JOHNNY AND EVAN PLUS SEVEN - Part 66
The day they were to leave for Japan on an evening flight from LAX, Evan spent three hours at the rink and arrived back at the Malibu house around four in the afternoon. Everyone was in the back yard. Johnny sat cross-legged in the middle of the grassy area, clutching Isadora to his chest, while both of them sobbed furiously.
“Johnny, what’s wrong?” Evan yelled, dropping his backpack and crouching beside Johnny and grasping his shoulders. “You have to tell me!”
“He’ll be fine,” Diane said mildly. She was sitting in a lawn chair with Miyoung in her lap.
“I can’t do it!” Johnny cried.
“Do what?”
“Leave them!” said Johnny. “I’m washed up and I’m crazy to go through this shit again and Frank was right even if he’s an animated hemorrhoid and -“
“Johnny, we’ve talked about this, you wanted to do it. Also, animated hemorrhoid?”
Johnny looked at Evan. Johnny’s eyes were red-rimmed and his skin was splotchy. Isadora was still wailing against his shoulder and for a wonder he wasn’t trying to calm her, he just let her wail. “DeAndre had to go to the emergency room today, Evan, I cannot leave them!”
“DeAndre?” Evan stood up quickly and looked around and saw the child in question plus Bradley and Lupe hanging upside-down on the jungle gym. “Are you okay, buddy?” The grin on DeAndre’s face threw him. That and the gigantic bandage covering his chin.
“He tripped and scraped his chin on the sidewalk,” Mildred explained, jiggling a fussy Laila in her arms. “We all had a fun family trip to the hospital.” Laila started crying. “Some liked it more than others.”
Evan held out his arms and Mildred shifted Laila over. Laila clung like a tiny octopus to him. “That’s my good girl,” he said, patting her back. “Mildred, if DeAndre fell, how come Bradders is also wearing a bandage?”
“He was jealous of DeAndre, so the nurse bandaged him up, too.”
“See?” said Johnny angrily. “I can’t leave them. What if something happens and I’m in Japan?”
“But - okay,” Evan looked around at the women. “Isn’t that why your mom and your aunt and your agent and Mildred are here? To take care of the kids while we’re gone?”
Tara looked offended and muttered something about Why can’t I come to Japaaaaaaaan with you?
“Evan,” said Johnny, “will you shut up? Here’s how it’s going to go: you’re going to Nagano and get yet another gold medal and I’m staying here with the children because this is where I’m needed.”
Evan looked beseechingly at Patti, who was sitting on the grass with Drew, the two of them happily drawing on sketchpads.
Give him time, she mouthed to Evan. “Is it too early to start supper?” she said aloud to Mildred.
“We have hot dogs, root beer, and ice cream,” Mildred announced, causing an immediate dismounting of the jungle gym by the three children who weren’t crying. “Lupe, hold your horses, young lady, you are needed to take Laila into the house.”
Evan swung Laila to the ground. Lupe grasped Laila’s hand and Mildred and Diane herded the children across the yard and inside. Tara looked mutinous until Miyoung tugged at her skirt and gave her an irresistibly cute look. “I am never gonna be a mom,” she sighed, “you little brat.” Miyoung just giggled, so Tara hoisted her up and carried her towards the house. “Watch it, kid, that’s my boob.”
Evan looked down at Johnny and Isadora.
“I’m not going,” said Johnny.
Evan sat on the grass next to him. Patti and Drew came over. Isadora was still red in the face but the wailing had stopped and she was now hiccoughing intermittently. Drew touched her cheek and looked questioningly at Patti.
Patti patted Drew’s head. “She’s going to be fine, Drew honey. Would you please help Mildred set the table?”
Drew nodded and trotted off, and Patti sat down with Johnny and Evan. “I can take her,” she offered, but Johnny shook his head vehemently and hoarded Isadora to himself.
Evan watched until Drew had disappeared inside the patio door. He leaned in towards Johnny. “You can’t let them see you like this,” he said. “It’s very upsetting to them.”
Johnny’s eyes widened in surprise. “I’m upset, Evan.”
Patti said, “Oh, Johnny, you’re the grownup here.”
Johnny threw her an Et-tu-Brute look.
Patti put a hand on his knee. “That’s what you do for children. You sacrifice and give up things that are about you.”
“I am giving up things,” Johnny argued. “I’m giving up my career for them.”
Patti rubbed his shoulder gently. “Are you sure, honey? That this isn’t an excuse?”
Johnny rolled his eyes.
Evan wisely kept his mouth clammed shut.
“Johnny, I would like to go with you to Japan, don’t you realize that? But right now the most important thing I can do to support you is to take care of your and Evan’s children while you’re taking care of yourself. And Johnny, you know very well that I’m capable of doing this. As are Diane, and Mildred, and Tara. You know the children will be safe with us.”
Finally, at last, Johnny’s tense shoulders slumped. He looked defeated.
“It’s going to be fine, and you will be glad you did this.”
“Do you know how much I missed Isadora just last night?” Johnny whispered.
“Judging by the eleven voicemails I found on my cell phone this morning when I got up in the hotel, quite a bit,” said Patti.
Evan looked questioningly at Johnny. Johnny shrugged awkwardly. “I woke up in the middle of the night, like, several times. You were sleeping like a log,” he said accusingly.
“Johnny,” said Patti, “you know very well she will be fine and you will be back in only four days.”
“I love her,” said Johnny to his mother. “You snore,” he added as an aside to Evan.
“I know you do,” said Patti.
"I'm pretty sure I don't," Evan threw in.
Patti patted Evan's cheek. "I'm sure you are as quiet as a mouse. I meant that I know Johnny loves Isadora, and very reasonably so, too, since she’s my adorably perfect granddaughter.”
“I just didn’t expect my life to turn into this, Mamma.”
“I know you didn’t. Four days, that’s all. Hush, it’s going to be fine, Johnny. Oh, and Evan, don’t you have something to tell Johnny?” Patti continued.
Johnny glared at Evan. “I can’t believe you and my own mother conspire against me. Don’t expect to ever touch me again.”
Evan looked devastated but Patti smiled and gave him an encouraging look. “My sisters are hoping to visit us in Malibu when we get back,” Evan said. “They want to meet the children.”
That didn’t sound so bad. Johnny nodded. “I’d like to meet your sisters,” he allowed. “But did that really call for conspiring with my mother?”
“And my parents are going to meet up with us in Japan.”
That sounded lots worse. Johnny tensed again but said nothing. The damn ball was in Evan’s court now.
“They also want to see the kids. At first they were pretty upset at me about the kids, but then when they found out that you were living with me, they decided the kids weren’t such a big deal after all. They were a lot more concerned about what you were doing in my house. Our house.”
“And?” Patti prompted.
“And they’re willing to sit down and talk with us.”
“Ugh,” said Johnny. “I’ve met your mother; she could barely stand to look at me.”
“Well,” said Evan, “they are my parents and this is something they’ll have to get used to. If Frank can deal, so can they.”
Johnny shook his head. “Frank needs to stay far away from me in Japan.”
Evan nodded. “He will. He’s afraid of getting mooned again. That was pretty traumatic for him.”
Patti looked mildly scandalized. Evan grinned at her.
“None of them had better come within one hundred yards of me until after both programs are completed.”
“Deal,” said Evan. “I was thinking of going out to dinner on our last night. In Japan, you know. With my parents.”
Johnny was about to say something scathingly witty, so Patti butted in quickly. “Mildred’s making a healthy dinner for you boys. Let’s go in and eat.”
“In April,” Evan said, helping Johnny to get up without dropping Isadora, “I’m going to have a hot dog and root beer and ice cream.”
** ** **
Johnny ate by himself (with Isadora nearby) in the living room so he could have time to compose himself before it was time to say goodbye to the children. Tara brought in Isadora’s properly warmed up bottle. He was feeling very pissy and wouldn’t let Tara engage him in conversation - after all, it would be along the lines of why she wasn’t invited to join him in Nagano blah blah blah. What he wanted, if he couldn’t have his baby, was to have his other baby (the six-foot-two one) and no one else. It was a little mean but whatever, he could tell that Tara was warming up to the kids and would have a great time once he was gone. Girl really needed to do something with her life other than follow him every fucking place on the planet. The way she bitched about having no love life, well, wasn’t it obvious why? You can’t hang out exclusively with fabulous queers and expect to find a nice no-homo dude.
Earlier in the day, he and Patti had packed everything, even Evan’s suitcases, leaving just enough space for his skates. They had all explained things carefully to the children so that they would be prepared for his and Evan’s absence, making sure they realized they would both return and all nine of them were still a family. There had been a few tears and there would be a few more when Patti drove them to the airport in an hour, but it had helped them understand. A couple of hours ago, he’d taken a second shower just to be entirely clean and fresh before the long flight. As he held Isadora in the crook of his arm and the bottle in his free hand, watching her feed contentedly, he felt almost ready. He pressed his lips to her silky-soft skin and whispered, “I love you, Isadora, I love you, I love you.”
And then at last they all swarmed into the living room and it was nearly time to go. Evan had loaded the van with the suitcases. When he got back to the living room, he found Mildred and Tara teaching the kids to sing “So Long, Farewell” while standing in a little chorus line. Evan slipped onto the sofa beside Johnny and kissed Isadora’s forehead. “Time to go,” he said softly.
** ** **
Johnny cried all the way to LAX and most of the way to Japan. Sometimes he sniveled pathetically, other times the tears flowed freely. The flight attendants didn’t know what to do about it, so Evan just waved them off and let Johnny bawl against his shoulder. As soon as they hit the ground in Japan, Johnny got out his laptop and Skyped Patti. He insisted that she bring Isadora to the computer so he could see for himself that she was alive and still breathing. Then he cried a bit more because Isadora seemed perfectly happy to interact with her grandmother, as though she didn’t even notice his absence. But she does miss you, Johnny, believe you me she does, Patti insisted. She cried last night when you weren’t there to hold her.
That made it worse. Johnny knew his mother was trying to make him feel wanted but honestly? If it hadn’t been a twelve-hour flight, not to mention a horde of fans waiting for him on the other side of the barrier, he would have turned right around and headed for Isadora. He was considering it, had even opened a browser window and typed in aa.com when he felt Evan sit down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders and squeeze hard.
“Three and a half days, Johnny,” Evan said quietly. “I’ll run interference with the rabid fans, since they don’t like me that much.”
Johnny couldn’t stop a giggle from bursting out. He said goodbye to Patti and shut down the laptop. “Evan, you know something? You’re kind of awesome.” For that he got a light, almost-not-there kiss on the side of his neck, and then Evan was levering him up and taking charge of the luggage and being all Evan-ish.
** ** **
Johnny’s short program was amazing, surprising many commentators. The strangest feeling came over him as he lined up his opening triple. Galina still made him practice quads - just in case, she said - and right at that moment, everything in the universe lined up perfectly, slotted neatly into place, and he traded the triple for a quad toe, rotated four times, and landed smoothly on his right foot. The ankle hurt like fuck but it didn’t show and the ride-out was gorgeous, and the screaming from the audience made it all worthwhile. Everything after that was pure gravy.
Galina was immensely proud of him, and the scores, for once, appeared to reflect what he’d achieved, more or less. She hugged him and they laughed and cried in front of all the cameras.
Evan skated several spots after him and did very well, although he attempted no quads. Since he and Johnny had agreed not to watch each other in the rink, Johnny only saw it later and felt very proud of Evan for his consistency and for a couple of new footwork moves that looked tricky. He wasn’t especially surprised to see that the judges gave Evan a score only one point below Johnny’s, quad or no.
That night they didn’t speak of their performances. They had room-service dinner in their hotel room, watched some cheesy Japanese game-show on television, Skyped with the Malibu set who, thanks to Evan’s cable subscription to the Ice Network, were able to Tivo the NHK performances, and then snuggled into the smallish bed together. Evan was under no stipulation from Frank to avoid sex or orgasms (possibly because Frank couldn’t bring himself to mention a thing like sex to Evan), so Johnny gave Evan a blowjob but didn’t allow himself to come, which made Evan feel guilty until Johnny kissed him quiet afterward.
“We’re not doing that again,” Evan muttered, later, “not until it can be mutual.”
“You’re saying you can resist my blowjobs until April?”
Evan considered. “Maybe I need to talk with Galina.”
“Make sure you tell me when you do it because that is something I definitely want to witness.”
“I hate you,” said Evan.
“I love you,” said Johnny.
“Ohmigod,” said Evan, clutching Johnny tightly to his chest.
“Stop smothering me. Hey, are you crying?”
“Shut up,” Evan sniffled.
The next day Johnny drew the spot right before Evan, so Evan stayed in the locker room while Johnny skated. No quads were thrown, but Johnny’s free skate was fast and elegant and he got through it beautifully. His scores were decent but more importantly, the audience had loved the program. As he got ready to retreat to the locker room, Evan came up to the gate and took off his skate guards. The PA system boomed out his name - “Evan Lysacek!”
Right there at the gate, while dozens of cameras clicked away, Evan bumped his shoulder against Johnny’s and said, “Did it go well?” Johnny nodded happily. “You can’t watch just yet,” Evan added.
“I know, I’m leaving in a moment, I just wanted to see you,” said Johnny. He kissed Evan on the cheek - he knew the cameras had caught the kiss. The cameras also caught Evan’s big white toothy smile. “One and a half days,” promised Evan.
Johnny felt like several million yen. Life was incredible. Whatever happened from here on in, he had Evan plus seven crazy kids in Malibu.
“Be good, Evan Lysacek,” he said.
** ** **
Author’s note: This was going to be the The End, as I pictured it all the way back when I started this crazy crack!fic. But it seems wrong not to show the reunion with the children, so I couldn’t bring myself to write those Words of Finality. RL is dreadfully busy right now, so I expect it’ll be well over a month before I have time for more writing. For now think of this as the cap on the story because it's so annoying when works-in-progress are left hanging. You know darn well that Johnny does decently in his skating, since fanfic is the place where we can fix the bad crap that went on in reality. But did he medal? And who knows what will happen when Evan’s parents show up at Casa Malibu? Not even I know. Thank you all for reading! <3
Coda to the story is here: CODA