Sunnydale AU: at the corner of your eye

[americas_son]

The problem with Grahame being in LA and Mother spending most of her time in Sacramento is that, for all intents and purposes, the Chandler household has been whittled down from three (from four) to one. That makes less work to go around, and it's getting harder and harder to justify keeping on all the staff. Cal is combing intently through records and other paperwork, trying to find a balance between what's best for the Chandler finances and what will cause the least amount of difficulty for those who depend on the Chandlers for their wages.

Comments

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"But not actually -"

No, he knows it wasn't. He also knows he should tell Sherlock about the whole thing. Any detail can be important.

He's just kind of working up to it. In his own way.

[if_inconvenient]

Sherlock waits.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"I keep wondering," he says eventually, "why it was Stane first. I mean. You'd think it would have tried Dad first. That would make the most sense, wouldn't it?"

He looks down at the soda can, which he's rotating mechanically in one hand.

"But I think it just wanted to freak me out. It was only Dad for a, a minute. Not even a minute."

[if_inconvenient]

"It tried Obadiah first on Tony, too. Perhaps it just has an affinity for that personality type."

Because creepy. Creepy is why.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal laughs a little.

"Maybe."

Then he shakes his head.

"It really fucking got to me, too."

[if_inconvenient]

Quietly: "I know."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"'Course you do," Cal mutters.

Then,

"It wasn't - my hand just went right through it when I tried to touch it."

[if_inconvenient]

"I find it moderately reassuring that it does not seem to be capable of solidity."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal shudders.

"Yeah. Me too."

He's been doing his best not to think about what could have happened if he had been wrong. If his hand hadn't gone right through.

[if_inconvenient]

All of a sudden Sherlock would very much like to make this thing solid long enough to throttle it.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"I mean, I basically told it to give me its best shot. Probably not the smartest thing I could have said."

He definitely left that part out when he told Peter about the incident.

[if_inconvenient]

"I would have done the same," Sherlock offers.

Yes, he recognizes that he can on occasion be impulsive.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but you'd actually be able to back it up."

Cal has no illusions about his abilities in that respect.

[if_inconvenient]

"Granted."

Sherlock is good at violence.

Why does he feel vaguely guilty about that all of a sudden?

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"But I couldn't," Cal says. "Wouldn't have been. Able to."

He shrugs.

"Lucky I didn't have to."

[if_inconvenient]

"Not all luck. You guessed, did you not?"

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Cal says. "Well, I mean, after that I did. I realized that I couldn't smell anything when it was really close, I couldn't hear it walking, and I - shouldn't have been able to get past it as easily as I did. That was when I actually tried to touch it."

The part where he'd gotten away with challenging it really had been lucky.

[if_inconvenient]

He looks thoughtful.

"That is an interesting set of absences to consider."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal shrugs, suddenly a little defensive. Sherlock of all people should understand why he would be so painfully aware of Obadiah Stane's physicality.

"No cologne," he says. "I could smell it at the party that time."

[if_inconvenient]

"He always wore the same one," Sherlock murmurs. "For as long as I knew him."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"I could smell it in his room the day he died," Cal says. "It kind of - Tony thought I was just mad because it was the one I usually used." At least Tony had been too preoccupied to be upset with him about it.

[if_inconvenient]

"I still can," Sherlock admits. "I don't go in that room very often."

He is not even sure whether the effect is more psychological than otherwise.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"It survived werewolf Tina, huh?"

That doesn't actually surprise Cal very much.

[if_inconvenient]

"Somehow, yes."

Hence his wondering if the smell is more memory than sensation at this point.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal sighs, frustrated.

"Is he ever going to disappear?"