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No messages or anything?
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So you are NOT planning on visiting for the holidays at all?
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And you’re not going to answer?
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I know you see this.
Amadeus stared at his phone. He could’ve spent the whole evening lounging in the apartment over his massage parlor, minding his own business, not doing anything to anyone, and he would’ve been perfectly happy. The evening was calm and cold, with only the dull drone of the city beyond his window. So staying inside with a hot tea and a heated blanket and a movie was a top tier activity.
Dealing with his mother was more like… comfortably in C tier, and he had to be in the right mindset to take it on. A mindset he was not in right now. He didn’t hate dealing with her, and in fact, could consider it a fun little challenge on occasion. But right now he was relaxing.
And it was going to stay that way. Amadeus set their chat to mute and didn’t think there was more to do than that. It was a little cold of him, sure, and he’d gotten flack for ignoring his mother in the past, buuuut…
Well, he obviously had not attended his parents’ Christmas event. There was no changing that. And she would still be there tomorrow when he was engaged enough to be a proper match for her. Tonight was simply not the night. He might say as much to her tomorrow; he could say nearly anything he wanted with complete impunity- so there was no reason to be intimidated. A part of him wondered if that was something permanent in his relationship with his parents- how far could he push it before it was ‘too’ far, but it didn’t concern him enough to necessitate change.
With a soft, gusty note, he rose from the couch, pulling his sleep robe up over a shoulder and sauntering toward his fireplace. Amadeus kept it quite toasty generally, so he often forgot he even had a fireplace to use instead of the central heating. But since he’d been brought a small bundle of wood and some fire starter (by his parents, no less), it seemed a waste not to use it. He’d set the logs some thirty minutes earlier, and the flames were quietly crackling away now.
Maybe he should’ve had friends over… Something about a fireplace made him want company?
But no, no, he didn’t want (or need) that. There was no reason to lament a quiet, peaceful evening, and the holidays were so lively without forcing himself to make everyday as so.
He flounced down into the chaise nearby, having migrated only about five feet from the sofa. He flicked through the channels, landing on a music station playing a gentle jazzy tune. He liked his peace. Liked a commotion when he willed it, and- well, no. That was just it. Amadeus liked what he was in control of. Peace when he sat down for it, adventure when he seeked it, a challenge when he’d prepared himself. Maybe even the unexpected if he was in the mood for unexpected.
He slid the book he was reading off the back of the chaise and allowed himself to lounge comfortably.
Sleep could take him like this, and he wouldn’t even complain about it.
Little shadows from the fire flicked across the pages as he read, and somehow even the darkest edges of those shadows seemed to be tinged with color. The fire starter his parents had gotten him must have had some strange chemicals in it to appear beautiful and unique- or they were trying to poison him with gas. Always a possibility (but no, of course they wouldn’t, they were typically good people and wouldn’t sink to his sort of level).
Tomorrow he would call. He promised himself he would.
And maybe this was a year for a proper New Year’s resolution, too…
Maybe he should see Kitty again. Expand the limits of his interests, if he could help it. He sighed, a soft wistful sound. Oh, if only he could convince himself to stick to it…
