[Milliways]: Hosing down...or not

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus is just tipsy enough to be maudlin when they get to his room. He almost wishes he'd brought a bottle of something, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea.

There's a pile of broken pottery on the floor in a puddle of water and crushed flowers, and when he opens the door and sees it, he sets his guitar aside and goes to clean it up. "Sorry about this," he says to Steve. "I forgot..."

Comments

[golden_lyre]

"I don't know either," Orpheus says, laughing dryly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you into this. I'm not fit for company."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Do you want me to go?"

[golden_lyre]

"No," Orpheus says quietly. "But if you want to, I'll understand."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"I don't want to.

"But I still don't know what I can do for you. You don't want sex, you don't want comfort..."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus nods and is quiet a moment.

Eventually he says, "Tell me a story?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve smiles gently and says, "Sure.

"Is there anything in particular you want it to be about?"

[golden_lyre]

"Something from your life," he says, sliding off the bed to find whatever bottle of alcohol he's sure he has stashed in here somewhere.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve watches him, his expression troubled, but he doesn't remark on it.

He crosses his legs at the ankle and tries to think of something good.

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus eventually finds a bottle of whiskey and gets a glass from on top of the dresser.

And then another, in case Steve wants any.

He brings them back to the bed and settles next to Steve.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Okay," Steve says when Orpheus is settled in. "You've been to New York, right? You know about Coney Island?"

[golden_lyre]

"Yeah," Orpheus confirms, pouring a glass and offering it to Steve.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve takes the glass with a soft, "Thanks," and has a sip.

"We used to go there as kids whenever we could get the money scraped together. Ride the rides, play the arcade games, swim in the ocean a bit...then one day Bucky had the brilliant idea of getting me on the main roller coaster, the Cyclone."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus pours himself a glass next and sets the bottle aside. He settles in comfortably to listen.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Bucky could talk me into trying just about anything, but he usually couldn't get me on the Cyclone with him. Just looking at it made my head spin. Usually I'd play arcade games while he and whoever else we were with went on, and they'd come back and tell me what a good time I'd missed."

He has another sip.

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus has a much longer sip himself.

With his free hand, he plays idly with the fabric of the duvet between them.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"On this particular occasion--it was about three years ago, 'cause I was still a student at Cooper Union--it was a group of people, Bucky's friends from his job and a few people I went to school with, and Bucky brought along a friend of his girlfriend at the time, this pretty little thing called Alice, specifically for me to meet. And she actually seemed to like me, though we didn't talk much.

"So when Bucky said, 'Let's go on the Cyclone,' I wanted to impress her and said I'd go too."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus chuckles at that. He finishes his glass and only contemplates for a moment before refilling it.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve has another sip of his.

"Bucky managed to arrange it so that Alice and I sat next to each other in the car, and while she chattered away about how scary it was and how fast it went, I just nodded a lot and hoped I wouldn't faint on the first lift hill."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus nods, shifting onto his side to watch Steve as he takes another long drink.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve takes a deep breath.

"The Cyclone has a big lift hill, then the first descent, then it goes up onto this banking curve.

"That's where I started throwing up."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus laughs at that, a little sloppily. (They were fairly full glasses.)

"On Alice?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Oh, yes," Steve says. "So she's screaming, 'Ew! Ew!' into my ear, we're being throwing together from force of the curves, Bucky's behind me yelling I don't even know what because the train was so loud, and I'm just praying my guts stay in my body by the time we reach the station again."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus finishes his drink and sets the glass aside this time, reaching up to poke Steve's chest. "You, my friend, are really bad with women."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve laughs and takes his hand. "I know. I know.

"But here is how the story ends. There's two stops in the station, and if you want to ride again you just pay a smaller fee and stay on when the train goes to the next stop. Or you can get off and that's the end of it.

"So we reached the first stop and I crawled off the train, and I was lying on the platform, trying to get my breath back and waiting for the world to stop spinning, and Bucky knelt beside me to make sure I didn't choke, and Alice was crying about how I'd ruined her dress--and the station attendant said, 'Which one of you nice folks wants to ride again?'"

He has a final sip of his whiskey.

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus breaks into giggles at that, leaning his head against Steve's shoulder.