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 Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2020 6:46 pm
He had honestly not thought things could get worse. He had been so wrong. He’d been inside gathering a few odds and ends from Priam’s house, a few clean sheets, things for the dogs, favorite books. Just odds and ends to make Priam more comfortable than they had already managed- He’d caught the smell of smoke, and thought it the neighbors at first. Maybe doing a Fire put or a wood stove. Then he’d seen smoke. He was glad in that moment that the dogs weren’t here, the greatest risk he took in that moment was to grab the bag of books he’d found and head for the nearest door, he could call once he was outside. He called the fire department first, that was as far as he could think. Neighbors were already peering out windows, gawping without helping as best he could tell. s**t ... should he tell Priam?? Wait till the fire department got here?? He wasn’t sure. He started to dial the house, fingers shaking. <******** s**t hell, this is not happening!!”
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Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2020 8:26 pm
Sterling was cleaning up the kitchen when the phone rang. He had a fresh batch of cookies cooling on the counter and smiled when he saw that it was Yu’s number on the caller ID. He knew that their boyfriend had gone to get a few things from Priam’s house, and honestly, he hoped that he was calling to see what they wanted for lunch, because if he was being honest, he would do anything for some sushi right about now. It sounded delightful.
He was glad that Yu was calling, even if it didn’t end with him shoving rice and raw fish into his mouth. Sometimes, he was really starting to worry about him, and he figured it was simply because it was the holiday season and...things could be a little strange when you didn’t have good memories of past events. It made sense to Sterling at least.
Swiping the answer button on his phone, he held it up to his ear. “Hey sexy. I missed your voice and I hope you missed mine. You calling to ask about lunch?” Sure, he was laying it on a little thick...but sometimes reassurance was needed.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 10:23 am
“Uh… There is… The house is on fire. I mean, Priam’s house… I got, uh…I got some of the stuff out, I called the fire department. I…I don’t know what else to do. Has he got a computer? I left the door open… I don’t know what to do.” He rambled without thinking, tripping over the words, over sleepless nights, and remembered conversations with strangers in white, in purple, in the dead of night. The house was burning… he didn’t know what to do.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 4:39 pm
“I…what?” Sterling felt his heart plummet to the very bottom of his stomach. “...Are you safe? I...what happened?”
He didn’t know quite what to do with this information, and felt rather frozen. “I...I’ll bring Priam over...I um…don’t go back in until the fire department clears it...I...don’t get hurt, Yu. This...this’ll be okay.”
Somehow. It would have to. Sterling swallowed hard and walked towards Priam’s room. “...Please. We’ll be there in a few minutes. Let me just...you’re safe...aren’t you? You're not trapped?” A horrible thought of Yu, stuck in a blazing inferno slid into the male’s mind and he nearly dropped the phone. “...Don’t go back inside for anything.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 5:01 pm
“I D…I don’t know, I was getting books, I… I smelled smoke, and…” he trailed off, finding the words wouldn’t form, wouldn’t come out of his mouth. “I…I’m safe I’m outside I just…” He made a small anxious sound. Priam’s things were inside, and he couldn’t get them… He could if he just… but that wasn’t safe, there were too many people. But there was so much, and it would be gone into the maw of a hungry fire. But … the fire. “I… god, why are they taking so long.” He paced back and forth, unsure, wanting to do more, scared to do anything.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 5:06 pm
“It’s okay.” Sterling said softly, trying to keep his voice low and soothing. “Just stay outside. You can’t do anything right now. They’ll be there.”
He grabbed Priam’s car keys off of the hook by the door and went to the male’s room. “Priam. We have to go...Your...Yu...he was grabbing books from your house. It’s on fire.” This wasn’t something that he could say lightly. There wasn’t a delicate way to simply say that congrats, your life’s possessions were burning to the ground!
Sterling swallowed hard, his face pale. “I can drive. He’s called the fire department. He’s safe. I keep telling him not to go back in to grab more stuff.”
Thank god he had brought so much of it back here already. Thank god the dogs were staying here...that Priam was staying here…
He closed his eyes for a moment, fighting off a wave of panic at the thought of either Odie or Penny burning, or Priam...no. It wasn’t the time to think like that. “It’ll be okay.” He said, to Priam this time, the phone still held in his hand as he kept Yu on the line.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 5:45 pm
Priam had been sitting in bed, book open on his lap and Penny curled up at his side. When he looked up at first, it was blankly, like he could hear the words but couldn't quite understand them.
His brows knit, and maybe it was the little things--Sterling's knit brows, or pale face, or the way he was already holding Priam's car keys like they needed to go now.
His heart seized not because the nagging--but hopeful--voice in the back of his head said it was a prank, but because he knew that it wasn't. Neither Sterling nor Yu had a taste for humor to that degree.
Priam found that he couldn't move his hands, couldn't breathe. He didn't remember being this bad under pressure. Sterling looked scared. His blood ran cold when he imagined the same look on Yu's face.
He set the book down and moved off of the bed. Penny didn't seem to pick up on any of the concern in the air; she rolled over to take up more space and Odie groaned as he stretched out.
"Tell him it's just stuff," he said, despite the fierce numbness pulsing from his heart. He was moving quickly, glad for the good care of Sterling and Yu, of Soleiyu's healing, of his Wonder in space. If he'd been as broken as he was now, the effort might have killed him. "He's the only thing there that I can't replace."
It was a lie, but it was one he told with such conviction that he almost believed it, himself. There were books. There were photographs. There were stories and project, memories, gifts. Hopes and dreams. Burning.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 6:06 pm
He knew he shouldn’t want to go back in, he knew the fear he felt was reasonable. But he wanted to go back in, wanted to start chucking things out of windows and pray that they didn’t break. He thought he heard the sirens, but he wasn’t sure. Mixed sirens, did cops come to fires? He wasn’t sure. Why was this happening, was he just a curse to everything he touched? He must have knocked something over or turned something on, but he couldn’t think what. “Come on come on come on…” He paced back and forth digging a hand into his hairs, dragging nails against his scalp. He wasn’t sure if the phone was still connected, there was just this dull ringing in his ears that he thought might have been ‘shock’ or some ‘b.s’ as he’d call it. He stared down at his hands like he could find some proof of guilt or innocence there, but there was nothing. “I don’t… I don’t know what happened, I…” He stammered. If it were his things, if it were, by some miracle… his house, it wouldn’t have mattered so much. But it was Priam’s, and he didn’t deserve this.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 6:31 pm
Everything seemed strangely blurred as he hurried Priam into the car, keeping the phone between them. It was on speaker, and he kept trying to just repeat to Yu that things would be okay. To stay out of the house. That they were on their way. That he was the thing that mattered most.
The one thing that they could never replace.
He reached over and took Priam’s hand in his, eyes on the road, and squeezed it gently, swallowing hard as they drove.
The smoke was visible from a few blocks away, and Sterling’s stomach sank.
It wasn’t a small fire then. It wasn’t something that could be put out quickly...not something that a little airing and minor repairs could fix...not if the smoke was that bad.
He pulled down the street and stopped the car beside the next door’s mailbox and trembled as he looked at the smoking house.
...Perhaps it wasn’t going to be okay after all. His fingers felt numb as he worked at the seatbelt and looked at Priam for a moment before his eyes frantically began searching for Yu, praying that he hadn’t gone into the house again. Praying that he wasn’t trying to act the hero. They couldn’t lose him.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 7:24 pm
The phone had cut out a few times, leaving only bits and pieces of muffled conversation that made Priam think Yu might have been talking to someone, that made him hopeful that he was outside and okay. For a brief few moments, he thought that maybe things weren't too bad.
And then they'd made a turn and he had to stare out the window at a plume of black smoke spiraling into the sky. Numbly, he justified that his house wasn't that far away, and then they got closer and closer and there was an absolutely undeniable fear that this was not a small fire, that this was not something small that could be contained.
His street was blocked off on one end and they looked like they were trying to do the same for the other side just before he and Sterling pulled up.
His house was engulfed. The tree in the front yard was on fire and one of the fire trucks was focusing on that. Another was working on drenching the roof of his house, but Priam stared at the fire like it was some foreign entity he couldn't quite process. The house was black, and while it still seemed structurally sound, the roof was bowing oddly.
The phone was still on, only moments had passed.
Maybe it was just the roof, then. Maybe the fire hadn't climbed up the walls, eaten the rooms, and burnt its way out. Maybe it was just the roof.
He sat, stoic, in the chair for a few seconds, just staring at the fire and smoke. He heard glass burst and it seemed to be the noise he needed to snap himself into awareness; he released Sterling's hand and drew himself out of the car. He was careful; even with the healing Soleiyu and his Wonder had provided, now more than ever he felt a pain radiating from his core.
Greif, and fear, probably. It was a different kind of crashing down into the Earth, in his heart, and it felt like jagged little knives stabbing in and out in every direction.
Yu's car had been moved; Priam recognized it a few yards away but found himself in a panic when he didn't see Yu anywhere near it. His eyes darted to the house again and all he could see were officers and firemen and neighbors gawking--and Yu.
Yu, not inside, not a smoldering mess.
"He's over there," Priam said to Sterling. "By my mailbox. You should go. I'll catch up."
He was mostly healed, not completely healed, and it would be just his luck to trip over himself and break his hip or something. Priam could shut down for a few moments while he processed this--but Yu? He'd already had enough of a scare. Sterling could comfort him.
Priam could stay back and fall apart while they were distracted.
He stared at his house like it was some sort of monster crawling up from the depths of hell, some great beast who knew only how to devour and destroy. His heart clenched and he felt like his skin was brittle, like glass that would shatter just like the windows had. He didn't want to get close enough to feel the heat, to smell the smoke.
He didn't know what he wanted right now, except maybe an explanation.
Or, for his house not to be on fire.
Something like this couldn't be an accident.
The hair on the back of his neck was already bristling; most of the neighbors who had gathered, he recognized, but there was a tangible sort of fear that grew in his stomach and felt like he'd swallowed a lump of rocks.
Alarm had been steadily building in his gut, and though he had stopped in the middle of the road, he glanced rapidly around, looking for a trace of anyone who shouldn't be there.
Anyone to blame.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 7:42 pm
Yu heard the car doors slam and glanced over, unfolding himself from where he’d hunched over his own crossed arms. He looked like some weight had been lifted from his shoulders to see them, hastening towards the both of them like they were the only thing that was real right now. He stammered out apologies even as he walked like he needed to utter them to breathe. “I don’t know what happened, it was fine, and I thought maybe there was a fire pit and then there was just smoke… I…I… I need to see Priam, I just, I need to know he’s ok. I know he is I just…” He leaned into Sterling’s shoulder and tried to just breathe. So tired, so confused and frustrated and angry, even now he felt that bite of anger at the gawking, at the questions, at whatever caused the fire. “If Priam had been here if the dogs… If….” He took a shuddering breath and let it out. He wrapped an arm around sterling and turned his head to find Priam, reaching out his other hand in hope.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 7:47 pm
Sterling was out of the car and on his way to Yu before he could really think about it. Priam was right, Yu needed them right now. He must be terrified.
The way that the male threw himself into his arms proved that, and Sterling held the male fiercely, pressing kisses on top of his head, on his ear and down his jaw. “You’re okay. We’re here. Priam’ll be over in just a moment. He needed to get out of the car but we were both worried about you...you aren’t hurt, right? You didn’t get burned? Thank god Priam and the dogs weren’t here...I…” He felt dizzy at the very thought, dizzy and distraught.
“You’re okay, Yu. We love you. You’re safe and everything’s going to be okay…” He was gentle as he lead the male over to the car, looking up, hoping that Priam would have had at least enough time to process some of this.
He couldn’t imagine how this felt.
But...they were all safe. And Sterling had gotten so much out of the house over the past few weeks...there...There would be a lot of loss but...but some of the things were safe. Safe at their home.
Their home…
...Priam no longer had one to go back to…
He swallowed back a sob. When he had wanted Priam to stay forever...this had not been the solution he had hoped for.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 8:12 pm
Priam was not even sure how to be open in a relationship--much less one with more than just a single partner--and even if he were, now wasn't the time for him to be so open. Not when he wasn't sure someone wasn't watching.
It took him a few seconds longer to catch up with Sterling after he'd come to his senses, but when he did he took Yu's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. His grip was limp; Priam was distracted both with the flames coming off of his house and the people all around.
There was no relief when he didn't see the face he was looking for, the person he wanted to blame for this. In his heart, he knew.
If he wasn't here, that just meant he could be anywhere, though. Watching. Thriving.
He didn't want Sterling or Yu to be targets. He didn't want to antagonize the situation.
"I'm here," he said. "It's okay."
It wasn't okay; his throat was raspy and he felt very small and crushed again. One step forward, two steps back, constantly. His dream house was up in flames and he heard something crunch inside, like some divine voice telling him that that's what he got for dreaming. That's what he got for trying.
Inside, it was just things. Things that had meant enough to him to surround himself with them. Books he'd collected, things he'd treasured.
...Not everything.
Maybe it was his house on fire, maybe it was his priceless and irreplaceable collection of books. Maybe it was physical photographs he didn't have copies of, maybe it was a little bit of everything else.
But it wasn't everything.
His computer was at their house. At least one photo album. His dogs. Even his last dog's favorite toy and collar.
His eyes were misty suddenly, because once again if it weren't for them, things would have been worse. If he hadn't been staying with them, his dogs might be inside. He might be at work right now. He might have lost everything, really everything.
"Do they know what happened?" he asked, and reached his free hand to rub at his eyes. He'd blame the smoke, if anyone asked, but he couldn't imagine why they would.
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 8:19 pm
“It’s not ok… your house…” He whispered. “I… I didn’t get enough, I wanted to get you some of your things…” He bit at his lip and shook his head. “I don’t…I don’t even know. It was fine, and then it wasn’t.” He shook his head again gazing at the fire with a look that said he still half wished he’d done more. “I…got some books, they’re in my car, it’s not… it’s not a lot.” he worried. “Everyone was staring out their windows, I don’t know maybe I turned something on, or off, or maybe someone saw something. I just… I’m sorry!” He fussed. “It was so fast... It was… it was just so fast.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 8:26 pm
Sterling was shaking his head. It couldn’t have been something that Yu had done...he wasn’t careless...He had never caused any accidents in their house, not that Sterling could think of at least...but, faulty wiring? Maybe something had happened, an animal had chewed on something in the walls while Priam was gone? That might make a little sense...and turning on a light may have started the fire...but…
“It isn’t your fault, Yu...I can’t think of anything that you could have done to cause this…”
His voice trailed off, his arms going around both of his boyfriends and his mind thinking back to Parisite. The one who threw Priam off of the roof. If he knew where Priam worked...couldn’t he know where he lived? Couldn’t he be stalking him? If that was the case...if he thought Priam would be home…
He closed his eyes for a moment as another siren came up the street, by the blue lights, he assumed the police, but he didn’t care right at the moment.
“We’re all safe...I...we can replace things, we can’t replace each other...Priam...I’m so glad you were with us...I…” He swallowed hard, shoving back his emotions once again. He had no right to break down. He had to be strong. One of them had to.
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