A Balance of Harmonies: Consultation
Nov. 10th, 2012 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frogs_of_warFor some reason I’d marked this as posted and so this morning I reformatted it for FictionPress and closed it before I realized that I hadn’t posted it on lj. The list of contents was still on the back of a scrap piece of paper in the recycle bin, but I never write down the summary and the only thing I can remember is that I was pleased with it. And now I can’t think of anything, so I’m annoyed and frustrated.
Title: Consultation
Series: A Balance of Harmonies (Three)
Status: Chapter ninety-five of maybe six score
Genre: m/m romance, drama, city life, businessmen
Rating: R
Content: painting, something big, spoiling, new kids, all boy, better off, too fastidious, stretching, temptation, art, scent, layout, scenes, planned seduction, future
Length: about 2,500 words
Summary: The three look over plans.
Master list
Emil helped Kurt carry the large framed painting up to Dad’s door. Olivia stood on the doorstep bouncing and clapping. Peregrine waved her back. “You won’t be able to see it until we are inside.”
Olivia bounced into the house. “Daddy, Daddy, they’re here and they brought me something big.”
Peregrine put his hands on his hips. “When did I say it was for you?”
Casey directed Emil and Kurt into the ball room. “He spoils that girl.”
They set the picture down and Kurt stepped back and surveyed the cardboard crate. “I’m not sure it’s for her. It might be for Keith again.”
Casey grinned. “Anything for any of us is also for her if it’s where she can see it.”
Kurt and Emil nodded in agreement. Olivia was a whirlwind. Emil was glad she was just his sister and he didn’t have to live with her. Both Hunter and Brandon were better house guests.
He turned to the kitchen. Willow always needed a hand. And she might have a better idea for getting chocolate pudding out of sheets.
/
Kurt drew Keith aside. Keith looked at the painting hanging on the otherwise bare wall in the ballroom. “I appreciate the work, but…”
Kurt nodded. This was the painting Peregrine said he’d finish when he got back from California: Olivia’s dream of flying over a field of flowers. “I think he plans on one for each of them. I saw sketches of Willow and Liam in his notebook.”
Hunter peeked into the room. Kurt gestured him near. He came forward slowly and then rushed the last few feet and squeezed Kurt for just a moment before stepping back. Kurt patted his shoulder. “What do you want in your picture?”
Hunter stepped over and leaned against Keith. “I have everything I want right now.”
Keith ruffled his hair and he looked up at his new dad with a grin. Keith’s family had done wonders for shy little Hunter. But he could only help so many. “How far apart do you space new kids?”
Keith grinned. “Do you have some more for me?”
“Who?” Hunter bounced.
“I promised Tyler that I’d ask about Dakota.”
Hunter nodded. “Dakota is really smart. He was going to a private school and got early accepted to Harvard last year. That’s a good school, isn’t it? But then he told his parents he wasn’t all a boy and he needed to wear girl clothes and grow his hair out to be himself. His parent’s kicked him out over the summer and they said he couldn’t come home until he agreed to be all boy all the time, which he isn’t so he can’t.”
Keith rubbed Hunter’s arm. “And you wouldn’t mind Dakota living with us?”
Hunter shook his head.
Keith looked out to doorway. “But if Dakota has parents, adoption might be difficult.”
Kurt nodded. “But you haven’t adopted Willow and she still lives here, right?”
Keith nodded. “Willow was emancipated. Time to call my lawyer again. Maybe a judge can be convinced to make me legal guardian if I put Dakota back in school.”
Hunter frowned. “But Dakota didn’t used to be his name.”
“But, my boy,” Keith patted Hunter’s back. “That’s what lawyers are for. I’ll let her wrangle it out and I’ll just sign on the dotted line and promised to treat you kids right.”
Kurt grinned. “Which you would anyway.”
Keith smiled down at his newest son. “I sure hope I do.”
“Dad.” Hunter squeezed Keith in a hug. “You’re the best.”
Keith watched Hunter run out of the room and sighed. “When the kids open up like that, I sure feel like I’m doing the right thing.”
Kurt patted Keith’s back. “You are.”
He still had to mention Tyler, but that could wait until after dinner. The steaks smelled like heaven.
/
Peregrine closed his eyes in the backseat. Kurt and Emil were talking about how Keith chooses the children he took in and how many would fit in his house and how much more fun Christmas would be with more people.
In Peregrine’s opinion, Keith took in every child brought to his attention. Dakota would be better off in a household that didn’t hold him back scholastically, like the shelter couldn’t help but do, or mentally and emotionally, like his natural family seem to have done. If he survived best as androgynous, that’s how he should be, and he should be where he didn’t just survive, but thrive.
Dakota would be better off with Keith, perhaps best off. The bigger question was how he got to the top of the shelter waiting list if his parents only threw him out four months ago. Maybe like JJ and Hunter, he’d gotten on the list at the exact right moment.
That was the kind of luck necessary for a homeless youth to make his way in the world. And luckily Dakota wouldn’t have to do that alone.
Kurt drove in silence for a while and then asked Emil why tonight Willow giggled every time she looked at him. Emil confessed to asking about chocolate pudding. “I knew she’d know the answer and she did. Soaking them was the right thing. She just thinks it’s funny we slept in them. She imagined you two were too fastidious for that.”
Peregrine opened his eyes and leaned forward. “I never mind sleeping in the results of our sex.”
Emil gave him a very sexy grin. Peregrine shifted in his seat. Kurt nodded. “Our love was too good to get up afterwards.”
Peregrine sent him a grin in the rearview mirror. Emil set his hand on Kurt’s thigh. Kurt wasn’t likely to get much sleep tonight either.
/
Kurt woke up and stretched. Sunday meant church, but he had hours before he had to leave and Emil was lying so temptingly only inches away. Kurt rubbed his hand up Emil’s side. Emil shivered and moaned. Kurt grinned. This day was starting beautifully.
/
Peregrine pushed open the building’s front door. Mornings were starting to get chilly, but only because the clouds hadn’t yet rolled in to signify the beginning of fall. He turned in the doorway. Kurt was being held up by a fellow resident. Church started in twenty minutes in a store front ten minutes away. They needed to get moving.
Peregrine turned to the woman that held Kurt up and nodded at her. Kurt introduced them. This was Elaine DeWitt, the Homeowners Association president. Peregrine put his hand on Kurt’s arm. “Kurt here tells me that you have no art in the meeting room. Is that by choice?”
Elaine smiled. “Getting anything passed that costs money takes effort.”
“And if I donate?”
Elaine cocked her head. “And why would you do that?”
Peregrine shrugged. “Every room needs art. Get the word out that I’ll paint everyone who shows up to the next meeting into the painting. See you then.”
Peregrine led Kurt out the door. “When is the next meeting anyway?”
Kurt laughed. “I love you. Meetings are the last Wednesday of the month.”
Peregrine would have to rearrange his schedule to be there and he should probably get the keys to the meeting room and figure out size and shape of the canvas. He wanted to be prepared to have finished art to show off at the end of the meeting.
Kurt wrapped his arm around Peregrine’s waist. “Having a lot of people attend will help our cause.”
Peregrine grinned up at Kurt. “I strive to be helpful.”
And he did. When he wasn’t simply being selfish.
/
Emil opened the door to the young architects. This time May was already holding all her bags. “Is everyone here?”
Emil gestured them inside. Kurt took a bag from May. “We are waiting with baited breath to see what you have for us?”
May grinned at Thad. He smiled politely, but he wasn’t as calm as he pretended to be if his fidgety foot once he sat down meant anything. They all sat on the couches and May and Thad laid out their presentation. May handed a tablet to Emil, Kurt and Peregrine. The picture was the condos from above. “This is what your condos look like now. And,” she hit a button on her laptop and the picture changed, “this is one idea for the new set up.”
Rowe’s condo was a huge bedroom, a giant shower, and the east third was a studio with small rooms and storage space. Emil approved. The old second bedroom was now a huge walk-in closet. And the laundry room was halfway between the bedroom and the kitchen.
“Then there is this one.” May typed into her laptop. The top of the new picture was the same, but lines moved at the bottom. Only Emil hadn’t actually looked at the bottom of the other one. This one had a big kitchen with a pantry in the dining room. May touched something else and some lines came up beneath the existing ones. “The gray lines are the existing walls. See how the living room is smaller here?”
Kurt frowned. “Can we go back and look at the first?”
“Sure.” Another picture appeared. “And I have a third.” She flipped to that. “Now you can flip between them by drawing you finger across the screen.”
Kurt did. Peregrine leaned back. “Do you two have a preference?”
Thad shook his head. “This will be your house. We will follow your wishes.”
“But do you have one that will fit our want and needs best?”
May bit her lip. “All of these have the big bedroom and bathroom for three. They have a way to get to your studio without moving through your living space. They have a place for guests to stay and an office for Kurt. The biggest difference,” she turned her lap top, “is the size of the conservatory.” She flipped between two pictures. “In this one the conservatory is a room unto itself.” She flipped to a picture of the living room wall. “The door on this one is to the side, a piece of art in itself. But this one,” she flipped scenes to open French doors in the wall. “The doors open when you have company over and your living space becomes bigger.”
Peregrine wouldn’t like the second one. He didn’t like plants. But he nodded. “If the plants were around the outside… I can see Willow and Liam dancing in there. I like it.”
Emil raised his eyebrows. Kurt looked up. “Could we still fit a hot tub in there?”
May shifted the scene into the conservatory. “The hot tub is here.” She touched the keys and the brown platform shifted to the wall and revealed a hot tub. “The floor is slightly raised to accommodate the need for extra drainage for the plants and incase the hot tub overflows. That will save money on insurance.”
She obviously knew what she was talking about. Emil had thought he was just getting a room with a few potted plants, but this conservatory sounded much fancier. But if the doors could open, would Peregrine be disturbed by the smell. “Could we still have fragrant plants?”
Peregrine shrugged. “The doors wouldn’t be open very often and as long as the petals aren’t falling in my food…”
Emil wasn’t so sure that was enough. Peregrine smiled at him and touched his shoulder. “We will work this out.”
But Emil didn’t want to have to work things out.
“What about color?” May pulled the scene back to the living room. “A mixture of neutral and strong color plus art.”
The wall had Peregrine’s paintings on it. She spun the scene. The other wall had paintings Emil didn’t recognize. Peregrine laughed. “We couldn’t afford that painting.”
May grinned. “A print, perhaps.”
Peregrine nodded. “How did you pick the wall color?”
“Kurt likes neutral walls, but Emil prefers strong colors and does not like browns while you like walls that lend themselves to art. Luckily, Kurt sees dark blue as a neutral. Kurt, how’s this for your office?”
The scene she showed was varies shades of dark green and brown. Kurt sat up straighter. “This is perfect. Can I look around?”
She showed him how to explore a room. “And Emil, how is this for the laundry room?”
The walls were his favorite color and the washer and drier were the expensive kind and red. Emil smiled. She changed the washer and drier color. “The washer and drier also come in white, black, green, and blue, but white and black aren’t among you color preferences. This is them in blue… and green.”
Emil cocked his head. He looked the idea of thinking of his men while doing laundry, but he just might like the blue best. “Can I look at the third layout again? What’s the difference with this one?”
He spotted the difference immediately. “A fireplace in the bedroom.”
May flipped the picture to a fireplace in a nook surrounded by chairs. Emil sat on the floor for a closer look. Kurt put his hand on Emil’s back. “We’ll take that one.”
Emil looked up. “But…”
Thad was leaning on the arm of the couch on Peregrine’s side pointing at the ipad in Peregrine’s hand. Peregrine nodded. “The French doors on the conservatory and the fireplace in the bedroom. How does this change the layout?”
Thad took back his tablet. Then he handed it to Peregrine. “With the French doors the living room stays the same size it is now, and the fireplace adds a bit of art to your client walkway, but looses a corner of Kurt’s office.”
“I’m willing to give up corner if that gives me a fireplace to seduce you in front of.”
Emil blushed.
Peregrine passed the tablet back. “Tell me. Was this the plan? Give us one option a layout, but let us pick something from each?”
May grinned. “Does that mean I can show you my favorite now?”
Peregrine held out his hand. Thad set his ipad in it. “Would you like the layout or the walk through?”
“Give me the layout and Kurt the walk though.”
Kurt pulled Emil into his lap and they walked though their new home. Peregrine leaned against Kurt’s arm and held his tablet up where Emil could see. They had comments and critiques about color and decorations and fixtures, but they all liked the layout. Emil reluctantly gave up the tablet when May and Thad had to go. Work would start on Wednesday with Peregrine’s new studio and the bathroom. The men would work through Friday and be back next Tuesday.
Emil hoped everything went quickly. He really wanted to live in the beautiful condo in the pictures.
Title: Consultation
Series: A Balance of Harmonies (Three)
Status: Chapter ninety-five of maybe six score
Genre: m/m romance, drama, city life, businessmen
Rating: R
Content: painting, something big, spoiling, new kids, all boy, better off, too fastidious, stretching, temptation, art, scent, layout, scenes, planned seduction, future
Length: about 2,500 words
Summary: The three look over plans.
Master list
Emil helped Kurt carry the large framed painting up to Dad’s door. Olivia stood on the doorstep bouncing and clapping. Peregrine waved her back. “You won’t be able to see it until we are inside.”
Olivia bounced into the house. “Daddy, Daddy, they’re here and they brought me something big.”
Peregrine put his hands on his hips. “When did I say it was for you?”
Casey directed Emil and Kurt into the ball room. “He spoils that girl.”
They set the picture down and Kurt stepped back and surveyed the cardboard crate. “I’m not sure it’s for her. It might be for Keith again.”
Casey grinned. “Anything for any of us is also for her if it’s where she can see it.”
Kurt and Emil nodded in agreement. Olivia was a whirlwind. Emil was glad she was just his sister and he didn’t have to live with her. Both Hunter and Brandon were better house guests.
He turned to the kitchen. Willow always needed a hand. And she might have a better idea for getting chocolate pudding out of sheets.
/
Kurt drew Keith aside. Keith looked at the painting hanging on the otherwise bare wall in the ballroom. “I appreciate the work, but…”
Kurt nodded. This was the painting Peregrine said he’d finish when he got back from California: Olivia’s dream of flying over a field of flowers. “I think he plans on one for each of them. I saw sketches of Willow and Liam in his notebook.”
Hunter peeked into the room. Kurt gestured him near. He came forward slowly and then rushed the last few feet and squeezed Kurt for just a moment before stepping back. Kurt patted his shoulder. “What do you want in your picture?”
Hunter stepped over and leaned against Keith. “I have everything I want right now.”
Keith ruffled his hair and he looked up at his new dad with a grin. Keith’s family had done wonders for shy little Hunter. But he could only help so many. “How far apart do you space new kids?”
Keith grinned. “Do you have some more for me?”
“Who?” Hunter bounced.
“I promised Tyler that I’d ask about Dakota.”
Hunter nodded. “Dakota is really smart. He was going to a private school and got early accepted to Harvard last year. That’s a good school, isn’t it? But then he told his parents he wasn’t all a boy and he needed to wear girl clothes and grow his hair out to be himself. His parent’s kicked him out over the summer and they said he couldn’t come home until he agreed to be all boy all the time, which he isn’t so he can’t.”
Keith rubbed Hunter’s arm. “And you wouldn’t mind Dakota living with us?”
Hunter shook his head.
Keith looked out to doorway. “But if Dakota has parents, adoption might be difficult.”
Kurt nodded. “But you haven’t adopted Willow and she still lives here, right?”
Keith nodded. “Willow was emancipated. Time to call my lawyer again. Maybe a judge can be convinced to make me legal guardian if I put Dakota back in school.”
Hunter frowned. “But Dakota didn’t used to be his name.”
“But, my boy,” Keith patted Hunter’s back. “That’s what lawyers are for. I’ll let her wrangle it out and I’ll just sign on the dotted line and promised to treat you kids right.”
Kurt grinned. “Which you would anyway.”
Keith smiled down at his newest son. “I sure hope I do.”
“Dad.” Hunter squeezed Keith in a hug. “You’re the best.”
Keith watched Hunter run out of the room and sighed. “When the kids open up like that, I sure feel like I’m doing the right thing.”
Kurt patted Keith’s back. “You are.”
He still had to mention Tyler, but that could wait until after dinner. The steaks smelled like heaven.
/
Peregrine closed his eyes in the backseat. Kurt and Emil were talking about how Keith chooses the children he took in and how many would fit in his house and how much more fun Christmas would be with more people.
In Peregrine’s opinion, Keith took in every child brought to his attention. Dakota would be better off in a household that didn’t hold him back scholastically, like the shelter couldn’t help but do, or mentally and emotionally, like his natural family seem to have done. If he survived best as androgynous, that’s how he should be, and he should be where he didn’t just survive, but thrive.
Dakota would be better off with Keith, perhaps best off. The bigger question was how he got to the top of the shelter waiting list if his parents only threw him out four months ago. Maybe like JJ and Hunter, he’d gotten on the list at the exact right moment.
That was the kind of luck necessary for a homeless youth to make his way in the world. And luckily Dakota wouldn’t have to do that alone.
Kurt drove in silence for a while and then asked Emil why tonight Willow giggled every time she looked at him. Emil confessed to asking about chocolate pudding. “I knew she’d know the answer and she did. Soaking them was the right thing. She just thinks it’s funny we slept in them. She imagined you two were too fastidious for that.”
Peregrine opened his eyes and leaned forward. “I never mind sleeping in the results of our sex.”
Emil gave him a very sexy grin. Peregrine shifted in his seat. Kurt nodded. “Our love was too good to get up afterwards.”
Peregrine sent him a grin in the rearview mirror. Emil set his hand on Kurt’s thigh. Kurt wasn’t likely to get much sleep tonight either.
/
Kurt woke up and stretched. Sunday meant church, but he had hours before he had to leave and Emil was lying so temptingly only inches away. Kurt rubbed his hand up Emil’s side. Emil shivered and moaned. Kurt grinned. This day was starting beautifully.
/
Peregrine pushed open the building’s front door. Mornings were starting to get chilly, but only because the clouds hadn’t yet rolled in to signify the beginning of fall. He turned in the doorway. Kurt was being held up by a fellow resident. Church started in twenty minutes in a store front ten minutes away. They needed to get moving.
Peregrine turned to the woman that held Kurt up and nodded at her. Kurt introduced them. This was Elaine DeWitt, the Homeowners Association president. Peregrine put his hand on Kurt’s arm. “Kurt here tells me that you have no art in the meeting room. Is that by choice?”
Elaine smiled. “Getting anything passed that costs money takes effort.”
“And if I donate?”
Elaine cocked her head. “And why would you do that?”
Peregrine shrugged. “Every room needs art. Get the word out that I’ll paint everyone who shows up to the next meeting into the painting. See you then.”
Peregrine led Kurt out the door. “When is the next meeting anyway?”
Kurt laughed. “I love you. Meetings are the last Wednesday of the month.”
Peregrine would have to rearrange his schedule to be there and he should probably get the keys to the meeting room and figure out size and shape of the canvas. He wanted to be prepared to have finished art to show off at the end of the meeting.
Kurt wrapped his arm around Peregrine’s waist. “Having a lot of people attend will help our cause.”
Peregrine grinned up at Kurt. “I strive to be helpful.”
And he did. When he wasn’t simply being selfish.
/
Emil opened the door to the young architects. This time May was already holding all her bags. “Is everyone here?”
Emil gestured them inside. Kurt took a bag from May. “We are waiting with baited breath to see what you have for us?”
May grinned at Thad. He smiled politely, but he wasn’t as calm as he pretended to be if his fidgety foot once he sat down meant anything. They all sat on the couches and May and Thad laid out their presentation. May handed a tablet to Emil, Kurt and Peregrine. The picture was the condos from above. “This is what your condos look like now. And,” she hit a button on her laptop and the picture changed, “this is one idea for the new set up.”
Rowe’s condo was a huge bedroom, a giant shower, and the east third was a studio with small rooms and storage space. Emil approved. The old second bedroom was now a huge walk-in closet. And the laundry room was halfway between the bedroom and the kitchen.
“Then there is this one.” May typed into her laptop. The top of the new picture was the same, but lines moved at the bottom. Only Emil hadn’t actually looked at the bottom of the other one. This one had a big kitchen with a pantry in the dining room. May touched something else and some lines came up beneath the existing ones. “The gray lines are the existing walls. See how the living room is smaller here?”
Kurt frowned. “Can we go back and look at the first?”
“Sure.” Another picture appeared. “And I have a third.” She flipped to that. “Now you can flip between them by drawing you finger across the screen.”
Kurt did. Peregrine leaned back. “Do you two have a preference?”
Thad shook his head. “This will be your house. We will follow your wishes.”
“But do you have one that will fit our want and needs best?”
May bit her lip. “All of these have the big bedroom and bathroom for three. They have a way to get to your studio without moving through your living space. They have a place for guests to stay and an office for Kurt. The biggest difference,” she turned her lap top, “is the size of the conservatory.” She flipped between two pictures. “In this one the conservatory is a room unto itself.” She flipped to a picture of the living room wall. “The door on this one is to the side, a piece of art in itself. But this one,” she flipped scenes to open French doors in the wall. “The doors open when you have company over and your living space becomes bigger.”
Peregrine wouldn’t like the second one. He didn’t like plants. But he nodded. “If the plants were around the outside… I can see Willow and Liam dancing in there. I like it.”
Emil raised his eyebrows. Kurt looked up. “Could we still fit a hot tub in there?”
May shifted the scene into the conservatory. “The hot tub is here.” She touched the keys and the brown platform shifted to the wall and revealed a hot tub. “The floor is slightly raised to accommodate the need for extra drainage for the plants and incase the hot tub overflows. That will save money on insurance.”
She obviously knew what she was talking about. Emil had thought he was just getting a room with a few potted plants, but this conservatory sounded much fancier. But if the doors could open, would Peregrine be disturbed by the smell. “Could we still have fragrant plants?”
Peregrine shrugged. “The doors wouldn’t be open very often and as long as the petals aren’t falling in my food…”
Emil wasn’t so sure that was enough. Peregrine smiled at him and touched his shoulder. “We will work this out.”
But Emil didn’t want to have to work things out.
“What about color?” May pulled the scene back to the living room. “A mixture of neutral and strong color plus art.”
The wall had Peregrine’s paintings on it. She spun the scene. The other wall had paintings Emil didn’t recognize. Peregrine laughed. “We couldn’t afford that painting.”
May grinned. “A print, perhaps.”
Peregrine nodded. “How did you pick the wall color?”
“Kurt likes neutral walls, but Emil prefers strong colors and does not like browns while you like walls that lend themselves to art. Luckily, Kurt sees dark blue as a neutral. Kurt, how’s this for your office?”
The scene she showed was varies shades of dark green and brown. Kurt sat up straighter. “This is perfect. Can I look around?”
She showed him how to explore a room. “And Emil, how is this for the laundry room?”
The walls were his favorite color and the washer and drier were the expensive kind and red. Emil smiled. She changed the washer and drier color. “The washer and drier also come in white, black, green, and blue, but white and black aren’t among you color preferences. This is them in blue… and green.”
Emil cocked his head. He looked the idea of thinking of his men while doing laundry, but he just might like the blue best. “Can I look at the third layout again? What’s the difference with this one?”
He spotted the difference immediately. “A fireplace in the bedroom.”
May flipped the picture to a fireplace in a nook surrounded by chairs. Emil sat on the floor for a closer look. Kurt put his hand on Emil’s back. “We’ll take that one.”
Emil looked up. “But…”
Thad was leaning on the arm of the couch on Peregrine’s side pointing at the ipad in Peregrine’s hand. Peregrine nodded. “The French doors on the conservatory and the fireplace in the bedroom. How does this change the layout?”
Thad took back his tablet. Then he handed it to Peregrine. “With the French doors the living room stays the same size it is now, and the fireplace adds a bit of art to your client walkway, but looses a corner of Kurt’s office.”
“I’m willing to give up corner if that gives me a fireplace to seduce you in front of.”
Emil blushed.
Peregrine passed the tablet back. “Tell me. Was this the plan? Give us one option a layout, but let us pick something from each?”
May grinned. “Does that mean I can show you my favorite now?”
Peregrine held out his hand. Thad set his ipad in it. “Would you like the layout or the walk through?”
“Give me the layout and Kurt the walk though.”
Kurt pulled Emil into his lap and they walked though their new home. Peregrine leaned against Kurt’s arm and held his tablet up where Emil could see. They had comments and critiques about color and decorations and fixtures, but they all liked the layout. Emil reluctantly gave up the tablet when May and Thad had to go. Work would start on Wednesday with Peregrine’s new studio and the bathroom. The men would work through Friday and be back next Tuesday.
Emil hoped everything went quickly. He really wanted to live in the beautiful condo in the pictures.
