Jasper’s emotions were taking hold of him; to the point where he had completely forgotten his boyfriend was there in the room. In his head, it was just him, his brother, and his mother who had abandoned him. Whether it was her choice or not was still up for debate in his mind.
He opened his mouth to speak, but instead, flinched as his mother interrupted him and Sammy. His hands flattened against the table only for his fingers to curl in on themselves; his nails digging into his the soft skin of his palms.
Jasper squeezed his eyes shut and lowered his chin to his chest. Focus. He hissed at himself internally as his mother continued to speak. But it wasn’t just her voice out loud that was causing him to grow dizzy. It was her in his head.
I did leave, Sper. But I’m back now.
I taught you better manners than that.
“Who the fuck said I need you to keep me safe?” He found himself hissing at his mother’s physical form. “I’ve handled myself for years without you.” He spat. “Years without dad.” A sticky substance coated his fingers as he dug his nails into his skin even more. “And this fucker isn’t much help.” He shot a glare at his brother. “I haven’t needed you for a long fucking time so what makes you think I need or want you now?”
So cruel, Sper. Why are you so cruel?
“Because you made me this way!” He shouted at his own thoughts. Though, it took him a moment to realize that he had said it out loud. His hands were shaking as he took a step back from the table.
I raised you better than this.
Sammy’s words were swimming in his head; jumbling up into a scrambled mess. He was unable to focus on anything other than the tone of his voice. He seemed calm but the words – as jumbled as they were – didn’t connect with the calmness of his voice. “I’m not crazy!” Was the only response the younger Dalton gave to his brother.
I am crazy. I’m very much loony tunes.
“I’m not. I’m not crazy. I’m not–” Jasper shook his head back and forth as he placed his now bloodied hands on his face. “Fuck you!” He spat. “Fuck you all. For sitting around this fucking fake ass table, bullshitting like we are a normal fucking family again!” He shouted. “Newsflash: We will never be that family again. Never in a million fucking years.” And then his eyes found Malakiah’s, causing air to catch in his throat. Fuck. “I– Not you. I didn’t mean–” Too much. Too fucking much.
“I need some fucking air.” He turned without another thought and walked out of the room.
As the family began to bicker with one another, Kia had to look down at his plate. He rubbed just under his nose to hide a smile that cracked across his lips as they all dug under each others skin. He’d never family and part of him had always wanted one. Well, in the past he had. After seeing the three of them interact, Kia was perfectly happy with the family he had now. Jasper. Who he understood a hell of a lot more now than he did a second ago. He tried to contain his laughter before hearing Jasper start to actually lose it. He could tell the difference between annoyed Jasper and angry Jasper.
Looking up at his boyfriend, Kia caught his eye as soon as he warned everyone that he didn’t want to see them again. “It’s okay, I know.” He answered back quickly. He didn’t take it personally. Jasper had a tendency to fixate and forget about everything else around him when he did. Known of what he had been saying was aimed at Kia.
Standing up as Jasper began to leave, Kia cleared his throat. “Thanks for dinner.” He told Auralia. “You don’t have to be worried about him or myself. We know how to take care of each other. We have been for a while now.” He informed her. “He’s a fucking hell of a lot stronger than you think he is. Saved my ass too many times to count.” Kia added, his wings puffing up a bit as he pushed in his chair and walked out after Jasper.
Catching up to him outside, Kia didn’t say anything before he wrapped Jasper up in a tight hug. His wings folding down around the two of them. Shielding them both from the rest of the world. His arms tightened around the other, not caring if any of Jaspers blood got on him. He wanted to make sure that Jasper knew his family didn’t scare Kia. If anything it was good to meet them. To understand why Jasper was the way he was.
“Move in with me, will you?”
jasper was yelling and sammy was poking fun, and malakiah was doing his best to sit there and remain polite. anger flashed dangerously in her eyes, but not for any of those sat or previously sat at the dinner table but for those that took her away from him and caused this strain on their relationship that aurelia was questioning more and more each day as to whether it could be fixed or not. she let jasper shout, she didn’t tell sammy off for his words – though she was somewhat surprised at the husband and wife comment – and she smiled softly at malakiah before clearing her throat. “if he calms down enough to come back, you’re free to ask the staff to box up what would’ve been the rest of the food, or even sit and enjoy the meal. i’ll retire to my room so that he doesn’t have to worry about me.” a beat, “for the record, i know he’s not crazy. i’ve never said that he was. i know he doesn’t need me, and i don’t blame him for not wanting me either but i just need him to know that that is not how i feel about him. it was a pleasure meeting you.”
and then it was her and sammy, because her son and his boyfriend were outside and she didn’t think for a second that they would come back. “same goes for you, sammy. if you wish to stay and eat you can, you can even join me upstairs if you want but i understand if you have places you would rather be.” she grabbed her glass of wine and finished it before moving to stand, using the table to steady herself. “harper, please bring the rest of my meal to my room. my sons too, if he does decide to join me.” she glanced up at sammy, the pain she was trying to hide becoming more obvious on her features. it had been a long day, and the healing and painkilling properties of the medicinal plants she used could only do so much and they did nothing for the emotional pain that jaspers words had caused. “you don’t have to stay, but if you could help me to my room, i would appreciate it.”
@deep-trouble
When Jasper pointed him out as not being very helpful, Sammy just shrugged his shoulders. What was he supposed to do? Step up and be a father to his younger bother once mom and dad flew the coo coo’s nest? As if he had any idea what being a dad looked like. Ha. Yeah, no. While Aurelia had always been good to Sammy, she wasn’t his mother. Well, maybe now she was but as a child he’d barely known her. Of course that was all dear old dads fault, and not her own. However, he hadn’t grown up with any parents either. So sue him for assuming that Jasper would be okay without him to hold his hand when mommy vanished.
Sammy’s mom had been dead for years and he turned out okay.
Sitting back, Sammy listened as his little brother really started to lose it now. He couldn’t understand the whole ‘I’m not crazy thing.’ Personally, Sammy was well aware of his own madness. Hell, he’d turned it into a career. It was better than whatever the hell Jasper was doing now. “Bye Bro!” Sammy waved as Jasper left the room after throwing his little tantrum. Still a child. His attention turned back to Kia and Aurelia. “Good luck.” He cooed to Kia once he also made his exit.
Making a bit of a face, Sammy sat fowards and threw another bite of food down his throat. “Personally, I think that went well.” He pointed out before flashing his step-mother a bright smile. “No blood was drawn. No one pointed a gun at anyone. The house is still intact and, yeah some mean words were tossed around but- Sticks and stones, right?’ He asked with a grin. “Better than family dinners with my mom and dad.”
A little laugh left his lips as he slipped out of his chair and quickly to his mothers side. Putting her arm around his shoulder, Sammy supported most of her weight as harper came to get their meals. “Bring mine too. I’ll finish up stairs with maw.” He told the woman quickly before glancing at Aurelia. She looked tired and sad. Poor thing just wanted to have a nice dinner with her family. Probably shouldn’t have invited Sammy then.
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