Baby you're a firework [4th of July Gathering]

[jeongbro]

From Candlewood, Henry could hear the party going on northeast of town, the thud of distance bass and the pop of fireworks and the shrill of cars put to the test. And how shit was that?

He texted Blue, first. A soft, subtle inquiry, a joke of an invitation, but a broad one. One for all of them. He remembered Ronan's arm in that cast, and him saying it was from Kavinsky, and Henry had no duty to them, but it would be good to keep all of them away from the mess that was going on at that party outside of town. None of them had to come, of course. They were all their own people, adults--and a ghost who was as good as one, in Henry's eyes--and they were each allowed their own decisions.

So Henry texted Any plans for the 4th Wendybird? And then he followed it up, even before she could answer, I think my place could use some Virginian charms.

He had no decorations. Fourth of July over the past two years had become a thing tainted by Joseph Kavinsky. But he could, easily, go down a couple blocks and buy more two-liter bottles of Pipsy and lemon-lime soda than he could possibly need, and some liquor and mixers, and chips and dip. If he didn't use it all up, he'd bring it to Panoptes. And that seemed like a good enough way to ignore that Joseph Kavinsky was trying to blow himself up, to him.


[Running as a gathering]

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[jeongbro]

Henry nodded, because the offer had been meager at best, and he hadn't really been expecting Adam to take him up on it. He had other things to do with his time, of course. Going to college classes and working his jobs and driving a motorcycle and dating scowling boys.

Not that Blue didn't have things to do, as well.

"It's surprisingly hard to find time. I think we all fell into filling our days a bit," Henry commiserated. Then, without any particularly segue, he said, "Come help me pick some music before Lynch glares a hole in the side of my head."

[incognoscibilis]

"He's going to glare a hole in the side of your head no matter what. It's just his face." It wasn't meant as a slight against Ronan, just a statement of fact. Ronan's smiles were rare and guarded things and Adam hoarded them a little like a dragon sometimes, though he wasn't the only cause of them.

"But I'll do it so I can say we tried."

[jeongbro]

"I still haven't decided if that's just him or if it's an Irish thing," Henry said, somewhat speculatively. He got up from the couch and waited for Adam to join him, with or without chips, to adjourn to the kitchen were Henry's laptop was. Henry rather liked the layout of his apartment, since the breakfast bar of the kitchen meant that the whole space was fairly open.

He hated having to have an apartment, all to himself, in a strange and impossible city, a lifetime and dimension away from everything he'd ever known. But at least the layout was alright.

[incognoscibilis]

Adam thought of Declan Lynch and his easy politician's smile or Matthew Lynch and his uncomplicated devotion. True, one of them was a dream thing but that didn't make them any less Lynch or any less Irish.

If he were Blue, he would have had some flat, nuanced comment about stereotyping Irish people.

What he had, instead, was a shrug as he followed Henry. "Ronan's been through a lot."

[jeongbro]

Henry lifted a hand and wobbled it, comme ci comme ça, because in Henry's opinion, this did not actually excuse too much. Explain, yes. But not excuse. Adam and Gansey and Blue and Noah had all been through a lot. Henry himself had been through his variety of things. None of them tried to punch everything with a pulse.

It didn't matter. Everyone had their methods. Henry did not judge.

He pulled up his streaming service, which briefly flashed the free trial week, pay later! option before registering that he had a code that bypassed that nonsense. "Help me pick something to listen to."

[incognoscibilis]

"Not Tiffany Charlotte and not Todd Chad," Adam suggested. Whatever weird influence those singers had over the people of Darrow, it had largely escaped influencing the outsiders.

"I don't even know what music you like." Or any of them really, beyond that Ronan liked loud and angry EDM and that Gansey hated it on principle.

[jeongbro]

"I don't even know who those are, so we're in luck," Henry said, because as far as he knew, those names had not infiltrated the ranks of his music just yet. It might happen. He'd be sure to down vote it, if and when it did--unless it was good music. Who knew. Maybe this Tiffany Charlotte was Darrow's Madonna.

"I like music." This was broad and encompassing, but it at least got them to a song to start everything off with. Maybe a little more soft-techno than anyone else in the room might be alright with, but Adam had not supplied input.

[incognoscibilis]

"Enjoy the ignorance while you can," Adam said. Darrow as a whole seemed pathologically attached to a pop star who'd been dead now for a few years.

The music had a heavy pulse, the kind that would probably satisfy Ronan's need for a strong bass, even if there wasn't much screaming. Adam just knew it wasn't country and that was good enough for him. That was a genre that had gotten left behind in the trailer if at all possible.

[jeongbro]

Henry laughed, because that seemed an awful lot like some sort of threat about this miserable place, but Adam said it with a sort of long-suffering levity that made the laughter seem appropriate. When the music started, Adam seemed content with the choice, and the briefest glance toward Ronan still pinned to the wall by his own discontent found at least a fraction of relaxation in his shoulders.

"Good enough for now." Henry set the music to shuffle, and hope he didn't thoroughly embarrass himself with anything too insufferably Korean.