Havemercy Fic - Crossing the Line (25/29)
Title: Crossing The Line
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,769 for this chapter
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to the wonderful Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, although there may be one or two of my own creation :)
Summary: When he decides to search for an art tutor, little does sixteen year old Etienne know that he's about to embark on an adventurous summer of maturity, secrets and self-discovery. However, he's not the only one in the family who's been hiding things, as Castle Nevers will never be the same again.
Author's Notes: Thanks to manyfacesofme22 for beta reading!
Warnings for this chapter: Homophobic language.
( Previous chapters)
William
Breakfast had just finished when a man entered the room. He had light brown hair and a few wrinkles around his eyes, the kind you get from smiling too much, but he didn’t seem as old as Ma or Pa. He looked around at the breakfast things apologetically, glancing around the room before seeing Etienne. He smiled at him before turning to Ma and Pa. Everyone else was looking at the man, so I was the only one who noticed how white Etienne went, and how he was staring at the man as though he was death itself. I leaned forwards in my seat. This was going to be interesting.
“Yes?” Pa was too surprised to be polite, and Ma’s lips tightened at his lack of manners.
“Good morning. I apologise for the hour of my call, I realise it is unforgivably early. However, I must speak to you on a matter of utmost importance.”
I sat back in my chair, hoping Ma and Pa would stay here rather than take him to the privacy of the drawing room. Etienne looked about ready to wet himself.
Pa’s face went slack with surprise. “It’s not one of the horses?”
“Ah, no, it-” he glanced once more at Etienne, “I’m afraid it’s rather more important than that.”
The silence following the statement was thick with tension, and I could tell that Emilie and Alex were every bit as interested as I was. Pa opened and closed his mouth, probably trying to figure out what could possibly be more important than horses.
“I’m Jude’s father,” the man announced. That explained Etienne’s reaction. I gripped the edge of the table to try and calm my sudden anger. Things could finally get sorted out, once and for all, and my kicking up a fuss would not help the situation. It would only get me sent out of the room, but I damn well wanted to be here for this.
“Jude?” Ma asked, confused.
“Don’t think you’ve got a right to show your face around here,” I said, unable to keep quiet. Everyone’s eyes turned to me, and I could feel the man’s gaze more than all of them, burning into me like maybe he hoped if he put enough feeling into it he could actually hurt me.
“William!” Ma scolded.
“Do you know this man?” asked Pa.
I smiled my most innocent smile. “Not me you should be asking.” I turned to look at Etienne, and out of the corner of my eye I saw everyone else doing the same. He had the same look about him that Ma got before she fainted. I felt sorry for him, for a fleeting moment, before I remembered that he had brought this on himself.
The man turned around to look at something behind him, and I followed his direction.
That’s when I noticed Alfie. He was hanging back in the doorway, and I wondered if anyone else had even realised he was there. He had an awful smirk on his face, one that I didn’t like the look of at all, and I felt as though someone had punched me in the gut as I realised what this was.
This was Alfie’s revenge. I’d hurt his brother physically, and now he was getting his payback in a much worse way. This was his vengeance for me and the boys roughing up his brother, and I was all but encouraging his sick plan. I clenched the table top harder.
Everyone was still staring at Etienne, waiting for an answer. Even as I sat there, trying desperately to think of ways to turn the situation around, I realised it was useless. Everything was about to come spilling out, and it was all my fault.
Part of me was glad. It was hard keeping so many secrets and this one the worst of all. What Etienne was doing was wrong, and finally Ma and Pa could put a stop to it.
Another part of me knew that my family would never be the same again, and it was all down to my feud with Alfie. He’d won, I realised, sick to my stomach. There was no way I could trump this. My fighting with him had spun out of control, and now my whole family was dragged down into it.
I’d never meant for this to happen.
“Etienne?” Ma prompted.
He was about to cry. He looked like he was going to stand up, then thought the better of it, as though his legs couldn’t take his weight. He swallowed, and he looked straight at Ma and Pa.
“I haven’t been entirely honest with you.”
You could have heard a pin drop. The silence was so thick. It seemed like none of us were even breathing.
“What,” asked Ma, voice dangerously quiet, “having you been lying to us about?”
Etienne gaped up at her, and that’s when Alfie decided to speak up, stepping into the room.
“He’s been biting the pillow,” he announced, “like a common fucking Nellie.”
Another moment of silence - and it would have been funny, the way everyone jumped upon seeing Alfie, if the situation wasn’t so awful - then everything exploded at once.
Ma and Pa accused Alfie and his Pa of lying and slander, with Alfie’s Pa apologising over and over, most of them directed at Etienne, and him just sitting there, turning grey, in a way I didn’t know a person could. Emilie’s eyes were as wide as mine felt, and Alex slumped in his seat, as though wishing to disappear. I hoped, more than anything, that Alfie would at least leave Alex out of this, and not reveal another of our family’s secrets.
It reminded me of another argument that had happened in this very room, when I was much younger, with Ma screaming out slurs and the rest of us looking on, horrified. There was no Uncle Roy to blow up the table this time.
Then, above it all, Ma turned to Etienne. “Tell us he’s lying!”
Etienne worked his mouth for a moment - it must have been a moment, though it felt like much longer - before he spoke. “It’s true,” he admitted, hesitantly. “I’m a Cindy.”
The kid had balls, I had to give him that. I held my breath, waiting for Ma’s reaction.
I’d never seen her so angry. She turned on Pa. “This is your side of the family! I knew your brother was a bad influence, I always knew he would corrupt the children-”
“This doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” Alfie’s Pa was trying to say over Ma’s distress, “if we just sat down and talked, we could work something out-”
Ma laughed derisively, terrible in the silence. “Work something out? No son of mine is - is going to - to act like that! There’s nothing to be worked out!”
Pa was staring at Etienne like he’d never seen him before. He mouthed the word ‘Papa’, and it seemed to bring him to his senses.
“Marjorie,” he warned, tearing his eyes away from Etienne’s terrified face.
“They’re good kids,” Alfie’s Pa said desperately. “Jude and Etienne, they’re - if you could see them, you’d realise-”
“Who in th’Esar’s name is Jude?”
There was a moment of waiting, a split-second, and I realised that Etienne was going to tell them everything.
“My boyfriend,” he said quietly. It didn’t matter how quiet he said it, everyone heard.
I thought Ma was going to explode.
“How dare you!” I wasn’t sure who she was talking to. “How dare you come into our home and accuse our son of - of that!”
“I’m sorry, Madame, I thought you knew.” He shot an angry look at Alfie. “I had no intention of causing this much upset, but I must ask you to try and remain level-headed. Our sons are in a difficult situation, and I’m worried that they-”
“Not that worried, if you’ve been letting them bite the pillow! What kind of responsible parent allows their child to indulge in such vile conduct-”
“Marjorie,” Pa said again.
“And how dare you come round here and confront us about it? I daresay you’ve been encouraging it, and you’re no more than a common Nellie yourself, as no right minded man-”
“Your prejudices, Madame, are exactly the type of behaviour that led to one of your boys attacking my son, and I will not stand for such horrid bullying!” He was pointing at me, and I glared back defiantly.
“Good!” Ma shouted, to everyone’s surprise. “Someone needs to teach them a lesson that this is unacceptable. I daresay your son deserved what happened to him, poisoning my child like that!”
“That’s enough!” Pa was getting very red in the face.
Alfie’s Pa ignored him. “You are showing yourself, Madame, to be nothing more than a hateful individual with neither compassion nor a shred of morality, and what’s more you are proving yourself as unfit to be a mother!”
“Then take him,” Ma pointed to Etienne, “if I am so unfit, because I don’t want him under my roof any longer!”
Through it all, I saw Alfie’s grim smile. Alex slumped even lower in his seat, and my anger flared up in me again. Alfie had now hurt two of my brothers. I stood up, determined not to let him win so completely. I might not like Etienne’s choices, and I certainly didn’t agree with them, but there were some things you had to stick together for. “That’s not fair.”
“Not now, William!” Pa said. “Marjorie, calm down.”
“Mama, please-”
Ma seemed to have reached the end of her tether. She banged her fist on the table. “Out,” she repeated. “I will not have another Nellie tainting my family with their disgusting behaviour!”
There was a stunned silence.
“Marjorie, now, you don’t mean that-”
“Don’t I?” She was unrecognisable as our mother. “Take them out of here,” she commanded, and after a few seconds the servants who had gathered at the door to watch the argument, like some sort of sick show, moved forwards. Etienne walked slowly around the table, knowing like always when it was best to keep quiet and do what Ma told you to, and Ethan clasped him on the shoulder as they left the room together.
Pa turned on Ma. “That’s our son, dammit!”
“Not anymore!” Ma swayed on the spot, and we all knew what was going to happen. She fainted, Pa only just managing to catch her before she hit the floor.
We could hear the dull thud as the front door closed, then we were left to our silence.
Next
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,769 for this chapter
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to the wonderful Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, although there may be one or two of my own creation :)
Summary: When he decides to search for an art tutor, little does sixteen year old Etienne know that he's about to embark on an adventurous summer of maturity, secrets and self-discovery. However, he's not the only one in the family who's been hiding things, as Castle Nevers will never be the same again.
Author's Notes: Thanks to manyfacesofme22 for beta reading!
Warnings for this chapter: Homophobic language.
( Previous chapters)
William
Breakfast had just finished when a man entered the room. He had light brown hair and a few wrinkles around his eyes, the kind you get from smiling too much, but he didn’t seem as old as Ma or Pa. He looked around at the breakfast things apologetically, glancing around the room before seeing Etienne. He smiled at him before turning to Ma and Pa. Everyone else was looking at the man, so I was the only one who noticed how white Etienne went, and how he was staring at the man as though he was death itself. I leaned forwards in my seat. This was going to be interesting.
“Yes?” Pa was too surprised to be polite, and Ma’s lips tightened at his lack of manners.
“Good morning. I apologise for the hour of my call, I realise it is unforgivably early. However, I must speak to you on a matter of utmost importance.”
I sat back in my chair, hoping Ma and Pa would stay here rather than take him to the privacy of the drawing room. Etienne looked about ready to wet himself.
Pa’s face went slack with surprise. “It’s not one of the horses?”
“Ah, no, it-” he glanced once more at Etienne, “I’m afraid it’s rather more important than that.”
The silence following the statement was thick with tension, and I could tell that Emilie and Alex were every bit as interested as I was. Pa opened and closed his mouth, probably trying to figure out what could possibly be more important than horses.
“I’m Jude’s father,” the man announced. That explained Etienne’s reaction. I gripped the edge of the table to try and calm my sudden anger. Things could finally get sorted out, once and for all, and my kicking up a fuss would not help the situation. It would only get me sent out of the room, but I damn well wanted to be here for this.
“Jude?” Ma asked, confused.
“Don’t think you’ve got a right to show your face around here,” I said, unable to keep quiet. Everyone’s eyes turned to me, and I could feel the man’s gaze more than all of them, burning into me like maybe he hoped if he put enough feeling into it he could actually hurt me.
“William!” Ma scolded.
“Do you know this man?” asked Pa.
I smiled my most innocent smile. “Not me you should be asking.” I turned to look at Etienne, and out of the corner of my eye I saw everyone else doing the same. He had the same look about him that Ma got before she fainted. I felt sorry for him, for a fleeting moment, before I remembered that he had brought this on himself.
The man turned around to look at something behind him, and I followed his direction.
That’s when I noticed Alfie. He was hanging back in the doorway, and I wondered if anyone else had even realised he was there. He had an awful smirk on his face, one that I didn’t like the look of at all, and I felt as though someone had punched me in the gut as I realised what this was.
This was Alfie’s revenge. I’d hurt his brother physically, and now he was getting his payback in a much worse way. This was his vengeance for me and the boys roughing up his brother, and I was all but encouraging his sick plan. I clenched the table top harder.
Everyone was still staring at Etienne, waiting for an answer. Even as I sat there, trying desperately to think of ways to turn the situation around, I realised it was useless. Everything was about to come spilling out, and it was all my fault.
Part of me was glad. It was hard keeping so many secrets and this one the worst of all. What Etienne was doing was wrong, and finally Ma and Pa could put a stop to it.
Another part of me knew that my family would never be the same again, and it was all down to my feud with Alfie. He’d won, I realised, sick to my stomach. There was no way I could trump this. My fighting with him had spun out of control, and now my whole family was dragged down into it.
I’d never meant for this to happen.
“Etienne?” Ma prompted.
He was about to cry. He looked like he was going to stand up, then thought the better of it, as though his legs couldn’t take his weight. He swallowed, and he looked straight at Ma and Pa.
“I haven’t been entirely honest with you.”
You could have heard a pin drop. The silence was so thick. It seemed like none of us were even breathing.
“What,” asked Ma, voice dangerously quiet, “having you been lying to us about?”
Etienne gaped up at her, and that’s when Alfie decided to speak up, stepping into the room.
“He’s been biting the pillow,” he announced, “like a common fucking Nellie.”
Another moment of silence - and it would have been funny, the way everyone jumped upon seeing Alfie, if the situation wasn’t so awful - then everything exploded at once.
Ma and Pa accused Alfie and his Pa of lying and slander, with Alfie’s Pa apologising over and over, most of them directed at Etienne, and him just sitting there, turning grey, in a way I didn’t know a person could. Emilie’s eyes were as wide as mine felt, and Alex slumped in his seat, as though wishing to disappear. I hoped, more than anything, that Alfie would at least leave Alex out of this, and not reveal another of our family’s secrets.
It reminded me of another argument that had happened in this very room, when I was much younger, with Ma screaming out slurs and the rest of us looking on, horrified. There was no Uncle Roy to blow up the table this time.
Then, above it all, Ma turned to Etienne. “Tell us he’s lying!”
Etienne worked his mouth for a moment - it must have been a moment, though it felt like much longer - before he spoke. “It’s true,” he admitted, hesitantly. “I’m a Cindy.”
The kid had balls, I had to give him that. I held my breath, waiting for Ma’s reaction.
I’d never seen her so angry. She turned on Pa. “This is your side of the family! I knew your brother was a bad influence, I always knew he would corrupt the children-”
“This doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” Alfie’s Pa was trying to say over Ma’s distress, “if we just sat down and talked, we could work something out-”
Ma laughed derisively, terrible in the silence. “Work something out? No son of mine is - is going to - to act like that! There’s nothing to be worked out!”
Pa was staring at Etienne like he’d never seen him before. He mouthed the word ‘Papa’, and it seemed to bring him to his senses.
“Marjorie,” he warned, tearing his eyes away from Etienne’s terrified face.
“They’re good kids,” Alfie’s Pa said desperately. “Jude and Etienne, they’re - if you could see them, you’d realise-”
“Who in th’Esar’s name is Jude?”
There was a moment of waiting, a split-second, and I realised that Etienne was going to tell them everything.
“My boyfriend,” he said quietly. It didn’t matter how quiet he said it, everyone heard.
I thought Ma was going to explode.
“How dare you!” I wasn’t sure who she was talking to. “How dare you come into our home and accuse our son of - of that!”
“I’m sorry, Madame, I thought you knew.” He shot an angry look at Alfie. “I had no intention of causing this much upset, but I must ask you to try and remain level-headed. Our sons are in a difficult situation, and I’m worried that they-”
“Not that worried, if you’ve been letting them bite the pillow! What kind of responsible parent allows their child to indulge in such vile conduct-”
“Marjorie,” Pa said again.
“And how dare you come round here and confront us about it? I daresay you’ve been encouraging it, and you’re no more than a common Nellie yourself, as no right minded man-”
“Your prejudices, Madame, are exactly the type of behaviour that led to one of your boys attacking my son, and I will not stand for such horrid bullying!” He was pointing at me, and I glared back defiantly.
“Good!” Ma shouted, to everyone’s surprise. “Someone needs to teach them a lesson that this is unacceptable. I daresay your son deserved what happened to him, poisoning my child like that!”
“That’s enough!” Pa was getting very red in the face.
Alfie’s Pa ignored him. “You are showing yourself, Madame, to be nothing more than a hateful individual with neither compassion nor a shred of morality, and what’s more you are proving yourself as unfit to be a mother!”
“Then take him,” Ma pointed to Etienne, “if I am so unfit, because I don’t want him under my roof any longer!”
Through it all, I saw Alfie’s grim smile. Alex slumped even lower in his seat, and my anger flared up in me again. Alfie had now hurt two of my brothers. I stood up, determined not to let him win so completely. I might not like Etienne’s choices, and I certainly didn’t agree with them, but there were some things you had to stick together for. “That’s not fair.”
“Not now, William!” Pa said. “Marjorie, calm down.”
“Mama, please-”
Ma seemed to have reached the end of her tether. She banged her fist on the table. “Out,” she repeated. “I will not have another Nellie tainting my family with their disgusting behaviour!”
There was a stunned silence.
“Marjorie, now, you don’t mean that-”
“Don’t I?” She was unrecognisable as our mother. “Take them out of here,” she commanded, and after a few seconds the servants who had gathered at the door to watch the argument, like some sort of sick show, moved forwards. Etienne walked slowly around the table, knowing like always when it was best to keep quiet and do what Ma told you to, and Ethan clasped him on the shoulder as they left the room together.
Pa turned on Ma. “That’s our son, dammit!”
“Not anymore!” Ma swayed on the spot, and we all knew what was going to happen. She fainted, Pa only just managing to catch her before she hit the floor.
We could hear the dull thud as the front door closed, then we were left to our silence.
Next