Shiloh Preston (estudier) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2011-05-02 20:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | piers knight, viola |
Who: Shiloh & Preston
What: Brotherly bonding
Where: Beijing, China; At the hotel
When: Backdated to their trip to China
Warnings: None
The sun had long since dipped beneath the horizon before they made it back to the hotel, and Shiloh had to say that he thought it had been a good day. The day had been spent at the Forbidden City and the Imperial Palace, exploring the temples, museums, and gardens that filled the area. It had been too long since he had been back, Shiloh realised, as he drank in the culture and the sights, though the absence had made his Chinese more than a little rusty, which had provided several amusing moments of floundering around through their days there. “So,” Shiloh said as they approached the hotel, glancing over towards his brother. “Impressions so far? Now that you’ve been here for more than just business?” He had a ready smile on his face, pulling the door open to the hotel and moving inside, keeping it pushed open for Preston.
For once, Preston let someone else do all the talking and the decision-making, and he actually started to enjoy himself. He was impressed by his brother's command of the language, and in a place where most of the tourists expected everyone to magically speak English, they experienced a little more in the way of hospitality for it. Additionally the Forbidden City had stunned him speechless with its ageless grandeur, and being who he was, he enjoyed every scrap of historical fact the audio tour and Shiloh's knowledge could offer. "Amazing," Preston replied fervently, dropping into one of the hotel chairs to get off his feet.
Shiloh couldn’t help but laugh quietly at that, taking a seat in the chair beside Preston, legs stretching out in front of him. “That’s the sort of reaction I was looking for,” he said easily, leaning his head back until it rested against the back of the chair, turning to look at his brother. “It’s a pretty impressive city, isn’t it,” he said. “I have to say, it’s good to see you having a good time. I was worried, honestly, that somehow this would turn out to be some sort of disaster. I’m glad I’ve been proven wrong.” He laughed then, closing his eyes, letting the sounds of the other hotel guests around him buzz in the background.
“I’m a little disaster-prone, in that way,” Preston agreed. “I still can’t believe you’ve got time to travel with me these days--or I’ve got time to go. I never thought you’d be able to speak anything but Boston when we were growing up.” He smiled at the thought, watching people come and go in and out of the lobby, taking in the strange amalgam of scents that wasn’t anything like a European or American hotel.
Shiloh gave a little hum as he thought, finally chuckling quietly in response. “You have to make time for things that matter, I’ve found,” he said, turning to look towards Preston. “I was worried. So I made time. You made time. It all works out in the end.” Grinning, Shiloh sat up, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, joining Preston in looking around the hotel, the variety of people that passed through the doors.
“Trust me. It took forever to mash the accent down to where someone could understand me out here. You would have laughed forever if you had been here the first time I came to China. I didn’t even understand what I was saying myself, half the time!” Shiloh laughed, shaking his head at the memory. “Besides. I’ve got you to cover the Boston thing. You’ve not hidden it that well.” A wink and he settled back, cracking his knuckles as he did so.
Obviously, he hadn’t meant to worry his brother, and since even Preston realized he didn’t have very much to help himself up on the inside, he was grateful for whatever support anyone would give him on the outside. He had not realized he was quite so fragile; it was troubling, and not at all the kind of man he thought he had built himself up to be. He shook his head a little and sat back.
“I hid it a lot better before you came along,” he retorted, grinning suddenly. “It always gets worse when you are around. Eli just compounds the problem.”
A hand clasped over his heart in mock-hurt. “Please don’t tell me you wish I was still on the other side of the country!” But he couldn’t hold the mock-hurt for long, settling back down with a soft sigh. Being around family did weird things, he’d found. Preston reminded him of his past. Poe reminded him of a romantic interlude. And his parents... well, Shiloh liked to pretend he needed to think on them once in a while.
“You and Eli seem to be getting along better, at least. Are you two on speaking terms again?” Shiloh asked, honestly curious. It was a first to see them together when Eli had dropped them off at the airport, and Shiloh still wasn’t sure what he thought about the other man.
Preston didn’t associate his family with good things. It was only Shiloh that he could always lean on because it was only Shiloh that had always cared, no matter what he’d done. It was part of how his brain worked--brain, or whatever chemicals balanced emotions out. It hadn’t been so prevalent in the past as it was now. To Preston it seemed that suddenly his house of rocks had come apart, and it was harder for him to see the places where it had been only balanced precariously.
“Yes. I get the feeling that he’s waiting for me to make a mistake again, though.” Preston stared vacantly out a high, bright window, thinking. “I’m not usually the one that does the cheating.”
“If that’s the way he’s really thinking, then perhaps he’s not the one for you, Preston.” Shiloh was serious as he spoke, concerned about that revelation from Preston. “If he’s just waiting for failure, then I don’t think happiness will be found. At least not easily.” He paused, his lips turning into a frown, releasing a long breath. “Or are you just waiting to make another mistake? Think that because it’s happened once, it’ll happen again? So best to keep your space so you don’t mess up again?” Shiloh reached over, ruffling Preston’s hair, knowing the gesture would annoy his brother. “You’re a good guy. You deserve good things. Don’t let yourself believe any different, Pres.”
It worked like a charm, the contact snapping the younger brother out of the daze. Preston jerked to the side, surprised into a laugh, and batted his brother’s hand out of the way like they were ten years old again. “I’m not going to make that mistake again. But he didn’t seem to understand how that... that emotion... thing screwed me up.” He looked carefully into Shiloh’s face, looking for confirmation that his own experience was not so bizarre and his reaction therefore not so abhorrent.
Chuckling to himself and feeling the victor, Shiloh settled back, nodding his head in agreement with Preston’s explanation about the feelings incident, or at least that’s how he labelled it in his head. “You and me, I don’t think either of us are ‘emotional’ people,” he said, crooking his fingers around the word. “It threw me for a loop, too. I don’t think my experience was anything like your own, but I have an idea of what you’re going through.” He gave a shrug, then shifted to lean on one hip, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Being in China, where everyone and their toddler seemed to smoke, it was hard to break the habit. But Shiloh was at least polite enough to offer them to Preston first, the pack wrinkled and battered from a day in his pocket.
“He’ll get it. Or at least he’ll understand it a little bit in time. He seems like a smart guy, and he seems fond enough of you.” Or at least that’s how Shiloh saw it, not that he was one to talk about relationships. Self-professed bachelor and all.
Yes, Preston’s attempts at quitting evaporated within thirty seconds of getting off the plane, which put him into such extreme withdrawal he was ready to light up on the jetway. He accepted one and shifting in his chair, reached into a pocket for a plastic lighter that was his last nod to keeping smoking from being a permanent habit. Cupping his hand around the flame, he lit up and then let out a cloud with a sigh. “I hope so.”
Shiloh’s own cigarette was soon alight as well, and he settled back, the nicotine doing its job in relaxing him further. “Best not to just hope. Best to believe it’ll be so.” A sidelong glance and Shiloh let out a sigh, closing his eyes as he simply relaxed. “I’m glad you came with me, you know. I’ve been thinking about a trip like this for the longest time. Sharing this with you. It’s been forever since we’ve been able to do this. Probably since we were both in school and life was...” He paused, mulling over his choice of words. “Complicated,” he finally finished, giving a decided drag on his cigarette.
“I wasn’t really interested in going anywhere then,” Preston conceded, bizarrely relaxed in so public a place, perhaps because of the firm language barrier. To tell the truth, Preston--Ash, at the time--hadn’t wanted to leave the house. And once he was with Shiloh, he had been afraid to leave. He had been careful not to mention it or put pressure on his brother to support him, but he was aware of what he owed Shiloh.
“Yeah, I know, just means we have some time to make up for, that’s all.” Shiloh gave him a grin, and then with a grunt, he hauled himself up to his feet, taking a last drag on his cigarette before grinding it out on one of the many ashtrays that dotted the landscape of the hotel. “You up for a drink before we call it a night? My treat.” A wink before he inclined his head towards the hotel bar, with Preston willingly in tow.