A Tail or Two

Part 21

Silas was awake long after Fax retreated back to the pool. Restless frustration beat back his exhaustion for hours. It wasn't long after he finally caved that his father came downstairs, waking him with a flick of the lights. Silas opened one eye, startled to find his father had brought a tray of breakfast. He sat up slowly, rubbing his face. "Dad?"

"Try not to throw this one at the wall. You're better than that." Michael turned away, headed back upstairs.

Silas bit back a retort that his father was better than locking his only son in a goddamn basement, and instead said, "Dad. Wait."

Michael paused at the foot of the stairs, archin a single brow. "Yes?"

"Can I have my phone back? There's nothing to do down here."

"I can bring you some books later."

Michael might as well have slapped Silas. They both knew it; Silas had spent too many hours of his childhood with Michael telling him he just wasn't trying hard enough, that he wasn't /practicing enough to be good at reading, for that to be anything but a backhanded comment. Silas swallowed down the hurt and frustration. "Dad. Please."

The pause was agonizingly long, but Michael eventually said, "We'll see."

That was as good as Silas was going to get, so he sank back down on the couch, staring blearily at his breakfast. He could eat it before it got cold, or he could flop back over and try to get more sleep.

Not five minutes later he was sprawled on the couch, deep asleep again.

He got a few more hours in before he woke again, this time definitely hungry enough he couldn't ignore it. His breakfast was cold, as he'd expected, but he finished it off anyway, and then stretched out in hopes of chasing down some more sleep. This time he couldn't quite make it work, and ended up getting up to pace. And pace. And pace.

He expected his father to take longer to consider his request, but when Michael brought him lunch, his phone was on the tray. Michael held it out, but when Silas reached for it, he withdrew somewhat. "Just a suggestion," he said lightly. "I added a few books to your library on here. You might want to read them."

"Yeah, sure." Silas didn't expect his dad to hand it over, but it was nice to feel it cradled in his hand. A tiny bit of freedom. It was worth his father's comments. He stuffed down his pride and added, "Thank you."

Michael's mouth tipped upwards on one side. "Of course. I'm not a monster."

Silas winced visibly. He'd never implied his father was. Michael was a dick, sure, but Silas would never call him a monster. He still waited for his dad to leave before he settled back on the couch, flicking through his phone. Michael had undoubtedly gone through it, but Silas was used to that. He'd just have to change his password again.

It took him less than five minutes to toss self control out the window and text Remiel. The chances of getting a response was low, so when Remiel shot back with just a picture of Lev curled up on his couch, a ridiculously fluffy blanket wrapped around him, Silas couldn't tell if he was pissed or if he was relieved to know that Lev looked... okay. Unhappy and distant, but he wasn't visibly upset, either.

It wasn't good, but it wasn't a disaster, and so Silas accepted it. What else could he do? He was stuck down here, for the foreseeable future. At least until Fax found that key, and Silas, for all his impatience, wasn't going to rush Fax. It was best to go slow anyway, so Michael wasn't suspicious, and so Fax didn't get caught.

Having his phone did help, at least to keep him from getting up and wearing a hole in the floor. He did is best to keep himself distracted, to the point of downloading three new, rather pointless, games to his phone. He really didn't expect anything to happen until later, so it was a shock to have the door at the top of the stairs open. Silas jerked to his feet, already moving to help, because that was /Fax being half shoved down the stairs, and he didn't trust his dad not to let the mer go to tumble down the rest of the stairs. Fax still had his tail and would very much topple.

Silas barely got him the rest of the way down the stairs and out of the way before Michael shut the door. In the end Silas found himself on the floor, arms full of a startled looking mer. "What the hell?" He touched the reddened parts of Fax's arms, where he was pretty sure finger shaped bruises would end up appearing. "You alright?"

Fax gave his muted gold tail a halfhearted flop. "I'll live." He pushed off Silas' lap and awkwardly twisted until he could lean against the wall beside Silas. "Your father doesn't take disobedience well."

"Yeah, no shit." Silas frowned. "You sure you're alright?"

"Debatably neither of us are," Fax pointed out, leaning forward to rub his tail halfheartedly. "It's bigger down here than I expected."

"Big house," Silas said, standing. "Wait there. I'll be right back."

Fax gave a low hum of acknowledgement, and was indeed still right there when Silas returned with a couple towels from the bathroom. Fax perked up, and let Silas help him dry off until he had legs to stand on again. Once they were done, Silas started to go hang up the towels to dry, only for Fax to grab onto his arm. "Can... Do you have anything I could wear for now?"

Silas blinked. Right. That. "Yeah. Uh, yeah, just... here." He pulled his shirt off. "I'll get my dad to bring me something better soon. You sure you're okay?"

"Considering how very human your father is, there are worse things than being tossed down the stairs, Silas." Fax pulled the shirt on, tugging at the hem with a frown. He paused, and looked up at Silas. "Are you okay?"

Silas considered that, and gave a low laugh. "Honestly? No, not really."

Fax blinked, before his grey eyes softened. "We'll figure this out," he promised, patting Silas' arm absently as he stood to head for the couch. "I don't think this is the end of everything for us."