forthedog | (no subject)

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lennox

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He knows he has no reason to be nervous about this. It's not like it's an offensive question, and fuck, it's not like Lennox is even likely to say no. But he's never asked a question quite like this, not even proposing, if what had happened on the beach could even properly be called a proposal, and his fingers are feeling a little twitchy as he heads toward the Hamlet and Lennox's hut, and once he's there he pauses outside it.

He's not nervous. That's fucking stupid. If he's nervous now, how the fuck is he supposed to handle the real day?

"Hey, man," he calls. "You around?"

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"Yeah," comes the long, slow drawl of an answer and there's a sound of stumbling around inside the hut before the door opens and Lennox is standing there with a lit joint in one hand. "Hey, man," he says, grinning lazily. He's always glad to see Mike, but when he's more stoned than usual, he's especially glad to see Mike.

"What's up? You okay? You wanna smoke?" It kinda looks like he needs it right now.

And he should have known that this was going to be fine. "Yeah," he says with a sudden grin, stepping forward. "Yeah, I really fucking would, if you don't mind sharing." Not that Lennox ever has in the past.

Lennox gives Mike a look that makes it clear he doesn't mind sharing, then comes down the stairs, followed by the dogs, and flops down on the nearby bench in his front yard. "Come and get it, man," he says, still grinning, holding the joint out to Mike. "So what's up? Just coming to hang out?"

"God, no," he says, grinning and rolling his eyes as he takes both a seat and the joint and inhales. He closes his eyes briefly with a soft cough and hands it back. "I fucking hate hanging out with you. Goddamn chore."

"Yeah, I hear I'm a pretty huge pain in the ass," Lennox agrees, eyes closed as he smirks. Now and then he even hears it from the guy he's maybe dating, although neither of them ever call it dating and he's still pretty sure Miguel isn't entirely sure whether or not he's into guys. It's cool, though. It works right now. "So you're just here to steal my joint then."

"That," he says, leaning back and looking off into the middle distance, "and I was kinda wondering if maybe you wanted to, y'know, be my best man. Or something." And he chuckles, both at how ridiculous the question even sounds, and at the idea of having a best man. At his polygamous gay wedding.

If the Island has a limit on crazy, he hasn't found it yet.

Lennox sits up a little straight, almost immediately sobering up at Mike's question and he looks over at his friend. "Seriously?" he asks, looking a little flattered and a little embarrassed and more than a little happy, all at the same time. "You really want me to be your best man?"

"Yeah, I do," he says, grinning and shrugging. Now that it's been said, it doesn't seem like a big deal at all. "I mean, Neil's got one. I can't think of anyone I'd want more to be mine." Just about no one else he's closer to who he isn't already marrying. Somehow they've both lasted this long, here while other people come and go.

"Yeah," Lennox answers, his face splitting into a wide grin. "Man, of course. You don't even need to ask. Except, you know, how you do, because otherwise I wouldn't know, but... well, of course."

That's the point he's trying to make.

"Great," he says, grinning happily as he stretches out his legs, heels against the ground. Suddenly he feels good, and it's not just the pot.

"So how the fuck are you doing, besides being in my fucking wedding?"

Lennox lifts his shoulders, thinking about Miguel and everything they don't talk about. "I think I'm dating that guy," he says finally, frowning faintly. "But I don't know. We don't talk about that sorta shit."

"You 'think'?" He raises an eyebrow, giving Lennox a look. "Like... what, do you not talk about it because he doesn't want to, or you don't want to, or what?"

"I think... he probably doesn't want to talk about it," Lennox answers slowly. "Which I'm pretty much okay with most of the time. It's cool. I don't wanna force anyone into anything, y'know?"

"No," he says. "Guess not." And he can't help thinking back to when he and Tom were just starting out, fighting and fucking and very emphatically Not Talking About It. Because talking about it would have made it real.

And those had been bad times.

"Long as you're happy," he says, and smiles just a little. "That's what counts, right?"

Lennox isn't sure that he's really happy. He likes Miguel a lot and he likes the time they spend together, but he also knows the longer they don't say anything just means the more time in which Miguel has to find someone else.

Because he will. Because that's how this happens.

But Lennox just nods and grins. "Yeah, exactly," he agrees.

Just for a moment, he thinks about Chris. He doesn't want to but it comes bubbling up to the surface anyway, and he wonders what Chris would think of all this. He'd like to believe it would be enough that he's happy. He'd like very much to believe that.

But Chris is long gone now. And a lot has changed.

"Never woulda fuckin' believed any of this," he says, leaning back again. "Never woulda even believed we'd still be here. Guess that counts for something, too."

"It's been a long fucking time," Lennox agreed. He couldn't imagine ever leaving the island. After going home and seeing Chris and knowing they'd never have the same thing back home that they had here, he knew he never wanted to go anywhere.

"Wait, for this best man thing, do I have to wear a suit?" he asked, grinning. "Or can I just wear one of those shirts with a suit pattern on the front?"

He chuckles, shaking his head. At both ideas, really, which just now seem equally funny. "It's not gonna be that kind of wedding, I think," he says. "You wanna wear a suit, you go ahead, but I think you might be the only one."

"So a more casual feel, then," Lennox said, nodding his head. "Got it, man. I will show up exactly as you need me to." That was the job of the best man.

"I know you will," he says, still grinning. "Wouldn't have asked you if I had any doubt about that."

He pauses for a second as something else occurs to him. "Not gonna be doing a bachelor party or anything, either, I think," he says. "Unless you wanna get high outta our minds on the beach or something." Which actually sounds pretty okay, albeit not the kind of behavior he thinks he'll be expected to stop once he's married.

"I always wanna get high out of my mind on the beach," Lennox retorted, but he understood the desire not to have a big party. It wasn't like that on the island. There wasn't any loss that needed to be celebrated before a wedding and he liked that. "Anything you want, man, you know I'm good for it."

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