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Title: Of Mice and Men
Fandoms: Castle, Fables
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst, Fantasy, Humor, Romance
Details: Slash, genre!crack, AU, crack, unsolicited crossover, fairy tales, talking animals, author insanity, shades of "omfg what did I just write?", unbetad.
Characters/Pairings: Castle—Javier Esposito/Kevin Ryan, Kate Beckett. Fables—Bigby Wolf, Frau Totenkinder, Reynard, Rose Red, Bagheera, others. OCs.
Chapters/Wordcount: 3,011
Summary: In which a city mouse visits the country, which predictably leads to trouble and (in no particular order) revelations, relations and reciprocation; a funeral and a shotgun wedding; and Javier almost gets eaten by a panther.
Note: This was going to be another long-ass chapter, but I decided to split it into parts. Apologies that it's taken this long to get the next one out there. Oh, and it also has mood swings like crazy, and just generally makes no sense (so, kind of like me in that respect).
Chapter Six: Relatively Relative
(In which proper introductions take place, and it's all painfully civil—though just as painfully embarrassing.)
Twigleaf cornered Kevin on the stairs very early the next morning. He was fully cognizant of how absurd that might have sounded to anyone else, but the fact was that outrage knew no minimum size, and Kevin knew his cousin had every right to be angry with him. Not that Twig had decided to simply say so, of course. On the surface, all Twigleaf was really telling him were the details of the preparations that had been put together for the wedding, but that didn't mean he wasn't perfectly capable of making his ire known, all the same.
After dwelling with their oversized neighbors for so many centuries, passive aggression was something many of the Farm's smaller Fables—and mice in particular—had managed to elevate to a fine art.
"Anyway, the funeral is set to happen around nine o'clock," Twig was saying, pacing along the banister to vent his frustrations as he spoke. "Rose thinks it should all be over by noon at the latest, and then the you can get yourself hitched, run off back to the City with your Mundane and forget the Farm all over again."
The words hurt like a physical blow—worse, because they stung completely out of proportion to anything else his cousin could have mustered. Because it was a sentiment Kevin had heard from plenty of others—too many others—but not one he had ever thought he would hear from Twigleaf.
"I haven't forgotten anything," Kevin said, and there was tightness in his lungs that made his voice sound very small. "I haven't. I just—"
And Kevin felt helpless at that moment, with no clear way to express his frustration.
Twigleaf's ears were pressed back in distress enough for the both of them, and his tail curled around his feet, and Kevin had to resist the urge to go down to his knees beside the bannister to put them eye to eye. Because it didn't feel right looming over his cousin like this, but kneeling wouldn't have felt right either, and more than anything else about being back here he hated that—hated never feeling right. Because that was the sharp note of censure always implicit in their accusations that he had forgotten—
That he hadn't just forgotten the Farm or those that lived there, but that he had forgotten himself—what he used to be—as well.
Kevin hadn't—he honestly hadn't—but he also couldn't lie and say he wasn't enjoying his life in his new skin. And there was a world of difference between forgetting something because it meant nothing to you and trying not to think about it because it simply hurt too much, but he knew it would have been impossible to frame that in any way that others might actually believe...
"I haven't forgotten the Farm, Twig," Kevin said wearily, hoarsely, resting his weight on his arms as he leaned against the bannister beside his cousin, "and I especially haven't forgotten you. You're one of the few things left here that it doesn't kill me to still think about. And I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch like I used to, it's just—"
He hesitated, but the momentum was built up, and if he couldn't tell Twigleaf then there was no one he could tell—not when Javier was so close to it himself—and he suddenly found himself saying it all at once.
"God, Twig, just...just so many crazy things blew up on me this past year," Kevin said, finally. "There was this cold case that opened up that was close to a friend of ours, and Javi and I got kidnapped and tortured because of it, and we found out that our captain was involved, and then he got killed, and our friend almost died, and I was so desperate to hold onto something good that I almost—"
Kevin cut off with a ragged sigh. Relevant or not, right now he couldn't afford to confuse things by bringing up the way he had let Jenny mess with his head. He shook his head with a helpless laugh.
"It's been a rough time for me," Kevin finished, weakly. "For us."
A few seconds slid past in silence before Twigleaf spoke.
"It doesn't sound like he takes very good care of you," his cousin said, unhappily, though he sounded somewhat mollified.
Kevin looked over at him and saw his cousin looking back questioningly, the tension from earlier relaxed. Kevin couldn't help but smile.
"He takes excellent care of me," Kevin countered softly. "I don't know what I'd even do without Javier."
"Then I should get to meet him," Twigleaf insisted carefully.
And there was a note of hurt in his voice, but also a cautious curiosity, and Kevin realized that was what had upset Twigleaf in the first place. Because Kevin had been doing his best to keep Javier as separate from the others as possible, and Twigleaf must have thought he was ashamed of him. But even with that revelation, Kevin found himself torn—not liking the idea of blowing his cousin off, but uncertain how Javier might handle that.
"I just don't know if it's the best time, Twig," Kevin said. "He's a Mundane. They can be—fragile. I know he doesn't look it, and he'd probably kick my ass if he heard me say that, but it's true. I'm just... I'm worried this is going to wind up being too much for him."
Because Kevin knew that, at the beginning, it very nearly had been.
"Just...just give us some time, okay?" Kevin said. It was the only promise he could make, and he owed his cousin at least that much.
Twigleaf seemed to consider this for a moment before he gave a slight nod.
"Alright," Twigleaf said finally. "I can come back later. I still have some wedding errands to run in Smalltown anyway."
And with that, Twig was down the bannister again, leaving Kevin to go about the few hours he had left to spare that morning in a dubious sort of peace.
Javier was still asleep when Kevin returned to his room. Rather than risk waking him, Kevin took a seat in the chair and took a moment to gather his thoughts. It was kind of funny, but it really wasn't until that moment that the reality of the upcoming wedding really impacted on him—like he had been so busy making sure Javier didn't freak out about it that he hadn't given himself the chance for a proper freakout of his own.
Which...was legitimately ridiculous, given that they had shared the bed last night.
After everything Javier had been through the day before, no way had Kevin been about to let him take the floor, but Javier had argued he had caused Kevin enough trouble already. With neither willing to let the other suffer, they had been forced to compromise. Oddly, Javier had been the more resistant of the two of them. Kevin would have expected it to be the other way around, though in hindsight he supposed it did make sense. Just because Javier was bisexual didn't mean he had ever thought of Kevin that way, and given their friendship and the pretense they were currently working under, Kevin could understand the situation being awkward.
At least Javier seemed to have slept peacefully.
Kevin waited for as long as he could before waking him. He would have liked to let him sleep, but Kevin would need to get ready for the funeral soon, and he hated to think of Javier waking without him. He had been worried that Javier might freak out again, or that he would need to be convinced again that the day before hadn't been a dream. But though that last had actually proven a necessity, it had taken a lot less effort than Kevin had thought it might. Once Javier had Kevin's reassurance he seemed to take the rest, if not quite in stride, then certainly very well.
Though Kevin soon discovered that Twigleaf had apparently decided that "later" meant while Kevin was in the shower.
It had been kind of an unusual shock, returning from the bathroom down the hall to find the two of them in the middle of conversation—Twigleaf sitting on the bed, and Javier on the floor beside it having put himself at eye-level—though not exactly an unpleasant one. The interaction between them was noticeably awkward, but, from what little Kevin saw, surprisingly successful, and he couldn't help but find his partner's efforts remarkably touching. Not that he would have expected to find Javier up on a chair like a sitcom housewife, Kevin was simply surprised by this meeting of two parts of his life he would never have imagined could coexist peacefully.
"Javier was telling me how you met," Twigleaf filled in helpfully as Kevin closed the door behind him. "You didn't tell me you were partners at work, too."
Kevin cast a surprised glance at his partner.
"I figured if my being here was such a big deal, the Fables down in the city are probably going to check anyway," Javier said.
Kevin couldn't fault that. It made sense.
"Actually they probably already have," Kevin said, after thinking about it a moment.
Which meant that, once they were done here, he and Javier would have to make sure to see things through in Fabletown as soon as possible.
"Anyway, I thought you had errands?" Kevin said, raising an eyebrow at his cousin. "How did you manage to get back from Smalltown so fast?"
"Reynard gave me a lift," Twigleaf said. "You have no idea how excited he is about all this."
But Kevin could imagine. He managed to bite back a groan—though the topic brought another question to mind.
"I know gossip in the Farm's probably already gotten stupid, but how bad is it in Smalltown?" Kevin asked, not really sure he wanted the answer.
Twigleaf made an unhappy noise, confirming his worries.
"The Lilliputians I talked to, it's about what you'd expect, with them being all stodgy and calling it a scandal. As usual. Opinions are more varied among the animal Fables there. Most just think its bizarre."
Kevin echoed his own unhappy noise, and saw Javier wince in sympathy.
"Though," Twigleaf said suddenly, voice taking a cheerier note, "you should expect to see Arrow and a few of his birds at the wedding, at least."
"Oh?"
Kevin was surprised at that. Pleasantly surprised. Though, on second thought, perhaps he shouldn't have been. Arrow's guard had always kept aloof from most of the Farms issues.
"Who's Arrow?" Javier asked, having clearly noticed Kevin's reaction.
"Captain Arrow is a falcon. He runs the Farm's...aerial defenses," Kevin told him. "His birds have always had a close tie to Smalltown. If Arrow's coming... People have a lot of respect for him."
Kevin knew he certainly did.
"Don't hawks and things eat mice?" Javier asked curiously.
Twigleaf tensed, and even thought Kevin knew he really should have seen it coming he couldn't help but wince. And he was at a loss to explain either reaction, but fortunately Javier was more than capable of reading the changed energy in the room.
"I just broke some kind of weird rule, didn't I?" Javier asked awkwardly.
"Not so much a rule as...kind of an etiquette thing?" Kevin said.
"Don't worry," Twigleaf said, moving to pat Javier sympathetically on the arm. "No one expects a Mundy to know these things. Anyway, we're family."
And Kevin was oddly proud of his partner when Javier didn't even twitch.
"I'll make sure and explain the Compact better before we get back to the city," Kevin told him slowly, "but a big part of it is that crimes against other Fables back in the Homelands have been pardoned. Talking about them is considered...kind of rude?"
Javier nodded slowly at that, clearly filing it away for later, and by unspoken agreement that was the last they said about that.
Kevin still had to get ready, and now that he was convinced interacting with his cousin wasn't about to send Javier plummeting over the edge he had teetered so close to the day before, he let them talk as he went about his business.
By now, he really should have known better...
"Acorn?" he heard Javier ask a short time later, amused confusion in his voice.
Kevin turned around to see his partner's eyebrow raised perilously. He decided to head him off at the pass.
"It's a family name," Kevin told him firmly, with just a hint of warning.
"Oh, of course," Javier quickly agreed with a nod, clearly ready to forget he'd said anything.
But then Twigleaf had to speak...
"I don't know why anyone'd expect me to call him by his Mundane name," Twigleaf said, indignantly. "He has to change it every few decades anyway...I'd never manage to keep it straight."
And Kevin managed not to react, hoping that his cousin's words and their casual tone might go unnoticed, but he watched Javier go slightly still, and Kevin knew his partner was turning them over in his head.
"Kevin..." Javier asked, slowly. "How old are you?"
"That's...kind of a complicated question," Kevin hedged, turning away to concentrate on his tie.
And it wasn't like he was pretending to have trouble focusing on what he was doing, because he could feel Javier's eyes on the back of his head, and that made it almost impossible to form the knot properly.
"Kevin."
Kevin gave up and turned around with a sigh.
"Look...I don't know," he admitted. "Not exactly. Time worked a little different in the Homelands."
"But you were born there," Javier reasoned slowly, nudging.
When Kevin didn't answer right away, after a few moments Javier prodded with another question.
"How long have you been here?" Javier asked.
Kevin let out a slow breath.
"I think it was...maybe the mid-1840s?" Kevin managed quietly, after a bit of thought. "I spent around ninety years in Smalltown before I moved on... I've been human for more than seventy."
He watched Javier's silence carefully, his heart starting to pound, because if this was it—if this was the moment he lost his best friend—he didn't know if he could ever recover.
"Look, Javier, I—" Kevin's voice cracked just a little. "I can't help being what I am. If that's going to be a problem..."
If it was...Kevin didn't know what, but, thankfully, it didn't look like he would have to find out.
"No, it's not a problem," Javier said quickly, sounding almost surprised with that. "Maybe it feels like it should be, but it's not..."
Javier shook his head, somewhat dazed.
"Maybe I've just had so many shocks in the past three days that I'm all shocked out," Javier said, ticking a faint smile.
Of course, having surmounted that particular hurdle, Twigleaf apparently decided it was time for full induction into the family—which, when Kevin saw his cousin's short dash for the tiny bag he had brought with him, was met with a dramatic groan.
"Really, Twig? Now?"
"Isn't this the done thing when meeting the family?" Twigleaf challenged archly, though he looked at Javier as he said it.
And now Kevin was absolutely certain that this was some odd form of revenge.
Javier, for his part, seemed vaguely bewildered—it probably had something to do with being presented with a stack of photo albums that were each the size of a postage stamp. Kevin thought his partner's "all shocked out" theory was no doubt being put to the test, because he could all but see the gears working as Javier wrapped his head around the idea that the miniature city he had glimpsed the day before came complete with tiny photographers with equally tiny cameras...
"I...guess?" Javier answered bravely.
Twigleaf looked back his way, and Kevin was forced to accept defeat.
"Fine," Kevin said with a sigh. "I'll go see if Rose has a magnifying glass..."
It was a short time after he returned with it—a very short time—that Kevin's preparations were disrupted once again by a muffled sound that he was almost certain had begun as a startled laugh.
"Oh what now?" Kevin said, turning toward his partner.
"Sorry," Javier managed, sounding sincere until he added, "just...you. With the vests."
Glancing over his partner's shoulder at the page, Kevin wilted a little. Though, considering that his partner was looking at a photograph where he still had whiskers and a tail, it was far from the worst thing Javier could have said by a very wide margin. In fact, the subject of his partner's ribbing was so familiar it was almost a relief.
"Man or mouse, is it wrong for a guy to want to look his best?" Kevin said, managing an admirable impression of blithe indifference.
The words earned him a snort from both his cousin and his partner.
"Hey, remember that argument we got into that one time that ended with you losing that bet?" Kevin asked, smiling. "And then I got to pick your wardrobe for the next six months?"
Javier let out a faint laugh.
"Unpleasantly," Javier answered. "Uncomfortably. But I did it."
"Yes, you did," Kevin allowed, "and you looked fantastic."
Javier's reaction to that was a little more awkward than usual. Kevin had to remind himself again of the ruse they were supposed to be presenting. But though he felt a little guilty for enjoying his partner's discomfort, when Kevin realized Javier was blushing he couldn't help but smile.
It occurred to him a short while later that, normally, it was at this point in recalling the story around others that they wound up having to explain themselves to defuse the odd looks it got them. Twigleaf hardly seemed concerned by it, however, and in hindsight Kevin realized it probably didn't sound as strange when people thought they were a couple. That realization was oddly relaxing. Kevin had been nervous about their deception being uncovered, but as he thought back on the number of jokes and misunderstandings he and his partner had been subject to in the time they had worked together, he realized they barely had to try.
As long as they could hold up the charade until they left, then everything would work out fine...
Chapter Seven
Author's Note: As of this chapter, Twigleaf is officially tied with Reggie as my favorite OC ever. He seems to be very like Castle in the "insanity as plot demands" department. Because apparently his motivations can be summed up as follows: "My cousin has brought a giant boyfriend home. I must be supportive and awesome!"
Even if this usually results in nearly breaking Javier's brain. Which is why I let him slide with being OOC in later parts of this chapter, because I figure anyone would be after waking up to talking mice and impossibly tiny photographs.
Fandoms: Castle, Fables
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst, Fantasy, Humor, Romance
Details: Slash, genre!crack, AU, crack, unsolicited crossover, fairy tales, talking animals, author insanity, shades of "omfg what did I just write?", unbetad.
Characters/Pairings: Castle—Javier Esposito/Kevin Ryan, Kate Beckett. Fables—Bigby Wolf, Frau Totenkinder, Reynard, Rose Red, Bagheera, others. OCs.
Chapters/Wordcount: 3,011
Summary: In which a city mouse visits the country, which predictably leads to trouble and (in no particular order) revelations, relations and reciprocation; a funeral and a shotgun wedding; and Javier almost gets eaten by a panther.
Note: This was going to be another long-ass chapter, but I decided to split it into parts. Apologies that it's taken this long to get the next one out there. Oh, and it also has mood swings like crazy, and just generally makes no sense (so, kind of like me in that respect).
Chapter Six: Relatively Relative
(In which proper introductions take place, and it's all painfully civil—though just as painfully embarrassing.)
Twigleaf cornered Kevin on the stairs very early the next morning. He was fully cognizant of how absurd that might have sounded to anyone else, but the fact was that outrage knew no minimum size, and Kevin knew his cousin had every right to be angry with him. Not that Twig had decided to simply say so, of course. On the surface, all Twigleaf was really telling him were the details of the preparations that had been put together for the wedding, but that didn't mean he wasn't perfectly capable of making his ire known, all the same.
After dwelling with their oversized neighbors for so many centuries, passive aggression was something many of the Farm's smaller Fables—and mice in particular—had managed to elevate to a fine art.
"Anyway, the funeral is set to happen around nine o'clock," Twig was saying, pacing along the banister to vent his frustrations as he spoke. "Rose thinks it should all be over by noon at the latest, and then the you can get yourself hitched, run off back to the City with your Mundane and forget the Farm all over again."
The words hurt like a physical blow—worse, because they stung completely out of proportion to anything else his cousin could have mustered. Because it was a sentiment Kevin had heard from plenty of others—too many others—but not one he had ever thought he would hear from Twigleaf.
"I haven't forgotten anything," Kevin said, and there was tightness in his lungs that made his voice sound very small. "I haven't. I just—"
And Kevin felt helpless at that moment, with no clear way to express his frustration.
Twigleaf's ears were pressed back in distress enough for the both of them, and his tail curled around his feet, and Kevin had to resist the urge to go down to his knees beside the bannister to put them eye to eye. Because it didn't feel right looming over his cousin like this, but kneeling wouldn't have felt right either, and more than anything else about being back here he hated that—hated never feeling right. Because that was the sharp note of censure always implicit in their accusations that he had forgotten—
That he hadn't just forgotten the Farm or those that lived there, but that he had forgotten himself—what he used to be—as well.
Kevin hadn't—he honestly hadn't—but he also couldn't lie and say he wasn't enjoying his life in his new skin. And there was a world of difference between forgetting something because it meant nothing to you and trying not to think about it because it simply hurt too much, but he knew it would have been impossible to frame that in any way that others might actually believe...
"I haven't forgotten the Farm, Twig," Kevin said wearily, hoarsely, resting his weight on his arms as he leaned against the bannister beside his cousin, "and I especially haven't forgotten you. You're one of the few things left here that it doesn't kill me to still think about. And I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch like I used to, it's just—"
He hesitated, but the momentum was built up, and if he couldn't tell Twigleaf then there was no one he could tell—not when Javier was so close to it himself—and he suddenly found himself saying it all at once.
"God, Twig, just...just so many crazy things blew up on me this past year," Kevin said, finally. "There was this cold case that opened up that was close to a friend of ours, and Javi and I got kidnapped and tortured because of it, and we found out that our captain was involved, and then he got killed, and our friend almost died, and I was so desperate to hold onto something good that I almost—"
Kevin cut off with a ragged sigh. Relevant or not, right now he couldn't afford to confuse things by bringing up the way he had let Jenny mess with his head. He shook his head with a helpless laugh.
"It's been a rough time for me," Kevin finished, weakly. "For us."
A few seconds slid past in silence before Twigleaf spoke.
"It doesn't sound like he takes very good care of you," his cousin said, unhappily, though he sounded somewhat mollified.
Kevin looked over at him and saw his cousin looking back questioningly, the tension from earlier relaxed. Kevin couldn't help but smile.
"He takes excellent care of me," Kevin countered softly. "I don't know what I'd even do without Javier."
"Then I should get to meet him," Twigleaf insisted carefully.
And there was a note of hurt in his voice, but also a cautious curiosity, and Kevin realized that was what had upset Twigleaf in the first place. Because Kevin had been doing his best to keep Javier as separate from the others as possible, and Twigleaf must have thought he was ashamed of him. But even with that revelation, Kevin found himself torn—not liking the idea of blowing his cousin off, but uncertain how Javier might handle that.
"I just don't know if it's the best time, Twig," Kevin said. "He's a Mundane. They can be—fragile. I know he doesn't look it, and he'd probably kick my ass if he heard me say that, but it's true. I'm just... I'm worried this is going to wind up being too much for him."
Because Kevin knew that, at the beginning, it very nearly had been.
"Just...just give us some time, okay?" Kevin said. It was the only promise he could make, and he owed his cousin at least that much.
Twigleaf seemed to consider this for a moment before he gave a slight nod.
"Alright," Twigleaf said finally. "I can come back later. I still have some wedding errands to run in Smalltown anyway."
And with that, Twig was down the bannister again, leaving Kevin to go about the few hours he had left to spare that morning in a dubious sort of peace.
Javier was still asleep when Kevin returned to his room. Rather than risk waking him, Kevin took a seat in the chair and took a moment to gather his thoughts. It was kind of funny, but it really wasn't until that moment that the reality of the upcoming wedding really impacted on him—like he had been so busy making sure Javier didn't freak out about it that he hadn't given himself the chance for a proper freakout of his own.
Which...was legitimately ridiculous, given that they had shared the bed last night.
After everything Javier had been through the day before, no way had Kevin been about to let him take the floor, but Javier had argued he had caused Kevin enough trouble already. With neither willing to let the other suffer, they had been forced to compromise. Oddly, Javier had been the more resistant of the two of them. Kevin would have expected it to be the other way around, though in hindsight he supposed it did make sense. Just because Javier was bisexual didn't mean he had ever thought of Kevin that way, and given their friendship and the pretense they were currently working under, Kevin could understand the situation being awkward.
At least Javier seemed to have slept peacefully.
Kevin waited for as long as he could before waking him. He would have liked to let him sleep, but Kevin would need to get ready for the funeral soon, and he hated to think of Javier waking without him. He had been worried that Javier might freak out again, or that he would need to be convinced again that the day before hadn't been a dream. But though that last had actually proven a necessity, it had taken a lot less effort than Kevin had thought it might. Once Javier had Kevin's reassurance he seemed to take the rest, if not quite in stride, then certainly very well.
Though Kevin soon discovered that Twigleaf had apparently decided that "later" meant while Kevin was in the shower.
It had been kind of an unusual shock, returning from the bathroom down the hall to find the two of them in the middle of conversation—Twigleaf sitting on the bed, and Javier on the floor beside it having put himself at eye-level—though not exactly an unpleasant one. The interaction between them was noticeably awkward, but, from what little Kevin saw, surprisingly successful, and he couldn't help but find his partner's efforts remarkably touching. Not that he would have expected to find Javier up on a chair like a sitcom housewife, Kevin was simply surprised by this meeting of two parts of his life he would never have imagined could coexist peacefully.
"Javier was telling me how you met," Twigleaf filled in helpfully as Kevin closed the door behind him. "You didn't tell me you were partners at work, too."
Kevin cast a surprised glance at his partner.
"I figured if my being here was such a big deal, the Fables down in the city are probably going to check anyway," Javier said.
Kevin couldn't fault that. It made sense.
"Actually they probably already have," Kevin said, after thinking about it a moment.
Which meant that, once they were done here, he and Javier would have to make sure to see things through in Fabletown as soon as possible.
"Anyway, I thought you had errands?" Kevin said, raising an eyebrow at his cousin. "How did you manage to get back from Smalltown so fast?"
"Reynard gave me a lift," Twigleaf said. "You have no idea how excited he is about all this."
But Kevin could imagine. He managed to bite back a groan—though the topic brought another question to mind.
"I know gossip in the Farm's probably already gotten stupid, but how bad is it in Smalltown?" Kevin asked, not really sure he wanted the answer.
Twigleaf made an unhappy noise, confirming his worries.
"The Lilliputians I talked to, it's about what you'd expect, with them being all stodgy and calling it a scandal. As usual. Opinions are more varied among the animal Fables there. Most just think its bizarre."
Kevin echoed his own unhappy noise, and saw Javier wince in sympathy.
"Though," Twigleaf said suddenly, voice taking a cheerier note, "you should expect to see Arrow and a few of his birds at the wedding, at least."
"Oh?"
Kevin was surprised at that. Pleasantly surprised. Though, on second thought, perhaps he shouldn't have been. Arrow's guard had always kept aloof from most of the Farms issues.
"Who's Arrow?" Javier asked, having clearly noticed Kevin's reaction.
"Captain Arrow is a falcon. He runs the Farm's...aerial defenses," Kevin told him. "His birds have always had a close tie to Smalltown. If Arrow's coming... People have a lot of respect for him."
Kevin knew he certainly did.
"Don't hawks and things eat mice?" Javier asked curiously.
Twigleaf tensed, and even thought Kevin knew he really should have seen it coming he couldn't help but wince. And he was at a loss to explain either reaction, but fortunately Javier was more than capable of reading the changed energy in the room.
"I just broke some kind of weird rule, didn't I?" Javier asked awkwardly.
"Not so much a rule as...kind of an etiquette thing?" Kevin said.
"Don't worry," Twigleaf said, moving to pat Javier sympathetically on the arm. "No one expects a Mundy to know these things. Anyway, we're family."
And Kevin was oddly proud of his partner when Javier didn't even twitch.
"I'll make sure and explain the Compact better before we get back to the city," Kevin told him slowly, "but a big part of it is that crimes against other Fables back in the Homelands have been pardoned. Talking about them is considered...kind of rude?"
Javier nodded slowly at that, clearly filing it away for later, and by unspoken agreement that was the last they said about that.
Kevin still had to get ready, and now that he was convinced interacting with his cousin wasn't about to send Javier plummeting over the edge he had teetered so close to the day before, he let them talk as he went about his business.
By now, he really should have known better...
"Acorn?" he heard Javier ask a short time later, amused confusion in his voice.
Kevin turned around to see his partner's eyebrow raised perilously. He decided to head him off at the pass.
"It's a family name," Kevin told him firmly, with just a hint of warning.
"Oh, of course," Javier quickly agreed with a nod, clearly ready to forget he'd said anything.
But then Twigleaf had to speak...
"I don't know why anyone'd expect me to call him by his Mundane name," Twigleaf said, indignantly. "He has to change it every few decades anyway...I'd never manage to keep it straight."
And Kevin managed not to react, hoping that his cousin's words and their casual tone might go unnoticed, but he watched Javier go slightly still, and Kevin knew his partner was turning them over in his head.
"Kevin..." Javier asked, slowly. "How old are you?"
"That's...kind of a complicated question," Kevin hedged, turning away to concentrate on his tie.
And it wasn't like he was pretending to have trouble focusing on what he was doing, because he could feel Javier's eyes on the back of his head, and that made it almost impossible to form the knot properly.
"Kevin."
Kevin gave up and turned around with a sigh.
"Look...I don't know," he admitted. "Not exactly. Time worked a little different in the Homelands."
"But you were born there," Javier reasoned slowly, nudging.
When Kevin didn't answer right away, after a few moments Javier prodded with another question.
"How long have you been here?" Javier asked.
Kevin let out a slow breath.
"I think it was...maybe the mid-1840s?" Kevin managed quietly, after a bit of thought. "I spent around ninety years in Smalltown before I moved on... I've been human for more than seventy."
He watched Javier's silence carefully, his heart starting to pound, because if this was it—if this was the moment he lost his best friend—he didn't know if he could ever recover.
"Look, Javier, I—" Kevin's voice cracked just a little. "I can't help being what I am. If that's going to be a problem..."
If it was...Kevin didn't know what, but, thankfully, it didn't look like he would have to find out.
"No, it's not a problem," Javier said quickly, sounding almost surprised with that. "Maybe it feels like it should be, but it's not..."
Javier shook his head, somewhat dazed.
"Maybe I've just had so many shocks in the past three days that I'm all shocked out," Javier said, ticking a faint smile.
Of course, having surmounted that particular hurdle, Twigleaf apparently decided it was time for full induction into the family—which, when Kevin saw his cousin's short dash for the tiny bag he had brought with him, was met with a dramatic groan.
"Really, Twig? Now?"
"Isn't this the done thing when meeting the family?" Twigleaf challenged archly, though he looked at Javier as he said it.
And now Kevin was absolutely certain that this was some odd form of revenge.
Javier, for his part, seemed vaguely bewildered—it probably had something to do with being presented with a stack of photo albums that were each the size of a postage stamp. Kevin thought his partner's "all shocked out" theory was no doubt being put to the test, because he could all but see the gears working as Javier wrapped his head around the idea that the miniature city he had glimpsed the day before came complete with tiny photographers with equally tiny cameras...
"I...guess?" Javier answered bravely.
Twigleaf looked back his way, and Kevin was forced to accept defeat.
"Fine," Kevin said with a sigh. "I'll go see if Rose has a magnifying glass..."
It was a short time after he returned with it—a very short time—that Kevin's preparations were disrupted once again by a muffled sound that he was almost certain had begun as a startled laugh.
"Oh what now?" Kevin said, turning toward his partner.
"Sorry," Javier managed, sounding sincere until he added, "just...you. With the vests."
Glancing over his partner's shoulder at the page, Kevin wilted a little. Though, considering that his partner was looking at a photograph where he still had whiskers and a tail, it was far from the worst thing Javier could have said by a very wide margin. In fact, the subject of his partner's ribbing was so familiar it was almost a relief.
"Man or mouse, is it wrong for a guy to want to look his best?" Kevin said, managing an admirable impression of blithe indifference.
The words earned him a snort from both his cousin and his partner.
"Hey, remember that argument we got into that one time that ended with you losing that bet?" Kevin asked, smiling. "And then I got to pick your wardrobe for the next six months?"
Javier let out a faint laugh.
"Unpleasantly," Javier answered. "Uncomfortably. But I did it."
"Yes, you did," Kevin allowed, "and you looked fantastic."
Javier's reaction to that was a little more awkward than usual. Kevin had to remind himself again of the ruse they were supposed to be presenting. But though he felt a little guilty for enjoying his partner's discomfort, when Kevin realized Javier was blushing he couldn't help but smile.
It occurred to him a short while later that, normally, it was at this point in recalling the story around others that they wound up having to explain themselves to defuse the odd looks it got them. Twigleaf hardly seemed concerned by it, however, and in hindsight Kevin realized it probably didn't sound as strange when people thought they were a couple. That realization was oddly relaxing. Kevin had been nervous about their deception being uncovered, but as he thought back on the number of jokes and misunderstandings he and his partner had been subject to in the time they had worked together, he realized they barely had to try.
As long as they could hold up the charade until they left, then everything would work out fine...
Chapter Seven
Author's Note: As of this chapter, Twigleaf is officially tied with Reggie as my favorite OC ever. He seems to be very like Castle in the "insanity as plot demands" department. Because apparently his motivations can be summed up as follows: "My cousin has brought a giant boyfriend home. I must be supportive and awesome!"
Even if this usually results in nearly breaking Javier's brain. Which is why I let him slide with being OOC in later parts of this chapter, because I figure anyone would be after waking up to talking mice and impossibly tiny photographs.
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Date: Friday, 28 September 2012 08:58 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Sunday, 20 January 2013 03:37 pm (UTC)From:Aw... Twig wants to meet javi. Of course, Kev, you dummy. He's hurt it's the first he hears of him. ^^
Well, I'll take this once-in-a-lifetime occasion to say... That seventy year old man is hot.
*giggles* Mini photo albums!! Whee! And Kevin and the VESTS! That is awesome!
Oh, wow. Javier blushing at Kevin's compliment. Nice compliment at that. ^^
Kevin had been nervous about their deception being uncovered, but as he thought back on the number of jokes and misunderstandings he and his partner had been subject to in the time they had worked together, he realized they barely had to try.
Uh, yeah... Pretty much. :P
Noted misshap (I think?) : Talking about Arrow, you wrote : People have a lot of respect him. I don't think that's quite right?
I'm sorry I've been MIA.
I've been superbusy. And then I feel into fandom and been writing like a nutbar. But I saw your updates and they've been waiting opened to be read amongst my gazillion tabs.
Now that I am currently snowed in at my aunt's, I thought it was the ideal moment to catch up.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 20 January 2013 08:50 pm (UTC)From:I didn't anticipate it when I first created the character, but I just love writing Twigleaf. He's absolutely adorable. XD
Well, I'll take this once-in-a-lifetime occasion to say... That seventy year old man is hot.
In my writing? Not so once in a lifetime... lol
*giggles* Mini photo albums!! Whee! And Kevin and the VESTS! That is awesome!
Can't you just picture little mouse!Kev in little mouse!Kev vests?
Noted misshap (I think?) : Talking about Arrow, you wrote : People have a lot of respect him. I don't think that's quite right?
Yeah, thanks. Should be: "People have a lot of respect for him." Fixed.