near the end of a long year

[tactician]

Rare was the day where the political sphere wasn't abuzz, even all the way down to the lower echelons of the profession, with secretaries and agencies worming their way into last minute flights for their significantly more powerful supervisors, but even on Ennaspie, Christmas morning was a quiet one. Rarer were still was a quiet morning where Weiler wasn't sound asleep when Locke woke to a room bathed in early light.

Instead, though Weiler had stayed in bed by Locke's side, he was sitting up against the headboard, blankets pulled up to his waist as he looked at something through a sliver of window behind the drawn curtains, a soft ivory they had settled on after (admittedly not much) consideration. He was sleepy-eyed when he noticed the shift in Locke's breathing from slumber to waking and looked down, but he didn't say anything quite yet.

He only smiled, in fact, and said nothing at all.

Comments

[tactician]

"And Scott with her, no doubt," said Weiler quietly, but loud enough for it to be audible from the phone's other end. Jenna's brother was famously quiet, though lately he had begun to speak more and more, slowly opening up to the world around him. It was a solid piece of guesswork - the two siblings were rarely found apart.

He rest his chin on Locke's shoulder and looked down at the phone, half of his attention on the device and half on Locke's profile. The man was always so unguarded and happy when interacting with his family.

[aphelionix]

"H-hi," came the small voice of Scott.

"Hi Scott," Locke said. "Are your mom and grandma there?"

"Yes!" Jenna filled in, and her voice faded to the background. "Maaa! Grandma! It's Uncle Locke and Uncle Weiler!"

That drew a wide smile from Locke, leaning into Weiler a little more, wearing the title with pride. He rested a hand on his arm, caressing mindlessly.

"Merry Christmas Rhys and Weiler!" a chime of about three voices called out; Diana and his parents.

[tactician]

"Merry Christmas," Weiler chimed in with Locke, breaking off from the chorus as Locke began to address each family member in turn in favor of tucking his face a little closer to Locke's neck to chuckle. He was an 'Uncle' now, too, and sometimes the ease with which the family had invited him into the fold was both surprising and humbling.

Locke's family sounded well and happy, as a family should near this time of year. As the adults spoke, the laughter of children could be heard in the background. Apparently, the family was in the middle of preparations themselves, a special holiday meal in the works over at their Boriniat household. Locke no doubt would have loved to be there and maybe one day, soon yet, he would.

[aphelionix]

They caught up some, talked a little more to the kids, and discussed what they were all doing for the holiday. Locke still didn't know exactly what Weiler had up his sleeve, but knew that when Weiler wanted things to be a surprise, he kept it that way. There was a cake in the fridge Locke made the night before, too, that he definitely planned to dig into today.

The call lasted a good half hour before they finally hung up, and the good mood it left in Locke was obvious. (It had been good before, but he was more awake now, and definitely feeling brighter.) Locke leaned a little heavier into Weiler, kissing his cheek. Despite telling him constantly that he had nothing to worry about with his family, he was relieved and ultimately happy that they accepted Weiler in the end. They still had some secrecy about them, but they seemed to understand.

"So," he said. "When are we going to your mystery place?"

[tactician]

Weiler nudged back against Locke's cheek. "Don't make it sound so exciting." He stood up, withdrawing, and slipped the tie back over his head. It was about time to get properly dressed, after all.

"I want you to meet my family too."

[aphelionix]

Locke blinked, obviously a bit perplexed. For one, Weiler didn't talk about his family much, and two, they were... well, dead. "You do?"

[tactician]

With a laugh, Weiler disappeared into their room, responding from inside as he proceeded to wash up and undress for the shower. "Don't think too hard on it. They kicked the bucket years ago, obviously."

Which didn't really explain all that much about what he meant.

[aphelionix]

He peered down the hall, eyebrow still raised. With the few mentions of Weiler's family, Locke could figure it out, anyway.

"Are you talking about their graves?"

[tactician]

Unseen to Locke, Weiler stopped rummaging around in their admittedly limited closet, arm still outstretched for the hangers and fingers brushing up against nothing but mid-air. He paused for a moment like that, halted, thoughtful, and then very carefully replied, "I thought I'd take a look at what they look like."

His hand slid down the sleeve of one of his suit jackets, a fine and dark material that slithered between the sides of his index and middle finger as he let his arm's weight drag them down. He hadn't been to visit the graves since the funeral; it wasn't a common thing they did in his family, let alone business keeping him understandably away. It was a little bit of his life that he had left behind before fully joining the Circle.

He just wondered if it was still there.

[aphelionix]

Locke wouldn't have been surprised if it was his own family involvement that suddenly inspired this sentiment, but he didn't say anything. He did go to the bedroom, though, catching Weiler before he got in the shower to place a kiss on his shoulder.

"I'll make sure to dress nice for them," he assured, reaching to his side of the closet for his own suit. It was hardly worn, stored in a zip-up bag to protect it from dust given how little it was used.

[tactician]

The kiss caught him unawares but not unwanting. Weiler smiled at the brush of lips against his skin and looked over his shoulder, already recovered from his brief bout of uncharacteristic melancholy.

"Just dress warm, Rhys," he said before entering the shower, the bathroom door left open. "No one's going to be looking."

[aphelionix]

Weiler's hometown wasn't as far as he thought. In an hours time, the train had already reached it. The particular area Weiler came from was very... upscale (but even that word seemed mild). It was clean, and didn't have the rugged look of their new downtown residence. Locke was impressed by it, and was suddenly a little glad that he at least wore a button-up and tie, despite the assurance that it wasn't necessary. (But his long, wool coat and scarf covered everything, anyway.)

The train slowed to a stop, and the doors opened to an indoor station. Locke was happy for little things like that, given the freezing weather out, even though they'd be braving it shortly.

"Lead the way," Locke said, tugging gloves on.

[tactician]

Considering that this was where Weiler had come from, Weiler himself spent a fair amount of time just looking around also. It was understandable, considering the expanse of time that had passed since he had last seen it, but for all appearances, he looked even less familiar with the surroundings that Locke, who, at the very least, retained some semblance of subtlety to his reactions.

Because it was Christmas day and no one was out and about in this area of town, Weiler reached out and clung to Locke's sleeve, just so that they weren't two lonely islands in cold, barren neighborhood.

"It's a bit of a walk," Weiler said, one eye narrowing in unsaid apology. It was frosty outside, as they had both quickly discovered upon leaving their building. The air was dry and cold enough that their breaths barely condensed before dissipating into nothing, and prolonged exposure bit at the tips of their noses, the edges of their cheekbones and the slope of their foreheads. Weiler was infinitely grateful for his gray scarf.

He led them away from a residential street and around what looked like the edge of the affluent borough. "This way."

[aphelionix]

Locke circled his fingers around Weiler's hand on his sleeve, pulling it into his coat pocket instead. They passed a lot of holiday decorations which, admittedly, brought a little more cheer to an otherwise solemn outing. Even with a biting, dry cold, their walk was enjoyable in that way. They hadn't put up any decoration themselves, apart from a very miniature tree in the window. It made him wonder a bit.

"Was your family big on Christmas?" Locke asked.

[tactician]

"Bigger on holiday drinking parties," Weiler responded, tilting his face up. It wasn't sunny but it was bright, the sky that faded gray color that was indicative of winter. "I didn't come home often from boarding school, but everyone went home during the end of the year. It was nice to see my family after a long while like that, but when you're a kid, your parents always seem the same to you. You don't notice them getting older, growing tired, the way you do when you've got a little bit of age on yourself."

They reached an area where the houses gave way to a flat expanse of rolling plain, hills that led up into higher ones. In warmer seasons, it was covered with well-cared-for and often-mowed grass, but in winter, only the dry, pale yellow remnants of it crunched under their feet as Weiler pulled them through the gate and up a path.

"It wasn't a bad childhood," said Weiler, eyes ahead on the road. "I had everything I wanted, and you could tell that they tried. It was probably just...a little different than what you were used to. I just thought that since it's been a while and I've seen your family, that maybe you'd want to see mine, at least once."

[aphelionix]

Locke listened as he spoke, silent as he often was. He imagined a younger Weiler, in school uniform and just learning to style his hair back like it was now. An independent, young man, who knew from the start that he was a very separate entity from his parents. Locke's dependence on his own carried on much longer, almost with a sense of guilt - which was why he left in the first place. He definitely understood the shock of seeing age on your parents, too, once you were older yourself.

"I'm glad you brought me," he said, squeezing Weiler's hand in his, smiling at him. "I think they raised a fine man, in any case."

[tactician]

Weiler turned to him, a small smirk on his mouth that did little to betray the softer expression on the rest of his face. "What a charmer, Herr Locke. Don't think I don't know that you're only saying that because we sleep together."

As far as grave sites went, the Haettenschweilers' were rather standard. They clearly hadn't opted for anything as lavish as their own tree or mausoleum. Mr. and Mrs. Haettenschweiler were buried side by side, their resting place marked by one of thousands of headstones lining the sides of the graveyard hills. Weiler's father's headstone looked a little newer than his mother's, and a quick glance at the dates engraved into the marble confirmed that Mr. Haettenschweiler had died about six years after his wife, at the ripe age of ninety-six.

"Well, here we are," said Weiler, straightening his back as if he were steeling himself. "Now we're even."

[aphelionix]

It was modest, and indeed less lavish than Locke would've thought, but that didn't make it a bad spot. The view from the hills was beautiful, even covered in white, and their headstones were well taken care of. The scuffs and dulling on them were from natural wear, as far as he could tell.

Locke stared a while, mentally nothing their information. They really had waited to have a child. He couldn't say he disliked the results, of course; despite the teasing, he really did feel lucky to have a man like Weiler at his side. And the longer he looked at the two graves, the more things crossed him mind; things he wasn't sure the either of them were ready to think about yet.

But there was something he did want to know - just in case. He turned to Weiler. "Do you want to be buried here?"

[tactician]

Weiler laughed, turning to Locke. "Bit soon to be thinking about something like that, isn't it?"

[aphelionix]

"We're not exactly in the safest business," he said, concerned.

[tactician]

"Can't necessarily guarantee there'll be a body to bury, at that rate," replied Weiler, smile wry. The hand in Locke's pocket squeezed tight. "It doesn't really matter to me where I am once I'm dead. I don't suppose I'll have much of an opinion on anything then."

He looked up. "Would you want to go home?"

[aphelionix]

"Maybe," Locke said with a shrug, leaning his shoulder against Weiler's. "I don't suspect I'll have much opinion when I'm gone either, but it may be nice to know we're together even then."

[tactician]

Oh.

Weiler turned to stare at Locke, in awe of the man's confidence to say something like that. It was admirable, since there were still decades and battles ahead of them, but Locke had always been the braver of the two of them. Weiler was glad he chose this man to bring here.

He lowered his eyes, humbled and feeling light. He nodded, shuffling his feet in the dry grass. "I have no preference, but it would be nice. We can both go to Boriniat."

[aphelionix]

As usual with Locke, too, the weight of his words hit after they spilled out. He felt warmer than he should in this weather, and his fingers tightened a fraction more around Weiler's. They didn't have to discuss it in depth now - as Weiler said, it was a bit soon, but in this setting and in their profession he couldn't help but think about it, and he tended to speak his mind with this man.

"If your parents approve, of course," Locke whispered, as though they could be listening, with a small smile.

[tactician]

"To be fair, they don't have much of a say in it, but I'm sure it's fine with them," Weiler replied. He turned Locke to him and drew him down, bumping their foreheads then the half-numb tips of their noses together before finally bumbling his way to their mouths. Their lips were cold when they made contact, but Weiler didn't seem to mind with how he pushed into it. There wasn't a place he would rather be today.

"Thanks for coming, Rhys."