2019-07-21 - Fresh Starts

It's a relatively quiet Sunday evening, and Tobin had invited Rafael to come out on one of the sunset cruises with him to keep him company as he captained the ship. Unfortunately, by the time that they'd boarded, it began to pour out, the grey clouds rolling in and obscuring any hope for a sunset. Most of the tourists had opted out, and so the tour was refunded, leaving Tobin and Rafael comfortably dry on the ship, but without a tour.

Tobin stands on the deck beneath the cover of the overhang, the rain pouring around them, his hands in his pockets, looking a little bit apologetic. "Sorry this didn't quite turned out liked I'd planned.."

Raf stands under the overhang next to Tobin, though staring out across the water. He smiles slightly at the apology, shaking his head ever so slightly. "You can't control the weather, and I live here now, plenty of opportunities for sunsets into the water, which can I say is going to take some getting used to. The sunrise is supposed to be over the ocean." He finds something to lean his hip against. "And now we don't have people around either."

"Yeah," Tobin says, "We keep the ocean on the wrong side out here." He grins a little crookedly over at Rafael and then says, "Yeah, there will be. I was just kind of hoping to get away from everything for a little while, get out on the water, spend some time with you." He chuckles then and says, "Though I guess this way we do have more privacy." He wanders over and sits on the back of one of the benches, feet resting on the seat as the rain comes down. "We could still go out on the water.. or do something else."

"I think that's the problem with Florida. They have water on both sides, drives them mad." Raf smirks slightly as he looks back out into the water. "Rain is better out here, too. In thecity it's just a pain in the ass, it just feels more natural out here." He closes his eyes for a moment as he just listens to the rain, something Tobin syas makes him laugh slightly though. He follows over to the bench and sits down next to the other man. "Sitting here in dock seems nice enough? Got any food on board, we can have a small dinner, just spend some time together?"

"Could be," Tobin says. "That and it's hot and muggy all the time, which is gross." He looks out over the water as the rain comes down around them and says, "Yeah, I like the smell of the rain, and the way that everything looks even more green when it stops." He glances over his shoulder toward the snack bar and says, "If we were on the other ship, yeah, there's food over there. This one just has chips and sodas and bottled water. Want to make a run for the other one?" It's just a little further down the dock. The larger ship holds the dinner cruises and has a full catering kitchen.

"Or we could be childish and make a meal out of soda and chips." Raf laughs softly, looking over towards the other ship then up at the sky, then over to Tobin trying to judge his thoughts on the matter. "Can you cook? Because I can't. I got kicked out of the family restraunt for burning things too often. Ask Iggy, it's a tragedy." He scoots over a little on the bench so his hip is pressed up against Tobin.

Tobin glances over toward the other ship, and then back toward the snack bar and grins, "I mean, I can cook enough to make something simple. Don't expect a four course meal and a fancy dessert, but if you don't mind spaghetti and two spoons and a tub of ice cream, I can manage that." He says "Or we can just make dinner out of snacks and soda." He leans in against Rafael's shoulder "You're not allowed to light my ship on fire." He chuckles a bit. "We can hang out here. I kind of like just being here."

"While that does sound like a nice dinner to me.." Raf rolls his eyes up towards the sky. "Staying here is appealing too." He lifts his arm to put it along the back of the bench and around Tobin, his gaze shifting back out of the water as he watches the drops falling into the ocean. "Okay, so no letting me cook on the boat. I don't recommend it unless there's a fire alarm and an extinguisher handy."

Tobin shifts, leaning in to Raf's arm and rests one hand on his knee, giving it a little pat, "Yeah, we'll make sure that all the appropriate safety equipment is around in the event of emergency. For now, no cooking sounds good to me." He grins a bit sidelong and says, "We'll make your brother cook when he's around. He's doing pretty well, by the way, running tours on the weekend. How are things going with you?"

"I've got a few students lined up. With things getting warmer busking is going much better." Raf grins. "Found a place or two that pays for live music. It's a bit of a drive out of town, but as long as Iggy doesn't steal my car too much, I'm fine." He goes quiet for a moment and looks over at Tobin. "Keep an eye on him will ya? If he seems.. out of it, let me know. He's been having a rough time."

"Good," he says, about the students and the warmer weather making the busking go easier. "Too bad you have to go so far out of town, but you know, if he needs a car when you're out, he can borrow mine, too. I don't use it much, to be honest, since I don't usually drive much of anywhere." He looks back, and his expression turns a little bit sober. "Sure, I can keep an eye out for him. He's seemed okay when I've seen him lately."

"It's easier going out of town for gigs actually. Not great to run into your student's mother getting blitzed at the bar." Raf laughs jovially as he runs his hand over Tobin's shoulder. "I can tell you stories..." Though he goes quiet for a moment. "Wonder if the local school needs a music teacher. If they'd hire me.." He wrinkles his nose at the thought. "It's a steady job and I have a feeling out here, the New York style of a little of this and a little of that won't hold up for too long."

"Though it could be funny," Tobin says with a little bit of a laugh, "I mean, awkward, but funny." He tilts his head and looks over at Rafael, "Oh? Tell me a story." But he does nod and says, "You should check it out and find out. Maybe if not the local elementary school, maybe the high school or the college in Hoquiam which is only about ten minutes from here."

"I'll check. There's the whole needing an education degree though, they require that, don't they." Raf frowns a bit. "At least most schools would." He rubs the back of his neck and looks after Tobin. "Hungry cougar moms. Only some of them unmarried." He shudders again. "One dad. He wasn't bad looking, either. That was tempting." He smirks a bit.

"Well, you could always work on an education degree while teaching, right? There's programs for that, aren't there?" Tobin doesn't really know. He's never had any real reason to look into that particular information. He studies Rafael for a moment and then chuckles, "Oh dear. Cougar moms. Married cougar moms at that." He raises a brow then and says, "Hot dad, huh? Was that one married?" He gives Raf a little nudge.

"I mean, I might be able to get it with a few classes, I have a degree already after all. And I'm sure a small town school needs more people than it has." Raf raises a brow, then shrugs. "I'll do some research." He smiles slightly and shakes his head. "No, he was not married. Well, not when he hit on me. He was when I first started teaching his kid." He winces. "Wife cheated on him and he had this whole weird mid life crisis thing. Got divorced, started working out hard, came out of the closet apparently.. I taught that kid for four years, he was one of the first I got when.." He pauses for a moment. "When I started teaching. So I watched the whole thing go down. Nannies, tutors, in house teachers, we get to see all the family drama."

"That must be weird, kind of watching a whole family's drama kind of unfold over years like that, sort of peripherally," Tobin says as he considers that. "Kind of interesting, but weird at the same time." He smiles then and says, "But I can see why he'd hit on you. The music teacher, talented, hot." He grins and then asks, "You'll still teach me, right? I still want to learn. I mean, I'll continue to hit on you even if you don't."

Rafael laughs. "Well, I usually have a rule against fraternizing with students or the parents of students, but since the fraternizing started before the lessons, maybe I'll make an exception." He leans a bit against Tobin. "It is weird, but also puts your own family shit into perspective. You know your family isn't the only messed up one. Besides, when I left he had found himself a nice boyfriend and the two were being so disgustingly cute together I couldn't bear to be in the house with them."

"Maybe, huh?" Tobin asks with a little grin. "I mean, I suppose I could forego learning. I'm definitely not forgoing the fraternizing." He nods, though, about the family drama. "I was really fortunate. My family's drama was pretty low key. Dad left when I was young, and then it was just mom and I. After that, there wasn't much in the way of drama." Except for her disappearing. "Sorry your family was messed up. You and Ignacio seem to have turned out okay?"

"I'll teach you." Raf bumps Tobin with his shoulder. He looks over then shakes his head. "I can't speak for Iggy, his story isn't for me to talk about. As for me." He sighs and shrugs. "I didn't turn out that great to start out with. Took some work and a few knocks to the head in adulthood to get me here. Honestly, Marcella came out the best of the three of us. Which is a terrifying thought."

"Good," Tobin says with a smile, and then pulls himself up from the bench, offering a hand to Rafael as he nods toward the snack bar. "Want to come and pick your poison?" He grins then and says, "I went through a lot of crazy stuff but most of it was just crazy stuff that is pretty much the standard here." He asks then, "Little sister?"

Raf takes the offered hand to help him off the bench, gladly following Tobin over to the drinks. "Doctor Pepper if you got it." He nods once at the question. "The baby of the family. Dad's little princess. She can do no wrong." He sighs. "I really can't hold it against her though, she's a sweet girl if a little spoiled at times. Her heart is in the right place."

"How old is she?" Tobin asks as he roots around inside the fridge and pulls out a 20oz Dr. Pepper and hands Rafael the bottle. He then fishes out a Coke for himself. He ducks behind the counter and says, "We've got chips, cookies, candy, pretzels, popcorn... anything you're a particular fan of?" He throws a couple of bags of Doritos, some Cheetos, and some Reese's Peanut Butter cups on the counter.

Rafael squints in that way that says he's doing some mental math. "Twenty-three? Sounds right. Thanks.." He takes the bottle, then practically lights up when he sees the Reese's hit the counter and grabs those, popping them open to get to one. "Ah, junk food." He watches Tobin for a moment as he nibbles on the candy. "She's even found herself a guy and it looks like she's going to get married. So, that'll be fun." He does not sound like that's going to be fun.

Tobin laughs as soon as Rafael grabs the Reeses and grabs another package from himself. He throws a couple more bags and bits of candy onto the counter and then comes around to the other side to lean up against it and dig into the bag of Doritos, popping one into his mouth. "You don't look like you're looking forward to that at all. Don't like the guy? Or just not looking forward to the wedding?" He leans up against the counter next to Raf.

"Haven't met the guy." Raf shrugs. "But she will want me to be there, and I'm afraid that'll make drama because dad will be there, too." He looks over to Tobin, then back to the Reese's in his hand. "Last time I saw him he told me he never wanted to see me again, and that as far as he's concerned I'm not his son anymore." He shrugs. "Like I said, drama."

"If there's drama, that's your dad's fault and not yours. It's her wedding, not his, and if you want to be there, you should be, for her. If he can't be an adult about it, then that says way more about him than about you," Tobin says with a slight frown touching his expression. "And he's a fool."

"Well, yeah, of course it's his fault." Raf snorts a short laugh and shakes his head. "Doesn't mean I want it breaking out at my sister's wedding. And Iggy might start it as quick as my dad would. He means well, but he doesn't have a whole lot of.. emotional control."

"Well, uh, as for Ignacio, just bonk him over the head with something and stow him under a bush," Tobin says with a bit of a grin, not really serious at all about that. He asks, "When is the wedding?"

"No date set, yet. So no point worrying about it." Raf says with another slight shrug. "Though I do need to hunt this guy down and put the fear of God into him. Iggy needs to come with me for that. It's the older brother duty. You find the guy, sit him down, and explain all the horrible things you'll do it him with just the slightest hint of a suggestion from the little sister."

Tobin chuckles, "You know Ignacio tried to do that with me, right, in what I assume was typical Ignacio fashion. He told me he'd offer some threatening words, but no one would take him seriously anyway." He chuckles. "I don't know a whole lot about sibling duties, seeing as I'm an only child."

Rafael hmms softly. "Did he now?" He sounds.. only slight amused and maybe a little annoyed. "That does sound like how he'd do it though. I mean, really, I don't think anyone would expect violence out of either of us." He laughs and pops the Reese's in his mouth with grin.

"He did," Tobin assures with a little bit of a laugh. "I told him that his brotherly duty was duly completed and I considered myself appropriately threatened." He takes off the top of his Coke and takes a swig out of the bottle. "I mean, no, I wouldn't expect random violence out of either of you. But I get the impression you'd probably take a slug at someone for each other if they really deserved it."

"If they really deserved it." Raf confirms with a nod, popping open his Dr Pepper for a swig. "High school was a lot of that. We're close enough that we could fight for each other if needed." He smirks and leans his hip against the bar. "Here I am, just talking about my family. I mean, what about you, what was growing up in a small town like?"

Tobin grins, "You've got more of a family than I do. There's more to talk about." He pops another Dorito in his mouth, and after finishing it says, "I've never been out of this town, so I guess it was just pretty normal for me. I had a lot of friends, growing up. I was an only child, but my mom kind of looked out for all the neighborhood kids, particularly those that had abilities, and rough home lives. My house kind of became the unofficial Club House where all the neighborhood kids showed up at some point or another. I was part of a D&D group with Byron, and Kevin and Lilith and some of the others. Geoff and I used to get into trouble together -- breaking into places, lighting stuff on fire to see what would happen, trying random stunts for the hell of it. It was cool, I guess. Everybody kind of knew each other and looked out for each other. There was the usual highschool drama and stuff. Then my mom disappeared just before graduation, but I was so close to 18, and had a job, so DPS kept an eye on me for the couple of months after, and then I was an adult, so I just had to take everything over. Then, eventually everyone moved away for a while and I just.. kept on here. My summer job running tours and helping out here eventually became my business. Some old friends moved back in town."

Rafael listens attentively, taking an occasional sip of soda as he does. Nodding slight, though at one point he grins. "D&D, huh? My school had a D&D club, but I never went. Wanted to give it a try but.. well, between music lessons and trying not to look like even more of a nerd than I was kept me away. Then I usually had to help out at the restaurant after school too." He shakes his head.

Tobin grins, "Yeah, I was kind of a nerd in school, but I hung out with such a random variety of people that it, I don't know, never seemed limiting in any real way. There were plenty of nerd jokes, though." He grins, "Byron was my best friend, too, and he was always super popular and always coming up with business scheme after business scheme, so I spent a lot of time helping him out with all his random side businesses, and people tended to like him, so they just kind of accepted me by proxy, I think."

"Yeah, but how big was your school? I mean, mine was pretty much run by the cliques like they were little gangs. Well. One was a gang." Raf turns the bottle around in his hands just shaking his head a bit as he thinks about it. "Big cities, man. I don't think I'm going to miss it all that much. I mean. I could have come out here on a trip to find out what I wanted, nope, moved. Part of me wanted to get away."

"Well, you've seen the town," Tobin says with a little gesture toward the rainsoaked coastline with his dorito. "The school wasn't very big. There weren't a ton of us in each class." He grins a little bit and says, "You really did just take the leap of faith that you weren't going to hate it here. That's pretty impressive. But, I can understand wanting to get away." He glances out into the rain, "I can't.. not that I really want to. But I need to be here, at least for the forseeable future."

"I, well, home has some good memories, but it's got some really, really shitty ones too. And there's something to be said for a fresh start." He laughs and looks out over the water again. "And if I wanted to get any further from home and still be in the country my choices were Alaska and Hawaii." He grimaces. "One is too remote and the other is too expensive."

"Nothing wrong with a fresh start," Tobin says with a grin. "And yeah, when you put it that way, it makes sense why you'd end up here instead of say, L.A. which would just be another big city, just hotter." He takes one of the Reese's and bites into it, enjoying the chocolatey peanutbuttery goodness that he really shouldn't be eeating for dinner -- which probably is what makes it all the more enjoyable.

Rafael's eyes go towards the sky again. "Hotter and dryer. I think I've seen more varieties of mold and lichen here than I have my entire life." He laughs as he picks up a bag of cheetos and pops them open. Junk food dinners are the best. "I drove up along the California coast coming here though, I wanted to see some of those elephant seals. Things are huge."

"As long as none starts growing on you, then you're probably okay," Tobin says with a sidelong grin. "I've never seen one live, just pictures." He grins, "There's a little.. well, they call it a zoo, in town. It's mostly a petting zoo with goats and things, I think. Maybe some geese. I haven't been to it in ages. Nothing very exotic, as far as I can remember."

"If it starts growing on me we've got more problems..." Raf shakes his head and takes another sip of his soda. "I mean.. six.. seven hour drive down the coast, just south of San Francisco is a whole beach full of them. Maybe we can, I dunno, take a road trip down there. Just you and me. Get a bed and breakfast, make a weekend of it." He smiles faintly. "Getting out f the city for a weekend is pretty popular date stuff back home, don't know about here, but.. I'm a creature of habit."

Tobin laughs at that, and then crumples up some of the wrappers, tossing them into the basket beyind the counter. They narrowly make it in, before he turns back to listen to the proposed weekend trip. He smiles and says, "I'd like that. I've never really done anything like that before. I'll be honest, most of the guys I've dated were already out of town, here, just for the summer on vacation. I don't leave town much, but I think it'd be fine for a weekend."

"Hmm.. I get that. Small town, probably not a lot of choices to go with, hmm?" Raf shakes his head. "New York, go to the right bar and you have your pick of anyone.. well.. you know what I mean. Some are just too intense for me. I don't want.. wild and weird, I want something stable, maybe even normal." He tips his soda bottle back then stands up a bit straighter. "Sorry, probably too much for.. is this second or third date? Does drinks with Iggy count?"

"I was pretty deep in the closet most of high school. Crush on my best friend. Never told him. The whole nine yards," Tobin admits. "I knew like, one other guy who wasn't entirely straight, but he just.. wasn't really my type." He shakes his head, "Tourists were kind of my best bet, at the time." He chuckles and shakes his head, "I'm not counting, anymore. I'm just glad you still want to stick around, even knowing that I'm not.. entirely normal.. and that this place isn't entirely normal. Stable, that I can do."

"Entirely normal? That I can't fault anyone." Raf lifts the soda bottle into the air and lets go. It just floats there for a moment as if gravity weren't an issue before he plucks it out of the air, looking over to Tobin. "For the longest time, I thought I was going completely insane. Having someone around who, well, understands is the type of normal I mean."

Tobin can feel that use of Glimmer when Raf does it, and his lips tick a little upward at the display of that ability. "Heh, some friends and I got together the other day, to kind of, let them test out their abilities. They're not as used to using them as I am. One of them, she told the other to throw something at me. He grabbed a cushion and hurled it across the room. I think she wanted me to dodge it, but instead I just stopped it mid-air. They told me it was cheating; I told them you can't call cheating if you don't lay out the rules of the game before throwing things at people."

Raf scratches at his jaw and nods. "I'm so used to not using it where people can see I might not even have thought of that. But it's disconcerting as hell to be thinking of how much of a pain in the ass it would be to get up and get the TV remote only to have it suddenly float to you. Especially when you're not exactly.." He taps the side of his head. "Completely in your right mind at the moment."

"Yeah, I can imagine that would be really weird," Tobin chuckles. "Mom taught me a lot about what I could do, then told me to hide it. So I hid it from everyone, even my friends. But some weird stuff has been going on around here and we all ended up sucked through the Veil a couple of times, and it became really painfully obvious to one another what we could do. At that point, the cat was out of the bag." He says, "So at least you're among others that understand, now."

"I.. haven't been sucked through yet. Not that I'm really aware of. May have happened." Raf shakes his head, draining the last of his soda and tossing the bottle towards the bin. "Like I said, not in my right state of mind." He stands up and takes a step closer to Tobin. "And yeah, it's nice to have people around that, well, know what it's like to have this sort of shit going on."

"You will be," Tobin says, his expression falling to something a little bit more serious for a moment or two. "It happens a lot around here. I'm still trying to figure out if there's any way to do it voluntarily. But mostly, it just.. happens, when you least expect it." He turns a bit as Raf steps closer, and reaches out to draw him a little closer, still. "But you're not alone. And I'm really glad you're here."

Rafael lets himself be pulled in closer to TObin, but leans in to meet him with a kiss. Light, but not brief if allowed. He just lets that contact linger for a moment, hand sliding up to the back of Tobin's neck as he does so.

Tobin meets Rafael halfway for that kiss, fingers that had tugged his shirt lightly letting go. He instead lets his arm wrap around his waist as the kiss lingers. He doesn't seem to be in any hurry to break it immediately, but when it does, he smiles against Raf's lips. And then he steals another, for good measure.

Raf breathes a bit heavily after the kiss, and he's definitely smiling. "Well, I liked that, so that's a good sign." He runs his hand down Tobin's shirt, then takes just the smallest step away, leaning back against the counter to watch Tobin for a moment.

"That is a good sign," Tobin agrees, letting Raf step back the arm around him slipping free, that little smile growing just a touch more. "What?" he asks, glancing down at himself, a little self-conscious under that moment of scrutiny, before his eyes lift back up again.

"It's nothing." Raf shakes his head. "Later, I need to tell you something if we're going to make a go at this. I just don't want to ruin the moment with some stupid crap that can wait. At least a day or two. Just some things about me, so don't worry." He rubs the back of his neck. "Though if someone said that to me, I'd worry."

"Doesn't sound like nothing," Tobin says, though it's said gently. He takes a step closer then and lets his hand rest on Raf's arm, drifting down until he takes one hand in his, giving it a small squeeze. "But I'm not worried. Tell me when you're ready. But, if it helps -- I like this, us. I'd like to keep seeing you, and to keep getting to know you."

"Good, because I like this, too." Raf leans in to steal another quick kiss. "Come over some time this week. I'll kick out Iggy, order us some take out, and we'll talk." He reaches behind him to grab a Cheeto from the bag he had opened, and pops it in Tobin's mouth with a grin.