A Balance of Harmonies: Unopened Letters
Nov. 17th, 2011 04:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frogs_of_warIn my quest to have nothing to do with the news for a few days, I’ve been reading and it turns out that both books have at least a passing reference to what I was trying to avoid. I just can’t win.
Title: Unopened Letters
Series: A Balance of Harmonies (Three)
Status: Chapter forty-six of more than a few
Genre: m/m romance, drama, city life, businessmen
Rating: R
Content: sunrise, temptation, sketches, trust, boxes, no phone service, elevator, lunch, floor space, cleaning, shopping, kisses, color, childproofing, embarrassment, talking, dinner, need
Length: about 3,000 words
Summary: Emil tries desperately to keep the two men who have no intention of ever letting him go.
Master list
Kurt woke up when a door opened. The rising sun was turning the sky violet. He turned to look at his phone, but it wasn’t on the nightstand. He’d left it in his suit, wherever he’d left his suit. He propped himself up to see Peregrine’s alarm clock. Emil hummed in protest and snuggled closer.
The bedroom door opened and Peregrine walked in carrying Kurt’s suit. He hung it up before turning towards the bed. “Did I wake you up?”
Kurt shook his head and lay back on the pillow. “We thought you would be home earlier.”
Peregrine shrugged. “I felt the need to finish as much as I could of the painting, so they couldn’t use its incompleteness as a reason for not doing anything. We are taking someone to church with us on Sunday.”
“The same place as last week?”
Peregrine nodded. “If you really hate it, I can go alone.”
Kurt hadn’t meant to sound like he hated the church. He just didn’t feel comfortable there. Yet. “No, I want to get to know all these people who are making you happy.”
Peregrine walked up to the bed and put his hand on Kurt’s arm. “You two are the people who make me happy.”
Kurt grinned. “Are you coming to bed?”
Peregrine glanced from one side of the bed to the other. “Which side?”
Kurt wiggled closer to Emil and patted the space beside him. “Will you fit here?”
Peregrine smiled. “I’ll be right back.”
And just before Kurt drifted off to sleep, he felt Peregrine climb in and cuddle against him. With his men pressed against him on each side, he was in heaven.
--
Emil blinked several times. Kurt was moving. Normally Kurt didn’t wake him up when getting out of bed.
“Sorry,” Kurt said against his neck. “Peregrine’s on this side and he didn’t get in until almost dawn.”
Emil moved onto the cold sheet to give Kurt room to get out. Now, did he cuddle back into that warm space or get up for the day? But that pre-warmed, Kurt-smelling space was too tempting. Peregrine rolled against him and sleep overtook him again.
--
Kurt strode out of the elevator. One of the five threes, Pam maybe, turned to him. He held up Peregrine’s sketch book. “Let me make a few copies and I’ll give you one.”
Yesterday, Kurt had texted Peregrine about pictures of Diego and Lavender’s little Piper. Peregrine had left his sketchbook on the kitchen counter this morning with a note, saying Kurt could make photocopies.
“They aren’t actual pictures, but sketches are the best I’ve got right now.” Kurt should really call Diego and asked for real pictures, but he didn’t want to disturb them yet. They had been a family of three for less than a week.
“I can do that,” said Pam or whoever it was.
Kurt very reluctantly held the book out to her.
“Be careful with that,” said Veronica. “Kurt’s boyfriend is a famous artist. That book is probably worth a lot of money.”
The first part was what Kurt wanted to say, but these office assistances knew their jobs and had done him many a favor since he started. He didn’t want to act like he didn’t trust them.
Pam smiled at him. “I’ll get these back to you in ten minutes. I promise.”
Kurt nodded, one professional to another. He really had to start remembering their names. He needed a way to asked again without being insulting.
--
Emil was awake and dressed when the movers called, saying they were on their way, but Peregrine was still asleep and looked like he would be for a while.
When the movers came, Emil had them piled all the boxes into the living room. The new stuff needed to be unpacked, sorted, and put away, but with Kurt’s stuff already in place, everything would have to be judge whether to be kept or given away.
Emil voted to keep Kurt’s bed; it was newer. But at some point they might want a king sized bed which would give them a little more space.
Peregrine didn’t wake up during the commotion. Emil dug out his laptop and the phone and checked to see if the phone and internet were working yet, which they weren’t, so he made the required call on his cell phone and opened the document for this latest book. He’d have all afternoon to work on it. The phone guys wouldn’t be over until Friday.
--
Kurt walked out of his office with Peregrine’s sketchbook in his hand. Amy, the woman he’d handed it to, had been as good as her word. But Kurt suspected she’d made more than a copy or two. The bulletin board in the break room on Kurt’s floor had the sketch of Diego watching Lavender rock Piper with all Piper’s statistics, and if it was there, than it was probably in all the other break rooms, or at least the one on Diego’s floor.
Zawadzki and Ezra waved to him as he passed Zawadzki’s office. Veronica held open the elevator door. “Going out to lunch?”
Kurt shook his head. “I’m going home for lunch.”
Veronica punched the button for the ground floor. “Am I the only one happy that Jamar had other plans for lunch?”
Kurt laughed. “I’m definitely in your club about Chambers. People say that reacting makes you a target, but I don’t feel I react that much, do I?”
“I don’t think it’s possible to react so little that we don’t draw Jamar attention.”
Kurt let Veronica leave the elevator first. “Maybe if we were boring?”
Veronica stopped halfway through the ground floor gallery. “So we get picked on because we’re interesting? I like that. See you at the meeting.”
She whished away and Kurt turned towards the condo. A meeting after lunch meant that he couldn’t be late, but he planned to make the most of his lunch hour.
--
Emil started when the front door opened. He looked up from his manuscript. Kurt grinned at him. “Did you forget our lunch date?”
Emil blushed and got to his feet. “No, I just forgot to check the time.”
Kurt kissed him and waved him back to his chair. “Finish what you were working on. I’ll make lunch.” He looked in the fridge. “Sandwiches?”
Emil nodded and spotted a misspelling. The next time he looked up was when Kurt sat a sandwich on the table next to him. Emil pushed his laptop away. He should pay attention to Kurt while he was home.
Kurt shook his head. “You can keep working.”
“But you’re home.”
“I’m gratified you feel that way, but I love watching how intensely you write, as if nothing else existed in the world.”
Emil blushed. “I try not to do that.”
“Why?”
“Because,” if Emil didn’t take care of Peregrine, no one would, and if Peregrine knew that he could live alone, maybe he would, “I’ve got so much else to do.”
Kurt smiled. “Right now you just need to eat. If you want I’ll make dinner tonight. What should we have? I can stop by the store on the way home.”
“I should come with you.”
“Because you don’t trust me to shop? Or do you just want to spend more time with me?”
Emil grinned and touched Kurt’s arm. “Why do we think of what to have for dinner when we meet at the store once you get off work? And we go spend some time together now.”
“Is Peregrine still asleep?”
“Yes, but the spare room has lots of floor space.”
Kurt got to his feet. “You know, I’m quite willing to spend time with you when we are both dressed and upright.”
“I know.” Emil took Kurt’s hand and led him to the spare room. But sex was the way Emil had hooked Kurt, so it was probably the best way to keep him from looking for greener pastures.
--
Peregrine woke in late afternoon and stretched. The living room was a mess of boxes. Emil was so engrossed in what he was writing that he didn’t notice Peregrine at first. He looked up with a smile. “Your lunch is in the fridge.”
Peregrine got it out and kissed Emil’s head on the way to the table. “Thanks. I’m going to put stuff away, if you don’t mind.”
Emil dragged his eyes away from the screen. “Do you want my help?”
“Finish your work. I’ll let you know if I need a hand.”
After eating the sandwich with carrots and pickle slices, Peregrine cleaned everything, starting with the kitchen and working clockwise around the house until every light cover was spotless, every drawer perfectly clean, and every inch of the hardwood floor shiny. After a short break, he would set to work empting the boxes and refilling them with things they didn’t need.
He felt much better about the place now that every speck of dirt would be their dirt and not the previous owner’s.
--
Emil met Kurt in the produce section. “What about Pad Thai tonight and enchiladas tomorrow?”
The air conditioner would keep the oven from overheating the condo. He hadn’t had enchiladas in months.
“What about enchiladas tonight?”
“Do you want chicken in your enchiladas or just cheese? Meat will have to be stewed with homemade salsa that I will make tonight.”
“Meat please.”
Emil turned his best smile on Kurt. “Of course.”
One second later he was wrapped in Kurt’s arms. “So what vegetables are you going to tempt me with?”
“All of them, darling.”
Kurt sighed and set Emil down. “Lead on.”
Kurt followed Emil around the store. Emil let him push the hand cart with the milk crates as they shopped. At the register, Emil bagged his own groceries, or rather boxed them in the milk crates. The cashier helpfully told them of a place they could park their handcart while they shopped. They weren’t the only people downtown that used this method to get their groceries home.
Emil stepped out into the afternoon sun beside one of the most beautiful men on earth while the other waited for him at home. He was definitely one of the lucky ones.
--
Kurt stepped into the condo and looked around. Peregrine had worked wonder in just a few hours. Other than the pile of partly full boxes on the living room floor, the place was pristine, but with a lived in feel it hadn’t had with just Kurt’s boring furniture. Kurt’s furniture didn’t even look half so bland next to Peregrine’s couch with its patchwork slipcover. His beige stuff simply became a counterpoint to busier patterns. Plus now the walls were covered with decorations, filling the white walls with color.
Kurt wheeled the handcart into the kitchen and went to inspect the living room. Peregrine had moved his figurines off the coffee table. In fact he’d moved a lot of things higher. “Do you have something against having things down?”
Emil set his hand on Kurt’s arm. “He’s childproofing. It comes from having eight younger siblings.”
Peregrine stopped arranging pillows on the couch and stood up. “There are only seven of us. Me, Éowen, Faramir, Meri, Sam, Gimli, and Arwen.” He lifted a finger with each name. “Although Arwen was only two when I last talked to them, so I suppose my parents could have had more.”
He turned back to the couch, but Emil, more scarlet than Kurt had ever seen him, dashed into the kitchen and refused to look up even while giving Kurt directions for helping with dinner. Something was up, but what?
--
Peregrine sat back on the couch with a sigh. The condo was neat at last. Everything was in its place. The boxes of things to give away were safely stowed in Kurt’s car, the extra boxes folded carefully in the back of a closet, and all the things not worth giving away in the dumpster. He’d accomplished a lot.
Kurt and Emil chatted about their day in the kitchen. Dinner should be ready soon. Peregrine got up and leaned on the kitchen counter. “What did I miss while I was sleeping?”
Emil hunched his shoulders and stared at the pan he was stirring.
“I came over at lunch time,” Kurt said. “I gave you a kiss, but you weren’t really awake.”
Peregrine smiled. “I thought I dreamed that.”
Kurt grinned, but then he turned towards Emil with a cutting board full of vegetables and frowned.
Had Emil opened and read one of the Christmas cards Peregrine received and tossed every year? Was Peregrine really one of nine? Emil didn’t need to hide his interest in Peregrine’s family. Peregrine walked up behind Emil and wrapped his arms around him. “I love you.”
“I’ll stir.” Kurt motioned Emil away from the stove.
Emil stepped away from the stove, but didn’t look up. Fortunately Peregrine was several inches shorter than Emil. He stepped around Emil and looked up into his rich brown eyes. “I don’t mind.”
Emil looked away. “But you throw them out.”
Kurt looked up. Emil hurried over and added sauce to the meat. Peregrine explained to Kurt the Christmas cards he received from his mother and Éowen every year, plus, some years, ones from his other siblings. Last year he’d gotten one from Arwen who was too young to remember him at all. He’d nearly opened that one. Maybe the curiosity had been too much for Emil.
Kurt shook his head. “Why do you throw out your Christmas cards?”
“I was mad at my mother.”
“For how long?”
Emil poured the mean onto a plate. “As long as I’ve known him.”
Peregrine shrugged. “A dozen years.”
Kurt crossed his arms. “You stayed mad at you mother for a dozen years? Since college.”
Peregrine shook his head. “I’m not mad at her anymore, but I cut her and my family out of my life after you left. It was easier that way.”
“Easier?”
Emil dumped noodles into the pan and water evaporated with a great big whoosh.
“Ok.” Peregrine held up his hand. “I was stupid, childish. This year when they send me Christmas cards, I’ll open them and send some in return.”
Kurt relaxed, but Emil didn’t. He must think Peregrine was crazy, wasting years ignoring blood relatives that Emil would never have.
--
Kurt leaned back in his chair. The food had been delicious and he’d eaten too much. He put his hand on Emil’s arm. “Have you ever tried to find your mother?”
Emil shook his head. Peregrine tilted his head toward the bedroom and rolled his eyes toward Emil. Was he saying Emil needed a lot of loving? That much was obvious, but that loving would be better from Peregrine.
Emil sighed. “Once, when I was eighteen. That’s when I realized that she’d gone to jail the day I went into foster care. No one tells an eight year old anything.”
He got up and took his plate to the kitchen.
Kurt turned to Peregrine. “Your mother is nicer than mine. You remember what happened when I tried to keep her out of my life.”
Peregrine looked at the floor beside him. “That’s a day I will never forget.”
“Have you drawn it? I’d like to see it.” Kurt tugged Emil into his lap as Emil passed the table. Emil didn’t protest, but he sat rather stiffly.
Peregrine looked out the window. “I wouldn’t want you to see it. I was really messed up there for a while. If I hadn’t met Emil, I wouldn’t be the man I am today. He was my lifeline.”
He ran his hand down Emil’s arm and Emil relaxed.
They needed cushions if they were going to do this right. Kurt stood up with Emil in his arms and tugged Peregrine to the patchwork couch. They fell on it in a jumble and he put hands on both of his men, seconds later they both had hands on him and each other. Make-up sex was good, but I love you no matter our pasts, no matter our future, was even better.
--
Emil’s back was cold, but his chest warm as it lay on something hard. He blinked his eyes open. He was on Kurt on the couch with no clothes and no blankets. Skirtches of a pencil against paper said that Peregrine was hard at work. Emil turned his head. Peregrine sat in Kurt’s unbuttoned shirt with a sketch pad in his hand. He looked up. “Should I turn off the air conditioner?”
He got up and set his sketch book on the table. The sketch he was working on was Kurt and Emil on the couch. Emil got up and flipped through the book. The page before was the three of them, sound sleep, wrapped together. Peregrine ran his hand down Emil’s back. “I want to paint that.”
Emil shivered. “I like it.”
“I love you.”
Emil pulled Peregrine close and hugged him tightly. Why couldn’t he just open his mouth and say the things he wanted? Kurt had gotten Peregrine to rethink his silly family policy with only a few words. Or maybe it wasn’t the talking, but the man who’d said the words.
Emil let Peregrine get back to his work and went to wake Kurt. He’d get him to bed and make love to him some more. Emil had to stay as important in Kurt’s life as Kurt was in Peregrine’s if Emil was going to keep Peregrine.
Title: Unopened Letters
Series: A Balance of Harmonies (Three)
Status: Chapter forty-six of more than a few
Genre: m/m romance, drama, city life, businessmen
Rating: R
Content: sunrise, temptation, sketches, trust, boxes, no phone service, elevator, lunch, floor space, cleaning, shopping, kisses, color, childproofing, embarrassment, talking, dinner, need
Length: about 3,000 words
Summary: Emil tries desperately to keep the two men who have no intention of ever letting him go.
Master list
Kurt woke up when a door opened. The rising sun was turning the sky violet. He turned to look at his phone, but it wasn’t on the nightstand. He’d left it in his suit, wherever he’d left his suit. He propped himself up to see Peregrine’s alarm clock. Emil hummed in protest and snuggled closer.
The bedroom door opened and Peregrine walked in carrying Kurt’s suit. He hung it up before turning towards the bed. “Did I wake you up?”
Kurt shook his head and lay back on the pillow. “We thought you would be home earlier.”
Peregrine shrugged. “I felt the need to finish as much as I could of the painting, so they couldn’t use its incompleteness as a reason for not doing anything. We are taking someone to church with us on Sunday.”
“The same place as last week?”
Peregrine nodded. “If you really hate it, I can go alone.”
Kurt hadn’t meant to sound like he hated the church. He just didn’t feel comfortable there. Yet. “No, I want to get to know all these people who are making you happy.”
Peregrine walked up to the bed and put his hand on Kurt’s arm. “You two are the people who make me happy.”
Kurt grinned. “Are you coming to bed?”
Peregrine glanced from one side of the bed to the other. “Which side?”
Kurt wiggled closer to Emil and patted the space beside him. “Will you fit here?”
Peregrine smiled. “I’ll be right back.”
And just before Kurt drifted off to sleep, he felt Peregrine climb in and cuddle against him. With his men pressed against him on each side, he was in heaven.
--
Emil blinked several times. Kurt was moving. Normally Kurt didn’t wake him up when getting out of bed.
“Sorry,” Kurt said against his neck. “Peregrine’s on this side and he didn’t get in until almost dawn.”
Emil moved onto the cold sheet to give Kurt room to get out. Now, did he cuddle back into that warm space or get up for the day? But that pre-warmed, Kurt-smelling space was too tempting. Peregrine rolled against him and sleep overtook him again.
--
Kurt strode out of the elevator. One of the five threes, Pam maybe, turned to him. He held up Peregrine’s sketch book. “Let me make a few copies and I’ll give you one.”
Yesterday, Kurt had texted Peregrine about pictures of Diego and Lavender’s little Piper. Peregrine had left his sketchbook on the kitchen counter this morning with a note, saying Kurt could make photocopies.
“They aren’t actual pictures, but sketches are the best I’ve got right now.” Kurt should really call Diego and asked for real pictures, but he didn’t want to disturb them yet. They had been a family of three for less than a week.
“I can do that,” said Pam or whoever it was.
Kurt very reluctantly held the book out to her.
“Be careful with that,” said Veronica. “Kurt’s boyfriend is a famous artist. That book is probably worth a lot of money.”
The first part was what Kurt wanted to say, but these office assistances knew their jobs and had done him many a favor since he started. He didn’t want to act like he didn’t trust them.
Pam smiled at him. “I’ll get these back to you in ten minutes. I promise.”
Kurt nodded, one professional to another. He really had to start remembering their names. He needed a way to asked again without being insulting.
--
Emil was awake and dressed when the movers called, saying they were on their way, but Peregrine was still asleep and looked like he would be for a while.
When the movers came, Emil had them piled all the boxes into the living room. The new stuff needed to be unpacked, sorted, and put away, but with Kurt’s stuff already in place, everything would have to be judge whether to be kept or given away.
Emil voted to keep Kurt’s bed; it was newer. But at some point they might want a king sized bed which would give them a little more space.
Peregrine didn’t wake up during the commotion. Emil dug out his laptop and the phone and checked to see if the phone and internet were working yet, which they weren’t, so he made the required call on his cell phone and opened the document for this latest book. He’d have all afternoon to work on it. The phone guys wouldn’t be over until Friday.
--
Kurt walked out of his office with Peregrine’s sketchbook in his hand. Amy, the woman he’d handed it to, had been as good as her word. But Kurt suspected she’d made more than a copy or two. The bulletin board in the break room on Kurt’s floor had the sketch of Diego watching Lavender rock Piper with all Piper’s statistics, and if it was there, than it was probably in all the other break rooms, or at least the one on Diego’s floor.
Zawadzki and Ezra waved to him as he passed Zawadzki’s office. Veronica held open the elevator door. “Going out to lunch?”
Kurt shook his head. “I’m going home for lunch.”
Veronica punched the button for the ground floor. “Am I the only one happy that Jamar had other plans for lunch?”
Kurt laughed. “I’m definitely in your club about Chambers. People say that reacting makes you a target, but I don’t feel I react that much, do I?”
“I don’t think it’s possible to react so little that we don’t draw Jamar attention.”
Kurt let Veronica leave the elevator first. “Maybe if we were boring?”
Veronica stopped halfway through the ground floor gallery. “So we get picked on because we’re interesting? I like that. See you at the meeting.”
She whished away and Kurt turned towards the condo. A meeting after lunch meant that he couldn’t be late, but he planned to make the most of his lunch hour.
--
Emil started when the front door opened. He looked up from his manuscript. Kurt grinned at him. “Did you forget our lunch date?”
Emil blushed and got to his feet. “No, I just forgot to check the time.”
Kurt kissed him and waved him back to his chair. “Finish what you were working on. I’ll make lunch.” He looked in the fridge. “Sandwiches?”
Emil nodded and spotted a misspelling. The next time he looked up was when Kurt sat a sandwich on the table next to him. Emil pushed his laptop away. He should pay attention to Kurt while he was home.
Kurt shook his head. “You can keep working.”
“But you’re home.”
“I’m gratified you feel that way, but I love watching how intensely you write, as if nothing else existed in the world.”
Emil blushed. “I try not to do that.”
“Why?”
“Because,” if Emil didn’t take care of Peregrine, no one would, and if Peregrine knew that he could live alone, maybe he would, “I’ve got so much else to do.”
Kurt smiled. “Right now you just need to eat. If you want I’ll make dinner tonight. What should we have? I can stop by the store on the way home.”
“I should come with you.”
“Because you don’t trust me to shop? Or do you just want to spend more time with me?”
Emil grinned and touched Kurt’s arm. “Why do we think of what to have for dinner when we meet at the store once you get off work? And we go spend some time together now.”
“Is Peregrine still asleep?”
“Yes, but the spare room has lots of floor space.”
Kurt got to his feet. “You know, I’m quite willing to spend time with you when we are both dressed and upright.”
“I know.” Emil took Kurt’s hand and led him to the spare room. But sex was the way Emil had hooked Kurt, so it was probably the best way to keep him from looking for greener pastures.
--
Peregrine woke in late afternoon and stretched. The living room was a mess of boxes. Emil was so engrossed in what he was writing that he didn’t notice Peregrine at first. He looked up with a smile. “Your lunch is in the fridge.”
Peregrine got it out and kissed Emil’s head on the way to the table. “Thanks. I’m going to put stuff away, if you don’t mind.”
Emil dragged his eyes away from the screen. “Do you want my help?”
“Finish your work. I’ll let you know if I need a hand.”
After eating the sandwich with carrots and pickle slices, Peregrine cleaned everything, starting with the kitchen and working clockwise around the house until every light cover was spotless, every drawer perfectly clean, and every inch of the hardwood floor shiny. After a short break, he would set to work empting the boxes and refilling them with things they didn’t need.
He felt much better about the place now that every speck of dirt would be their dirt and not the previous owner’s.
--
Emil met Kurt in the produce section. “What about Pad Thai tonight and enchiladas tomorrow?”
The air conditioner would keep the oven from overheating the condo. He hadn’t had enchiladas in months.
“What about enchiladas tonight?”
“Do you want chicken in your enchiladas or just cheese? Meat will have to be stewed with homemade salsa that I will make tonight.”
“Meat please.”
Emil turned his best smile on Kurt. “Of course.”
One second later he was wrapped in Kurt’s arms. “So what vegetables are you going to tempt me with?”
“All of them, darling.”
Kurt sighed and set Emil down. “Lead on.”
Kurt followed Emil around the store. Emil let him push the hand cart with the milk crates as they shopped. At the register, Emil bagged his own groceries, or rather boxed them in the milk crates. The cashier helpfully told them of a place they could park their handcart while they shopped. They weren’t the only people downtown that used this method to get their groceries home.
Emil stepped out into the afternoon sun beside one of the most beautiful men on earth while the other waited for him at home. He was definitely one of the lucky ones.
--
Kurt stepped into the condo and looked around. Peregrine had worked wonder in just a few hours. Other than the pile of partly full boxes on the living room floor, the place was pristine, but with a lived in feel it hadn’t had with just Kurt’s boring furniture. Kurt’s furniture didn’t even look half so bland next to Peregrine’s couch with its patchwork slipcover. His beige stuff simply became a counterpoint to busier patterns. Plus now the walls were covered with decorations, filling the white walls with color.
Kurt wheeled the handcart into the kitchen and went to inspect the living room. Peregrine had moved his figurines off the coffee table. In fact he’d moved a lot of things higher. “Do you have something against having things down?”
Emil set his hand on Kurt’s arm. “He’s childproofing. It comes from having eight younger siblings.”
Peregrine stopped arranging pillows on the couch and stood up. “There are only seven of us. Me, Éowen, Faramir, Meri, Sam, Gimli, and Arwen.” He lifted a finger with each name. “Although Arwen was only two when I last talked to them, so I suppose my parents could have had more.”
He turned back to the couch, but Emil, more scarlet than Kurt had ever seen him, dashed into the kitchen and refused to look up even while giving Kurt directions for helping with dinner. Something was up, but what?
--
Peregrine sat back on the couch with a sigh. The condo was neat at last. Everything was in its place. The boxes of things to give away were safely stowed in Kurt’s car, the extra boxes folded carefully in the back of a closet, and all the things not worth giving away in the dumpster. He’d accomplished a lot.
Kurt and Emil chatted about their day in the kitchen. Dinner should be ready soon. Peregrine got up and leaned on the kitchen counter. “What did I miss while I was sleeping?”
Emil hunched his shoulders and stared at the pan he was stirring.
“I came over at lunch time,” Kurt said. “I gave you a kiss, but you weren’t really awake.”
Peregrine smiled. “I thought I dreamed that.”
Kurt grinned, but then he turned towards Emil with a cutting board full of vegetables and frowned.
Had Emil opened and read one of the Christmas cards Peregrine received and tossed every year? Was Peregrine really one of nine? Emil didn’t need to hide his interest in Peregrine’s family. Peregrine walked up behind Emil and wrapped his arms around him. “I love you.”
“I’ll stir.” Kurt motioned Emil away from the stove.
Emil stepped away from the stove, but didn’t look up. Fortunately Peregrine was several inches shorter than Emil. He stepped around Emil and looked up into his rich brown eyes. “I don’t mind.”
Emil looked away. “But you throw them out.”
Kurt looked up. Emil hurried over and added sauce to the meat. Peregrine explained to Kurt the Christmas cards he received from his mother and Éowen every year, plus, some years, ones from his other siblings. Last year he’d gotten one from Arwen who was too young to remember him at all. He’d nearly opened that one. Maybe the curiosity had been too much for Emil.
Kurt shook his head. “Why do you throw out your Christmas cards?”
“I was mad at my mother.”
“For how long?”
Emil poured the mean onto a plate. “As long as I’ve known him.”
Peregrine shrugged. “A dozen years.”
Kurt crossed his arms. “You stayed mad at you mother for a dozen years? Since college.”
Peregrine shook his head. “I’m not mad at her anymore, but I cut her and my family out of my life after you left. It was easier that way.”
“Easier?”
Emil dumped noodles into the pan and water evaporated with a great big whoosh.
“Ok.” Peregrine held up his hand. “I was stupid, childish. This year when they send me Christmas cards, I’ll open them and send some in return.”
Kurt relaxed, but Emil didn’t. He must think Peregrine was crazy, wasting years ignoring blood relatives that Emil would never have.
--
Kurt leaned back in his chair. The food had been delicious and he’d eaten too much. He put his hand on Emil’s arm. “Have you ever tried to find your mother?”
Emil shook his head. Peregrine tilted his head toward the bedroom and rolled his eyes toward Emil. Was he saying Emil needed a lot of loving? That much was obvious, but that loving would be better from Peregrine.
Emil sighed. “Once, when I was eighteen. That’s when I realized that she’d gone to jail the day I went into foster care. No one tells an eight year old anything.”
He got up and took his plate to the kitchen.
Kurt turned to Peregrine. “Your mother is nicer than mine. You remember what happened when I tried to keep her out of my life.”
Peregrine looked at the floor beside him. “That’s a day I will never forget.”
“Have you drawn it? I’d like to see it.” Kurt tugged Emil into his lap as Emil passed the table. Emil didn’t protest, but he sat rather stiffly.
Peregrine looked out the window. “I wouldn’t want you to see it. I was really messed up there for a while. If I hadn’t met Emil, I wouldn’t be the man I am today. He was my lifeline.”
He ran his hand down Emil’s arm and Emil relaxed.
They needed cushions if they were going to do this right. Kurt stood up with Emil in his arms and tugged Peregrine to the patchwork couch. They fell on it in a jumble and he put hands on both of his men, seconds later they both had hands on him and each other. Make-up sex was good, but I love you no matter our pasts, no matter our future, was even better.
--
Emil’s back was cold, but his chest warm as it lay on something hard. He blinked his eyes open. He was on Kurt on the couch with no clothes and no blankets. Skirtches of a pencil against paper said that Peregrine was hard at work. Emil turned his head. Peregrine sat in Kurt’s unbuttoned shirt with a sketch pad in his hand. He looked up. “Should I turn off the air conditioner?”
He got up and set his sketch book on the table. The sketch he was working on was Kurt and Emil on the couch. Emil got up and flipped through the book. The page before was the three of them, sound sleep, wrapped together. Peregrine ran his hand down Emil’s back. “I want to paint that.”
Emil shivered. “I like it.”
“I love you.”
Emil pulled Peregrine close and hugged him tightly. Why couldn’t he just open his mouth and say the things he wanted? Kurt had gotten Peregrine to rethink his silly family policy with only a few words. Or maybe it wasn’t the talking, but the man who’d said the words.
Emil let Peregrine get back to his work and went to wake Kurt. He’d get him to bed and make love to him some more. Emil had to stay as important in Kurt’s life as Kurt was in Peregrine’s if Emil was going to keep Peregrine.
