A quiet but persistent buzzing slowly woke him from his slumber. Annoyed he rolled over, pulling the plush covers over his head with a groan. Desperately he tried to recapture his dream… blue arms had been holding him close… a rough and callused hand had caressed his cheek… soft words had been spoken in a language unknown to Earth… but it all slipped away into the blackest void… Sighing he gave up on sleep and blinked into the dimmed lights of his room. Comforting music played filling the room with a soft violin solo.
"Good morning, Sir. It's about time you dragged your lazy mammalian bones out of bed. Busy day today," the overly cheerful voice bubbled throughout the room's speakers.
"I find it absolutely disgusting that you're such a morning person, Minion," the alien groused finally sitting up and dragging most of the silvery grey covers with him and spilling the decorative pillows across the floor.
Rising and stuffing his feet into his fuzzy slippers he stumbled over to his wardrobe. The blue alien man stood frowning at the laid out clothing. A tailored grey dress shirt, silvery blue tie, and exquisite charcoal suit for work; formal black three piece for the evening's entertainment. Ignoring both, Sheldon Scott abandoned his blanket cloak in a pile on the floor and pulled on a loose silky robe over his nightgown before making his way into the bathroom. It was too damn early to be properly dressed and he much preferred the flowing glide of his night cloths over his skin.
"Remind me, Minion, who am I going to be cursing the existence of today?" Sheldon quipped running a hand over his large bald head and contemplating his assortment of grooming products, selecting one of his scented moisturizers.
"That would be Mr. Dunn who runs the electronics chip manufacturing factory, Sir." In the background Sheldon could hear Minion firing up their monster computer, the fans and cooling systems humming away.
"The twat with the toupee, right," Sheldon spun his toothbrush between his long fingers, sighing. That was going to be a long and annoying meeting. The man was as dense as a door knob.
"Want me to pull his file up?" Ah Minion, always so helpful.
"Later, Minion," Sheldon sighed. Today was going to be tedious enough. He'd put it off a bit longer.
Finishing his morning hygiene rituals, Sheldon slipped out of his private wing into the manor proper, tying his robe around him as he went. The long halls were richly decorated with elegant rugs and gorgeous oil paintings, soft music playing in every room; the quite buzz of their servants talking, out of sight unless needed, but always present.
Sally Scott was already seated at the long table in the dining hall, sipping her French Roast espresso. As he passed behind her Sheldon pressed a kiss into her greying brown hair. She looked up warmly at him with a loving smile, setting her cup back on the saucer with a clink.
"Good morning, mother dearest," he murmured sliding into his seat beside her, "what's for breakfast today?"
"About time, boy, Minion was up hours ago," Robert Scott said through a rustle of newspaper. Folding it down enough to peer over with a frown, his mustache twitching, he grumbled "I wish you'd stop wearing that ridiculous thing."
Father's morning complaint about Sheldon's wardrobe went as unheeded as ever. Over two decades of complaints had failed to change the boy's behavior; it was a habitual protest at best by now.
"And a good morning to you as well, father!" Sheldon clapped his hand together with a cheeky grin, "and we'd all wish you'd stop smoking that foul pipe, but we can't all get what we want, can we?"
Appearing at Sheldon's elbow, one of the family servants placed a cup of steaming tea before him, "Da Hong Pao Oolong Tea, with honey and coconut milk. Michael has made crepes with fresh blueberries and chocolate drizzle for breakfast with a fruit plate of strawberries and pineapple to start."
"Ah Emily, you blessed angle you!" capturing up the china cup, Sheldon oozed back into his chair with a sigh. No one could work magic on a drink the way Emily could.
Sally turned to her adoptive son plaintively, "Shelly honey, how long do you plan on torturing your dear mother?"
Chuckling warmly with a wide toothy grin Sheldon replied smoothly, "Patience is a virtue, my dear mama," turning his gaze up to a camera in the ceiling he added, "And don't you dare break down this time, Minion! I want to be able to see her face when she gets her present this year."
"Last year was an accident!" Minion's distressed cries echoed throughout the dining room, the cameras that were his eyes glittering in the corners of every room in the mansion, "Not a second early, cross my fins!"
This was just as much of the yearly ritual as mother's gift was, Sheldon grinned. Mother would love the dress. More than likely she already suspected what she was getting, but Sheldon hoped the exact design was a surprise. Mother had absolutely cooed over it when they'd attended the fashion show in Paris last month so he just had to commission the artist to make the dress for his dear mother's measurements.
Throwing a hand dramatically to her forehead, Sally wailed in mock distress, "What cruel children I have! And don't act innocent Bobby; I know you're in on this torment too."
"Only the best for you, dear," Robert Scott's voice was nearly monotone, but the eyes that glanced up over his morning paper sparkled with a suppressed smile, "I'm just glad I don't have to go to these anymore."
"Oh and why would I drag such a sour puss along, honestly Bobby," Sally quipped back over the lip of her espresso eyes narrow and lips quirked.
"I wouldn't want to upset mother-son tradition, dear," Bobby countered flatly, placing the folded paper to the side.
Sally's rebuttal was cut short by the arrival of trays of food, so she settled for a harumph. Decoratively piled fruit in little bowls of blue and gold trimmed china where placed before them. Selecting the small delicate fork, Sheldon stabbed at a strawberry and popped it in his mouth with a hum of approval, honey with a light hint of lime.
As his parents fell into silence over their own food, Sheldon sighed. Sometimes it was hard to tell when his parents ribbing was venomous or playful. They'd been bickering for as long as he'd known them, but never very seriously. At worse it would end with father drinking in his study and mother disappearing off with her friends for a retreat somewhere outside of the city. Though now that Sheldon was grown, he was more often than not his mother's escort in these situations. Father hated the plays, ballets, fashion shows, and operas anyway.
Thinking ahead to tonight's events, ending the day at the ballet production put an immense time strain on today's time tables, but it would be an enjoyable evening assuming he stayed awake throughout. It was all worth it for mother's smile regardless.
Over the quiet clatter of silverware as their plates of elegantly folded crepes artfully drizzled with dark chocolate where laid out, Sally changed the topic of conversation, "You wouldn't believe the gall of Rebecca last Monday at the council. She had the nerve to suggest-"
Sheldon tuned the rest out, musing over a new design for haptic feedback on a display, letting his mother ramble on about her social circles. Minion would let him know if he missed anything important. He was just conscious enough to register his dear fish exclaiming his disapproval along with mother. Sheldon swore Minion treated these little rants from mother the way people watch soap operas.
Making his farewells to his parents as they left for their days at breakfast's completion, Sheldon slipped back into his rooms. He could that hear Minion already had music blaring before he'd even approached the large viewing area of Minion's enormous tank. It was more of a private aquarium now, with a full ecosystem occupying what had once been five rooms spread over three floors. Sheldon watched a swirl of little colorful fish swim past darting through the coral reef shelf and colorful aquatic foliage as he made his way over to Minion's control center. His little fish was jamming out singing along to MC Lars; the ichthyoid had an unhealthy obsession with Nerd Core in Sheldon's opinion.
Leaning against the glass, Sheldon watched Minion swim in happy little circles that was his way of dancing to the song and gave the glass a little tap with his knuckles, "So what we got, fish fillet?"
"Who's that, who's that rapping? Who's that rapping at my chamber door?" Minion sang out spinning around to face the blue alien, "Mister, Mister Sir!"
Sheldon laughed at Minion's antics as the little fish did a little flip through the water and joined in, "Who's house! Minion's house!"
As their giggling subsided, Minion bumped his head against the tank's glass affectionately near Sheldon's hand, "Shall we get started?"
Sighing Sheldon nodded and flopped down into his rolling desk chair and pulled his keyboard into his lap. Three monitors were spread before him, all hooked up to his private server and the most powerful pc he could build, with custom software of course. He grinned to himself. He was proud of his baby. They'd broken through so many security walls together.
"You're posture is horrendous you know," Minion chided as he started pulling up the appropriate files onto the monitors before Sheldon.
Flipping Minion off Sheldon skimmed through everything quickly and started delving deeper into the important files; Minion had acquired detailed records into the accounts of the entire board of the companies Sheldon would have to deal with today; private email logs, profit reports, trade records, staffing databases, and other very illegally acquired documents. It was tedious work, tracking through so many accounts, tracing company histories… but it gave him insurmountable leverage in his dealings. Blackmail really, but he couldn't trust any of the company heads to be transparent and the amount of corruption he'd discovered in his years… the number of appalling factories with grievous health violations… the amount of ignored child labor… all for a company's bottom line… Sheldon rubbed his eyes and slipped on his reading glasses; it was worth it.
Several hours passed as Minion and Sheldon discussed the upcoming strategies as they sifted through data and emails.
"You really should get ready to go, Sir," Minion quipped, closing down the report Sheldon was working on and turning up the room's surround sound to blare Daft Punk.
"The hell, Minion! Fine, fine, I was done anyway!" Sheldon threw his hands up and shoved himself back from the desk, glowering. They both knew he was just procrastinating at this point.
Dressed crisply in his tailor fitted suit Sheldon prepared to head out for the day. He hated wearing a tie, but damn he looked good. Though for a cool $50,000 for this hand sewn supreme bespoke had better leave him looking awe inspiring. Checking himself carefully over in the mirror Sheldon smoothed down his eyebrows, making sure not a hair was out of place. Presentation was everything.
As his driver Samuel opened the door to the limo, Sheldon slipped on his blue tooth headset and Minion's comforting voice filled his ear, "Everything is right on schedule, Sir."
Leaning back into the plush leather, Sheldon watched the skyline fly past the tinted glass, Metro City a gorgeous beacon of industry, ingenuity, corruption, and depravity.
The meeting had taken forever. Sheldon stretched out, cracking his back as he did so …Minion was right, his posture was horrible… In the end though, he felt it had been worth it. He'd argued with the man over skype for three hours, conference called five other executives, called his own board, and impersonate his father for a hot minute… but in the end he'd gotten the deal he'd wanted.
It was a pain, having a conscious in this industry. Yet Sheldon just couldn't stand by knowing what he did. Some days he felt he would never understand humans. How could anyone walk through those factories he'd toured in disguise and turn a blind eye to what went on there? He knew it was a blind eye too. They did know, and those that did face such knowledge without cringing away showed empathy… but so often what he saw was simply willful ignorance. They wanted cheap electronics and refused to acknowledge how those ridiculously affordable high tech gadgets came into existence.
This particular meeting had been to enforce quality standards on the chips he was buying. The ones they had been selling previously had poor soldering and overheated regularly to the point of being fire hazards even! Other companies might not care about the longevity of their product; they lived on the disposability of this technology age and willingly filled dumps with cheap plastic. Not giving one fuck about their own planet. Sheldon scowled, the idiots would never cease to annoy him.
Today was a victory, though, and so Sheldon rose from his desk and made his way out into the setting sun. It lit the sky in a fire of orange and scarlet, deep purples smeared across the clouds; the lake below glinting and sparkling orange. He couldn't help but smile at the sight. This world wasn't all bad.
Skipping down the steps, Sheldon's mind jumped ahead to his evening plans. He had Samuel stop and acquire him a mocha on the way home. The caffeine made his head buzz, but he'd need it to stay awake through the ballet tonight. He really needed that mid-day nap, but there just hadn't been time. His biological clock just wasn't compatible with human sleep schedules.
When he got home father had already disappeared away into his study with comments about his birthday gift to Sally coming later. Sheldon just rolled his eyes, father would have his secret bottle of scotch out by now and if he did have a surprise for mother he'd be in no shape tonight by the time the ballet was over. Father likely meant well, but he just got into moods sometimes and it was best to leave him be.
When Sheldon entered the sitting room mother was already waiting for him. She leaped up off the sofa and grabbed up his arm, planting a kiss on his cheek.
"Don't worry, Shelly, Minion didn't spoil anything. Promise," mother said patting his hand.
"Minion," Sheldon sighed knowing that tone of voice all too well.
"Just a little! She tricked me!" Minion shouted back as they made their way into Sheldon's rooms.
Opening the door to the main dressing room, Minion had another classical violin piece playing. White roses lay out on the table surrounding a box of exquisite chocolates. A long dress bag was hung up next to full length mirrors designed to allow the viewer to see from all angles easily. A shoe box sat with a pretty bow off to the side.
Minion swum into view, his presence chasing off a flock of feeder fish as he circled happily, "Happy birthday mother!"
"Happy information redacted birthday, mother dearest," Sheldon teased, running his fingers through her greying hair. He knew she was sensitive about her age, but he didn't understand why. She would always be beautiful.
"Oh boys…" Sally fluttered her hands before her tearing up, "I'm the luckiest mother in the world."
Kissing first Sheldon on the forehead and then the glass between her and Minion, Sally went and opened the dress bag with a squeal of delight. Out of the bag spilled yards of rich green fabric and lace. Holding it up to her chest Sally spun around like a little girl again, giggling. God how Sheldon loved that laugh.
"Oh Shelly honey! It's perfect!" tears were running down her face as Sally stood before the mirrors.
Drawing his mother into a lopsided hug Sheldon kissed her cheek again, "Only the best for you."
As they both got dressed in their evening attire, Sally turned to her son again wearing nothing but her bra and underwear, giving him an amused and inquiring look, "You know most children would be embarrasses about this sort of thing."
Sheldon just snorted, buttoning up his slacks, "You do understand nudity isn't even taboo in many human cultures?"
Humming Sally slipped around behind Sheldon and held her new dress up against him, looking over his shoulder and into the mirror. Sheldon looked too, blushing lavender, his ears turning rose, at the sight before him. The lovely green dress spilling out around him, the delicate lace framing his collar bones, he looked stunning. The green brought out his inhuman eyes in a wonderfully exotic way.
"Mama…" Sheldon whined, looking down and leaning into her, laughing lightly, "It's not made to fit me, I don't have any curves."
"My beautiful child," she whispered back. It had been a long running game. Dress up. Starting back before they even knew for sure what Sheldon's gender was. Before he could speak and confirm it himself.
But still the dresses had continued in private. His games with mother. Even if he could Sheldon wouldn't wear them all the time… but still… some days… and at home… alone… his casual wardrobe was decidedly more feminine.
Zipping mother into her dress, Sheldon stepped back and admired the fit. The designer did an exceptional job of flattering every curve. His mother was by no means the skinny twigs of the runway and the design has been subtly changed to account for that. She was stunning.
Taking her hand and giving her a twirl, Sheldon grinned, "Can I do your makeup?"
Patting Sheldon's cheek lightly she nodded, "Honey, you spoil me, you really do."
"It's a son's prerogative. Also it's your birthday," sitting down in a chair next to the mirror he grabbed the kit he'd snagged from her room earlier and with Sally sitting before him started applying a light foundation. He'd watched his mother do this countless times before begging she do his face as well and later asking to learn how to do her instead since makeup wasn't 'a guy thing'. Slowly he added blush and eyeliner and lipstick, creating a very soft 'natural' look that complimented the green of the dress.
Leaning back to admire his work Sheldon grinned, "Perfect."
As he moved to pack up the supplies, he bit his lip then quickly added a few strokes of eyeliner to his own eyes, making them pop.
Sally just laughed and held out her arm, "Shall we go, Shelly?"
"Lets," standing, Sheldon waved to Minion as they left, "be good!"
The production had been absolutely lovely. The grace the ballerinas moved with was simply breathtaking. He'd gotten stares, he always did. It didn't matter that he'd lived in this city his entire life, but they'd had a private box which had helped. Even though Sheldon was used to it, Sally still stoked his cheek and told him he was beautiful and that they were just jealous; like she had since his very first day around all the strange children when he started school.
He'd been fading toward the end of the night, but he'd hit his second, or third wind if he was being truthful, and was on a rather giddy exhaustion high as he parted ways with Sally. She gave him another kiss on the forehead and told him to sleep.
Slowly making his way to his rooms, Sheldon's meandering path led him past father's study. The light was still on, unsurprisingly. Mother had gone to bed and was likely quite knowingly not waiting up. Cracking into the bottle of pick me up wine that all but lived in her hand most evenings.
Sheldon pushed open the door with a sigh, the bottle of scotch sitting on father's desk just as he knew it would be.
"The production was lovely," Sheldon said chidingly, "shame you missed it."
"Ah, Sheldon, come here boy! Sit with your old man," Bobby was clearly drunk. Just like every time this had happened; there was so second chair. So Sheldon slid down onto the floor near his father's knee, his back to the desk, like he had ever sense he was a child.
"I saw you closed on the perchance today, you sure about the numbers on that one?" Bobby inquired somewhat flatly.
Sheldon nodded and answered with the truth in his heart, "It was the best deal possible for the quality of merchandise my design requires."
Accepting that it was true without further question, Bobby reached out and rubbed Sheldon's head briefly, "I'm proud of you, boy."
It was the most physical affection he ever got from his father. He leaned into the fleeting touch, though it was gone too soon. Sheldon longed for the same kind of close relationship with his father that he had with his mother… it just wasn't to be. Sitting in companionable silence, Bobby offered Sheldon his glass of scotch and Sheldon shared a sip, the communal nature of it making him feel warmer inside then just what was the effect of the alcohol.
As Sheldon stood to leave some time later Bobby muttered, "and whip that crap off your face, boy."
Sheldon just blushed and nodded.
When at last Sheldon made it back to his rooms, he collapsed in a heap on his bed. It was only after much goading by Minion that he finally undressed at the very least. He'd deal with the rest tomorrow. He'd regret not brushing his teeth, but that was a problem for future Sheldon. With a sigh, he drifted into blissful unconsciousness.
"Good night, Sir," came Minion's soft voice as he settled down on the other side of the glass from Sheldon's bed.
"Ni' brother," Sheldon murmured rolling over to press his forehead against the glass.
