The Plum Tree (G), >1k
Summary: Baz gets a call from his father
Warnings: none
Read on AO3 (or below)
I’m nearly asleep when the vibrations from my phone on the nightstand wake me. I reach for it, carefully pushing Simon’s warm arm off of me, so I don’t wake him.
The bright screen makes me wince but I make out the name “Malcolm Grimm”.
“Hello?” I say after accepting the call. My voice is low and slightly worried. Carefully I step out of the bedroom, into Simon’s living room. I turn on the little lamp that’s sat next to my favorite chair.
“Basil,” my father says as a greeting. “You remember that old plum tree out in the forest at Hampshire? As a child, you loved walking to that tree and picking fruit. We must have walked out there a dozen times each summer.”
I do remember that tree. We discovered it one summer, wandering around the woods near my childhood home. I think my mother was alive that first time. It was an old, half dead tree, but the plums were delicious. My parents would go on walks with me often during the summer. I tried finding the tree once on my own, I was only six or seven, but I got lost for an hour or so, and was terrified of the darker parts of the forest. After that my father came with me to the plum tree each time I asked, and held my hand so I wouldn’t get lost or scared. His hands were always warmer than mine, even before the vampirism set in.
Eventually it became less about the fruit I was picking and more about knowing my father would come with me every time I asked. I don’t know if he ever caught on to that.
“Yes, I remember,” I say with as little emotion as I can, thankful he can’t see the small smile on my face. It’s a nice memory, but I can’t fathom why my father has chosen to call me at ten pm to recount it. Or why this is what he chooses to say after our argument and three weeks of silence.
“Good,” is his response. He sounds relieved. “I do hope you have at least some nice memories of your father.”
Then maybe you should have made more of an effort to create those memories, I think bitterly. I don’t say it–it’s an unfair thing to say. I don’t say anything. Neither of us do for a while.
“I never thought you were a monster, Basil.”
Just because you think I’m some horribly evil creature doesn’t mean I have to live the rest of my life believing that, were the words I threw in his face three weeks ago. After our bi-weekly family dinner. After my father saw the puncture wounds Simon and I foolishly forgot to cover. He’d pulled me into the family library and spoke in that stern, disappointed voice of his. My stomach turned with dread. He made me feel fifteen again: desperate, and hungry, and filled with hatred for what I was. I knew my father was right, that it was a mistake to bite a human. But I also knew how good it felt, how happy it had made Simon. So I defended myself, lashed out, even though my head still spins with conflicting emotions every time I think about drinking my boyfriend’s blood.
I continue saying nothing.
He wouldn’t understand even if I had a way of explaining myself.
Father sighs, annoyed, though I’m not sure at which one of us.
“Basil, when your mother–” he stops and starts again “–when that happened, you were so young, my precious little boy. I was worried. I needed to keep you safe, and you can’t be safe if people find out. You’re still my son, Basilton. Perhaps there were better ways I could have protected you… I didn’t know what to do.”
I think that’s the closest he’s going to get to apologizing.
“This Snow–you must understand why I’m worried for you when it comes to him knowing. And not just knowing but–” he pauses, the silence heavy with the words he can’t bring himself to say. “It is unfortunate, your condition, but you were never a monster, Basilton.”
I’m not sure I believe him. Not sure I believe he doesn’t see me as a monster; not sure I shouldn’t be seen as one. It is nice to hear my father say it though.
My tongue is pressed firmly to the roof of my mouth, trying desperately to fight off the tears welling in my eyes. I can’t risk opening my mouth to speak. I won’t let my father hear me cry.
“My father wasn’t an affectionate man. I think he only held my hand once in my childhood, I can’t recall what the reason was now. I felt he didn’t care for me for many years. And I inherited his coldness but… you do know that I love you, Basil?”
“Yes, father,” I say because it’s what he wants to hear. And because I do know it, even if he doesn’t love me in the way that I needed as a child. Even if half the time I’m convinced he wishes I were someone else.
“Good,” he breathes. “Right, well–”
“I should get back to sleep,” I say, saving him from having to wrap up this strangely emotional conversation. I manage to keep the shakiness that I’m feeling out of my voice.
“Yes. Yes, my apologies for the late call.”
From years of observation and practice I can tell he’s rebuilding his uncaring demeanor. He sounds stoic, almost no trace of emotion left in his speech.
“Vera’s making her chocolate fudge, your favorite, for dessert this Sunday.”
I take that as my invitation to start coming back for family dinners.
“Goodnight, Basilton.”
“Night, Father.”
I don’t return to bed until the tears stop spilling from my eyes, and my lungs stop aching.
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Prodigal Son Muses
Malcolm Bright
Age: 30ish
Sexuality: Bi
Personality: Confident (on the job at least), anxious, obsessive
Suffers from: C-PTSD, General Anxiety, Night Terrors
Martin Whitly
Age: 52
Sexuality: Asexual but very flirtatious and will use it to get his way
Personality: Narcissistic, Arrogant, Confident, Self-centered. Capable of faking compassion for manipulation purposes
Suffers from: Sociopathy
Dani Powell
Age: 28
Sexuality: Bi
Personality: Reserved, tired, kind, loyal
Suffers from: Nightmares, Minor Anxiety
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various pride things!
Crispin Whytehead [Fict.] - Me!! Transmasc, unlabeled, various xenogenders because gender is fuck
James B. Barnes [Fict.] - Poly, same thing with the xenos [had permission to add this]
Malcolm Bright - Trans + bi with a masc preference
Reagan Ridley - Unlabeled, bi
Norman Osborn - May have been trans? Gay
Phillip Morris - Absolutely flaming
Gramble - Trans + unlabeled
Vincent Rhodes - Transmasc and bi
Boxman - Transmasc and gay
[#🚦☣️]
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