(Untitled)

[mrangrybuttface]

Characters: Kevin Flynn and Sam Flynn. Closed.
Location: Sam's apartment
Planet: Corsucant
When: SOMETIME. IDK. IT HAPPENS. /cries.
What: Talking. Exploding in angst.
Rating: PG

Comments

[creator_man]

Flynn had received the message, frowned, then saved the program he'd been working on and padded over to his son's apartment. Barefoot, of course.

He knocked on his door, calling quietly, "Sam? You all right, man?"

He'd recovered, almost completely. His arm was still giving him trouble now and again, but if he set the pain aside, he could be fully functional most of the time.

[mrangrybuttface]

Sam stilled when he heard the knock on the door, surprised at the way his muscles had tightened. He rolled his shoulders to relieve some of the stress and made his way over to the door. His posture was stiff, his lips drawn tight and his eyes focused. "Hi, dad. Glad you could come by," he greeted as he stepped aside to allow his father to enter the room.

[creator_man]

The tension in Sam put Flynn on alert immediately; he stepped inside, then, without hesitating, reached to rub his son's shoulder.

"Hey, kiddo. Of course, of course."

[mrangrybuttface]

It took a great deal of effort for Sam not to shrug his father's hand off. He didn't want to be comforted. He wanted to throw all of his cards on the table and dare his father to come up with a good reason for doing nothing to fight back on the grid. He knew Flynn wasn't a coward; he'd seen his father fight for the citizens of Corsucant. But why here? Why did all of them matter but not getting back to him?

He exhaled. This thought process was getting him nowhere. He moved to sit on the couch, pulling all of unease back inside. He could fake the zen thing. He pressed his lips together and looked up at his father. Part of him didn't think it was fair to unload all of this onto someone who didn't understand the extent of his frustrations. But it was still the same man he'd met on the Grid. They'd find a way to discuss it all. "I think it's time we had that talk we've been meaning to have."

[creator_man]

Oh.

Flynn settled himself in a chair near the couch, his eyes watching the young man intently, then nodded.

After a moment, he thought that maybe a question would help most. "What happened while you were away from here?"

[mrangrybuttface]

He met his father's eyes briefly before looking down at the carpet. He rested his elbows on his knees, lacing his fingers together. He still wasn't used to talking things out. Twenty years of being practically on his own taught him to find other ways to release his tension. He never had come face to face with it. Not without resorting to action of some sort.

"I found you, dad." He looked back up at his father, this time holding his gaze steady. "And after a nice dinner, you told me about Clu." He paused, waiting to see how his father reacted.

[creator_man]

The most of Flynn's reaction was a slight slumping of his shoulders, a slight deepening of the wrinkles on his face, the distant, resounding blow of defeat creeping up his spine again.

"Yes." He'd told him about Clu and the ISOs here, too, unless his memory was playing tricks on him. "If anyone has the right to know, it's you."

[mrangrybuttface]

Sam remembered the conversation. They'd had it before he went back. Before he learned of how much power Clu had and the fight for the grid. And he remembered his father's words. The anger that his father had wanted to do nothing. He clenched his jaw.

When he spoke, his voice was quiet. "Why? Why were you happy to do absolutely nothing there but here? Here you're willing to sacrifice your life for them."

[creator_man]

Flynn sighed.

"The first reason is you, Sam. If I lost my life there, the last possibility that you'd ever learn what happened to me would be lost. And, chances were, the Grid itself wouldn't survive long after me. Here... you're here, too, Sam. You know. I'm a played card. If I can do some good before it's too late... that will be more than I hoped to be able to do for a long time."

He looked down at the carpet for a moment, then back at his son. "Then there was why the fighting. Everything I did... Clu fed on my resistance. Everything I tried, everything, just turned around into more destruction, more loss, more hatred. There's only so much anyone can take that, when all hope is lost, Sam." He'd fought for a long time. Then despaired longer. Then it had all caught up and he had been insane even longer. But Sam didn't need that.

"And then there was Quorra. The more I fought, the more she did. I..." His jaw clenched briefly. He'd only wanted a better world, for his friends, for his family, for his son.

Bang up job you did of

[mrangrybuttface]

In the back of his mind, he knew all of that. He knew that Clu grew stronger the more his father fought. He knew the only way to bring Clu down on the Grid was reintegration. Still, he wanted a different answer. He wanted a way to erase the last twenty years and have his father in them. There was no way to go back in time and make all of that happen. And that itself bothered him.

"Why didn't you create another way for you to get out? Why all the secrecy?"

[creator_man]

Flynn sighed. "One, safety. Viruses can't get into a closed system, and at first I had one, later another reason to be particularly protective over that system. Two... well, it's not like the laser is common tech, even for me. And then it was big, so big, man. I was trying less to hide it and more to come to grips with it, put it in ways that could be processed without ... well, without hurting anyone."

He spread his arms. "I didn't mean it to be secret. I've always had side projects I've worked on, and everybody knew that when I had results, I didn't hide them. I didn't expect to not be able to get out and continue." I'm sorry, Sam."

[mrangrybuttface]

Sam looked down at his hands, feeling helpless. As much as he wanted to lash out and be angry at someone, there was no one to yell at. He'd just have to give it time to work itself out. He wasn't good at waiting. Not when it was so much easier to run. "I waited a long time for you," he said quietly, still avoiding eye contact.

[creator_man]

Flynn watched him for a moment, then leaned to reach a hand to Sam's shoulder. "I can give excuses and they can even make sense, Sam. But it was my fault. You shouldn't have had to. But..." Quieter yet. "I thank you."

[mrangrybuttface]

Sam didn't look back at his father, but it was comforting to have his hand on his shoulder. It would take a while for him to sort everything out, but he was glad to have his father with him now. It didn't make up for the twenty years he was missing but they were together now. He wasn't going to let this stupid war come between them.

He carefully moves away from Flynn's hand and stands. He draws in a quick breath before looking at Flynn. "I guess we start making those memories we talked about before. No use worrying about the past, right?"

[creator_man]

"No use bottling it up," which was vastly self-ironic, really, and Sam could call him on it, "but if there is something else you have in mind..."

His voice softened. "I'm working hard on not repeating the mistakes I made, Sam. I don't want to let you down again."

[mrangrybuttface]

The soft weight of hope settles over him and he feels a flicker of how he used to feel around his father when he was seven. The pedestal he had erected in his mind had gathered dust, but his father was still pretty high on it. And against all the barriers he'd created in the last twenty years, he was allowing himself that idolatry once more. There was still a lot of hesitancy and mixed emotions, but he wanted to believe his father more than anything. "I don't think you can, dad."