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 Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2020 11:03 am
Takes place on July 29th, 2020. Neither Lovely nor Ilian made a big deal about either of their birthdays.
Sure, they mentioned it on the days in question, said “Happy birthday” with a notable level of snark or good old fashioned forced indifference. Sometimes they’d go out to eat or catch a movie and make a lame attempt at a date, but as neither of them were particularly romantic or deeply thoughtful, the days tended to pass like any other. What did it matter that they were a year older? Sixteen, eighteen, twenty-one, there wasn’t much difference between them, just that they could drive, then vote, then drink, the latter two of which weren’t all that important to them to begin with.
But this year was somewhat different — not because they’d reached the drinking milestone, but because Lovely happened to come up with an idea for a gift he knew Ilian was going to like, and the acquisition of that gift led Lovely to a decision he’d been putting off for a while.
He only worked for half the day on the twenty-ninth of July. Their hours always ended up getting cut during the summer, which Lovely usually complained about, but it served him well this time. He made sure Ilian was scheduled to work that afternoon so he’d be out of the apartment when a crew came by to deliver his gift.
An old, upright piano.
It was in good condition for an antique, refinished and repaired enough that it might look almost new to those who didn’t look too closely or consider its outdated style, but it still showed its age. It took four men with more strength than Lovely could ever claim to possess to get it into the apartment, and it was so large the only good spot for it was where the television sat, which meant discarding the TV stand and putting the TV on top of the piano itself.
Which presented its own problem. Their apartment being as small as it was, there wasn’t enough space between the couch and their new, grand TV stand to make watching the television anything but an uncomfortable pain in the neck.
Lovely sighed in resignation as he stared at it from the kitchen, where the air was a little cooler and less stifling due to the sputtering AC unit in the window. He contemplated making something nice for dinner to set Ilian a little more at ease, but that would probably throw him off instead, so when he knew Ilian was on his way home, he ordered a few pizzas and some boneless wings and whatever chocolate-y dessert sounded most appealing and told himself to just act casual about everything.
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2020 8:52 am
Maybe surprisingly, Ilian never really minded the work he did at the department store. He had no problem striking up conversation with the customers, and suggesting other things for them to buy based on what they were looking for. It wasn’t the easiest or most rewarding work, but it helped pay the bills and it put him in close proximity to Lovely.
At least when Lovely was working the same time he was.
It would sound stupid out loud, and Lovely would most definitely cringe away at anything too sentimental, but sometimes Ilian liked being able to see him during the day, even if it was just passing in the break room or while he was helping a customer and Lovely was working on his displays. Not that he would ever share, but seeing Lovely helped keep any anxiety he may have down.
So since he didn’t get to work the same schedule as Lovely today, Ilian was feeling a bit bummed and out of sorts. He had hoped that at least for his birthday they would be working at the same time, but things didn’t go as planned.
Tiredly, Ilian fumbled with the keys to their shared apartment once he finally got home that night. He’d been on his feet all day, so he was looking forward to grabbing some leftovers from the fridge and then lazing about until it was time to sleep.
But the sight that greeted him was far better than just sitting around, and Ilian stared dumbfoundedly at the piano taking up what seemed to be half the tiny living room.
“What the hell is this?” he gaped, tearing his eyes away to see where Lovely was and what he was doing, catching a glimpse of the pizza before his attention was back to the largest thing in the room.
“This is beautiful. What the hell, Lovely??” Naturally, Ilian immediately plopped himself down in front of the keys to stare closer at all the details.
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Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 11:44 am
“What does it look like?” Lovely said, glancing up from the pizza boxes he was rummaging through so he could roll his eyes. He thought about being sarcastic, but decided to tone the snark down a little bit since it was Ilian’s birthday and all.
He looked out from the kitchen, removing a slice of margherita pizza from one of the boxes before sauntering out into the living room. The kitchen window unit wasn’t strong enough to cool the rest of the apartment, so it was more uncomfortable there, but the track shorts and tank top he was wearing helped enough that the heat and humidity wasn’t complete torture. He’d almost gotten used to the constant discomfort over the last four years. It was hot every summer, cold every winter, and sometimes it smelled kind of musty.
The limited space still presented an issue, though.
“I got us a piano,” Lovely said around a large bite of pizza. Technically he hadn’t gotten it for them, he’d gotten it for Ilian, but admitting that was gross and sappy, and it wasn’t likely Lovely had no intention of playing it. He was as good a pianist as Ilian, when he cared to admit it.
“It’s at least a hundred years old and not really that fancy — and it’s heavy as s**t, you should have seen the size of the guys who brought it in here — but I thought getting an antique would be way cooler than getting a new one. It’s huge, though. I didn’t realize how ******** big it was until they brought it in. You should try watching the TV while it’s up there. You’ll break your neck.”
As casually as he possibly could, Lovely leaned his hip against the side of the piano, munching on his slice of pizza and trying to steer the conversation in the right direction without having to just blurt out everything he meant to say.
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Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 1:03 pm
Ilian was used to Lovely’s sarcasm and general negative attitude by now, so the eye rolling didn’t faze him. If anything, he was too distracted by the beautiful, antique ivory keys and dark varnish. It looked like it had been cleaned up decently well too, or maybe it had been kept in good condition.
At the mention of the television, Ilian glanced up to where it was perched on top, and then stood so he could try to judge it back even father to the wall. He wanted to open the lid of the piano to see inside, but the television legs were still in the way.
“Damn, yeah, I bet,” he commented, vaguely aware that Lovely had made his way to the piano to lean against. “We could put the TV in the bedroom I guess,” he suggested half heartedly as he plopped back down on the bench and pressed some of the keys for the first time.
Yes, it sounded old, but it seemed to be tuned enough to be able to play something without his own ears hurting. Ilian ran his fingers down a quick set of scales, and then glanced up at Lovely with a genuine smile.
“Love, this is awesome. Thank you. s**t, I hope it wasn’t expensive,” he added, his mind wandering in too many places at once. “How much did it cost to get it moved in? You really shouldn’t have,” he rambled, but clearly he wasn’t planning on having it returned. “How long have you been planning this?”
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 12:24 pm
Love.
Whatever comments Lovely meant to utter about the size of their apartment and the many discomforts it brought them over the years came to a screeching halt when his brain registered Ilian’s use of a word neither of them ever said.
It was his name, of course. Or a shortened form of it. Nothing that should have been out of the ordinary, except that he couldn’t remember Ilian ever saying it like that. Not when they were friends. Not when they were awkward fake boyfriends. Not when they were awkward real boyfriends. Not when they gave each other rings. Not when they signed the paperwork to make their relationship more binding. He was always “Lovely,” or “Aqua” when they were seeing to Negaverse business, occasionally the full “Aquamarine,” or “Lovett” when Ilian was feeling sassy or spiteful and wanted to remind Lovely of the fact that he had a terrible name.
But never, ever — not once in all the years they’d known one another — had Ilian ever called him Love.
People used that as a term of endearment. Normal people who weren’t ******** up or repressed or whatever it was that kept Lovely and Ilian from doing all those couple-y things couples usually did, like holding hands and kissing in public and making mushy declarations about their feelings and using terms of endearment. That just wasn’t who he and Ilian were. They didn’t do those things. As far as Lovely was aware, neither of them wanted to. So it definitely didn’t make any sense for Ilian to start doing it now, which meant he was definitely just shortening Lovely’s name.
Simple as that.
Except no one ever called him “Love.” He was “Lovely” or “Lovey” or “Leigh.” Which made Ilian saying it sort of…
Ew, not special, no. Why would Lovely’s brain even go in such a gross direction?
“I… what?” he said, momentarily confused. He’d missed most of Ilian’s questions, too distracted by his own malfunctioning brain. “Of course it was expensive.”
Well, it was expensive when he took their salaries into account. What Lovely considered expensive these days was much different than what he used to consider expensive. Years ago, an antique piano wouldn’t have put a dent into the money he had at his disposal. That all changed after Claude took most of it away.
“I told you it’s for both of us, so it’s not… it’s not a big deal. But we should…”
Lovely opened and closed his mouth a few times, struggling to get his brain back on track. He’d had a plan: Act casual. Steer the conversation in the appropriate direction. Let Ilian come to his own conclusions about their need for a bigger place. Then, when the right moment came along, bring up what Claude hadn’t been able to take away.
But now he was out of sorts and couldn’t get himself back under control, so Lovely ended up blurting out on his own, “We should get a bigger place.”
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:08 pm
Ilian hadn’t realized he’d short circuited Lovely’s brain, and instead continued to happily pick away at the keys in whatever tune he could think of. It wasn’t until Lovely brought up getting a bigger place that he stopped to turn around and look up at him again.
“I don’t know how much more we could afford,” Ilian said with a small frown, knowing that it would be great to have a room for just his instruments and composing and recording, but the rent for this place was cheap. A one bedroom, one bath, tiny kitchen and living room meant they were able to put a little money aside to save in case something happened, like needing to go to the hospital.
“I mean, if you really wanted, we could look at other apartments, maybe closer to work. If we didn’t have to drive there it could save some of the money we’d be spending on a new place,” he tried to figure things out in his head. Even though he really just wanted to go back to playing the new piano they had.
Ilian paused again, staring closely at Lovely’s expression. He seemed a bit dazed, but Ilian wasn’t sure from what.
“You okay? Your cheeks are a bit pink. You’re not feeling sick are you?” Hey, it never hurt to ask.
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 10:33 am
“It’s hot as ******** in here, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Lovely said — a little more hostile than he intended, but he always got hostile when he was uncomfortable or felt out of sorts. Ilian should be used to it by now.
The pink in his cheeks definitely wasn’t because of the heat this time, but Ilian didn’t have to know that. Lovely had every intention of pretending he hadn’t heard anything different come out of Ilian’s mouth. It wasn’t a big deal, he told himself. If it was, Ilian would have had a reaction to it, too. He hadn’t, which meant it was either a mindless slip of the tongue, or it hadn’t meant anything at all and Lovely was agonizing over it for no reason. The sooner he put it out of his mind, the sooner he could get back on track.
Lovely took another bite of pizza and chewed moodily, glaring at the thinning carpet instead of meeting Ilian’s eye. He couldn’t figure out a way to turn the conversation the way he wanted, so he rolled his eyes, sighed heavily, and figured he might as well just continue to blurt things out.
“We can afford a bigger place,” he said, pushing himself off of the side of the piano to plop down on the coffee table. The living-room being even more cramped now with the piano taking up space, this still kept him in close proximity; there was barely enough room for him to stretch out his legs between the coffee table and the piano bench. “Not another apartment. We’d just be wasting money on rent. Maybe a condo if you want. There are some nice ones near work.”
Nice, expensive condos, with a pool and a gym and other such fancy amenities, the sort they’d never get in a dump like this, where their money paid for rent and not much else.
“Or we could get a house,” Lovely continued, staring at his half eaten slice of pizza instead of meeting Ilian’s gaze.
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Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2020 11:18 am
Having been used to living without luxuries like air conditioning, Ilian didn’t think much of the heat, although he supposed Lovely had a point. He figured Lovely was just uncomfortable when he sat down on the coffee table, so Ilian continued to pick away at the keys.
At least until Lovely mentioned being able to afford a bigger place.
This made Ilian pause, and he fully turned around on the bench to scrutinize Lovely’s expression. He was missing something under what Lovely was saying, he felt. Lovely wasn’t looking at him, at least not directly. And Ilian only knew of the condos near work that would put their hovel of an apartment to shame.
Casually, Ilian stood up from the bench and made his way out to the kitchen to pick out a slice of pizza for himself. He took the time to at least swallow a bite before returning to the piano bench to sit down.
He stretched out his own legs, one brushing up against Lovely’s. They weren’t exactly good when it came to talking about things, at least deeper more meaningful things, so learning each other’s gestures and mannerisms was important. Just as an almost accidental touch was meant as encouragement.
“You think so? I wouldn’t mind being able to walk around the bed to get to the closet,” he pointed out, since as of now they practically had to crawl over the bed to get to anything in their tiny bedroom.
“You could use a bigger bathroom with all your hair stuff,” he added, bumping his leg against Lovely’s to show he meant it as a joke. “Maybe I’ll be able to deal with my hair better if I could see everything you tell me I need for it, instead of digging through the cabinet.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2020 10:01 pm
“You letting your hair go to s**t has nothing to do with the size of the bathroom and everything to do with the fact that you’re lazy,” Lovely complained, somewhat offended by the insinuation that he was fussy about his hair, but… well, he was fussy about his hair.
Ilian should be, too. He had nice hair.
Lovely had not expected the conversation to start like this, with him fumbling around with what to say while Ilian sat there calmly. They weren’t the calmest people, and they couldn’t always work out the best way to talk to one another. True, they knew one another better than other people, but they were both s**t at important conversations, so they didn’t usually have them. They waited until they had no choice, and relied on other signs and signals to determine things like preferences and mood.
With a sigh, Lovely knocked his leg against Ilian’s, continuing to stare down at his pizza rather than glance up at his… partner.
Christ, he couldn’t even think the gross words in his head.
“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I have a trust fund,” Lovely forced himself to say, blurting it out into the open before something else could distract him. “Claude shut down all my other accounts when I ran away, but he couldn’t do anything about the trust fund, I just didn’t have access to it until I turned twenty-one.”
Lovely shifted his leg again, letting it rest against Ilian’s ankle to ankle. He picked a glob of cheese off of his slice of pizza and popped it into his mouth, struggling to stop himself from fidgeting.
He shouldn’t fidget. Fidgeting was for people with weaker nerves than his own.
“So we could get a house, if you wanted,” he continued. “I have more than enough. I wasn’t going to say anything about it because I didn’t really want all that money anymore, not after Claude and Dorian were assholes about everything. We can get by on our own. But then the piano got here and I realized how little space we have, and I thought it might get annoying for the neighbors since the walls are so ******** thin, and it didn’t really seem fair to keep you stuck in a place like this when I could get us something better.”
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2020 2:18 pm
While it wasn't exactly a surprise that Lovely was a trust fund kid, Ilian was surprised that he still had access to it. From his understanding, Claude had blocked Lovely from everything he had in his old life.
Before he ran away to live with Ilian instead.
"Jesus, Lovely. I'm not going to yell at you if that's what you think," he said, knocking his leg back against Lovely's as they sat across from each other. Was he a bit shocked and needed to get used to the idea of getting a house? Absolutely. But Lovely looked more nervous than Ilian thought was really fair.
Well, they weren't exactly open to talking about things. At least Lovely wasn't, which was why Ilian usually tried to give him his space.
"Yeah, I mean. If we get a house or something, we could put the piano in its own room. I think that would be awesome," he said before finishing the last of the pizza slice he had.
"Thank you. I really wasn't expecting this for my birthday," Ilian said with a smile this time, trying not to think too much into getting a house with a recording studio and all the things he never had as a kid.
"Want to put on a movie or something and we can finish all this food? Do you have a cake hiding for me somewhere?" he asked, giving Lovely the chance to stop talking about personal things if he was really uncomfortable about it.
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 2:00 pm
He didn’t really think Ilian was going to yell at him. “At him” being the important detail there. He certainly wouldn’t have been surprised if Ilian had raised his voice in shock. Sure, Ilian knew he came from money — there’d been no mistaking that when they first met — but it wasn’t like they often had that money available to them. Ilian wasn’t exactly used to the lifestyle Lovely used to lead.
Besides, he’d been uncomfortable about the money Lovely withdrew before Claude closed his other accounts, and that was only a sum in the thousands. Lovely expected the reaction to be worse with a sum much larger than that.
“So that’s it?” Lovely said. He blinked in confusion, a bit thrown by what amounted to a non-reaction. “You don’t even want to know how much we have?”
And it was “we” now. What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours, and all that. It’s not like they signed a prenup before going to the courthouse.
“What is wrong with you?” Lovely continued, nuding his ankle against Ilian’s again. “I tell you I have a trust fund and you ask about movies and cake? You used to be uncomfortable at Dorian’s house!” Although, maybe that had more to do with the suspicious way Dorian always looked at him and less to do with the expense. “I used to have to force my suits on you because you were always, like, ‘Oh, nooo, Lovely, these are too nice!’ Like it ******** mattered. We’ve spent the last four years dirt poor, and now we’ve got a significant amount of money and you’re just, like,” Lovely paused to shrug, “‘Cool, a trust fund. Let’s Netflix and chill.’”
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 5:25 pm
Lovely’s confusion had Ilian’s smile faltering. Was he missing something? He knew Lovely’s family was rich, but having a trust fund shouldn’t really change things much, should it? Yeah, it would be awesome to have a house, but they were talking about, like… a small house with maybe two bedrooms instead of the one they were used to, right?
“What’s wrong with me??” he gaped at Lovely, and this time it was Ilian’s cheeks that turned a bit pink. “It’s not that big a deal, is it? You have, what… a few hundred thousand should cover a house with more to spare. I mean, yeah that’s a lot and it’s awesome that you have it now,” he tried to back track, trying and apparently failing to read Lovely’s expressions.
Maybe Lovely was nervous because of how wrong Ilian was about the whole thing.
Which only made Ilian gape wordlessly at Lovely even more.
“Not… not a few hundred thousand? More? Are you talking a million??” Okay, that would be a bit more than he was expecting.
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2020 1:46 pm
“A few hundred thousand,” Lovely scoffed.
He was almost offended. All this time, did Ilian not realize just how well off his family was? Not that they were insanely wealthy. Just wealthy wealthy. They had too much money by normal standards but not so much that the amount was unfathomable. Or so Lovely thought. There were, after all, far wealthier families than his own.
He would know. He used to socialize with them.
At least Ilian was starting to behave in a way Lovely had expected. The gaping. The hesitance. The questions that proved he couldn’t possibly comprehend their current situation until Lovely actually explained it to him. This was far easier for Lovely to respond to than the nonchalance from seconds before.
“No, dumbass. not a few hundred thousand.” Ilian might have decided using Love as a nickname was appropriate, but Lovely certainly wasn’t about to switch from insults to a term of endearment. His insults were terms of endearment. “More than that. Think more than a million but less than fifty. Maybe. I don’t know, I haven’t bothered to look at the statement. I forgot all about it until my mother brought it up last time she called me.”
Which probably said something about his privilege, that he could forget how many millions were in a trust in his name, but he’d assumed Claude would find some way to take the trust fund away from him, too, so he hadn’t bothered to think much about it after he left home. He’d been prepared to live the rest of his life without that money. He and Ilian were doing a pretty decent job getting by on their own so far, anyway.
“So we can afford a house, and not just a small one. Actually, we can afford several houses. I was thinking about that area downtown where they’re buying up all those old properties just to tear them down and build expensive ones in their place. ******** gentrification, but also I want a nice place after this dump.”
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2020 2:10 pm
In Ilian’s defense, the concept of money in general wasn’t easy for him to grasp. He and Lovely were doing well by the standards he was used to growing up as an orphan and then living with his brother. Only being able to afford plain spaghetti with butter to eat was a far cry to being able to purchase several houses.
Now that Lovely seemed more relaxed with talking about his apparent trust fund, Ilian felt more anxious about it. He and Sorin would talk about what they’d do if they won the lottery. They never had the chance since Sorin was barely eighteen when he was killed, and any money they had Sorin couldn’t bring himself to waste on tickets.
“O-okay,” Ilian tried the nonchalance again, although his fidgeting was probably throwing any illusion he was attempting out the window. “Okay,” he repeated, more to himself than Lovely, “A house. Downtown. I think that would be… kinda awesome.”
It really would be awesome. Even though the thought of sort of having access to up to fifty or so million dollars was still short circuiting his brain, he knew it must have been awkward for Lovely to even bring up. They didn’t exactly talk about things like that.
“You’d be able to get your car back. Or a new one, if you wanted,” he pointed out, trying to make himself relax even as butterflies aggressively attacked his stomach.
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 11:48 am
This was much better. This was familiar territory for them, behavior-wise. This was what Lovely had prepared himself for. When Ilian behaved as expected, Lovely could mask any of his own discomfort with flippance and nonchalance.
So he snorted and rolled his eyes. “That car’s five years old. I’m getting a new one.”
Actually, he hadn’t thought about his previous car at all. He hadn’t even thought about a house until the piano took up so much space in the living-room. Over the last four years, Lovely had gotten so used to the way they lived that imagining anything else wasn’t normal for him. The apartment was small and had its downsides and discomforts, but it was liveable. Their current car was used and not as up-to-date technology-wise as newer models, but it got them where they needed to go without putting a heavy dent in their finances. No, this sort of life wasn’t what he’d wanted for himself when he’d been young, but he’d wager that was true for most people.
He was fine with it now. They had everything they needed, and a few things they wanted, and they had each other. What more could he really ask for?
“You can get a new one, too. We can get all new things. New place, new cars, new furniture, new clothes. Speaking of, are you aware that some of your jeans are too short for you? Whatever. We can get anything you want. ******** it, you can quit and not work anymore if you don’t want to, or you can get a different job. I probably won’t, but…”
Lovely shrugged again and didn’t bother to finish the thought. Strangely enough, he liked the work he did. Retail was a b***h as far as the customers were concerned, but he liked the routine.
Smirking at the expression on Ilian’s face, Lovely rose from the coffee table with more confidence than he’d had when he sat down on it. Gently, he kicked Ilian’s foot on the way by, walking backwards into the kitchen as he finally finished his first slice of pizza.
“You still want to Netflix and chill now?” he asked mockingly.
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