Participants:
| Scene Title | In No Time |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Aric calls Graeme for coffee, and he finds out what happened on Graeme's birthday. |
| Date | March 21, 2011 |
Blue Moon Cafe: Aric's Apartment
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The Call. Aric called Graeme and asked him to meet him at the Blue Moon Cafe for coffee. It is located on the upper west side near Central Park. He is dressed in a pair of black jeans, a Ambercrombie T-shirt and a pair of sandals. His hair is slightly wet slight having gotten out of the shower before arriving yet he smells wonderful.
The Cafe is quite busy today filled with it's normal hippys and coffee junkies as they read from the array of books and magazine. Aric is currently crouched down playing with a deck of over sized Tarot Cards for a pair of twin girls who are giggling at his tricks.
It's evening when Graeme makes it, slipping in through the door. A grey sweatshirt drapes over his shoulders, but the sling that Graeme's right arm is in is visible, strapped to his body. There's the scruff of not having shaved in half a week on his jawline, and he smiles when he sees Aric, pausing to look at a rack of magazines until the other man finishes what he's doing. Moreso, Graeme looks tired, weary.
As the girls run off to their mother, Aric stands up and sets the cards on the counter and turns to see Graeme. He blinks at the man and begins to almost run towards him as he dodges the various customers and says softly, "My god what happened?"
Graeme holds up his free hand, and his voice is gentle. "I'm alright, really. There was a disturbance, at the party for the opening of Remi's ballet," he murmurs, taking a step to close the gap between the two of them. "At some point when Liz is free, after I'm done w/giving reports to Homeland, I'll tell you the rest of it, yes?" He doesn't sound like he wants to talk about it in anything remotely near public, where others can hear. "But I'm alright."
Aric looks mad and concerned at the same time, "Next time I am going out with you. I may not have Elle's power for long but I can at least protect you until I lose it." He motions for him to head to a table and says, "Order anything you want….anything." He pulls the chair out for the man to sit. What a gentleman! He moves to sit down on the other side as he slides off his sandals and sits in an Indian Style position. "I had asked you for coffee because I wanted to share with you something special."
Graeme smiles a bit, slipping into the chair before pulling his sweatshirt off his shoulders behind him, which reveals the full extent of the sling. "Thanks. Um, cheesecake? Or I don't know, whatever your favourite is," he says to Aric. "And juice, or something. I'm not supposed to have caffeine right now with the painkillers they have me on." He smiles, gently.
As a girl comes over and smiles at Aric, her eyes turn to Graeme with a look of concern, Aric speaks up, "Philipa…we will have the blackberry and Pomogrante Juice with the selzter water, and the chocolate cheesecake with rasperry tart on the top." Her face warms up at the order, "The one from your special corner?" Aric chuckles and nods, "Yes the good stuff." Philipa smiles and says, "Right away Aric." She rushes off into the kitchen.
Oooo escapes his lips as he turns around and yells, "Please get the thing on my desk in my office and…" He looks at Graeme, "We will be taking it upstairs if you don't mind." Aric stands up and says, "Let's get you someplace your more comfortable. He waits for him to stand and escorts him a down a long hallway to a door marked "Private". Aric opens the door and the stairs lead upward.
Graeme smiles, rising to his feet, and at least the stairs are still something that he still can do pretty easily. It's his shoulder injured, not his legs. "Comfortable sounds good, I admit," he says. "I haven't had too much of that, recently." As they climb the stairs, he murmurs, "Remi was far worse off than me; I've been taking turns looking after her, with her personal assistant and her ex-boyfriend. She got stabbed through the leg when I got stabbed in the shoulder." There's a pause. "But, let's leave that for another time. Remi's doing alright now, too, overall." Graeme wants to focus on happy, pleasant things.
Aric sighs and says, "I had a meeting that I had to attend or I would have come with you. Ballet is not my thing but hanging with you would have made it fun. We could have looked at the guys and wonder if they stuffed their cups." As they walk up the stairs Aric opens the door to reveal what looks like an apartment.
As he says with a smile, "Welcome to my place. I don't think I told you but I own this whole building. The store and all…" Aric still barefoot walks to the couch and takes off the blanket and says, "Come and rest some."
At the door, Graeme pauses, slipping his shoes off and leaving them out of the way, next to the wall. Stocking feet then pad over to the couch, sitting down carefully after moving one of the pillows so that his right arm is supported. There's a tired smile on Graeme's face. "Thanks. I haven't gotten enough rest, recently. Well, some, but it's only a bit restful. The hospital gave me some meds to help me sleep despite my ability, and it's really very strange. I feel pretty stupid for not wanting to take them when I'm by myself, but I … there're some insecurities like that that I think I might have for a while." The admission is quiet, and Graeme tilts his head to one side, looking at Aric.
As he puts the blanket over Graeme he sits down next to him and listens as he nods slowly. "You have no idea how much I can relate to what your saying….I have been living at Liz's apartment for the last month because I was scared to come home." He runs a hand through his hair and says, "Yet…well I am not sure how much I am allowed to tell you Graeme." His voice gets quite, "I am not sure I want you to know either. I don't want you to hate me or pity me either." He pulls his knees to his chest as he rests his head against his knees.
Graeme scoots a little closer over to Aric, leaning on the other man a bit, all too-short hair and stubble. "There's time for all of that later," he murmurs, quiet. "Do me the favour and wait until I'm done having to talk to HomeSec about what happened Thursday, please." His eyes close for a moment. "I ain't gonna hate you."
"You might." is all he whispers as he gently runs a hand through his hair when there is a knock at the door, "Come in Philipa." The girl giggles as she walks in, "Everyone decent?" Aric rolls his eyes as the girl brings in their order on a beautiful silver tray. She pours their juice from a pitcher and places forks on their plates as she skitters towards the door, "You need anything else boss you let me know."
Aric leans over and picks up a small package that has been wrapped in silver paper and bow. It is one of those gifts so well wrapped you don't want to open it. He holds it out for Graeme and says, "On a better note….Happy Birthday."
There's a hint of a smile, and then Graeme smiles a little more, freeing his hand from the blanket as he takes the package. The smile erases the lines of worry and weariness from his face, at least momentarily. He sets it on his lap, bracing it against his leg so that he can begin to unwrap it, one-handed. "Thanks," he says, voice quiet as he struggles a bit with his non-dominant hand. But he does get the paper off, carefully opening the present. "Really." Positive things to associate with his birthday are good. Because having gotten stabbed on his birthday didn't really make it the best of days.
"I had it shipped from a man I know who runs this shop in Dublin. I saw the necklace and thought of you instantly." As he waits for the man to open the box he will find a knotted leather necklace inside a box with a beautiful hand carved pendant.
"You see the Green man is an important Celtic figure. The Green Man motif has many variations. Found in many cultures around the world, the Green Man is often related to natural vegetative deities springing up in different cultures throughout the ages. Primarily it is interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, or "renaissance," representing the cycle of growth each spring. Which kind of makes me think of your reason for being here in New York from New Mexico?"
The smile on Graeme's face grows, and he looks over at Aric, leaning forward a little. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to help me put it on," he murmurs, running his fingers over the pendant. "It's beautiful and just… I'm rather speechless, I think." He sits up a bit straighter, so that Aric will be able to do what Graeme's requested.
As he stands up and carefully gets behind him and settled in with his legs wide, Graeme sitting in between his legs as Aric helps him put the necklace on at his request. When he is done he pulls the blankets up over him and says, "I just want you to be happy Graeme. It makes me happy that your smiling." He wraps his arms around him and gives him a hug his chest against his back not letting go. "I think your a nice person and deserve it."
Graeme leans back against Aric. "Careful 'f the shoulder," he says, quietly. There's definite stiffness in his right shoulder, the right side of his body in general. He smiles, settling, his free hand finding Aric's and intertwining, gently.
"I am sorry this happened to you." His mind goes to the meeting with Endgame about what is coming as he is very gentle in holding Graeme. "I understand about your trust issues. I was kidnapped by a group of people who hooked me up to a machine. They were using the power that was switched into mine from a girl I know. Her name is Elle. Weird chick with a good heart…" Aric starts to stare into space as his voice grows distance, "They took me someplace cold and put all these parts into me. I looked like a cyborg. They forced me to use my power to open a hole into what I suspect was the timeline…the past. They are not good people but I…" He begins to stare at the back of Graeme's neck, "Before I died I killed their doctors and destroyed their machine."
His voice begins to drop to a whisper, "When I woke I was in Chicago. A man there found me who could show me my past and I saw it all. I saw everything that happened to me…from the men who kinapped me…to the men I killed to the man who healed me and brought me back from the dead." Aric gets up from behind Graeme and walks over to the window. He is hugging himself as small electrical beams are extending from him like a plasma ball. They are very small so they are not hitting anything yet, as he closes his eyes, "Liz took me in and I felt safe there….I still do. When I am with you I feel…normal. That means a lot to me right now….so trust me when I say…I can relate to you."
Graeme nods, quiet, listening, and turns to watch Aric as the other man gets up. "God," he murmurs, quietly. He doesn't get up to follow, though, just watches Aric. "I'm sorry, that's awful." There's an edge, steel determination in his voice. "Sylar," he says, "the midtown man came after Remi. She's okay, and I'm okay, and no one got killed, but I had issues to start with. I was trying to move here and have a chance at things but there's my sister, and it's … And with th' shoulder, I … I feel so fucking helpless," Graeme admits. "I feel so helpless, I'm used to being active, and being able to deal with things as they come, and I'm not supposed to lift more than a plate of food or do anything because of my shoulder right now."
As he takes a deep breath the electricity is gone as he moves back to the couch and nods listening to Graeme, "I have only heard of his name. I have never met Sylar. I am sorry you feel so helpless." As he makes an attempt at a smile, "Look at it like this…now you have someone to fawn over you and make you feel better." He grins, "I make a mean egg drop soup that will have you feeling like a million bucks in no time."
Slowly, there's a smile managed, and Graeme reaches up to take Aric's hand and hopefully pull him back down onto the couch. "Well, I have to admit I like that," he says, grinning. "I'm just not used to not being able to do things. You're going to have to take time and babysit me and make sure I don't overdo it or use my arm or shoulder." There's a grin.
Aric smirks softly as he says, "That depends on what your doing with that arm or shoulder. I am sure I can help you in many ways." He lets out a laugh and asks, "Cheesecake?" As he takes a fork full for the man he leans in and offers to feed it to him.
So far, Graeme's been terribly stubborn in actually doing things for himself, but he grins, and takes the bite of cheesecake off of the fork. It doesn't do anything at all to hide the blushing, though. Once the bite of cheesecake is finished, Graeme just looks over at Aric, all mock-innocence and attempts to not laugh too much. "Hm, I wonder if that'd count as strenuous activity," he murmurs, turning definitively bright red.
Aric grins, "Eating Cheesecake?" As he leans in and moves to bring his lips to his in a gentle yet seductive kiss.
Graeme smiles a bit. The kiss is met, returned, almost needed, and Graeme pulls Aric a bit closer. "Well, eating cheesecake's a start," he murmurs, his head coming to rest on the other man's shoulder. "Would you … would you mind if maybe, I stayed here with you tonight?" There's a blush, and a smile. "You could make that egg drop soup, and we could watch a movie or something?" And Graeme will be able to sleep some, later, with less of the gnawing uncertainty that has kept him from using the meds to keep a normal sleep schedule. The soft scruff of his jaw brushes against Aric's neck, before he leans to draw the other man into another kiss.