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Alex pushed the door to The Chosen's clubhouse open and walked out into the early evening air, lighting a synth-rette as he mulled over the meeting and how it went. Technically it was still going, but the things he was most concerned with had been addressed, for better or worse. Torvi could handle the rest while he cleared his head. He had taken maybe a dozen steps when he heard the doors open a second time behind him. He turned his head to see Moxie, consternation etched across her face, walking up behind him.
“You got another one of those? I think I left mine back at Sanctuary.”
Alex shook his head. “Last one, but I can share. Looks like you need it even more than I do.”
She took it and nodded a wordless thank you before joining him in leaning up against the metal railing overlooking an open section of the Jones Falls waterway as it ran under the city and out to the harbor. “When I found out that Hades was moving us here, one of the silver linings I was hoping for was that Sean would stop being a criminal. Yet here we are, little more than a month in and not only is he back at it, he's fallen in with a biker gang that's enabling him and making a profit on it at the same time.” She took a second drag before passing it back to Alex. “Sometimes I wonder what the hell Da was thinking, leaving me to raise him. Feels like I fucked that one right up.”
Alex took the cigarette back and took a drag of his own before answering. “I can't speak for your dad, but if I had to guess, I'd say he was more concerned about keeping you two together than anything else. Seems to me like it worked out pretty good, too.”
She snorted and took the smoke back. “Oh yeah, stellar parenting on my end. I raised a fantastic car thief.”
He glanced over at her while she exhaled frustration and worry into the air. “You did, actually. The kid's got a good head on his shoulders. His moral compass may be slightly skewed but he's still got one, and a pretty strong one at that. More importantly, he's still alive and breathing.”
She glanced back at him before passing the the smoke back. “Ah-yeah, despite his best efforts at times. I'd just like to keep it that way, and keep him out of jail in the process.”
Alex took the cig back and nodded while inhaling. “Yeah, I get that one. Eris hangs out in neighborhoods I wouldn't venture into unless I had to, with nothing but a backpack full of spraypaint and an absolute disregard for authority and potential danger. Freaks me out every time.”
Moxie nodded. “Yeah she does, but you and Torvi raised a little hellion in that one. Tough as nails and twice as sharp. Besides,” she elbowed him in the ribs playfully while catching his eye, “she's still alive and breathing too. I guess that means we both did something right after all.”
He nodded, a small grin on his face. “Yeah, I guess so.”
She nodded back in satisfaction. “It's not easy bein' a parent and a sibling at the same time, 'specially when you're still growing up yourself. I suppose the best we can hope for is making sure we give 'em the tools to survive making their own choices.”
Alex nodded his agreement before tossing the butt on the ground – not into the water, she noted – and stomping it out. It seemed like he was about to say something else, but hesitated for a second before taking a breath and turning back around to face her.
"So, uh... do you have any plans for the rest of the evening?"
She looked at him and raised an eyebrow over her glasses. "I think I'm free. Did ya have something in mind?"
"We could grab something to eat and then maybe hit a club? Like, one that I don't play at, I mean... unless you have something else in mind? Fell's Point has a lot of-" He abruptly stopped mid thought, his mouth hanging slightly open and his face turning pink as the implication of his words sank in. “That, uh... that didn't come out quite the way I intended it to."
She snorted a laugh out and nudged his shoulder as they walked to their bikes, side by side.. "Well, aren't you in a hurry? But.... yeah. Out. Out for the night sounds fun."
He looked away, hiding a nervous smile as some of the pink drained from his face. "Out is good, but it just occurred to me that I don't actually know what you like to do when we aren't running ops or chasing siblings."
She shrugged, looking over at their bikes to hide the expression on her face while he was hiding his own. "Don't take it personally... I don't let folks in much. Shrinks would probably have a field day with me... but, uh, truthfully, haven't had many hobbies since Sean and I started moving around.” She fiddled with something on the handlebars that didn't need to be fiddled with. “I uh... I like music, though."
Alex's face lit up at the mention of music. "What kind of music do you like? I'm sure I know somewhere in this town that has something you're into."
Moxie finally looked up from her bike, a tentative, almost shy smile on her face. "Well...I like some of that retro gothic stuff... but honestly my taste is all over. Tell you what though, music man, why don't you surprise me?"
"I think I can do that." He pulled out his comm and flipped through a few pages on the net. "No.... no.... absolutely not... ooh, I haven't heard them spin in awhile!"
Curiosity getting the better of her, Moxie turned to peek over his shoulder but was met with a mischeivious grin.
"Uh-uh, no peeking. It's a surprise, remember?"
She put her hands up in mock defense, his grin proving to be infectious. "Alright, alright, I trust the professional!"
He held her gaze with that grin for a second longer than was necessary before looking back and tapping the screen a few more times. "There's a place on the way that we can get actual, fresh seafood instead of the soy-with-extra-salt they try to sell as fish."
"Well, now you have my attention! Been an age since I’ve had some good food! Gotta warn ya though, when it comes to seafood... well, you do remember where I call home, ya?”
"Sure do, and I'm a hundred percent sure that they don't have blue crab in Ireland.”
“Blue crab, you say?”
“Yup. They're native to this side of the Atlantic, particularly warmer waters like the bay. Little buggers are indirectly responsible for how clean the Chesapeake is compared to the rest of the ocean. Once they officially made the endangered species list, the whole region kinda lost their collective minds a little bit. I mean, a little more than usual. People got real serious about saving the official Maryland State Crustacean.”
She gave him a skeptical look, one eyebrow raised. “Official state..... yer shittin' me, right? That's not real.” She searched his face for any sign that he was making this up. Finding none caused her second eyebrow to join her first. He just smiled and shook his head.
“Nope. Maryland as an official state isn't really a thing anymore since the war, but they even put the crab on their state flag. You can find it on the net if you don't believe me.”
Unwilling to believe that what she was hearing was real in spite of knowing how bad Alex was at lying, she took a moment to pull up the old state flag and immediately had regrets as her AR was assaulted by the garish monstrosity, the garish, clashing colors causing her to visibly flinch as it popped into view. “Christ and Collins, you're not lying. And what the hell kind of flag is this?!”
He snickered at her reaction. “The kind that's best if you only ever see it once. Come on, Locust Point isn't too far away. You can follow me there.... if you can keep up on that bike". He winked at her as he started his engine, that mischeivious smile daring her to respond.
“Smartass!” She dropped her jaw in mock offense as she hopped onto her own bike, started the engine, and pulled out before he had a chance to do the same, looking over her shoulder and giving him a wink of her own before letting him take the lead. It was probably for the best that she was following him there – it meant that she had a few minutes to figure out where the butterflies in her stomach had suddenly come from, and what to do about them.
~*~
Alex used the drive to Locus Point to try to get his nerves under control and figure out exactly what the hell he was doing. He didn't have a lot of experience with dating, and the whole idea had been so sudden that he was winging it.
No, that's not quite right, he thought. His internal monologue seemed to be going a million miles an hour. This isn't sudden. This little crush of mine has been building up for awhile and I've been to oblivious and distracted to notice.
Crush? I'm a grown-ass man. Grown ass men don't have crushes. And yet here I am, eyeballs deep in nerves and jittery over taking a girl to dinner. A girl I've already had dinner with several times who lives three bedrooms down from mine, no less.
~*~
Alex leads Mox out to the coast and to what looks like little more than a shack, but you can smell the food well before you get to the building.
"Here's the place. Not much to look at, but it's good stuff."
She hops off her bike and stretches, taking in the sight.
"Hey, listen, I've been too busy runnin’ to actually see this whole place! To me, this is gold!"
"It's one of my little secrets that I don't tell the rest of the team about. They'd eat this place out of business."
Moxie grins at him.
"Ah...and you trust MY appetite, then? You've seen what I can do."
"I hang out with Nikki. Regularly." He says flatly.
Moxie stuffs down a snort and nods sagely.
"Hmm. True. She is a LOT of woman...Well, come on, then, I'm starvin!"
Alex heads over to the counter with Mox, "casually" slipping his hand into hers on the way, before ordering a basket filled nearly to the tipping point with fresh seafood. Fish, shrimp, mussels, clams, it's like if someone turned an appetizer platter into a full-sized meal for two.
She smirks, which almost tips over to a smile, at him, and lets him take her hand.
"Alright, big spender, trying to impress me?" Moxie chuckles, taking in the spread before them.
His cheeks turn a little pink, and a tiny little swirl of teal energy flickers in his eyes as he smiles back.
"Maybe a little."
For a moment, Moxie’s face slips. She looks at him softly; surprised and touched by the gesture.
She shakes her head, as if to clear it, and the mask is back up.
"Well, damn, lad, I mean… I already live with ya! You, uh, anglin' for somethin’ else, mister?"
Alex startles, shaking his head.
“No…I mean…Christ, I'm not very good at this. I'm not "angling" for anything, but... yeah, I like spending time with you; y’know, when we have a free moment from all the nonsense going on, and I think you're pretty, and funny, and we seem to have a fair amount in common."
"Aw, God, no, no I mean..." Moxie blushes and rubs at the back of her neck. "I'm so sorry, Alex, I... I’ve gotten burned a lot? In the past? So, I tend to uh...well, I fuck things right up...things like this, I mean." She takes a deep breath. "I know you're not anglin', uh, I just...ye get fucked over enough, and it makes you a little nervous, y’know? I like you a lot too...I think out of the crew, you're one of the ones who...who GETS it, you know? Who gets me...I've just got issues. But if you can hang on, I think we can have some fun. And uh..." She grins, and squeezes his hand across the table. "You're not so bad lookin' yerself."
Alex’s eyes widen, and his pink face turns a few shades closer to red.
"I think we both come with our fair share of issues, and I drive that thing, so maybe I know a bit about hanging on to dangerous things through the rough parts…It tends to be worth it in the end, and a hell of a lot of fun along the way. Well, we uh, do need to hurry a bit though. The club is right up the road, but the show starts in an hour."
Moxie grins. Genuinely smiles. "Alright, music man, let's see what you've gotten for me here."
Alex tears into the seafood, visibly restraining himself from eating Moxie's share of the shrimp. It is not a delicate process, and at one point he gets up to get extra napkins for both of them. Moxie keeps up, and makes a little conversation throughout, but mostly just tears through with him, not worrying about “delicacy”.
"Ah yes. We are just the definition of class and grace at the table." Alex laughs, looking over the plate between them. "Are you gonna finish that mussel?"
"Nah, go for it! All yours!"
The mussel vanishes. Alex swallows, takes a drink, and then smiles again.
"See, this is kinda what I mean. I like that we can just eat like absolute heathens around each other and actually enjoy the food." Moxie laughs.
"Hah! You've seen me bloodied and bruised and most everywhere in between at this point! I'd hate to think a little food mess will set you off now!"
~*~
After dinner, Alex takes Mox up the road about ten minutes and stops in front of a building that has what appears to be the bow of a ship on the front end. The word "Phantasia" is painted across the bow, and the sounds of a band tuning up, complete with a rich, almost operatic female vocalist compete with the waves hitting the beach behind the building.
Moxie bounces a little while Alex dismounts his bike, but tries to put on a cool, calm expression once he’s turned around to face her.
"Cool place.” she says. “Come here often?"
"Not as often as I'd like. Last time we were here some ganger decided he was taking Torvi home, and Coltello took exception to that. So did Nikki, and while I was talking Coltello down… Nikki decided to make a statement…with a bar stool. It got a bit hectic after that, but I made Coltello cover the damages and I've repaired their sound system for free a few times."
Moxie raises an eyebrow as she takes her sunglasses off, tucking them into her jacket.
"Heh, pretty boy can afford that kind of scrap, huh? Y'know, never seen a crew like yours before. It's like you all actually like each other. Never had a crew as close as all that."
"Well, Torvi is kinda the lynchpin. I met her back when I was still a snotnosed kid and she wasn't much older, and we hit it off. She's my best friend. She has some.... trauma... concerning men, and humans, and I still haven't quite figured out how I made it through her screening process but I'm glad for it. Coltello is the only guy who hasn't tried to screw her over, and I didn't trust him at first but eventually he won me over. Barney.... I don't even know, he just kinda showed up one day and never left. Nikki, she fell in with us when we treated her like a person."
He sighs, looking back at her.
"You have to go in through the front, but the show is out back. Come on."
Alex leads Moxie through the front door and past the doorman, who looks at Alex, surprised.
"Two please, Greg."
Greg glances at Mox, then back to Alex.
"You have a +1 tonight?"
The grin comes back to Alex's face.
"Yeah, I do."
Doorman Greg grins back at him after scanning his credchip and hands Alex two tickets.
"Have fun, kid."
The club itself is done up in a gothic style, with overtones of piracy sprinkled throughout. Alex takes Mox through a back door labeled "employees only", down what appears to be a maintenance hallway, and then out a door onto the beach, and the VIP section next to a stage. The stage itself is occupied by several musicians, but two in particular dominate, both women. One is cybered to the gills and surrounded by equipment that makes Alex's look positively affordable by comparison. The other stands center stage in front of the microphone, and is the source of the vocals heard earlier.
Moxie whistles as she looks around.
"Well hot damn...I knew you were connected, but you've really got links in all the clubs huh?"
"Not all of them.” he says. “Damien owns a few and he refuses to give me any special privileges out of spite…But his clubs suck anyway.” He winks.
Moxie chuckles, her eyebrows shooting ALL the way up.
"Don't worry, from the little I've heard..." She leans in closer to his ear to be heard over the music. "...I think I like this side of the family a little more!"
"See, THAT’S what I was angling for; you liking me more than my cousin!” Alex replies.
"Really? THAT'S all it took?"
"That's definitely not ‘all it took’. Apparently, I'm ‘impossibly picky’ according to Coltello."
He takes Mox's hand and leads her out into the sand before the stage with a mischievous smile.
"Let's see how you move when you're not dodging bullets."
Moxie takes his hand and takes the lead, pulling him to where a small crowd is dancing.
"Fairly well, I think you'll find...and I'm glad to be of, ah... your standard of quality."
Alex’s smile gets wider, if a little bit self-conscious.
"Well, your quality seems to be 'pretty damn amazing' from my perspective. You might even be crossing into "she makes me smile when I think about her" territory. It's a very dangerous place that probably involves me making a fool of myself a lot, but it seems worth the risk."
Keeping her hand in his, he starts to move to the beat of the music. She dances with him, grabbing both of his hands as she lets loose, pulling him along with her to the beat.
"Cheesy...” Moxie says “…but I think I can get used to that. I'll warn you though...I do come with risks...but if you play your cards right, I can make up for it pretty well. Promise."
"I'm not one to run away from some risks. All I ask is, if I cross a line somewhere, let me know and I'll set it right." Alex says, little flickers of teal energy start flashing in his eyes. "Besides, between your dad and my family, I think we're already passed the point of sharing risks."
She looks him in the eyes.
"You keep me honest too, and you've got yourself a deal, darlin'. You didn’t have to take us in after the shite my Da got us into, but you did...I'm gonna be thankin’ you for a while on that one."
The music changes, but he doesn't look away.
"Can I share something else with you? It's pretty personal, and it might shock you a bit." Alex says, a worried expression on his face.
"Go on, shoot."
He swallows, then closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath. "Ok, here goes."
As colors start to swirl around him in time with the music, Alex puts his hands on Moxie's hips and gently pulls her closer. When he opens his eyes, the flickers of teal have turned into a soft glow.
"This is what music is like, for me."
The streaks of energy start to swirl around Moxie and Alex both, as he keeps moving and keeps his eyes locked on hers. They're warm, almost alive in a way, and they move in time with the beat as well, leaving a slight tingling sensation when they pass over her skin. She stiffens a little in surprise but melts into it as the colors surround them, letting her fingers trail through one of the streaks. She grins and looks back into his eyes.
"It's ... wow...No wonder you're so good at what you do! It's beautiful!"
"The world seems like an ugly place if you don't know where to look for the beauty in between the cracks.” Alex looks at the colors around them, then back to her. “I try my best to bring that out for other people... but every now and then I stumble into something beautiful that I wasn't expecting to find."
Moxie blushes a bit, steps in close, and wraps her arms around his neck, still swaying to the music.
"I think...I think I could use a little beauty, Alex. It’s been so long…"
Heart thumping in his chest, Alex closes the gap between them and slowly leans in to kiss her. He lets the kiss linger for a few seconds, noticing when he pulls away that the swirls have blossomed into yellows and oranges.
"Wow. That made me feel tingly, and I don't think it's because of the magic." He smiles.
Moxie rolls her eyes and laughs, noting the colors and smiling.
"Yeah, well...hush, you." She shoves him playfully, averting her own very pink face.
"Hold on a second, I said I didn't think it was the magic. Maybe we should try again to be sure. Y'know…for science." Alex puts on his innocent face, but his eyes are full of laughter and mischief.
Moxie blinks, looking at him with an incredulous deadpan.
"Ohhh right sure, for science huh?" She takes one look at the look in his eyes, tugs him in by his shirt and says "Ohh, you're going to be a handful, I can just tell." and kisses him, a little deeper this time.
He returns the kiss with equal enthusiasm, pausing long enough to mumble out "Nope, definitely not the magic," before kissing her again.
Moxie breaks away, and bites her lip.
"I'll give you some options, Music Man: I could stay out here partying with you all night.... or... you race me home, and the winner picks the consequences." She gives him an evil smirk. "Besides, I've got better booze at home, and I owe you a drink or two after all this, i think..."
Alex's eyes go wide, and his face skips right past pink and goes straight to red.
"I... uh, think I like the second option better."
Moxie grins and starts pulling him towards where their rides are parked.
“Good. Race ya!”
~*~
The next morning, Moxie wakes up in a room that isn’t hers.
The space in bed beside her is already empty, and she hears the shower running from the next room over. She starts to get up, running a hand through her tousled hair, when her hand falls on something tucked among the sheets.
Laying on the bed in Alex’s spot is what appears to be a grey rose. Curious, she picks it up, and the flower changes in her hand.