they don't burn up in the sky but they can dazzle or delight (OPEN)

[doublethepain]

It takes a couple hours before he realizes that he probably shouldn't have volunteered for inventory duty at the library the same morning he'd gotten the splints off his fingers. It still feels strange, having his left hand finally free and clear, and he's been carefully flexing his hand since he'd left the hospital with regular exercises he's supposed to strengthen it again. There's still an ache in the three fingers that had been broken, or at least he thinks there is; but every time his boss notices the faraway look on his face when he should really be notating any books in poor condition.

"I'm fine, John," he says, arching an eyebrow though there's a smile that plays at the corners of his lips. "For the eighteenth time."

"It's a holiday, you should be with your boyfriend," John grumbles, and Spencer rolls his eyes because that's rich coming from a man with a wife and daughter.

He feels his phone vibrate in his back pocket and knows who it is before looking, though his smile only widens when he sees that it is, indeed, Joel. "I'm going to take a break," he announces, clapping John on the back--a gesture reserved for the only man who's ever come close to being a father figure to him--as he starts backwards toward the break room while furiously tapping at his phone to write his reply. He's distracted once he reaches the kitchen, reaching into the cabinet and grabbing a bowl of ramen as he wanders over to the microwave. He sets his phone down, smiling to himself as he just stands there for a moment, thinking about how good things are in his love life right now. It's unlike anything he's ever experienced and he puts the ramen bowl into he microwave without thinking, setting the time for three minutes from now and looking back down at his phone as the screen brightens with a new text. John calls for him then from the shelves and he shouts that he's on his way, snatching his phone from the counter and leaving the microwave running as he heads back out to meet his boss.

Half a minute later, he's got an armful of books but when they hear it, a pop from the break room followed by a quick booming noise, it makes the pair exchange a startled glance before they both drop the books in their arms and run to see what had happened. There's smoke billowing from the microwave and a fire is lit up inside, and Spencer's jaw drops as it clicks immediately. He hadn't even broken the seal on the ramen bowl, hadn't filled it with water or anything, he'd just let it... "Ohhhh, no," he groans, rubbing at his temple and to put salt in the wound, the world deems it necessary for the smoke to trigger the fire alarm.

It's not even a surprise when the sprinklers go off but at least it's centralized to the break room. He and John stand there for a moment, already soaked by the sprinklers, but when the sirens sound from outside, John drops his head and sighs. "Well, kid," he starts, and Spencer is relieved to see that when John looks back up, there's an amused smile on his face, "I guess we weren't going to be able to get through the Fourth of July without a few fireworks."

The paramedics and firefighters seem almost disappointed when Spencer explains what had happened, but they've attracted a crowd. It's a slow emergency day for the town, Spencer suspects, as awful as that may sound. He wanders away from the ambulance, hands shoved in his pockets as he observes the chatter of the gawking spectators around them and shakes his head.

"Surely there's something better that everyone could be doing."



[OOC: tl;dr Spencer accidentally blew up the library's break room and now there's a crowd, an ambulance, and a fire truck outside the building. Feel free to stop by and tell him he's an idiot. A very cute idiot.]

Comments

[just_another]

He's closed the store early, because it's a holiday and really, there's no real point in owning his own business if he can't choose when to close it randomly and without warning. He's at least had the decency to add a little note to the closed sign, making it clear he's closed specifically for the holiday and will be back to his relatively regular hours by the next day and although he's still a little shaken from the conversation he's had with his parents, although he's not sure how he feels about them coming to visit for the first time in eight years, he still manages to wear a faint smile as he walks toward the library. That's something special, he thinks, no matter what his mother might think. There's no one else in this world who makes him smile the way Spencer does and he nods to himself, his smile growing a little bit brighter as he turns the corner.

Abruptly, the smile is gone. There's an ambulance in front of the library and a fire truck and though no one looks particularly worried, there's still a group of people gawking at the scene of... whatever it is that's happened and Joel finds himself rushing forward, elbowing people out of the way, his heart pounding in his chest and a sick feeling rising in the back of his throat.

"Spencer?" he calls, catching sight of Spencer's boss first. John is a kind man, though Joel has admittedly kept his distance, a little nervous of what he might have to say about their relationship. Even so, he's the only familiar face on the scene and Joel is heading straight for him when he finally sees Spencer's familiar build and a wave of relief hits him, strong enough to stop him in his tracks.

[suchgoodluck]

"Oh my God, are you freaking kidding me?" Cosette gapes at the sight of the library. Her main source of income, and there's smoke and ambulances and fire trucks. And Spencer, standing to the side with John, looking rather guilty.

"Okay, what did you do?" She demands, hands on hips.

[owenphillips]

There really wasn’t anything better for Owen to be doing. Most of the escorts had been booked out weeks in advance due to the date and other than making sure via text that everyone was where they should be, he was self-entertaining for the day. Owen had never been a huge celebrator of the 4th of July. Sure as a teen it was an excuse to get drunk. But with both his parents being British, they’d never really understood the concept of a country having a day to celebrate them. As a complete American Owen understood it, he’d just never really gotten into it.

Although a good barbeque was always appreciated – so he’d been heading, to buy take out barbeque. He’d been driving past the library in his chair just when the fire engine rolled up. And like most individuals, he took that as a sign to stop and try to figure out what exactly was going on. (Owen secretly thought it might have been kids with fire crackers, since he may or may not have had a similar experience as a teen.) He sees a guy who came out the building and can’t help asking, “Hey, um, what exactly is going on?”