Late nights and coffee shops [open]

[second_son]

Demetri's only been back in the city for a day, but it feels like more. He's spent all of it in the makeshift town hall offices, getting the paperwork together for his proposal to the council the next night. The funding hadn't been easy to get, especially with the lack of strings that he had demanded. No oversight committee, no outside presence helping them dispense the grant money. Siren Cove business would stay just that, Siren Cove business.

There's more work to do, but he knows he should go home and get some sleep. But sleep is exactly what he doesn't want to do. With sleep comes dreams - nightmares more like it. Of all the things that have been happening in his town whilst he's been away, of everything that had happened in the months leading up to that. His brother being gone and the questions that had remained unanswered about Fabrice's attack.

He settles on setting up in a diner in the end. He has a beer at his elbow and a cooling plate of fries he's not really touched. Laptop open, he's playing with files without really making any changes or doing much work. It's a distraction more than anything, a reason to not go home.

Comments

[second_son]

"Maybe when my father dies, or leaves, or I don't even know," he says softly, leaning against the other man and breathing in. He doesn't want to leave here, amidst these trees. "We should go."

[ofcatsandfate]

"Hopefully, before then," he replies, keeping his gaze on the other man's as they stand there, breathing each other in. "We should. My mom's place isn't too far from here."

Yet, he can't bring himself to move.

[second_son]

"Meeting the mother," he says softly, finally taking a step back but not letting go of Fabrice's hands. That he won't do.

[ofcatsandfate]

"I promise, she doesn't bite," he jokes, squeezing Demetri's hands. Unlike my Aunt, he thinks, but leaves the thought unspoken. He tugs Demetri forward and leads him through the woods, to an opening in which his childhood home, a modestly sized cottage, waits for them beneath the moonlight and the flickering porch light by the front door. They walk to the front door, Fabrice still clinging to both the food and Demetri's hands, before they pause again. "Ready?"

[second_son]

"No. No I'll probably never be ready," he admits, squeezing Fabrice's hand. He doesn't want to let go, which has never happened for him before. "Let's do it."

[ofcatsandfate]

He leans in and kisses Demetri, long and slow, hoping to help ease his nerves; he squeezes his hand again, before taking out his key and turning it in the door.

"Mom?" He calls out, holding the door open for Demetri to follow him. He hopes desperately that his mother is out of her room, where she's spent so much time in the wake of Violet's disappearance.

"In the kitchen!" She replies, much to his relief. He turns and looks at Demetri with a smile. "I've brought a...friend home! And food," he adds, as an afterthought as they make their way to the kitchen.

"Oh hello," Sarah Coombs usually is more composed than she currently appears: hair tied back in a loose, messy bun and wearing an old sweat suit that clearly dates itself as an artifact of the eighties.

"Demetri, right?" She purposefully doesn't mention his last name, because it doesn't matter here. Fabrice has a friend, and that's all that matters to her. She offers him a genuinely warm grin. "It's nice to see my son hasn't become a complete shut in like his old lady."

"Mom!" Fabrice groans, his face flushing at the comment. He loves his mother, but she has the habit of embarrassing him constantly. He almost moves to bury his head into Demetri's shoulder, when he realizes that they're still holding hands, a fact that doesn't go unnoticed by his mother, who glances down at their entwined hands and beams brighter.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" She offers, moving to take the food from Fabrice. "I have some freshly brewed beer from one of the local breweries. Autumn Harvest, I think it's called. It's delicious."

[second_son]

If the tables had been turned, there wouldn't have just been awkwardness, there would have been anger and creaming and perhaps the police called. Strange, maybe, to have James called on his own brother, but it would have happened. "He's hardly a shut in."

Fabrice's mother was entirely different. however, and it surprises Demetri. "That would be nice," he says, not letting go of Fabrice's hand. They've made their statement, in their way. "The local breweries are good."

[ofcatsandfate]

Demetri only ever mentions his father when he feels he would disapprove of something Demetri does, and to Fabrice, combined with what he's heard of the Thornton patriarch, that says a lot.

He finds that he's really hoping the other man likes his mother, as he continues to hold Demetri's hand, all but clinging to it.

"That's good to hear," Sarah replies, digging into the refrigerator to pull out three dark brown bottles with eloquent labels, her personal favorite type of beer. "I worry about him spending too much time by himself."

She hands one to each of them before raising hers to theirs in a toast. "To good beer and new...friendships?" She's got a teasing glint to her eye that makes Fabrice blush again, but her voice is soft and clearly fond.

[second_son]

"I try and drag him out. At least a little bit," he admits sheepishly, knowing in the past month he's done very little of the sort. He should get Fabrice out more, even if it's complicated because of their families, if nothing else. Fabrice looks embarrassed, and Demetri can only smile, nudging him with his shoulder as he holds out his beer in return. "To new friendships."

[ofcatsandfate]

"Good," Sarah says over the top of her drink, still smiling at them both. "Do more of it, please. I'm afraid one ray from the sun might knock my poor boy over."

"God, mom," Fabrice mutters, his face entirely like a beet now, but the corners of his mouth are twitching, especially as Demetri nudges his shoulder. He smiles at Demetri in turn, nudging him back before ducking his head.

"To new friendships," he agrees eventually, drinking in Demetri's closeness and his mother's well-meaning jibes just as much as the alcohol in his bottle.

[second_son]

"You have a nice house," he says, trying to change the subject, knowing that as much as they enjoy teasing Fabrice the other man is embarrassed. It's for his sake that he deflectsthe conversation, hoping to keep it going and to not focus on the particulars of their relationship.

"I haven't been out this way much. Until recently."

[ofcatsandfate]

"Thank you," Sarah says, glancing around at the kitchen she's especially proud of. "This old place was a fixer-upper when we first moved in, Fabrice's father and I. Fixing it up was pretty much all of the fun in making it our home."

Fabrice squeezes Demetri's hand, smiling at him over his beer. He's learning to not mind the teasing so much, but it's also nice not to have the attention focused on him.

"We country folk do have a lot to offer," he replies with another grin.

"Yes, and I'm glad you decided to come out this way," she says with a grin. "I think if the whole town could just get a whiff of fresh, forest air, it would solve a lot of problems."