FIC: Culture Shock [15]
Back to Chapter Fourteen
Marton woke in Karl's bed, his lover's arms wrapped around him. In the fuzziness that precedes full wakening, at first he did not realize what had roused him from slumber, but as his senses came to full alertness, he again heard the sound, and knew what it was that had woken him.
It was still dark out, he grumbled to himself silently as he slithered out from under Karl's embrace. Pre-dawn at most; didn't they have any consideration for people asleep? As he parted the curtains slightly, peered out and saw the descending hull of a huge vessel in the semi-darkness, his first thought was, "Of course not!" and it made him smile. How different he was now from those aboard that ship. Then the smile faded as the realization dawned of what the ship's arrival meant for this household and he sighed, heavy-hearted as he turned to shake Karl and waken him to a sad day.
*
Hair slicked back tight to his head after his shower, Sean set down the razor when he heard the distinctive thrum of a spacecraft approaching. Briefly the corner of his mouth lifted wryly as he recalled his horrified reaction to the shaving blade when he’d initially asked Eric for a facial depilatory. Somehow he’d known this would be the day the retrieval ship would arrive. He squared his shoulders in determination while he swiftly and thoroughly wiped down and straightened the bathroom.
In the bedroom that had been his and Marton’s sleeping chamber, Sean dressed with quiet efficiency. It seemed a lifetime ago and yet just the other day that they had been assigned this room, and procured the clothing Sean now placed in neat piles next to Marton’s uniform. His fingers trailed over the fabrics noting the extreme difference in texture and material. The correlation to the vast differences between Eric and him and this world, did not escape his notice.
The thrumming increased signifying the ship was approaching the coordinates of the Patience. Sean dashed off a quick note stating he was meeting the ship and slipped silently down out to the main rooms. He did not need to turn on a light to maneuver around the furniture lovingly made by Eric. The layout of the ordered chaos of the cabin now as familiar to him as the sparse corridors and cargo bays of the Patience was. Borrowing a torch from the shelf by the back door he slipped out into the night and along the path Marton had taken daily until the proximity warning light was triggered.
*
Cold. The bed was cold, and empty. Eric’s fingers closed after his fruitless search for his lover. Sean probably went to the other bedroom in a fit of pique of god knows what, Eric thought as he tossed back the covers. Desire for his absent lover elevating, he put down the loud thrumming noise as the blood pumping through his veins. They hadn’t made love in one of the narrow beds in the guest room in days, and Eric smiled at the antics they could get up to in the narrow space.
Only, when he threw open the door the sliver of light spilling in from the hallway showed both beds empty and neatly made. A vice seemed to close around his heart when he noticed the crisply folded piles of Sean’s clothes. A page from Sean’s doodle pad lay on one stack and Eric’s hand shook as he picked it up to read the terse note.
That’s when Eric realized what the vibrating noise really was. He dashed out into the hall calling for Karl and Marton.
“He’s gone, they’re here, get the fuck up, we have to go after him… didn’t even say fucking goodbye!”
Karl was just in the act of sitting up, raking fingers through messy hair, and answering Marton, when he heard Eric's call. With a glance at his love that spoke volumes, he heaved himself out of bed and went to the door, opening it seconds before Eric could.
"Don't panic." he advised before his cousin could get a word out. "We'll catch him up. I've just got to throw some clothes on." he added dryly. "You might also consider the idea." He deliberately let his eyes wander over Eric's nakedness before turning to grab his own clothes, scattered across the floor at the end of the bed.
In his agitation Eric stepped further into the room. “He just up and left! Not a goodbye, or thank you, not even a ‘kiss my ass’!” The hurt also evident in his eyes he glanced around, heart breaking a little more at the signs of the lover’s domestic tranquility.
Ruffling his tangle of curls, it took the amused arch of Marton’s eyebrow before Eric realized his state of dress (or undress as was the case). His face heated and he mumbled something about meeting them on the veranda in two minutes.
Karl turned to look at Marton as he climbed off the side of the bed where he'd sat while they talked and raised an eyebrow. "This is gonna be tougher than I thought." he said, referencing the conversation Eric had interrupted where they'd been talking over how best to handle his cousin's sadness at Sean's departure. "If Sean's gonna be like that, I mean." He dragged his jeans up his legs as he spoke, already slipping his feet into his battered sneakers. "Why would he do that? Sneak off."
Preoccupied with buttons, which still gave him trouble in fastening, Marton spoke without thinking. "He wants to stay but doesn't know it," he said, his subconscious supplying the answer. His head came up abruptly, surprised with himself, and he blinked at Karl who'd also stopped moving at hearing the possible pearl of wisdom.
Karl ran his tongue over his teeth, considering. "You may be right." he said eventually. "You ready? Right. Let's get moving; salvage what we can."
Marton nodded and followed him out the door.
Having found cut-offs and a thin t-shirt, Eric was already outside when the other two appeared. Arms folded on his chest he shivered slightly in the cold dawn air.
“Right, let’s go then,” he bit out between clenched teeth. “How could he just… disappear…?” Eric then asked in a small voice when Karl and Marton didn’t immediately rush across to join him at the stairs.
Not daring to glance sideways at Karl for reassurance, Marton worried about what to do, or say, to Eric. Dealing with the emotional aspect of another was still alien territory, although he felt he'd made considerable headway. Did he give voice to his earlier thought or keep his peace? If he shared his thought with Eric and Sean departed with the retrieval team, would Eric's emotional state be adversely affected by his words?
Karl stepped into the breach, saving Marton, whom he could tell was struggling for a response. "Maybe strong emotions are still too hard to handle?" he suggested gently. "We'll catch up." He turned to Marton, hid a smile at his lover's poorly hidden relief. "Remember what we said. You stay out of sight if you see anyone you recognize."
Marton nodded and followed Karl down the steps to Eric. He patted his cousin's shoulder and they moved off.
Eric made a ‘pfft’ noise, but leaned into Karl’s touch, “He had to’ve been waiting for them. The razor he’d called a ‘lethal weapon’ was on the sink, bathroom wiped down… and probably sanitized,” Eric spat the word. “All his clothes… folded as if brand new… like he’d never worn them… never even been here. Bet he’s all spit-shined and de-haired in that god-awful jumpsuit.”
He knew he was rambling, but if he didn’t get the ugly thoughts out of his head the shaking that threatened to wrack his frame would incapacitate him, and he’d never get to Sean. Not that he knew what to do once they did catch Sean up, other than shaking him until he promised to stay. And that was what had Eric so upset. He knew Sean would leave, but not like this. Never would he have imagined that Sean would slip away without a word after making an effort to erase his presence from Eric’s bed, the cabin, their lives, from his heart.
Once fully on the trail the forest canopy hid the retrieval ship they could hear somewhere up there. Hastening his steps over dew drenched roots and underbrush, Eric berated himself for not doing something earlier to make Sean stay. Why hadn’t he realized that Sean was who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with? Why did he so easily acquiesce to Sean saying he would return to the Collective? Hoping he wasn’t too late, Eric pushed on through the dawn shadowed forest.
As it turned out, they didn't make it and Marton didn't need to hide in the bushes. The three of them arrived at the clearing just in time to see the much smaller Patience being hoisted aboard the retrieval ship and the massive underbelly of the gray craft closing over it. Marton dug his heels in, bringing his forward progress to a halt and looked up, hands on hips and a frown creasing his forehead.
"Call of Duty." he muttered.
"What?" Karl paused by his side, distracted from his concern at what Eric's reaction would be by the strange words.
"Name of that ship." Marton told him wearily. "Lucky that I did not need to hide; I am acquainted with her crew, having served with them for several years."
The Call of Duty began to move, swinging ponderously about and beginning to rise. There was no dust, hardly any disturbance at all and Karl couldn't help but admire the technology, despite his dislike of their society as a whole. "Well, that's that, then." he murmured, turning his eyes toward Eric.
“No!” Eric called out, running across the clearing to wave his arms in the air as if to flag down the massive grey ship. That accomplished nothing of course, but that didn’t stop him from yelling for it… for Sean… to come back.
From the far edge of the cleared space made by the Patience’s rough landing, three figures ambled forward. Between them they were carrying the tarp that had been used to cover the damaged hull. One broke off from the others, sun-bleached scraggly hair picking up the early morning rays of sun, skin burnished gold where it was visible above a scruffy beard and on bare, toned legs poking out from an oversized threadbare jacket, the original color indistinguishable from myriad brownish hued stains.
“What the bloody fuck are you doing out here without proper clothing to ward against the morning chill.” Sean stepped up to Eric and smacked his shoulder before awkwardly working on the buttons of the jacket he’d borrowed from Eric’s closet.
Looking more poleaxed than cold or disgruntled from the punch, Eric’s mouth worked a few times before he managed to find his voice.
“What the bloody fuck are you doing here? You said you were going home, your damned terse, cold note said you were off to leave with the ship!” He pushed at Sean’s hands as he attempted to place the jacket around his shoulders.
“No,” Sean stated calmly, “You assumed I was leaving. You never gave me the opportunity to disabuse you of that notion.” He muttered beneath his breath for a moment and then shouted back heatedly, “the note mentioned I was meeting the ship, not leaving, you obstinate fool!”
Marton, who was facing the clearing, raised an eyebrow in a near-perfect imitation of Karl and said dryly, "Erm, no. I don't think so." and pointed.
Karl swung around, his mouth dropping over. "Well I'll be damned."
Mayor Nels let the tarp he and his son were folding fall to the ground. While Sam stood gaping at the two arguing men, he approached cautiously. It was amusing to watch the community’s ‘mother hen’, Eric, be mothered, but the situation looked to be fast deteriorating to a physical altercation. He hailed Karl and his companion with a wave, hoping one cousin could exert some calm on the other.
Karl shook his head, waved his hands in the negative; no way was he getting between them, not when they were like this.
"We should join them." Marton's chin came to rest on his shoulder as he spoke.
Karl reached behind and drew Marton's arms about his waist. "I'm too young and pretty to die." he argued softly, avoiding attracting attention. "Who 'da thunk it, eh? He stayed."
"Told you he wanted to." Marton said smugly. Then, "Although I was only partially correct. I had no idea he'd already decided to stay."
Karl listened to the raised voices and sighed. "We'd better…."
"Save them from themselves?"
Karl took one of Marton's hands in his own. "Nuh-uh. Save Nels." he said. They strolled across the clearing, hand in hand, to where Sean and Eric stood, still engaged in voluble discourse.
“…but your clothes were folded-in military precision no less-in the other room!” Eric was saying as the others drew closer.
“Out of courtesy to you, you hammerheaded arse! ‘twas your assumption that I was leaving, so I plan to move back to that room until I can arrange other lodgings.” That wasn’t what Sean really wished to do, but he was not about to presume Eric wanted to continue their relationship since the man had expected Sean to leave.
The words struck like a blow to his solar plexus making Eric blink open-mouthed for a few moments. Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned wounded eyes to Karl and Marton. They narrowed at the expression on Marton’s face.
“What’re you so smug about?” he rounded on his cousin’s lover. “You knew, didn’t you?” As the revelation struck, Eric took a menacing step in Marton’s direction, “you knew, and didn’t say anything!”
Karl stepped in front of Marton. "He guessed." he said, eyes warning Eric to back off. "This morning. But only that Sean might want to stay; not that he would."
Marton peered around Karl. "What he said."
Nels, who'd been observing the proceedings with scarcely-concealed amusement, chuckled and asked Marton, "They always like this?"
Marton nodded. "Worse." he opined.
Nels chuckled again. "Guess I'll jest git out o' the way a bit, then." He backed up all of three feet.
Seeing red, Sean smacked Eric’s shoulder again to turn his attention back. “Do not take your irritation out on someone else, especially on one who’s been nowt but considerate with you!”
Always intrigued by the handsome cousins, Sam crept closer. For fear of being sent home, he moved away from his dad’s direct line of site, over to Karl and his partner. He studied the easy camaraderie between the two men with a frown furrowing his brow.
“Aren’t they like you two?” he looked pointedly at Karl’s and Marton’s still clasped hands. “Shouldn’t Eric be… happy the other one didn’t leave?”
A slow smile spread across Karl's face as he folded his arms across his chest and gave his cousin a pointed look of his own. He cocked an eyebrow. "Well?" he asked. "Answer Sam. Go on. Explain why you're yelling."
Behind him, Marton stifled a smile.
Continuing his diatribe Sean punctuated each of Eric’s perceived shortcomings with pokes to the center of Eric’s chest.
“…that’s why I will contact Vincent, the baker. When I was delivering cane berries the other day he mentioned he was interviewing for a new roommate and assistant.”
“Oh no you won’t!” Eric’s head swiveled from Karl to Sean and back. “I’m yelling because he is the most irritating, hardheaded individual…”
“I could say the same about you,” Sean interrupted. “Who are you to be issuing orders? Yes I will call on Vincent. He may not have been soliciting me to fill the role, but I certainly would receive a better welcome than from you!” Sean’s voice lowered to mutterings about ‘being verbally abused so publicly” while he raked the fringe off his brow.
“Who am I? I am the man who lo… No! Not Vin, of all…” Eric’s words rattled out as jumbled as they were in his head. Only one thing he was certain of was he loved Sean and was not about to ever let the man out of his sight. He stepped up intent on showing Sean exactly how he felt. A gasp from one side finally made him aware of the entirety of their audience. If his face had been red with passionate irritation before, it bloomed scarlet as he took note of Nels’ ill-concealed amusement, Sam’s utter fascination, and Karl and Marton near to busting a gut from suppressing their laughter.
Eric reached for Sean, but was batted away. That did not deter him as a smile blossomed as his heart swelled for his passionately obstinate love. “You are coming with me right now… back to where you belong, in my bed in our home.” On the third attempt he managed to snag Sean’s arm and began hauling him toward the path home.
“Damn it Sean, if you don’t stop fighting me everyone here will be witness to me showing you how deeply I love you!”
“You what? How is manhandling me a sign… how are any of your actions this morning a sign of an emotion such as that? None of your actions are similar to what Marton passed on from the explanation from Karl. He…” Sean’s voice was cut off with a gurgle as soon as the pair disappeared behind a tree.
A blessed silence fell in the clearing. Karl belatedly lifted eyes to the sky, but the Call of Duty was already out of sight, somewhere in the heavens. "Well…" he sighed.
"I dunt envy youse." Nels put in with a shake of his head.
"You get used to it." Karl told him. He turned to sling an arm around Marton's waist. "We should follow them home." he suggested. "Pick up the pieces."
"Ya know," Nels said suddenly, scratching at his head as he addressed Marton. "I'm thinking you fellers made the right choice. That there captain feller, the sour-faced sod: he tole me and young Sam here that they'd only come to git their ship back. Not interested in no crew. Said something about the cargo."
"Cargo?" Marton puzzled. "There was no… Oh, wait. Yes there was. But it was only documents." he frowned. "Copies of the minutes of an Agricultural Allotment Progress meeting held several months ago on Alton B."
"Gee." Karl drawled. "Nice people, Altonians." He smiled at Marton to take some of the sting out of the criticism.
His lover disengaged from the embrace, but he too was smiling. "Shall we?" he invited, already heading for the path to follow Sean and Eric home. Home. It had a nice sound to it.
"Sure. Thanks, Nels." Karl stepped up to shake the older man's hand, farewelling Sam with a casual wave as he started to turn away. He stopped and looked back. "They didn't ask about the crew at all?"
Nels ducked his head, hid a grin as he checked over Karl's shoulder to make sure Marton was out of earshot. "Well," he confessed "they might'a. But I'm a tad hard o' hearing, I am. 'specially when I wanna be." he shrugged. "Young feller showed up and he didn't say nuthin' either so I figgered I done right. Now, you best be getting' 'ome 'fore those two kill one another. Least your'n ain't as feisty."
Karl grinned and headed off after Marton. The Collective wouldn't be coming back any time soon. He caught up with his lover at the bottom of the path and stole a kiss, knowing full well he'd cop heaps of teasing from Nels for it next time they met. "Ahh," he sighed when it eventually ended, giving Marton a playful smack on the arse as he followed the path taken by Eric and Sean into the trees. "Nothing quite like happily ever after."
Marton was momentarily alone in the clearing. He frowned. "Happily ever after?" he muttered to himself, confused by the strange remark. It made no sense.
"Karl!" he called, trotting to catch up as he belatedly realized he was being left behind, his voice growing in volume. "Karl!" he yelled. "Happily ever after what?"
Complete: 28th Jan. 2008
Word Count: 38,208
Thank you Raven, it has been a phenomenal ride playing with you and these boys. Thank you everyone for your wonderful feedback, it has meant the world. *snogs*