Like Spinning Plates, Pt. 1/2c
***Inception***
***Inception***
Arthur is seven years old when his elder brother dies, having been beaten to death by a group of aggressive teenagers. In the court where his father had dragged him, Arthur had heard one of them call his dead brother a ‘fucking queer’
He doesn’t know what it means then, but his father gets all riled up, tense and nearly murderous. He keeps sitting there, beside Arthur, and he mutters under his breath over and over again ‘my son was not a queer’
It’s only a day after the funeral that Arthur cries for the first time, only now realizing what had happened, what he had lost. He won’t be able to talk to his brother, to play with him, to listen to him going on and on about the guys in his class, to feel safe because his brother is dead now, is gone, and he will never come back again.
And somewhere down the line of coming down to this realization, Arthur’s little word breaks and shatters.
Edward appears only two weeks later.
***Inception***
Arthur is crying, leaning on the wall on some dirty street, because some guys at school today mocked him and bullied him and, worst of all, they said awful things about his dead brother.
Today they’ve called him a fag. It’s another word Arthur doesn’t know the meaning of, but the boys were older than him, almost seven years older, around the age of his brother.
When Arthur asked his father what a queer meant, his Dad turned mad and hissed that if anyone pronounced that word in his house again, he’d not be responsible for his actions.
So now Arthur is pressed to the wall, hot tears of rage and humiliation run down his cheeks, when there’s suddenly a voice behind him.
“Please, don’t cry, you would never solve any problem by crying”
It’s the thing his mother had used to say all the time, before she died, but the voice is male an Arthur turns around quickly to look at the speaker. He suddenly feels some wrongness, something strange and odd around him, some electricity in the air, and everything seems strange, unfamiliar, different, the colors all wrong - too bright, too intensive, and Arthur is overwhelmed by it for a moment, shocked and confused, but the next moment it stops, and everything’s back to normal, though Arthur can’t even explain what it was in the first place that was wrong.
Behind him stands a man - he seems very grown-up to Arthur - probably twenty-five years old, and he smiles down at Arthur. He’s very tall (or maybe Arthur is just smaller than average), slim and muscular, red-headed, with a long fringe nearly covering his eyes. The man’s smile is warm, gentle and he looks down at Arthur with so much love and caring that no one has ever since his mother died.
He walks closer, bends down so he’s at the same eye-level with Arthur. He puts a hand on Arthur’s shoulder, very cold hand - the bright contrast to his warm eyes and smile.
“Those boys are just stupid, Arthur” He whispers it like it’s some kind of a big secret he shares just between the two of them. Arthur frowns.
“How do you know about that?” he asks him suspiciously.
“I’ve been watching you lately, dear, so I know a lot about you”
The term of endearment slips out of his mouth casually, like it is not a big deal, except that it is, and Arthur’s heart is beating faster and something in his chest tightens. No one ever used such words to call him, even his own mother, and Arthur feels a tugging desire to be called something like that again.
Nevertheless, he says.
“Why have you been watching me?”
“Ah, so I’ve been right about you - you are the smart one, huh? Always see to the core” The stranger grins, ducking his head. Then he looks Arthur in the eye again, only this time he’s serious and he’s not smiling. “I just like you, Arthur, my boy. I want to be friends with you, that’s all.”
Somehow, Arthur is not surprised, he might have seen this coming. For some reason, this stranger appeals to him, makes him feel better and Arthur desperately wishes that he wouldn’t go away. Besides, he doesn’t have any friends at school, his only friends was his brother who is dead now, and Arthur is very lonely.
“But why don’t you make friends with men your own age?” Arthur asks the final question, because he can’t just leave it like that.
“Because I make friends with those who needs me, and men my own age don’t, so I’m here”
Arthur is silent for almost a minute. Then he makes up his mind.
“What is your name?” he says finally.
The stranger’s face is lit up with a broad smile.
“Edward. My name is Edward. But friends call me Eddie.”
***Inception***
Now that Arthur has Eddie things go much better.
He doesn’t feel lonely anymore. He has someone to talk to about anything he wants. Eddie will always listen.
Eddie is always there for him.
He doesn’t know how Eddie manages it but he somehow does, and he’s there whenever Arthur wants to talk to him or just see him.
Eddie is his only friend now and Arthur does everything Eddie asks of him to keep that.
Eddie asks Arthur not to tell anyone about him. He asks to not even mention him in any conversation with whomever.
That’s only one simple rule, and Arthur will sure as hell not break it.
Or everything will end, Eddie says one day, and even though Arthur doesn’t exactly know what it means, he keeps his mouth shut.
Anything, really, to keep Eddie pleased.
***Inception***
When Arthur is nine, his father buys a house in Utah and they move there.
Doubtlessly, Edward moves there too, for Arthur.
Edward doesn’t say how or why, and Arthur doesn’t ask.
He misses his home, more than anything. He missed his room, his brother’s room where he used to sit with Edward in evenings. His small yard where the swings used to be, the ones his father had once put there before David died, before his mother died, before he became the insufferable reserved drinking mess.
Arthur’s current room is much bigger, and so is his new bed, and Arthur doesn’t like that. It feels strange and different, and even though he has already been living here for four month, he still can’t bring himself to call this place home.
Edward helps him through it.
Once Edward comes to his new room and just says, close your eyes, my boy, and when Arthur does, he feels that strangeness again, the one he felt when Edward first appeared behind him. There’s something wrong, something different, and when Arthur opens his eyes, he’s in his old room again, the opens straight to the yard where the swings are, and he looks at Edward gratefully who just looks back at him with warmness and love.
The do it very often after that, Edward taking Arthur to his old house, never missing a detail out, and Arthur is so happy he doesn’t even think anything of it, yet.
He is just glad he has a friend, a real friend, who talks to him and helps him with his homework and his French lessons, and he never thinks about why is Edward there, why he has moved across the country for him, why he doesn’t allow Arthur to talk to anyone about him or why and how he can teleport Arthur magically to any place he wants.
He doesn’t let himself think about it, because he knows that once he does everything will somehow change, and it will never be the same again - just he and Edward, as he likes.
He also knows that once he has thought through his questions he will not like the answers.
So he pushes all that to the furthest corner of his mind, until he’s thirteen and he sees Edward angry for the first time.
Things quickly go to the worst after that, and no matter at what point of his life Arthur is later, he will always, always remember that day, and it will forever be the reminder of why he can’t see Edward anymore.
***Inception***
When Arthur is thirteen he has his first crush. It happens to be a boy.
Arthur doesn’t think much of the fact that Stuart is the same sex as he is, he just likes to spend time with him, likes to talk to him, and one day it just hits him that Stuart is more to him than just a friend. He is tall, broad, handsome, a year older than Arthur, and basically the school’s number one Popular Boy. Arthur can’t imagine why on Earth Stuart would want to hang out with someone like Arthur.
But Stuart smiles fondly at him, the kind of smile he seems to have reserved only for Arthur, and Arthur finds he wants to kiss Stuart more and more each day.
One of those days among the thoughts of Stuart and what it would be like to kiss him, Arthur sees Edward angry for the first time.
“What are you doing, hanging out with that boy all the time, huh?” Edward hisses at him one evening, his fringe partly covering his eyes.
“Stuart’s my friend, Edward!” Arthur says indignantly, frowning.
“I’m your friend, Arthur, not that School-Star guy, and whatever you think he wants from you it’s not friendship!”
“Well, maybe I want something more than friendship, too!” Arthur snaps, angry and frustrated and Edward straightens his back, before saying calmly.
“So what now, you want to be one of those queers, those fags, like your brother was for them to beat the shit out of you and become a life-time disappointment for your father?”
And Arthur is suddenly mad, he sees red before his eyes, and who is Edward to say shit like that to him and he shouts “Shut the fuck up!”
“What, home truths are hard to swallow, dear?” Edward says, tiny cold smile tugging at his lips, one eyebrow quirked.
“You know what,” Arthur says, forcefully calming down. “You are not my only friend anymore, Edward, deal with it. But I will hang out with Stuart, whether you like that or not”
Edward stares at him for a long time, and Arthur feels his heard spinning for some reason.
“Okay” he finally says, ducking his head so his fringe completely covers his eyes. “But I want to meet him.”
That is unexpected because Arthur still hasn’t broken their Rule #1, and Edward never asked Arthur to meet with anybody.
He feels strange suddenly, his head spinning, and there’s that wrongness again the one Arthur is already used not to notice. He shakes his head to make it stop.
“Um. Okay. I guess. If you want to.” He says uncertainly.
“Yes, I want to” Edward says, and his voice is still icy, but Arthur ignores it.
***Inception***
They are to meet with Stuart in about five minutes on the bus station Arthur and Edward are now waiting, and Arthur is awfully nervous and anxious. His head hurts, and there’s something in his mind, something beneath the surface, some thought he can’t quite catch and figure out, and it feels like something bad, something horrifying, something he should’ve known or remembered but has forgotten.
The air around them is electrified and different and wrong, and Arthur has this presentiment, like something awful is going to happen know, and nothing will be back to normal again.
His heart is pounding in his chest, and he’s about to tell Edward that he’s changed his mind, let’s go home, but then another voice says: “Hey, Arthur!”
He turns around, Edward closely behind him, and sees Stuart making his way to them.
“Hey” he says, stepping closer, and then Stuart says something that makes Arthur’s heart drop.
“So, where’s your friend?”
He says it casually, looking around them, as if he truly doesn’t see anyone right next to Arthur, and Arthur thinks with horror that this is it, this is that thing, the thing that has been tugging at him ever since he’s known Edward.
He feels rather than sees Edward smirk next to him.
“What- What do you mean?” Arthur stutters, but, really, he should know better know.
“Let me see him” Edward whispers and stands before Arthur, facing Stuart, the poor boy, who has no idea, who doesn’t see, doesn’t feel anything.
“Arthur, what’s wrong?” Stuart says, and he goes around to looks at Edward and he sees blackness, absolute blackness in his eyes behind that red fringe, and it is horrible, terrifying.
He hears Edward say “He’s mine, you faggot” and then.
And then, everything’s black, Arthur’s fallen down to some infinite blackness, nothingness around him and he doesn’t know how long it lasts, before he opens his eyes again, panting, and he’s lying on the ground and it’s dark.
He lifts his head, throat tight, because he’s not at the bus station anymore, he’s forest border, and it’s dark.
He stands, feeling like shrinking into a ball and crying, and he doesn’t know how he’s got there, where’s Edward, and more importantly where’s Stuart.
He’s taken care of.
Edward’s voice sounds right inside of his head, as if he’s sitting inside him, making Arthur turn around frantically, in the search of Edward.
You shouldn’t worry about that anymore, Arthur, dear.
“What have you done?! What have you done?!” Arthur yells, unable to see that son of a bitch.
“I’ve done what you wanted”
And he’s suddenly there, right in front of Arthur, smirking, the fringe covering his eyes. He’s leaning on a tree, arms crossed, and even in the dark, Arthur still sees a small spot of red at the collar of Edward’s shirt.
He freezes, his heart stopping.
“Oh my god, oh my god, you crazy -”
“I am crazy? You’re so sure about that? You know I can see what you want, what you’re afraid of, Arthur, you know I know everything about you”
“You - what have you done to him?! Where’s Stuart?!”
“You know where he is”
“No I don’t!”
“Yes you do, Arthur. Think about it”
And then he disappears, leaving Arthur in the forest, on the verge of tears, absolutely shocked and horrified.
***
Part 1/2d