orangetoughguy | log post II

[E-e-e-ee-e-ee-e. Incoming. There's a toucan soaring down from the second floor to the first. It's the same old toucan Larry's seen before (the winner) but there's something different about Sam tonight. Could it be the splash of purple dangling from his bright bill? The bird lands on the coffee table carrying a short stem of orchids. Beady black eyes stare at Lawrence Dimick.]

[Oh boy. Here we go. Brown eyes look up and watch the bird swoop down. Though...wait a second. Larry sits up. ]

What do ya got there?

[Is that an orchid? What the fuck is Sam doing with an orchid? Where would he get it? On his feet now to stand over the perched bird.]

I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to eat that.

[Nice and slow now he is moving down to be eye level. Though to be honest it isn't without reservation. No foam here to get flung in his face. That doesn't mean a damn thing though. Sam here is crafty.

The more he thinks about it and really gets a look at the bloom he sees that it isn't anything from outside on a window box.]

[The same way Larry's looking down Sam is looking up like they're the same damn height. Big bill big balls or something or...he's just a toucan and that's how toucans roll. Who knows. But yeah, he's staring and his head pivots at the same pace that White takes to meet him at eye level. It's almost horror show material. Then suddenly snap. The bird snips the stem in two, leaving a half stretch of blooms for Larry and a half stretch of blooms for his own cage, which the toucan promptly flaps towards to decorate.]

[The beak isn't that sharp. And since the old man doesn't want to go through the bird visiting no doctor again, he braves the cage to make sure the flowers are out.]

Not for you, buddy boy. Hear me? Not for you.

[Looks like he's got about everything in his hand and then he dips to get whatever fell on the floor.]

Where'd this come from?

[Like he'll get an answer. The bear is on the move. If the bird is out chances are Freddy is out and about someplace. But where?]

[E-ee-e-e-e-ee-ee-e-e. That's toucanese for pleeeeeeaaaaase...let me have something, even if it's not orchids--shiny. Sam stretches, noticing his awesome supercool tambourine is in here. Time to play. Effectively that means there's a red butt pointed your way, Lawrence Dimick. Sam's no threat now.

As for the other beast who lives in this den, that fox hound Freddy is somewhere upstairs doing what he does best; trying to figure out what's what and failing in it. The kid doesn't know the first thing about flowers or how colors look good and if that vase can go over there or if this one should be over here. He's still trying to adjust them, knowing full well there's a bear downstairs and that bear is up and about. The clock is ticking, Newendyke.

For the tenth time he puts this vase back on the left while putting the one on the left back in the other corner then switching these two over here.]

[Toucanese isn't a language he speaks but he knows back talk when he hears it. They may never be able to understand each other. Could be a reoccurring theme in this household.

Is the kid hiding out? Since it only takes a good look around to find out whether he's on the lower level, the old man tries to make quiet on the stairs.

Fee. Fi. Fo. Fum. Ah. There he is. One step in from the threshold and he sees the colored blossoms.]

Woah.

Heeey Larry.

[Freddy greets with a not so smooth turn around to face Larry which almost knocks a couple blooms off. These vases are in the old man's room by the way, but there's another bowl-bouquet type in the bathroom. The most important (uh, interesting) part is how the upstairs level smells like some kind of floral fiesta.]

[Smells like a garden up here. And that's something for not one but two smokers in this house. How many vases are there? Larry steps close to the first one for a sniff, briefly because there's something else worth nosing.

All this? Really?]

Hell of a collection.

[He's about face to face with Freddy now. Hands on his hips. Can a fella look visibly touched? Grinning from ear to ear, standing toe to toe with the clever fox.]

[A few, because the kid couldn't decide on a theme so all in all there are roses, orchids, tulips, and some other stuff in total.]

Yeah well. [Is he being bashful? Maybe, but in his own Freddy Newendyke sort of way. He tucks his hands into his pockets, still wearing the hoodie, shirt, and jeans he went out in. There are some leaves and remnant petals on his sleeves. Yeah, he hauled each and every vase up himself.] I don't wanna be caught up in some cold war crap. So I'm sorry I pissed you off, whatever I did.

[He wants to get all of that out before he feels he can even return a smile to Lawrence Dimick.]

[Somewhere between a snort and incredulous laugh Larry accepts that he can't hide shit sometimes, not with this kid and his nose for trouble. What the fuck was he thinking anyway. The guy went out and did this. It's no cheap stunt, no cheap stunt at all. His paws hover to brush away the flora.]

Baby. [Task done he grips the kid at the elbows. Huffing out a breath, he licks his lips. It's gonna sound fucking stupid. Then again he guesses it would still be difficult to say if he had a period silver tongue.] I kinda thought you were nobody's romantic. You proved me dead wrong.

[Damn right it ain't cheap. The kid's sworn off flashy toys and comics for the rest of June even though he kind of knows the old man won't have him penny pinching over that stuff. Paws are free to hover and brush.]

I'm not romantic.

[Freddy admits with the slightest shrug. That definitely answers what upset Larry although he's pretty sure the toucan's timing still had something to do with it as well.]

I don't know I guess I don't think about it...

[Consider, Dimick that Freddy is a younger guy. He has made a habit of not being committal at all. And what, so he doesn't get moony over the same bullshit you do. Is that worth pitching a fit? Look what came out of it.

...yeah, the kid is going to be finding money in his pockets he forgot was there or something.]

All that fluff and shit from the curse was kinda nice to me. [Using words now. Hopefully the right ones.] And not that I feel like I can't say anything I want to you but all that flowery talk well, it was the right place and time.

[Eyes moving from one fixture to the other he's trying to gauge price. Shit. This amazing fucking kid.]

[Come on now, it's not a habit per se, he just happens to get moony over superheroes saving cities. Lawrence Dimick's been his only gateway to the world of mooning over wining and dining. That's not the same as saying Freddy's never wined and dined a date before...Larry just happens to outclass him in every way possible when it comes to that.

It only makes sense then that the old man enjoyed being thrown into 17th Century France. He knows how to dance the proper circles and maintain subtlety, he knows how to seduce without being blunt. Could be the kid doesn't think men are allowed to seduce each other, to treat each other as they might if the rest of the world didn't insist "That's only for women." But he's still a fool for love, he just gets Cs in the language.]

It wasn't just fluff and shit.

[Freddy shakes his head, knowing Larry doesn't think that at all. If the old man enjoyed it then it wasn't just fluff and shit; it's something that makes Larry smile.] I'm not real good at this.

[Half a shuffle and they're hip to hip. Freddy doesn't smell like fine perfumes or oils. His long hair is his own. The old man doesn't swoon though it would be a lie to say that there's no similar effect in his body with the kid just being the kid.]

I don't care. [Whether he's good at it or not. Larry's bear snout noses along Freddy's hairline.] You're doing okay in my book so far.

Cool, man.

[Now isn't that a prime example of how a Newendyke reacts to this kind of situation? Well, a Freddy Newendyke anyway. He closes his eyes like it'll make him feel that bear snout even more as he tilts his head to form against Larry. You got fuckin' lucky with this old man, Newendyke.]

I got one too. [A flower arrangement he means. Yeah, for himself.]

[This close he can hardly smell the flowers. It's all smoke, soap and Freddy. Larry's favorite.]

Oh yeah?

[So. Many. Vases.]

Show me.

[Because he wants to see what kind Freddy likes.]

Uh huh.

[Caramel greens open up again. Then hip to hip becomes hand to hand as he guides Larry over to his own room like a kid pulling a grown up to come see something awesome. There on the ledge of his widest window is it.]

Fucking cool huh? It looks like an alien.

[Held like this the kid could take him about everywhere. Larry stops and hangs over Freddy's shoulder, leaning against him to see.

No, they're not flowers but looking at it, really looking at it. It looks like a Newendyke piece.]

Pretty fucking cool.

[For a plant he'd want for all his own. Out of all the others the kid wanted this. Kinda looks like an older roughed up motherfucker sitting pretty there. Both arms wrap around Freddy from behind.]

[It's like a mutant without the skintight suit or the lasers and gear. It's like the Swamp Thing but without mystic red eyes. All in all, it caught Freddy's eye because it's different and weird (kind of like him, kind of like a toucan). But those other more traditional flower arrangements are pretty neat too, near for Lawrence Dimick. Oh is he getting romantic again? He leans back into the old man a little, mostly with his rear. In this day and age there aren't very many layers of fabric between them.]

Yeah I know. And real easy to take care of, I water that shit and call it a day. I don't gotta worry about messing up, hurting it... [He's still talking about the plant, or is he?]

You were pretty careful with the last one as I recall.

[When the old man got him flowers. The look on his face. Expressions like that on his young face is worth failed efforts for romance.

Oh. Yeah. That ass is appreciated.]

Special case.

[Freddy retorts, pressing into Larry even further to underline his dual meaning. Lawrence Dimick himself is a special case, the kid as a cocksucker or not wouldn't have thought he'd see himself in the hands of a crook. Even when he was dating women.]

With you nothin's ordinary with you. [That bear nose is at his neck. He'll rub against that rear.]

So it should be special.

[Because this shit between them is nothing like what the old man went though. It's another reason why he wants to show what he's about inside and out.]

Nothin's been ordinary since you.

[Freddy turns the phrase on its head despite the shared sentiment. He turns around literally too, coming face to face with Lawrence Dimick. The kid's a whole teenager younger than him, true, sixteen years now until December, but there are lines in his face as well. There are worried marks and creases of never truly knowing, perhaps not knowing too far into adulthood. Since Larry he's felt some kind of rediscovery or another surge of growing up. This time in a way that's honest with himself. To Freddy Newendyke that's his kind of romance, the complex bullshit that somehow still ties everything to do, bonds it pretty fucking strong too.]

Maybe I'm just a bad romance kind of guy. [He quips while putting his hands on Larry's waist.]

I love that. We don't need normal.

[Like anyone says they do. No other opinions are valid here if anyone else knew.

So they got a body count. So they got the law to answer to someday (in different ways). There's so much more. Did the old man know he could be this forgiving? No, not in a million years did he think he'd fall so hard for a person. There's so much he's also learning at his age.]

That's not something you do all on your own.

[Hands on his wrists. Larry leans forward and touches forehead to forehead.]

That's fair enough.

[Freddy concedes, nodding slightly against Larry's forehead. Then before you know it, without warning (not that he needs one), the kid is grasping at the old man's face to pull him into a hard kiss. He doesn't want to jinx the moment but as far as he can tell, there's no toucan about up here.]

log post II

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