Closed Feeding the Masses

[Cooper Gates]

Cooper had had a busy morning, coordinating an event, and only being able to show up several hours before it began was a pain in the neck. Still, he wasn't about to just leave the catering of his sister's graduation to someone else. He had worked with the cooks at the Inn many times before, so he supposed it could have been worse. Still, he had been forced to leave his friend alone for an hour or two while he went through everything in the kitchen to make sure the food was perfect for the party ahead.

When he was finally satisfied, Cooper went on a search throughout the inn. "Come out come out wherever you are!" He called, running a hand through his hair. The inn was certainly big enough to get lost in, but he knew his way around fairly well. He had visited here often. He made his way through the gathering crowds, stopping by the lobby when he noticed a guy looking lost. Once he had finished pointing the guest in the right direction, he went back to his search, eventually ending up outside one the other end of the Inn. Not the out back where the party was, but the out back that just led to woods. "Hey, you out here?" He called, looking around.

 

[Archer Thompson]

Archer found it hard to believe that he had actually done it, that he had graduated. How did that happen? When did that happen? It felt like days ago when he stepped foot in the french school for the first time and now it was done, over and he might never have to go back there. Well perhaps some day if he had kids and they'd attend the school but that seemed far away and he wasn't even sure yet about where he wanted to live. Did he want to stay in new zealand or did he want to move back to france? He had decided to stay in new zealand for now, at least for a little while at first. If it turned out he missed france far too much then he'd have to reconsider his decision. For now though, he was fine where he was with a job he could spend more time on now that he didn't have to go to school anymore. Not really having that many friends in the country Archer was glad one of his friends from school had invited him to tag along to some sort of graduation party. He'd happily accepted though, glad about the possibility to have some fun. Even if he had to spend some time alone because the other boy had a lot of things to do he figured he'd have a good time. Unfortunately, his sense of direction had never been the best and as he went about exploring the inn Archer got kind of lost, eventually ending up at the completely wrong side of the building as where he should be. After a while though he noticed his friend walking out of the door, obviously looking for him. "Hey!" He called back from the log he had been sitting on since he decided getting some fresh air now he was out there anyways might not be the worst idea. "You know Coop I don't want to say I got lost in there," He laughed as he walked up to the other boy. "But I kind of got lost man."

 

[Cooper Gates]

Cooper smiled as he spotted his friend, sticking his hands in his pockets and sauntering over to meet the man halfway. He chuckled. "I blame myself for that, I should have known better than to leave you alone with your sense of direction," He grinned. "Did you at least see anything interesting?" Cooper asked, running a hand through his bleached hair. "Hey, man, sorry I left you for so long. I had to get the food sorted. I really appreciate you coming with me," He said again, giving his friend his most charming smile to try and make up for ditching him for so long.

 

[Archer Thompson]

Archer laughed at his friends remark, there was really no way he could argue with that as he did have a terrible sense of direction. How his parents had still trusted him to take his sister on a trip with him this summer despite that lack of skill was still questionable to him. "Not really, just.. a lot of trees." He shook his head as he looked around the place. Yeah, definitely a lot of trees. He hadn't seen a lot of interesting things inside, hadn't really paid attention either after he realized he'd gotten lost pretty quickly. "Nah, no worries. Me and the trees had fun." He joked, not even bothered the other boy had left him to fend for himself for quite a while. He was already just happy to be invited and have something to do. "So I figure you're all done with the food now?"

 

[Cooper Gates]

Cooper laughed lightly, throwing an arm over Archer's shoulder. "I'm all done with the food, we can eat it soonish," He reassured Archer. "Thanks for coming along. It's like a big graduation party for a lot of us. My sister Kira and her boyfriend, her twin cousins, me," He shrugged. "I just thought it would be fun to have a friendly face of my own here, ya know? Like I think the twins both invited a few people and Kira and her boyfriend don't know I know but they're going to tell my big brother and her sister they're running off together," He laughed. "Jason may or may not blow a fuse, he's so protective sometimes," He chuckled, shaking his head. "What do you wanna do now? We can go to the party if you wanna," He offered.

 

[Archer Thompson]

"Well it's about time." Archer joked when Cooper mentioned being pretty much done with the food. It wasn't that he had minded being left alone, but he was starting to get hungry. Especially after hanging around knowing his friend was busy making food. How could he not get hungry with the idea of food being made on his mind? He listened on as his friend told him he was happy he came and then a whole lot more of who was there and what might happen. "Happy to tag along, could use a little party myself." He smiled , before trying to piece together what the other boy explained. "Sounds like it's going to be chaos, I like it." He chuckled. Archer wasn't exactly sure who everyone was and what was about to happen but he did feel like he definitely wouldn't get bored. "If that's where the food's at then let's go!" He responded, pointing his finger towards the door yet at the same time waiting for his Coop to start walking because he didn't want to get lost twice before even getting to the party.

 

[Cooper Gates]

Cooper laughed. "Cheeky brat," He teased, knocking his shoulder playfully against Archer's before leading the way back inside. "What are you gunna do after this?" He asked. "I told you I was going to school in Japan I think, have you thought about where you're going next?" He stepped around some guests, keeping the pace casual so he didn't lose Archer. "Whatever it is you're doing, you better still write me," He teased, winking saucily at the other boy.

 

[Archer Thompson]

Archer chuckled as he followed Cooper back inside, glad the other boy went to lead so he wouldn't get lost again. He nodded when his friend mentioned him going to Japan, although he wasn't even sure whether he saw since he was basically walking in front of him. "Yeah you did, that's cool man." He replied, following the boy in making their way around some of the other guests. "Well I did some of those modelling jobs in school and I'm still signed at the agency so I'm going to continue with that. At least for a while." Archer answered the question about what he was going to do. He was pretty excited about it, but after that one conversation he had with someone at school he was also a little bit doubtful of it all. "Hmm I was planning on completely ghosting you but I guess I could write." He joked before patting the other boy on his shoulder. "Nah Coop, I'll definitely write as long as you do the same."

 

[Cooper Gates]

Cooper nodded as Archer said he was going to continue being a model. "That's cool man, you certainly have the look for it," He laughed a bit. "You know, back in the early years of school I used to have the silliest little crush on you?" He laughed again and shook his head. "I got over it though. I'm glad we're friends," He stepped out the last door, grinning as he took in the party and the decorations. "Here we are! And look, they're just wheeling out the food too! Perfect timing," He laughed.

 

[Archer Thompson]

Archer ran a hand through his hair when Cooper agreed he certainly had the looks for it. He knew he did, he'd always been sure he looked good but it was recently when he started maturing that he had started to understand looking good couldn't be the only thing he wanted to rely on in life. He was still pleased with it though, liked the attention or reactions he sometimes got because of it. Definitely not against using his looks either. "Aren't you the cutest Coop!" Archer laughed at his friend's confession, messing up the boy's hair from his position in walking behind him. He did think it was cool they were good enough friends to tell each other something like that though. "Same man." He smiled as he patted the boy's shoulder, definitely glad they were friends. "Good! I'm counting on you to tell me what to try first though." Archer eyed the food as they stepped into the place the real party was at, pretty hungry after having waited so long knowing his friend was preparing food.

 

[Cooper Gates]

Cooper laughed a little, blushing at the jest but pushing it aside. "Hey, hey, easy on the hair," He laughed again, straightening it back out. "Some of us have to work for our good lucks, you know," He teased, taking the time to straighten his shirt. He chuckled, taking Archer's arm in his and leading him towards the tables. "Well, knowing you as well as I do, you definitely need to start with this," He waved a hand, indicating the tray of pies. "You've never had a real pie until you've had one of these," He grinned. "I went with a sweeter plum and honey lamb with just a hint of lemon to balance it out, I think you'll love it," He glanced down the trays a bit. "Or if you want something a little closer to home, I did make sure to make a divine Coq Au Vin, I found a nice bottle of Muscat de Rivesaltes that I think really paired well with it," He realized he was chattering and cleared his throat, laughing lightly. "Sorry, you know how I get with food."

 

[Archer Thompson]

Archer laughed at Coop's mention of people having to work for their good looks. He'd also figured himself lucky he wasn't one of those people, although he certainly knew looks weren't everything. There were more important aspects to people than looks sure, but that didn't mean that they weren't useful every now and then. "Ah man, y'know I'll eat anything that's even remotely sweet." He nodded when his friend pointed at the pies and told him what he'd made of them. It definitely sounded good. He looked at the other dishes for a second but it didn't take him long to sneak a glance at the pies again. Archer nudged his friend's shoulder when he apologized for rambling around the food. "Nah, man, it looks good!" Ofcourse he knew good looking food didn't always have to taste good but knowing Cooper he was pretty sure that it would. Archer continued observing the food before looking around the room for a couple of seconds. "So, any interesting people coming I should know about?"

 

[Cooper Gates]

Cooper laughed, almost tempted to throw a flirty comment about that, but decided against it. He didn't have many friends and he didn't want to mess with the vibe he and Archer had. He smiled at Archer's questions and started pointing people out. "Well, if you look over there it looks like the twins just arrived- Sapphire is an absolute spitfire, and her brother Onyx is the sweetest guy you'll ever meet. Just don't bring up that scar on the side of his head, they had to shave his hair to stitch his head up and he's sensitive about it. Ah," He looked around a bit, "There's my sister Kira, she's going to tell my older brother and her sister that she's taking the year off to travel with her boyfriend. Promises to be very dramatic," He chuckled, nudging Archer. "Wanna grab some food and go sit somewhere?" He asked.

 

[Archer Thompson]

Archer looked at everyone Cooper pointed out with interest, moving his gaze from one person to another as he did while still trying not to be too obvious he was looking at them. Then again his friends was literally pointing them out to him so perhaps it wouldn't be a big deal if they noticed him observing them. "Well you definitely delivered on the 'interesting' part of my question." He responded with a small chuckle, surprised to hear how much seemed to be going on in the boy's family. His was extremely calm compared to that. "For sure." Archer nodded at the mention of grabbing some food and sitting down. If things were actually going to go down as Coop said they would than the evening was yet to become eventful.

sorry this is terrible

 

[Cooper Gates]

Cooper laughed, gathering them a few plates before moving over to sit them down at a table nearby. He cut into his pie, taking a small, experimental bite. He smiled, sighing softly. That was divine. He got up, walking over and finding them a couple of drinks before coming back and offering one to Archer before sitting down again. "So, after the party here, wanna go out for some drinks? Celebrate graduation on all our own," He grinned.