The morning delivery surprises him and he presses a soft kiss to Joshua's bare chest, right above his heart where Alecto and their son had been snuggled against during the night, sleeping, before he gets up to answer the door. He slides on a silky robe, milky white, and glides over, thanking the mailman and taking the small box into his hands.
Well. How nice is this?
He grins back at his husband, finger toying with the ribbon around the top of it. "Oh, what's this now? It looks expensive..." he asks, and goes to sit by the window, admiring the packaging. Behind him, outside, the sea is a calm, clear blue.
"You spoil me, darling," he continues as he tenderly unwraps the box and takes the top off, reveling in the piles of silk he sees initially. He runs his fingers over it - it's cold and so very fine. It feels almost like water itself. "Really," his eyes shine happily as he unfolds the layers in his lap, "you shouldn't have -"
And suddenly, he stops. All the color drains from his face and throat and abruptly, everything goes so, so cold, disharmony spreading all over his body language. Even Avery picks up on the shift in atmosphere, ceasing his romping and peeking at his mother from where he was crawling about on the couch, his tiny hands gripping the cushions. Alecto can't believe what he's seeing.
The box falls to the ground, forgotten. Slowly, cautiously, he holds up a fine, shimmery, sealskin. His sealskin. He's sure of it. He could recognize it anywhere, in fact, had been searching for it, yearning for it ever since that first night he was ripped from the sea and held tight to a selfish man's chest, cursed to the land forever.
The early morning sunlight makes it shine like diamond dust.
"I," Alecto begins, weakly, and his upper lip trembles when he tries to speak. He blinks hard, opening his eyes again with a terrified expression as if he's expecting his hands to suddenly be empty if he so much as breathes. But they're not empty. They're full of soft, magical fur dotted with a constellation of little grey speckles, and it feels like - freedom.
But that moment of elation, of initial shock, is tinctured with something bitter and ugly. A poisonous truth, an equation of time that begins to piece itself together, starting to form a picture that Alecto doesn't want to look at, doesn't even want to consider as a real possibility.
He throat is dry and tight, as if he swallowed a handful of something sharp, something meant for killing. "You -" he turns his gaze to Joshua, to his husband of so many years, a man he adored, that he promised himself to, that he gave children to - but instead of his usual love and trust, Alecto can feel nothing but crushing, furious grief.
"You had this?" His voice is barely a whisper, his tone crushed small by pain, "This - this whole time? You -" He rises, legs shaky, hands shaky, everything just trembling, threatening to fall to pieces. "You kept this?"
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Well. How nice is this?
He grins back at his husband, finger toying with the ribbon around the top of it. "Oh, what's this now? It looks expensive..." he asks, and goes to sit by the window, admiring the packaging. Behind him, outside, the sea is a calm, clear blue.
"You spoil me, darling," he continues as he tenderly unwraps the box and takes the top off, reveling in the piles of silk he sees initially. He runs his fingers over it - it's cold and so very fine. It feels almost like water itself. "Really," his eyes shine happily as he unfolds the layers in his lap, "you shouldn't have -"
And suddenly, he stops. All the color drains from his face and throat and abruptly, everything goes so, so cold, disharmony spreading all over his body language. Even Avery picks up on the shift in atmosphere, ceasing his romping and peeking at his mother from where he was crawling about on the couch, his tiny hands gripping the cushions. Alecto can't believe what he's seeing.
The box falls to the ground, forgotten. Slowly, cautiously, he holds up a fine, shimmery, sealskin. His sealskin. He's sure of it. He could recognize it anywhere, in fact, had been searching for it, yearning for it ever since that first night he was ripped from the sea and held tight to a selfish man's chest, cursed to the land forever.
The early morning sunlight makes it shine like diamond dust.
"I," Alecto begins, weakly, and his upper lip trembles when he tries to speak. He blinks hard, opening his eyes again with a terrified expression as if he's expecting his hands to suddenly be empty if he so much as breathes. But they're not empty. They're full of soft, magical fur dotted with a constellation of little grey speckles, and it feels like - freedom.
But that moment of elation, of initial shock, is tinctured with something bitter and ugly. A poisonous truth, an equation of time that begins to piece itself together, starting to form a picture that Alecto doesn't want to look at, doesn't even want to consider as a real possibility.
He throat is dry and tight, as if he swallowed a handful of something sharp, something meant for killing. "You -" he turns his gaze to Joshua, to his husband of so many years, a man he adored, that he promised himself to, that he gave children to - but instead of his usual love and trust, Alecto can feel nothing but crushing, furious grief.
"You had this?" His voice is barely a whisper, his tone crushed small by pain, "This - this whole time? You -" He rises, legs shaky, hands shaky, everything just trembling, threatening to fall to pieces. "You kept this?"