2019-06-06 - Honey, I'm Home

The door to the trailer is unlocked, and inside is very well decorated, but the couch is no where as comfortable as Aidan's. Baylee is on the couch, legs folded up in the lotus position wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. There is some stupid movie on the television that she's not paying any attention to, instead she seems to be watching something on her phone.

Or maybe playing a game on it.

Everything's got trade-offs. Well. Aidan gets awesome decor AND the world's most comfortable couch, but admittedly at least one of those might not be majority opinion. What he definitely does have, though, is a jar of honey and no shirt as he opens the door to #31 and slides on in, giving her a brilliant smile. "Home, I'm honey!" he declares, and immediately comes to lean over the back of the couch and see what she's doing on that phone. Would it be easier to actually join her on the couch? Maybe. But then he couldn't lean.

On the phone seems to be a rousing game of Candy Crush. She's on one of the levels with the jelly, and doesn't seem to be doing very good, all things being equal. "Hey, baby." She greets in return, finishing up her level of failure before she tosses her phone down onto the coffee table. Then she turns herself around towards where he leans over the back of the couch, leaning up to press a kiss against his mouth, "Welcome honey. They are in the fridge for you."

The nuggets. Presumably.

Aidan wraps his arms around her from behind, honey and all, but not so tightly she can't make that turn. Definitely not enough to prevent her getting that kiss, 'cause he's 100% on board with that plan, and fairly sure the fabled nuggets aren't likely to get any colder. Which he's apparently right about, if they're in the fridge! So there's really no immediate hurry to go look for them, given that he has the immediate alternative of kissing her some more. Still, after a little, he does straighten up, having at some point dropped the jar of honey onto the cushions beside her, and kisses her on the head as he goes. "Fridge nuggets," he says agreeably, nodding. "Just waiting to be nibbled!" He goes over to obtain them, half his attention still on her. "Did you kill a lot of candy?"

"I did, very dead candy." Baylee agrees as she returns to her earlier seat, reaching for the jar if honey. "Is honey and nuggets a really big thing here, or is this just your thing?" Its a very curious question as she unscrew the top of the jar to smell the honey.

As expected the nuggets are in there, and appear to be basic fast food nuggets. Very not special.

"Mighty candy huntress," Aidan says approvingly, extracting the nuggets and heading back over, this time to drop down on the couch properly beside her. "I don't think it's a really big thing." A considering pause. "It might mostly be me. But I know I've seen other people do it. Not like marshmallow creme and bacon sandwiches, that was just Jill. Also weirdly good, marshmallow creme goes with way more things than you'd imagine."

The honey smells... honeylike. Actually, it smells a little bit like oranges and flowers, also, which makes sense as there's a label on it declaring it orange blossom honey. It looks like he probably got it from a farmer's market or random stand somewhere, rather than Safeway. He reaches out a hand for the jar, trying to claim it long enough to pour a small puddle in with the nuggets, but offering it back afterward. She's presumably got the lid, anyway. "Wanna try? They're a little better hot, but."

Creme...That declaration gets a very strange look. Evidently that is strange enough that even she seems weirded out. At the offer of one she reaches over to steal a nugget and some of the honey for a bite, then she offers the nugget back to him. "You eat some strange things, love."

Aidan looks like he might argue that. Just for a second. Then he shrugs, instead. "I eat practically anything," he says,"'cause almost anything tastes better than hungry. But you don't know whether something might actually taste better than it sounds until you try it, anyway, so why not?" He takes the nugget when it's offered, dips it again in the little puddle, and takes a bite. It actually isn't a bad combo, if you like sweet. And chicken. And honey. He might be right about better warm, though. "Anyway, I do like marshmallow creme. And sometimes my friends are weird." Unlike him.

Baylee nods at the news hunger tastes worse than anything else. Something she probably has never experienced in her life. The jar of honey is closed after she scoops a little out with her finger, that finger promptly tucking into her mouth. Then she leans forward to set the jar down, "You never have to be hungry again."

Which may or may not be as comforting as she means it to be, honestly.

It's pretty good honey. Aidan's already eating the second nugget, which probably doesn't qualify as nibbling, but maybe after this one. "...well, hope not," he says, giving her a small smile. "I'm mostly pretty decent at keeping myself fed these days, usually." That last word feels like it insisted on sliding in, like a little touch of compulsive honesty. Or just accuracy. "But you never know. For one thing, there could be a zombie apocalypse or something. Or non-zombie." Possibly more likely. "So you don't eat anything people might think was strange? I mean, anything in particular?" He shifts position a little, after she settles back from setting down the jar, to lean in against her side. He'd wrap an arm around her, too, but he's eating right now.

There is a lot of thought that goes into that question, then she nods, "I draw the line at cannibalism." She leans in towards him, pressing a kiss against his cheek. Then she shifts so that she's able to lean her head against his shoulder while he works on eating those nuggets. "I can't really think of much else that is a big no. I'm sure....no snails. No snails. Or bugs."

Aidan wrinkles his nose a little, nodding back at that first decision, though the kiss dissolves it into a smile. He tips his head to rest it against hers, once she's leant on his shoulder, and if that leaves him nibbling nuggets at an angle, well, that's a sacrifice he's prepared to make. "No snails? Aren't they like, a French delicacy or something? I mean, I always assumed they did something special to them, but I'd try it. I wouldn't just chow down on a raw one unless I had to, though. Bugs, I dunno, same I guess... if they're meant to be eaten I'd try it, prolly. People though, nah. Not unless it was some serious life or death, no other options, and they're already dead shit. And even then I'd be, like, you know I heard you can eat leather if you gotta if you boil it enough..." This does not put him off eating the nuggets.

"I think they just steam them in lemon and butter? But I'm not very sure. Honestly. But it is some strange delicacy...but have you seen some of the weird things eat?" Baylee doesn't shake her head, but there is a distinct note in her voice that says that she's not at all fully prepared to even consider this stuff. Even if he might be. One hand very carefully reaches up to his cheek, stroking her fingers lightly against it, "How'd you get to where you ended up hungry?"

"I'd try it," Aidan decides about the snails, strange as the expression that precedes the decision grants the idea definitely is. Certainly it's not a thought that makes him want to rush out and change his dinner plans. He turns his head just a bit into that light stroke, eyes closing, and pauses for the length of the rest of that nugget. Could be purely for the sake of eating, but it's not like he never talks with his mouth full. "Well," he says, "after the house burned down, they put me in foster care. I kinda... went through a bunch of families. I was trouble." He's not proud of it. It's just a fact. "A couple of them, things weren't going so great part of the time I was there even without me being trouble. And I ran away like... I dunno, a few times. Some of them it took them a while to find me and bring me back. Or to the next place. And there was a couple times later, like after-- when I was eighteen or so, and a couple years ago, when things got kinda sticky for a little bit. I mean, it wasn't like months or anything. But stuff happens sometimes." He gives a slight shrug, more felt than anything else in that position, but there's still a sense of hesitation there, as of something being weighed.

Wasn't so great. That could be so many different things. The reality of that isn't lost on Baylee, which causes her to quiet down for a bit, her hand moving up into his hair, combing her fingers through it while she thinks. Then she drops her hand, letting it fall to his knee, "You don't have to worry about more sticky situations. Not in the out there and hungry way. Not anyone."

The fingers through Aidan's hair make him smile, even when one or two of the curls resist the combing for a moment or two. He turns his head after her hand drops, kissing her on the forehead, and then settles back into that lean again. For a moment, he considers the freshly-honeyed nugget in his fingers, and seems to make a decision.

"The last time I ran away, I was fourteen. I was stealing stuff a lot and I had a really good score and it seemed like a good idea to just go, so I did. Wasn't hungry, that time. But I was going down the coast on these credit cards, which first of all who lets fourteen year olds use credit cards anyway?" Come on, people, you're basically enabling the delinquency of a minor, here. "So, I got caught." He glances toward the ceiling, not that it's easy to tell in their current position. "And I kinda set a few things on fire along the way. Not, like... not houses or forests or anything, I didn't hurt anyone. But, you know. Things." Does she know? If she needs more detail she'll apparently have to ask. He sighs, and she can probably feel tension where they lean against each other, even if there's no sign he intends to stop leaning.

"Anyway. They kinda had me dead to rights." There's a wry laugh in that tone, but not when he goes on, "So I would've gone to juvie, except they decided I was sick and hospitalized me instead." A tiny pause. "I'm not crazy. Swear. I do kinda have manic episodes sometimes, though. And then I do things like forget how 'I can set fires with my mind' sounds to most people. Like psych docs. So. Then I was there until I turned eighteen. And they decided I was okay to let go." And he leaves it there for the moment, taking a bite of the nugget... and waiting. To see.

If she had not experienced much of what she has since arriving her reaction might be a whole lot different. But she has seen a whole lot if shit, so her reaction is a whole lot more measured than it might have been a month ago.

"What sort of manic episodes?" Baylee lifts her head up from his shoulders, but her hand remains on his knee. "I've got a problem. Well, my parents always felt it was a problem, but I've got it under control." So far.

Aidan relaxes faintly at the lack of clearly freaking out, at least; he lifts his head a bit when he feels hers move, so as not to be in the way, and gives her a crooked smile. "Well. The kind where I steal a bunch of shit and decide I can totally handle shit on my own as a fourteen year old and set abandoned cars on fire to watch them burn and forget that telling people I can do that by thinking about it usually makes them think I'm nuts," he says, dryer than his usual sort of humour, then nibbles his lower lip a moment. "Mostly they're under control." It's not meant to be an echo. It just is. "But it's basically like... I have all the energy, I don't need to sleep for days, I'm thinking and going a mile a minute and do dumb shit 'cause I feel awesome and invincible and like all my ideas are the best one ever, like I could do anything." He taps his half-eaten nugget into the honey, absently. "Honestly? Sometimes it's pretty great in the moment. Only like I said, I do dumb shit. Get in fights, steal shit I don't need to, spend all my money, sleep with people I shouldn't've, fuck up friendships. Set things on fire. Get weird thoughts. Run red lights 'cause they take too fuckin' long. That sort of manic episodes." It's probably not an exhaustive list, even if it might be a exhausting one.

He glances at the nugget, and takes a small bite. "So I take the meds for that and try and watch for if it seems like it's starting anyhow, just in case." A sidelong glance to her, as much to see how she's taking that as for asking, "What kinda problem?"

"Those kinds." Baylee nods before she gets to her feet, "You know fucking around isn't going to ruin our friendship. But, don't fuck up my shoe collection. That might be something I'll yell about." It's spoken lightly as she heads towards the kitchen, finding herself a glass to make herself a drink. "You get busted, I'll bail you out. Wouldn't be the first time I've bailed someone out of jail."

The psych holds she can't do much about, though. But it's all a way to avoid answering the question about her problems. But she can only avoid it for so long. "I've been in and out of rehab."

Aidan polishes off that nugget when Baylee gets to her feet, watching her as she heads kitchenward. Still a quiet touch of wariness there, or maybe simply worry. Still, possibly the assurances help. "Thanks," he says, and grins suddenly, more fleeting than usual, "If you did, I'd try to also." Harder to promise, and probably really not necessary in her case, but hey, he'd do his best! "And I'll try to steer clear of the shoes. Pretty sure they wouldn't fit me anyhow."

He shifts positions a bit, stretching out more sideways along the couch so he can watch her better while she's over there, and while he eats. "Rehab for what?" he asks, curious but not apparently judgemental. "I know a bunch of people who've been in and out of those."

"Drinking." Says the woman now drinking a rum and coke. But she's fine. Fine.

"Cocaine, opiates." Baylee takes a swallow off the drink before she makes her way back out to where he is on the couch. Her empty hand drops down to slide her fingers through his hair before she settles down next to him. "Anything I could get my hands on."

Aidan sneaks an arm around her waist when she settles back down, drawing her in closer. Of course she's fine. She's getting her glass stolen long enough for him to take a drink from it, but she's fine, as proven by the fact that he gives it right back. "Just 'cause you liked 'em or to avoid other stuff?" he asks, still just sounding curious, possibly partly because, "I was smoking way too much for a while while back 'cause it slowed things down, only I kinda didn't realise that was what I was doing until it stopped working." But he is also fine, 'cause he knows that now and isn't doing it now so there are clearly not any problems! "It kinda seems like you're doing okay now, though?" Rum and coke notwithstanding. Everyone drinks stuff.

"Because I liked them." Baylee gives up her glass to him when he reaches for it, leaning back into him and his arm around her waist. "Which might be more of a fucking problem, honestly. Because I just liked it...that's a lot harder of something to stop."

Aidan gives Baylee a light squeeze, and kisses her on the temple. Very slightly stickily. There's only a couple nuggets left, though. "Yeah. It's kinda easier if something's doing something else, 'cause you can figure out how else to do the something else," he agrees. "But shit you just like? You just like." A grin, and he dips his head, lightly nipping at her ear. "Like, I just like you." That one's not sticky, at least! "Do you want me to watch out for anything, or are you good?"

Guess who is going to be washing sticky honey off later? Baylee. Not that she cares, by the nip on her ear she's turning towards him, "I'm good." Its spoken with the confidence of someone that knows they teeter on the edge, but aren't about to tell anyone else how close to the edge. She leans in to catch his mouth for a quick kiss, "I like you, too. Which....what thing was Bennie talking about?"

At least she might have assistance in getting it washed off? What are the chances Aidan would object? Certainly he doesn't object to the kiss, unless it's to the quickness of it; he does try to steal another one once it's done. "'kay," he says, accepting her confident assertion, true or not.

The question, though, gets a headtilt and brow furrow best rendered as '?' before he connects some dots, and laughs. "Oh." He doesn't blush, but if he could, he might, faintly. There's a slight dip of his chin and a small smile. "When I was at the diner the other night, with the cricket cookies? She was my waitress, that's when I met her. And, uh, she asked if I was texting my girlfriend. Well, technically, my 'giiiiirlfriend?'" It's not the worst imitation of how she asked it, amusement and all. He hesitates slightly, glancing more sidelong at Baylee. "I said, yeah, kinda, I think? That it's not like, a one-and-only thing but it's, you know... definitely a thing." It's not a question, except it kind of a little bit also is.

"What, me?" Baylee teases before she leans in to give him another kiss, reaching for the plate and glass to make sure that both things are out of the way. Ending up with a hand in honey or a spilled drink is just a mess that no one really needs tonight. Once assured that things are out of the way she settles her hands on his shoulders so that she can start pushing him back onto the couch.

"A thing? Yeah. It's a thing...what kinda thing you want, though?" She leans towards him to give him another kiss, tone very lightly teasing.

A hand in honey could probably be suitably repurposed! Aidan goes along with the theft of his remaining nuggets, though, trusting they're not going to go anywhere when he's not looking. Or not caring, which is frankly at least as likely when the alternative involves Baylee pushing him back like that. Finding his hands handily freed, he settles one to each side of her waist, encouraging her along as well, and tugging her a little bit closer during that kiss. "...I still want the kinda thing where I get to keep kissing you," he murmurs when it breaks, "And I think I'd kinda like if I can just say yeah if someone asked that again. But I dunno; what kinda thing d'you want?" Aside from this next kiss, which she's pretty much getting regardless.

Kissing is good, because she leans into it for a little while before she adjusts herself on the couch. When she's done she's gotten herself stretched out next to him, a hand sliding down against his chest, "You can say yeah next time someone asks." There is an easy shrug before she nuzzles in against his neck, "I like that. I like you."

Aidan keeps an arm around her as she rearranges, which means 'next to' also ends up 'partly on', if he has the slightest bit to say about it. The fingers of the other hands sneak up under the hem of her t-shirt to settle back against her waist, but this time without the fabric in the way. "I like that too," he says, and glances at her hand, then back to her face, where she nuzzles. "And, yeah. I like you. Kinda a lot, honestly." He nuzzles in against her hair in return, breathing in the scent of it. "Got any thing details you wanna lay out?" It's not quite the question she didn't answer. But it might be worth knowing.

"A lot?" Those are important distinctions. A lot and just a normal amount. Baylee kisses his neck, then down to his neck before she pushes herself up on an elbow so that she can give him a look, head tilted to the side, "Thing details? Like, don't fuck around, check in with me five times a day and I want a back rub before sex?"

There is an amused look before she shrugs, "Hadn't much thought about it. I think we both might have a problem wanting to kiss people when we probably shouldn't, right?"

Aidan snorts lightly at the proposed examples, but it's one that comes with a grin. "I guess?" He watches her a second before admitting, "I didn't really have anything in mind, just. Figured probably it wasn't the worst idea to ask. Also define fuckin' around, can all five be at once, and do you mean like every time or just today?" Here, have some of that teasing right back. A little more seriously, "Yeah, though, we both might, that's true. And... yeah. Kinda a lot." Which is not referring to the same question, despite arrangement.

Not the same question at all, which baylee seems to be well of. It's the more tangled mess of things that she addresses first. "Is that something that....like, you're wanting, though?" There is a faintly thoughtful look that passes over her face, "Or, mean that like kissing is fine but more isn't? Or...I don't know. I'm shit at these things." She settles a hand against his side, thumb rubbing against him, "I don't want to say do this or that and that be what fucks shit up. But I don't want to not say something and that fuck shit up."

Aidan sacrifices that hand on her skin to something more important; namely, moving it up to the back of her neck and drawing her down to be kissed again. Fairly thoroughly, this time. His breath's a little quicker, afterward, and he studies her for the length of one of them.

"I pretty much said what I mostly want," he says, then grins again and tilts his head to the side a moment, eyes turning up and that direction as he amends, "Okay, I also wanna keep getting to do more than kiss you." He focuses on her again, fingers sliding up into her hair. "Regularly. But I think that was kinda implied. Just say what you wanna say, Bay. I mean, I'm not exactly an expert here either? But, like... I don't really mind if you mess around with other people, or whatever. I'd mostly just care if it's instead. And I guess--" He takes a breath, either considering words or convincing himself to say them. "I mean I'd kinda like it if you liked me best? But that's not exactly a choice, it just kinda happens or doesn't, so." A slight shrug, and he brushes a bit of hair back behind her ear. "I guess maybe I basically wanna be home. Except, you know, an exciting one." Does that make sense anywhere but inside his head?

He smiles suddenly as he watches her; it's a small, slightly sheepish one. "I didn't actually mean to make this a whole, like... conversation or anything." But it doesn't quite reach an apology.

There seems to be some sense there, because she nods along with his words, moving until she can drape and arm across his side. "So you don't want me to just stop seeing you because I found someone else?"

There is then a nod, kissing his neck, then chest, "Okay." Which is a pretty simplistic response. "I like you better than others. Will you like me better than anyone else?"

"Mmm." Aidan tips his head to make more room for that neck-kiss, closing his eyes, though they reopen and settle on her again when she moves on. "...yeah, I'd prolly prefer the not dropping me for someone else thing," he says, "Y'know. All things being equal." His fingers thread gently through her hair, and the other hand decides that being wrapped around her doesn't mean it can't also get in on that earlier sneaking under shirts thing, and does so, brushing into the small of her back. Simple as the response may have been, it's one that makes him smile again, boyishly, and his teeth catch his lower lip off-center. "Yeah. I mean, I do, so I think I can pretty much say that."

"Sounds like everything is working out." Baylee replies with a laugh, her hand sliding upwards against his back, then up into his hair, moving back to give him a quick kiss, "So all done, right? Or are there more serious talks we need to have?"

"I mean, I wasn't even planning to have that one," Aidan says, "I was just planning to eat your nuggets. And generally molest you. So unless you got one hanging around or something..." In which case it's probably going to have to wait until after this next kiss, regardless. Because he's definitely insisting on that talk. Words are overrated.

Very overrated, really. Baylee doesn't seem to care about skipping kisses to talk with words, anyways. Not when there are kisses that are being offered, at least. So when he leans in for that kiss, she leans right back towards him. Her fingers slide into his hair, twisting the strands around her fingers as she deepens that kiss, not seeming to be inclined towards breaking it any time soon.