Joel Waters-Baker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
just_another) wrote2015-05-05 07:33 pm
just_another) wrote2015-05-05 07:33 pm
[Open - Gathering - Baby Shower]
They're actually having a baby shower.
Joel is fairly certain his mother wouldn't have let them get away without something, even if he had insisted it be small and consist only of family, but for some reason he and Spencer have allowed themselves to be talked into a real shower. With invitations and food and little baby themed games to play. It's sort of strange, looking at it from his position, given that Erin is the one who's going to be giving birth and therefore is the one in the glowing pregnant woman position at this entire gathering.
She'd sweetly agreed to attend and had even whispered to Joel that she would take the brunt of the attention if she could manage it. He had whispered back that he knew they had picked her for a good reason.
But here they are. Several weeks have passed, the invitations have gone out and the decorations have been put up all over Joel and Spencer's living room. He had agreed to lift the enchantments on the house for the extent of the party, which means that anyone can open the door to their guests, they don't all have to be invited in by either Joel or Spencer, and it makes him a little nervous, but he understands the usefulness of others being able to answer the door. At least for today.
It's the decorations that keep getting to him. Sweet little ducks and zebras and monkeys, little jungle animals all over the walls. The bottle and rattle shaped cookies are pretty cute, but those aren't going to be left when the baby gets here. The animal theme, though, is fairly close to the nearly finished nursery Joel has been working on upstairs and he can't help but grin at the decorations.
Spencer, on the other hand, can't stop coming back round to the center of the living room to stare at the enormous sign that's been strung up above a table already stacked with gifts when a majority of their guests haven't even arrived yet. He'd been worried this morning that the day would overwhelm him, that knowing so many people would be coming into their home would be daunting when just a year ago, he'd never even once invited company over before meeting Joel; but so far, he feels calm, in spite of having had to watch Joel remove the enchantments that act as their security on the house. If someone wishes to crash a baby shower--which he doesn't imagine will happen anyway--then they'll have to face not only the wrath of a room that will be filled with witches and sirens, but the wrath of his mother- and sister-in-law, as well. That's not a sight Spencer thinks would be very pretty to witness.
Still, he feels light, perhaps a lingering effect of the having the chance to fall in love with Joel a second time during the spell that had taken over the town. Certainly, a great deal of his contentment has to do with the fact that he won't have to worry about losing his husband in a crowd but even beyond that, he's excited.
So much has changed in the course of the past year and weeks from now, they'll be holding their newborn in their arms for the very first time without another care in the world but for who they've been looking forward to meeting since they'd decided to take this journey together. There's something a bit strange about realizing that it's all coming to a head, that the waiting will soon be over and they'll be fathers at last, but when the first knock on the door comes, Spencer can't help but smile.
[Baby shower for Joel and Spencer's wee one. Erin, their surrogate, is present and is currently 31 weeks pregnant. If you're even a little friendly with either of them, Joel's mother sent an invitation, but the enchantments have been taken off the house for the event and so it's not an impossible party to crash. If anyone wants to crash a baby shower...]
Joel is fairly certain his mother wouldn't have let them get away without something, even if he had insisted it be small and consist only of family, but for some reason he and Spencer have allowed themselves to be talked into a real shower. With invitations and food and little baby themed games to play. It's sort of strange, looking at it from his position, given that Erin is the one who's going to be giving birth and therefore is the one in the glowing pregnant woman position at this entire gathering.
She'd sweetly agreed to attend and had even whispered to Joel that she would take the brunt of the attention if she could manage it. He had whispered back that he knew they had picked her for a good reason.
But here they are. Several weeks have passed, the invitations have gone out and the decorations have been put up all over Joel and Spencer's living room. He had agreed to lift the enchantments on the house for the extent of the party, which means that anyone can open the door to their guests, they don't all have to be invited in by either Joel or Spencer, and it makes him a little nervous, but he understands the usefulness of others being able to answer the door. At least for today.
It's the decorations that keep getting to him. Sweet little ducks and zebras and monkeys, little jungle animals all over the walls. The bottle and rattle shaped cookies are pretty cute, but those aren't going to be left when the baby gets here. The animal theme, though, is fairly close to the nearly finished nursery Joel has been working on upstairs and he can't help but grin at the decorations.
Spencer, on the other hand, can't stop coming back round to the center of the living room to stare at the enormous sign that's been strung up above a table already stacked with gifts when a majority of their guests haven't even arrived yet. He'd been worried this morning that the day would overwhelm him, that knowing so many people would be coming into their home would be daunting when just a year ago, he'd never even once invited company over before meeting Joel; but so far, he feels calm, in spite of having had to watch Joel remove the enchantments that act as their security on the house. If someone wishes to crash a baby shower--which he doesn't imagine will happen anyway--then they'll have to face not only the wrath of a room that will be filled with witches and sirens, but the wrath of his mother- and sister-in-law, as well. That's not a sight Spencer thinks would be very pretty to witness.
Still, he feels light, perhaps a lingering effect of the having the chance to fall in love with Joel a second time during the spell that had taken over the town. Certainly, a great deal of his contentment has to do with the fact that he won't have to worry about losing his husband in a crowd but even beyond that, he's excited.
So much has changed in the course of the past year and weeks from now, they'll be holding their newborn in their arms for the very first time without another care in the world but for who they've been looking forward to meeting since they'd decided to take this journey together. There's something a bit strange about realizing that it's all coming to a head, that the waiting will soon be over and they'll be fathers at last, but when the first knock on the door comes, Spencer can't help but smile.
[Baby shower for Joel and Spencer's wee one. Erin, their surrogate, is present and is currently 31 weeks pregnant. If you're even a little friendly with either of them, Joel's mother sent an invitation, but the enchantments have been taken off the house for the event and so it's not an impossible party to crash. If anyone wants to crash a baby shower...]
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Coop's here, though, smiling tightly at people who greet him when he walks through the front door, and he can't deny that he's nervous. He's been getting texts asking him to get in touch, promising that nobody's pissed off at him or anything like that, but he remembers so clearly having his hands all over Spencer and the disgusted looks he'd gotten from the Joel and the fuckery he'd pulled with Davin. He remembers feeling like he'd wanted to hurt people not because he'd been royally screwed over in some way--though he had, which he doesn't think is the point--but because he'd wanted to and the truth is, that scares him.
Some people had maintained their integrity, had stayed the good people they are, but he'd turned into some conniving, manipulative jerk who'd thrived on other people's suffering. That's not who he is, not even remotely, but even as he thinks it, he finds that he's unsure. Whatever had spurred that change in him, he hopes that it hadn't focused on some inner desire that he doesn't know about. He can put on a smile while he's here after he makes his apologies, he can amplify the Decent Guy in him that he's always tried to be, but it's all going to be done with that voice in the back of his head that tells him that in the end, he's always going to end up bitter and alone.
Super great mood to be in for a goddamn baby shower.
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"Hey, man. It's good t'see ya." Davin pats his chest and looks at him with no trace of ire. He hasn't had much trouble separating the fabricated past put in his head with the real one. It's like once he knew what it was, his magic just rejected it. He remembers everything, including how Coop treated him, but it's more like a story that someone told him rather than something that actually happened.
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If he gets an earful about it later, it's just one more thing to add to the list of what he needs to apologize for when he finally gets the guts to go talk to Spencer and Joel.
Seeing Davin is actually a relief, if only because their text conversation had eased his nerves, and his smile becomes more genuine when he hears Davin's friendly tone. Coop knows that he--Shea--had been a dick to Davin, too, but he's grateful that his friend doesn't seem to be taking it too personally or letting any negative feelings linger. He only hopes that extends to everyone else he'd wronged, too.
"Hey, look at you, from street rat to Prince Ali." He glances around the room with a sigh, shaking his head. "Y'know, the last time I was here, it looked a hell of a lot different. Broken plaster and blood on the walls, that kind of thing. Good times."
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Still, all of his memories from his time with Shea weren't all bad, and he waggles his eyebrows a bit as he nudges Coop's side with his elbow.
He winces slightly at the reference to the demon. It was just before he started growing closer to Spencer and Joel, but he heard of it. Of course he did. He's just glad that everyone is okay.
Coop's eye is still dark and a little puffy, and Davin frows in concern as he reaches up to cup his cheek and lightly run the pad of his thumb underneath it. "Don't ya have somethin' t'heal that up?"
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His expression softens then, becomes a little more contrite, and he nods his agreement. "I do owe you an apology. I'm sorry, man, I was a complete tool and hell, I owe you way more than a fruit basket. You and Joel and Spencer, all of you, three of the people I like the most in this town and you're the ones who had to deal with me at my most dickish."
Funny how it'd worked out like that, except for how it's actually not humorous at fucking all, and Coop runs a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh before batting Davin's hand away from his face with an attempt at a playful roll of his eyes. "I didn't want to heal it. I was serious when I told you I deserved it."
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He was kidding about the apology, really, but he meets Coop's eyes and then flushes a little, shrugging one shoulder and smiling a little. "It's okay. Ya weren't yourself. We all know that."
Coop bats his hand away and Davin feels a bit awkward, shoving his hand into his pocket to keep from touching him again. He looks up at Coop and his expression goes a little stern, and then it's his turn to roll his eyes. "Stop punishin' yourself, man. It's water under the bridge an' no one's mad at ya but yourself."
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It doesn't matter to him that nobody else is pissed off, even though they'd have every goddamn right to be, Davin's right--he is mad. He's mad at whoever decided it would be a good idea to fuck with everyone's minds like that, mad at whatever it is that'd made him the bad guy, the one who'd taken real pleasure in fucking with other people's lives, and he thinks what he's most mad about is that he can still remember how pleased he'd been to touch Spencer the way he had and know that there'd been fear there. It's disgusting, it makes him sick, and knowing that he'd taken pleasure in something like that and actively trying to make Joel's life miserable kind of just amounts to a whole 'easier said than done' kind of thing when it comes to moving on.
He knows it'd been a spell. He knows that, he's not a fucking idiot. But that doesn't change the fact that he'd done what he'd done. He carries those memories now, as clearly as they'd really been his own, and there's absolutely nothing he can do about it because some sick fuck had wanted to make everyone pawns in some stupid, pointless game.
"Maybe I was myself," he counters, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. "Everyone else I saw had parts of themselves intact, why not me? The way I treated you, I liked it. I liked using people, I liked conning people, and I even liked pissing Joel off enough to get him to punch me. So what, I'm supposed to just laugh it off?"
He's being a little too dramatic for a baby shower, he thinks, and Coop takes a deep breath before his voice can get any louder. He's already getting the occasional glance, and he doesn't want to have to apologize to Joel again for something he'd done. "Anyway, fine, okay. Water under the bridge, it's done. Everything's cool."
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"Hey, I'm sorry, man. I wasn't tryin' t'make light of it," Davin explains. And it's true. He didn't mean to try and brush it off. He just wanted to make sure Coop knew that no one was upset with him, but of course that's not the only issue here. "It's fuckin' infuriatin', what she did. It almost killed me an' my boyfriend, so I get bein' pissed, alright? You're allowed t'be pissed."
He can see Coop trying to calm himself and Davin bites his lip, reaching out to lightly touch Coop's arm. "Do ya wanna go out back for a bit? Get some air? We can talk if ya want."
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He's still fairly certain his friend deserved it, given everything he'd been saying and doing, but Joel also knows that wasn't really Coop. He would never treat either Joel or Spencer like that, and he knows his friend would never touch someone who wasn't clearly interested, so as much as he feels he was within his rights at the time, the sight of the bruise on Coop's face makes him feel awful. He hadn't been punching Coop. Prince Joel had been punching Shea and he thinks it's a significant difference.
"Just tell me it doesn't really hurt anymore," Joel says, holding his hand out toward Coop to display the fading bruises on his knuckles. "Mine feels better, but if your face still hurts I can get you something for it." He already has it ready and waiting, a little purple potion in his pocket made specifically for Coop.
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He's come dangerously close to being the kind of person who would force Spencer to do something he didn't want to do without a single fucking care in the world. And for what? It was all to make Joel suffer for some reason that Coop can't even figure out, he just knows how much he'd wanted to bend Spencer over and fuck him hard, ruin him for his precious prince, and he tries not to flinch at how vivid that memory is because it's exactly what's been making him feel so sick to his stomach since things had returned to-- well, not exactly normal, but whatever passes for that in Siren Cove.
He sighs to himself, ducking his head so he can rub at the back of his neck. "It doesn't hurt anymore," Coop answers, even though it kind of does which is just fine by him, and he winces slightly at the sight of Joel's hand. He'd done that, those bruises had been his fault, and he so wishes that wishes in this world could come true because he'd very much like to go back in time for a do-over.
"Spencer's good, right?" he asks, glancing at the other side of the room where the other Waters-Baker is chatting up Erin and few others, grinning widely like he's got no cares in the world at all and frankly, Coop's a little envious of that. Which only makes him feel guiltier but hell, he's actually way beyond guilt at this point. "I mean, after I, you know, said what I said. Did what I did. Everything still worked out for you guys, I'm guessing. Can't really imagine anything else when it comes to the two of you."
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It's funny, a year ago he might not have cared so much if he lost his friends, but now he's in this place and he does care. Quite a lot. Coop has given him a hard time for as long as they've known each other and years ago Joel would have said he'd be glad to be rid of him, because at least then he wouldn't have to deal with the come ons. But now he isn't sure what he'd do without Coop. He's consistently proven himself to be a good friend, supportive when it matters the most, and more than willing to put his own safety on the line in order to help people he cares about. That's the kind of person Joel wants in his life. That's the kind of person he wants his baby to know. He wants his child to be sure they can turn to Coop if they ever need something their fathers can't provide.
"Take it," he says, his voice soft as he gives the potion a little shake. "It'll help. No one's angry with you." And not only because it all worked out. He wants Coop to know that he wouldn't be angry either way. There's nothing to be done about it, they'd all been put under a spell and they'd all been playing the parts assigned to them. Joel's thought about it a lot, he's been wondering who might be responsible, he's been trying to figure out the intricacies of the magic involved because he knows it's complex and powerful. Right now there's only one witch in town he thinks might be capable of it and he hates that he's thinking it at all given how much Nerium has helped him.
But it's the sort of thing she would do. And it disappoints him so much to be thinking it.
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He wants to kick and scream and shout that Joel shouldn't find it this easy to forgive him, that Coop had done a really shitty thing to both him and Spencer that shouldn't be swept under the rug like it'd meant nothing because maybe Joel doesn't see it, maybe he doesn't feel it, but Coop can vividly remember every last detail of being at that ball.
Sweet talking that kitchen maid into sucking his dick against a wall, sending her scurrying away with one slap to her ass the way he'd sent off so many others from his bed in that world, having his hands all over Spencer, who'd twisted and fought to get away from him in a way that Coop has never seen him do before. His friend had actually recoiled from him, and Spencer doesn't love to be touched just in general but this had been different. If Spencer were to decide that he never wants to be around Coop again, he would understand that entirely.
But in spite of all that, Coop still finds himself so grateful that Joel isn't angry. He'd been afraid since the spell had been lifted that he'd lost all his friends, that nobody would want to talk to him because he'd caused so much trouble in that life, but he's been getting calls and texts non-stop from people who'd wanted to check up on him, make sure that he's okay when he'd been the huge fuck-up in the first place.
"Thanks," he mutters, taking the potion Joel offers him with a weak attempt at a smile. "I just have all these memories now, you know? How much I hated you, how much you hated me, how you very clearly had wanted to punch me for way longer than just that night. Maybe it wasn't me as I am here, but I keep thinking that if so many other people stayed who they are at their cores, it's possible that could be who I really am. Who I might turn out to be one day. It's just fucking freaky, thinking that someone could mess with all of our minds just like that."
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And Amy. He's doing his best not to think on it for very long because whenever he does, it makes his chest ache unpleasantly. It isn't that he saw that version of her and wanted to rekindle what they once had, but after the fact, coming out of it all, knowing that's who Amy could have been if he hadn't been so careless, it's all a lot to take in. Maybe she really would have been married with a family of her own, happy and kind and sweet, with just a glimmer of mischief in her eye, a hint at the trouble making girl she'd once been.
"Do you hate me now?" he asks. "Look at me and tell me if you still hate me, because you're right, that version of me did hate you. I was angry at you for using my family and using me. I wanted you to hurt, but I'm looking at you now, Coop, and I might have memories of it, but I don't feel that way anymore. I don't hate you. Spencer doesn't hate you."
He laughs a little and gestures to where his husband is talking with Erin. "He was a goddamn merman. The spell altered him so completely that he had a tail instead of legs, for god's sake. If it was capable of changing someone so completely in the physical way, why isn't it possible to change who someone was inside?"
Because he doesn't believe for a second that Coop really wants to hurt him like that. And he doesn't believe that Coop would ever force himself on someone.
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"Maybe a fairy godmother?" she asks, looking him up and down. "I think you'd made a good fairy godmother."
She was nothing but herself. An extreme, twisted version of the person she is already.
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"None of the above," he answers, gesturing vaguely at his bruised eye. "Well, wizard's close enough. Evil sorcerer, maybe a little more specific. If you'd guessed evil sorcerer who apparently had no problem with borderline sexual assault, you'd be right on the money."
Talking about it makes him extremely uncomfortable because in some ways, it's close to home. He's got no problem inviting many different people in his bed, and he knows that a lot of people might not understand how someone could do that without being a total douche, but Coop has worked hard to make sure that nobody gets hurt in the process. He'd hurt people under that spell, he'd used people like Davin, and Coop hates that he'd become exactly what he's always tried not to be.
"It's just all so fucked up," he groans. "I mean, what, Spencer and Joel get to have a do-over on their already stupidly perfect romance, but I just get to remember what an asshole I was to my friends? Christ, hell of a way to spend two weeks." Coop takes a breath, willing himself to calm down because he's at a goddamn baby shower, surrounded by people who could easily be watching him come dangerously close to making a scene.
He rolls his shoulders, shoving his hands in his pockets and smiling tightly at April. "What about you? Hope you had better luck than I did."
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If he doesn't want her to, she won't. She'll be able to feel him rebuff the attempt.
"I found a witch I knew would make the spell painful for Spencer," she says. "I lied to him and took him to her and when it seemed like they might just make it through anyway, I tried to use my siren powers to lure Joel away." She cuts a glance toward him and she's actually surprised he's allowed her in his house given that he didn't exactly like her to begin with. "He's a surprisingly hard sell even for me."
Then she smiles, her expression nearly as tight as Coop's, and she says, "Then I did everything in my power to verbally assault Caden as viciously as I possibly could. All in all, you could say we both had a less than stellar two weeks."
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You know. Threatening rich people for their money. Hurting them. Hurting their guards. That was-- It was kind of not... so great, and she hadn't told anybody, because that was probably one of the good things about secretly robbing people-- it was a secret.
Doesn't mean it didn't happen, though.
But it also means she didn't really reach out, didn't do the Hey, how did you make it through that she normally does, because she doesn't really want to talk about it. The fact that Sylvie had been her partner in crime, and whatever that had all been about-- it just made it even more confusing.
But she's here because Spencer and Joel are family, and she can't just keep hiding like some kind of ostrich, and she and Coop might actually go on that date someday, so when she sees him across the room... she just sort of meanders over, and there's something weird about his body language, so she's the one who speaks first, her tone light. "Way better than the last time we were here, right?"
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But his smiles fades just as quickly, and it's not like he looks forlorn or like he hates his own life, he's just not as energetic as he usually would be at something like this. Yeah, it's a baby shower, but he's been to a few of those and has always managed to break the ice with anyone who looks like they're out of place. Today, he's the one feeling like he shouldn't be here, like he isn't welcome, even though neither Spencer nor Joel have done anything to make him think. It's all internalized, all just pure guilt left over from what he'd said and done under that spell, and Coop realizes that maybe he shouldn't be taking it so hard but some people hadn't even changed that much at all.
He has to wonder if it means something that he had.
"About a million times better, yeah," he agrees, gesturing at the table covered with the little rattle-shaped cookies. "Last time didn't involved all this cuteness. Everything's just so goddamn cute, these animal decorations? Right up my alley, I dig 'em."
Talking about the baby shower, it turns out, is proving to be much easier than letting himself think about the personality he'd taken on under the spell, and Coop even finds it slightly easier to give a genuine smile.
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He doesn't look bothered the way he had when Sylvie had been a new and complicated thing, but just kind of... not right, not with how well she knows him. But then he's talking about how cute everything is, just as she opened her mouth to say something even if she didn't understand what, and she can't help but smile in response. "I mean, that's sort of the thing for baby showers, last time I checked. If it was all goth or something, I think everybody'd be really confused." With a grin, she looks around the room, shaking her head. "Did you see the baby bottle cups? They're sort of the most ridiculous and adorable things on the planet. Joel's mom went all out."
Looking back at him, Raleigh wonders if maybe he's just still working way too much. That's what it was the last time she'd talked to him, he was working his ass off - but it's not that same sort of tiredness, and she just decides she doesn't know right now. Maybe later, once it'd thinned a little-- if he still seemed off, maybe she'd ask him. "What're your bets? Boy or girl?"