16
“I swear, we should never take him out in public!” Yazoo sighed, cheeks still flaming, thoroughly embarrassed by Kadaj’s comment at the ice cream parlor. He put his hand to his forehead and sank deeper into the front seat as if he might actually be able to disappear if he curled up tight enough.
Reno thought it was hilarious, and his amusement irritated Kadaj more than Yazoo’s horror, though neither of them was really at the center of his attention since their untouched ice cream was in the console between them, melting and going all to waste.
“Are you—”
“Yes, we’re going to eat that,” Reno said, cutting him off. He didn’t look back at Kadaj, who was trying to maneuver his way closer to the tempting, yummy coolness. His plans were prematurely brought to a close when Reno pulled into their carpark and killed the engine. “Start grabbing the groceries, pest.”
Kadaj wrinkled his nose, knowing that some of the bags were quite heavy. With all of the innocence he could muster, he suggested, “Why don’t you help, and I’ll hold your ice cream?”
Reno gave him a flat look in the rearview mirror and said, “Shift it.”
Stymied once more, Kadaj kicked open the back door and stomped out of the car, doubly angry when he saw that Yazoo didn’t have to carry anything—he got to carry the ice cream!
“That’s not fair!” Kadaj wailed, though he knew Reno hated that word, and he couldn’t for the life of him explain what about it wasn’t fair. It was Yazoo’s ice cream, after all, and Reno could count on him not to gobble down both cups while his back was turned.
“Thin ice,” Reno pointed out, and Kadaj shut up. Thin ice usually turned into a stinging whack on the backside, and his bottom was still sore from last night. Grumbling softly to himself, he took his fair share of the bags and dragged them inside, making sure to sigh and wince and show what difficult, back-breaking work it was and how selfless it was of him to do it at all. By the time he made his slow, resistant way through the lobby and up the stairs into the apartment, Reno and Yazoo had already put away most of the other things and were eating their ice cream…Well, Yazoo was eating ice cream and Reno was feeding it to him, a happy, content look on his face.
“You never feed me ice cream,” Kadaj grumbled, though it was half-hearted. Reno really looked too happy giving little bites to Yazoo for Kadaj to honestly want to interrupt, he just didn’t like being left out of things, and Reno seemed to enjoy Yazoo’s company way more than he enjoyed Kadaj’s.
“Just put the shit away,” Reno said, taking a bite himself while Yazoo licked his lips.
Kadaj slammed things into the fridge and the cabinets, working himself into a temper because he was nervous about going to stupid school tomorrow and vaguely irritated by the way Reno always loved on Yazoo. By the time he finished up both Yazoo and Reno had polished off their ice cream without even a dollop left over for Kadaj, though his belly still sloshed with the full cup he’d greedily inhaled before they’d even made it to the car.
Yazoo reheated last night’s dinner for an early supper since they’d missed lunch, and Kadaj threw himself into a chair at the dining room table, sighing dramatically and slumping over as if exhausted while he waited for the food to heat.
Reno watched his antics with an arched brow, an amused smirk on his face as he smoked, lounging at the other end of the table with the empty ice cream containers in front of him.
“So ungrateful,” he remarked, tapping his ashes into one of the empty cups.
Kadaj glowered at him, pouting.
“What the fuck, brat?” he asked, settling back in his chair. “Somebody with as big a case of the ‘I wants’ as you got should be a little more thankful, yo.”
“Thank you,” Kadaj snapped, refusing to look at him.
“Watch out, Kadaj,” Yazoo warned, giving him a stern look as he pulled plates out of the cabinet.
Reno was entertained by Kadaj’s irritation, and grinned at him, though it was just ornery enough to make the fine hairs on Kadaj’s nape lift in apprehension. When Reno crooked a finger at him, the boy’s panic alarms started going off, but he went to Reno anyway, making sure to convey how put-out he was at having to get back up.
“Come here,” Reno said, patting his thigh, arm at his side to allow Kadaj to sit.
Wary, Kadaj scooted to sit, folding his legs under the table between Reno’s own, his head down so that the man couldn’t read his expression.
“Whatsa matter, baby?” Reno asked, folding his arm around Kadaj’s back and lifting his cigarette to take a deep drag. “You got to drive, you got one over on your brother at the store, you got your damned ice cream—why you throwing a tantrum, yo?”
“I’m not!” Kadaj said, and even to him it sounded testy and defensive.
Reno smirked at him again, cocking his head with one eyebrow lifted in sardonic amusement. He stubbed out his smoke and turned Kadaj in his lap a little, holding his slim hips with both hands.
“You still jealous of your brother?”
Kadaj squirmed, flushing.
“Answer me, Kadaj.”
“A little,” he admitted, and flew right into a hasty explanation. “You like him better than me! You’re always touching him and talking to him and keeping him close! You don’t let Yazoo go wherever he wants or talk back to you! You always listen when he talks to you and you don’t make fun of him for being silly! You even feed him ice cream and take his side for everything!”
Kadaj subsided, a little out of breath and suddenly, oddly hurt. He’d been grasping at reasons—anything he could think of—to explain his rotten behavior and had shocked himself with how much those things actually did bother him. He’d been nervous about school and still was, but it would seem that wasn’t the only reason he was so upset.
Reno let him take a few breaths to catch up after his rushed babbling and gave Kadaj awhile to start feeling embarrassed of himself before he pulled the boy up tighter to him and smiled, sighing a little in weary patience.
“You feeling left out, baby?” he asked, and Kadaj nodded. “Why do you think I do that with Yazoo?”
“Because you love him,” Kadaj said, chastened.
“Fucking right I do, yo,” Reno told him, rocking him a little. “But it ain’t just that, Kadaj. You think maybe you’re so mad ‘cause you think I don’t love you?”
Kadaj dropped his chin again, too upset to answer. He hadn’t worked it all out in his head, but Reno reached right through all of his bad feelings to find the thorn, and yanked it free with his usual easy grace when he said, “Cause I do, Bubble Brain. I love you just as much as I love your brother, and I wanna take care of you like I take care of Yazoo—but he’s different, baby. He minds me, he needs to have somebody to tell him what’s going on, to hold him a lot and touch him, to make sure he knows somebody cares about him and needs him. He ain’t as independent as you, Kadaj—you don’t need shit from anybody, you little brat.”
Kadaj looked up at him to see if he was teasing, but Reno’s soft smile and big blue eyes held no trace of malice, just affection and exasperation.
“You and Yazoo might’ve started out as one person, baby, but you’re different as night and day now,” Reno went on, catching Kadaj under the chin to tilt his head up and planting a soft kiss on his pouting little lips. “I do what I need to do to keep Yazoo happy and content, and I’ve been doing the same for you—but you’re too caught up in this idea that whatever Yazoo has, you need to take away from him. You don’t need to be constantly reassured like he does, baby. But I promise I’ll pay a little more attention to you from now on, okay?”
Kadaj blushed with pleasure, the tightness in his chest and his bad mood evaporating. He found himself shyly keeping his eyes downcast, and dissolved into a puddle of goo when Reno brushed his calloused thumb over his mouth and called him a Pretty Baby before kissing him again.
“Now, get up, yo,” the man told him, shifting him a little. “Yazoo’s got everything ready to eat.”
For once Kadaj didn’t cause a ruckus. He docilely took his seat across from Yazoo, at Reno’s left hand, and kept up a running string of questions to both of them, chatting happily and aglow with delight despite the fact that stupid school loomed on the horizon. And when it came time to do dishes he didn’t utter a peep of protest. He just gave Yazoo a smile that made the man look askance at him and did as he was told.
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Date: 2008-12-13 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 08:09 pm (UTC)*Edit for stupid icon shifting around on me.Dammit!
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Date: 2008-12-13 02:10 am (UTC)But seriously, as someone with two (OMFG!) teenagers, I can completely appreciate the idea that Kadaj doesn't actually know what's really bugging him.
(*mutters* it's like f*&^ing pulling teeth to get them to talk.)
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Date: 2008-12-14 08:11 pm (UTC)