hounded (hounded) wrote in qaf_drabbles, @ 2010-01-01 21:34:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | author: hounded/rebel, gusmas 2009 |
The 37 Days of Gusmas
Title: Rage the Kitten Grows Up, Parts 29-54
Author: Rebel
Prompts: Christmas Eve, Christmas night, Kwanzaa, Bells, Image of hands reaching towards stars, Silent night, Should auld acquaintance be forgot?, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day
Note: This is the final installment of this story. I wanted to finish it in exactly 37 drabbles but xie_xie_xie (not her real name) said now that I'm in heaven, rules don't apply to me, so I added more at the end until it was done, all with the prompt "New Year's Day." I hope you have liked this story about Rage the kitten and Justin and Brian and the snow, even if I did have Justin get hit by a car. Happy New Year!
29.
It was Christmas Eve, and Daphne was wrapping Justin's gift.
A few days earlier, he'd been lying in the hospital, quiet and pale. Then Brian came in, snow melting in his hair, and put Rage down on the bed.
Rage started to nuzzle Justin's unmoving hand, then lick it with his rough tongue. And then he pushed against Justin's face, purring loudly.
Justin's hand moved. Daphne wondered if she was imagining it, but then his fingers really moved, like he was trying to pet Rage.
She looked at Brian, and then away, because there were tears pouring down his face.
30.
Daphne glanced at the clock as she tied the bow on the present. Two minutes past twelve. Christmas Day.
She was having dinner with her family, but planned on going out to Justin and Brian's in the morning. She wanted to make sure Justin was okay, still breathing and laughing. Wanted to watch him unwrap his present, and pet Rage.
To see Brian looking at Justin like he was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.
Daphne put Justin's gift on top of the small pile of presents for Brian and Rage, turned out the light, and went to bed.
31.
Brian looked up from his laptop when Justin laughed, and raised an eyebrow in his direction.
"Daph," Justin explained, nodding at his iPhone. "She's texting me about the 12 Days of Kwanzaa."
Brian pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do I want to know?"
Justin shook his head vigorously. "Really, you don't."
Brian stood up and walked over the sofa, and dropped down next to Justin.
Rage looked at him from Justin's lap, and stretched out one paw, letting it rest lightly on Brian's leg.
Justin laughed again, eyes on his phone, thumbs flying.
Brian just sat there, not thinking.
32.
Michael closed the cash register drawer. He hadn't sold anything that day, at least, not in the shop – even the Internet had been slow. The week after Christmas always was.
The bells on the door jingled, and Ben walked in. Michael smiled at him; he couldn't help it. "Hey, handsome."
Ben smiled, his eyes wrinkling up, and Michael thought, everything will work out.
"I thought you might want to stop and get something to eat before going home."
Michael grabbed his keys from under the counter. "Sure. Just let me lock up."
He walked down the street without looking back.
33.
Michael didn't want to go to the diner; his mom was working and she'd know with one look that something was wrong. So they ate at the Italian place near the post office, then went to Babylon. The club was almost empty, but the music was thumping and the lights flashing.
Michael thought about a thousand nights he'd spent there, dancing, laughing, arms reaching for the ceiling and the lights. He put his hands on Ben's shoulders and his mouth at his ear. "I was thinking… maybe we should just go."
Ben nodded, and steered him to the coat check.
34.
It started pouring as they walked back to where Ben had left the car, so they ended up in the diner after all.
"What's with the sad faces?" Debbie asked when she brought their coffee "Justin's okay, it's the New Year, and there's a two-for-one sale on lube and condoms at the Big Q. It doesn't get any better than that, boys."
"Michael's stressed out about the shop," Ben said.
Debbie looked alarmed. "What's wrong, baby?"
"I'm gonna have to let it go, ma." He was shredding a napkin.
Debbie sat down. "But it's your dream…"
Michael sighed. "I know."
35.
The next day, Michael had gone into the shop, not really sure why he bothered. Just before 5, his cell phone rang.
"You're an asshole," Brian said when he answered.
"What the…"
"After everything we fucking went through so you could open the store, you're…"
"This isn't something that can be fixed by auctioning off a rare comic book, Brian."
"Then let me help you…"
"No." Michael's voice was firm. "I don't know what my mom told you, but no. The Internet business can carry me fine. I just can't keep paying rent on a store no one's shopping at."
36.
Brian hung up on Michael, and shoved his hand through his hair. Stubborn asshole, he thought. And then the doorbell rang.
He frowned, and went to answer it. A blonde woman in a wool coat, a bright scarf around her neck, stood there, a hulking guy with a video camera behind her.
"Mr. Kinney? I'm Erica Moore from WTAE, and I was wondering if I could interview Mr. Taylor about the baby and young woman whose lives he saved?" When Brian didn't say anything, she added, "Grant Hammond told me the story. From Liberty Air? He said you knew him."
37.
"Who is it, Brian?" It was Justin, coming up behind him.
Brian let the reporter answer for herself. Lindsay had told him Hammond had stopped by that night, but he hadn't had time to think about it, what with Justin suddenly deciding to wake up just because Rage told him to.
"I don't know," Justin said, blushing. "I don't know what's so heroic about getting hit by a car."
Erica stepped into the hall, her face earnest. "You saved her life, and the baby's life."
"Meeooowwww." Rage snaked around Justin's ankles, and he immediately bent down and picked him up.
38.
Erica smiled. "What an adorable cat."
Brian rolled his eyes and immediately started thinking of the best place to let her set up her cameras, because she'd found the one thing sure to get Justin to say yes to just about anything.
She must have been a true cat lover, though, because she was petting Rage and cooing at him while Justin beamed. Then she laughed. "What an unusual name for a kitten."
Justin nodded happily. "I named him after the superhero in a comic book I'm the artist for."
"I've never heard of it," she said. "What's it about?"
39.
Justin hesitated. "It's… an underground gay comic."
Brian cut in. "It's a post-modern examination of sexuality in culture, and the impact of homophobia on how people perceive and value each other, and themselves, as well as a re-interpretation of the nature of heroism."
Justin stared at him. Brian usually described it as a pornographic comic book starring his dick. But he just said, "Okay," and then turned back to Erica. "Michael Novotny is the author, and I'm the artist. We started it a few years ago…" he stopped.
"After Justin was the victim of a hate crime," Brian interjected smoothly.
40.
Erica's face grew concerned. "What happened?"
Justin shrugged, and Rage bumped his head into his hand. "Some guy at my high school tried to kill me because I brought a guy to my prom." He glanced at Brian. "Brian saved my life. And so, well, I modeled Rage on him."
She looked from Justin to Brian and then to Rage, then back at Justin. She raised an eyebrow. "And you named your kitten after him."
"The cat's a hero, too," Brian said. "He woke Justin up from his coma."
Erica's face lit up like a hundred klieg lights. "He did?"
41.
Brian smiled. He'd caught her at last. "Justin had been unconscious for four days. I smuggled Rage into the hospital inside my coat, and he got Justin to wake up." He sighed dramatically. "It was a miracle, really."
Erica was biting her lips, she was so excited. "This is a great story. Is there somewhere we can set up?"
Brian stepped closer to Justin, and let his arm rest on his shoulder. He ignored the way Rage batted at his fingers. "I wonder…"
Everyone looked at him.
"Michael Novotny has a comic book shop just off Liberty Avenue…" Brian said.
42.
Justin grinned. "There's a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Rage, and a complete collection of the comics…"
"And of course," Brian said, his voice like silk, "we'd bring Rage the kitten, too."
She fell into it like it had been her own idea. Justin tucked Rage into his jacket while Brian got out his cellphone on the way to the car.
"Hey, Mikey," he said when Michael answered. "You're not busy right now, are you?"
Michael babbled something about dinner, but he ignored him. "Meet us at Red Cape in half an hour. It's important." Then he snapped the phone shut.
43.
Michael barely had time to get the door unlocked and the lights on before the entire WTAE news crew was swarming all over the store.
Justin was holding Rage in his arms and talking excitedly. "They want to interview us about Rage, and the bashing, and how Rage woke me up from my coma the other night…"
Brian snorted. "They want to interview Justin about his heroism in saving the lives of two family members of a rich and powerful man." Justin glared at him, and Brian made a gesture of concession. "But by all means, tell it your way."
44.
So Justin did. He sat down with Erica Moore and Michael, and discussed what he'd done that night.
"Liz Hammond's vehicle had spun out of control after hitting a patch of black ice," Erica said with great sincerity into the camera, "She was trapped behind the steering wheel, her baby crying in the back seat, when Justin Taylor stopped to help her." She paused dramatically. "He was the only driver to stop that day."
"It was nothing," Justin objected. "Anyone would have done it."
Brian was rolling his eyes off camera, but Justin couldn't see him because of the lights.
45.
Erica told the whole story, how Justin had taken the baby in her infant seat up to safety far from traffic, before coming back down and trying to get her mother out of the way of oncoming cars. He'd called 911 on his cell phone, but before help arrived, another car had hit the same patch of ice, and sent Justin flying into the snow piled next to the road.
"For the next four days, this young man fought for his life," she went on, and Brian, Rage in his arms, stepped into the darkness on the store's back wall.
46.
Michael was talking then, about the first time Justin had been in a coma, the prom and the bashing and the birth of Rage, and his dream of a comic book store and truth, justice and a sense of community for queer comic book geeks everywhere.
Brian had heard it all before, but for some reason tonight it felt… different.
"Meeeew," Rage said. His paws were on Brian's chest, and he was staring at him, a fierce expression in his eyes.
Brian laughed. "Using your powers of mind control on me, cat?" he said, a little bitterly.
"Mrewww," Rage said.
47.
Erica asked Justin about his recent coma. "That's our cue," Brian said, and carried Rage to Justin.
"My partner brought Rage to the hospital," Justin said. "And he woke me up… like he does every morning, when he wants his breakfast."
Everyone laughed, and Erica turned to the camera. "There's no shortage of heroes in this story. Liz Hammond's husband, the father of the baby Justin saved, lost his life in Iraq just six months ago. A family," she concluded, "touched by tragedy in the past, but saved from it today by a young man, a superhero, and a kitten."
48.
Erica smiled and nodded at her cameraman. "I'd say we got it."
He turned off his camera and smiled back at her. "Oh, yeah. I'd say we did."
She turned back to Justin and Michael. "That was great, guys. And this should help business here at the store, too."
Michael shook his head. "I'm actually closing down next month." He shrugged. "The economy…"
She looked surprised. "That's a shame. First Comic Outpost, now you…"
Michael looked startled. "Comic Outpost is closing?"
She nodded. "Same thing… the economy." Her assistant interrupted her then, and she murmured "Excuse me" and walked away.
49.
Ben came up to Michael and hugged him. "You were great."
He smiled. "Thanks. Although I think we spent a little too much time talking about that cat…"
"Hey!" Justin objected.
"Just kidding."
"You know," Ben said, "Debbie's going to kill us if we don't watch the news at her place."
Brian handed Justin his jacket. "Does the invitation extend to felines?"
Justin laughed. "Debbie said he's welcome any time."
Brian shook his head. "Of course she did. She's always been a sucker."
"Lucky for you," Michael said, and punched his arm lightly.
"Lucky for all of us," Justin said.
50.
They'd piled into Deb's living room, still decorated for Christmas.
"This is a color TV, right?" asked Hunter.
Debbie smacked him. "Shhh. It's starting."
Brian felt Justin shift closer to him when Michael started talking about the prom.
The interviews ended, and they cut to Erica in the studio.
She wore her most sincere expression. "Interestingly, Dennis, Red Cape Comics is the last comic book store left in Pittsburgh, with the closures of Comic Outpost and Fly by Night Comics." She smiled. "Might be nice to show some real-life heroes your appreciation by buying your superheroes there from now on."
51.
They were all staring at the television set. "Wow," Deb said, as she turned it off.
"No kidding," agreed Ben.
"Awesome, dude," said Hunter. "Did you know she was gonna do that?"
Brian had a smug look on his face, but he didn't say anything.
Michael's eyes narrowed. "Brian, did you pull strings with Hammond to get him to do that? Lindsay told me he came to the hospital…"
"Hey!" Brian said. "Justin saved his granddaughter's life. You think I had to pull strings?" He shook his head. "Besides, I had nothing to do with any of this. For once."
52.
It was Justin's turn to roll his eyes. "Unless you count the oh-so-innocent way Brian suggested we film the interview at the store in the first place."
Brian scratched at an imaginary spot on his jeans. "Oh," he said dismissively. "That."
Michael stared at Brian for a long time, and he finally looked up, his eyebrows arched.
Finally, Michael just smiled. "Thanks," he said.
Brian stood up and shrugged. "I didn't do anything," he said. "Justin's exaggerating, as usual." Then he walked towards the door, grabbing their coats off the banister. "Justin? Better wrap little Rage up tight. It's snowing."
53.
"Who'd have ever thought it would all work out this way?" Justin said a few nights later, after Michael had called with another gleeful report of how much he'd rung up on the store's cash register that day. "It sounds like something we'd have made up for the comic."
"You mean me saving you, and you saving Rage – twice – and then the Hammonds," asked Brian. "And then Rage saving you along with Michael's store, too, all before he's two years old?"
Justin looked at the cat on his lap, and he frowned. "He's not really a kitten anymore, is he?"
54.
Brian let his hand slide down Justin's hair to his shoulder, and then sat next to him on the sofa. "I think he'll be a kitten for just a little while more," he said, his voice soft.
Justin tugged Rage onto his four feet, and the cat mewed his objections to the manhandling. "I don't know, Brian. Look at him." He tipped his head to the side. "I think he's a cat now."
Rage purred, and looked up at Justin's face.
Justin grinned down at him. "My cat."
Brian rolled his eyes. "Our cat."
Justin smiled. "Our cat," he agreed.
The story continues here!