dreamlikenewyork | [ SKYPE ] To Gen @ asskickingblahniks

Gen had explained to Mark soon after they were married that she would never not take a call from Paris unless it was a dire emergency situation she was dealing with. And this was no exception. She was seated at the table in the big open kitchen of Mark's parents, cup of tea in hand, when she answered.

"Hi!" she said excitedly, before the excitement immediately faded when she saw her little brother looking like hell. "Paris, what's wrong?"

Paris was probably one of the worst sick people in the history of ever. He didn't get ill often, but when he did, he was pretty convinced he was dying. Mikey was the opposite, never complained, just crawled into a hole to wait it out. Paris didn't know how his fiancé put up with him as his PA, let alone falling in love with him and wanting to marry him.

"I got food poisoning from the catering from Chez Belle's. We went to a cocktail party, and it was the only thing I ate. Someone is going to pay. I'm suing them for all they've got. They'll never cater another cocktail party," he said bitchily, thought it was without it's usual bite because he didn't have the energy for it.

Gen immediately was in protective big sister mode, but she knew without a doubt that Mikey had things well in hand when it came to caring for Paris. It was the only thing that gave her comfort when Paris wasn't well.

"Oh, god... So I take it you didn't make it to that event for the fall line release? Tristan said it was shit anyway. I'm glad I didn't go. No more Chez Belle, then. Ever. I can't believe you got food poisoning. Bastards."

"Excuse me, bitch. I'm busy dying here, and you think I care about the Fall line release? It was terrible to start with," Paris decided with a huff. His stomach was churning, causing him to pick up the bottle of Gatorade Mikey had made sure he had constantly in his possession to take a sip of it. It was about all he could get to stay in him right now.

He gave a little dismissive wave of his hand. "I don't think Harley's going to give it much of a review. Tristan isn't interested in even featuring it next month. He just said 'back pages'. "I hope you've been giving your son condoms, if Facebook is anything to go by."

"I didn't see any of the shots of it before I left. I'm glad I missed if it was that terrible. Nobody needs to see horrible fashion choices on display. Thank fuck we have Tristan and Harley. They're not going to let any bullshit fashion splash across our front page."

Paris looked pitiful, and Gen had major big sister feels going on. She loved her brother dearly, and it was hard for her to be away when he wasn't feeling his best. "I miss you, darling. I picked up a few things at a local boutique in Sydney today that are to die for. I can't wait to show you." She had to laugh a little at that, though she hoped for Justin's sake that he was hooking up for the right reasons. "I'm a little worried about him," she confessed.

The worst thing for Paris about being this sick was not having the capability of dressing in anything but loose, unfabulous clothes. He could see his image in the screen that Gen was viewing, and he was pretty sure he looked like he should be homeless. Designer skinny genes or couture tailored trousers weren't conducive to kneeling on the bathroom floor hugging the toilet bowl, though. He picked up his phone and showed her some of the pictures of the collection Tristan sent him. "The designer was trying to sweet-talk him into a feature. Not happening. This one looks like a fucking flesh eating virus devoured one of those enviro bags you get at the grocery store."

"I hope you took their designer district by storm, darling. It's okay, Mikey's taking good care of me. You know your relationship is a forever deal when you can literally puke yourself inside out, and he still loves you." He leaned a little closer with a small frown. "Is he still sick? What's got you worried?"

Gen glanced over the shots of the new collection, and didn't even try to hide her disgust as her nose wrinkled up. "Christ, who told them that was okay? What were they going for? Neo-homeless?" She wasn't impressed at all, in the slightest, because those designs were hideous. "Tristan's good at what he does. Nothing like that will be featured in our magazine. What were they expecting? Us to bow to the awesome of clothes that look like vomit?"

"Of course I did. How often am I in Australia with plenty of downtime to go shopping? But you're more than right about that. Mikey's the only reason I'm not trying to book a flight home to look after you right now." She shook her head. "He was really depressed after he and Will broke up, but right now, I'm more worried about him in the traditional mom of a teenager way. He's trying to find his feet after a breakup, but with a lot more on his plate than most people, and it's a lot for any kid... but especially for a kid with a mental illness."

Scrunching his face up, Paris held up a hand. "Don't mention the V word," he groaned. He was feeling sorry for himself, but he was pretty sure he had good grounds for it. Mikey wasn't letting him do anything but drink fluids and rest, though.

"You don't have to worry. You know there's no more perfect husband material than Mikey. Look." He picked up the laptop and turned it around to show her the bottles of water and Gatorade, the three Cashmere blankets, a hot water bottle, a crystal bowl in case he couldn't make the toilet, some ice chips in a cup, a cold pack wrapped in a clean face cloth, an Egyptian Cotton towel, a bottle of ginger ale. He was literally a pin-up boy for food poisoning. He put the laptop back onto his lap. "Is this about the kid he slept with, or just more vague mom worries?"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Gen said, genuinely apologetic. Sometimes when you felt sick to your stomach, just the thought of puking could trigger puking, so she was going to quickly change the subject...

Only she didn't really need to, because there was Paris, bragging on his hubby-to-be, and Gen couldn't help the giant smile on her face. She adored her brother, and had come to love Mikey just like another member of the family. It was wonderful for her to see Paris in love and deeply cared for. "Tell Mikey that he gets the sister-in-law stamp of approval. And it's mostly just the vague mom worries bit. The kid he slept with he's talked to Mark about, and he didn't just do it as a knee jerk thing to rebound from Will. The kid he slept with has struggled with mental illness, too, so I think they just talked about things and felt comfortable with each other. I just mainly worry there's a lot happening in a short time, and Justin's struggling to keep up."

Edited 2015-07-14 03:16 (UTC)

There were very few things in this world that could knock Paris out of action, or knock him at all. Recently, finding out Mikey was a twin shocked the shit out of him. And not just a twin, but an identical twin Paris accidentally snogged before he knew. But he had gotten used to it, and now he was aware, he could see Mikey and Marty were chalk and cheese. He could tell them apart easily. Then getting this sick, the fact he was literally laid up in bed said a lot. He was feeling too sick to even work from home, which had actually surprised Mikey and made him realise Paris was in vital need of TLC. Paris was used to no long being an eligible bachelor. He was looking forward to getting married.

"Well, maybe the kid just needs to experience some different things to evolve and have a better understanding of where he fits in the world. Think back on what his life has been. It went from awful neglect and abuse, to getting sick without knowing it, being bullied, running away to desperately find his dad, getting diagnosed with a mental illness, going through hell adjusting, then suddenly a Broadway star and trying to make a relationship work. And nowhere in there has he had time to stop and understand who he is now," he pointed out. "Maybe having sex with someone else was just a timeout too."

"I think after everything he's been through, sex was sort of this scary thing that had been used as a means of abuse and control in his life. With Will it wasn't that way, but at 16, he only knew sex with one person that wasn't hurting him or mistreating him. I think maybe the sex with Cooper thing was something he needed. I think so anyway. It's just hard as a mom, and knowing how sex has been used in his past, not to worry about him." She shrugged helplessly. "Being a mom is probably the hardest thing I've ever done, Paris. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but it's not easy by a long shot."

She sighed heavily, taking a long sip of her tea to calm herself a little. "It's a lot on someone 16 years old, and I think we have those moments where we're not sure whether it's normal 16 year old stuff or him being sick and acting out of that. Sometimes it's clear... and other times it's confusing."

Paris nodded, because even if he and Gen hadn't been raised - at all - in an abusive family environment, you hear about this sort of thing. "Are you sure any of this is even about sex? Or did sex just happen after they spent time together and want to get off? Trust me, as a guy, sometimes it's really just as simple as getting off. If it felt right this kid and he rolled with it, that's a really huge breakthrough for him. It's should be a relief for you as his parent, not worrying that he did it and why. The fact he did and he's not distressed by it is huge."

"Sixteen year olds going to bed together and having sex? Pretty sure that's normal teenage behaviour. Maybe he's long overdue in some normal teenage behaviour. You don't want to question the things that seem relatively normal when you have to question him on anything else, or he'll stop telling you things. And you don't want that," he reminded her. "Besides, unless he was fucking without protection or getting people pregnant, what harm can he be doing if it was a mutual choice with the other kid? He didn't force himself onto the other guy, did he? Or do you think he took advantage of Justin?"

"I honestly don't know that it was about sex, and Justin says he and Cooper aren't looking to date, because they know that it would be dangerous on a mental health level, and because Justin and Will haven't been split up very long. He doesn't want a rebound. But I'm pretty sure that getting off was a major part of it." She paused, taking in what Paris was saying, and slowly nodded. "You're right. It's definitely a huge step for him to have had sex with someone not Will and not freaked out about it."

"I know. Mom overreaction in a big time way. I don't want him to think that I can't handle his normal or anything. I think it's natural to worry about your kids." She shook her head. "No. There was no coercion or taking advantage. It was just two teenagers hooking up, I think."

"Does he seem like it's affected him more than just being something he wanted to do? Or are you worrying about Will?" Paris asked, because he wasn't someone to censor his chats with his sister. She was a mom now, and to someone a bit more advanced than in diapers. Kalen had said on one of his visits to Mikey with Marty that teaching or helping teenagers was about not boxing them all in under the 'teen' umbrella. They were all different. "Do you not like the kid he slept with or something?"

"Hooking up doesn't really come with emotions, does it? If it did, you wouldn't have married the dude who horrifically tainted that beautiful glass and rosewood desk," he said with a small smirk.

"No, it doesn't," Gen admitted, taking a sip of her coffee. "He did it, and he and Cooper seem to be just fine. I do worry about Will. I can't lie about that. He sort of became an extension of Justin after a while. He was always there, kind of like part of the family. Justin's my first priority, and I'd never put Will above his feelings or anything like that. It just seemed to end really suddenly, and I worry for them." She shook her head at that question. "No. I don't dislike him. I don't know him, but he seems to be someone Justin's comfortable talking to, which is always good. Apparently, his mom lost her virginity to my husband when they were kids," she added with a smirk of amusement. The fact that both she and Mark had very... colorful pasts wasn't something either of them was ashamed of. It was the past, and they were working on a future.

"I kind of thought I marrid the dude I was hooking up with because there were emotions involved," she replied, arching an eyebrow at Paris. "What are you getting at, Mr. Smarty Pants?"

[ SKYPE ] To Gen @ asskickingblahniks

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject