Honey mustard cannot just replace mustard arbitrarily.

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Gene Khan, Miles Upshur, Aly Haskell, Kai, and y'all
Date: throughout October
Location: Aifaran and environs
Situation: hooliganry
Warnings/Rating: Will be added as they arise
[A] | Gene | the Dojo | throughout October | open
The Dojo had opened in the beginning of October, since Gene had scraped together enough money for the lease, and had spent a solid week getting the place ready to open. It didn't quite smell of paint, but it was close.

He's done his best to advertize, but it's slow at first, and he spends the time he's not teaching with doing some forms, both to keep himself sharp and to prove to any potential incoming students that he knows his stuff.

[B] | Gene | the Shunt | backdated to August 27 | closed to Tony
[from here]
"Since May," Gene says. "It's August now." But his shoulders sag with relief, because Tony didn't forget. "If I ever expected to see you again here, it wasn't going to be on a shunt."

It's really him, he's here, and he remembers. Gene never thought he'd be so lucky. He'd never even dreamed it.

Gene took a step closer, and then another step, and then hugged Tony as hard as he could.

[C] | Miles | throughout Aifaran | mid-October | open
Crap.

As a rule, Miles refuses to dress up. But the masquerade ball coming up, well. Considering he wasn't likely to be let in if he showed up both stag and slumming it in casual clothes, he'd decided to go look for something to wear. At least if he went stag, he'd look good - and that didn't bother him.

I really wish I wasn't so picky, he thinks in the third shop he's gone to. And as for a mask, forget it. That's a can of worms he does not want to get into yet.

"I hate shopping," he grumbles.

[D] | Kai | throughout Aifaran | early October | open
If Kai wasn't a Dreamfolk, she'd look like a tourist. She does anyway. The city's strange, mostly due to the presence of so many vertebrates and such a weird mix of cultures! It's pretty weird for someone who's been confined to Inkling culture for almost her entire life, with only a smattering of Octoling culture - and that only recently with the wave of Octolings escaping the underground.

She's wandering around, looking up at everything, and of course trying every single piece of food that she possibly can.

"Okay," she says eagerly to a giggling kedan, "so what's a sea prune?"

[E] | Aly | throughout Aifaran | early October | open
Aly's slacked off on the graffiti lately, especially since she heard the Sentry were getting pretty intent on finding the culprit. Without that, though, there's little to distract her from the reality of her situation.

One: The barrier is acting weird, and it's her fault.
Two: It's getting close to Halloween. Aly used to love Halloween, but ever since the whole incident last year with the attempted faerie invasion, it makes her jumpy.
Three: She had messed with the barrier, and now it's acting weird, and it's close to Halloween.

All of this has combined to make her constantly anxious about history repeating itself and the barrier collapsing. She's a lot more twitchy than usual, which she tries to hide under enthusiasm for the festival, but there's an undercurrent of high-strung nervousness under it, making her seem slightly manic.

[F] | Aly | a restaurant | September 14 | closed to Devin
[from here]
"You do everything with purpose, so I assume that you're being rude on purpose, too," Aly said to him, and off they went.

When they sit down, Aly surveys him over the top of her menu for a moment, before saying with infuriating calm, "You're making friends. That's good. I worry about you."

She's building up to something. You cannot escape, Devin. You are already trapped.

---

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Comments

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene nods. "Yeah, it's not that far. We can head back to base camp, and then from there to Aifaran. This way."

---

Gene is actually a little nervous about showing Tony the new place. What if he doesn't like it? What if he'd prefer to live in the Bridge?

The apartment is small, not at all like their digs back in Keeliai had been. There's a living room with a couch, a small kitchen, a dining room, and a bedroom.

"...so...what do you think?"

[highprofilerichkid]

They make it out of the shunt without incident, which Tony remains suspicious of up until the very last second. When has anything this weird in his life ever been this easy? He's just convinced that a horde of zombies or something is going to pop up right as they think they're in the clear.

But there are no zombies, and the way back to Aifaran doesn't snap closed right in front of them, so, other than the fact that he never got breakfast, Tony has to admit that the adventure was not too disastrous.

He retrieves the funky crystals from Kai and makes sure she knows how to get to the Bridge and what to expect, and then follows Gene to their new digs.

"Cute," he opines cheerfully, and flops onto the couch. (The couch passes the Flop Test, and therefore meets with his approval.) "You wanna go get brunch? I'm starving."

[wrathfulkhan]

Oh, good. Tony likes it. Gene hadn't thought that he wouldn't, but the worry was always there. Even now, even after all this time, there are still some insecurities that time hasn't been able to erase.

He grins when Tony flops down. "Sure. Let's go get brunch. I'm not really inclined to cook right now." He'd go to the moon if Tony wanted to.

[highprofilerichkid]

It's no mansion, but it's also not a shared dorm room in the Bridge. And it's theirs.

"Aww, you don't wanna cook me a big welcome home dinner?" Tony teases. "Now my feelings are hurt."

He snags Gene's shirt and pulls him down for a quick kiss. "I still get welcome home cuddles when we get back, though, right?"

[wrathfulkhan]

"Tell you what, I'll do that when we have a little more time to prepare," Gene says just before Tony kisses him. God, he'd missed this. General unasked-for affection and just...having someone there. Having Pepper around had been a big help, but it hadn't been the same.

"Absolutely," Gene says, "but you need to be warned first - it's going to take a lot for me to let go."

[highprofilerichkid]

"Oh, no," Tony says, with mock horror. "Well, we definitely have to do brunch first, then. I don't want to starve. Death by cuddle marathon. Not the worst way to go, I guess."

[wrathfulkhan]

"You absolutely need to be prepared for that marathon," Gene says gravely. "because I've gotten out of practice."

Going for brunch immediately rather than cuddling sounds like a great idea; he's barely eaten today, and the day's been extremely exciting."

"Let's go, then. I think I know a little place."

[highprofilerichkid]

"Lucky for you, I haven't." Yaaay time dilation! Or time travel? Time skipping? Whatever you would call this wacky Dreaming stuff. Anyway. His cuddles are still top-notch, Gene, don't you worry.

Tony pushes himself off the couch and slings his arm around Gene's waist. "Then let's check it out. I still don't trust your breakfast opinions since you were so mean to my Eggomatic, which was groundbreaking, for the record, but I'll give it a chance."

what a callback

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene laughs again. He hasn't laughed much in a while, and he certainly hasn't smiled this much either. Things might be an absolute disaster back on Earth, but here at home...they're okay.

Home. Home isn't a place, it's the people, your people, and the only people still alive who've ever cared about him back on Earth were here.

Tony's back, and Gene's suddenly home again.

"The Eggomatic was a crime against breakfast. Efficiency is overrated when the alternative is making it for someone you love."

the eggomatic 9000 will never die

[highprofilerichkid]

Before Gene finishes, Tony opens his mouth, preparing to argue. And then Gene finishes his sentence and cuts the legs out from under his spirited defense of automated breakfast.

"Oh, that was sneaky." Tony grins and pokes Gene in the stomach as they walk back out into the street. "You made it really sweet, so now I look like a jerk if say breakfast bots are great. That's cheating."

[wrathfulkhan]

"You know I use underhanded tactics to win," Gene says, and kisses him on the cheek. "I haven't changed that much."

At least now he's only using his sneakiness for good.

"One point for me."

[highprofilerichkid]

"You know, I'm kind of worried that you are actually keeping score. Like, eighty years from now we'll be shriveling up in the nursing home and the last thing you'll do is pull out a little notebook full of tally marks and say 'I win, Stark, suck it!'"

[wrathfulkhan]

"Who says I'm not?" Gene smirks. "Although you're not too far behind. I'm sure you'll make up the lost ground." He pokes Tony in the ribs.

The implication that a. their relationship would be accepted back home and Gene forgiven and b. both of them growing old rather than dying young gives him hope, even though he's sure that hadn't been Tony's point. It's nice to dream.

[highprofilerichkid]

"I knew it." Tony pokes Gene again, threatening to turn this into an all-out poke war. "I am going to make up the lost ground. You know how competitive I am. When I win, just remember that I told you so. What are we scoring, again?"

[wrathfulkhan]

"Getting one up on the other, of course," Gene says. That's it - poke war has been declared, and he pokes Tony in the side. "A battle of wits, so to speak."

[highprofilerichkid]

"Oh, wow, I'm definitely going to win, then. I'm a techno-enhanced supergenius. I've got so many wits it's actually unprecedented in the history of human science." Tony declares, wearing a shit-eating grin. "I don't think you thought this through, Gene."

And the hand that had been lying in wait resting affectionately on Gene's waist sneaks up to pinch the sensitive skin on his ribs. It's on.

[wrathfulkhan]

"Smarts don't equal cunning--" Gene's squawk cut him off, and he laughed, trying to wriggle away from Tony. "So it's a war of escalation, then!"

That said, he pinched Tony's butt. "See how you like it!"

[highprofilerichkid]

Yeah, Tony. If you were more cunning, maybe you would have seen that coming.

"Ah!" Tony yelps and jumps, but doesn't let go of Gene. "Whoa, whoa, PDA," he laughs. "You're already breaking out the big guns? We just left the apartment. How far away is this place, anyway?"

[wrathfulkhan]

"I can't help it," Gene says with a sly grin. "Your butt was right there." Yes, Gene, you could help it. "It's not too far. A few blocks away."

[highprofilerichkid]

"It usually is. I'd be worried if it wasn't. I think you can call off the search and rescue party."

Tony reaches back with his free hand to shoo Gene's pinchy fingers away from his backside, and – cunningly! – laces his own fingers through them and redirects them to his hip.

"Do you think you can help it long enough for us not to get kicked out of Aifaran Waffle House? If I don't get an omelette soon, I may not be in the mood for you to grope my butt later," Tony jokingly threatens. "I get grumpy, you know. Rhodey says it's low blood sugar."

[wrathfulkhan]

A clever trap! Gene allows himself to be bested in this sappy hand war.

"I can comport myself in public, you know," says Gene huffily, ignoring the fact that about six seconds ago he'd been groping his boyfriend. He has a tendency to get a little handsy around Tony, especially since he's been gone, but come on, man, pull yourself together.

"Given how you eat, I'm surprised your blood sugar's ever a problem."