Boy's Afternoon - Vincent and Owen

**This is a little out of sequence time wise, but it took awhile to write. So it's a retrospective shortly after the Theta RP when Owen was such a horrible clutz:))**

Vincent brings his laptop out of his room and into the living room. He sets it on the coffee table and goes behind the TV for the HDMI cable. Fortunately Darcy had gotten a really long one, so resting his laptop on the coffee table was no big deal. Connecting the two, he now has his laptop screen on the televisions large screen. Pulling up YouTube he moves to Josh Layne's YouTube page and access a familiar tutorial. Owen will be here soon ... which is good. He's finding he is missing Fiona. It would be good to hang out with another guy. Not that he's done THAT a whole hell of a lot, either. But he wasn't a loner anymore ... and it couldn't hurt to bond with his girlfriends brother ... one of them anyway.

Owen whistles as he walks from the elevator with a giant bag of Doritos in one hand. He checks his texts and then finds the door and knocks.

Vincent opens the door and smiles. "Hey! Come on in." he backs away from the door. "Do you want something to drink?" the video is winding down and soon stops.

Owen steps in and kicks off his worn out sneakers "Yeah OK. What do you have?" He glances around the apartment and then is drawn to the window "You can see the whole town from this place! Even our house!"

Vincent moves to the fridge and looks through the door cause that's just cool. "Coke, Mountain Dew, Orange Juice and iced tea." he laughs. "I know, isn't it GREAT? That's your back porch! I LOVE the view! You can see the ferry from my room!"

Owen snorts "I'm gonna dare Shay to moon you later. Um...coke please. Hey has Fi seen this? She musta freaked right out...."

Vincent opens the fridge and pulls out a coke and a Mountain Dew. "Thanks?" he says about Shay. "Just what I need a bare Reinhardt ass in my face." he pffts, then sighs. "She didn't say anything. But I could tell after a while. The deal now is if she is up here .. the drapes stay closed. Then she can pretend we are on the first floor.

Owen smirks "I could dare Fi instead but she knows you can see the house I bet. She's fine if she thinks she can fall to the ground and live. I know that sounds weird but she can handle a ski lift.....but not a Ferris wheel." He plunks down on the couch and opens the Doritos.

Vincent laughs. "And she'd break your neck." he nods. "But you can PROBABLY survive a fall from a Ferris Wheel, as long as you don't hit your head wrong, you know." he argues. He brings the pops and sets them on the table. "But she'd probably get mad .. maybe talk to L about you or something." that might be TOO mean.

Owen has started laughing as Vincent came at him with almost his sister's sense of humour. He could see what the two of them got together. But he tensed up when he made a comment about L "Hey...."He looked a little defensive now.

Vincent sits beside Owen and looks at him "What? We're all rooting for you." he bites his lip. "Addy even came to your defense after you suddenly left after Shops." he pauses and wonders if Owen even wants to hear it.

Owen sinks into the back of the couch and runs his hand over his face, squeezing his eyes closed "Oh god...that was so bad....so bad....What did Addy even say? I mean what COULD she say "Owen's not normally a nut case...he's just having some kind of episode....please go back to your knitting.....Fuck I'm a moron Vincent...."

Vincent looks at him. "Actually ...." he begins sort of hesitatingly. "Addy told L off for being so difficult to know. I guess she saw you floundering and it was like you were getting blocked at every turn." he sighs in sympathy. "I guess after the initial nervousness and uncertainty Fi and I just hit it off right away." he smiles. "By the way ... history with a twist ... get to know it ... and well .. and you got yourself a ... um ... " he sighs. "I don't honestly know what. I know you like her and all but ... I'm confused." he confesses.

Owen shakes his head "No no no the floundering was all me. I'm a disaster at this...and I'm confused too. I mean I've always thought I like girls but L is sort of partway into that category.....so what do I do about the not girl part. Thing is I don't feel any less when....yeah I dunno..."

Vincent sighs and licks his lips. "SO .. I mean .. you can't like a girl half WAY." he theorizes. "I mean... would you have to be ... gay some days? I mean that could put a hell of a damper on your sex life."

Owen turns crimson and then laughs "ALL theoretical. First I need to work on the being able to talk part and not trashing coffee shops. And I don't really think ANY of this is mutual so I guess it's just stuff I need to think about. I don't think L likes me back...at least not that way. And I don't think it's a bad thing to be gay...but I don't think I AM gay or bi. Maybe it's not even about that. The day I met L she....I'm going to say she because there was a skirt in the mix that time said gender and sex were different....I kinda got it...."

Vincent considers Owen's words. "Addison said L doesn't make friends. She got mad because ... well .. it's Addison. She isn't into wasting her time. But I sort of understand. Do we have to invite her to sit with us all the time, or .. what?" he sighs and scratches his chin, which is actually a little stubbly, since he was home and didn't bother shaving. "Well yea ... gender and sex are different, but don't you need gender to have sex? Men and women are physically different ... all sexuality aside. So how does someone who is physically female have sex in male mode, or is it like lesbians?" he hesitates. "My brain is going to explode." he nods to the television. "Wanna watch videos? Aunt Darcy is working, so its just me and you."

Owen thinks hard on all of it. looking equally muddled by it."Maybe L is just shy. I hope Addy wasn't too intense. I've seen that temper a few times, almost as bad as Fi, cept Fi won't call people out in public. Comes from our Mom, call in, not call out, she says it works better..... The truth is, I'm not really looking for sex. I mean I'd like to hang out with someone and make it through a whole conversation without falling flat on my face or saying something totally stupid. If I can make it through that and the person likes me back, kissing might be nice. But I'm not ready for more. I think I'd lose my mind if I even tried. What kinda stuff do you watch? I have a YouTube channel eh...if you wanna see one of mine...."

Vincent winces a bit. "It was Addy. She's always intense." he argues. "It'll take a really strong guy to put up with her .. which is probably why she isn't dating anyone ... well... this Kit guy. I haven't met him yet, not that it matters. I'm not her father." he considers. Ignoring the whole concept of looking for sex, he moves on. "Well Addy says she likes history with a twist. Maybe that means those movies with alternative endings? Or histories?" he chuckles. "Hey kissing is fun." but he drops it, since the person HE kisses is Owen's sister. He motions to his laptop and the TV beyond it. "Harp shit when I'm not watching people doing stupid stuff. Sometimes watching my fellow classmates just isn't enough. Show me your channel, man. A celebrity ... who knew."

Owen grins "I met Kit.....he's kind of odd but OK I guess. It's weird for me. You can NEVER tell her but I had a crush on Addy since we were little kids. She treats me like I'm her younger brother too so I know she'd never looks at me like that...but every now and then she still makes me feel...awkward....not as awkward as L...but just like tripping over your shoelace unexpectedly." He reaches for the laptop to type in the channel name "May I?" He asks first since it's not his tech. "I'm hardly a celebrity." He chuckles "I have like 10 followers and half of them are my family because I made them. In fact with Dad, I just did it for him when I saw his gmail was logged in. He doesn't totally get how it all works."

Vincent smiles. "My lips are sealed." he promises. "She is pretty tho, so it makes sense. Not the most feminine, but that's not always a bad thing. Wait till you see the dress she's wearing to the Formal." he laughs. "I guess Kit wanted to take her in a horse and carriage. But she says they're just friends." He nods as Owen searches on his computer. "Hell subscribe me too." he offers. "It's Minecraft, right? Never got into that. Building doesn't seem to be my thing."

Owen smiles "Is it a Cubs uniform with a skirt attached? Because I could see that and I think it would rock. Yeah he said he couldn't get a horse and carriage. It was a weird day all around." He cues up a video of a Minecraft walk through. It's a Minecraft build of a game called Five Nights at Freddy's with Owen narrating. "So it's just another regular shift in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. You're a security guard and you just have to make sure nothing happens at night...real sleeper of a job but wait...what's that noise? Where did the animatronic animals go.......Guess you better go look...but I'm sure it's nothing...probably just a trick of the light...." Owen looks at Vincent like he's expecting him to be riveted by the story. Suddenly a creepy animatronic animal is chasing his Minecraft avatar through darkened tunnels and he overacts the terror completely until the screen freezes and goes red. "Jumps care death on round 1, let's go again!" says narrating Owen. There are 4 more rounds. It's very repetitive but Owen watches like it's a favourite action movie and nods along with his own narration. After it's done and he's finally showing sneaking around all the creepy animatronics and hiding out for half the night he turns to Vincent as the credits roll "Wait for the end....it's like a Marvel movie man..." Right at the end of the credits one more creepy creature jumps at the screen, mouth open and pixelated teeth barred. "Oh!" Owen exclaims and then starts laughing and waiting for Vincent's reply to it all.

Vincent snorts. "Almost, except it's sparkly." he watches the video with eyebrows raised, clearly not getting it, but he tries. "I could never do anything like that." he offers. "Um .... want to try some stupid people videos?" he offers. Owen's videos aren't bad ... he just is incredibly NOT into Minecraft.

Owen takes the hint and chuckles "Yeah no problem. Thanks for sitting through it. You're WAY more polite than Fi about it.." He pulls open the Doritos and grabs a big handful and then offers the bag to Vincent.

Vincent laughs and takes the bag and reaches in for a handful himself. "Thanks, man." he looks at the screen. "After that, you want lunch? I can cook us up something." he offers.

Owen crunches away and then comes up for air answering "Yeah...I like food. Can I help cook?" He licks cheesy Dorito dust off his fingers.

Vincent considers, sucking the dust off his own fingers. "Ummm .... depends. Do you want to experiment?" he looks at his friend askance.

Owen looks nervous "I'm not supposed to after the frankenmac....but yeah...I wanna!" He looks at Vincent like a junkie would a dealer.

Vincent looks at the eager face and laughs. "Experimentation is one thing, man but ... you can't just put anything with anything. Peanut butter and chocolate work. KD and a whole BOTTLE of peppers ... not so much, man." he laughs, remembering how he felt when Fiona told him he put in the whole BOTTLE. Like he really HAD dodged a bullet.

Owen looks thoughtful "Ok. I'll follow your lead."

Vincent nods and stands. "OK ... we have some hamburgers, so we'll make stuffed burgers. Think about what you want in yours." he decides, finds a video involving drunken college girls, and plays it, half thinking what he wants in his burger.

Owen winces "Holy fuckin charlie horse Batman. That's gonna hurt the next day..." he says about the video and the slapstick injuries. He wanders after Vincent after "Alright...what are the options for stuffing."

Vincent takes out the hamburger and sets it aside. A whole pound of it. Then he turns and laughs. "Man I almost felt that." He looks in the fridge. "My uncle Vincent used to make me stuffed burgers when I was littler. He's the one who helped my mom teach me how to cook. A real pro." he considers. "Alright ... we have onion, green peppers, black olives, garlic, a couple different kinds of cheese ...." he takes out the garlic, black olives, swiss and cheddar cheeses and rolls up his sleeves. "We have all kinds of stiff." he can still see the television as hey switch to the guy who has hooked his dog to his sled at the top of a steep hill with a lake at the bottom.

Owen grimaces at the screen "Grinch gone wrong....oh man....don't do it....." He glances at the fillings "Definitely cheddar cheese.....no olives...I hate those. Peppers and onions are cool though. So I guess you're named after your uncle? I'm named after someone way back in Ireland on my mom's side."

Vincent nods and places the cheddar cheese and peppers on one side, and black olives off to the side. "Love black olives. Very salty." he chuckles and then shrugs. "Sort of. He's more a friend on my moms side of the family." he gets out a small bowl and the chopping block and begins to slice, then mince the peppers and onions, using twice as many sweet pepper as onion. He puts them in the bowl and tosses it one handed, half an eye on the screen. "Mmhmmm ... damn near drowned, and your dog is still dry." he snorts.

Owen looks at all the peppers and marvels at the tossing. He then says "Hey you want me to chop you more onion. I think it's a bit pepper heavy...." He glances back at the screen "Dumbass..."

Vincent shakes his head. "The pepper is a milder flavor, and the onion is much more powerful." he explains. "If you put too much onion in you won't taste anything BUT onion." he thinks about it. "Some spices, even if you put just a little bit in your recipe, you'll taste it all over." he rolls up his sleeves and begins to mix the hamburger in a bowl. "More salt than pepper." he says as he adds those ingredients. Then he begins to pat them into larger then the usual hamburger patties on the counter in a square of four.

Owen watches Vincent working on the food and nods slowly "Ok....I know how it goes in the end. But sometimes it smells so right at the time...I just keep adding."

Vincent chuckles. "I was like that with cinnamon and ginger. Two smells I absolutely LOVE." he takes the mixture in the bowl and divides it between two of the patties, smoothing it out, but not making it as wide as the burger. "But both really potent. Too much of either and you won't be able to eat it. And I heard someplace if you eat like a teaspoon of cinnamon it'll kill you." he takes a frying pan and adds olive oil to it, turning on the heat. He turns back to the patties and adds black olives to his. "You just have to remember ... a little bit and you're fine. Like cologne or after-shave."

Owen's eyes go wide "Really...on the cinnamon? Because I once ate half a container of pumpkin pie spice. I was fine but my mouth was dry for like three days. My breath was great though...." He looks back to the patties "A little bit...yeah. I don't wear cologne. I hate smelly stuff like that."

Vincent carefully covers both patties with stuffing with the non stuffing patties and pats them together, sealing the edges. He looks at Owen. "Yea .. but .. why would you DO that, man?" he asks, truly baffled at ANY reason for it.

Owen shrugs "I dunno. To see what would happen? I didn't down it in one go. My mom was pissed when she went to bake though." He can't help but laugh.

Vincent shakes his head as he takes one burger and puts it in the pan, followed by the other. Then he turns the fire down. "You're like the mad scientist who tries to cross a chicken with a millipede to make more drumsticks for people." he straightens and hovers a little bit over the cooking food. "Think that might be what you want to do? Science? Not like a doctor I guess, considering the needle thing and all." he snaps his fingers. "Or you can be like the Ben and Jerry guys. I bet they can't TOUCH your imagination. Pumpkin spice and jalapenos ice cream."

Owen laughs "That's the shit, man. I'd totally eat that ice cream. You know what science job I'd love? Those Mythbusters guys....that's the kind of stuff I love. I do YouTube for Minecraft but I'd love to make those ones too."

Vincent chuckles. "You'd burn this place down." he predicts. "But that sounds interesting. I'm sure there plenty of myths they DIDN'T cover ... but they did a lot of dangerous stuff. I don't think your mom'd just ... let you." he considers. "But she IS a nurse ....."

Owen snorts "Oh yeah that comes in handy in our house....believe me." He thinks "We have a really big yard now. I could do some stuff outside that's not safe for inside....." He looks back at Vincent cooking "Those smell good."

Vincent chuckles. "I bet." he nods and looks at the burgers and then carefully turns them. "Heck you can see the inlet from your house and there's that steep hill and ..." he stops himself, thinking Fiona would be frowning at him by now for giving Owen idea ... or just reminding him if dangerous stuff.

Owen has a look on his face like the wheels are turning and then grins "I know right! So how long till they're ready?"

Vincent misses the look for watching the burgers. "Oh a few minutes per side." he moves to get the bread. "Do you want sourdough or hamburger buns or what?" he takes out a wide loaf of sourdough.

Owen shrugs "What are you having? You have so many choices....in my house it's like "this is what you get." I know Mom and Dad don't have time to fuss up a bunch of options with 4 of us."

Vincent considers. "Sourdough for me. This is store bought, but I've been known to make my own. White bread is a little boring, but its the only other one I have on a regular basis. I might start another starter after the new year. My last one got neglected and died." he sighs and considers. "There so many of you, but what if you offered them like mini pizza night? Or do you mean only on like the subject of burgers?"

Owen nods "Yeah we've done the pizza thing this way I guess. One time for Shay and Logan's birthday that was a thing. They're close together so they have to share. I'll eat the sourdough too. Shit you know how to make EVERYTHING. You should take cooking shop for an easy A..." he jokes.

Vincent laughs and sets up a couple small plates. He makes up the burgers, making sure the fire is turned off. "My uncle Vincent is a chef in Toronto. Between he and my mom, I learned a lot fast." he tells him. "I've been cooking all on my own since I was seven." he's been very careful to remember which burger was which and hands Owen his. "Nah, but thanks." he grins. "I cook enough at home." he moves towards the television again. "Now .... more videos!" he proclaims. They have Doritos and burgers ... its the perfect afternoon.

Owen grins as he takes his food from Vincent "Best day ever. Thanks man."