bookblather (
bookblather) wrote in
rainbowlounge2012-05-13 04:57 pm
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Closed RP
Aaron still wasn't sure why he was here, trailing behind Joy as she alternately stared at a piece of paper in her hand and scanned the buildings to find their destination, but whatever, it wasn't as if he'd had anything better to do today. Probably why she'd dragged him along, actually, since he and Sean... he pushed away a pang of regret. That was over and done with, and this was a social call.
"Aha!" Joy said brightly, caught his arm, and led him across the street, into a small coffeeshop that wasn't, for a wonder, Starbucks. "Here we are, and there they are! James! Over here!"
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"Hi again!" James chirped as they reached the table. "Sorry to leave you so long."
Mort swallowed, willing his voice steady, ignoring the last of his awkwardness. "Yes, sorry. You still want to hear the slide-rule story, Joy?"
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All right, then. "Okay, we were roomies in college," Mort began, letting the last of his tension fade. "Finals week, nineteen-ninety, as I recall. I had one trig final left to go; James was done with all of his." He looked over at James again, just to see the God, I love you, how am I this lucky shining in his eyes... and, this time, to toss back a heartfelt same to you, James. He didn't really care if Joy and Aaron noticed.
"So he got a phone call," Mort said. "I was studying. I've always preferred slide rules to calculators for trig; I inherited my Uncle Pablo's, so that's what I was using. And--" Are you sure?
Go for it, Mortimer. It's your story.
It's your mother, Mort retorted, but he went on. "He came in and said his mom was in a car crash and they didn't expect her to make it. Started packing his suitcase." He stopped again. I feel stupid, James, it wasn't anything major!
Go on already, Mortimer, then more gently, It was the love of my life getting me home in time. That's major.
Mort blushed. He supposed it was. He took a deep breath... "So, well, I was thinking in math problems, you know. And - I guess if you hang around James long enough, you start doing the Sherlock Holmes thing too. At least I do. So I... I figured out the gasoline cost of driving to his home in Missouri - we were in California - versus the cost of a plane ticket on such short notice, and the odds of getting a ticket in how much time, and how long it'd take to drive. And I figured out that if we drove straight through, no stopping, it'd be quicker to drive."
"Note that word, we," James said. Mort couldn't look at him, because the love and pride and I am not going to cry over my awesome boyfriend in public in his voice was enough to deal with; he wasn't sure he could keep from sniffling himself, if he met James's eyes.
"Of course James didn't do any of that math," Mort said, "but I know him. He'd've called the airport right away, found out about standby flights. His bag was too big for a carry-on and he didn't ask to borrow mine, so I figured he hadn't got a ticket. And he can't stay put when there's trouble going on." Now he did glance across, just long enough to wink at James. "So I knew he was going to drive." He straightened up, leaned back, took a deep breath. He stared firmly at the ceiling.
"...so I figured out my GPA," he said. "Checked what'd happen to it if I skipped my trig final. Then I just... told him he needed my help, time-wise, asked if he'd let me come along."
"What Mortimer isn't telling you," James said, then paused and blew his nose. "'Scuse me. What he's not telling you is that he was a straight-A student, perfect attendance, the whole shebang. He does all this math in the time between when I tell him my mom's dying and the time when I finish throwing stuff into a duffle bag - and I don't pack neat." He chuckled. "And then he tells me, oh by the way, how about I blow off my trig final in favor of making sure you don't drive off the road in Texas somewhere? Oh, it's unweighted, he says, he'll get a B overall. No biggie."
"You're exaggerating," Mort said, embarrassed.
"I am not. Name one place I am exaggerating."
There wasn't one. Mort just blushed deeper and scooted down in his chair. "Well, you finish the story then," he said, trying to sound cranky. He couldn't, quite.
"Not much more to tell," James said. "We drove to Missouri, talked a lot... got there in time, if you were wondering. I got to see my mom again." He blew his nose, again. "House was packed, family all over the place, so we had to bunk together in the basement on a sleeper sofa. My sister Janna swears she's known we'd wind up together, from that day."
"Your sister Janna is... an excellent woman," Mort said, in a very definite I am not saying what I actually think tone of voice.
"Yeah, well," James said. I agree with both what you said and what you didn't say. "Janna's unique. Point is - though a long and complicated set of circumstances, that's the first time we talked about sexuality. Or more specifically, asexuality." Mort glanced across at him in time to see him grin broadly and nod or bow to Aaron.
I wondered if you'd noticed that, Mort thought. Aaron was wearing an AVEN t-shirt; he must have taken off his jacket while they were in the bathroom. Mort had only noticed the shirt about halfway through his story - but James, characteristically, had managed to bring it up without even sounding forced. How the hell can you even do that. He saw James looking at him, and grinned.
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"I didn't tell you?" Joy asked. "I could've sworn I told you."
Aaron heaved a sigh. "No, Joy. You didn't tell me."
She rolled her eyes, elbowed him in the side, and said, "That is some damned impressive work on the slide rule, Mort. I can't even work one of those things, and believe me, I tried to learn." She grinned, a little sheepishly. "My mom's an econ professor. I do believe she was a little disappointed."
Neither one of them commented on James's mother-- Joy already knew, and Aaron just gave him a sympathetic look.
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"There speaks the engineering student," James teased. "Not to wrench the subject at all violently around, but Aaron - you assumed we're both ace." He raised a hand quickly. "We are, by the way. But I haven't run into a lot of other aces - at all, honestly - and especially not ones who'd go for that explanation first, given that we're obviously a couple. And given how... physical we are."
"How you can't keep your hands off me, you mean," Mort joked.
Well, approximately. It was more that he couldn't keep his eyes and lips off him, but that... sounded awkward. "Anyway," James said with the most over-the-top fake long-suffering voice he had at his disposal, "Mortimer and I are the only couple I know who're both ace. I'm guessing you've met some others? If you don't mind--" he gestured-- "talking about it in the middle of an increasingly occupied coffee shop, I'm kind of curious now."
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Beside him, Joy, looking fascinated, scooted closer to Mort and began a conversation about slide rules that... well, frankly Aaron couldn't imagine what was interesting about slide rules but she seemed to like it, so whatever. He shrugged, and turned back to James.
"So, yeah, I have a lot of ace friends, and a good chunk of them are just as physically affectionate as you. Hell, I like... with my last boyfriend, and Joy, sometimes we'd just cuddle naked, because it felt nice, you know?"
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He glanced down at the table and took a sip of his neglected coffee. "Sorry, I'm kind of rambling on."
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He leaned his head on one palm, thoughtfully. "I gotta say, I never... finding out that asexuality was a thing... I understand how he must have felt, I mean. I've been ace my whole life, but I thought it was because something was wrong with me, you know? Especially after..." Lorelai, he wanted to say, but hello awkward sexual encounter that probably nobody wanted to hear about, and that he really wished certain people in his life didn't know about, like Ivy. "Once I found out that there were other people like me, that it was a legitimate orientation and not something broken, it felt amazing. Like coming home."
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He thought of Lorelai, of her sweet coaxing face and tone, and shivered. But James didn't want to hear about his sexual traumas. In fact, nobody did. "I found AVEN eventually though. That was a huge relief, knowing there were other people like me. Now I just sort of assume it."
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"You know, Aaron," he said slowly, "feel free to smack me down, but I get the impression you might like to know that I'm practically impossible to embarrass." He chuckled. He wasn't going to mention the time he'd spent exploring the San Francisco kink scene, at least not till he knew more about Aaron's embarrassment thresholds. "And I do know how to keep my mouth shut, contrary to appearances. If you want to talk about, y'know, whoever gave you a hard time or whatever..." Now he did look up. "I'm listening."
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"I've even heard about an ace who got... assaulted by their prom date," he said. "Took the invitation as a come-on, I guess. I'll grant you, a lot of the time that's what it is, but sheesh!" He rolled his eyes dramatically. "Ask, people, why don't you!" He finished up with a wry commiserating grin in Aaron's direction.
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Mort and Joy were still talking; that is, Mort was talking at the moment. "So Noah says to the snakes, 'I thought I told all you animals to go forth and multiply.' And the snakes say, 'We can't, we're adders.'"
"Wait for it," James muttered under his breath. Mort must really be having fun if he was breaking out the math jokes.
"So Noah built them a log table."
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"I did," he said, grinning, "and what's more, I got it."
She stuck her tongue out at him, still grinning.