preparing for diwali [dated to 11/12/2015]

[puckandpie]

Things have been back to normal for a couple days now. Or as normal as things ever get in Darrow, I suppose. There's sunshine now and blue skies (sometimes) and no monsters lurking behind corners or running through the streets, no horrid sirens at sundown.

For all of that, I still feel uneasy, constantly jumping at every sound and barely sleeping a wink. Derek's been nice enough to let me sleep on his couch once I discovered that I couldn't sleep in my own apartment alone. I should be embarrassed, I know, and I am, but it's an embarrassment I can handle if it means actually getting a few hours of sleep every night.

I've been baking a lot. Stress baking. Not everything has turned out great, but it's been something.

Right now, I'm on the hunt for a new hockey stick though. It's the first time I've really ventured out for longer than an hour or two at a time, but it feels important, a necessary step to returning to normal. Like I need to take back something I lost during those two weeks of terrible nightmares so I can move on.

There's a store in the mall I remember seeing a few months ago so I try there first. It's a little overwhelming being around so many people after two weeks spent in a nightmare followed by several days of basically hiding in Derek's apartment, but I force myself through the crowds, knowing that it'll all be worth it in the end. Hopefully it won't be too long before I can make it out onto the ice again and I'll definitely want to have a stick by then.

I don't quite make it to the store I came for though, distracted by the sight of Derek inside a clothing store with a girl I've never seen before. He has that sort of grumpy, unamused look on his face that I can recognize now as being not entirely genuine as she holds up a shirt against his chest and then shakes her head.

Curious, I step into the store, sliding past a rack of equally colorful shirts. "Well, fancy seeing you here," I say as I approach, giving a friendly smile to the girl. It's only then I remember exactly why Derek might be looking to buy something uncharacteristically colorful. "Oh, is this for Diwali?"

Comments

[triskehale]

"Were weird sayings invented in the south?" Derek asks, laughing a little and shaking his head. He looks over at Kate and quirks a brow, totally ready to call her on her shit. "Have you? Google doesn't count."

He looks down at the shirt and then looks around, eyes landing on a blue cardigan. Maybe more color wouldn't hurt him.

"That seems like something you'd do," Derek says with a roll of his eyes. "Just leave off the sparkles."

Derek continues to look around the store, and then does up the top button of his shirt, wrinkling his nose a bit at the snugness around his throat. "Should I get a tie?"

[puckandpie]

The shirt looks a little strange buttoned all the way to the top and I shake my head before reaching up to fix it, undoing the top two and smoothing the fabric across his shoulders briefly before stepping back and cocking my head to inspect.

"No tie," I tell him. "At least not with this. Do you want one though? We could find you a nice shirt and cardigan. Also, for the record," I say, glancing back at Kate with a grin, "I am absolutely in favor of the sparkly flower crown."

[everyonetakes]

Now they're undressing each other. Kate's about fifteen seconds from shoving them both into a closet and locking the door and refusing to let them out until they kiss or something.

"Mindy showed me pictures of a real one," she lies, giving Derek a look. "I think that counts. It's totally legit, even if I wasn't there."

She appraises the shirt situation, then nods her agreement. "If you want a tie, it needs to be a different shirt. But a bright tie with a bright cardigan could look really good."

[triskehale]

"You realize that you literally cannot lie to me," Derek tells her, eyes shining with amusement. "But sure, I'll let you be the expert."

Bitty's fingers are warm and smooth when they brush his throat, and Derek swallows hard. It's difficult for him to let anywhere near a spot so vulnerable, but with Bitty it isn't so bad.

"A cardigan," Derek says flatly, letting out a put upon huff. "I don't think I've ever worn a cardigan in my life."

[puckandpie]

Glancing between Derek and Kate, I can't help but grin. The comfort between them is obvious and I wonder for a second if there's ever been anything more than friendship between them. (In truth, I wonder that about a lot of Derek's friends now that I know about him and Neil even if I know I shouldn't. It's not any of my business.)

"Well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there?" I reply, wandering over to the rack again and flipping through until I find a bright blue knit one and bring it over. "So how long have y'all been friends anyway?"

[everyonetakes]

"Forever," Kate answers, even though that's not the truth. It sort of feels like it is, though. "I've known him longer than I've known my husband." Which maybe isn't the best way to judge, because Kate and Newt had only known each other for a year before getting married, but she's still absolutely certain that this whole schedule had worked for them.

"We met... shit, I don't know, a few years ago," she says, looking at Derek for confirmation. "On the beach. My dog was like, all heart eyed over him, I think she fell in love that day."

[triskehale]

"She thought I was hot," Derek says, a little distracted as he takes the sweater. The material is soft, and he rubs it between his fingers before looking up with a smirk. "Kate, not the dog."

He grins and lays the cardigan over his arm as a possible option, nodding at approval at Bitty. "Or maybe Jeff did too, who knows."

It feels good to joke around a little after all they've been through. All the things that he saw still make him lie awake at night, still make him shift and run through the woods until his paws ache, but there are still things that make him smile.

[puckandpie]

"Goodness, that is a long time," I reply, squashing the stupid ache inside me that's feeling a little too sympathetic to a dog I've never met. "For Darrow anyway."

It takes me a second or two to realize Jeff is the dog in question and I smile again, desperately hoping my face isn't as red as it feels. Just in case, I turn to start rifling through the rack again in search of another option.

"Also, this entire town thinks you're hot," I tell him over my shoulder. "I'm sure Kate and Jeff are hardly the first to see that. Do you have a preference on tie color? We can start there and work outward."