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 Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 5:35 pm
Michael had stayed longer at school than he first intended, which meant traffic getting home was busier too. But he at least got Elliot set up with something that would hopefully keep him entertained while his parents were busy with their own work.
And thanks to Devyn’s promise that he would keep in touch with him, Michael got frequent updates as to what he was doing and where he was going. He was concerned that Devyn spent so much of the day with his mother, if only because he didn’t know what trouble the two of them could get into, but things seemed to go well enough. He made sure to send Devyn messages to let him know he was running late. He sent him a few pictures of what his students were working on. And he asked if he’d seen any other animals around (hoping that he hadn’t tried to catch them or pet them).
“Hey, sorry, there was a car accident that backed up traffic,” Michael said as he made his way into the house. He knew that Devyn was already home, of course, but he’d been driving when he got the ping on his phone that the door had been unlocked, so he didn’t see Devyn.
“How was lunch?” he asked as he pulled off his shoes and set his bag down by the couch so he could find out where Devyn was hiding. Maybe he’d fallen asleep in the bath again. Michael was trying not to pay too close attention to the orb around his neck, but it was difficult not to at times.
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 6:18 pm
“It was good,” Devyn called from the kitchen. “Your mother had a lot of good recommendations. We had fun. We went and got our nails done, afterwards. We’re going to meet up again soon.”
He hadn’t gotten any fancy colors or anything done this time, it was just nice to get pampered a bit. Michael had told him that it was important to lay low, and he was still getting used to what that was. If he were on Alastor, maybe he would have wanted to go all out, but Earth was different.
Devyn had only been home for a short while; when Michael said he was running a little late, Devyn had decided to make a little detour on the way home. He’d been to get flowers for Claire earlier in the day and they’d brightened things up for her, and then Devyn got to thinking that everyone likes little gifts. Nice, fresh, beautiful things. He could bring Michael home some dinner, but everyone needed to eat. No on needed flowers. And the house was so perfectly clean and organized already, why shouldn’t he have something to freshen things up?
Whatever, flowers were nice, and he’d gotten Michael some.
He’d just finished fixing up the vase and making sure they were arranged nicely. He’d specifically used his own funds for this, because it really wasn’t fair if Michael could just see where he was spending money. Although, Devyn really wasn’t sure why he’d wanted to surprise him.
“I brought you these, come smell them. It’s so fresh, I forgot how fragrant they could be. I took your mother some and the florist’s just smelled–I don’t know. Whimsical? I don’t remember the last time I got swept away by flowers. I wanted to share. How was work?”
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 6:41 pm
Michael cringed a little. He should have known his mother would drag Devyn to something like that. He was hoping she would just have lunch and Devyn would be too restless to deal with something like that, but it seemed like he was a good sport.
“Sorry about that,” he mumbled, although not necessarily loud enough for Devyn to hear. Devyn didn’t sound like he was particularly upset about spending the day with his mother, but maybe he was just being polite.
He turned the corner to enter the kitchen and froze.
Devyn brought home flowers, and was telling him to smell them. He knew Devyn was going to get some for his mother because it was nice and polite and…
No, Devyn was just getting them to share how whimsical they smelled. They weren’t for him. So it would be really nice if his cheeks would cool down, because he could feel the heat rising.
“Work was fine,” he mumbled again, trying not to sound like he was choked up at all because he wasn’t. He was glad that Devyn was getting nice things for himself. He should get nice things for himself. “Hopefully it won’t be too much longer that I’m staying late. Things should be wrapping up soon,” he explained as he approached the flowers as Devyn suggested to smell them.
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 7:47 pm
Devyn visibly brightened when he held them out for Michael. He stayed perfectly still, making sure Michael could take in as much as he wanted, when he wanted.
He hadn’t missed the mumbled apology, maybe because he was looking at Michael when he’d said it. It might have been a whisper, but his mind could fill in the gaps. He was getting better at making out Michael’s little habits, and apologizing unnecessarily seemed to be pretty high on the list.
“If you have to stay much longer, I hope you’re at least enjoying yourself. I do miss you while you’re gone, but I can find things to keep myself busy, so I hope you’re not feeling bad about any of that. I’ve been trying to make good use of the time. Your mother’s offered to help go over my work and teach me Earth things. I took her up on the offer. You were right, she said she’d help me pick out frames, too.”
There were a thousand things he could say to Michael, but he didn’t want to just talk at him, he wanted to talk to him. Even if he’d gone out and been social today, he’d still missed having him around. There was just something naturally comfortable about being around him.
“How hungry are you? I brought home something your mother recommended I try. She said you’d like it. It’s still fresh, but it might need a few minutes in the oven. I didn’t want to make you cook, I feel bad when you work all day and have to come home and do chores. This should be your down time.”
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 8:27 pm
The flowers were beautifully fragrant. He wasn’t used to having flowers in the house. He didn’t see a point since they would just wither and die. His mother enjoyed keeping fresh flowers around, but she had time to tend to them and appreciate them. Michael was usually away at work all day, and when he didn’t have someone there to talk to, he usually shut himself away in his room.
Briefly he wondered if Devyn used to get Percy flowers.
And briefly he wondered why his chest felt tight when Devyn said he missed him while he was gone.
Of course he would miss him. There were only a few other people he knew. He didn’t mean anything by it. Just like he didn’t mean anything with the flowers.
“They’ll look nice in your room. Probably help freshen it up, too,” he said, because that was easier than trying to work out in his head if there were any other reasons why Devyn would have thought to get flowers to bring home.
But he couldn’t help but let out a soft breath of a laugh when Devyn fussed over him doing chores during his downtime. He realized the comparison to Devyn being his housewife would likely not make sense, so he didn’t bother saying it. Besides, that was a little too much.
“Not so hungry that I can’t wait a few minutes,” he said and worked on loosening his tie and unbuttoning the top couple buttons of his shirt for comfort. “Thank you, that’s really thoughtful of you, but you know you don’t have to worry about that. It’s not like I couldn’t do it all before you were here. Peter helped,” he added, because his brother deserved the credit.
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 8:37 pm
Devyn raised a brow when he said they’d look nice in his room. Because, certainly, they would like nice in any room, but they were not going in Devyn’s room. Oh, but.
Was that Michael’s way of saying he didn’t like them? Wanted them out of his house? Devyn held out the vase to examine it and then looked back at Michael. “Well, I wanted to give them to you, but if you think they should go in my room, I suppose I can put them in there. I was thinking maybe the dining room table.” It wasn’t the hill he was going to die on if Michael didn’t like them. They didn’t have grey flowers at the florist’s, maybe there were other gray Earth flowers he could find somewhere else.
He fussed with the flower arrangement to spread it out a bit better, as if that might make Michael decide he liked it a little more. He didn’t really notice the way Michael looked so comfortable unfastening his tie, or unbuttoning his shirt.
It was observed, sure, filed away to process some other time.
“I know that I don’t have to worry about things like that.” He looked up from the flowers. “I want to. I’m sure you did just fine before I showed up. Probably better, you didn’t have to worry about me all the time. But I think being considerate of the people who are important to you is pretty standard, isn’t it? I said I’d have your back, Michael. That means making sure you have time to enjoy life, too. If you don’t get time to rest and relax, you’ll never have a chance to recharge. Unless you like cooking and I’m ruining something fun for you, then that’s completely different. I don’t want to take away something you enjoy.”
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 8:45 pm
Stop it, Michael almost desperately thought to himself. Not what Devyn was saying, but the way his heart fluttered at Devyn’s words. The way his throat tightened and he was finding it difficult to look Devyn in the eye.
Getting flowers for him? He didn’t expect Devyn to actually say that was the intention. Oh, but it was probably still just a friendly gesture. Maybe that was just a way of showing gratitude on Alastor.
And why was it that Devyn could say things so casually that should mean more? Maybe Michael was just desperate for any kind of attention. Maybe he was so lonely that he kept making up things in his head. Besides, if there was any kind of fondness Devyn was showing, it was certainly because of his starseed.
“Oh… well, they would match the curtains near the table,” Michael forced himself to shrug. “They’re pretty. Those yellow ones are almost the exact color of your eyes.” Not that he was looking at Devyn’s eyes enough to notice something like that. Or the fact that they weren’t just golden. “I mean… part of your eyes. I haven’t seen anyone with your eye color before, so. Yeah they can stay here,” he finished, sounding almost defeated because he was just making things weird.
“I like cooking, but I don’t mind the help. I would rather be reading, if I had time to myself,” he admitted -- Ah, wasn’t that something Percy liked to do? No wonder why Devyn kept doing nice things for him and considered him someone important when he had so many similarities to Percy.
He cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest somewhat defensively, feeling a bit shaken and disarmed. “I don’t worry about you all the time,” he grumbled. “Just don’t go picking up strange animals.”
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 9:19 pm
Devyn immediately looked to the curtains as if to confirm Michael’s claim. He was right, of course. They’d look perfect over there, and he was moving before he’d even thought of it. He thought it was sweet that Michael paid attention to his eye color, but how could he blame him? He had beautiful eyes, he knew that. He was biased, certainly, but Percy had told him often enough that they looked like a sunny day. And Claire had been calling him Sunbeam all afternoon.
He took one last, appreciative whiff of the flowers before he set the vase down and stepped back. One glance at Michael had him smiling, again. “Well, you have time to yourself. You could read any book you wanted, tonight. I’m going to practice in my workbook some, after dinner.”
He didn’t seem like he had any ounce of discomfort in him.
“We could have an easy night. I won’t even sneak out to see if I can’t find that opossum again. He was kind of cute, though. I don’t blame you for worrying, things are so much different here than on Alastor. But if we’re being honest, I actually do remember them telling me not to pick up strange animals back there, too.”
He pursed his lips and let his eyes stray to the corner of the room as he recalled.
“I didn’t listen to them, though. What was the point of being an all-powerful Senshi if I couldn’t pick up anything I wanted. I’m only a Super Senshi, right now. So I’ll play it safe. For now.”
Maybe for longer, just to make sure Michael didn’t start worrying all the time, but he couldn’t help but tease about it. He was just curious, and Princess wasn’t here for him to pick up and squeeze.
Earth might have other options for things like that, though. He’d look into them so he didn’t accidentally pick up the wrong animal.
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 10:11 am
Michael glanced curiously over at Devyn, not because he was too surprised that he was going to be practicing his workbook, but because he was saying he would be good and not sneak out. Not that Devyn did too many things that Michael had to be concerned about. He was a Super Senshi…
Who had never faced off against the Negaverse before.
Okay, that was pretty worrisome. But Devyn staying inside and studying was something of a relief, and Michael felt some of the tension leave his shoulders.
“Okay, all-powerful Senshi. What did you get for dinner?” Since there was only so long Michael could stand and look at Devyn and pretend like he was looking at the flowers instead. Should he thank Devyn for the flowers? Would that make things weird? Or should he tell him that he was important to him, too? No, that had the potential to make things awkward, so he would keep his mouth shut for now.
“And if you really want to pick up animals, I’ll take you to a farm or some place that lets you pet things. There’s usually a fair in the fall that has animals for petting,” he hummed, thinking about all the educational places he could bring Devyn to help get him used to Earth some more.
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 10:22 am
“What? Really?” Devyn asked, and if he’d been playing before, now he was completely invested in the idea. Which was silly, he knew it was silly. He shouldn't have been getting excited about ridiculous things, he wasn’t a child.
Oh, but ******** it. He should be too old to care right now, anyway.
“I didn’t know they had places where you could go specifically to pet animals. Earth really has a little bit of everything, don’t they? Here, come show me how to heat it all up so I can know for next time.”
He moved into the kitchen and as he did so continued, “I’ve brought wings for dinner. I assume they’re chicken, since that’s the only bird I’ve eaten since we’ve been here. And pizza, but it’s some specialty type or something. And fried mushrooms, which I’m told are very juicy, and not at all like the dry, chewy ones I was eating on Alastor. Oh–your mother told me to ask you something.”
It was silly, he shouldn’t have been thinking about it so much. He tried to act casual about it, but the reality was that he’d had a bit of a hard time not just shouting Who is Eulalie when Michael came through the door. Now was a fine time. It probably wasn’t even going to be weird.
“She mentioned Eulalie…?”
He left it open ended so he didn’t seem too invested, and began pulling out dinner so Michael couldn’t find some way to make more work for himself.
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 10:33 am
Maybe Peter would have enjoyed teasing Devyn. Feeding him little lies about Earth that weren’t real but seemed plausible. But Michael didn’t have it in him to tease Devyn like that. Especially not when he got so excited about it. Even if his expression didn’t give it away, Michael could feel the quickened pulse against his chest from the orb. It made the corner of his lip twitch a little in amusement. And that meant he would definitely have to follow through with letting Devyn pet whatever he could.
As long as they didn’t stay too long, he could probably tolerate a trip to a shelter. Ah, but then Devyn might get the same idea Caspian had, and… well… that was probably part of the turning point of their marriage. How was he supposed to explain how he could not handle taking care of a dog? Princess was different. She was magical and didn’t bark or have needs, other than affection.
But he followed Devyn over to the oven and reached out to press the necessary buttons, making sure Devyn was watching as he did so. “This one turns the oven on. It has to preheat, so this light will go off when it’s ready. I… uh, disabled the beep on this too,” he said, sounding a little guilty about it. All of his adjustments made things more difficult for everyone else, after all.
She mentioned Eulalie…?
Michael’s eyebrows raised curiously at Devyn, and he turned so he could rest against the counter, arms still crossed over his chest.
“I should have known mom would mention Eulalie,” he sighed. “Mom was… is very pleased with Eulalie. Dad too. You can meet her if you’d like. I didn’t think you’d be interested.”
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 10:47 am
Devyn watched the buttons; it wasn’t the first time, but he was growing more confident in his would-be capacity to control the oven. The numbers were easier to understand than the rest of the letters and spelling, numbers were easy. He wanted to reassure Michael that he didn’t care about the beep, he could just look for the light. There wasn’t anything to be guilty about.
He heard it in his voice, and if he hadn’t started talking about her, he might have bumped his elbow gently just to reassure him that it was fine. The little things Michael needed to make his life more comfortable didn’t bother Devyn, who hadn’t even grown up with beeps, anyway.
If he was bothered by anything, it was that he still had no idea who Eulalie was, and Michael looked like he’d made himself comfortable against the counter and had still given him no answers about her. He barely resisted the urge to put his hands on his hips while he waited expectantly, and instead he just leaned back against the counter so he could relax while they waited for the oven to preheat.
“I suppose I’m interested, yeah.” He was calm, this was fine. The curiosity wasn’t slowly prickling at him. Michael had that little cheat around his neck so he had to work to stay as mellow as possible.
He probably could have lied to anyone else easily, even if they’d had the necklace. But then, he probably wouldn’t have cared if it was anyone else. He didn’t know if he wanted to meet her, but he wanted to know who she was, so he pressed, “Tell me about her?”
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 11:28 am
It was difficult for Michael to keep himself from grinning in amusement. He wasn’t trying to tease Devyn, but it was kind of cute that he seemed nervous. What? About someone else that might be important to Michael? Maybe because he wanted to make a good impression?
And it wasn’t his fault that his mother apparently didn’t tell Devyn anything about who Eulalie was.
Michael hummed thoughtfully to himself, as though trying to recall something. He couldn’t keep the tiny twitch at the corner of his lips as he spoke again.
“I dwelt alone in a world of moan, and my soul was a stagnant tide. Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride. Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride,” he quoted, arms still crossed as he watched Devyn. He knew this wasn’t exactly what he was asking, but he was sort of telling him about Eulalie. And it wasn’t as though Devyn was familiar with Earth’s poets. Maybe he thought Michael wrote it himself -- which Michael would never claim, because he was not that good of a poet.
“Ah, less… less bright the stars of the night than the eyes of the radiant girl! And never a flake that the vapor can make with the moon-tints of purple and pearl, can vie with the modest Eulalie’s most unregarded curl… can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie’s most humble and careless curl. Now doubt, now pain come never again, for her soul gives me sigh for sigh. While all day long shines, bright and strong, Astarté within the sky. And ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye. And ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye.”
Maybe it was mean for him to quote a love poem and make Devyn still wonder who Eulalie was, so he fished his phone out of his pocket, swiped through a few months of photos, and held it out for Devyn to see a very handsome sailboat.
“My parents gave her to me as a gift years ago. She’s getting up there in age, but I’d trust her to sail the ocean if I wanted to.”
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 12:01 pm
Oh, Michael must have been completely aware of what he was doing. That knowing expression, the way he seemed so smug. He wanted to smile, Devyn could see it.
All for a boat.
It all made sense now, of course. Claire had mentioned that he loved sailing, and he could have kicked himself for not using the most basic context clues. Of course it was a boat.
But for a moment there, he’d been a bit stressed. Reciting poetry, talking about his blushing bride. How many times had Michael been married? And the words were so tender and affectionate, and–
Yeah, a boat. Okay, good. He didn’t have to worry about–
Wait, what was there to worry about, anyway?
He exhaled, but made it a whistle at least, and leaned in a bit to see the boat. “To sail the ocean? You can do that?” He didn’t ask why he’d want to. If Michael trusted the boat so much, he would too. Maybe.
He didn’t think they were too close to the ocean, anyway, but he didn’t at all know the geography of the city. He knew the reservoir, which was just a bit out of town. “When was the last time you took her out anywhere?”
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 4:25 pm
He didn’t know why, but the tense way Devyn seemed to hold himself as he listened and then saw the picture was incredibly endearing. So much so that Michael couldn’t help but almost laugh. He didn’t want to upset Devyn, so he was very careful to restrain himself.
“Not since last summer,” he sighed, glancing at the picture on his phone as well, before putting it back in his pocket when it seemed as though Devyn had his fill. “It takes a while to get there, and she’s stored in a marina to keep her from getting damaged, so I have to make plans to get her out onto the water ahead of time. Sometimes I think about getting a smaller boat for the reservoir, but it wouldn’t be the same. There’s no finesse to boats that rely on motors instead of the wind. She’s got a backup motor, of course. But that’s not as fun.”
The light on the oven turned off, so Michael pulled out a couple pans for Devyn to use for the food he brought home. He was trying not to hover too much, since Devyn seemed interested in trying to do most of it himself. And Michael wanted to encourage that as well, because what if something happened and Devyn was left to try and fend for himself?
“The coast is a few hours away from here. By car. So I’d understand if you’d rather not go. And it’s a lot of water…” Michael knew Devyn wasn’t particularly fond of the water.
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