Dite's Decadent Delights, Friday

[myownface]

The freaking heat was out at Dite's today. And sure, Sparkle had called someone in to come beat the furnace into submission, but in the meantime, it was freaking cold. And it wasn't even like there was anything of any substance in here to keep warm under. Lingerie? Not exactly made for warmth, after all.

And sure, he'd brag that, as a Canadian who had done his fair share of winter nights on the streets, he was better-suited to winter cold than most people. But one of the first things any Canadian learns is that, if you can avoid the cold, you freaking do it. It was just common freaking sense.

Barring that, layers. Which was why there was a somewhat miserable Sparkle sitting at the till of Dite's today in his winter duds, buried under a small heap of lacy underthings. Bury yourself under enough silk corsets, and it was almost like being under a blanket. Almost.

He'd sort them out again and put them away once the furnace-guy fixed the place and it warmed up again. In the meantime, no work was getting done. At all.

[OOC: Ah, semi-method RP. My heap of blankets and space heater and a cat shoved into the foot of my sleeping bag are barely making up for the fact that our heat is out and there's a blizzard out there. Open, and chilly.]

Comments

[nottrivial]

Stopping by this store on his lunch break was probably a really stupid idea, but that wasn't so out of the ordinary for Alec.

Although he hadn't quite been expecting the temperature in here. Good thing he was dressed warmly, he supposed.

"Uh, hi."

[myownface]

Sparkle blinked up from where he was, bundled all cozy with a lacy little black number draped over his head like a cowl. A teddy cowl.

"Hey," he greeted, maybe only just a tiny bit awkwardly. Try not being awkward when buried under women's underthings. "Can I help you?"

Somehow Sparkle didn't figure Alec was here for condoms or dildos, but it seemed like a better greeting than his kneejerk 'It's cold come warm me up' impulse, somehow.

[nottrivial]

"No, I wanted to talk to you about..." Wait. "Do you want my jacket?" he offered sincerely. "That doesn't look warm."

[myownface]

"Ohgodyes."

Sparkle had all the resolve of a glob of Jell-o.

"Heat's been off all damn day, and I'm not taking the day off just because it's cold."

Super cold. Like, way colder than a place with merchandise as hot as Dite's carried had any right to be.

[nottrivial]

Alec took off his coat and handed it over, careful not to touch any of the garments Sparkle had piled on as blankets. "It'll probably be a little broad on you, but it's better than... that."

Obviously.

"Did you call your boss?" he asked. "About the heat." Because of course Alec would go right to that solution.

[myownface]

"My boss doesn't even live on the island, I don't think," Sparkle grumbled, wriggling out from under his heap of underthings and wriggling into Alec's jacket, instead. It was a bit like wearing a tarp, but it was a warm tarp, so Sparkle would deal. "I called some... repair guy or something, but I guess he's busy taking care of a house with a gremlin stuck in the pipes, so he can't be out to fix the furnace for a few more hours."

Stupid gremlins.

"I am like so fucking close to seeing how well fuzzy handcuffs burn, you have no idea."

[nottrivial]

"I think save the fires for your other job," Alec advised. He surveyed Sparkle for a moment, then unraveled his scarf and handed that over, too. "If you have one employer who tolerates the burn barrel, that's probably all you can hope for."

It wasn't exactly a common term of employee contracts.

[myownface]

"Fair," Sparkle replied, contemplating the scarf for a moment before grudgingly accepting it, too. Alec and Sparkle and scarves... there was a history there. "Shame it's not Demon Marcus that's stuck without heat. I could deal with that."

He loved that burn barrel so.

[nottrivial]

This was true. But at least this one was neither yellow nor cashmere. And Alec was going to expect it back.

"Or the place where I work," Alec offered, adding lamely by way of explanation, "At least there's a rune I can do for warmth."

He had it on now, in fact.

[myownface]

"That's why you're not freezing your ass off now, huh?" Good luck getting this coat back, Alec. It was huge, but it was cozy. Sparkle nuzzled into it a little more. If he looked and felt a little like a burrito, well, all the better. "So, you were saying a thing. About why you were here."

Yeah, Sparks hadn't forgotten.

[nottrivial]

"Right." It was starting to seem like a more awkward subject now that he'd gone and dressed Sparkle in his own winter attire, though. "Um, I wanted to thank you for the rescue the other week. With the mistletoe?"

It had been mutually beneficial, but technically he had been rescued.

"It was... really helpful."

[myownface]

Sparkle's cocked eyebrow was just barely visible above the scarf that he'd wrapped around his face a few times.

"Hey, any time you need a rescue from voyeuristic weeds while I'm being strangled to death by 'em, I'm your man," he replied, shrugging. "I should be the one thanking you, here."

Since, again, he was the one who was being strangled at the time.

[nottrivial]

Hey, there had been a few loose vines kind of near Alec's feet, right?

...He might have over-psyched himself up for this.

"You don't have to," Alec dismissed. "I hope it wasn't intrusive or anything. That I did that."

[myownface]

"Nah. We'd have to be extra fucked up for saving my life to be intrusive, Alec," Sparkle pointed out. "Anyhow, you're still a good kisser."

So, there was that.

[nottrivial]

Alec definitely blushed a bit at that, and he couldn't even hide in his scarf. Damn. "You too," he said. "I was just thinking that it's good that we aren't quite that messed up."

[myownface]

"Well, yeah," Sparkle replied, and then attempted his best teasing grin from behind the scarf. "Otherwise we'd both be plant food, right?"

Also for the sake of good kissing. But, you know, the being alive was nice.

[nottrivial]

"Or psycho food," Alec suggested. "I think that's what those things were called."

He toed the ground. It wasn't a gesture that was typical for him. "I was just thinking, if you wanted to start communicating again in situations that aren't life-threatening, I'd be interested."

[myownface]

Sparkle took in the sight of that ground-toeing with interest. It really wasn't a gesture he was used to seeing Alec make.

"... Would you?" Sparkle wasn't going to point out that he was the one who had been screaming for Alec to leave, back when things had gotten ugly. He was all too interested in hearing Alec out, at the moment, to do that.

And... well... he'd missed him.

"Gotta admit, I am pretty fond of non-life-threatening situations, and communicating during them."

[nottrivial]

Alec gave an emphatic nod at that. "I do too. I guess today doesn't count since you might, um, freeze to death, but in the future, maybe we could... talk more? Socially?"

He was working his way up to something resembling an apology, but so far he had a definite air of asking for permission.

[myownface]

"Social talking," Sparkle mused, smirking faintly. "Now there's a concept. Sure, Alec. I think I might be able to handle some social talking."

As opposed to the antisocial kind.

[nottrivial]

The brisk, goal-oriented kind of talking when someone's survival was on the line wasn't really all that social, if you asked Alec.

"Oh." Somehow he hadn't expected it to be that easy, but relief was all over his face. "Okay, good."

Could he try to be a little less awkward, maybe? Just try?

[myownface]

That awkwardness was always kind of endearing, at least to Sparkle, who was just raising an eyebrow and smirking at him from his jacket-burrito.

"Not bad," he agreed. "We can now pass one another in the halls and say 'hello,' and shit again. That'll be nice. Maybe hang out sometime or... something."

[nottrivial]

"Yeah. I'd like that."

Because Alec had been a dick, see?

"I also... wanted to say that you did very well in the Kwik Stop. Much better than I did, apparently. Despite... all kinds of things. And I have respect for that."

[myownface]

"Yeah?" That... actually meant a lot to Sparkle. He was the mundie boyfriend, after all, and even learning how to shoot an arrow had come with a lot of feeling less-than, even if Alec had done all he could to bite back an air of superiority. Out of the two of them, one of them wasn't actually made for that sort of thing, after all. "You went down trying to keep me safe. I guess I just didn't want that to be for nothing."

Also, he hadn't wanted to die. A lot.