borger time | garner + friends

[Deleted]

b e n e n    g a r n e r   .

It's another boring tuesday afternoon at work when Benen decides it's time for another good day. 

His family doesn't get those too often; most people in this world don't. Maybe in another lifetime, but the Panem he knows has never been the one to let the good times roll. What's a father to do but try anyways? And try he might, passing word to his own brothers to invite them over for the weekend. Them and their kids and his kids and Georgia too, if she actually wants. 

Sure enough, she doesn't. At first she pretends, entertains him for his own good, but come Thursday she talks of visiting her parents instead, and he just sighs and plays along. The space between them is almost a good thing, Benen almost unable to relinquish himself of the guilt that follows from his affair. He hardly even tries, even in just the buds of whatever is going on between him and Cass, he doesn't regret letting the doctor fill what space used to belong to his wife. 

Oh well, let's have a damn good time. 

Benen gets his daughters to help him bring everything outside, emptying half the contents of their fridge and pantry out onto the back patio table. It's a warm summer day, only two clouds in the sky and the sun between them kissing down on them. The Garner dad double checks everything before starting, beers and burgers lined up for the dads with snacks laid out for the hungry gremlins. He lights the grill shortly before lighting a cigar to match, throwing on the patties around the time he expects people to start showing up.

And even if they don't, hey, more burgers for him. 

[d7m fraser birk ♚ frankel]

Cassias Navarro.

Suddenly an empty weekend was filled for Cassias when his so called colleague, dropped an invite after a long hard shift.

Mingling with Benen and his family, it is a strange next outing after their last appointment at Cassias’ apartment. Their only encounters since have been at the hospital and maybe that is how it should be. Benen has a family, a wife after all. A mistake led by the cocktails of liquor handed to Benen by a bad influence like Cassias should not shatter that. Cassias is not one to be a home wrecker, not in his state at forty years old. Those kinds of acts happened two decades ago.

There has been a change in him though, he leaves the house with two plates left waiting to be rinsed in the kitchen sink. The other day he forgot his personal hand sanitizer at home, and he is even seen without a mask on his face in the hospital, only in the presence of the high-risk patient. The ring intended for Minerva has found its home in a miscellaneous drawer too.

It is a fair walk to Benen’s home, he drops by the grocery store for a few bottles of beers and sweet treats, it feels wrong to turn up empty handed. It takes a conflict in his mind to carry on walking past the jameson bottles, his wife will be there, it is not an appropriate gift. They are not alone this time.

He finally rocks up at the road where Benen’s house is, he drops a look at the watch on his wrist, fuck, I am too early! The grocery bags of bottles rattle as he walks up the sidewalk, there is a fresh smell of a newly lit barbecue lingering in the air and then the sight of Benen Garner at its helm on the patio. It is just him, alone and something in Cassias makes him hurry up the footpath of the Garner’s garden towards the lone man.

Then one of his daughters walk out of the house with a plate of burger patties and he slows down.

Cassias dumps his offerings onto the food table, grabbing two bottles of beer and popping off the caps. ”Am I early, or is everyone else late?” He says through a grin, while handing one of the opened bottles to Benen. Then the small talk sets in. There is a lot for him to say to Benen but this is not the right place. ”You got lucky with the weather today.” He says, raising his bottle to the sky.

ELEGANT

[Deleted]

mayhem on a stick !

Woah, woah, woah, what's this? A family reunion?! 

Count me out- jk I'm 100% going. Black sheep and all that, I'm like a walking red flag to these guys. Look out for ole Ollie, don't be like that guy! Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, I bet I can start talking some fake latin and freak Dorothy the hell out. All om ni a la da and roll my eyes to the back of my head: he's possessed!! Ahh~!!! Haha, yeah right, these idiots wouldn't know a demon if it grew horns right in front of them. Little pitchfork and everything, if the devil popped up at this reunion, I'd be on his side, get what I mean? 

See, I thought I was gonna be late, but I couldn't stand being at home waiting on my posh brothers so I ditched as soon as I could. I've been wearing these jeans for the last three days, what's one more? It's not like I've been like, exorcising- wait no, exercising*, there we go. Come to think of it, I don't know if I like any of my family. Aunt Georgia is okay, if I annoy her enough she'll let me bum a cig and she looks as miserable as I am half the time. More so, I swear she must hate her life. If my kids were as weird as her's I would too! 

I don't bother knocking when I show up, just walk right in and play the world's worst game of Marco Polo I could think of. I'm all like "hello? HellOOOO?" Walking around their house, eating a peach like I'm Goldilocks, inviting myself to a little bit of everything. Ooo, this is a nice pen- mine now, hehe. Eventually I'm like oh they must be outside, icky, sunlight, burning, but that makes sense. 

It is a summer shendig after all. 

"What's up, sexy bitches!" I say, finger guns pointed right at Nessa's big ass forehead. "Hold up, hold up," two annoying brats, balding uncle Benen, and- "who da fuq is that?" I say, leaning into Dorothy so old dude #2 doesn't hear me. Don't wanna be rude, or whatever. I take another chomp out of the peach before scooping the pit out and tossing it into the grass - maybe it'll grow or something.

You're welcome.

"Ahh, whatever. Where's everybody else? Let's get this shit started!" I jump onto the patio bench before whipping my Nashe-pod Nano out of my pocket, metallic rager music blasting away above everyone else. 

[d7m fraser birk ♚ frankel]

FLYNN GARNER

A get together with the family, it can be my training wheels for my return to the hospital in the few days. It will be a nice few weeks of distractions before the annual death circus decays my brain a little further. The psychiatrists will say it is the perfect natural remedy, an alternative to all the laboratory grown chemicals contained within my trusty capsules. This morning I woke in a mutual mood, not a sinking feeling in my chest or a hangover buzz from all the medicines. Just an empty face staring back at me over the bathroom sink that will soon have to force a smile.

Mom is not here, and I am not surprised. She is the only one that is trying to stay away from me. The only one who can see how contagious I am, everyone else is just so blinded. Blinded by caring, their little comfort has made this year a little bearable. I hope Jodie, Dale and the others show their faces, my cousins aren’t exactly the most connectable. Especially the one that is blasting the rage music behind me, disturbing the peace.

I am leant against the handrail of my parents’ patio, a cigarette between the fingers of one hand and a bottle of the beer that Dr Navarro brought in the other. It is always strange seeing one of the senior doctors outside of the hospital, wearing civilian clothes. It almost looks like they are naked.

I take a sip of the beer then alternate my hand for a drag of the cigarette. There is something so irritating about the sound that is being blasted by Ollie right now, fuck that shit is obnoxious. ”Oi Ollie!” I swing round, facing my cousin that is sitting on the patio bench. ”Can you play some better music? That shit is ruining the mood!” As if anything I have to suggest will make it any better, it will probably dim the lights. Even the sun. Snap! I have not even had a burger yet. I should have just stayed at home. Just a couple of hours, I can endure a couple hours. Baby steps. The last party I attended; I got punched in the face. I don’t want to walk away with another bruised eye.

”Everyone else agrees with me, right?” I wait for some kind of validation from anyone out in the garden.

ELEGANT

[Deleted]

mayhem on a stick !

"Oi, Ollie!"

Ollie, Ollie, Oxynfree! Yup, that's me, don't wear it out. Man, he interrupted my head bang! Normally I can go until I get whiplash - seriously, don't believe me? Don't test me, I'll do it, dude, swear on Satan! See, if I wasn't the only poser here I'd be in better company, but even Dorothy's quiet as a mouse. I'd say it's radio silence, but my radio's saving the show hahaha. "Flynn-y boy! What's u-"

"Can you play some better music? That shit is ruining the mood!" 

"Boo!" Who does this guy think he is? My dad?! Flynn's always been a wise guy, thinks he's better than me but I see right through that bullshit. He doesn't even act hard, no bravado to him, just a smart mouth and a dumb ass - HA! "Know what? Sure thing, Phlegm!" I say, before turning to my nano and skipping to a lower track on my BANGERZ playlist: Apocalyptic Bikini! This song's all about dudes in skinny jeans banging hot zombie bimbos, I mean, what more can you even ask for? It's got everything a good song should have.

There's a second where I look around the room and nobody's rocking but me, and it just gets... lame. Boring and lame, the worst two things you can be in this world other than a meathead jock. I drop from the patio table and mess up Dorothy's hair before going over face-to-face with Flynn. "Smoking before noon? You've chaaaanged! Watch out, they'll ruin your pretty little Victor teeth," I warn him, pulling my mouth at the corners to show my fangs and to stick out my tongue. He's a funny kid, Flynn, because he likes to pretend he's unbothered but I know he is. 

I can smell it. 

"Hey, knock it off, Oliver!"

Uncle Receding Hairline kills the mood, whatever. I roll my eyes at the sound of my government name and walk it off. Nobody's laughing but me, so I shut the music off and busy myself with a bag of hot chips the other old dude brought. Better stuff my mouth or else I'll never shut it. 

[Deleted]

b e n e n    g a r n e r   .

Glug, glug, "ahhh." 

If there's anything in this cruel world that gets Benen, it's beer. The hearty taste of wheat swimming down his throat with each sip, it's enough to keep him grounded instead of frying out from the stress of his family. It's the little things, really, that keep you going. He wishes his kids could see that too, but it's all about instant gratification with them. The world's all robots and AIs and cellphones that fit in their pockets; Benen's all about innovation, but it's like nobody leaves their houses anymore. First Flynn shuts himself in, and now Dorothy and Nessa spend their time sending goofy images from across the room rather than just talking. Nobody leaves their houses anymore, and even Ben himself is guilty in that. 

He's missed the sun, his life has been consumed by late nights in the hospital and late mornings at home. There's hardly any time to get people together, so when Cassian - Navarro? What are they in front of the kids? - pops in from the gate, a gleeful exclamation escapes him in the form of an "ayy!" His coworker (coworker, really?) meets him at the grill after plopping down his own goods, splitting a beer and making small talk while Benen watches the man's lips between sips. "Oh, yeah, the weather's pretty nice," there's a skip of adrenaline that goes through him that says fuck it. Do something else, say something else, but he's got to be a family man first. 

"Usually I feel like the weather channel is lying when they say it isn't overcast. Guess they weren't wrong this time," he says with another sip before setting the bottle down. He fastens his Daddio of the Patio teal apron and starts slapping patties on the grill. There's a pep in his step with Cass around that can only be dampened by Aiden's strangest son: Oliver. The music's trash, it makes Benen whip his head over his shoulder in disbelief - "what the hell? Oh," of course it's that kid. 

He looks from his nephew to his grill to his affair- nope, definitely don't call him an affair- "sorry, that kid's... well," what's a nice way to put it?

Flynn steps up to shut him up while the patties sear on one side, the smell of cooking beef a loving aroma to Benen. He takes a second to sip his beer again as his son and nephew argue like boys do, until eventually Ben shouts a "knock it off!" from the sidelines. At least the music ends; for a second the kids are distracted and Benen fantasizes about slipping a kiss to Cassian while he can. But he looks, up and down, and resists altogether. 

Benen looks to his grill before speaking, flipping his burgers as he says, "you know, we've got to hang out more, man! Happy you came," spoken inconspicuously to the thoughts of what they'll do when they're left alone.