diversified | He told me a story about yesterday. [ closed ]

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He told me a story about yesterday. [ closed ]

WHO Shannon Vaughn (

privatematter), Eli Delacroix (

aspectional), and other Aspects.
WHAT Life takes a small turn for the exciting when the rest of the Aspects find out about the weird, three-way relationship that has evolved between Eli, Shannon and Michelle. It actually gets interesting when said relationship ends up getting involved in a sting on a large, black market smuggling ring.
WHEN idk, mid-1991-ish.
WHERE Chicago, IL, USA.

It was a beautiful summer day. Warm sun, pleasant breeze, excellent weather and plenty of friends. After a week of various he-said, she-saids among all of the Aspects hoping to do something with the optimistic forecast, it was decided to host a barbeque at Shannon's place (for Shannon's place was the only one with an appropriately-sized yard especially picked out for Lacey) where everyone could hang out and reconnect no matter what else was busying up their lives.

Although Shannon was hosting, he was hardly doing any of the cooking and found himself lingering by the screen door nursing a beer while he chatted around and listened for any of the straggling guests at the front. Only one or two people were actually hanging around inside to use the kitchen where there wasn't space out on the porch, so he kept an ear to that conversation, as well.

There was a rat-a-tat on the door. "I'll get it," he called inside the house, before Matheus could take it upon himself to answer. Shannon needed something to do for himself, and Matheus seemed to not be too keen on letting people (or himself) into Shannon's house without permission lately. Setting the beer aside, he made for the door and opened, brows raised expectantly; anyone who was coming would know to announce themselves.

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The reason Matheus didn't want to answer the door or let anyone in without permission was due to the one time that he had walked in on Shannon and Eli together in a compromising position. He didn't want to be put into a situation like that again and really, it was Shannon's place and he should answer the door himself.

At the door was Michelle, her foot tapping impatiently as Shannon opened the door. She walked in and smiled warmly at him, despite knowing that he couldn't see it. "It's good to see you, sobachka. You're doing well, yes?"

"You think I'd open my home to the whole menagerie if I wasn't?" Shannon grinned despite himself, understanding the tone for what it was. It wasn't quite the same spark of happiness that Eli inspired, but there was a warm confidence that filled him whenever Michelle was around too, and he figured that was what it must be like to be in love with two people to two different degrees.

"You sound well yourself," he said, stepping aside to let her in while he shut the door behind her. "Everyone else is in the yard. Well, except for this guy." That said, he gave a large and vague motion over toward Matheus.

"If you wanted to see Eli without him immediately jumping you, I imagine you would," she replied teasingly, hand reaching up to stroke the side of his face before she moved next to him and curled her hand around the back of his neck in an almost protective manner. Michelle adored him in her own prickly way and somehow fit in nicely in the relationship they had.

There was a moment where she was silent and thoughtful, almost appearing as if she hadn't noticed Matheus being there the whole time. "Ah, the idiot. Was he banished from the party?"

In response to the motion, Shannon easily put his arm around her waist almost like he was slotting himself into place. Their height difference was more severe than between Shannon and Eli, yet that only seemed to help them find their own balance between them; her protective motion was met with a trusting one in return. "Yes, but then would I admit to that?"

With a chuckle, Shannon said, "Only until he can make amends with food. Right, Rocha?"

They fit together well, but especially so when Eli was in the mix. The three of them all had their own unique relationships with each other and while Shannon and Michelle were fine just as the two of them, though Eli's absence was definitely noticeable even if he was merely outside. "You would to me. The truth is not something you can hide from me for long."

Both Shannon and Michelle's words seemed to put Matheus into both a pout and a sulk, which only made Michelle grin wider. "I'll have you know that I came in here because it's warm out. I wasn't banished or anything stupid like that."

Edited 2014-08-23 04:53 (UTC)

"The game is in the hiding, not the finding," Shannon pointed out. It wasn't much of a matter in any case, as she was completely right. When it came to things between the three of them, it was always better when they were a full trinity rather than split into pieces and that kind of harmony brought a fair amount of understanding of each other.

Tilting his head in Matheus direction, he raised his brows and challenged, "Are you sure? What kind of cop can't take a little heat?"

"The kind of cop that sweats acid," Matheus answered. It wasn't the real reason, but he'd claim this as long as the two of them are teaming up on him. He noticed how close they were to each other physically and he couldn't help but watch them. Michelle wasn't the affectionate kind of person, so this was really kind of strange.

Leaning over close to Shannon, Michelle whispered something into his ear before waiting a moment and pulling him into a kiss, the hand on his neck moving up into his hair while the other moved to his waist and pulled him close.

"You don't sweat acid," Shannon contradicted. Whatever odd biological traits Matheus had from his Aspect, like Shannon's own temperature, it was nothing so outlandish as that. He could believe that maybe his sweat was acidic, but hell if he melted his clothes every time he worked out.

Whatever he was going to say next was put on hold when Michelle started whispering, then he made a noise of outright surprise as she started to kiss him right then and there. The one arm at her side wrapped around her back while his other hand moved to cup her jaw as he kissed her back. That was definitely not the hello he expected, but who was he to complain? Never mind that Matheus was right there and watching and... he hummed a bit into the kiss, trying to pull back just a smidgeon.

For a moment, Matheus was going to protest that his sweat was the hallucinogenic type of acid and not the melt through objects sort, but he was distracted by the fact that not only was Michelle making out with Shannon, Shannon was reciprocating. The idea if a three some between them and Eli didn't cross his mind and instead turned toward a different angle. "What do you think you're doing? Does Eli know about this?"

There was a moment where Michelle ignored Matheus' outburst, her attention on the kiss and petting Shannon's hair. Finally, she ended it, knowing Shannon would want to respond to that accusation. "Do you honestly believe he would cheat on Eli? You are more of a fool that previously estimated."

Shannon let the hand at Michelle's face trail down to her side, sighing at the accusation. It wasn't as if it was an uncommon idea, nor one that Shannon would be immune to should he be in a similar situation. However, that Michelle had almost-definitely done this on purpose to successfully bait some kind of reaction from their audience did make things more awkward than they needed to be. He tapped her on the nose to quiet down, then turned toward Matheus.

"Does my boyfriend know that my girlfriend loves PDA and showing off?" he asked, inserting humor he wasn't quite feeling into his tone. "Probably. He's not the blind one here."

Quieting at the tap on her nose, Michelle leaned against Shannon, resting her head on his chest. She wanted to berate him more for being an idiot, but knew that Shannon could handle this on his own. None of the other Aspects would even blink at the three of them together because it wasn't really the weirdest relationship they've known of.

Matheus took a moment to collect himself at this revelation. The idea of a threesome wasn't his first thought, but it didn't mean he was against the idea especially considering that it meant his friends were happy. He was just an idiot sometimes. "Wait, so are the three of you together? I...really wasn't expecting that from you."

At the change in position, Shannon shifted to accommodate it. They were comfortable together, though even then it was obvious they were used to something else — there was an empty space where something else belonged. Someone else, rather. At Matheus sticking his foot even further into his mouth, Shannon rewarded him with as bland of a look as he could manage after getting a bit tousled up when Michelle kissed him.

"Yet you were willing to expect me cheating? Really." Just an idiot sometimes was like saying that the sun sure did get bright every now and then. Not that Shannon could particularly hold it against Matheus, because it wasn't all the time. It was just always terribly noticeable when it happened. "What kind of bar do I not pass in your head, man?"

"It made more sense than a three way relationship," he answered with a shrug. Matheus couldn't help but think badly of his friend at times because of the Aspect he carried. He would never say that and try to argue otherwise, but Nate was always lurking in the background of any thought involving Shannon. "You can't blame me for thinking it."

There was a soft laugh from Michelle and she played with her boyfriend's hair while this went on. She wanted to distract him from Matheus' idiocy and drag Shannon along to go find Eli so that the three of them could greet each other properly.

Edited 2014-08-24 04:42 (UTC)

"Uh, can't I?" Shannon said, very obviously not angry but definitely offended for the insinuation. He knew that his ventures out into the romantic outskirts of dating a man while straight and then taking up Dominance/submission as a hobby was enough to give anyone who knew him a heart attack, but that didn't mean he wasn't serious about his choices. "Think about what we are for... a moment..."

With a reluctant noise and a huff, Shannon tried to keep his verbal momentum going despite the insistent distraction at his hair. "For a moment. Then... maybe... Michelle," he said, a small plea in placed of intended censure.

"That's exactly why you can't. I'm aware of what we are." It was blunt, but Shannon was distracted enough by the hand in his hair to make him not really a threat while he was talking. Matheus believed falsely that others would side with him on this, but he wasn't quite aware of that yet.

Michelle didn't stop her petting just yet, wanting a moment to speak to Matheus without interruption. "You are doing it again. Stop being an idiot about this and realize that he's not cheating and would never do that to Eli." Once she was done talking, she stopped petting Shannon, hand dropping down to his neck once more.

Shannon furrowed his brow, one hand going to fixed and mussed up hair before he pointed it toward Matheus. "So the fact that we're all reincarnations from an extinct universe whose souls are literally magic means..." Shannon paused, then cut his hand through the air. "Okay, never mind. We're crazy and unique and no one else in the world can compare, so when you see me kiss someone who isn't my boyfriend, your immediate thought is cheating instead of mutual relationship between adults. Was Nate just a completely irredeemable asshole who was not only a horrible father, but a serial adulterer, too?"

It was a bit frustrating. Much as he didn't miss the days where he was completely out of the loop on who he really was or who his friends were in relation, at least he didn't have to outright face the ghost of his former self. Whatever kind of person Nate was, there was nothing Shannon could do but face forward and leave Nate behind; they weren't the same people. Same soul, maybe, but what in the hell did that even mean? At the very least, Shannon had learned to take it in stride, because it would never amount to anything, and he made sure of that every single day.

"Maybe I should just call Javier in here so he can smack some sense into you," he continued. An offensive idiot as Matheus could be, he tended to mean well and Javier had a distinctly balancing effect on Matheus' thoughtless, frank demeanor.

"No." Michelle spoke first, her tone one of barely contained anger. Her original was the closest to Nate and knew the kind of man he was. To add a fault in him that he did not have was something she could not stand for and something she was not going to allow his Aspect to believe was true. "Whatever faults he had, being an adulterer was not one of them. Even after murdering his wife, he never moved on from her and took another wife and didn't even date. In that, he was a better man than your original, Matheus Rocha."

He was going to argue her and possibly point out something idiotic, but Michelle held up the hand on Shannon's waist and pointed a finger at him, a small breeze starting near him. "Do not speak lies around me or I will make sure you never speak again." Nodding mutely, Matheus stood up and muttered something about going to find Javier before he walked out. At that, Michelle started petting Shannon's hair once more, giving him a quick peck on the lips. "He is an idiot about things relating to your original. Do not mind him. There are much better things to worry about like what we'll be doing later."

That wasn't the reaction Shannon had been expecting. He was taken back by the vehemence of it, though warmed by it at the same time. All he knew about Nate and the rest of their merry band of dragons was pure hearsay. Most of the time, he didn't even think about it: he was Shannon Vaughn now, Nate Silverman already had his chance and blew it so spectacularly that he had no sympathy for the man he used to be. On the other hand, it was always interesting to see how knowledge of their originals effected the rest of them in a way Shannon would hopefully never know.

He followed Matheus out by the sounds he was making, half-listening to whatever excuses he came up with along the way. When Michelle found her way back into his hair, he held her closer and placed his jaw to her temple. "And what exactly will we be doing later, Ms. Lautner? I'm going to guess it doesn't have anything to do with this barbeque."

There was only so much she could handle when it came to the Aspects being compared to their originals and when it came to comparing Shannon to Nate, she had a very low tolerance for it. The two were vastly different from each other that she wanted to punch anyone who said otherwise. She was not going to allow the others to compare one of the men she loved to the man her original idolized for not only Shannon's sake, but for her own so she would never have to compare him to a god.

Humming softly, she continued to pet his hair affectionately as she rested her head against him. "Unless you would like to have both myself and Eli licking barbeque sauce off you, it will have nothing to do with this. Just the three of us alone, showing how much we've missed being together. Intimately."

As much as Michelle didn't want to compare Shannon to a god, Shannon did not want to be compared to a devil. Most of the other Aspects were pretty good about it, but with the knowledge of hindsight he could see where tainted perceptions sometimes slipped through. It wasn't much different from being judged for his blindness; both were things he couldn't help and easily overcame anyway. It was just another one of those things.

"That would be way too sticky," said Shannon with a chuckle. The idea of it wasn't too bad, but the aftermath sounded decidedly less fun to suck his interest right out. "I like that second idea more. Why don't we go let Eli know you're here, anyway?"

Taking a moment before she pulled away, she started to fix his hair so that it didn't look ruffled. Content with her work, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and grabbed his hand as she moved to his side. Michelle liked her moments alone with Shannon, but she definitely enjoyed when Eli was with them more.

"That is what showers are for, sobachka, making sure that you are not all sticky." She had to smile at that and waited for him to take the lead. "That would be a very good idea. He will be happy to see me."

Shannon dipped his head enough for her to fix his hair, then reached up to push away a stray piece of his bangs. He took her hand and squeezed lightly, beginning to take them to the yard, stopping only for a moment to pick up the beer he had set aside when he'd gone to answer the door.

"My shower's not big enough for three," he said, an almost mischievous tone in his voice. "Yeah, he was happy to see me too, but I think he actually just has something in his pocket today."

"Mine is," she replied offhanded, sounding amused at the prospect of a shower together with both of her boys. That was changed almost to a groan at what Shannon said next though and she smacked his arm. "How anyone thinks you're like your original is beyond me. You are worse."

Eli was hanging out in the yard, playing with Lacey and chatting up Jasper, not paying attention to where Shannon had gone and definitely not noticing that Michelle had arrived. If he had, he would have immediately bounded up joyfully to see his two favorite people in all the multiverse.

Shannon merely snickered at the response, moving to lean in next to her as they walked. In the heat of the day, it wasn't easy to place anyone by anything but his natural senses. Eli's voice carried over the breeze and he moved closer, letting go of Michelle's hand for a moment to place both on Eli's shoulders.

"I hope you aren't spoiling my partner, partner," he said, smile on his face and recipient delightfully vague. "Look, Eli, I brought you a present. No time to wrap her, though."

Michelle rolled her eyes at his snickering, knowing it would be lost on him. When they got closer and Shannon let go of her hand, she then put her hand on his lower back, wanting some sort of contact with him. She may not be as clingy as Eli liked to be, but she still liked some physical contact with him.

"And why would that be a bad thing as long as she still knows how to make sure you don't run into a wall?" Eli was upbeat as he went and pulled Shannon into a tight hug before moving on and kissing Michelle on the cheek, who did the same to him. "A present, huh? And what does the fair lady say to that?"

She merely shook her head and sighed at the two of them. "You are children, the two of you. I do not know how I deal with you so often."

With the hand on his back and Eli at his side, he let himself settle into the touch. That was just as comforting to him as he imagined the sight of their lovers was to Eli and Michelle. Having them both consistently there in his senses. "Oh, I'm not worried about you spoiling Lacey," he said.

"At least you're not questioning the why." Shannon shrugged widely, amused and entertained by the banter. "As for the how, I haven't the foggiest. It's not like I have to deal with myself, you know?"

"I imagine you will force me to question why soon enough," she replied before giving a dramatic sigh. Eli laughed and put his arm around Michelle's shoulder, making himself comfortable as positioned himself between her and Shannon. "I am surprised I am not having to babysit you more often."

"That's cold, but let's not ruin this by you being an adult," Eli said to her and then his focus switched to Shannon. "I noticed Matheus finally came back outside. Something happen?"

"He was just pulling shit out of his ass again," Shannon said, nonchalant. He grimaced a moment later at the wording, but forged on by adding, "Nothing we couldn't handle."

It was probably in their best interests not to go into the specifics of what had happened back in the kitchen. Not that Shannon would really hide it from Eli, but there were certain hair triggers to look out for when it came to the younger man. Insulting Shannon or their relationship was definitely one of them, as were unfair comparisons to Nate. "Is he sulking?"

There was a long moment before Eli decided to speak. He knew there was more than what Shannon was saying and a glance over to Michelle told him that she wasn't going to reveal what exactly what happened. "Well, if you don't need me to fight for your honor, then I'll let it go this time. And yeah, he's sulking over by Javier and has been avoiding looking at anyone. And Javier smacked him."

Michelle couldn't help but laugh at that, which made a couple Aspects look up from their conversations over at them and she waved them away, shouting something at them in her native tongue before switching to English. "Yes, I know how to laugh, this is not a surprise. Idiotic dragonlings, all of them."

Shannon gave a smile he reserved for Eli and inclined his head. It helped that obviously the rest of them had no qualms with what they were seeing right now, however many of them had noticed yet anyway. Javier especially, for he was one of Shannon's partners at work and would definitely keep Matheus set straight. "My honor is perfectly in tact. Especially if Javier gave him what for, too."

Shaking his head at Michelle's statement, perfectly able of figuring out what had happened, he merely commented, "I am definitely going to have to learn Russian someday."

Eli's expression changed to a pout and there was a small crackle to note that he was going into a sulk. It seemed like a small thing, but with how Eli was, it definitely didn't feel like nothing. "Javier knows how to ruin the fun for me. I wanted to be the one to smack Matheus around, not him."

There was a gentle shake of Michelle's head and she petted Eli's affectionately, knowing that she wasn't the one to deal with his fleeting moods. "I will teach you Russian so we can speak properly to each other. And it will be good practice for our dear kotik."

Even without the electric signal of Eli practically sparking, Shannon could tell when his mood had shifted. They hadn't been friends for nearly six years for him to ignore the signs and carry on without noticing. Explaining the real situation at this point would only turn the sulk into a destructive one, so the better way to go would be to give Eli something to be happy about instead, and possibly revisit the problem at a later time.

"Maybe he can finally teach me Lithuanian," Shannon said with a light, teasing tone. "Then you can learn something too, Michelle. Hell, let's go full circle and I'll teach you guys how to read braille."

"You two can speak Lithuanian. I will stick to what I know," Michelle said with a shrug, never once stopping her petting. That and Shannon's words seemed to sink in and start pulling him out of his mood, which Michelle was definitely glad to see and she knew Shannon felt the same.

He leaned into the petting and looked thoughtful before he responded. Sure, he was still moody, but he knew that he didn't want to ruin this because of something silly like that. "Braille would be interesting to learn and would you don't have to learn Lithuanian if you don't want to Michelle. That just means Shannon and I have our own language to speak in. Like a secret code."

It was a definite relief to hear the slight change in Eli's tone as he focused on them instead of Matheus being an idiot again. From where he was, Shannon repositioned his arm around Eli's waist to hold them together and leaned some of his weight on him.

"You'll have to use your hands a lot," Shannon agreed. That was definitely not a bad thing. Then again, it meant they might not end up learning braille all that quickly... "Secret codes, I can get behind. Always wanted one of those, you know?"

"I don't think that will be a problem for either of us," Eli responded with a grin as he looked first over at Michelle and then over to Shannon as he placed his hand around the back of Shannon's neck. "We're both very good with our hands. I'll even give you a demonstration."

Just as he was about to reach over and start to molest him, Michelle grabbed his hand gently and held onto it firmly so that he didn't try to wriggle out of it. "This is not the time, kotik. We are in public and do not wish to make a show for the Aspects." Eli looked about ready to slide back into a sulk before Michelle kissed him. "You will get to show off for our sobachka later when we are alone with him."

Shannon graced both of them with a roll of his eyes and leaned his head toward Eli in deference to the hand on his neck. His response was not actually born of exasperation, because it had been his intent to get Eli's mind somewhere else in the first place and he knew this worked like a charm.

"Yeah," he agreed easily. "All the time in the world. Right now, though, I'm smelling something finally getting put on the grill." Not to mention he could hear the sizzling, but that smell was definitely enticing. "And I don't really want barbeque sauce where it doesn't belong, you know?"

Michelle snorted in amusement at the eye rolling and Eli ignored it to instead turn his head towards the grill, his focus turning to the food. He was a young, growing Aspect and he needed to eat. Only being next to Shannon and Michelle kept him from wandering over and inquiring about food immediately.

"Right, right, no barbeque sauce in unmentionable places. Got it." He was very obviously distracted on food now and Michelle flicked his ear sharply. "Ow! What'd you do that for?"

"Your focus is wandering." Eli was about to protest, but she flicked his ear again and he stopped. "Focus on your boyfriend instead. It will take time for it to cook and nobody will want to murder you for being annoying."

"How about we focus on everyone else and not just me?" asked Shannon with a laugh. "This is a party, we aren't the only three people here. There's time enough for private things later."

That said, he tilted his head back and regarded where he had heard Jasper speaking with Eli before and offered a grin. Somewhat sheepish, because he knew it was obvious about the three of them now, but nowhere near apologetic. "For instance... hey, Jasper. What were you and Eli talking about? Hope we didn't interrupt anything important."

"Fine, fine, deal with the other Aspects now, deal with us later," Eli grumbled as he snuggled himself closer to Shannon. Michelle merely looked amused and turned to glance at Jasper when Shannon started to speak with him. He was still playing with Lacey, the shapeshifter having something that seemed to make animals like him whenever he was around.

"It's nothing important. We were just discussing Marcus and Trigger along with possibly doing Jumps to other worlds to help with both Marcus' hands and Eli's wrist." Which was definitely far more important than the way Jasper was talking about it.

"Just a little light conversation," Shannon quipped with some bemusement. It was true that there were a lot of factors out there that could potentially help with the damage that their world was too backwards to think of healing right now, but the idea of intentionally going out there searching for something like that... Shannon was never quite going to get over the protectiveness he felt when Eli left for somewhere that he couldn't follow.

Still. It wasn't a bad idea.

Tilting his head to include Eli in the next question, he asked, "What have you guys concluded so far?"

"You clearly haven't heard our conversations," Jasper teased lightly. Sure, the subject was definitely serious, but it wasn't exactly a pressing matter, so they could definitely discuss it later. It was obvious that Jasper's definition of important was different from most people's.

"We've got a list of possible worlds that might be able to help us out," said Eli, his tone changing from the playful nature he had with his boyfriend and girlfriend to a more serious one. "Dad's problem is easier to fix than mine comparatively, but it's still hard to find the technology capable enough fix us."

"At this rate, would I want to?" asked Shannon with a laugh. In short, the answer would probably be a yes. Anything to do with Eli was something Shannon was interested in, ramifications of exploring an unknown multi-universe aside. How could anyone resist being curious about that? More over, if this was their easygoing conversation, he was interested to know what sort of deeper things they got into.

He tilted his head to the side, resting it somewhat against Eli's shoulder. "It's kind of a specialized problem," he agreed thoughtfully. Finding somewhere capable of reversing skin and nerve damage would be like a needle in a haystack. That they had a list at all... "What kinds of places are on that list?"

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