fandomhigh | Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part II

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!event: welcome picnic

Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part II

There were plenty of tables and chairs scattered around the lawn for anyone who wanted to sit down once they'd had their fill of the buffet, or to recover from starting to find out what this place was all about. No one would judge the need to take a mental breather.

Some of the tables were out in the open, for those who weren't allergic to the sun, and some of the tables were in the shade, or far from the rest of the crowd. Wherever people decided to rest, there was space enough for everyone.

[OCD is up! This is the post for general mingling! Roommates, fake siblings and teachers are all here! Since it's outside, the picnic is open to all students, teachers, and townies!]

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Well. That was unexpected.

Alec's eyes fluttered shut behind Sparkle's hands. "It'd be harder if anyone else besides you called me that," he said lightly, before dutifully adding, "Sparkle."

Alec had several questions here. Like, were they in a fight? Should he act like they were? And how did one act while having... relationship problems? He sort of wished Izzy were here to answer, but she'd probably only laugh at him.

For the record, Sparkle was kind of shitty at dealing with relationship problems.

... Kind of a lot. His go-to was a default state of 'I don't care,' followed with a heaping cup of 'nothing is wrong anyway,' and a dash of 'psychotic.'

"You're good at this game," he decided, letting his hands drop, but keeping his arms slung around Alec's shoulders from behind all the same. "A person could get the impression that you've played it before or something."

Alec turned to face him, bending his knees just slightly since Sparkle apparently wanted to keep his arms there and he supposed he might as well make it somewhat easier on him, with the height disparity and all.

"Well," he said. "I haven't."

Yeah, he was out of practice with the banter.

"How are you?"

"Good," Sparkle replied, that ever-so-casual demeanor not going anywhere any time soon. "Great. Alive."

Alive was kind of a big deal, considering the state he'd been in the last time he'd been feeling up to talking to Alec. He owed the guy an apology. He owed him a lot of apologies for a lot of different things. He was aware of that.

He had no idea where to start. So. Alive.

"You? Enjoying the picnic? Run into any impressionable young minds to mess with yet?"

Alec would sooner take an explanation over an apology, to be honest. Being temporarily soulless was a pretty good excuse for being mean (though maybe not as much of one for not calling him after the fact).

"Wasn't planning on doing any of that," he said awkwardly, with a little half-shrug.

He paused, thought about his next question for a second and deemed it appropriate, then inquired, "Are you still a vampire?"

Because it was daylight, Sparks.

Something crossed Sparkle's face fleetingly for a moment. Some twinge of regret, something instantly apologetic in reply to that question. He battled it back. Dialed his face down to neutral. Sparkle didn't care. That's what the whole world had to keep thinking.

Sparkle didn't care.

"I got better," he said, simply, before letting his hands fall to his sides again. "The dungeon went away and I got better. I think everyone did."

Sholeh was up and running around, and he'd kind of eaten her, so it seemed like a fair assumption.

"Oh." So this was something Alec would have been more sure of if he had had many other friends. Got it. "Okay. I didn't know."

His arms were hanging stiff at his sides; he really wasn't in his comfort zone. Sorry he wasn't more of a represser, Sparkle.

"Haven't been out much. Didn't really go around telling people I was okay," Sparkle replied, giving his shoulders a shrug that looked all too relaxed, considering the way he kind of wanted to just cut his losses and turn tail and hoof it back to the dorms. Dealing with things like a responsible individual wasn't really something he did well, even when he decided to have a go at it. "Took off for a week somewhere in there. One of those 'finding yourself' expeditions or whatever."

Or he'd spent that time getting drunk on Nar Shaddaa and making terrible life choices with Atton. Which was kind of the same thing, for Sparks.

"Came back."

"Welcome back, I guess," Alec said. With anyone else, this would be the point where his tone would start to have some bite to it, but this was Sparkle. "Have a good time?"

"Spent most of it drunk," Sparkle admitted, with another little hitch of his shoulders. "What I can remember wasn't too bad, I guess. Almost got tossed out an airlock once, I think."

Long story. Probably. Sparkle still wasn't entirely clear about what had led up to the stowing away... thing. There had been brightly-coloured dancers involved, and alcohol. That was about where his memory of the whole thing cut off.

"So, it was about as fucked up as this place is. Just smellier."

He fidgeted, then. Pulled in a deep breath, looked like there was something he wanted to say, and then shrugged and fidgeted some more. Seemed like a great way to convey everything he wanted to say, right? No?

Crap.

"Shouldn't have run, probably."

That last remark should not have made Alec as relieved as it did, but it was really, really reassuring to know that Sparkle was thinking along those lines. "Maybe not," he said, very gently. "But - being a vampire for a little bit probably didn't make you feel all that safe, so, I think I get it."

See? He could give a little here.

"That's what's so fucked up about it," Sparkle replied. "When I was a vampire, I did feel safe. Nothing could hurt me, I was fucking invincible and everything was... just... meat. Prey. I mean, I bit you, killed someone else, and I loved it. It was great. And then... I... like... I wasn't, anymore. I was just me, just fucking Sparkle, and I gave a shit all over again but it isn't like just because it went away, I didn't do those things."

He made a frustrated sound after a moment lapsed into silence. He was shit at this 'sharing his issues' thing, but if ever there was a time for it...

"This place. Because of this place, I know exactly what it feels like to die, and to kill, and to not give a shit about either. And it's not like I can run back to Toronto and cry to Lewis about that, he'd think I was insane, so I'm stuck here on this island that fucking killed me."

He lifted his hand to his face, spent a moment idly chewing on his thumbnail.

"New group of students today, and they don't have a clue what they're in for. Assholes."

Alec listened to that, wincing and frowning at the appropriate places (which was pretty much all of them) and generally feeling awful for ever having been even the slightest bit upset with Sparkle.

So he did an un-Alec-like thing, and stepped forward to give his boyfriend a hug. "I'm so sorry."

The hug... kind of threw Sparkle off for a moment. He blinked, confused, and his mouth fell open for a second before he managed to at least regain his wits enough to lift his arms and hug Alec back.

Comfort. His boyfriend was offering him comfort, that's what that was.

"Didn't mean to hurt you," he mumbled. "Wasn't because of you. Just... I needed to breathe."

He wasn't going to let go for a while. Actually, he was going to close his eyes and bury his face in Alec's shoulder, instead. Not that he was, you know, upset or anything. To hell with anyone who assumed that this was what it was, people should know better, of course. Sparkle didn't get upset. Sparkle didn't care.

He was not fucking crying, fuck you.

Alec found himself tightening the hug just a bit, wanting to assure Sparkle with touch if not with words that he was here and he was willing to do whatever it took to protect him. He was a Shadowhunter; it was his job.

After a moment of just holding him, Alec asked softly, "Do you want to take a walk? To the beach, maybe? We can go and come back."

"Beach sounds good," Sparkle decided, nodding a little. "Beach sounds perfect."

The beach sounded like not here while Sparkle was being something approaching vulnerable, and Sparks found himself preferring to spend some time alone with Alec, as opposed to running around looking like a hot mess at the new kids.

Good. Good.

Alec let go, but he linked his fingers through Sparkle's. He was feeling so much better after the hug that it just seemed stupid to not have ongoing physical contact. "Let's go."

"Thanks," Sparkle murmured as he gave Alec's hand a squeeze. Normally, he wouldn't be so forthcoming with his thank yous, but all things considered, Alec could have a little bit of leeway, at least then and there. "Let's."

And he'd spend the whole damn walk wondering how the hell he managed to get so lucky. Yet another train of thought that he was never going to share aloud.

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Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part II

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