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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 2:13:11 GMT -5
The bookshelf was mostly non-fiction, books on places and people and music, for the most part, as well as a short line of CDs with some very nice-looking headphones sitting on top of them.
"I don't think it'll be cold that quickly, but I am getting hungry." He tried to read Hitoshi's face; searching, curiosity, mild disappointment... "If you're trying to snoop around, there's always the closet," he half-joked. "Should I conveniently step out of the room for a few minutes?"
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 2:32:13 GMT -5
Hitoshi smirked back at Alex. "Only if you think there's anything there worth snooping through," he replied. "Otherwise we should probably go get you something to eat. We'll have plenty of time afterward for me to prowl through your things. Besides, your parents probably want to dote over you and make you tell them everything that happened at school."
Hitoshi wasn't entirely sure how to act with Alex around the other boy's parents, but Hitoshi tended to be a bit more conservative with displays of affection anyway, so it was probably safest to just follow Alex's lead. Just because they were liberal enough not to care about Alex having a boyfriend didn't quite mean they would feel comfortable with, say, Alex laying on him while watching a movie. Or worse -- they might be the sort that would make those embarrassing cooing noises and go on about how wonderful it was. Hitoshi really wasn't certain how to handle that.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 3:00:26 GMT -5
"I haven't told them much. I still don't know how much to say," he said quietly. "I also... haven't mentioned your cousin. But that might not come up."
"My mother's cooking will likely be an experience for you, and I say that having tasted your aunt's. Come on, then."
The kitchen and dining room were one room, with a small kitchen table set for four. There was a terracotta pan filled with enchiladas in the center, surrounded by a basket of corn muffins, a bowl of black beans, squash and zucchini and peeled tomatoes, and little tubs of homemade-looking sour cream and guacamole. Alex's father was already chowing down, and his mother was getting drinks for everyone.
"What would you like to drink?" she smiled at Hitoshi. Alex waited for Hitoshi to sit before sitting down himself and making his plate.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 4:01:54 GMT -5
Hitoshi squeezed Alex's hand. "I wouldn't worry about it too much," he said quietly. "I'll try and come up with somewhat vague and normal sounding answers to anything they might ask. If you decide to tell them about anything -- well, it's your choice. You can let them know whenever you're ready to."
Hitoshi slid into the seat across from Alex's father. "Um--" Hitoshi wasn't quite sure what all they would have. Alex didn't like soda, so they might not have that here, and for all he knew they might not have even had real milk. "Did you say something about hot cider?"
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 4:36:19 GMT -5
"One more hot apple cider, then. I'll just bring the pitcher." She did so, along with three glasses. "So, Alex tells me you're a sophomore, is that right?"
Alex nudged Hitoshi slightly under the table, guacamole-dipped corn muffin in his mouth.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 4:57:03 GMT -5
"Thank you." Hitoshi nodded, scooping some of the food onto his plate. "That's right," he replied. "We were placed as roommates at the beginning of the year."
Hitoshi very tentatively took a bite of one of the enchiladas, not quite sure what to expect, given everything that Alex had said.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 5:07:18 GMT -5
"I see. Well, thank you for helping out Alex, we're so glad he has friends." She smiled.
The enchilada was... rather sweet; wrapped in what was clearly a whole-grain tortilla rather than corn, and filled with what tasted like basil and some kind of sweet-sharp cheese as well as- yep- a very spicy pepper and green sauce, eventually.
"So you're roommates, and your family are in the faculty? It sounds like a smaller school than the brochure made it sound."
Alex piped up: "There are people from all over... the roommates thing was kind of a fluke, heh. Hitoshi? Want to tell the story?" He smiled at the other boy.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 5:43:34 GMT -5
Hitoshi glanced back at Alex, hesitating slightly. He couldn't exactly say that he had to get a new roommate because his cousin attacked some kid who jumped through his window and this somehow led to a werewolf tearing down a wall.
"Well," he began, "the room above mine had been having some trouble with the water leaking at the beginning of the year. There was a patch on the ceiling in my room that kept dripping water and was starting to rot, so they had to close down my old room and the one above it. My old roommate had transferred to a different school, and they hadn't assigned a roommate to Alex yet, so the headmistress asked me to room with Alex until they managed to get the leak fixed."
He took a bite out of one of the side dishes, then wiped his mouth with a napkin. "I'm not sure yet whether the headmistress is still working on getting the leak fixed or just hasn't bothered to reshuffle the rooming," he continued. "My family has been integrated with the school since it was founded, but the school has actually gotten really extensive recently."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 7:01:45 GMT -5
"Really." Alex's mother got quiet for a bit, eating. Alex shrugged and was also quiet. It was very quiet.
"That's very elaborate," she finally responded. His father interrupted. "So, have you been doing well in classes?" he smiled at both of them.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 7:33:09 GMT -5
Hitoshi continued conversing with Alex's parents, keeping the topic on the sort of trivial things that parents were usually happy enough to talk about -- grades, his uncle's job, his favorite subject -- and doing his best to make Dunehelden sound like any other perfectly normal school and definitely not a vampire-inhabited castle in the middle of Arcadia.
Once they had all finished eating, Hitoshi stood, gathering up his dirty dishes. He glanced over at the sink. "Why don't Alex and I take care of the dishes for you?" he suggested, glancing back at Alex's mother.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 7:41:14 GMT -5
"Oh! Well, I certainly don't mind, if you really want to volunteer." She smiled.
Alex sighed, though not seriously, and stood to begin collecting plates himself.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 7:52:36 GMT -5
Hitoshi quietly collected Alex's mother's dishes and slipped them in the sink, running the hot water. "Would you rather wash or rinse?" he asked, looking around for the dish soap and a sponge.
He knew it probably wasn't necessary. Alex's family seemed nice enough, and he was a guest. But, as strange as it was, doing some trivial but useful task like washing dishes tended to ease his nerves. And he was somewhat anxious to make a good impression on Alex's parents.
He wondered if it had felt anything like this for Alex with any of the dinners with Tristan or the rest of his family, though he supposed the fact that all of his relatives had met Alex before they started dating helped a lot.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 7:56:00 GMT -5
"Rinse." Alex opened the cupboard above the sink and pulled out the dish soap. He looked behind him and waited until his parents had gone their ways- his mother into the living room to finish moving things, his father into the study- to continue.
"Are you nervous or bored?" He shrugged. "I guess I'm a little nervous. But then, that's normal for me, huh."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 8:22:04 GMT -5
Hitoshi shrugged one shoulder, scrubbing the remains off of one of the plates. "A little nervous," he replied quietly. "I have a feeling I'm over-analyzing most of what your parents say, but at the same time, I'm fairly certain that they're looking for something, or..." He trailed off, scratching at a spot of sauce that was stubbornly clinging to the ceramic.
"Maybe I'm just being paranoid," he replied, shaking his head. He smirked. "I'm not much good at reading people who don't have ulterior motives."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 8:29:34 GMT -5
"'Or' what?" Alex grinned. He set out a fresh towel underneath the dishrack and started running the water so it would get hot, waiting for Hitoshi to finish one. "And they're... kind of not sure how to treat you, I think. As one of my friends, or as someone they need to, uhm, check out."
"They're not too weird about the whole..." he gestured between himself and Hitoshi, "thing, but they're a little overprotective about it. Not sure why." He took a plate and started rinsing. "I'm not that good at reading them either."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 8:38:34 GMT -5
It was comforting to know that Alex had trouble with them as well. Hopefully that meant that it wasn't just his nerves that were keeping him from being able to figure them out.
"I feel a little like I'm being scrutinized, though that's probably more just that I'm used to the sort of treatment Tristan's always given Hitomi's boyfriends," he replied, washing off one of the glasses.
"Tristan's still not sure how to treat you. He's trying to decide whether to treat you the same as he's always treated Hitomi's boyfriends, treat you like he would if you were a girl, or just treat you like he would treat any other person Rivienne tacked on to the family." He snorted. "I know he doesn't actually have a problem with it, but he doesn't have the first clue how he's supposed to deal with it. He's mostly just ignoring it right now."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 8:47:36 GMT -5
"I notice your uncle is... not a social person." Alex chuckled. "Most of your family isn't, really, outside of maybe Rudy, and he's not really good at it. I'd have to guess you get your skills from whoever your father is."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 8:57:20 GMT -5
Hitoshi faltered, dropping the glass back into the water and splashing soap suds all over both of them. "My mother was very sociable, from what I remember of her," he replied coolly, "and so is Rivienne. I doubt my father has anything to do with it."
Hitoshi fished the glass back out of the water, scrubbing the glass with single-minded focus.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 9:03:50 GMT -5
"I. Uhm. Sorry." Alex blinked, wide-eyed, then looked away. "Damnit..." he mumbled.
For all the amusement over how their respective guardians seemed to be having trouble understanding how to deal with the situation, Alex wasn't having that much better luck figuring Hitoshi out.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 9:13:42 GMT -5
Hitoshi sighed, passing the glass off to Alex. "It's fine," he replied. "It's just...a weird subject."
Hitoshi was quiet for a moment, slowly running the sponge around the edge of a more or less clean plate. "The only person in my family who ever said anything about my father was Tristan," he explained, "and what little he's said was negative. My mother used to say that she'd tell me about it when I got older, but that obviously not going to happen now. At this point, I'm not sure I even care who he is or why he was never around. "
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 9:18:51 GMT -5
"You... seem angry. I don't want to bug you, though." Alex waited for Hitoshi to pass him more dishes, and turned down the water a little. "What would you want to talk about?"
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 9:26:13 GMT -5
Hitoshi shrugged and handed the plate to Alex. "I'm not angry," he said, "at least not at you. I don't want you to worry about it."
Hitoshi fished out the last of the dishes from the bottom of the sink, most of which was silverware. "Just something slightly happier, which means it's probably better to stick to topics about you," he replied. "You know, I don't really know that much about your family, but you know quite a lot about mine."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 21, 2009 18:20:02 GMT -5
"Oh? What did..." Alex looked a little surprised, then thought back. "...I guess I haven't. There isn't much to tell, I mean. I've got two parents, three older brothers, four nieces and nephews by the eldest, an aunt in Eugene we don't really see, and a great-uncle from Germany who lives in Britain somewhere, who we saw once when I was five."
"Oh. And as you can probably tell from the complete lack of family resemblance even given the albino thing, I'm adopted." Alex shrugged.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 21, 2009 20:38:01 GMT -5
Hitoshi raised an eyebrow, turning and leaning against the counter as Alex finished rising the last few things. "I hadn't realized," he replied pensively. "Though I guess I'm not too surprised, given. Usually..." Hitoshi glanced around, making sure Alex's parents weren't within earshot. "Usually magic tends to run in families, so most people tend to at least have some strange obscure relative with it or something."
Of course, that did beg an excellent question: was Hitoshi's father a mage of some sort? It was possible, he supposed... Though not necessarily the case, given the fact that his grandmother was quite skilled in magic, and his uncle. And Hitomi hadn't shown any major magical talents, so it could have just skipped a generation on his mother and his aunt. And it wasn't as though it mattered at all in the long run, really, whether his father was a mage or a werewolf, or even a penniless hermit.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 22, 2009 2:42:30 GMT -5
"'Hadn't realized'." Alex chuckled. "You think that's the case? Well, maybe... Not like I'd know."
He stuck the last plate in the dishrack and turned to Hitoshi. "Want to watch a movie or something? We also have a lot of board games."
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