Forgotten Family

[Trillian]

(reserved)


BEN CHECKED HIS CELLPHONE FOR the third time, seeing that it was only five minutes past seven.  The mall was open until midnight, so there was no feeling of rushed shoppers around him.  He was standing in what was commonly used as a meeting place, as there was a large pedestal often filled with a mannequin display surrounded by an admiring circle of cushioned bench seats.  His brother had nominated the location because it was a place they both knew when they'd talked about it over the phone.

His actual brother Michael, not his fledge-brother Ichabod.

He'd been contacted by one of his old modelling agents.  They'd texted him with a short message a few nights ago.

Michael Samson is trying to contact you.  His number is ...

Ben had been surprised and then weirded out by the idea of his brother tracking him down to the point that he'd found one of Ben's agents and had tried to get Ben's details out of them.  True to form, they'd kept his details private, but passed on the message.  When Ben had called the mobile provided, he'd not known what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised to have a very enthusiastic voice on the other end of the line.  The strongest emotion from Ben was guilt, though, because he'd never given his family a second thought after leaving.  His younger brother had never disappointed his parents in the ways Ben had, so he'd always believed Mick would be okay there.  It turned out in this he was right, because Mick had spoken about both their mother and father doing well, and that he was still in touch with them.  A sign of a good relationship.

Mick - as Michael now called himself - insisted on getting together in person to catch up.  Ben had suggested evenings were best, and so Mick had nominated a few places - most of them bars Ben didn't recognise, until they agreed on the Cypress Shoppingtown.  It was big, it had coffee shops and such, and it was also impersonal.  It was a Wednesday night and there were no exceptional sales advertised, so there were fewer shoppers than there would be on a weekend.  Ben still felt a bit lost - it had been a long time since he'd come to a mall.  At least he'd remembered the layout of this place from several years ago.  He'd used to come here a lot to see movies that didn't play at the Bojangles.

He pocketed his phone and chose a seat for himself.  He'd barely got settled when he was approached by a guy he barely recognised.  Stupidly, he'd been picturing his brother as he'd last seen him - as a young teen.  Many years had passed, and though Ben hadn't physically aged past nineteen, he should be in his late twenties.  As a result, he was surprised by the guy in his mid-twenties who greeted him.

[Existentially Odd]

Mick Samson was running late to meet his brother on purpose.  He was planning on crying poor, to see how much his long-lost sibling could help him out and it wouldn't be a lie.  His piece of shit car did take ten minutes to start because it was falling apart and he had no spare money to fix it; he was barely making rent in his run-down apartment and he'd just lost his latest job.  The relief he'd felt when Ben had called him back had been palpable.  His brother had to have made some decent money from his modelling gigs.  He was going to be Mick's ticket out of poverty.

Once he picked a parking spot at the mall, he sauntered to the agreed meeting place in no particular rush.  The later he was, the better his story, he figured.  He was wearing a pair of jeans that had numerous holes in them, ratty sneakers, a shirt emblazoned with the Nike symbol and a black faux leather jacket that had seen better days (but was still the pride of his wardrobe).  He recognised his brother from his magazine photos rather than what he remembered of him as a kid (he'd been twelve when Ben had left their family home) and walked up to him with a guarded smile, his hand held out for the shaking.

"Ben!  How the fuck are ya, man?" he greeted brashly, pleased to note that his big bro had some very expensive looking clothes on.  He was way more neatly presented too, his hair clean and neatly cut, his jaw smooth and hairless.  Mick's hair hadn't seen shampoo in a few days and the thick blonde strands were in need of a trim, as was his beard.  Ben's eyes caused Mick to frown once he got a good look at them - they used to be a striking light blue (like his) but now they were so pale and shiny they were like almost-clear aquamarines.  He'd seen some pictures of lakes in Switzerland or Sweden or some-fucking-where like that that were coloured like his brother's eyes; they were eerie.  He frowned as he stared at them.

[Trillian]

First impressions were important to Ben, and the loud greeting with curses attracted a few disapproving or curious stares from passing shoppers.  Ben stood up awkwardly, moving to one side in order to maintain his distance between his unrecogniseable brother and himself.  He managed a smile, though it was the kind used when being introduced to someone who might not be the kind of contact you wanted to make.  He had to remind himself that Michael was his brother, that family should be more important to him, and that this guy had been a kid when they'd last laid eyes on one another.  It wasn't Michael's fault their parents had been so shitty to him.  Ben was the older brother and he'd just left Michael there.  Honestly though, what could he have done?

"I've been good, thanks," he said, accepting the hand and shaking it, more comfortable and relieved with this formal greeting than he would've been with a hug.  He didn't understand Mick's frown but his gaze raked his brother's form.  He looked to be in the same state Ben had been before meeting Kerr.

Made sense, he supposed.

"You?" he asked, curious but concerned that his brief question would invite a huge story when they weren't sitting down and comfortable.  He should've ushered them to a place somewhere.

Let's go have a coffee and catch up
We'll find a place to sit and you can tell me all about what's going on with you
Did you want to grab a bite to eat?  I've already done so but if you're hungry...

Yes, Ben had certainly planned for this meeting.  He'd selected a couple of warm bodies about a half hour ago, to put colour in his face and warmth in his skin.  He wouldn't be unusually cold, and he was only wearing a check short-sleeve shirt over cargos.  Casual but still with a designer label, so they didn't have that weird off-the-rack loose look to them.  His lime green sneakers were the only thing that shouted their mismatch to the entire outfit, but they usually succeeded in making him look hipster.

[Existentially Odd]

Still frowning, Mick shook his head slightly to dispel the need to stare at his brother's eyes and pay attention to what he was saying.  Here was his big opening and he just about missed it trying to figure out if Ben was wearing contacts or whether he was sick or something.  He didn't seem right, though it was nothing Mick could put his finger on right now.

The younger sibling sighed dramatically.  "Pretty fucked, actually, but it's a long and boring story I'm sure you don't really wanna' hear," he laughed self-deprecatingly, waving a dismissive hand and shoving the other one into his jacket pocket as he shrugged.  He looked at the nearby seating with feigned interest, aware that he'd left his brother very little option but to ask about his shitty life and wanting it that way.

[Trillian]

There was a theatrical air to the declaration that confused Ben.  Did Michael not want him to ask about the troubles he was having or was this an attempt at poor reverse psychology, that his protests were feigned in order to feel cared about by Ben's insistence to hear the long and boring story?  It seemed overly obvious as the latter, but it was so transparent that Ben found it bizarre.

"I've got time," he said, but didn't follow his brother's gaze to the cushions.  "There's a coffee shop down there," he said, gesturing with his head to his right, away from the main food court and a place that he'd walked past and spied an empty cluster of corner tables.  "We can catch up in there."

He felt artificial, like a walking talking doll saying lines after having his string pulled.  The idea of this meeting was just as awkward as the real thing.  Hopefully as they chatted he'd feel a little more normal.  The elitest and constantly competitive part of him believed that no matter how 'fucked up' things were in Michael's life, it wouldn't be as bad as what Ben himself had been through.

I've lost my sire and the love of my life, I have an eternity to fill without him, I'm supernaturally connected to a guy that despises me - a guy that probably despises nobody but made an exception just for me, I'm out of favour with the powerful beings in this city because I fucked up the political scene and banished an entire species out of this world, I lost three years of my life because I was possessed and I'm not getting those memories back.  I know I've won the 'fucked up' competition and I don't even have to hear what you've got to say.

But that was just a lousy attitude, and he would do his best to help Michael through his shitty situation, if it was in his power to do so.

[Existentially Odd]

Mick's eyebrows lifted momentarily but then he nodded and his features smoothed out.  He hid his pleasure at getting what he wanted as he followed Ben to the coffee shop.  They found a booth at the back of the room and sat opposite each other, not worrying about getting anything to drink straight away in favour of talking.  Mick decided it was in his best interest to ask about his big brother first.

"So, you look pretty good," he complimented, his hands resting on the table between them, his fingers rubbing slowly against his thumbs or flicking restlessly.  "I saw your pictures in a magazine when I went to the doctor's, almost didn't believe it was you but decided to try and get in touch anyway.  I'm real glad you called.  Wasn't sure you would, now you're a big model," Mick laughed caustically, his gaze betraying that he was very interested in hearing about Ben's career despite his casual demeanour.

[Trillian]

It was cosy in here and Ben relaxed.  This was the sort of place that he could order a black coffee and just let it get cold, as though he'd been too busy talking (or listening) to notice.  During the brief comments to one another while getting here, he found out his brother went by the nickname Mick.  It helped Ben a little, because Michael had always been the kid, and now this grown up stranger could be classified by a different name.

"Thanks, but it must've been an old magazine.  Left the modelling behind when I left New York," he said with a shrug.  He didn't really want to talk about it, but it made sense that this would be Mick's focus.  It was, after all, how he'd found him.

[Existentially Odd]

"Oh, you lived in New York?" Mick exclaimed, trying to fight the disappointment he felt at being told Ben wasn't still in the modelling game.  Still, that didn't mean he was a useless mark.  "That's cool, how long were you there for?  Did you have one of those fancy New York apartments?  All expenses paid?  You must've made a pretty penny with them taking your pictures all the time," he hinted with a smile, his gaze instinctively lowering to take in Ben's fancy shirt once more.

[Trillian]

Ben was astute enough to understand money was important to Mick, who was behaving like he didn't have a lot of it.  Considering how Ben had been living before being taken into the whirlwind of supernatural lifestyle, he could understand it.  Life was hard for a lot of people, and his folks hadn't much for themselves, let alone anything left over to give.  Ben was now in possession of a ridiculous amount of money, but it wasn't like he would be doing Mick any favours by dumping a bunch of it on his head.  There were issues that came with it, like explaining how he'd come into such wealth.  Then there was that other thing; pride.  Ben assumed that Mick wouldn't want a handout.  Just like he hadn't, when in his position.

He nodded at the question.

"Not quite a year," he expanded, and shook his head with a smile that he summoned up with practised ease, though it felt abnormal on his face.  He wondered if the smile was fooling Mick, who didn't know him.  "No, nothing so fancy.  I paid for everything."

One way or another

"But I did get a ton of free stuff from the companies that hired me.  Was in their interests my wearing their clothes and stuff in my free time, I guess."  This time the smile was more natural, because he wasn't talking about where he'd been living in New York.

[Existentially Odd]

Again, disappointment stung at Mick's innards but he bit it back, trying another tack.  "Free stuff, that's cool.  So how come you came back home?  Because you couldn't get any more modelling work?" he guessed, his lower lip pooching briefly forward as he shrugged a shoulder.  "Can't believe that you made it to New York and still came back to this shithole of a city," he added snidely.

[Trillian]

Ben frowned as he thought about how to explain his return from New York.  Might as well keep close to the truth, within reason.  It wasn't like Mick would understand about psychotic Ancients.

"I got myself into a bad situation and uh... a friend got me out of it.  I came back here to be with him."

It was no secret that Ben had left home because of his being gay, and it wasn't like his parents would've been able to hide the truth from his younger brother, considering the blow-up they'd had.  How strange, that it had stung him so deeply back then and he felt absolutely nothing now.  It was like another life, and he wasn't even a century old.  They were still alive, they were still closed-minded, they still wanted nothing to do with him and he hadn't cared less.  It was a shame to have lumped Mick in with them.  For that he was sorry.

[Existentially Odd]

"Ahh, you've got a guy," Mick said with interest, shifting his weight so that he was sitting farther forward, leaning on his elbows.  "You know, for the record I don't agree with our parents, I don't give a shit that you like dick.  I just hated the way I lost my big brother when you left," the younger Samson asserted and in this he was being honest.

"I always wondered what happened to you, I missed having you around.  Our parents, I reckon they don't like anyone, really - I'm surprised they're still fuckin' married to each other, personally.  I had a girlfriend a couple of years ago and they didn't like her, either.  Kept telling me what bad news she was, didn't care how I felt about her - like they're so hoity toity better than everyone!  When I got her pregnant they couldn't wait to tell me how she'd done it on purpose, to trap me into marrying her," Mick scoffed, shaking his head and looking disgusted with the whole situation.

He gnawed on the inside of his lip and gave Ben a thoughtful look before he continued.  "Prob'ly should've listened to 'em.  Now I'm stuck making child payments I can't afford for a kid the bitch never lets me see anyway.  It's made me way more careful with my current girlfriend - at least Mum and Dad never had to worry about bastards with you!" he brayed laughter, leaning across the table to swipe Ben on the shoulder to accompany his joke.  He sobered quickly, attempting to look respectfully at his older brother.  "Well, unless you and your guy are into gay parenting and all that, which is totally cool, if that's what you want!" he assured supportively, his hands splayed towards Ben.

[Trillian]

Ben was so shocked by all of the things Mick said that he was relieved when he was saved from having to say anything because the waitress approached their table.  He ordered a flat white instead of a short black because he'd forgotten his previous thought.  With barely a few breaths, Mick had told him that his parents were still the hateful creatures they'd been as he remembered, that Mick had a baby(!) that Ben now was the uncle for (a nephew or niece? he didn't know) and wasn't sure if Mick had married her and then divorced or was paying child support because of the familial connection alone.  Then there was that joke - was it a joke? it was in severely poor taste, but Mick seemed to be full of that - with a justification at the end.

He invited Mick to order food off the menu, if he wanted to eat, but that Ben had dined earlier.  It was after the waitress left them with her order that Ben finally commented, and it was about his own situation, since that was the last thing Mick had commented on.

"He and I aren't together anymore," he said, and before Mick could make any disparaging remarks about Kerr thinking that they'd split up, he added the reason for it.  "He died."

It was starting to get easier to explain this, as he repeated it to people over and over again, and he didn't know whether to think of this as positive or be dismayed by it.  He felt a little of both, which was confusing.

[Existentially Odd]

Mick ordered two toasted sandwiches and a chocolate milkshake off the menu because the way Ben invited him to order had sounded like he was going to be paying for it so Mick would take his chance to get a full stomach while he could.  If he was wrong about that, he figured he could do the old 'forgot my wallet' trick when it came time and his big brother would take care of it anyway.  If that didn't work they'd just have to do a runner (but he was sure his pretty-boy sibling wouldn't let it come to that).

"Aw shit man, that sucks, I'm sorry," he said sadly when told Ben's partner had died.  He hoped it hadn't been from AIDS or some sort of contagious disease.  "What happened?  Were you together long?"  Mick was mildly curious about the gay lifestyle insofar as it was supposedly promiscuous.  He had no prior beliefs or associations with regard to Ben but, looking at him now, it didn't seem like a match.  He looked far too uptight to be out there swinging it about for an endless score of guys to take a stab at, but they hadn't seen each other in nearly nine years so what would he know?  Plus, Ben was a model and that was supposed to be another sex-rich environment.

[Trillian]

"It was sudden.  A travelling... accident," he said, shaking his head to indicate he neither knew the specifics nor wanted to get into it.  He figured Mick would assume the latter rather than the former.  Most people got word of how their loved ones died, of course.  "I met him when I was nineteen."

but it took a few years for us to get together

He didn't need to say that, to cheapen his experience with Kerr, to minimilise the love he felt for him.  What did it matter if he added a few more years together that they hadn't properly had?  He wished it, he'd lost three years of it, and it was a shitty reward to claim a longer relationship but he was claiming it anyway.

"What about this baby of yours?  A boy or a girl?"  Ben found he was interested, and he leapt on that.