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 Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 9:46 am
Takes place after New Beginnings
Michael had done some rearranging in the room. He’d removed the desk that he had in there when his office was first adjusted for Devyn’s use, and had a new dresser set up on Devyn’s side of the room, so he would have all of his things close to him. Some of the paintings had been hung up on the walls, but Michael seemed as though he wasn’t sure which ones Devyn preferred.
On Michael’s side of the table was the music box that Devyn had let him borrow and fix, but on Devyn’s side there was a smaller portrait. One that Devyn hadn’t brought back from Jupiter. Small enough to fit on the bedside table.
“Oh, I hope you don’t mind. I had that portrait photographed by a professional and a smaller copy made. It’s not the same as canvas, but it’s something you can take with you if you wanted,” Michael explained, seeming a little anxious about doing something without asking Devyn first.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 10:09 am
There was the briefest second of surprise when they first entered the room, but Devyn smiled through it as he looked around. “You’ve gone out of your way for me again,” he observed, but there was no denying how delighted he sounded about everything.
He doubted Elliot had any influence on these choices, so when he reached the center of the room, he planted his hands on his hips and looked around. He liked the paintings on the wall. He liked the music box on Michael’s bedside. He liked the change in furniture, but mostly because all of this implied a more pronounced welcoming.
Michael must have been anticipating that Devyn would offer the space in the office for Atticus, and the fact that Michael’s room was already updated to include Devyn’s things meant that he’d planned for all of this. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” he asked, because for as wonderful as he obviously thought this was, he was still worried about Michael. He half turned to face him while he asked, but his curiosity wouldn’t let him stay there for long; he moved to the bedside to examine what portrait Michael seemed so worried about.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 11:15 am
The portrait was of Devyn and Percy, looking at each other as if nothing else in the universe could ever compare to the other. It was a very nice portrait, one that Percy must have spent a lot of time on, and one that he put as much effort into his own features as he did Devyn’s.
Michael had seen Devyn staring at it, although he never admitted that he had. He could only imagine that it was both comforting and heartbreaking for Devyn to be reminded about how happy he’d been with his husband.
Which only made Michael even more anxious about everything.
“I was going to ask you the same,” he admitted as he watched Devyn examine the portrait. It didn’t have all of the personality of the actual painting, but it was much more portable. “I was thinking about commissioning someone to make a photorealistic portrait of Percy for you, but I’d need you to help make sure the details were right.”
Was that too much? That was probably too much.
“But… if that’s uh…” he hesitated, not sure what he wanted to say. Even though he tried being better about not being controlling, here he was setting up the room as though he expected to know exactly what Devyn would want.
He wanted Devyn there, but he was afraid that maybe he was coming off too strong. Maybe Devyn would think he expected more than he was willing to give, or something like that.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 11:40 am
Devyn had lifted the portrait when he was near enough to do so, and he held it with the same reverence that he seemed to have for all of Percy’s paintings. He smiled, and it was tired, and it was sad, and it was happy all at once. He could see the differences in the photograph compared to the original, but it didn’t make it any less precious to him.
Especially because Michael had gone out of his way to get this for him. To have it made.
He heard Michael speaking, but it took a few seconds for the words to actually process, and by then his smile had softened again. “This was really thoughtful, Michael.”
He set the frame back down and turned to him. “I love it. This is wonderful. I don’t think your room’s ever looked better.” Oh, but all his things were in here. So maybe now it wasn’t just Michael’s room, maybe it was their room. The necklace gave very little away, except that Devyn was obviously in a good mood; there wasn’t any deception behind his smile and he wasn’t putting on a good show of being happy, he was happy.
“I don’t know anything about photorealism or how that works, you’ll have to explain it to me. Are you sure you don’t mind portraits of Percy all over? Oh, but I did bring back some paintings, I want to show you, sometime. I have stories.” He always had stories. “I was thinking we should hang up some of Princess, too.”
It wasn’t clear if he was teasing or not, but he seemed to just remember something and set his bag down on the bed so he could start digging through it. “Maybe we should get a portrait done, have you ever been painted?”
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 12:05 pm
He was glad that Devyn didn’t seem to mind. That he seemed happy. That was all Michael wanted. He didn’t want to come off as controlling or possessive… he just wanted to do something nice without Devyn having to worry about it.
Michael knew that he tended to go overboard with some things. He’d tried starting fresh in a new house, but even now he was worried about falling into doing the same things that could end up hurting his and Devyn’s friendship.
Although, he realized this was a little much for just friendship.
“Sure, we can put some up of Princess,” he said with a smile, because that seemed like something Devyn would enjoy. And he would like to see her more often, too.
But Devyn’s next comment and question had Michael laughing.
“We?” he repeated, clearly amused by the idea because that was something only people who were really close to each other got done and--
Oh. Was Devyn serious?
Michael could feel warmth in his face, and he was grateful Devyn couldn’t tell what he was feeling. Because he was suddenly full of anxiety and uncertainty. So much so that he had to cross his arms over his chest and use his toe to fuss with the edge of the carpet.
“No-- I mean, yes. Sort of. It’s done differently now. People would get a photo portrait taken, and then an artist would copy the painting onto a larger canvas. It saves a lot of time just sitting around, and the artist can take breaks. I mean some I’m sure paint from life still, but people are usually too impatient to sit still for long.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 12:13 pm
“Really?” Devyn made a face. “Even I can sit still for a portrait.”
Sometimes, and ‘still’ was very subjective, given that he usually needed very good company to keep mostly still and be happy about it. He’d been in plenty of portraits where he wasn’t happy to be sitting there, frozen, waiting, with nothing to do. But that’s because it was a waste of time, there were always more important things to do.
Of course, it was different when you had good company to talk to.
He’d been able to sit still when he was posing for Percy. He’d been able to sit still when he was posing with Percy.
He was pretty sure he could have comfortably passed the time with Michael, too.
“Seems a little less impersonal to take a picture first and then trust that someone will get it right,” he mused, but there were a lot of things that Earth did differently that still came out reasonably well so he wasn’t going to question the process of artists.
“But, I suppose that means we could just go get dinner or something while they worked. I always got hungry while I was being painted. Had to have a basket of snacks next to me. Here, I made this for you. It’s a dreamcatcher. Sort of.”
He’d wrapped it in fabric to keep it safe but he didn’t want to bother with making Michael unwrap it so he did it himself.
He presented it, completely aware that it was a little gaudy–not by his own standards, he thought it was perfectly tame. But he’d tried to be reasonable since he was making it for Michael.
The roots of the tree were each intricately woven, twisted around the braided circle ring around it. He’d attached a few very carefully selected gemstones to dangle from the roots, all various honey-like in color; some were more golden, some were reddish brown, but they were all beautiful and complemented each other. A few protection charms were fastened between them, just to make sure Michael was safe.
Overall, Devyn was very happy with it; the roots attached at the bottom of the circle and the branches of the tree were fixed along the top half, stretched out to fill the space. Amber beads were woven in the faux-leaves, and even without direct light the whole thing seemed ready to sparkle.
“It doesn’t really compare to all of this, but I was worried you might have bad dreams. Of course, now I’ll just catch your bad dreams, but. Just in case.”
He passed it over, proud of this work, but–oh, there was just a bit of anxiousness. Not much, hardly enough to register.
He just didn’t realize how badly he wanted Michael to like it until now.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 12:29 pm
The heat in Michael’s face didn’t die down. Now Devyn was talking about going to get dinner while the artist worked-- Right, because they had to eat. There was nothing Devyn meant by what he said other than just getting food. That was something anyone would do.
But before Michael could really think about it more, Devyn was presenting him with an intricate dreamcatcher in the shape of a tree.
Michael stared at it, and then gently took it when it was handed to him. He could immediately tell how much time and energy went into making something like this, and -- ah, did that explain the sensation of pain from the necklace? Not so much that he was concerned, but he wondered how sore Devyn’s fingers were after making something like this.
“It’s beautiful, Dev,” he said, maybe a bit more breathlessly than he intended. He wasn’t really known to put up a lot of personal things, but he was already glancing up to imagine how it would look over the bed.
Oh, and then Devyn had to talk about how he would just catch all his bad dreams.
Michael looked up at Devyn, almost helplessly for a moment. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to act around him. He tried being himself, but there was so much more that he wanted that he didn’t know if he could have.
He wasn’t Percy. And Devyn was clearly deeply in love with Percy, and Michael could never imagine coming between that, even if Percy wasn’t there.
But then… who was taking care of Devyn, if not him? Percy wouldn’t have wanted Devyn to be alone, right?
“Thank you, Devyn. I’ll have to get something to hang it up tomorrow. I don’t want to start hammering so late,” he said with a smile, rearranging his expression into something more at ease.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 12:47 pm
Devyn laughed and nodded agreeably. “Atticus would probably have a heart attack. Poor boy’s so jumpy. I’m glad you like it,” he said, and for all the practice he’d had concealing his emotions in the past, he wasn’t even bothering to pretend like he didn’t absolutely mean that. He didn’t get the impression that Michael was complimenting it because he thought it was what Devyn wanted to hear; there was something about the way Michael had said it that made it believable.
Devyn thought he understood Michael for the most part, but sometimes he wasn’t so sure about that. He couldn’t really make heads or tails of what that look had been for, so he’d smiled anyway. Even if he didn’t know what to say, he wanted to reassure Michael that everything was okay.
They’d just promised Atticus that much, and Devyn had meant it for him and Michael.
He looked around once more and took in the room again.
He’d gotten lucky, running into Michael. Or, maybe it was something more than that.
Most of the time, Devyn didn’t know what he believed in. He avoided thinking things could just be fate, or destiny, because that meant that what had happened was supposed to happen, and he didn’t agree with a lot of the past.
…But maybe this was the universe trying to correct its mistakes.
Giving him a chance to protect him in this life, to save Alastor.
He was happy again, and he’d given up on that so long ago.
He was tired, so he didn’t know what any of this meant. The lightness in his heart must have just been relief. He was running out of things to worry about. Things seemed like they had a habit of falling into place when Michael was around.
Devyn didn’t know what to make of it all, but he knew–without a doubt–that Michael was an irreplaceably necessary figure in his life.
“Come on, I know you’ve kept yourself busy all week. You deserve to rest.” He moved his bag onto the ground and peeled back the blanket. “Can we listen to the music box before bed?”
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 6:20 pm
He was grateful that Devyn only pried into what he was thinking and feeling when he knew it was necessary. He supposed that even without a necklace, Devyn could read him fairly well. If he had asked what he was thinking about at that moment, Michael wouldn’t have even known. Or maybe he did, but he wouldn’t know what to say without potentially lying to Devyn, and he didn’t want to start making that a habit.
So when Devyn settled onto the bed, Michael followed and sat down on his side. As requested, he carefully picked the music box off his nightstand, and passed it over to Devyn. He then placed the dream catcher tree on the nightstand in its place.
“You do the honors,” he nodded. Devyn had already said that it had been a very long time since he’d heard the music from the music box, so Michael thought it was only fair to let him be the one to do it.
“I wish I remembered where mom said she heard it from. I guess I can ask her tomorrow, or whenever we get a chance. I’m sure she’d want to meet Atticus. But I don’t want to overwhelm him. I just know she’ll give us a hard time if we don’t tell her sooner than later,” Michael sighed.
“I can already imagine Peter calling to fuss at me on mom’s behalf, or dad bringing over lasagna as a peace offering.”
Michael frowned, and then turned to fuss with his pillows while Devyn did whatever he needed to get ready.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 6:32 pm
Devyn held the music box in his lap, brushing his thumbs over the worn edges. He seemed to appreciate all the little details of the box first, like he needed to familiarize himself with all of it before he could wind it up.
Even if he’d had it with him this whole time, even if he’d never forgotten a detail.
Any time Michael mentioned his father, Devyn couldn’t help but worry for him. He knew the wound was still fresh, and he didn’t know if it was the sort of wound that would stay open forever or if it would eventually scab over and heal.
“Well, we won’t give your mother any reason to give us a hard time. I’m sure Soleiyu can get the paperwork ready quickly. I can’t imagine your mother needing to fuss at us, she’s been an absolute delight every time I’ve seen her. But if she gives you any trouble, you just tell her it’s my fault. I’m not from Earth, I didn’t know any better, and all that.”
He reached out to rest a hand on Michael’s shoulder to give him a little squeeze. His hand lingered for a second, like he wasn’t sure if he should do more, and he was briefly tempted to rub his back like he had been Atticus’ but instead he just let his hand rest where it was.
“If we spend tomorrow with the Reids, we can tell her the day after. Atticus was really close with his grandmother before she passed. I bet he’d like your mother a lot. She’s fun, and charming, and I bet she could make him feel safe and welcome, too. Do you think she’ll mind?”
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 7:19 pm
Michael knew from experience that the wounds from the loss of people he cared for would eventually heal. Or maybe he would just find a way to repress his emotions and his thoughts about it enough that he didn’t have to think about it.
Devyn’s hand on his shoulder was a comfort, and for a moment, Michael was just going to let him leave it there to pull away when he wanted.
But before Devyn could, Michael reached up to place his hand over Devyn’s. He could still pull it away if he wanted to, but Michael just needed that weight for a bit longer.
“Yeah, I think she would like that. She adores you, you know. Told me I need to be nice to you,” he sighed, as if he wasn’t nice to Devyn. Michael didn’t even think he was mean to many people. Well, he had the potential to be mean, he supposed.
And he was sure that his mother could use a distraction, too.
“Thanks, Dev. Sorry to keep worrying you.” Because he knew Devyn cared and wanted to help. Michael just wished he could get his thoughts in order so he didn’t have to keep making it known that he wasn’t as okay as he claimed to be.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 8:30 pm
Devyn could have laughed at Claire telling Michael to be nice to him, as if Michael wasn’t already the nicest person he knew. He thought it was sweet that she adored him, but it didn’t seem fair to comment on any of that when he was acutely aware of the weight of Michael’s hand over his own.
He didn’t draw away.
Instead, he squeezed gently, and rubbed his thumb lightly over his arm.
“Don’t be sorry. I’m glad you let me worry. I don’t want you to have to feel like you need to pretend like everything’s okay when it’s not. Little things, big things. I know what it’s like when the weight of it all is stacked on your shoulders. I know what that pressure can do. And I can feel some knots already, I’m sorely tempted to have you roll over and let me work a few of them out before bed.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2022 6:19 pm
Michael couldn’t help but smile, and then laughed softly. He gave Devyn’s hand a squeeze before letting it go and lowering his hand back down to his lap.
“Thank you. Maybe some other time. I’m okay,” he promised, and then made to turn a bit so Devyn would have to pull his hand away.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want Devyn to give him a massage. It was that he was afraid of finding out that he really was expecting too much when Devyn was just being nice.
His heart throbbed bitterly in response to his refusal, and he had to lift a hand to rub his chest to dull the sensation.
“I thought you were going to play your music box,” he nodded to the box in question.
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2022 8:45 pm
“Well, I wasn't planning on it sprouting legs and running off, so I thought it might stay put while I worked. But it has been a while since I had it working, I suppose anything’s possible. Well, I’m still worried about those knots, but if you’re tired enough you can sleep through anything. Wake me up if you change your mind. Or if it starts bothering you. I can at least go get you a heat pack.” Or whatever they were called, Michael would know what he was talking about.
He turned a bit to carefully rearrange his bedside table and made just enough room for the music box.
Devyn didn’t seem offended by the refusal; it had been a long day, and he was sure that Michael would understand that the offer would stay open for as long as he needed it. Or wanted it.
“Thank you again, Michael. For everything.”
He twisted the knob on the back of the music box and let it go just before he settled back into place, and couldn’t help but hold his breath as he waited for it to play any sound–like he expected the box to deny him out of spite or something.
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2022 9:14 pm
“I’m pretty sure I can sleep through anything with you next to me,” he admitted before he could think better of it. But he cleared his throat and made himself comfortable as Devyn got the music box ready to play. He settled against the pillows and pulled the blankets over him. He could turn the lights off with his phone, so he didn’t have to worry about getting up.
Michael settled onto the bed as he watched Devyn, watched the way his shoulders shifted as he wound up the music box on the nightstand. He didn’t feel like there was anything Devyn should be thanking him for. He knew how appreciative Devyn was, and that was enough. Michael was appreciative too, but instead of speaking up to thank Devyn as well, he reached out to place his hand against Devyn’s back.
He didn’t know why, just that he wanted to feel connected to him somehow, even with just a simple touch.
And as the music box started to play, Michael hummed along. It was definitely the same tune from his childhood. Maybe he would have to prove that he knew it before hearing the music box, but his mother should be able to tell them exactly where she heard it from at least.
“I’ve always liked that song. I moved around a lot as a kid. It helped me fall asleep easier,” he admitted as he absently drew a few little shapes on Devyn’s back.
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