[Starter goes here?]
"No, it'll be great! My family's really nice," Troy tried to assure Aemond as they pulled up... to the charred wreckage of what used to be his dad and baba's houses. Troy blinked, puzzled, then pulled out his phone.
"おとうさま, つろい だ。Weー uh, I'm at the house, butー.... Okay, can you send me the coords?.... Thanks. See you soon." He hung up and grimaced. "Dad says we're doing Thanksgiving at his new boyfriend's house," he explained.
((TR: "Dad, it's Troy."))
[Interaction goes here]
Soon they pulled up to the address Trent had sent and Troy hopped out of the car, grinning. As soon as Aemond was out, Troy grabbed his hand and practically tugged him inside. He made a beeline for his dad, who was setting some treats in the oven to cook with the turkey.
"こんいちは, おとうさま," Troy greeted Trent happily.
Trent turned at the sound of his adopted son's voice, ready to hug him hello, but then noticed his guest. His brow puckered in confusion.
"Sorry I didn't call ahead," Troy nattered obliviously, "but I was afraid you'd tell me I couldn't bring a guest, and I really wanted you to meet my best friend. Dad, this is Aemond Targaryen."
Trent managed a smile, though it lacked its usual wattage. "Welcome, Aemond. Uh, coincidentally, Troy, my boyfriend is his uncle, Daemon Targaryen. He's... somewhere."
Troy grinned. "Wow! That is some coincidence!"
Just then, Sebastian strode over to Trent with a deep-dish baking tray full of sweet potatoes, but he stopped dead when he saw Troy and his friend. He carefully placed the mashed sweet potatoes on the counter as Troy cheerfully introduced him to his guest.
"Baba, this is Aemond, he's my very best friend at schoolー"
"Yeah, we've met," Sebastian said, giving Troy a little side-hug. With the two of them side-by-side, the resemblance was striking. Troy's hair was more wavy than curly, and his eyes were more turquoise than teal, but you'd be forgiven for mistaking them for brothers. If Sebastian hadn't looked so strung-out, they might even look like twins.
"I'm actually heading out," Sebastian continued, trying to avoid looking at the strikingly gorgeous Aemond. His beloved cutie, forever lost to him. "I've mistreated Aemond, and I want him to be comfortable here, so I'm going to spend Thanksgiving with Nate and George."
Trent had been holding his breath; it rushed out in a sigh of relief. "Okay. Drive safe," he said. Sebastian nodded and headed back out.
"Aemond," Trent said, leading the boys back out to the living room, "these are my parents, Bethany and Terrance, and this is my half-sister, Cat, and Cat's mother, Annmarie Bowles." Bethany was a short woman with a friendly, pear-shapes face and a sleek brown bob who smiled warmly at Aemond and Troy.
"Hi, Grandma. She helped raise me while my parents were in high school," Troy explained. "And then when she was at work, my Aunties raised me. Not Cat, though."
"Not me," Cat agreed. She was a toned young woman about Troy's height, with Trent's tan skin, sage green eyes, and a wide smile. "I did babysit him once in a while though," she added as she shook Aemond's hand.
"It was good practice for when you have kids of your own," Terrance said, giving Troy and Aemond a perfunctory nod. He looked just like Trent, but with gray hair combed straight back.
"I don't think my girlfriend wants to have kids," Cat objected, but her father waved her off.
Annmarie looked down her nose at Aemond, regarding him with a gaze as frosty as her highlights. "I thought your parents didn't want you dating," she said disdainfully. "Especially...." She didn't finish her thought, but it was clear she considered Aemond some kind of ruffian.
"This isn't a dateー" Troy began, blushing at the insinuation.
Trent cut him off. "As long as he doesn't run off with Aemond's brother, he'll be fine," he said curtly. Troy looked at him with clear surprise; Trent normally didn't bring up family drama round "the kid".
Annmarie sniffed and turned away, mumbling something unpleasant about the Maddock line dying out with Trent and Catherine.
[Interaction goes here]
[SOLO]:
Nathaniel was not at all surprised when Sebastian came home barely an hour after he'd left.
"Troy brought Aemond home for Thanksgiving," Sebastian explained, walking past Nate to flop onto the couch against the wall. "So I just told them to have a good holiday and left. Besides, I don't think Daemon would have wanted me there regardless. God, of all the people Trent possibly could have replaced me with...." he grumbled.
Nate and George exchanged a glance. George didn't see it that way at all. Trent hadn't replaced Sebastian by getting into a relationship with someone else. But George could tell that Nate disagreed as the latter sat, pulled Sebastian into a hug, and stroked his long blond hair.
"What are you going to do now?" Nate asked sympathetically.
Sebastian shook his head, but wrapped his arms fiercely around Nate and clung to him. "I don't know," he said. "I've been trying to make things right, but no matter what I do, everyone just assumes the worst of me. It's the first time I've seen my own son in months and I can imagine the kinds of horrible things he's been hearing from his new best friend. What if he just decides to completely cut contact with me? What if I never....?"
"I'm sure that won't happen," said George. He didn't like Sebastian very much, but he was still a kind person at heart. Nate wasn't good at taking care of himself, so George did a lot for him, including helping him take care of Sebastian to a degree. "Why don't we start with eating dinner?" he suggested. "Everything should be ready in about ten minutes." Turkey, stuffing, and au gratin potatoes were in the oven. George was working on deviled eggs with relish. Sebastian had already given away the sweet potatoes, though knowing the Targaryens, they would probably go uneaten.
To George and Nate's surprise, Sebastian nodded against Nate's shoulder. "I am hungry," he said, for the first time since he'd gotten out of the psych ward. That was a good sign. Nate hugged him tighter before releasing him, although instead of pulling away, Sebastian just scooted himself into Nate's lap.
George was, to be entirely honest, jealous of Sebastian. He had carried a torch for Nathaniel since the day they'd met but been too shy to actually say anything. Sure, Nate had shown he had no problem sleeping with coworkers, and he and George had eventually developed a close friendship, but the day Whitefeather had been at the same summit as Freedman and Associates was ...not a great day in George's life. Sebastian and Nathaniel remembered each other from Stanford and had become fast friends. At the time, Sebastian had still been dating Trent, who was buff and almost devastatingly handsome. It turned out they had also both dated Nathaniel's ex-girlfriend, Rebecca, who worked at Whitefeather with Nathaniel and George and whom George intensely disliked. So the four of them had caught up and George had been sidelined yet again, although Trent had tried to invite him into their little powwow. Trent wasn't too bad, although George privately agreed he had terrible judgment.
When Trent had dropped Sebastian off here because Trent's new boyfriend Daemon didn't want Sebastian in the house, Nate had taken to nursing like a fish to water. The man who needed someone else to safely mix smoothies for him and tell him when a workout regimen was more than his body could handle was now putting himself entirely in charge of caring for a man slightly older than he was, with the same addictions to drugs and sex, and with remarkably similar disordered eating. Whether Nathaniel had meant to make Sebastian fully dependent on him or it had just happened organically, Sebastian refused to eat a bite if Nathaniel wasn't sitting with him, refused to sleep if Nathaniel wasn't in bed with him, refused to do anything at all unless Nathaniel was by his side. The fact that he'd gone by himself to deliver the yams was a testament to how much he wanted to protect his son from seeing how far he'd fallen.
The fact that Nate bribed Sebastian to eat with sex was one of those rare things George could confidently say he hated. Nate was the type to oxytocin-bond hard with anyone who could give him a good enough orgasm. Apparently Sebastian could, because Nate, whose family was infamously ambitious, had no problem switching from in-office to fully remote work so he could allow Sebastian to cling to him 24/7.
Tonight, George had been hoping to have some time alone with Nate, as foolish as that hope may have been. Sebastian surely would demand to stay in a room with his ex-boyfriend, the family who had raised him, and the son they had all raised together, right? Well, apparently not. Apparently he did have a soul, or at least enough of one not to want Troy or Troy's friend uncomfortable. Good for him. So now George had to endure Sebastian continuing to cling to Nate, although at least now Sebastian would eat without prompting.
When the food was ready, George brought it all out to the round, glass-topped coffee table in the living room. Nathaniel gently slid Sebastian off his lap and carved the turkey, giving Sebastian and George each a wing and a drumstick, and cutting off some white meat for himself. They helped themselves to the sides and had a fairly decent dinner together. George put aside his resentment and tried to enjoy having a normal night for once.
Nathaniel was thrilled that Sebastian actually wanted to eat for once, but he couldn't help feeling a slight sense of loss. He'd fallen in love with Sebastian while taking care of him. Sebastian, of course, had been too preoccupied with his woefully unrequited feelings for Aemond to pay much attention to Nathaniel other than needing somebody, anybody, to keep him company so he didn't try to ｏｆｆ himself again. Now that Sebastian would be more or less forced to move on from Aemond (because even he wasn't deranged enough to continue pursuing someone he now knew to be close to his kid), would he start taking care of himself independently? Would he still need Nathaniel? Nate almost hated himself for thinking along those lines, for depending on Sebastian's dependence on him.
Sebastian wasn't sure what to think. So many things were swirling around in his head. Aemond would always hate him no matter how kind he was. Erryk actually treated him like a person but worked for Daemon, who would also always hate Sebastian no matter what. Trent loved Daemon even though Daemon treated him like shit and may-or-may-not be using him.
He loved Trent; Trent loved Daemon. He loved Aemond; Aemond probably couldn't love anyone, the heartless wretch, and he sure as hell could never love Sebastian, but somehow he got along with Troy? They clearly got on well enough for Aemond to feel comfortable spending a holiday with Troy.
He'd wonder what Troy had that he didn't, but the answer was "everything". Trent had been right: The only thing Troy had inherited from Sebastian was his looks. Sebastian took a larger-than-necessary bite of stuffing, barely tasting it; that memory was still painful. But no matter how much it hurt, Sebastian could never do anything to upset his son. If Troy really did side with Aemond against him, if Troy and Trent and Bethany and Cat and all the family Sebastian had ever known decided they would rather cleave to the Targaryen family than associate with him, what could he really do but accept it? Accept that there was something inherently horribly wrong with him, something that Rosie must have seen back when he was Troy's age, something that his own parents had sensedー
Nathaniel was holding him again, stroking his hair, soothing him. His face was wet and he couldn't breathe through his nose.
"Nate," he asked hoarsely between sobs, "whyーwhat's wrong with you? Why do you like me?"
The question cut Nathaniel straight to the heart. It was the kind of question with the kind of timing where there was no right answer. Anything he said could trigger a deeper spiral, if not right now then tomorrow or the next day. The smart answer would be to say nothing, to keep holding and rocking him, to justー
"I love you, Sebastian," Nate heard himself say. "I just do, okay? Don't ask me to explain it."
The room went deathly silent for a moment. Sebastian was shocked enough to stop crying.
Then George excused himself back to his own apartment across the hall, and Sebastian found an answer for Nathaniel's words.
"I... don't really know what to say to that," he mumbled. "I, uh...."
"No," Nate interjected. "I know you don't feel the same way."
Well, it was pretty obvious, Sebastian admitted to himself. He had always had a one-track mind. Now it was off-the-rails and he didn't know if he'd ever be able to think straight again. But what was the harm in leaning into the comfort Nathaniel offered? There really wasn't anything to stop him.
"Listen, I'll go out with you. I like spending time with you. I like your company. Just don't kick me out, okay? I know you can't take care of me forever, but let me stay."
Nate blinked. "Um...." Did Sebastian really not understand what Nate was saying? "Bash, come on, I just said I love you. I want you to stay. You don't have to go out with me if you don't want to, but I'm not going to kick you out."
"Oh." Sebastian rubbed his eyes, suddenly exhausted. "Well, I'll go out with you," he repeated, resting his head against Nate and closing his eyes. He'd cleaned half his plate, which was a lot of food compared with his usual diet of protein shakes, amaretto, and almond milk. "Tomorrow. Plan us a date," he murmured sleepily.
"Tomorrow's Black Friday," Nate pointed out.
"Mm, you'll figure it out."
Nate held Sebastian close until the latter fell asleep, then carried him to bed, tucked him in, and set about putting the food away in the fridge. Good thing it was nearly empty. Then he did his evening hygiene routine, skipping the workout, and curled up in bed behind Sebastian. Agreeing to be his boyfriend was probably a terrible idea, but nothing ventured, nothing gained... right?
