A GAP in Baltimore, Friday Evening

[myownface]

It was a date, if you could possibly call an outing to the mainland to buy yellow socks and archery gloves a date. At least Alec and Sparkle were following up their shopping trip with dinner, or at least that was the plan. Sparkle had scoped out the cheap restaurant situation before they'd left, and he'd managed to narrow what he could afford down to, like, a McDonald's on the way back to the causeway.

He'd worry about that once they were done picking up his socks.

And they'd pick up socks just as soon as Sparkle was done browsing.

"Oh, man. Look at these ones. They have stars on them."

Sorry, Alec.

[NFB for distance, and for that guy!]

Comments

[nottrivial]

"I could have predicted the last part," Alec said. "I'd like to think that if you started burning something down on a date, I'd object. But... it's good to know that we could maybe do this... often?"

[myownface]

"I wouldn't mind doing it again if you don't," Sparkle agreed with a nod, and then a pause taken to eat a bite of pizza. Huh. Broccoli. "And next time, maybe I won't even need ruined socks as an excuse."

[nottrivial]

"I was thinking... I think there's this dance in a few weeks?" Alec offered tentatively, awkwardly picking at his napkin. "We could... if you want."

[myownface]

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about the Valentine's dance by any chance, would you?"

So help Sparkle, he actually looked intrigued. And maybe a bit surprised. But mostly intrigued.

[nottrivial]

"You mentioned that it's for people who've dated longer," Alec admitted, "but... we wouldn't have to come across the causeway, or use socks as an excuse, so..."

To be honest, he'd had this idea roughly the second he'd mentioned it, so this wasn't really a fully-formed argument right here.

"Also," he added, "it's Fandom, so... it should probably be the same, um, glitter explosion as they have at every other party."

[myownface]

"And I do like glitter explosions," Sparkle mused, looking thoughtfully toward the ceiling. "Okay, yeah, I'll go with you to the Valentine's dance, Alec. I'll even dress up nice for the occasion."

A beat.

"We'll have to go shopping again, get you something nice to wear."

After all, it was a school formal.

[nottrivial]

Alec smiled kind of big at that. "Great," he said, abandoning the napkin he'd been picking at and just dropping his hands to his sides. "That'll be fun. Um, thank you."

You didn't really have to thank people for saying yes to dates, Alec. FYI.

[myownface]

"Uh... you're welcome?" Really, it wasn't like Sparkle had been on a wealth of dates himself, but being thanked for agreeing to go on one still managed to strike him as weird. "Sounds like it'll be... you know, fun, so it's not like you're the only one getting anything out of it."

[nottrivial]

"Right." Alec was still grinning, though. "I could probably argue that a date with you is more entertaining than a date with me, but it seems like splitting hairs."

[myownface]

"Well, I am the one more likely to burst into song and dance numbers," Sparkle pointed out, and then contemplated standing up there and then and singing, like, Don't Cry For Me Argentina, or something.

He passed. Barely. By just humming a few bars and making his slice of pizza dance by waving it around.

You're welcome, Alec.

[nottrivial]

"Good thing this'll be at a dance, then," Alec reasoned. "Half of that should be normal."

[myownface]

"The dancing part?" Most likely! Sparkle laughed and then divebombed more of the pizza into his mouth. "I might pester the DJ to let me get up and sing some, I don't know, Ricky Martin or something."

He didn't actually like Ricky Martin all that much, but even he could attest to how much fun it was to sing and dance to. Those hips!

[nottrivial]

"I don't know who that is," Alec admitted, "or... really how to dance, but I'll, you know. Be supportive."

He'd read about that! It was a good thing to be!

[myownface]

This was Sparkle's 'shocked and scandalized' face, Alec. Did you see it? Did you see all of the scandal, there?

"You... can't dance?" What? Why? "Really? So if I want you to like get up and dance with me, you'll just sit on the sidelines and cheer me on, like?"

[nottrivial]

"Unless you're willing to be patient and show me?" Alec tried, in a tone that indicated that he was a bit dubious about how likely that was. But not because of Sparkle in particular. Patient instructors were difficult to come by in general, and this was going to be a date. "But I also don't know if... I mean, people would notice if we danced together, right? Do you... care?"

[myownface]

"They'd notice if we showed up together too," Sparkle pointed out, shrugging one shoulder casually. "I mean, if you want to keep this... this whatever... kind of under wraps, that's cool, too."

Seriously. Sparkle was kind of obvious about his sexuality, but that didn't mean he was necessarily out about it. Those were two very different creatures.

"Gonna be hard to date if we don't wanna be seen dating, though."

[nottrivial]

"I don't know," Alec said, wiping newly sweaty hands on his pants and wondering if he'd killed the date a little. "Besides you, only one other person knows about... me. But. I don't care if you don't care?"

[myownface]

"Would you feel better about it if maybe I danced with other guys at the dance, too? Or worse?"

Because really, it was no sweat off of Sparkle's back to solicit dances from every straight dude at the dance, too.

[nottrivial]

Alllll the dance partners! It was totally a public service, really.

"Would you be more comfortable?" Alec wondered. "I mean. I don't know if there's anyone who I'd really care if they found out, personally. But you have a lot of friends, I think, so..."

[myownface]

"Yeah, and me liking guys isn't exactly anything that they probably haven't already guessed," Sparkle replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Atton's figured it out, I'm pretty sure, and I don't think Cade or Olive give a shit. Might be weird for Sholeh, but..."

Well, considering the secret that Sholeh was keeping, it wasn't exactly like she could cast stones, either.

"People will get over it if they don't like it. I mean... right? I don't need 'em if they don't, fuck 'em."

Actually, the notion of it had Sparkle half terrified.

He wasn't going to let that show.

[nottrivial]

"Okay," Alec said with a firm nod. "So we'll... be open about it and dance together."

Hey, he wasn't exactly jumping on the full-scale coming-out train anytime soon either; if his parents found out, he fully intended to freak, and he hadn't been a model of calm when Jace had told him that he knew either. But he didn't know that people cared as much in Fandom as they did in the Clave, and there weren't many people in Fandom whose opinions really mattered to him the way those of his family did.

"You can still, um, dance with your other friends too, though. If you want."

[myownface]

"Eh, most of them aren't big on dancing, or they've already got people to dance with," Sparkle replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Olive and Victor are a thing. I don't think Atton would dance if you were shooting arrows at his feet, and Cade'll probably be busy spiking the drinks."

And who even knew about Sholeh, these days? Was she having a thing with his roommate?

Did he even want to know?

[nottrivial]

"And there's no way Jace will ask me," Alec said with certainty, "and I don't even know if Kate is much of a dancer. I doubt it. So..." He grinned, reaching for another slice of pizza. "I guess it's a date."

[myownface]

"I guess it's a date," Sparkle agreed, grinning and pausing for a moment in order to finish off the slice of pizza that he was holding. "Looking forward to it."