshen hadn't yet met her. All in due time.

"You don't have other friends?" Ed was given a reprieve from looking him in the eyes when he spun away, leaping gracefully up onto a bench just a few steps away as if he'd known it was there all along. Goshen held his arms aloft, out to either side for balance as he hurried across the narrow bench back and jumped down to the ground on the other side.

"Er, no..." Ed got too caught up in watching Goshen perform that little stunt to think straight for a moment. Of course, he never thought straight, but that's besides the point. Once the young man's feet hit the ground again, Ed shook his head abruptly as if to clear it of cobwebs and cleared his throat. "No, not really. Spencer's really Trick's friend more than mine. I've only known the lot of them for a few months, since December. I've got Abby, but she's also my cousin, and she doesn't like hanging out in arcades either."

"I don't have any friends who like hanging out in arcades, either." Of course, Goshen left out the part where he didn't exactly have any friends at all. Which was good, because Ed's heart would have broken to learn that about him.

"Mist is my friend," Ed recalled suddenly. "He says we're friends. I like him, but we're not really meet up outside the bar and hang out friends."

Goshen had waited on the other side of the bench for Ed to catch up to him, falling into step with the boy to resume their path to the arcade building. Presumably, it was the very tall skyscraper that towered over everything else around them. That's where it looked like they were headed, anyway. "Ahh, so is that all I have to do? Say we're friends, and we would be?" He slanted a look toward Ed out of the corner of his eye, lips twisted into a sly, open-mouthed smile.

Even Ed's laughter had a giggly quality to it. His mouth split a wide grin that was ever more of a smile, full of delight. "That does seem to be the general consensus around here, doesn't it?" He had to take into account that Mist wasn't the only one who decided we are friends without first consulting the other person. Taneth did it too. People did it rather regularly in this town, he'd noticed. Ed shrugged with an exaggerated lift of his hands. "I wouldn't mind giving it a trial period, though. You seem like you could be friend material. But for all I know you could secretly be one of those guys who'll flip the table if I beat you at foosball." The way his lips twisted suggested he was stifling more giggles.

"I might be," Goshen said as seriously as possible. His eyes widened, amber colored irises glittering with concern.

It was that seriousness that broke Ed. The dam burst and his giggles broke free. He lifted a hand to wave side to side in time to the shaking of his head. "You don't seem at all the type." Trying to sound as reassuring as possible, even though he wasn't entirely certain whether Goshen was kidding or not.

"I don't even know what foosball is," the young man admitted a moment later, grinning.

"I'll show you. It's super fun." As it happened, they had arrived. Ed opened the door with a smile.

Goshen thanked him politely for getting the door and stepped through. "So why do you come all the way here to visit this arcade? I've seen others in the city proper."

"This one's the biggest!" As became evident as they stepped further within. Ed bounced around to get ahead of Goshen, spun to face him, walked backward, and spread his arms. Behold! "It also has the most neon lights," Ed pointed out, dropping his arms to let them slap at his sides. He looked around at them with a soft, wistful smile. "Trick likes the lights."

The arcade here was certainly unlike any he'd ever seen before. Goshen's attention was pulled in a thousand different directions at once, and he had difficulty choosing just one place to look. But the final words from Ed had him peering over curiously. "Tell me what you like." A beat later, he looked away and gestured with a hand to the room at large. "What's your favorite game to play?"

"Oh gosh." Ed had never thought about it before, really, and nobody had ever asked him such a thing. Not even Trick. They had gotten deliriously lost in all the shiny everything when they visited. And there were so many options! How to choose just one?

However, Goshen's question had him ambling along almost mindlessly, as if drawn to a siren song only he could hear. The deeper they drifted into the sea of machines, the more the realization came to him. "I like the oldest ones best," he said. Sure enough, they were venturing into the darkest, dustiest corners where the more ancient machines lurked in pitiful wait. Half of them had Out of Order signs hanging askew on their black monitors.

"Any particular reason?" Goshen shed his jacket as they strolled along. It was folded over his arms which were crossed and tucked tightly against his torso. He didn't appear to be in a rush to get any one place, more than content to let Ed lead the way.

Goshen had the right idea, and Ed followed suit without really thinking about it. He tugged off his hat and his gloves, shoving them into different pockets of his coat. Though he unzipped his hoodie, he left it and his jacket on, and only loosened his scarf. This exposed the still prominent but fading, mouth-shaped, purple bruise on the side of his neck. He scratched it thoughtlessly, because those things itch as they heal.

"They're history." Ed said the word with reverence, his dark eyes glittering as if worshipful of the machines they were among. He swept his fingers through the dust of an old Donkey Kong game; this one still seemed operational. "This is where video games began. Sort of." His eye caught on one in particular and he dodged around a few of the boxy machines until he was standing before one titled Gauntlet. His smile blossomed like a wildfire and he stroked its frame lovingly. "This one is one of my favorites."

"I don't know anything about history," Goshen admitted. He draped his jacket on a nearby machine. "I'm still trying to figure out right now." Taking up a lean against Ed's chosen game, he angled himself to face the other boy, but was still able to see the screen well enough if he turned his head.

"Actually, video games began before arcades, but arcades really helped them take off." Ed laughed, shaking his head. "I know too much history. More than I'd like sometimes. Feels like it doesn't leave a lot of room for figuring out right now." He nodded his own understanding to that concept. "I still struggle there myself. But here, look." He ducked around the other side of the machine and behind it. After a quick double check up and down the aisle, he pried open the panel at the base of the machine to expose the wiring. He waited until Goshen crouched down beside him so he could see too, to point them out. "This is the part that really excites me. I love old tech."

They were huddled so closely together. Goshen's shoulder was pressed up against Ed's. He watched the boy's hands and the wires with interest. "You understand all this? What all this does?" Reaching out, he touched a few of the wires pinched between Ed's fingers. Then he looked over into the boy's eyes. "This is what you like. The machine itself?"

"Oh yes." Ed nodded several dozen times in the affirmative. It was a wonder his head didn't topple right off his shoulders. His dark eyes were lit up with wonder and knowing. His smile was as electrically charged as the wires in his grasp. "It seems so complex, but really this is one of the simplest machines in this entire building. It has so much potential." Letting go of the wires, he turned slightly, his shoulder brushing against Goshen's as he faced him. He looked him in the eyes for a long, curious moment, and then looked beyond him. "The ones out there are so fine-tuned and specialized that their parts are practically useless outside their original design. But this--" He looked aside and gestured at the open back of the Gauntlet game. "Endless possibilities. I could do so much with this."

Goshen's eyes studied Ed's face, his eyes, his mouth when he spoke, the bruise on his throat. It took him a long moment to look past the boy to the rest of the room. It was empty and most dark compared to the other parts of the arcade. They were, more or less, alone. "No one's looking. No one's even paying attention right now. We could swipe it and get out of here before anyone knew what happened."

"What the whole thing!?" It wasn't that he didn't believe Goshen, but all Ed's instincts told him to lean back and double check. He looked left and right and behind himself at least half a dozen times in each direction, then tilted back in close to the young man, eyes wide but smile devious. "How in the world are we going to get it out of here? It's heavy." He was totally down with stealing an entire video game cabinet, though.

"I don't know!" Goshen clamped a slender hand over Ed's forearm and peered around him, checking for a third time that the coast was clear. Then he pushed up to stand so he could pace and think. "Maybe we could... Could you maybe just take its guts? Would that work?"

Ed hopped up to his feet and sent a furtive glance around. "I could, but that's not half as fun. Hold on." He lifted his hands, leaning strongly in an opposite direction. "Wait right here. Make sure the coast stays clear." Then he darted off toward the back of the room. He hopped a few times to peer over the top of some of the other machines just to make quintuple sure nobody saw him dashing into a storage room. The door thumped and swung once and then twice as he darted back out with a hand truck in tow. He peeked around the corner down the row where he'd left Goshen to make sure he was doing his job as a lookout, and was sure to check the corners for security cameras.

Goshen was doing more than Ed even knew. There had been someone headed their way, but a little careful concentration on Goshen's part and the near party crasher had decided to go find a quiet place to nurse the sudden onset of a powerful migraine. When the coast was clear, he waved Ed over and hurriedly knelt back down to press the back panel into place.

Quiet as could be, Ed scurried over to the machine. He bent over Goshen to pull the plug and tossed it over the top of the box as he straightened back up. He bent backward to peer around the front of the machine just to check again that nobody was watching. Then he turned the hand truck around and rolled it up flush to the edge of the base.

"Okay. Help me tilt it so we can get the cart under it, and then push it over to wheel it out of here. We'll take it out the back. There was nobody in the store room." Less likely to get spotted that way, he assumed.

"I can't believe we're doing this!" Goshen's voice was tight with excitement. He did as Ed asked, throwing his weight into the tall machine. They got the hand cart in place, and then Goshen hastily pulled his jacket back on. "As long as we play it cool, I don't think anyone will call us out. But don't panic if somebody says something -- I can handle anybody who gets too close."

"Okay cool. Cool." Ed felt himself equally as excited. He was jittery and hyper alert. It felt so good to give in and do something criminal for a change! "I can handle this." He was stronger than he looked and didn't even strain under the weight of the machine. The hand truck probably helped, but a weaker person would have still struggled. Ed almost made it look easy.

He relied on Goshen to lead the way, take point and play lookout. True to Goshen's word, the only person who looked twice at the two teenage boys wheeling an arcade game across the floor did not look a third time, nor did they send anyone to investigate. The taller boy walked with confidence right out the back door, calm as anything, holding it open for Ed to pass through.

And that was that. They'd stolen an entire video game cabinet right out from under everyone's nose.


( Co-written with Goshen. )

[Ed]

Tuesday. 3/14/17.
Old Temple West

Second on their list of stolen items was a delivery van belonging to a florist that neighbored the arcade. Luck was on their side concerning the lack of eyewitnesses. As an added bonus, they had found the vehicle unlocked and empty, but the keys were nowhere in sight. Fortunately, Ed knew how to hotwire, which he did after they stowed the video game cabinet in the back.

The two teens were giddy and, in Ed's case, giggly as they drove their stolen Gauntlet out of the Stars End sector. The thrill of the theft filled them both with an adrenaline rush, but they remained guarded and alert for any possible inconvenience. Ed drove the speed limit, wherever such a thing existed on Rhydin's streets. And where it did not he was careful to drive at a reasonable speed so as not to alarm any pedestrians and cause a panic that might get them reported.

It seemed as if the drive from Stars End to Old Temple had taken more than an hour, when in fact it had only been a matter of minutes. Ed parked the van in front of his building with the back end to the curb. He left the vehicle running and waited a minute to catch his breath. The knock on the driver's side window startled a squeaking gasp out of him and he thumped his head on the ceiling. The raspy cackle on the other side of the foggy window told him who it was and so he rolled the window down with a frown.

"Jameson," he said breathlessly. "Why are you still here?" Much to his embarrassed surprise, he had found his shifty cousin sharing his bed with him this morning. That wasn't entirely unusual, but the fact that Ed hadn't any pants on had made things awkward.

"Hey, Eddie baby. Nice wheels." The tall grifter patted the side of the van. "Got yourself a new gig?" Leaning far to his left, Jameson peered around Ed and grinned widely at the passenger. "Who's your friend?"

"No one you need to know," Ed said He opened the door and used it to shove Jameson out of his way as he got out of the van. He grabbed the tall man by his sleeve and tugged him along to the back of the van then let go so he could throw open the doors. He may have purposely tried to hit him with one of them.

Jameson's long fingered hands slapped over the edge of the door and he leaned around it to peer inside. The tall man whistled appreciatively. "Daaaaaaaaamn, Eddie. Where'd you lift you one of these?"

"That is also none of your business," Ed replied. "I do, however, need you to get rid of this van for me once we get it inside." The van which Ed climbed into from the back.

The sound of Jameson's dry and raspy laughter normally would have irritated him, but in this case he could sense a bit of pride in the sound. Jameson clapped him on the back and pushed away. "Movin' on up!" he sang, transitioning to a whistle as he slid into the driver's seat. He asked no further questions. Even he knew that he owed Ed at least one favor.

Goshen abandoned the front seat when Jameson joined him in the cab. He gave the grifter a lavishly decadent smile as he slithered over the middle console to join Ed in the back of the van, dragging his fingers over the man's shoulder as he went.

Together, Ed and Goshen scooted and pushed and pulled the bulky cabinet out of the vehicle and onto the hand truck. Once it was settled, Ed scurried around to take most of the weight and directed Goshen to handle the doors for him. As they navigated through the first set of two, Jameson revved the engine and called back, "Send Hector out!"

Having heard them thumping, shuffling, and grunting on the stairs, Hector had opened the door to Ed's apartment and stood aside in the doorless bathroom. With much maneuvering and teamwork, Ed and Goshen managed to get the enormous machine inside. As they passed Hector, Ed told him to go help Jameson, and after the path was clear that was the last they saw of him.

They had to pause to move sections of the couch out of the way, and the card table with its half finished puzzle still sitting atop of it, but with perseverance they got the video game cabinet positioned into the furthest corner of the room across from the refrigerator. Ed's new payphone was bolted to the wall between them. The addition of his very own Gauntlet arcade was the perfect accessory. Ed sagged against it with a smile, and to catch his breath. His heart was pounding laboriously from the exercise as much as still from the excitement of having successfully broken the law, such as it was in Rhydin.

Goshen stood up from plugging it in, brushing his hands together as he watched the machine come to life. That it still worked brightened the already radiant smile on his face. "It survived!" He laughed softly, reaching over to place a hand on Ed's shoulder. He gave the other boy a light shake, then tugged him around to face the screen so he could see for himself, but did not let go. "That was fun, wasn't it?"

Ed's giggle was as delighted as it was manic. He felt invincible! Supercharged. Some long sleeping part of himself had been enthusiastically awakened. He was smiling so enormously that he could feel his cheeks ache, but couldn't for the life of him stop. The 8-bit pixels dancing around before his eyes seemed even more illuminated. He pulled his hands down over the edges of the marquee, in absolute awe and love with the machine before him. This was his now.

"That. Was. Amazing." Which in Ed-speak meant that it was fun, but astronomical levels of fun. He shook his head shortly and quickly as if to clear his thoughts of the adrenaline flood and turned around so that he was facing Goshen. His eyes were a little wide. "I don't know what I'm going to tell Trick. If I tell him we stole this he will flip out."

When Ed turned to face him, Goshen finally released his grip on the other boy's shoulder. The way his fingertips glossed over the hickey on the side of Ed's neck was no accident. He looked down, inspecting the end of the rainbow colored scarf he'd taken hold of. "So don't tell him. It can be a gift from a new friend -- assuming I make it past the trial phase." Goshen's smile was somehow sensuous in that moment. "I'm good at keeping secrets."

Up until this point, Ed had managed to maintain a willful obliviousness. They were so close now, and that sweeping touch across the mark on his neck had been so obviously deliberate. It had done a fine job of making him shiver. At the same time it felt stiflingly warm in here. He looked down to study the way Goshen's fingers fiddled with the fringe of his scarf, and slowly back up to get a good read of his way too pretty amber eyes. Finally the alarm bells were starting to go off in his head.

"I... I think you made it past the trial phase," Ed said quietly.

"Did I?" Sounding more pleased than he should, Goshen inched closer. "Are Hector and Jameson coming back?"

Ed pressed the heels of his hands down on the control panel behind him and leaned back into it. Tearing his gaze off of Goshen's so, so pretty eyes, he darted a glance over the young man's shoulder to check the door. Unsurprisingly, Hector had left it open. His cousins always left the doors open, whether they were intending on coming back or not. And that was always a mystery.

"I don't know." With a slight negative twitch of his head, he looked back at Goshen's so close face.

"Hmm. Well," was all Goshen said, softly, his voice just above a whisper. Then he ducked his chin and swiftly closed the distance between their mouths.

Ed saw it coming. All the warning signs were there. He could have stopped it, turned his head away. He could have stepped sideways, dodged around him. There were any number of ways he could have rejected Goshen's advance. He could have just as well simply said no. But he didn't. He let it happen with a muffled squeak, a surprised sound that had more to do with the disbelief that this was happening, that he was letting it happen, that he wanted it to happen.

Goshen's eyes had fluttered closed during that first, fleeting glance of lips across Ed's. When his advance was not rebuffed, his eyes opened, half-lidded, lashes long enough to feather lightly against Ed's cheek. He smirked a little and brought his hands up to hold the boy's face as he pressed their bodies flush together. After a teasing catch and release of Ed's bottom lip with his teeth, Goshen pressed a second kiss on him, this time much more insistent.

You should be ashamed of yourself, Edgar St. James, said one voice in his head. Ed whimpered and curled his fingers in toward his palms. Blue painted nails scraped against the front of the control panel, but not strongly enough to damage the ancient machine at all. His back pressed against the monitor behind him and a joystick dug into his kidney, but Goshen's lips pressing hard and hungrily down on his own ignited an inferno that burnt his shoulder angel to ashes. His shoulder devil rejoiced and frolicked in the flames. One of his hands floated away from the console and touched down on Goshen's hip. He lifted his chin to secure the kiss and his lips parted invitingly.

Short, softly rounded nails stroked down Ed's cheeks and the sides of his neck, catching on the scarf to slowly unwind it and let it drop to the floor around their feet...

---

Ed was given a minute, alone, to reflect on what had just happened. The shoulder angel resurrected itself and began to mentally scold him. Guilt and pleasure went to war with each other while he clung, slumped over the control panel of the video game cabinet, catching his breath.

The brush of the towel against his elbow startled him to lifting his head. Ed twitched, sucking in a near silent gasp. When he looked back over his shoulder to see the smile that greeted him, he couldn't help but smile too, though his wasn't quite as bright. He took the towel from Goshen with a murmur of thanks and turned to sink sideways against the base of of the video game cabinet. He cleaned himself up and then pulled his briefs and pants back up over his hips.

Ed did not at all feel like moving once he got the zipper up and the button redone. He tucked his discarded coat and hoodie up underneath him to cushion his butt, but still angled himself sideways where he sat on the floor. He found it difficult to meet Goshen's eyes now and didn't at all know what to say. Things had just gotten incredibly complicated.

While Ed had cleaned himself up, Goshen had pulled his shirt back on and fixed his hair. He'd learned enough about social interaction in the past few years to figure out that Ed was feeling awkward now. In an effort to alleviate some of the tension, he crouched down beside the boy, elbows perched on either of his splayed knees.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" An echo from earlier. They weren't talking about stealing an arcade game this time, though.

It still did the trick of spurring a laugh out of Ed, one which he breathed against his knuckles. Hugging himself with one arm, he propped the elbow of the other on his wrist and sort of nibbled at his fingers. He stole a furtive glance aside at Goshen, only to look away quickly and nod. He had a stupid half grin on his face, though, so that was something. In a sudden surge of panic, he looked back aside at the other boy.

"We can't... We can't tell anyone. Especially not Spencer or... or Patrick. Definitely not Patrick." He imagined Spencer would kill him first, before Trick could, hide his body, and then murder anyone else who had heard about it, or otherwise been involved. She seemed like that kind of person.

He'd known that was coming. Goshen glanced down at the colorful scarf on the floor next to Ed. He reached over, hooking it with a couple fingers and pulled it gently through his hands as though it were made from the most luxurious, expensive silk. Then he smiled, a wry, sharp thing, and tossed the scarf over the other boy's head so it hung around his neck. That was a completely unexpected gesture, but it made Ed smile a bit more certainly. His fingers automatically stroked the length of it on one side.

"I told you," Goshen said, confidence ringing throughout his tone. "I'm good at keeping secrets."


( Co-written with Goshen. )

[Ed]

"I'm good at keeping secrets."

Ed actually found those words to be reassuring, felt them envelop him securely enough so that he could finally stop trembling and look at Goshen for longer than half a second. He studied the young man's far too pretty face at great length. Looking at his mouth brought on a phantom feeling of those lips on his neck. A pleasant tingle coursed through him at the so recent memory. His shoulder on that side lifted slightly and he bit his lower lip.

That had been nice. It had been amazing, actually. He could still feel Goshen's strength pulsing inside of him. When the guilt tide came washing against his euphoric shores, he shut his eyes and turned his head, nodded several times. Yes, okay. Yes. Goshen could keep a secret. It was only the one time, right? They wouldn't do it again... right? Oh God, he couldn't even convince himself of that in his own internal thoughts. Two weeks was a long time to be alone, and he didn't really want Goshen to leave, or stay away. He liked him. This was going to be so hard.

Since Goshen couldn't actually read minds, was not currently touching Ed's skin, and was still pretty iffy when it came to proper social cues, he couldn't figure out what was going on. There was a lot happening on Ed's face that he could see, right up until the boy turned it away from him. So he stood up, taking with him his jacket which had also been laying on the floor. "I can leave, if you want."

The right thing to do would be to tell Goshen to leave. To never see him again. To avoid him at all costs. Pretend this had never happened. But Ed was just as desperate for friends as this young man was, and the thought of being alone right now made him incredibly uncomfortable. He looked up sharply and shook his head more than twice.

"N-no. You don't have to." Ed's fingers flexed, having thought about reaching for the other boy, but that was hardly appropriate, wasn't it? He leaned further to his side to peer around him at the open door, eyes widening when he realized it had been opened all that time. Drawing in a shaky breath, he scratched his nose and then shifted around until he could sit somewhat comfortably cross-legged.

Ed emptied the pockets of his coat: Zippo, cigarettes, camera, keychain, messenger, and matchbook. The first thing he did was stick a cigarette between his lips. Then he checked his messenger device to see what time it was. There was a text from Trick. He sighed, hand shaking as he dropped the messenger back onto his coat, and used the Zippo to light his cigarette. That nicotine was just what he needed!

"You don't have to leave, but um... He's going to call me around eight?" He looked up through a haze of freshly lit cigarette smoke to read Goshen's face. Honestly, did he really want to be around when Ed's boyfriend called? "It'll be a video call," he added.

Goshen dropped his jacket back onto the floor beside Ed and joined him in sitting with his back up against the stolen arcade machine. He bent his legs at the knee to use as a perch for his arms which he folded in front of him. "I can make myself scarce by the time he calls. We've got long enough for me to join you for a smoke." But instead of asking for a cigarette, he dug around in one of the pockets of his jacket and came up with a baggie that contained a few hand rolled joints.

The sinful twist of Ed's smile resurfaced at the sight of that bag. This smile was all teeth, and they pinched his lower lip again, briefly. That same feeling he'd felt at the arcade when Goshen suggested they steal the machine they were leaning back against also made a reappearance. Thrill. Excitement. Attraction. This boy was a terribly bad influence, and he really liked him.

"I really like you," Ed decided to tell him. He rocked sideways to bump his arm affectionately against Goshen's, rebounding to lean the other way so he could scrape the cherry off his cigarette on the hard concrete floor. He could smoke the rest of it later. What Goshen had to offer was so much better.

"I like you, too," Goshen replied. And for all the ease in which he'd said it, the words did not sound like a Pavlovian response. He actually meant them. His smile came easily, too. A neatly rolled joint was passed to Ed. He waited for the other boy to light his first, then snagged the Zippo for himself. Goshen's fingertips moved deliberately against Ed's palm when he handed it back. "Even if I haven't figured out yet what it is that you are." A puff of smoke billowed out of his nostrils.

That statement was so much like an accusation that Ed coughed on his first inhale from the joint. Feeling like an amateur, he flushed with embarrassment and wheezed, "What do you mean?" He tipped a wide-eyed look Goshen's way, suspecting that somehow the other boy knew. How is it people always knew? He was terrible at keeping secrets himself!

Pinching the joint between his thumb and forefinger, Goshen pulled in a deep breath to let the smoke ruminate in his lungs. He slanted a look aside at Ed, arching one perfectly manicured eyebrow for all of a second before the expression smoothed out with the realization that he hadn't explained his own abilities yet. "Your biological template. I can... feel it." He lifted his hand -- for Ed to touch or look at, it wasn't made clear. "Feel, sense... manipulate to a certain extent." Goshen trailed off suggestively, his smile sensual and inviting in all of its tenaciously sybaritic appeal.

Ed was not completely dense all of the time. His brows lifted high and his eyes grew wide as the realization of what Goshen was implying sank in. He breathed in a nearly silent little oh of a gasp. That rapid rise to a second orgasm made so much more sense now, and just thinking about it made him blush. He sucked down a larger lungful of smoke, and this time didn"t choke on it. He held it in for a minute, and studied his socks as if they would tell him how much to say.

He exhaled downward so that the smoke pooled around his head. Feeling much more relaxed now already, he smiled crookedly when he looked back aside at Goshen. "So you can tell I'm different but don't know quite what?" Maybe he could keep a secret after all. After he had some marijuana to soothe his nerves, anyway.

"Mm." Goshen's head bobbed up and down. He blinked a handful of times, each flutter of his eyelashes growing more drowsy than the last, until finally he let his head fall back to rest against the cabinet and his eyes slid shut entirely. "You're a shifter of some kind. I don't know. I was a little preoccupied while touching you."

Ed let loose an enchanted giggle, the color sticking to his cheeks. "I'll say," he teased. The weed was definitely working its magic. Leaning forward, he peered around Goshen to check the hole in the wall. He sensed no rats spying on them either, but glanced to make sure. As he leaned back, he eyed the open door again. Still no sign of his freeloading cousins, either. That was good.

Instead of satiating Goshen's curiosity by telling him directly, he scooted over until their hips were touching and hesitantly slipped his hand into the other boy's, putting his claim to the test. Just how much could he learn about Ed through his biological signature? He had an ulterior motive, of course, of just wanting to touch the other boy himself, but that was besides the point.

One of Goshen's eyes cracked open to peek over at Ed. He smirked, then let his eye drift closed again so he could concentrate. There was no physical sign to indicate he was at work; no tingle, no warming sensation, no sense of otherworldly mysticism that surrounded them. Their hands were just two hands entwined, a little warm; Goshen's grip was loose. After a full minute, he opened his eyes and put the joint back between his lips.

"Genus Rattus," he announced decidedly between puffs of smoke. "Or something very close to it."

Ed's smile morphed into something soft and almost worshipful. There was something very soothing about being known. Of course, the marijuana was probably also helping him look all doe-eyed and adoring, but there was definitely a starry sort of glimmer in his eyes. He nodded a few times while smiling like a dope.

"Patrick doesn't know that either," he murmured. "It's kind of a... I'm sort of forbidden to tell outsiders." Non-rats, as it were.

"We'll just add it to our list of secrets." Goshen released Ed's hand abruptly, the fingers from both hands splayed in the universal gesture of innocence. "I know nothing!" Then he snickered and let his hands drop down into his lap.

Utterly pleased, and blissfully high, Ed giggled. His smile was enormously toothy. His guilt had completely evaporated (at least temporarily). All he could think about now was how nice he felt. A couple of amazing orgasms and a potent joint were all he needed to relax. He started to sink down closer to the floor.

"May I put my head on your lap?" He had the decency to ask, but Ed didn't exactly wait for permission before tilting to lie on his side and do just that.

Goshen had no objections. He made room for Ed to lie there by moving his hands away, one pressed into the cushion of his jacket beside his hip and the other alternating between being hooked onto the opposite shoulder and bringing the dwindling joint to his mouth.

"Don't fall asleep. Your friend is going to be calling you soon."

"Boyfriend." Now that Ed was drowsy and comfortable, he easily supplied the gentle correction. He also didn't heed the warning very well. His eyes drifted closed. He was pretty sure he'd set the tablet to alert him of an incoming call with an alarm of some sort.

"Now you admit it." The smile could be heard in Goshen's voice.

"I didn't know how you'd react." Ed opened his eyes and rolled partly onto his back so he could better look up at Goshen's face. "I didn't know you..." The blush came back. "I didn't think we'd end up doing..." He looked past Goshen's head at what he could see of the control panel from this angle.

Goshen tipped his head down to peer at Ed's face, and Ed's eyes ticked back to meet his. "I would have fucked you, boyfriend or no, had you wanted me to. I wanted to." He shut his eyes and let his head sink back to rest up against the cabinet once more. "I don't see why we shouldn't have the things we want."

Talk like that was making Ed's heart do funny things. It was also taunting his libido. With eye contact broken, he turned back onto his side. The thrilling little shiver that coursed through him turned into a squirm, and he pushed back into a sitting upright position. The joint had gone cold on him, so he scooped up his Zippo to relight it, sucking down the little bit that was left. When all that remained was a tiny pinch that couldn't be smoked from, he finally hauled himself up to his feet.

"I'm going to order a pizza." He didn't know if Goshen liked pizza, but it was munchies time. He stepped over the other boy's legs and wobbled to the payphone that was bolted into the wall. He had gotten it hooked up to a landline and tampered with it enough to not have to pay. While he ordered, Goshen got up from the floor, finished his joint, and pulled his jacket on.

Ed watched him prepare to leave out of the corner of his eye. Conflicting feelings of longing and relief may have been the cause for him stammering a couple of times and having to repeat his order. He was also high, and the word fumbling had made him giggle a time or two. But he finally got a large pepperoni pizza and two liter of flavored soda ordered. He hung up and turned to regard Goshen hopefully.

"Will you be back?" God, he hoped he didn't sound desperate. Moreso he hoped that Goshen wasn't the sort to cut and run after getting what he wanted out of him. He'd feel awful if the guy had only used him for sex. That thought finally crossed his mind as a possibility, which in turn had his shoulder angel piping up to inwardly lecture him some more.

Goshen flipped the fur-lined hood up onto his head and flashed his most opulent smile yet. "Two weeks is a long time to be alone." He glanced over his shoulder at the arcade game they'd stolen. "And we haven't even played it yet." He started for the door, adding, "Or foosball."

Relief washed over him, bringing back Ed's smile in full force. He unleashed a dorky little laugh as he pushed away from the wall. He made a grab for either side of Goshen's open jacket along his stomach to pull himself in close. He wasn't going to let the other boy leave without a hug! So he flung his arms over his shoulders for a squeeze and dropped a quick kiss close to the corner of his mouth. Goshen's arms wound snugly around his waist.

"I get off work around three," he told Goshen, lightly nuzzling the other boy's cheek with his own. Some of his genus nature shining through. Ed felt a pleasant tingle roll through him with the notion that Goshen might sense that.

"I don't know what time I'll be by," Goshen warned him. To make that possibly disappointing piece of news a little easier to swallow, he dipped his head down to shamelessly kiss Trick's territorial marker in an act of defiance.

It certainly made Ed quiver, and a short squeak of whimpering protest escaped him. He withdrew his arms from around Goshen's shoulders and pushed back a little unsteadily. He was wearing a smile that was full of anticipation and mischief, however.

"Don't make me wait too long. I get bored easy."

"Apparently." He smirked.

Ed blushed fiercely and gave him a light shove. Goshen's smirk grew into a full blown smile as he backed away. He turned away just before reaching the door, grabbed the handle of the open door and pulled it shut behind him as he let himself out without another word or even a goodbye, for that matter.

His timing was impeccable. Ed could forgive him, because just then his tablet started blasting a song at him from across the room. Oh. Oh. That's what he'd set the alarm to. He darted across the room and dove onto his bed, hoping the blush could be excused as exertion when he accepted the call.


( Co-written with Goshen. )

[Ed]

Wednesday. 3/15/17.
All Around Town

Ed woke with a start that morning, still partly dressed in the clothes he'd had on the day before. Across the room, the ancient video game cabinet was flashing its reset high scores at him and asking him to please insert coins. He groaned and flopped back on the bed, pressing the heels of his hands into his eye sockets. Yesterday hadn't been a dream after all.

"You're stupid," he told himself, since there was nobody else there to do it for him. "Such an idiot. How could you do that?" The alarm started squawking at him to add its opinion to the matter. It sounded angry. He let it yell at him for another thirty seconds, feeling he deserved the migraine, and then slapped it silent.

Stripping out of yesterday's clothes, he thought about burning them. As he had no place to do such a thing safely, he chucked them in a corner of the doorless closet. He checked the lock on the door, finding it had never latched. He fixed that problem and then walked through the frame into the bathroom to take a shower. He added extra lather from his bar of soap to the wash cloth and roughly scrubbed every inch of himself at least twice over.

He wondered if it was actually physically possible to wash an entire day from his skin. He tried and failed not to think about what he'd done. Random flashes of memory splashed him in the eyes when he stuck his head under the spray. He didn't have time to wait for the water to get cold, so he turned off the hot entirely to chase himself out of the bathroom. He dried, got dressed, and went to work.

Howard had noticed his hair was wet. It was odd for him to shower before work. The older man had stared for long enough for Ed to realize there was a question on his mind, but he never said a word. Ed didn't prompt him to pry either. They went through most of the day in silence. Most of the songs on the radio reminded him of Trick, which in turn started the pot of guilt to boil in his belly, so he had turned it off completely.

The video game cabinet was still there when he got home from work, begging him four times to insert coin. There were no traces of other people having passed through his apartment. He might have secretly been hoping that his cousins would have robbed him, at least of the machine. He thought about sticking a Please Steal Me note to the monitor, but he didn't have any Post-Its.

"Will you be back?" The echo of his own voice popped out of his memory. He sounded so pathetic and desperate.

"Ugh," he said to himself, lighting a cigarette. He wished it was a joint. On second thought, maybe he didn't. The weed had loosened his tongue when he should have kept his trap shut. When he heard the instant replay of Goshen's voice commenting that they hadn't even played their stolen game yet, he said, "Ugh," again, and turned out the door.

What he really needed was a nice long walk.

Nobody noticed him talking to himself, adopting the voices of his shoulder angel and shoulder devil as they argued in his head. He kept his voice low and muttered into plumes of cigarette smoke, lighting one after the other in a nonstop chain. He only took a break from damaging his trachea and lungs when he came upon a thrift shop and decided to venture inside.

None of the countless number of shiny baubles appealed to him this day. Usually he'd make off with something sparkly in a pocket or two without even thinking about it. The only item that did catch his eye was a dusty old game of Operation, the broken corners of the box held together with bits of masking tape. He smiled at the sight of it, instantly thinking of Haley.

He left the shop a few bills poorer, a recycled plastic bag tucked under his arm, and headed to Wayside.

Of course, Haley was beyond thrilled to see him. The door just about literally flew off the hinges. She lunged at him as if she had sprouted wings, and they nearly went tumbling down the steps. He laughed joyously, hugged her tight and spun her around. This was exactly the kind of good vibe he needed to feel a little better about himself.

They played seven games, six of which he was certain Haley had cheated at. He only accused her once. She playfully threatened to fly him around the room, but lamented that Rob told her she'd be grounded if she ever used her talent on people. Ed conspired to take her to the park some time so they could give it a try, adding something a lot more innocent to his list of growing secrets.

Though the girl begged and begged him to stay, by dinnertime he saw himself out and ventured back home. He stopped only to acquire himself another couple packs of cigarettes, having completely exhausted his supply by the end of the day. As he was heating up leftover pizza in the oven, the buzzer sounded, making his heart trip as he jumped in surprise.

It was seven o'clock when he let Goshen in.

"Hi," Ed said, feeling stupidly shy. He scratched his arm, avoided eye contact, and watched Goshen's shoes as the other boy brushed against him to come inside. When he looked up at his face, he smiled. "I'm reheating pizza. You want some?"

"I've already eaten, thank you."

"Oh." The oven timer beeped. Ed took out his pizza and dumped it on a plate. "Well," he said, as he took the two liter bottle of Fanta out of the fridge, "I'm eating." He shrugged, leaving Goshen to decide whether he'd stay to watch him eat, or go. The young man seemed to be deliberating on just that matter as Ed stepped over the back of the couch and sank down onto a seat.

He sat cross-legged, set down his plate and two liter bottle, and leaned over to switch on the TV. "Want to watch something with me?" he asked, looking back at Goshen over his shoulder. In the corner of his other eye the aged video game cabinet was silently screaming at him.

INSERT COIN

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He briefly entertained the notion of smashing the machine to bits with a hammer.

"Sure," said Goshen, interrupting his delightfully delirious daydream. The other boy had the grace to walk around the couch instead of over it. He seemed to float down into a languid sprawl beside him. Ed shut his eyes and tried to forget yesterday had happened at all. He shook his head and took the I Dream of Jeannie DVD out of the affixed machine, slipping it back into its case.

"Have you ever seen King Kong?" he asked, pulling another case out of a box he kept by the television.

"No," Goshen replied.

Ed smiled and slipped that disc into the DVD player. "I like old movies too," he told him as he leaned back into the couch.

"Old arcade games. Old movies." Goshen peered significantly at the video game cabinet in the corner. Gauntlet was Ed's favorite game. That's why they'd stolen it. Curious, he turned back to look at Ed's face. "Is King Kong your favorite movie?"

"No." Having seen this movie a hundred times before already, Ed wasn't the least bit dismayed to miss the opening as he went introspective and thought about it. His memories flashed images of a black and white sideshow at him. "My favorite favorite is called Freaks. I haven't been able to find a copy of it, though." He blinked and looked up, aside, giving Goshen a soft smile. "This is a close second."

It was strange. Usually he was the one dumping loads of questions. He was reminded of the what's your favorite game he played with Trick rather frequently. A sadness crossed his features and crept into his heart, stealing away his smile. He looked back at the TV and tried mightily to will himself to get lost in a classic he knew well enough to recite. He took a bite of pizza to stop himself from doing that, though. Nothing more annoying than somebody talking along to the lines of a film, he knew.

Goshen decanted into a languorous sprawl that took up most of the couch and tucked a throw pillow under his head, eyes glued to the television. "Maybe we can try to find it tomorrow."

An incredulous little giggle escaped Ed and he almost choked on his pizza. With a shake of his head and a ridiculous smile, he said, "We can certainly try." Goshen didn't know that it was one of those legendary cult classics that was almost as hard to find as Bigfoot himself. Nor did he need to know. It was pleasing enough that the other boy wanted to hang out with him, and suggested further adventures on the morrow.

They didn't talk through the rest of the movie. Ed finished his pizza, set aside his plate, and sank into the little space Goshen had left for him on the couch. He stretched his legs out over the other boy's, and he didn't seem to mind one bit. This was nice, he thought. Almost like family. Had his cousins been here, the whole lot of them would have likewise taken up varying positional sprawls on the sofa, limb over limb, and gotten cozy while likely passing around a joint.

Not for the first time he wondered where Tabitha had got off to this week. He hadn't seen her in days. It would have been nice to cuddle with her while watching this movie, or just in general at any other time. He missed her almost as much as he missed Trick. After stealing a longing glance to the foot locker he called a dresser, he looked back at the television, wriggled deeper into the cushions, and hugged himself quietly.

Goshen's legs shifted slightly beneath his. A minute later the older boy sat up entirely, adjusting his position so that he could put an arm around his shoulders. Pulled into the comforting warmth of Goshen's embrace, Ed nestled against him with a semi-satisfied sigh. He felt himself missing Trick more and more. The thought came and went with a pang of guilt that made him twitch, but Goshen didn't seem to notice.

By modern standards, this original classic was not a long movie at all. The credits had finished rolling before nine o'clock. Ed scratched the bruise on his neck subconsciously and got up to dump his plate in the sink. He returned to the couch with a box of Lucky Charms, stepping over the back and sinking onto his seat as before. He shook the box at Goshen with a playful smile.

"My favorite cereal," he told him, since they were on the subject of favorites. Or had been, again, a little over an hour ago. "I grabbed it in case of munchies." That was a suggestion as much as a plea.

Goshen smiled hypnotically and somehow conjured up the sandwich baggie of perfectly rolled joints. It was almost like magic.

They shared a pair of reefers and ate all the marshmallows in the box of cereal.

When Trick called at nine o'clock, Goshen let himself out.


( Written mostly on my own with some helpful input from Goshen. )

[Ed]

Thursday. 3/16/17.
Red Dragon Inn.

Tomorrow, they did not try to find a copy of Freaks. In fact, Ed didn't see Goshen at all until later that evening. He spent his Thursday after work much as he had the day before, avoiding his apartment at all costs so that he wouldn't have to look the Gauntlet video game cabinet in its accusatory eye. There had again been no trace of his cousins having passed through, and he certainly didn't want to be home alone.

Bored out of his mind, Ed had gone on another thrifting adventure for most of the afternoon. The result was a brand new off-white sweater with the word LOVE printed on the chest in pink, yellow, blue, and green (that order). His pants were a pastel super light pink and his canvas shoes a darker pink. He also had on the floral pattern bomber jacket Trick had given him. It was warm enough to go without hat, scarf, and gloves. A three day old mouth-shaped bruise could be seen on his neck. His nails were painted pink today. Obviously he was in a very pink mood.

His aimless meandering had brought him again to the Red Dragon Inn. He arrived alone, smoking a cigarette, and bounced up the stairs of the porch, heading to the door. There were a handful of familiar faces outside: Thorn and the pair whose names he was going to remember one of these days! Today was not that day, but he waved and smiled cheerfully at them, as if they were friends, in any case.

Though the weather was nicer and the company outside promising, his immediately planned destination was the bar inside. He thought about wrangling himself up a drink. Those plans fell short when, halfway inside the common room, he spotted a creature that looked unmistakably as if it belonged in a horror Sci-Fi flick. Having seen those particular films, he decided he didn't want to risk the chance of getting eaten and/or turned into a host for a face-sucker, and backed slowly right back out the door. Forget the drink; he'll just take the company.

He continued backing up until he tripped down the first couple of stairs. Instead of tumbling, he pivoted and bumped up against the handrail. Though he was pretty sure he had maintained a fair enough level of calm, he felt panicky and prepared to bolt at a moment's notice. Thorn and the couple were engaged in what appeared to be some kind of tense, serious conversation. As he gave them an awkward smile and wave, he noticed Goshen on the stairs below him.

There appeared to be some conversation regarding the 15 lb. mushroom shaped boat anchor that Goshen was toting along with him. In one hand he clutched a length of rope that was attached to it. He was dressed in a woolen coat, snug jeans, and a pair of black Doc Martens. Whatever the mountain of a man had said to him, Goshen replied with a luxurious smile and said, "Me? No. But thank you for asking."

"Alright boss. But just think a tha big favor you'd be doin' me a allowin' me ta show off tha guns by helpin' ya," said the big man. His cigarette slid into the corner of his exaggerated lip line.

Goshen raised his chin, showing off the long lines of his neck and velvety, perfect skin. His smile was as rich as ever. "I may not look like you, but I assure you I can manage fifteen pounds."

The lovely woman, who seemed always in the mountain's company these days, gave Thorn a gentle pat and squeeze to her shoulder. Though Ed's practical flailing out the door had her brows going up. She turned in time to catch half the discussion between her man friend and Goshen, and she lifted her chin and rolled her eyes. "It is fine, he just wants to show off." Letting Thorn go, and flapping her hands at the man-mountain, she said, "Leave this poor man alone."

Goshen looked from the man to the woman. Understanding spread across his smooth face and he nodded a few times. "Oh, I see. If you need it to impress your woman, you're welcome to take it." Goshen offered the rope out to the large man. The woman put a hand to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Finally, Goshen noticed him, and responded to his chirpy greeting from before. "Ed! Hello." The smile reappeared in full force. The big man greeted him as well with a "Hey there, boss."

"Boss," Ed repeated, with a goofy little giggle. Jo made him sound so manly. He wasn't, but he appreciated it!

Eri and some other Asian looking woman he didn't at all recognize chose that precise moment to simultaneously burst out the door and descend upon him with concern.

"What the Hell are you running from?" said the woman he didn't know.

"Ed! Come have a drink! Ripper won't harm you! He's a being of letters," said Eri. Seeing his friend, she gave a little ducking bow to Goshen.

"Oh my goodness I am suddenly popular!" Ed threw up his hands like they were pointing guns at him and he was under arrest, all wide-eyed and baffled. "What?"

"Your friends are very concerned about you." Goshen pointed to the swell of people who came out to question Ed. "Why are you running?" He was still offering the rope to Jochin. The big man politely declined the anchor, in a suave sort of way that made Ed giggle, and Goshen wished him luck because it sounded like the woman was threatening bodily harm.

"Who says I'm running? I'm standing right here on the stairs." And to Eri he said, "He? His name is Ripper? That's not very reassuring, you know..."

Eri nodded, and lifted a shoulder in a tiny shrug. "Hmm, yeah but what's in a name?"

The woman he didn't know said, "Bolting from an alien and tripping down stairs, but not running away. I can totally get why you'd run from Ripper. He's got a way about him..."

Ed pointed his cigarette and a few fingers at the unknown woman. "A. I did not bolt. I backed slowly out the door so as not to draw attention to myself, because turning and bolting would have been stupid. That feeds predatory instincts and makes the big things chase you. B. Who are you?"

She gave him a casual wave off at his point A, but answered his B by saying, "I'm Reiko, and I just wanted to make sure you're all right."

"Hello, Reiko. I'm Ed." Now he smiled. "And I'm perfectly fine, thank you."

"Ah, well, my mistake." Eri said. "I thought you were coming in and didn't cause you saw .. anyway, I'm gonna go drink!" And with that the delinquent turned about to head back inside.

"Okay! I'll be in in a minute maybe! Thanks, Eri!" Ed waved after her.

Reiko sighed with relief. "Thank goodness. I'm not quite sure if any of our healers are present to patch up injuries if you had sustained any...my own medic abilities are mediocre at most." Cigarette stuck dangling between his lips and hand in his pocket, fingers curled around his Zippo, he stared at Reiko with raised brows. Relaxed, Reiko took a sip of the water she had carried out with her and glanced at whoever was present. "Hey, Thorn...you all right?" she asked, concerned.

The big man and the woman were making some kind of dramatic exit that he was only half aware of. Goshen left the couple, moving closer to the group on the porch. He dragged the anchor along and came to a stop just beside Ed. Thorn seemed to be having some kind of anxiety attack that she was getting under control with slow breaths, in and out. Goshen peered up at her curiously, asking as well if she was all right. Ed offered her the remaining half of his lit cigarette. She looked like she needed one.

Thorn took the cigarette and took a very long drag off of it, saying, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Ed smiled for Thorn, glad to help! He slipped a step lower to purposely bump against Goshen and turned a playful hello smile on him before leaning back against the handrail again. Then he dug out another cigarette for himself, fully intending on letting Thorn keep the half of one he'd given her.

Thorn finished the half of what had been left of Ed's cigarette and finally answered the inquiries on her well-being, saying, "Nothing I'm currently willing to share." Then to Reiko she said, "I'll be fine. Just been a very long, fruitless week."

Goshen's attention was drawn away from a study he was doing of Reiko; he fixed his gaze on Ed and gave this boy a once-over, too. "I like that color on you." All the pink, he meant.

Ed's attention turned back on Goshen to give him a winning smile. "Thank you!"

"That is a lot of pink you're wearing tonight," Reiko agreed. "Even more than I have when I'm in my natural form." That required an explanation, but she didn't seem inclined to give it and nobody bothered to ask for one anyway.

"This isn't even my pinkest pink," Ed said with a giggle.

"This isn't even my usual color," she said, referring to all of the black in her hair and eyes. Reiko's attention seemed to be drawn away. "Oh look, there's a Taneth on the porch."

Taneth leaped onto an empty rail then pulled herself onto the porch. Ed twitched when she suddenly appeared. "Ronnie!" she cried cheerfully. Goshen was saying, "I think I'm going to go inside," but paused when Taneth tossed candy down at Ed, creating a sugar rain!

Ed waved cheerily at Taneth. "Hi, Taneth! Eee!" He squealed delightedly as candy rained over him. He snatched what he could from the air, and then got down on his knees to scoop up whatever had landed on the stairs, stuffing things in his pockets.

"Should I leave you to get cavities and diabetes?" Reiko joked.

Ed grinned at Reiko, and stood. "I'm not going to eat all this now. Don't be silly."

To that, she chuckled. "No? You might disappoint poor Taneth if you don't. Maybe you should eat just one, right in front of her. The smallest piece, even. Or feel free to share! What exactly did she give you, anyways?" She leaned forward slightly to get a look at the candy that Taneth had tossed Ed. He shrugged at Reiko and offered her one of the candies. Shortly after taking it, she left in an abrupt flurry.

"You're okay?" Ed asked Thorn.

"I am yeah. Thank you." She tucked the singed filter of the halfie he'd given her into the pocket of her jeans. "'S a lot that's been goin' on lately, an' I just had a moment."

He gave Thorn an understanding smile and nodded as he climbed back up the few stairs ahead of him to get back on the porch proper. He didn't know how else he could help, but he slipped one of the candies he'd rescued from his pocket and offered that up next. Candy made everything better!

"Thank you." Her smile was soft and warm as a hearth fire in winter when she accepted the candy he offered.

"You're welcome," he said again with a cheery smile for Thorn. He helped twice! This made him happy.

Side stepping, the woman pushed off the railing to cross the porch and nudged the door open, slipped inside. His lips twisted with thoughtful concern as he watched her go, but... she had said she was fine. And in no time at all his attention was diverted elsewhere.

"Hammy!!" Taneth cried, with an extra excited squeal of delight! Climbing down from the porch roof with crazy ease, she threw herself at Goshen!

Goshen's laugh was a deep, suave thing. He caught Taneth in a hug, his face registering surprise. "Hello."

Hugging him tight as she smiled up at him, Taneth said, "Hello, Bugaboo."

"Bugaboooo," Ed repeated, taunting with a snorted sort of giggle.

"Bugaboo," Goshen echoed too; he squinted at the girl in his arms.

"You have a cute bum." She told Goshen, smiling back.

"Why, thank you." He preened a little, lifting his chin like a proud peacock. Goshen released Taneth from the hug to follow Ed up the stairs. The length of rope he was holding was long enough that the anchor was still down on the ground.

"Are we going inside so we can cuddle?" Taneth asked as she followed them.

Ed was covertly trying to check out Goshen's bum, since it had been pointed out. He played it off as more directly checking out the rope and the anchor attached to it. "Why do you have an anchor?"

"I found it." Goshen held the rope up, then turned to reel the anchor in. It clunked against the steps.

"Where?" He turned and stepped back out of the way of the stairs, watching as Goshen reeled in his treasure.

The rope in his hands was yellow and about half an inch thick. It had seen quite a bit of use, but was not slimy or covered in seaweed. The anchor was shaped like a mushroom, black, weighed 15 lbs and looked beat to all hell. It was smeared with mud and grime, but was not overtly disgusting. "I was walking around Dockside earlier today and found it."

"What're you going to do with it?" Ed asked. He didn't think it weird at all that Goshen just randomly stumbled upon and acquired himself an anchor. Ed filched odd things all the time. He currently had a diner mug collection and a kitchen drawer full of old lady jewelry.

Goshen shrugged, letting the bundled rope slip through slender fingers until the anchor hit the porch floor with a thump. "I don't know yet. Have any ideas?" Taneth then ran inside, howling. Goshen tipped his head to peer after her, remarking, "I think we took too long for her liking."

Ed blinked and giggled at both the girl's howling and Goshen's commentary on the matter. Then he shrugged and looked back at Goshen, to continue their conversation about the anchor. "I'd probably just prop it next to my TV if it were mine. Make a neat decoration. Keep a tally board of how many times people ask why you have an anchor in your living room." He giggled again.

They could hear Taneth giggling wildly inside. A few seconds after she had left their company, she ran right back outside to shout at them. "You are missing everything!" The girl was a whirlwind, because she immediately dashed back into the Inn again afterward.

Ed twitched when she came and went, and then giggled hysterically in response. Nerves, man. "We're missing everything." In case Goshen hadn't heard. He scooted to the door, flicking the butt of his cigarette out into the yard.

"There's only one problem with that. I don't have a TV. And my living room is also my bedroom." Goshen paused shortly. "And my kitchen, too." He chuckled at Taneth's revolving door act. "Should we go inside now?"

"So's mine. You've seen it. I still call the space where my couch is the living room, though. And the corner my bed's in is 'bedroom space.'" He looked curiously back at Goshen, intrigued by his description of his own place, as he opened the door and stepped inside. He held the door open for Goshen, and anyone else.

Goshen followed his new friend inside, dragging the anchor along behind him. Once inside, he looked around to see what it was they had been missing.


( Severely modified and edited from the RDI log dated 3/16. )

[Ed]

Ed held the door open until the anchor had cleared its way through, too. Actually, he helped by scooping down to pick it up and carry in the rest of the way so he could stop holding the door. He smiled at Goshen and then put the anchor back down at the young man's feet. "It's almost like a stubborn pet. Cat on a leash. Just lying down while you drag it along." He giggled and scooted out of the way of the door.

"Is that what cats do while wearing a leash?" Goshen's eyes widened just a touch as he peered at Ed. The mischief painted in those wide eyes suggested he intended to find out for himself regardless of the answer.

"Oh my gosh. Yes! I need to take you to the Internet Cafe to show you videos. Geeze." Ed giggled even more.

"Ronnie! Hammy!" Taneth cried. "Meet Gumdrop!"

Suddenly on the alert at the sound of his other name, Ed looked around to see who responded to 'Gumdrop.' His attention was like a gnat, though, all over the place, and he didn't immediately figure out who the person in question was. He was pretty much buzzing in orbit around Goshen and his anchor.

"Hammy," Goshen repeated. A beat later, he looked up. "That's me. But I still like Goshen better." He announced it for anyone who was listening. Without letting go of the rope, he proceeded to unbutton his jacket.

"So do I." Ed said quietly aside to Goshen with a smile. He bounced along after him, then turned and bounced backward because he was watching Thorn drift away to the couches. She settled into a sprawl on a couch. "That reminds me!" He spun around again to resume forward bouncing. "You said that's the name you chose. I've been meaning to ask... What do you mean by that?"

In no rush at all, Goshen removed his coat and hung it by the door. Beneath the long, woolen jacket he was wearing a crisp, white button up. The sleeves were already rolled up past his elbows. It was tucked into a pair of snug, black jeans, the same color as the Doc Martens he wore.

"You look nice," Ed remarked, checking out Goshen's apparel choices of the evening. Up and down. His smile approved. His attention quickly darted away. He even more quickly scanned the bar, saw no sign of the alien creature from early, and so deemed it safe to scurry off in search of a soda.

"Thank you." Goshen smoothed a hand down the front of his chest, ironing imaginary wrinkles. Through the white fabric of his shirt, one might be able to see a darker shirt underneath with some kind of graphic on the chest. He followed Ed, dragging the anchor along. "I chose my name because I liked the way it sounds," he finally answered.

"Did you have another name you didn't like before?" Ed was obviously curious about what it might have been, but didn't ask. Some people changed the names they were given at birth. He well knew that. He darted another look back at Goshen as if trying to see through his shirt and figure out what the one beneath it was, but without staring he wasn't going to accomplish that. So he quick-scanned the bar again as he ducked through the break. He dug into the cooler and came up with two grape Fantas.

When he found them, he turned and held them up with a question on his face for Goshen. There was a girl behind the bar who moved out of the way and he gave her a sheepish, apologetic smile. He didn't mean to scare her off. His movements were quick and furtive, he knew.

He also noticed that there were stacks of ice cream sandwiches on the bar. The girl was eating one. She returned his sheepish smile, hers at once bright and tentative. She was dark haired with an olive complexion, but he didn't spend a lot of time at all examining her. Primarily because she was a girl, and he wasn't much interested in girls to begin with. Goshen stole back his attention instantly by answering him.

"Not that I know of." He gave a nod in response to the boy's silent question. "I can only assume I had a name, but I don't know what it was. Nor if I disliked it."

"Your name is perfect," Taneth told Goshen.

"It is," he agreed with Taneth, smiling. "It's a stone. I liked that."

Ed set one can of grape Fanta on the bar for Goshen with a smile that spread along to Taneth as well. Then he waved the second can a little at the girl, asking her just as silently if she wanted a grape soda too. She squinted, trying to guess what was in the can. Her smile was still there as she thought about it a moment and then bobbed her head in a nod. Sure, she wanted grape soda. And then she spoke. "Ah, yes... please. Thank you!" She even took a step or two back towards him.

Great! said his smile. "You're welcome!" he said for real. He set the can in front of the girl and said, "I'm Ed, by the way. Hi." He pivoted to rummage through the ice box again and came up with yet another grape Fanta. Grape for everybody! He double checked the length of the bar to make sure nobody else wanted anything.

Goshen offered the girl a smile after he noticed Ed interacting with her. He chose a stool and took a seat, reeling the anchor up to sit atop the bar next to his drink. "Hello. I'm Goshen." Just in case she had not gathered as much yet. He chose to wait until Ed was seated to finish explaining the story behind his name. He took a sip from the can after popping the tab.

Taking the soda in hand, the girl nodded again, uncertainly. "Thank you, Ed. My name is Layla." She turned slightly, encompassing the man who'd introduced himself as Goshen in her explanation. "The pretty blonde seems to think I am Gumdrop?" She said it like maybe she was prepared to have been wrong about her name all along.

Ed scurried out from behind the bar and around, hopping onto a seat next to Goshen. "It's nice to meet you, Layla!" he said brightly. "Oh. Oh! Okay. I'm also Ronnie. And her name's Taneth." About the pretty blonde in question.

"It is nice to meet you, too, both of you." Layla nodded again. When Ed explained that he was also Ronnie, the girl was visibly relieved. "Oh! I see." She didn't.

"Taneth, I've learned, likes to rename everyone she comes into contact with." Goshen explained to Layla. "I met her a few days ago. She calls me Hammy."

Ed nodded a handful of times to confirm what Goshen said. "Mhm!"

And then Taneth announced, "We have to go!" After which she immediately ran off.

Layla's dark eyes moved from one man to the other. She nodded slowly, and at last she actually did see, especially when the first confirmed it. "Thank you. I was very confused."

"She also does that a lot." Ed pointed as Taneth ran off.

"I'll share the advice I was given: just go with it." Goshen offered the girl a wink and one of his luxurious, full smiles.

With a dorky little laugh, Ed turned on his stool so that his whole body was facing outward. Again he glanced around to take stock of the room, but nothing had appeared to have changed much. A few new faces he didn't recognize had trickled in; Thorn was talking to a few of them.

Goshen's smile was a beautiful smile, and Layla found herself looking at it. She'd all but forgotten the half eaten ice cream sandwich in one hand, would have gone on forgetting about it had it not started melting all over her fingers. The cool rivulet of melted cream dragged her attention away from the two gentlemen, and had her casting a somewhat frantic eye around behind the bar for what she might do with the oozing treat. "I... oh no. That is very good advice, thank you, but..."

Swiveling back, Ed peered at Layla's problem with raised brows. A second later he went sprawling over the bar to dig around under it for a handful of napkins. "Here, here!" He piled them up on the bar and scooted them down her way. "Wait." Then he slid all the way over the bar, full on behind it, with a slip-thump. Finding a towel, he hopped back up and handed it to her with a smile. "Here!"

While Ed buzzed around looking for napkins, Goshen simply set his drink down and reached for Layla's wrist. He grasped it in one hand and used a couple fingers from the other hand to swipe the trail of ice cream off her skin. He grinned, released her, and licked the sugar from his fingertips.

Layla's focus was entirely on the helpful blur of a man who was retrieving napkins and then a towel for her, and so fixated was she there that she hadn't even noticed Goshen reaching towards her until he'd taken her wrist in hand. Her head turned towards him with a snap; her mouth fell open in surprise. "Wow..." she breathed, staring. Catching herself, she blushed crimson. "...Ah. Th-thank you,"

"It was either that or offer to hold your ice cream for you. But then you might not have gotten it back." Goshen took up the soda can again, shrugging easily. He'd been happy to help. He took a sip of his soda, amber eyes flicking over to lock with Ed's.

Ed's gaze tick-tocked questioningly between girl and boy, boy and girl, brows lifted. Then he looked down, spotted a little bowl, and swept that up to slip onto the bar so Layla could put her melting ice cream in it. Big smile! So helpful. Then Goshen had locked eyes with him and he froze.

Tearing her gaze away from Goshen when he looked to Ed, Layla was still blushing profusely when Ed offered her the bowl. "Thank you," she said in a softer murmur, embarrassed at her own foolishness. She set the rest of the melting confection in it and then reached for the towel.

"You're welcome," Ed said automatically, but sincerely and with a smile! He broke eye contact with Goshen to deliver, took a long step sideways, then climbed back over the bar again and slid onto the seat he'd abandoned just a moment ago.

Layla's lips twitched in a shy, sheepish smile for Ed as she wiped her sticky fingers on the towel.

Goshen just smiled, watching Ed as he climbed over the bar. Once the boy was settled, his gaze drifted back to Layla. "Are you from around here? Rhydin, I mean."

Ed finally cracked open his own soda and slurped some down. That was a very good question. He, too, attentively awaited the answer.

When her hands mostly clean, Layla set the towel aside, rubbing her thumbs over her fingertips to check for additional stickiness. Satisfied, she thought she might try her luck a second time, now with the grape soda Ed had so graciously given her earlier. Opening it, she took her first taste of the sugary drink, and the bubbles tickled her nose in a way that made her giggle soundlessly, more a rush of breath than anything. Her gaze lifted back to the pair of them once Ed was settled, her smile was bright, illuminating deep dark eyes with a touch of golden mirth. "Oh, no," she said readily, shaking her head. "I am from..." The common word was a tricky one for her to pronounce. "Earth. Do you know it?"

Smiling softly, Ed nodded his head quite a few times. Uh huh, uh huh! "So'm I."

Goshen said, "I've heard of it. A lot of people from that planet come here."

Pleasantly surprised, Layla's smile turned ever brighter, a radiant thing in someone so retiring. "You are! Ah, that is wonderful." Goshen did not, and she acknowledged that with a nod. "Egypt," she clarified for Ed. It explained her modest attire, positively scandalous for the culture she'd abandoned, what with her hair all down and uncovered. "What about the two of you?"

"Oh." Ed giggled. "America." That was super nonspecific. He was utterly clueless about her culture, too. Sheltered boy. If she thought what she was wearing was scandalous, she must not have taken a good look at his tight pink pants, pink canvas shoes, and pink painted nails.

"I have always wanted to go there," Layla said.

"There's a lot of there to go to. I've always wanted to see the pyramids," Ed said.

This was the perfect segue for Goshen to answer the rest of Ed's question from earlier. "I don't know where I'm from. But I've lived here in Rhydin for as long as I've been aware."

Ed studied Goshen when he finally answered that question, twitching a smile that was as much amused as interested.

Layla's head bobbed in a nod. "They are beautiful. I have always wanted to see Hollywood. And your Statue of Freedom." She had translated that second one wrong, but she was in the neighborhood at least, and yes -- she said it like Ed might have owned it personally. Taking another sip of her soda, her nose wrinkled at the way the fizz tickled, dark eyes moving to Goshen. "To have grown up here," she marvelled, "you must have seen the most interesting things."



( Severely modified and edited from the RDI log dated 3/16. )

[Ed]

Since he was mostly facing outward from the bar, Ed spotted Mallory when she came in through the Inn's front door. He waved a cheerful hello at her from across the room. "Hi, Mal!"

Mallory greeted Eri as she squirmed out of her jacket. Her tank top was red and cut a little low, showing off that much more of her monstrous tattoo with two rooster heads. Her necklace had three pendants, each a different zodiac sign -- Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo. "Hey, Ed," she added, smiling at him (and tickling his shoulder) as she slid past him to the bar break.

With both some guy and Mallory joining her behind the bar, Layla took a step towards the counter, bringing herself that much closer to Goshen and Ed.

"Scuse'me," Mallory mumbled to Layla as the woman flattened herself out of the way.

Goshen turned on his stool to look at whomever Ed was greeting, but his attention got hung up on the savage-looking man who Layla had moved away from. It lingered shamelessly until the man took a seat, then shifted to settle on Mallory.

The witchling was quick, snagging a pint bottle of vodka and a fizzy drink to go with it. "What's up," she said to Goshen, since he was looking. Then she was on her way back out.

Ed spun on his seat to face forward and keep Mal in his sights. He glanced over the guy who had also moved behind the bar. "Statue of Liberty," he corrected lightly with a soft smile for Layla. "Did you know it was a gift from the French?"

"Liberty, yes, my mistake." Ed had been kind about it, but Layla blushed again anyway, a hot pink staining the warm gold of her cheeks. "I did not know that. Only that she is very beautiful." Her voice was soft, born more of uncertainty with the language than timidity

Ed leaned into the counter, sort of stretching over it as if he intended on grabbing Mal, but really only pawed in her general direction. "Maaaaaaaal. This is Layla and Goshen." He indicated them in turn. "That's Mal. She's one of Trick's roommates." That seemed more specifically information provided for Goshen's benefit than Layla's. Obviously. She had no idea who Trick was.

After Ed's introduction, Mallory's attention went back to Goshen and Layla: "Hey, nice to meet you. Friends of Ed's?" Her voice was a little hoarse, her jacket smelled like smoke, and there was a slightly dreamy quality to her gaze. Someone had been to a show.

"It's been a little over six years now." Goshen's gaze returned to Layla briefly, taking up the loose thread of their previous conversation. "Every second of it has been interesting. That's for sure." A silky smile split his face, shared with Mal when he tipped his face toward her next. "Hello. I am; we met a few days ago. It's nice to meet you."

Layla listened to Goshen's answer and then swivelled her attention to Mallory. "Hello. I have only just met them but --"

"I just met Layla tonight," Ed interjected. "Goshen on Monday. But yes." He smiled brightly. "Friends." He liked making friends.

That made Layla smile. She nodded. "Friends, yes."

Ed leaned up off his stool toward Mallory and sniffed. "Ooooh. Was someone partying?" He's jealous. Mallory swatted in front of Ed's face when he leaned and sniffed, and laughed at him. Ed giggled and slid back down until his butt hit the seat of his stool.

Goshen's amber eyes swiveled over to Ed, a touch of surprising coloring his expression. "You like to party?"

Ed turned a sort of wickedly dreamy look on Goshen. "I doooooo."

"A little," Mallory admitted to Ed, and set the vodka and chaser down on the bar with a solid thunk. "Show down in Dockside. It was good. Lots of, um." She considered. "Atmosphere."

With a quick turn of his head, Ed blinked at Mal. "What show?" He hadn't heard of a show! He hoped it wasn't a TRASH thing. He'd be sad to have missed it.

"Blue Mirror? They're from off-world, but they've been in town collaborating with a local DJ, so they decided to do a gig here before they left." Mallory chimed a thorny silver thumb ring against the vodka bottle, twice, and said, "I'm sharing, in case Ed or either of his friends are wondering."

"Maybe we can find another party. This weekend, perhaps? A celebration for having survived a whole week without Trick." Goshen smiled at Ed encouragingly.

It was the second time Layla had heard the word--name. Realizing that the name was significant, her brows inched together in concern. "Is... is this Trick all right?" She asked nervously, afraid that something terrible had happened to him or her.

"Our poor star-crossed lovers, now parted across the stars," Mallory sighed at Ed, sinking her chin into a hand that mostly covered her grin.

"A whole week." Ed groaned exaggeratedly, dramatically, and slumped forward, arms splaying overhead, across the bar. His forehead thumped to rest on the counter.

"It's his boyfriend," Goshen explained.

Ed whined.

"Ed misses him," Goshen went on.

Ed whimpered.

"He's fine. He's a racing pilot, so sometimes he travels," Mallory explained to Layla. One hand rested consolingly on Ed's shoulder; the other was too busy unscrewing the caps on the vodka and soda.

"What she said," Goshen continued, pointing at Mallory. "And Ed's... I don't know. Dying or something."

Ed pretended to sob.

There had been an alien in the room earlier. There was a minotaur in it now. And somehow neither of these things surprised -- or delighted -- Layla the way Goshen ever so casually dropped the word 'boyfriend'. Astonished, she looked from one to the other of them, each in turn, and at length a huge smile, brighter than any other she'd displayed so far, spread over her features, threatening to violate the integrity of her ears.

"You have a boyfriend!"

Goshen laughed.

Mallory choked.

Ed lifted his head suddenly -- face tear free -- and blinked at Layla, then Goshen, then Layla again. "Yes. I know. It's shocking, even to me." Says the boy with the pink painted nails, and more pink.

Layla's oil slick eyes practically shimmered with delight at this revelation. The girl shook her head, just completely blown away. "That is... that would not be allowed where I am from. Oh, what a wonderful place this is." Ed's love life had apparently single handedly validated all the risks she'd taken to be here.

"Super shocking," Mallory agreed, wheezily, still recovering. "That of special interest to you?" she asked Layla, angling a curious look down the bar at her.

"Oh! Oh, I get it. I'm the first gay you've met." Ed smiled sort of facetiously. He leaned back and pointed at Mallory. "She is too." Helpful. Now Layla knew two!

"Well, pan," Mallory said to Ed, "but if you say gay, I'll probably answer to it." Then she turned back to Goshen and Layla to add: "I like girls and guys, to put it simply."

"Oh." Ed stared at Mal. "Okay so I'm the only full on gay I know." He gave an exaggerated shrug, letting his hands slap to his thighs. Well!

Goshen snorted, and yet it was still somehow graceful and dignified.

"Did you meet Kate?" Mallory asked, giving Ed a surprised look. Then she thought about it, and shook her head. "No, I guess you wouldn't have..."

Still utterly enthused with this particular epiphany, Layla's gaze went aside to Mallory. She didn't entirely understand until the other explained, and when she did, the Egyptian could only stare at her in admiration. "That is just... so amazing." The girl was about to be entirely overcome by these revelations, dropped so casually in public like it was no big deal. Because here, it wasn't. What a concept. Strangely emotional, she was all smiles, and entirely silent.

"Welcome to Rhydin!" Goshen raised his soda can in a toast.

"No." Ed confirmed for Mallory with a shake of his head and an apologetic twist of his lips. Sorry. No Kate registered in his memory. It was time... to dig a cigarette out of his coat and light it.

"We're everywhere. Trust me." Mallory winked at Layla, and finally washed out some of the vodka bitterness with a swig of her soda.

Ed giggled in response to Goshen and lifted his soda can too. Cheers! He even clinked it against Goshen's.

Layla toasted him back, sipping her grape soda in celebration of the glorious freedom she'd found here. "I have a boyfriend, too," she explained to Ed, a million years after her initial outburst. "...which is also not allowed where I am from."

Ed's hands did a lot of switching around of things. Cigarette lit. Zippo stowed away. Cigarette held while he took a drink of soda. Can set down and cigarette put back to his mouth. He took a drag and peered over at Layla. "Me having a boyfriend where I'm from is strongly discouraged, so I understand. You go, you rebel." He lifted his can again to her with a mischievous smile.

"While I fully admit to not understanding the appeal of a boyfriend, where you're from sounds terrible. I don't like rules," Goshen said.

"Neither do I," Layla agreed with Goshen, readily. "That is why I am here. It's just..." She gestured with her soda, thankfully managing not to spill it. "...it is one thing to believe that something is true of a new place. It's quite another to have it confirmed."

"Abby, though," Mallory said to Ed, seemingly out of the blue.

"Clearly." Ed coughed on some of his smoke. Then looked aside at Mal, brows lifted. "Well... I mean I'm not sure. I never asked her, but yeah I guess."

"Men have come up before. She didn't sound super keen," she said, and poured herself another shot. Then she tipped the bottle in offering to each of them.

"No, and she was very pleased to learn that I'm not into girls at all. I think that's why we get along, you know, because I'm not gonna hit on her or try to get her in bed." Ed shuddered at the thought.

"It's not so bad." Mallory cackled wickedly at Ed and took her second shot.

"What's her name again?" Goshen asked suddenly. "I don't want to hit on her if I ever meet her."

"Ugh." Ed shuddered again, leaning away from Mallory and toward Goshen. He turned his head to look at him, then, and answer, "Abby." He snorted a little laugh. "And no. You don't want to hit on her. She'll probably claw your face off."

"I doubt that," he said confidently. Goshen squared his shoulders.

"She makes a mean grilled cheese, though," Mallory said.

"That's because she loves me." Ed sighed and swayed Mallory's way, like he was swooning.

Layla peered at the bottle Mallory was offering curiously. "What is that?" Her question was soft spoken and polite.

Mallory patted Ed on the shoulder and took a little more of her chaser. "That is vodka," she replied to Layla. "Have you had alcohol before?"

"It's terrible," Goshen warned her.

"Eugh." Ed agreed that vodka was terrible and leaned away from Mallory again.

"I have tried beer and wine." Layla's answer came immediately, and it.. also made her a rebel. Muslim girls gone wild right here in her modest neckline, talking to gay people. Scandalous. "Is it like that?"

Goshen chuckled, reaching over to squeeze Ed's shoulder, which made the boy smile as he took another drag off his cigarette.

"Strong, too," Mallory added to Goshen's warning. "Like... more than ten times stronger than your average beer."

"Don't do it!" Goshen warned further.

"Most people mix their liquor with other stuff, too. It's got a lot of bite," Mallory explained.

Noting the warnings both from Goshen and Mallory who was offering it to her in the first place, Layla's dark eyes betrayed her uncertainty. "If it is bad, why do you drink it?" The mention of mixing it with something else had her looking at her soda can. "Mix it with something like this?"

Suddenly stricken by a yawn, Ed asked, "What time is it?" That was really a rhetorical question since he was searching for a clock in the room while also digging through his coat pockets in search of his messenger, which had time telling capabilities.

"Sure," Mallory was saying. "And because it's stronger. If you want to get a good buzz off of beer and wine, that's a lot of volume you're putting away." She raised a finger off the bar, frowned for a moment, and glanced over her shoulder at the rafters. "A little after midnight. Tired?" she asked Ed.

"Shoot. I left my messenger in my other coat." And then Mallory told him the time. His attention snapped on her and his eyes shot wide. "It's what? Oh no. Oh crap. I've gotta go." Ed got up off his seat so fast!

Goshen twisted on his stool to stare after him. "What's wrong?"

Layla was feeling bold, made daring by her newfound friends. She might even have ventured to try it, except that she was distracted by Ed's sudden movements. "Oh! It is quite late, you're right." Now she'd be going home by herself after midnight? She'd be dead back home a hundred times over.

"Trick was supposed to call." Ed thumped the heel of his hand against his forehead, realizing. "I probably missed him. Ugh! I have to work in the morning anyway. I should go. Bye!"

"Bye, Ed! Tell him good night from all of us!" Mallory made kissy noises after him.

He leaned to smooch Mal's cheek. Nyeah! Mallory made a mock-disgusted face and swatted after him. Then he grabbed the rest of his soda to go and turned away from the bar. "Nice meeting you, Layla!" He looked at Goshen all the rest of the way to the door, then around the whole room when he got there. "Bye!" To the room at large before he dashed out.

"Bye, Ed," Goshen said with an elegant wave, slender fingers fanning through the air.



( Severely modified and edited from the RDI log dated 3/16. )

[Goshen]

Friday. 3/17/17.
New Haven.

Edgar fidgeted nervously by the door after buzzing Goshen into the building.

It was late; too late to be respectably hanging out together. The shoulder angel had warned him not to let the other boy inside, but after a second night in a row of not being able to talk to Trick, the shoulder devil was able to use his loneliness as an excuse to convince himself it wasn’t a terrible idea. His eyes darted guiltily toward the arcade cabinet they’d defiled earlier in the week. He hadn’t been able to make himself touch the machine at all since.

But this wasn’t going to be another mistake. No, he was just going to see what Goshen wanted. There had to be a reason for his showing up so late in the evening, something other than sex. Every other time they’d hung out this week, it was perfectly platonic. Though, the same could not be said for his thoughts but that was neither here nor there. He waited until Goshen knocked on the door to pull it open.

Every ounce of his willpower fled at the sight of what was waiting for him on the other side of the door. Goshen could have had smoke billowing around his feet, his own personal breeze to tease his hair, some cheesy music heralding his arrival and Ed wouldn’t have been surprised at all. The older male was leaning in the doorway, his gracile body a bewitching study in all that was appetent.

“So... I heard you like to party.”

The sound of that low, dulcet voice was so hypnotic that Edgar nearly forgot how to speak. He stared hungrily at Goshen, admiring his flawless face and silken smile. As his gaze traveled lower to inspect the rest of the boy’s body, he noticed the flyer scissored between two of Goshen’s fine-boned fingers.

“What?” he asked stupidly.

“I found us a party,” Goshen replied patiently.

Ed’s eyes slowly worked their way back up to lock with Goshen’s in all of their honeyed amber glory. “You did?”

Goshen unraveled from his picturesque lean like satin thread pulled from a tapestry, sinuous and fine even when removed from his backdrop. Everything he did was beautiful. A tilt of the wrist tipped the flyer toward Ed. When it was taken from his hands, he slid around the younger male, inviting himself inside. The flyer advertised a band called Epsilon In Overdrive who were playing at a club called the Green Door in New Haven.

“I did. You said you liked to party.” That obviously meant they needed to do so. When Goshen reached the middle of the room, he stopped and turned to regard Ed with a speculative gaze. “You’re not busy, are you? Not waiting to hear from Trick?”

Ed hadn’t yet moved from the door, which was still ajar. He pinched the flyer between his fingers and folded it in half. When his eyes landed on Goshen, provocatively poised as though he were a statue of Adonis, a shiver coursed down his spine. He felt his cheeks grow warm. “N-no. I’m not busy.” The tablet waiting for him on his bed was all but forgotten in that moment. Wherever Goshen was, that was where Ed wanted to be tonight. “I should probably change first, though.”

“I’ll say,” Goshen responded. Of course, he was already dressed for a night on the town; looking utterly sublime with his perfect hair and wearing clothes that fit him so exquisitely Ed swore they must have been tailored just for him. “You can’t go to a club wearing that. You need something sexier,” he decided.

Ed’s eyes widened. Another shiver of arousal made all the little hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stand on end. He blushed.

“Where are your clothes?” Goshen finally tore his eyes away from Ed to look around the room for a dresser. Finding none, he fixed his sights on the trunk currently pushed up against the wall in the kitchenette. He glanced back to Ed questioningly. The younger boy was all doe-eyed and speechless, so he decided to investigate for himself.

“Wait!” Ed squeaked, suddenly remembering how to move as Goshen strode across the room toward the trunk. But he didn’t wait. The older boy knelt down before the trunk and opened it up. Ed wrung the flyer in his hands.

“These are nice,” Goshen said, holding up a pair of white skinny jeans. “They’ll look fantastic on you.” He dug up a baby blue tee shirt from the depths of the trunk and passed that over next. “Wear this, too,” he added, tossing over the jockstrap he’d found tucked away at the very bottom.

Ed’s first reaction was to blush furiously. But Goshen was a siren; a tantalizingly persuasive libertine that Ed found he simply couldn’t refuse. That sinful smile of his took hold as he hugged the pile of clothes to his chest and backed away toward the bathroom. “Just a minute.”

--

The Green Door club was a lie. A new build in suburbia made to look industrial, even though it wasn’t, for all the hipsters and cool kids who didn’t actually want to visit the other side of the tracks. Moonlight poured in through large, brand new, floor to ceiling casement windows lining one wall. That wasn’t real brick behind the bar. The exposed duct work was just for show and the weathered concrete floor had been purposely ‘distressed’. Even the flaking paint on the building’s eponymous green door entrance had been artfully fabricated.

The club’s womb-like ambience was comfortable and inviting, full and warm. A long L-shaped bar ran the length of the main room, opposite the wall of windows. It had the usual VIP section in one corner, tables and booths scattered throughout, a DJ booth on one side of the large dance floor and a raised stage for the live bands that came to play.

They made it there in time to hear the band play its first set. Epsilon In Overdrive was good -- damn good -- enough so they should be famous, but in a city of a thousand other rockstars not everyone could be distinguished. The hipster band performed on a back-lit stage adorned with strobe lights and laser projectors that complimented their electro indie/rock vibe which fed directly into the crowd’s frenetic energy. The dance floor, packed with club-goers, had a hive mind-like gravitational pull to it that encouraged enthusiastic participation. For over twenty minutes, Ed and Goshen both danced with their arms raised, screaming until their throats were raw, pumping their fists in the air and jumping in place to the sound of a bass so deep and loud that it made their ears ring.

During the intermission, Goshen left Ed on the dance floor to get them something to drink. When he returned, he startled Ed by pressing himself flush to his back, winding an arm around his waist to offer up a bottled water. He could feel the panic steal through the younger boy’s body, information he picked up when their bare arms brushed against each other.

“Are you having a good time?” he asked, breath warm against the shell of the other boy’s ear.

Ed spun around with a startled, hysterical giggle, eyes wide as they darted around at the faces of those surrounding them. “Yes!”

Goshen smiled, sliding forward a step to fill in the space between them Ed created when he’d turned around. Long, slender fingers curled around one of his hips, tugging him close. The bottle of water was still held up between their chests. “I’m glad.” They had to shout at one another so as to be heard over the thudding music blaring from the speakers.

That was when he began to sway where he stood, a slow side to side sway like a cobra hypnotized by the music coming from the speakers, in an attempt to dance with Ed instead of simply dancing along with the crowd. His hips rolled suggestively against the other boy’s.

“Goshen!” Ed whined, sounding stricken. He pawed at his arm in a half-hearted attempt to push him away. “Someone could see us.”

The only reason Goshen didn’t immediately let go was because he could feel that Ed wanted him to continue. The boy’s heart rate had increased, for one; excitement overriding the fear of getting caught. He could detect the pheromones being secreted through his sweat, the elevated levels of dopamine and norepinephrine neurotransmitters as they were released into his system. When his grip tightened on the boy’s hip, he felt the surge of adrenaline rushing through his veins.

And yet he asked, “Do you want me to stop touching you?” Ed took the bottle of water out of his hands and melted up against him, slipping both arms around his shoulders and answered with a whimpering, breathless ‘no’. Goshen smiled triumphantly.

They weren’t the only couple to have peeled the majority of their attention away from the show, more intent on the act of sliding against one another than bouncing along with the crowd. But before they could get too carried away, a pusher interrupted them with the promise of a good time. Goshen paid for two pills before Ed even realized what was happening.

“Open your mouth,” he demanded, offering no further explanation. Ed’s pupils dilated, heart skipping a beat; but he obeyed without question. Goshen swallowed his own pill first, then fed the second dose to Ed through a heated, impassioned kiss. While waiting for the effects of the drugs to kick in, they danced and let the sea of writhing bodies around them fade away.

He was pleased that it only took Ed half a song to relax enough to really let loose and find his groove. At some point, the unopened bottle of water was abandoned so Ed could slide his hands into Goshen’s hair. His fingertips brushed featherlight down Ed’s sides until finding his hips to settle on and guide into a very naughty, swaying bump and grind.

Goshen shoved his hand up along Ed’s spine from ass to neck, purposely bunching up his shirt along the way to expose skin. He even grabbed a handful of that baby blue material in a fist that he pressed between his shoulder blades, and yanked Ed even closer with the other arm around his waist, fingertips pressed against the skin. He helped the boy grind against him by rolling his own hips upward in time with Ed’s, as if this were more sex than dancing. Ed tugged at his hair, gasping soft little moans in his ear every time their pelvises scraped together.

Ed wore his most sinful smile as he slithered his body down Goshen’s, showing off a little as he dropped it low, low, low. Outrageously turned on, and wanting to get his mouth on Ed’s again, Goshen caught the boy by the jaw, gripping it tightly, and pulled him back up, inviting him to glide all up against him in a slow slide and roll. His mouth closed over Ed’s hungrily, forcing his lips open so he could feed the boy a lengthy taste of his tongue. Goshen traded his jaw for a handful of Ed’s hair instead. The other hand worked its way down his back to palm the boy’s ass roughly.

The more aroused Goshen became, the more aggressive he got. And the more aggressive he got, the more he managed to arouse Ed. Their clothing did little to hide that fact. Song after song, they toed the line of propriety as the thumping bass and drum beats fueled their intense, burning sex drives.

Ed’s back was pressed against his chest when Goshen felt the drugs begin to take effect. He buried his face in the boy’s hair, drinking in his scent until he thought he would drown in it. He let Ed control the rhythm then, incapable of thinking of dancing at all himself.

“I want to **** you,” he moaned into Ed’s ear. The tip of his tongue lapped at the boy’s earlobe, which was then taken into his mouth to be suckled at briefly. He felt the younger boy sag against him, reaching back around to paw at his ass. Ed’s grip tightened and his chest was heaving as he panted through his clenched teeth.

The younger boy’s responding moan was so loud that people actually glanced their way. Goshen chuckled, dropping his chin to hide his smile against the silk scarf Ed wore around his neck. After a shameless grope at the boy’s crotch, making him whimper, Goshen pushed and shoved him in the direction of the restrooms.

They were a tangle of limbs, hearts pounding and already breathless by the time they reached the men’s room. “Lock the door,” Goshen directed authoritatively, disengaging with Ed to check that all the stalls were empty. The thunderous sound of the band muted nicely as the door fell shut, replaced by the somnolent buzz of the overhead florescent lighting.

Goshen grabbed Ed once the door was safely locked and shoved him up against the already cracked subway tile wall. The boy gasped, but Goshen swallowed the sound by sealing his mouth over Ed’s, bruising his lips in a hard kiss. He ground their hips together, but quickly found this was not sufficient in relieving any tension, so Goshen forced him to his knees. Then he unbuttoned his pants and pushed himself into Ed’s waiting mouth. The boy’s hands roamed, eager, earnest. Just like his lips and tongue. Goshen tugged on the boy’s hair, sighing toward the ceiling. His other palm left sweaty smears on the mirror above Ed where he knelt.

Before long he was yanking him up by the hair, reveling in the way Ed’s pained, aroused cry echoed against the walls. Goshen pinned him there against the wall again, kissing him, biting at his lips while he worked the button and zipper of Ed’s pants. Slender fingers slipped down the front to grope between the boy’s legs, making him whimper and whine with anticipation.

Ed groped at him, too. “Please, Goshen, please--” He tried to press their lips together.

Goshen’s smile was absolutely vicious, terribly beautiful and full of promise. He grabbed the boy’s hair and yanked his head back, denying him the kiss. “Please what?” But rather than make him answer, he kissed him. Slow and gentle, in direct contrast to the tight grip he had on his scalp.

He gave Ed what he wanted. Right there. In the bathroom. Bent over a sink.

Goshen was adrift on the sea of all that was pleasurable, the euphoric collision of his soft skin a seemingly ceaseless wave crashing against the pale shore of the boy’s body. Over and over. He sucked the salt-sweat off his neck. Their gasping breaths the only discernible noise through the thunderous bloodrush. He felt electric. Candescent. Eternal. The current tugged at him harder. He moaned Ed’s name and the boy cried out to him in response. And when the tide came all the way in, they both plunged into their own urgencies like overlapping waves from different storms.

[Ed]

Saturday. 3/18/17.
Old Temple West.

In his dreams, Ed was still at the club, blissfully adrift among the sea of gyrating bodies. He was caught in a looping current that battered him back and forth between two points. On one side of the sea was Patrick, and on the other was a seductive devil wearing Goshen's face. His heart raced in time to the rhythm of the music, strobe and laser lights pulsed angrily. The DJ kept playing the song Trick had requested for him on the radio, over and over and over...

With a sharply indrawn breath, Ed realized he was awake. The pulsing light was coming from the tablet tucked under his pillow. One corner edge was exposed and flashing an illuminated alert at him. The same song he had been hearing on repeat in his dreams was the one he had set to any incoming calls from Trick. He pulled the tablet out from under the pillow and propped himself up. Behind him a body stirred, causing him to freeze with a momentary panic.

Crap. Rubbing the sleep from one eye with a knuckle, he twisted to peer back over his shoulder. Goshen had rolled to stuff his face under the other pillow. The tablet was still serenading him about how much it loved the shape of his body. Ed slithered out of the bed and shivered, device in hand. Looking down at himself, he was rather surprised to find he was still mostly dressed, and looking back again he noticed that Goshen was too. Still, he took the tablet out into the stairwell before he accepted the call.

He gathered a few essential items as quietly as possible: the heavy wool military blanket he kept tucked under his bed, soda can ashtray, pack of cigarettes, and Zippo. With those bundled in his arms, he took the tablet out the front and only door of his apartment, padding tiptoe in his socks, and shut the door at what felt an agonizingly slow pace. He then touched the surface of the tablet where necessary to accept the call and built himself a little nest in the corner at the base of the stairs.

When the call connected, Patrick was in the middle of speaking to someone off screen. "--eep in the tub, oh my God!" The room was mostly dark, save a dimly lit lamp in the background. "What are you doing?" He cracked up, unaware that the video chat session was live. He was shirtless, with most of his upper body on display from the way he held the tablet at an angle. There was a muffled response from elsewhere in the room. "Get out! I'm calling Ed. Look--"

It was then that the younger boy glanced at the screen and noticed the call had been picked up. His already smiling face split into an even wider grin. "Baaaaby!" Then he addressed whomever was off screen once more. "Look, he finally fucking picked up." Patrick's eyes swiveled back to the screen, a little glazed. "It's late, I know. Hiiii. God, you're hot. You know that?"

"It's okay," Ed replied quietly. He was exhausted, but he couldn't help smiling when the other boy crooned at him. He loved it when Trick called him baby, even when he wasn't likely sober. The shiver that struck him had little to do with cold, but he was glad he had brought the heavy wool blanket with him into the stairwell. He pulled it up over his shoulders and nestled in with the tablet on his lap and angled to look up at his face.

Ed still had on the bright blue t-shirt and white pants he'd been wearing at the club. As he rubbed the sleep out of his other eye, he recalled flashbacks of tumbling around on his bed, kissing and pawing at the other boy who was presently asleep in it, until they had both passed out. There were other flashes of memory coming back to him from further back in the night, and he blushed as much from them as from the sight of Trick, half naked, looming in the screen and smiling stupidly at him. He had a hunch now why his boyfriend hadn't called.

"Are you drunk?" The question was just as much a teasing accusation. Ed giggled hushly as he set the soda can aside. Once that was all settled, he lit a cigarette.

Patrick gave an exaggerated scoff, overblown offense written all over his face. "What? I'm not-- I can't jussst tell my crazy beautiful boyfriend he's hot? What?"

"Liar!" A second voice could be heard now. "He's Lying!"

"Shhhh!" Trick dissolved into a snickering fit, bringing a finger up over his mouth to hush the unknown male in the background. "Go make sure all th' water's drained." Between the ridiculous behavior and his slurred speech, Trick had no chance of pretending he wasn't completely blitzed. "Connie's crazy," he told his boyfriend. "I'm just... okay, fine. Maybe a little."

Ed smiled sweetly, more amused than he could ever be mad. A thin haze of cigarette smoke floated around his head, but most of it drifted up the stairwell. He had been about to ask who that was in the background, but his totally wasted boyfriend helpfully provided that information freely. The time on the tablet read a little after four in the morning. The drugs had worn off in his sleep, leaving him with a mild headache.

"I'm glad you called." Ed still spoke softly. The microphone was good on the device in his lap, though. He knew he didn't need to shout. "I don't care how late it is. I miss you. And it's Saturday, so it doesn't matter." He didn't have to get up for work in the morning, thank goodness. "What's in the tub?" He had to ask. The curiosity was overwhelming.

For some reason, Ed's question made Trick laugh. "The hotel staff told us we couldn't use the hot tub anymore 'cause someone decided it was a good idea to put bubbles in it." He looked very serious for a moment. "It's not a good idea. They were everywhere. I almost couldn't find my way out."

"The stairs were right there, dumbass." Connie's voice, nearer this time.

Patrick sighed, making a face. "He's the dumbass who dumped a bottle of soap in the hot tub." No shame in throwing his buddy under the bus. "It was like... like--oh fuck, I don't know. It was crazy."

"It was awesome," Connie interjected. Ed giggled.

"Whatever. Shut up! I'm tryna have a private conversation here. Go back in the bathroom." There was no audible response from Connie, but Patrick snorted a laugh, making the camera jostle. "As I was saying!" He paused to blink, looking mildly confused. "What was I saying?"

"Bubbles," Ed hinted helpfully.

"Oh right. Right. They kicked us out of the hot tub. So Connie said we should try the tub in his room instead. But I guess Balfour's screwing some girl in there. I'm not sure." His smile was sly, less embarrassed about it all than he might have been when sober, but Ed still blushed. "So now we're in my room and we filled up the tub. Connie said it was nice enough to sleep in, but he didn't wanna drown. So now he's trying to get rid of the bubbles. I abandoned him for you. Because I love you."

Trick blinked a few times, trying to better focus his eyes on Ed's face. "I want a cigarette. You should come here an' share yours with me."

"I wish I could." Ed sighed, pouted, and ashed his cigarette into the soda can. With his free hand, he pulled a few fingers down the screen in his lap, over the image of Trick's upper body that was still in the frame. He was saddened by the thought that he might possibly have forgotten what all that skin felt like, and that sadness bled into his quiet words. "I miss you."

"Why?" Some of the sly edge to Trick's smile returned despite the somber tone of Ed's words. "You should tell me what you miss about me." After a short pause, Patrick looked away from the screen and said, "I warned you to go 'way, man." There were retching sounds filtering in from the background. He laughed, refocusing his attention on the screen. "We can pretend he's not here."

Ed stole a glance aside at the closed door of his apartment, glad that his own secret guest was sound asleep and not pretending to barf at their sappiness. He finished his cigarette and dropped the filter into the soda can. He gave the can a little shake to help extinguish the remains. Looking back at the screen, he lifted the tablet up off his lap, unwound his legs from how they were crossed, and bent them up so he could rest the device on his knees. This gave Trick a closer view of the way Ed's eyes raked over what of his body could be seen, and the sinful twist of the older boy's smile.

"I miss the way your skin feels against mine," Ed confessed in a devious whisper. "And your lips... on mine." He was still perfectly consciously aware of an audience in the background on Trick's end, and hesitated on what he'd actually wanted to say. He gave Trick a clue, though, by reaching back to stroke his fingers across the fading bruise on the side of his neck. Aloud, he added, "I miss kissing you."

Trick caught his bottom lip between his teeth, worrying at it wistfully as he strained to listen to Ed's hushed voice. When the older boy was finished, Patrick's mouth fell open as if to respond, but nothing coherent tumbled out. He huffed a short laugh, pitching sideways to sprawl out on the bed where he'd been perched the whole time. He scrubbed a hand over his face before trying again.

"Wow. I--yeah. I miss kissing you, too. I miss lots of things. I wish you were here. You wouldn't have to miss any of those things 'cause we'd be doing them. Right now." Trick's head bobbed up and down several times, eyelids sliding shut. The screen suddenly went dark for Ed, and the younger boy said, "Oh shit! Sorry." A drowsy smile painted a pretty, carefree picture on his usually shuttered expression when the picture resumed. "I dropped it. This blanket's ssssoft. Like you. I miss your skin, too. And your hands. Your hands are like--nooooooooh my God!" He gasped. "Your mouth. Your mouth is magic. You're magic."

Edgar's smile spread slowly, widely, and threatened to engulf his entire face. A soothing warmth spread through his whole body, starting in his heart and expanding beyond his limbs. His soul felt elevated, as if it were lifting him from the world and into the heavens. The sensation was the purest bliss. So what if Patrick was drunk and wasn't likely to remember this conversation? There was nothing quite like being told you're magic to make a boy feel incredible, even across galaxies.

"I love you, Patrick Richie," he whispered. The words seemed completely inadequate in describing the intensity of feeling that was churning inside of him. It was so strong that tears were threatening to spill from his eyes. He felt choked up and too emotional for his own good. And it was strangely relieving when the picture on the screen pitched into a dizzying blur that stopped abruptly on an image of a hotel ceiling. In the background he could hear Trick's soft, even breathing, a sure indication that the younger boy had fallen asleep.

Ed listened to him not quite snoring for a time. He lit another cigarette, smoked it, and daydreamed about all the things he missed about his boyfriend. From the innocence of his rare smiles to the more privately erotic things they did together in the bedroom. When he was finished with his cigarette, he dropped it in the soda can and gave it a shake like before.

"Good night, Patrick," he said one more time. "I love you." And then he tapped the screen in the appropriate place to end the call.

Gathering up his things, he crept quietly back into his apartment and sluggishly shut the door so that it made as little noise as possible. He tiptoed back to the bed, where he saw Goshen still lying face down, fast asleep. He sighed, set the makeshift ashtray aside on his tray table desk along with his cigarettes and lighter. He tucked the tablet back under his pillow and tossed the heavy wool blanket around his shoulders. Then he oozed back onto the bed and curled up next to Goshen to watch him breathing until he fell back asleep himself.

Later that morning, nearly by noon, he woke to find the space next to him empty again. Goshen had left without so much as a goodbye, nor a note. Nothing.


( Co-written mostly with Trick, with input from Goshen. )

[Ed]

Saturday. 3/18/17.
Old Temple West.

Ed scooted over to the middle of the bed and stuck his nose against the pillow that Goshen had been using to gather in his ambrosial scent. Closing his eyes, he could almost imagine the other boy's body still lying next to him, but he was ashamed at himself that it wasn't Trick he was imagining and missing right away. Guilt bore down on him and turned into a depression, which in turn put him to sleep for at least another hour.

He dreamed again about being buffeted between opposing tides, but instead of being on a dance floor he was actually adrift at sea. His little dinghy had no sails, nor oars. A rope was wound round and round his entire body, constricting his arms and his legs. The two ends stretched in opposite directions, connected to two very different sailing vessels on either side of his useless raft. He woke when he started to sink.

The apartment was still wretchedly empty of other people. He was starting to lose track of the number of days it had been since he'd last seen any sign of his cousins. Jameson had taken the van away; he and Hector had not come back since. He wondered how Linda was doing. Nobody had told him anything about her condition. He hoped she was well. But where in the world was Abby?

The only reason he got out of bed was because he had to use the toilet. Once he was up, he didn't feel like going back to bed. He had slept too long. He checked the time on the tablet, noting he had missed lunch and there were no messages from Trick. He didn't want to go out anywhere; going out got him into trouble. He wasn't even hungry. So, with little else to do, he changed his clothes into something more bum chic, a different t-shirt and pajama pants, and turned his attention to the only project he had available to work on.

By the time his door buzzer went off late in the afternoon, nearly evening, he had pretty much entirely gutted the video game cabinet. Wires and parts were strewn about the corner of his living room along with a small collection of tools. He got up, untangled himself from the mess, stretched, and ambled over to the panel to let Goshen in. He checked that the door was unlocked and then slouched back to his pile.

"Did it break?" Goshen asked him, motioning to the spread of electronic arcade guts fanned out around him on the floor. The older male made himself at home on the couch, prostrated, folded hands tucked beneath his chin.

"No." Ed had settled back into a cross-legged position in the middle of the wires. "I'm modifying it." He picked up a circuit board and examined it closely. A little tweaking here and there was all he'd really needed to do, but he was a little obsessed with getting a good look at all of it from the inside out.

"Modifying it to do what?" But Goshen didn't give him time to answer the question before asking another. "Where'd you learn how to do all this? At a school?"

"No, not really. A lot of it I picked up from reading technical manuals. After which I'd tear down the machine to its core parts, like this." He indicated the video game cabinet with a brief lift of his hand. "Then I'd put it all back together again." He smiled crookedly. "Things like this were my jigsaw puzzle. It's what I did in my free time instead of jumping in the river or sneaking into the movies. Though I did those things too, just not with the other kids."

"I like puzzles. The regular kind," he clarified.

"So do I." Ed looked up, finally actually looked at Goshen, and smiled. Goshen smiled back. "And to answer your first question, I'm modifying it to be played without needing to insert any coins," he added. The repetitive, demanding flash of INSERT COINS had finally gotten on his last nerve. Maybe he had gutted the machine in part as punishment for irritating him.

"Why didn't you do those things with other kids? The jumping in rivers and sneaking into movies." Unfolding his hands, Goshen reached a hand out to swipe one of the little screwdrivers resting on the floor. He twirled it between his fingers, staring at it like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

Ed allowed him to take the screwdriver, whether he needed it or not. He shrugged the shoulder closest to Goshen and looked back down at the floor. "I was different. They knew I was different. I didn't want to put up with them teasing me, so I avoided them whenever I could." He started herding the wires and parts toward the open back of the machine and resituated onto his side so that he could better put everything back where it belonged, mostly.

That answer seemed to have made Goshen somewhat introspective. His study of the spinning screwdriver grew more intense, a furrow wrinkling his flawless brow. "We're different. People are always afraid of what's different."

"And people have a tendency to ... get rid of the things they're afraid of." Ed hesitated, too uncomfortable with physical harm or, worse, killing, to mention those real occurrences outright. Given his occupation, the concept of disposal seemed a little more comforting, if only because he was a big fan of collecting and making use of second-hand objects. Nothing he owned was new. Not to mention his past, which he realized Goshen didn't know in full. Not many people did.

"I'm an orphan, you know," he decided to tell him. "A foundling, really. Abandoned at birth." Ed wedged his body against the wall and kept his gaze fixed on the work he was doing inside the video game cabinet, putting everything back together. It was easier to confess these sorts of things without actually looking at the older boy.

"I am too," said Goshen without skipping a beat. He put the screwdriver back where he'd gotten it from and let his arm hang over the side of the couch, fingertips brushing against the concrete floor. His head tipped to one side, resting his cheek along his arm. "Kind of. As far as I know." He drew in a deep, patient breath. "The first memory I have is of waking up in a field. Tall grass all around me. Blue sky overhead. I sat up and looked around. There was a little stone peeking out of the dirt beside me; I tried to pry it free, but couldn't. So I began to dig.

"I went back to that spot often over the next several months to work on digging the stone free from the earth. It was bigger than I thought. During that time, I was taken in. Taught to speak. Taught to read. I didn't know anything, you see. Not even my name or where I had come from. I named myself for the stone I unearthed. Goshen. Because I know there's more of me yet to be discovered." There it was. The full story behind his name.

Ed had given up on putting the machine back together in favor of listening to Goshen tell his tale, utterly fascinated. He half sat up stared, listening raptly to every word. In comparison, the older boy's "birthing" story sounded much more interesting than his own, but things like that always did. He smiled beautifully. The story was sort of romantic in a way, poetic, and he could appreciate that.

"I was named because they were on the letter E on the register by the time I came along." The younger boy shrugged and elaborated a little. "It's Edgar, by the way. Nothing nearly as special or meaningful. Though I was named after another orphan more famous than me, I'm told." He paused with a thoughtful twist of his lips. It must be nice to be able to pick your own name, he thought. "I like to be called Ed, though. Or Eddie."

And yet, Goshen was watching him with just as much intrigue painted on his heavenly face. It made him feel special.

"Edgar. For the poet?"

The way Goshen said his name, the intensity of his eyes, raised goosebumps on his arms. A shiver coursed down his spine. Ed was relieved when Goshen rolled over to stare at the ceiling instead of him.

"Yes," Ed said after clearing his throat. "He wrote stories too." Sliding sideways, he ducked back in close to the back of the video game cabinet and resumed putting it back together.

"I like that you're different, Ed. You're far more remarkable than some writer. I never did like reading anyway."

Ed smiled, more for the compliment than for the fact Goshen was a non reader.

"Will you teach me to play it when you're finished putting it back together?" Goshen wriggled closer to the edge of the cushion, hanging his head over the lip to watch Ed work from upside down.

The sight of Goshen and this unexpected, almost childlike innocence, made Ed laugh. He couldn't help but continue to smile, though, either. Nodding, he said, "There's not much I have to teach you, but yeah sure. Absolutely. We'll play."

It took at least another hour to get the cabinet put back together, modified to not require coins to play. They were already high on a pair of joints by the time they started. At some point, Ed had fallen asleep on the couch. When he woke up again the following morning, Goshen was gone.


( Co-written with Goshen. )

[Ed]

Sunday. 3/19/17.
Red Dragon Inn.

Ed had dressed himself more conservatively for the day in a nice white shirt, khakis, and his black canvas shoes. The black scarf was as much a reminder of his sins as it was to hide the still fading bruise on his throat. Ed was smoking a cigarette when he came inside. He stole a quick look around, glancing over the person on the couch briefly before his attention landed and stuck on Goshen who was seated at a table, staring at a book in his lap. He twitched a cautious smile to him, waved, and proceeded onward to the bar.

A woman with blue hair came through the front door not long after Ed. The colorful hair caught his eye and brightened his smile. So pretty. But the hair was the only part of the woman he paid any attention. He offered her a polite smile, waiting his turn at the end of the bar while she retrieved a beer from the cooler.

"Hello." Goshen greeted both Ed and the woman from his seat, yet it was the boy who kept his attention. Goshen snapped the book shut, abandoning it on the table after getting up to stand.

Ed turned in his pause to look back at him and actually say, "Hi."

Goshen strolled past Ed like a pompous cat, deigning to brush up against him briefly on his way behind the bar. Ed might have been waiting to get back there, but Goshen was not. "You look nice today."

That brush by turned his smile up a notch more sly. He turned to face the bar, but looked down. "Thanks." His behavior was subdued, almost shy. Stroking his fingers over one end of his scarf, he looked back up coyly. "I went to church this morning," he explained.

A different woman materialized from thin air, seated on the arm of the couch which was occupied by a man in a dress. She greeted him by name, but Ed didn't catch it. Having not heard a door open or close, yet hearing a new voice had him darting a look over his shoulder at the hearth. The man jumped to his feet, exclaiming, "Lady Chryrie!" He then quickly got to his knees on the floor, bowing before her. "My Goddess!"

Ed's attention skipped two seconds between the woman and the man, then he turned back again to face Goshen. He found the older male staring intently at the pair, though, perhaps just as puzzled by their exchange as Ed was.

After a minute, Goshen turned back to face him. "Why did you go to church?" He resumed his path to the ice box where he fished up a pair of fruity sodas, one for himself and one for Ed. He didn't ask what the boy wanted. He simply set it out on the bar for him.

"I was feeling..." Guilty, ashamed. The soda being set on the bar caught his eye and he smiled softly. It didn't matter which flavor it was; he liked all the fruity ones. "...homesick," he decided. "I guess." That was not a lie, but did not cover the complete truth. Sliding onto the stool in front of the soda, he tugged the can closer and looked up to belatedly say, "Thank you."

The conversation between the man and the woman going on behind them tugged at Ed's attention again, however. "...but eating the rat summoned a mouse army that wanted revenge," the man in the dress was saying. "And also, I got worms. I had to go to the doctor."

"Don't eat rats," said the woman, Chryrie. "They're filled with disease. Otherwise, keep up the good work. I'm proud of you."

Ed looked over his shoulder, through the corner of his eye, and chewed on a frown. His brows came together. He tipped his head back down to glower at the counter in front of him.

Goshen angled himself to face Ed, stretching a hand across the bar to touch the boy's wrist. "Homesick?" he prompted.

The touch to his wrist stole back his attention completely. He looked, first, at Goshen's fingers and how his hand automatically drifted toward the other boy's touch. Then he looked up at Goshen's face. "We went to church every Sunday back home. It was required." His nose half wrinkled in distaste.

That wrinkle of distaste put a wrinkle of amusement on Goshen's face. "And so you do it here, too?"

Ed shrugged, looking down. With his free hand he turned his soda can on the countertop. His other arm remained stretched across the bar toward Goshen. "I haven't, actually, in a long time. Usually I spend Sundays with Trick." Lifting his hand from his soda, he tucked his knuckles to his temple and looked sadly back up at the other boy.

A girl with purple hair, wearing completely black clothes, had come in and Ed spotted her as soon as she slipped behind the bar too. He angled a smile with a flare of fingers hello her way. It took him a minute to remember her name, and when he did he said, "Hi, Saila."

The goth teen snagged the coffee pot off its burner, and turned to dump its contents in the nearest sink without bothering to check how much was there. As she turned, she smiled at Ed and Goshen. "Hey Ed." Her brows furrowed then, a clear indication that she did not recognize the older boy in his company. "How's things?"

Ed's mouth twitched into the shape of a smile and he tucked his arm back, bent at the elbow, to fence in his soda can. He looked from Goshen to Saila and shrugged. "I'm surviving, I guess." Which was a step up from telling her that things were awful as he'd been complaining about at the start of the week.

If Goshen meant to say anything else to Ed about Church or being homesick, the intention vanished when Ed greeted the girl with the purple hair by name. He offered Ed an encouraging smile instead, smoothing his thumb over the boy's wrist before pulling his hand away. His attention shifted to the girl. "Hello."

Running some water in the now-empty pot, Saila looked for something to wash it out with, glancing back up at Goshen. "Hey," she said with a friendly smile. "Saila."

"Trick's offworld for some big race," Ed went on. "He's been gone all week." Okay, so there was the hint of life is awful. "His race is tonight actually."

Saila's expression shifted to one of empathy and sadness. "Oh, that sucks," she sympathized with a nod. "How long is he supposed to be gone?"

"Two weeks," Ed whined. "Well. One now I guess." So it wasn't too bad at this point. He shared a little quirked smile with Goshen for a moment. And then, almost without skipping a beat, he introduced them. "That's Goshen."

"Ugh. Another whole week? Man. That's hard. Bet that'll make the reunion nice, though." Locating soap and a rag, Saila cheerfully washed out the coffee pot and rinsed it while Ed spoke. "Nice to meet you, Goshen."

Goshen's smile for the girl was divine. "It's nice to meet you, Saila."

"I know Saila from meeting her like... I dunno. A couple weeks ago?" Ed explained. "Maybe a month ago? Here." So... acquaintances more than friends, he was saying.

Her smile grew when she saw Goshen's, drying off the coffee pot and her hands. "Yeah, you meet pretty much everyone here eventually. Don't think I've seen you before, though."

Just then, a kid wearing a leather flight helmet emerged from the kitchen. He was towing a wagon full of citrus. He left it parked by the door and mooched over behind the bar to find himself a soda. "Hieee," he called. "Oranges an' stuff if you want."

"Hey Des," Saila greeted. She worked without really looking at what she was doing, trusting her hands to remember what to do on their own.

Goshen tipped his head to peer around Saila at Des. "Hello." He watched him for a moment, then Saila as she went through the motions of making a pot of coffee. Before long, he slipped out from behind the bar to drape himself atop a stool next to Ed.

Ed waved, cheerful and friendly, at Des as well. "Hello!" The waving had his eyes catching on his own colorless fingernails, and he looked at them with a pout. "My fingers feel naked."

Noting the lack of polish, Saila finished up what she was doing and set the coffee pot on to boil. Aftereward she dug through her bag and lined up a selection of different colors of bottled nail polish on the bar between them. "Will any of those do?"

"Eeeee!" That was a delighted squeal. Forget his absent boyfriend! Saila had nail polish! "Oh my goodness. Which one do I choose? Not this one." Ed nudged the white one away. Silver? Purple? Multi-colored metallic glitter? It was a no brainer. He grabbed the shiniest of them all. Ed needed something to offset the somberness of his attire. "This is perfect thank you." Delighted, he set to work painting his fingernails.

Saila grinned at Ed's choice, clearly a fan of the sparkly, too. "Excellent decision." Sweeping the rest of the bottles back into her bag, she took a lean against the back bar opposite he and Goshen, waiting on her coffee. "You're welcome. Fashion Week goodie bags."

Goshen smiled aside at Ed while he fawned over the nail polish and hooked the heel of his Doc Marten on one of the rungs of the stool. The other leg dangled so the toe of his boot touched the floor. "Are we going to watch Trick's race together?"

Ed set his hand down palm flat on the bar and angled himself more Goshen's way than not. Though concentrated on his nail painting, a truly pleased smile blossomed before he stole a glance up at the other boy. "I'd like you to watch it with me, if you want."

"When's the race?" Saila asked. "Not trying to invite myself along, or anything. Just never saw one of those races before."

"It's at five." He answered Saila without even looking up. "We're going to go watch it on the big screens at Stars End. You're welcome to come too if you like." He shrugged easily. Free country, world, place... right?

"Maybe, if you're sure you don't mind. I have the day off and haven't figured out what I'm gonna do with myself yet." Checking on the coffee pot, she shifted her weight from one booted foot to the other.

"We'll be there if you decide you want to. Turn on any of the sports networks anywhere and you're just as likely to find it, though. Up to you." Ed shrugged carelessly.

Goshen watched Ed's face, then swept down his frame to watch the meticulous care he took in painting his nails. "I've never painted my nails." He raised his free hand, outstretched before himself to inspect his perfectly manicured, short, rounded nails, imagining what they would look like slathered in paint.

Ed tipped a crooked smile up at Goshen. "Want me to paint them for you?" He gladly would!

"Hmm. Maybe," Goshen murmured to Ed. That answer turned Ed's smile less playful and more pleased. He lifted his hand, fingers splayed, and blew across his nails to help them dry. Goshen's hand slapped lightly against his thigh as it was lowered. "We can sift through your arsenal of colors to find the perfect shade." He'd seen the line-up at Ed's place. The boy had a bit of a hoarding problem.

"I've probably got a black, too," Saila offered to Goshen.

Goshen ignored the offer, gaze drifting back to Ed's splayed fingers. "It looks good on you," he commented. The emphasis suggested he was not wholly convinced it would look good on himself.

Ed looked aside at Goshen again with an even bigger smile. "Thank you." He liked compliments. Finding himself lost in studying Goshen's captivating amber eyes, he mused, "I have a gold at home." He thought maybe that would suit the older boy best. Very regal.

When the coffee was done, Saila turned away from them, pulling the biggest coffee cup she could find down from one of the shelves and filling it up almost overflowing. Peering back over her shoulder at the two of them, her brows lifted. "Either of you want some coffee? This is the best coffee ever, and not 'cause I made it." A quick grin. "...Seriously. Even if you hate coffee, this stuff is amazing."

Saila's presumptive statement drew Goshen's attention away from Ed's face, which he'd been watching avidly until that moment. "I don't like coffee, but thank you."

Ed giggled and shook his head, feeling as if he'd just been released from a spell. "No thank you," he said, tapping his soda can. "I have this." And truthfully he wasn't really a big fan of coffee either. Deciding the nails of his one hand were dry enough, Ed set down his other hand and leaned over it, concentrating while he applied polish to those nails next.

Saila shrugged evenly, setting the coffee pot back on its burner. She turned to face them once more and leaned back against the counter. Cradling the mug between both of her hands, she smiled a little, watching Ed paint his nails.

Pleased that Saila didn't attempt to persuade him otherwise, Goshen smiled brightly. He was perfectly content to sit patiently, quietly, watching Ed paint his nails. He also watched a woman making tea. Another perched quietly in the rafters. The two younger children, a girl and a boy, chattering with one another a little further down the bar.

The boy, Des, was saying, "Yeah, the fruit's from the trees in the cemetery. Mom doesn't want it to go to waste. We bring it here for people to share or send it to the orphanages or shelters."

"That's a real nice thing to do." Ed commented aside. He didn't look up from his nail painting to say it, though.

"Are you delivering that by yourself?" asked the girl. Ed hadn't caught her name, but she stood out with her ashen skin, blue hair, and double-pointed ears. "It is cool!" she agreed with Ed.

"It's nice," said the boy. "You can take some if you want, I'll be bringing like two more wagonfulls soon." He beamed to Ed.

After another minute, Goshen leaned to one side so he could dig a burnished gold cigarette case from his back pocket and flipped it open with one hand.

Gold. Shiny. That caught Ed's eye. He tipped his head, distracted from the last nail, to have a look at Goshen's cigarette case. His brows lifted and his expression suggested covetousness. "That's nice." Even more distractedly he felt his attention tugged away. He looked up to give the boy with the fruit a smile. "I might. Thanks." Then he looked back, quicklike, at Goshen's shiny object.

Saila was pretty involved in drinking her coffee, but she smiled back at Goshen and then looked down at Ed's hands, studying his work. "He's right. That does look good on you." After half a second's pause, she added, "You can keep the bottle, if you want." Little did she know she might be enabling a hoarder!

"Oh my gosh can I?" He probably would have stolen off with it anyway, but being given the nail polish as a gift was even better! "Thanks, Saila!"

She grinned. "You're welcome."

Mistaking Ed's interest in the cigarette case for what was inside, Goshen offered it over. Though, half a second after doing so, he realized that Ed's hands were busy. He smirked, drew it back and pulled out one of the perfectly rolled joints. The case snapped back together and was slipped back into his pocket. Then he reached over into Ed's pocket, slender fingers fishing out the pretty Zippo he knew was kept there.

Not expecting Goshen's hand to suddenly wind up in the pocket of his khakis had him stiffening with a little gasp of surprise. His foot slipped off the rung of the stool, having kept himself nice and balanced until just then. He almost chided the other boy and told him he could have asked, but messing up the swipe of the brush on his pinky finger and smearing some extra metallic sparkle on his skin reminded him that... well yes he couldn't have gotten it out of his pocket himself anyway. But boy did he blush!

Goshen snickered softly around the joint. Smoke bled from his nose and mouth. Rather than traumatize the boy any further, he set the Zippo on the bar next to the bottle of nail polish. Then he lifted the joint up to Ed's mouth. "I'll hold it for you." The silken smile grew, though amber eyes darted aside to ogle a newly arrived, very tall, and very pretty male from over Ed's shoulder.

"Afternoon," the man said, a general greeting for everyone.

That little exchange brought a grin unbidden to Saila's face, but she glanced away from them to see what else was going on in the room, maybe so Ed didn't know anybody had seen him blushing. Her polite glance away had her looking directly at the man who had walked in, too. She responded to his all-encompassing greeting with a 'hey' and a nod.

"Whoa that guy is huge," muttered the girl with the double-pointed ears under her breath, but the teenager waved back anyway. Her wings twitched, and she turned back to her bottled water.

The man smirked at her before opening the cooler for a beer. "My brothers are taller," he remarked, rounding the bar to grab a stool.

"So are mine," the girl said dismally. But she wasn't even five foot. Most people here were taller. The man toasted her.

Ed cleared his throat, twisted the nail polish brush and cap back on the bottle, and paused to wave a little to the huge man in question. He never really got a chance to get a good look at him, because then there was a joint in his face. He looked aside at Goshen with a soft but sinful smile. "Thanks," he said quietly as he leaned to take a drag off the end close to Goshen's fingers. He exhaled pure bliss, and some smoke, a moment afterward.

Goshen's appreciative study of the big man was quick. He went right back to smirking at Ed a second later. His narrow mouth pinched the joint in place for another hit, this time the smoke caged within his lungs for a good ten seconds. "Anytime," he replied to Ed through an exhale of smoke.

Ed was smiling like a fool when he picked up a bar napkin, licked it, and leaned over his hand to painstakingly rub the polish smear off his skin, trying really hard not to mess up the job on his nails in the process. This was precision work. He found a toothpick to help. When he was satisfied he'd cleaned up the mess from his skin, he wadded up the napkin, stuck the toothpick through it, and tossed the ball at the trash. He missed, but it got close.

Swiping his Zippo and nail polish off the bar, Ed stood and slipped them, carefully, into his pants pockets. Then he leaned over to steal another hit off Goshen's joint. "We should go if we want to make it in time." Because Ed wanted to watch all the pre-game stuff too.

"Do you maybe want to change into something else before we watch the race?" There was little left of the joint by now, but Goshen held it against the boy's lips anyway. He could have the last hit and a half.

Ed inhaled that last hit and a half greedily and held the smoke in his lungs for a handful of extra seconds. Straightening up, he shrugged and picked up his soda can, definitely taking what was left with him. He exhaled and stepped away from the bar. "Should I?" he asked, heading for the door.

Goshen was in no rush, but he did follow along. "Yes." He made the decision for Ed. He also got the door for him, holding it open with his boot.

"Then we better hurry." Since they had to swing by his place along the way. Geeze! He smiled as he passed Goshen, brushing a little too close, and out they went.



( Severely modified and edited from the RDI log dated 3/19. )