#haha I realized while reading past replies that we haven't mentioned the book club

[dhampiravidi]

in--somnium​:

Was Pogue a little nervous? Yeah. Definitely. It’s not like he’d anticipated talking to Jayn’s parents this early on in their relationship- hell, they hadn’t even gone on a real date yet! But he liked her. He really, really, liked her. So… it was better to do it now, he thought, and get the first (and likely awkward) introductions out of the way. He had been honest, after all, when he’d told her that he was serious about her. He supposed it was too soon to think of far off futures with, like, marriage and a family and everything, but he could already imagine asking her to stay when summer came around. Or maybe going to visit her family out west, instead. Hell, at that point, he would probably pack up and spend the whole summer with her back at her home, learning more about her and where she was from, hopefully gaining the favor of her parents, too. It would be nice to venture out, to see something new. And more than anything, he’d like to do so with her.

With all this in mind, he kept his arm around Jayn’s waist as they walked, pressing her gently to his side. As she spoke, he listened, tried to commit as much of what she said to his memory as he could. After all, when the time came to finally, actually, talk to her parents for more than just a few minutes he wanted to be prepared. “If you ever wanna try learning about it again… I’m your man,” He grinned. He’d be more than happy to teach her about cars- anything she wanted to know. And maybe, just maybe, he’d even hold her attention better than her dad had when he’d tried to teach her. Or, ya know, they might just end up distracted. Either way, it seemed like it could be fun.

Pogue was about to ask a question about her mom when she mentioned France and he blinked in surprise. “Wait- go back,” He kept his voice quiet so they wouldn’t be overheard. “You teleported to France?” He hadn’t even known it was possible to teleport that far! But, despite the similarities in some of their powers, they were based in different roots and that meant there were plenty of differences, too. It must have taken a hell of a lot of power to get that far, though. “You’ve gotta tell me about that,” Then he glanced around, realized now probably wasn’t the best time. “Later, though. Sometime when we’re alone. Or with the guys, even. Just… not here,” He found himself wondering if she’d already relayed the story to Caleb. A petty little thought, really, but he’d always had a bit of a jealous streak and maybe the issues in his long-standing relationship with Kate had made him a little more sensitive about it, too. 

Jayn pulled out her phone, though, and he was glad to hear her parents already seemed to like him- that was a good place to start. When she pulled her finger away, he chuckled, then nodded. “Ready.”

Cassia knew that finding a chance to go out wasn’t going to be easy. Caleb was busy pretty much all the time with extra-curriculars. Not that she minded. In fact, she thought it was nice that he was so involved with things. So far, she’d only really joined DnD; but outside of that she often kept herself busy with other hobbies (and with the extra classes she was taking “just for fun”) because she liked to keep busy. She hadn’t said anything to anyone (not even Tyler, because she didn’t want to jinx it), but she was trying out for a local college band whose lead guitarist had… had a falling out with the other guys. She didn’t know if she stood a chance really (and she was sure they weren’t all that interested in letting a girl join their group), but she figured it was worth a shot. After all, she practiced all the time on her dad’s black 1977 Univox Hi-Flier, and she’d absolutely loved playing with her old band back in high school… even if they were probably fairly mediocre at the time. So, yeah- Caleb being involved in so many things wasn’t an issue at all for her, really. She didn’t mind waiting for a date, especially when something like this almost kinda felt like one, anyway. What mattered most to her were those moments they met up between classes, or the “good morning” and “good night” texts, or even phone calls that sometimes kept them both up later than they probably should have. She wasn’t sure how Caleb managed to juggle it all like he did, and she tried to reassure him that she wouldn’t be upset if there were days when he was too busy (or too tired) for more than just a text or two to let her know he was fine. 

To be honest, knowing that Caleb had so much on his plate already, Cass was kind of anticipating that he’d not be able to do the following weekend, either. She wouldn’t be disappointed (or, at least, she’d try not to be), but she was really, really hoping that they could find a chance to go out together. These little outings with everyone else were fun, yeah, but a chance to just… be with each other without the rest of the group sounded really nice. So when he said he could do that weekend, she was excited. “Really?” She would have kissed him if she wouldn’t have gotten her lipstick on him in doing so. “That would be great!” When it got closer to the day, he could just… give her a time and she’d be ready. In fact, she’d probably be ready an hour or two early just because anxiety. But it would be the good kind- if there was such a thing! She wondered if it would be better that her dad was there or if it would be better to just… meet Caleb at the door without him having to come in. Truth be told, she wasn’t worried that her dad would try to intimidate him or anything like that- her dad wasn’t the type. Besides, he already knew a fair bit about Caleb just from what Cassia had told him and he had seemed to like Caleb, already. So if Caleb did meet her dad then, well, it probably wouldn’t be that hard to make a good first impression. She had absolutely no idea that Caleb might have thought that part through, already.

They took another step forward and Cassia turned her head at the sound of a scream, having no clue what had just happened. Someone must have scared the poor kid with their costume, though. Either that or they were just in the middle of a sugar rush… Much like she anticipated Reid might soon be if he kept munching on his candy the way he was.

They were near the front of the line now, and Cass was practically buzzing with excitement. She kept her Jack Skellington plush and her bag of candy pressed to one side and her free hand in Caleb’s. She didn’t know what to expect, but she’d always gotten a kick out of haunted houses. She could also hear Tyler telling Aaron that he hoped it was a little less scary than last year- which made Cass think last year’s must have been fairly intense (something she was more than fine with!)

“We’re up next, guys. Keep close. And try not to scream too loud,” Tyler joked, pointing an accusatory glance towards Reid just to antagonize his friend a little (and also to make Reid well aware that he had caught him chewing on another piece of candy).

Jayn could already tell that she and Pogue were something special--or at least, they were becoming that. They’d started out with a really bad miscommunication that had almost prevented them from becoming friends at all, and now he was about to (unofficially) meet her parents. On top of that, they were always looking forward to learning about each other. She really did look forward to visiting him at the garage where he worked on some day when he wasn’t too busy just so he could geek out and teach her about all the parts he was fixing. He didn’t seem too worried about the fact that she knew next to nothing about cars (it wasn’t like she’d been driving one while in Ipswich). She’d bring lunch and come in something comfy-yet-basic, something she wouldn’t mind getting dirty in case he needed an extra pair of hands. 

She did not expect him to be that shocked that she’d teleported to France one time. Jayn knew that the Sons’ magic usage got dangerous once they Ascended, but she had also heard plenty of silly stories involving how they’d used their Power to get in trouble as kids and later as teenagers. The boys had teleported out of their clothes, lit bushes on fire, and telekinetically blown up someone’s PB&J. So accidentally going a little too far while she was asleep didn’t seem too crazy a feat to her. “Uh...yeah, I can tell you about that later,” Jayn replied. It was time to focus on the task at hand.

She selected her house phone number, and her father picked up on the second ring as if he’d been ready to do so for the last few minutes. Knowing her parents, they probably had, since she’d told them that she’d be going to a major public event that mostly took place in the evening. Never mind the fact that she was a witch surrounded by other witches. Jayn mentally sighed.

“Hi, Daddy! Can I talk to you and Mommy? Someone wants to meet you?” 

“Yeah, hold on just a minute--” There was some moving around on the other line, then-- “Alright, you’re on speaker.” Jayn made sure to put her cell on speakerphone too, so Pogue could hear what was going on. Her mother said hello, to show that she was there. Her father whispered something in the background, which made his wife snicker. “Is everything okay? Are you having fun?”

“Yes, I told you I’d be fine. The others are in line for the haunted house, so we figured we’d call.”

“We who?” His tone got concerned, and Jayn had to mouth to Pogue, “He does that when he has questions.”

“Me and Pogue. My...boyfriend.” She felt herself blushing. “You know, the guy who fixed the suspension on the Lexus? I sent you a picture of--” Her dad laughed in excitement.

“Oh! The mechanic whiz!” Jayn covered her face in shame. “Hey, Pogue! How are you? How’s school?”

If Caleb could count the number of times that Cassia had made him smile...he could really make a fortune, probably bigger than the one he was already the heir to. He figured he’d make it over to her place to ask her dad for permission to date her sometime next week. Tyler had Cass’s address because they sometimes played D&D at her place, and Pogue would know part of her schedule since he was her partner for Ancient History. With their help, Caleb hoped to secretly meet with Mr. Keller. He wanted to make sure he knew exactly which things his girlfriend liked, disliked, and was curious about. Of course, they’d talked about certain things, like how she’d played guitar in a band, she liked to read, she spoke Spanish, she was interested in anything urban fantasy, etc. Oh, and Caleb was fairly sure that Cassia wasn’t very fond of sweets. She hadn’t taken much of the candy on the night their group had studied together, and most of what was in her Halloween bag wasn’t chocolate.

There was a sudden scream and Caleb instinctively moved so he was shielding Cassia from the rest of the street. That was the one thing that irked him about Halloween and parties in general: some people went wild without considering how their actions might affect others. He hadn’t told Cass yet, but his mother was an alcoholic. Both his parents had drank in front of him at the dinner table when he was a child. However, not long after he’d become a teenager, his parents’ addictions got worse. His father grew addicted to Using, which visibly aged him, and in response, his mother began to drink more heavily. Caleb had learned to cook because they’d dismissed the maid (not wanting to explain why Mr. Danvers was aging so quickly) and he kept finding his mom lying in her room, too out of it to feed him or herself. Save for his night with Pogue, Caleb hardly ever drank. He didn’t want to be responsible for hurting someone just because he was inebriated.

Thankfully, once he looked around, he realized that all was fine--Reid had just accidentally scared the crap out of a little kid. (Not that that was great or anything, Caleb actually felt bad for the kid and their parents, but it was a whole lot better than what could’ve happened in another situation.) Caleb took a deep breath and went back to holding his girlfriend’s hand, hoping she didn’t think his reaction had been too weird. “Sorry about that,” he muttered. He tried to plaster a smile onto his face, even though Cassia had already shown that she could see right through that. “Still gonna keep me safe?” He hoped the joke would lighten up the mood he’d crushed.

Aaron let go of Tyler’s hand as they got up to the entrance, but he was grinning. “Just in case we end up running our way through,” he told his boyfriend. It definitely wasn’t his first Ipswich Halloween, so he knew what to expect in terms of fright level, but not in terms of the details. And Aaron liked a good scary movie, even though he himself was not past screaming (or accidentally losing control of the popcorn bowl). He was just glad to get to do it with Tyler. It was like a weird, muggy, dark Tunnel of Love (not that he was going to admit that). 

It was then that Reid realized he might have a problem. He had a giant (half-filled) bag of candy in his greedy hands and anticipation in his mind. There was no way in Hell that he was missing out on the haunted house...but he also wanted to eat while he could (in other words, without Tyler or Caleb policing his sugar intake). He looked for Pogue and Jayn, who he suddenly noticed weren’t in line, and huffed. Apparently, he had to be all fucking responsible on Halloween. He shoved yet another piece of Fun-Sized chocolate into his mouth, chomped and chewed until he could swallow it, and then prepared himself for the ominous mansion that loomed ahead.