i go about things the wrong way. [ psl ]

[misconceived]

WHO Chris Halliwell (misconceived), Cole Turner (devilsinthedetails).
WHAT In a universe where Chris is the son of Phoebe and Cole, his father has had enough hints dropped to maybe piece things together. Now he's going to go prove it.
WHEN Sometime after 6x12: Prince Charmed.
WHERE Back room at P3.
WHY Because Leo would make a terrible father.

To say that Chris was exhausted would probably be an understatement. Oh, physically he was passing by just fine, but ever since the sisters had more or less evicted him from the manor, things had been going pretty harshly. He should have known they wouldn't believe him about Wyatt, yet he had hoped that perhaps could have squirmed around it. Messing with Piper's birthday man at the same time probably only made it worse. They had never really trusted him so he wasn't quite sure why it hurt him or surprised him so much, especially after so many months of living mired in their suspicion.

Either way, all that meant was that Chris was on his own on following his leads until he could get back into the girls' neutral graces again. That meant making careful steps and not expecting backup, which also meant he needed to take care of himself and make sure he could at least work without collapsing in the middle of meeting with any of his informants. Demons sure did love it when you bared your weak little throat like that to them.

With a quiet scoff to himself, Chris entered his room at P3, nothing more than a converted storage/office to hold a cot in it, then stopped utterly short when he noticed that he wasn't alone. Brief flashbacks of Bianca waiting for him stuttered through his mind, overlaying that image with his new intruder. "Cole?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"
* * *

Heartbreak First ; reveal

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Adorable Third ; nightmare

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Ridiculous Second ; flirt

Comments

[devilsinthedetails]

While Chris might be mortified, Cole really wasn't. This wasn't the most embarrassing nor strangest situation he's ever found himself in and he wasn't going to have much of a problem if it helped Chris sleep after not doing so for an extended period of time. He was going to leave any anger and annoyance for things that didn't involve his son being surprisingly adorable.

"It's not as much of a problem as you think it is," Cole said as he sat up after Chris moved away. Part of him was tempted to keep him close just to get it through his head that it was okay, but he didn't want to ruin what relationship they had by him messing with him. "From what I can tell, you really needed the rest and that was the only way it was going to happen."

[misconceived]

It was always hard being faced with the idea that his parents wouldn't grow tired of Chris being there. In the future it was all right because he'd grown up with them and it all belonged in a single piece; here in the past, he was something of an extra piece that didn't align with the rest of the puzzle. He ran a hand through his hair and scrubbed his face, sitting back on the other side of the bed with one leg pulled to his chest. Maybe he was being melodramatic about it, but considering everyone's reactions before they knew who he was, he might have had a few issues of his own to deal with before he could totally accept their acceptance.

"Yeah... I did sleep pretty well at least," he said, halfway to a mumble. "Still, probably wasn't comfortable for you. What time is it?"

[devilsinthedetails]

What Chris didn't seem to understand was that no matter what, his parents wouldn't tire of him, especially not Cole. To him, Chris represented the love between him and Phoebe, the one thing that had kept Cole going during his possession by the Source, and there was no way he would ever tire of having him there. This was definitely going to be an interesting moment while Cole proved this to him.

"I've dealt with more uncomfortable situations than that," he answered easily enough. Having Chris sleep on his chest was pretty tame, considering it was Cole and who knew what strange things lay in his past. "It should be last morning, not past twelve." Looking at his clock to confirm, Cole saw green numbers prove him wrong. Oh well.

[misconceived]

Following Cole's gaze, Chris gave a wry smile. Yeah, that wasn't exactly going to work, but at the least it somehow made him feel better that even Cole hadn't realized how much Chris had been taking up his time. He had plenty of things to do today, leads to follow and demons to vanquish, and yet Chris couldn't really make himself move from his spot.

"Looks like it's too late for breakfast," he commented. Not that he had been looking forward to it, but it had been an interesting offer. Mundane. "Guess we'll have to reschedule that part."

[devilsinthedetails]

"Another time then," Cole replied, not showing that there was some disappointment that Chris was going to leave to go off to do what he needed to complete his mission in the past. There wasn't much time for them to spend time together that wasn't usually involved in vanquishing demons and Cole really wanted to learn more about the kind of person Chris is.

He got up out of bed and went to his closet to grab an outfit for the day, not really caring what he was picking out beyond something that ended up going together and not clashing horribly. Cole was thinking about something and then he paused. "Then how about we do brunch instead?"

[misconceived]

Chris watched his dad start to go about his day, eyes interested and his expression bemused at the question. "Brunch," he repeated. "Sure, if we feel like gossiping about all the neighborhood drama recently." What? It wasn't Chris' fault that he tended to respond to most situations with dry wit and sarcasm. Especially the situations where he was out of his depth; it was either of those two or hostility.

At least it wasn't an outright no.

He got up from the bed and tried not to look as awkward as he felt about still being in his t-shirt and boxers from the night before. If he wanted to change, he was going to have to leave and Chris wasn't sure he would be ready to come back if he did that. Then again... the day was already turning out pretty weirdly. Maybe he would.

[devilsinthedetails]

"Yeah, we can talk about my demonic neighbors and what nefarious deeds they're planning to enact," said Cole with a roll of his eyes. If Chris was going to head down the path of sarcasm, then Cole was going to do the same. "You need to eat something before you go off to vanquish demons and scour the city and Underworld for information about who could be behind Wyatt's downfall."

Tossing his own clothes on the bed, Cole took an extra moment to pull out a second set of pants and another shirt and then tossed them over to Chris. He didn't want his son to feel awkward about being stuck in sleepwear while Cole was actually getting dressed. "Here," he said, not really focusing on him as he went to the bed and started to get dressed. "You're close enough to me in size that you shouldn't have a problem fitting into those for now."

[misconceived]

Catching the clothes, Chris was momentarily distracted by the sarcasm to pay attention to what his dad had just said after that. He looked at the clothes with a faint edge of disbelief on his face as he asked, "Do you? Have demonic neighbors." Because if anyone could end up with luck like that, it would definitely be his father. Or his mother, come to think.

Now taking in the offer of pants and shirt, Chris shifted them around and looked bemused at the size. It looked like it would fit... but these fit Cole, too. Last time they had really lived together, Chris had been much too small to wear his father's clothes as anything but a joke. "I guess we are the same size now," he commented quietly. That was really weird.

[devilsinthedetails]

There was a pause as Cole seems to take a moment to actually think about that. "Of course I do," he says slightly more upbeat about it than he has any right to be. "How do you think I was able to afford this place without having a job? I may be persona non grata in the Underworld, but I still have a few contacts who are willing to help me out in some way."

It didn't seem to click with him at first that there might be be a problem, but when Chris comments on it, that finally seems to click in his head because he then walked over, slung an arm over Chris' shoulders and pulled him close to kiss the side of his head. "I wasn't thinking," Cole said softly. "For what it's worth, I think he'd be proud to see how much you've grown."

[misconceived]

"I could always introduce you to some of mine, too," Chris offered. Of course, he had the tendency to get them vanquished soon after they stopped being useful, but wasn't that just how demonic society worked? Get in good graces and continue to work at being evil so that no one ever thought you were totally useless and better off dead.

That gesture, the thoughtless closeness Cole initiated, was something that prodded at the knot in Chris's heart. He leaned in when Cole tugged and continued to stare at the simple clothes in front of him for a while longer. "Yeah, maybe," he said after a moment, clearly distracted and a bit lost. "I was definitely a runt back then."

[devilsinthedetails]

"I'll pass," he replied with a wave of his hand. Cole was at the point where he wanted to distance himself from the Underworld so that he couldn't be tempted back into his old ways. Not to mention, it would make it easier for the sisters to not find anything at fault with him. "I can work with what I've got for now and worry about the rest later."

He knew that he had definitely hit a sore spot, but he wasn't going to let him go until Chris decided that he didn't want to deal with it anymore. "No maybe, I'm certain of it," he said in response. "From a kid to a fine young man? I know I'd be proud of you."

[misconceived]

Chris merely tilted his head in understanding. He didn't exactly have the leisure of caring how he looked to the sisters, even while the most important one of all had no idea who he was. Everything was riding on him doing all within his power to save Wyatt, and one of the easier things for him to do with said power was make connections in the Underworld and follow every lead to the end.

Time travel had a way of confusing things, but this was by far the worst of it. Cole talking about his future self like that, and Chris trying to figure out if it meant the same thing coming from someone who didn't have all the same life experiences yet. With a small laugh, he said, "You didn't see me crash Aunt Paige's car when I was younger, though."

[devilsinthedetails]

They had two different situations going on, especially since Chris was definitely held in higher regard than Cole, no matter what he did. Chris didn't have to worry about getting vanquished because he did something even remotely looking like it was evil, though things were slowly starting to change with the sisters so Cole didn't have to worry too much.

For a brief moment, Cole was worried about the thought of his son in a car crash, but then remembered that he was part-demon and had all the pluses that gave him. There was the hint of a smile on Cole's face as he pulled away and finally started to get dressed. "So how mad was Paige that you crashed her car?"

[misconceived]

If Chris had anything to say about it, Cole would be on the same level as Chris by the time he was through. He knew better than anyone else how much Cole put into being good while the sisters turned a blind eye to it; just because Chris was related to them shouldn't have garnered him that kind of favor. Cole had been Phoebe's husband too, after all. More than his own treatment at the sisters' hands when they got too distracted by their pursuit of normal lives, he couldn't stand to see them deny Cole something similar. That was probably why he had snapped at Piper about his father's actual involvement in the Source of All Evil thing, actually... but Cole didn't need to know about that.

"Not as mad as she was that someone pulled her out of the car in the first place," Chris said with a roll of his eyes. He followed his father's lead and got dressed too. It was simple, but it felt like Cole from the scent down to the magic in the threads and Chris couldn't help but compare the comfort to something fresh and warm out of the dryer. He was definitely relaxing, that much was clear. "She was picking us up from school and apparently there was a magical blackout going on so she couldn't hear her sisters calling for her."

[devilsinthedetails]

It was definitely going to take time to change the sisters' perception on what happened to Cole and honestly, Cole didn't care at this point. He didn't see why they would change their minds or even care to after they had vanquished him twice. As long as they let him be and didn't actively try to vanquish him, Cole was content to have them think about him any way they wanted. He definitely was going to be somewhat annoyed that Chris decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Now that sounds like a story you should be sharing," Cole said as he finished putting on his clothes and went to put on shoes and socks. He liked to hear about the future when it didn't involve the end of the world or how he was going to die. It wasn't so much about knowing things beforehand, but instead learning more about what this Chris was like.

[misconceived]

Too bad. Chris wasn't and would never be sorry for defending his father. He looked up to Cole too much to just sit aside and let him be disparaged and vilified for reasons beyond his control. There would be no denials for things that had actually been in Cole's power, but most of those incidents had actually not happened yet. If Cole ended up having a problem with it, then Chris was going to make sure Cole understood why he couldn't let it stand.

Chris glanced down at his feet and frowned. Just socks, no shoes, and whatever, he could deal with that later. Clothes were good for now and he was apparently being invited to start story time, which he didn't mind doing every now and then. Things that weren't directly related to any of his traumas or major events were pretty safe to tell Cole, at the least. His father knew how to not give away secrets. "Maybe," he said coyly. "Anyway, the car wouldn't stop in time so Wyatt got them out of there and I hopped in the driver's seat. I called shotgun that day," he added as an afterthought.

[devilsinthedetails]

Cole didn't need Chris to defend him. What happened had happened and they were all dealing with the fallout in different ways. He had died and been trapped in the void, working on setting things into motion to help Phoebe out in the future before Chris had yanked him out to make sure he was conceived. The sisters were all handling it in their own ways and if that meant not trusting him or thinking badly of him, then that's just how it was. Cole wasn't going to fault them for that, not after everything.

He noticed Chris looking down at his bare feet and went to the closet to pull out a pair of sandals. Giving him shoes wasn't the best idea since he didn't know if Chris was anywhere near the same size as him, but sandals were doable for the near future. "And then you crashed into something." He knew how this story was ending, obvious as it was. "Nobody else was injured, were they?"

[misconceived]

For all that Cole was ready to take whatever heat the sisters would throw, Chris knew for a fact that they were capable of coming to an understanding in the future, and wanted to make absolutely positive that wasn't another thing he had messed up. No way in hell was he going to jeopardize that small happiness his father had found. Not even thinking about the proffered sandals, Chris sat down and worked them on while he related his story. It was autopilot for the morning routine and he was distracted by the memory besides.

Unexpectedly, Chris began to laugh at the question. "I flew right out the front window," he said. He knew it wouldn't be funny to relate to his dad, especially if Cole had realized that his demonically-heightened resistance didn't follow him in his mortal form, but it had always been hilarious in hindsight. "Over a fence, crushed somebody's flowerbed, and all anyone wanted to do was take selfies with the car that almost hit their house."

[devilsinthedetails]

He didn't know about the understanding now, so he was fine with the way things were. Chris shaking things up wasn't exactly what he needed when things were some form of settled. While waiting for Chris to get the sandals on, Cole walked over and leaned against a wall, arms crossed as he watched him.

"No chance to put the seatbelt on. Did any of them give you much attention after you went flying out of the car?" If he knew that Chris was basically mortal in his human form unlike how Cole was, than he would definitely be worried about hearing what happened to Chris, but as it was, he had no problems with it at the moment. "Sel...fies? What does that even mean?"

[misconceived]

"Nope," Chris said. "Like I said, I landed in the flowers and they were focusing on the car. We got a technopath to take me out of the tweets later and it was fine." Yes, Chris knew exactly what he was doing by using terms Cole didn't and couldn't understand even if his father had any interest in keeping up with modern culture. It was probably the safest way to tease considering it would seem less like he was spilling future knowledge and more like he was just up on the times. "Selfies are self-portraits. Photographs, whatever. Basically people showing off and uploading all that to the black hole that becomes the internet."

Sandals now on, Chris stood and quirked a brow at Cole. Part of him was tempted to just bail and go back to what he had been doing the day before and had been doing for days, weeks, months before that: working on his mission. Cole's presence kept Chris where he was, waiting to see if his father was going to do anything first.

[devilsinthedetails]

"You know I only understood about half of that, right?" If that was how the future was going to be, Cole was pretty much doomed to not be able to keep up. It was already bad enough now with him trying to keep up with how things were currently at a hundred and nineteen years old. He could only imagine it would get worse as time marched on. "So it's slang for taking a picture of yourself. The internet gets even worse? And I thought it was bad now."

There was no way that Cole was going to let Chris bail on him, especially since Cole walked over and slung an arm across Chris' shoulders before leading him out of the room and into the main area. "So, any preference as to what you want to eat?"

[misconceived]

"I know," Chris said in obvious delight. There was a lot Cole would learn over the ages and a lot he would assimilate to much better than he imagined. It was in Cole's nature to keep up with the world, after all, even if he didn't keep up with the people inside of it... and soon the two were going to coincide in a big way. But Chris wasn't about to spoil all the fun for his dad just yet. He simply grinned. "You kidding? The internet is practically alive. I mean, not really but... never mind, you'll see."

And there it was. Chris staggered a bit under the arm and then rolled his eyes in obvious fondness as he was gently tugged along with his father. He didn't particularly mind until Cole spoke, then he started to resist just out of principle. That had seemed more like a joke than an actual plan. "What, you were serious about brunch?"

[devilsinthedetails]

"Be nice to the old man, why don't you?" He sounded more amused than anything despite how lost he seemed by the future. Future technology was something that would come to him in time and until then, he wasn't going to worry about it all that much. That didn't mean he was going to let Chris use future terms to mess with him. "I'm sure I will when the time comes."

There was a smile on Cole's face and he really couldn't help but be amused by the fact that Chris had taken it as a joke. He knew how his son could be lately, which was why he was even trying for brunch to begin with. "Did you think I wasn't?"

[misconceived]

"Where's the fun in that?" asked Chris. If it was really beginning to bug Cole, he would back off, but for now he determined just to tone it down rather than stop it entirely. He couldn't even get away with this much with the sisters without them poking and prodding into every weird thing he said.

Chris canted his head to the side, a very telling gesture of uncertainty. "Well... to be honest, no. I thought that was just a comment. Do you even have any cash to pay for it?" Because Chris definitely didn't, and he couldn't imagine Cole had much extra scratch himself considering his current situation.

[devilsinthedetails]

Cole shook his head and sighed, leaning against him heavily for a moment before he looked at him. It wasn't bugging him at all, the teases of the future he couldn't quite understand. That just gave him a puzzle to figure out before he got there and if he didn't get it beforehand, he'd be sure to get it when it showed up. "Telling one of your aunts the same things and then lying about what it really means."

Money was tight, yes, especially since Cole had disappeared a year ago and truly been considered dead in that time. He was still trying to unfreeze his assets and bring himself alive legally and it was taking some time. "I have enough to at least take you out for brunch, Chris. It's nothing to worry about."