Arthur & Warren | Clouds and Booze

[xp_longshot]

Arthur and Warren get a little drunk on some truly awful canned cocktails.



"You know," Warren said, looking at the very brightly coloured can in his hands. "I imagine this is what kissing a witch would taste like. I also had no idea you could drink patchouli. I thought it was something to cover up awful smells since it's so goddamn terrible."

He turned his head and raised a brow at Arthur. They were relaxing up on the roof, the sky dotted with clouds which kept catching Warren's attention. It probably didn't help that he'd taken an edible beforehand, but hey, it just made the day more interesting.

Another sip and Warren shook his head. "Or do your powers make it so that every sip is the best fucking sip possible and therefore the reason why you drink such interesting choices?"

"I don't know," was the other blonde man's reply. He let it hang in the air between them like a fluffy, sparkling thing weighted down by all of the expectations of what knowing entailed. There was a lot this man didn't know, and that was a wonderful thing. Arthur held out the can of Hippy Fizz Cocktail in order to better examine the rather confused looking rainbow shark on its canister. "I want to hope my power involves a choice on my part, because what would that make my life? If every sip was the best, then that would make every single one just one, boring note."

He rotated the can thoughtfully. "I feel you, rainbow shark. You know things."

"Huh." That made a lot of sense. Warren took another sip and made yet another face. "The rainbow shark may know many things but I want to know how you even find these drinks. Is there a hipster liquor store you go to? And how do you even pick? Is it colours? It's the colours right?" He was teasing, and enjoying himself. It wasn't often that Warren got to relax and not stress about things. He stretched his legs out in front of him and leaned a bit back. "Clouds would be more fun with colours. I could go for some really vivid pink ones. Or maybe a solid teal..oh! Hey! Question -- what colour is chartreuse to you?"

"We used to brew this awful, awful mix of tea, gin, and fruit juice in Cali. I guess I'm feeling nostalgic. The colors certainly help, though. Not gonna lie." This was accompanied with a wistful sigh as images of a plucky redhead richoted through his mind. Warren's last little line, though —

"Wait, hold up. Clouds have lots of colors already. Also, chartreuse sounds like a drink."

"Clouds don't have colours. They're ...white and ...translucent and ...reflective? What colour are clouds? Oh wait, okay grey I guess during a storm. I want a neon cloud though....and according to the internet, chartreuse is this disgusting green-yellow, but I remember it as purple which apparently is false." He paused and swirled his drink in his can. "Or is it the other way around? I can't remember."

"Were you here for the wormhole shenanigans? Apparently there's a whole multiverse now. Maybe you're secretly from a place where chartreuse is purple. Like that place where the bears are different."

"Bears are in the multiverse?" Warren was not part of the wormhole shenanigans, a fact that made him very happy. He'd had enough of weird places. "And what makes them different? Do they talk? Wear clothes? Eat hummus?"

"It was on Jeopardy once," Arthur explained like someone pretending they actively watched Jeopardy, "I think that they just have different names. There's probably a universe out there where they wear berets or something." He paused there, dwelling on that image. "They'd have to have some naan to go with the hummus. That's a side."

"Eat enough of a side, and it's dinner," Warren said, draining his can in a rather long gulp. The faster it was gone, the faster ...he could have another one. Right, he didn't bring anything else up, he was relying on Arthur's poor judgement. "I actually like crackers and celery with hummus more than naan ... but I could do with some good flatbread right now." He put down his can and picked up another one, wincing a little as it opened. The smell wasn't any better for a second can. "didn't you say you had something to tell me about powers? Or am I remembering someone else? Maybe a bear..."

Arthur nodded as if his words were incredibly sage. "We haven't had a bear at the mansion yet. Although would they have to be a mutant who could turn into a bear, or would they accept a mutant person who could turn into a person?"

Thoughtful staring into space.

"I feel like I stole Adrienne's signature move, but everyone keeps telling me I've always been able to touch things and know stuff. No one else gets it."

Warren looked over at Arthur, a brow raised. "Adrienne? Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while ...." He drifted off for a moment before continuing. "Well, my friend -- you are the only one who knows who you are and what you can do. If you weren't able to do it before, then why should I doubt that? That being said, I've always found that to be an interesting power set. Touching things and absorbing memories. Not a skill you want at a carnival or a subway though. I can only imagine what an overload that would be." Warren lifted his can in the air. "So cheers to awkward times, because I'm sure you've accidentally learned a lot about people lately."

Arthur twiddled his fingers in the air as he reached to grab for another can. The moonlight caught his leather gloves in its glow. "Cheers indeed." Pop, fizz, swig.

"There's no going back either way. Time to learn new tricks and experience new things, I guess. Speaking of new things — when's the wedding?"

"Not a clue," Warren responded. "At some point, I will have to sign invoices and expenses I'm sure, but for now, I will let it be it's own thing." He finished his drink and lifted up a finger. "Can we talk about your power thing again? Is that why you're wearing gloves all the time? Because you know, I get that you probably don't want my memories, but I'm fine if you ever accidentally touch me...so if they're for your own protection, cool, but if they're for mine, whatever, I can cope. At worst, you'll just see a lot of Warren porn." He paused. "I just ... I want you to know that I trust you. and if you do see something that you think you shouldn't, I know you wouldn't blab it around. So."

Shrug. A shrug that quickly morphed into a roll of the shoulders, as if Arthur was gearing up for the heavy stuff.

"It isn't like that. I deeply care for people's privacy, but the gloves are also for me. I don't just see things when I touch an object — I feel them. Think thoughts that aren't my own. Like I'm in another person's head as they were in that moment. It is," and here he paused, biting his lip as the man searched for words. "It is a lot. I appreciate the Warren porn pass, though. That's very kind of you."

"You feel it too?" Warren shuddered. "That seems like a very frustrating thing then. Well, by all means, you do what you need to do. We all have to make allowances for our powers... I hate my harness. A lot." Warren cleared his throat. Almost instinctively, he moved his wings a little. "There's a difference between them being folded naturally, and being put into a leather contraption. I have a few outfits that Meggan created for me where I can actually have them out while I wear suits but I have yet to grow the balls to wear them in public." He gave a wry smile. "But that's a tiny inconvenience to knowing someone's innermost thoughts and feelings and I don't want to downplay anything you've just said...so maybe instead of me rambling on, I should ask you what you would like me to do with this conversation. Should I change the topic and start discussing something else ridiculous and I don't bring any of this up anymore, or another option that might suit you better?"

Warren didn't get an answer, per say, but Arthur let out a jovial chuckle that was somehow both entirely accepting and supportive. A hug-flavored guffaw. "My dude, if I've learned anything from all this, our own expectations are another sort of harness. Your wings, my powers — are we letting them hold us back, or should they lift us up instead?"

It was very deep, if not fueled mostly by the canned cocktails they were drinking.

"I'm taking this all as a challenge."

"Like this drink," Warren responded, making yet another face. Second can down and he wasn't sure he could take much more. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his vape. Sometimes he could be trendy. Taking a pull, he offered it to Arthur. "I can't remember if you do this or not .... anyways, I feel like you got this, no matter what it is. You're probably one of the most optimistic people I know ... this may sound weird, but I hope that when you do get down about things, you let yourself be sad. Don't be shitty like me and just mask every emotion. That will fuck you up in the long run."

"Hmm," Arthur allowed as he considered the words very carefully. A single hand very politely refused the vape, but Arthur's searching eyes didn't leave the horizon. "I do the opposite, I think. I have been stopping myself from doing anything for fear of throwing off the balance of things. My optimism, though? That's how I survive."

"Survival.... sometimes that's all we can do." Warren took another pull and slowly blew the smoke out, away from Arthur. "Well, cheers, my friend. You're a better person than I am."

"Cheers," and the other blonde raised his emptying can to that, "Here's to doing more than just surviving."

Comments

[xp_shatterstar]

Man this was so sweet, I really liked seeing this side of Warren