#threads.dodger

[houseoracastle]

@oxtofmydcpth

Emrys didn't make it a point to visit Dodger in his home. He'd always known how to find the guy, of course, but he'd also respected the other's privacy, or whatever. Besides, as much as he'd wanted the two of them to be close, he also sort of felt like he was just another person to Dodger. Just some annoying kid. But Dodger had implied he was willing to fight in Emrys' corner, hadn't he? That had to mean something. Like maybe he gave a shit. And maybe it was just a moment of weakness that had Emrys knocking on the door, feeling more than a little stupid for even coming by.

[houseoracastle]

Cass didn't respond, just listened and accepted. He hadn't planned on pissing anyone off, but he was pretty sure Dodger wasn't too pleased with him. But it would always be easier to be disliked than to be liked, and so he didn't really question it. He contemplated sticking around for a bit, waiting for Phoenix, or maybe even Jay to get home. But then he thought better of it, something in his brain telling him they probably didn't want to see him anyway, and he found himself taking one last look around the kitchen as he readied himself to leave. After a moment's thought, he went into the bottom cupboard on the left, grabbing the first thing he could reach and then heading towards the front door. Before he exited, he sighed and tossed the item he'd grabbed right back into the kitchen, slamming the front door shut behind him.

"Yeah well minding your own business is apparently reason enough." He wasn't sure if perception of him had changed since becoming Phoenix' partner, and Jay's substitute father, and his definite attempts at doing something that wasn't the bare minimum, but also why should he care about reputation and perception, when the only opinions that mattered were those of Phoenix and Jay. "Nobody asked me to be accommodating, but it's that common courtesy you talk about," even if he was still stood in only his boxers, "you're my lovers family, and even though you woke me up, I can still respect that." Although his patience was admittedly wearing thin. "I'll be sure to let him know, or you just hang out here and let him know yourself, he'll be home soon, probably, I don't know." He pressed a hand to his face, rubbing his eyes harshly, padding slowly back to the bedroom. "Help yourself to more coffee, or other drinks or snacks or whatever, but nothing from bottom cupboard on the left; that's Jay's stuff." He yawned. "I'm going back to bed, but good talk. And congrats."

[houseoracastle]

@oxtofmydcpth

Emrys felt like he hadn't seen Dodger in a bit, and he knew that was probably his own fault. When he wasn't at work, he was typically keeping his head down, avoiding people for the most part. But he still cared about his friends and loved ones, so he figured it was time to make an effort. When Dodger opened the door, Emrys held up his backpack, smirking. "I raided some of the abandoned cars. Wanna see what I found?"

[houseoracastle]

@oxtofmydcpth

It was never too difficult to find Dodger, and Emrys was practically a pro when it came to hunting the man down. He slipped into the booth across from the other, a smirk on his face. "Brought you somethin'," he said simply, reaching over to drop a Rolex watch just under Dodger's gaze. "It was pretty fancy-lookin', thought of you right away." He didn't bother saying where he'd gotten it from, Dodger had known him long enough to know that Emrys hadn't bought the item. "Kinda useless, I guess. But maybe someone'll buy it offa you," he suggested, shrugging.

[houseoracastle]

@oxtofmydcpth

Emrys knew he needed to sleep, but he was finding it difficult these days. It wasn't even that he was scared, because he couldn't say he'd ever really been afraid of things in Huntsville. He was sort of used to all the weird and morbid things that happened around here. But since becoming a ranger, things had just seemed to get even weirder. And now he felt....obsessed was probably the closest word to it. Obsessed with what, he wasn't sure. Maybe it was finding answers? More likely it was finding a way out. And even more likely than that, he was obsessed with knowing whether or not there even was anything besides this, because he didn't remember it but he'd heard others talk about it.

There weren't a whole lot of people he felt comfortable talking to anymore, though, which made the obsession that much worse. When he saw Dodger, his immediate reaction was to relax, to let himself rest long enough to have what could be a meaningful conversation. But as soon as he got close to the other, Emrys' brain reminded him that it was pretty likely that Dodger didn't care. Why should he? Emrys was just a pawn, more likely. A thought he didn't usually have about Dodger, but with his obsession came a newfound paranoia that he wasn't really digging. "I think I saw a body near the woods, towards the edge of town. Jacket looked like real leather, from far away," he said to the other, offering a smirk, trying to keep himself natural.

[houseoracastle]

If he had been a weaker man, he might have gotten a little misty-eyed at the realization that Dodger actually cared about him. Instead, Emrys mustered up all his remaining energy to scowl at the other, pulling away from the hand on his shoulder. “If I need you? Or if I’ve stolen somethin’ good for you?” He replied hastily, taking a few steps backward, bumping gently into a movie shelf. “Go be a fuckin’ family man. Enjoy that.” Emrys waited a few moments, and then turned to leave, wanting to put space between himself and Dodger, and also wanting to partake in something destructive.

There was no point in pushing, no point in trying to reason with someone who was acting so stubbornly. It never worked out, and Dodger knew from experience: he had been that stubborn kid set in his ways and his feelings, intent on going it alone for whatever reason he still didn’t quite know. “Emrys…” he paused, letting out a small sigh before he turned back to the youngster, “if people are willing to fight your corner, let them. Don’t push them away. Having no one…isn’t fun.” Another sigh rolled unintentionally from his lips, and he reached out, his palm resting atop Emrys’ shoulder. “You know where I am if you need me, okay?”

[houseoracastle]

"You don't need to give people a reason to dislike you. People will dislike others simply because it's easy to dislike them. It doesn't have to be logical, it doesn't have to make sense, it just has to hurt." But yeah, Cass understood not being liked because you walked a different path. "Nobody asked you to be accommodating. I was just looking for my brother. If you see him, let him know I'm proposing to someone, and I fully expect him to attend the wedding. And I'd love it if he'd do me the favor of getting everyone else to come, too," he said with a smirk, changing his tone on weddings very suddenly. "My future husband very likely doesn't need anyone discussing any issues, be them obvious or not, behind his back. Or maybe that's just common courtesy, I don't know."

Dodger gave another shrug, and took another swig of coffee. "To be honest, I was happy with my own company, doing my own thing, being my own person. No expectations from anyone. That's when people start to dislike you, because you're upsetting everything they work hard to maintain." Perhaps Cass out of all of Phoenix's family could understand that. "Hey," he growled, eyes narrowing, "watch your fucking tone in my house, yeah." He slid off the countertop, taking a single step towards Cass, "I'm fucking tired, and I'm being very accommodating while Phoenix isn't here," he paused, tenseness in his jaw loosening, and he took a long breath, "I'm sorry for offending your future husband with my...careless words. My assumption was that a man that has had obvious issues with fire in the past wouldn't want to get involved with anymore." He turned away, pacing to the sink, tipping the remains of his coffee into it. "But of course, what do I know about romance and what people want, eh?"

[houseoracastle]

Cass tried to take that in, frowning as he thought about it. "I would've thought not having family would make you more eager to make your own," he reasoned. He knew it was a thought on his mind, pretty frequently. The need for a family, either the one he was born into or the one he chose for himself. Cass didn't do well without people keeping him levelheaded. With a scowl, he stared at Dodger, his grip tightening on the mug he held. "You know, you can just say your own looks are basic and therefore fucking boring. No need to bring up to me all the distinctive features that make him a work of fucking art," he said, doing his best to shrug it off and look nonchalant.

Dodger gave a weak shake of his head, "no siblings, which probably didn't help with the disappointed parents thing. They went back to Turkey years before the Paradox hit. Didn't call, didn't text, didn't write, probably haven't since it hit," he shrugged, "family wasn't a thing for me, which is why this-" he looked around at the kitchen, and the house at large he now shared with Phoenix, "-was such a surprise as something I actually wanted." And how extra disappointed his parents would be about that. Luckily, they would never find out. He grinned at the possible ways Cass would create such a spectacle, even with the limited supplies in town he had no doubt the man would find a way. "I thought he'd not want fires," Dodger started without thinking, "with the whole skin thing."

[houseoracastle]

"Mm. I take it you don't have siblings or parents you're close to?" Cass didn't think he'd care too much if he lost his mother at this point, but he had been terrified of losing any of his brothers or nieces/nephews in the earthquake and the flood. There were a lot of people he cared about, and they typically topped his list, despite the way he acted towards them at times. "Ugh, you're right, unfortunately. I do want a spectacle. If people aren't talking about my wedding for the rest of the year, does it even matter that it happened? And of course fireworks for the love of my life," he added, pressing his hand to his chest with a smirk. "Also whatever other fires that might make him happy."

"Trying not to," he admitted, "nearly tapped out the day of the quake, and that was before all of that happened," he rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly, "but I think that whole thing put shit into perspective. Never been a family person, but that made me realise I didn't want to lose them." It shouldn't take an earthquake to make him realise that, but it shouldn't have taken someone getting into his head to one to reject the idea of a new family in the first place. He sipped his coffee, starting to feel the slow warmth and buzz of it through his body, "well you're Cass Romero, I'd have thought it anyone was going to have a wedding worthy of a half-time show, it would be you. What's the point in a spectacle if no one it going to see it? And I'm sure Lynx would appreciate the fireworks." If rumours were true. Or was that incensitive?

[houseoracastle]

Cass just nodded, knowing from experience that names were often a delicate thing, so he didn't need to continue to tease Dodger for his. "But you're not avoiding the whole familial responsibility now, so that's cool," he pointed out, leaning against the counter now with his lighter, milky-brown coffee. "Oh, I don't think anyone would give a shit either way," he snorted, sipping from his mug. "But why would I want to have a whole wedding for people who don't give a shit?"

Cassius. He was pretty sure he knew that, Phoenix having mentioned it in passing or something, but it was nice to have been actually told it now. “Aslan,” he finally responded after a prolonged pause, “they used to say I was a responsibility avoider, a job dodger, and that part just stuck. So as far as you or anyone else are concerned, it’s Dodger.” Part of him wasn’t convinced about the way Cass brushed off the old injury, but he’d take it at face value, with no real need to push any further questions. “Why not?” The subject of this impromptu wedding much more interesting, “you think people won’t approve of you two? Of him?”

[houseoracastle]

"I never knew anyone who pretended to know what fancy alcohol is," Emrys snorted, shaking his head. The drinkers he'd known in his life hadn't exactly given a shit what they were drinking, just as long as it had messed them up. And he'd steered clear of the stuff for a long time. It wasn't until recently that he'd even been drunk for the first time. Now, watching Dodger place the rum on the table, Emrys knew he was going to take it home with him. He'd drink it, even if it tasted horrible. He didn't have a reason for it, except that it had seemed to be the one thing that had ever made his dad feel any better, besides drugs. And Emrys didn't feel like talking to anyone about getting drugs. "Finders keepers," he replied, sticking his tongue out at Dodger childishly.

"What kinda gossip? Like gossip about me, or just shit I heard? Ruby was seein' someone who is super close with someone Ruby's not a big fan of, and they didn't tell her nothin' about it, which is shit. And Hank died. I'm not a virgin anymore. And I can make coasters outta old glass, now." He shrugged, not sure what other gossip he had to tell off the top of his head.

Dodger laughed when Emrys recoiled at the smell of the rum. "You can't tell, I think it's just a thing people say to sound sophisticated or knowledgeable on things. Like those ones that do wine tasting, acting like they know what's good and isn't, like they aren't going to guzzle it down by the bottle when they get home." Dodger wasn't a wine connoisseur, or a rum connoisseur for that matter, but he liked indulging in a drink, and considered himself at least a little knowledgeable on the topic. Again he laughed, and he extended a hand to take the run bottle from Emrys. "Then don't drink it. I'll be happy to take it off your hands. Me and Phoenix can share it tonight."

He screwed the lid back on, and placed it on the table, leaving it up to Emrys if he took it with him when he left. "So what else is new with you? I feel like we go through these long times where we don't see each other, there's got to be gossip."

[houseoracastle]

Not being able to process all the shit you'd been through seemed like the number one criteria for a super villain, in Emrys' opinion, but he didn't say so. It seemed like a moot point. He may be the bad guy here, but he was so small and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things; there was always going to be someone bigger and badder. Emrys was nothing compared to some of the evils he'd seen lately, so he could at least accept the fact that even if he was a bad guy, he wasn't the super villain in his story. "I'm not a kid," Emrys finally said, frowning, his brows furrowing together. As if that was the point to argue in all of this, his not being a child. "D'ya think the commune is still safe? Or am I stupid to still be there?" he asked, pulling away from Dodger's hands. "And thanks," he added, smiling slightly. It did make him feel a little bit better, Dodger's reassurance that he was there for him.

Dodger shuffled his position, looking Emrys directly in the face, eye remained unblinking so that he could look into them and know that Dodger was speaking the truth. "And I am telling you that you're not the bad guy. You're a kid that doesn't know how to process all of the shit that you've been through. That doesn't make you bad." He hoped this was helping but honestly he couldn't be sure. Dodger had always been told his presence could ease people's worries, even for a short amount of time, but to actively be offering advice on things? He felt woefully unqualified for that. "I see you Emrys. I've always seen you," he brought his hands up to rest on either side of Emrys' face, gently, comforting, "even when you're being a fucking asshole to me in a video store. I know I'm only one person, and sometimes that doesn't feel like it's enough, and I'm not exactly a town favourite myself, but I got you, okay? I got your back." Were these his newly found dad instincts kicking in? "I promise."

[houseoracastle]

"Yeah, I know," he replied, rolling his eyes. Emrys watched Dodger move some things around, and the asshole part of him really wanted to reach out and knock the shit over. But the recovered-dickweed part of him forced himself to sit still for a few moments, not to act on impulse. Watching Dodger sniff the rum, Emrys made a face. But then he took the bottle back and tried to do the same, practically choking just on the burning scent of the alcohol. "How can you tell it's good? They all smell so fuckin' terrible," he said, but he brought the open bottle to his lips anyway and took a swig. He coughed and spluttered after somehow managing to choke it down, eyes watering as he capped the bottle and looked at Dodger again. "They taste terrible too, fuck!"

"Never said it bothered me," he smirked, waiting for Emrys to enter before closing the door behind him, following the youngster into the living room. Some of Jay's things remained on the couch so Dodger quickly shuffled them together, placed them on the table then slunk himself down next to Emrys. "If you can't keep something for yourself, what's the point," he took the bottle from Emrys' hands, checking the label, unscrewing the lid and giving it a quick sniff. "Seems like a good one. Need a glass, or you going to save it for a special occasion?"

[houseoracastle]

"Is everyone in this town fuckin' gay?" He didn't mean it to come out sounding harsh, he was just genuinely asking a question. "Pretty sure that tall doctor at the clinic is engaged to a man, too," he snorted. Emrys couldn't help but think of how pissed off his father would be, living in Huntsville now. It kind of amused him, honestly, but only for a brief moment. "Fuckin' nothin's gotten into me. I'm good. You want somethin' kid-safe?"

"I mean...he's still my buddy...he's just a bit more than a buddy now too," because surely whatever happened, he and Phoenix would remain close friends, but at the moment he couldn't see anything coming between them. Bastián hadn't. The quake hadn't. Now Dodger narrowed his eyes, a little taken aback by Emrys' words. "And I hope you lose the attitude. Honestly, what's gotten into you?" He shook hid head, "okay, just...help me choose a movie."

[houseoracastle]

Cass thought for a moment about the way he phrased things. Was it confusing? Maybe that's why people didn't seem to understand him. Or perhaps that was more because the shit he said was weird and usually didn't follow any one train of thought, but instead several trains, most of them on fire and no longer following a track. "I guess it's just my eyes, then," he said with a shrug. If Dodger didn't see it, he didn't see any reason to explain it further than he already had. "'The bartender'? You talking about my little wild cat?" He asked, smirking and taking his hand off his pants, both hands instead resting on his knee, as if the two of them were just gossiping like old friends.

Dodger just grumbled, setting the water to boil with his other hand still resting against his face. Not early, but early enough. Phoenix wasn’t home, so that counted as being early. “Sometimes your phrasing doesn’t make sense,” Dodger responded blankly, and maybe that was his own issue to deal with, “you say I look like Romero just because your brother and I are dating? Or features are the same? Because I don’t see that at all.” It felt like a strange thing for someone to say. Wanna see? The question prompted Dodger to instinctively look over at Cass, noting the shaved face and eyes trailing down to where his hand was, before he shook his head slowly and looked back at the coffee pot, “nah save that shit for the bartender you’re always flirting with. I don’t need to see that much of you.”

[houseoracastle]

It was weird, and Emrys realized on some level that he was 'growing' as a person, because he was able to really reflect on the fact that he cared pretty deeply what other people thought of him. He'd told himself for his entire life that it didn't matter, and yet everything he ever said or did was an act. Likely an act to make people not want anything to do with him, but an act all the same. "But I don't know I'm not the bad guy," Emrys pointed out, trying to take in everything Dodger was saying, but knowing somewhere he'd lost the point of why he'd come here. What he wanted to tell the other. He didn't pull away from Dodger's hand, accepting the comfort, even sort of almost letting himself enjoy it. "Nobody said anythin'. I'm invisible at the commune. People aren't lookin' for me, so people don't see me. But shit just keeps gettin' crazier, and I feel like somethin' big is happenin', and I don't know if I want people to start seein' me or if I just wanna change what they'd be seein' if they did. Or somethin'."

Dodger's lips pressed together tightly, and he hummed in thought, seeing the obvious upset that Emrys was feeling, especially when he mentioned rumours and how fast they spread in this place, feeling that small pang of guilt in his stomach, not or Emrys personally, but how Dodger's involvement silently with the gossip column and the paper might be affecting people that way. But he couldn't think that way. He had a family to provide for now. "You're not a bad person," Dodger repeated back, hoping that someone else saying it would actually let the words sink in, "the shit people see in this town, back then and even now, makes people react. People run from scary shit. I barely move for like 20 out of 24 hours a day, but if one of those things looked at me, you know I'd sprint faster than you'd ever imagine." He shrugged, leaning back into the couch again. "It works both ways. The bad guys are the good guys of their own story, but that means that the bad guys think the good guys are the bad guys. I think I'm a good guy, some people obviously won't. But you ain't gonna please everyone. As long as you know you're not the bad guy, that you didn't do what they think you did, what the fuck does it matter?" He didn't have anything he could use as a relatable point in his own life, but if this were him going through it, Dodger assumed he wouldn't change his own stance. He knew Emrys wasn't a fan of physical contact, but he let his hand rest gently upon his back as he looked down, offering a small moment of comfort if he needed it. "Emrys," he said softly, "what's happened? Someone's obviously said something recently to upset you...you can talk to me, you know that right?"