The Heart of A Human
Paired Couple: Zak YoungXPips "Marsden"/SLASH!/Lemon
A/N: Again, the disclaimers are as always.
The twosome journeyed throughout Brisbane for almost four hours since they had left Zak's old apartment behind. Pips didn't know what to think of Zak's silence. He seemed closed off and so deep in thought that he was afraid that Zak would never speak again. The uncomfortable absence of interaction made Pips overly worried for the blond.
He fiddled with the pockets of his jeans, unable to come up with anything to say.
Finally, the red head noticed that Zak had stopped in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder at him. Zak's sky blue eyes roamed a scene beyond Pips. Pips looked back in front of him.
Brass numbers flashed 2-6-7-8-2 dully in the sunlight against the red brick of the small, one-story house. Yellowing grass and dry patches of earth randomly dotted along the front yard in neglect. A beat-up, dark red van sat in the driveway on cinder blocks, the tires long missing from the rusting metal wheels. Zak couldn't help but smile faintly. When will that uncle of his ever get the van fixed up?
He grabbed a hold of Pips' hand for a moment, gathering strength from that one meaningful contact. Pips grinned at him, thankful that Zak's inward seclusion hadn't lasted that long. He let go as they approached the cracked driveway and the path leading up to the front door.
Zak opened the screen door and rapped his knuckles firmly against the frame, and began to wait.
He didn't know what to expect next. Would his uncle severely reprimand him for not contacting him in the last three years? Or would he not even notice the time that had passed? Their last encounter hadn't been on the best of terms, but neither was it entirely unpleasant. Zak just couldn't be sure.
With the turn of the brass knob from the inside, the door swung open to reveal an older man that looked to be in his late forties, with short, graying hair and mustache that frowned over his thin lips. He was lean in stature, not actively fit, but not out of shape either, at an average height of five feet and seven inches tall, weighing at about a hundred and sixty-six pounds. The man shared Zak's sky blue eyes, with heavy wrinkles folding his skin at the corners. He had a crooked nose that leaned more to the right than it should have by almost an entire inch, being the testament of a bar fight he had instigated in his youth in Nerang. His complexion was that of hardened, dark leather and his callused hands told of one that worked in construction for many years. Adorned upon him was a pair of weather worn jeans, his chest and feet bare.
The man's eyes widened in surprise. "Zak?"
"Hey, Uncle Craig." The blond said sheepishly. "Long time, no see."
"You're damn right, it's been a long time!" Craig said with a barking laugh. "Come on in, my boy! You must be sweltering in this heat. It's gone up by five degrees at least, within the past hour or so."
Zak and Pips followed Craig inside the house, feeling a wafting breeze coming from the ceiling fans that spun in slow circles. The floor was bamboo wood tile and was adorned with braided green rugs at appropriate intervals throughout the house. The furniture was of simple design and the color of sky blue with light, sandy brown wood trim.
Zak followed his uncle into the family room, while Pips followed behind them as he looked around the house with wonder. He wanted to ask so many questions about everything he saw.
"Ummm… Zak? What is this?" He mentally indicated to the giant screen television that sat along one wall in the family room.
"I'll tell you what everything is later. Not now, though."
"Who's your friend?" Craig asked, indicating Pips.
"Oh, sorry." Zak waved Pips over to sit next to him. The red head was still looking around the house with wide eyed interest. "This is Pips. Pips, this is my uncle, Craig Young."
"Nice to meet you, Craig." Pips held out his whole arm stiffly, hand outstretched, like he had done so many times before because of his improper knowledge in human customs.
Craig looked oddly at the stiff hand that Pips offered. He took it anyway, shaking his hand. "Does your friend have a last name?"
"L-Last name?" The blond blinked.
"What's a last name?" Pips questioned him telepathically.
"His last name… it's Beckett. Pips Beckett."
"Unusual name." He mused. Craig turned to the red head just then. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Brian Beckett, would you?"
Pips, thoroughly confused, looked questioningly at Zak as to whether he should say yes or no. But Zak couldn't help him with this one, not without gaining a lot of suspicion.
"I don't believe so." Pips answered, leaning back against the couch cushions, instinctively reaching behind himself to adjust his wings, which he didn't have anymore. The feeling of being wingless would always be an alien sensation.
"Ah well. Brian Beckett is a real-estate genius and very famous around this part of Australia. Where do you come from Pips?"
"I come from…"
"Alice Springs." Zak mentally whispered.
"Alice Springs."
"Nice place that is."
"Yea it is. But I've been living in Sydney for a while with Zak here."
"Oh! So you guys are room mates then?"
Zak picked up the conversation there, sure that Pips wouldn't understand the term "room mate".
"Yea, we met while I was working with the deforestation crew three years ago. He was part of the crowd that was protesting the deforestation. I was working as usual, when the leveler had cut down a tree that almost killed me. Pips came along just in time and pushed me out of the way. From then on, we became friends. I listened to his reasons on why deforestation is bad for the natural environment and he convinced me to quit. He got me to work alongside him in protecting reservations and doing wild animal rescue."
Zak knew it was a long stretch of the truth-a very long stretch-but it was pretty similar to what he was really doing with his life. And to a human that didn't know the existence of faeries, it made much more sense this way.
"That sounds respectable." The man replied, taking a sip of iced tea from a tumbler that he picked up from the coffee table in between the three of them. "So what took you so long to get a hold of me, Zak? Three years go by and you don't even give me a call? I know you must be busy with this whole reservation thing, but you can't be that busy."
Zak sweated a little. How was he supposed to explain his lack in communication, even if he could explain his disappearance? He couldn't reveal that he had been living with faeries all this time-and that faeries had never heard of a telephone before-not to mention that one was actually inside the house at this very moment, masquerading as a human. Never mind the fact that he himself had become a faerie for three years. This was harder than he thought.
"I've… uh… just been working very hard. I managed to pick up a job overseas recently though."
"What do you mean? You had a job here, with the deforestation crew, and then you transferred jobs and started doing reservation and wild life work. Now you're telling me that you're going overseas?" His uncle narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Why are you leaving Australia? There's plenty of work to pick up here."
Zak swallowed hard. At least his uncle was convinced that he had been working all this time. Now it all depended on him being able to convince him of this new lie.
"We're headed to America, Uncle." He stated simply, indicating that Pips was going with him. "There's some really good work there for wild life preservers."
His uncle stood up from his seat, agitated. "Okay! I can understand you wanted to get out of the logging industry; it's a dangerous job. Getting into wild life work is rather respectable, although sometimes more dangerous than logging. But at least you can feel good about saving animals. But going overseas for a job that you already have here? I don't understand that one!"
"It's something I want to do!" Zak stood up, scared that the older man would see through the deception. "I'd be getting paid better than I am here. Pips was going to head out there before he offered me to come along with him. I've become passionate about saving life! It's more rewarding!"
Uncle Craig was silent for many moments before he sat back down, his jaw resting in the palm of one hand, fingers tapping methodically against his cheek. Pips watched as both nephew and uncle stood and sat, respectively, thinking hard. There was nothing he could say-he didn't know enough about what was going on to put in his opinion.
"What happened to you, Zakkary?" The gray haired human asked, sounding tired and older beyond his years. "You go off the grid for three years, after being reported missing by your foremen, Tony and Ralph, for two weeks. I stopped by your apartment several times and your landlord was pretty irate at any mention of you. You just up and left one day and no one had heard from you in all that time; all your stuff was still there. Where have you been?"
His tongue seemed unable to form words from the fear that he was experiencing. "I told you. I moved to Sydney with Pips after the near fatal accident with that stupid leveler that Tony and Ralph were supposed to be controlling."
"Why didn't you come back and tell me what happened? Why didn't you tell anyone what happened?"
"I felt that a desperate change is what I needed, even if it was to just get up and leave without warning."
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A/N: So now we're entering into a discussion between Zak and his uncle. A clearly uncomfortable one, for obvious reasons… What will happen next? R&R as always!