YOU Get A Big Banana, and YOU Get A Big Banana, and YOU Get A Big Banana! [closed post]

[summerdude]

"Okay, just another minute," Magnus says.

It's a hot day out, so holding Galahad's hand is a sweaty affair... and Magnus's current use of his alf seidr isn't making matters any more comfortable. The grass is tickling at Magnus's back -- his shirt has ridden up while he lies, spread-eagle, in the middle of the lawn. Galahad is always so smart about his clothes, Magnus bets he's not getting the grass itches at all.

But he can put all that aside. Grass tickles are good tickles, and the heat of the sun is -- to Magnus -- always more refreshing than it is annoying. There's a trickle of sweat at the side of his neck, but even though it's hot out it's not really a temperature extreme, so as usual he feels regular about it.

All his attention is on the plants around them. Feverfew and milkweed, black-eyed susan and queen anne's lace, aster and boneset and flowering spurge and yarrow and tickseed and teasel and wild thyme and forget-me-nots and poppies and and and -- well. He's not sure what else is in the mix. He's been trying to get better at plant identification with Claudius's guidance, but the package he found earlier that morning only said FIELD SEEDS. He's doing his best! Right now, his 'best' is less focused on identification and more focused on growing them to flower, high enough that some of them are providing shade to both him and Galahad, in a very neat outline of the grass they've politely crushed between the two of them.

Eventually, he's done all he can without overtaxing the plants. "There," he tells Galahad. "Summer snow angels, check."

Comments

[onthewillowsthere]

He starts laughing.

[summerdude]

Magnus cracks up, too, flopping back into the grass. He mis-aligns himself with the summer snow angels, though, and rolls through the flowers until he can knock his head against Galahad's knee. "Wanna go sailing?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes. Teach me how."

[summerdude]

"Oh Helheim yeah," says Magnus, jumping to his feet and offering a hand to Galahad, to help him up. "Let's do the sea, not the lake. Better sailing vibes."

[onthewillowsthere]

"All right." He takes Magnus' hand and pulls himself to his feet. "We only need to get it wet?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah. We throw the handkerchief into the water and hey presto, boat!"

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad picks a few of the flower heads and tucks them into his messenger bag to press with Claudius later; the flower press Magnus gave him for his birthday is finally seeing use. That done, he takes Magnus' hand again, ready to walk down to the sea.

[summerdude]

Magnus threads their fingers together and heads toward the beach. As they walk, he glances over at Galahad. "Do you think we would have ended up best friends again?" he asks, a note of fervent hope in his voice. "If we stayed little kids."

[onthewillowsthere]

"If I spoke less on God," slightly amused.

[summerdude]

"Yeahhhh," says Magnus, with a little chuckle. "I liked you. Just not being told I was going to hell."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I didn't know better. I told you what I was taught."

[summerdude]

Magnus lets go of Galahad's hand, but only so that he can tug him in for an awkward mid-walk cuddle. "I know that as an adult," he says. "As a kid, I was just like.. whoa. This guy is like some of the other kids at school."

[onthewillowsthere]

"You knew other children like me?"

[summerdude]

Magnus shrugs. "I knew other kids who told me I was going to hell and who wouldn't play with me," he says. "For various reasons, I think. Partly because I kept insisting there was no such thing as god. Also because my mom was a single mom and I wasn't christian. Also also because I got into a lot of trouble pretty regularly, especially with teachers. So."

[onthewillowsthere]

He squeezes Magnus' hand by way of apology. The sea is in sight now, a distant shimmer like a heat mirage; Galahad can walk a long way now without getting tired, and the journey is immaterial except for everything it means to walk with his best friend towards the sea. Morwennol sits at his hip, as it does always now, its weight a reminder of the responsibilities he has.

[summerdude]

"You don't need to apologize!" Magnus says, at the squeeze. "It's, like, whatever. And you were fine."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I didn't know that anything else was possible." He glances over at Magnus. "I healed you."

[summerdude]

Magnus flexes his free hand. "You did," he says. Naturally the scar is gone, but that's because of the new body he got when he died. "I didn't even know you had healing."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes. Before. I didn't do it very much. God wanted me to fight."

[summerdude]

Magnus snorts, and pulls Galahad in for another little cuddle. "I know what that's like," he says. "I didn't even know I could heal and leave a scar on purpose until I did it for you. I've done more healing here than I ever did in Valhalla."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad nestles back against him for a moment. "We chose something else."

[summerdude]

"We did," Magnus says, leaning his head against Galahad's shoulder. "And now you know about other possibilities. And I'm at least, like, not insisting that there's no such a thing as a god."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I understand why you didn't believe. Because He spoke to me, I didn't have to have faith."

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs, taking Galahad's hand again. "No-Faith Guy, that's me," he says, and then hastens to add, "I know that's not what you mean. But alsooooo... did I ever tell you about the time I got kicked out of the only open youth shelter in Boston?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Tell me."