empathicfault | IC Inbox

[Sweeney hadn't been ready. How could he be? All he knew was Jax was licking his face to wake him up. With a quick scratch of the hackles, Sweeney pushes himself up to sitting. He squints, trying to figure out why things don't feel right. The floor doesn't offer a great vantage. When he stands, everything falls into place.

OH.

A swell of emotions crash over him. They're complicated at best, but when he gets to the other side, they've settled into 'overwhelmingly positive'. Sweeney pulls out his comm.]

Hey

You got a sec to come by your place?

Sure, I'm not busy. See you in a few minutes.

[ He makes sure Malcolm is awake (they'd been dozing on the couch). Then he heads down to Deck 6, curious if Harkin has something new he's been working on (he was always making or growing or working on magic). Or maybe there's something else going on. It's always hard to tell, considering how busy the ship is.

He knocks on the door, waiting a few moments before opening it. His brother knows he's coming.

Will promptly stops in his tracks, however. He didn't expect to see grass on the ground in front of him. ]

At the knock, Sweeney makes his way in time to see Will's face. It's worth it. Jax cross to Will, his tail wagging happily.

"Guess it kinda says it all." He shrugs sheepishly. "Better than I could, anyways." Sweeney tilts his head and swings a thumb over his shoulder.

"Yer cookies are inside, if yer feelin' peckish."

Mostly, he just wants to give his brother some time to process. It's A Lot.

Will is rather frozen in place, the implications of this (and cookies, he's definitely heard about those) finally starting to settle in. But once Jax reaches him, the freeze breaks and Will crouches down to pet him. "Hey, Jax. Got your yard back, huh?" he murmurs as he rubs behind the dog's ear.

By the time he stands up again, he's shaking his head and letting out a couple of chuckles. "This is... what the hell. I graduated? I must have." He lets out a noise, something between a laugh and a scoff, and looks to his brother for (another) confirmation.

As Will finishes with Jax, Sweeney closes the distance. The man's question is answered by a wide grin and hearty, one-armed squeeze around the shoulders.

"Aye, Pup. You did." It's such a warm feeling, and Sweeney isn't sure what to do with it. Still gripping Will, he turns back enough to survey the façade with a squint, as if he's never seen it before.

"So why don't ya come in an' show me 'round the rest'a the house."

Sweeney hasn't looked it over; texting Will was the first thing he'd done. The only other was feeding Jax before he sat to wait. It's not his house after all. It's weird enough when it's the one room; no way he's wandering the place without proper invitation.

Will stops questioning at that point, and he grins at the ground for a moment (which has him actually grinning at Jax, who is very happy about it). Smile still in place, he leans against his brother's weight briefly- acknowledgement and appreciation of the one-armed hug.

The suggestion gives him something to do while he continues to chug through all that this means. "Yeah, sure. Of course. Let's see it," he says, sounding more confident with every step towards the house. "Although the front room's the best part."

He walks in, and the front room is both bigger and slightly less crammed full than it used to be. Piano, living room side, bed side- and now there's a hallway in between, where the little half-bath used to be. A plate of homemade chocolate-chip cookies is on the mantle of the unused fireplace, higher than Jax can reach. And of course, anything Sweeney's brought in still remains.

"This is weird," Will notes, but then he laughs at himself. "He says, on the interdimensional spaceship. Yeah, the layout's the sa- oh, no stairs, though." He's started walking through to the hallway, and where he indicates seems to be a closet. "No second floor, I guess. Not that I ever used it."

Sweeney lets him lead the way, his smile not lessening.

The only things that are noticeable of his are a rug and pillow on the floor next to the bed and two hodge-podge stuffies on the nightstand.

"Maybe you can ask fer it? If ya e'er get ta wantin' it." Sweeney wets his lip. It brings up an obvious question.

"You gonna move back? You an' Malcolm?" It sounds silly out loud, and he shrugs it off.

"Or like...trade off or somethin'."

He shakes his head and waves his hand. "Nah. We'll stay at his. And I never even cleared out the previous owner's belongings from most of the second floor. The indoor space wasn't what I bought it for." No, it had been for the location and the windows.

As he continues, the hallway opens up on the left to a little room- it was probably a dining room at one point. Everything's cleared out except for the desk in the center. "I get distracted easily," he tries to explain sheepishly. "I'd grade papers here." On the right is a door, which Will opens to a bathroom. Not huge, but still has everything one needs to get clean. There's a 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner bottle of Old Spice in the shower caddy. A delicate framed picture made of dried flowers hangs on the way. It doesn't suit Will's tastes at all.

Continuing down what was once a hallway, the kitchen is large but somewhat sparse. It befits the house's previous identity as a farmhouse- lots of space for a big table and the means to cook mass amounts every day for the hungry workers. There's a door in the closest corner that Will tries- "Ah, mudroom's here, and the door in the farthest corner is the pantry. The last owner left some plates and pots and the like. Most of it's in good shape."

Jax pushes into the mudroom and comes out with a rope toy. "Annnd Jax clearly remembers where I put away most of the dog toys," Will adds, with a pleased smile.

He follows dutifully, fondness keeping his eyes bright as Will walks him through the experiences, as well as the space. The one area he doesn't go into is the bathroom; he lingers outside the door as his brother has a look. Sweeney doesn't comment, but is happy to move on and enjoy Jax's delight.

"Good thing the prick put all the things in it when he gave it to ya." He means the Admiral expanding his cabin. The cunt didn't have to, after all. Sweeney's mind wanders some, and a tangent curves sharply.

"This mean you an' Malcolm are gonna get married?"

Sweeney's supportive of the idea, and he knew that they'd been waiting on Will's graduation. That just isn't going to hinder it anymore.

It certainly is a walk down memory lane, as Will hadn't seen some of these places in four years now. But Harkin's question brings him right back to reality. His eyes widen as he realizes all that it means.

With a small, joyful laugh, he says, "Yeah. Yeah, it does. I just have to ask him. See what he might want to do for it."

That's good to hear, a nice encouragement that positive things are continuing to happen. It lets him ease into the new situation. Sweeney still isn't confident that he'll be able to bring himself to use the bathroom.

"I'm sure the two'a you will come up with somethin' grand." He leans in with a touch of mischievous conspiracy.

"An' terribly romantic."

Will chuckles again, shaking his head lightly. "Ah, that'll probably be mostly Malcolm. I have a more difficult time with...er, planned events. But we'll figure out something good, I'm sure."

This is a Lot. It's all a lot, and there are going to be more changes soon. Good changes, but he feels the thread of uncertainty curling around his finger. Will lets out a long breath, pats Jax, and turns to look at Harkin. How does he tell the man he's not planning to leave the Barge for a long time, without breaking out the promise that Sweeney's heard a bunch of times before?

Well...maybe he doesn't. There's too much to focus on right now anyway. Instead, he heads for something adjacent. "We'll probably enlist you for help, whatever it is. I'll think of something good to offer for it," he adds with a pleased grin.

He can't help but chuckle.

"Plenty worth seein' you smile. An' do that kissin' shit at the end," Sweeney pokes brightly. "I've done a few weddin's in my time. Nothin' super modern, but I'm sure I'll f'gure out somethin' if Malcolm needs a hand."

Sure, he'd done the handfasting for Steve and B, but the whole point of that was to make it old-fashioned.

IC Inbox

Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification

Re: Graduation notification