The Astronomy Suite In The Arms Hotel | Saturday Evening

[dollpocalypse]

It had officially been forever since the guys' last drinking night, so with the six of them all on the island for a weekend, there was really no excuse not to have some kind of gathering. And since Topher's hotel room had space on the ceiling and awesome futuristic-looking furniture, there was pretty much exactly no question about where this gathering would be.

And with an alcohol tolerance that had been drastically reduced by going almost fourteen years without drinking at all, Topher stood a very high chance of getting stupidly drunk tonight. It was probably going to be hilarious.

The bar was stocked to capacity with, among other things, every necessary ingredient for every girly cocktail ever invented, and Topher had hauled the entire contents of his office's Drawer of Inappropriate Starches onto the table for the occasion. (Ivy would get more for him before he got back to LA, he was sure. ...He was mostly sure.)

"B-t-dubs, there's astronaut ice cream in the bathtub," Topher announced loudly to everyone. "...No idea why it's there. But Ben gets last dibs."

Cruel, Topher. Cruel.

[[for the 20-years-older nerds! let's see if two decades made them more responsible.]]

Comments

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Wow, this brings back memories." Didn't it just, Tony?

[ultron_junior]

"I never got into the suites back when we lived here," Victor said, taking in the room. "Nice. A lot nicer than I expected from Topher."

He smiled over at Tony. "How's it going?"

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"You mean there isn't enough Cheetos dust on things?" Tony asked with a grin.

[ultron_junior]

"And I think there might be fewer computers in here than there are people," Victor nodded. "Or at least a one-to-one-ratio."

[dollpocalypse]

From the completely detached standpoint of a guy who was dating an unbelievably attractive and morally-ambiguous neuro genius, Topher did take a moment to observe that his crush on Tony back in the day had been well-founded. Someone had aged well.

Anyway.

In response to Tony's remark, Topher wondered, "Of space, or making bad life decisions?"

Why not both?

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Probably the life choices," Tony replied with a grin. "Knowing this group."

[dollpocalypse]

"Very possibly," Topher agreed, pointing two fingers in Tony's general direction. "We might want to avoid buying zoos tonight. Or 'decorating' the bar with fire, or throwing Warren at--" He glanced around the room. "Scratch that. No Warren. In that case, we should definitely avoid throwing people at the walls."

[selfhelphero]

"It's kind of nice that the places here are as timeless as the island," Billy said, smirking at Tony. Being around him wasn't nearly as intimidating as it used to be, and he was grateful for that. "Of course, there are some places in the city that would rival this suite."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Clearly you're not going to the right places if it's just 'rival'."

[selfhelphero]

"Well, not all of us can flash our goatee and get in anywhere," Billy said. "Or flash other things, for that matter."

[ultron_junior]

Victor was over by the bar, mixing some incredibly girly pink thing with Malibu and pomegranate juice that Molly had kept giving him until he developed a taste for them.

"Anybody want a Princess Powerful?" he asked. "It's the wife's signature drink. It's better with umbrellas."

[dollpocalypse]

"Sign me up for anything with an umbrella," Topher said at once. "Those improve everything."

Also, with a tilt of his head: "Did I know you were married?"

Yeaaaah, he'd been out of the loop for a while.

[ultron_junior]

"For like .... six years. We sent you an invitation." Which Topher hadn't responded to, but whatever. "And we have a four-year-old girl and a boy about to turn one."

Victor didn't sound as if he bore a grudge about it as he deftly poured a second Princess Powerful. "You really have tuned out, huh?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Ah. It may have been longer than that since I last checked the mail," Topher said, nodding sagely. "I kind of live at the office these days. It's a whole big thing."

A thing. Okay.

"So... how's married life, man?" he asked, sounding overeffusively friendly. "Is it as mind-numbing as TV and my divorced co-worker have led me to believe?"

[selfhelphero]

"Are you sure that's safe? Not everyone has Molly's constitution," Billy teased, even as he went for one of the glasses.

[ultron_junior]

"I mix 'em a lot weaker than she does," Victor promised, with a little laugh. "But you can cut it with more juice if you're worried."

He stuck an umbrella in Billy's cup. "So how have you been? Any exciting worldsaving lately?"

[selfhelphero]

"It's been a lot of repeats lately. AIM keeps popping up like they think maybe, just maybe, they won't get smacked down this time. It's almost amusing," Billy said, playing with the umbrella. "How are things going for you guys?"

[momslilassassin]

"Sounds terrifically manly," Ben declared. "I'll have two."

[ultron_junior]

"It puts hair on my chest," Victor deadpanned, passing a cup over. "Man, it's been ages. How are you? How's Ender?"

[momslilassassin]

"Good," Ben said, smiling. "We're living on a planet called Trondheim--Ender's a professor. It's been nice today waking up when we wanted to instead of when the kids got up."

[momslilassassin]

Ben wandered in eventually from his own hotel room. "Astral ceiling," he declared, trying to figure out which galaxy it was depicting.

Because nerd.

[dollpocalypse]

"Right?"

Best ceiling ever.

Anyway-- "Ben, you're in luck," Topher announced. "We still have like a whole gallon of space ice cream left. You can take it and elope with it."

[momslilassassin]

"Pretty sure Ender would kick my ass," he said with a laugh. "At least if I ran off without even checking what flavor it was first."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"You would think so!" Judging you, Ben. Judging you.

[momslilassassin]

"Well, unlike some people, I don't spend my life in penthouse suites," Ben said, grinning over at him. "It's good to see you, Tony."

This was a happier, less alcoholic version of Ben, thank goodness.