Won't Say I'm In Love (Flower + Melix)

[Melix]

Isaiah stretched out in the lounge, long legs reaching for the one yellow wall in an otherwise completely blue room. According to the teachers, it was supposed to represent hope within sadness, which was completely screwed up not only because it implied that the teachers thought their students were depressed, but also because "hope", while being an abstract concept, was undebatably, abstractly orange. Not yellow. Or so he had heard from many of the adamant intellectuals currently sprawled across the school, protesting paint. Isaiah figured if everyone else was doing it, he may as well lie down, and he may as well make himself comfy, since he was going to be there for a long time.


Already, the educational facility administration (what regularly would have been called “school staff”) was pressuring the students to go back to class, threatening detention (lame), suspension (more of a reward than a punishment, really, if you lived in the dorms), and expulsion for some of the students who boasted past records. Isaiah did boast a past record, but considering that it was what got him into the school in the first place, he was certain to be exempt from this rule. Besides, there was a difference between him and the average troublemaker: he knew how not to get caught. What was the point in defying authority if you were stupid enough to let the authority know you were defying them? Despite what the modern psychologists said, Isaiah wasn’t big on the thought of rebellion without reason.


Today, Isaiah was not participating in the protests. He was in the general area because he’d told Spencer a thousand times to meet him in the lounge if there was trouble, and the principal and assistant vice threatening to waterboard the students over paint colors seemed mildly troubling. If Spencer remembered this time, they’d meet up and hopefully get out of here. The boys dorms (where neither the principal nor assistant vice could go, since they were female) seemed a more reasonable hiding place, but so far Isaiah hadn’t seen a single member of Spencer’s class, which might mean that they were smart enough to stay out of the spotlight, but might also mean that the classrooms were now on lockdown. “Spencer!” shouted Isaiah. He didn’t like the thought of his spazzy friend trapped in an enclosed space, but there wasn’t much he could do without rushing the doors. “Where are you?”


@Nerdygeekflower

 

[ChampionOfTheMorningStar]

Spencer was complete and totally unimpressed.


It was paint. There was no reason to cause this amount of fuss, over paint. It was significantly hindering his movements through the school. He was disabled, and there were people lying all over the floor. For fucks sake couldn't they just paint it orange? He made his way as gracefully as he could to the boys dorms. He heard the frantic "Where are you?" and resisted the urge stay outside for long while and force Isaiah to come looking, but he was tired. He toed the door open to face his long time, and only friend. He raised an eyebrow and shouldered past him inside the room that was causing all the fuss. Depositing himself onto the couch he set aside his supports.


"You made up the water boarding thing." He glanced at Isaiah, looking him over. "What is it that you wanted to do? I was to come here then...? If you think I am participating in the protests I would be sorry to say you were wrong." Spencer, really just wanted to go home and curl up in bed and sleep. He didn't want to do whatever it was that Isaiah thought they would be doing. He scrubbed his hand over his face and leaned his head against the wall, "It's completely impossible to define such concepts let alone assign them colors, this whole thing is completely ridiculous. And they cut Calculus short." Spencer said the last bit with so much anyone and spite that you would have thought they had murdered his dog. Which was the highest crime one could commit against anything.


Slumping to the side Spencer put his face into the pillow. He made a long moaning sound before sparing one eye to his friend. He mumbled into the pillow something about "Going home to watch star -something-" essentially he wanted to go home and do something nerdy, he hoped that Isaiah would approve. He didn't think that he had in in him to go through with whatever Isiah wanted, he just at this point wanted to call it a weekend and never really think about paint again. And more than anything he wanted to re watch Game of thrones with his dog, Hecate, and pretend she was a dire wolf. He turned his head moving his stomach to be more comfortable on the small dirty, couch in the dorms."If you like My dad would probably let you stay until the um paint is dry?" He laughed awkwardly at his own joke, "No, but really, if you wanna watch firefly or something..."

 

[Melix]

Isaiah looked at Spencer, beaming for a moment as his friend walked in, before laughing at the distinctly disgruntled look on Spencer’s face. “Hey,” he greeted. “Poor baby. You look like you woke up on the wrong side of the spaceship bed.” The school made accommodations on a per-student basis, which was how Isaiah had scored a four year subscription to the gourmet bacon lovers club and how Spencer, despite being on scholarship with Isaiah, had earned a spaceship bed. Isaiah thought it was the coolest thing ever, and it was definitely very soft, but he’d never seen Spencer use it. And yet, he still teased Spencer consistently about it.


“Protesting? Oh, hell, no. People are lying down on the floor. This is a total carpe diem moment, Spence. We can lay down and take a nap, during school hours.” It was clear where Isaiah’s priorities lay. His eyes glittered in excitement as he thought of all the things they could do with the day cut so short. “I wanted to go back to the boys dorms with you. I don’t care what we do as long as I’m with you.” He didn’t realize how that sounded. “ And your dog. I know it hates me, but I am absolutely determined to change its mind.” He listened to Spencer’s argument and then chuckled a little bit. Under normal circumstances, he would have teased Spencer some more, but he felt bad about how Spencer was being treated during this protest, so instead he apologized. “I’m sorry that Calculus is cut short. I know how much you love that class. To be fair, Mr. Bacchus is definitely the nicest teacher here.”


Isaiah leaned over as Spencer collapsed and pushed his hair off his friend’s face. “Star Trek marathon?” he asked, barely hearing what Spencer was saying. “Or Star Wars? I watched Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels and both were huge disappointments to the entire franchise. They should never have made it off the storyboard stage.” He hoped Spencer wouldn’t get mad at him for watching a “nerd show” without him, though, in Isaiah’s defense, the show’s were designed to cater to ten-year-olds and so did not quite count as part of the geek continuum of stories. Hopefully Spencer took that into account. “I’d love to watch Firefly with you. Just give me a minute to clear the floor so we can get out of here.” He didn’t want Spencer, with his many bodily issues, to have to continually step over a crowd of idiots.


So, he did what any good friend would have done: he walked outside the lounge, stepped over about ten students loitering in the ten feet from the door to the fire alarm, and pulled the button for the fire alarm and sprinkler. Then he turned around and stepped into an empty classroom doorway, waiting for the hallwaygoers to file out before heading back to the lounge. “Okay, Spence,” he narrated. “We’re all clear. Let’s go.”

 

[ChampionOfTheMorningStar]

Spencer snorted at the spaceship bed comment. Yes, he did in fact have a spaceship bed. He rarely slept in the dorms though, his family did not live very far from the school, just on the outskirts of town. Typically he just went home, the administrators in the school knew this, and technically they were not supposed to let him, but Spencer had impressive enough test scores that turning a blind eye for the funding the school got was a small price.


For a secound, and only a secound he let himself enjoy Isiah's finger in his hair. Having anyone touch his hair always made Spencer extremely happy. When he was younger his dad would do it whenever he got sick. "Hecate doesn't hate you, she just... expresses her love in a very different way. She cuddles me, and she growls and glares at you. No mind changing needed."


He listened to the comments about the different Star Wars movies. Spencer liked the Star Wars franchise, but he only really liked the first three movies that had been made, and they came in significantly lower than Star Trek, and firefly. He agreed though the animated clone wars was awful, everything about it was awful, the plot, the style that the animation was done in a manor that made it look like a bad alternative movie. Or a bad video game. It was just bad.


Traditionally the Star Wars movies had horrible and cheesy dialog, and Clone wars had just not met that. Spencer was praying that the new star wars movie would maintain the awful dialoge.


After the issue of what space drama they would watch was out of the way Isiah went and... pulled the fire alarm. Spencer watched as he came back in. His friend had just broken the law. Spencer smiled and said in his best bad southern accent "He does love me ma!" before getting to his feet. "Let's get outta here. Space cowboys here we come!" he carefully made his way across the now wet floor to Issiah at the door. "Maybe that will be the end to the protest? It can't possibly go on for much longer, I mean eventually they will get bored and find a new way to disrupt school?" The hopeful lilt to his voice sounded sad and defeated, he went to a school for smart people, and they all hated school. Spencer loved school, learning was everything. He couldn't stand these people, why were they throwing it away? Why didn't they at least pretend to care? it drove him crazy. He had planted one of his supports in one of the protesters guts 'by accident' today, that protester he knew to actively interrupt classes by slowing them down so they covered less material but got the same grades. Really? Challenge yourself assholes!

 

[Melix]

Isaiah smiled as he heard Spencer comfort him about that blasted dog. “Listen, Spence: we both know I’m not up to your level, but I’m not stupid. Your dog hates me; it won’t even let me touch it without biting me. Don’t sugarcoat things. It doesn’t suit you.” As annoyed as he was, he didn’t feel the need to mask his feelings around Spencer with insults and banter. Spencer was the only one who knew his honest side, and he liked it that way. He would have also preferred if Spencer kept up the same attitude around him, but harsh words made things so much clearer than hard feelings. Besides, with Spencer’s I.Q., he had no doubt in his mind Spencer could figure it out.


His wet shirt was soaked and his pants were worse. Despite the typical over-indulgent jock behavior that came with being a member of at least five of the six sport teams (ping pong was not and would never be a real sport, so far as Isaiah was concerned, although some of their friends loved it), Isaiah was not aware of any noticeable attractiveness of his own shape, which was why his “bulgy” legs and “annoying” muscles (please try being the only muscled one in a gang of nerds and see how much cred that gets you) didn’t bother him as he flexed. Any other guy would have been self-conscious. Pretty guys always were. “Spencer,” he called. The sprinklers only worked in the hallway, because god forbid the lounge get wet, fire or no fire. That meant that Spencer was dry. Time to share the love. “Spencer…come hug me,” he said, arms opened wide, lumbering toward him like Frankenstein.


Fun thing about cornering Spencer: no way he could get away fast enough. Nope, wasn’t going to happen. “You don’t have to hug me if you don’t want to,” Isaiah told him, still lumbering. “I won’t force you, just tell me.” When he got over to Spencer, he stood there for only a moment before turning around and bending over, making sure his shoelaces were tied tightly before leaving. “If you want a piggyback, get on,” said Isaiah. “I should have thought of it earlier, but I didn’t. I don’t want you to trip in the wet hallway. I’d only have to take care of you until you felt better, and who knows how long that could take? There are only so many minutes I can spend with one person,” he said in the joking tone of one who is oh-so-popular. “Although I must admit you are my favorite person to spend time with. Now hurry up and get on, or I’ll leave without you.” He raised an eyebrow at Spencer. “If you make me leave alone, not only will I be angry with you, I will eat all of your food- even the pasta.”

 

[ChampionOfTheMorningStar]

Spencer blushed at the comment about his dog, but said nothing. He didn't want Isaiah to feel that he couldn't come over because of Hecate, he knew that Hecate wouldn't hurt Issiah, in truth the rescue dog didn't really like anyone who was not Spencer. He smiled and backed into the wall when Isiah tried to hug him. "No! I can't stand and hug you at the same time!" He shifted his weight to subtly draw attention to the supports, "Duh. And your soaking wet.... ew." In truth Spencer would love to throw his arms around Issiah, Spencer loved the rain an playing in it, it was a rare treat for him but he loved it. Most would reject a wet hug but Spencer wouldn't. He wasn't big on contact but he was big on doing things others wouldn't. Plus it was Isiah so it didn't count as Contact.


Isiah made a comment about Spencer tripping and if it had been anyone else he probably would have turned his nose up at that. He didn't like it when people pointed out his physical shortcomings. But this was Isiah.


He trusted Isiah enough to show weakness in front of him. Most times as a disabled person he felt that he needed to put on armor when he put on his back brace. He was venerable. The fact that when he walked it made a clicking sound and drew attention to him made him uncomfortable, he would close his eyes and think 'what would it be like if these weren't here? Would anyone pay attention to the scruffy kid who talks to much has glasses thicker then his skull and dressed like a grandpa?'. He needed to be strong, act like everyone else and they won't even notice that you wear a brace, or that your back is criss crossed with scars from surgery to correct your spine.


But Isiah was different he didn't mind the crutches, and he knew how to pace himself so Spencer would walk at a steady pace next to him. He knew the restaurants and hang out spots in town that were a no go because of accessibility. Heck, he even knew the short cuts through the school to centralize your schedule around the elevator.


"Are you saying you dislike it when I need care?" He said, maneuvering himself onto his friends back. They did this often, there had been a 'wife carry' race in town last valentines as a fundraiser for the wounded warrior project. In truth it was just called that because it was a weird tradition, families had entered, brothers and sisters and fathers and daughters. So on a random joke that had come from their friend Zeke, and Spencer's chess co - captain, Isiah and Spencer had entered. And won. The prize was free tacos. It had been glorious.


"On ward trusty steed! FOR NARNIA AND FOR ASLAN! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!" There, Spencer had done it lord of the rings and Narnia reference in one breath. Bow to your king geeks. Geek king riding a jock.

 

[Melix]

“I’ll hold you up,” said Isaiah. “If you ever do want to hug, I’ll hold you up so you won’t have issues with your supports.” Isaiah didn’t say it with animosity or pity, an either/or choice for the regular person. Honestly, Spencer made it hard to pity him, because even with the supports, he far exceeded expectations for a regular person, or even an advanced person, in all subjects. True, he had some social issues, but so did everyone else. It was just something you got used to and accepted and cherished and occasionally made fun of (though truth be told Isaiah’s weren’t any better). “You love wet,” laughed Isaiah. “Come on, don’t screw with me. I know you want a big, wet hug.”


He noticed mild discomfort and decided to clarify his statements from earlier. All of them, because he wasn’t sure which one had made Spencer upset. It took a moment for him to process everything he said earlier before he began to compliment things and explain himself. “Not sure what you’re pissed about, but, let’s see…Um…I’m sorry I didn’t come get you. I shouldn’t have insulted your dog or insulted your appearance…I shouldn’t have watched the new Star Wars shows without you? Let’s see…Or pulled the alarm? Or made you walk through protesters to see me? Or…Mentioning you tripping.” The last was the slowest. Isaiah was watching Spencer’s face for subtle changes in expression and his body for subtle changes in body language, but he didn’t find any. Going through his list, though, the most obvious thing- what would have made him angry if he were the one to be mildly disabled- was mentioning the tripping. “I’d do it for any of my smaller friends, supports or not.” It was true. Isaiah was the exact type of jock who doted on all of his friends, in any way he could. Need anyone be reminded of the cheating scandal in Elementary? “You just happened to be born tiny. And with back problems.”


Spencer climbed on his back and Isaiah moved up and down on his haunches, adjusting himself accordingly so it would be a comfortable ride for both of them. He laughed at both of those references before reaching his hand behind him to feel Spencer’s back and arms as best he could, ascertaining whether Spencer was holding on tightly enough. When he determined that his friend was indeed holding on tightly enough, he trudged through the now four inches of sprinkler water rushing through the hallway. Having ignored Spencer’s question earlier, he decided to give careful thought to his words before answering that one. “Let’s see…how do I put this? I don’t like it when you’re sick or hurt. I do, however, enjoy how cuddly you get when you are sick and or hurt, which is, I’ll admit, a less-than-average amount of cuddly, but more than enough considering how you usually are.” That ought to be clear enough, he thought, but he decided to add the questions answer, just in case. “So no. I do enjoy it when you need care, but I’d rather not see you hurt at all.” They arrived at the boys dorms, a carpeted area. The water wasn’t in here except where it had flooded through the doorway slightly. Instead, the janitor was standing there with a fire extinguisher, prepared to put out the “fire”, should it arrive here. “You’re here for nothing,” Isaiah informed him. “There’s no fire. I pulled the alarm to clear the halls.”


“Mm,” the janitor grunted.


“Okay, come on, Spence,” said Isaiah, gently setting him down. “Let’s go to my room. I'll grab my clothes and then we can go to your place for the night.”

 

[ChampionOfTheMorningStar]

The process of grabbing Isaiah's clothes was quick, and soon they were on their way home. They took a bus. It wasn't far and neither of them were going to walk. Spencer pushed open the door with the end of his crutch, happy to see Hecate and his dad there to greet them. The dog bounded on up sitting obediently with her tong out. She saw Isiah and snapped her mouth shut, giving him a very skeptical look. Spencer wasted no time flopping on to the couch, he curled down and grabbed blindly for the blanket with the TARDIS on it. His automatic favorite. Isiah spent so much time hanging around that he didn't really bother to play to the host part. He simply said "Izzy is here dad." His dad smiled, nodding to the other boy.


"I see that, welcome, as always." Henry Quarters, Neal's adopted father treated Isiah as a fourth son. He had adopted Spencer, and had two other boys the old fashioned way, along with a girl, so what was one more kid? Henry had a lot of respect for Isiah and it was always good to see Spencer having an actual friend, it was up for constant debate if his siblings counted.


It was a minor joke that Isiah had lost guest status a long time ago, now he as just treated like part of the family. So Spencer took no pauses in whining at him.


"Izyyyyyyyy." Hecate walked haughtily around the couch to stretch herself like a queen by the couch, as if guarding Spencer like a sphinx. Not really waiting for his friends reply, Spencer simply ended his whine with "I'm cold."


This was less of a statement and more of a command or accusation. Often Spencer would simply allow Issiah to make his own leaps with his subtle un founded and fake accusations. This time 'I'm cold' meant, 'why are you not cuddling me. I'm cold and it is your fault.'


Spencer, was cold about 98% of the time the other 2% of the time he was overheating, and that was normally fever related, and though Spencer often ran temperatures, they often made him feel cold. If a fever made Spencer yearn for ice, it was probably a bad one. It typically meant ER time.


Then again with Spencer's medical record a paper cut could mean ER time. That might be overstating things, but really.


He also really wanted Isiah to come over here so he could put his feet on his face. Spencer's disability gave him pretty poor circulation through his feet, so they were balls of ice. Which is why he wanted to put them on Isiah's face.


In public Spencer was not this outspoken or open, and he was never silly. But here in his home with his family, because Isiah was family. It didn't matter, the pressure and stress and confusion of social anything was gone. Which meant that he was going to put his abnormally cold, abnormally pale feet on his friends face. Then they were going to watch the best show ever, and Spencer was going to sing the theme song badly, and off tune.

Spoiler

brief nerd rant because it's firefly:

~ I have no idea if you have watched Firefly or know the theme, even if you have I will take this opportunity to put this FANTASTIC FUCKING SONG in my post.

Have you watched firefly? If not you should. Everyone should watch it. It should be required. If you haven't cried at 3 'o 'clock because of this song and firefly and cancellations then you need to because you haven't lived.

/nerd rant over

Ballad of Serenity

~

Take my love, take my land

Take me where I cannot stand

I don't care, I'm still free

You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out to the black

Tell them I ain't comin' back

Burn the land and boil the sea

You can't take the sky from me.

Leave the men where they lay

They'll never see another day

Lost my soul, lost my dream

You can't take the sky from me.

I feel the black reaching out

I hear its song without a doubt

I still hear and I still see

That you can't take the sky from me.

Lost my love, lost my land

Lost the last place I could stand

There's no place I can be

Since I've found Serenity

And you can't take the sky from me

[media]

[/media]
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[Melix]

Isaiah entered the wide, real wood doors into Spencer’s home, almost immediately having his sense of smell assaulted by the smell of dog. Now, don’t get Isaiah confused- he loved all animals. They were so much easier to understand than their human counterparts. Unfortunately, this dog had met Isaiah and taken an immediate dislike to him, a feeling that was, if he was being honest, partially reciprocated. The dog worked as a barrier between Isaiah and Spencer, and Isaiah knew he had to somehow convince the dog that he was worthy of Spencer’s affections before it warmed up to him. But for now, Isaiah didn’t worry about that. “Hey, Mr. Quarters,” Isaiah greeted, smiling as he sat down on the couch near Spencer’s feet, getting comfy sitting, since there was no way Spencer was sharing the Tardis blanket. He wasn’t quite comfortable enough in Spencer’s home (or, for that matter, any home) to ask for someone to get something for him, nor was he comfortable in just taking the thing, with or without asking. As much as Isaiah liked the sentiment that he was “part of the family”, he knew, deep down, that he didn’t have one.


But he could save the depressing thoughts for later. “Izzy,” Spencer whined. “I’m cold…” Right now, Spencer needed him, and it was nice to feel needed. He walked to the front of the couch, bending down on his knees before feeling Spencer’s forehead. Hecate glared from her spot below the couch, next to him, but Isaiah calmed her with a kind smile, putting his hand out for her to sniff. He had this theory that if you thought something hard enough, like the concentration version of screaming, a dog (or cat, but that wasn’t applicable here) would be able to smell the thought, in a sense. Right now, his thought was a question: May I help your owner? The dog sniffed him, and whether she understood him exactly or only understood a huge whiff of helpfulness and good intentions, curled up and laid down again. Isaiah put his hand on Spencer’s forehead.


“You’re a little warm,” Isaiah whispered, “but you’re not too bad off. It’ll break by one; we don’t need to worry.” That was a.m. Isaiah was deeply acquainted with Spencer’s sickness, enough to know the when and what-to-do of every situation, almost; enough to doctor Spencer, at least, if the hospital staff weren’t on hand. He put a hand on Spencer’s lower stomach, rubbing up and down lightly on his hip bone. “You’re all tense,” he accused. “I’ll do some reflexology on your feet to relax you. That will release heat trapped in the folds of your muscles, trapping it under the blanket, warming you and relaxing you.” He knew Spencer didn’t believe in that sort of thing—reflexology—but it all boiled down to two words: free massage. Who was going to say no to that?


In any case, Isaiah crawled back to the edge of the couch, climbing up and taking a hold of Spencer’s feet, rubbing lightly on the bottoms. Geez. “Spencer, I swear you were an ice berg in a past life,” he mumbled, before lightly kissing Spencer’s toes. Spencer’s dad chuckled at them. Just then, Firefly came on.