Inevitable

Date/Timing: 19 September 2011
Setting: Hermann & Edan's flat; Battersea, London, England, United Kingdom
.
Hermann, on the sofa, codes.
Dottie, on the rug, sleeps.
PAIGE, in the laptop and mobile backgrounds, syncs.
Edan, in his blob chair, reads.
Hermann clicks.
Dottie whuffles.
PAIGE whirs.
Edan's mobile sings; fumbly noises as he answers.
""Kris ... what ... slow down ... /take a deep breath, mate.""
Hermann looks over his screen and glasses.
Edan pushes upright, chair /shushing. "Alright ... okay ... it'll be alright. What do you have on you?"
Hermann pushes his glasses onto his forehead.
"Get yourself outta the rain soon as you can. I'm gonna call my dad, get him or Mum or Fen-fen to come get you, alright?"
His heart sinks.
"We'll get you through this, alright? Keep warmish and hold on. One of us'll ring you right back."
Sinks further.
"You're welcome. Hold on, it'll be alright." Edan pokes the mobile.
"What's happened?"
"The inevitable."
"What does that—"
Edan gestures for quiet. "Dad, Andrew just threw Kris outta the house."
Hermann grimaces.
"Only his mobile and the clothes on his back."
Shudders.
"Yea. Can you help?"
Takes a deep breath.
"It's—" Edan rattles off a number.
Exhales.
"He busted in on him and his friend Lewis mid-shag."
Cringes.
Edan laughs. "Thanks, Dad, but don't get yourself done over him."
Rolls tension from his shoulders.
"Thanks again, Dad. Love ye." Edan disconnects, flops back again, addresses the ceiling, "That took less time than I expected."
"I take it Kris has been dragged out of the closet?"
"Yea, Andrew kicked in the door and tossed him out." Sighs. "Literally."
"I thought that only happened in movies."
"'pparently not. Marched him outta the house into a gale and locked up behind him." 
"Good Lord."
"'least Andrew's a man of his word?"
"Are you /seriously trying to find a silver lining in this?"
"Yes? I mean ... what else /can I do?" Waves his hands. "I've already done everything I can from here. It's down to the fam now."
His mobile /chirps and he thumbs it on immediately. Exhales. "Dad's got a car going 'round to get him, Mum's making up my old room, and Fen-fen's collecting kit for him."
"Sounds like the worst is over."
"Except for the, you know, lingering psychological trauma of being rejected by the people supposed to protect you."
Hermann slumps, mumbles, "That will, eventually, hurt less."
Edan lifts his head, smiles reassurance. "That's good."
Hermann smiles back.
Edan picks up his photocopies, shifts into a comfortable reading posture, focuses on the paper.
Hermann settles his glasses back on his nose, reorients himself to the new module.
Dottie stands, stretches, yawns, and clicks out.
Edan flips a page.
Hermann shuffles his wings, types another line of code.
Then another.
Then five more.
""Hermann?""
"Hmm?"
""What about asking Kris to move in with us?""
Hermann closes his laptop. "His parents will emancipate him after this?"
"No need: he turned sixteen last week."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Age of majority in Scotland's different. He's an adult. He passed his exams in the spring, too, so." Shrugs.
"Ah." Hermann chews his lip. "I don't know if we can support another person on my income at city prices." Lips twitch into a smile. "Especially not the way an average sixteen-year-old eats."
"Maybe I can pick up some hours somewhere."
"You're not sleeping enough as is."
"We /could ask my family to chip in."
"Couldn't your family give him a place to stay?"
"They've already got Fen-fen with them, but ... I /suppose they could."
"Why are you so hesitant?"
"Because I—" Huffs. "Because I feel like /I should be the one to help him, 'coz I'm his big brother." Fluffs his hair. "Because I'm his /gay big brother and I've lived through a lotta what's happening to him now—minus the being chucked out bit—but—well, kinda like you and Dee stepped up to help Bunny when your dad ...." Sighs to a stop.
Hermann takes a deep breath. "I understand the impulse, but, I admit, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of Kris—or anyone aside from Bastien—joining us."
"Oh. Right. Dusters aren't for general knowledge." Sags. "You'd have to go back to tight binding around the house if he was here."
"Yes."
"I definitely don't want that."
"Thank you for understanding," says Hermann gently.
Edan acknowledges with a faint smile.
Hermann puts as much love as he can into his.
Edan lets his eyes fall shut, mutters, "I shoulda asked Trinity to push Andrew in front of a train."
"That would only've changed the timing of Kris' need for a new home and landed Trinity in prison."
"Must you /insist on being right?"
"I must when I'm right."
Category:Ficlet
Category:London (setting)
Category:Hermann
Category:Hermann's POV
Category:Hermann (ficlet)
Category:Hermann has wings
Category:Peridot
Category:Peridot (ficlet)
Category:Edan
Category:Edan (ficlet)
Category:Hermann is a programmer
Category:Kris (mention)
Category:Torquil (mention)
Category:Dona (mention)
Category:Fenella (mention)
Category:Andrew (mention)
Category:Dietrich (mention)
Category:Bastien (mention)
Category:Trinity (mention)
Category:Lars (mention)
Category:Ficlets with images
Category:Pages with comments
Category:Celestial Mechanics
2011 09 19