Tender (A britpop era fiction)

There She Goes

As a little belated birthday gift for the king of Britpop, Mr. Damon Albarn himself, may I present this little chapter. It's not edited in any way, so sorry for eventual mistakes. 

Lots of love,

Sally, x.

"But I don't want to go to bed!" Alika whines as Damon opens the door to the bedroom and softly pushes her in. Finan already sleeps in his bed like a log. Damon chuckles as he sees her yawn.

"Come on now, Munchkin, get in" he says and removes the duvet for her to jump into bed. Alika still grumbles as he drapes the blanket over her, barely able to keep her eyes open. As he leans down to give her a goodnight kiss, Alika reaches for his hand. 

"Dad?" she mumbles. "Will we stay with grandma and grandpa forever now?"

Surprised he sits down at her bedside.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because of all the press. Paul said he'd take care of us if we have to stay, cause you and mum try to protect us."

A cold shiver runs down Damons spine. He leans forward and smiles at Alika.

"You'll stay with us" he promises. "With mum and me."

"Good" She closes her eyes, still not letting go of his hand. "I'm glad. Because I, I-" She yawns again and grabs his hands tighter. Damon can't understand what she murmurs. His heart bristles with affection as she snuggles into her pillow, her fingers still clasped around his hands. Damon remains where he is and doesn't dare to move an inch while her breathing slowly get as deep and regular as her brothers on the other side of the room. Entangled in his thoughts he runs his thumb over the back of her hand and looks over to the other bed where Finan already dreams. 

When she's finally fallen asleep, he wriggles out of her grip as carefully as possible and turns on the night light before walking out of the room. Finan is the one they once bought it for because he was afraid of the dark, but in the end it was Alika ending up crying on their bedside when they didn't turn it on. Sometimes he wonders if Finan, consciously or unconsciously deluded himself that it was him having a fear of the darkness so his sister wouldn't have to admit it was herself. 

It wouldn't be the first time he'd experience siblings having a weird, unspoken dynamic like this. Damon is very aware of the fact that he lives with a woman that could write her own book about the matter. One for each brother. 

Damon sighs and stands on the stairhead for a moment, hearing the muted voices of Claire, Dylan and his mother from downstairs. He doesn't know why, but instead of joining them he goes downstairs and grabs a jacket in the hall before heading outside. Quietly he closes the back door behind him. 

Heavily he breathes in, his eyes closed for a moment, focused on the feeling of the cold air filling his lungs. The quiet in the backyard hits him unexpectedly after being surrounded by chatter and laughter all days long. 

A fluttering happiness thinking about today takes hold of him. It's been ages ago since they were all here together. Missy's absence stings, but he can't wait to pick her up tomorrow when they head home. 

Without quite realizing it, his steps lead him towards the little barn where his father established his working space. Carefully he opens the door an inch, peaking in. His dad gestures towards him without looking up.

"Come in" he says. "You can help me out with this one." Damon closes the door and steps towards the desk.

"From your students?" He nods without looking up from the two pictures in his hands.