A Balance of Harmonies: Tears
May. 2nd, 2013 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frogs_of_warOne of the two helpers has been pulled from the floral schedule next week. This isn’t the one going on vacation. The store manager gave indications that she might just allow overtime. I don’t see how two and a half people will do job of five otherwise.
Title: Tears
Series: A Balance of Harmonies (Three)
Status: Chapter one hundred nineteen of
Genre: m/m romance, drama, city life, businessmen
Rating: R
Content: the doorbell, writing, a welcome, cocoa, reluctance, a question, family, tears, numbers, comfort, dinner
Length: about 1,700 words
Summary: Emil has a visitor. Kurt gets jealous. Peregrine is prepared.
Master list
Emil looked up from his screen and stared in the direction of the front door. Did he really need to answer it? Was it going to be that annoying Tettle again? He’d hoped to be done with him.
When the sound died out, it didn’t start up again. Emil just wanted to finish the paragraph, but the distraction had forced the words from his head. He might as well go see who it was.
Emil opened to door to an empty hall. No one was by the elevator. He hadn’t taken that long to open the door. He turned to scan the other end of the hall. A young person dragged his feet toward the stairwell door. Emil leaned out for a better look just as the kid put his hand on the door handle. “Tom?”
Tom turned and grinned. He bounced down the hall to Emil’s door. “I thought you weren’t home.”
He had a bag under his arm with something flat inside. Maybe more books for Emil to sign. “Come in and sit down.”
Tom looked around the nearly finished room and then ran up the stairs to the to shouji doors behind the platform. “May I?”
Emil waved his hand. “Be my guest.”
Peregrine had hung painting behind every door. They weren’t the landscapes he planned to have there later, but right now he was busy working on all the paintings for the showing in January. Tom looked at each of the six and then reopened to the painting of Willow and Liam in the nightclub. He pointed to the pale Emil. “He looks like me.”
Emil stepped closer. “You’re right. But I think that’s supposed to be me.”
“I…” Tom looked at his feet.
“Tea, coffee, cocoa? I think I might have a pop in the kitchen, but I’m not sure what kind.” Emil gestured to the short table with pillows around it.
Tom sat down. “Cocoa’s good.”
Emil opened the canister of the good stuff and got out two ceramic cups. “Whipping cream?”
“Yes!” Tom grinned.
“Peppermint?” Emil had picked up this kind on his last trip to the store as a treat for Kurt. Stores only sold it at Christmas time.
“Sure.”
“I’ll be right back.” He headed toward the rest of the house.
Tom held up a hand. “I don’t want to put you out.”
“No worries. I’ve had a hankering to have some myself and food is always better when shared.”
He hurried and got the whipping cream. When he returned, Tom was staring at the dragon.
“Isn’t he beautiful?”
Tom nodded and sat back down. Emil added a huge mound of frothy whiteness to each of their cups and then stowed the whipping cream in the little fridge on the platform. He asked Tom about what new job he was working on and Christmas and plans for the future, but Tom kept changing the subject at unexpected moments and he hadn’t even opened his bag.
Kurt and Peregrine would be back soon.
“Did you bring anything for me to sign?”
Tom pulled the bag onto his lap and held it close. He scrambled to his feet. “I better go.”
Emil put his elbows on the table and rested his chin in his hands. “Go into the bathroom.” He nodded to the one near the front door. “Take a couple deep breaths. Wash your hands and face. Whatever will calm you. And then come out and tell me what’s up.”
Tom took a deep breath and held it. The he rushed into the bathroom, bag in hand.
Emil fixed himself a second peppermint cocoa. Tom didn’t come out. Emil leaned back and looked at the painting. He got up and hurried into the dining room for his phone. When he got back, water was running in the bathroom, so Tom hadn’t fled during the minute Emil was absent. Emil took a picture of the painting and sent it with a text to Peregrine. Does this look like Tom for a reason?
Tom still didn’t come out. Emil risked a run for his laptop. What was the sentence he’d been working on?
Emil’s phone vibrated on the table. Does Tom look like you for a reason?
Emil sent back that Tom was over, but that Emil was keeping him in the entry room because Kurt got jealous. Peregrine said he’d deal with Kurt, but not to let Tom leave until he’d answered Peregrine’s question. Emil hoped Peregrine knew what he was talking about.
The door to the bathroom opened. Tom did not step out.
Emil tried to reread his page, but Tom was distracting. “If you aren’t ready, I can wait.”
Tom stuck his head out. “I should go.”
Emil sighed. “Ok. But before you do, tell me why we look similar.”
Tom looked at his feet. Emil expected him to run out the front door, but he trudged up to the table. “I…” He opened his bag and set a book in front of Emil. This was the one Emil had signed. “My grandmother cried when I show this to her and the picture of us.”
No one had ever had that much emotion over kids’ science book in Emil experience. “Sad tears? Or happy ones?”
“I..” Tom flopped back onto his pillow. “I thought I’d hurt her, but she said she was happy. And then she showed me this.”
Tom pulled a picture album out of his bag and opened it to a dark little boy in what had to be a school picture. Emil pulled it toward him and looked at Tom. “That’s me.”
Tom nodded. He flipped a few pages. “This is grandma. She got remarried after her first husband died so she has a different last name. Her husband was in the hospital, in intensive care, for months.” Tom turned to a Christmas photo of a happy family. The dark little boy was the only person under ten and he was ripping wrapping paper off a present. His pile of gifts was bigger than he was. “When he died, your mom didn’t come. They went to her house to make her come to the funeral, but you guys didn’t live there anymore.”
Emil had family beyond his mother? He didn’t remember any of them. He barely remembered his mother.
Tom pointed to a picture of a young girl with a baby. “Grandma thought you two were together until years later. Your mom, my mom’s older sister, came by out of the blue to ask for money. She said she didn’t know where you were. But then when I was little, I really liked animals, so Grandma went to the book store and saw your name on the spine. She didn’t know it was you. She just liked the name.”
Tom wiped his eyes. Emil offered him a napkin and soaked one of his own. His books—his books had lead his family to him.
--
Kurt stared at his front door. Peregrine had wanted Kurt to wait until he was done dealing with something at the shelter so they could arrive home together, but even if that kid was Emil’s relative, Kurt didn’t want them alone. He tried the door. It opened to Emil and the kid, sitting at the table, looking at the same book. Kurt stepped inside as the two looked up.
They were much too close together. Emil bounced to his feet and jumped into Kurt’s arms. He buried his face against Kurt’s chest. “You’ll never guess.”
“Guess what?” Kurt’s shirt was wet. Why was Emil crying?
“Tom is my cousin. His grandmother is my grandmother. She reads my books.”
Kurt petted Emil’s hair. “Of course she does.”
Emil stepped back and tugged Kurt with him. “Look. He brought pictures.”
Kurt sat on the pillow Emil indicated and Emil sat in his lap. The picture in front of him was a cute little dark boy sitting on a man’s lap. “Who’s that?”
“That was Grandpa,” said the kid. “He died before I was born.”
“And me.” Emil turned a few pages. “This was my mom. She looks like a baby.”
The infant in her arms still wore a hospital bracelet on his wrist. “You?”
“Yeah.” Emil sighed. “I’m the only dark one in the family.”
“This is our uncle.” Tom pointed at a picture of the foreman with a little Emil in his lap. “He was dating our aunt when Emil was little and so he was over at Grandma’s a lot.”
Emil leaned on Kurt. “I thought he was familiar. I don’t recognize anyone else. Not even my mom. She was thinner and her eyes were hollow and she had sores on her arms.”
Kurt hugged Emil close. “Are you going to meet them?”
Tom’s eyes went wide.
Emil rubbed his neck. “It hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Kurt put his hand on the photo album. “Can we borrow this?”
Tom swallowed. “You can keep it. She made it for you.”
“Thank you. Can we have your number? Or your grandmas?”
Tom nodded and wrote the numbers along with full names and then he got up. He turned back at the door for a moment before closing it behind him.
Emil wiped his eyes. “I should get up. I haven’t even started dinner.”
“We’ll get takeout.”
“But…”
Kurt held Emil against him and rubbed his back. “You are more important than food.”
Emil sucked in a deep breath. It came out as a sob. Kurt pulled him closer and texted Peregrine to ask him to bring food home. Then Kurt carried Emil to bed and comforted him in the way Kurt knew best.
--
Peregrine set the food bag on the table. No noise came to the bedroom. Peregrine looked inside. Kurt was murmuring sweet nothings to Emil, who lay on Kurt’s chest with his eyes closed. Neither was wearing a stitch, so they might be ready for dinner.
He stepped further in the room and caught Kurt’s eye. He mimed eating. Kurt sat up. Emil protested. Peregrine motioned for Kurt to lie back down. He’s bought food they could eat with their hands on purpose. He brought in the food and unwrapped Kurt’s sandwich for him. Then Peregrine picked up a sketch book and got down the scene he’s walked in on. He’d find out what had happened eventually, but right now the love he saw in the room came first.
Title: Tears
Series: A Balance of Harmonies (Three)
Status: Chapter one hundred nineteen of
Genre: m/m romance, drama, city life, businessmen
Rating: R
Content: the doorbell, writing, a welcome, cocoa, reluctance, a question, family, tears, numbers, comfort, dinner
Length: about 1,700 words
Summary: Emil has a visitor. Kurt gets jealous. Peregrine is prepared.
Master list
Emil looked up from his screen and stared in the direction of the front door. Did he really need to answer it? Was it going to be that annoying Tettle again? He’d hoped to be done with him.
When the sound died out, it didn’t start up again. Emil just wanted to finish the paragraph, but the distraction had forced the words from his head. He might as well go see who it was.
Emil opened to door to an empty hall. No one was by the elevator. He hadn’t taken that long to open the door. He turned to scan the other end of the hall. A young person dragged his feet toward the stairwell door. Emil leaned out for a better look just as the kid put his hand on the door handle. “Tom?”
Tom turned and grinned. He bounced down the hall to Emil’s door. “I thought you weren’t home.”
He had a bag under his arm with something flat inside. Maybe more books for Emil to sign. “Come in and sit down.”
Tom looked around the nearly finished room and then ran up the stairs to the to shouji doors behind the platform. “May I?”
Emil waved his hand. “Be my guest.”
Peregrine had hung painting behind every door. They weren’t the landscapes he planned to have there later, but right now he was busy working on all the paintings for the showing in January. Tom looked at each of the six and then reopened to the painting of Willow and Liam in the nightclub. He pointed to the pale Emil. “He looks like me.”
Emil stepped closer. “You’re right. But I think that’s supposed to be me.”
“I…” Tom looked at his feet.
“Tea, coffee, cocoa? I think I might have a pop in the kitchen, but I’m not sure what kind.” Emil gestured to the short table with pillows around it.
Tom sat down. “Cocoa’s good.”
Emil opened the canister of the good stuff and got out two ceramic cups. “Whipping cream?”
“Yes!” Tom grinned.
“Peppermint?” Emil had picked up this kind on his last trip to the store as a treat for Kurt. Stores only sold it at Christmas time.
“Sure.”
“I’ll be right back.” He headed toward the rest of the house.
Tom held up a hand. “I don’t want to put you out.”
“No worries. I’ve had a hankering to have some myself and food is always better when shared.”
He hurried and got the whipping cream. When he returned, Tom was staring at the dragon.
“Isn’t he beautiful?”
Tom nodded and sat back down. Emil added a huge mound of frothy whiteness to each of their cups and then stowed the whipping cream in the little fridge on the platform. He asked Tom about what new job he was working on and Christmas and plans for the future, but Tom kept changing the subject at unexpected moments and he hadn’t even opened his bag.
Kurt and Peregrine would be back soon.
“Did you bring anything for me to sign?”
Tom pulled the bag onto his lap and held it close. He scrambled to his feet. “I better go.”
Emil put his elbows on the table and rested his chin in his hands. “Go into the bathroom.” He nodded to the one near the front door. “Take a couple deep breaths. Wash your hands and face. Whatever will calm you. And then come out and tell me what’s up.”
Tom took a deep breath and held it. The he rushed into the bathroom, bag in hand.
Emil fixed himself a second peppermint cocoa. Tom didn’t come out. Emil leaned back and looked at the painting. He got up and hurried into the dining room for his phone. When he got back, water was running in the bathroom, so Tom hadn’t fled during the minute Emil was absent. Emil took a picture of the painting and sent it with a text to Peregrine. Does this look like Tom for a reason?
Tom still didn’t come out. Emil risked a run for his laptop. What was the sentence he’d been working on?
Emil’s phone vibrated on the table. Does Tom look like you for a reason?
Emil sent back that Tom was over, but that Emil was keeping him in the entry room because Kurt got jealous. Peregrine said he’d deal with Kurt, but not to let Tom leave until he’d answered Peregrine’s question. Emil hoped Peregrine knew what he was talking about.
The door to the bathroom opened. Tom did not step out.
Emil tried to reread his page, but Tom was distracting. “If you aren’t ready, I can wait.”
Tom stuck his head out. “I should go.”
Emil sighed. “Ok. But before you do, tell me why we look similar.”
Tom looked at his feet. Emil expected him to run out the front door, but he trudged up to the table. “I…” He opened his bag and set a book in front of Emil. This was the one Emil had signed. “My grandmother cried when I show this to her and the picture of us.”
No one had ever had that much emotion over kids’ science book in Emil experience. “Sad tears? Or happy ones?”
“I..” Tom flopped back onto his pillow. “I thought I’d hurt her, but she said she was happy. And then she showed me this.”
Tom pulled a picture album out of his bag and opened it to a dark little boy in what had to be a school picture. Emil pulled it toward him and looked at Tom. “That’s me.”
Tom nodded. He flipped a few pages. “This is grandma. She got remarried after her first husband died so she has a different last name. Her husband was in the hospital, in intensive care, for months.” Tom turned to a Christmas photo of a happy family. The dark little boy was the only person under ten and he was ripping wrapping paper off a present. His pile of gifts was bigger than he was. “When he died, your mom didn’t come. They went to her house to make her come to the funeral, but you guys didn’t live there anymore.”
Emil had family beyond his mother? He didn’t remember any of them. He barely remembered his mother.
Tom pointed to a picture of a young girl with a baby. “Grandma thought you two were together until years later. Your mom, my mom’s older sister, came by out of the blue to ask for money. She said she didn’t know where you were. But then when I was little, I really liked animals, so Grandma went to the book store and saw your name on the spine. She didn’t know it was you. She just liked the name.”
Tom wiped his eyes. Emil offered him a napkin and soaked one of his own. His books—his books had lead his family to him.
--
Kurt stared at his front door. Peregrine had wanted Kurt to wait until he was done dealing with something at the shelter so they could arrive home together, but even if that kid was Emil’s relative, Kurt didn’t want them alone. He tried the door. It opened to Emil and the kid, sitting at the table, looking at the same book. Kurt stepped inside as the two looked up.
They were much too close together. Emil bounced to his feet and jumped into Kurt’s arms. He buried his face against Kurt’s chest. “You’ll never guess.”
“Guess what?” Kurt’s shirt was wet. Why was Emil crying?
“Tom is my cousin. His grandmother is my grandmother. She reads my books.”
Kurt petted Emil’s hair. “Of course she does.”
Emil stepped back and tugged Kurt with him. “Look. He brought pictures.”
Kurt sat on the pillow Emil indicated and Emil sat in his lap. The picture in front of him was a cute little dark boy sitting on a man’s lap. “Who’s that?”
“That was Grandpa,” said the kid. “He died before I was born.”
“And me.” Emil turned a few pages. “This was my mom. She looks like a baby.”
The infant in her arms still wore a hospital bracelet on his wrist. “You?”
“Yeah.” Emil sighed. “I’m the only dark one in the family.”
“This is our uncle.” Tom pointed at a picture of the foreman with a little Emil in his lap. “He was dating our aunt when Emil was little and so he was over at Grandma’s a lot.”
Emil leaned on Kurt. “I thought he was familiar. I don’t recognize anyone else. Not even my mom. She was thinner and her eyes were hollow and she had sores on her arms.”
Kurt hugged Emil close. “Are you going to meet them?”
Tom’s eyes went wide.
Emil rubbed his neck. “It hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Kurt put his hand on the photo album. “Can we borrow this?”
Tom swallowed. “You can keep it. She made it for you.”
“Thank you. Can we have your number? Or your grandmas?”
Tom nodded and wrote the numbers along with full names and then he got up. He turned back at the door for a moment before closing it behind him.
Emil wiped his eyes. “I should get up. I haven’t even started dinner.”
“We’ll get takeout.”
“But…”
Kurt held Emil against him and rubbed his back. “You are more important than food.”
Emil sucked in a deep breath. It came out as a sob. Kurt pulled him closer and texted Peregrine to ask him to bring food home. Then Kurt carried Emil to bed and comforted him in the way Kurt knew best.
--
Peregrine set the food bag on the table. No noise came to the bedroom. Peregrine looked inside. Kurt was murmuring sweet nothings to Emil, who lay on Kurt’s chest with his eyes closed. Neither was wearing a stitch, so they might be ready for dinner.
He stepped further in the room and caught Kurt’s eye. He mimed eating. Kurt sat up. Emil protested. Peregrine motioned for Kurt to lie back down. He’s bought food they could eat with their hands on purpose. He brought in the food and unwrapped Kurt’s sandwich for him. Then Peregrine picked up a sketch book and got down the scene he’s walked in on. He’d find out what had happened eventually, but right now the love he saw in the room came first.
