(no subject)
Did the Holiday prompt. Max are bax.
90. Holiday
Awkward.
Sebastian picked at the food on his plate as they sat in near silence. Max had inconveniently run out of random things to spout off at him, and every minute or so he made the exact same comment on what a good cook Sebastian was, and the professor continued to pretend that yes, he was, and that he hadn’t ordered a pre-cooked Christmas dinner from Farfetch’d Express.
Since the professor’s uncharacteristically kind appearance at his son’s graduation earlier that year, he had been bombarded with telephone calls from the boy almost weekly. Sebastian’s secretary had been foolish enough to blab on the phone in his absence that the doctor had no holiday plans, and Max had more or less invited himself over before Sebastian could make up some false engagement, anything, to get himself out of it. The most amazing part was Max’s incredible detective work. It scared the hell out of Sebastian that someone had managed to find his home address.
“ So. Max. How is the…er…trombone coming?”
“ Snrk.” The younger man nearly burst into a fit of giggles at the mention of the instrument, and Sebastian gave him a disapproving look. Max continued, “ Sorry, I just remembered, sometimes when we were in band, we would call it the tromBONER. Do you get it? Boner! Like a…um…tee hee. This food is excellent, dad. Oh! Wait, sorry…professor.”
“ Hmm…yes…” Sebastian answered half distracted, having concluded after his son’s effeminate ‘tee-hee’ that he was best seen and not heard, and whatever band kid story on the way was not worth his time. Even Sebastian had been too cool for the band dorks in his own high school days. He was messing with his pager under the table. He had paged some of the agents working for him, keeping his fingers crossed that they just might be free.
His simple plan, devised on a whim, had been to invite them over for Christmas dinner, praying that at least one of them didn’t have plans with their families, and pawn his own boy’s ridiculousness off on them. Misery loves company, after all…and with the false lure of a few days off at work, he certainly wasn’t going to put up with Max by himself. Besides, he knew that none of them were in the best financial situation. They would have to be stupid to turn down a free meal.
Tyson, he knew, had family in Kanto that didn’t exactly appreciate his company, and thus was his best bet, for he would more than likely be spending this holiday alone. Buson supposedly had family in Sinnoh, though, and if he decided to spend the holidays with them, Bashou would more than likely go, too. The professor assumed that Ria, an only child who had been without parents for a good many years, would treat this day no different than any other, and would invariably be spending the evening with some random young lad who had looked at her the right way in the grocery store that morning.
He sighed. Good help really was hard to come by these days.
Moments later, as if his prayers had been answered, the telephone rang. Maybe one of them had come through for him after all.
“ Max, you’ll have to excuse me.” Sebastian could hardly keep a straight face as he stood to answer the telephone. “ This could be business. Or, long-distance.”
“ Wait a second!” the younger man’s sudden squawk made Sebastian freeze in his tracks.
“ What?”
Max lifted his plate.
“ I made a caricature of your face with my string beans.”
“ Er…that’s fantastic.” Sebastian shook his head and continued on to the kitchen. “ Hello.” He answered, making every effort to hide his joy.
“ Hey, doc. Did you burn your bird or something?”
“ Buson! Listen…I don’t know if Bashou’s with you, but I have an urgent matter that needs to be taken care of.”
He was answered with a whine.
“ Yeah, Bashou’s here. We don’t have to work today, you know, professor. The Boss said so. Nobody’s gotta do anything until Monday. Can’t this at least wait until tomorrow?”
“ No, Buson, I’m afraid it can’t. I called Tyson and Ria, but I couldn’t get ahold of them.”
“ Well, they’re here.”
“ Are they?” Sebastian frowned. Apparently the four of them were spending the holiday together. He quickly shook off the sappy image of their coming together as a little broken albeit loving family, however, because he knew that in reality that probably wasn’t the case. He imagined that they were hopeless, social drunks, he knew for sure that Ria and Buson were, anyway, and a social drunk rarely has a good time unless someone else is plastered right along with them. “ Right. Well, that’s excellent, bring them with you.”
Buson made some sort of displeased noise.
“ I’ll feed you.” Sebastian said sweetly, really turning on the charm.
“ Hold on.” Buson muttered. The professor was left on hold, while he assumed that Buson was holding a conference between his disgruntled friends. “ Hey, doc.” He suddenly came back on the line. “ Look…Bashou doesn’t want to, plus Ria and I have to fly later today.”
“ Fly?” Sebastian threw up his hand in frustration. To Sinnoh, probably, though he couldn’t figure out for the life of him why Ria was going, too. This wasn’t going as planned, not at all…he made an effort to keep his voice down. “ Well, what about Tyson, then?”
“ Well, maybe we could send him over NOW, because he’s been a crybaby bitch about his daddy all day.”
Buson’s comment clearly triggered an argument, and the professor sighed as the phone was lost in the chaos until Ria picked it up.
“ Professor Sebastian, maybe if you were more clear on your emergency we would know somebody to call who could help.”
“ Rianne…” Sebastian paused to peer around the corner, seeing that Max was occupied with the napkin rings. “…to be frank with you, my son is annoying the hell out of me.”
He would never usually regard honesty as the best policy, but in some rare cases it was a desperate last resort. Every limb in his body seemed to be filled with lead all of a sudden when he realized that yes, the agents did have lives outside of work after all, and he would have to face this endless day alone.
“ …is that all?” she laughed. “ You can’t stand the fact that someone actually wants to be around you.”
She tried to keep the chuckles to a minimum as she imagined his ideal holiday. She could see him now sitting at the computer playing Lemonade Stand and eating a TV dinner.
“ It’s not as miniscule as you’re making it sound.”
“ Sebastian.” She spoke to him as a mother might speak to a child who was asking an already answered question for the thousandth time. “ You’re being ridiculous.”
“ That’s not your place to say.”
“ I’m off duty, sir.” Her response was sweet, and that seemed to annoy him all the more. The professor scowled into the phone, checking to make sure Max was not listening once more.
“ Why don’t you put Bashou on the phone?”
“ Hold on…oh? Bashou says he’s not here.”
“ …I’m not one to lose my temper easily, Rianne,” he said, gritting his teeth but managing to keep his cool. “and I won’t argue with you anymore. But I won’t forget this.”
“ Professor, why don’t you just relax for once and, I know it’ll be hard, but enjoy the company of another human being?”
“ Pfft. Your absolutely useless.” He huffed into the phone.
“ Thank you sir!” he could hear the smile in her voice. “ I can’t wait to see you, either! Have a beautiful holiday.”
Click.
The professor sighed and quietly hung up the phone, standing by his earlier thought that good help really was hard to come by. He re-entered the dining room, slunk back to his chair and sat down.
“ What are you doing?” he asked, trying but failing not to sound disinterested.
“ Sudoku.”
Sebastian blinked twice and looked up. Max, pencil in hand, was intent on whatever it was in front of him. The professor peered over the younger man’s shoulder. It was indeed his newspaper.
“ I’ll be damned.” He stared.
Max looked up.
“ Why are you damned?”
Sebastian stared at him for a moment, smirked, and then went back to eating.
“ You like math?” he asked.
“ I like puzzles.” Max replied, and then, in another hyper-active attack, asked, “ Do YOU like puzzles?!”
“ Indeed.” Sebastian seemed very pleased. “ There is no better pastime than to exercise your mind. You should see some of MY puzzles.”
“ Show me after dinner?”
There they were. He had wondered how this boy could have been related to him at all, if deep down in there somewhere his genes actually were hiding, but there they were, and for the first time, they stood on common ground.
Perhaps the holiday could be salvaged after all. Provided that Max refrained from telling anymore tromboner stories, of course.
I had to write this three times. I wrote it a few months ago, then opened it today and decided to re-write it. Then when I was almost done with the re-write, my computer cut off. Rawr. But here it is, third time's the charm.
90. Holiday
Awkward.
Sebastian picked at the food on his plate as they sat in near silence. Max had inconveniently run out of random things to spout off at him, and every minute or so he made the exact same comment on what a good cook Sebastian was, and the professor continued to pretend that yes, he was, and that he hadn’t ordered a pre-cooked Christmas dinner from Farfetch’d Express.
Since the professor’s uncharacteristically kind appearance at his son’s graduation earlier that year, he had been bombarded with telephone calls from the boy almost weekly. Sebastian’s secretary had been foolish enough to blab on the phone in his absence that the doctor had no holiday plans, and Max had more or less invited himself over before Sebastian could make up some false engagement, anything, to get himself out of it. The most amazing part was Max’s incredible detective work. It scared the hell out of Sebastian that someone had managed to find his home address.
“ So. Max. How is the…er…trombone coming?”
“ Snrk.” The younger man nearly burst into a fit of giggles at the mention of the instrument, and Sebastian gave him a disapproving look. Max continued, “ Sorry, I just remembered, sometimes when we were in band, we would call it the tromBONER. Do you get it? Boner! Like a…um…tee hee. This food is excellent, dad. Oh! Wait, sorry…professor.”
“ Hmm…yes…” Sebastian answered half distracted, having concluded after his son’s effeminate ‘tee-hee’ that he was best seen and not heard, and whatever band kid story on the way was not worth his time. Even Sebastian had been too cool for the band dorks in his own high school days. He was messing with his pager under the table. He had paged some of the agents working for him, keeping his fingers crossed that they just might be free.
His simple plan, devised on a whim, had been to invite them over for Christmas dinner, praying that at least one of them didn’t have plans with their families, and pawn his own boy’s ridiculousness off on them. Misery loves company, after all…and with the false lure of a few days off at work, he certainly wasn’t going to put up with Max by himself. Besides, he knew that none of them were in the best financial situation. They would have to be stupid to turn down a free meal.
Tyson, he knew, had family in Kanto that didn’t exactly appreciate his company, and thus was his best bet, for he would more than likely be spending this holiday alone. Buson supposedly had family in Sinnoh, though, and if he decided to spend the holidays with them, Bashou would more than likely go, too. The professor assumed that Ria, an only child who had been without parents for a good many years, would treat this day no different than any other, and would invariably be spending the evening with some random young lad who had looked at her the right way in the grocery store that morning.
He sighed. Good help really was hard to come by these days.
Moments later, as if his prayers had been answered, the telephone rang. Maybe one of them had come through for him after all.
“ Max, you’ll have to excuse me.” Sebastian could hardly keep a straight face as he stood to answer the telephone. “ This could be business. Or, long-distance.”
“ Wait a second!” the younger man’s sudden squawk made Sebastian freeze in his tracks.
“ What?”
Max lifted his plate.
“ I made a caricature of your face with my string beans.”
“ Er…that’s fantastic.” Sebastian shook his head and continued on to the kitchen. “ Hello.” He answered, making every effort to hide his joy.
“ Hey, doc. Did you burn your bird or something?”
“ Buson! Listen…I don’t know if Bashou’s with you, but I have an urgent matter that needs to be taken care of.”
He was answered with a whine.
“ Yeah, Bashou’s here. We don’t have to work today, you know, professor. The Boss said so. Nobody’s gotta do anything until Monday. Can’t this at least wait until tomorrow?”
“ No, Buson, I’m afraid it can’t. I called Tyson and Ria, but I couldn’t get ahold of them.”
“ Well, they’re here.”
“ Are they?” Sebastian frowned. Apparently the four of them were spending the holiday together. He quickly shook off the sappy image of their coming together as a little broken albeit loving family, however, because he knew that in reality that probably wasn’t the case. He imagined that they were hopeless, social drunks, he knew for sure that Ria and Buson were, anyway, and a social drunk rarely has a good time unless someone else is plastered right along with them. “ Right. Well, that’s excellent, bring them with you.”
Buson made some sort of displeased noise.
“ I’ll feed you.” Sebastian said sweetly, really turning on the charm.
“ Hold on.” Buson muttered. The professor was left on hold, while he assumed that Buson was holding a conference between his disgruntled friends. “ Hey, doc.” He suddenly came back on the line. “ Look…Bashou doesn’t want to, plus Ria and I have to fly later today.”
“ Fly?” Sebastian threw up his hand in frustration. To Sinnoh, probably, though he couldn’t figure out for the life of him why Ria was going, too. This wasn’t going as planned, not at all…he made an effort to keep his voice down. “ Well, what about Tyson, then?”
“ Well, maybe we could send him over NOW, because he’s been a crybaby bitch about his daddy all day.”
Buson’s comment clearly triggered an argument, and the professor sighed as the phone was lost in the chaos until Ria picked it up.
“ Professor Sebastian, maybe if you were more clear on your emergency we would know somebody to call who could help.”
“ Rianne…” Sebastian paused to peer around the corner, seeing that Max was occupied with the napkin rings. “…to be frank with you, my son is annoying the hell out of me.”
He would never usually regard honesty as the best policy, but in some rare cases it was a desperate last resort. Every limb in his body seemed to be filled with lead all of a sudden when he realized that yes, the agents did have lives outside of work after all, and he would have to face this endless day alone.
“ …is that all?” she laughed. “ You can’t stand the fact that someone actually wants to be around you.”
She tried to keep the chuckles to a minimum as she imagined his ideal holiday. She could see him now sitting at the computer playing Lemonade Stand and eating a TV dinner.
“ It’s not as miniscule as you’re making it sound.”
“ Sebastian.” She spoke to him as a mother might speak to a child who was asking an already answered question for the thousandth time. “ You’re being ridiculous.”
“ That’s not your place to say.”
“ I’m off duty, sir.” Her response was sweet, and that seemed to annoy him all the more. The professor scowled into the phone, checking to make sure Max was not listening once more.
“ Why don’t you put Bashou on the phone?”
“ Hold on…oh? Bashou says he’s not here.”
“ …I’m not one to lose my temper easily, Rianne,” he said, gritting his teeth but managing to keep his cool. “and I won’t argue with you anymore. But I won’t forget this.”
“ Professor, why don’t you just relax for once and, I know it’ll be hard, but enjoy the company of another human being?”
“ Pfft. Your absolutely useless.” He huffed into the phone.
“ Thank you sir!” he could hear the smile in her voice. “ I can’t wait to see you, either! Have a beautiful holiday.”
Click.
The professor sighed and quietly hung up the phone, standing by his earlier thought that good help really was hard to come by. He re-entered the dining room, slunk back to his chair and sat down.
“ What are you doing?” he asked, trying but failing not to sound disinterested.
“ Sudoku.”
Sebastian blinked twice and looked up. Max, pencil in hand, was intent on whatever it was in front of him. The professor peered over the younger man’s shoulder. It was indeed his newspaper.
“ I’ll be damned.” He stared.
Max looked up.
“ Why are you damned?”
Sebastian stared at him for a moment, smirked, and then went back to eating.
“ You like math?” he asked.
“ I like puzzles.” Max replied, and then, in another hyper-active attack, asked, “ Do YOU like puzzles?!”
“ Indeed.” Sebastian seemed very pleased. “ There is no better pastime than to exercise your mind. You should see some of MY puzzles.”
“ Show me after dinner?”
There they were. He had wondered how this boy could have been related to him at all, if deep down in there somewhere his genes actually were hiding, but there they were, and for the first time, they stood on common ground.
Perhaps the holiday could be salvaged after all. Provided that Max refrained from telling anymore tromboner stories, of course.
I had to write this three times. I wrote it a few months ago, then opened it today and decided to re-write it. Then when I was almost done with the re-write, my computer cut off. Rawr. But here it is, third time's the charm.