theo blomqvist-rose ;; prism (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} geode) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} playout,@ 2020-05-20 21:47:00 |
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DATE & TIME: May 13, 2020
LOCATION: Lottie’s car and the parking lot at Solvang, Village Center
RATING: Low, some language
SUMMARY: Lottie and Riley want to treat Theo to some mentor appreciation time.
“You two still haven’t told me where we’re going,” Theo glanced at Lottie beside him, and then over his shoulder at Riley in the backseat, looking curious but fully trusting.
His eldest and only son gave him a blank look that betrayed nothing. They had promised him fun, and he was just going to have to trust his hellions that this was worth waiting for. Riley undid his seatbelt from where he sat behind Lottie and scooted—
“Would you put your damn seatbelt on, please?” Lottie asked, hands tense on the steering wheel as she drove. There was something about driving in Los Angeles that she truly hated, and she could never quite quantify how much. But she heard the snap as Riley buckled himself in on the other side, and was mollified for a moment. “God, this fucking —” her hand hovered above the car horn but she resisted, instead completing the lane change smoothly.
“This was a great idea until there were other cars,” she scowled through the windscreen.
Riley did his best not to laugh. “We’re not telling you. That’s the point of a surprise,” he teased Theo instead, leaning forward to comfortably loop his arms around the headrest and his former mentor’s shoulders. “Though we could’ve made it a real surprise by putting you in the trunk.”
A hand moved to pat Riley’s arm, a sweet contrast to the way Theo snorted in decided lack of amusement. “Sounds a little close to kidnapping for my tastes.” Even if he had said he trusted them. And did, but traveling in a trunk just sounded uncomfortable. With a straight face, Theo added, “You’re both, of course, extremely generous to allow me to sit in an actual seat like a human person.”
“It’s fine. No one is going in the trunk,” Lottie rolled her eyes, lifting her voice so Riley could hear her pointed explanation. “Especially since if I got arrested I’d have to ask Theo for the bail money. Bit awkward after putting him in the trunk,” she explained, taking a moment to glance to her side and smile at him.
The blonde in the backseat made a face. “Wait, where am I in this scenario?”
“Probably also arrested.” She shrugged.
“Ride or die, Thelma.” Riley adjusted his arms to rest more comfortably, though the rest of his body wasn’t as happy. “Would Theo even fit in the trunk?”
“We will not be finding out,” retorted Theo, before adding to Lottie: “I’m so glad that’s your reasoning, though. ‘It’d be awkward.’”
“Awkward, and a real issue for my career development,” Lottie reasoned, eyes on the road but unable to resist smiling. “We could always try to fit Riley in the trunk. He’s most likely to be comfortable in there.”
“I recognize this is a short joke, but you’re shorter than me.”
“You’re still smaller in general,” she pointed out.
“Dad, don’t let her put me in the trunk.”
“You brought this on yourself. I have no sympathy.”
Lottie flickered a small smirk into the rear view mirror, checking to see Riley before returning her focus to the road ahead. “Ri, are we nearly there yet? You’re supposed to be in charge of directions,” she prompted him.
The snake arms peeled from Theo’s shoulders to grasp for the phone serving as their GPS. With a couple taps, the map came back up. “We have to pass Santa Barbara first to get to Route 154,” he pointed out, tapping through. “Two more exits, though. Don’t miss them or we’ll end up in the next Santa.” Riley had been very good about his promise of no sass during the ride, but this was necessary.
Theo craned his neck to raise an eyebrow at Riley, wondering if he even knew what the next saint-inspired town would be.
Ah, well. Let the mystery continue to intensify for now.
“There it is,” Riley said over the music, reaching between the seats to paw at the compartment. “The blue sign.” As they inched closer, the Welcome to Solvang, Village Center ½ Mile Ahead became clear enough to read.
Lottie smiled, pleased that they’d finally reached their destination. “Happy Mentor Appreciation Day, or whatever the fuck it’s called,” she told Theo. “We’ve looked up all this stuff to do in this weird place.”
“There’s a ranch and a vineyard, and all these cute shops.” The back of his seat was patted with two hands. “And we know you want to go to the Hans Christian Anderson museum.”
“Hans Christian Anderson was Danish,” Theo said automatically, looking insulted for a split-second before focusing back on the actually important thing here: Lottie and Riley had planned this lovely day trip for him. “I love it,” he added sincerely, glancing between his two mentees with a warm, bright smile that was reserved just for family. “Truly, this is...extremely thoughtful. Thank you.”
“But Danish is close, right?” Which prompted Theo right back into looking like Lottie had suggested he eat a tide pod. “And it’s so weird, this is two hours out of LA and like an entirely different country,” Lottie explained. “It looked different and weird and I really liked it.” She guided the car around in the direction the parking lot signs indicated, and grinned at Theo. “We’ve got you wine tasting, that’s why I’m driving. And Riley can look after the shopping in the backseat on the way back.”
Still, he grinned widely, his head swiveling to take in the sights. “Barely any signs of LA anywhere. I never knew this was here.”
“Neither did we. Lottie found it first,” Riley offered, not wanting to take that credit, and noisily rustling through the backpack he’d stuffed on the car floor to keep her from protesting. “Before we get out of the car, by the way—” He withdrew an item crudely wrapped in black tissue paper and handed it around the seat. “Part two.”
“He found that,” Lottie was quick to interject.
Theo took the object into his hands, unwrapping it to find a mug, and it got a laugh out of him. “Wow. The person who made this is terrible at math.”
“I have it on good authority that the math is a hundred percent accurate.” As the car began to edge into one of the parking spots, Riley shot his kidnapping partner the shy smile that Theo couldn’t see, and set his chin on the edge of the passenger seat. “I have the diplomas to back me up. Me, I’m the authority.”
Their former mentor just smiled, and leaned his head against Riley’s without thinking about it, and when they were parked, he reached over for Lottie’s hand to briefly link their hands together. It just felt like the right thing to do. “I love you both. Thank you.”
Once the car was no longer in motion and the blonde could unbuckle himself, he did so, if only to squirm in closer to the both of them. He was content and fulfilled in this space where feelings could be soft for a moment, if Theo let them be.
Riley set his cheek to the man’s shoulder. “We love you, too. We’re not letting you go.”
For a moment Lottie pretended to look dismissive at the sentimental way they were both acting, but ultimately it was something that she wanted to be part of. They were her people and she wouldn’t abandon them, so she smiled at them both.
“Alright, let’s get going and enjoy this day,” she told them.
His eldest and only son gave him a blank look that betrayed nothing. They had promised him fun, and he was just going to have to trust his hellions that this was worth waiting for. Riley undid his seatbelt from where he sat behind Lottie and scooted—
“Would you put your damn seatbelt on, please?” Lottie asked, hands tense on the steering wheel as she drove. There was something about driving in Los Angeles that she truly hated, and she could never quite quantify how much. But she heard the snap as Riley buckled himself in on the other side, and was mollified for a moment. “God, this fucking —” her hand hovered above the car horn but she resisted, instead completing the lane change smoothly.
“This was a great idea until there were other cars,” she scowled through the windscreen.
Riley did his best not to laugh. “We’re not telling you. That’s the point of a surprise,” he teased Theo instead, leaning forward to comfortably loop his arms around the headrest and his former mentor’s shoulders. “Though we could’ve made it a real surprise by putting you in the trunk.”
A hand moved to pat Riley’s arm, a sweet contrast to the way Theo snorted in decided lack of amusement. “Sounds a little close to kidnapping for my tastes.” Even if he had said he trusted them. And did, but traveling in a trunk just sounded uncomfortable. With a straight face, Theo added, “You’re both, of course, extremely generous to allow me to sit in an actual seat like a human person.”
“It’s fine. No one is going in the trunk,” Lottie rolled her eyes, lifting her voice so Riley could hear her pointed explanation. “Especially since if I got arrested I’d have to ask Theo for the bail money. Bit awkward after putting him in the trunk,” she explained, taking a moment to glance to her side and smile at him.
The blonde in the backseat made a face. “Wait, where am I in this scenario?”
“Probably also arrested.” She shrugged.
“Ride or die, Thelma.” Riley adjusted his arms to rest more comfortably, though the rest of his body wasn’t as happy. “Would Theo even fit in the trunk?”
“We will not be finding out,” retorted Theo, before adding to Lottie: “I’m so glad that’s your reasoning, though. ‘It’d be awkward.’”
“Awkward, and a real issue for my career development,” Lottie reasoned, eyes on the road but unable to resist smiling. “We could always try to fit Riley in the trunk. He’s most likely to be comfortable in there.”
“I recognize this is a short joke, but you’re shorter than me.”
“You’re still smaller in general,” she pointed out.
“Dad, don’t let her put me in the trunk.”
“You brought this on yourself. I have no sympathy.”
Lottie flickered a small smirk into the rear view mirror, checking to see Riley before returning her focus to the road ahead. “Ri, are we nearly there yet? You’re supposed to be in charge of directions,” she prompted him.
The snake arms peeled from Theo’s shoulders to grasp for the phone serving as their GPS. With a couple taps, the map came back up. “We have to pass Santa Barbara first to get to Route 154,” he pointed out, tapping through. “Two more exits, though. Don’t miss them or we’ll end up in the next Santa.” Riley had been very good about his promise of no sass during the ride, but this was necessary.
Theo craned his neck to raise an eyebrow at Riley, wondering if he even knew what the next saint-inspired town would be.
Ah, well. Let the mystery continue to intensify for now.
“There it is,” Riley said over the music, reaching between the seats to paw at the compartment. “The blue sign.” As they inched closer, the Welcome to Solvang, Village Center ½ Mile Ahead became clear enough to read.
Lottie smiled, pleased that they’d finally reached their destination. “Happy Mentor Appreciation Day, or whatever the fuck it’s called,” she told Theo. “We’ve looked up all this stuff to do in this weird place.”
“There’s a ranch and a vineyard, and all these cute shops.” The back of his seat was patted with two hands. “And we know you want to go to the Hans Christian Anderson museum.”
“Hans Christian Anderson was Danish,” Theo said automatically, looking insulted for a split-second before focusing back on the actually important thing here: Lottie and Riley had planned this lovely day trip for him. “I love it,” he added sincerely, glancing between his two mentees with a warm, bright smile that was reserved just for family. “Truly, this is...extremely thoughtful. Thank you.”
“But Danish is close, right?” Which prompted Theo right back into looking like Lottie had suggested he eat a tide pod. “And it’s so weird, this is two hours out of LA and like an entirely different country,” Lottie explained. “It looked different and weird and I really liked it.” She guided the car around in the direction the parking lot signs indicated, and grinned at Theo. “We’ve got you wine tasting, that’s why I’m driving. And Riley can look after the shopping in the backseat on the way back.”
Still, he grinned widely, his head swiveling to take in the sights. “Barely any signs of LA anywhere. I never knew this was here.”
“Neither did we. Lottie found it first,” Riley offered, not wanting to take that credit, and noisily rustling through the backpack he’d stuffed on the car floor to keep her from protesting. “Before we get out of the car, by the way—” He withdrew an item crudely wrapped in black tissue paper and handed it around the seat. “Part two.”
“He found that,” Lottie was quick to interject.
Theo took the object into his hands, unwrapping it to find a mug, and it got a laugh out of him. “Wow. The person who made this is terrible at math.”
“I have it on good authority that the math is a hundred percent accurate.” As the car began to edge into one of the parking spots, Riley shot his kidnapping partner the shy smile that Theo couldn’t see, and set his chin on the edge of the passenger seat. “I have the diplomas to back me up. Me, I’m the authority.”
Their former mentor just smiled, and leaned his head against Riley’s without thinking about it, and when they were parked, he reached over for Lottie’s hand to briefly link their hands together. It just felt like the right thing to do. “I love you both. Thank you.”
Once the car was no longer in motion and the blonde could unbuckle himself, he did so, if only to squirm in closer to the both of them. He was content and fulfilled in this space where feelings could be soft for a moment, if Theo let them be.
Riley set his cheek to the man’s shoulder. “We love you, too. We’re not letting you go.”
For a moment Lottie pretended to look dismissive at the sentimental way they were both acting, but ultimately it was something that she wanted to be part of. They were her people and she wouldn’t abandon them, so she smiled at them both.
“Alright, let’s get going and enjoy this day,” she told them.