"Dumb all over."

[multiplelove]

Who: Brett Jennings, Cheyne Rousseau, Dion Rousseau and Sally Jennings
What: That awkward moment when you're accidentally a d-bag
Where: Pharmacy, NYC
When: Sunday, late morning

Brett wasn't in the best of moods. It was a result of a really stressful and painful week, plus he had been up during the night talking to Zoran, which was the priority over everything right now, as far as he was concerned. To top it all off, he woke up with a cold and he always had a history of being a miserable shit when he was sick. A cold was all well and good, but for Brett, it usually fucked with his asthma, which he hated having on the best of days. Not being able to breathe properly was something he wouldn't wish on anyone. It was mostly controlled, but still there.

Sunday was family lunch day for the Jennings family and had been as a tradition forever. Usually, Zoran would pick the girls up and drive up to Dobbs Ferry with them because neither of them had cars. Brett usually arrived home from Harvard on a Friday night, driving back with Callum. That week, Zoran was out of action. He had crashed out and it was pretty obvious he wouldn't be up to Sunday lunch. Even if he was feeling shitty, Brett said he would drive to the City to pick Sally and Lila up, and while he was there, he could pick up some cold and flu pills and get his prescription for his asthma meds while he was there.

Lila got tied up with an 'important telephone call', which Brett wagered a guess was nothing to do with work and everything to do with a guy Sal said Lila had heart-eyes over recently, though no one had met him yet. He picked up Sally and they headed to the pharmacy, Brett veering out of his bad mood a little to tease Sally about not needing condoms because her love life was non-existent. The store was busy, which wasn't helping his mood because he didn't feel like peopling right now.

He headed up the aisle with his shopping cart and there was a guy standing right in the middle looking at one of the shelves. "'Scuse me," Brett said, trying to get him to move aside so he could pass. The guy completely ignored him. "Oh, for fuck's sake, move! What are you, deaf?" he demanded bitchily.

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[pirouetteinrhythm]

Cheyne had gotten a Batcall a little earlier from Dion saying his hearing aid batteries had died and he couldn't find his spares. It was Cheyne's day off and Dion had an appointment to go to. Ever since the car accident, Dion didn't really like to go out and about without his hearing aids. He was okay without them at home or around people he knew and trusted, but New York City had to be understandably intimidating rushing along around you when you couldn't hear a sound. Cheyne said he would bring Dion to the pharmacy to get his batteries and then they could have a late breakfast together before Dion's appointment. He planned on sleeping in that morning because he had a huge day of auditions at Joffrey the next day with forty young dancers vying for one single spot.

He had been heading up the aisle to Dion when he heard the dickhead with the shopping cart being a blatantly rude asshole to his brother. He came up next to Dion and put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention, and shot the other guy an icy bitch glare. "Yes. He is," he said coolly. "Would you like me to shove your head up your ass so you know how it feels to be hearing impaired?"

[signsoflife]

Dion had been trying to find the right batteries on the shelf, completely oblivious to the fact anyone was trying to get his attention until Cheyne's hand was on his shoulder. He turned just in time to see what Cheyne was saying from reading his lips and looked over at the guy he was addressing. Cheyne would forever morph into protective big brother mode with anyone who was being rude to Dion about his hearing, or lack thereof, but Dion was the sort who didn't like to make a scene and he was blushing with embarrassment. "Sorry," he said to the guy with a shake of his head. "I didn't..." He was about to say 'hear you', but that much was pretty obvious by now by the vicious bitch look Cheyne was issuing the stranger.

He waved his hand slightly to his brother. "It's okay, don't worry about it. I should have been paying better attention," he signed to Cheyne sheepishly. It was the time of year. Christmas sent people nutty and the shops were always crazy. It was impossible for Dion to pay attention to everything going on around him.

[givemesomelove]

It wasn't condoms that Sally had come to shop at the pharmacy for... unfortunately. Brett felt the need to rub that one into her, but it was painfully true, as annoying as her brother was. She was here picking up a few things on a list their mom had given her over the phone for Zoran. It was typical mom-type stuff that moms kept on hand for when their kids were sick. There was no doubt about the fact that everyone was shellshocked after what Zoran had confessed to at the funeral. There was no doubt about the fact that, before he started to drink heavily, Zoran's father seemed like a beautiful man. The weight of the secret he carried crushed him, and not only destroyed his life and happiness, but also his son's.

She came up to Brett just as one of the men standing in the aisle with him was outright threatening him. She nearly jumped to his defence when she saw the other guy signing. She was fluent in sign language herself, so she knew what he was saying. "What's going on here?" she asked in confusion and then held her hand up to the guy who was signing and apologised to him with signs herself. Wow, he was cute. They both were. Actually, the other guy looked more smouldering than cute, though he also looked like he wanted to smack the shit out of Brett.

[multiplelove]

"Fuck, I'm so sorry," Brett hurried to apologise, feeling like a giant asshole. Especially with that frankly scary look the other guy was giving him. Jesus Fucking Christ, Brett was pretty sure he had never seen anyone look quite that hot and homicidal all at the same time, and that was saying something considering how many bitches he knew. If looks could kill, he would be dead ten times over by now. He didn't know sign language, though now he wished he asked Sally to teach him some now. He was probably being insulted via fingers and he had no clue about it.

He held up his hands in surrender. "I didn't meant to be so rude. I really am sorry. My bad mood got the best of me. Which is no excuse, but it's been a shitty week. That doesn't give me the right to be a cunt. I am really sorry," he said to the guy he had been a douchebag to, even if it was clear he couldn't hear him. "Sal, tell him I'm sorry," he pleaded with his sister.

[pirouetteinrhythm]

The expression on Cheyne's face didn't change. If anything, it got more steely when the guy tried to justify his rudeness. He couldn't care less if half his family dropped dead overnight, it didn't give anyone the right to be that rude. The woman, however, knew sign language and he had to appreciate that she was engaging Dion directly and not assuming he needed a go-between.

"In the future, you shouldn't be so presumptive that someone can hear you when you're clearly being a pushy asshole," he finally said back. It was, indeed, a busy time of the year and Cheyne hated nothing more than battling crowds for Christmas shopping. He was a shop online kind of person. He didn't see how apparently more love went into gifts if you store-bought them yourself and came out with a hernia from dealing with rude people like this person.

[signsoflife]

Cheyne was pissed off, sure, but Dion was used to that. Instead, he couldn't help but smiling when the woman... Sal... was signing to him. It wasn't often you just randomly stumbled across someone who knew sign language, especially someone this cute. No, not even cute. She was stunning. He waved his hand at the guy apologising, trying to tell him it was really okay. "It's okay. You heard him, he's having a bad day. Ease off," he urged his brother.

He turned back to the girl and held his hand out to her in greeting. "I'm Dion," he introduced himself, still smiling. "This is Cheyne, my brother," he added. It was one big awkward situation, but the error hadn't ruined his day or anything. It happened so quick and it was an honest mistake. Rude or not, the guy was trying to apologise.

[givemesomelove]

Dion had a gorgeous smile, which she was relieved to see. She hadn't quite caught what Brett had said or done, but enough to piss Cheyne off. "I'm Sally, and this is Brett, my brother. Triplets," she told him, speaking clearly so he could read her lips. She signed to him that Brett was really sorry, and continued to explain why. Brett had his moments, but he wasn't forcefully a rude asshole. "Our foster brother's father was murdered. His funeral was yesterday. It has been a difficult week for our family. Brett is a typical annoying brother when he feels like it, but he wouldn't have meant to offend you."

She paused for a moment or two, glancing at Brett. "Will you let us buy you both a hot chocolate at the cafe next door to apologise?" she offered. There was no doubt about it, she wanted to know more about this cute guy and his brother. She couldn't help it, this was what she did. She had a soft spot for hearing impaired people because she knew how tough things could be for them.

[multiplelove]

What the fuck was Sally saying?! Sally was holding a full conversation in sign language here and Brett had no idea what she was saying. That was probably karma and payback all rolled into one. The brother, Cheyne, seemed a whole lot more pissed off at him than the guy he had actually been a d-bag to, but that was a concept Brett could understand. He would want to beat the shit out of anyone who hurt his siblings too, which is why he was struggling dealing with Caleb right now. Sally and Lila were more caught up in the romance of Zoran with Caleb, but Brett had more of a problem with it.

Now he had to stand there like a stale fart, trying to take a couple of cautious steps away from Cheyne in case Sally was giving him a free ticket to punch him in the face here. The thing was, Dion was actually smiling through the whole thing. He seemed to really appreciate that Sally could converse with him, and Brett was proud of his sister for that... even if he had sweet fuck-all knowledge what was being said here. That, and he was starting to feel a little hot and breathless again. Damnit. He had left his inhaler in the car. Apparently he was going to make stupid fuck moves all over the place today.

[pirouetteinrhythm]

Once Dion shook Sally's hand, Cheyne followed the gesture with a smile. "That's kind of you, but it's not necessary." Hopefully this whole awkward situation could be put behind them. Cheyne made it clear how he felt about someone being rude to his brother, and hopefully Brett would take that on board next time he wanted to be rude to someone in a pharmacy... where injured and ill people came for assistance. As much as he wanted to lecture the guy, he didn't want to labour the point.

One look at Dion's face, however, and he knew that he could be the one getting bitchslapped here for turning the offer down. You didn't stumble across pretty and sweet girls who could converse with you through sign language every day. "Well, perhaps just a quick hot chocolate before we get back to our plans?" he suggested, speaking instead of signing because the look on Brett's face said he had no clue what was being said. He also looked a little flushed. Hopefully embarrassment over being a dick.

[signsoflife]

With a glance at Cheyne accompanied by a smirk, Dion signed his reply to Sally. "I'm sorry to hear about the death in your family. That would make anyone understandably stressed and on edge. I'm really not offended. It's not like I heard what he said anyway. I think it's a brother's job to be annoying,," he joked. "We would love to have a hot chocolate with you," he added, giving Cheyne a small nudge in the arm and a pointed look.

The thing with Cheyne was that he had this exceptional talent to come across as a cool bitch, but he was really the opposite. Unless, of course, he had a reason to get his protective hackles up for Dion. He had that ballet dancer's poise, but he was a lot of fun and had a huge heart. Exactly the reason why he was so protective of Dion. "It's Christmas. What better time to meet new people?" he signed to his brother.

[givemesomelove]

"Very," Sally said, speaking and signing at the same time so Brett wasn't completely left out of the conversation. "Mostly, we have just all been feeling incredibly helpless. However, still no excuse for Brett to be rude." She had to laugh at Dion's understanding of annoying brothers, though she wasn't sure Dion's brother had the same level of annoyance that Brett could. There was the fact that Brett had two sisters literally his whole life to practice being a pain in the butt on, and he had honed that particular skill down to expert levels. Couple him with Richie, and it was forever a battle of the sexes with them.

She gestured to the display Dion had been looking at before Brett decided it was his mission to put a spanner in his works. "Do you need to get your batteries? You know, I always carry some of the more common ones in my bag here if they don't have any stock of the ones you were looking for," she said, digging around in her bag.

[multiplelove]

This was actually probably really sweet that Sally could help a guy like this, who had this disability but obviously seemed impressed with Sally's kindness. Of course he was. Sally was amazing and had a huge heart. She always had. She wouldn't have gone to hell and back losing her boyfriend in high school to suicide, or wouldn't work in the career she did if she was an awful person. Besides the fact their parents would lock them in the cupboard under the stairs if they were shits and leave them there until they were willing to come out nice people.

But Brett would be able to appreciate this a hell of a lot more if he could actually breathe. He started to cough to try to get some air back into his lungs, but it only constricted the breathing even more. He grabbed Sally's arm, giving her a desperate tug. "Sal... I can't breathe," he gasped, his voice even lacking without oxygen. As if this whole thing wasn't awkward enough to start with. Maybe this would be prime opportunity for this scary cool bitch to leave him to drop dead as punishment for being rude to his brother.

[pirouetteinrhythm]

Cheyne had politely stepped back just a little to let Dion converse with Sally. He didn't want to cramp his little brother's style if this was maybe a sweet connection that had just sparked here. For some reason, she carried hearing aid batteries in her handbag and she also knew sign language, and fluent too. She either had someone close to her who was hearing impaired, she worked with hearing impaired people. There wasn't a chance to find out which is was. Brett was grabbing his sister's arm and trying to tell her he couldn't breathe. As annoyed as Cheyne had been at what Brett said to Dion, this was pretty damn alarming.

"What? Are you okay?" That might seem like a stupid question, but it was the first reaction. That, and putting a hand on Brett's arm in case he was about to keel over and pass out. He definitely looked pale and he was audibly struggling for breath. "Is there anything I can do? Is he asthmatic?" Cheyne was a dance teacher, and professional dancer himself. He encountered things like this, and he was also a fully qualified First Aid Officer, so if the guy was going to need CPR, he could help with that.

[signsoflife]

For obvious reasons, Dion didn't hear what Brett had said, so there was a bit of commotion going on before he realised what was happening. He could see what Cheyne had said, so he was quickly able to deduce what was happening. Brett was having trouble breathing, and if he wasn't asthmatic, that would be cause to call 911. People didn't just struggle to breathe and it not be serious. Unless it was a panic attack. Had Cheyne just bitched a guy into a panic? That would be a first. At least, if it had happened before, they didn't know about it.

Cheyne's bitch side was gone in a snap, and he was immediately trying to help Brett. Dion spotted a chair just up the aisle for people to sit on to try on orthopedic shoes. He ran up and collected it, bringing it back so Brett could sit down. "Does he have an inhaler?" Dion signed to Sally, hoping to hell that Brett was asthmatic. No one wanted to have their loved one end up in hospital right before Christmas.