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 Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 11:26 am
Kaelan’s heart sank when he was told that Orien was already there. Ordinarily, that would have been a good thing, but now he was just paranoid that he was late, or that there was some sort of problem, or–what if he went into the office and he was interrupting something? What if Oreo was in danger?
He hadn’t really had the luxury of dressing up; they had what clothes Orien had been able to get together, and they were functioning clothes! Just not very dressy. Which, he was fine with! He hadn’t expected to need them.
But, he’d worn the best of them now, anyway, and he’d worked to be presentable, and made every effort to look like he was taking this seriously. Even though he’d arrived with a backpack full of all their paperwork over one shoulder, and a bag of carefully wrapped trinkets that he again felt silly about getting, but Jett had said to pick them up, so…
Now he just had to hope that when he went into the office, everything was fine.
He hurried in, just in time to see–Jett was smiling, laughing at something. Orien was sitting in the chair across from him. Nothing was broken. No one was maimed. He remembered how to breathe.
“Hello, sorry,” he said, closing the door quietly behind him. He felt like the click was louder than what he’d managed to say, and there were all sorts of contributing factors to why his face was red. Sheepishly, he made his way to the other chair and sank into it, always eager to take up as little room as possible. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”
His toe poked Orien’s shoe and he met his gaze, asking a hundred silent questions as he lowered the backpack to the floor and kept the ceramic figures carefully nestled in his lap.
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 11:47 am
When Kaelan entered the room, Orien immediately perked up. He smiled at him-- although his expression was tempered a little when he noticed how anxious Kaelan was.
“Hold on,” he said to both Kaelan and Jett as he stood up enough to be able to noisily inch his chair closer to Kaelan. Once it was as close as possible, he leaned over to kiss his cheek, and then reached to take one of his hands and lace their fingers together. He was careful about what Kaelan had in his lap! And he couldn’t help but stare at him in awe and love and utterly undying devotion.
“Okay I’m good. I mean, I would be happier if I could just pull you into my lap and hold you,” he sighed and-- Oh right they were supposed to be meeting with Jett about things.
Fine, then Orien would just pull Kaelan’s hand over to his lips to kiss the back of it, and then lowered them both back down.
“You okay?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking, because he didn’t want Kaelan to be upset about anything. “We’re good here. I promise.”
Was he obviously head over heels? Probably. But Jett already knew that, and Kay knew that too.
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 11:56 am
Kaelan had never been ashamed of how much he loved Orien, but he was a little embarrassed to be peppered by praise and affection in front of Jett, who was still–what, interviewing them? His stomach was flopping uncomfortably and he’d all this time alone to worry and think about every little way that things could go wrong.
“I’m okay,” he insisted, even if the heat in his face might have suggested otherwise. It had as much to do with knowing Jett could see them as it did the fact that he was embarrassed he’d been so worried. He wanted to ask what they’d been talking about earlier, like he was desperate to just hear that they’d been getting along, but he knew that was tacky–clingy, overbearing, dramatic. He kept the question to himself and smiled again, squeezing Orien’s hand and leaning a little closer.
Jett didn’t even seem annoyed at the dramatics; he let them have their little reunion, let them inch their chairs together and lean into one another and kiss. He could have lived without the flirting, but after the conversation he and Orien had just partaken in, he supposed they were entitled to a moment of calm.
“I didn’t mean to keep you waiting. I was at the library looking up things for DCU,” he confessed, and tried to meet Jett’s gaze. “Their classes and application process. I brought all of our paperwork. Oh, and,” he shifted and the plastic in his lap rustled. “I went to the thrift store and–well, I looked for the, um. Well you said ceramics, so I just got all of the ones with the same symbol on the bottom. I don’t know if they’re worth anything.”
“Well, we’ll find out. It’ll be a good lesson, I’ll teach you two how we price things. Wherever you wind up in the company, it never hurts to know how things are run. I’ll teach you how we do research, how we do listings. Just in case you want the experience for a resume. Or just to know how to do it. I don’t expect you to want to work here forever, but I like to think there’s a lot of room to pick up new skills. They say learning keeps you young. Good for the brain,” he glanced at Orien and shrugged, like this might be something he’d be interested in.
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 5:56 pm
Orien made a face when Jett suggested learning new things. He was learning new things! Just a little at a time. But he also knew that Jett was looking out for him. Which he still needed to get used to.
“I bet they’re all great and worth a lot,” Orien insisted as he gave Kaelan’s hand another squeeze, but he relaxed his hold in case he wanted to use both hands to handle taking everything out. He didn’t want to cause anything to break. He just needed to hold his hand for a moment and now he was good.
“Why wouldn’t we want to work here forever? You think we’re not young enough to take over for you when you get old and gray and want to retire?” he grinned, but he was obviously teasing. He’d seen the photos on the wall, of the grumpy teenager with the older man who’d clearly opened the store at some point before they’d even been born.
“Probably for the best,” he added with a sigh after a moment. His hands weren’t shaking as much as they did sometimes, but they still trembled slightly when he wasn’t holding Kaelan’s hand.
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 6:23 pm
Jett scoffed, but there was amusement instead of disdain.
For a brief second, Kaelan was worried, but Jett was smiling and–whatever had happened before he’d gotten there must have been good because Jett seemed amused. “If I ever retire. We’ll see. I’ve got a long road ahead of me. For all we know, Kaelan will write some best-selling novel and you’ll never have to work again, or you’ll pick up the winning lottery ticket and decide you’re done, too. But, if you’re planning on taking over anything, all the more reason to learn how this place works. Maybe you’ll find something you’re passionate about and want to open a place of your own. DCU’s got a good business degree, just saying.”
“Oh. Really?” Kaelan asked, looking between the two of them. He couldn’t help but relax against Orien, and something about the conversation already seemed a little less stressful than he’d anticipated. It was still early on, there was still time for things to go wrong. His own hands were shaking just a bit as he tried to debate what to do with the ceramics, but Jett had said he’d show them, so he waited for instructions just to make sure he didn’t mess anything up.
“If anything ever strikes your fancy, offer’s open. Feel free to take some time to get settled first. I want you to try a few positions. It might be a lot to take in if you’re moving jobs, but we can take it slow. If it’s going too fast, let me know. We don’t really have an HR person, not when so much of the business is broken up into different parts, so for right now you just have to worry about me. If there’s a position you really don’t want to try, I won’t make you. Your official job positions right now are just ‘trainee’ so there’s a lot of flexibility and your pay isn’t going to change based on where you are. I’m thinking for starters I’d like to keep you together since this is all new.”
And, they obviously did better together.
“Something flexible. We buy storage lockers, but we’ve only got a few days to move everything to the warehouse after we win. Personally, this isn’t my favorite method for antique hunting, but we’ve got a part of the warehouse for general sales. Those all go online or local pickup. It’s heavy lifting, and it’s cleaning out the trash. You keep anything that looks like it might be something, and you make it easier for someone to sort through at the warehouse. I don’t usually do these anymore, but I can take you out and we’ll do one together, see how you like it. If that doesn’t sound good, I’m flexible. Are either of you comfortable driving a truck? Any accidents or anything?”
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 7:15 pm
Orien could see Kaelan’s hands trembling, and he reached once more to take hold of them, placing his hand over both to squeeze them reassuringly.
And to try to distract himself from cracking too wide of a grin at everything Jett was saying.
“I’m really grateful that you’re willing to take things slow, although if the chemistry is there, I don’t see any reason not to take things fast,” Orien said, normally enough, although maybe he couldn’t quite stop himself from casting a quick glance at Kaelan in amusement.
“As for trying a few positions, yeah that works. We’re both pretty flexible.”
At that, Orien couldn’t help himself. He’d already lifted one shoulder in a show of demure innocence, before batting his eyelashes at Jett.
He knew it wasn’t what Jett meant! But all of this talk about positions and flexibility and taking things slow, how else was Orien supposed to react?
He tried very hard to keep his snickering to himself, but cast a glance over at Kaelan to see if he was as amused as Orien was, or if he was horrified -- if that was the case, Orien would straighten up and ignore any unintentionally suggestive comments.
“Never drove a truck before, but how hard could it be? One pedal makes it go, the other stop, and you use the wheel to turn.” Also heard as: he definitely needed some training before attempting.
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 7:35 pm
Kaelan’s hands had stopped trembling, but now he was only a few seconds from panicking again because he knew what Orien was doing! His face turned red and he tried very hard to keep a completely straight face and hoped that Jett wouldn't pick up on it, but Orien was making it so obvious. Kaelan squeezed his hand pleadingly and almost leaned over to chastise him, but Jett scoffed again, and seemed more amused than annoyed. He almost even laughed, but gave Orien a half-hearted warning look.
“We’ll give you some time to practice in the parking lot before I send you out on the road. That work for you?”
Kaelan didn’t drive, and that was probably obvious by the way he didn’t volunteer himself to try. He looked at Orien, and before he could say something else clever, he nodded. “Yes. Thank you. I appreciate you letting us start together.”
Jett nodded, but made sure they had plenty of time to interject or change their mind. He opened the folder with their names on it and pulled out identical forms for each of them. “This is the pay we discussed, but it’s only a temporary job title. That’ll change when you’ve had time to settle in. You’ll have to fill out some basic information–address, phone number, social security, checking–the things we talked about last night.”
He slid them across the desk with two pens. “You can go over it if you want, if you have questions you can ask. I’ve got copies for both of you for job descriptions, expectations, and if you want to read it at home and come back with questions on your first shift, we’ll have time to talk while we’re clearing out the units. Now, I’d like to go tomorrow, if that works for you? DCU deadline’s coming up so I want to get that letter of recommendation done now so we have a chance of getting you enrolled for the Summer semester.”
Which was more than Kaelan had expected; he was red again–nervous, anxious. Like he wanted to warn Jett but couldn’t muster up the courage to say anything. He pressed his lips together. His eyes fell, and he opened his mouth to try, but no words came out. He squeezed Orien’s hand again, partly for reassurance, and partly in apology.
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 7:43 pm
Oh, how Orien wanted to wrap his arms around Kaelan and hold him close and tell him everything would be okay. Not right now. Right now he wanted to make sure he knew everything was okay with Jett. Or at least as okay as things could be.
So he squeezed Kaelan’s hand in return.
“I got here early to talk to --... Mr… Jett…” That was weird. But he didn’t know what else to call him. Boss man? Just calling him Jett didn’t seem very business-like.
“He knows about our records. It’s fine, Kay,” he promised. He didn’t want to embarrass him further, but he also didn’t want Kaelan to just sit and wither away in his anxiety.
“Practice sounds good. Tomorrow is even better. I don’t care about my other jobs. Unless you want me to put in a two weeks notice, but I’m pretty sure if I go in again I’ll just tell everyone to ******** off and then quit,” he shrugged.
Oh, maybe he shouldn’t be sharing things like that with his new boss.
“What about these ceramics?” he asked, gesturing to the bag in Kaelan’s lap as he took one of the pens -- which he immediately dropped. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and gave up trying to pick it up again for the moment.
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 8:24 pm
There was another brief second of panic; his eyes flashed and he looked from Orien to Jett and back again. He trusted Orien, and Jett was slowly growing on him, but there was still a lot to digest. “Oh. Um. Right,” he said, and shook his head as he began to pull out the paper wrapped figures.
“Thank you,” he said, not looking up. “For the opportunity. I’m sorry. For everything that happened.” He’d have changed everything if he could, he would have gone back and done it differently. Except, he wouldn’t want to live in a world where he didn’t have Orien.
But the past didn’t change, it wasn’t a real dream.
He was remorseful for the past, and he didn’t want it to define him. He wanted to do better, to be better. He ran his thumb over the back of Orien’s hand to soothe him as much as himself.
“I’ll do my best. I don’t want to let you down.”
“I know,” Jett answered, taking his time to look between the two of them. “So, we’ll get you two started tomorrow. Let’s do ten, you can meet me here by then and I’ll drive us over. Wear comfortable clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty. And good shoes. I’ll bring gloves, but you’ll probably want your own. Let me see what we’re working with for now, though.”
“Oh–right yes. Sorry,” Kaelan said again; he began to pull out the small figures, unwrapping them as best he could, as quickly as he could, without releasing Orien’s hand.
Jett began to pick up the pieces one at a time, sometimes nodding, sometimes pulling them close for a better inspection. He sorted them into different sections of the desk, but even after only a few pieces had been pulled out he said, “I wish I got to do the estate sale on whoever these belonged to. Probably a family who saw kitschy little figurines and thought they were garbage but didn’t have the heart to toss them. Some of these pieces are probably only ten, fifteen. I typically buy for forty to sixty percent of what I can sell for, depends on how badly I want it and how badly they want to get paid for it. I could sell some of these for fifty, probably. They’re dusty, but I’m not seeing chips or discoloration. This was a good collection. You’ve got a few that I’ve been looking for, and some of these might sell for triple digits, so I’m thinking you’ll have more than enough for that college application fee after we’re done here.”
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 8:41 pm
“See? I knew you had a really good eye for stuff like this,” Orien said, leaning closer to give Kaelan a little nudge with his shoulder. “I’m really proud of you.” He said it quieter than anything else, knowing that Jett could likely still hear him, but wanting Kaelan to know that it was intended to be for him only.
“We’ll be okay,” he promised, his voice still quiet as he rubbed his thumb over Kaelan’s hand again, trying to calm him. He would just have to make sure he helped him relax later. It helped that Jett was being really accommodating and understanding. They’d really lucked out, and Orien was glad that his earlier meeting with him hadn’t ruined anything.
“Besides, Jett likes me. Right?” he flashed a teasing grin at Jett, but also didn’t want to push his luck. “And he absolutely likes you too, Kay.” Because who wouldn’t?
“We’ll be here,” he then said to Jett with a nod. They would do whatever it took and things would get better and better. “I guess that means we shouldn’t stay out late trying to get energy,” he hummed thoughtfully. They were still obviously very new at all of this, but he wanted Jett to know that they were serious about it.
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 8:50 pm
Kaelan flashed a half smile, and even if his face was a bit red, it didn’t seem to be out of embarrassment. He was flustered, but it wasn’t an entirely uncomfortable sensation. If they’d been alone, he might have cried. Which made him feel absolutely ridiculous, so he shook his head and laughed at himself. Laughed at Orien. Laughed at all of this.
Quietly! He didn’t want Jett to think he’d lost his marbles!
“Ideally, no. Get a good night’s rest, eat a good breakfast.” Jett continued to sort the figures as Kaelan set up the last few from the bag. His hands were trembling a little now, so he was trying very hard to make sure he didn’t knock anything over. As soon as the last one was on the counter, he put his hand under the table so he could hold Orien’s hand with both of his own.
Even if Orien had been teasing, Jett hadn’t chastised him. Hadn’t rolled his eyes or glared at him or changed his attitude. He’d seemed amused, maybe faintly exasperated, but Kaelan got the impression that Jett was maybe treating them carefully. Because of what Orien said? Because they were new members of his Court? Because they were strangers?
He kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Kept waiting for someone to jump out and shout ‘Gotcha!’ but there wasn’t anyone here but them. And Jett had drafted up papers. For employment. He’d mentioned the letter of recommendation again.
Kaelan felt giddy. He’d go drain energy for the rest of the day, he didn’t care. He wasn’t supposed to get his hopes up, he knew that, but–
He couldn’t help it. Even Orien looked a bit relaxed. He wasn’t scowling! He was proud of him.
Kaelan could have kissed him silly–would have, if Jett wasn’t there.
Jett finished sorting the pieces and looked up again. “All right. These look good. I’m unfamiliar with some of them, so let me pull up a few things. You two fill out your paperwork in here, I’ll be back in a minute. I’m going to get my laptop and the papers I’ll need for a sales receipt so we can go through this. But I can probably get you a few hundred for these.”
Maybe it was a little more than he’d have offered if they were complete strangers, but he didn’t feel bad about it. He was a good businessman, and this felt like a good investment.
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 9:16 pm
“A few hundred?” Orien nearly choked on his own spit and sat upright in his chair. He stared at Jett in disbelief, and then couldn’t quite control himself when he reached over to wrap his free arm around Kaelan in a tight hug.
He was not going to cry over some figurines Kaelan purchased at a thrift store giving them enough to-- buy more than just pasta and salt for dinner. He definitely wasn’t going to cry because he was so proud of Kaelan. Nor was he going to cry because he was afraid of doing something to mess all of this up.
It was probably weird that he got so excited over all of Kaelan’s hard work, but they just hadn’t had a break in so long. And maybe this was a little bit of a redemption for Orien -- a chance for Jett to see how good of an eye Kaelan had for these things.
“Uh. Okay. Thank you,” he tried to control himself as he pulled away from Kaelan to look up at Jett again. “That’s… that’s acceptable,” he nodded wisely, as if he had any knowledge of any of this.
They were definitely going to have a nice dinner that night. Maybe indulge in some dessert -- Oh, after they put enough aside to pay for the application fees.
He lifted Kaelan’s hands to kiss, and then reached over to wrap all of his fingers around one of the pens so he wouldn’t drop it, and handed it to Kaelan so he could start working on his paperwork. Orien was going to need both of his hands to keep the pen steady.
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2023 9:34 pm
Jett kept his smile to himself as he rose from the desk. There was still plenty of room for them to both write on it and not have to worry about knocking over the pieces. He doubted they’d get into too much trouble alone in his office, and he could have left the door open, but he thought it might have been better for all of them if they had a moment of privacy, so he made sure the door audibly closed behind him.
As soon as it did, Kaelan twisted in his chair to look over his shoulder, and when he realized they were alone, he lifted himself out of his seat so he could lean over and pull Orien into a deep, desperate kiss.
He knew they were supposed to be working on paperwork, but he felt like he was about to explode if he didn’t do something. Going into the thrift store had been a pure fluke. He didn’t think he deserved credit or praise–he’d picked up something familiar on a hunch, and the only reason he’d gone back is because Jett had said to.
But he was going to pay them? And was going to pay them well? That was better than selling plasma, or picking coins out of the fountain. They were going to have jobs–real jobs, where Orien could talk to the guy in charge, who wasn’t just yelling at him or making him feel bad.
He didn’t want to get ahead of himself. He didn’t want to misplace his hope. He wanted this to be real. All of this seemed so much less believable than being magical warriors, but he wanted it, so badly.
He pulled away just to say, “I love you so much. I just want you to know that. I feel like my head’s about to blow up. Are you okay?”
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2023 5:22 pm
Oh, well, Orien wasn’t going to cry, but the desperation in Kaelan’s kiss pushed him over the edge. He thought sitting in two chairs was stupid, so he pushed himself back enough -- away from the desk so they didn’t knock anything over, and pulled Kaelan into his lap so he could curl his fingers into Kaelan’s clothing and hold him tight. <********>, I love you too,” he said with enthusiasm, even as his eyes were bright with tears. “I’m okay. I think. I don’t know. I don’t know what to think,” he admitted, which wasn’t helpful at all, he knew.
“How is this possible? Do you feel like this is just some elaborate prank? Or… I don’t know. I’m not used to being lucky. I thought I was lucky enough to know you, and that was all I cared about but… Kay.”
He sniffled and had to wipe his eyes, and then laughed at how ridiculous this all was. “I don’t want to screw this up. And I’m sorry I came here behind your back, but I didn’t want you to have to talk about any of that stuff, so…”
Orien figured he should tell Kaelan now, in case he forgot later. There was no reason for secrets between them, and no reason for lies. Orien had no choice but to trust Kaelan for everything, because he knew sometimes he just didn’t remember. But Kaelan would never do anything that would hurt him or would cause him to suffer, so Orien wanted to repay him for that while he could.
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2023 6:07 pm
“I didn’t want to, thank you. You’re sure he’s okay with all of it?” he asked, but he didn’t want to know the answer if he wasn’t. He hadn’t even had to shift positions to get comfortable; he’d melted against Orien immediately and wanted to take every second they had together. He didn’t know how long Jett was going to be gone for, and he just needed a minute, just one, where he didn’t have to worry about composing himself.
The emotions were already threatening to flood through him, and Orien’s wet eyes weren’t helping. “I thought this was a prank, too. I kept looking for cameras, or someone to jump out. But I looked this place up, it is legit, it has reviews and newspaper articles, and,” he looked around the room, taking in everything he could in the briefest of seconds.
It hadn’t taken him long to spot the photograph of a younger Jett, making a sour face while the man next to him beamed.
He couldn’t imagine an actor filling the part, nor could he imagine Jett being so invested in a prank when he didn’t seem to make too many jokes of his own.
“I don’t–I can’t think of anything to prove it’s fake. I don’t want it to be fake.” His voice almost broke, and he felt pathetic and overwhelmed and–he kissed Orien again to try and focus, but even after he broke the kiss he just wrapped his arms around him and squeezed him. “I want this to be real. I want it so bad.” Maybe this was just a normal job. Maybe it wasn’t anything special to anyone else. But it felt important to him.
They’d been scrambling to make things work and this wasn’t what he’d planned on, but how was he going to say no to a job with some antique dealer? Who gave them magic?
He’d been so excited and overwhelmed last night that he still hadn’t really processed much of anything, but there was time. “We should get some energy tonight. We don’t have to stay out late, but I want to do something. But I want to be with you, too. Thank you for always looking out for me. For all of this. I really, really don’t know what I would do without you, I just–I need to hold you for a minute more, then I’ll go do my paperwork. I just really love you. I want this to work. I just want to get that out now before he comes back, I don’t want to say something embarrassing in front of him, I just want to get it out now, just real fast.”
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