Pleasantries - Chapter 5 - Faking It - Part 5

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Chapter 4 Part 2 Part 3

Chapter 5 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 interlude Part 6

 

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Continued from Part 4

Advisories are in  Part 1. Major feature this time around Adult Situations containing those who shouldn't be in adult situations and implied violence.

Guess what?! This part has been proofed by debbycus! :oD You guys finally get to see first hand what awesome work she does without having to go back and reread earlier chapters. Send her ♥ she deserves it.

Also I know I said this would be posted at the same time as part 6. There has been a change of plans before I completely lost my mind and rewrote the whole damn thing. That would be bad.

And now ...


Pleasantries - Chapter 5 - Faking It - Part 5

6:10 AM Thursday, May 15

Ripp stood quietly next to the table, waiting for Buzz to acknowledge his presence. This was too important to him to screw up by interrupting breakfast without permission.

It was strange. Less than a week ago he had stood in this same spot, his stomach doing little flips of anxiety, waiting to ask if he could sleep over at Lilith’s house. His stomach was still doing little flips. This time they were different.

“Out with it.” Buzz demanded, finally looking up from the table. “And remove that ridiculous expression from your face.”

“Yes, Sir,” Ripp stood up straighter, schooling his features into a neutral mask.

“Well?” Buzz drummed his fingers on the table impatiently.

“A friend is having a birthday party tomorrow,” Ripp explained hoping Buzz wouldn’t ask which friend. If he did, that could be disastrous. “The party is supposed to run late. Can I stay over?”

“No,” Buzz turned back to the table. “Nor may you go to the party. Tank is going camping with his friends this weekend. You will remain here with Buck while I am at work.”

It was only the sight of Tank’s delighted smile that kept Ripp’s shoulders from slumping, “Yes, Sir.”

If Buzz noticed the bitter edge that crept into Ripp’s voice, he didn’t comment.

“But Dad,” Buck looked up with a puzzled frown, “I’m sleeping over at Xander’s house this weekend, remember?”

Ripp swallowed nervously, silently pleading with Buck to just stop talking. Arguing with their father hardly ever ended well and it never ended well for Ripp.

Buzz glanced sharply at his youngest son, “You are?”

Buck nodded, “Yeah, you talked to his Mom about it on Tuesday, remember?”

Ripp’s stomach dropped. No such luck, and Buck had managed to make Buzz look like an idiot while he was at it.

Buzz frowned, “I did, didn’t I?”

“Uh huh,” Buck smiled encouragingly at Ripp, “We are going swimming on Saturday and the Museum and Planetarium on Sunday. Ripp doesn’t have to look after me.”

He was trying to help. Ripp knew he was.

Buzz turned his attention to Tank, “When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow after school.”

Buzz scowled, shoulders set square, “When will you be home?”

“Sunday night sometime, I guess,” Tank shrugged.

Buzz tapped a single fingernail against the table, thinking.

Ripp’s throat tried to close up.

With no one else around all weekend, Buzz wanted Ripp gone as much as Ripp wanted to be gone, maybe more, but he’d already said no and wouldn’t go back on that now. His warped sense of pride, his need for his word to be law, infallible, above all else would not allow it. It would be a miserable weekend for both of them, and Ripp had no doubt Buzz would make sure his was worse. Ripp would be taking the brunt of his father’s ire and the blame for the situation. A situation they could so easily avoid if only Buzz would change his mind.

He wouldn’t. The General was never wrong.

Buzz’s hands clenched into white knuckled fists against the table as he turned a disgusted glare on Ripp.

Ripp squeezed his eyes shut, locking his knees to stop them from trembling. It looked like his bad weekend was about to start now.

Fell down the stairs? No. That excuse always sounded weak. Got into a fight with Tank? Better, but what did they fight over? His mind was coming up blank. Maybe he would get lucky and none of the damage would be visible this time. Buzz was good at that at least. When he tried.

“You,” Buzz hissed, “will find somewhere else to be. I wish to entertain company this weekend without your snivelling nose butting in.”

Ripp’s eyes snapped open, “Yes, Sir.”

“I expect you home immediately after school this afternoon. All of your chores for the weekend will be finished before you leave for school tomorrow morning. Understood?"

“Yes, Sir.”

“Get out of my sight,” Buzz dismissed him with a snarl, “I do not wish to see you before Sunday evening. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Sir.” Ripp nodded turning from the table. “Perfectly.”

Hurrying from the room, Ripp rushed up the stairs. Buzz had changed his mind!

Well, no, he hadn’t, not really. He’d altered the terms to suit him. Either way, Ripp would take it. He wasn’t sure where he would be staying for the rest of the weekend and right now he didn’t care. Right now he was just going to grab his school books and get the hell out of there before Buzz decided he needed a reminder of who made and enforced the rules in their house.

If he left now he could get to Tel’s before school. That always made for a good morning even if all they did was talk. Just being with Tel without having to worry about how everything they did might look, how everything they said might sound even if it was only for a few minutes, made the whole day seem better. It was all he could do to contain his giddy giggle as he reached out to snag his bag from the peg on the wall. Tomorrow they could talk as long as they wanted. Tomorrow he wouldn’t have to leave.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he turned back toward the door.

Tank was standing in the doorway.

Ripp cursed under his breath. He’d been too distracted with thoughts of Telesto to hear Tank approaching. That kind of thing had to stop. In this house distraction was dangerous.

“I’m trying to picture this,” Tank began conversationally, “and I just can’t. You have to help me out.”

“Piss off,” Ripp snapped, “I am not helping you with anything.”

“Fine,” Tank shrugged, “don’t help me understand the mating rituals of faggot freaks. You are doing the world of science a disservice.”

Ripp had to laugh at that, “Science? You?”

Tank glared at him, “You’re spending the weekend with your little alien fuck-buddy, aren’t you?”

“Where I spend the weekend is none of your business.”

“You can’t hide forever,” Tank warned turning away from the door. “One of these days you are going to fuck up, and when you do, I will be there to make sure Dad finds out about it.”

Ripp squeezed his hands into fists at his sides. He had no doubt Tank intended to make good on that promise which meant he would have to make twice as sure to not fuck up. Ever. It wasn’t just him that would face the consequences anymore.

Heaving a sigh, he set off out the door, “It just never fucking ends, does it?”

* * *

5:15 PM Thursday, May 15

“I know where I remember you from,” Caelan announced, setting the basket he had been carrying on the counter.

Tybalt looked up from preparing the tray for the late afternoon meeting taking place in the conference room, “Am I going to be stammering out a horribly embarrassed explanation in a minute?”

“Depends,” Caelan flashed him a grin, hopping up on the counter beside him. “How embarrassed are you about being seen at PURE last Saturday?”

“You were at PURE on Saturday?”

Caelan nodded, “Yup, and so were you. You were standing in line at the espresso bar with some guy, hanging all over each other until a red-head and another guy in black leather showed up.”

“Possibly guilty as charged.”

“There is no possibly. The mask is a dead give-away. I saw you again later on the couch in the back corner playing tonsil hockey with the same guy from the espresso line.”

“That guy,” Tybalt stared at him pointedly, “is my boyfriend.”

“Yeah?” Caelan leaned back on his hands, unfazed. “How long you been together?”

“Almost seven months.”

“Really?” Caelan looked surprised.

“Yeah, really. Why?”

Shrugging, Caelan hopped down off the counter, “I dunno, I guess I just never saw gay guys as going for the whole monogamy thing.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Tybalt frowned.

Caelan grinned, “No chicks around wanting all your time, looking for commitment? Why would you?”

“There are guys who want that too,” Tybalt pointed out.

“I guess,” Caelan agreed, “I’m not one of them. So, why the mask?”

Tybalt turned back to platters on the counter, “A lot of kids in my neighbourhood wear masks or enough make-up to be a mask. It’s a thing. I’m just used to it now.”

Caelan cocked his head, “So you aren’t scarred or anything underneath it, like some comic book character or something.”

“No, I am surprisingly normal.”

“I don’t know if I would say that,” Caelan picked up the basket of props once more.

Tybalt looked up at him, “What?”

“You should lose the mask. You’d look better without it.”

* * *

7:55 PM Thursday, May 15

Damon pressed the start button on the game controller, pausing his game. He turned to look at Tybalt stretched out on the bed beside him.

He was being ignored. He didn’t like being ignored.

Dropping the controller to the floor, he stretched out on his side, hand skimming the length of Tybalt’s thigh. In his opinion there were very few things better than the feel of a warm, hard male beneath his fingers. Of those few things that were better, one of them required said male was paying attention.

He shifted his hand.

“Mm,” Tybalt murmured catching Damon’s hand in his, “Not right now, Love. I need to read this.”

Snatching his hand away, Damon rolled over on his back, glaring up at the ceiling, “Then why’d you bother coming over?”

“Stupid question,” Tybalt didn’t look up from his book. “To spend time with you. Why else would I be here?”

Damon sat up, grabbing the book from Tybalt’s hand, “Funny. This doesn’t look like me.”

Tybalt stared at him, expressionless, “Give me back the book, Damon, I need to read it for work.”

“Oh, of course,” Damon sneered, tossing the book at him before sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest, “Wouldn’t want to interfere with your precious job. What the hell makes this job so damn special after only four days, huh?”

Tybalt stood and headed for the door, “I’m going home.”

“What?” Damon gaped at him, “Just like that?”

“Yeah,” Tybalt sighed, “just like that. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Damon stared at the door as it closed behind him, “What the fuck?”

* * *

9:35 AM Friday, May 16

“What the hell does that even mean?” Lilith slumped back in her chair. “Asking me how Dustin is as if I’d know? Ask Angela, he’s her boyfriend.”

“Did you mention this to her?” Winston asked.

“I did.” Lilith nodded, “She glared at me, huffed something about me being just like Dad and Ang ran out of the room crying.”

Winston frowned, “That is perplexing.”

“They are driving me crazy,” she sighed, rubbing her throbbing temples. “I’m starting to dread walking in the door, wondering which one of them will be there glaring at me. Sometimes it’s both of them.”

“This has been going on for two days now, you said?” Winston asked, placing a supportive hand on her shoulder.

She nodded, rubbing at her aching neck, “Yeah, since Wednesday at dinner.”

Winston’s brow furled, one hand rubbing thoughtfully across his chin while he stared unseeing across the room. Gradually his thumb, still resting against her shoulder, began to move in small circles, kneading at a knotted muscle. A moment later his fingers flexed, joining his thumb in working the tension out of her shoulder.

Lilith sighed quietly. If she had to guess, she would say he wasn’t even aware he was doing it. The movement of his fingers across her shoulder as they soothed her tense muscles was too random to be intentional. She wasn’t about to draw his attention to what he was doing though. If she did, he would probably stop. She really didn’t want him to stop.

It felt good, but if she was being completely honest with herself, she had to admit the who felt as good as the what.

“I’m losing my mind,” she murmured.

Winston laughed, his hand shifting to ruffle her hair.

A sharp pang of disappointment shot through her. Hair ruffling. That was something you did with a child.

“If it is any consolation,” he said, moving around the other side of the table, “the truly insane are rarely aware they are. I expect your mind is still firmly intact.”

Picking up the pencil off the table, she idly toyed with it while staring up at him. The mop of blond hair that he could never seem to get to lay flat, the glasses framing minty green eyes and the lopsided smile under a slightly too big nose. He really was a dork. It was impossible to deny. He looked like a dork, he acted like a dork, he spoke like a dork, and he collected post cards.

And he was perfect.

“I dunno about that,” she said at last, “there are days I wonder.”

* * *

3:30 PM Friday, May 16

It had sounded like a good idea. They had several hours to kill before everyone got to Tel’s house for Fen’s birthday, and except for school, the very occasional stop at FM and of course going to PURE the previous weekend, neither of them had gone anywhere in weeks.

It really had sounded like a good idea.

“Lil wants me to go with her and Tybalt on Sunday. You want to come with?”

“Sure,” Telesto nodded looking up from his ice cream. “Where are we going?”

Ripp shrugged, “Dunno. I forgot to ask.”

Telesto grinned at him leaning across the table, “You’ve got chocolate …”

Unconsciously, Ripp leaned closer before he realized what he was doing and where they were.

He froze.

Telesto dropped his hands to his lap as he turned his head to scan the crowd around them.

 “Sorry,” he murmured, “I forgot.”

Ripp ducked his head, “It’s okay, I don’t think anyone noticed.”

* * *

* * *

* * *

“Ripp?” Telesto’s voice was quiet as he watched the people around them in the park.

“Yeah?”

“This is worse than being at school.”

Ripp’s thumb brushed lightly over Telesto’s fingers where they rested on the bench. Such a tiny bit of contact and still it was more than was safe.

He scuffed his foot against the ground, “Yeah.”

* * *

9:30 PM Friday, May 16

Food had been ordered and eaten. Fen had opened his gifts and, much to Fen’s disgust and Rythe’s worry for his stereo, birthday abuse had been dished out courtesy of Tybalt.

The adult supervision retreated to the main house with warnings of severe consequences should any of the rules be broken.

No sooner had the door closed behind them than Damon and Tybalt set to work picking the lock on the bar cabinet.

Fen shook his head, chuckling at them, “It would have been way easier if you had just nabbed the key and got a spare cut.”

“We tried that,” Rein explained, holding out a pool cue for him, “we can’t find where he keeps it.”

Lilith sat down at the poker table next to Dirk, “You okay with this?” she asked quietly.

Dirk looked up at her puzzled, “With the booze?”

She nodded.

“Yeah,” he nodded back, “I realized about a month ago I am really not my father.”

“I told you,” she smiled, picking up the deck of cards. “But what brought this on?”

He smirked back, “I wouldn’t fuck Haley, for one.”

Ripp and Telesto had laid claim to the couch along the back wall, content for the moment to be off on their own simply talking.

“That part is definitely weird,” Telesto mused, his finger tracing small circles over Ripp’s arm, “meeting this person on the street who you’ve never even seen before and it is like ‘Hey, that’s my sister’.”

“That would be weird. What do you do when that happens?”

“Go over and introduce myself,” Telesto shrugged. “They are usually thinking the same thing, I guess. I mean, it isn’t an instant family bond or anything like that, just saying hi.”

“So how many siblings do you have?”

“That I know about?”

Ripp nodded, settling back against the couch. This was so much better. Forget going out and doing things like ‘normal’ people. ‘Normal’ people could be themselves without worrying who might see them. ‘Normal’ people didn’t have Buzz to deal with. If he had his way, they were never leaving this couch again.

“Cal, of course. I have a couple sisters over in Riverblossom Hills, a brother in Bluewater, two more brothers and three sisters living downtown. One of them lives in Cal’s building, actually,” Telesto paused thoughtfully, his thumb idly trailing a lazy path along the inside of Ripp’s fingers.

“Tel,” Ripp shifted uncomfortably, “please don’t do that.”

“Sorry,” Telesto stopped, snatching away his finger as well as the offending thumb. “Did that tickle?”

Ripp ducked his head, blushing, “Not exactly.”

Telesto stared at him.

“Really?”

Ripp’s blush intensified, “Just forget about it.”

“Mmm, no.” Telesto stood up, nudging his way between Ripp’s knees, “Don’t want to.”

“Tel,” Ripp glanced around the room, “I don’t think …”

Telesto leaned over, so close the tips of their noses brushed together, bracing one arm against the back of the couch.

Ripp let out a startled gasp.

“That’s good,” Telesto whispered taking hold of one of Ripp’s arms, “You just keep doing that because sometimes, Princess, you think way too much.”

Without another word, Telesto pulled Ripp to his feet, leading the way across to the guestroom, silently closing the door behind them.

Ripp stood in the middle of the darkened room. His knees felt wobbly and his stomach was threatening to reject everything he had eaten that evening. The quiet click of the lock snapping into place on the door made him jump.

Telesto turned around with a wicked smile, closing the distance between them with slow, measured steps, “No interruptions.”

Ripp tried to smile at that, he really did, but with every step Tel took, his knees threatened to buckle a little bit more.

Finally, Telesto was right there, not even an arms length away. He could just reach out and pull the alien to him if he wanted. Gods did he want to. Wanted to so badly it was almost a physical pain, but if he did …

“Tel, you don’t have to,” he said, finally looking up. “I mean if you don’t want to. If this is just because …”

“Ripp.”

“Yeah?”

“I have an idea.”

“Okay …?”

“Shut up.”

Tel had the best ideas.

* * *

Part 6 is up, however, you can pick up almost exactly where this leaves of with "Baby".

Extra thanks to debbycus and amochan8878 for the help getting this out! It really wouldn't be here if they hadn't both talked me down off the proverbial, literary ledge. ♥ I have it worked out now! Thank you both.