No Love Lost - Chapter Three (Part Two)

[yakumtsaki]

Goddamn the sun, goddamn anyone that says a kind word.



The harsh light of day had -very rudely- woken Consort up. He had overslept, which was an exceedingly rare occurrence; used to his mother forcing him to get up at 6 a.m sharp growing up, he had never needed to buy an alarm clock as an adult.

This was his first time being late for work. Even though he had slept very deeply, he woke up feeling more tired than before. It took great effort to get out of bed as his joints ached at every movement, still exhausted from all the walking he did yesterday. His head was in no better condition; he could already detect the early signs of what was sure to later become a splitting headache. Oh, it was going to be a bad day.



He took his time to properly get ready before heading out. Normally, he would be panicking about being an hour late, but this morning he couldn't bring himself to worry about it. What was Carl going to do after all, fire him? The other clerks were late so often, it was actually the exception that they'd be on time. Only Consort was always on time, always working hard, even if he hated that job with every fiber of his being. And now he was starting to realize there had been absolutely no point to any of it. They all got paid the same pitiful wages in the end.



The weather outside was warm and humid, making his shirt stick to his skin. It looked like it was going to rain again soon, which suited him just fine; anything but that damn sun. As he walked down the street, he could feel his anger gradually being replaced by a strange sense of calmness, his mind emptying of thoughts. Only that stupid song Patrizio was singing, stuck in the back of his head, was left to remind him of last night.



It was usually a ten minute walk from his place to the docks, but he was dragging his feet so much it took him double the time to get there. One look at that dreadful little building and he could feel his blood starting to boil again: just to think he could be heading to work at Capp Industries right now, but instead he was walking into that wretched place. God, how he hated it; he was convinced that his continued employment there was the source of most, if not all, his misery. The chances of another work opportunity coming along, of him escaping, were practically non-existent at this point.

And now, of course, as if everything else wasn't enough, there was also him, him, the damn waiter, giving him false hope, all smiles and charm and sympathy and "come over for dinner, Consort"! And her, and "hello, darling" and "oh, I just took pity on him", and then them, all sunny and bright and happy together.

Consort winced. Enough, enough, he was giving himself a headache. He wouldn't think about them anymore; it was done. "To hell with them", he decided as he opened the door with a shove.



"Ah, his higness finally arrives. Pretty late today, huh, Consort?"

Consort had to use every ounce of self-control he had not to punch Maurice square in the face. Visibly encouraged by the fact that Consort didn't respond, Maurice continued:

"Hope you had a good night's sleep, princess, cause there's someone waiting for you over there".



Consort looked over and, to his horror, saw Crazy Joe waiting for him at his desk.



"Oh goddamit, Maurice! You take him, I can't deal with him today".

"As much as I would enjoy having you owe me, Consort, I can't take him. Carl has me overseeing the repair today, so Joe is all yours".

"I wouldn't trust you to oversee the repair of a toilet, let alone the repair of a ship", Consort spat, heading to his desk. His day had just gotten much worse.



Crazy Joe did a number of jobs around the docks, but his main work was loading and unloading cargo. Unlike the other workers, who would come in the office, get their paycheck, and leave, Joe liked to stick around for a few hours and share tales of his days as a sailor.

After countless arguments, Consort and Maurice had finally settled on a system that was deemed fair by both of them, in which they would take turns dealing with Joe every time he came in to get paid. Today was Consort's turn but, having forgotten all about it, he now found himself mentally unprepared to endure Joe's drunken, incessant rambling.

"So this broad, mate, I'm telling you, she had hair longer than you can imagine, never seen hair like that before, I mean hair hanging down to her-"



Consort was managing to tune out most of the tale of the long-haired broad, instead concentrating his attention on Bobby, who was once again desperately trying to fix his typewriter.



That idiot Maurice fancied himself a great jokester, and was constantly messing with that damn thing just to rattle Bobby. Unsurprisingly, he had now managed to break the typewriter down for good. Bobby was a mild-mannered man that meant well most of the time; unfortunately, he was also completely incompetent at every single aspect of his job, even on the days his typewriter worked. Their boss, Carl, kept him around mainly out of pity, since it was clear as day that Bobby wouldn't be able to hold another job down for more than a week.

Consort closed his eyes as Joe rambled on, focusing his hearing on the rhythmic sound of the typewriter's keys being pressed again and again. Poor Bobby was probably hoping they would work again if he just kept on pressing them.

The sound calmed Consort so much he was practically sleeping with his eyes open, until this dreamlike state was interrupted by the -all too common- sound of Carl's office door banging against the wall as it swung open.  



"Consort! Consort! Damn it boy, have you gone deaf?"

Consort, suddenly back on earth, sheepishly turned around and watched his boss approach his desk as rapidly as his aging bones would allow. Maurice was giggling like a schoolchild at the unfolding scene. Consort shot him a dirty look before turning to Carl again, who was now hanging over his head like a crankier version of the Grim Reaper.

"Sorry Carl, I didn't hear you calling. Did you need something?"



"Why yes, Consort", Carl replied, mocking his tone, "I did need something. First of all, don't think I didn't see you sneak in here an hour late, boy."

"I apologize for that, it won't happen again-"

"It sure as hell won't! You're lucky everyone else here is dumb as a brick, and yes, I am talking about you, Bobby. You better get that damn typewriter fixed or it's coming out of your next paycheck. And you, Maurice, I can hear you back there giggling like a girl, why don't you get off your ass and do some work for once?" Consort immediately turned to Maurice with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Oh, will you two grow up and just do your damn jobs?", Carl exclaimed in exasperation as he watched that non-verbal exchange. He had been in a foul mood ever since his novel got rejected by every publisher in town, but today his bad temper seemed to be reaching some new heights. Consort worried he'd drop dead by a heart attack any second now.

"Consort", Carl added, now seemingly calm, "there's someone on the phone for you, take-"



Carl stopped mid-sentence, suddenly becoming aware of Crazy Joe's presence in the office. Judging by the expression that instantly formed on his face, that presence was unwelcome to say the least.

"Joe, are my eyes deceiving me, or are you once again in here, slacking and distracting my already half-useless clerks?"

Even though he firmly objected to being described as useless, Consort couldn't help but crack a smile. Having Joe around annoyed him to no end.



"Well, there isn't any work for me to do out there, boss", Joe attempted to protest.

Carl didn't respond, instead continuing to stare at him with the utmost disgust, until Joe finally got the message and got up to leave.



"Carl," Consort dared to ask after a few seconds, "you said there was a call for me?"



"Yes Consort, there was a call for you, but they have probably hang up by now, with all the time it takes me just to get you idiots in line. Just go take it in my office, don't be long and stop giving this number around."

"I didn't give-"

"You think I care what you did or didn't do, boy? Go take your damn call".



Consort felt extremely anxious as he picked up the phone. If someone was calling him at work, it couldn't be good news.

"Hello? This is Consort Thebe speaking".



"Consort? Finally! What the hell is going on over there?"

Yes, Consort was right, it wasn't good news. He felt like his heart was about to beat right out of his chest.



"Patrizio? Why on earth are you calling me here? Better yet, how on earth are you calling me here?"



"We have a phone at work, get with the times, Consort".

Consort clenched his fist and didn't respond, instead waiting for an actual explanation.

"Well," Patrizio continued, realizing that jokes wouldn't get him far in this conversation, "you have that weird name of yours to thank. I asked around, and some people here work at the docks and they knew you. They told me what building you worked in, and then I had to call this other number to find your number, well, not your number, but your boss's number, who, by the way, sounded like a real asshole-"



"While I truly am thankful that my weird name led you to this discovery, Patrizio", Consort sighed, interrupting him, "I really can't understand what the purpose of this call is".



"Well," Patrizio replied after a brief silence, "I wanted to talk to you, to apologize about last night-"



"I have no idea why you would feel the need to do that, Patrizio", Consort interrupted him again. He may not have been expecting that call, but damn it if he wasn't going to seize this opportunity to salvage at least part of his dignity. "Last night was perfectly pleasant, so you really have nothing to apologize for".



Patrizio managed to resist his first instinct, which was to tell him something along the lines of: "Last night was horrible and you know it". It was obvious that Consort's pride had been hurt, so Patrizio quickly opted for another, less dignified approach.

"Listen, Consort, if you would just do me a favor, just meet with me one more time, please. I need to talk to you. After that I won't bother you again, I promise".



There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds and Patrizio was starting to panic. Thankfully, Consort finally replied:

"Alright, even though I can't imagine what is so important that you have to talk to me about it. There's a pub near my house called The Bell-"

"Yeah, I know that place".

"Of course you do. We can meet there around 10".



"Great, I'll be there. Thank you, Consort".

"No need to thank me. Goodbye".



Consort hung up the phone in a state of shock. He felt like a moron, he had caved too easily; he should have made an excuse of being busy or just told Patrizio he didn't want to see him again, which was, after all, the truth. Instead, he had now trapped himself in an evening of pretending to be unbothered by last night's delightful little reveal.

Ah, damn Patrizio, tracking him down at his job, what kind of maniac would do that? Consort hated him, and hated himself too, for deep down feeling excited at the prospect of seeing him again.

He could hear Carl still throwing a fit outside, so he rushed back. Hopefully the remaining hours until he had to meet Patrizio would be enough for him to process everything.



Consort left work at half past nine, still not completely sure of what he was going to do. The one thing he had settled on was that appearing calm and unbothered was indeed the best course of action. No matter what, he wasn't going to give Patrizio the satisfaction of having upset him.



His heart started beating faster as he approached the pub. Thankfully, he was ten minutes early, so he'd have some time to collect himself before Patrizio showed up.



When he walked in, he realized that Patrizio had obviously made it his life's purpose to make everything as difficult as possible for him: he was already there waiting, and in that way depriving him of some valuable time to prepare.

"Damn Patrizio", he thought, for the umpteenth time that day.

Luckily, there was only a handful of other people in the pub, and Patrizio had displayed some good judgement in selecting a table that was as far away from them as possible.



Consort approached the table slowly, attempting to put on as neutral an expression as he could.

Patrizio cracked a big smile when he saw him. "Hello, Consort", he offered warmly.

Consort didn't reply, instead greeting him with a nod as he sat down.



"I ordered you a beer", Patrizio continued cheerfully, seemingly unfazed by Consort's cold demeanor.

"Thank you, but I don't particularly care for beer", Consort replied with a raised brow.

"Ah, I should have guessed!" Patrizio smiled. "Wine, right? I doubt what they have here will be up to your standards, but I can go ask", he said, starting to get up.



"No need to, I'm tired, so I won't be staying long", Consort said, trying to sound regretful, even though he was looking forward to the moment he could leave. Actually sitting there with Patrizio felt more strange and uncomfortable than he had expected.

"Oh. Alright then", Patrizio replied, obviously disappointed, which satisfied Consort.



"So, since I don't have much time, I better get straight to the point", he continued after taking a deep breath. "On the phone you said that last night was perfectly pleasant-"

"Yes, that's because it was", Consort chimed in.



"Yeah, alright, you can keep saying that, Consort, but we both now it isn't true" Patrizio exclaimed, almost yelling.



Consort was mortified. He took a look around the room to make sure people weren't staring at them, as Patrizio continued talking loudly:

"If you just let me explain, about me and Isabella-"



"Will you keep your damn voice down, Patrizio?" Consort interrupted him. "I don't have the slightest desire to pry into the inner workings of your relationship with Isabella", he continued in a low, angry voice. "Stop acting like a child".



"Oh, of course, I'm the one acting like a child. If only I was as mature as you are and capable of living in complete denial!" Patrizio replied, even more loudly than before. Consort now realized that he was half-drunk.



"That's enough", Consort growled. "I'm not about to sit here and be insulted."



"Look, I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean to embarrass you yesterday, she just showed up so suddenly and I had no idea what to do-"

Consort got up while Patrizio was talking.



"What the hell are you doing? Are you leaving?"

"Oh yes, I most certainly am", Consort replied coldly.



"Consort!"



Consort kept walking, not bothering to turn around. What a mistake it had been to come here.



"Damn it Consort, will you just wait a moment?" Patrizio yelled, chasing after him.

"Just go home, Patrizio".

"No, I won't go home, I need to talk to you!"



"Well, I am going home", Consort replied, unlocking the front door of his building, "so goodnight".



"Oh dear God", Consort exclaimed, realizing that Patrizio had followed him inside. "You're being ridiculous, this is beneath your dignity".



"I couldn't care less about my damn dignity right now", Patrizio replied in a tone so desperate that Consort was touched, despite his better judgement. "Just let me talk to you for five minutes", he sighed, "and then I'll be out of your hair, I swear, I'll never try to contact you again".

Consort, not usually one to be swayed by emotional pleas, found that he didn't have it in him to turn Patrizio away.

"Fine, you can come up for a while. But no more yelling".

Patrizio rejoiced, crossing his heart in response. They made their way up the stairs in silence.



"Your place is very.. I don't know. It suits you", Patrizio commented, observing the great care with which everything inside the apartment was arranged.

Contrary to what he'd been suspecting, Consort obviously wasn't exaggerating about being just as poor as him. But his place, besides being incredibly clean, had a few small touches that indicated his taste for the finer things, like that small ornate box that caught his eye immediately. Patrizio found himself, once again, completely charmed; now he just had to convince Consort to give him another chance.



"Thank you, I suppose", Consort replied with a small laugh, sitting down. He was a lot calmer now that they weren't in a public setting, although having Patrizio in his apartment felt like he was playing with fire. He leaned back, putting his feet up on the table. He had lost his temper back in the pub, but he wasn't about to repeat the same mistake. Patrizio approached and lightly leaned on the table beside him. Consort remained silent, waiting for Patrizio to say his piece.



"Consort", Patrizio finally began after a few moments, "I know we just met, I know, and this whole thing is absurd considering how little we actually know about each other. Chasing after people I've known for a day is not something I usually do-".

"Oh, it isn't? That's surprising".

Patrizio cracked a small smile before continuing. "I really am so sorry about last night, I could barely keep it together after you left. It's just, there is something here, isn't there? Am I wrong, imagining things?"



"No, you're not wrong, Patrizio, but you are forgetting something, or more likely, willfully ignoring it", Consort replied, unable to hide the bitterness in his voice.



"I'm going to end things with Isabella, Consort".

Consort wasn't prepared to hear that. He took a moment before replying.

"Well, end things with her if you want, but don't do it on my account. I don't want you to expect anything".



Patrizio turned to face him, visibly upset. "What the hell are you talking about?"



"What I'm talking about is the obvious fact that we know next to nothing about each other", Consort replied calmly, but with some harshness under his tone. "I wouldn't advise anyone whose fate I cared about, to abandon their.. companion for someone they just met".

Patrizio stood there stunned for a few seconds, a pained expression on his face. Consort would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying it.



"I've only been with her a month, Consort, it's not as if I'm leaving my damn wife for you!" Patrizio cried, his body now shaking with anger.

Consort sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. His calmness through this whole conversation was offending Patrizio more than his actual words.

"Yes, you may have only been with her for a month, but you've only known me for a day. I'm failing to grasp why this statement is so insulting to you", Consort replied, getting up from his seat as Patrizio drew nearer.



"For God's sake, Consort, will you stop it? You're really telling me that last night, before Isabella showed up, you were sitting there worrying about how little we know each other?  Do you expect me to believe that? I was there!"



"But she did show up, didn't she", Consort replied, now seething with anger, "so what the hell does it matter what I was thinking before she did?"

"Oh, Consort", Patrizio sighed, suddenly realizing just how much he had been hurt by last night.  



He gently took Consort's hand. "I'm so sorry."



Consort didn't say anything, just looked at him, all the sharpness and anger now having disappeared from his face. Patrizio hadn't noticed how grey his eyes were before.



"Consort", Patrizio said softly, moving closer to him. Consort slowly put his arms on Patrizio's shoulders, his movements unsure.



They were now locked in an embrace, still hesitant on Consort's part. Patrizio was holding him close, his hands firmly on his back. Consort could feel the warmth of Patrizio's body, and the smell of alcohol and cologne quickly tore down his defenses.



"You really should eat more", Patrizio whispered, feeling the bones on his side.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that", Consort laughed, moving his face closer to Patrizio's.



And then, their lips met; cautiously at first, each getting accustomed to how the other one felt and tasted, hoping and praying that their instincts about each other had been right, that they would not be disappointed..



..then growing deeper, hungrier, as they both discovered that yes, it had been the right choice, it was everything they were hoping for and more, it was it. The kiss to end all of their other kisses, to make all their problems, and worries, and doubts seem completely insignificant, to make them never want to let go of each other.



When they finally, reluctantly, pulled away from each other, both were out of breath.

"Well", Consort laughed after a few seconds of awed silence, "what the hell are we going to do now?"

Comments

[chocomilkbag.livejournal.com]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yessssssssssssss. what a payoff lol. i wasn't sure how fast or slow you were going to take this, but I'm glad you didn't drag it out, especially since it's clear that there's drama ahead. thank God patrizio is willing to be emotionally vulnerable and has a good grasp on consort or this never would've gotten off the ground, consort was def at his least likable here but i'm glad pat dealt with it quickly. it was kind of lmao to see how fast his strong + silent routine crumbled. you aren't fooling anyone consort!

anyway this chapter was obviously super cute and extremely fun to read. i appreciate that patrizio isn't being a fuckboy about it and intends to end it with isabella right away but i can't see that going well. how socially conservative is your veronaville for this time period? bc depending on that it seems like it's going to be ugly at best and incredibly ugly at worst. isabella seems perceptive so i wonder how fast she'll suss out what went down (provided patrizio doesn't tell her outright), on the other hand, it might be too far from what she suspected for her to guess.

from your last response, I'm glad you aren't bringing in contessa now because i just think it'd be way too much (and also overly convenient, since the triangular is a big part of the drama). i really can't guess what's going to happen next but im sooo excited to find out, especially since these two have confirmed their mutual feelings for each other. that said, i do feel worried about their relationship already, it will probably really become burdensome for patrizio to always been the one to do all the defence-breaking and heavy lifting if consort decides not to be vulnerable enough in return. consort immediately getting cruel at the first sign of perceived offence is....not cute (even though i fully get it) and i wonder if it'll eventually be part of the demise of their relationship given how consort is in the present day. this angsty star-crossed lover shit is EXTREMELY up my alley tbh.

on a side note i'm really impressed at how attractive you made consort and patrizio look (esp consort...that bone structure), since you didn't use any surgery right? idk if I mentioned this already but I immediately aged them down in my v.ville after I first read your story (LOL) and I yelped @ consorts face. even patrizio looked worse than i expected but he was also fat and bald as an adult so that was more understandable. I even have a hard time making someone with benign bone structure like mortimer goth (actually, any premade male???) look acceptable so good job on making them look as nice as they do! i eventually gave up and downloaded your versions, lol.

[yakumtsaki.livejournal.com]

<3 <3 i'm sooo glad you liked it! dragging things out for no reason is like the no1 thing i hate in stories of any kind, so i was definitely like "ok shit is gonna go down this update". i was also starting to get worried that this would turn in one of those will they/won't they deals, which ofc are fun when done right, but i was running the risk of making consort a total asshole if i went down this route lol. so yea, the real drama is ahead!

about the social norms of the time, i've thought about it a lot and decided it would be too heavy and dark to base it on how things were in the actual world during the 40's. like as a gay person i really can't deal with any more extreme homophobia in narratives and i definitely can't write about it without feeling like shit. at the same time, i don't want this to be completely divorced from reality, cause the fact that they are in a gay relationship is gonna become more and more important plot-wise. so basically what i've decided is that gay relationships are going to be generally "frowned-upon" in that time, but not to a degree where gay people are in physical danger or there are laws against "sodomy" and all this kind of crap. so they will definitely be variations to how their relationship is viewed by others, like some people are gonna be more open-minded and fine with it, while others won't, but again, nothing extreme, cause i really can't deal with that. without giving too much away lol, i think it is consistent with isabella's character, at least from what little we've seen her, to fall into the open-minded category, so the betrayal part will probably be more hurtful to her than the gay part. tbh i'm kinda dreading the next chapter because i don't wanna make isabella sad :(

yea, as far as contessa goes, i'm incredibly excited about her character, so i don't want to fuck it up by bringing her in too soon when i can't properly develop her. contessa and consort are gonna have one the most complicated dynamics in this story so for it to work we really have to know consort by then. you are right to worry about pat's and consort's relationship lmao and pretty much correct about what the root of their problems is gonna be. i am going to give them a honeymoon phase in the next chapters though, cause i feel like so far things have been very dramatic and now they should slow down a little cause i don't want it to get tiring. like after a while, if something is always wrong then things lose their impact. besides that, i feel that it would be more realistic and heartbreaking to show the reasons that consort/pat could work in the long run by having them be happy for a while, before the inevitable compatibility issues appear. consort being potentially cruel is something patrizio has noticed ever since their dinner, and yea, it's not gonna be good lol.

i did use a shitload of surgery on consort's cheeks which were just.. omg. like there was no way to make him look young without changing them, he still looked like an mean old man as an adult. making him look not terrifying while also keeping him recognizable was a bodyshop nightmare, he must have took like 4 hours to make, like at some point i was so frustrated with him i was ready to cry lmao. pat was way easier, his only big problem was that grumpy mouth and i think i changed his jawline a little to give him a more hunky look but that was it. im really glad you like them, consort especially i was really proud of, cause even though i changed his bone structure a lot it still looked probable that he would grow up to look like he does as an elder (i.e evil as shit).

another ridiculously-sized reply by me lol. thank you for your comment!