Waking up he stretched in his bed not wanting to get up, shivering he curled deeper into his covers. He heard a knock and wondered how many that was, a few moments later the door opened and that was his answer. Humming he brought the blanket over his head and intended to stay there.
“Heh, I’m guessing you don’t want breakfast? Or you must have been more tired than me, normally you are up before me.” Humming again and attempting to roll into a burrito only resulted in him rolling off the bed which earned the other man a grunt. He now couldn’t escape his blanket and proceeded to inch his way out of the door which then the grunt was turned into short breaths of exhaled air.
“Dawddy what you doing?”
“Doggy is cold,” Van answered hoarsely and gave up trying to get to the kitchen. How will he even eat? He doesn’t want to undo the burrito he made of himself.
“Are you ok?” Sen asked seeing that he was making no more effort to move forward. Van only hummed giving no agreement or disagreement just a simple noise to let them know he heard but refused to talk anymore. He felt tired, last night was difficult and received no answer or... did he even make the call? He was sure he did. He’ll have to check later, he might skip the morning email. He was in no shape to be productive or active. “I’m happy you made it this far.”
“Huh?” that brought him out of his head with the darkness that threatened to smoother him. Was he being praised? For not being active? She would have thrown a tantrum for him not being at her beck and call. This was strange.
“Can you make it to the couch?” Sen asked and waited for an answer of some sort. Van hummed and tried his best to be an inch worm to the couch. He lifted himself up as best as he could and flopped onto the couch and wiggled his way on it fully. From there he felt relaxed.
“TV power on, news.” Van said and the wall opened up above revealing a large screen and below the entertainment system slid out. It turned to the news and he watched as the two anchormen talked.
“I didn’t know it could get bigger!” Sen said. By now the smaller screen would be in his room. Van once again hummed and watched as the screen flipped to a picture of a familiar man. This perked him up, he knew this guy. Very good at his job.
“Detective Ember Wixx, male 33 years was reported missing last night by a neighbour. If you have seen or heard from this man please contact...” Van watched the TV with little interest but kept the picture of the man in mind in case he had come across the man. Surely that this guy was just hiding from view to take a breather.
“The Detective was last seen wearing...” he turned his attention from the TV and to Sen when he started speaking and noticed that Sen had a bowl in hand.
“Is he important?” Sen asked while he tried to get out of his cocoon.
“If he’s on TV then he must be to someone. But it is odd that a Detective would go missing with someone noticing. So this isn’t the work of Mafia,” He was also still trying to get out of his blanket but a hand on his head stalled his movements. Sen sat in front of him and held a spoonful of scrambled eggs with last nights mac n cheese.
“Eat something first,” Van stared at Sen for a moment and wondered why. This was such an intimate gesture but Sen doesn’t seem bothered by it at all.
“But- nmph,” the spoon was shoved in his mouth before he could object and get out of his blanket.
“Don’t force yourself to work, you obviously need the day off.” his eyes flicked to the blanket he cocooned himself in and back to his eyes. “Even Ari can see that you are not yourself today.”
Chewing the food and swallowing he tried to argue that he needs to get up and that he doesn’t need to be taken care of like this. But in his attempt another spoonful was shoved in his mouth, he now knew that there was no getting out of this and the lull of his food was starting to take effect. He gave up and allowed the man to feed him as he is and felt the swirling past emotions come crashing in washing over him in waves. But also last night’s emotions were threatening to escape.
When was the last time someone else took care of him? He always felt that he stood alone and had to take care of everyone around him. He believed that no one would step up to take his burdens so withdrew into himself and made it seem like he wasn’t carrying much. He never let anyone in on his state of mind. He believed that they should all be able to see his surface and nothing underneath.
Then someone entered his thoughts. Sid Stone. He was always there, always listened to everything he had to say and knew more than anyone else who he is.
How far can he let Sen in?
Maybe not far enough but he’s making an effort to enter.
The food was finished before he realized it but he didn’t really care, he felt comfortable where he is and Sen left him to his solitude. Even Ari didn’t come around to bother him, Sen must have told her not to.
It felt strange to have someone in his house that didn’t demand his attention and care. At work he knew that everyone can take care of themselves but he still felt responsible for their safety and care.
He felt a hand on his head and opened his eyes to look at Sen carrying a bowl of soup this time. Didn’t he just have breakfast?
“It’s lunch time now, you slept the morning away,” Sen explained he hummed and sat up on his knees then sat back on his feet. He made another effort to get out of his blanket retreat but was once again stopped. “Your ok like this.”
He was about to say something but stopped from opening his mouth and stared at Sen in defiance. The small corner of Sen’s mouth quirked, Van was learning his rules quickly. But what were they really? They didn’t make a lot of sense. Sighing defeated he allowed another feeding session. He can’t really be sure but it seems Sen enjoys these kinds of things.
The soup was finished and Sen set the bowl on the coffee table and sat back. He wasn’t going to move it seems so he shimmied himself to sit and lay the other way until he was pulled to lay down how he originally was. The pull surprised him and because he made sure he himself can’t move he couldn’t stop himself from falling or yelping.
“Is this really necessary?” Van ended up saying before a hand was combing through his visible hair.
“Yes, it is. Now relax and watch the movie,” soon Ari came and snuggled up to him successfully trapping him between them. He can’t wiggle or else Ari would fall off and he can’t sit up because Sen would just hold his head down preventing him from moving any further.
Granted he hasn’t tried but figured that would happen if he did try. The motions Sen was doing with his his hand was soothing and the warmth the two gave off was calming. It was comfortable. He almost thought about them not being there one day but Sen spoke breaking that thought.
“What is this guy doing? Shouldn’t he know better than to go into a room full of monsters is dangerous?” Van started to pay attention to the movie and noticed that it was some sort of cartoon.
“Those not monsters,” Ari said and listened to them talk about the movie. It was nice having the house that was normally silent have noise again. He relaxed more and snuggled closer to Sen feeling that he was no longer a threat.
He woke up hearing someone in the kitchen and looked. Sen was making dinner it seems and Ari was helping him. He used this to escape and made a run for it to his room.
“Where are you going?” he stopped as soon as he heard Sen’s voice but the guy wasn’t looking at him. Was he not quiet enough for this escape? He ignored the question and went straight for his room.
He reached his room and closed the door as best as he could and tried to break free of his own prison. He flopped around like a fish on the bed and unrolled himself and relaxed as he lay there. He sat up and changed into something different but was still warm enough. He still felt cold.
Walking out he felt warm as the scent of the food wafted from the kitchen. Heaving a shuddering sigh he walked into the bathroom. The place suddenly felt small, he’ll need to clear out the clutter and take down the walls to widen the area. Plus he thinks that Sen would enjoy a dinning room instead of a counter to eat at. How long has it been since he put these walls up? Three years? Two?
He walked out after finishing and looked around the areas where he put the walls up. He’ll need to break down the doorway by the fridge and the two walls that make up Ari’s playroom. She’s going to need more space. He figured this weekend no, this week he will take care of the walls. Sen will have to be somewhere else for the week.
“Finally out of our cocoon? Figured you would want to stay in it longer,” Sen almost sounds sad. But that didn’t hit him as much as when Sen said ‘Our’ does he even realize what he’s saying? Or just doesn’t care how it’s phrased? Van tried his best to squish down the small glimmer of hope but it remained. Small but now noticeable in the darkness of his being.
“There’s things to do,” Van said and went about to get those things together.
“Hm,” Sen hummed and set out the food while Van went about searching for numbers to call but ended up texting Tony to deal with it. Tony texted back saying that there going to be a wait for the carpenters as they were busy with other houses. Van tried to remember who was working a second job in his security team until Tony texted again stating that the guys are willing to help and to let them know when.
“Are you doing anything this week?” Van ventured to ask, wanting to get them out of the house tomorrow and the next few days after.
“Why? You planning to kick us out?” Van flinched a bit shocked at the small hostility in Sen’s voice. His unwavering stare was also a small threat.
“Just for the week,” Van said trying to think of something that will help his case, “I’m cleaning out the garage and the pool... And, and I don’t think Ari would like seeing people walking around the house...” now it just sounded like excuses and he knew it.
“What are you trying to really say?” Sen asked staring him down and without notice Van thought those red eyes were breathtaking. He hasn’t really looked at people in such a long time he forgets that they exist.
“I’m doing some renovations, also the garage and the pool needs to be cleaned,” he said defeated.
“The garage can be done by us, I’m sure you don’t have that much stuff in there.” Sen said looking a bit perplex of his sudden idea of renovating. What else could be done to this house? Was there something he’s missing?
“Have you even seen the garage? It’s box heaven in there.”
“Still, I can help with that, but why renovate? It looks like this house has everything it needs. What more can be done with it?”
“Have you looked at the house from the outside? It used to be bigger but I made it smaller because it was only me, now it’s starting to feel small with you two in it.”
“Small?” Sen choked back a laugh, “What was that silver spoon made out of?”
“Plastic, I’m sure,” Van said not sure where Sen got the idea that he started out rich and successful.
“What? I’m pretty sure that spoon would have been made out of Gold or Platinum.”
“Nope it was plastic, my dad left me with my mother to raise and we didn’t get much for food it all went to rent or utilities. When she got pregnant with me she expected my dad to provide everything for us. But in the end it was only the strong that survived.”
“Sounds, what kind of childhood did you have?”
“Nothing like Ari’s that’s for sure. When I turned 5 my little sister was born and my dad told me that she was my responsibility. So between my mother and mom I was handed off between the two during the day. Mom made use of what she was given, while mother spent it on materialistic things. By the time I turned 10 my sister wanted to be a Princess so we went to the castle where I worked to pay for her minimum card limit. I also learned a lot while being a Knight there of course I was never picked to stay beside a Royal.”
“So at a young age you worked for what you have?” Sen asked and looked around impressed.
“Not so spoiled now am I?” Van asked and smelled something burning, “Stove, stove! STOVE!!” Sen woke up and quickly went to the grease fire that started and turned the element off put the lid on and threw some salt at the remaining flames and moved the pot to the side.
“Nope, still spoiled,” Sen concluded turning back to Van who was looking frazzled at the sudden sight of the fire. Van relaxed and wondered if he should learn about putting out fires now, he hasn’t cooked in so long and this was such basic knowledge in his past that he had long forgotten about.
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