Two princes
Characters: Gavin and Peter Setting: Monday 9/09, Morning Summary: The deal
Gavin tried not to groan, but this town was so. boring. He had his hands shoved in the pockets of his pants to keep from fidgeting, from picking at the skin around his nails. “Peter, remind me to never go on a trip with you again,” He said, glaring at his brother but mostly it was because he was coming down from the last spike of his energy high.
Peter looked over, making a face. “You can say that, but if I remember correctly you were really enjoying the first mate on that yacht,” he said, mostly teasing even if it was accurate. Yes, the point of the trip was to get that out of Gavin’s system, but he wasn’t about to keep him from it. That was the fun right? And honestly, despite it bothering their family, it didn’t bother Peter.
“Well, yes, I was enjoying the first mate, before you and I got radiation poisoning…” He huffed a heavy sigh and kept walking. “And what the hell are we even doing now? This is boring Peter. This whole place is so boring!”
“Well, I didn’t plan radiation poisoning. And we could be back home...doing what they want.” Which wouldn’t be as boring as it was here, but it wouldn’t be infinitely more fun. “But yes, I get it. Boring as hell. And slightly creepy.” He nodded towards one of the guards, armed and just patrolling. “I’m still not sure what to make of this place.”
“Yeah, creepy all around,” He said, shaking his head a little as he watched the guard too. It was obnoxious, really, not being able to leave this place, but the idea of going back home to live out a life where he had to pretend didn’t sound fun either. “I think we should make our own fun, Peter. A bet or something.”
That sparked Peter’s interest. “What kind of bet do you have in mind? And what’s at stake, as obviously you’re going to lose.”
“Well...We did promise that we would come back reformed. There must be someone here that you could see yourself taking back home to Mommy and Daddy.” Gavin said, grinning over at his brother. “I propose that you find that person. As for what’s at stake, I’m open to suggestions.”
Peter raised an eyebrow at Gavin. “You want to bring someone from here back to mom and dad?” he asked. That was different. But it was also a good challenge. “Hmm. I might have to think more on the stakes. You do realize you have to find a girl to take home to our parents right?”
“Yeah, I do. And that means I can find a girl who’s a great friend of mine to bring back and be just fine. You’re the one they’re going to scrutinize the choice of. But if you don’t think you can do it….” He hinted, shrugging his shoulders at Peter.
“Just a friend?” Peter asked, raising his eyebrow. “The kind that doesn’t mind if you have something on the side? Because you’ll get caught doing that.” He saw that taunt and shook his head. “No. I think I can do it. Even with their scrutiny.”
“I just said ‘bring someone home to them’. Even for you, the limits don’t really mean you have to be in love with them. But they have to be perfect to bring home to Mom and Dad. We can come up with stakes later, but if you’re interested, then I’m happy to kick your ass in this bet too.”
Maybe it was a silly notion that Peter thought he might still wind up in love. It was a silly notion, he knew it, but he wanted that. “Alright. Someone they’ll appreciate. I’m interested. And you aren’t going to lose.”
“Me? Oh, I don’t plan on losing, so no worries there, Brother.” Gavin grinned a little more and nodded. “Good, finally something interesting can happen in this place. Now, if only you could find a pretty little, Irish redhead to bring home, then we’d both be set for life. They’d never look at me again and they’d be over the moon about you.”
“Jesus they would love that wouldn’t they?” Peter rolled his eyes. “You just want them to be distracted from you and your hijinks. And you aren’t winning. I am. So just get used to it.”
“You’d love it too, don’t lie.” Gavin grinned at his brother. Maybe part of this was in effort to make sure that he still got to live the life he wanted to live when they got back home, but he didn’t need to say it out loud. Peter already knew that, Gavin was sure of it. Instead he just shrugged. “We’ll see. I don’t think the girls here are like the ones at home. Not sure how much your charm is going to translate.”
“Charm works fine,” Peter said, grinning. “Better now, what with everything else.” He could use his power to his advantage for a variety of things. Especially flirting. “And even if I would love it, I’m not doing it just so they won’t notice you.” Because he knew that was what his brother wanted, even if Gavin didn’t say it.
"Then why are you taking this bet, brother?", Brother? " Gavin asked, looking back his way. " Because you could just use your power and win, which would be cheating, but your already knew that... "
"Because I'm just as bored as you are," Peter said with a grin. He was just as bored and the idead of a bet of that nature was amusing and might give them something to do until they found something else. "Technically it's not cheating as it's something I can do now, but fair enough, no extra abilities."
"No extra abilities. Deal," Gavin said with another grin. "I wonder who you'll find that piques your fancy. You were into blondes when we hit the west coast. Think you'll gravitate toward a blonde again?"
"I was into blondes on the west coast because all the best blondes are on the west coast," Peter clarified then shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe she'll be blonde. Maybe not. That's not what matters for he bet right?"
"No, it doesn't matter for the bet, but I can be curious about my future sister-in-law, can't I?" He asked, looking back over at his brother after a moment. "I think you'd look good with a brunette. Keep the gene-pool similar."
"I thought we were finding girls to bring home, not actually marrying them," Peter said, giving Gavin a look. "Maybe. Maybe not just to piss you off."
"Hey, I'm in this to try and help you. But you're mistaken if you think you can take a girl home to meet Mom and Dad and have them not think you're going to marry them..." Gavin said, grinning a little more at his brother.
“So I’m actually taking her home? You really are determined to marry me off aren’t you? You do know you’ll have significantly less fun without me don’t you?” Peter didn’t see a point in getting married just yet. He was still young enough to enjoy himself.
“I’m not trying to marry you off, not really,” Gavin said, shrugging a little. “I’m just trying to have some fun, that’s all.” He was aware he’d have a lot less fun with his brother married off to some nagging wife, which was why he didn’t necessarily want it to happen but he did want to test his brother and find something interesting to do here. “What do you want for me, then?”
Peter gave his brother a look then nodded. “Fair enough. Just so long as you realize this is for fun and not for keeps.” He grinned then wrapped his arm around his brother’s shoulders. “For you to find someone who keeps your attention.” In a way he thought that it didn’t matter who it was, but he knew his family, their business. It would have to be a woman.
Gavin leaned into his brother. “For fun, yes, but she still has to be Mom and Dad-approved. She can’t just be the girls we had on the yacht with us.” Gavin loved his brother for his honesty and his acceptance, although he wasn’t naive enough to not realize his choice would have to be a woman too. “If we’re going to be sorting through ladies like we’re princes at a birthday party, wouldn’t it be nice if we could have an actual party to do it at?”
Peter laughed and shook his head. “Nooo, definitely none of the women from the yacht.” Those women had been picked for a specific reason: they were easy and gorgeous. Not at all what they wanted to bring home to their parents. “It would. Though I do think that if there was going to be a party, we’d have to throw it ourselves.”
“Well, it’s not really a party if we don’t throw it ourselves,” Gavin said with a grin. “What do you say? Are you in? Should we throw our first party on the island?” He thought it would be a fantastic idea, considering how much they loved parties and how incredible it would be since it would be theirs to begin with.
“You make a valid point,” Peter agreed with a nod. “I say we do. We’ll have to start figuring out what kind of party, but yes. Let’s liven this place up a little bit.”
“Figuring out what kind of party?” Gavin made a pfft sound, a sharp exhalation of breath, and rolled her eyes. “Really, Brother, have I taught you nothing? This is a masquerade ball if I’ve ever heard of one.”
Peter raised an eyebrow. They’d done a ball like that before, usually with nothing but success, but this was a different crowd than the rich and bored of their hometown. “Really now? And what happens if your perfect maiden hides her identity from you?”
“Then I’ll just have to track her down by other means,” He said, shrugging a little. “I know you can’t resist a good party, though, so I figure it might be nice to give you a chance to be the prince charming you are.”
Peter shrugged. “I am prince charming,” he said. That much was for sure. “Alright, masquerade. Just know you’ve signed us up for far more work than you’re used to. Not when we usually had help.” And he hoped Gavin kept up with it so Peter wasn’t exhausted by the time he got there.
“Well, at least I’ll have my brother here to help out,” He said, grinning as he clapped a hand on Peter’s back before starting them in the direction of home, a new pep in his step.
“By which you mean for me to do everything?” Peter said, but let him turn them back towards home. He had some phone calls and requests to make. They’d need to have things shipped in and set up a good location for everything. Already his mind was going through the to-do list and he hoped he wasn’t doing it all on his own.
“Not everything. I’ll be here to help,” Gavin promised. Especially if they could get this thing together quickly. he’d be there to help. He wanted to ride the high of planning this while it was still exciting and not tedious. Peter could handle all the not fun details later.