Love Bingo Fic / "A Potion for Desperate" / Prompt: Platonic Love
Written for Love Bingo. Fandom: Brothers and Sisters
Love prompt list: Platonic Love
*****
Name: A Potion for Desperate
Fandom: Brothers & Sisters
Main Characters: Scotty and Jordan
Rating: PG
Prompt used/word count: (1,640+)
Summary: Despite Scotty loving his best friend Jordan like a brother, sometimes brothers should be strangled.
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Brothers & Sisters are the sole property of ABC
He walked down the dingy crowded streets behind the soaring skyscrapers in the Financial district of downtown LA. This was China town. An area he rarely ventured to on his own. On these streets, Chinese merchants of all sorts had engaged in business from the ground floor of quaint pre-war shop houses for generations. Finally, he found the address he’d scrawled on a scrap of paper. The place was tucked between an overly crowded Chinese noodle house and an ancient book store. The wooden placard had Chinese characters translated into English, and a simple handwritten sign pointing downwards. He looked skeptically down the narrow flight of stairs and considered abandoning his plan. ‘Darn that Jordan’, thought Scotty. He loved him like a brother, but sometimes brothers deserved to be strangled. “What’s the big deal?” Jordan had taunted. “I hear it works, so don’t be such a girl. Just go to Chinatown and try it.” So if this was Jordan’s big idea, how exactly did he get roped into doing it on his own, while Jordan was safe at home? Scotty shook his head in annoyance and took a deep breath. After a few moments, he reinforced his determination and hesitantly surveyed his surroundings before treading down the menacing steps.
Pausing in front of the doorway that simply said ‘Apothecary Shop’, Scotty placed his hand on the knob, then released it and looked back up into the fading daylight, barely visible from his vantage point below the busy city streets.
Just as he was ready to turn back, the shop door abruptly swung open and an old woman ushered him inside. Her face was lined with age. No doubt a roadmap of her long life of hardship. “Whachu’ li’e?” she asked in an unintelligibly thick accent. “What would I like?” Scotty repeated hesitantly. “Nothing, specific. Just…. sort of looking.” “No one come to look. Come to buy!” she snapped harshly. “Wha’ you need?” Scotty backed away from her slowly offering a non-threatening smile as he perused the items on the shelves.
The small establishment was rich with the scents of the various wares. The herbal aroma, not altogether unpleasant, permeated the premises. Scotty spotted a small collection of Chinese delft drug jars for storing medications lined against one wall. He picked up an unusual shape and carefully turned the delicate jar to see the intricate blue markings on the white glazed porcelain. “How much is it?” asked Scotty fascinated with the beautiful little jar, though it was not what he’d come in search for. “Fi’teen dolla’” replied the old lady sharply in her clipped English. “It’s beautiful” Scotty complimented, wishing she would stop staring at him with her steely gaze and let him browse the store in peace. Walking up to Scotty the shop keeper asked, “You li'e potion? Fo’ inside?” she asked pointing into the jar. Scotty just looked at her in confusion. “Come, come, come!” she demanded sharply, directing him to walk over to the cramped space in front of the cash register. Scotty stared at the display of jars filled with herbs, pills, potions and elixirs in fascination. Mortals and pedestals, scales and weights, and antique implements for compounding and dispensing drugs were also displayed. “Jiang Lau!” the old woman shouted suddenly, startling Scotty into nearly dropping the small jar he still held in his hands. In answer to her call, a young teenager, no more than fifteen ran into the room and rattled something that sounded somewhat apologetic in his native tongue. The woman responded, pointing to Scotty and then towards the herbal medicines.
“Hello” said the boy addressing Scotty in an only slight accent. “My name is Jiang and this is my grandmother. She says you need a potion?” Scotty touched his chest in a ‘Who? Me?’ gesture, taking on a look of righteous indignation, shocked that she had jumped to that conclusion without his uttering a word. “I never said…” Scotty started, before abruptly stopping mid-sentence. The boy, not rightly caring whether Scotty made the purchase or not, just shrugged off Scotty’s denial. “Mister, would you like a potion or not?”
After being met with wide eyed silence, the boy continued, “What do you require? Happiness, health, money? ….Maybe love?” “What would you recommend?" asked Scotty, curiosity getting the better of him. “It depends on what you are lacking,” was the simple reply. “All of the above?” said Scotty with a small nervous chuckle. “I suppose you don’t have a potion for desperate?” he joked nervously. Not getting a reaction, he quickly added in hushed tones, “A love potion might be nice….” The boy rattled off something to his grandmother and the old woman gave Scotty one last piercing and judgmental look before throwing bits of this and that into a small paper sack. She then yanked the jar out of Scotty’s hands, wrapping it in tissue, rang up the items, and presented him with a total. Scotty stared at her for a moment in disbelief wondering when exactly he had committed to buying anything he’d been charged for, but somewhat afraid to argue the point. He made a mental note that he’d give Jordan a piece of his mind, since the little adventure had been his doing. But wanting to just get the experience over and done with, he handed the old shop keep a twenty dollar bill, grabbed his purchases and headed towards the exit as quickly as he could without bothering to wait for his change. Scotty barely had muttered a small ‘thank you’ as he hastily fled the premises, vowing never to return to Chinatown on his own again.
****
Jordan and Scotty sat at the small kitchen table staring at the contents of the small paper sack. “So what do you do with it?” asked Jordan.
“Well, I don’t know Jordan. I figured on asking you. It was your idea.”
“Well, don’t look at me, I’ve never been in need of these services. Didn’t it come with instructions?”
“Do you see any instructions Jordan?” asked Scotty in frustrated sarcasm. Forcing himself to calm down, he sighed and continued, “It looks like tea. Don’t you think? Maybe I should just brew it.”
“Well here goes nothing,” said Jordan getting up and walking over towards the stove. He picked up the tea kettle and filled it with water. “So who drinks the potion, you or him?”
“How am I supposed to know? Maybe we both should drink some - and stop calling it a potion. That’s just creepy. It’s an herbal remedy. That’s all.”
“Oh, ok Scotty, and spiking the drink of your unsuspecting crush with an ‘herbal remedy’ so that he’ll finally notice you and ask you out is perfectly normal,” sassed Jordan as he picked up his belongings. “Fingers crossed for you honey, but I gotta go,” he said as he air kissed Scotty and headed out of the kitchen. Scotty heard a muffled “Loooove yoooou!” sung out from the other side of the apartment's closed door.
“Yeah, sure you do,” said Scotty under his breathe sarcastically.
******
After Scotty had showered and dried off, he stood with a towel draped around his hips as he stared mindlessly into his closet. Finally he settled on his newest slacks and a shirt and tie that complimented the shade of his eyes. After dressing, he headed out, stopping in the kitchen for the small thermos containing the herbal brew. Staring at it nervously he wondered why he just couldn’t introduce himself like a normal man would. He chastised himself critically. The man of his dreams would be at the bar. He was a man of habits, and he’d shown up at the bar to watch the game, every Friday night over the past month like clockwork. He wasn’t particularly friendly and had never given Scotty so much as a sidelong glance, but Scotty had noticed him. Plenty of times. Scotty longed to meet him, but hadn’t worked up the nerve. Perhaps the potion would give him the confidence he required.
By the time he arrived, he’d formulated a haphazard plan. He simply would order a drink asking the bartender to incorporate the elixir into the mix. Such things were certainly frowned upon, but there was something to be said for favors amongst friends. Then he’d have the special beverage sent to his secret crush - not an unusual activity in a bar by anyone’s standards. After the potion had been consumed, he’d work up the courage to meet the man of his dreams.....
Just as Scotty entered the establishment his daydreaming was interrupted when he heard the chiming alert of a new text. “Just breathe. He’s gonna love you. J-” Scotty had been frustrated with Jordan, but his scheming aside, he’d been there for Scotty, he always had. Scotty then realized that what he'd needed all along wasn't potions or elixers, but the listening ear and bit of reassurance he'd gained from his friend. Scotty responded to the text, “Sorry. I can get grumpy. Thanks for everything. XOXO.”
Tossing the plastic thermos in the recepticle, Scotty reconsidered his options. ‘He’ll either like me or he won’t, and it’s high time I found out which’. It didn't take long for Scotty to spot the handsome stranger alone at a barstool. He was watching the game playing on a nearby flat screen as he drank an amber colored beverage from a small glass tumbler. Scotty inhaled a deep calming breath and slowly approached him. “This seat taken?” asked Scotty a bit nervously, offering a hesitant smile. The man, startled at first, met his eyes with a lingering and appreciative gaze. “No not at all. I’m Kevin,” he said in a rich baritone voice, extending his arm in a handshake that had goose bumps tingling up and down Scotty’s spine. “I’m Scotty. A pleasure to meet you”. “The pleasure is all mine,” Kevin replied genuinely with a warm smile.
The end
Love prompt list: Platonic Love
*****
Name: A Potion for Desperate
Fandom: Brothers & Sisters
Main Characters: Scotty and Jordan
Rating: PG
Prompt used/word count: (1,640+)
Summary: Despite Scotty loving his best friend Jordan like a brother, sometimes brothers should be strangled.
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Brothers & Sisters are the sole property of ABC
He walked down the dingy crowded streets behind the soaring skyscrapers in the Financial district of downtown LA. This was China town. An area he rarely ventured to on his own. On these streets, Chinese merchants of all sorts had engaged in business from the ground floor of quaint pre-war shop houses for generations. Finally, he found the address he’d scrawled on a scrap of paper. The place was tucked between an overly crowded Chinese noodle house and an ancient book store. The wooden placard had Chinese characters translated into English, and a simple handwritten sign pointing downwards. He looked skeptically down the narrow flight of stairs and considered abandoning his plan. ‘Darn that Jordan’, thought Scotty. He loved him like a brother, but sometimes brothers deserved to be strangled. “What’s the big deal?” Jordan had taunted. “I hear it works, so don’t be such a girl. Just go to Chinatown and try it.” So if this was Jordan’s big idea, how exactly did he get roped into doing it on his own, while Jordan was safe at home? Scotty shook his head in annoyance and took a deep breath. After a few moments, he reinforced his determination and hesitantly surveyed his surroundings before treading down the menacing steps.
Pausing in front of the doorway that simply said ‘Apothecary Shop’, Scotty placed his hand on the knob, then released it and looked back up into the fading daylight, barely visible from his vantage point below the busy city streets.
Just as he was ready to turn back, the shop door abruptly swung open and an old woman ushered him inside. Her face was lined with age. No doubt a roadmap of her long life of hardship. “Whachu’ li’e?” she asked in an unintelligibly thick accent. “What would I like?” Scotty repeated hesitantly. “Nothing, specific. Just…. sort of looking.” “No one come to look. Come to buy!” she snapped harshly. “Wha’ you need?” Scotty backed away from her slowly offering a non-threatening smile as he perused the items on the shelves.
The small establishment was rich with the scents of the various wares. The herbal aroma, not altogether unpleasant, permeated the premises. Scotty spotted a small collection of Chinese delft drug jars for storing medications lined against one wall. He picked up an unusual shape and carefully turned the delicate jar to see the intricate blue markings on the white glazed porcelain. “How much is it?” asked Scotty fascinated with the beautiful little jar, though it was not what he’d come in search for. “Fi’teen dolla’” replied the old lady sharply in her clipped English. “It’s beautiful” Scotty complimented, wishing she would stop staring at him with her steely gaze and let him browse the store in peace. Walking up to Scotty the shop keeper asked, “You li'e potion? Fo’ inside?” she asked pointing into the jar. Scotty just looked at her in confusion. “Come, come, come!” she demanded sharply, directing him to walk over to the cramped space in front of the cash register. Scotty stared at the display of jars filled with herbs, pills, potions and elixirs in fascination. Mortals and pedestals, scales and weights, and antique implements for compounding and dispensing drugs were also displayed. “Jiang Lau!” the old woman shouted suddenly, startling Scotty into nearly dropping the small jar he still held in his hands. In answer to her call, a young teenager, no more than fifteen ran into the room and rattled something that sounded somewhat apologetic in his native tongue. The woman responded, pointing to Scotty and then towards the herbal medicines.
“Hello” said the boy addressing Scotty in an only slight accent. “My name is Jiang and this is my grandmother. She says you need a potion?” Scotty touched his chest in a ‘Who? Me?’ gesture, taking on a look of righteous indignation, shocked that she had jumped to that conclusion without his uttering a word. “I never said…” Scotty started, before abruptly stopping mid-sentence. The boy, not rightly caring whether Scotty made the purchase or not, just shrugged off Scotty’s denial. “Mister, would you like a potion or not?”
After being met with wide eyed silence, the boy continued, “What do you require? Happiness, health, money? ….Maybe love?” “What would you recommend?" asked Scotty, curiosity getting the better of him. “It depends on what you are lacking,” was the simple reply. “All of the above?” said Scotty with a small nervous chuckle. “I suppose you don’t have a potion for desperate?” he joked nervously. Not getting a reaction, he quickly added in hushed tones, “A love potion might be nice….” The boy rattled off something to his grandmother and the old woman gave Scotty one last piercing and judgmental look before throwing bits of this and that into a small paper sack. She then yanked the jar out of Scotty’s hands, wrapping it in tissue, rang up the items, and presented him with a total. Scotty stared at her for a moment in disbelief wondering when exactly he had committed to buying anything he’d been charged for, but somewhat afraid to argue the point. He made a mental note that he’d give Jordan a piece of his mind, since the little adventure had been his doing. But wanting to just get the experience over and done with, he handed the old shop keep a twenty dollar bill, grabbed his purchases and headed towards the exit as quickly as he could without bothering to wait for his change. Scotty barely had muttered a small ‘thank you’ as he hastily fled the premises, vowing never to return to Chinatown on his own again.
****
Jordan and Scotty sat at the small kitchen table staring at the contents of the small paper sack. “So what do you do with it?” asked Jordan.
“Well, I don’t know Jordan. I figured on asking you. It was your idea.”
“Well, don’t look at me, I’ve never been in need of these services. Didn’t it come with instructions?”
“Do you see any instructions Jordan?” asked Scotty in frustrated sarcasm. Forcing himself to calm down, he sighed and continued, “It looks like tea. Don’t you think? Maybe I should just brew it.”
“Well here goes nothing,” said Jordan getting up and walking over towards the stove. He picked up the tea kettle and filled it with water. “So who drinks the potion, you or him?”
“How am I supposed to know? Maybe we both should drink some - and stop calling it a potion. That’s just creepy. It’s an herbal remedy. That’s all.”
“Oh, ok Scotty, and spiking the drink of your unsuspecting crush with an ‘herbal remedy’ so that he’ll finally notice you and ask you out is perfectly normal,” sassed Jordan as he picked up his belongings. “Fingers crossed for you honey, but I gotta go,” he said as he air kissed Scotty and headed out of the kitchen. Scotty heard a muffled “Loooove yoooou!” sung out from the other side of the apartment's closed door.
“Yeah, sure you do,” said Scotty under his breathe sarcastically.
******
After Scotty had showered and dried off, he stood with a towel draped around his hips as he stared mindlessly into his closet. Finally he settled on his newest slacks and a shirt and tie that complimented the shade of his eyes. After dressing, he headed out, stopping in the kitchen for the small thermos containing the herbal brew. Staring at it nervously he wondered why he just couldn’t introduce himself like a normal man would. He chastised himself critically. The man of his dreams would be at the bar. He was a man of habits, and he’d shown up at the bar to watch the game, every Friday night over the past month like clockwork. He wasn’t particularly friendly and had never given Scotty so much as a sidelong glance, but Scotty had noticed him. Plenty of times. Scotty longed to meet him, but hadn’t worked up the nerve. Perhaps the potion would give him the confidence he required.
By the time he arrived, he’d formulated a haphazard plan. He simply would order a drink asking the bartender to incorporate the elixir into the mix. Such things were certainly frowned upon, but there was something to be said for favors amongst friends. Then he’d have the special beverage sent to his secret crush - not an unusual activity in a bar by anyone’s standards. After the potion had been consumed, he’d work up the courage to meet the man of his dreams.....
Just as Scotty entered the establishment his daydreaming was interrupted when he heard the chiming alert of a new text. “Just breathe. He’s gonna love you. J-” Scotty had been frustrated with Jordan, but his scheming aside, he’d been there for Scotty, he always had. Scotty then realized that what he'd needed all along wasn't potions or elixers, but the listening ear and bit of reassurance he'd gained from his friend. Scotty responded to the text, “Sorry. I can get grumpy. Thanks for everything. XOXO.”
Tossing the plastic thermos in the recepticle, Scotty reconsidered his options. ‘He’ll either like me or he won’t, and it’s high time I found out which’. It didn't take long for Scotty to spot the handsome stranger alone at a barstool. He was watching the game playing on a nearby flat screen as he drank an amber colored beverage from a small glass tumbler. Scotty inhaled a deep calming breath and slowly approached him. “This seat taken?” asked Scotty a bit nervously, offering a hesitant smile. The man, startled at first, met his eyes with a lingering and appreciative gaze. “No not at all. I’m Kevin,” he said in a rich baritone voice, extending his arm in a handshake that had goose bumps tingling up and down Scotty’s spine. “I’m Scotty. A pleasure to meet you”. “The pleasure is all mine,” Kevin replied genuinely with a warm smile.
The end