Hello :P It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter! This one is a continuation of introducing Eli's character - but not at first. Initially it's an insight into the more professional part of Justin's life and what he goes through in his musical career. It's funny that I've written about Justin Morgan so much but not really tackled his success as such - I'm much more interested in the person. But this was a good one to write. I like the dynamic of Justin and his boyfriend and Katie. And a bit of a stroppier side of Justin! And then of course, the new character of Eli, Jordan's cousin. I hope you enjoy :3
Ages:
Justin: 21
Sammy: 27
Katie: 14
Eli: 34
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned :P
The three people who were also in the breakfast bar area of the Morgan Mansion continued staring hard at the laptop computer, their elbows leaning on the counter top where it was sitting and they all had equally furrowed brows. Though all of them were united in their concentration and perplexity and this was displayed by their frowns, they had very different expressions also.
Sammy looked as though he didn't really understand what was going on at all. Katie looked very worried; like she had an idea of the complexity of it all but didn't want to express it. And then there was Justin. The deep purple haired male that was Justin and the main reason as to why everyone was staring so hard at his laptop. He just looked incredibly annoyed and frustrated too.
He appeared as though he wanted to move away from the piece of technology and slam it shut with a very final noise. But thankfully, his boyfriend stopped looking so confused and realised that he needed to say something. Anything.
"I mean… It's all very vague. I don't think you need to jump to conclusions or over-analyse what they're getting at. It's pretty confusing." Sammy spoke and he saw the jagged expression on his boyfriend's face and after offering these words to him, he tried to reach a hand to his shoulder. However, in the process, Justin's fixed glance darted right onto him. The Alolan male lost all nerve. He drastically changed his tactic so as not to be on the receiving end of the deep purple haired male's unusual aggravation. "I've never received anything like that before. Katie, what does this email mean to you?"
I continued watching all of their faces from the other side of the laptop and sitting on the counter top also. I had noticed how that when Sammy had been talking to Justin, Katie had been giving the older of the two male's flickering glances in between biting her lip. Then when the male with the piercings included her directly in the conversation, her eyes froze yet widened in one. She was put on the spot.
Following that, she felt Justin's questioning gaze looking right at her. I couldn't help but notice that it softened a lot when it swivelled towards the younger female.
Katie moved away from leaning towards the laptop on her elbows and started playing with her fingers. She went equal parts pale and rosy pink when she knew that she had to say something and after a couple of moments she settled on the truth. Her orbs flickered between me and the deep purple haired male.
"I… I don't know, Justin. Like… Like Sammy said, it is pretty vague." She started off by saying and this was enough to encourage Justin's fixed gaze on her and make it go back to staring at the words on the screen. Katie exhaled just a little bit when this happened but then she played with her fingers all the more when she saw Justin's expression creasing, making himself all the more het up by re-reading the email over and over again. The orange haired female decided it was time to continue. "Only you can really know what it could mean. You're… You're the one who works closely with them."
From peeking and watching all of their faces go back to peering over and leaning close to the laptop computer along with Justin, I heard the deep purple haired male exhale out his nostrils in derision as he heard this. Though Katie swallowed and her eyes dropped to the keypad rather than the screen, the older male's contempt was not towards her. That couldn't be further from the case.
It was Sammy's turn to give his boyfriend flickering glances as the three of their faces were lit up by the computer screen and at the same time as this was going on, Katie decided she would pipe up all over again. She turned to properly look at Justin.
"Why don't you read it out loud to us and slowly? Really… Really let us examine it, if that's what you really want." Katie suggested and though I didn't really have much of an idea as to what was going on at all, I nodded my head because this seemed like a reasonable suggestion. And Justin appeared to very much want to study it seeing as he had been ruminating over it for such a long time. But the deep purple haired male's reaction next was to pull himself away from the computer completely, showing off a scoff with a gesture of his head. Katie was forced to correct the situation, her voice rising a little. "N-Not the whole thing! Just the last part. You don't have to…"
I tilted my head towards Justin rather than approaching the screen and then him. I could tell that he quickly felt bad for causing Katie to believe that he was annoyed at her as well as the situation he had found himself in and it took him a couple of moments to correct all this.
The Alolan male decided that it was finally time to make actual contact with his boyfriend so he pulled away from the laptop computer also and rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. He didn't do anything else. He just let it sit there; lingering, and then he squeezed it gently before pulling away in a slow sort of way.
At the same time that Sammy did this and Justin felt his touch disappearing, the deep purple haired male inhaled and exhaled, his shoulder with the tingling sensation moving up and down. Justin then tangled a hand through his new, shorter locks before he inhaled and exhaled again. I copied his gestures. It was after he did all of this that he turned back around again and faced the laptop computer all over again, his elbows leaning on the counter top towards it.
He gave Katie a drawn-out and well-intended look before he focused on the words all over again to say sorry for his behaviour. The orange haired female merely gave him a small smile, pushing her own newly shorter locks out of her eyes.
Deep down in her heart she knew that he wasn't annoyed at her. But his gentler actions were very much appreciated. She very subtly scooted just that little bit closer to him at the same time that he read the puzzling ending of the email from his management out loud.
"'We need to put our heads together at some point, Justin. We all respect that you like the freedom to pursue whatever interests you but this is a relationship here. An important one. And sometimes you will need to be the one to put work in or compromise, and focus on what you do best.'" Justin recited the words he had been mulling over for quite some time in a very level and indifferent voice and then towards the end it became a lot more animated with exasperation.
That time, as both Katie and Sammy heard the words out loud that they had been mulling over for quite some time too, they gave each other glances and eyebrow rising looks. The deep purple haired male caught on. It caused him a great deal of frustration to have to come to terms with the underlying message of the email and all the more when he heard it out loud and from his own vocal chords.
His jaw jerked when he sensed the two people on either side of him wordlessly conferring. His body threatened to jolt a second time, and in a very agitated sort of way. But thankfully (not really!) Sammy hurriedly came out with more words. I didn't think much of it at first when his head turned in my direction.
"Pikachu, do you have any idea what they're getting at over here?" The Alolan male questioned me lightly, his almond shaped eyes focusing on me. I understood why he did this. I understood why he included me – the only person on the other side of the laptop and didn't have as much of an idea what was going on. He wanted an outsider's perspective. He thought it would be helpful.
However, despite the fact that I had been laced with an extreme yet hidden amount of curiosity as I watched the three of them try and debunk the meaning of the email, when I was given an opportunity to actually read it and be a part of it all, my own eyes widened. I felt reminded as to why that was most likely my reaction when Justin's eyes locked onto me!
I did not want to come up against all the emotions that were bubbling underneath his surface. Though I knew him to be extremely capable of keeping level-headed and very cool even in challenging times, I still did not want to be the one to poke at the hornet's nest.
But when after the deep purple haired male's eyes stopped focusing on me and they slowly slid back towards the words on the screen and I heard him exhale in such a soft way, I found myself reminding myself of who he was. Justin was a young adult who held himself to the highest possible degree. He was a people-pleaser. He was a people-pleaser with a passion of pushing forward. So receiving an email from his management who he trusted more than anything yet was seemingly asking him to compromise his true drive for something a bit more familiar and digestible must have been a punch in the gut for him.
I suddenly felt very trusting of him and sorry for him also, two things that his management were possibly lacking. And with no eyes lingering on me anymore, I crossed the line and joined them on the other side of the laptop computer. The three of them pulled away to not stare at it for a few more minutes and let me indulge instead.
I read the email. I read the email from Justin's managers. I read all of the words. I got a clear sense of what it possibly could mean – from the outsiders perspective. In between digesting everything that had been written, I turned my attention towards Justin leaning against the breakfast bar area cupboards a couple of times. I had come to my own conclusion. But the thing was - did I have the nerve to say exactly what I thought to his face?
It seemed that his management were dodging the directness of their words also. But they were the ones actually wanting to get their point across. I did not want to punch Justin in the gut even further. I hurriedly looked back at the laptop and the words on the screen and pretended to stare though I was not reading at all. In my mind, I was agonising on how on earth I was going to let down the deep purple haired male who did not deserve to be let down. His dreams had come true. He was meant to be soaring. I knew that it was unrealistic but I really felt like I could not burst his bubble.
Thankfully (truly that time) I did not have to do anything of the sort. At the same time that I swallowed, the deep purple haired male stopped leaning against the kitchen counter and he alternated his eye contact between his boyfriend and his good friend. Pushing his hair from his eyes, he looked between them both equal parts bitterly and blankly.
"So what is it that I do best? What is it that they expect me to do?" Justin asked this question and though he stopped leaning against the lower kitchen cupboards, he kept bumping his hips against them like the bumping motion was going to encourage him into clear thinking. Evidently, this wasn't going to be the case from him still looking between both Katie and Sammy for answers.
The Alolan male and the orange haired female didn't glance at each other that time. Though like me they understood that Justin was never going to come out with frustrated actions to match his expressions, they probably didn't have the heart to hurt him with answers – if they had any answers for him at all.
The two of them remained awkwardly silent for a couple of long seconds and I inwardly prayed that they would get on with it, beginning to peel my attention and my body away from the screen. The deep purple haired male didn't give up glancing between them, an extra frown starting to take over his expression.
It then surprised me greatly that it was the quieter of the two – it was Katie – who was brave enough to offer more words first. Perhaps it was because Justin always had a gentle exterior when it came to her.
"You know what you do best." The eldest Ketchum daughter began and from the way that the deep purple haired male prepared to inhale all over again, she got the slightest inclination that Justin was starting to be fed up with having to figure out everything himself, despite being vastly independent. Katie hurriedly added, her hands moving to scrunch her t shirt material in her hands in the process. "No one… No one can ever say that you need to be the one to put in work. You're always the one to put in work. You try new things. You push yourself. You work so hard. If they think that you don't, then they have no right…"
The orange haired female trailed off her words even though she had come to the conclusion that she wanted. And though her words had subsided and all of them had been spoken moderately quietly, they were honest and direct in a delicate sort of way. And after a couple of moments, it became obvious that they cut through Justin and made their way to him.
He let out a sigh for a couple of seconds at first but then he moved away from banging his hips against the kitchen cupboards for good. He decided to join Katie's side rather than Sammy's, pushing his hair from his eyes and I noticed how his fists clenched around his strands for half a second before he dropped them. He appeared to speak to the orange haired female and the orange haired female only. Finally, he had heard some words that hadn't evoked all the more frustrated bewilderment.
"I agree with them that our relationship is important. Of course I do. It is. It is so important. But I just don't know what they're asking of me. I have been upfront with them from the beginning and they knew that. At least, I thought they did… Ugh… This relationship is frustrating in a way that I didn't sign up for. But it's important. So I need to figure this out." Justin rambled his way through these words and the fact that he kept continued his sentences made it obvious how in a pickle letting down his management was secretly getting him.
He prided himself on delivering things that were fun and exciting and unexpected. It was obviously devastating for him to have to wonder whether they were unimpressed by his versatility. Something he never thought he would have to come up against.
I didn't exactly know what prompted Sammy to do this – whether it was trying to lighten the mood or whether it was him simply being him – but after Justin was said and done with these sentences, he reached out to him all over. And this time he nudged him away from Katie and pulled him closer, wrapping both of his arms around him before settling both of his hands on his shoulders.
The Alolan male rested his head on the head of the frowning male as he embraced him, fondly nudging him as he did so.
"Don't get so down in the dumps about that relationship when your one with me is impeccable." Sammy encouraged him rather seriously but then an elfish grin took over his features and he planted a kiss onto his boyfriend's cheek. I was a little surprised when I glanced at Katie and she shook her head and giggled fondly when she observed this but then it caused me to join in. We both looked at each other and snickered, in that moment a tad grateful for Sammy's affectionate ways and humour also.
However, he did not receive this kind of reaction from Justin. In fact, it couldn't have been further from it! Justin's face showed off an expression that screwed up and conveyed equal parts feeling distant and suffocated and moved away from his older boyfriend, hugging his arms around himself before his lanky arms dropped to the side.
The Alolan male looked a little hurt when neither his affection nor his cheeky humour was returned but he decided to suck it up and stand next to Katie instead for she was giving him welcoming yet shy glances. And it was as he did this and Justin's arms continued limply hanging by his sides that I suddenly observed the way that his fingers were beginning to curl against his palms. Then, his fists balled together. They balled together like they had been doing when they had strands of his hair between them.
It was at the same time that this notion crossed my mind that the deep purple haired male blurted out. Though his fists had unclenched all over, I felt as though they were longing to continue doing that more than ever.
"Do you think it's my hair?" Justin probed and because both Katie and Sammy had been giving each other lingering and amused looks, both of them didn't really have a clue as to why the deep purple haired male was bringing this up. After they stared uncertainly, Justin insisted, running an impatient hand through his shorter locks. "It's my hair, isn't it? First I changed my look. Then I developed my sound. I'm not stupid and neither are they. I've seen the comments online. Now they have too. And they're getting anxious. They know what I have planned. And they think it's not what anybody else wants."
The deep purple haired male then ran both of the palms of his hands up his cheeks and towards his forehead before they both slid through his new, shorter locks. And then he almost tugged on them. Even though Justin had spoken and elaborated what he had meant, Katie and Sammy had resumed sharing glances all over again. But naturally it was not because they were bouncing amusement off of each other. They just did not know what to say. They couldn't mind read. They couldn't mind read his management and his record label.
After Justin looked expectantly at the both of them for answers and did the same to me too, before I had time to feel the hitch in my throat properly, it was Sammy's turn to feel as though he had to answer all over again. He didn't reach out to his younger boyfriend physically but he very much tried to do so with his patient and caring expression and fingers itching to touch him also. Sammy tried to reason with Justin.
"It's not your hair. There is nothing wrong with your hair or what you decided to do. People change their appearance all the time and it shouldn't make the news. Justin, it's just the way it is and your hair-"
"It's not about the hair." The deep purple haired male finally snapped but his voice was extremely level and the only word that was enunciated was the middle one. And at the same time that Justin did this, his brow knotted together in frustration. The orange haired female and I were the ones to share a glance that Justin was going back on his own words but we should have known that there was more to come. The eldest Morgan son shook his head, trying to shake off his ever-growing stress and that time he was talking directly to Sammy. "It's what the hair represents. My record label was anxious at that insignificant change. Even though I've been clear of my intentions since the beginning, they had no true idea of the success that I ended up achieving with the first album and the hat and the long hair. But it worked. And I am worried that a small part of them wants me to keep doing what I was doing before because it was profitable. And I hate that. I've always wanted to do more than the music I've made before. But what if this is it? What if… that's it?"
All of a sudden as I watched the deep purple haired male from sitting on the counter top and with his laptop, he looked very small indeed. He appeared smaller than I had seen him in a very long time. He looked almost like a little child. He had been thrown in this big, huge world with a lot of responsibilities and contracts and a lot of success being offered to him if he put in the work.
No doubt had he been naïve when he first signed that record deal. Though he had a good head on his shoulders and an amazing family and support system, he knew that he was investing in a whole new long-term relationship.
While that relationship was exciting and exhilarating and something he very much wanted to be a part of, it still felt like new territory for him. And in the past year or so, it had been the first few times that he had been disappointed by it. It was like reality had hit. And now the fear was settling in.
Had he been incredibly stupid to be so trusting? There was so much money to be made in the music industry. Was he a fool to think that he could continue doing what he was doing if nobody else other than him loved what he was creating? Potentially. But no one could blame him. He didn't know the ins and outs of it. And most likely the people who were putting passive-aggressive pressure on him didn't either!
It was a whole other world. I knew that he could navigate it. I knew that he could navigate it if he faced it with the skills that made him successful in his other, homely life as well as the rawness that appeared in his music – his ability to communicate and his talent of being brutally honest. I believed in him simply because I believed in him. What else was there? I just wanted to believe.
When the deep purple haired male received no solid and worded answers from either Katie or Sammy and just saw genuinely empathetic and caring glances, he uttered just one more sentence. He whispered. And he appeared all the smaller still.
"Is my hair really that important?" Justin wondered and I saw the last drop of frustration and agitation and annoyance fade away from his eyes and all that was left was a very real concerned sincerity.
And like how it happened before and it happened with Sammy – I don't know what possessed Katie there and then but she decided that it was her turn to speak. But to tell you the truth, I don't think she intended it at all. She came out with the truth before she could stop herself. She replied to Justin.
"Yes." She answered and right away, she hiccupped like not only had she not meant that word to slip out but she hadn't a clue that it was going to at all! Both the Alolan male and the deep purple haired male's head snapped towards her. They both looked equally taken aback. The orange haired female took a step back, holding her finger up as she intended to correct her words. She shook her head. "I mean… N-No of course not. I mean yes. Y-Yes, hair can be quite important and yours is lovely."
Katie was rambling at that stage and she was going both drastically pale and pink at the same time. Through trying to hide my love for her, I edged nearer to her while still being on the counter and observed that Sammy remained frowning and bewildered. But then I noticed that it was Justin who was starting to have a surprising amount of amusement and softness towards the younger female. It was only a tiny amount. But it appeared strongly against his sheer iciness in the moments of him mulling over the email.
The orange haired female tried to speak one last time and correct the situation for good without blurting out any more things. She sighed before she concluded, attempting to gain some of Justin's usual level-headedness and truthfulness too.
"You decide what is important, Justin. You always tell me that you get out from music what you put in to it and I know it's not what you want to hear but… but it's up to you to figure this out. And if you want to know what's being expected of you then you need to ask… You need to figure this out. It's up to you." Katie uttered rather wisely and maturely though she didn't have any idea of the inner workings of Justin's musical world and in response, Sammy pressed his lips together in a smile like not only was he agreeing with her but her words were soothing him.
And perhaps rather optimistically, I swung my head away from Katie and I turned towards Justin, waiting to see his response to the younger female's words. I wholeheartedly expected that because it had been her words to reach him last time that the same thing would happen all over again. And technically it did. Technically they did reach him – very much so. But they did not console him. They did not soothe him. They did not reassure him.
In fact, they seemed to have the opposite effect. It became clear that Justin had been bottling a lot of his true emotions up when it came to this entire situation and he felt very much like a fish out of water. And it came out in a truly unproductive way!
Finally gritting his teeth in proper frustration, though his emotions were of course not directed towards Katie or even Sammy or I, the three of us jumped when Justin did what he truly wanted to do and he slammed his laptop lid shut. He exclaimed out, tangling his hands in his hair and tugging on it.
"But I don't want-!" Justin began and right then and there that the deep purple haired male began to show off truly childish emotions, the orange haired female decided that she had done her part in it all and she tried to help out. She tried to encourage Justin over what to do. But his innermost worries were coming out in a very sulky way so she wanted to be away from him until they could be productive together.
With a surprised but collected raise of her eyebrows, she gave Sammy a look before she gave me one as well. She then gave Justin one most of all. And then she turned on her heel.
"I'm going to go and see Jayden now. I've left him painting to come and assist you for long enough now." She told the deep purple haired male with a nod of a head and her lips pressed together and with that, she began to walk away! She left the room.
It filled me with a great deal of amusement when after Justin realised that he had slammed his laptop shut rather loudly, he gawked at the fact Katie was seemingly giving up on him. His reaction to this was to simply inhale deeply to collect himself like he knew was wise to do and in the process his chest puffed outwards. And because of this, Sammy believed that he was going to have another unnecessary display. So Sammy pressed his own lips together and shrugged, his hands sliding into his pockets.
He pretended to call after the orange haired female but it was really for the effect of his younger boyfriend.
"You know what? Wait up! I'm keen to see what he's been working on too." He addressed Katie and then just one of his hands slid out of his pocket. While Justin continuously gawked and knew that he had crossed a line but still didn't put it right immediately, the Alolan male turned to give him a bit of a look. Then he approached him all over again. Sammy reached out to pat Justin on the puffed out chest and then he kissed him on the cheek before disappearing. "We support you endlessly. But you need to sort this. And without being a whiny superstar. You don't want those comments finding you as well."
And with that, both Katie and Sammy left Justin alone for good! I half wondered if they wanted me to abandon Justin with them or whether it was the right idea or not at all. Looking at the deep purple haired male, I could see that he was very remorseful about his unexpected outburst but when he caught a glance of his laptop all over, he was overtaken by afresh disappointment and frustration too.
So for that reason he stuck his nose in the air and folded his arms over his chest at everything that had gone on and he sat down in the arm chair of the living room area that was attached to the breakfast bar. A firm, sour look took over his face. He frowned. He glowered. He sulked. He sulked and he sulked. And then he stressed. He stressed and he stressed instead.
Then leaning forward and with his head in his hands, he wondered what an earth he was going to do. He knew that both Katie and Sammy were right and that he needed to speak up and ask what was expected of him. He knew that he needed to prepare for a compromise. But did he even want a compromise? It was a relationship. But the creativity came from him. And he felt like he could never sacrifice any of it.
His shoulders began to shake as he kept his face hidden and I bit my lip. He really did wish that someone else could help him figure out what to do after he had driven two of his loyal supporters away for the time being.
And thankfully him, though there was a possibility that he wasn't deserving of things going entirely his way, not long after both Katie and Sammy had exited the room, someone else entered it. Someone else entered that part of the Morgan household and his sunken attentive eyes locked onto Justin hunched over in the arm chair straight away.
The person entered with a surprising amount of quietness but when he spoke, he made it very well known indeed. It was the charismatic way that his voice sounded. It was equal measures carefree and well-meaned. Eli spoke to Justin almost as soon as he entered the room and spotted the deep purple haired male looking very torn up indeed. In fact, he didn't hesitate to comment on this.
"My, my, my, you do not look like a happy bunny." Eli observed and as I turned my body to study the way that the deep purple haired male would react to the presence of Jordan's cousin, I was surprised by the way that Justin so quickly stopped being hunched over. He didn't exactly try to hide everything that he was exuding and feeling but the sat up straight out of politeness. The dark violet haired male dismissed this with a shake of his hand. He wanted Justin to be raw. He came even closer to his side, asking him this time. "What's troubling you, unhappy bunny?"
The deep purple haired male's eyebrows didn't exactly rise upon hearing this but his forehead showed off delicate creases like he really wanted to. And then when Eli's unusual yet endearing self-invited himself to sit on the footstool in front of Justin and he looked at him with equal measures curiosity and concern, the lines on the younger male's forehead faded away.
For a moment he looked at Eli as if he was going to tell him everything because this was very much the case. They had gotten on incredibly well from the moment that they met and often discovered themselves talking about all kinds of weird and wonderful things. Justin had never exactly opened up his heart to Eli and discussed his woes either but when it came to those two, there was a first time for everything.
And Eli possessed that unmistakable sincerity and distance that his cousin Jordan possessed which made him a great person to lend an ear even if it was the first time.
The eldest Morgan son let out a loud and telling sigh as if he was preparing to get it all off my chest but I found myself taken by surprise when the deep purple haired male merely pointed towards his laptop computer before running a reluctant hand through his hair.
"See for yourself." Justin gestured and after Eli's sunken yet beady eyes darted towards the laptop and his eyes wordlessly conveyed some things, the younger male waved his hand to indicate that it was open. Though the older and dark violet haired male stood up for a couple of moments away from the footstool, after taking notice of me and darting his eyes between me and the piece of technology on the counter top, he responded. Eli responded in a way that he could also be known for.
"Do I have to? My eyes are feeling really strained today." The Unovan male uttered bluntly and though of course he didn't have to, he revolved his eyes in their sockets to indicate just how much like sandpaper they felt. I held in a chuckle. And it was during these moments that I noticed that despite the fact that Justin nodded his head, his shoulders twitched and then they drooped. I was almost certain that Eli caught on also from the way that he appeared to straighten while hovering over the footstool. His limbs twitched. He changed his mind. He nodded his head slowly to contrast his fast moving brain. "Okay… Let me see what I can do."
And with that, like the people moments before had left the room, Eli then turned on his heel and walked himself towards Justin's laptop computer. The minutes following that were truly uneventful but it was much needed after how much of a (perhaps rightfully so) big deal the deep purple haired male had made of the email and receiving it.
Eli opened Justin's laptop computer with permission and read it, quickly gathering who it was from and taking his time on all of the words. He nodded his head as he absorbed the information. He head tilted a couple of times also. His lips threatened to purse but they didn't. Then when he was done, he shut the laptop with a much less mightily slam than Justin had done and came back to sit opposite the younger male, resuming his position back on the rest intended for feet.
Very quietly and agilely I at last hopped down from the counter top and observed the little bit of the staring competition that was happening between both Justin and Eli. Since the dark violet haired male had read the email and made up his mind of what he had thought about it himself, he was sitting and watching and waiting for Justin to open up how he felt about it.
And in return, the deep purple haired male was seemingly waiting for the older male to experience and express the same anguish that he had felt when he first saw that email pop up into his inbox. They were usually on the same page about so many things.
In this instance, they were on the same page in just waiting for one and other to react! And it was a little bit amusing. Both those gentlemen with the sunken yet inquisitive eyes and the well-formed jaw structure looked at one and other and they both waited for the other to respond. Then when Justin leaned back in his chair all over again and his arms folded over his chest, his brow threatening to furrow with the notion that Eli had read all that had upset him so, the dark violet haired male was encouraged to be the one to speak.
"Okay…" he began, widening his eyes purposefully before resuming them back to normal, unconsciously his arms folding over his own chest and the opposite leg to Justin crossing over the other one as he continued sitting opposite the younger male. The deep purple haired male managed to withhold another weary inhale. Then Eli spoke. "You're obviously feeling very conflicted. You understand that there's a certain give and take. But you want to embark on the road that you want to embark on and understandably so. You don't want to compromise your creations and thereby compromise yourself. But isn't there an element of fun in that risk? If I were you, I could be a fan of that. And you and I aren't too dissimilar."
For a couple of moments, Justin merely just stared back at Eli with his arms continuously folded over his chest. That was new for him. And that was new to him when it came to the older and deep violet haired male. Usually, he was open and he was enthusiastic and he was happy to talk about their – indeed – similarities.
But this time he was confused. This time he was confused how Eli was pointing out how alike they could be yet be so the opposite of understanding in the same breath. Justin was about to lean forward and unfold his arms and open his mouth and convey this when – for a rare occasion – Eli spoke a second time.
It was true that Jordan's cousin could be a very introverted person who kept to himself. He liked what he liked and didn't like what he didn't like. He didn't talk much about what he didn't like. He preferred to speak of what he was a fan of. He was an observer. He was a bit of a keen observer. So then he switched which leg was crossing over the other to match Justin, his trouser leg riding up his ankle.
"You can't be afraid of anything when you're the star of the show, Justin. I'm not telling you that your feelings are invalid because they're not. But you and I both know that you have a mighty voice, Justin." Eli spoke the younger male's name lots of times and this would have usually drawn the deep purple haired male in, causing him to lean in closer to the older male. But this time as he was trying to focus on what was being said, he was remaining fixed and with his arms over his chest. I watched as Eli just had to continue. "You have a mighty voice and you know it. So use it. Speak up against these people who feel as though they deserve an explanation from you. Fuck 'em."
And Eli concluded in a way that made my ears twitch, causing me to long to cover them with my paws! And in turn, though the deep purple haired male was managing to keep up his indifferent demeanour after feeling so very torn and conflicted and having a lot of thoughts whirring messily through his mind, his orbs widened just a fraction.
The deep violet haired male copied the younger male's stance all over again and he leaned backwards, though he didn't have a back to his seat and would have to watch that he didn't topple over. Justin continued reacting to his words and he thought about them. I was certain that a part of him must have been flattered at the way that the Unovan male was flattering him so.
Yet when I looked over at him and in between almost sensing everything that was rattling around in his brain, I could tell that he was fixated on a certain part of his words and a certain part only. Justin threatened to shake his head and have his eyes narrow together but he managed to only convey the former. He muttered his truth and tried to say his words in the way that he intended. But I knew that things were very far from working out that way.
"I'm not the only person who turns the cogs in this whole thing. And besides, who are you to tell me to stand up to these people that I do have respect for? You're not exactly known for standing up against people, are you?" Justin retorted with the most minor head tilt that I had ever seen yet it was more telling than I had ever seen. And then as these words came spilling out of the deep purple haired male, it didn't take a second at all before his eyes widened like saucers and his arms stopped folding over his chest. His hand clapped over his mouth instead. He could not believe what he had just said. We were united in this emotion.
These words came like a torrent out of Justin's mouth and they must have been a slap in the face for Eli. He had come into the room and offered the younger male support and for what? For him to point out that that yes, they could be similar but he didn't exactly fight for what he knew was right, did he?
The deep purple haired male's hand dropped away from his mouth and they clenched together in his lap. His nails dug into the palm of his hand. His eyes continued widening. He intended with all of his might for his mouth to form the right words and for him to croak out a very regretful and sincere apology but he just couldn't do it. He just could not too it. He was engulfed in the horror that he had actually said it but he still did not hang his head in shame.
I swallowed when I couldn't make up my mind if it was heroic or heart-breaking that these words rolled off like water off a duck's back and Eli continued. His focused eyes remained fixed on Justin even if harsh words could have potentially caused one and other to never look at each other again.
"Well… Actually I did stand up to them at times which is why I ended up in many of my pediments." The dark violet haired male replied oddly coolly and he ran a hand over the shortened parts of his hair. And it was then after he did this that his exterior changed to be far more serious and he finally frowned. In fact, in addition to this he tugged the footstool nearer to Justin so they were soon to be face to face. He began all over again. "Actually…"
But Eli was cut off. The deep purple haired male believed that the older male was finally responding to his unnecessary words and he was in for a scolding and as well as this prompting him into an apology, he had always intended on doing so anyway. Justin quickly shook his head and momentarily screwed his eyes up, his hands reaching out clumsily and making quick contact with Eli's chest.
"What I said was uncalled for and uninformed and unkind, I know. I am sorry." Justin blurted out and he withdrew his hands from making any further contact with the older male just in case he took after his yellow haired cousin in the muscles department and ended up flattening the skinny framed male! But needless to say, like the words that came out of Justin's mouth were out of character and unintended, Eli was far from doing that as well.
Though his footstool remained close to Justin's arm chair, he leaned his body back and folded his arms over his chest all over. He listened to the deep purple haired male apologise. He considered it with a head tilt and a suck in of the cheekbones. He clearly accepted it from the way that he carried on like nothing had happened.
"Actually, I was going to tell you that if someone as cowardly as myself can stand up for myself at times then you have no reason not to, Justin." Eli began all over again and that time when the deep purple haired male heard his name being spoken, he exhaled and he listened all the more attentively yet shamefully. As well as this his teal-green hued orbs were decorated with a disagreeing look. But still he let Eli do the talking. "Start shouting from the rooftops the strength of your character instead of the versatility of your talent. You're a strong man. You have balls of steel. But you need to harness some of that quality in your speaking voice as well as your singing one."
And it was there and then in that moment that I continued observing the scene that I saw Eli for what he was. Much like his cousin also, he had not had an easy life. And like Jordan too, that feeling inferior and invisible and at times unimportant made him sing praises and sing praises loud for other people. No doubt did it flatter Justin. No doubt did it flatter Justin very much. But he didn't react all that much initially. He merely swallowed and nodded his head. Perhaps he had absorbed too much information at that point and on that day. But it didn't stop Eli from trying. He tried just one more thing, leaning closer to James' son all over again.
"Do you know why whenever I walk into the room, I greet you and I say that you're the man with enough pizazz to fuel the entirety of the Kanto Region?" Eli questioned rather seriously and calmly despite the colourfully embellished words that he was saying towards the deep purple haired male.
And in return, because he was being encouraged to use that voice of his even though he still felt like he should entirely keep his mouth shut after being a bit bratty that entire day, Justin responded quickly.
"To inflate my ego more than is necessary?" Justin retorted back in a similarly level and unfluctuating tone and with seriousness in his eyes. His hands stopped clenching so much in his lap and his fingers played with the single ring on his pointer finger. Eli didn't hesitate to respond either.
"No." he began and after his eyes dropped to the way that Justin was playing with his ring in his lap, Eli reached forward and he planted both of his hands on the deep purple haired male's shoulders. The deep purple haired male looked right at him, his fingers sliding away from one and other. That dash of curiosity came back. He wondered what an earth the older male was going to do. He was going to utter more truths, of course. He encouraged Justin. "I tell you it because it is true. There is nothing that you cannot do. Whatever you want, you can achieve. Whether you want to ask for answers or you want to keep doing you, you are going to make the right decision. Because you are the star of your show, Justin. And truly, fuck 'em. You can find people who want you to be exactly you. They could be out there. There's one right here. Because I am truly a fan of you."
And when Eli was said and done with his little speech to encourage Justin, instead of observing how articulate he was for a person who could be so introverted, I saw the way that the deep purple haired male looked a little in pain at how genuine his words were after the way that he had retorted to him.
But then as per Eli's suggestions, he moved past that and he held his head up high. He accepted it. He accepted the encouragement. He finally believed in himself. He saw the path that he wanted and it was the path paved for them by many musicians and heroes of theirs that the two of them observed and he knew it was worth chasing.
And as for Eli? Well, he was worth the little pain in the corner of his heart out of regret over the way that he had retaliated towards him. And in addition to that, he was worth pushing past pride and nodding his head and fully accepting what was offered towards him.
So there and then Justin moved towards him and he sat up and with his head still held sigh, his hand reached out to Eli's and he clasped his around it and he squeezed it. Wordlessly, he thanked him while looking at him and grinning right at him. Though all of a sudden Eli looked a little more bashful than usual, he grinned back and squeezed it in equal measures but then his bashfulness got the better of him.
Eli scrunched his face up and his hand wriggled in Justin's hold while the two of those male's shared the love.
"Cold…" the dark violet haired male referred to the ring of the deep purple haired male's was pressing against his own finger and after Justin ducked his head and his hair flopped over his face and he smiled sheepishly, moving his hand away from Eli's, the older of the two leaned closer to the younger all over again. Jordan's cousin reached out and lightly (and awkwardly) patted his cheek and then he stood up off the footstool for good. But he offered to him. "Now, darling, are you going to come out to the other house and karaoke with me? There's been far too much seriousness for one day."
I shook my head fondly and continued observing that after Justin had entwined his fingers with Eli's and the older male had stood up, the younger male flopped back in his arm chair as if he was recovering from an emotional marathon. And then when he heard Eli's words, despite the fact that he had a smile on his face, he scrunched his face up and looked up at him, his hair still flopping over his face.
"Nah. Come on, I don't really feel like it and be honest, you don't either. You're just trying to continue to perk me up." Justin had his turn to observe and I nodded my head like it was very much true because it probably was. But I grinned as well. There was nothing wrong with a bit of fun and a bit of a distraction! And to be honest with you, I was a little bit hoping to be invited along too.
And because Eli didn't hide a thing and he definitely didn't hide a thing from the younger male he had so much admiration for, he smiled charmingly down at him and then he reached and he took hold of Justin's hand. He didn't mind the cold that time. He tried to encourage the deep purple haired male upwards. And he did so in a way that Justin couldn't resist.
"It's not about karaoke, Justin. It's about spending time with my favourite musical dude." Eli told him in a way that was not intending to be flattering but of course came out in a way that was exactly that!
And not long at all after the deep purple haired male heard these words, even though he let out a bit of a sigh, his hair parting over his forehead, he squeezed Eli's hand back and he allowed himself to be tugged upwards.
Justin was quite a bit taller than Eli and that was putting it lightly and the two males who were firm admirers of each other wrapped their arms around each other as they intended to head out. And needless to say, the deep purple haired male was a little bit lopsided from Eli's short stature but it didn't matter! They leaned on each other. In more ways than one. And then at last, Justin accepted Eli's words and his actions with just two simple words.
As the two of them hopped out of the Morgan household with each other and me following behind, Justin smiled at Eli and he wrapped his arm around him, in his own way thanking him for all of the support he had offered him and confidence he had instilled in him also.
"Okay, darling." The deep purple haired male responded and with that, the two of them were off. The two of them were off for a bit of fun. And they returned to the main house many hours later with firm beams on their faces and glossiness in their eyes and hoarseness in their throats – and perhaps a bit merrier than they should have been!
But that was okay. It was good to have people to lean on. It was good to have people to bring out the parts of you that you usually keep hidden away. And that was absolutely the case for Justin and Eli. Though Justin was insistent that he wasn't the only person turning the cogs in his life that was his career, this was completely the case for the people in his family life.
He may have been the star of the show on some occasions but he was happy to let other people have their moment in the sun also. He very much let Eli have his moment in the sun. He let him shine. He let him sing. He let him take the microphone off him! I was glad that Justin had people who allowed him to let his hair down and truly be him.
And I believed that it was Eli who was strongly one of the people that gave Justin confidence in being exactly him. No matter how flamboyant or unexpected or down to earth or toned down he happened to be that day. Justin did exactly this too when it came to Eli as well. He helped him unlock hidden parts of him that he didn't really know were there at all. But more on that another day.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 So yeah, when I said before that one of the main relationships of Eli were going to explored, his one with Justin is going to be just that! But there's going to be a lot more of Eli for himself before the nitty-gritty gets tackled. You can see in my previous author's note the age of Eli and you might realise that he ages in a similar way to Jordan... Eli is not an angel though. But there something else there. Something else that will also be tackled eventually :P I think Justin will have a lot of apolgising to do after the events of this chapter! In addition to the pressure and anxieties from his record label, this is the time when he's taking a great deal of care with Johnny Jinn after Josie passes on. Therefore his sulky behaviour is a bit excusable. But funny nevertheless! Thanks again and I will be back next Wednesday with another chapter so see you then :P
AmyBieberKetchum signing out :3