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Tweak says, "A mass of quivering holes"

Douglas Hammond (doug_hammond) wrote in omega_reality,
@ 2012-11-06 17:00:00

Entry tags:

*complete, 2010 11, 2012 11, character: douglas hammond, character: thomas hammond, character: travis marks

RP: Election Night in Pittsburgh
Who: Doug, Travis, TJ
Where: Their home
When: Election Day
Summary: Doug loves politics and he loves election day

Election Day was like Halloween and Christmas combined in DC. People went to work, but that really mean standing around TVs and computers to look at the early poll results, listen to the comment, get the reports about turnout. The less important people, aka all those volunteers that TJ liked because he could fuck them, celebrated in different ways, not that Doug had ever been part of that group; he'd always celebrated with the important people. Still it didn't matter in which group you fell in, because you were still partying, a day long party that ended in lots of drinks because you'd won or lost.

Pittsburgh had none of that. People didn't seem to care. Voting was almost a chore to fit into the schedule, if it could fit in there, and if not, who cared. Doug wanted to shake these people and show them how voting made this democracy great, especially when leaving in one of the Swing States, but no apathy reigned supreme.

Uncaring of the general mood, he feigned a cold, got home a little earlier so that they could do some training and told Travis that there was no way in hell that he was going to the range. Still they got back home by 7:00pm. Doug took all the computers, set them up on the table and had ZNN, Fox and MSNBC streaming, getting all the different point of views

"You know you'll have to move them to eat," Travis said from the kitchen.

"You can use the piano," Doug murmured without paying attention to what Travis was doing. God, it was election night. Why couldn't he get it?

Travis looked at TJ, smiling. "Take out his drawers and get his night stand." He went to their room and did the same, bringing the night stand near the table. He also moved the bench. "There, you can put the computers there when we eat. Or afterwards if you want to." He put a hand behind TJ's back and kissed him. "Help me cook and we can go downstairs after dinner. Unless you actually want to sit here for three hours to see who wins."

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hammond_tj
2012-11-08 02:20 am UTC (link)

"You're kidding, right? This is the family business. I'd be remiss if I didn't pay attention." TJ smirked as he kissed Travis back. Contrary to popular belief, he did actually care about election night in his way. He wasn't really the cold-hearted bastard he liked to pretend to be. It mattered if his parents won or not. Part of wanting to make them happy meant caring if they were happy.

And, more especially, that his brother was happy. That was part of why TJ had asked him to come on this crazy venture, despite the rest of the selfish reasons.

TJ knew tonight was going to be hard for Doug, even if his brother was even better at hiding his real feelings than TJ was. Two months ago, he'd thought this night would herald his appointment to Chief of Staff in the White House. Now, the closest he had was watching the results of a race he'd had no hand in between candidates he didn't know.

"But, I suppose we can go down for a little while, if only to bring back real coffee to keep my dear brother up until the end," he teased. Although, he really didn't want to be gone long. Doug would never ask for him, would most likely not admit to needing company if he did. But, TJ wanted to be there, even in the background, all the same. He was trying to be the brother his brother deserved, like he'd said he wanted to do.

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travis_marks
2012-11-08 03:07 am UTC (link)

Travis pointed to computers. "That is not family business." He waved his finger between the two of them. "You both need to get that through your heads. You need to stop thinking about that life or that you are those people or you won't survive here."

Doug turned his head to look at Travis. "Do you think it's that easy? Do you know who we are? I don't mean the name, but what we do, what we represent. Do you understand that my parents and I have worked our entire lives to make this country better, to stop the Republicans-"

"Oh God, don't even go there, Doug," Travis said. "I grew up in LA, poor neighborhoods. I know all about growing up Democrat, and then I became a cop and I learned all about being a Republican." He stopped talking before they started an argument. Walking closer, he sat near Dough and stared at him. "Look this isn't about my feelings about politicians. It's that who wins makes no difference to us. The current president is a Democrat and she approved the experiments, she authorized an attack that killed people whose only crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. You, even more than TJ, need to stop thinking that you'll solve things behind a desk, because that's not going to keep you alive. The sooner you can accept that who you were is irrelevant the better off you are." He looked at TJ, before sighing. "The last time I told TJ something similar he got all upset, but just because your family name is irrelevant, it doesn't make you nobodies."

"So what's your big solution? Become cops, agents, super soldiers?" Doug asked. "I'm in politics, because it's what I like. The same is true of most people. Just because I'm somewhere else, it doesn't mean that suddenly I'm a soldiers. I tried looking at different jobs, joked about it, but in the end, I want to do what I do: organize, smooth, plan, except I was going to do it for the entire fucking country. Difficult to forget that."

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hammond_tj
2012-11-08 02:39 pm UTC (link)

TJ sighed heavily and shook his head. He'd been facetious about the 'family business' part. But, of course, Travis was so dedicated to helping them and protecting, he took the words more seriously than TJ had intended. But, he still didn't really understand the lives they had led before. And tonight was not the night to get into this with his twin.

Of course, the fact he was from Los Angeles, where everyone knew things were ass backwards politically, didn't help.

"Travis, don't." Moving closer, he put a hand on Travis' shoulder and squeezed gently. "I know you're trying to help. But, tonight isn't the night for this conversation. Let him have this night." TJ knew Travis had no hope of talking Doug out of this tonight. He was less used to the idea of being irrelevant than TJ was. TJ had been irrelevant unless someone needed to get to his family. Doug had been the glue keeping things running. Far from irrelevant.

"You have to give him a chance to deal with this." Even TJ knew a new president would affect them, even if Doug was right about the first hundred days. But, he wasn't going to fuel an argument. Not tonight. Leaning over, he kissed the side of Travis' neck softly before whispering in his ear low enough Doug shouldn't hear. "Let him mourn his dream."

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doug_hammond
2012-11-08 03:26 pm UTC (link)

Travis looked up at TJ after the kiss. There was so much he wanted to say, how wrong it was to live in a past that had no baring to their current lives. You didn't live in the past, but adjusted to the new situation as quickly as possible. It was a lesson that Travis had learned before finishing elementary school. Staying quiet went against everything he believed in.

He put his arm around TJ, eyes still in his lover and then nodded with a sigh. "Okay."

Travis clapped Doug's leg. "We'll make dinner."

Doug smiled at TJ, before focusing on Travis. "Thanks."

"Thank your brother," Travis said, smiling.

Doug chuckled. "I'm waiting to see how much bitching there is about cooking before I do that."

Travis got up, shaking his head. "Come on. Let's if we can do this without bitching."

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