Hello :P It is Wednesday and I am back with this new story! I wrote this one some time last year and it kind of does follow in the timeline of everything that was uploaded in 2020 regarding Justin and Eli. This one includes Sammy as well. And as you will go on to read, it tackles how they all get along in the years of Justin and Eli's reconcilliation, when Justin is back with Sammy and how Justin's two exes get along (or don't get along)! I hope you enjoy :)
Ages:
Justin: 25
Eli: 34
Sammy: 32
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned! Also, there's a bit of swearing and cigarette usage in this one so just a heads up.
It could have been a staring contest as I sat on the sofa with the three other males. With the deep purple haired male sat in the middle and me looking on, surprisingly it wasn't a staring contest between him and either of the two males on either side. There was no lingering locking of eyes between him and the dark brown haired Alolan male. There was no lingering locking of eyes between him and the deep violet haired Unovan male.
In fact, the intense locking of eyes was the dark brown haired Alolan male and the deep violet haired Unovan male looking right at the deep purple haired male. They didn't look away. They were watching. They were waiting. They were watching and waiting for anything! It very much turned into a staring contest the more that time passed. And eventually the youngest of all the men moved. So the other two leapt into action before the other could.
With his head full of cold and wrapped tight up in his blanket, Justin's brow furrowed and he started to open his puffy eyes. As he did that, he let out a groan. And no sooner did that sound escape his lips, both Eli and Sammy were there to offer their support to him. And needless to say, outdo one and other as well.
"What can I do for you, my sweet?" Sammy's words tumbled out and his hand found the knee of his long-term boyfriend. He pushed his own long locks out of his face as Justin's ones stuck to the side of the face while fighting off flu-like symptoms.
More words came. But they were from Eli as he insisted on being there for the younger male as well.
"What can I do for you, Justin?" his question gently came from behind Justin and almost as soon as these words made their way out of him, he heard the way that Sammy had been the one to utter a pet name. No doubt did Justin hear this as well, let alone acknowledge it.
A cough sounded. But that could've easily been simply down to how he was feeling. However, the slight smug eyebrow elevation from Sammy and tongue poking out between the lips were easily read in a completely different way.
He had won that time, he felt. And he showed this by placing his hand further up his boyfriend's leg and uttering more words, beginning to practically lean over him.
"I'm listening. I'm here." Justin heard Sammy say in a way that was sincere despite the fact that he was trying to prove a bit of a point that didn't really need to be proven.
Eli managed to hold his own by the fact that even though his brows did draw together and his lips puckered, he soon reached the two of his hands out to Justin to still try and be there.
It appeared to me that initially, nothing much at all came from Justin apart from more grunts and his eyes blocking out all sights. From my position on the footstool opposite them all, I couldn't help but wonder if it was down to his sickness or the ongoing typical antics from the two people he was sat with! The reason became clear as time passed.
As Sammy's hand didn't leave Justin's leg and the side of his neck felt the brushing touch of one of Eli's, Justin finally shuddered in quite a telling way. After screwing his face up all the more, one eye started to see things again and he continued shivering, but still cowered away from the both of them.
"Don't do that. It hurts." he told the other males weakly and in a mumble before that one, single open eye fell shut once more. Despite figuring out that Justin couldn't really possibly be hurting – after all, he wasn't that unwell – Sammy and Eli's touch fell away from him immediately. "No need to suffocate me."
Nevertheless, their gazes didn't leave him. And it was after Justin felt this from behind his closed eyelids once more that caused him to sigh and speak these words.
I had a similar reaction from watching and just being there to Sammy as our lips curved upwards. He pushed his long locks out of his face all over again and continued smirking towards the dramatic tendencies of his long-term boyfriend.
All the same, things happened there and then that proved him to be not the only over-the-top one. You see, the one-upping between the two males did not stop at that point, oh no! It continued and was only going to continue more so as the day advanced.
As Sammy merely just snickered and studied his boyfriend in a less fixed way than before, his hand still no longer on his leg, Eli proved a point to him that he would always go above and beyond. And he would go above and beyond to beat the younger male.
He decided to move away from behind Justin entirely and he came to sit on the footstool next to me. After he did this, his typically wide and round orbs somehow widened all the more considerably and he showed off a sweet smile. But anybody could tell from the glint in his eye that it wasn't an entirely sweet one!
Justin with his continually closed eyelids caught onto these actions from him so another low noise escaped his throat, switching up and feeling his own fingers on his temples and then in between his eyebrows. But words didn't come after his groan. Though he caught on to what was going on, he didn't break his silence.
Sammy didn't copy this. With his mouth evening out and an expression appearing that made him appear like he had a fish hook pulling up one of his eyebrows, he turned to where Eli had then decided to sit. Before Eli could reach out and tickle his fingers along my spine, Sammy blurted out.
"Why just go and sit over there? Be really bold. Live a little. Go outside." he uttered in an acceptable manner to highly contrast the words he was saying.
I was one of the only people who felt a breeze hitting my widened eyes when I heard this. I knew Sammy as a person who liked to go above and beyond for people, seeing the best in them and choosing to speak highly of them. But as time passed in general and as time passed on that day as well, I was shown that there was more to him than that side of him.
Different people appeared to bring out different sides in him. And Eli was absolutely one of these people.
In spite of me getting to know Eli over the years as a person who didn't often hold his tongue, he did hold his tongue at that moment in time and decided to respond by continuing to smile sweetly instead.
Maybe Justin felt the sweat of relief rather than an oncoming fever. He tried to uncurl himself from huddling his body round into a bit of a ball and attempted to straighten his spine, opening his eyes up properly. But he really did feel under the weather. This was proven to me from the way that his eyeballs pooled almost as soon as the air got to them and his nose threatened to bubble as well.
What came next was yet another groan and his brow threatened to furrow with the dull ache inside of his skull. And that same noise prompted both Sammy and Eli into action all over again. He was half leaned across by his boyfriend once more and Eli almost lost his balance darting to linger next to the sofa all over again, as close to Justin as he could get.
Nevertheless, Sammy was the one who won the opportunity to open his mouth yet again. And so seized the chance, still leaning over his sniffling boyfriend.
"Do you feel really unwell then?" Sammy asked Justin and while even I could see Eli making mocking mouth movements as he spoke to Justin, in return he managed not to respond competitively.
His gentler and his more sincere streak came over him when Justin's nose began to run for real and he sniffed back any escapees. Sammy started to properly care for him rather than putting on a show but Justin's turn to respond sarcastically came!
"I've got a pounding head. I can barely open my eyes without looking like my dad watching my little sister at her school play. My nose is running so much it might as well enter the Olympics. No, I feel brilliant." His voice came thickly, hardly able to see past the wetness of his own eyes and it gave both Sammy and Eli to have a bit more of a human moment as they craned their necks to share a look. Justin's text tone of voice came out higher pitched as it lost its sarcasm. "And you two are watching me like I'm the most bloody interesting sight in the world!"
Sammy and Eli's necks fully craned so their eyesight was filled with one and other. But only for barely another second. Then their eyes fell on me. We all looked at one and other. I couldn't help but notice that Sammy was the one who looked wounded at Justin's words and he began to recoil, moving an inch or so away from him on the sofa.
That smirk that he had had a couple of minutes ago had most definitely faded away like the quality of an old photograph. In fact, his bottom lip protruded at the response from Justin. He spoke something incomprehensible but the sounds that he made did convey some sort of remorse.
Not long at all after these sounds had escaped Sammy's lips, Eli reached up to Justin on the sofa and tried to take hold of his wrists and speak to him himself. Yet this time, his intention was different. Words simply came and formed in his mind and then eventually his tongue because he meant them.
Contrasting Sammy's mildly humiliated look, his eyes glittered at Justin's sassy streak.
"We just want to help you, gorgeous. We don't want you feeling unwell for even a second." Eli told him and even though he had made a point of reaching out to him, he didn't let his touch linger for all that long at all. It was probably for the best from the way that Sammy's neck very obviously snapped towards him at the word he called his boyfriend! Even so, Eli managed to continue coolly and he insisted more words of the same nature. "We'd do anything to help."
I believed that I wasn't mistaken from the way that Justin's poorly cheeks began to heat up after hearing the words from the oldest of all those males, just like I had seen the way that Sammy's head had turned so fast that his neck almost cricked,
But I couldn't be certain what his reddened cheeks were down to. For all I knew, it could have been an oncoming bought of fever as much as anything.
"I just need peace and quiet." Justin spoke very adamantly but he still shrunk his shivering body in his blanket and tried to bury himself against the sofa cushions all over again.
I was the only one within that group and within that group to nod my head. He had needed exactly that when it was just Sammy nursing him at home, let alone when I had stopped by with Eli to drop something off and we ended up insisting on staying as well.
I twitched my paw against the material of the footstool and I knew that I was preparing to jump down. I knew and respected Justin well enough to leave him be if that was what he wished. I knew that both Sammy and Eli felt similarly. But I also knew that they weren't the type to go down without a fight – and they especially weren't the type to go down without a fight if the other person wasn't either!
Both Eli and Sammy listened to his words. After Justin tried to lean up against the sofa cushions and make himself as comfortable as he could possibly be in his blanket that he perhaps should have outgrown, they obviously couldn't grant his wish as readily as I could.
Eli couldn't help but speak all over again. Under the watchful eye of Sammy, he reached his hand upwards and brushed the forehead of Justin, ridding him of loose and clammy strands of hair of his in the process. He saw Justin from an angle and asked him to make sure.
"Come on, you. We'll help you with anything. What will it be?" he tried to get an answer. While Justin's cheeks didn't redden that time nor turn lightly pink, Sammy decided to close the distance between the two of them all over again and shuffled back towards him on the sofa.
His hand making its way down to his other one and playing with the rings on his fingers, he put his two cents in and started questioning Justin also, figuring out how he too could best (or better) assist him.
"Do you need your cushions plumped? Do you need a drink? Do you want the TV on? Do you need a different blanket?" Sammy put forth.
Almost as soon as these words came from him and before Justin could even react to them, of course Eli started adding his own suggestions for what he could do for him. My eyes started to look like I was watching a tennis match as they darted between the two competitive males!
"Do you need to properly lie down? Do you want a flannel? Do you want to listen to some music? Do you need a change of scenery?" Eli listed. And it goes without saying that as soon as Sammy heard him putting his own ideas across, he thought of more ones and blurted them out!
Each and every one of them filled my ears. But most of all, I very much knew that I wasn't mistaken when I heard very impatient and low rumbling noises coming from Justin and decorating the words and suggestions that the other two were saying.
Eventually, words from Justin himself came as Sammy and Eli continuously suggested more things to him. But was it really for his benefit?
"Oh my god…" a quiet murmur to himself was first to come and he had a split second to rub his thumping forehead before he decided to weakly straighten his spine all over again. I had half a mind to go over to him and help him and was preparing to dismount the footstool to do that when he had a burst of energy to put Sammy and Eli in their place. He thought of words that he hoped would work in shutting the two of them up. "I need soup, okay? I really need soup!"
I had seen a great many impressive things in my lifetime. Apart from battles that I participated in myself and along with my best friend, I had been blessed with a whole canvas of experiences. Sometimes they kept me up at night, whirring around my brain, all of these treasured things.
It is not an overstatement to say that it was one of the most impressive things I had seen in my life when a very clear silence came almost as soon as Justin said these words! It was like something completely washed over both Eli and Sammy.
They were normally both so out of sync. But when Justin spoke up – when directly addressed them – they heard and they heard enough to go completely silent.
From his puffy and still watery yet unmoving eyes, Justin reacted to the way that Eli and Sammy were reacting to him. I fathomed that he probably felt a little embarrassed by how demanding he believed he had been.
The sight of Justin observing the way that Sammy and Eli looked at one and other with a round yet competitive gaze before both their gazes fell on him himself filled my eyes. His boyfriend threatened to nod his head and from the way that his toes twitched inside his socks, I knew he was about to leave the room almost immediately. And it wasn't because of rudeness!
Funnily enough, Justin understood this as well so his spine erected for the last time and he piped up a second time when he saw his boyfriend's mind wander to the cans that were in the cupboards of their shared home.
"Homemade though please." added Justin and although Eli rose up off the ground at the same time that he said this, already preparing to be the one to bow to his will, he managed not to look at him with what he was going to go on to say. In actuality, Justin managed to look at no one in particular. "Like my Mum would make for me."
And it's lucky that his eyes didn't wander to me when he said this! And it's lucky that it was the same for me too. Justin usually didn't like to tell fibs.
Looking back in retrospect, I still get a little bit of a feeling that Eli was the one to catch onto this but nevertheless, because he could see Sammy's brain ticking and thinking about how he was going to grant his boyfriend's wish, he knew that he had to as well. So he focused on that instead.
And then of course, he focused on opposing him all over again! It became apparent that if the both of them wanted to go along with what Justin wanted and beat one and other in the process, then the two of them would have to go on a little shopping trip to fetch the ingredients for the homemade soup.
Because of this, the two males that were Eli and Sammy had yet another opportunity to prove themselves and in front of me. They did everything that they could before leaving the house for good. They offered to tuck Justin down. They offered to fetch him his laptop computer. Sammy made sure that he didn't want the television turned on. Eli made sure that he didn't want the radio turned on.
I believed that in his own mind, Justin was silently making sure that it was a good idea to send the two of them off together – let alone to the kitchen that contained a hot stove and sharp objects! But it was too late. His wishes had been put forth. And eventually after much more fussing and competing and in general getting on Justin's wick, both of the other male's departed the house with a list of ingredients for the recipe that he wanted.
I was left behind to keep an eye on the eldest Morgan son. It was amazing how much his sniffles dried up and his shoulders relaxed when the other two were out of sight! Even so, his mouth quirked upwards and it looked as though he had wanted to do that all along.
"And they wonder why people mistake them for being the two boyfriends!" Justin mused to himself with gentle amusement pulling on his face as I finally used some of my energy to join him on the sofa. I found myself being pulled closer to the crook of his arm.
I didn't hesitate to chuckle out loud in response, enjoying the spaced out strokes that came from him. No doubt was he thinking of an array of things and all of them unknown to me as he shut his eyes all over again and just pulled me closer still.
My mind wandered everywhere too. I wondered if it might have been a good thing that he didn't have a similar approach to relationships as his father did. Otherwise he would have been driven round the bend while continuously being in the company of both!
Yet the more that I thought to myself, the more that I came to the conclusion that he would be driven round the bend by both Sammy and Eli and especially them together, no matter the relation that they were to him. That was just who they were. Different people were different. They would always have their similarities though.
I was still stuck on this notion when the key in the door could be heard some time later and the sound of two people a few seconds after. It was evident that they had survived their outing from the way that we heard both of Justin and Sammy's voices! But one couldn't help but wonder whether that was going to be the case for much longer.
They still had the cooking to get through. I wondered how on earth Justin was going to stay sleeping through all that as I tried to pry myself away from him, his chest rising and falling and his eyes slits.
Having very different reactions as always, while I continuously and as gently as I could move away from the eldest Morgan son without his eyes snapping open – as Sammy and Eli mooched through that particular part of the house before heading straight to the kitchen with smiles on their faces – one of them did turn back when they were certain they were no longer under the watchful eye of the other one.
Eli split paths with Sammy and turned on his heel and came tiptoeing back over to Justin while he slept, a brown paper shopping back in his hold. He managed to switch the brown paper bag to just one arm of his without a sound in order to feel the top of my head with his other one. I could see right through him and I wasn't easily fooled. I proved this with a look though soon enough, my eyes squinted as I enjoyed the affection.
I should have known that it wasn't going to last for long. And I was proven correct when he continued lingering over the younger male on the sofa for some more seconds and after the shopping bag moved to the other hand, that touch of his stopped reaching out to me.
Needless to say, it wanted Justin. And it was shown to me I still didn't know the younger of the two as well as I believed and I didn't need to be as quiet as I previously thought from what happened next.
Managing to keep his mouth in a straight line rather than quirking upwards with amusement, Justin uttered out.
"I'm sleeping!" he pretended to roar and it gave Eli such a fright! Although he nearly shot through the ceiling when he heard his voice, the groceries managed not to fall to the floor.
And after he began to breathlessly laugh and grin along with the long haired male on the sofa who opened one eye and folded his arms over his chest as they hid under the blanket, he put that same load of shopping down on the floor.
Once he did this he decided to get his own back a little bit on Justin himself, let alone Sammy who had begun peeping through the double doors.
"You really should think about cutting your hair short again, you know, Justin? It would be such a great help in keeping you cooler when you get sick." Eli's level toned voice could be heard but his humour was caught onto!
When Eli reached out at last and his touch was playful as his fingers ran through his damp but long and silky shoulder length locks to prove even more of a point, Justin allowed him to do that for a couple of moments with mischievous redness appearing on his cheeks.
But then he put a stop to it. And it wasn't because Sammy was continuously looking, that fish hook pulling up his brow all over again.
"Gooooo! I want my soup before the end of this decade if possible." he grinned and Eli and I copied him. (Sammy did not.)
His words were complied with and after the shopping bag was reunited with him all over again and he turned on his heel back to the kitchen, Justin was left with shaking shoulders as he remained laying on the sofa.
The fog in his head and the behaviour of his sinuses was far more tolerable then as he planted his palms over his eyes and giggled to himself. I finally decided to hop down the sofa and leave him alone to his memories and listening to everything from the other room and followed the equally chuckling Eli.
Continually, Sammy was not grinning or chuckling! But he did manage to wait until both Eli and I had headed through the double doors to join him in the kitchen and he had shut them before he said any of the thoughts that were taking up space in his mind.
Ridding himself of his spike studded and button decorated leather jacket and leaving it on the back of the chair, he shot the other male a look to which he caught. In fact, Eli anticipated forthcoming words before Sammy said anything at all.
"You didn't have to go in there and creep up on my boyfriend, you know?" Sammy told Eli and his reminder was a less than gentle one! "He wanted peace and quiet as well as soup, remember?"
I watched the reaction that would come as I chose to sit on the counter top and tried not to wonder why there were two piles of ingredients that Sammy had managed to unpack before peeping.
Eli had sunken yet inquisitively round orbs most of the time yet they didn't really fix on him there and then. He merely shrugged himself, pushing the chair that Sammy had dumped his leather jacket on back into its correct place, underneath the table.
While Sammy's eyebrow was tugged at once more, coolness rolled off his words as Eli finally opened his mouth.
"He was my boyfriend too once before, remember? He just happens to be yours now." He quipped with no hint of elevation or decline in his voice. In fact, neither his eyes nor his expression changed at all as he spoke any of this.
I for one didn't really know how to feel at first but then my emotions bordered on feeling impressed, given the circumstances and all that.
Sammy didn't share this feeling. It became clear to me that he had been actually controlling himself and his previous expressions in the presence of that same boyfriend but now that the two of them were behind closed doors, his expressions were unable to be tamed.
His forehead contorted. Lines appeared between his brows. He looked like he wanted to very harshly tell Eli where to go! But he managed not to. He managed to restrain this urge. As he nonchalantly moved over to me and his hand found my head just once before washing his hands, Sammy spoke yet again.
His chest felt the folding of his arms and I got the impression that he wished he was still wearing his spike studded jacket so he could bump his shoulder into Eli's.
"Oh my god…" Sammy began in very much the same way and in the same murmur that Justin had done earlier on in the day. But he was met with a look from Eli of his eyebrows lurching on his face and his lips parting just slightly. This mocking expression fuelled Sammy all the more. "Why do you do this? You know I hate when you say shit like that." He exploded in the most constrained way he could manage. "What kind of stuff are you not supposed to say to me?"
Eli filled his vision with the ceiling as he did attempt to compose himself as well, and hold his tongue. But unlike Sammy, for one reason or another he was less inclined to do so. Honesty was usually his forte. Brutal honesty.
Eli turned his whole body back towards Sammy instead of just his neck after he had put the hand towel back down on the side and he copied his signature raised eyebrow. Almost as soon as he did this and as soon as Sammy allowed his arms to fall by his side in an attempt to be a better person, Eli started coming out with words. A lot of them!
He repeated a list of all of the things that he usually disliked him doing and saying. And he did it in such a flat tone of voice that it got the response that he was hoping for. He demanded that he say the first point on the list.
In preparation, Sammy breathed out his nostrils before occupying his eyes with the kitchen floor, trying not to get too worked up in the presence of the slightly older male who was tilting his head.
Eli then answered in the previous tone, but it did eventually elevate towards the end.
"Don't bring up the fact that Justin has been both of our boyfriends. It's weird." he recited almost like he had to do that quite often in the presence of Sammy. But it was new to me! And after these words escaped Eli's lips and another sigh escaped from Sammy's, another silence took over.
It was unlike the one that had greeted us after Justin had put forth his wishes. Truthfully, it was a rather stomach knotting one and it caused me to hop my paws uneasily on the counter top in between all the piles of vegetables.
Both Sammy and Eli stared at one and other and then they didn't at all. Both of their focus dropped down. It appeared that their faces were backing off and putting their swords down. But their shoulders were held high and their chests were elevated. They weren't giving up that easily.
Although he himself had been the one to ask for a bit of peace and quiet, someone from the other room knew they needed to call out when they had heard every word of what Eli and Sammy were discussing and heard the uncomfortable silence all the more so.
Justin forced himself to call out from underneath his blanket at the risk of making things worse.
"Perhaps just stick to cooking related subject matters, yeah guys?" he encouraged from the other side of the doors but I could still imagine how his cheeks almost matched mine in colour!
Then when my eyes scanned around the room, I imagined them to be almost as red as one of the ingredients of the vegetable soup that Sammy and Eli were hopefully going to succeed in making. My eyes widened when I looked away from the piles of vegetables and saw both Eli and Sammy flushing a little bit as well. But they both played it off by rubbing underneath their noses and sniffing.
And then Eli played it off by leaving the stance-showdown with Sammy. He went to rummage in their collection of cookery books that Justin had bought to their home together from his family one, and managed to find the same recipe that Sammy had previously jotted down before their shopping trip.
The younger of the two remained stiff when it came to the older one despite wordlessly agreeing to comply to more of his boyfriend's wishes after he had called them out. And this was proven to me from the way that that he so heavily watched Eli with the cookery book as he held it in front of his face and took in each and every word.
And like was often the case when one of the parties was still suspicious, the other one who was trying to be the bigger person for good reasons couldn't help but act sceptical all over again. Eli finally stopped absorbing words on the page and felt Sammy's eyes burning into him.
Promptly he responded by raising his eyebrow and shaking his head to convey exactly what he meant with a mere expression. But then he couldn't hold back words from tumbling out as well before Sammy had a chance to reply – with a look or with words or otherwise.
Eli's eyes rolled in their sockets all over again. He reached out and offered him the cookery book with an accompanying throat noise.
"Oh, I suppose you want to be in charge of this too, don't you? But I thought it was just the one book that you absolutely loved." Eli mocked him while my own eyeballs somehow remained in their sockets. My eyebrows elevated as Sammy managed to turn the other cheek.
His lips did pucker and pout as they resisted forming words back to Eli, uttering condescending words in return. But they soon resumed their usual shape. And Sammy actually was able to be the bigger man.
The reaction that he received may have given Eli a sense of regret and I gathered this from the reaction of his eyebrows dancing quietly on his face. Wordlessly, he handed the cookery book over to Sammy and that time he did it with no scoff or dramatic flick of the wrist.
Sammy accepted it and after he did this and his own eyes scanned the pages, words of his filling the air. They didn't have the same air about them as Eli's. They were… dare I say it…? An attempt of reconciliation?
"I know that we were going to try and make one each… But why don't we just make it together?" Sammy tentatively suggested and it caused one of my ears to prick up but I hoped that it would go unnoticed. The only thing that was obvious was the way that Eli's eyes became even more round than usual. "Justin did want it on this side of the decade after all."
Sammy's nose started to stubbornly crinkle. But he managed not to change his mind at the idea as he added.
And beyond surprising myself that my observant eyes and my pricked up ear had managed to go unnoticed – and beyond the surprise that Sammy was sticking to letting his guard down the tiniest fraction – Eli's response came promptly. And it was equal to Sammy's in terms of at least trying to succeed at something with him.
"I would be okay with that." his reply came simply. But he often aligned his actions with his words so Sammy gathered that he shouldn't frown and coax a more enthusiastic answer out of him. He nodded, moving to wash his own hands at last before cooking. And it was while he did this and my own ear flopped down when Eli joined my side all over that even the he added more words too. "I guess you can tell me what to do. I don't want your boyfriend waiting any longer than he has to."
A look from Sammy shot at Eli after he said these words that he felt like he uttered to make another, more subtle point. But from the way that Eli's eyebrows innocently raised upon his face and the whites of his eyes delicately became more prominent, Sammy as well as I got the impression that he didn't need to be so wary.
And so, he shook this notion away. And Sammy eventually nodded his head after ridding himself of his wet hands. Eli copied the head movement in response too, albeit a little slower.
The next few scenes took place. The two men didn't clash all that much when Eli allowed himself to be told what to do and Sammy didn't go too far after being granted permission to so. While I looked on and helped out where I could handing over vegetables and containers both where it was required, I couldn't help but think something lightly to myself.
Their rivalry just might have been the realisation that Justin meant a lot to them both and in equal measures. But perhaps, that would be one of the things that bonded them and even bound them if they wanted it to. I believed that it would be a long time coming! But I could almost see it coming.
I definitely saw it potentially coming and in the not too distant future when I watched them trying to prepare Justin's soup together. They chopped vegetables and Eli even didn't block the sounds out when Sammy gave him a little bit of advice. They mixed gravy stock and milk together and Sammy didn't interject when Eli enlightened him on the difference of a Unovan recipe compared to a Kanto one.
The cooking started getting done and even a bit of small talk was made. I discovered myself to have a curve of the mouth, beginning to feel like I didn't need to be there at all when I no longer needed to offer my help. But I still didn't want to leave. I felt interest in my heart. A whole lot of it.
Sammy and Eli continued catching me off guard as they continued talking to one and other. Their shoulders started to nearly brush against each other as they worked on the same task. Sammy no longer wished that it was a spike studded decorated one of his.
"You must find Kanto a bit of getting used to when you return from long periods in your neck of the woods in Unova, huh?" Sammy spoke across to the indeed Unovan male and he stopped some of his flopping locks from being in his face with the back of his hand as the two of them chopped some of the vegetables that they had missed.
Sammy's words travelled into Eli's ears and he thought about them. Then like was often the case when it came to Jordan's cousin, he slowly formulated a response in his brain and then it followed out into the open moments later. His shoulders moved towards his ears before back down again. He didn't smile. But he answered truthfully.
"I find anywhere or anyone takes time getting used to. I find most things bizarre." Eli responded and he pushed more of the vegetables on the chopping board and closer to Sammy's side, evidently wordlessly leaving him in charge to do the rest. But this went down okay. In fact, he was more focused on giving Eli a look when he heard his words. But it wasn't a brow furrow or a lip curl. It was actually a little bit curious. "How about you? Kanto is hardly your neck of the woods either, is it?"
Eli spoke again before Sammy could get a chance so he put his knife down on the chopping board and along with the vegetables. The frown that had come at last wasn't down to the way that Eli had seemingly left that chore up to him.
Sammy added some more distance between the two of them in order to converse and think of answers better, all while leaning up where the stove top rested behind him. I took note of this from one of the other counter tops.
Eli fixed his gaze and came close to furrowing his own brow, his observant and inquisitive eyes misunderstanding and believing that Sammy was the one to be growing bored with what they were doing. It was lucky that he was at last being patient with him and gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Unlike Eli, Sammy didn't have to think much about his answer. But like him – in fact, almost copying him – he still took some time before replying. With a bit of a casual elevation gracing his lips, he shook his head and he answered.
"I guess I'm lucky. I can make anywhere feel like home." he responded and even though my expression brightened upon hearing these words and I nodded my head, I was then far more curious with the response from Eli.
Or rather, I was curious by the lack of response. One eye of mine squinted at the display that came from his face rather than his own eyes. If I wasn't mistaken, within his eyes in his hollow, soulful orbs, I almost felt like he was saying to Sammy that he too could make anywhere feel like home if he had someone like Justin (or Justin) by his side.
And although this was a sweet thing that I was reading from his eyes, I hoped that Eli wasn't going to outwardly express any of this. I didn't want anything to ruin the moment of the two of them actually talking to one and other. No doubt did Justin probably feel the same exact way if he was listening and managing to hear things from the other room.
In response to Eli's lack of one, for a rare occasion, Sammy didn't think much of it. He merely just allowed the sound of the clock ticking on the wall to fill his ears and he rested his hands behind him on the stove top, having a few moments of peace before going back to their joint task.
The more seconds that passed, the more that I felt that Eli was thinking these private and endearing things even if he didn't dare say them. And I hoped more and more that he wasn't going to say them when he went back to his usual routine of staring hard at Sammy.
His eyes switched in between unblinking at Sammy and dropping down before going up again and repeating a few times. I didn't catch on to why. In my own mind – in my own perhaps silly mind – I was really hoping that nothing was going to bring this moment to an end!
But of course, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And in that moment, the chapter of lightness between Sammy and Eli was closed.
It wasn't so obvious at first. Like what Eli was doing wasn't so clear, nobody really caught on at all. In fact, I and Sammy – Sammy especially – caught on when it was almost too late.
"Jeez, careful!" Eli didn't hesitate to warn Sammy when the stove light came unmistakeably and he gestured for him to pull away. But there was no time to waste. The two of them had switched the stove on to pre-heat and but the light had been a bit slow to jolt into action. Their memories had failed them too.
Thankfully, it wasn't the scalding kind of heat. But Sammy still made a point! His expression altered from relaxed to filled with a wide orbed kind of relief. His hands became bird wings and they flapped.
Eli was the one to give in to laughter. And Eli was the one to put his foot in it.
"Jeez, careful. You almost ended up with a taste of what's waiting for me from the way that I stole your boyfriend from you." Eli uttered in a way that he thought was humorously to the other male. But it was not conveyed that way to me. And it certainly was not conveyed that way to Sammy.
Time seemed to stretch out and slow down. Sammy continued flapping his hands before realising what Eli had said to him and his face and his body changed demeanour. Eli's own face fell to the ground when even he took note of the look he could see in Sammy.
It was no laughing matter. Almost as soon as I took an inhalation of breath, realisation struck me. I suddenly understood why Eli had made that joke and what he meant by it. He no longer was fuelling the competitiveness between them both and he wasn't instigating any point proving either. He meant these words to show… regret?
But of course, this wasn't clear to Sammy. It wasn't clear to Sammy at all.
Justin been brought into the conversation all over and that paired with the sudden annoyance that perhaps a blind eye had been turned to him putting his hand on the stove when it initially happened, Sammy finally snapped towards him all over again. He erupted.
Banging his hand against the counter top in spite of the fact that it had just been mildly burnt, Sammy gritted his teeth right at Eli.
"And you wonder why I don't bloody like you when you say things such as that?!" he snapped with a heat far hotter than the stove and it made me jump far more than it made Eli.
Maybe time seemed to slow for Eli as well. It seemed to from the way that it took him a moment to catch up. It was like he needed to take some time to recognise that Sammy's expression had been displeased towards him. And then it took him some time to process the words that he had hissed back in response to him.
But then everything seemed to catch up with me and it seemed to catch up with him. His eyelashes almost twitched and flickered. His sunken lids twitched with... hurt?
His pupils darted to look at the floor. And then he looked at me. He looked around with a contorting jaw and eyebrows dancing all around on his face in a way that was opposite to jolly. His eyes circled and eventually locked eyes with something else on the counter top. A cigarette packet.
Though that packet belonged to Sammy, he made a grab for it as if it was his own. He explained his intention faultlessly. His voice could be heard more thunderous yet quieter than I had ever heard before.
"I'll be outside then. That's where you wanted me to be since the beginning." Eli spat under his breath to Sammy and with his cigarette packet in his hand, he didn't stop himself from disappearing out the kitchen door that lead towards the back garden.
The response from Sammy was his mouth hanging open at being addressed in such a direct way even though he should have seen it coming from the way that he snapped towards him first. Still, he managed to shakily pipe up and seethe out something in response.
Speaking first thing that came into his mind, maybe he too should have kept his mouth shut!
"Hey, they're mine! You are not stealing something else from me!" Sammy yelled back to Eli and not long after those words sounded, the kitchen door leading to the garden erupted too. But they can't have been missed by Eli. And of course, this didn't stop Sammy from following him outside, risking the real possibility of him being most definitely unwelcome.
The same most likely went for me. But I didn't exactly do anything, did I? Maybe I should have put a stop to something. Maybe I should have put a stop to something at least. But from my point of view, it was all going so well.
Maybe I was idiotic to get my hopes up that high. But I wanted to see them getting along. I supposed it was them who needed to want to get along. That seemed to be a far off notion. They certainly weren't getting along when I moved out the back door moments later!
The two males from different regions were sat stubbornly and silently on the back step and it was clear from the empty packet of cigarettes that I almost trod on that Eli had snatched the very last one from Sammy's very own stash.
But that was the last of his worries. Eli didn't seem to care either and if he did, it wasn't shown on his face. He had since reached into his pocket for a lighter and had ignited the cigarette, savouring it. He was lowering his wrist down towards the step after taking a good few inhales without me there when Sammy decided to break the stubborn silence.
I didn't know why he bothered, really!
"I want some of that, you know? You can't keep everything for yourself." Sammy muttered and his dark eyes appeared darker than I had really seen before and it didn't take me long of being in the cigarette smoke filled air that I saw right through him. It just had to be an act.
Sammy himself had followed Eli into the garden. He had cared enough to snap had him. He had cared enough to sit with him. He had cared enough to keep on at him. It can't just have been because he cared enough to prove a point to him. Maybe he didn't strictly and wholeheartedly care about Eli. But he had to care about something.
There and then, Eli didn't seem to care either. And that made me ponder some things as well.
After hearing these words and these words in particular coming from Sammy, Eli just shot him a look. He just gave him a look but it was such a telling yet weak look that even the stubborn self of Sammy eventually looked away. And Eli copied him.
Letting out a shaky sigh that wasn't from the continuous puffs of Sammy's cigarette, Eli looked down at the grass. In actual fact, he turned his body completely away from Sammy. He didn't let his head face him.
A shiver of cold running along his spine, he lifted his arm away from resting against the step and raised his hand to his mouth all over again, placing his lips on the end of the cigarette. When he inhaled, he inhaled for the longest time. And when he exhaled, it seemed to come a long while after the inhale.
And the entire time that that was going on, Sammy occupied his eyesight at blades of grass on the ground. He didn't give up his expression that was as hard as steel. His versatile jagged features looked even harder than could they sometimes appear. Yet his mouth was conveying the opposite.
His lips seemed full as they were pouting. But he wasn't puckering and pouting in relentless and unmoving way. In actuality, it looked as though it was shaking – faltering – and wanting to say something. An apology, dare I dare to say?
I continued merely watching the scene for a few minutes more, Eli still puffing at the cigarette belonging to Sammy and not even offering it to him once. As time passed, my nose turned up more and more at the smoke filled air but I managed to hold my own, prioritising intrigue rather than my own health.
And going against my better judgement, I didn't allow my own words to break the silence. That was up to them to do.
Eli could feel Sammy there continuously and that hadn't faltered for a single moment as much as he wished that it would. He couldn't hold back from making a bit of his own point by turning crane his neck at the other male's continual presence, letting out a bit of a scoff when he felt him noticing him back.
It caught me off guard that it was this that made Sammy open his mouth. It was this that made it all come pouring out of Sammy. It wasn't exactly an emotional display. But it was an honest one.
"I didn't… I didn't mean it, okay? I don't actually… dislike you." Sammy began with a rumble in his throat, his own hair being pulled by his hand. It was evident from the way that Eli didn't hesitate to scoff another time and have yet another drag of the cigarette – that time exhaling it out of his nose – that his words were not believed. Still, he persisted. "I didn't mean it…. I don't… dislike you. You… You're fine." They may have had very different beliefs and belief system but truth was a policy they both followed. Sometimes the truth was hard to say. "Yeah, you say some things that I wish you didn't. You say some things that are beyond unhelpful. But at least you say what you mean all the time."
I found my head turning at the way that Eli behaved in turn. I almost assumed that as he turned away from Sammy, he was certain to have his eyes shut while inhaling and exhaling the cigarette. But I was mistaken. They were open for all to see. They were open for me to see.
And despite the fact that I still saw the whites of them, I saw within them that he was holding back more words that he deemed honest but didn't want to come up against the wrath of Sammy a second time.
So he didn't say them. I almost wished he did. I wished he had said that maybe he wouldn't have lost Justin if part of Sammy's words were true. But even Eli was beyond going against his temper at that point.
Sammy was blind to all of this. From his point of view, Eli was just silently smoking and sitting and shutting him out. He was turning away from him, not wanting anything to do with him. He had blown it.
It was true that he hadn't exactly been trying to be best of friends with him. But there and then, he felt like things were suddenly going to be even harder between Justin, Eli and him – and there would be no competitive lightness to put his energy into. And it was no one's fault but his.
I saw something in Sammy at that point that I hadn't seen when it came down to that little trio and their history with each other. Like I was caught off guard to see Eli's eyes wide open, I was caught off guard to see the remorse on Sammy's face. There was sheer remorse. There was quietness.
And I couldn't help but believe that it was this quietness on his face as well as in his voice – for that was the only part that Eli could have noticed – that caused him to blurt out himself.
"I don't dislike you either." He admitted. I had reckoned that Sammy must've been at the very least relieved to finally hear something from him but from my point of view he very nearly blew a second thing by openly scoffing! Eli somehow ignored this. Holding his hand with the cigarette in his lap rather than on the step, he continued monotonously but seriously. "Really, I don't. Maybe that's why it comes across that I do… Because I really fucking want to sometimes."
And then for the first time when it came to them both and when I was watching them, I wasn't surprised at all. I wasn't surprised, not even a little bit. I didn't have a slant in my neck when I saw the stubborn yet sure movements that quirked their mouths upwards.
They looked down at the ground rather than each other. But despite this, they were a little more united than before. They were united in the ability to tell the truth. More came. From Sammy. After all, he was the one that needed to respond to Eli's words.
Pushing his hair from his eyes and looking down at the ground thoughtfully, he replied equally as lowly in the same measure.
"I really fucking want to as well. But I remind myself that Justin gravitated to you for a reason and he's the most important thing in any of this." Sammy's wavering voice could be heard and Eli finally turned around to look at him for a short while. In return, he cleared his throat after he tried to look back. He paused. "Now give me a puff of my damn cigarette."
Eli's hand was already stretching out with the cigarette towards Sammy after he had had his last few puffs on it and before he even asked this of him. In fact, he had intended to hand it to him after the first part of his words.
Sammy breathed out before he even had a chance to put the cigarette to his lips and inhale so he made a lot of breathing noises as he finally smoked. Eli tried not to comment. And he succeeded.
In actuality, after fiddling with the cigarette lighter for a couple of moments, he thought about what he was going to say next. There was a part of him that wanted to agree that Justin was the most important thing, it's true. But I believe – I wholeheartedly believe – that he knew that he could somehow get that sentiment across without having to actually say it.
After Sammy had had some time with the cigarette and even handed it back to him again so they could have the last few drags going down towards the butt by taking one turn each, Eli uttered the words proving that the shared person in their life was an important one.
"Do you know how to work the microwave?" he questioned in a voice so low it was almost soothing. To me anyway! Accepting the cigarette back from him all over again, Sammy just took an inhale and blew out the smoke and looked at him like he was crazy. In return, a head was nodded and an exhale came even though he didn't need to blow anymore smoke out. Eli stood up. "Good. I know how to use a can opener. So let's finally do this shit."
And with that, Eli headed back on inside without giving Sammy any other hint towards what he was referring to! But naturally, Sammy soon caught on. After looking at me and glancing my way and finishing the cigarette and stubbing it out, it all became clear to him.
The important thing was Justin. And he deserved to have soup bestowed upon him. Even if it was out of a can. And even if the two boys quietly agreed that they would make him think it was home made when they gave it to him. They even sealed that secretive deal with a high five.
It took a lot longer than it should have – really it took a lot longer than it should have! But eventually, a bowl of soup with bread on the side was carried out to Justin, and both Eli and Sammy resumed their seats on either side of him.
Justin looked as if he was as warm as the bowl when he was finally bought his meal of choice and it became clear he somehow hadn't heard a single ounce of their fight! From his point of view, they had actually started getting along and even disappeared out into the garden together for some fresh air.
Justin made sure to nudge against them both as he accepted it and they both wordlessly nodded in response. They didn't dare look at each other. They didn't dare acknowledge each other. And for once, it was down to trying to keep a secret from each other rather than Justin and one of them keeping a secret from the other one.
An appreciative exhale came through Justin's stuffy nose when he held the bowl in his hands and he couldn't dull the sparkle in his eye. From hopping onto the footstool, even I was fooled. I looked on. Eli looked on. Sammy looked on. Justin looked on – then down to his soup and bread.
He let the air fill his lungs. He smiled. His eyes flickered between them both.
"You guys are too kind…" Justin finally spoke and I saw the way that Eli and Sammy's eyes very briefly latched on to one and other. Yet they tried to play it off. They tried to casually stretch out on either side of Justin. Justin didn't drop his smile. That glint was fixed in his eye. "You guys are too kind. " The twinkle became even more apparent as he started to grin. "And you must think I am an idiot."
And with that, the deep violet haired male that was Eli and the dark brown haired male that was Sammy looked at each other for a second time and in a longer way that time. They were trying to work out what Justin meant between each other! Then they looked at Justin himself.
Soon enough, he answered. Soon enough he answered with a bemused grin on his face. And he of course didn't let the opportunity slip to tease them both.
"Awwww, guys!" he pretended to coo, putting the bowl of soup and bread down onto the ground for a second and deciding to wrap one arm around them both instead. Eli and Sammy didn't have to look bewildered for long. More words followed Justin tried to hold back his own playful giggles. "You guys must love each other so much to spend all that time with each other just to heat me up soup from a can!"
Justin laughed at the two men. The two men took a moment to respond. I was the second one to chuckle. Justin was of course the first! The two men took a moment to know what to say. And then for good, they were united in their reactions.
Their eyebrows twitched and then furrowed. Their mouths puckered and then pouted. They tried to wriggle out of Justin's slight yet strong hold but didn't manage it at all. And then they eventually retorted.
And after they eventually did so, they uttered at the same exact time and in the same exact words.
"Just eat your damn soup, Justin." Eli and Sammy both told him to which he burst into more fits of chuckles! And I copied him. Sammy and Eli didn't at all. They just exhaled the air from their lungs, finding their palm over their faces. But eventually they succumbed to the hold of the youngest male of them all.
They truly weren't just united by their gestures and their actions and their words. They were indeed united by Justin, whether they liked it or not. Some days they liked it. Some days they didn't. But that was okay.
What was most important was that when it came down to it, they would do absolutely anything to see him happy. His happiness and his contentment meant a whole lot to them both. They could at least agree on that. And I can agree that that is something rather special in itself.
But it didn't appear overnight, mind! It was a long journey to that point in time. And it involves a whole lot more tales that I simply love to remember.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 While this is a comical story, it does focus on more serious matters between Sammy and Eli. It was never going to be easy for them to get along. But this chapter shows that although there is differences and there is competiveness, they care about Justin enough to let it slide when it really matters. However, when there is a chance to bicker and Justin is okay with it, they will most definitely take that opportunity! Thanks again for reading and I'll be back on the 28th to update The Diary of Baby Rey. See you then! :)
Amy signing out.