Into The Future

"College?" Atticus asked, putting on the tea pot. "I don't know. Haven't thought about it much. Still have a year left after the end of this term. Probably not, though. I hate school. I want to skate what little bit I can, maybe model or something. I don't know yet..."

He hadn't thought much at all about college, to be honest. It hadn't ever seemed worth it. "I'll go wherever Seth goes."

Charlie leaned back against the counter, legs crossed at the ankles and smiled at Atti. "And where's Seth going?" he asked. "Or isn't he sure yet?"

Atticus had absolutely no answer for that. "I...don't know. We haven't talked much about the future. It's more of a wait and see thing with us."

"I can see the attraction of that," Charlie said with a chuckle. "The sun is out, the snow is beautiful, the shadows were clear and crisp. It was a good day for painting - even if the van's somewhere," he waved a hand, "over there - somewhere. I haven't met Seth have I?" he added. "What's he like?"

charlie was prepared to bet that there weren't many of the family prepared to listen to Atti enumarate Seth's perfections - not that Atti would. He was your standard stand-offish teen. But it was nice to offer.

"What's Seth like? Wow. Tough question," Atticus said, handing Charlie a cup of tea and the sugar bowl. "Seth...is...gorgeous. Obviously. Has black hair like me, and pretty eyes, and a lip ring. He's pretty quiet, though, which isn't like me at all. Dad and papa love him. He's lived next door my entire life, we've always been close."

Hopping up to sit on the counter, he kicked his feet back and forth. "We're...a lot like dad and papa were, or that's what dad says, anyway."

"You mean fatally cute in a sort of louche and bohemian and, in Ryan's case, hairy way," Charlie nodded. "Yes I remember it well."

Atticus smiled a little bit at that. "I think it's cause we're young, and we've always been friends, just like they were. What were my parent's like, uncle Charlie? When you met them?"

"When I first met them?" Charlie cast his mind back nearly 20 years. "Well I knew Mac first and honestly then he wasn't a very happy man. Ryan was his best friend and - believe it or not - they seemed intent on keeping it that way. Mac was just desperate to be loved - didn't seem to see it was right there waiting for him."

He grinned at Atti. "I should say right now I'm really grateful to Ryan for getting them sorted out because for a long while it looked like Mac might finally tame D - Deacon. They had a desperate thing for each other. Deacon adored people to need him."

"I'm glad dad ended up with papa and not uncle D. That'd be awkward," Atticus said with another smile. "You knew dad when he was still on heroin, huh? I'm glad I didn't know him then."

"It was very edgy," Charlie said. "One didn't know what to do to help or even if one should try. But why would Deacon have been awkward? Apart from the ones you have you couldn't wish for a better father."

Atticus just shrugged, picking at the marble counter top. "I don't know. Guess cause I think of him as Uncle D, is all I mean. It'd be just as weird having like, you instead of dad. I love you both, but that'd be just fuckin' out there."

"Hmm, yes," Charlie frowned. "I suppose I can imagine an alternate universe where everything was different - say where Deacon was with Mac, and maybe I was with Sam Quaid, but that doesn't mean I'd have liked it better that way. I'm very content as I am. Well - I'm missing D, and home, and stuff."