Disclaimer: Don't own crap.
AN: After that awful cliffy in the last chapter, I thought I'd update as soon as I could. C: And again, I thank all of you readers for favoriting, alerting, and reviewing! It does my heart good to see a full Hotmail inbox~ C:
SO... the revelation to that "You." is here! Enjoy!
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XXI: Daiji Na Mono Wa Itsudatte Nakushite Kara Kizuku Yo
The agent twisted, unnerved by the golden stare of the young boy in the doorway.
"This is…" a pause, a gulp, "…the Glass residence, right?"
"Yes, it would be, and what the f—ahem, what are you doing here?" Kimbley asked. He had been nice to this dweeb before, and though he managed to censor himself, why be nice now?
For yes, upon the threshold of the doorway into the Glass mansion stood that same damn blond guy from the restaurant. Kimbley wondered which of these he was thinking: 1. I totally hit on this guy earlier and now it's awkward, 2. His big beefy date is going to kick my ass in, or 3. This little prick lives in this mansion?!
But none of these things poured from the agent's mouth. Instead, a quiet, "May I come in…?" came out instead.
Kimbley considered slamming the door in the guy's face. He had no business here.
But then around the corner came Auntie Rita, fresh from her shower and looking quite lovely, actually, fawning all over him and going on about him being the "nice agent they had been awaiting." If Kimbley didn't know irony, he did now. Though, he had to admit, his life was simply laden with irony. Betray a man in one life, date him in another. Go figure on that existence.
"Oh please, by all means, make yourself at home!" Auntie Rita practically groveled at the man's feet, causing Kimbley to taste something sour at the back of his throat.
It was around this time that Greed came sauntering in to see what the commotion was all about, and Kimbley swore that as soon as he caught sight of that blond guy, he could hear his pupils slit.
"What the Hell are you doing here?" Greed seethed, and if he had the ability to go Ultimate Shield, he would have, and most likely, he would have ripped the guy's face off in less than a split-second.
Auntie Rita sighed as she guided the agent into the living room and sat him down in the chair that Greed and Kimbley had previously occupied. "Please, dear, this is the agent that is going to settle the dispute over what's going to happen to dear Zach here. I didn't think you'd be so rude as to use that kind of language."
Greed didn't even bother to apologize; instead, he roughly plopped down on the couch across from the agent and just stared at him. Kimbley took a seat beside him and sighed. He knew that Greed's stare held all the power of an alchemic explosion when he was pissed off; Kimbley would know.
"Could I get you anything to drink? Eat?" Rita cooed as the man cradled his briefcase like an anemic baby.
"No, it's fine; I just want to get onto business."
So, the moment of truth had come at last. And Kimbley had no idea what it would entail.
The man slid his briefcase across the coffee-table and opened it up with two short "clicks" of the locks, and after several different documents were strewn over the table and the case set onto the floor, he cleared his throat and began.
"My name is Jonathan Hawthorne, and I can only suppose that you're…" he looked at one of the documents with a raised eyebrow. "…Zachary?"
He looked straight at Kimbley as he said this, and the former-bomber allowed a smirk. "Why, yes, that would be me." 'And you hit on me and I may decide to mercilessly pummel you later… and, if I'm feeling generous, I'll put you in one grave instead of six.'
The agent Jonathan cleared his throat again. Kimbley could only guess that he was feeling awkward that he had let his same-sex-loving tendencies get the better of him and allowed him to hit on not only a minor, but a minor that was to be his next client.
"Well, we went through your mother's personal belongings, after she… passed on… and I'm afraid she left no will to speak of. She has left nothing to you, or to your little sister, and it seems that, well, we really have no clue what we're going to do with neither you nor her. And this, of course, is always extremely stressful for us. We don't want to shove you guys under a rug, but…"
"So, what you're saying is that you're going to put them… in an orphanage?" Greed barely managed to get out. Kimbley could feel every muscle in his body tighten up beside him.
And Kimbley very nearly did the same thing.
Now that he was here, he couldn't afford to lose all that he had. He had too much, and it was all too important, and to lose… everything…
"Well, that's one option," Jonathan answered honestly, then turned to look at Kimbley again. For some odd reason, he bit his lip as he asked, "Do you know of any aunts, uncles, grandparents, or anyone else that you could stay with? If you do—"
"I could always stay here," Kimbley answered quickly, "even though Rita's not really a relative, she's the closest thing I have. And Janie's so fond of her… and of… Greg…"
"Yes, dear, but now that Greg's eighteen, I'm going to move back to my own home. Would you be willing to come and live with me?" Rita interjected, folding and unfolding her hands nervously. Of course, Kimbley knew that she knew the answer to that question.
Kimbley furrowed his brows and answered slowly, "Well, no offense, but I was hoping that I could stay here… with Greg…"
"You say that he's eighteen?" Jonathan asked, intrigue reaching into his voice. "If so, then I… suppose that means he's an adult. And since that's the case, I could… pull a few strings, allowing you to stay here, with him."
"And Janie?" Kimbley cut in.
"Janie can stay here too, as long as Greg vows to be responsible. I don't really see why you shouldn't be able to stick around here. You're almost an adult, and you can make your own decisions."
Kimbley leaned back, relief flooding into him as he said shortly, "Sounds like a plan."
Jonathan nodded.
"Then it's settled. Zachary Kenderson and Janie Kenderson are now officially the adopted children of Gregory Glass."
Whoa.
Kimbley was now Greed's… son?
The thought was simple unnerving, and, of course, absolutely hilarious to him, and his first thought was 'I'm having sex with my dad?' However, the silly thought passed pretty quickly. Greed wasn't really his father. That's just what the papers would say.
"Of course, there might be some disputes back at the office, but I've been working there for quite some time, and I can handle anything thrown at me, especially lamps. I do have a wife with a great throwing-arm, after all," Jonathan added with a chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck.
Kimbley had to choke back his every inch of sarcasm in his body to prevent himself from saying, 'Bullshit.'
Jonathan gathered back up his briefcase and the documents (which they hadn't had to look at them too much after all; two of them had been Zachary's and Janie's papers, and the rest were outlines of procedures taken if a child was left without a godparent), stuffing them inside, and headed for the door.
"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat or drink?" Rita called after him, but Jonathan simply shook his head.
"Well, be seein' ya around, Hawthorne," Greed grinned, glad to be rid of the man. Kimbley could tell he had warmed up to him a little, due to all that he was going to do for them, but Greed was one for first impressions. And his first impressions of this guy had made him want to kick his ass up and down the damn street.
"Likewise, Mister Glass," Jonathan replied, shying away from the taller, much more muscular man.
Kimbley leaned in and whispered to him, "Why are you going to go through so much trouble to keep us together? Officials like you usually go for what's efficient and practical, not for what everyone wants."
Jonathan merely smiled and said, "Well, let's just say, I got a boyfriend back home who I would never want to be separated from. I can only say that this whole situation hit me rather close to home."
But before Kimbley could ask anymore, Jonathan addressed the house with a brief "goodbye" and headed on out the door.
The only thing that Kimbley really wondered was that if this guy had a boyfriend, why had he been hitting on him?