AU week - telling the tale.

[thewidewideworld]

Sin takes Athelstan's hand and leads him through a door and then another, and up a narrow flight of stairs that seem to be hidden in the walls. To another door that looks like it should be locked but isn't. (Or isn't locked anymore.)

The journey leads them into the roof and a flatish section of tiles where they can sit and look out over the lake, protected from the breeze.

"Come, sit with me." Sin strolls across the tiles, sure as a mountain goat till he finds a good spot to sit with their backs against a chimney.

Comments

[athelstanthescribe]

"You did him proud", Athelstan says softly. "And I'm sure somewhere, he is."

He knows he probably should tell his own story in return, but - he's not good at just plunging in unprompted.

[thewidewideworld]

Sin chuckles a little bitterly. "Maybe. He certainly understood the need to bend the rules."

He takes another sip, smaller this time and sets the bottle out of his own reach. "Will you tell me about yourself? Or is my story too shocking to follow?"

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan, understanding, quietly takes the bottle and puts it out of sight behind himself.

"Your story's more sad than shocking", he says gently. "You didn't ask for any of it. As for me... I was born in Oregon, but I wound up in California by the time I was seven. I don't remember much about the time before that, or... or about my family before my uncle took me in."

[thewidewideworld]

"He was the religious one?" Sin asks softly, settling with his head resting on Athelstan's shoulder.

[athelstanthescribe]

"He was", he says quietly. "Uncle Cuthbert... they tell me it was a house fire. I was one of five kids, and it was - I've been told my mother threw me out the window and I guess she couldn't get to the others. I don't remember that day at all."

[thewidewideworld]

"Some times I think there's a reason we forget. Why our minds choose what to keep and what to let go of."

[athelstanthescribe]

"It's protecting ourselves", he agrees. "Mind, I might have hit my head in the fall, too, I don't know. By the time they let me out of the hospital, Uncle Cuthbert was there."

[thewidewideworld]

He nods and takes Athelstan's hands, massaging his fingers slowly as he speaks.

[athelstanthescribe]

"He took me home with him to California. And at first, it was fine. There were rules, but he was kind while I was recovering."

[thewidewideworld]

"But the rules became stricter, or did he becomes less kind?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"I'm not sure which it was. I think maybe he was getting me used to it slowly, maybe so I wouldn't tell anybody, because things did seem to get stricter. And after a while, there was the cane."

[thewidewideworld]

"Oh sweetheart." Sin sighs, holding tight to Athelstan's hand.

[athelstanthescribe]

"It wasn't only me", he says softly. "He wasn't unfair that way, my cousins got it sometimes too."

But looking back, he's not sure he didn't get it more.

[thewidewideworld]

"I'm guessing you learnt to blend in, to avoid the beatings?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Yeah." He looks down. "Be quiet and nobody notices you, do your chores and do them right, and never, ever step out of line."

[thewidewideworld]

He reaches up to cup Athelstan's cheek, looking him in the eye. "But they never broke you, beautiful Athelstan. They never broke you."

[athelstanthescribe]

"There was always something", he presses a hand to his chest, "something that didn't go away, even when I tried to be..." Normal.

[thewidewideworld]

Sin covers it with his own. "And how does that something feel now?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Stronger", he says simply.

[thewidewideworld]

Sin smiles and cups his cheek, pulling him into a slow, meaningful kiss.

[athelstanthescribe]

He's hesitant for the first second, but begins to return it, just as meaningfully.

"Uncle Cuthbert said", he murmurs as it ends, "from back before I was old enough to have feelings about anybody, that anything but a man and a woman together in marriage was inspired by the devil. He was fire and brimstone..."

And Athelstan doesn't feel inspired by the devil now - though there's still a voice, and he knows whose, in the back of his mind saying pointedly, How would you know?

[thewidewideworld]

The kiss warms him, glad to feel Athelstan warm to him and return the kiss.

"All my life, I've walked a fine line between people who accepted and liked me for who I am, and those who said I was the spawn of the devil. I can't say I know who's right, but I know who I'd rather spend my time with."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I didn't get to spend a lot of time with people who were as accepting as you and Ragnar", Athelstan says quietly. "I was home-schooled, so not even there."

[thewidewideworld]

"School was a rude awakening for me. To realise the life I had lived was... wrong."

He brushes his hand over Athelstan's cheek, "We'll introduce you to more people."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I think that's part of why we weren't sent. He didn't want us to know other people didn't think the same things." He leans into the hand. "Or that other kids' parents didn't keep the cane by the door. I'd like that."