Tea Parties and Sneak Outs pv Alec Mason Fin

“Oh, no. Am I going to have to fight someone,” Wyatt joked. The Lion said it was a Hufflepuff, didn’t he? It wouldn’t be too much of a fight then, would it? Wyatt had never heard a tale of Slytherin vs Hufflepuff without Slytherin coming out on the winning side in the end, with the exception of quidditch games.

Those were hardly interesting tales, anyway though. Wyatt despised quidditch, which was odd, because his mother was a star on the field. She’d almost gone and played in one of the professional teams, but then she found out she was pregnant. Since Wyatt learned of that story, he’d felt incredibly guilty. He was the reason she never lived her dreams. It was almost too much to bear.

“Whatever. You’ve got friends willing to be there for you and whatnot. It's nice.” Wyatt didn’t have those. He had plenty of enemies, but no friends. He liked it that way, though. No one to go up and talk to you about how their day went, or to plot stupid pranks with you. Not having friends kept Wyatt out of trouble, and that was always a good thing.

“Why do you care about what your parents tell you? They seem like they live with sticks halfway up their asses. That’s not exactly how you live.” Alec reminded the dark-haired Slytherin a lot of a cowboy in those old, (mainly) American movies. A troubled, anxious cowboy, but a cowboy all the same. An adventurous, stupid prankster. That’s all he was to Wyatt, really… really…

So, it surprised him that this cowboy had parents that were stone-faced and generally awful. Maybe Wyatt shouldn’t judge them so quickly, but they treated their son like- well they didn’t treat their son like anything, really. They were very neglectful, it seemed. That didn’t sit right with Wyatt. No one deserves cruel, mean spirited parents.

“I’m never going to really mean my apology… I suppose it’s a pride thing.” He paused. He couldn’t remember a time he’d ever been so honest. “I recognize I should be sorry, though.” He sighed. “I’m sorry… for kicking you.”

There was an awkward silence.

“That was the worst "apology."” He rolled his eyes. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Honestly, I don't know why I bother trying to say words anymore.”

_{@Alec Mason}

"Their my family.. Of course I care about what they say" Alec said with a small sigh. It wasn't just his family. Alec cared about what people thought of him. He wasn't sure what he wanted anybody to think of him.. He tried not to care. But it always got to him. Besides, Alec's parents only wanted what was best for him. They cared about him. Probably? They just showed their love in a different way. And different isn't always bad. It's just not the normal. Like Alec, the unconfident, stuttering, gryffindor mess. That's what he was. Never mind the whole rich kid part was left out too. Scratch that one.

Wyatt then went on about how he wasn't actually going to mean his sorry. Something about it being a pride sort of thing. Mhm so who's the prideful and stubborn one now? And then he apologizes. Does he realize that doesn't mean much after he just had this whole confession about how he'll never actually mean it? Why even bother going out of your way to apologize if you don't really mean it? That's like watering a plant a bit too much because you were mad you had to do it in the first place. Then you feel an odd sort of sympathy or remorse about over watering it and plant it in new soil that you don't realize it just a bit to dry.

“That was the worst "apology." ” Alec grinned, no never mind he knew. And it was actually a bit funny “I shouldn’t have said anything. Honestly, I don't know why I bother trying to say words anymore.” Alec laughed, for the past five minutes of them talking Alec had been trying to climb up the slide of the play ground structure but had lost his balance because of his own unexpected laughter and slipped down the slide. "Yeah, your hopeless with words." Alec said with an eye roll teasingly.

"Sing baby shark for an hour till you realize how lucky you are for having some sort of way with words. If you really wanted to you could probably say something that doesn't blow up in your face. Or sound even remotely mean" Alec said. "Also maybe think about the fact that at least you weren't a stuttering mess for the first eleven years of your life." Alec suggested as he tried climbing up the slide again. "You know.. the other way up would have been much faster" Alec said mostly to himself.

He was trying to get to the top peak thing of the playground structure. He was gonna see if he could stand on it for ten minutes and not lose balance. Alec had done five last time. It was a sorta success during the five minutes. He almost lost balance almost falling off of the playground structure three times last time. The higher you were up on it the more cold it got. And the more cold it got, the more windy it got. It was a bit windy already, so hopefully it wasn't that windy once he finally got up there.

@Wyatt Starkey

Don’t say it.
Why not?
You’ll regret it.
Shut up, I feel comfortable for once.
Oh, you’re really going to say it.
Yes, I am.

“I used to stutter. Until I was ten.” Oh, god there it is. “I couldn’t read at all until I was eight.” That’s when the regret hit. It’s just that his past made him hate himself, so sharing it with someone made him fear that they’d hate him too, but that’s just a silly way of thinking, isn’t it? Not being able to read for a while shouldn’t make someone hate you… right?

“But I guess I’m fine now. I can read," sort of, "but I don’t like to, and I can talk without stuttering. I think I talk too much. A five-word sentence is much longer than I’d like a sentence to be. Alas, my last sentence was fourteen words long.” Life just isn’t fair.

Wyatt stuttered until he was ten. When his father left, he was more comfortable and he was able to get through a sentence without repeating a syllable. It was his greatest victory yet. Wyatt understood how unfortunate it was that his bastard of a father and his (awful) behavior over the years had shaped his life. He saw no light side of his upbringing so far. There was no “this happens for a reason” with the way his father relieved stress.

Wyatt looked up at Alec, who was playing on the playset. Like a child. Weren’t kids supposed to age out of their playground phase at around… ten? Wyatt scoffed, but the scoff morphed into a chuckle.

Wow, was this the actual Wyatt Alec knew? That kid stuttering? Really? Well, the more you know. It still felt quite unreal. This.. This kid who looked like he could just do anything and didn't look different.. Or abnormal from a lot of the Slytherins stuttered..? It was interesting. How you think you know so much about somebody and practically their whole life story but they give you stuff to fill in the blanks that leaves you well, flabbergasted. Different lives, different perspectives, different worldviews. Alec was an early reader. He'd learned to read at three. He was self taught. He used to love reading.. Then that spark just stopped. And Alec stopped unless he had too.

And the boy thought he spoke too much? Did he not hear how much Alec spoke? Alec could go on for hours talking. And here Wyatt was thinking he spoke too much. And five-word sentence were much longer than he'd like one the be? Alec laughed, "You make yourself sound like you overthink things more than I do. Especially with the whole fourteen words too long thing. You actually count that?" Alec asked, surprisingly a bit impressed. No filter but filter..? How does that work? He's spilling stuff to Alec, but he makes it seem like he's thought it through. And then Wyatt gave a weird sort of laugh.. Which caused Alec to look back before going back to what he was doing.

Alec finally pulled himself to the top of the playground. Now if there were adults here, and it was during the day. Alec was bound to get yelled at for obvious reasons. Which wasn't going to help. Because if you were actually worried about Alec falling, you wouldn't yell at him. You yell at someone they're going to get distracted. If Alec get's yelled at even once. He's going to get distracted, fall, and get very, very injured. Standing up, Alec had his arms out to keep his balance as he cheekily grinned. "Gonna see if I can stand on here for ten minutes without losing balance. " He said. "I've got a mental clock hopefully it doesn't fail me to track ten minutes" Alec said.

@Wyatt Starkey

"You make yourself sound like you overthink things more than I do. Especially with the whole fourteen words too long thing. You actually count that?"

“Not always. I only count how many words I say when I remember to.” Wyatt was definitely an overthinker, but Alec seemed to be the king of overthinking. Every sentence he said was fact-checked and edited over and over again to make the kid sound like not-an-idiot, it seemed. Maybe that wasn’t very fair of Wyatt to assume, but it seemed that was the case from an outsider’s perspective.

Wyatt always wished he could see into people’s minds, and read their thoughts. It would certainly make things easier. Maybe it was an invasion of privacy, but it would clear up a ton of confusion for the 12-year-old. There must be a spell for that. The sorting hat could do that- look in your mind- so it must have been enchanted with something.

"Gonna see if I can stand on here for ten minutes without losing balance. I've got a mental clock hopefully it doesn't fail me to track ten minutes."

“You actually count that?” Using his own phrase against the boy, Wyatt grinned. “Well, I’m not counting for you, so hopefully that ‘mental clock’ of yours is as good as you make it out to be.” Wyatt didn’t see the point in silly games like that. Real challenges were between people, not person. It just worked far better that way, competition was important- and fun.

The Slytherin had no intention of going up there and joining Alec in his stupid game of no one wins. Just to be safe, he scanned the (actually beautiful) park for adults, and thankfully the park was grown-up free. He heard some rustling, so he looked to the left and down. Saying that he did not like what he saw would be an understatement.

Perseus was slithering through bushes, like an idiot. Wyatt kicked a rock at the bright green snake, who hissed as it hit him in the center of his face.

_{@Alec Mason}

"Hopefully. I'm probably gonna lose count though." Alec said. Speaking of different perspectives. The view of the park was definitely a great one from up here."Ever tried climbing a pine tree before?" Alec asked. Alec had a sort of photographic memory. It was more or less video than photographic, though. That's why he could capture Jackie's movement perfectly in that sketch. Even if the clothing in it wasn't what she was wearing at the moment he used for the sketch. But it was like reliving a moment. Recalling things then playing it like a video in your mind perfectly.. But also remembering the exact thoughts you had then and how you felt. It was weird.

Now if Alec were to be seen by the bobbies. That'd be even worse than being seen by an adult. I mean bobbies weren't just adults, they had a ton more authority. And if he were to be caught, both he and Wyatt would probably get into trouble. They'd be seen as trouble making kids. And the bobbies would bring Alec and Wyatt back to Alec's house and Alec would get grounded longer than he had the last time he had sneaked out.

Alec rose a brow when he noticed Wyatt's attention was directed towards a bush? What was he looking at? Alec had assumed the rustling was just from the wind hitting tree leaves or something of that sort. What was so interesting about a bush? I mean it was probably more interesting than Alec. But a bush? It still left the question.. What was he looking at? Alec tried to see by leaning a bit but as soon as he did he lost his balance..

This may have been a bad idea. Who was Alec kidding? It had been a bad idea. Yet he was still going to go back and do this again sometime. Even if it wasn't again today. Alec caught his balance on the ladder sort of thing on the playground. And It took a few minutes for Alec to catch his breath. it reminded him of when he thought it was a good idea to try to swing on the swing set as high as he could, but ended up falling off the swing his front hitting the wood chips. He literally had all the wind knocked out of him. This time it was more fear of 'I'm gonna get hurt' then actually getting hurt though.

Once Alec had finally caught his breath, his gaze went over to Wyatt. Well this was a bit of a dramatic way to get down.. "Oh um look my ten minutes are suddenly over because I fell and I am not gonna try to do that again tonight" Alec said as he climbed down the ladder thing. He was slightly embarrassed he'd fallen but it was besides the point.

@Wyatt Starkey

"Hopefully. I'm probably gonna lose count though."

“You have a human brain, of course you’ll lose count.” People always think they’re the exception, don’t they. Well, if anyone were to be the exception, it would be a witch or a wizard, wouldn’t it?

"Ever tried climbing a pine tree before?"

“Sometimes I swear you think I’m an alien,” Wyatt groaned. “Of course, I’ve climbed a pine tree before.” Alec made Wyatt out to be some strange being, like he wasn’t even human. Of course Wyatt noticed. It was just little things like the looks Alec gave Wyatt when the Slytherin would say something “out of the ordinary”. Silly, little things like that.

All this time, Wyatt hadn’t looked away from Perseus. It was as if the boy and the snake were having a staring contest. The green snake’s beady, yellow eyes not daring to look away just as seriously as Wyatt’s jet black eyes were. The Slytherin wondered if Alec was staring, but it was a possibility, so he didn’t want to say anything in parseltongue.

It was a small thud from behind that ended the staring contest.
Spinning around, Wyatt said clearly, but not very loudly, “Are you alright?”

"Oh um look my ten minutes are suddenly over because I fell and I am not gonna try to do that again tonight."

“I really just cannot believe you were trying to go for ten minutes on that thing.” He laughed. “That was one minute, at best, Alec.” Wyatt would’ve probably gone on for hours about how that was the lamest try he’d ever seen, but something green, scaly, and stupid entered his field of vision from right under the boy.

Perseus was slithering under Wyatt, and it’s safe to say he panicked. Quickly, he picked up the snake, barely thinking about what Alec would say about someone just picking up a snake.

_{@Alec Mason}

Cut the 'bit embarrassed' part though. Alec was now more than a bit embarrassed, but he was just going to play it off. Alec rolled his eyes. "Oh hush. I've done five minutes before. It's not hard. I'm just easily distracted." Alec said. The exception was Alec's 'deep thinking' which is overthinking technically. Nothing could distract him from that. Well, nothing but a sorta mean Slytherin. Who is seeming more and more 'normal' to Alec as the hours pass. I mean, he used to stutter. Just like Alec. He probably knew how annoying it was to have a stutter with almost everything you say.

"And the reason I asked the pine tree question was beca-" Alec paused as he saw a snake come out of the bushes? Just as quickly as it had come out, Wyatt had picked it up? Alec wasn't exactly sure how to react. First of all. A snake? A snake? They didn't get snakes anywhere near here, ever. It'd probably freak out a ton of little kids.. Jackie would be the exception to that. She had a fondness for every animal. Even the toad they'd found on the street once.

Second of all, Wyatt? Wyatt was holding it? Why was Wyatt holding it? And Why was he comfortable with holding some random snake he'd just found in the park? Well, the more you know. I mean, Wyatt did say he liked animals. Enough to pick up a random snake he'd found in the park clearly. Because that was clearly logical. Because that was clearly something one should be doing at this time in the night? Yes, so very clearly logical, okay..

And third of all setting those two ones aside. Cool, I mean Alec didn't get to see snakes much. Other than snake-boy himself. Which also made the name sound very ironic now. The snake was green, quite long, sorta thin, and had yellow eyes. Alec had seen snakes before, but none like this one. Stuff you'd see in a movie or something. So now that they steered through this, the bottom line was. Snake-boy was holding a snake. How fitting.

@Wyatt Starkey

"And the reason I asked the pine tree question was beca-"

You shouldn’t have panicked! Look what happens when you panic!
His inner-voice just made him panic even more.

Wyatt’s life flashed before his eyes, and then his brain sort of... stopped working. He looked down at the snake he was carrying and all of his memories came back to him. Oh, yeah, make a cover-up story. Something to say, or do that would make sense of you carrying a snake. Alec would have questions no matter what he did, and by overthinking, he was wasting more time.

In Wyatt’s mind, there were two options. Option one would be to wrap Perseus around his neck and make it seem like the snake was trying to hurt him, but how would that make sense, because Wyatt was the one who picked the snake up in the first place! Hopefully Alec would be too distraught to question anything?

Option two. Option two would be to fling Perseus back into the bush like a catapult. Pros and cons. Pros, it could be like Wyatt was just trying to get rid of the snake, and throwing it would make it seem like the boy and the snake weren’t friends (since you don’t throw your friends into bushes). Cons, you would have to deal with the wrath of Perseus (since you shouldn’t throw your friends into bushes).

Now to think over the options calmly, collectedly, and cautiously- nope. Wyatt tossed the snake back into the bush like a catapult, without turning around or anything. He heard the leaves rustle as Perseus fell into the bush. Wyatt, being an idiot and panicking, yelled, “sorry!” What an idiot. Usually he was so well put together!

He closed his eyes, and cringe-sighed.
Then, he opened his eyes defeatedly.

_{@Alec Mason}

Well, that just happened.. Alec was a bit speechless. For someone 'liked animals' so much, Alec didn't exactly expect Wyatt to throw it. And then he yelled sorry to the snake? To the snake? Alec really must've hit his head hard when he fell. There was no way this was happening. There was no way Wyatt was just holding a snake then threw it into the bush then yelled sorry. Okay, Alec, you're probably dreaming, right? Alec gave himself a small pinch. Nope, definitely not dreaming that hurt. And it probably was going to leave a mark or something, well great.

Alec was just overthinking this, right? Maybe Wyatt had accidentally picked up the snake? And then threw it because he just realized it? And then felt bad, so he said sorry? That was logical, right? That made complete sense, right?

Alec ran a hand through his hair. "I-um.." Alec said as he tried to form a sentence but couldn't exactly find the words. "Cool snake?" Alec stop it. Why would you say that? These words were followed by a small awkward laugh. "Let's just head back. I can't even imagine your reasoning for what just happened" Alec said. Then gave a mischievous smile as he added the words "Snake-boy~" to the sentence. Well, seems that nickname is going to be stuck with Wyatt forever now.

Alec had decided he was not going to ask questions. And confusedly just go with it. Alec was probably just overtired. And this whole situation was crazy. Heading back and just going to sleep would be best right now. Getting to sleep would help him logically think this whole situation over. And that was probably for the best, anyway. That and if they were out too long, they were sure to get caught. Especially with the fact that Wyatt had yelled sorry. Someone had got to have heard that other than Alec.

@Wyatt Starkey