Time Warp: Comfort Where We Overlap

[Joshua Bernstein]

June 1980

---

The apartment was sweltering in the New York City summer heat. The roof of the apartment building was only slightly better, but with an umbrella propped against the doorway to shelter them from the direct rays of the sun, sunglasses, and no shirts it at least felt slightly more like a vacation. That was the best that could be done for the moment; Josh had summer classes, which meant no trips away from the heat, not unless Sean went alone.

Josh wasn't sure he would have been able to stand that.

Instead, after some very brief attempt at studying he had set aside his books.

"It's too hot to even think," he declared, leaning back with his head against his hands. "Let's do something else."

He only took the briefest moment to ponder that. "Like, what do you think fictional couples think about one another? What do they think about on dates? Do you think Romeo and Juliet would look up at the clouds, if their families hadn't hated each other? And said, oh, that one looks like Mercutio. And that one looks like a monk's tonsure."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Summer in New York necessarily involved humidity. Intense humidity coupled with an early heat wave, and their poor air conditioner couldn’t keep up. Neither could the fans. Opening every window in their apartment did little good, and Sea had resigned himself to wearing a bathing suit and nothing else around the house.

This had resulted in them taking beverages up to the roof of the building, in hopes of benefitting from whatever wind was around them. That proved only somewhat successful. He’d brought a book up to the roof to read while his boyfriend studied, but the younger boy’s question snapped him from the paragraph on which he had been focused.

“They knew each other for about four days,” the telepath replied, which was to say that, unlike many people in the world, he had never found Romeo and Juliet particularly romantic. He told nobody this opinion of his, because he didn’t like to disappoint other people. “If their families hadn’t hated each other, they probably wouldn’t have liked each other. They might even have been forced to get married and Juliet might have fallen for Benvolio.”

Perhaps somebody would write that treatise one day.

However, the topic that Josh raised was an interesting one, and the telepath was eager to play along. “I think Ilsa and Victor had a son and named him Rick.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh managed to look offended at Sean's comment about the brevity of Romeo and Juliet's ill-fated romance.

"I knew I liked you within four days!" He replied with a frown. "I also thought you were straight."

However, the idea of the young couple being arranged to marry one another and being miserable certainly held appeal as an alternate telling, he thought as he reached for his drink. He took a slow sip while Sean brought up a different, more adult couple.

"That's romantic," he laughed, setting his beverage aside. "I wonder if Rick ever found anyone after Ilsa."

It was perhaps more likely that he'd gotten killed, but that wasn't a happy thought, and he only wanted happy thoughts while up on the roof with his boyfriend.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“I knew you liked me within four days, too.” That was not a romantic declaration but a function of Sean’s telepathy. Josh’s thoughts had been very loud, and, when Sean himself had developed a reciprocal crush on the younger boy, the result had been deep soul-searching, because the telepath had also believed himself to be straight.

He had been wrong.

He had never been happier to be wrong.

The past year-and-a-half as Josh’s boyfriend had been the happiest of his life so far. Even with being in the closet and the great pains they took to conceal the true depths of their relationship to their friends and to the outside world.

“But love grows, and so it has to develop.” That was Sean’s philosophy when it came to love and romantic relationships. He loved Josh, but that love came from the initial crush and attraction, which, while nice, didn’t compare with what he felt now. He loved Josh more with each passing day.

“He probably met another ex-pat, and they were able to get married after the War.” It was more likely that Rick died, due simply to statistics, but that didn’t befit the hero of the story. It was nicer to imagine that he had lived and had a family, just as it was nicer to assume that everything worked out with Ilsa and Victor.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh's conviction that Sean was The Smartest Person He Knew was confirmed once more with the older boy's keen observations regarding the nature of love. That was such a wise thing to say, the sort of thing that philosophers and elderly mentors would say, probably in a mysterious manner. He hoped that Sean was right as much as he believed that he was; because he could think of nothing more delightful than to continue down this trajectory towards more and more love.

"Married with a family. I hope he did. Let's say he did."

Although marriage wasn't exactly something that he longed for himself, since it wasn't available to him with Sean. Oh, he'd been convinced he would get married, and have a few children, but he had also been sure he was going to resist any romantic entanglements with anyone he was attracted to.

And look how that had turned out.

But he wouldn't have it any other way, and now...now that he'd tasted a true romantic relationship, he didn't think he could stand a sham marriage.

"What about Helen and Paris? Do you think she went with him because she was in love with him, or because she was his prize? I don't think being a prize would be very fun..."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean still had expectations that Josh’s unrealistic opinions would eventually fall by the wayside. After all, this was his boyfriend’s first relationship, and there was an age gap, and so it made sense that he would behave this way, particularly with how passionate and excitable he could be. Eventually, when the newness of their relationship wore off, he expected Josh to view him less idealistically. The young telepath expected that Josh would eventually see his flaws and would love him despite them, just as Sean did with the younger boy.

This was what he told himself.

“Let’s say he did,” the telepath agreed with a nod. He wanted that for Rick, and it was easy enough to assume that for the hero of Casablanca.

Sean had once assumed that he would get married, and he had wanted that. He was Irish Catholic. He’d viewed himself as straight for several years. Now he was with Josh, and they couldn’t get married, and that was fine. They’d made a life together, and he was so happy; marriage didn’t matter, because he was already so happy with what they had.

Then Josh drew his attention to a different, more complicated couple. “She was bewitched by Aphrodite as part of the bargain, so I think there was love there, but I don’t think it was real.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh clinked his glass against the concrete beside his legs. The ice had all melted, leaving him with a watered down lemonade. He craned his neck to look over at Sean's beverage to see if he needed to go back to their apartment for refills.

"It doesn't count if it's bewitched," he agreed, rubbing his forearm against his face, slightly nudging his sunglasses upwards in his attempt to wipe sweat away. "She was supposed to live happily with Menelaus, though, so he must have understood about Aphrodite. Which is nice of him. It would be pretty bad if you got bewitched into leaving someone, and then when you weren't bewitched anymore they blamed you."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean caught the glance and overheard his boyfriend’s thought. He shook his head and lifted his glass to show that there were still some shards of ice (mere remnants of the once-mighty cubes they had contained) to cool his beverage. More importantly, he didn’t want to go inside at the moment, and he also didn’t want to interrupt their conversation. If the younger boy felt the need for renewed ice or liquid, then that was another matter, but the telepath was fine as he was.

It didn’t count if it was bewitched, anymore than consent to a contract by fraud counted as informed consent. There were rules, and willing participation was chief among them. He nodded along with Josh’s remark, before he added, “It’s important to understand. And given how much magic and other supernatural interference they lived with daily, I think it’s reasonable to expect that your husband would know the difference.”

Which was to say that while Sean had no reason to believe anyone with mind control or pheromone manipulation would interact with Josh and abuse their powers, the telepath would forgive his boyfriend immediately in such a situation. Just as being entranced by Aphrodite for Paris’s sake wasn’t Helen’s fault, nor would that be Josh’s fault.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh caught the gesture, and settled back against the concrete. His back was nearly sticking to it, anyway, and so he was sure that peeling himself off would be uncomfortable at best. Better to remain where he was for the moment; perhaps as the sun began to set the humidity would become somewhat more tolerable.

"That's a valid point." He conceded, having not thought about it from the angle of regular supernatural interference. But of course Sean would think about that.

"Paris should have known better than to accept bewitching people into liking him, anyway. Then he got all those other people involved. Like Ulysses. It's amazing Penelope waited for him as long as she did."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

It was too hot to move. Sean was glad that Josh had reached a similar conclusion, since that meant that they could continue their conversation uninterrupted. While the telepath was perfectly capable of sharing his boyfriend with the world at large, with his classes, with their friends, and with Josh’s family, he cherished every moment that they spent together. Not having to share him with the trek back to their apartment for more ice and lemonade was nice, especially when it was much easier to lounge where they were to combat the heat wave.

Life at Hammel, and the constant presence of his telepath made Sean sensitive to such matters. He was glad to have the insight to share with the younger boy.

“He should have,” the telepath agreed with a hearty nod. He had strong opinions about ethical use of one’s powers, and kidnapping a woman as a war prize and starting a war as a testament to one’s ego and narcissism did not occupy the same realm as ethics.

He then smiled at his boyfriend’s remark about Penelope. “It is amazing, but she’s an inspiration to us all.”

Sean found her patience and trust inspirational. He hoped that he and Josh weren’t separated for twenty years due to some horrible event, but he believed, and hoped, that he was capable of waiting for the younger boy the way that Penelope had waited for Odysseus.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"She is. And to think she didn't even know if he would come back!"

Josh thought this was rather impressive of her; although he was sure that he would wait for Sean regardless, but after twenty years with no word he also didn't think she could have been blamed had she chosen one of her suitors.

"It's sad for all those other men, though. None of their lovers got to see them again..."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean agreed that that was what made Penelope’s waiting the most impressive: the uncertainty. If she had known that Odysseus was coming home for certain, than the waiting became easier. If she had known that he had died, and thus there was no reason for her to wait, then the waiting transformed into mourning, which was different. But not to know, and thus to wait for twenty years in uncertainty...perhaps hope made it easier. Either way, she had the telepath’s greatest admiration for her emotional strength and for her dedication to her husband.

Of course, he wouldn’t have blamed her if she had accepted another suitor after twenty years, because of the long wait and the uncertainty. That she hadn’t made her inspirational, but if she had, she would not be wrong to have done so.

He nodded in sympathy at his boyfriend’s remark, frowning slightly in empathy. “It’s very sad, but that’s Greek tragedy for you. Almost nobody gets to be happy.”

He didn’t want to think of sudden death or a curse taking him from Josh, or the younger boy from him. It was too tragic and depressing to contemplate. He shook his head to ward off the thoughts.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh felt similarly, and he shivered at the thought. "I'm glad we don't live in a Greek tragedy, then." He smiled over at Sean before reaching out the hand nearest to his boyfriend.

"So many famous fictional couples end in tragedy, though. It's almost more difficult to think of people who end up living happily together. Desdemona and Othello, which...I can't believe he would kill her even if he did think she was having an affair."

Another shiver, despite the heat.

"Help me think of some happier couples, I'm failing."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“Me too.” Sean returned the smile and stretched his arm (longer than Josh’s) to meet the younger boy’s. He clasped it firmly, and, was it not for the physical distance between them, he would bring it to his lips. However, doing so would yank Josh out of his position, and there was no reason to do that at all, and certainly not in this sweltering heat.

“Tragic romances get most of the attention.” That was Sean’s perspective, and the telepathy certainly helped him understand why, although he was so happy with Josh that all he wanted to focus on were relationships that had a happy ending. “I would never do that to anyone.” Not that he thought Josh needed such a reminder about Sean’s basic human decency, but that was simpler than getting into a conversation about masculine ideals and cultural expectations and fidelity and gender double standards.

Then Josh requested happier couples, which banished all thoughts of Desdemona and Othello completely.

“Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were a happy couple until the divorce, and even then, they parted as the closest of friends.” The telepath didn’t want to, and couldn’t contemplate, breaking up at this stage in his life and love. However, that was how his relationship with Maggie had ended, and how he’d ended with his girlfriends in college: as friends. That was important to him.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"I know you wouldn't." Josh laughed, eagerly entangling his fingers with Sean's. The idea of his pacifist boyfriend harming anyone for any reason was absurd at best; and given that the older boy had no temper to speak of it was also impossible to imagine him involved in any crimes of passion.

"Not that I would have an affair, either, so we won't ever have to test that." He added, in case that even needed saying. He was far too smitten to even consider anyone else, and he was sure that Sean knew this. It wasn't as if it was a very well-kept secret, especially not between the two of them.

The newest couple under discussion elicited a frown. That wasn't entirely what he'd meant when he'd requested a happy couple. "But they didn't stay together. That doesnt' count."