Time to Grow Up

Life, Career

Fenneck becomes an official tailor and moves out into his own home.

Fenneck opened his door and walked out of his bedroom to see his parents were no where in sight. He grabbed a piece of bread and ate a quick breakfast before heading up to the shop for work. He opened the large mahogany door to the sounds of cheers from inside. Naertho, Fenneck's parents, Erikur and Alexei were all there cheering as Fenneck walked in. He gave them confused looks as he saw a fresh apple pie in his moms arms and a gift box in Naertho's hand. He quickly tried to remember the date and felt even more confused knowing his birthday was still a few months away.   "Congratulations!" Naertho told Fenneck proudly as he held out the box. Fenneck walked forward and took it, feeling very confused. He opened the lid and pulled out a very beautiful pair of elvish fabric scissors. Fenneck looked at Naertho who smirked at him happily and produced a scroll from his back pocket. Fenneck took it and read it aloud.   "The city of Flottenheim officially grants the status of Tailor to Sir Fenneck Finnegan Frostears to work and live in the first level of the city. He will be under the supervision of Lord Naertho Kashnikov. ~ His Grace Grand Duke Georgi Malenthot."   Fenneck looked up at Naertho with realization and excitedly hugged him, careful not to poke him with his new scissors. "Thank you so much, Naertho!" he told him gratefully. Naertho kissed him on the cheek. "Of course, Fenny," he told him. "Trust me, you deserve it," he told him proudly. Fenneck pulled away and carefully sat down the brand new scissors before hugging the rest of his friends and family in celebration. Faina grabbed him first and squeezed him excitedly. "I'm so proud of you, Fenny!" she told him, wiping tears from her eyes as she looked up at him a proud smile across her face. Leonid met Fenneck's eyes and gave him and more reserved, more pained smile and held out his arms to hug Fenneck. Fenneck hugged him and took a deep breath. "I love you, Fenny," Leonid told him with a kiss on his cheek. "I'm so proud of you."    After a moment Fenneck pulled away and went to Erikur who was bouncing with impatience. He grabbed Fenneck and squeezed him fiercely, popping Fenneck's back from his tight squeeze. "I'm so fucking proud of you!" he exclaimed, as he squeezed Fenneck tightly. Fenneck nuzzled his face affectionately and instinctively kissed Erikur's lips, forgetting where they were for a moment until Naertho cleared his throat loudly. Fenneck and Erikur quickly moved away from each other and Erikur tried to hide his face in fear. Fenneck glance at Naertho who was looking at Faina with a worried look on his face. Alexei gave Fenneck an cautious smile. "Congrats," he said, awkwardly holding out his hand for Fenneck to shake it, clearly not wanting to risk any more inappropriate displays of affection. "Thanks," Fenneck told him nervously as he felt his ears starting to burn red. Faina clapped her hands together, clearly trying to move past the awkwardness in the room. "Who wants pie?!" she asked, gesturing to the apple pie on the counter. Leonid nodded frantically. "I know I do!" he said. "Yeah, it smells delicious!" Alexei agreed. Erikur seemed frozen in horror and Naertho looked at Fenneck was a complicated look on his face. "Fen," he said. "Before I forget, why don't I want you over to your new house and show you around while everyone fixes a plate?" he suggested. Fenneck nodded nervously. "Okay," he agreed.   Naertho led him out into the plaza and walked over toward his own home. At the house front next to it he produced a key and handed it to Fenneck. The front of the house was quite nice with beautiful blue door and a lovely windowsill. Fenneck unlocked the door to his new home and walked in and smiled at the cute home. The kitchen space was to the left and opened directly into the living room that had a couch facing the firepit. There was three other rooms total and Fenneck turned back as Naertho closed the door behind him.   "I need to know if you and Erikur are sleeping together," he told Fenneck bluntly. Fenneck swallowed nervously. "Um..." Naertho had tears in his eyes and he seemed very upset with Fenneck. "I'm... not going to turn you in, dear," his uncle assured him. "I just need to know. This sort of thing is dangerous, Fenneck. If he comes to the shop, if he looks at you the wrong way... I can get in a lot of trouble," he explained as he moved closer to Fenneck and took his hands in his own. "I know you are both close but... you can't do this," he told Fenneck sadly. "Not as long as you work for me. I can't risk it, Fenneck. For either of your sakes. It is too dangerous. I understand that your parents let you get away with way more than they should have when you were younger but you're an adult now. It's time to grow up," he said as a single tear slid down his cheek. "You cannot have a future with Erikur here. You should move on. You're moving up the system, you'll be spending less time down there anyway. Meet a lovely girl here, on this level, and start a family," he told Fenneck desperately. "Trust me, a life like that is much better than being alone," he said with longing in his eyes.   Fenneck nodded trying to fight the pain and fear building up inside him. "I'm sorry," he said. "I... I slipped up in there. I was just excited," he explained. He felt his heart sink as he thought about never being intimate with Erikur again. Even though he had been sneaking around with Evelyn, he and Erikur had still been involved with each other, especially with Catherine's disappearance. "I'll stop being with Erikur," he told Naertho. "It... it was never serious," he tried to assure him. "We just... we..." Naertho kissed Fenneck's forehead affectionately. "I know, Fenny. I know," he assured him. "I'm so sorry," he told Fenneck with pain in his eyes. Fenneck nodded as Naertho pulled him into a tight hug. "I love you so much Fenneck," he told him. "I can't risk you getting hurt!"   After a few moments Naertho let him go. "Why don't you look around your new home?" he suggested. "I'm going to go make sure your mother saved us some pie. You can take the day to move into your new home and settle in," Naertho told him before leaving the house.   Fenneck walked around and explored his new home, feeling confused and conflicted about this new change. After a few moments, he heard the front door open and he walked out of one of the bedrooms and saw Erikur looking at him nervously. "Hey," he said quietly. "Naertho said we should talk," he said weakly as tears started to form in his eyes. Fenneck slowly approached him as he felt pain start to well up inside him at the idea of never embracing and loving Erikur again. They stared at each other in silence for a long time. "I don't want to break up," Erikur begged him before he started to cry. Fenneck closed his eyes as he felt tears come into his own eyes. "We have to," he told Erikur when he finally opened his eyes. Erikur's green eyes flooded with sadness and pain.   Fenneck couldn't help himself from running to him and pulling him into a passionate kiss. Erikur kissed him back fiercely as he held Fenneck's face in his hands. They let themselves go as they made love for the last time. Fenneck pulled him into his new bedroom and loved Erikur as hard and fiercely as he could, desperately clinging to their relationship. "I love you so much," he said fearfully as they loved each other. "I love you too, Fenneck," Erikur told him desperately as he pulled Fenneck's face down toward his as Fenneck kissed him into his new mattress. They made love for hours, ignoring their responsibilities and forgetting about everything else in the world before their lives changed forever. They finally collapsed when they were both drained of energy. They were covered in sweat on Fenneck's brand new empty bed, completely naked. Fenneck pulled Erikur into his arms as he kissed him and caressed him, desperate not to let him go. Erikur hugged him tightly and desperately, clearly terrified of what was about to happen.   "I don't know how to do this," he finally said woefully. Fenneck squeezed him close. "Me either," he agreed. "I don't want to lose you though. I need my best friend," he said, looking deep into Erikur's green eyes. Erikur nodded. "Me too," he agreed sadly. "I just... I love you," Erikur said desperately. Fenneck sighed. "I love you too," he said, caressing Erikur's sandy blond hair from his face. "What about Evelyn?" Erikur asked him. Fenneck shrugged and laid back on his empty mattress. "I don't know," he said. "I... I haven't seen her in weeks," he said sadly. "I think she's probably over me. Naertho said I should find a girl here and settle down and start a family," he told Erikur who started sniffling again. "I sometimes think about what it would be like if we had a family together," he told Fenneck wistfully. Fenneck giggled at him. "We can't," he said sadly. "Not unless you know some very clever magic," he teased Erikur. Erikur shrugged. "I'd become a woman in a heartbeat if I could love you and have your children," he told Fenneck longingly, without a hint of hesitation.   Fenneck frowned and sighed in defeat. "I sometimes think what my parents told me about thiramin was dragonshit," he said thoughtfully. Erikur gave him a quizzical look. "Why do you say that?" he asked him. Fenneck shrugged. "I don't like that the idea that I have a soulmate out there... makes me feel guilty for loving you and Evelyn. Like the idea that because you and her aren't my soulmates, you shouldn't matter as much," he said. Erikur nuzzled into Fenneck's arms. "You know Leonid loved Fenneck, his partner from Vladigrad, just as much as he loves your mother," Erikur told him. "He said... it's different though. That with Faina they're more like... partners in what they've been called to do with their lives. And it brought him you. He said that the beauty of his relationship with Fenneck was that they chose each other. That they fell in love so... naturally," he said wistfully. "Just... just promise me that no matter what happens, no matter who your thiramin is or who your future wife is that... that I'll always be your best friend," Erikur begged him. "That some part of you will always have a place for me in your heart," Erikur told him, looking up into Fenneck's eyes. "Of course, Erik," Fenneck told him, feeling his heart starting to splinter as the reality of their break-up started to settle in. "I could never imagine a life without you!" he assured Erikur. "Any children I have will call you uncle Erik and they'll love you to pieces!" he told him assuredly. "My wife will have to get over the fact that you'll spend tons of time here and we'll have dinner together and, hey, maybe you'll find a wife and have kids of your own," Fenneck suggested. "They they could be best friends with each other and we could have parties together all the time!" Erikur giggled and smiled sadly up at Fenneck. "Okay," he agreed. "I hope your right," he told him, unable to hide the doubt in his voice.   Fenneck kissed Erikur's lips again for another long, passionate moment before slowly pulling away. "We should go. They'll be suspicious," Fenneck said sadly, reluctant to leave their bubble. "I understand if you want to go home and have some space but... I'd love it if you would help me move in," he told Erikur. Erikur nodded. "We might as well start pushing through this," he said. "It's gonna suck for a while though." Fenneck nodded in agreement. "Yeah," he agreed. "It will." Fenneck kissed Erikur one more beautiful time before forcing himself to pull away and climb out of the bed. They found their clothes that were strewn about the entire apartment and got dressed before heading out into the plaza together.   They walked over to Naertho's shop and opened the door to see Naertho by himself, working on a dress. "Your parents headed home," he explained when he saw them enter. "They said they would start packing your things for you." Fenneck nodded. "Sorry, we... had a long talk," he gave Naertho a look and Naertho nodded understandingly. "I understand," he told them. "Go get moved in. I'll see you back here tomorrow, Fenny," he told them. "Have a good evening, Erikur." "Thanks," Erikur told him. "See ya around," he told Naertho. "Bye Naertho," Fenneck told him. "I love you. Thank you again... for everything." Naertho nodded sadly. "Of course, Fenny," he said, trying to mask his pain at causing Fenneck and Erikur to end their relationship. "I love you too," he told him.    Fenneck led Erikur down to the second layer and headed toward his home. "I can't believe you officially don't live here anymore," Erikur said. "You're new home is wonderful though," he assured Fenneck. "It was nice checking it out from so many... angles," he said, giving Fenneck a sad, playful smile. Fenneck smiled at him. "I like it," he agreed. "It's nice." They continued the rest of the way in painful silence, unable to bring themselves to to say anything that wouldn't hurt in some capacity.   They made it to Fenneck's house and Fenneck opened the door. It was late in the afternoon by now and he opened the door to see Faina there packing a box of stuff in Fenneck's room. "Hey!" she greeted them, trying to be cheerful, but failing miserably. "Alexei had to go to the bar and Leo had to go in to work," she explained. She gave them a worried, questioning look, begging for them to tell her what happened. Fenneck cleared his throat. "Erik and I won't be... intimate with each other anymore," he explained bluntly. Faina frowned and looked down at the ground. "I'm so sorry, boys," she told them. "I'm sorry if encouraging this has brought you more pain that it should have," she told them guiltily. Fenneck shook his head at her. "We've talked about it and we've decided to still be friends," Fenneck told her. "Can we help? The house is really nice," he told her proudly. She smiled sweetly at him. "Oh that's wonderful darling. Yeah, I've just been packing some of this stuff up. I can go ahead and start taking some boxes up if you two want to take over here," she offered. "Naertho showed your father and I the house this morning," she explained. Fenneck nodded. "Yeah," he said, handing her the key. "You should also throw junk you don't want into that box there," she instructed on her way out.   She carried the box of bedding she had out of the house and Fenneck and Erikur started packing up the rest of his room. Erikur started digging through a pile of random things in the corner and held up the wooden blue dragon toy he had first played with when he first came over to Fenneck's house. He smiled sweetly at it for a moment. "Do you want to keep it?" Fenneck offered. Erikur looked up at him and shook his head. "Nah," he said. "I'd hate to separate the set... besides, your future kids will probably love playing with him," he said as he put the dragon in a box. Fenneck shrugged. "Or you could keep the set," he suggested. "Just be careful," he warned him. "My papa always said that if they hung out too close together they would morph together into Tiamat!" he joked. Erikur laughed at him. "Oh please," he said. "That's just a fairytale. I'll take my chances," he said, digging in the pile for the rest of the dragons. "I think we lost one once, didn't we?" Fenneck asked him as he started folding up his clothes. "Did we?" Erikur asked. Fenneck nodded. "I think it was the white one..." he mused. Erikur laughed as he pulled the rest out of the pile, all except the white one. "You really sure you don't want them?" he asked Fenneck one more time as he lined them up together. Fenneck nodded and smiled at him. "Yeah, my future kids can play with them when they come visit uncle Erik," he told Erikur with a loving smile. Erikur smiled at him and they continued sorting through the room as Faina carried boxes up to his new home.   After a few hours, Faina and Leonid left with a large pile of stuff as Fenneck sweep his room one more time. Erikur carried the last of the boxes into the kitchen and Fenneck felt something grab his hand. "What's happening?!" he heard Evelyn's voice whisper to him. Fenneck felt magic course through him as he saw her appear in front of him, looking worried. "I'm moving out!" Fenneck told her in a frantic, quiet whisper. "You need to leave. I live on the first level now," he explained as Erikur walked back into the room. "Hey, who you talking to?" he asked Fenneck suspiciously, unable to see Evelyn's invisible state. Fenneck turned to him and bit his lip. Erikur nodded understandingly, looking a bit hurt. "Ah," he said. "I'll watch guard I guess," he said, walking back out into the kitchen. Fenneck turned back to Evelyn. "I'm sorry," he told her. "Can we try to talk about this later? My parents will be back any moment now." Evelyn nodded. "You have your own house now? On the first layer?" she asked again. He nodded. "I live next door to Naertho. Blue door. About ten doors away from the shop. I'm officially a tailor now so I... I get to live up there." Fenneck heard the front door open and he nodded for Evelyn to leave. She nodded and vanished into this air. Fenneck turned and saw Erikur walk back in. Fenneck nodded to him to let him know that Evelyn had left.    "Is that all of it?" he asked Fenneck, gesturing around the room. Fenneck glanced around at his empty room. "I guess so," he said, feeling sad to leave his childhood home. "Growing up sucks, huh?" he asked Erikur with a knowing look. Erikur nodded in agreement. "It sure does, Fen," he told him sadly. "Alrighty!" Leonid said, coming up behind them. "Enough tears have been shed today, lets get Fenneck settled into his new home," he suggested. Fenneck nodded and they each grabbed the last few boxes and walked up to Fenneck's to new home. Faina had made up his bed for the night and they quickly put up the rest of his things. Occasionally Faina would tear up, thinking about Fenneck finally moving out of the house but they focused and as it go late into the night they were finally mostly done. "I'll go through the rest of the stuff tomorrow," Fenneck decided, seeing the tired looks on everyone's faces. "I'll head out then," Erikur decided. Fenneck moved to hug him before stopping himself. Erikur gave him a soft smile. "Congratulations, Fenneck," he told him dismally. "I'll... see you around," he said, giving Fenneck a polite nod. Fenneck felt tears build up in his eyes but he swallowed his pain. "Have a good night, Erik," he told him broken-heartedly. Erikur nodded and left. As the door closed behind him Fenneck felt painful stabs of grief attack his heart. Leonid pulled Fenneck into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry, son," he whispered woefully into his ear. Fenneck squeezed him back as he felt tears start to slid down his cheeks. Leonid also started to cry and Faina walked into another room to give them some space.   "It's so unfair," Leonid said sadly. Fenneck nodded and pulled away, trying to collect himself. "Yeah," he agreed. "Do... do you think we can still be friends?" he asked his father fearfully. Leonid frowned and shrugged. "I don't know," he told Fenneck honestly. "I think you should give Erik some space though," he advised. "This will be really hard on him and he needs some space to move on. I think you do too. Maybe once it's not so fresh and painful you can regain your friendship," he suggested hopefully. Fenneck tried to wipe the tears from his eyes, rather unsuccessfully. "He means so much to me though," he told his father. "I don't know how to not spend so much time with him. How to not touch him." Leonid nodded understandingly and hugged Fenneck again. "I know," he said. "Trust me though," he said, forcing Fenneck to look into his eyes. "It's so much better for him to be alive and at a distance than for either of you to lose your lives to be together. I know it's not fair and it's awful to lose that intimacy with him but... this is the world we live in. Naertho is right. It's just too dangerous." Fenneck nodded understandingly as his father kissed his forehead. "Your mother and I will let you get some rest," he decided. "I know you probably want some time to be alone," he told Fenneck with an understanding look. Fenneck nodded gratefully.   "Come on, dear!" Leonid called out to his wife. Faina came out of Fenneck's bedroom and smiled lovingly at them. "I think we should let Fenny get some rest," Leonid told her. "Okay," she agreed, with a sad smile. She studied Fenneck thoughtfully for a moment. "I love you so much," she told him. "I'm so proud of the man you've become. Being your mother has been the greatest joy of my life," she told him sadly. Fenneck scoffed at her and pulled her into his arms. "This isn't goodbye, Mum," he told her. "You're still my mother," he assured her. "I know!" she said, collecting herself. "It's just a big moment, that's all," she told him, fanning herself so she wouldn't start crying. Fenneck smiled lovingly at them. "I love you both so much," he told them. "Thank you for helping today." "Of course," Leonid assured him. "Have a goodnight, son," he told him. "Goodnight, Fenny!" Faina said as they headed toward the door. "Goodnight, I love you guys," Fenneck told them once more as they left.   When Fenneck was finally alone he turned and really looked at his new home. He was excited to finally have his own space but he hated the feeling of loneliness he felt. He walked into his bedroom and collapsed onto his new bed to meditate, trying not to think about how much he missed Erikur's embrace to get him through the night.