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Week Ten: Friday
Who: Chris and Hesper (with a brief appearance by Chris' nemesis, Vernon Johnson)
Where: beginning outside UW Medical Center, then a nearby diner
When: early morning, just after dawn
What: breakfast
It was peculiar enough to be standing outside the hospital after work instead of heading home to sleep after a long night spent restocking supplies and filing and attempting to avoid people. It was also very unusual why he was standing out there. He was waiting for Hesper Alekos, who'd pushed a note beneath his door the day before telling him she was taking him to breakfast today in thanks for the sketch he'd left for her, and that she'd pick him up outside the hospital. There'd been no option for declining, and at this point he probably wouldn't have, anyway. After the rocky start to their last encounter where she'd found him up in the enclosed gardens, she'd seemed to go out of her way to be nice to him, charming even. That had possibly been one of the reasons he'd matted that sketch and left it for her, since it had seemed to bother her so much that he'd drawn it. One of the reasons. Any others, he wouldn't let himself examine. It was too confusing to him.
Chris wasn't even nervous about seeing her again right now because he was too busy being annoyed. The drawback to having to wait out here was the fact that Vernon Johnson, who seemed to have nothing better to do during his shifts at work than to hunt down Chris and taunt him, had spotted him through the glass doors outside which he stood in the brisk morning air. Chris had changed out of the scrubs he'd worn to work in, something he usually didn't do, since normally he was just going home and who cared what he had on? Despite the fact that he and Hesper would undoubtedly go to the Diner several blocks away, which, though it had excellent breakfasts, was nothing fancy, he'd felt compelled to put something else on, anyway. He was dressed in black jeans and a fisherman's sweater in a deep blue with a white t-shirt beneath it that just barely peeked out from beneath the sweater's crew neck. The color intensified the shade of his eyes, and maybe he'd noticed the effect when he'd looked in the mirror, although that sort of thing wasn't anything Chris generally considered.
He'd been standing still, minding his own business as he usually did, when Vernon burst out of the doors like a demented jack-in-the-box to stand beside him. The burly black man was still dressed in his work scrubs, bulging out of them actually, and he'd tossed a nearly threadbare coat on over them against the chill. "Yo," he said, his big white teeth showing as he smiled joyously. "Whatchoo doin' out here, Morgan? Ain't it time for mice to get back in their holes?" He poked Chris on the arm, having already figured out long ago how much Chris hated to be touched.
Anger flared instantly, and Chris turned his head to glare at the guy, deliberately stepping a foot to one side. He wished for Hesper's claws; though he hadn't seen them anywhere but in his mind's eye, he knew they were there. He was reaching the point with Vernon where he'd love to fight back, but there wasn't a lot he could do. The other man was bigger than him and brasher, loud and obnoxious. He'd likely been the sort of little kid who'd pulled the wings off of butterflies. He seemed to have no human kindness or sense of appropriateness. Chris said nothing, but his jaw tightened as he hoped the other man would give up and go away.
"You lookin' fiiiiiine, baby," Vernon said. "Got a date? Or you takin' up pros-ti-tu-tion?" Every syllable of the last word was spoken as if it had been a separate word, with a definite mocking flavor. He closed the space between them and started to rub Chris' arm, as if assessing the quality of the wool on his sweater. Chris' cheeks were blazing red, though he was more angry than embarrassed at the moment, as little as he liked another man touching him like that here in public. He wouldn't have liked it anywhere, but here was worse, outside his workplace. His dark brows drawn down in a glower, he yanked his arm out of Vernon's grasp and then elbowed the man as hard as he could, as little as he liked to stoop to his level. He just couldn't tolerate it anymore.
Where: beginning outside UW Medical Center, then a nearby diner
When: early morning, just after dawn
What: breakfast
It was peculiar enough to be standing outside the hospital after work instead of heading home to sleep after a long night spent restocking supplies and filing and attempting to avoid people. It was also very unusual why he was standing out there. He was waiting for Hesper Alekos, who'd pushed a note beneath his door the day before telling him she was taking him to breakfast today in thanks for the sketch he'd left for her, and that she'd pick him up outside the hospital. There'd been no option for declining, and at this point he probably wouldn't have, anyway. After the rocky start to their last encounter where she'd found him up in the enclosed gardens, she'd seemed to go out of her way to be nice to him, charming even. That had possibly been one of the reasons he'd matted that sketch and left it for her, since it had seemed to bother her so much that he'd drawn it. One of the reasons. Any others, he wouldn't let himself examine. It was too confusing to him.
Chris wasn't even nervous about seeing her again right now because he was too busy being annoyed. The drawback to having to wait out here was the fact that Vernon Johnson, who seemed to have nothing better to do during his shifts at work than to hunt down Chris and taunt him, had spotted him through the glass doors outside which he stood in the brisk morning air. Chris had changed out of the scrubs he'd worn to work in, something he usually didn't do, since normally he was just going home and who cared what he had on? Despite the fact that he and Hesper would undoubtedly go to the Diner several blocks away, which, though it had excellent breakfasts, was nothing fancy, he'd felt compelled to put something else on, anyway. He was dressed in black jeans and a fisherman's sweater in a deep blue with a white t-shirt beneath it that just barely peeked out from beneath the sweater's crew neck. The color intensified the shade of his eyes, and maybe he'd noticed the effect when he'd looked in the mirror, although that sort of thing wasn't anything Chris generally considered.
He'd been standing still, minding his own business as he usually did, when Vernon burst out of the doors like a demented jack-in-the-box to stand beside him. The burly black man was still dressed in his work scrubs, bulging out of them actually, and he'd tossed a nearly threadbare coat on over them against the chill. "Yo," he said, his big white teeth showing as he smiled joyously. "Whatchoo doin' out here, Morgan? Ain't it time for mice to get back in their holes?" He poked Chris on the arm, having already figured out long ago how much Chris hated to be touched.
Anger flared instantly, and Chris turned his head to glare at the guy, deliberately stepping a foot to one side. He wished for Hesper's claws; though he hadn't seen them anywhere but in his mind's eye, he knew they were there. He was reaching the point with Vernon where he'd love to fight back, but there wasn't a lot he could do. The other man was bigger than him and brasher, loud and obnoxious. He'd likely been the sort of little kid who'd pulled the wings off of butterflies. He seemed to have no human kindness or sense of appropriateness. Chris said nothing, but his jaw tightened as he hoped the other man would give up and go away.
"You lookin' fiiiiiine, baby," Vernon said. "Got a date? Or you takin' up pros-ti-tu-tion?" Every syllable of the last word was spoken as if it had been a separate word, with a definite mocking flavor. He closed the space between them and started to rub Chris' arm, as if assessing the quality of the wool on his sweater. Chris' cheeks were blazing red, though he was more angry than embarrassed at the moment, as little as he liked another man touching him like that here in public. He wouldn't have liked it anywhere, but here was worse, outside his workplace. His dark brows drawn down in a glower, he yanked his arm out of Vernon's grasp and then elbowed the man as hard as he could, as little as he liked to stoop to his level. He just couldn't tolerate it anymore.