asher_talos | [for Ray

Current Mood: uncomfortable

[for Ray - Dated 1/07]

When the Island had gone back to normal they'd had a hell of a time breaking the news to the twins that Toys-R-Us had vanished along with the rest of the city. Truth be told, a small part of Asher had wanted to join Celia in her tantrum over the loss. Not of the toy store specifically, obviously, but of the city as a whole. He knew it was most likely all in his head, but since being back, the sun seemed brighter, the temperature higher and the sand about a hundred times more obnoxious than it had been before. More obnoxious even than when they were stuck in the old west, which was saying something.

Not everything was left behind, though. Of all the things that could have remained from their time in New York, the Island had chosen this. Of course it did. It might have still been wrapped, but Asher didn't need x-ray vision to know what it was.

When he'd picked it out, he actually assumed that, more likely than not, it would have stayed behind. For his birthday, he'd tell Ray about his good intentions without having to hand anything to him. The thought was supposed to be what counted most, and Asher wondered if that held true when nothing tangible was ever actually received.

Now he'd never know.

He'd kept the gift in the spare room on the boat since they'd been back on the Island. It was already late-afternoon - Ray's birthday was already more than halfway over now - and it had only made it as far as the kitchenette table from its original hiding spot.

Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if the thing didn't look like Martha-fucking-Stewart had done the wrap job.

Groaning, he swept the gift off the table after deciding he'd stared at it long enough, tucked it under his arm and started back home.

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"Maybe that's true for kids back home and not here? The ones that grow up here don't exactly see toys in brand new packaging all the time. I swear stepping into Toys-R-Us in New York was like sensory overload for him and his sister." And maybe for Asher, too, but for completely different reasons, and none of them good.

"Sounds like a plan."

"Sorry I missed that," Ray lied, not sounding very convincing about it. He guessed it was just one of the sacrifices he'd had to make to keep the other woman happy. Of course Ray would much rather have been in Toys R Us than joyriding around the city in his favorite wheels...

"See?" He looked a little self-satisfied. "I've totally got a hang of this parenting malarkey."

"By figuring out the best way to hand a kid off to someone else?" Asher didn't think he was in line to win any Father of the Year awards, but even he knew there was something wrong with that.

"By figuring out the least distressing way to deliver him back to his mother when it comes to it," Ray corrected, employing a little political spin to serve his purposes.

As if on cue, Daniel got overenthusiastic in his shaking and threw the box as hard as he could at the back of the seating. It bounced off the gazebo and, mouth open wide, Ray only just managed to scoop it into his hand before it ricocheted onto the floor.

"Okay, comforting I can do but disciplining right now is alllll you," Ray told Asher, moving the gift out of the way and passing Daniel to him.

"Discipline?" Asher echoed. "That's pretty much how I feel about the car. He just can't put his feeling into words the same way."

He set Daniel down, adjusting his clothes and retrieving his ball, handing it to him and sending him back to his game.

"You've still got basketball to look forward to," he told Ray, retaking his seat.

"That requires a different kind of discipline," Ray waved off, climbing to his feet as soon as Asher sat. "I'll still get to be the cool, fun one." Not the one that tells the kids off for leaving their greens or makes them do their homework.

"Y'know, this," he wiggled the box as he headed for the hut, "is taking pride of place. You better get used to seeing this every day."

"I still get the better stuff after the divorce," he replied. Sure, he'd have to find a way to drag all that stuff back up to the Compound since it was Ray's hut, but the bed, gazebo and hot tub were all his.

"I'll let you keep Pac-Man, too." Because he was just that nice.

"Not without a pre-nup you don't," Ray called back before disappearing inside. He checked the car for scratches or damage as he removed it from the box one last time, dropping that on the bed and doing a one-sixty of the room.

In the end, he placed it on the table by his side of the bed, lining it up so he would be able to see it when lying down.

"Those don't even exist here," he argued, taking the ball from Daniel when he offered it and tossing it back to him when he was ready. He missed, of course, but that didn't stop him from picking it up and running it back over.

"So enjoy your little car and your little dog."

A couple of minutes later, Ray returned minus his sweater, starting to unbutton the cuffs on his shirt so that he could roll the sleeves up. Only a month off the tropical island and Ray was still having to readjust to the heat.

"Aren't we missing a step before the divorce?"

"Resenting each other and a crappy sex life?" Asher shrugged, sending the ball to Daniel once more.

"Before that," Ray clarified, moving to his collar to loosen that too.

Asher was quiet for a long moment before finally shaking his head.

"Can't think of a thing," he said, giving Ray a pointed look that said if he cared anything about his own sex life, he'd watch what he said next.

"You'd look good in a tux," was all Ray said, sending the pointed look right back to Asher. He technically hadn't mentioned the W or the M word, so Asher couldn't be mad at him yet.

That was a given, and also probably the one and only comment Ray could have gotten in without pissing Asher off. It was hard to be mad at a compliment, but that didn't stop the exasperated sigh from escaping him.

"Smooth."

"It was, wasn't it," Ray agreed with the hint of a smile. It was kind of disconcerting how against the idea Asher clearly was but it wasn't exactly a surprise. Asher probably would have heaved the same sigh if Del had run her pregnancy idea by him first too.

Too bad Ray couldn't marry Asher and then break the news to him...

"Cheer up." He nudged a finger under Asher's chin to lift his gaze. "It might never happen."

"Might never? Why do you make it sound like it's not a decision I'll have any control over?" Sure, there were a few occasions where he hadn't had any control over certain things thanks to kooky Island shenanigans, but the M-word wasn't one of those things.

"It's a figure of speech," Ray deflected, pulling his hand away just in case Asher's temper rose. "Besides, you know this place. Next year it could turn into Vegas and pair everyone off like Noah's Ark. Last time it dabbled in the affairs of the heart I would've made an honest man of you on the spot."

Who said that couldn't happen again?

"It doesn't count if the people involved are possessed." When reality set in again after the last time the Island dabbled, he and Ray had gone right back to insults and throwing punches. Asher didn't think there would have been any reconciling if they'd gone all the way and exchanged vows, only to have to get them undone in a few days time.

"No, it doesn't." The only possibility of it ever happening was Island magic and that kinda sucked.

It wasn't even that Ray particularly wanted to be married. It wouldn't change anything; there would be no noticeable difference in their life or how they were with each other. And yet Ray still just really, really liked the idea of asking.

"I get it. You don't wanna marry me." He dropped down into a squat in front of Asher. "But that doesn't mean I can't ask, right?"

"What are you insane?!" Asher asked, wide-eyed. "It means exactly that. Why would you ask something when you already know the answer and it's not the one most people want to hear? I will kick you in the nuts if you don't stand up."

"What? I'm not on one knee, you're fine," Ray waved it off, giving Asher a smile to encourage him not to worry.

"I hear what you're saying," he continued in a tone that suggested the complete opposite, "and I will take that on-board."

For about two seconds before its ignored.

"You have absolutely no regard for your junk, do you?" He asked. The fact that Asher did was the only reason he hadn't struck yet. In the long run, it wouldn't have just hurt Ray.

"I rely on you to take care of it for me." He looked Asher in the eye then, some might call it gazing, until a miniature-shaped person chose to ram straight into his back.

The air escaped Ray quickly. Doubling-over for a second, he bumped his chest into Asher's legs with a grunt. Just when he thought he could catch a breath again, the attacker leaped onto his back and held onto his neck for dear life.

"Horsies!"

Exasperation crept in, along with a patented whiny tone. "You are your father's son."

"How romantic."

Luckily, before Ray could saying anything else stupid, Daniel stepped in. Or leaped in, really. Either way, his timing couldn't have possibly been any better, though Ray's back would probably disagree.

"At least he seems to have gotten over the loss of the car relatively quickly."

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