Language Barrier One Shot
City streets buzzed with life and hundreds of conversations took place, people shopped and laughed, and stores busied themselves. Artists and musicians of all kinds filled the streets. The summer wind blew in the evening shade. The whole town seemed to be restless, no doubt never to actually sleep.
A red headed boy made his way down the familiar streets looking for his favorite café. He was no stranger to this town since his family often vacationed in the city of love. The smell of fresh cooked food and the songs of traveling minstrels filled the air on his evening walk.
Tonight was a special night. It was the first night the boy had been alone for a long time. The annoying motherly ghost that always lectured him had gone off to aid Chase Young and there was no wu that was active. It's the first vacation the teen had since he got mixed up in the whole shen gong wu deal.
The boy finally found his favorite café tucked into the corner of a long forgotten park. The familiar peach and light green décor called him inside. He found a seat by the window and looked over the menu.
Suddenly, going to Paris by himself seemed like a bad idea. While he did love the people, sights, sounds, and food, he didn't exactly know the language. He'd always come to Paris with his parents. His mother always spoke for him. He looked long and hard at the menu until he could pick out a few words he knew. The red head worriedly looked over the menu and looked at the waiter taking orders for an older couple who came in right before him.
Two seats away a young boy had sat down after a long day working on the street as a performer. This was the café he came to when he was tired and felt he did well enough that day to afford a little treat. The teen gushed over the menu, not knowing what treat he wanted. He looked around the small lobby to see what others had gotten. While he scanned the room, his eyes were caught up on a familiar red haired, pale skinned teen he'd met a while back.
The tall teen got up from his table and walked over to get a closer look. Upon further inspection, he determined it was in fact the boy he'd met almost a year ago. He smiled down at the boy who's attention was fixed upon the laminated menu in front of him. The other boy sat down in the same booth across from Jack. Only then did the Chinese boy notice Le Mime.
"Bonsoir!" The older boy said as he beamed at the long lost friend.
"huh? Oh uh, bonjour?" Jack nervously replied. He had picked up some conversational French after so many trips to France, but this conversation wasn't about to last long.
"Pourquoi êtes-vous ici?" Mime asked as he started to look over his menu again.
Jack chewed on the sentence for a while. "Why, something, something, here…?" He asked. Le Mime just gave him a quizzical look. It was painfully obvious that the boy didn't know Chinese. "Never mind." Jack sighed out as he shook his head. It appeared he was up the river with no paddles.
"Que voulez-vous?" The older teen tried again. The café was slowly starting to grow quiet as everyone else had either left or started eating. The waiter stopped by their table to ask their orders. "Je prende du thé et du tarte aux cerises." Le Mime answered right away. "Et vous?" the two men looked at a very flustered red head who tried to hide behind his menu.
"ah, je prex… no, je prende chocolate?" The waiter looked at the strange boy in a questioning way as Le Mime leaned over and took the menu from him. He pointed at one of the items and asked "Du gâteau au chocolat?" Jack shook his head. The pale boy pointed at some hot chocolate. "Oh, d'accord!" The boy ordered the hot chocolate for the out of place teen. The waiter took the menus and went on his way.
"Vous ne parlez pas français?" He mulled as he looked at the boy. He could have sworn that last time he met the boy he spoke it fluently. Maybe that purple ghost thing had something to do with that.
"Um, thanks for that." Jack shrugged as he looked at the teen in front of him. The boy couldn't be much older than himself. "Oh, I guess you can't really understand me though. Sorry."
Le Mime had come to the same problem. He finally understood that the boy in front of him couldn't speak French and that he himself couldn't speak what ever it was the boy spoke. That wasn't a big deal for him though. His main job was that of a mime. If he wanted to talk to him, he'd just mime. He thought he'd let his misplaced friend know that.
He mimed out a small series of actions that looked a lot like what he intended to say. Jack, for a slow as he can be some times, understood. He wasn't that great at miming, but he could at least try. He reached out his hand and mimed "shake" with it. The two boys shook hands. Jack did so to thank him, Le Mime did so thinking that it was a deal.
Their food showed up shortly after and Le Mime dug into his cherry pie as his tea cooled down a bit. Jack took a sip of his hot chocolate right away and burned his tongue on it. He forgot every thing in France was served very hot. The two boys ate and drank and talked very little, but they had come to be very comfortable with each other.
Le Mime fidgeted in his seat while Jack stared out the window as rain started to come down and cover the streets. He enjoyed the way the sliver of a moon reflected in it and the way lights glowed gently.
The older boy half coughed into his hand to try and get the red head's attention. Jack looked back over to him quizzically. Did he want to try and talk? Mime started to make a lot of frantic motions with his hands. The most Jack could make out was something about the first time they'd met and wanting to meet again.
"Wow, slow down would you!" he said as he tried to mime slow down. He ended up just putting up his hands to show the boy to stop. He slowly stumbled over the actions to tell him to slow down, but messed up. In the end, both boys were frustrated.
Spicer pulled out his wallet from his backpack to pay for the meal when he remembered he had a notebook and a pencil with him. He quickly drew out what he wanted to say and Le Mime understood. The boy attempted to start again when the waiter took their money and cleared the table. The red head needed to find a hotel to stay in, so he quickly asked Mime as the two started to walk out of the café together. He drew a hotel and pointed to it. Le Mime smiled brightly back at the boy and mimed for him to come stay with him while he was in Paris.
After an absurd amount of miming and smiling, Jack finally accepted and let the older boy happily lead the way. Le Mime was the only one with an umbrella, so they had to walk under it together as the rain got heavier. Some how, Jack felt it comfortable to walk so close to the boy.
The older boy wanted so badly to reach out and take Jack's hand in his, but the hand closest to Jack was the one burdened with holding the umbrella. He twitched, wanting so bad to convey his emotions to the boy walking home with him. They might have been walking right next to each other, but they were still worlds apart.
The rain soaked Jack's pants so that the dark black fabric shined in the low light. The red and green lights of the streets only made his perfect pale skin and rebellious red hair stand out in a beautiful way. His long black eye lashes perfectly outline his bright red eyes that seemed fixed on nothing visible. His perfection was out of reach and his attention belonged to every thing except Le Mime. The boy slouched slightly in defeat and decided to pay more attention to the wet trees.
Jack noticed that Le Mime was out of sorts. He quietly watched the tan boy from the corner of his eyes. He couldn't stand knowing that some one he cared about felt bad. The boy seemed to go from staring at Jack to staring at nothing. His had happened quite a bit on the long walk from the café. He quickly scribbled a happy and sad face on his paper and pointed to it, trying to ask the boy if he was okay.
The older boy noticed this and looked from the paper to the boy. He finally decided to be honest and pointed to the sad face. Jack frowned at this and asked "Pourquoi?" The boy was slightly taken aback by the sudden use of his language, but got over it quickly. He started to mime and talk at the same time. Jack quickly took the umbrella away from the boy to keep them both from getting wet.
After a long sequence of motions, actions, miming, and some words Jack knew, Le Mime blurted out a phrase that almost everyone knows. A phrase that even non French speakers can easily pick up on. "Je t'aime!" he yelled at the boy who was trying to piece together what he had said. Had he not been wearing his face paint, it would be obvious that his face was burning from embarrassment.
Jack seemed to stare at the boy completely unmoved. Le Mime suddenly thought that Jack probably didn't know what he was getting at, even though he'd said it twice. He just grabbed the umbrella back and started to walk towards his home again.
Spicer hadn't moved from that spot though. He was stuck in shock. His glowing red eyes stayed focused on the depressed boy who had taken a few steps with out him. "Je…je t'aime?" he asked. His face glowed red. The rain crashed down on him in his confusion.
"Je t'aime." Le Mime said again as he refused to look back at the boy behind him. He didn't want to see his star go from friendly to him to hating him. He stood still, waiting for the normal response. He waited for the yelling, the disgust in his voice, and the beating. That's what always followed the confession.
"Je t'aime?" Jack repeated in a softer voice. He broke out crying. This is what he needed most in his life right now. Some one who loved him. He continued to cry until his face was as red as his hair and his tears mixed with the rain. The soaked boy rubbed his face with his black coat sleeve. Black streaked his face after eye liner got every where.
Le Mime looked back at the boy after he heard a quiet hic up. He quickly tossed the umbrella aside and hugged the boy close to him. The boy's head rested against his chest. His calming breaths wrapped the teen in a soothing motion. Mime buried his head next to Jack's. The younger boy stood there sobbing until tears couldn't come out. He shook as he tried to breath normally again.
The two boys stood in that spot in the far corner of a lesser traveled path. Le Mime gently ran his fingers through the boy's fiery hair as he gently repeated his words. "Je t'aime." The words left his mouth and quietly flew into the boy's ears. He continued to coo his promise of love.
Jack didn't realize until just now how much he needed someone to love him. His parents never had time for him, and grandmother disowned him after his humiliating defeats. After his tricks, the monks couldn't trust him, even at his best. Wuya had left him for good, bean despised him, and Chase seemed to actually want him dead. Yet, some how there was this wonderful person all the way in France who still found a way to love him.
While Le Mime could never understand why Jack needed this moment so much, he did understand that Jack needed to hear that he was loved. This was far from the reaction that he though he'd get. This was better than being yelled at for being gay though. He clutched the boy tighter and shed a few quiet tears of his own.
When the two boys finally composed themselves, they laughed it off and walked home drenched. They occasionally gently bumped into one another as if to say they loved the other. Their hands found one another half way home since they didn't really need the umbrella any more. Their pinky fingers tangled around each other as they found the courage to smile.
When they finally reached Le Mime's apartment, they found a mirror in the main room of the apartment. The two of them looked themselves over. They were a water downed mess. Jack had faint lines of black all over his white wash face and dark rings around his eyes. His hair was soaked and flat and his clothes were dragging on the floor from the water. Le Mime looked worse. His mime make up had run in the rain. The red was slightly washed from his face and his real skin tone could be seen in some areas. He touched it lightly and noticed how it had run on to his shirt. He looked over and noticed there was white in the younger boy's hair as well. He couldn't help but laugh and point it out. Jack laughed at it and noticed that some of his eye liner had gotten on to the mime shirt as well.
Le Mime grabbed some towels from his bathroom and threw one at Jack. He took one himself and started to strip. Once his pants and boxers were off, he tied the towel around his waist. He took his clothes outside to the veranda and hung them up on a wire. The rain had stopped by now and the air was coming in gusts. He worked the make up out of his shirt before leaving it be. He motioned for Jack to hand him his wet clothes as well. The boy quickly and nervously undressed, making sure to keep his privates just that: private. His shirt, jacket, pants, and underwear were hung up outside to dry as he clung to his towel. He looked over at his soaked back pack and wish he had just one pair of clothes left to wear.
The older boy started putting hot water in the tub and fished around his small one room apartment looking for some decent clothes. He finally found a pair of old boxers that would fit the red head's tiny frame and an oversized black t-shirt. He grabbed his own boxers and tossed them in the bathroom. He motioned for the boy to get in tub with him. He got in first and coaxed the boy in with him.
Eventually, the shy Chinese boy dropped the towel and got in the hot water. He kept to himself in the small tub mostly, trying not to be a burden. Le Mime washed the boy's back and hair as he adjusted. By the end of it, they were just resting in the hot water. Jack even ventured to lay back and let his head use the older boy's chest and a pillow as he scrubbed their feet. The steam finally got to the boy and he got out and dried off.
Mime got out too and tied his towel around his waist again. He grabbed a smaller towel and dried the boy's wild hair. He laughed and pushed the boxers and t-shirt over to the boy, hoping he'd get the point and put them on. Spicer quickly understood what Le Mime was saying and put them on. He felt warm and relaxed in the oversized and worn apparel.
He looked up at the messy mime who smiled brightly down at him. He rolled his eyes and grabbed the towel he had just used. The boy stood on his tip toes as he tried to help Mime dry his hair and remove little white patches of make up left on his beautiful tan face.
"This is the first time I've seen you with out your make up." Jack mused. He finished scrubbing the paint off and stepped back to see the face he'd uncovered. "Tu as bonne mine."
"Merci." The older boy took Jack's hand in his own and placed a gentle kiss on it. "Et tu. Tu as bonne mine." Jack looked at the bathroom floor and smiled to himself. He was glad that someone though he looked nice. He couldn't help but yawn right then though. The yawn made Le Mime remember how late it had gotten. The older boy guided Jack to the mattress he slept on. There was no frame, it was just a mattress on the floor, and that's how he liked it.
The two boys nestled under the blankets and fell asleep in each other's arms. Jack's head stayed close to Le Mime's chest so he could listen to the calming beating of his heart. One of Le Mime's arms was draped around the boy's shoulders to keep him close and safe. Their legs got intertwined and their hair wildly mixed in soft blends of black and red.
Outside, the soft sounds of a busy Paris played out far from the old apartment building. The hazy slit of light from the moon lazily caressed the wet word below the grey sky.