♤SPRING SHIELD (MxM) ~fantasy~♤

The lake house

Kristian

Elijah invited me to- well no,his sons who wanted me to come forced their father to let me come. THEN Elijah asked me to join them on a trip to their lake house for the weekend.
Did I want to come? Sure,Elijah came with me to my old apartment and looked through more than nine hours of footage,because he's skilled apparently. I owe it to the guy but I keep thinking about us.
What are we now anyway?
But it doesn't matter if seeing him takes so much restraint and pain,I'm already in the passenger street of his car. We're half way there and I'm trying my best to not look at him and his celestial side profile.
Soon he reaches for the radio and turns on classical music- on a damn road trip. And instead of thinking he's a totally nut job (because he is),my eyes trail his corded hand. His long fingers,and wide palm,whether or not his hands would feel a calming warmth if he were to wrap it around my thigh,
Or a burning,tingling cold that seeps from between his fingers.
"Dad! This is Beethoven,right?"Oliver shouts from behind me,
"No.."Elijah teases his lips curving upwards,in a smile. One of his hands carefully resting at the steering wheel and the other on his leg,tapping with the music,
"Mozart?"Liam says,interested because of the challenge of it all,
"No,it's Paganini. Mozart doesn't play solely the viola,but good guesses,"
"Dad,you're games are literally no fun. Can we have our ipads?"
"I left those at home."they both simultaneously groan when Elijah says this,
"Dad,how am I meant to play chess?"Oliver whines,
"Don't worry buddy I'll play chess with you,off of a screen."he points back to Oliver then soon,another song comes on. The song we danced to at the ball.
It's intense. It's dark and suggestive,even if it's just wordless music. "... Piazzolla Libertango. A beautiful piece,"
"Yeah,what you said."
Then we go quiet and I look at him. The way his face is touched by the light almost kissed by the glow of the sun,
He notices me staring and lifts his eye brows almost gesturing to tell him what I'm thinking. I shake my head with a flat smile.
Then he pumps the brakes on the car and suddenly the air changes,so does his expression. "Dad? What's going on..."Liam asks,sounding scared,
"Nothing,just stay in the car."he takes off his seat belt and starts getting out of the car,
"Should I-"I try to say and Elijah turns back,
"Stay in the car,Kristian. You're not getting hurt."he demands and slams the car door,I just watched him pull out a shot gun from some hidden compartment. Whoevers out there might just get their life pulled away.
He disappears behind a corner,the rough dirt road. We're surrounded by forest and nothing else,if something happens to him... who do I call? How long will it take for first responders to get this far out?
How well do his self healing abilities work if he's really hurt?
"Mr White?"I hear Oliver ask from behind me. I look back at both of them,they're both terrified right now,
"Yes,Oli?"
"What's going on? I- is everything okay?"
"I- I'm not sure,baby but,your father is a very strong man. He'll be fine."I say,reaching my hand out to hold his. Liam is curled up next to his window,scared but frowning,
"He's out risking his life again,that's what."he mumbles and Oliver gasps,
"Don't say that! Dad is a hero,"
"Why can't he be a hero for us? When we need him?"I'm shocked silent by this. I never thought that they could... feel that way.
"You take that back-"
"Boys,boys. Settle down,I'm sure your dad would like us to be quiet. We'll talk about this later,"
After a moment Elijah comes back and he's trudging way less energy than he had before. He opens the car door and slams it shut tossing his head back,his eyes closed. He mutters something about stupidity.
My eyes travel down his shirt and see the blood stains all over his arms and chest. Trying not to scare the boys I whisper,"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine,none of this blood is mine."A pause as he changes his expression from cold to warm turning around and facing his children,"Are you boys alright?"they just nod silently and Elijah starts to drive again.
"What was that?"
"Just an ambush group I guess. Don't worry,I've got some men to collect the bodies-"I turn around with my eyes wide and he shakes his head,amused. "They're not dead they're just knocked out for a while. I'm not allowed to kill human beings unless the threatened my life or the life of others."
"Oh,of course. Are we almost there? They're scared,"I ask,looking back at the curled up little ones,
"Them? No,they're fine,right boys?"when they don't answer Elijah chuckles,"Okay maybe you're right."

______________

Elijah's lake house is beautiful. It's basically a house floating in the middle of a crystal clear water body. Lilies and other growths are floating peacefully on the surface,the sun makes it look like this is some palace of an angel.
There's one single road that goes to the platform that Elijah parked his car into. He didn't have time to show me around because he went to go clean up in his room.
I walk up the stairs and knock on the door the boys pointed to,"Just a moment."he answers from the other side of the wall,shuffling and hurried sounds come after. He opens the door after that exact moment,"Ah,Kristian. It's you."he says opening the door fully letting me in,
"Just me? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing at all,I thought it was one of my boys,"he walks away and back into the bathroom,"Something wrong?"
I look around his room where everything seems to be in perfect condition. Clean generally and architecturally,light oak wood floor and gorgeous windows. Like his mansion but if his mansion had a cute cousin.
"No,just- the boys were asking me to come and see if you'll let them go to the lake to play."
"With you?"he asks turning around with a big plastic bag in his hands,with all his bloody clothes,
"Yes... why did you put the clothes in there?"I point to the bag and he lifts it up,
"When the guys come and get those men,they'll need evidence of the encounter."he places them at the foot of the door way and walks back to me,a teasing glint in his eyes,"Can you swim?"he asks,
"A little. Why?"
"The real question is why else darling. Once the sun is overhead we're going to the lake and getting in the water."
"Darling? Really?"I cross my arms over my chest. He shrugs and then proceeds to ignore me while walking out of his room,
"Come on then,let me show you where you'll sleep tonight."he walks down a hallway and I follow closely behind him when we get there he kneels down next to drawer. He mumbles something to himself,
"What?"
"I don't think I have extra beddings- just baby clothes."he picks up a tiny light blue shirt and tosses it to the side,clearly annoyed,
"Baby clothes?"I'm amused as I sit down next to him,checking through the pile of baby clothes,my mind wandering to how just a couple of years ago were fitting into them. After a silly mix of baby blues and lime greens,I reach the bottom and there's a book a large one. At the very bottom of the drawer,
Elijah notices it and makes a surprised sound before pulling it out.  "Oh my Lyria. I forgot this thing existed."he opens the first page and it's a photo album. Of his family and the boys as babies,"My mother made it,against my will. A lot of the pictures in here are awful-"
"Now I have to see."I say,taking it from him and going through all the photos. Most are of them asleep,or just Elijah sleeping and the boys as babies crawling over him. Another is of him miraculously managing to feed them at the same time. Almost each photo is him looking up at the exact moment it's taken,like a deer in headlights. An angry deer.
He's much younger in the photos. In his late twenties maybe,but he looks so exhausted. Taking care of two demanding little boys. I can only imagine. As I laugh through the photos I slump my head on Elijah's shoulder. I hear a muffled sniffle beside me,"Are you crying?"
"No,it's just my pollen allergy."he pats his eyes dry and gets up,
"Do ever feel like time goes too fast with the kids? My mother said it did with me..."
"Oh,it does. It feels like they'll never get older when they're crying none stop but then they do and you just want to be able to cradle them in your arms but you can't."
"I never thought I'd see you get all sentimental over it."I laugh as I help him look through the closets for fresh beddings,
"If you had one too many sleepless nights you'd get it."
"Time does go by quick. It feels like that broom closet where I met you was yesterday some times-"I lean on the wall after I give up the search. He does too around the same time I do,
"Really? Feels like I've known you longer than that. Also no beddings so your sleeping arrangements are up in the air like a bird except it's dying."he deadpans sitting on the bed that has only a mattress on it.
"You could just let me sleep with you. That's an option."
"Something tells me we wouldn't get along between the sheets,Kristian."
"That sounds awfully inappropriate,Mr Lewis."I wiggle my eyebrows at him sitting beside him on the bed,
"Only because your mind is about as dirty as a sewer-"he leans in and kisses my forehead,not giving me enough time to process it before he gets up and darts out the room,"- Meet me by the Lake in a few,will ya?"