The Reciprocity Principle

Thai Food Filler

A/N

I thought I wrote this chapter for a reason, but then I realised it was just so I could have an excuse to draw some pretty dresses lmao. 

Four weeks and a funeral blew by like leaves into the autumn, with White attending the last year of his classes at the university and Black working himself to the bone. Designs for FFW had been submitted weeks ago but Winter was already calling, and Irina was expecting next season's line by the end of the month. Fall had been heavy with leathers and sleek, tight knit fabrics like silk and linen. Winter was set to incorporate furs and chunky knit fabrics like alpaca and cashmere, maybe a bit of Vicuña. There was a specific print he'd used with young sapling trees that would be altered into ancient oaks in winter, to give the theme of growing. Not only that, but he still had his Saisons collection to work on, a line of five formal ensembles he designed for each season. It usually consisted of three gowns and two jumpsuits, all with the same colour palette but different accents-textured materials like lacs, or embellishments like crystals or at one point, petrified wood. The challenge was to incorporate every accent from each piece into the third and most glamorous gown. Black was currently trying to create a dress with pearls, lace, Swarovski crystals, jacquard and silk chiffon-that didn't look like a wedding gown from either Elizabethan England or My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. It wasn't an easy feat to walk the line between hideous and excessively glamorous without falling into the wrong territory, a fact proven by the loads of croquis figures he'd scribbled over and crumpled up. The garbage bin was overflowing and his coffee cup was empty. He had the basic figure of what he wanted in mind, and had tacked it onto the mannequin in the corner. Black twirled his pencil and jumped as he heard the front door close and plastic bags rustle.

White must have brought home takeaway...

he thought. There were footsteps up the staircase and Black knew he should do something to look less of a human disaster, but he lacked the energy to do much more than straighten his posture. The big door to his study creaked open, heavy on its hinges.

"Black?"

Black tore his attention away from the cuffs of yet another design and pulled his best 'I look like a mess but I'm actually fine, gotta respect that grind'  look, but it melted into 'I'm a fucking train wreck, I need sleep and I hate myself' faster than buttercream frosting on a hot cake.

"Hey White, how was class?"

White leaned in the doorway and sighed on the blunt edge of a smile.

"Good, good. I brought Thai food, come downstairs."

"I-" Black gestured to his desk, to the mannequin, to the pencil in his hand, which shook from fatigue and nerve damage.

"I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Black."

"Yeah, fine. I know."

He expected White to go downstairs but he waited just across the threshold, having experienced this situation before.

Black heaved a sigh and tried to ignore how his whole body creaked when he pulled himself out of his chair. He couldn't, however, ignore when his legs buckled and he caught himself on the edge of the desk. White hesitated, ready to reach out but holding back.

"You good?"

Black nodded and grabbed his cup with blanched knuckles and dizzy eyes.

He clutched the banister hard on his way downstairs and set the table, then put on some soft Ella Fitzgerald. He was done by the time White came around with the food, all dished up.

"I still don't see why we can't just eat it out of the container."

"Just sit down and eat your food, caveman," White said, pointedly.

They sat down and Black picked at his food.

"So, any progress?" White inquired over the rim of his glass. He shrugged.

"Not a lot. I keep starting things I can't finish."

"What about Saisons?"

"It's Saisons, not Say-sans."

"How's it progressing, though?"

"It isn't.".

Black relented and swallowed a forkful of pad thai.

"But, I've gotten most of the regular winter shit done as well as the four other pieces from Saisons, so it's not all bad. What classes did you have today?"

"That's good, you're almost there. Uh-sociology."

"Why? Thought you wanted to be a writer."

"I do, but I needed the credits, so..."

"Ah."

They settled into a comfortable silence until White broke it.

"I have a erm...I have a break in a few weeks, I was thinking we could visit the States."

Black paused.

"Your dad's place?"

He nodded.

"Do you think you're ready?"

White smiled.

"Yeah, it's time. Do you think I'm ready?"

"There's only one way to find out."

White washed up while Black threw out the containers and cleaned off the table, and the two boys finished the evening with an episode of Doctor Who. White loved the sciencey shit, Black loved the sudden heartache each story would invariably throw at you. They fell asleep on the couch slumped against each other, each thinking they knew what the other was dreaming of.