The Open Secret

2

Note: The playlist for this is linked under external links.

It's included on there, but I would also like to humbly submit the song 'Love in the Time of Socialism' by Yellow House as the theme song for these two. Give it a listen. It's perfect.

-

The cabinet formation is, to use the technical term, a shitshow.

Talks between the major parties with incredibly opinionated leaders all over the political spectrum were never going to go smoothly. Still, Rob has been surprised by just how far things have devolved since the election, complicated by endless backbiting and backroom deals. Sigrid wants a more progressive coalition that their partners on the right will never abide, and whether they like it or not, they need each other for a majority. D66 has been about the only constant contender for the government. As a result, he's found himself roped into far more late-night negotiations than he'd like and driven to smoke a bit more than usual in an effort to relieve some stress.

As talks drag on and they're sent back to square one for the hundredth time, he is summoned to a meeting with party leaders and their deputies in a conference room in the old Ministry of Justice building in a last-ditch attempt to form a progressive coalition. Jesse is there but doesn't greet him and makes a point of sitting as far away as he can manage at the long mahogany table. It pains him, although he doesn't let it show, plastering on the look of practiced indifference that he's cultivated over the years.

Nearly two weeks have passed since that night, and they haven't so much as said one word to each other, though it isn't for lack of trying on his part. He'd woken in the morning with a screaming headache and an empty bed, Jesse having slipped away sometime during the night. He's beginning to have the terrible sense that he ruined what might be his only real friendship in the Kamer, and the even worse sense that he would do it all over again if given the chance. He wants him again, in a way that he can't tamp down or talk himself out of.

Running on only a few hours of sleep, Rob struggles to focus as the meeting drags into its second hour but perks up when a familiar voice fades into his consciousness.

"We'll support a seventeen billion-dollar plan for targeted buyouts of farmers, but only seven billion is a non-starter. That won't even make a dent in the nitrogen levels," Jesse tells someone - probably Sigrid, Rob thinks, but he wasn't paying close enough attention to know for sure. He glances over at Jesse, seated diagonally across the table, who appears to be making a concerted effort to seem unaware he's there at all. "And we want a carbon emissions reduction target of at least sixty percent by 2030. We won't go lower than that."

Sigrid exhales, looking just as exhausted as Rob feels. "Can GreenLeft work with fifty-five? The EU is at fifty-two. We would still be ahead of that."

Jesse doesn't so much as flinch. "No."

Rob shifts in his seat and forces himself to look down at the pad of paper in front of him. He's always found the way Jesse adheres to his beliefs undeniably attractive, and he still does, even though it is thwarting his party's plans at the moment.

"What about fifty-seven?" Sigrid counters.

"It's a more acceptable starting point, but I'm not ready to commit to that as the final number until I speak with my members."

"All right." She writes something in her notes, then leans forward slightly with her lips pressed into a grave line. "Now, we need to have a serious discussion about the partnership between you and Labour."