MCA0, Late Late *Late* Thursday Night

[needsaparrot]

If the apartment where Xander is waiting for a certain ex-jailbird -- no, the other one -- to finally make an appearance smells like leftover Chinese, it's probably the leftover Chinese. Food, that is; the delivery guy from Ching Tai didn't stay. Isabel had, for a while, but when the call finally came through that Bridge was on his way back, she'd taken it as her cue to head home and get some much-deserved sleep.

Xander hadn't had a lot of that himself in the last few days, not the good kind, but somehow he didn't have any problem waiting up.
___

[OOC: For the water-spanning-structure-person. Best Roomie Ever handwavied with permission.]

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[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

After he'd seen Z back to her room, Bridge had seriously considered spending the night out in the hall. But then, he reasoned, Luke was incredibly unlikely to let Z sneak out on him, so he figured it was okay if he left.

Which is why he's letting himself in to Xander's apartment, closing the door behind him as quietly as he can, just in case Xander happens to be asleep. "Hello?" he calls out softly.

[needsaparrot]

"Kitchen!" Xander calls back, except he's out of there and setting his carton-covered tray on the coffeetable and over to Bridge before he's really let his lips close on the "...n!"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

And there's clinging, yes. "Hi," Bridge greets him again. "You're still up."

[needsaparrot]

"Four double-mochas'll do that to you."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"...Okay, yeah," Bridge says, because it's not like he *hasn't* been depending on caffeine to keep him awake all this week. Only less with the mochas and more with the coffee dispensed from a vending machine. "I missed you. Which you know because we said that on the phone, but. Hi."

[needsaparrot]

Xander grins. "Hi. There's food." He points towards the living room. "That didn't come from a vending machine."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"...I love you so much right now," Bridge says, flopping down on the couch. "Like, really a lot."

[needsaparrot]

Xander starts dumping various ricey and noodly things onto a plate. With a fork, because he's guessing this is not the night for chopsticks. "You can thank Izzy for it - the Chinese at least. The mass quantities, I might cop to."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yes, well. I love Isabel too. Though in an entirely different way. And I'll let her know of my gratitude... again in an entirely different way."

[needsaparrot]

"I appreciate that. We're different people. I'm taller and stuff."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Mmhmm," Bridge says, around a mouthful of noodles. "Oh man, food that's not Doritos. Or road cookies," he sighs happily.

[needsaparrot]

"....Road cookies?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Bridge says. "You know, those cookies that come in little packages and are full of like, chemicals and preservatives and stuff?" He rummages through his pockets until he finds an unopened package of the aforementioned cookies. "Oatmeal," he says, handing it over to Xander. "The meal made of oats."

[needsaparrot]

"Oh, road cookies." Xander... doesn't start tearing open the package, or happily take a bite. And then another.

Okay, yes he does.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge laughs at that, and gracefully manages *not* to do so in a way that'd involve noodle-sprayage, because ew. "I did get you an actual present that's not cookies, since I did promise to do that every time I went running off somewhere," he says. "Though I'll admit it was kind of last minute because I didn't even look for anything until after I'd caught up with Z."

[needsaparrot]

"Mmm, preservatives," Xander says blissfully. "Also, you came back and you brought Z back; I'm pretty good with both of those things." He might be understating the matter.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"I know," Bridge grins dorkily at him. "But still, a deal is a deal, you know." There were other promises he'd made, too, about things he'd explain once they were back. And, well. They were back.

[needsaparrot]

"Do you see me turning down presents? This is not my turning down presents face." Xander points to his face. Then he adds, "Is she okay? Z?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"She's... well, she's in one piece?" Bridge tries, fidgeting a bit.

[needsaparrot]

"Yeah, that stopped being a synonym for okay right around the first time Buffy came back from the dead."

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Should've known that wouldn't exactly work with you," Bridge says, finishing off the rest of his plate and putting it back on the coffee table.

[needsaparrot]

"What's going on, Bridge?" Xander asks, as gently as he's physically capable of speaking.

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"You remember when Z and I found out about the accident, and how it had been covered up, and how *that* was supposed to explain how we got our powers and how we ended up at SPD?" Bridge gives a bit of a bitter laugh at that. "Turns out that the accident was just a cover story too."

[needsaparrot]

He does remember, though that was seven years and a lot of cover stories ago. "For what?"

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"They made us," Bridge says quietly. "Our parents, they were all chosen not just because they were top in their respective fields, but because they were all young, recently married... about to start families."