Title: Uncle Linus: Linus and Chris, part 11
Author: hwshipper
Characters: Chris/Linus friendship, Chris/Edward, Ziggy
Beta: srsly_yes indispensible to this fic
A/N: Parallels the story of Chris and Edward, but no specific storylines. This part inspired by a comment of hibernia1
Summary: Linus remembers the times he encountered his honorary nephew Tommy.
Excerpt: "We have some entertainment tonight," Julio informed him as they sat down. "I hired a group of dancers recently who have gone down very well. In more than one sense."
Uncle Linus: Linus and Chris, part 11
Telling Ryan's story had left Linus feeling somber and in need of a more light-hearted story to entertain the group (which seemed inexplicably reluctant to drift away). He was racking his brain when he heard House addressing Ziggy in a tone of admiration.
"Hey, you've got odd eyes. Heterochromia iridis. Very unusual."
Ziggy nodded, blinking. Linus had long since ceased to notice anything unusual in Ziggy's appearance, but other people turned and leaned forward to look at his mismatched dark brown and hazel eyes.
"You're a cop, aren't you?" House queried, and at a further nod, went on, "It can be caused by trauma. I bet someone did you an injury that caused it."
"Nope."
"Disease then. Horner's syndrome, as a child."
"Actually, I was born with it. It runs in the family," Ziggy explained. "Remember Tommy, Linus?"
"How could I forget," Linus exclaimed, and as the assembled company raised a collective eyebrow, he went on, "Tommy is Ziggy's nephew. Lovely boy, very handsome. Has the most amazing eyes-one brown, one blue."
The first time Linus met Tommy was a long time ago. Way back before Chris had met Edward. Linus hadn't known Ziggy that long, six months maybe. They'd instituted a regular golf game once a week and were due to meet when Ziggy called the day before to say he had his teenage nephew staying with him. Did Linus mind if he tagged along?
"The more the merrier," Linus declared, curious to meet someone from Ziggy's family. "Which nephew is this?"
Ziggy was almost as closemouthed about his family as he was about his sex life, but Linus recalled he had two brothers and two sisters, one older and one younger than him in each case. All had married and spawned their own set of children, and most seemed to have careers in law enforcement.
"Tommy is my older sister's youngest," Ziggy explained. "He's thirteen. They think he might be gay-y'know, being quiet and not into sports at that age must mean that-so they've packed him off to visit the pink sheep of the family, to get my view."
Linus adored the description. "You're the pink sheep?" The image was nothing like his own perception of Ziggy. After all, Ziggy was tall and strong and masculine; he was a cop, he sometimes acted mean, he carried a gun and arrested bad guys...
"At family gatherings, yeah that's me," Ziggy said, a touch of humor apparent in his voice. "See you tomorrow."
Linus was not acquainted with any other thirteen year olds, but Tommy seemed an entirely typical adolescent to him; speaking in mumbles, embarrassed by his contrasting eyes and looking at the ground most of the time, shuffling along as he walked. He was tall but gawky and gangly, not yet comfortable in his growing body.
He had never played golf before, and was obviously reluctant to give it a go, but picked it up quickly. Ziggy and Linus gave him tips as they went along, and by the final hole he seemed almost to be enjoying himself.
"Bravo!" Linus applauded as the ball rolled into the hole, and Tommy actually smiled.
"Thanks, Uncle Linus," he said, and Linus nearly fell over with astonishment. Tommy saw his expression, and added, "Sorry, you don't mind if I call you that?"
"Not at all." Actually it sounded rather good. Linus rolled it around his head: Uncle Linus. Well, it wasn't as if he was going to have nephews any other way, he might as well adopt one of Ziggy's. "I'm just not used to it. Uncle Linus it is."
Ziggy chortled as he packed clubs into a bag.
They went to the clubhouse to get lunch, and between bites of burger Tommy queried, "So you don't have any nephews, or nieces?"
"No, I don't have any brothers or sisters," Linus explained, sprinkling salt over fries. "Not much family at all really, compared to you. I have four great-aunts who brought me up, and that's it."
"Really." Tommy pondered this. "What happened to your parents?"
"Tommy!" Ziggy admonished with a glare.
"That's okay, I don't mind," Linus assured him. "My mother died giving birth to me, Tommy. She was forty-five, old to be having a first child, and she had health problems too. My aunts tell me her doctors had advised a termination, which she refused."
"Wow." Tommy was round-eyed. "She loved you so much that she gave her life for you."
"Indeed," Linus said sadly. "And she took the secret of my father to her grave. When I was your age I used to think he would come and find me one day, turn up on the doorstep with a new bike and a remote control car... or that maybe I would be given a sealed letter with his name when I got to my sixteenth birthday, or my eighteenth...
"But you didn't?"
"Nope." Linus kept his voice deliberately light. "Eventually I realized it just wasn't going to happen. Either he never knew I existed, or he knew but he didn't want any involvement, and there was nothing I could do about it. I wasn't ever going to have a father and that was that."
The words came out with more feeling than he'd intended.
"You can have me as your nephew instead," Tommy said eventually. Ziggy reached out and gave his nephew a pat on the head, ruffled his hair.
The second time Linus met Tommy was four years later, when he got the same phone call. This time, Ziggy explained ruefully, Tommy himself had decided he was gay, gotten very upset at this realization, and come running to his Uncle Ziggy for help. "Just call me Agony Uncle."
"What is he now, seventeen?" Linus asked. "Is he actually gay or going through a confused phase?"
"I reckon he knows what he is," Ziggy said tactfully. "Funny, his mom and dad had just decided they were wrong and he wasn't. I think because he took up field hockey last year."
"I look forward to meeting him again," Linus said sincerely.
He hardly recognized the young man in dark glasses who turned up at the golf course with Ziggy. Tommy had developed the muscle bulk to match his height, and was close to being a fully fledged young man.
"Hey, Uncle Linus!" was his greeting, in a voice much deeper than before, and Linus beamed with pleasure.
The game of golf was more closely contested this time, as Tommy had the strength and more of the skill of his elders this time around. They were on the eleventh hole when Ziggy mis-hit a long shot, and cursed as his ball bounced away into the rough. Linus was watching him heading off to look for it when Tommy asked a question.
"Are you Uncle Ziggy's...partner?" Tommy stumbled at the word.
Linus was amused. "No, I'm his friend."
"Just a friend?" Tommy queried. "I mean, that's what he said when I asked him, but I thought...he might be being diplomatic or something."
"Just friends," Linus assured him. "Just 'cause we're both gay doesn't mean we have to go around boning each other."
"Uh huh." Tommy stared through his sunglasses at Ziggy, who was rooting through undergrowth some way away. "I guess I don't know many gay people."
"You should meet my good friend Chris," Linus said cheerfully. "We've known each other for years, even longer than I've known your Uncle Ziggy, and we've always been just friends. He has the most gorgeous boyfriend, Edward."
"I don't want to be gay," Tommy blurted out. "I don't know anyone else who is at school. I don't want to be different. It's bad enough having these fucking weird eyes. People say I look like a cat."
The poor kid. Linus recalled his own ghastly schooldays with a shudder. Children could be so cruel.
"All I can say, Tommy, is you have beautiful eyes which you shouldn't hide behind those glasses. Hang in there." Linus tried to think what had happened to him. "School may be hellish, but you'll be going to college in a year or so, right? You should choose some place a long way from home-a big city, with a decent scene-and maybe you'll find you're not so different after all."
"Is that what you did?" Tommy's voice was tremulous.
"Yes." Linus kept it simple, as Ziggy was heading back toward them, and the subject was changed.
They headed towards the clubhouse afterwards, intending to get a late lunch in the restaurant there, but then Linus had a bright idea. "Let's go to the steakhouse for lunch, it will be lovely down by the Jersey shore, and perhaps you can meet the friend I mentioned to you, Tommy, Chris. He owns the place, and he's often there on Tuesdays."
Tommy was enthusiastic and Ziggy agreed, but before they could set off, Ziggy took a call on his cell that made him frown and walk off to have a private conversation. He returned a few minutes later to say an important arrest had been made and he had to go into work.
"I shouldn't be long. Linus, if you don't mind taking Tommy to the steakhouse in your car, I'll join you as soon as you can."
So Linus drove his honorary nephew down to the steakhouse, and was pleased to find they arrived just as a family was vacating the prime table by the big window. He and Tommy settled down, Tommy admiring the ocean view.
"Hey," said a familiar voice as Linus was discussing the wine list with the waiter, and Linus turned to see Chris hovering by their table. He was wearing leather pants, a chunky metal watch, and a crisp white T-shirt cut off at the arms to show off his shoulders. Linus waved at him to sit down and join them, while he finished his discussion with the waiter.
He turned his attention back to the table just in time to hear Chris asking Tommy, "So how did you two meet?"
Linus felt his face burst into flame. Fuck! Chris thought they were a couple! Linus had never been more mortified in his life. Of course he had something of a reputation for consorting with much younger men, damnit. If this got back to Ziggy-
Fortunately Tommy was looking amused rather than appalled. He took off his dark glasses and spoke up. "Oh, we're not together! Uncle Linus is an old family friend."
"Tommy is Ziggy's nephew," Linus hastened to add, glaring bullets into Chris's skull.
Chris had the grace to look embarrassed, but couldn't hide his amusement. "Oh, right, I see, well, Uncle Linus, do you want to order?"
The meal was excellent, of course, and Tommy was loud with praise for his steak. In fact he told Chris a couple of times what a great restaurant he had, and Linus soon discerned that young Tommy had taken something of a shine to Chris.
Linus did a mental eye-roll, thinking he should have realized that his tall, fair, fit friend would be irresistible to an impressionable teen. The good thing, though, was that Tommy hadn't put the glasses back on. He seemed to want to talk to Chris without them.
"Chris, might the lovely Edward be able to join us, or is he working today?" Linus asked at one point, thinking it might be a good idea to remind all parties that Chris had a boyfriend.
"He is working, but not in the office." Chris looked at his watch. "He's on site visits today and he said he might drop by here for lunch."
Between main course and dessert, Linus excused himself to go to the bathroom, and as he came out of the door he found Chris lurking outside.
"What's the story with Tommy?" Chris asked, keeping a low voice although they could both see Tommy sitting at the table some way away.
"He's staying with Ziggy for a little while to work through some teenage angst. He's confused about his sexuality," Linus explained. "What do you think?"
"I think," Chris said slowly and deliberately, "If I said the word, he'd let me take him home and bust that cute little virgin ass of his."
"Chris!" Linus stuttered with horrified anger. He had no doubt that Ziggy had left him in loco parentis, and that did not mean letting young Tommy getting his ass busted by a guy nearly twice his age. "Let me remind you that Ziggy has a gun."
"I'm kidding!" Chris slapped Linus on the shoulder. "Wow, you've really lost your sense of humor."
"It's not funny!" Linus stormed, and went back to the table. Chris followed, grinning.
A few minutes later Edward came bustling in, all smiles and floppy hair. He sat down next to Chris. Chris leaned across to kiss him on the lips, and Linus noticed Tommy watching intently. Maybe, Linus supposed, it was the first time young Tommy had seen two men display such affection in public. Chris was usually more circumspect, but this was his restaurant after all, and it was pretty quiet this late in the afternoon...
Edward settled himself in his chair, looked from Tommy to Linus and back again. And then Edward asked with superb innocence, "So, how did you two meet?"
Chris sat back in his chair and roared with laughter.
Over the next few years, Linus periodically thought to ask Ziggy how his nephew was, and was vaguely pleased to hear that he'd gone away to university to study math somewhere on the West Coast, a long way from home.
Linus hadn't thought about young Tommy in a long, long time though, when an unexpected encounter occurred. Linus had been working very hard on a complex property deal which had left him both exhausted and flush with cash. He decided to jet down to Florida and crash with Julio for a few days.
"I need to get laid, Julio," Linus declared, as they walked into Julio's club on the first evening. "I've been getting altogether too familiar with my right hand recently."
"I would be most surprised if we can't arrange that, Linus," Julio surveyed his surroundings with some satisfaction. The place was bustling with men in a variety of interesting outfits. Julio's club was rather like Chris's, but with a rather more alternative clientele, as befitted its location on the seamier side of South Beach.
"Bring it on." Linus could hardly wait.
"We have some entertainment tonight," Julio informed him as they sat down. "I hired a group of dancers recently who have gone down very well. In more than one sense." He winked.
Six splendidly fit young men, each clad in a variant of leather, pranced and wiggled their way around the stage. Linus sighed with contentment and sat back to enjoy the show. Bronzed flesh gleamed through straps and mesh. One young man was in long leather pants, and bare-chested; another in a small pair of shorts and a ripped vest. A couple wore jockstraps, showing off tempting bulges within. All wore identical high-laced black boots, and stomped their way merrily through the thumping music.
They broke formation after the first number, and started to dance their way around the audience. The one who headed in Linus's general direction was wearing the kinkiest gear of the lot, a black leather hood that fitted over his entire head, with small holes cut for eyes and nose.
"Come to Papa," Linus muttered, and Julio chortled beside him. The dancer reached their table, flexing enviable biceps and rippling juicy abs. He paused at Linus's chair to thrust his crotch forward, but suddenly his whole body jerked backwards.
Startled, Linus dragged his gaze upward from the groin area, and saw one brown eye and one blue eye staring through the mask.
"Uncle Linus?" said a muffled voice.
Linus reached forward, and tweaked off the hood. "Tommy!"
He could hardly believe it. The gangly kid had grown up into the most splendid male specimen imaginable. Fit and handsome and pert in all the right places.
And yet, Linus lost his hard-on in an instant, feeling it deflate like a punctured balloon.
"What are you doing here?" Tommy asked.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" Linus spluttered. "Is this how young people work their way through college these days?"
"I'm-" Tommy began, but stopped at a shout from one of his fellow dancers, who were making their way back toward the stage. "Look, I'll catch you afterwards, Uncle Linus, okay? Maybe we can get some food?"
"Yeah!" Linus barely had the presence of mind to get out a reply.
They caught up over a late dinner. Tommy had, Linus learned, graduated and gone on to do further study on the East Coast. He was now the ripe old age of twenty-four and working on a PhD.
"I did exactly what you suggested, Uncle Linus," Tommy said, munching pizza. "Went to university, met lots of awesome people. It was difficult for a while, but in the end I found out I wasn't such a freak after all."
"Do your parents know?" Linus asked cautiously.
"Yeah, they're cool, much more so than I thought they would be. They say I must have Uncle Ziggy's genes."
"Do they know you do this?" Linus plucked at the leather hood, lying on the table in front of them.
"Hell no!" Tommy looked alarmed, and hastily changed the subject. "You know, it was so great visiting you and Uncle Ziggy all those years ago. Tell me, how's Chris? I remember him and Edward really well, they were so cute. Are they still together?"
"They certainly are." Linus beamed. "They've been together ten years, you know. In fact, they're having a commitment ceremony in a couple of weeks time. I am so looking forward to it."
"Awesome." Tommy swallowed the last mouthful of pizza. "I have to go now, sorry. Thanks for the pizza. Do say hi to Uncle Ziggy from me."
"Will do." Linus felt rather dazed. Tommy scooped the hood up into his fist, and left with a friendly wave.
"So there is at least one young man out there who you wouldn't bone," House observed. Linus stuck up a finger in his general direction.
"You never told me about that hood dancer thing!" Ziggy accused, and Linus ducked a cushion.
"Sorry, Ziggy!" Linus smiled sheepishly. "I thought you might worry about him if I told you, and really, he seemed like a most pleasant and well-balanced young man. Which he is, of course-didn't he move to Europe and do very well for himself?"
"Yeah," Ziggy admitted grudgingly.
"Chris and Edward had a commitment ceremony?" a Kitten asked. "I guess this was before civil unions-"
"It certainly was," Linus confirmed, sudden painful memories surging into his brain. He glanced toward Chris, not sure whether his friend would appreciate any more discussion on this topic. But Chris was looking at Brian, and Brian was sitting forward with a hand under his chin, looking just as inquisitive as the Kitten.
END OF PART 11. TBC
Next and last part: Linus remembers his life at the time of Chris and Edward's commitment ceremony.