Pix (inspiteofcages) wrote in odysseyic, @ 2018-05-01 08:30:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | ethan, tris |
Get Your Shit, We're Celebrating
Who: Ethan and Tris
Setting: The piano club
One would think that after years of being best friends with someone that actually played piano, Ethan would have understood more of it. Or at least had a better idea of what his friend could do. Honestly, though, beyond the fact that now Tris played the piano that Ethan had added to their apartment on the boat, he hadn’t had a chance to see Tris play a ton.
Which meant that as he sat in a corner booth at the club Tris played at, he was honestly surprised at just how good his friend was. Like, he knew Tris was great. He did. But Tris was fucking amazing on stage, despite the fact that he was playing through the sappiest of playlists.
When Tris’ set wrapped, Ethan waved over the waitress to order for both of them, grinning at his best friend and waving so he’d be seen.
Tris had his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, but otherwise he was dressed to the nines. White shirt, maroon tie, dark grey vest that fitted him just so and a nice pair of black dress pants. His good mood showed in his wide smile and relaxed demeanour. The set had gone well and the world was generally a great place right now.
“Hi,” he said as he sat down at Ethan's table. He was surprised to see his friend, who didn't usually come see him play. “Everything okay?”
Ethan frowned. “I can’t just come see you play, order you a drink?” he asked. Something had to be wrong? Honestly, nothing was wrong, he just kind of felt like he’d been sharing Tris with Christian lately and sharing himself with Blake and honestly, he was feeling selfish on both counts and wanted Tris to himself. “Everything is fine you mother hen. I’m just seeing how you are doing.”
Tris rolled his eyes. “Of course you can come to see me play. You just usually don't,” he pointed out, ordering himself some iced water against a throat half parched from singing.
“Well, you spend most of your time with your boyfriend, so I had to pick a place that I knew he wouldn’t be at.” Mostly since Ethan had left Christian at their place studying for some class or another. “You were great,” he added.
Tris loosened his tie a little and flipped open the top button of his shirt. He narrowed his eyes a little. “You wanted to talk to me without Chris?” he asked, askance, wondering if there was something that they actually needed to talk about. He accepted the glass of water when it came and took a sip, nodding a little to accept the compliment from his best friend.
“Does he have to chaperone all of our conversations now?” Ethan countered, getting weirdly defensive even if he didn’t have a reason to. “Maybe I just don’t feel like sharing you for five minutes.” Okay, yeah, he sounded jealous and cranky. Maybe he should have stopped at three vodka tonics.
Tris stared, open mouthed, at Ethan. “Are you jealous of Chris?” he asked in disbelief, because that just didn’t make sense. Yet that was very much what it sounded like.
“What? No,” Ethan made a face and waved his hand at Tris. “I want no part of whatever it is you two get up to. I mean your kink is your kink, but that’s totally not mine.” He took a sip of his drink, mostly to keep from muttering about how Tris did spend all his time with Chris and didn’t seem to need his needy best friend anymore.
“I didn’t mean like that, idiot,” Tris said, giving Ethan a light push. “I mean…” He turned a little more serious, wrinkle developing between his eyebrows. “Am I neglecting you? It’s just - I mean… You have Blake. And you guys seem to be doing so well. But you’re my best friend and nothing’s gonna change that.”
Ethan shrugged, clearly hesitating before he said something else. He hated feelings. Even if they’d always come easier with Tris, he still hated them. “No. You’re not...it’s not the same with Blake.” Because yes, he and Blake were doing great. Wonderful provided Ethan didn’t let himself think about it too much. But that didn’t make up for Tris or leave it so Tris didn’t need to be in his life.
“Aww, shucks, com’ere,” Tris joked, reaching for Ethan and pulling him into a purposefully awkward hug, tugging Ethan’s head to his chest and rubbing at his hair, laughing all the while. “You do love me!” he proclaimed, though not raising his voice. He was happy to play the fool and make a bit of a scene in public, but at the same time he knew that gossip ran rife on this boat and he wasn’t looking for trouble - especially not now, for either of them.
Ethan grumbled and pushed at Tris’ hands going immediately to try and fix his hair. “Try again. I think I hate you,” he groused, then rubbed his cheek so Tris wouldn’t see the blush. He might have needed the hug, even if he would never admit it. “I take it back. I’m leaving you forever.”
“No you’re not,” Tris told him, with confidence. He let Ethan go, but left an arm slung loosely round his shoulders, keeping them side by side. “Anyway, you can’t leave me. I need you.”
“Glad you’ve finally come to terms with that,” Ethan said reaching for his drink instead. Then he paused. “But why now more than ever?”
“Oh, I don't know if I should bring it up,” Tris said, looking at his friend sideways, amusement playing over his face. “I mean, if you've suddenly decided that you have a problem with Chris…”
“What? What happened?” Ethan glared at Tris for a moment, then punched at his arm. “I don’t have a problem with Chris. I just have a problem with you being so caught up in being the perfect daddy boyfriend that you’ve forgotten I exist.” There. He said it. He was jealous.
“I have not forgotten you exist!” Tris protested, though he knew he hadn't spent as much time with Ethan as he used to, even though they now shared an apartment. “Okay, so that's it. Tonight's just you and me. You don't have anywhere else to be, right?” he said, determinedly putting his news aside.
Ethan made a face, thinking about protesting on where on earth he could need to be, but then he reached for his phone. He actually had to check the calendar, even though he kept it tilted away from Tris. No need for his friend to see just how busy he’d gotten as of late, but that was the case. His father’s company was reaching out more and more, needing a steady hand as the world slipped on its axis. “No, I’m all yours. Now, tell me what’s going on?” he asked once he was sure the calendar was clear and he could focus on Tris.
Tris hesitated, conflicted as Ethan clearly had issue with being neglected and Tris’ news was going to drag the conversation right back to Christian again. Yet, he couldn't keep it to himself. Still, if put a damper on things a little as he scratched at the back of his neck with his free hand. “I erm… So… Chris kinda proposed…”
Ethan opened his mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again and closed it once more. Nope, words weren’t coming right away. He did glance down at Tris’ hands, though beyond the watch that he knew Christian had given his best friend, there was nothing new. “Kinda?” he blurted after another moment, not really what he wanted to say, but still the first thing he did manage.
Tris blushed and shrugged a shoulder. “Well, it wasn’t like he got down on one knee or anything, but he asked if I wanted to and I said yes.” The whole thing was a little fuzzy to Tris still. As much as it probably wasn’t very manly to admit to it, he knew everything had felt so very overwhelming and emotional at the time.
“Well, why didn’t he?” Ethan asked. He frowned at Tris’ hand again. “Are you not wearing the ring at work?” he added. Maybe that was a thing. That could totally be a thing. Tris did make better tips off the people that wanted him.
“We were kinda - it was just all…” Tris struggled for the words. “I’d say it was a spur of the moment thing, but I know he’s been thinking about that being where we’re going for a while.” Thinking back on it, Tris had to admit that he would have thought that Chris would be a traditionalist about it all, but sometimes things didn’t work out as expected. He looked down at his empty finger, flexing the digits. “There isn’t a ring,” he said, though that was more expected. He’d never known a guy who wore an engagement ring.
“Alright, spur of the moment. Romantic. Just bubbled out of him huh?” Ethan could see that. He could see it either way, Christian planning some elaborate proposal or just blurting it out at dinner because it was overwhelming. He frowned though. “There should be a ring.” Because even if he got excited and didn’t go with a plan, Chris would have wanted a ring. Wouldn’t he?
“Why should there be a ring?” Tris asked, frowning at that. “I’m a guy.” Like that wasn’t obvious.
“You’re really going to bring gender roles into this?” Ethan asked, hand to his chest. “Who are you? There should be a ring because you’re officially one hundred percent off the market and you deserve a little sparkle in your life.”
Tris pulled a face and resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at his friend. “Fine. Then there’s no ring because Chris is a student and doesn’t have much money. I don’t need a ring.”
That didn’t much sound like Chris either, but Ethan didn’t say that. “Alright, fine, you don’t need a ring.” He clearly didn’t believe that, but Tris was right about Chris being poor. Maybe he’d talk to him one on one and see if he could help him out with that. “So, what did he say? I love you, we have amazing sex, I want that for the rest of my life, marry me?”
Tris opened his mouth. Then abruptly burst out laughing. “Actually, not that far off,” he admitted. “Though it was more along the lines of I love you, I want to one day stand up in front of our friends and make it official and adopt a whole bunch of kids and spend the rest of my life with you. Then he turned it into a question and asked me if it was a yes.”
“How disgustingly domestic,” Ethan teased. “And you said yes.” Chris really had offered just what Tris wanted, hadn’t he? It wasn’t lost on Ethan that making Tris part of his family had been what really endeared Ethan to him. That it was something Tris seemed to crave. “So,” he said tapping his hands on the table. “A wedding then. Does one day mean soon or like in a year or what? I mean, we can start planning now. Do you want it on the boat with the captain presiding or should we plan something at one of our next ports? Hopefully not one as shitty as Stockholm turned out to be, but we can vet it for wedding-ness beforehand. And who are we inviting?”
Tris’ laughter died away and he sat for a moment, looking at Ethan. “What - no congratulations?” he asked, clearly going for jokey, but missing the mark. He didn’t know what it was exactly, but he figured he’d expected his friend to be more excited for him. Not to just turn back into Ethan Clarke, professional party planner, like Tris was just another excuse to host a party.
“Huh?” Ethan blinked at Tris. “I mean, obviously, congrats. I’m just...it’s marriage. I mean, I’m happy for you, duh, you two are perfect and deserve everything including the white picket fence. So obviously, I’m happy for you.” He said that too many times didn’t he?
Tris swallowed, still feeling like something was off, but then there had been times in the past where things felt a little weird. “I don’t think it’ll be for a while,” he offered up. He didn’t want to pick a fight with Ethan, especially not tonight. “It was more of a ‘one day’ thing.”
Ethan gave Tris a bit of a look. “Are you okay with that? I mean, it’s kind of vague. You don’t think...you don’t think he’s going to change his mind do you?”
“Chris? Change his mind? No,” Tris said, so confident in that statement. “He’s just - he’s still at college and he’s still young and if he wants to wait then I can wait.”
Ethan leaned his elbows on the table and watched Tris. “But he asked you. Why are you giving him an out?” he said. “And it’s not like he’s that young. Or do you think he’s too young to have asked?”
Tris frowned. “I’m not giving him an out,” he said, confused at that. “I’m just not hurrying him on. I don’t think he’ll go back on this. I mean, this is Chris we’re talking about.”
“Which means he has a plan and wants something specific. Which means you can easily push him to find out what that is…” Ethan said, then frowned. “But wait. Is that what you want? You want this right?”
Tris coloured and looked down. He didn’t think he could explain how much he wanted this without sounding like a complete and utter fool. Even with that, he didn’t think there were words. He’d been trying to find them tonight, launching love song after love song out into the audience, but none of them really expressed how he felt about things. He nodded. “Yeah. Yes, I want this.” He wanted it so much he felt like his heart would burst from it.
Ethan smiled, something soft and just for Tris. “Then ask him. Ask him when he wants it so we can get to planning and you can have everything you want.” Which was what it all boiled down to for Ethan. He might have issues left and right with marriage as an institution, having been around so many shitty ones in the past, but he wanted the best for Tris.
Tris’ breath caught in his throat at the idea of doing that and his instinct said that was not an option. He didn’t know how to explain that he knew without a doubt that Chris wouldn’t leave him, even if they didn’t set a date straight away and yet Tris was terrified that if he pushed Chris too hard, if he asked for something like a date, then Chris would run. That Tris could ruin everything by being too needy. By wanting too much. “I don’t mind waiting,” he said, trying for casual instead of even trying to broach his innermost fears.
“Do you? Do you really want to wait years? Come on, Tris. You can say that today because it just happened and it’s exciting, but in a year you might not feel that way.” Ethan didn’t want that for Tris. “And why wait even? You know what you want.”
“Just because we haven't set a date, doesn't mean that it's going to be years,” Tris said, playing with a loose thread on his shirt. He hasn't been worried about that at all. Until now, with Ethan pushing his buttons. Tris had been happy with what he had, unwilling to ask for anything more. Now he was concerned that was wrong as well. “If Chris wanted to set a date, he would have,” he said, tentatively. Sure, Chris was his sub, but he was usually good at letting Tris know what he wanted.
Ethan watched Tris then leaned across to pat his his arm. “It’s fine. I’m sure if he does, he will. He’d not leave you hanging.” At least that was what Ethan hoped. Again, he might need to talk to Christian on his own. “Though, there’s no harm in you telling him that I’m already starting to plan the whole thing.”
Tris could feel himself start to stress about something that previously he had just been relaxed and happy about. “Maybe I should buy rings,” he said, clutching at something, anything, he could do that was solid. “What do you think? You said we should have rings. Should I do that?”
“No.” Ethan said with a wave of his hand. “I’ll talk to Chris about the ring. Ring. Singular. You get one. He asked, you get to brag about how happy you are for a year or whatever it is until you have your wedding.” He kicked at Tris’ shin. “You get to be the bride.”
“Hey, who's talking gender roles now?” Tris shot back. Though, when he thought about it, there was something about that. Less the bride part and more the idea of there being a special recognition that Chris had asked him. That he was wanted, chosen.
“That I just gave you, a dude, the female role is breaking gender roles. But fine. You’re the askee. You get to wear the ring.” Ethan rolled his eyes at Tris, but he figured Tris wasn’t all that offended.
Tris rolled his eyes. “The bride being the one who was asked,” he pointed out. He waved a hand. “But… run with it. Just, remember Chris doesn’t have much.” He wasn’t a total idiot, he knew that Ethan was going to be supplementing that, still, “If I end up with something in a blue box from Tiffany, I’m going to be very unimpressed with you.”
“Your aversion to Tiffany’s upsets me,” Ethan said, hand to his heart. “Hurts my soul.” Still, he got it. Tris wanted something simple and Ethan would make sure that Christian got that. It wasn’t his ring. It was Tris’. “Not that Blake would ever, but if he asks, I do like Tiffany blue.”
“I don’t have an aversion to Tiffany - I have an aversion to their prices. If there’s going to be a ring involved, just remember that I’m engaged to Chris, not to you.” He couldn’t help but smile as he said that, still not used to it and clearly not used to hearing it said out loud.
“Look at you. You’re stupid happy about this aren’t you?” Ethan had to shake his head and roll his eyes. “Well, someone should be doing things properly. Better than living in sin as I intend to do forever.” He did smile though, the Cheshire Cat grin that got him what he wanted. “Course, maybe you could have tied me down enough to get married and have fancy Tiffany bling, but you weren’t interested.”
“Yes, I’m stupidly happy about this. I… I can’t even tell you,” Tris admitted in the face of his friend’s cynicism. “That’s very funny though. Hilarious. I could never have tied you down - not like that, anyhow,” Tris said with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.
“Why? Because I’ll laugh at you.” Ethan chucked and shook his head. “Oh, it’s cute you think I’ll be the one tied up. We know better than that.”
Tris knocked his shoulder against Ethan’s. “No, because I don’t know the words. I - I’ve been looking for them all night.” He knew things were in deep when he couldn’t find lyrics to match.
Pulling back a little, he turned more to Ethan. “I don’t know what you and Blake are like but I? Am not into that. So it’s cute you think you wouldn’t be.”
“With the sappy songs?” Ethan rolled his eyes. “Try your words. Not someone else’s. Someone else’s are never going to be right.” Technically he and Blake were a bit more flexible than one would think, but Ethan didn’t go into that. It was still a sort of one off thing that happened here and there. “You think just because you’d be the one sticking it in things you couldn’t be tied up? Hah.” He winked. “Plus, you don’t know you’re not into it because you’ve never let me try.”
Tris levelled him a look. “You want me to use my words?” he asked, taking a breath. “Fine. Let’s see - why haven’t you bought us a bottle of champagne to celebrate yet? You’re slipping, Ethan Clarke. Hmm… I’ve been waiting for him, all of my life. I used to dream about him, when I was younger. I never knew who he’d be. I didn’t even know if he’d be a he at all. I didn’t know it was him when we met or even when we got on this boat, but I know it now. We’re still discovering each other, still discovering ourselves, but I never feel more like me than when I’m with him. There’s all these parts of me that never seemed to fit. Like spare pieces that I could never get to fit into my life or who I thought I was. Now, with Chris, it’s like they’re all falling into place. He makes me make sense, just because of being with him.
“But I still know I could never enjoy being tied up. It’s not about where things are being stuck. It’s not even about trust. It’s about stress and control and fear. The idea of being under someone’s control like that. The idea of being so helpless. It more than leaves me cold. It makes me want to panic. It brings me out in a cold sweat. It’s the opposite of erotic.” Even though seeing it on someone else, someone who wanted it - Tris could appreciate the beauty of that.
Ethan gave Tris a look but called over the waitress. When she came over she flashed an extra smile at both of them, which Ethan answered. “My best friend here is getting married and he’s going to make everyone cry when he says his vow,” he told her. “Get us the best bottle of bubbly you can find.” She nodded, casting a glance at Tris before heading off to find what Ethan asked for. “As for you,” Ethan said, looking at Tris. “You need to tell him that. Like, here you are, singing songs that aren’t even close to that. Write it down and make him sob when you two do tie the knot.”
He leaned back in his seat, watching Tris. “I don’t think I knew that about you. Especially with you falling so easily in the Dom role. Though...well I guess most people are one or the other. Rarely both.” He hummed a little, then smirked. “Still, I think I could have talked you into the idea of getting fucked.”
Tris glanced over at the bar where the waitress was talking to her friend. “Well, you just ruined someone’s night,” he said, turning back to Ethan. “That was Stacey. The girl she’s talking to is Mia who had refused, flat out, to get it through her head that I’m taken.” He shrugged, clearly not upset by any of it.
“So, that’s your first decision about my wedding then, is it? Christian and I are writing our own vows?” Which was something that Tris would have backed away from if he hadn’t just been told that what was in his head was good enough. He didn’t have any faith in his own way with words. He’d never been any good in school and always figured that he was kidding himself if he thought that he could do what the people who wrote the songs he sung could do. Tris habitually reached for the words of others to express himself.
“It doesn’t have the same effect when it’s someone else,” Tris explained. “When they want to be bound. When they get something from that. I like to be able to give Chris what he needs. I don’t have to be able to want to be where he is when I’m doing it. I trust him when he says he likes something, or he wants to try something. And you couldn’t even talk me into fucking you, you would have had to break so many of your rules to even get me to consider anything else.”
“Doesn’t Chris come see you play? Haven’t they seen him?” Ethan rolled his eyes, but waved his hand. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her someone else to be taken with.” Normally it might have been him, but he wasn’t much help there either.
“Of course you are. What? Do you want it from some book written by long dead people who don’t believe in how the world works? No, you two have a better idea of what kind of promise you want to make to each other and then you get to make one that you can actually keep.” He waved at Tris. “You can sing yours if you want.”
Ethan grumbled a touch, but Tris was right. Mostly. “I might have eventually worn you down.”
Tris shook his head. “Yes, Chris comes to see me play. Hell, I’ve even introduced him. I was this close to just telling her I was gay at one point, to see if that actually made any difference. But, honestly? I don’t care about finding her someone else. If she can’t get the message, that’s not my problem.” He paused as the champagne arrived, watching as Stacey poured them a couple of glasses. He glanced over at Ethan. “And I’m not singing my vows,” he said as the girl beat her retreat.
Tris pulled one of the flutes towards him, toying at the stem as he watched the bubbles rise, sticking to to sides of the crystal and fizzing through the middle of the straw-gold liquid. “You would never have worn me down,” he said, still watching the bubbles. “We wanted different things.” And now there was Chris. The days of Ethan were a world away, leaving only the vaguest shadow of regret in their wake and he outline of a jealousy borne of knowing someone else was everything Tris had never been.
“Well, can’t blame them for not getting it. You are a catch. The stuff dreams are made of,” Ethan said with a wink, tipping his drink back but stopping short when Tris didn’t drink his right away. He frowned, setting the glass down. Here he was, ready to indulge in calorie-laden sweet stuff and Tris was stuck in his own head.
“No. That’s not true either,” he said softly. “We wanted this. What we have now. We just didn’t realize it or know what to call it.” Because there was no way Ethan would be where he was with Blake if it weren’t for having Tris in his life and he liked to think the same with Christian.
Tris would always have questions. No matter how much he loved Christian - and he did, with all his heart. No matter how much he knew that Chris coming into his life was the single best thing to ever happen to him, that he’d found his person. No matter how clearly better he and Ethan were as friend. No matter how few regrets he had about the way things had turned out, he would always have those questions. Questions about what Blake had that he didn’t. Questions about what it was that meant that Tris hadn’t been good enough.
Questions that he couldn’t ever ask. Instead, he picked up the glass and held it up in a toast. He considered saying something, but instead just drank half of it down. “Now, that’s more Ethan Clarke,” he quipped.
Ethan raised his own and laughed. “Here’s to falling in love like idiots,” he said tipping back his own. “You just say that because I’ve spoiled you with the good stuff over the years.”
Tris placed his glass back on the table, playing with the stem between his fingers. “You’ve spoiled me with a lot of stuff over the years,” he pointed out.
“Well, kind of the point right? I mean...are you upset about it?” Ethan knew Tris was twitchy about money, but he and Tris were like family. It didn’t matter.
Tris quirked a smile. “I gave up trying to convince you to lay off years ago,” he teased. “Now it’s more… damage limitation and even then. I mean, remember me when we first met. Remember that guy in those first six months. Now - try and give him a grand piano for his apartment.”
Ethan nodded. “That’s true. He didn’t even like it when I paid for dinner,” he asid. “Which was stupid on your part.” He’d always thought that. He had plenty to give and wanted to give it. That Tris didn’t want to take it made him nuts.
“You had plenty of leeches,” Tris explained, possibly for the first time, now he thought about it. “Loads of people around you who would take what you’d give. At least half of them were only there because you were giving. I never wanted to be involved in any of that. I never wanted you to wonder why I was there.”
“All you’ve done is made me wonder more about why you’re here,” Ethan said with a huff of a laugh. At least when people were taking his money he understood it. Tris was just...there for him. Which was mind boggling.
“Because you’re the best friend a guy could ever have,” Tris said, simply and honestly. Then he shrugged and picked up the glass. Draining it, he added, “Plus you desperately needed someone who could call you on your bullshit and stop you spiralling into your own head every day.”
“Are you my friend or my shrink?” Ethan teased, reaching for the bottle to refill both their glasses. “Because I don’t need a shrink.”
“Good, because neither do I and I think sometime in the past we made a deal - if one of us checks into therapy, we both check into therapy.” Which sounded like both the best and worst of ideas. “So, I’m gonna go with friend. Honest friend. Supportive friend. And these days? Big brother.”
“We did. So don’t get any ideas,” Ethan warned, tilting his glass at Tris before finishing it off and refilling it again. “Big brother. Like you’re the wise one because you’re a few years older.”
“No, I’m the wise one because I’m better at it than you,” Tris shot back. “Face it, I’m always one step ahead.”
“What? The falling in love thing? That’s not fair. It took you longer to realize it.” And Ethan had to be told outright, but that was so not the point.
“The actually having a relationship in the first place thing as well,” Tris pointed out.
“That’s not fair. You had tons of those over the years. Just because i didn’t get involved with people doesn’t make you wiser. I had to explain kinky sex to you.”
Tris opened his mouth, then closed it, colouring. “Okay. Fine. I’ll give you that one,” he said. There was no arguing with that - Tris really hadn’t known what the hell he was doing. “But if you bring that up in your best man’s speech, I’m officially disowning you,” he warned.
“Aw come on. You would never.” Not that Ethan wouldn’t because he totally would.
“Wanna risk it?” Tris asked, with a sickly sweet smile. “You do anything that might upset my future husband on our wedding day and all bets are off.” And Tris had no idea how Chris would react to their sex life and kinks being outed to all of their friends. He took a breath and another sip of champagne. “He doesn’t know - that you know about the book. He just knows that you know about the daddy thing because we were loud that day.”
“That’s not fair. Your future husband is a delicate flower.” Ethan pouted and waved his hand. “You’re loud a lot. Most days.” He didn’t care though. He was glad they were happy. That was what mattered. “But okay. He doesn’t know I know. Though he has to have figured a few things out given the fact that I set you up with that visit to that shop in Stockholm?”
“He doesn’t know you set that up either. Or - he knows that you paid for dinner and that we name dropped to get extra service at the store, but he doesn’t know how involved you were. Plus - given what happened after, I’m not entirely sure that there was much thought about any of it.” Save for the fact they’d managed to get the bag back to the ship and had been working their way through their purchases since.
“Well, I was just trying to get rid of you for a bit and I regretted it immediately. Should have just dealt with you being on the other side of the wall having amazing sex while I tried not to laugh when I told Blake.” Then at least there might have been a lot less of them getting hurt.
“Honestly? Even with all that happened, that was still one of the best nights,” Tris admitted. “Sure, I could have passed on the concussion and on Chris taking a hit for me,” he scowled. “But everything before that..”
Ethan nodded. “I feel the same way.” He did flash a grin at Tris. “Have fun then? Find something exciting?”
“Oh,” Tris said, smiling round the rim of the glass as he took another sip of champagne, his green eyes lighting up. “We found lots of exciting things.”
Ethan waited, but when Tris didn’t say more he made a face. “Well, come on. Spill. Who else are you going to gush to?”
Tris thought back to his boyfriend and the times they’d had recently, working their way through the contents of that bag. “I don’t need to gush,” he said, a little smugly. “But - he looks so beautiful and reacts so prettily,” he allowed, giving Ethan just enough to never be enough.
“How are you so horrible? You’re such a tease,” Ethan said with a roll of his eyes and a wave of his hand. “I’m sure he does. Both of those. Well, I know about one at least. But I’m sure you think that.”
“Fine, we bought a selection of kinky sex toys and clothes and we’re having a lot of fun with them. I mean, I have pictures, but there’s no way in hell I’m showing you and I’ve changed the code on my phone since that one time you worked out what it was, so don’t even try and steal it when I’m not looking.”
Ethan gave Tris a look. “You have no idea how to tell a story. Nor do you know not to lead in with pictures.” He made a face. “Also, odds are I can still hack your passcode.”
Tris rolled his eyes. “I know exactly how to tell a story - I just also know how much you hate not getting what you want,” Tris teased, but still, he made a mental note to double check his security.
“Why am I friends with you?” Ethan rolled his eyes and refilled their glasses. “Seriously though. Tell me what you want from your wedding. Big thing? Small thing? What?”
“Ethan, if the only reason you would want to be friends with me was to hear my sex tales then we’d never have been friends in the first place,” Tris pointed out. He was feeling nicely buzzed now, the bubbles of the champagne ticking at the edges of his brain. He laughed a little. “Shit, yeah, wedding. Damn - I’m gonna have to…” He broke off. “Actually, I’m gonna probably leave it up to Chris to organise. He’s better at that shit than I am. He’s the kinda guy who’s probably had a secret wedding Pinterest board since he was a kid. But - I don’t think I know enough people to have anything big.” A thought appeared and his smile turned toward the evil. “Though there’s a part of me that kinda wants to invite his parents.”
“No, but we could at least swap sex tales,” Ethan said with a roll of his eyes. “Like proper girlfriends.” He laughed himself. “You’re going to let him plan it? I mean, obviously, me and him because, I’m determined to have a hand in it and I already picked peach as your signature color.” He grinned, same kind of smile. “Oh fuck yes they’re getting invited. On fancy fucking stationary. In bold calligraphy that their boy is marrying the man who is the love of his life. And they’re going to miss out.”
“You never tell me anything about you and Blake,” Tris said, hoping to deflect that away from himself as he sipped the champagne and relaxed a little more against Ethan’s shoulder in the booth. “Yes, I’m going to let him plan it. I’ll even let you help if you promise to ditch the peach. He’ll do a better job and seeing him happy is the best thing in the world, so I want it to be perfect for him.” Tris considered the issue of Christian’s parents. “You know, they might be dead. Which makes me the terrible person who doesn’t care. If they’re not… I just want them to know that Chris married the guy they threw him out for screaming about ‘family values’. That I take better care of him than they ever did. I want them to know,” he said, the anger bleeding through at the end.
“Do you want to hear things about Blake? I didn’t think you actually liked Blake.” Ethan nodded. “I like the peach.” He nodded though getting that. That he wanted it to be perfect, that it should be. Ethan wanted that for Tris as well. “They might be. But they aren’t,” Ethan said. Shrugging one shoulder. “I might still be in touch with dad’s clients. And that kind of death...that makes the news. And it hasn’t yet.” He smirked at Tris. “So we’ll show them.”
“I like Blake just fine - we even talked the other day. More than just in passing.” He just maybe, occasionally, sort of got a bit jealous of him and his perfect everything. “Why do you like the peach? What even is there to like about peach? It’s so… bleh. Nothing. Pastel. Like 1980s bridesmaids from hell with frills and flounces.” He drained the rest of his glass, definitely aware of the effects of the alcohol now as he heard the confirmation that Christian still had what passed for parents out there. Fine. “Then I want a big wedding. High profile. Expensive - whatever you’ll throw at it. I want it to be perfect in a way they can’t ignore.” He set the empty glass back down and thunked his head back against the seat. “Then the only thing they can find fault with is me.” Because there was no getting around the fact that not only was he a man, but he was also a nobody. A no name, nobody. A musician on a cruise ship would wasn’t even famous for it. Someone who would be absolutely nowhere if it wasn’t for Ethan. All he could actually offer his finance was love.
“Because you hate it.” Ethan grinned. Then he looked over at Tris, arching a brow. “You really think they have a right to find fault with you when it comes to marrying their son? They don’t like you because their son fell in love with a man.” He hated that for both of them. “So yeah, we give them something to get pissed about. And it was already going to be in the papers, even if it’s small. I’ll put out a public announcement if Chris gives me permission. Son of the Miller Corporation marries musician and best friend of Ethan Clarke.”
“Why am I friends with you?” Tris joked, echoing Ethan’s words from earlier. He rolled his head sideways, still back against the seat. “I think I’m not objectively a great catch in the eyes of that kind of person. They would have hated me even if I was a girl.” Which he knew that he shouldn’t give a damn about, but it was hard to get rid of that kind of deep seated insecurity. The best he did was hide it, but with the alcohol and emotions, and with the fact it was Ethan he was with, it brought everything closer to the surface.
“Only because you’d make an ugly girl,” Ethan said. Then he put his glass down and turned to look at Tris. “Here’s the deal. If they loved their son, for who he is, for real, then they would love you. Because you bring out the very best in him and you only want the best for him, and any parent would be happy to have that. Would feel lucky to have that. So fuck them. You are worth it. And even if they never get that, the person who does, the guy who asked you, he gets it.”
“Fuck you - I’m make a gorgeous girl. Have you seen these legs?” Tris asked, leaning back more into Ethan as he stuck a leg out of the booth and into the air, pulling up the leg of his pants and wiggling his foot.
Dropping his leg back to the floor, he leaned his head against Ethan’s shoulder, tilting it back until he was looking at Ethan backward and kind of upside down. “He does get it,” he agreed, nodding a little too much. “And Imma gonna do everything I have to to make sure he never regrets that. Work my ass of to give him everything he should have. Can’t be some poor nobody cos this boat’s not gonna last forever. Gonna get real sooner or later. Gotta be able to provide.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “Yes. They’re hairy.” He pushed gently at Tris’ shoulder though. “Babe, no one think you’re a nobody. And no one who matters cares. You think I care? You think Chris cares? Can you really see him with some rich snob, girl or guy?” He bit his lip and shook his head. “And stop worrying about money. If any of you winds up jobless, I can help with that too.”
“I can’t mooch off you for the rest of my life,” Tris said, shaking his head. “This is great and you’re amazing, but when this is all over and they find a cure or a treatment or some way to deal with it and we all have to go back to normal, we can’t live off of your money. We’re not gonna be like… Friends. Living in apartments across the hall from each other, because you’ve bought them. Or, if we are, it’s because Chris and I can afford to pay you a proper rent for living there,” he amended. “Because living across the hall from you would be awesome.”
“Hey, I like that show,” Ethan said, but shrugged. “I mean, when it’s fine, and we go back. You can have a job. We’ll both have jobs. Even Chris. We’ll find him one.” He reached for his glass, tilting it back and forth a little. “The working part is going to suck. Already kind of does.”
Tris laughed. “Right - like you work,” he quipped, eyes dropping to follow the glass back and forth. “Some of us actually enjoy working.” He did - the problem in the real world was finding the work, not actually doing it.
“Do now,” Ethan said, like it was nothing, but he grabbed his glass and finished it off before waving the almost empty bottle at the waitress for another. “And I don’t hate it. But you know it’s tiring.”
Tris pulled himself up off Ethan’s shoulder and spun round to face him properly. “Say what now?” he asked, blinking the fuzziness away. As long as he’d known him, Ethan Clarke hadn’t worked, aside from the odd meeting he’d been pulled into at his father’s company and then he’d bitched about it for months.
Ethan shrugged a little, tapping his fingers on the table. “The board is...concerned. They want to know that if something happens to dad…” He shrugged. “It’s small, but it’s a lot more than it used to be.”
Tris considered that, then a knowing smile grew on his face. “And you’ve stepped up with no problems, haven’t you?” he suggested.
“Someone’s had to!” Ethan crossed his arms over his chest. “I haven’t told Blake. I don’t think...I don’t think he had ‘dating a future CEO’ on his bucket list.”
Tris frowned. “I… am failing to see what’s wrong with dating a CEO?” he said, turning that into a question.
“I’m not sure it has that much appeal. You want to be friends with one?”
“I want to be friends with you,” Tris told him. “If you become a CEO I doubt you’re going to have a complete personality transplant.” He considered things. “Though if you become a CEO and we end up back in New York, I might start hitting you up for more social inclusion causes. You could do a lot of good for people who need a helping hand.”
Ethan made a face. “Wait, am I not socially inclusive enough already? What are you saying? Dad’s corp has always been supportive of causes. Habitat for Humanity, for the past few years they’ve had a float or representative at Pride parades, you know. All the usual.”
Tris held his hands up. “Hey, hey - not judging,” he said. “Not saying that your dad doesn’t do anything. Just… I knew a lot of people who could have done with practical help. Like… Paid internships for kids in the system, who would never be able to pad out their resumes by taking unpaid work. Mentoring schemes. Did you know that only two percent of foster kids ever graduate from college? Two percent. That’s nothing. Hell, I couldn’t even dream of going to college in the first place.”
“You didn’t want to go to college,” Ethan said with a face. “Or were you going to major in playing music?” He could see the point though. “Well, alright. We can focus on the children more, or well more than a few events for orphans and such.”
Tris shook his head. “College was never an option for me. You don’t have impossible dreams. I barely graduated high school, but I’m not dumb. I’m not stupid. I just - I didn’t see the point when there wasn’t a future in it. I decided as a stupid, dumb, kid that I had a talent and running after that was what was gonna get me through life. And you said it yourself - I’m good. I’m really good. And before we came here I was borrowing money off of you every couple of months to make rent. You think if I’d have had a family, or even someone who gave a damn about me for more than five minutes that maybe things would have turned out different? I’m not complaining about me. I turned out fine. But that’s more luck than anything else and I know lots of people who didn’t. So, yeah, I’m gonna be on at you about focus, because you could make a difference to kids like me,” Tris said with more passion than he usually used to talk about anything outside of music, Chris or his friends.
Ethan leaned an elbow on the table and watched Tris talk, go through his thoughts, and that passion. “Well, actually, it’s not me who is going to do it.” He smiled, a little teasing, then nodded. “Because, it’s gonna have to be you.”
“Me?” Tris asked, blinking at that. “Why does it have to be me? It totally shouldn’t be me. I play piano I don’t… I can’t… I…”
“What? You can’t make a call on where the company’s money should go? What sort of philanthropic and social issues are worth us backing? I mean obviously, you’d have a set of checks and balances to finalize decisions, but who else would I trust to do it?”
“Chris,” Tris said, the answer falling from his lips as though it had always been there, even if he’d not thought of it before the question had been asked. “That’s what he wants to do anyway. Or, at least, he wants to work for a non-profit, but he could run that side of things for you. He’d be so much better with it all than I would. I’d get - it’s too close to home for me. I couldn’t make rational decisions. I’d just want to give them the money, not make sure that it did the best things.”
Ethan shook his head. “Someone else needs Chris,” he said. “I need you.” He liked Christian, but Christian was incredibly trustworthy. He was the person that so many people wanted. “And I want you to take it too close to home, because you’re wrong. You’ll make the best decisions. You won’t back anything that doesn’t seem legit. And you’ll have a budget.”
“I flunked math twice,” Tris said, helplessly. “And you wanna give me a budget?” It was laughable, but Tris also knew it wasn’t a no. He could feel it - he was caught in the crosshairs of an Ethan Clarke who had already set his mind on this, which in his experience meant it was practically an inevitability.
“Then we’ll get you an assistant that didn’t. It’ll be great. And you’ll stop whining about not being able to afford rent. Because it won’t be an issue.” Ethan nodded. That was it. It was decided.
“I’m not saying yes,” Tris said, slowly. He held up a hand. “But I’m not saying no either. I need to talk to Chris about things first. I need to…” He needed to think about what he would be getting himself into and do that when he wasn’t half cut on champagne when all the world seemed easy and a good idea.
“Just a job offer in the distant future,” Ethan said. “And I’m sure Chris will be proud. But if you’re worried about time to play, we can make it a shorter work week.” He smiled. “You’ll do it and you’ll be great at it.”
“And if I’m not, you’ll have to fire your best friend,” Tris pointed out, still not convinced that he was the right man for the job, not in the way that Ethan was. Still, as the man said, this was for a time that was a long way off. In the days after the plague, presuming that there would be some.
“I’ll give your assistant more responsibility. So come on, don’t do that. You’re going to be great and if you hate it, you can leave. Build up a nest egg and leave.” Ethan reached out and held on to Tris’ arm. “You’ll be great.”
Tris could see the future in that moment. That Ethan saw this as a way to win. He’d put Tris in place, hire him an assistant who was actually far more qualified and competent and pay Tris a stupid salary. It was a genius sidestep round the issue that had always been a sticking point between them - that Tris refused to be financially dependent upon Ethan. Now here it was - the gift of a role that ostensibly Tris had some connection with. That he would be able to play at doing. The offer of some pride whilst Ethan finally got what he’d been after for years. The only question was whether Tris’ pride would let him pretend it was more than that and take up the offer. “Maybe,” he said, after a moment or two.
“Think about it.” Ethan patted his arm again. “Seriously. Ask Chris. I bet he backs my play.” Because Ethan did truly think his best friend would be great at the job. He would make the right decisions and find causes that Ethan didn’t even know existed that needed their help.
Christian would love it, Tris knew. He’d see it was a way of giving back. It was a way of giving back. Tris knew that whoever did this job could make a real difference. It was one hell of an opportunity. Tris just wasn’t convinced he had the ability to do it the way it should be done. Was worried that he’d fail at it, fail at helping the people who needed it most. “I’ll talk to him,” he promised.
“Good. But wedding things first. Because that’s going to happen sooner. Though I’m likely going to talk to him about that first.”
“Wedding things first,” Tris confirmed with a nod. “Fuck. Shit - I’m actually going to be getting married,” he said with happy disbelief. This was actually happening. This was something that was actually going to happen. To him.
“Hell yeah, you are,” Ethan said with a grin. “Oh! We need to work on the bachelor party. We should find out where the boat is headed next so we can do something proper. Also, do we do male strippers because you’re marrying a guy or can we do both since we like both?”
Tris leveled a look at him. “Just because I’m getting married doesn’t mean my sexuality has suddenly changed. Or become fixed. Or whatever,” he deadpanned. “Just… don’t tell Chris, okay? That would just be weird.”
“Tell him we’re getting strippers who are of both genders because we’re gonna have a fucking amazing day?” Ethan rolled his eyes. “It’s fine. We’ll get him set up with whatever he wants. What? Spa day? Male strippers dressed like firemen?”
“I don’t want to know what Chris is getting either,” Tris said with a grin. “Though, I think he should have a spa day anyway. Aaaaand I think if you got him strippers dressed up as firemen then he wouldn’t be able to look for feeling guilty about associations with Blake,” he teased. “Look, we don’t have a date yet. We don’t know how far away that’s actually going to be. Why don’t you take this one party at a time and start by arranging us an engagement party?”
“Fair, fair. Policemen then.” Ethan waved his hand at Tris. “He’s friends with Velma right? I can have her plan it for him.” He did smile though, glad that Tris was giving in on at least that point. “Yes. Engagement party. We’ll have it in the Crown. Might be a week before I can get it organized, but we’ll celebrate. Everyone deserves to think about something good for once.”
“Yeah, he's friends with Velma. They're taking courses together.” Tris thought she was good for him. He wanted Christian to have friends outside of their relationship. “I'll leave the party planning up to you. Whatever you think best. Never known you to go wrong.”
“I take that as the highest of compliments. Thank you.” Ethan gave Tris a mock salute. “Now, help me finish this bottle, then let’s go be giggly somewhere you don’t work.”