ArchivedLogs:Ties

Ties
Dramatis Personae Peter, Shane, Daiki
In Absentia	2014-05-20 '
Location <NYC> Evolve Cafe - Lower East Side
Spacious and open, this coffeeshop has a somewhat industrial feel to it, grey resin floors below and exposed-beam ceilings that have been painted up in a dancing swirl of abstract whorls and starbursts, a riot of colour splashed against a white background. The walls alternate between brick and cheerfully lime-green painted wood that extends to the paneling beneath the brushed-steel countertops. There's an abundance of light, though rather than windows (which are scarce) it comes from plentiful hanging steel lamps. The walls here are home to plentiful artwork available for sale; though the roster of prints and paintings and drawings and photographs changes on a regular basis it has one thing in common -- all the artists displayed are mutants. The seating spaced around the room is spread out enough to keep the room from feeling cluttered. Black chairs, square black tables that mostly seat two or four though they're frequently pushed around and rearranged to make space for larger parties. In the back corner of the room is more comfortable seating, a few large black-corduroy sofas and armchairs with wide tables between them. There's a shelf of card and board games back here available for customers to sit and play. The chalkboard menus hanging behind the counter change frequently, always home to a wide variety of drinks (with an impressive roster of fair-trade coffees and teas largely featured) though their sandwiches and wraps and soups and snacks of the day change often. An often-changing variety of baked goods sit behind the display case at the counter halfway back in the room, and the opposite side of the counter holds a small selection of homemade ice creams. At night, the thump of music can be heard from above, coming from the adjoining nightclub of the same name that sits over the coffeehouse, accessible through a stairway in the back of the cafe. It's sometime in the evening; there is equipment to be moved. Cappuccino machines! Cream dispensers! And a refrigerator. Usually, the latter would require multiple hands along with some heavy equipment -- and an hour or two of work -- but Peter managed to unload the thing from the back of a truck all by himself. The teen is dressed briskly, for warm temperatures; usually, he'd cloak himself to hide his skin and use his suit for keeping cool -- but for once, he's foregone his usual pragmatic 'uniform' and traded it for what's essentially just a white tank top and black gym shorts, complete with brown work boots. His dark, chitin-blue skin sparkles in what sunlight remains as he drags the fridge inside on the handtruck, one palm slapped roughly on the fridge's backend -- glued firmly -- while the other pulls the handtruck's handle, maneuvering it slowly through the entrance… As soon as Peter gets through the entrance, he exhales a sigh of relief; thank goodness they've got AC working in here. Then, he's dragging the thing on the wheels along, humming quietly as he slips past the counter, moving it toward the back, where he'll set it down and begin scooting it into place…! Shane is already in the back kitchen when Peter comes dragging the refrigerator in, setting down a large box of supplies in one corner. He's dressed in shorts, too, black cargos, and a t-shirt reading 'CHOMP CHOMP is shark for I love you' together with his black sneakers. Daiki is there also, not in the kitchen but behind the counter with a tablet in hand on which he's made very careful checklists of all needed supplies, all /ordered/ supplies. Where everything needs to go. He for once is also dressed down, jeans and sneakers and a plain maroon v-necked tee and while the others unload he is unpacking. "Woaaah." Shane's eyes widen as Peter comes in with the refrigerator, and he gets up to start moving over but then just stands back when Peter has it all on his own. "Jesus, you're." "Very convenient," Daiki replies from just outside the kitchen. "Everyone should have one of him around when moving." Peter's face proceeds to flush with the familiar color of violet at Shane's widening of eyes; for a moment, he slows down, instinctively acting as if it was giving him a problem to move the thing; but after a moment, he just goes right back to it -- scooting the fridge by wrapping his arms around it in a loose hug and just -- lift, scoot. Lift. Until he can shove it around, settling it nearly flush against the wall behind it, with just enough space for him to crouch down and fish out the power cord… giving a slight glance back at Shane and Daiki (or, at least, in the direction of Daiki's voice) as he begins searching for an outlet. "--yeah I, um I've been practicing how not to break stuff when I pick it up," he says. Peter adds, then, as he begins plugging the fridge in: "--when are we -- I mean, uh, when are you opening?" Shane's gills flutter at this in a small ripple of silent laughter, his teeth flashing in a quick grin. "Good. Don't break the coffee machine please there's one in there that's like ten thousand fucking dollars." Daiki's head shakes at this reminder, his expression faintly pained as he wanders back into the kitchen, glancing at the fridge and checking something off on his tablet. "The coffee it brews had better be worth it. -- He opens on the twenty-ninth." "Twenty-eighth," Shane answers, though after a moment he shakes his head and just waves to Daiki. "Yeah, okay. Twenty-ninth. Pa's graduating college on the twenty-eighth so we're having a party for him here then. Kind of like an opening party except it's private. The /next/ morning is the official for-real opening." "I won't. But, it turns out," Peter adds, at Shane's comment about the coffee machine -- his tone briefly gaining a flush of confidence as he goes into temporary PHYSICS NERD mode, "that if you apply a large quantity of force to a very small space--" Peter lifts his palm, squeezing his fingers, and the flush of confidence subsides, replaced with a slight coloring of the cheeks and a brief glance back at the fridge, now plugged in. "--uh, it'll -- I found out when I lift really heavy things with just my sticky-hands, I tend to tear bits of them off," he finishes. Peter glances to Daiki as he arrives, checking his tablet; the boy's cheeks briefly darken, just for a moment, before nodding his head. "Private… coffee party?" Peter asks, a hint of intrigue creeping into his voice. Peter likes coffee. "No shit? Who'd've thunk." Shane moves over to run his fingers over the front of the large fridge, looking down at Peter as it is plugged in. "And yeah there's gonna be caffeine out the fucking ass." "Hopefully not literally. I prefer my coffee with hazelnut flavoring." Daiki tips his tablet in towards Peter -- still one coffeemaker and two boxes of dishes left unaccounted for. "Private /graduation/ party. /With/ coffee." "Private 'my Pa is fucking awesome' party," Shane corrects cheerfully. "/With/ coffee. But holy shit you deserve a party if you manage to graduate after all that almost-dying. You're invited," he adds. "'Private' like 'for friends'. And way more fun than the /actual/ graduation or the snotty art exhibit after." "I'm going to his art show," Daiki says with a small twitch of lips. "OK but /his/ art show is different than the /school's/ boring-ass reception. I'm going to /his/ art -- that's this week, though, shit, I need something to wear." Shane's eyes are abruptly wider again. Peter glances at the tablet, peering at the coffeemaker and dishes on the list, quickly nodding his head to Daiki -- at the mention of caffeine, Peter perks; at the mention of being invited, he perks a little more, a smile tugging at the side of his mouth. "--can we have an 'almost-died-but-didn't' party?" Peter asks, and it's maybe-hard to tell if he's just joking or not. At the mention of the art show, Peter wrinkles his nose, struggling hard not to do anything more than that. Eergh. Art. "--is his art show--" Peter begins, thinking aloud. "--like, it isn't--boring, is it?" He asks this question tentatively, as if he is verging into dangerous territory, throwing a hesitant glance toward Shane -- grinning at the widening of his eyes. "You do need new clothes. You know," and at this, he puffs up just a hint, "I could buy you clothes as your birthday present, since I never got you one and I have money now." "Yes, because with all the things Eli sent you there's certainly nothing stylish enough for an art opening." Daiki's voice is a little bit dry. "I've /worn/ all those clothes already," Shane complains. "I need something /newly/ awesome." Daiki lifts a hand, hiding his smirk behind it. "Jax-san's exhibit is meant to highlight the humanity of mutants," he tells Peter. "It's at a very well-respected gallery and will have a lot of press and art critics and people trying to outdo each other in pretension." After a pause he adds -- with a small smile as though /this/ might be the selling point here: "But a figure as prominent as he is running an exhibition on mutants -- He has also already received at least three bomb threats and quite a number of threats of personal violence over it. The opening is Thursday evening." "Then we will get something ridiculously awesome," Peter announces, an arm snaking out rather suddenly for Shane's waist, to squeeze! Before retreating back to his side, to begin dusting off his shorts, which have collected a little bit of packing dust. At Daiki's mention of 'well-respected', 'press', and 'art critics', Peter's nose wrinkles harder and harder; all wrinkles vanish when Daiki mentions the bomb threats and threats of personal violence, though. His expression becomes softer, a little calmer and more inscrutably blank. "--guess I'll go," he says, toes wriggling in his shoes. Shane leans into the squeeze, tipping up his head to dart a small kiss to Peter's jawline. "/Ridiculously/ awesome," he agrees. "Though I guess I shouldn't look /more/ awesome than Pa." "I don't think he'd mind," Daiki replies. His small smile has remained as Peter's wrinkled expression smoothes out. Shane chuffs out a quiet breath. "/Enabler/," he accuses Daiki. "It doesn't hurt," Daiki answers easily, "to have as many watchful eyes as we can. You'd like him to /make/ it to his graduation party, yes?" Shane just chuffs again. Daiki tips his tablet up towards the other two boys. "You still have some boxes left." Peter, in reply to that last chuff, sneaks a tiny kiss of his own, on top of Shane's head -- arm snaking back around his waist once again. Giving a tiny tug, pulling him toward the door, toward the truck where the last of the boxes remain. "C'mon," he says, following the kiss up with a tiny nip at Shane's jaw. "I bet I can carry the last of the boxes and you." Teasing. "--I should probably get something too, for the party, I…" Peter hesitates, thinking. "...kinda just have a collared shirt, clip-on, and dress slacks." "Carry the last of the boxes /and/ Daiki," Shane tells Peter, though he's following along after the other boy in a quick trot towards the door. "I'm /cheating/ I barely weigh anything." "We can find you something appropriate." Daiki returns to behind the counter, setting his tablet down on it so that he can turn his attention back to unpacking. "Shane will teach you how to tie a tie." "Shush," Peter replies, at Shane's accusation of cheating -- hopping up on the truck to heft up the boxes, and pass them to Shane. Peter takes the coffee machine -- it's bulkier, and Peter can stick his hands to it -- hefting the thing up with a soft 'hup', carefully turning it to lay it atop of one shoulder, curled up around it -- carrying it as if it were just a box full of styrofoam. Or one of those big, fake, foamy rocks. "I don't understand ties," Peter admits to Shane, nose wrinkling a little, as they move back into the building -- his voice picking up within earshot of Daiki. "--why doesn't everyone just wear clip-ons?" Shane curls his arms snugly around the first box, standing steadily to let Peter set the second box atop it. He heads back into the shop, very /gently/ setting the two boxes of dishes down on a table. "Dai," he complains with a very longsuffering look, "did you hear him? Why doesn't everyone -- look at what I have to put up with." "He might break up with you if you say things like that," Daiki cautions, reaching over to tap lightly at hs tablet as Peter arrives with the coffeemaker. "That goes here." He taps at a spot on the back counter and then reaches down, picking up a length of yellow plastic tie that's come off one of the boxes. Only once Peter's had a chance to set the coffeemaker down does he reach up, looping the length of plastic cord around Peter's neck. One hand slides up both its ends, gripping them together so that he can pull the shorter boy in towards himself with a slow but firm tug; his grip slides up to tighten the makeshift noose in against Peter's throat, fist nudging at the other boy's chin to turn Peter's face up towards his own. His touch comes as it always does, with a suddenly /fierce/ surge of his strange magnetic pull, only heightened as his face tips down near Peter's. He holds the not!tie tight against Peter's neck, his mouth very close to the other boy's as he answers, "-- This is why." Peter huffs at Shane's response, hmphing a little at Daiki as he mentions the risks of bringing up Peter's problems with ties versus clip-ons -- he 's soon plopping the coffee maker down with another 'hup', having had more issue with its bulk than its actual weight, his arms unwrapping from around it -- just as Daiki is picking up that plastic tie. It helps that Peter's danger sense does not tingle -- either as a result of Daiki's power, the fact that he's not in any actual danger, or a combination of both. Regardless, Peter does not see the plastic cord coming until it's slipped around his throat -- and then, Peter's only response is a set of wide eyes, his hand darting up to touch the plastic binding as it *pinches* slightly in to his skin, his breath immediately catching -- then hitching. Peter's head is nudged up underneath Daiki's fist, his eyes going briefly -- glassy, his breath going shallow -- as contact is made against Peter's chin, he makes a sound, strangled in his throat -- whimpering, weak -- as his knees shake, threatening to buckle. "--o-oh," Peter whispers, mouth opening, parted into an 'o', staring up at Daiki, at Daiki's mouth. "--o… oh…" He makes a softer, shakier sound; something almost akin to a moan. The shorter boy's weight shifting slightly down… toward the floor. Shane steps in, curling his arm firmly around Peter's waist and pulling the other boy back in against him, leaning up against Peter to support and pull him out of the downward droop. Daiki's mouth twitches up into a smile, and he releases the yellow tie, taking a half-step back. "See? Much more fun that way." For a moment, Peter's a little out of it; breathing heavily, eyes lingering on Daiki as he's pulled back by Shane, not even apparently realizing the boy's wrapped an arm around his waist. But then, slowly, Peter bristles, starting to steady, his weight shifting down against Shane, briefly dropping against him… before slowly beginning to straighten underneath his own power. Flushed, vivid indigo, his fingers still around the yellow strip of plastic. "--o… oh. Um. Oh," Peter says raspily, curling an arm around Shane's waist, his grip becoming almost uncomfortably tight. He squeezes the plastic tie, drawing it slowly down, off of his dark throat. Daiki's cheeks are just a little bit flushed, but he takes another step back, picking his tablet back up. Then setting it down again and pulling keys out of his pocket instead. "I'm going to go return the truck," he says quietly, glancing with a small hint of smile to the others, "I need to get it back before nine." Shane just shivers and leans in against Peter. His arms curl tighter around Peter, pulling him even closer as Shane leans up against the counter. Tips his head in to kiss Peter's throat as the cord leaves it. "We'll be here."