MM: Academic excellence.

[americas_son]

Homework: Cal has it.

Conducive to concentration: Milliways isn't.

But he's trying anyway. He's got a solid B+ so far in this class, and a really good paper could push that to an A. And Cal refuses finish his first semester of college with anything less than straight As, as much to spite his mother as out of academic pride. Good enough to get by hasn't been good enough for Cal for quite some time now. (And he's always wary of backsliding.)

Comments

[defies-time.livejournal.com]

"Oh, good point. 2004. You'll probably see some people looking nervous on the trains if we use the Metro - the overground trains got bombed two months ago, and it was the worst bombing they've ever had. It's why I'm here, really - I wanted to see if anything had changed."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal's eyebrows go up as he turns his full attention back to Sam.

"Jesus," he says.

[defies-time.livejournal.com]

Sam nods.

"Yeah. I've seen worse, but not by all that much."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal considers the implications of a comment like this from someone Sam's age.

"How's it looking now?" he asks.

[defies-time.livejournal.com]

Sam shrugs slightly, thoughtfully.

"Surprisingly good, considering the mess. A lot of the European cities have got pretty good at picking up the pieces of this sort of thing by now - not that it's common, but most of the capital cities have had some kind of experience of it in the past, whether it's the IRA or ETA or al Qaeda."

He leaves the subject of September 11th alone for now. It's not like Cal can do anything about it, after all.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

It's a kindness Cal would be grateful for if he knew about it. That kind of helplessness in the face of impending devastation is good for no one.

"That sucks," he says with a frown. Terrorism is hardly unknown in his time, but it's easier not to see, especially as for someone as preoccupied (and insulated, and protected) as Cal has been.

[defies-time.livejournal.com]

Sam shrugs again. "That's life for you, in a way. It reminded me a lot of some of the bombings in the Civil War, actually, or during the Blitz, just on a smaller scale. It's terrible, but people get on with things."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"You have to, I guess," Cal says, glancing back out over the city as he thinks of Dad's death.

Speaking of smaller scale, of course, but. You do have to get on with things.

(He wonders not infrequently if Dad would have approved of the way Cal chose to do it.)

[defies-time.livejournal.com]

"Pretty much." He reaches out - and up - to ruffle Cal's hair.

"Come on. You're alive and so am I, and there's a city to discover."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal, distracted from his thoughts, makes a face at Sam and smooths his hair back down.

"You're also kind of a dork," he says, but he's smiling as he says it.

[defies-time.livejournal.com]

Sam pulls a face right back! So there.

Teasing, "What are you, new?"

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"It's been a while, I'd forgotten," Cal counters.

"Or I might have repressed it." Sam does inflict trauma wherever he goes, after all, what with the caring and support and the providing of pizza buried under pineapple. That bastard.

[defies-time.livejournal.com]

Truly, Sam has invented new and terrifying ways of living up to the title of Devil. How Cal copes, the narration has no idea.

"Yeah, because I am so cruel to you. Look at me, dragging you off to foreign cities and buying you lunch and everything."

Since he's guessing it didn't occur to Cal to get any money...

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Of course not.

"I can pay you back," Cal says promptly. Not that he really thinks Sam is hugely concerned about that, but it's not like Cal has major financial restrictions.

Which is probably why the money issue didn't even occur to him until just now.

[defies-time.livejournal.com]

Sam chuckles, not terribly surprised by this.

"I'm not exactly short of money, and there are more expensive cities - not many, but some," he says relaxedly. "Don't worry about it."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Okay," Cal says agreeably. He does, after all, have the luxury of not making money be a point of pride.

And he can always buy Sam a meal or something in Milliways later.

"Thanks."

[defies-time.livejournal.com]

"No worries. Aaaand here we are!"

El Retiro park is a vast expanse of green stretching well off into the distance. There's a huge pond - lake is probably a more fitting description - with a statue of a man on horseback in the middle, and boaters flitting across its expanse in little boats. Around the pond is an array of market stalls, and in the distance there are elegantly-arranged statues and trees and the definite suggestion of old and beautiful buildings. On a day like today the park is, naturally, full of people, both tourists and native madrileños enjoying the sun and a break from work.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

It's impressive - expansive and graceful and suggestive of history in a way that nothing in New York can quite match. New York, after all, for all its size and bustle, is an infant compared to millennium-old Madrid.

Cal is not really thinking about lunch anymore as he takes it all in.

[defies-time.livejournal.com]

Sam smiles at the look on Cal's face, shoving his hands in his pockets again and whistling under his breath as he watches the kid.

"I take it this place meets with your approval, then?"

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"It's amazing," Cal says.

". . . is that a rose garden?"

[defies-time.livejournal.com]

Sam doesn't quite shake his head, but it's a close-run thing. Trust Cal to want to see the one place in the world with a Lucifer statue.

"Yep. It's one of the newer bits, actually - I think they started on it in the Thirties."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal has a radar for these things. Plus, the garden is eye-catching.

"Yeah, it kinda looks it."

He can't really define how. It just does.