Shifting Colours
Title: Shifting Colours
Author: celticlonging
Fandom: Fifty Shades Trilogy
Rating: R
Warnings: Sexual act that happens in Fifty Shades canon
Word Count: 1649
Inspiration: gehayi and ketmakura’s sporking of Chapters Six and Seven of Fifty Shades Darker.
Summary: Sometimes seeing emotions is more a curse than a Gift, as a friend of Carrick Grey knows only too well when he arrives at the charity ball with his three sons.
Author’s Note: I don’t own anything from Fifty Shades. Robert, Kevin, Toby and Michael are characters in a story I’m writing. This spitefic kind of ran away with me. AU
Kevin Mendoza grinned as his brother stifled a yawn. “You bored already, Mikey?”
Michael shook his head. “No. I’m just tired.”
“What time did you get to bed last night?” Robert Mendoza asked, eyeing his youngest son. He’d told all three of his boys to get an early night - well, early for them, anyway - because they had a long drive the next day from one hotel to another, and they would have a late night at the ball.
“Half-ten, like you said, Dad.” Out of all Robert’s sons, Michael was the one who most resembled their mother: blond, with piercing blue eyes and fine features. Kevin and Toby, with their brown hair and rugged build, took more after their dad.
Robert raised an eyebrow at his youngest.
Michael sighed. “I got to bed at half-ten; I just couldn’t get to sleep until later. Dad, what are we doing here? Seriously?”
“I told you, Michael: we’re here because Carrick Grey invited us. Carrick and I know each other from the Agency.”
“Really?” Toby asked, finishing his mouthful of food. “What Gift does he have?”
“He’s a Class B Reader. What they can do is memorize a document or a book simply by touching it, which is a pretty handy ability for a lawyer to have.”
“Do his kids have it as well?”
“No, all three of them are adopted.” Robert and Carrick had kept in touch ever since they were sixteen, and Carrick had offered his support in any way he could when an eight-year-old Michael had been kidnapped from school.
Michael looked at the menu, then down at his plate. “What’s brioche?”
Toby shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a kind of French sweet bread. It tastes pretty good.” He used his free hand to adjust his mask. OK, this wasn’t the first time he’d worn a (rented) tuxedo, but being in a place like this made him feel very self-conscious and nervous. He’d been very thankful the photographers had ignored his family in favour of a tall man with copper hair and a woman wearing a beautiful silver gown that probably cost more than what he, his dad, and Kevin earned in a year put together.
Robert noticed the shift in his son’s colours. He put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “Relax.”
Kevin glanced around to check nobody was watching them, then snatched a salmon tartare off Toby’s plate and stuffed it into his mouth. Robert glowered at him, but then smiled at the sight of a man in a gold mask coming towards their table.
“Hello, Carrick.”
“Good to see you again, Robert.”
Carrick and Robert shook hands, the smiles on their faces visible despite the masks.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t welcome you personally,” Carrick apologized. “These must be your sons!”
“They are,” Robert replied proudly. “Kevin, Toby and Michael, this is Carrick Grey.”
Kevin extended a hand. “Pleased to meet you, sir.”
“If you call me ‘sir’ again, I’ll start thinking my old principal is in the room. Call me Carrick.”
Once all the younger generation of the Mendoza family had shaken Carrick’s hand, Robert asked: “How are your children? Are they here?” He frowned when Carrick’s colours took on an unhappy blue tinge.
“Mia’s here, and so is Christian. Elliot said he’ll arrive later.”
Everyone’s attention was drawn by two servers pulling the tent flaps aside, revealing a sunset reflected in the lake. Robert had to admit the view was beautiful, but it had nothing on the sunsets he used to watch with his wife back in their home state of Utah.
“Anyway,” Carrick said brightly, “enjoy the meal, and perhaps we can have a proper talk after the auction, when everybody’s dancing.”
xxx
“Look at this!” Michael said, studying the auction list. “You can drive in an Aston Martin DB7 for a day!”
Kevin snorted. “Why drive it for a day? These people can probably buy one of those things.”
“Why aren’t they bidding on things that are useful to Coping Together?” Toby wondered out loud. “I thought this was a charity ball.”
The Mendozas listened as the bidding began. Robert watched as his sons’ colours slowly turned into a light purple that he recognized as boredom. Once, Michael started to raise his hand to ‘bid’ for the edition of Pride and Prejudice, but stopped when Kevin lightly cuffed his right ear. Both of them exchanged grins.
Some part of Robert’s mind told him that he was going to have to have words with his sons later about behaving like adults in public.
Then they came to the weekend at Aspen. The item had been put up by a Mr C Grey; Robert hadn’t known Carrick had property there, but then remembered one of his sons also had a name beginning with C.
“Twenty-four thousand dollars!” a clear voice said suddenly. It was the woman in the silver dress.
“Wow,” Kevin murmured. “That’s a…Dad?”
Robert wasn’t listening. He was staring at the man seated next to the lady in silver.
When they were younger, Kevin, Toby and Michael had said out loud that they wanted to be a Sensory like their father - or at least to have a Gift like it. After their sixteenth birthdays, they were all bitterly disappointed that they weren’t.
It was moments like this that made Robert thank God that he hadn’t passed his Gift down to his children.
The man’s colours had suddenly become a deep, frightening red; he was furious. His companion evidently realised that, as her colours were now a bright yellow.
She’s afraid.
Robert had seen this woman on the man’s arm when they’d arrived. He watched as they whispered together about something; clearly, she’d managed to appease him because he put an arm around her shoulders. He took her other hand and placed it on his lap.
The woman gasped and looked around her. She was panicking. Robert was about to get up and walk over to their table - the auction could go to hell - when the woman relaxed and a few moments later the man began to gasp softly.
Robert knew there was no colour for sexual arousal, but he knew the way people’s colours behaved when they were turned on.
“Dad, please tell me he’s not making her give him a…”
A low growl from Robert’s throat was the only answer Toby got.
The other people seated at the couple’s table were practically radiating dark purple and marshy green. They were shocked and completely disgusted, and Robert didn’t blame them. He looked over at Carrick and saw that his friend was both upset and embarrassed.
Michael was appalled. If we ever did that, Dad would hand us our asses!
After the final item had been auctioned, twelve women - including The Lady in Silver - lined up on the stage. Kevin looked admiringly at a slender blonde in a red mask. Maybe he would ask her to dance later.
“Gentlemen, the highlight of the evening! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! These twelve lovely ladies have all agreed to auction their first dance to the highest bidder!”
Robert was not the least bit surprised to see Angry Man bid on The Lady in Silver when it was her turn. The only other man bidding on her was a man with a British accent. As the bidding rose higher and higher, Angry Man’s emotions grew darker and darker into an ugly combination of dark green and crimson. He was becoming both obsessed and enraged.
If that lady was my daughter, I’d warn her to keep away from Angry Man. And then I’d buy a shotgun, point it at Angry Man and tell him to stay the hell away from my baby girl.
Robert hoped fervently what he’d seen didn’t mean what he thought it meant. He’d seen this type of relationship before, and it hadn’t ended well.
Please, God, if that is the case, let her get out before it’s too late.
“That guy is bidding one hundred thousand dollars for a dance?” Toby whispered to Kevin. “Are you kidding me? I could pay off my college loan twice with that!”
When the bidding was over, all four Mendozas sighed with relief.
“Do you think Carrick is gonna call the cops and have them arrest those two?” Kevin asked.
“No.”
The Mendozas looked up sharply: a tall brunette in an ice-blue dress had paused beside their table. “He won’t have them arrested,” she said. “Nobody has Christian Grey arrested, not even his own father.”
Robert’s mouth fell open. That was Carrick’s son?
“All right; if Carrick won’t do it, I will,” he growled.
“That’s not a good idea. Have you heard of Grey Enterprise Holdings, Incorporated?”
“Yeah, I have,” Toby said. “What about it?”
“Christian Grey is both the founder and the owner. He’s rich, and a piece of work as well; he gets what he wants when he wants it. Nobody crosses him, and if they do they regret it. Rumour has it he got his bodyguard Taylor to do whatever he wants by threatening to stop his seven-year-old daughter’s medical treatment.”
For the first time, Robert felt a hot flicker of anger. “I’m guessing Grey was the one who got her the treatment in the first place?”
The brunette nodded. “He’s a very dangerous man.”
Robert noticed Michael was staring at the brunette’s right arm. He was about to quietly tell his son not to do that, but then he noticed the long white scar running from the woman’s wrist to her elbow. He felt sick. Had Grey done that to her?
The brunette smiled sadly at them, and then walked back to her table.
You are going down, Christian Grey, Robert silently vowed. You may be my friend’s son, but one way or another you are going down.
Kevin cleared his throat awkwardly. “Anyone fancy dancing?”
“Not really,” Toby mumbled. Michael shook his head.
“Me neither.”
END…?
Author: celticlonging
Fandom: Fifty Shades Trilogy
Rating: R
Warnings: Sexual act that happens in Fifty Shades canon
Word Count: 1649
Inspiration: gehayi and ketmakura’s sporking of Chapters Six and Seven of Fifty Shades Darker.
Summary: Sometimes seeing emotions is more a curse than a Gift, as a friend of Carrick Grey knows only too well when he arrives at the charity ball with his three sons.
Author’s Note: I don’t own anything from Fifty Shades. Robert, Kevin, Toby and Michael are characters in a story I’m writing. This spitefic kind of ran away with me. AU
Kevin Mendoza grinned as his brother stifled a yawn. “You bored already, Mikey?”
Michael shook his head. “No. I’m just tired.”
“What time did you get to bed last night?” Robert Mendoza asked, eyeing his youngest son. He’d told all three of his boys to get an early night - well, early for them, anyway - because they had a long drive the next day from one hotel to another, and they would have a late night at the ball.
“Half-ten, like you said, Dad.” Out of all Robert’s sons, Michael was the one who most resembled their mother: blond, with piercing blue eyes and fine features. Kevin and Toby, with their brown hair and rugged build, took more after their dad.
Robert raised an eyebrow at his youngest.
Michael sighed. “I got to bed at half-ten; I just couldn’t get to sleep until later. Dad, what are we doing here? Seriously?”
“I told you, Michael: we’re here because Carrick Grey invited us. Carrick and I know each other from the Agency.”
“Really?” Toby asked, finishing his mouthful of food. “What Gift does he have?”
“He’s a Class B Reader. What they can do is memorize a document or a book simply by touching it, which is a pretty handy ability for a lawyer to have.”
“Do his kids have it as well?”
“No, all three of them are adopted.” Robert and Carrick had kept in touch ever since they were sixteen, and Carrick had offered his support in any way he could when an eight-year-old Michael had been kidnapped from school.
Michael looked at the menu, then down at his plate. “What’s brioche?”
Toby shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a kind of French sweet bread. It tastes pretty good.” He used his free hand to adjust his mask. OK, this wasn’t the first time he’d worn a (rented) tuxedo, but being in a place like this made him feel very self-conscious and nervous. He’d been very thankful the photographers had ignored his family in favour of a tall man with copper hair and a woman wearing a beautiful silver gown that probably cost more than what he, his dad, and Kevin earned in a year put together.
Robert noticed the shift in his son’s colours. He put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “Relax.”
Kevin glanced around to check nobody was watching them, then snatched a salmon tartare off Toby’s plate and stuffed it into his mouth. Robert glowered at him, but then smiled at the sight of a man in a gold mask coming towards their table.
“Hello, Carrick.”
“Good to see you again, Robert.”
Carrick and Robert shook hands, the smiles on their faces visible despite the masks.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t welcome you personally,” Carrick apologized. “These must be your sons!”
“They are,” Robert replied proudly. “Kevin, Toby and Michael, this is Carrick Grey.”
Kevin extended a hand. “Pleased to meet you, sir.”
“If you call me ‘sir’ again, I’ll start thinking my old principal is in the room. Call me Carrick.”
Once all the younger generation of the Mendoza family had shaken Carrick’s hand, Robert asked: “How are your children? Are they here?” He frowned when Carrick’s colours took on an unhappy blue tinge.
“Mia’s here, and so is Christian. Elliot said he’ll arrive later.”
Everyone’s attention was drawn by two servers pulling the tent flaps aside, revealing a sunset reflected in the lake. Robert had to admit the view was beautiful, but it had nothing on the sunsets he used to watch with his wife back in their home state of Utah.
“Anyway,” Carrick said brightly, “enjoy the meal, and perhaps we can have a proper talk after the auction, when everybody’s dancing.”
xxx
“Look at this!” Michael said, studying the auction list. “You can drive in an Aston Martin DB7 for a day!”
Kevin snorted. “Why drive it for a day? These people can probably buy one of those things.”
“Why aren’t they bidding on things that are useful to Coping Together?” Toby wondered out loud. “I thought this was a charity ball.”
The Mendozas listened as the bidding began. Robert watched as his sons’ colours slowly turned into a light purple that he recognized as boredom. Once, Michael started to raise his hand to ‘bid’ for the edition of Pride and Prejudice, but stopped when Kevin lightly cuffed his right ear. Both of them exchanged grins.
Some part of Robert’s mind told him that he was going to have to have words with his sons later about behaving like adults in public.
Then they came to the weekend at Aspen. The item had been put up by a Mr C Grey; Robert hadn’t known Carrick had property there, but then remembered one of his sons also had a name beginning with C.
“Twenty-four thousand dollars!” a clear voice said suddenly. It was the woman in the silver dress.
“Wow,” Kevin murmured. “That’s a…Dad?”
Robert wasn’t listening. He was staring at the man seated next to the lady in silver.
When they were younger, Kevin, Toby and Michael had said out loud that they wanted to be a Sensory like their father - or at least to have a Gift like it. After their sixteenth birthdays, they were all bitterly disappointed that they weren’t.
It was moments like this that made Robert thank God that he hadn’t passed his Gift down to his children.
The man’s colours had suddenly become a deep, frightening red; he was furious. His companion evidently realised that, as her colours were now a bright yellow.
She’s afraid.
Robert had seen this woman on the man’s arm when they’d arrived. He watched as they whispered together about something; clearly, she’d managed to appease him because he put an arm around her shoulders. He took her other hand and placed it on his lap.
The woman gasped and looked around her. She was panicking. Robert was about to get up and walk over to their table - the auction could go to hell - when the woman relaxed and a few moments later the man began to gasp softly.
Robert knew there was no colour for sexual arousal, but he knew the way people’s colours behaved when they were turned on.
“Dad, please tell me he’s not making her give him a…”
A low growl from Robert’s throat was the only answer Toby got.
The other people seated at the couple’s table were practically radiating dark purple and marshy green. They were shocked and completely disgusted, and Robert didn’t blame them. He looked over at Carrick and saw that his friend was both upset and embarrassed.
Michael was appalled. If we ever did that, Dad would hand us our asses!
After the final item had been auctioned, twelve women - including The Lady in Silver - lined up on the stage. Kevin looked admiringly at a slender blonde in a red mask. Maybe he would ask her to dance later.
“Gentlemen, the highlight of the evening! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! These twelve lovely ladies have all agreed to auction their first dance to the highest bidder!”
Robert was not the least bit surprised to see Angry Man bid on The Lady in Silver when it was her turn. The only other man bidding on her was a man with a British accent. As the bidding rose higher and higher, Angry Man’s emotions grew darker and darker into an ugly combination of dark green and crimson. He was becoming both obsessed and enraged.
If that lady was my daughter, I’d warn her to keep away from Angry Man. And then I’d buy a shotgun, point it at Angry Man and tell him to stay the hell away from my baby girl.
Robert hoped fervently what he’d seen didn’t mean what he thought it meant. He’d seen this type of relationship before, and it hadn’t ended well.
Please, God, if that is the case, let her get out before it’s too late.
“That guy is bidding one hundred thousand dollars for a dance?” Toby whispered to Kevin. “Are you kidding me? I could pay off my college loan twice with that!”
When the bidding was over, all four Mendozas sighed with relief.
“Do you think Carrick is gonna call the cops and have them arrest those two?” Kevin asked.
“No.”
The Mendozas looked up sharply: a tall brunette in an ice-blue dress had paused beside their table. “He won’t have them arrested,” she said. “Nobody has Christian Grey arrested, not even his own father.”
Robert’s mouth fell open. That was Carrick’s son?
“All right; if Carrick won’t do it, I will,” he growled.
“That’s not a good idea. Have you heard of Grey Enterprise Holdings, Incorporated?”
“Yeah, I have,” Toby said. “What about it?”
“Christian Grey is both the founder and the owner. He’s rich, and a piece of work as well; he gets what he wants when he wants it. Nobody crosses him, and if they do they regret it. Rumour has it he got his bodyguard Taylor to do whatever he wants by threatening to stop his seven-year-old daughter’s medical treatment.”
For the first time, Robert felt a hot flicker of anger. “I’m guessing Grey was the one who got her the treatment in the first place?”
The brunette nodded. “He’s a very dangerous man.”
Robert noticed Michael was staring at the brunette’s right arm. He was about to quietly tell his son not to do that, but then he noticed the long white scar running from the woman’s wrist to her elbow. He felt sick. Had Grey done that to her?
The brunette smiled sadly at them, and then walked back to her table.
You are going down, Christian Grey, Robert silently vowed. You may be my friend’s son, but one way or another you are going down.
Kevin cleared his throat awkwardly. “Anyone fancy dancing?”
“Not really,” Toby mumbled. Michael shook his head.
“Me neither.”
END…?