WHO: Hugo Hayes & Harrison Exley. WHEN: Tonight, May 2nd. WHERE: Carson's Grocery. SUMMARY: They get judgy about cereal. WARNINGS: No? We're as shocked as you are.
The problem being with shared information, as a reporter, was that you looked at all the possibilities. Sometimes what seemed like the most obvious answer wasn’t the correct one. At least, that’s what Hugo was trying to convince himself of while he stared at the cereal aisle, trying to determine which kind he wanted this week.
As Harrison turned down the next aisle in Carson’s he spotted a familiar figure among the boxes of brightly colored sugary cereals. Knowing Hugo he was probably stopped here to add something like oatmeal to his cart. As he snagged a box of Cap’n Crunch off the shelf Harrison paused in his approach towards his adoptive brother, tossed the cereal into Hugo’s cart, and waited for a reaction.
Hugo stared at the box after it made a sound in his cart, then over to the person who’d put it there - the same person that Hugo had been thinking about. It could be considered a sign, if Hugo allowed himself to believe in such things. But as it was, it seemed like a lucky coincidence.
“Get that crap out of my cart,” he ordered Harrison.
Harrison did no such thing, instead he reached for a box of Lucky Charms and held it over the cart.
“Am I getting warmer?”
“Colder,” Hugo answered.
“Don’t tell me you’re after something like Shredded Wheat.”
The game was amusing, if only because Harrison was so bad at it. Hug shook his head back and forth. “No, that’s basically tasteless.”
The reply was too easy, Hugo had left the door wide open. “So are you.” Harrison grinned.
Hugo rolled his eyes. “You have one last guess.”
“Is it Grrrrrreat?” He guessed.
“Incorrect. You fail.” Hugo picked up a box of Reese’s Puffs. Glancing at Harrison’s own cart, he tried to look for any hints about what his friend had mentioned. “What other aisles are you going down today?”
Harrison imitated a buzzer, the type you might hear on a game show. “Maybe I’ll get it next time.” He looked down when Hugo did, wondering if this was about to turn into a dietary lecture of some sort. “Why? Do I need more fruits and vegetables?”
“Yes, but that wasn’t what I was looking for,” he responded honestly. It seemed like this was a situation where ripping off the band aid might be the only answer. “Anything that Eliza has a particular craving for?”
“No, not that I know of,” Harrison willfully ignored the implication. “She gets a lot of food on set so …” He pushed his cart a little further down the aisle.
Hugo immediately followed him. “No? Weird, that’s not what I heard.”
“Not what you heard, huh? Are you spying on people now?” Harrison paused long enough to shoot his adoptive brother a stony look.
The look didn’t bother him in the least - he’d received enough glares from Harrison in the past to be relatively immune. “Why would I need to spy when you don’t seem to know the definition of discreet?” Hugo asked. “Or how to be less obvious, at least.”
“Discreet,” Harrison repeated as if he was attempting to recall what the word meant. “Right. Well, would you like to be more obvious?” It seemed like it was going to happen anyway.
Hugo reached out a hand on Harrison’s shoulder, to stop him. “Sure,” Hugo agreed easily. His tone was softer now, more Concerned Older Brother than the Antagonizing Older Brother he’d been during the rest of this conversation. “Is Eliza pregnant?”
Fucking small towns. Harrison’s expression didn’t change but his voice dropped to something just above a whisper. Apparently the walls had eyes and ears in Fall City, and he’d been away just long enough to forget. “Maybe.” He shrugged. “Yes.”
His shoulders slowly relaxed, the truth being exactly what he thought he would be. A chorus of Shit’s ran through his head, though his actual words were more articular, “And what has Eliza chosen to do?”
“Four months pregnant,” Harrison exhaled, since this answered the question in the easiest possible way. He searched Hugo’s face for a second, wondering exactly when the lecture would come and what form it might take.
Hugo nodded his head once. There were thousands of lectures that could have bubbled out but that seemed a little too late now. Especially at four months down the line. “Do you have a plan yet? Have you told Mom and Dad yet?”
A plan. A plan? Harrison blinked. “No.” Maybe that required further explanation. “It’s only going to get me a lecture so.” Why deal with consequences when you could delay?
This probably wasn’t a conversation they should continue in the cereal aisle, but it didn’t stop Hugo from continuing. “Yea, that will definitely be part of it. But you and Eliza aren’t going to be able to continue like this in a hotel. Mom and Dad have empty rooms, even with Dash sleeping on the couch.”
Harrison’s head tilted slightly to one side as he contemplated the idea of living at home with Dash, and his parents, and Eliza. The idea was rejected almost instantly. Maybe if he blew right past it onto another topic, Hugo would get the message. “I need orange juice.”
Hugo sighed, but, also needed orange juice so he moved to follow Harrison through the grocery store. Trying to imagine his younger brother with a kid was hard because he felt Harrison was so unprepared right now. And, honestly, he felt a little bad for him. Because if he and Eliza weren’t a long term thing? Things were going to get much harder.