1.
The first time Phillip woke in Andrew’s bed, he felt small and out of place. The room, like the rest of Andrew’s estate, was elaborately decorated with a mix of dark traditional furniture and state-of-the-art technologies. This room alone was twice the value of the house Phillip had moved out of three weeks before. He was now living in one of the guest rooms in Andrew’s estate.
It was far from the first time he’d been in that bed, but he could not remember a time he’d been allowed to sleep through the night. Andrew usually woke him gently and told him he needed to return to his own room.
When he noticed Andrew was still sleeping besides him, Phillip didn’t feel any more at ease. His entire body stiffened for fear of waking his lover, and his breath grew tight in his chest. He had never seen Andrew sleep; a Cunningham shouldn’t have trusted anyone enough to fall asleep beside him. Phillip was not surprised to find that Andrew slept on his back, arms squeezed to his side and his feet straight out before him. The military form of the man’s life invaded even his sleep, and the stiffness of his posture made his abdomen draw in and thrust the muscles in his chest and thighs high.
Phillip turned his eyes back to the ceiling, feeling weaker, as if looking at the other man’s ever-coiled muscles drained the power from his own limbs. He did not like the feeling. He only remembered feeling it around Andrew. He tried to move slowly, to leave the bed without waking Andrew.
“What are you doing here?” Andrew’s crisply accented voice slurred at him.
Phillip had barely sat up and glanced over at Andrew and then at the unkempt sheets folding around them. He combated his awkwardness by smiling. “Well, I guess you fell asleep and forgot to tell me to leave.”
“Of course not,” Andrew stretched his arms over his head and yawned. “I intended entirely on keeping you here. The cook’s away. I assumed you would wake first and make me breakfast.”
Phillip laughed. “I’ll bet you did. I’m just a substitute woman after all, right?”
Andrew chuckled and shrugged. “If not that, then what?”
Phillip felt his humor sink. Something in Andrew’s tone wasn’t joking. “A man, Andrew.”
“Well, obviously that.” Andrew cleared his throat and curled out of the bed. “Get dressed. You can’t be here when the servants arrive or there’ll be talk.”
Phillip did not mind talk. He minded that Andrew did. Andrew must have noticed his darkened mood because the man smiled. “Come. We’ll go to breakfast. I know a lovely place in the Bohemian Sector.”
“Why not here in the Britton Sectors?” Phillip answered swinging his legs off the huge bed and scanning the floor for his clothes. “You always complain about the food when we go-”
“We can’t stay in the Britton Sectors because,” Andrew hesitated longer than he should. “They won’t be open at this early hour. The Bohemian is fine.”
“Why not somewhere mid-continent.” Phillip continued to push. “My mother used to talk about this great pub in the Renaissance Sector. Or the Victorian.”
“The Victorian?” Andrew prickled at the suggestion. “It’s the Bohemian Sector or nothing.”
Phillip glanced to his pile of dirty clothes on the floor and let Andrew win.
2.
Andrew’s roar filled his large estate and Phillip left his room to lean on the landing overlooking the main foyer. Phillip had lived with Andrew long enough to distinguish one rage from another. This one, filled with profanity directed at his father, his clan, and his culture, was born from frustration and a sense of helplessness. Andrew battled his way out of his coat, threw the defeated fabric to the floor, then slammed his hand on the floor as he grabbed the coat again, apparently not satisfied in his victory over the long black trench until he had strangled it with his hands and hung it on the coat-holder by the door. Andrew left the inanimate objects trembling and stalked towards the stairs.
“Welcome home, Andy,” Phillip chuckled. “Did you have a nice dinner with your Dad?”
Andrew cast him a terrifying glare and scowled. “The man is insane. All six of my brothers agree, but no one is willing to do anything about it.”
Phillip stood straight again, listening as Andrew punctuated his sentences in a way that was not only angry but also worried. “I arrived late. He was offended. Now I must earn back my status according to custom. Three tasks of his choosing. Fucking ridiculous customs. Do you know what he asked me to do as a show of filial devotion and clan respect?”
“I didn’t even know you could show filial devotion and clan respect.” Phillip shrugged.
Andrew did not acknowledge the jest, climbing the stairs with a punishing step. “I must find for him a business that sells dogs small enough to fit inside walnut shells and then give him the business.”
“That’s…” Phillip hesitated for the right words. “A little odd.”
“A little odd, indeed.” Andrew charged past him into his study. “The man’s insane!”
Phillip followed him into the room, because Andrew was still ranting to him. “I would do anything for this family - Everything for this family. Steal money, secrets, products, technology, but I don’t know how to steal a business. Least of all one that difficult to find. Genetically engineered pets aren’t cheap, neither are genetically engineered plants.”
“Technically, a walnut isn’t a plant. It’s a seed.” Phillip shrank beneath Andrew’s glare. He softened his tone, to avoid redirecting Andrew’s temper at himself. “Almost the same thing.”
Andrew ignored him, pacing behind his desk, organizing papers. “There isn’t a business in the world that would sell both genetically-engineered animals and plants. There would be no need. Damn him. And damn this bastard clan culture.”
Phillip stepped back as Andrew abruptly turned and threw a packet of papers off his desk at the wall where they slapped painfully and then slid to the floor. Phillip retrieved the packet and placed it back on the desk when Andrew sat down and dropped his head into his hands. “I have to do it though. There’s no way around it. If I can’t… it will be my brothers I have to deal with. Damn it. Half of them would hardly hesitate at the opportunity to attack.”
“At least, the other half would stand with you.” Phillip encouraged.
“No. The other half wouldn’t hesitate at all,” Andrew replied, turning the packet on his desk to straighten it.
Phillip laid his hand on the papers to stop him from turning it. “We’ll figure this out.”
Andrew handed him the packets. “We also have a surplus of funds we have to get rid of.”
“How’d that happen?” Phillip looked at the papers.
“It came from La Masque. I’m not sure how. Ice is incredibly good with his books. Maybe someone stole more than we expected. Who knows? We need to get rid of it.” Andrew laughed. “I thought something that minor was a problem this afternoon.”
Phillip narrowed his eyes at the figures on the page. “How much do you figure it would cost to start up a business?”
“What?” Andrew glanced up at him, surprised by the notion.
“He didn’t say it had to be an established business, did he?” Phillip asked, then pointed to the surplus. “We steal the technology by Monday. We buy a storefront in the New Age Sector on Tuesday. We hand your father the deed to Small Dogs with Big Walnuts, on Wednesday. We drown the puppies and sell the store by Thursday.”
Andrew sank back into his chair, relaxing. He smiled and said. “Must we drown the puppies?”
“Hell, to be easy.” Phillip sat at the edge of the desk and dropped the packet. “We could just buy the damn things.”
“Are you joking?” Andrew laughed. “It’s much more fun to steal them.”
3.
The rain tapping on a distant roof, barely felt like rain to Phillip. He was used to the sound of water slamming into a pot whenever it rained and the patter of water felt faraway. He was not sleeping. There wasn’t much use in trying to sleep on rainy nights. The soft distant sound refused to let Andrew sleep and if Andrew wasn’t sleeping chances are neither was Phillip.
When the door, at last slowly began to open, Phillip laughed at Andrew’s timidity. “Andy, just get in here. You’re a terrible creature of habit.”
Phillip tucked his hands behind his head, remembering a time when he would have jolted upright and soothed the blankets around his legs to make his bed look neater than it was. He was too sleepy at the moment to make the effort. Andrew didn’t seem to notice, creeping across the floor with an electric candle and rumpling the sheets after he set the candle on the nightstand.
The moment came quickly when their bodies were bare, but untangled. Phillip surprised himself by urging a kiss farther and pushing Andrew onto his back. Andrew seemed amused by the idea of Phillip’s dominance, but twisted his lover back down to the sheets. “I don’t think so, Phil.”
Andrew’s hands plucked against his skin, and Phillip more moaned than asked. “Why not?”
Phillip was halfway to forgetting the words that had passed between them when Andrew answered. “It’s hardly your place.”
“My what?” Phillip’s body fell still under the weight of Andrew’s reply. The man was kissing his shoulder and Phillip pushed him away. “Not my place?”
Andrew’s eyes rolled towards the ceiling, irritated by the distraction. “I didn’t mean it like that. Now don’t worry about it.”
He kissed Phillip’s shoulder again chuckling. “I’m not in the mood for fighting.”
Phillip had no reply. The sound of the rain echoed down ancient corridors and filled silent eaves. When Andrew reached a hand down to graze Phillip’s thigh, Phillip shied away.
Andrew scowled, lightly. “Phillip, don’t be-“
“Get out.” When Phillip interrupted, the quietness of his voice refused to allow any questioning. Even from Andrew.
Phillip regretted his command, the moment Andrew huffed out of the bed. His lover was angry, barely taking the time to gather all his clothes, and Phillip knew it would be a long time before Andrew forgave him. The moment would hover between them for weeks, but neither man would speak of it for a very long time.
4.
Phillip was not surprised that Andrew didn’t look up at him when he stood to leave the study. Andrew had been researching a new kind of security system and he would be no good at conversation for at least a week.
“Check the mail. I didn’t.” Andrew muttered.
“Okay.” Phillip opened the office door and took hold of the mail. He sank into the comfy chair by the door and filtered through the letters. “A message from your father.”
Andrew lifted his head and jolted to his feet. “It’s the second task.”
“Gee, I’ve never see you get up so fast.” Phillip handed him the letter. “I’m kinda jealous.”
Andrew smirked, showing more amusement in the innuendo than he had in weeks, and tore into the envelope. “He was probably enraged by our response to his last request.”
“You’re happy about that.” Phillip chuckled.
Andrew nodded, not listening, but leaning on his desk reading the request. “What the hell…He wants an ell of apple sliced so fine it will fit through his ring.”
“Oh, he has fancy tastes.” Phillip remarked. “Thinly sliced apple.”
Andrew stared at the letter and paced to the other side of his desk. “Is that possible do you think? And what’s an ell of apple? Could that be the core?”
“An ell is a cloth measurement.” Phillip replied quietly. “The Apple is a linen store in the Victorian Sector.”
“How did you know that?” Andrew glanced up at him.
Phillip shrugged. “When my mother wasn’t traveling as a minstrel, she was a seamstress. I went to that store with Ice once or twice. They make the costumes for La Masque.”
Andrew rubbed his chin and growled at the sheet. “I don’t like this. This was too easy. My father is communicating with you somehow.”
“You make it sound like magic.” Phillip scoffed. “We just got lucky.”
“One never knows with my father.” Andrew muttered. “And anything that involves Sorcier and my father working together can’t be trusted.”
“Who said you’re father was working with Sorcier?” Phillip protested then sighed. “I went to a store with Ice, Andrew. Ice doesn’t mean Sorcier.”
“Ice is but an extension of Sorcier; he just happens to be an incredibly capable extension.” Andrew returned to his chair and re-read the letter. “When Sorcier was a young man he worked with my grandfather. He has a lot of history with my family and I don’t trust Sorcier working with my father when I don’t know about it.”
Andrew sighed into his hand and closed his research. “Maybe something else I did offended him. My father I mean. It could have to do with you, since you figured these out so fast.”
“It was luck, Andy.” Phillip laid his hands on Andrew’s tense shoulders and leaned down to kiss his cheek. “Don’t worry so much.”
Andrew wondered, dropping his head forward and allowing his lover to rub his hands along his neck. “I suppose you’re right.”
5.
“My father sent me the last task.” Andrew spoke with a sudden vehemence as if he’d been trying to speak all day and just now found the words.
They were eating breakfast at their usual restaurant in the Bohemian Sector. Phillip realized the letter must have come the night before. “What is it?”
“I imagine one of the servants noticed…” Andrew struggled with a deep breath. “This is awkward.”
“He knows about us.” Phillip gasped.
“He knows I have a lover. He’s mad that he didn’t know.” Andrew replied. “The last task… he wants to meet her.”
Phillip shot a glare across the table. “Her?”
Andrew ignored his glare, or he didn’t notice. “I’ve spoken with Ice about the dilemma. He suggested that I bring a girl called Monique.”
Phillip sank into his seat. “She’s got Victorian manners. Good choice. Your father will like her.”
Andrew stared at the floor. “But she doesn’t know the things you know, and she’d need to.”
“Well, I can’t teach some girl-” Phillip stopped mid-sentence and leaned back into his chair.
“I wasn’t asking you to teach anyone.” Andrew looked into his face, hoping the sincere apology in his voice would make his request clear.
Phillip didn’t understand. “So he’s going to find out about us.”
“I’m not…” Andrew glanced away again. ”He can’t find out.”
“Then what?” Phillip spread his hands helplessly. “Could you just try to be straight with me?”
“We can’t teach her, but you can learn.” Andrew hesitated. “I was hoping… Ice is rather good at… disguising masculinity.”
Phillip stared at the table. He took a deep breath and then shook his head. “Tell your father that she left you when you told her who your father was. You did what any good Cunningham would do in the situation and you killed her.”
“He’s insisting I put video recorders inside the robots.” Andrew stated. “He’ll be watching us.”
“He’ll be watching you.” Phillip pushed out his chair and stood.
“Wait.” Andrew started to follow him, but he was aware of the gaze of the other patrons in the restaurant. “Where are you going?”
“Back to La Masque. You can find me there when you decide you want a man.”
6.
Phillip sat at the omni-piano playing to an empty lounge. The lights were out and the audience had long since gone home. He had not seen Andrew for a week at least and he occupied his mind with the complexities of the omni-piano. It didn’t help him much, especially tonight when he could hear the rain if he listened hard enough.
He played softly and sang even softer, an ancient ballad created by the Celts, distant relatives of Andrew’s family. Andrew found those ballads soothing. “Tell him to make me a cambric shirt – parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme – without no seam nor needlework, then he’ll be a true love of mine.”
When the front door to the lounge banged open, Phillip’s hands stumbled on the mid-harmony cords. The melody line continued on it’s sullen path, wheezing to a stop only when Phillip turned towards the door in shock. “Andrew… What the hell… What are you doing here?”
Andrew stumbled in bleeding from a gash in his head. His suit, usually so crisp and clean, looked like a dog had been using it as a chew toy. He fell against the keys of the omni-piano, momentarily cuing an orchestra of poorly tuned musicians, then stood and looked to the door. He shifted from foot to foot with a broken panic, but he spoke with a morbid humor. “I really just got lonely. It’s raining after all and I’m a terrible creature of habit.”
Phillip pulled Andrew’s dark hair away from the gash in his head. “Were you in an accident?”
“Two actually.” Andrew laughed, flickering nervously in Phillip’s embrace. ”My brothers are on their way. My father has his best computer assassins working against me. Even Jack the Giant Killer. Can you believe it? I taught that bastard everything he knows and now he’s after me.”
“Why?” Phillip couldn’t force the idea to make sense.
Andrew’s nervous shifting stilled long enough for him to stare Phillip in the eyes. “Why do you think, Phillip?”
Phillip turned his gaze to the floor and mumbled. “Shit… I’m sorry, Andy.”
“That’s all right. Don’t apologize to me.” Andrew looked around the empty room suspiciously. “But don’t stay here. My father has a hit on you, too. Sorcier can’t be too far behind. I came to warn you. To ask you to come with me.”
“Come with you?” Phillip stared blankly at the man before him and then shook disbelief from his head. “I know a place in the Wetland Sector. You’d hate it. It’s sunny. Lots of bugs and old people. But that’s why they won’t look for us there.”
Andrew seemed surprised when Phillip said, “Sounds like heaven. Let’s go.”
7.
The rain leaked through the roof in steady drips that seemed to supply a beat to the erratic rhythm of the rain outside. Phillip curled next to Andrew in their tiny bed and they listened to the water falling into the bucket next to the door. Andrew chuckled. “I’m not quite used to this.”
“The oppressive poverty?” Phillip turned towards Andrew and smiled. “You get used to it.”
“No, I actually…” Andrew stumbled and then caught himself. “I didn’t mean that negatively. I meant. It’s rather odd, I suppose. I but I feel more… at ease here than anywhere else. More peaceful. Not worrying about impressing anyone, or earning anyone’s approval, proving my manhood.”
Phillip laughed. “You think of the damnest things.”
“Only when it rains.” Andrew shrugged, the casual movement rubbing into Phillip. “And the poverty’s not so bad. Worse than anything I’ve ever had to deal with… but not so bad.”
“Go to sleep, Andrew.” Phillip rolled away from him again.
Andrew leaned against Phillip’s shoulder until the man slipped onto his back. “Well, Phillip, it is raining. You ought to distract me from my musings if you don’t like them.”
“I don’t mind the musings.” Phillip felt too sleepy to argue and simply yawned. “After I’ve had a good night’s sleep.”
Phillip wasn’t expecting it when Andrew rolled on top of him suddenly in a leisure straddle. Phillip’s sleepiness vanished and his hand flew to his lover’s hips. “Stepping a bit out of place, aren’t we, Andrew?”
“Shh.” Andrew whispered. “Just play along and pretend it’s always been like this and it always will be.”
Phillip wanted to mock the sentiment, but the ridicule died somewhere inside their kiss. Perhaps at the place where Phillip wanted exactly what Andrew wanted.
