Who: Caleb Danvers, Pogue Parry, Reid Garwin, Tyler Simms What: Picking the last Son of Ipswich up at the airport Where: LAX When: This past weekend Rating: PG13 for language Status: Complete
Today was the day that the Sons of Ipswich were reunited once again. Pogue was coming to California and Caleb had gathered Reid and Tyler to tag along to go pick him up at the airport. It had been a long time coming and Caleb had tried to drop hints every time he spoke to his wandering friend about how California was a good place to end up. He wasn’t expecting Pogue to drop everything to come be with his friends, but Caleb was hoping that he would make his way to them eventually. When the news had come that it was actually happening Caleb had been ecstatic. It was perfect timing with college coming to an end and he would have more free time that didn’t involve studying for his next exam. He convinced Reid and Tyler to assist him in making a banner to embarrass their friend because the bromance was real and they had to give him hell for leaving them to explore. And now they were all in the baggage claim of LAX, which Pogue better understand that Caleb loved him enough to brave this place, and they were currently arguing over the best way to hold up the sign for maximum embarrassment. “I’m just pointing out that if we stand by the doors that lead down it means more people will see it compared to standing by his baggage claim,” Caleb commented.
Tyler lifted his shoulders, already feeling the second-hand embarrassment crawling up the back of his neck. He knew Pogue would take it in the good nature that it was intended (if they greeted Reid with this, it might be slightly different as an outcome), mostly after a sour comment or two, but Tyler was already feeling a little… uncomfortable now that the initial, knee-jerk excitement at taking part had faded. He wet his lower lip and shuffled on the spot, glancing between Reid and Caleb before he carefully pulled the cardboard tube that held their sign out of his bag and rolled it between his palms. There was still glitter under his fingernails.
“I actually think if we get over here,” he said, waving his hand where there were families with flowers and stern looking chauffeurs with name placards, “we’d get better visibility. That top bit everyone who walks out the doors’ll see us.”
Reid was as you would expect completely and totally in, one hundred and ten percent, ecstatic even came to mind. He loved nothing more than some good natured ribbing and teasing of his nearest and dearest but God forbid the tables be turned, he had a good sense of humour until he was the butt of the joke. Unlike Tyler he had no creeping sense of second-hand embarrassment and was happily unfurling his hurriedly scrawled sign that read “Porn is a real addiction but it’s okay we’re here for you. Please tell us you left your sex toys in another country.”
“Plus that would be like maximum impact,” he said in agreement with Tyler. “I mean, c’mon, waiting families with flowers and kids. It’s like the perfect place.”
Caleb could be embarrassed by his friends, but today was not one of those days. He had helped Tyler with the glitter, slightly regretting that because he was still finding glitter on his body, and lost it at Reid’s sign. “Alright, alright, I do have to agree. Although don’t be surprised if we get some weird looks and snide remarks from the parents over there,” Caleb usually didn’t care what other people had to say, but he didn’t want to frighten any small children. Caleb’s sign went along with Reid’s by saying ‘Welcome Home From Rehab’ on it. They might as well joke as much as they could before things went back to normal. He started walking towards the spot Tyler had picked with his friends.
Tyler’s sign - the slogan helpfully picked out by Reid - said ‘Your boyfriend loves you’ and ‘It’s okay to be GAY’ in carefully applied glitter. He followed, positioning himself beside Caleb so that the arrow pointed to him. He’d added the arrow after Caleb had helped him. His smile was a little impish as he settled, fingers curled around the edges. A few stray bits of glitter drifted slowly to the ground, covering the toes of his converse. Just… one more piece of his shit covered in glitter. Pogue better appreciate the effort they were putting into this.
He glanced up at Caleb, then at Reid and felt his lips curling up into a grin. “That old woman over there’s probably gonna shout something about God…”
“Let her,” Reid tossed back with a shrug. “It’s not like any of us give a fuck.” And they really didn’t or at least Reid didn’t. He settled on the other side of Caleb and stole a quick look at Tyler’s sign at which point he snorted though caught himself quickly enough as the last thing he wanted to do was give the game away.
Pogue for the most part was blissfully unaware of his friends plans to greet and embarrass him in one fell swoop, too busy trying to get his ass through security and customs. He was tired, the flight back had been long and he definitely hadn’t gotten enough sleep on the plane and this was evident in how he tapped his fingers restlessly in anticipation of getting the hell out of dodge.
“Jesus, what’s taking so long?” Reid grumbled as he flexed his grip on his sign.
And then as luck would have it one Pogue Parry rounded on arrivals.
There was something definitely going on with Reid and Tyler. He could sense a mischievous air about the two of them, but wasn’t quite sure what it was exactly. He hadn’t noticed the arrow on the sign yet, but some glitter had drifted from the sign onto his shirt and he reached over to brush it off. “I guess it depends on if he came in from out of the country or not. If he did then he’s gotta go through customs, which could be the hold up,” Caleb wasn’t even sure where Pogue had been. He was always a little vague about it, maybe so they wouldn’t get the idea of coming to see him or “rescue” him.
Then suddenly the familiar shape of Pogue Parry appeared in his sight and he couldn’t help but start to smile and hold his sign a little higher.
Tyler glanced down at his own sign and lifted it, too, double checking the placement of the arrow and whooping loudly. His delight at seeing Pogue was palpable; things always felt a little weird when they weren’t together and things had felt off with him being away. Their equilibrium had been off, though he knew that Pogue’s absence had been a bigger punch to Caleb, they’d all felt it. He wet his lower lip, resisting the urge to bounce on his toes.
Pogue could literally pick his three closest friends out of a crowd of thousands if he needed to but this? Well, this was like shooting fish in a barrel. He paused as he took in the full glory of those signs and he merely arched his eyebrow, tongue pressing against the sharp tip of his canine as he bit back an amused expression as it wasn't funny.
No, not at all.
It was totally mortifying. Totally.
In particular the arrow pointing towards Caleb courtesy of Tyler's super sparkly super glittery sign was probably the Pièce De Résistance truth be told, but goddamn it was good to see them.
Reid was definitely whooping and hollering loud enough to be drawing a ton of attention but clearly he gave no shits as he proudly displayed his sign above his head like some sort of groupie at a music festival. "It's okay, man. We're here for you, the first step is admitting you need help."
Pogue shook his head and began to approach, strides long and confident, a distinct swagger in his step. "You guys are such dicks," he said with a shake of his head.
That reaction had been worth waiting for Pogue to get back to them. It was absolute perfection and Caleb couldn’t help but blush and look a little bashful at Reid jumping around like a crazy person in effort to completely mortify his friend. It had worked and Caleb couldn’t help but step forward to get closer to Pogue, “We are, but you love us anyway. Welcome home, man.” Pogue definitely looked a little different, more worldly, but it was still the same boy he had easily become friends with when they were young. Nothing would change that and their bond as a group would only get stronger when they were all back together.
Someone opposite them who had been watching the signs wobble and wave in the enthusiasm of the greetees wolf whistled as Caleb stepped closer to Pogue. Tyler even stepped to the side a little so that the sign wasn’t obscured. He just grinned, waiting for Pogue and Caleb to finish their greeting before he got his in. After Reid, probably.
“That’s ‘cause I’m a fucking idiot,” Pogue mock grumbled though the creeping smile across his face said quite the opposite. He honestly hadn’t realised just how much he’d missed these guys, Caleb more than the other two, until they were stood right there in front of him. “C’mere.” He stretched out an arm and tugged Caleb into a hug, hand moving to squeeze his shoulder and Pogue took a moment to familiarise himself with how it felt to be back in his best friend’s space. “Missed you, man.”
He leaned back with a grin and grunted faintly as Reid in his a-typical Reid way launched himself in for a quick fleeting hug that ended as soon as it had started, Reid stepping back to rub at his hair awkwardly.
“You too, Reid.”
His smile soon locked and loaded his aim at Tyler and Pogue stepped in to give the last of his friends a hug.
The hug had been perfect and exactly what Caleb didn’t know he needed. It was strange how everything felt more right when all four of them were together. As he backed up from the hug so Reid could get in there he caught sight of the rest of Tyler’s sign with the arrow. An eyebrow lifted and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes with a grin. No wonder the random people at the airport were getting more involved in the welcome home party.
Tyler folded forward when Pogue hugged him, dropping one edge of the sign and meeting Caleb’s eyes with an expression that could have been sheepish if he wasn’t borderline delighted that there had been nothing but fond exasperation on Caleb’s face when he saw what it said. He turned his face into Pogue, arm securing around his waist and hugging him tightly. It felt a lot better now they were together again, something in his world tipping back into the right balance.
“Welcome home,” he muttered, patting Pogue’s chest as he detangled himself from the hug. “Caleb missed you, man.”
Pogue arched an eyebrow as Tyler finally detangled himself. “Just Caleb, huh?” He glanced over at Caleb and gave him a toothy grin though it didn’t stop him from affectionately ruffling Tyler’s hair. “Good to be home.” And it was, that wasn’t a lie. He’d come to California because that was where his friends were and wherever they were it was home, it was honestly that simple for Pogue.
Reid rolled his eyes and made a shoo’ing motion with his hands. “Now that we’ve done the meet and greet can we get the fuck outta here?”
“Impatient as always,” Pogue shot over at Reid.
Caleb couldn't help but smile as he watched the reunion between everyone. It was something they had all been waiting for to happen and it was finally here. Once Reid mentioned getting out of here Caleb gave a nod before turning to Pogue, "I think I owe you something though according to the sign Tyler made and I think our audience may be slightly disappointed."
A smirk appeared as he pulled Pogue in for a quick kiss before stepping away with a chuckle., "Alright, let's get going."
Pogue was a little confused but things immediately cleared up for him when Caleb smirked at him like that and pulled him in for a quick kiss. “I’m starting to think I should go away more often if that’s the kind of welcome back I get.” He ran his tongue over his lower lip to catch the lingering taste of Caleb before he slung his arm around his neck and tugged him into step beside him.
Reid caught the look the old woman was shooting their way and just rolled his eyes. “It’s the 20th century, lady. Get with the times.”
Tyler rolled up his sign carefully, shaking out the glitter before he put it back in the tube and followed behind Pogue and Caleb, tugging on Reid’s sleeve to stop him from ending up getting into a fight with an old lady whose blue rinse needed redoing and whose handbag sagged like she was carrying bricks in it. He wet his lower lip, replaying the easy way Caleb had given Pogue a kiss and feeling something in him short-circuiting.
“At least someone cheered for your lover’s reunion,” he chirped brightly, thinking about the smattered applause that had echoed after they walked away. Squinting a little, he pushed his sunglasses down from where they’d been resting atop his hair and rested them on his nose.
"Well I am glad we didn't find the completely homophobic crowd at LAX. I think people liked your sign, Tyler," Caleb commented as he moved closer under Pogue's arm as they made their way to the baggage claim to grab his luggage. He had missed Pogue a lot and kissing him was definitely stirring some old feelings he had for his best friend before he went on his exploration.
Of all the things Pogue had expected to get on his return to LA a kiss from Caleb was not one of those things. He wasn’t complaining. Complete opposite in fact. Even if it did stir what he had thought were long buried feelings of inappropriateness towards his best friend. Well, fuck, he was definitely going to need to get laid to get the thought of Caleb off his mind and his taste off his lips. “It is quite the sign and I mean I got a kiss outta it so I am not going to harsh on it.”
Reid went with the tug of his sleeve and chuckled. “I would’ve told them to fuck off if we had.” And he would have. No lie about that.
Fuck. Too bright. Reid tugged his sunglasses on as they wandered in the direction of luggage claim.
Tyler grinned. Luggage claim had a huge glass roof so it was very bright which made him glad he had his sunglasses on. “I should give up studying and become a sign maker,” he drawled sarcastically, “challenging homophobia one glittery fucking sign at a time.” He lifted his eyes, the board announcing that the baggage from Pogue’s flight would be hitting the belt soon.
“Just gotta look for the rucksack that’s covered in patches and questionable stains.”
Tyler's comment about Pogue's bag drew a laugh from Caleb as they reached the correct carousel, "I am glad we don't have to run a black light over it or anything. Where did you just come from, Pogue?" He hadn't actually asked where Pogue had finally made the decision to come to California. The carousel started to beep to indicate that items were starting to come down.
“Hey,” Pogue complained as he reached up to lightly clip Tyler upside the head in response to his commentary about his bag. “Uh, last place I was in was Singapore.” Admittedly Tyler might have a point about his luggage as it wasn’t like Pogue had stayed in five star hotels every night (even though he could have quite easily given that he along with the rest of his friends had a lot of money behind him) but still no harm in not giving in.
Reid snorted. “You know he’s got a point.” He smirked over at Pogue before giving Tyler a friendly nudge. “And Singapore? What the fuck is in Singapore?”
“Culture, interesting people, lots of things to look at and explore?”
Reid then did his best impression of a Snorlax as he proceeded to dramatically fall asleep where he stood right along with snoring.
“And hot girls?” Tyler chimed in because honestly, he was ninety percent sure a large reason Pogue decided to travel was to experience the culture of other people, even as he elbowed Reid in the side for his drama.
Tyler probably wasn’t wrong, honestly. Caleb had always wondered what Pogue was up to exactly when he was out and about exploring the world. He knew it probably involved other people and it wasn’t like he was a celibate monk with Pogue out exploring. They were living their own lives and now their lives were intersecting again. Caleb knew they would cross that bridge when they got to it, but Caleb wasn’t going to make a big deal out of potentially nothing just yet. He didn’t bother to make a comment as he waited for Pogue to give his response.
“Ow, hey,” Reid grumbled as he was rather firmly elbowed in the side and mock pouted as he rubbed at that area of his body in true dramatic Reid fashion. “I mean, yeah, hot girls are totally a given, right?”
Pogue rolled his eyes at Tyler. “I didn’t go travelling for hot girls.” Though granted he hadn’t exactly been a quiet retiring American in foreign lands but that was behind him now, he was home and home was a totally different set of challenges. “You know you’re still the prettiest person I know.” He said with a grin and wink at Tyler before he glanced at the conveyor belt. “Looks like my luggage is up.”
He squeezed Caleb’s shoulder and reluctantly untangled himself to retrieve his bags.
Tyler ducked his head, ostensibly to hide his smile and the way colour caught on his cheeks and along the edge of his ears, rubbing his hand along the back of his neck, “Shuddup and grab your pack, man,” he muttered, re-shouldering his bag and nudging Reid again for good measure.
“Wow, Tyler, I don’t think you’ve blushed this much in a long time,” Caleb teased goodnaturedly as he adjusted the shoulders of his t-shirt now that Pogue had walked away to grab his bag. He fished his car keys out of his pocket and spun them around his finger, “And with that I think we’re all ready to brave the LA traffic. I mean it’s probably nothing compared to some of the crazy drivers you’ve probably seen, Pogue, but it still sucks.” That was the only thing he disliked about living in this area. LA was great until you realized the traffic you had to drive back and forth in and it seemed never ending.
Reid caught the blush the same way Caleb did and grinned slow until his cheeks dimpled and he just launched himself at Tyler, arms wrapping around his neck to give him a small shake before a hand slipped free to squeeze one of those blushing cheeks. “It’s adorable, it really is.”
Pogue returned to his friends with his bags gathered and held at various parts of his body though surprisingly enough Reid stepped forward to help him out with a bag or two. “You feeling okay? Do I need to get you checked out?”
“Dude, shut up,” Reid threw back with a roll of his eyes.
Pogue chuckled and looked over at Caleb, attention momentarily caught and distracted by the spinning of car keys around his finger before just grimacing. “Ugh, really?”
Tyler had muttered something insulting when he was teased by both Caleb and Reid (which, come on, wasn’t fair at all and he shoved at Reid’s annoying cheek pinch, righting himself and smoothing down his shirt when Reid pulled away) and hung back for a moment, scratching underneath his ear before he just waved his hand and fell into step behind his friends.
“If anything, traffic’s got worse,” he muttered with a wrinkled nose. “Uber’s somehow resulted in more cars being on the road.”
“You actually might be right,” Caleb pointed at Tyler with a nod, “That’s a good point that I hadn’t thought about. But, we love you enough to brave the traffic. We really should hit up In N Out once we get closer to Irvine. You really need some meat on those bones.” He clucked his tongue at Pogue acting like an overprotective mother before reach over to lightly pinch his side. He backed away out of arm’s reach for retaliation with a grin as their group continued to walk towards the short-term parking lot.
Pogue's eyebrows climbed in dramatic fashion at the gentle ribbing accompanied by the light pinch to his side before he smirked, the t-shirt he was wearing being tugged up ever so slightly to expose a very impressive set of washboard abs. "No meat required."
"Dear God," Reid uttered with a roll of his eyes as he reached over to lightly smack Pogue's stomach. "Put those away, show off."
Tyler cleared his throat and looked away, feeling that colour rising up the edges of his face again and he just re-shouldered his bag. “Yeah, man, no one wants to see that,” he muttered.
“So, Pogue, what are you planning on doing with all this extra free time now? We just go out of school, so it’s pretty perfect timing,” Caleb was sure Pogue didn’t have any kind of job figured out just yet, but wanted to check. If it meant he was hanging around all the time at his apartment he just wanted to mentally prepare a bit for that. It wasn’t a bad thing, probably a very good thing, but he was genuinely curious. He didn’t want Pogue to get too bored having no one around in the apartment or just spend all his time wandering around the area.
Unsurprisingly Pogue had no plan. None. Zip. Nadda. Honestly he hadn’t thought past about coming home to his friends but Caleb had a point, he needed to figure out what exactly he was going to do with his life. “Uh… I have no idea,” he admitted ruefully as he rubbed a hand through his hair and brushed his fingers over a couple freckles on the side of his neck.
“Way to think ahead.” Reid snorted quietly.
“Like you can talk,” Pogue threw back at Reid who just spun away from the playful jab at his arm.
“Reid and I aren’t working,” Tyler piped up, “so, I mean, when Caleb’s off being Responsible and Boring,” he raised one hand in air quotes to emphasise his point, “you can always hang with us. Or we can come hang with you at Caleb’s. Since it’s nicer than where we live.” And Caleb was more likely to have proper food in, rather than the assorted take out menus and general shit food that he and Reid had. Lucky Charms were put on this earth to be eaten, as far as Tyler was concerned, and if he could have them for every meal, he absolutely would.
“Okay, I have on responsible and boring job that I technically haven’t started yet,” Caleb rolled his eyes before turning towards Pogue as he spoke, “I’ve got an internship up here at the Natural History Museum. The other not as responsible job is bartending at a club, which these two don’t seem to mind going to because they get at least one free drink depending on my mood.” He was the responsible one in the group, but it was mainly because he didn’t enjoy just sitting around and doing nothing. He felt far more like a contributing member of society when he was off doing something. That didn’t mean he wasn’t down for just bumming around with his friends if the mood struck him and he was pretty sure the four of them would get up to far more shenanigans now that they were back together. Pogue snorted quietly at the back and forth between Tyler and Caleb. “Natural History Museum? Nice one, Caleb.” He offered his friend a proud smile as he knew how much Caleb loved history. “I think I might look into surfing ‘cause why not?”
Reid rounded on Caleb’s car and grabbed the boot to toss Pogue’s bags into it. “That sounds like way too much exercise for my liking.”
“Getting out of bed in the morning is too much exercise for you,” Pogue pointed out with a smirk as with his arms free he could safely grab Reid and take to ruffling his hair.
Tyler snorted, “I could consider taking up surfing,” he mused as he pulled the rear passenger door open and climbed inside, assuming that since Caleb was driving, Pogue would have shotgun. Even if Tyler called it, he’d be hauled into the back regardless. He didn’t bother closing the door, just climbing over the back seat to the other side so Reid could join him.
And this was basically Caleb’s life, but he honestly didn’t mind it. He loved these three assholes and couldn’t imagine his life without them. Pogue was back and more attractive than ever, but he completed their circle. He was curious if they were having the same dreams as him, but he hadn’t asked just yet, it didn’t kick in right away from him, so maybe it was the same for them. They would get there eventually and he was curious about how it’ll go, but knew they could handle anything the Dreams threw at them as long as they were a group. “Alright, idiots, let’s go home,” Caleb waited until everyone was buckled up and started up the car to take them back to their apartments.