Emir rolls his shoulders to stretch them a bit. “You don't talk to anyone who's not a girl.”
Casimir scoffs. “What is that?”
“Guys that talk to you get accosted by girls who want to know more about you. Which is funny because you're so oblivious to it.”
Casimir looks down at his lap. “It's because there aren't a lot of guys in debate...”
I don't like sports like the other guys do, and a lot of girls enjoy debate...are you saying it's weird to be friends with girls?”
“I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it.” Emir shrugs. “It's easy to pick up on. Like you said, people know the family's story and Jiraya's in separate classes so people that want to talk to him from our grade can't. He's also a bit...”
“Hates to be touched and antisocial?”
Emir tilts his head. “Antisocial is not a word I would use to describe him. His risked his life for us. He's not avoidant- if things had been up to me-” Emir relaxes his hands after realizing that they've tensed up. “...nevermind.” He mumbles.
Caz gets the feeling that he doesn't want to know anything more now. Rather, Emir looks upset now. Although it's tempting to dig deeper and find out more, he pushes his chair out from the table. “We'd better be on time, grandpa's probably making dinner and he wants the family to eat together these days.”
“Oh.” Grandpa. “Does you- our mom, ever cook?”
Caz laughs humorlessly. “Unless you want cookies, don't ask. Mom thinks food and workouts are interchangeable.”
Obligatory ugh I hate that guy thoughts occur as Kevin walks past. Caz knows why that guy doesn't come over for parties anymore, Jiraya finally explained it one day, and now Kevin is someone else not to follow the example of. Caz can't help but wonder if there's a single decent adult in his parent's generation to look up to. It may be, that his generation is just going to have to look out for themselves.
Emir spends a few moments calming his nerves down as Casimir walks away. He could have said something a long time ago to his brother in class, but he's wanted to trust what his dad said about safety. He knows who Casimir's father is, and that makes following him out of the door difficult at first. “I hope I'm not making a mistake.” He mutters to himself.
I'm really going to get to meet them, right? I can just go quickly, and leave whenever I want...
“Hurry up I hate the sun.”
“Yeah, okay...” I love it though...
That's vampire spawn for ya.
Emir always has a song or two playing in his head, which also helps to calm his nerves a bit.
“So I'm pretty sure mom knows about you and all, she's just denying what's not right in front of her.”
Emir cringes. Is it too late to turn back now? “I don't need her to believe me...” He mumbles under his breath as the taxi takes them closer to the place. Every turn in the road is putting him a bit more on edge. Still, he sends a quick text to his dad. Going to the house with Casimir to meet the family.
His dad responds back simply: Got it. Call me after.
Emir smiles to himself. Despite the docile answer, he can sense his dad's panic through the phone.
Casimir shrugs easily. “Jiraya was pretty hard to believe in the beginning. I think that's why she had to see Malcolm- uh your dad, before she really knew it. Honestly though, Jiraya used to go on and on about ghosts, and we thought he was talking about you both being... you know, one of those.”
“Those were mostly the cloned kids, though.” Emir says.
Caz falls silent and glances over. There is not sign of any emotion on Emir's face now.
They arrive at the Holiday House before Emir can chicken out, and Casimir walks in yelling, his face as bored as ever. “Mom? Grandma? I brought Emir hooome.”
“This is Leila, a bunch of scientists downtown tried to bring her back to life, and failed. That was pretty recent. She's a lot more fun than a regular dog.”
The door is so close but Emir just gazes off into the house. What was I expecting?
“Dude your house is nuts.” Emir doesn't want to pet the thing, and he can feel it sniffing his shoes. It's not too late to leave, is it? I don't have to stay if I don't want to... he reminds himself for the third time.
“Grandma, hey! Guess who I brought home?” Caz tries again to figure out what Grandma Meg's 'earshot' distance is. Since she has a habit of ignoring distractions and anything that doesn't interest her.
Jyo is on a bit of a runner's high and doesn't reach for her phone when it goes off. But it is Malcolm's ringtone, so she decides to stop in a few more paces...
“Sit down and eat, unless you need to catch up on schoolwork...” Caz is usually entertained by grandma Meg's ability to tune out everything going on around her. Right now though, it's inconvenient.
“Well, who's this?” Dustin pays the most attention to anything going on in the house as usual. He should be deaf at his age and after a lucrative career of blinding lights, unforgiving speaker arrays and death defying stunts he should not be functioning as well as he does.
“Who's who?” Meg asks, before turning around again.
“Grandma, Gramps-” Dustin's eye twitches at the nickname- “Emir came to visit.”
“Emir, as in-”
“Our grandson!” Meg cuts him off gleefully. “Told ya!” She says to Dustin. She's been talking about how Malcolm would fold any day now and let their grandson show himself. “Come over here, let me see you.”
Emir is easy going, so he goes with it. It's a bit awkward to say 'nice to meet you' to someone he should know very well, but this reception is more than he expected.
“Time is short kid, take a picture. Say cheeseplant!”
“Chee-” She catches him off guard and he lets her take the photo.
Dustin ruffles the boy's hair and excuses himself to go tell Jyoti so Emir has a moment to get to know Meghan better.
Casimir makes this expression when he sees his mom. “Did you know about him? Mom?”
...it's so important to have a nice tension break in moments like these. With, more tension.
“I just found out.”
“How did you not know about having a live kid?” The way Casimir figures it all, he's lucky to not have been lost on the way home from the hospital when he was a baby.
“Did you really bring him?”
Caz deflates. “I did. I didn't believe him but I thought you could tell the difference. He has the same last name as us.”
“I'm sure I'll know him then.”
“How do you know it's not a scam?”
Jyo grins placidly as if his concerns are the most unreasonable things in the world. “I know my own husband, for one.”
“You sure Malcolm's not a clone or something himself?”
...but she bursts out laughing, so he stalks back out of the garage.
Dustin considers adding a few extra conditions to his living will. I hope nobody tries to revive me like this one day...
Jyo doesn't know if she is crying or laughing.
“Mom.” Emir can't hear Meg anymore. Everything else goes white.
Jyoti freezes at the sound of his voice, remembering what Malcolm said. “I thought you didn't want to see me.”
That is not what she was expecting to come out of her own mouth. “I mean, I don't mean I wasn't looking forward to meeting you.”
“Hang on- I just need a minute.” He catches emotions immediately rom her shaky tone.
So many times in his life, there was no one there to scoop him up right away if he was crying. But she wastes no time in coming to comfort him right now.
“Your dad just called but I missed it- are you really, Emir?” She mutters in disbelief. “I've been waiting for you forever.” He can't exactly breathe but it doesn't really matter.
It's awkward and unsure, but at least it's real.
Emir whimpers and hugs her back tightly. Silent sobs begin shake his young, broad shoulders.
Eventually, Meghan comes over, not wanting to be left out.
Casimir came back from his tantrum, having calmed down right on time to see the hug break up. He smiles a little smile, ruefully. He doesn't hate this, but it's weird, right? Some random classmate is suddenly his long-dead half brother. Weird. It's not like the missing years will come back, but there's a faintly happy feeling where he expected to feel overlooked or abandoned.
It doesn't feel like a new kid coming in to replace him, but rather, something his mom needed all along has come back to her. That can't be bad. He drowns out grandma's probing into classes and how they met or whatever old people care about.
It's a bit early to want to see a lot more of him, but he seems mature enough... Emir is two years older than he is after all. He tries to think of any other dead or missing relatives who haven't shown up yet. There's probably not any more, right?
“I'm- I'll come by again, if that's... if you don't mind.”
“But you just got here- you can stay, dinner's in the oven.”
“I have a practice for marching band I'm supposed to be at soon, I'm sorry.”
Dad was right, he thinks. Mom is really pretty. He's relieved somehow that his dad wasn't just remembering things in a fever dream, clinging to hopes that could never be realized and memories that would never be substantiated.
Her short huff of annoyance is softened by the expression in her eyes. “Your dad always keeps himself busy too, so I guess I'm not surprised. Come over anytime you want, you can always come here, and you can stay however long you want to.”
“I don't know... but I'll think about it. Thanks.”
“Sure.” She holds back the myriad of things she would like to say. “Think about it all you want. By the way, what are your interests? Because I didn't get to know you, I have no idea what kinds of things you like.” She is telling him. “But! I'm happy for you whatever things you like.”
“So far all I know is going to the park, playing a game of baseball or soccer, those are my favorites.” He says timidly. “Being outside, even if it's messy out in Spring or Autumn- I love it too much, makes me want to I don't know, go be a woodcutter or something.”
He is delighted to see his mom get all amped up at this response. “Yes! We have that in common! I don't even care what activities, as long as there are little to no books. Your grandpa and I just started water skiing last spring.”
“Just let me know what it is you want to do and I am so there!”
He grins. “That would be cool.”
“Did you know, that dad still works out at least four times a week, since whenever you showed him how to run better? Even if he's not feeling well, he's crazy.”
“I'm crazier.” She nods, knowingly. “I hope he does that for himself, though.”
“He says it keeps him from being stuck in his head.”
“Yeah, I get that. You guys can talk to each other though, right? Like, if one of you is feeling off, you don't ignore it, I hope?”
Emir looks away for a second before deciding to just be honest. “I don't know.”
“You're dad is probably trying to give you space when you don't need it. Maybe tell him if you'd like to have his time? You might have to yell it, actually.”
“Okay I'll remember that.”
“Here- Let me give you my number, so that you can reach out if you ever need a work out partner. Or, someone to talk to...?”
“Thanks.”
“These are gonna be such great pictures.” She tells him, as he tries to run away. “Hey get back here!”
“I'm not supposed to let people take pictures of me.” He responds nervously. Grandma Meg already sidelined him with this one.
Emir does not mind being the center of attention, exactly, but being doted on by a parent he doesn't know can be pretty unsettling. He hopes she doesn't want to do that again for awhile.
No longer able to push down his feelings of discomfort, he heads for the door.
Jyo gets another call, and says a quick goodbye. “Please come back as soon as you can, tell your dad you can both move in, okay? You're family...”
“Thanks ...mom.” The words sound a bit hollow as they come out of his mouth, he thinks.
“What are you even trying to do that all for?” He asks Jiraya, who is halfway done with homework that is not due for days.
“Gotta keep up.” His uncle answers nervously.
“You don't have to worry about that kind of thing. This family is not going to abandon you.” Emir does not know where this confidence about the subject comes from, but he feels it.
“Shouldn't we still work hard?”
Emir laughs. “To do what, get a useless degree?” Nobody that he likes actually has one of those. In fact, the people he knows of who are very successful, like his own grandparents and his mother who does well, have done so without full formal education.
“Well- I'm almost done.” Jiraya reasons.
“How cute. People aren't going to respect you because of a piece of paper though. Respect has got to be earned.”
“... I know that.” Jiraya answers in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.
Emir tilts his head when he sees it. “You don't want to disappoint them.”
Jiraya doesn't say anything more.
“Well, I'm just glad they're good to you. You seem happy.”
“See you later.” Jiraya tosses the words over his should as Emir makes his way outside. “Hey, wait-”
Emir looks over his shoulder. “What is it?”
“What happened to you and Malcolm, you'll tell me right? How it went for you both?”
Emir narrows his eyes ever so slightly in anger. “Casimir's father happened. If he ever comes over or anything, don't be alone with him. Better yet, leave the house.”
Jiraya sits in stunned silence for a beat. “Thanks for the advice...?”
Emir clenches his teeth. “I'm only saying it because it's you. I don't think anyone here knows what he's really like. My dad was alone with him for a few minutes, and he stopped talking about my mom, never looked for her or anything. We had no idea we were living in the same town as our family in the last few years. Until I saw you getting off the school bus one day at school. You didn't see me... anyways you get the point don't you? Don't trust him.”
“I don't think he's been over since I've been here. What does he look like?”
Emir lets his thoughts settle. “He looks like Casimir in the face I think, but he's blond, has blue eyes that shine, even in the dark. Like an animal.”
Jiraya has been through too much to be shaken up by Emir's warning. “Wasn't there someone similar... in the labs?”
Emir nods. “They're related too, the director and Luke, had a kid named Beaker. That's why he had the run of the place. Went off to school or something, and we never saw him again after that. I just remember him a bit from back then. I didn't know you had seen him.”
Jiraya shudders involuntarily. “He was in charge of the kids room for a while. Don't ask.”
“Okay, I won't.” Emir looks over at his uncle, but Jiraya's avoiding his gaze. “I always liked him though. He was all talk, but didn't hurt anyone ...that I saw.”
Jiraya lets out a short laugh at that moment. “We have such low standards.”
Emir shrugs. “It can't be helped. I've got to be somewhere before I'm late. See you at school?”
“See you.” Jiraya calls after him.
It's going to take a long time for Jiraya to realize that the person Emir was talking so hatefully about was actually Uncle Loki, the man who helped him find his family. He won't be sure who to believe Loki is, at that moment.
As Emir leaves he sees his grandpa out playing with the family research project gone wrong and wonders if the life he lives here on out will ever be able to top the ones that people that live in this crazy place experience. It's probably just that nobody has a normal life, not entirely.
Jyoti made it outside on time to wave to the back of the cab as it disappeared over a distant hill. Helpfully, before a feeling of complete loss could settle in, Malcolm calls her to check on everything.
Jiraya wanted to ask her a few things after Emir's visit, but she's clearly in a deep conversation and doesn't register that he's there waiting. She needs every scrap of time she can get with her estranged family members right now.
After the house settles into the evening routine, it's actually Andrea (as Meghan is trying to let things play out on their own) who reaches out and makes another visit happen.
She messaged Emir, but it's Malcolm who comes over.
It's clear when he arrives that his mother-in-law is not herself again. “Is Jyo here right now?”
But Andrea smiles, knowingly. She knows that Meghan would want a DNA sample from him. “If you allow me to take a quiiiick DNA sample from you, I'll tell you the answer to that.
It's not like it's never come up before, but Malcolm's wants scientific instruments nowhere near him...
He feels like he's still too young to have life be this hard.
“That's a no from me. Have a good night then.” He says curtly.
He leaves, angry and disappointed.
Jyoti was home, of course. But now she won't know how close she was to getting her husband to fold and live with her in their new place. Thanks a lot, 'Andrea'.
There will be other days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jiraya: “JELLIES: :D ” Dramatic moments are usually ruined by my leaving the headline effects on, but if I play with them off I won't know what my sims are thinking. I get so much inspiration from those things, normally.
The 'I have something in common with you face' that looks like a 'I'm gonna steal everything you have face'.
Casimir gossips about himself.
