Family Portrait (Phoenix)

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November 27, 2014: Thanksgiving Evening

It was a slip of the tongue. A moment of madness. Because Derek in no way condoned his son's relationship with that boy. That boy who was responsible for leaving bruises all over Phen's face. And whose absence put him in the hospital. What kind of b-boyfriend was he, to do that to--?

No, the issue here was that he was a boy, a male, and Derek certainly did not approve of that. He'd thought that Phen would have grown out of it, given enough time. That his time away from that boy would have weaned him away from such attachments, and that exposure to the things which made one a real man would have cured Phoenix of his meek and sensitive and unassertive attitude. Unfortunately, three months later, Phoenix was still the feminine child he'd been when Derek took him in. And he was still somehow obsessed with this Oriel character! This aggravated Derek absolutely to no end!

And yet, somehow, as casually as if he were asking the weather, while they were sitting at supper one night, Derek posed the question to his son. "Do you want to invite your partner to Thanksgiving dinner?" As soon as those words left his lips, he immediately wanted to take them back! Why would Derek even want that boy in the same country as him, much less the same house!?

Derek hadn't retracted it though, nor did he reveal his personal distress over it, like a proper person ought to. Of course he knew what Phen's answer would be. What was he expecting? Derek had nodded and simply said, "We'll have to find you some more appropriate attire for the occasion, then" as he ate his kimchi.

More clothes. With money they should've been spending on food. Well, he did that too. Oriel seemed like he ate well, so an extra large turkey would probably be enough....WAIT NO THAT WASN'T THE POINT! The point was that this scenario - Derek sitting across from that child at the same dinner table with his son between them - was not something he ever wanted to experience!

And yet here they were, with a very overcooked bird as the centerpiece, with less than fully cooked vegetables in a bowl off to the side, another holding mashed potatoes that was riddled with peels, and another of stuffing that came from a "family pack" box from the supermarket. His face remained cold as he locked eyes with the person seated across from him.

"Son," he said, his hostile gaze unwavering. "Would you please pass the potatoes?"

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Phoenix wasn't sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, he was giddy for the chance to spend more time with Oriel after the whole incident and being forced to stay apart and blah blah blah... And it was the holiday season, one of Phen's favorite times of the year, so that made things even better.

Well... As better as they could be, at least. Phoenix felt a little cramped and stuffy in the clothes he was wearing as they sat at the table, and also felt himself sinking lower and lower into his chair the longer the night went on. He shouldn't have said yes. He should have just said he and Oriel had other plans alone for the night and they could do it some other time...!

But nope, he was stuck here between the two glaring men, wishing he could melt into the floor and disappear. No, he couldn't do that, because then the two would have no reason not to try and kill the other. Phoenix was half-heartedly fiddling with the food on his plate and thinking about these things when his father spoke, and the pixie jumped, taking a moment to absorb what he'd asked. "O-oh, yes, sure," he said hurriedly, grabbing the bowl and struggling to lift it up and over to the older man. Once he sat it down, Phen curled inwards on himself again, sliding his gaze over to his fiance. "So, um..." He cleared his throat. "We have a lot of stuff t'do t'get ready for the wedding, huh?" he asked quietly, meekly, hoping neither of the two would snap at him for daring to speak up.

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Oriel wasn’t going to kill him. At least, not yet. No…no no, he wasn’t allowed to kill Phoenix’s dad, after all he did bother to invite Oriel, his own son’s fiancee, over to a holiday dinner, right? It was…flattering, right? It should have been. No, it was….Oriel had mixed feelings about it. He only loved half the company, but…still, this was the first Thanksgiving dinner he’d had set up so formally in…well, in a long, long time. Hammel dinners didn’t count, they always put up some sort of spread for the students, but the last “official” dinner had been cooked on an open fire out in the cold of New York City. Before that, was at the group foster home prior to him ending up at the Stawson’s, the failure of a family that just used Oriel as a cash cow.

So this was..nice…being here with Phoenix was nice. Being here with that man was not. Oriel was certain that if he let his guard down, he might end up shanked in the back when he least expected.

So Oriel kept his eyes fixed on the man sitting across from him, wondering what his game was. Why had he invited the bane of his livelihood into his home and allowed Oriel to even sit at the same table as him? It didn’t make sense! Unless he was finally coming around….? Yeah, right.

Oriel sent Phoenix a soft smile when he spoke up to break the tense silence. Leave it to him to sooth the fierce lion. Though it seemed like the older man at the table became even more tense upon being reminded of the fact that his son was now engaged to a man. Oriel almost thought he was going to pop a vein. “Yeah…most important thing I think is,” he started, sliding his hand over to catch his love’s, rubbing his fingers affectionately over Phoenix’s palm and between his fingers. “Who gets to wear the dress?” Oriel didn’t care much about anything else. He didn’t need anything big. Oriel wondered who they could get to officiate? Who’d walk who down the aisle? What color flowers did they want at the reception? And about a million other things that Oriel didn’t know about weddings that needed to be done…guess Phoenix was right, there was a lot of stuff to get ready. He gave Phoenix’s hand a squeeze as he nommed on gravy-covered turkey with his free hand. Yum. He smiled up at his host. "Thanks for the food, Mr. Phoenix's Dad, sir!" Oriel didn't know his name.

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Couldn’t his boy even pass a heavy bowl from one end of the table to the other without making a show of how weak he was? Derek gripped it in one large hand and took it from Phoenix, holding back a frustrated sigh at his son’s folly.

His son…who had to bring up the single subject(no not the only one) that Derek did not want to discuss. He felt like he would end up bending his silver utensil right there in his hand from the sheer tension of his fingers. And then that boy…he was only provoking the older man, wasn’t he? With the talk of putting his son in a dress(he didn’t say that!).

Derek would try to be civil, but it was all he had to simply keep from taking the child by the collar and throwing him out on the street. Derek glared at the boy as he addressed him so flippantly. He remembered Percie’s words, that minx of a woman, trying to train the intolerable man into being a better and more “understanding” parent. Thus far, it was mostly just Derek keeping himself from spitting the venom he wanted to at the delinquent who had trapped his son in a promise of matrimony. “I don’t…think you will have to worry about any of that for a long while,” he cut in, a slight strain in his voice. “After all, you’re both just children…you wouldn’t want to rush into anything, after all, before you’re ready.” He fed more on his ill-tasting spread. Derek really should have gotten a woman to come in and concoct this meal. “How do either of you expect to take care of yourselves?” he challenged sternly.

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Phoenix hadn’t had a proper Thanksgiving meal in… Well, ever, if you had a certain image of what that was. His mom had always just brought a bunch of Chinese and Korean food home from work that was leftover from the day, mostly, and they would eat as much as they could between the two of them. Phen looked back on those days with fondness, though. He knew how hard his mom had tried, she just… Could only do so much. It was only now, when he was old enough to understand, that he appreciated her hard work so much.

He winced slightly, seeing the look on his dad’s face as he handed him the bowl, and Phoenix’s shoulders slumped slightly as he picked up his fork and started fiddling with it again. Fortunately, he peeked at Oriel at the right moment, and managed to feel a little better seeing him smiling at him. A small blush rose on his cheeks as the younger boy grasped his hand, and grew even darker at the ‘important’ question. “I-I kinda wanted t’wear a nice suit,” he said meekly, shooting a quick glance over at his dad. “And…. Well…. I mean, you look good in anythin’, so….” Phoenix trailed off, finally taking a bite of something if only to keep himself from saying something one of them might get after him for. He couldn’t please them both, could he?

He winced at the name Oriel called his father. Had Phoenix forgotten to tell him what his name was? Probably. He swallowed hard and went mute again, until his dad spoke. Phen’s gaze darted up to him, wincing more at what he said. “W-well, yeah, um…. I th-think we should b-both be graduated first, at least,” he mumbled, swirling his fork in the mashed potatoes. Another glance at Oriel. At the challenge, Phoenix felt slightly more confident. “And, um, well, I’m w-working, at least, s-so I have some money saved up. W-we’ll just rent a small apartment until we c-can afford somethin’ else.” He smiled a little wider and squeezed Oriel’s hand. “I’m not worried about him takin’ care of me. He does that better than I take care of myself.” Like anyone here didn’t know that. Phoenix’s eyes fell once again, staring at his barely eaten plate. I’m full, he wanted to add, but he knew how incredibly rude that would be, so he just sat there, feeling a weird mix of warmth and anxiety.

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Oriel really did look good in anything, didn’t he?? And if that’s how Phoenix wanted to play it, then he could totally be the groom. Making Oriel the bride, eh-heh-heh. He’d be lying if he said that the prospect of drag-queening throughout his whole wedding didn’t just give him shivers of excitement. Oriel squeezed Phoenix’s hand for the nth time of the evening. “Okay, I get the dress then…but it’d be nice to wear a suit too…maybe I should get both? How much would that cost?” he wondered. "How should I do my hair?" Oriel turned his attention to Mr. Daddy, as if he had the answer.

“Mr. Daddy” was too busy pretending to not hear the conversation.

Oriel…wasn’t sure if he remembered his name. Something with a D. And for that, Oriel automatically called him “dickbag” in his mind. But ‘Mr. Daddy’, ‘Mr. Phoenix’s Dad’, ‘old man’…they were good enough for him. For now.

Similarly, Derek didn’t know what he would be comfortable with having this…eyesore address him as. The though of him calling Derek by his first name positively sickened him, yet he didn’t think the boy had enough intelligence or respect to call him Mr. Seong. So he just left it. For now.

Derek was pleased to hear that this wouldn’t take place(if it took place), until the both of them were well graduated from high school. That at least gave them time to figure out and learn exactly what Derek was talking about. Which wasn’t what his son was talking about. “There is that, and I’m…pleased to hear it, but tell me, do either of you know how to manage a bank account? How to pay and set up for electricity and gas? Have either of you built any credit under your name? You’ll need to, in order to rent, especially at your age, otherwise you’ll be denied outright.” Derek set down his utensil and finally looked upon both of the boys. “Do you even know what a 1040 form is?” He was certain that neither boy even knew the basics of tax filing.

Oriel, as expected, just stared defiantly at the older man, though it was true. He had no idea how to do any of that. “We’ll figure it out,” he jabbed. Oriel turned back to Phoenix. “Right?”