Ethan Chandler (somenightwork) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-09-30 10:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | ethan chandler, victor frankenstein |
Who: Victor and Ethan
What: Apple picking
When: A couple weeks back
Where: An apple orchard
Ratings: Low, so fluffy it will rot your teeth
Status: Complete
Even if it's still hot as hell, it's halfway through September already and Ethan wants it to be Fall. He's ready for leaves changing and pumpkin picking and all of that fun autumnal stuff. So he makes sure that Victor is free for the day, and heads on over to pick him up.
Baskets in hand, he knocks on the door, excited for the day ahead.
Victor is generally still wary of time spent with Ethan. Not because of the werewolf thing - that, oddly enough, is easy to get over. It's more Victor's dreams, the road they're heading down, and how awkward that makes him feel when he's around Ethan. He still agrees to spend the day with Ethan. Maybe he should have thought twice before accepting.
He answers the door with raised eyebrows. "What are those for."
Honestly, he can't blame Victor for being nervous around him. The dreams cause tension between them, and half the time he feel wary about Victor too. Which is why today is so important to him, to put himself around Victor and just face all he feels for him head on.
Ethan beams at Victor when the door opens, feeling light hearted for once. He holds Victor's basket out to him, pleased as punch. "These are for celebrating the start of fall. I'm gonna take you to an orchard today and we are gonna go apple pickin'."
Victor takes the basket, a stoic but wide-eyed look on his face as he looks at it. "Apple picking," he repeats. Only Ethan Chandler would think of taking Victor Frankenstein apple picking. He can't deny the invitation, though. He still feels like he owes Ethan for actions that happened in a world they have no control over.
"Let me get my sunglasses," he says, reluctantly. But Ethan's happiness is infectious, so Victor smiles a bit, too. Once he has everything, he steps out, closing and locking the door behind him. "I'll have you know, this heat may do me in."
"Well then it is a good thing I thought of your delicate constitution, isn't it? That is why I brought you this." Ethan plunks a raffia hat down on Victor's head, adjusting it a little so it sets right. "I also brought plenty a'water and some sunscreen so your face doesn't get too burnt. Don't say I don't care."
"No." He says it rather pointedly. The hat is removed, set into Ethan's basket. "I draw the line somewhere, Mr Chandler." Victor heads back to the street, toward Ethan's truck.
Ethan rolls his eyes and heads after Victor, helping Victor into the truck before he hops in himself. He pulls out the sunscreen and grips Victor's chin lightly, swiping sunscreen across his cheeks and rubbing it into his nose like you would a toddler, figuring he wouldn't do it himself.
"All set?"
Victor flaps his hands at Ethan through everything, feeling overly coddled, and he's never been much into being touched. He does think, briefly, how big Ethan's hands are. "Yes, mother," he says dryly.
"I know I know. But you've got delicate skin and we're gonna be outside for a minute. You'll complain if you get burnt." A little sunscreen on his forehead and his chin while his guard is down, and then he holds his hands up to show he's done.
Ethan rolls his window down to get a bit of a breeze going as they drive off, glancing over at Victor. "You ever done this before?"
"I'll complain about a lot of things." Victor glances over at Ethan, snorting a bit. "I can't say I have, no. I generally don't have reason to go outside for extended periods of time, much less to pick fruit."
"My mom used to take me, when I was little. It was our big beginning of fall tradition. And then we'd make all sorts of apple pies for the neighbours. She passed a couple years back, and I haven't gone in a while. I thought it might be nice to try it again."
There's a part of Victor that wants to make a joke, something about how bringing death into the conversation is clearly a sure fire way to get Victor interested. But he doesn't. Instead, he hums, hoping he comes off as sympathetic and not disinterested. "I'm flattered I seem the appropriate companion."
"Well like it or not, you're my closest friend and I like spending time with you. I know we've had our spats, and I've said some not so nice things. Especially about our dreams, and I want you to know I'm sorry about that. I owe you a nice day. I want us to have fun together."
Oh. Well. Victor's not sure if his discomfort comes from being a bit pleased by that, or from being uncertain how one deals with being a close friend. "You were well within your rights to react as you did. You'll be more displeased with me in the future, but I'll not ruin your day."
"Not today, friend. No dream talk, nothing like that, okay?" Ethan reaches over to squeeze the back of Victor's neck, and then leaves it there, rubbing his thumb against the nape. "Just us havin' a good time. I promise it won't be too outdoorsy."
Oh. Well. That's not so bad, either. "I will keep all my morbid and macabre thoughts to myself." Victor looks over at Ethan, a sort of smirk on his lips that says he's teasing. Mostly. "We're spending the entire day outside. That's outdoorsy."
"Yeah but I'm not makin' you hike or climb a cliff or nothin'. For me, that's outdoorsy. But I'm a cowboy by trade, you and me got different ideas of the outdoors. Oh say, maybe when you're feeling up to it, we could go on a horse trail. Real easy pace and all, nothing too rough. Is that something I could convince you to do?"
"Baby steps, Ethan." Horses is another level entirely. He wants to ask if the horses act any different around Ethan, but holds his tongue. That's a taboo topic for the day. "One day, maybe. A very loose maybe."
The horses are okay around him. He stays off the ranch the first couple days before the full moon because they do get skittish around him then. "I'll introduce you to some of our tamer ponies. The ones we give the little ones. Maybe teach you how to brush one down so you can get used to being around a horse."
"That doesn't sound appealing at all. Next time let's just sit around and read. That's fun." They did, after all, first meet in a bookstore.
Ethan laughs and scratches his fingers through the hair at the back of Victor's neck, almost petting him affectionately. "Yeah all right, next time we'll do something quiet and indoors."
They reach the orchard and Ethan takes Victor's hands to help him down from the truck, since it's a big damn truck and Victor's a very slightly built person and Ethan has to refrain from wrapping an arm around his waist to get him down
Victor decides not to protest, because Ethan is stubborn and will do it anyway, so he lets him. His hands linger in Ethan's for a moment before he steps away to look around. How quaint. What a ridiculous way to spend a day. "Are you going to actually make pies after?"
"I damn well might. You're welcome to stay over and watch me, if you wanted to." Ethan hands Victor his basket and chats with the owner of the orchard, paying their fee to be able to go in and pick apples as it pleases them. "Let's get started."
"Mostly, I just want to eat them. But your company won't be too bad."
Victor dutifully follows Ethan, already complaining internally about his choices. It's going to be so dull. He crosses his fingers that they'll fill their baskets sooner rather than later.
"Oh come on, doc," Ethan says, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "You ain't never done this? Not even as a school kid?"
"Apple picking isn't really a typical English pastime, no." He might have done it with his mother, if she hadn't died when he was so young. Victor recalls very little of her apart from her love of poetry and nature. "When we went to the country, it was to a large house in a vast field and I generally sat inside while my brothers found new ways to hate each other."
"Well I'm sorry to hear that." He ruffles at Victor's hair and finds them a nice big shady tree, clamboring up onto some of the lower branches to start finding the best apples.
"It's certainly not your fault." Victor pokes around at the branches he can reach, gathering apples that meet his high standards. "And I apologize that I'm horrible at making small talk."
"Watchin' you try to make small talk is like watchin' a dog try to dance," Ethan calls down, tossing an apple in Victor's direction to see if he'll catch it in time.
"What's that supposed to m- Ow!" Victor does not catch it in time. The problem with morphine is that it tends to slow one's reaction time over use, and it also makes one bruise easily. He rubs his arm, pointedly not picking up the assault apple. "I agree to come spend the day with you and you throw fruit at me."
"Means you ain't too good at it." With a sympathetic wince, Ethan climbs back down to look at Victor's arm. "Did I get you good?"
"It's not as if apples are soft projectiles." He's not mad about it, not really. Later, he may even smile when he thinks about it. For now, he looks at his arm, too, at the effects of the hit already starting to show. "All that time fussing over me because I'm delicate and you throw things at me." Now he's teasing.
"Well here, let me fix it." Ethan gives him a wink and leans down to press a kiss to the bruise slowly coming to surface against Victor's skin, then takes his hand and kisses his knuckles, too. "Whatchya think? Is it healed?"
Victor hasn't had too many close friends, but he's fairly certain this isn't general close-friend behaviour. He's torn between squinting and simply looking at Ethan, and picks the latter. "I don't recall that particularly remedy coming up in medical school." It's the only thing he can think of to say without properly understanding what, exactly, is happening here.
"No? It's an old Southern remedy for making sure bruises heal up okay. That and whiskey, but you're such a tiny thing I don't rightly trust you around too much of that." Ethan keeps Victor's hand, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles and debating pressing another kiss to it.
"Ethan -" He frowns a bit. "Is there something I'm perhaps missing?"
"Somethin' I haven't said out loud, more like. Or I have, in a way, but not proper like." He chews at his lip a little, looking at Victor's fingernails rather than at Victor. "Only that I really am rather fond of you."
"Ah." He supposes that if he were more adept at picking up on social cues, he'd have figured that out. Instead, here he is, feeling a bit blindsided by it. "I couldn't figure out why you liked spending so much time with me. Now it makes a bit more sense."
Which is why Ethan had decided to take the initiative with that little kiss. "Well a bit more sense is better than none at all, I guess." He looks amused, and gives Victor's hand a small squeeze. "Look, Victor, if you ain't fond of me the same way? No hard feelings, I promise. I won't get my heart broke, and I'm happy just to be your friend."
"Oh - no, no, it's not -" Victor frowns again. Dead people are much better company. They don't make you think about things like this. "I am. Fond of you, as you say it. I'm just out of my depth here."
"Are you then?" His grin widens and he kisses the slightly pointed tip of Victor's nose, feeling pleased. "That just makes today even better."
"You couldn't have told me all of this inside? In an air conditioned room, maybe?" Victor raises his eyebrows from behind his sunglasses. "A place where I wouldn't get apples thrown at me?"
"Ain't this romantic?" Ethan teases and takes up Victor's other hand, pressing soft little kisses to his knuckles while giving him a goofy smile. "Standing out here under an apple tree and all. I promise I won't throw no more apples at you today."
"This is probably what falls under that term, yes." Victor has to smile himself, because Ethan looks so ridiculously pleased right now, and that's because of Victor. It's a nice feeling. "I'd be less fond of you if you did, so that's good."
"I think it is. I think it's damned romantic." He feels giddy, honestly. Ethan hasn't had a boyfriend -- or a partner at all -- in a damned long time. Victor may not be the most conventional, but it works for him. "And I will pick you the best apples, and make you the best apple pie you have ever tasted."
"I'm flattered." Victor is so bad at this. He knows he is. But he can't hold hands much longer, it's not something he's used to and it makes him feel self conscious, so he slips his hands away and goes back to taking apples from the tree. "I'm not sure I've eaten too many apple pies in my life."
Ethan wraps an arm around Victor's waist to give him a squeeze and presses a kiss to the back of his neck before hoisting himself back up in the tree. "I hear up in the Yankee states they put cheese on theirs."
"Apples and cheese are a classic pairing. Maybe you ought to try it sometime." Victor shifts around the tree. "In England, we're mostly fond of meat pies, not so much the sweet ones."
"Nah, not like. I dunno, brie or whatever you fancy folk put with apples. Just a piece of apple pie with a piece of chedder on top. It ain't right. I do mine with some vanilla ice cream, real simple." Ethan fills his basket and hops back down to the ground. "Whatchya got against sweet things?"
"I wouldn't say it's anything we have against sweet things, I'd say it's that America is too obsessed with them." He glances over at Ethan. "I mean, really, Americans are ridiculous."
"You're a sweet thing," he beams and kisses Victor's cheek. "So doc. You gonna be my boyfriend?"