Dark as the Night

48

A sliver of light edged its way through the curtains, landing on Odessa's closed eyes. A bird chirped on the ledge outside her window, calling her from sleep. Slowly, she crawled to consciousness and opened her eyes to find herself in bed. Bed? She wondered groggily as she sat up and looked around. Did I go to bed?

Odessa tried to remember the night before. She had finished the practice test and decided to close her eyes, just for a minute, to go over the difficult formulas in her mind before giving it to James to check. Except that she must have fallen asleep...

She let the thought trail off as she climbed out of bed, yawning, and padded over to the desk, where the clock told her she had two hours before she had to be at the school. Good thing it's just a test today, Odessa mused. That gave her an extra hour. Then she noticed her practice test on the desk, graded. On top of it was a note in James's masculine scrawl:

Good morning, Lazy!

If you can do at least as well on your real test, you'll pass. A 'C' still sucks, though. Do you even pay attention to us when we're teaching you? Idiot. Good luck. You'll need it.

She snorted in amusement. This situation felt familiar – he'd even signed the note with a silly, childish face like the one she'd used in her note to him that night she'd fallen asleep in his room. In his arms. She set the test and note back down, stretched her arms over her head, then grabbed her toiletries kit and left for the women's bathroom to take a shower.

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Tai turned the shower off and let the steam float around him for a few seconds before toweling off. He opened the shower curtain and stepped out of the tub, wrapping the towel around his slim waist and wiped condensation from the mirror.

He took a moment for teenage vanity, checking for acne (he'd been lucky and never had trouble with that) and examining his abs (probably not "lickable," but that wasn't exactly heartbreaking news). He slicked back his shoulder-length dark hair, and shaved the shadow of stubble from his chin, jaw, and upper lip.

He brushed his teeth then rinsed out his mouth. Over the swishing sound in his head, he heard the downstairs door slam. He paused and felt his cheeks strain against a smile. Dad's home. He spit then opened the door and sauntered into the living room to meet the heavy footsteps coming up the stairs.

Adam Adohi shut the front door to his apartment and turned around to see Tai in the middle of the living room, hair dripping, towel around his waist, pulling on a t-shirt. His mouth stretched wide in a grin and in three large steps, he had reached his son and grabbed him in a huge hug. "Taiomah!" he exclaimed happily. "Have you grown again since I left? You're almost as tall as I am."

Tai rolled his eyes as his dad released him. "If I have, it hasn't been that much. You've only been gone three months." But he beamed at his dad before saying, "Welcome home," and wandering into his bedroom to finish getting dressed.

"It's good to be back." Adam took his bags to his room and set them on his bed. "Have you had breakfast yet?" He called out.

"No," Tai answered from his room. "I just got out of the shower. I was going to grab something at the bakery but if we leave now, we can make it to the ."

"Good idea," Adam replied, walking back out of his room. "Then we can sit down and catch up while we eat. Finalizing negotiations with the other camps took me so much longer than expected. I want to hear all about what's been going on here."

They left the wood shop and walked into the bright, sunny spring morning. Tai immediately began updating his father on what was going on with their carpentry business. Adam listened to the report, nodding and grunting his approval from time to time. Though he kept his face stoic, pride surged in his chest every time he looked at his son.

"You've done well," he commented when Tai had finished, and Tai looked at him, a bashful smile tugging at his lips. Adam chuckled at the knowledge that, confident as he was, his son could still be so pleased by a compliment from his dad.

They reached the food hall, got their food, and found a table by a window. Just as Tai was taking a bite of sausage and sweet potato hash, Adam cleared his throat. "I had a strange dream, recently."

"Uh Oh," Tai said with his mouth full, eying his father. "Strange means true with you. What was it about?"

Adam swallowed his own bite, and focused on his food as he spoke. "I dreamt that a strange white flower had appeared in the center of the camp one morning, bringing happiness and peace to everyone here. You and James were tending it together, helping it to grow strong and healthy. I'm not sure what it means, but I have an idea." He stopped, took a breath, then looked straight in Tai's eyes and said in a low, urgent voice, "Taiomah, are you and James gay?"

Tai stared at his father, blinking for a long moment. Then horror crossed his face. "Are we...? Wha-" he spluttered. "Seriously?? No! That's not what your dream means!" He narrowed his eyes at Adam. "You know perfectly well that I'm straight, and he's a total womanizer."

Adam guffawed. "You never know. Teenagers experiment all the time. Sexuality is a fluid thing."

Tai threw a piece of potato at him. "Cut the crap, Dad," he sighed dramatically, but his lips twitched slightly.

"It's not crap," Adam said, his face grave again. "If you are gay, you don't have to hide it, Tai. I love everything about you, and I would love to have James for a son-in-law." The twinkle in his eye belied his serious tone and expression, and Tai rolled his own eyes.

"Sure, ok, Dad. You didn't actually dream anything of the sort, did you?"

"Well..."

Tai pointed his spoon at his father. "Liam told you about Odessa, didn't he?" At Adam's falsely innocent expression, he knew he was right. He rolled his eyes again and dipped the spoon into some yogurt before looking back at Adam. "Yes, she appeared suddenly, we found her and have been helping her get adjusted. Yes, she brings happiness to those around her. She's smart and funny, kind and gentle, but she can be fierce, and she can hold her own against James." A soft smile played about his lips and his voice was warm as he spoke fondly.

Adam observed his son carefully. "I can't wait to meet her," he commented wryly. Tai's smile widened.

"I'll take you to see her at the med center later."

**********

A/N: Tai's dad is home! I wanted to post a character photo of Adam, but then I realized that I don't have one. I started writing this story 5 years ago, and I still don't have an actual character profile page for him. D:

So, who do you think Adam Adohi looks like? Let me know in the comments!

-Evie