Ciel? Interesting name, but ‘father’, could you get your hand off my head?
Looking at the Ash’s eyes in front, Carter began asking in his mind a favor he did not dare utter.
He did not wait long as his request wasn’t long left unanswered, the man’s hand getting off his head and landing on the blanket of the bed.
His shoulder relaxed further, his hands, which had tightened, releasing.
The action done, only the sound of their breathing gave the room a hint of life.
The three people didn’t have to endure it long, as Mili’s voice rang out, sounding the same, soft and melodious as every time Carter heard it.
“Do you like the surprise?” She asked with a smile.
“More than you’d expect.” He answered, not leaving his gaze off Carter’s eyes, much like the boy’s didn’t leave his. Then added a question. “Since when was he awake?”
Mili answered, her thoughts returning to the time she saw Carter looking himself into a mirror, the expression on the boy’s reflection fortunately blocked by the angle.
She responded in a pensive tone.
“I don’t know… He was already checking himself up when I got in the room to do the same thing.”
Looking down, she smiled at the boy seated on the chair, battling looks with his father.
She didn’t know why he was so focused on Ash, nor did she know why her husband didn’t yield his gaze. She was just happy to be here, with all three of them together.
To Carter, something definitely wasn’t right, maybe his behaviour sounded alarms or it was the man in front of him that was abnormal, but the unyielding gaze and the indirect way he talked made the young kid nervous.
It could also mean that he didn’t want the boy who just woke up to feel uncomfortable, bombarded with multiple questions.
But it was unnerving nonetheless.
In the end, even if Ash had any doubts, his heart was as moved to see Ciel back as his mother was.
Going as far as welcoming his son back, even though his mind was refusing his existence.
The only difference between him and his wife was that he was as careful as he was emotional.
It didn’t take long for Mili to continue talking, her eyes lost in the past.
“it had already been so long since our son had fallen asleep, hadn’t it?”
A long time? I’m curious about that. Carter thought. He wanted to gather as much information as he could whenever it was convenient to ask some.
He thought about how he would play them like irrelevant fools while everybody was clueless about who and what he really was.
He gritted his teeth in frustration. At some point, he needed to make up his mind, whether what he came up with satisfying or disgusting.
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When he was obliged to, Carter was a master in acting a play.
Unfortunately, a few years had already passed without him activelly on the stage.
He only showed the gritting of his teeth for half of a second.
In front of him, his father’s smile also faltered for that same duration, then returned to its happy, comforting feeling. No one noticed, as it was as fast as the blink of an eye.
He spoke, the same deep voice coming from his slightly curved mouth.
“Four years, huh? It had already been four years since I’ve seen his eyes.” He continued, with a tone Carter could only recognize as blatant irony. “And now they’re staring at my very soul.”
Ash chuckled, his eyes still gazing Carter, whom had his lowered, not totally in the conversation.
“I guess it’s a good way to say that he’s happy to see me.” He continued jokingly, his comment arriving at Mili’s ears, making her even more joyous and excited, and at Carter’s, finally registering in his mind the duration, making his thoughts and expression freeze in place.
Four years… The young boy couldn’t help but think about many things, but the primary one came down to how much he could accomplish within those, then how much these people had dedicated to this kid, to, at the end, having that person they had sacrificed so much for get replace with someone else.
He turned his head to look at the woman’s eyes, his face still expressionless, but his heart tightening and confused.
Mili reciprocated by moving her smile to a comforting one and her tired eyes closing, radiating something that Carter thought was care, something that he could only compare by the senseless and blabbering ‘care’ his parents had for him.
He breathed deeply, lowering his gaze, finally stopping the stare battle with Ash.
His brows were knitted, finally showing a bit of his emotions.
Noticing the expression, Ash, still on his bed, his hands in between his crossed legs, stopped looking at Ciel, and moved up his gaze to the womans’ whose eyes were still glued on the boy’s head, her thoughts a mystery.
After looking at her beautiful face, tired from countless days of work and lack of sleep, he breathed deeply, an unnoticeable breath to the naked eyes and quiet to distracted ears.
Ash began talking, his voice not changing and his mind unreadable through his face.
“With that said, I think you should let him rest a little, we can talk to him when he feels ready to talk.”
Mili had already retracted her gaze from Carter and looked at Ash with a face of realization. Before she could say anything, the middle-aged man on the bed extended his hand towards her and gave her the ‘ok’ sign.
Lowering it, he looked back at his kid on the chair, whose head was still low.
He asked with a slightly worried tone.
“Are you alright, Ciel?”
Carter still had his unfamiliar little head lowered, still, he was listening to what the voice opposite him said.
He still didn’t want to talk nor say anything, so he just nodded.
What do I do? What do I even want to do? Is there anything I could even do?
And there Carter was, lamenting, fearing and wary.
He knew many things and his life was always full of lessons to learn, but sometimes, he would bang his head on a wall of air, trying to break through an inexistent barrier.
Stop… He said in his head, frustrated by his own self, not knowing who, whom or what to stop.
Noticing the slight nod, both the man and woman in the room smiled brighter; until now, they hadn’t lowered their smile, they didn’t dare put it away, like a rule they had both agreed upon.
To Carter, it was beginning to become the bane of his existence.
Squatting, Mili spoke apologetically.
“Sorry, Ciel, my excitement made me rash.” She closed her eyes tilted her head and asked with a pleading tone no person could refuse. “Will you forgive me… pretty please?”
Carter looked at Ash with his eyes full of calls for help.
With a smile reaching his eyes, Ash only bumped the boy’s chest with his fist before asking with a smug tone.
“Come on boy, you aren’t going to ignore the apologies of a woman right?”
Looking at both of them successively, Carter didn’t know what to do as he just nodded, his cheeks all red.
Both parent chuckled slightly with a wide grin.
After recovering and leaning back, Carter decided to take a break after all of those little events he had.
He shook his head in exasperation and rightful indignation.
When he would eventually return to his chamber, he’d hope to sleep for a while and finally dedicate himself to his own thoughts.
Before long he was taken to his chamber by his mother after she said her goodbyes to her husband.
Carter slept through the whole day
and awakened at night, an agitated evening waiting the young boy