Sunnydale AU: don't go into the - never mind.

[americas_son]

Some students, when they hear the final bell ring, head to class right away.

Sometimes Cal is one of them, but not today. He was outside having a cigarette when the bell sounded, and he was too deep in thought to pay it much attention.

So he's slipping inside now, a few minutes late. The halls are already quiet, and he's keeping an eye out for any faculty members authorized to give detention as he makes his way toward his English class.

Comments

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Under the circumstances, who could blame him for not thinking through every nuance?

"Good stuff," Cal murmurs, inanely polite. It could be the cheapest of the cheap and he wouldn't really know the difference, but he thinks it might be best to keep the silence from settling for too long.

[toblameforit]

"Oh, it totally is."

Obie always used to tease him for that. He smiles sadly.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal glances up from his glass.

"No point in getting the shitty stuff if you don't have to."

That much, at least, he knows to be true. He doesn't know the difference between one bottle of whiskey or another in the cabinet back home, but he knows they're all high quality.

[toblameforit]

"Seriously," Tony agrees. "Works for everything. Booze, cars..."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Pot," Cal adds. He does know for a clear, solid fact that price and quality make all the difference there.

And wouldn't he like to be getting high right about now? He takes a swallow from his glass instead.

[toblameforit]

"Yeah, that figures."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal gives a slight, wry laugh.

"Never go for the skunk weed," he advises. "Always hold out for something decent."

Pause.

"Unless you're really desperate."

[toblameforit]

"I'm happy to say I've never been desperate for weed." He nods at the liquor cabinet on the wall they're both facing. "And I've never been desperate for booze, either."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"It helps if you never run out," Cal agrees.

He pauses for a moment. Sips his drink, then says over the rim of his glass,

"But I would've smoked anything I could stick in my pipe after - Dad came home."

[toblameforit]

He takes a long, slow breath.

Softly: "Yeah."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"That was like, all I did for days," he says. "Just . . . trying to pretend that everything was fine."

Which was impossible to do sober.

And, in the end, hadn't worked out very well while he was stoned, either. He still blames Sherlock, though without the anger he'd felt at the time.

[toblameforit]

His lips twist into something that's not quite a smile.

"Like that ever works," he says, with all the wry certainty of a guy who's lived with Sherry Holmes for years.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"It would have a few months ago." Back when it was easier to shut himself down and retreat from reality.

"Well, I mean. Right up until he turned me, anyway," he adds, elaborately casual. (It doesn't quite work as a joke now; it will later, when more time has passed and the experience isn't so raw.)

He never said anything about it ending well.

[toblameforit]

Tony takes a few seconds to disentangle that, and then snorts. "Nice sense of humour on you," he observes.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal shrugs.

"Sometimes it's either that or throw up," he says, thinking of cool fingers touching his pulse.

[toblameforit]

"Don't I know it," he agrees, thinking of driving lessons.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal sips his whiskey.

"Getting drunk works, too."

When he has time to stop and think, really think, about what they saw today - maybe he'll make an exception to his new no-pot rule.

And if he can't do that, he'll drink.

[toblameforit]

"Yep."

Oh look, there's Tony's first glass of whiskey done with. He toys with the empty glass a little, feeling too lazy just now to get up and refill it.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal's is still half full - he's been sipping frequently, but not much at a time.

"He would have," he says after a moment. "Turned me, I mean. If I hadn't had your laser."

He gives Tony a slight half-smile. "So. Thanks."

[toblameforit]

"No problem," he answers. "And—" very softly, "thanks for holding me back."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal shrugs with one shoulder, a little awkward.

"I would've tried to run too," he says. "If it were me."

He's pretty sure, anyway.

[toblameforit]

"Yeah." He quirks a wry smile. "Sherry's gonna kick my ass when he hears about it. Or no, he'll just give me that look like he always does when I don't think something through."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Well." Cal swallows a sip of whiskey. "I won't tell if you don't."

Then he snorts into his glass, because that strategy is sure to work. On Sherlock Holmes.

[toblameforit]

"Oh yeah. Wanna bet on how long it'll take him to figure it out? If it's any more than a couple hours I'll get you another car."

Not because Cal particularly needs another car, but because that is not going to happen.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"I am going to tell him that you thought it would take that long."

Cal grimaces slightly as something occurs to him.

"I'll probably have to tell him, anyway, I probably grabbed you hard enough to bruise." Which is more likely to serve is a final confirmation than anything else, but this is not a moment for being realistic.