Alex In the City by BymagaJones 7/16 : …Two Steps Back?
Chapter 6: One Step Forward…
Chapter 7: …Two Steps Back?
A/N: This chapter will make much more sense if you've actually seen the movie "Brigadoon". If you haven't and want a quick rundown, try skimming the Wikipedia link here.
This is a short, short chapter, so I'm thinking I'll post chapter 8 today too.
On with the show:
“What the fuck?” Puck asked as the end credits appeared.
“So, what did you think?” Mercedes asked as if she hadn’t heard what Puck had just said.
“First of all, who the hell goes hunting in Scotland? Scotland? Really? I don’t know what grouse is, but they should have made it in Africa, where real hunters went back then. And Fiona should have been some luscious African woman named… I don’t know… Fanta or something.”
Mercedes frowned. “Isn’t that a soda?”
Puck sighed. “Please tell me, Aretha, that you’ve seen ‘Roots’.”
Mercedes looked a little uncomfortable.
“Holy shit! How is it that a nice, non-practicing Jew like myself has seen all five thousand hours of it, but you, a self-professed strong black woman hasn’t?” He looked at Alex. “As a young gay man whose name just reeks of German aryanism, you can be forgiven for not having seen it.”
“First of all,” Alex said with the feistiness that could only come from Kurt Hummel, “I too have seen all nine and a half hours of ‘Roots’. Secondly, there was no way they would’ve allowed interracial romance like that when ‘Brigadoon’ was made.” He seemed to think for a moment before adding, “Although I can see your point about hunting in Scotland.”
Puck smiled smugly at Mercedes and made a mental note to see if they had a used set of “Roots” at the bookstore that he could buy.
“Fine,” Mercedes sighed. “Ignoring those two facts, what did you think?”
“The music and dancing were okay, I guess, but I think the ending was stretching it. I mean, I can understand that a guy needs more than a day to make a decision to be stuck in a town like that, but I don’t buy that he loved her so much that it woke the dude.”
“It was romantic,” Mercedes insisted.
“It was unrealistic,” Puck insisted.
Mercedes glared at Puck and stood. “I’m going to get a refill.” She turned to Alex, ignoring Puck completely, which amused him to no end. “Alex, more water?”
“Thanks,” Alex said.
“Another beer’d be great,” Puck called out to her. He grinned at Alex. “She loves me.”
Alex smiled back, absently touching his strap.
“So where does this rank in your list of top musicals?” Puck teased.
“Actually, it never made the list.”
“Really?” Mercedes put down a bottle of cold water in front of Alex. “You don’t like the movie?”
“I love it; I just think that it’s a tragedy, not really a romance.”
“What do you mean?” Mercedes asked, handing Puck his beer. He grabbed her hand and kissed it, causing her to pull away and giggle before sitting back on the sofa.
Alex opened the bottle and took a sip before he sat properly in his chair, both feet planted on the floor. “Everyone pays attention to Tommy and Fiona, this simplistic romance that, as you pointed out, Puck, doesn’t really hold up under the most basic of scrutiny. I think the more compelling story is Jeff’s. He spends pretty much the entire movie drunk and bitter. So what happened to turn him that way? That’s gotta be an interesting story. Once they get to Scotland, Meg comes on to him, and he’s not interested? In the musical version, they make it pretty clear that he and Meg have a little romp, but in the movie, it’s like he doesn’t want anything to do with her. At all.”
“So what?” Mercedes asked.
Puck thought he was getting an idea of where Alex was going. “You’re saying Jeff was gay?”
Mercedes got a thoughtful look on her face.
Alex gave him a funny look but continued talking. “And then Jeff thinks he’s shooting grouse when he accidentally kills Harry, thereby saving the town. But when we see him again, he’s even drunker than before, even more bitter. Tommy gets his happily ever after, but all Jeff gets is to see who was probably his only friend go walking into the fog, never to be seen again. That’s where the story started getting good.”
Puck thought about it for a second. “You know, I would love to see a spinoff just about Jeff.”
“It wouldn’t be romantic,” Mercedes said.
“It could be,” Alex insisted.
“After a lengthy stay in rehab maybe,” Puck said, grinning.
“And look, Puck, you survived a musical without gratuitous sex and or nudity,” Mercedes teased.
Okay, Puck acknowledged that it might have been a bit unreasonable to expect some skin in a movie old enough to have Gene Kelly in it. That was his bad. However, he had not expected it to launch such thought from Alex. He didn’t love the movie, but he was glad watching it made Alex comfortable enough to stop nodding quietly and staring at the floor.
He wondered how long it would last.
“Okay, so next time, ‘Roots’ marathon,” Puck said.
“But it’s nine and a half hours,” Mercedes complained.
“It’s the history of your people. Suck it up,” Puck said. He turned to Alex. “You should be able to go another round if I can.”
Shaking his head, Alex said, “I can’t make it.”
“Let us know when you’re free, and we’ll make it work,” Mercedes said.
“I don’t… I work,” Alex muttered, hands tightening on his strap.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to come,” Puck said, disappointed that they hadn’t made as much headway as he had thought. He had been having a good time; he could tell Mercedes was enjoying it too and had thought that Alex was doing the same. He must have been reading Alex wrong.
“No, it’s not…” Alex took a breath. “I work everyday.”
“But you can only work forty hours a week,” Mercedes said. “It’s the law.”
If the mood had been lighter, Puck would have laughed at the look Alex tossed Mercedes’ way. “First of all, that only means that if he gets paid by the hour, he gets overtime after forty. Secondly, Alex works illegally. Who's he going to complain to?”
Alex shrugged. “Both places I work tend to hire family or people from their home towns or villages. They took a chance on me when they didn’t have to.”
“You work at both places seven days a week?” Mercedes asked.
“Only the restaurant. Alejandro is Catholic, so we’re off on Sundays.”
“Really?” Puck smiled.
Alex shrugged and smiled.
“That’s not right,” Mercedes said, getting upset.
Puck knew her protective instincts were coming to the foreground, and that was one of the things he loved about her, but now was not the time. Alex wasn’t ready for it.
“They’re doing me a favor,” Alex said. “I asked for more hours.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I need the money!” Instead of getting louder, Alex’s voice became quieter and yet stronger at the same time. For some reason, it worried Puck.
“What for? I hear you rent a room! How much could that cost?”
Alex stilled, his eyes hard and directed toward the wall just past Puck’s head. Hands clenched around the strap against his chest, he stood. His eyes bounced between Puck and Mercedes, but Puck could guarantee that he didn’t make eye contact with Mercedes, because he sure as hell wasn’t with Puck. “Thank you for dinner and the movie.”
“Kurt - Alex, wait!” Mercedes shouted, but he was already at the door, wrestling with the locks.
Puck walked over to the door slowly so that Alex would know that someone was invading his space. “Let me get those. These locks can be sticky.”
Alex stepped away from the door so Puck could slip closer and unlock the locks without touching him. After he finished, Puck opened the door.
Alex stepped out of the apartment, but Puck couldn’t let him go like that. He reached out a hand but dropped it, knowing it wouldn’t be welcome.
“Listen,” he said, slipping out of the door himself and leaving the door slightly ajar. “Mercedes came on a little strong in there at the end, but up until then, you were having a good time, right?”
Alex refused to respond.
“We’re your friends. It might take us a while to get used to the new you, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t trying.”
Alex looked in the direction of Puck’s mouth and said, anger gone in his voice, “You were friends with Kurt. You don’t even know me.”
“Give us a chance to get to know you.”
“Why?” Alex asked plaintively. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
Puck knew that now was the time to say something devastatingly honest and so real that it would force Alex to acknowledge the strings that bound them together, but all he could come up with was the simple truth. “Because that’s not who we are.”
Chapter 8: Alex’s Turn
Entry with links to each chapter
Chapter 7: …Two Steps Back?
A/N: This chapter will make much more sense if you've actually seen the movie "Brigadoon". If you haven't and want a quick rundown, try skimming the Wikipedia link here.
This is a short, short chapter, so I'm thinking I'll post chapter 8 today too.
On with the show:
“What the fuck?” Puck asked as the end credits appeared.
“So, what did you think?” Mercedes asked as if she hadn’t heard what Puck had just said.
“First of all, who the hell goes hunting in Scotland? Scotland? Really? I don’t know what grouse is, but they should have made it in Africa, where real hunters went back then. And Fiona should have been some luscious African woman named… I don’t know… Fanta or something.”
Mercedes frowned. “Isn’t that a soda?”
Puck sighed. “Please tell me, Aretha, that you’ve seen ‘Roots’.”
Mercedes looked a little uncomfortable.
“Holy shit! How is it that a nice, non-practicing Jew like myself has seen all five thousand hours of it, but you, a self-professed strong black woman hasn’t?” He looked at Alex. “As a young gay man whose name just reeks of German aryanism, you can be forgiven for not having seen it.”
“First of all,” Alex said with the feistiness that could only come from Kurt Hummel, “I too have seen all nine and a half hours of ‘Roots’. Secondly, there was no way they would’ve allowed interracial romance like that when ‘Brigadoon’ was made.” He seemed to think for a moment before adding, “Although I can see your point about hunting in Scotland.”
Puck smiled smugly at Mercedes and made a mental note to see if they had a used set of “Roots” at the bookstore that he could buy.
“Fine,” Mercedes sighed. “Ignoring those two facts, what did you think?”
“The music and dancing were okay, I guess, but I think the ending was stretching it. I mean, I can understand that a guy needs more than a day to make a decision to be stuck in a town like that, but I don’t buy that he loved her so much that it woke the dude.”
“It was romantic,” Mercedes insisted.
“It was unrealistic,” Puck insisted.
Mercedes glared at Puck and stood. “I’m going to get a refill.” She turned to Alex, ignoring Puck completely, which amused him to no end. “Alex, more water?”
“Thanks,” Alex said.
“Another beer’d be great,” Puck called out to her. He grinned at Alex. “She loves me.”
Alex smiled back, absently touching his strap.
“So where does this rank in your list of top musicals?” Puck teased.
“Actually, it never made the list.”
“Really?” Mercedes put down a bottle of cold water in front of Alex. “You don’t like the movie?”
“I love it; I just think that it’s a tragedy, not really a romance.”
“What do you mean?” Mercedes asked, handing Puck his beer. He grabbed her hand and kissed it, causing her to pull away and giggle before sitting back on the sofa.
Alex opened the bottle and took a sip before he sat properly in his chair, both feet planted on the floor. “Everyone pays attention to Tommy and Fiona, this simplistic romance that, as you pointed out, Puck, doesn’t really hold up under the most basic of scrutiny. I think the more compelling story is Jeff’s. He spends pretty much the entire movie drunk and bitter. So what happened to turn him that way? That’s gotta be an interesting story. Once they get to Scotland, Meg comes on to him, and he’s not interested? In the musical version, they make it pretty clear that he and Meg have a little romp, but in the movie, it’s like he doesn’t want anything to do with her. At all.”
“So what?” Mercedes asked.
Puck thought he was getting an idea of where Alex was going. “You’re saying Jeff was gay?”
Mercedes got a thoughtful look on her face.
Alex gave him a funny look but continued talking. “And then Jeff thinks he’s shooting grouse when he accidentally kills Harry, thereby saving the town. But when we see him again, he’s even drunker than before, even more bitter. Tommy gets his happily ever after, but all Jeff gets is to see who was probably his only friend go walking into the fog, never to be seen again. That’s where the story started getting good.”
Puck thought about it for a second. “You know, I would love to see a spinoff just about Jeff.”
“It wouldn’t be romantic,” Mercedes said.
“It could be,” Alex insisted.
“After a lengthy stay in rehab maybe,” Puck said, grinning.
“And look, Puck, you survived a musical without gratuitous sex and or nudity,” Mercedes teased.
Okay, Puck acknowledged that it might have been a bit unreasonable to expect some skin in a movie old enough to have Gene Kelly in it. That was his bad. However, he had not expected it to launch such thought from Alex. He didn’t love the movie, but he was glad watching it made Alex comfortable enough to stop nodding quietly and staring at the floor.
He wondered how long it would last.
“Okay, so next time, ‘Roots’ marathon,” Puck said.
“But it’s nine and a half hours,” Mercedes complained.
“It’s the history of your people. Suck it up,” Puck said. He turned to Alex. “You should be able to go another round if I can.”
Shaking his head, Alex said, “I can’t make it.”
“Let us know when you’re free, and we’ll make it work,” Mercedes said.
“I don’t… I work,” Alex muttered, hands tightening on his strap.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to come,” Puck said, disappointed that they hadn’t made as much headway as he had thought. He had been having a good time; he could tell Mercedes was enjoying it too and had thought that Alex was doing the same. He must have been reading Alex wrong.
“No, it’s not…” Alex took a breath. “I work everyday.”
“But you can only work forty hours a week,” Mercedes said. “It’s the law.”
If the mood had been lighter, Puck would have laughed at the look Alex tossed Mercedes’ way. “First of all, that only means that if he gets paid by the hour, he gets overtime after forty. Secondly, Alex works illegally. Who's he going to complain to?”
Alex shrugged. “Both places I work tend to hire family or people from their home towns or villages. They took a chance on me when they didn’t have to.”
“You work at both places seven days a week?” Mercedes asked.
“Only the restaurant. Alejandro is Catholic, so we’re off on Sundays.”
“Really?” Puck smiled.
Alex shrugged and smiled.
“That’s not right,” Mercedes said, getting upset.
Puck knew her protective instincts were coming to the foreground, and that was one of the things he loved about her, but now was not the time. Alex wasn’t ready for it.
“They’re doing me a favor,” Alex said. “I asked for more hours.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I need the money!” Instead of getting louder, Alex’s voice became quieter and yet stronger at the same time. For some reason, it worried Puck.
“What for? I hear you rent a room! How much could that cost?”
Alex stilled, his eyes hard and directed toward the wall just past Puck’s head. Hands clenched around the strap against his chest, he stood. His eyes bounced between Puck and Mercedes, but Puck could guarantee that he didn’t make eye contact with Mercedes, because he sure as hell wasn’t with Puck. “Thank you for dinner and the movie.”
“Kurt - Alex, wait!” Mercedes shouted, but he was already at the door, wrestling with the locks.
Puck walked over to the door slowly so that Alex would know that someone was invading his space. “Let me get those. These locks can be sticky.”
Alex stepped away from the door so Puck could slip closer and unlock the locks without touching him. After he finished, Puck opened the door.
Alex stepped out of the apartment, but Puck couldn’t let him go like that. He reached out a hand but dropped it, knowing it wouldn’t be welcome.
“Listen,” he said, slipping out of the door himself and leaving the door slightly ajar. “Mercedes came on a little strong in there at the end, but up until then, you were having a good time, right?”
Alex refused to respond.
“We’re your friends. It might take us a while to get used to the new you, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t trying.”
Alex looked in the direction of Puck’s mouth and said, anger gone in his voice, “You were friends with Kurt. You don’t even know me.”
“Give us a chance to get to know you.”
“Why?” Alex asked plaintively. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
Puck knew that now was the time to say something devastatingly honest and so real that it would force Alex to acknowledge the strings that bound them together, but all he could come up with was the simple truth. “Because that’s not who we are.”
Chapter 8: Alex’s Turn
Entry with links to each chapter