[PRP] heirloom (zac & jeremiah)

[azuredreams]

It had rattled him, his encounter with Sunny and it weighed heavily. Jeremiah had let himself drift into his work and Algie and, when he was not working, his garden. There was replanting that needed to be handled and things needed to be moved and it was simply a lot of work.

A hand smoothed across his brow, Jeremiah letting out a sigh and staring at the veranda. It was still a jungle because they had not taken the time yet to replant things.

For a moment he had considered calling Zac, asking him to come over and-

His heart was in his throat.

endejester

 

[endejester]

He hadn’t seen his Dad in a bit, not since their argument. Not for a bit since he confirmed that Heliodora was dead, killed. Knowing that Jeremiah knew who did it, that hurt, no name-dropping had tipped the scales and he’d just needed to be alone.

But now, well, he just needed to sit and talk. Find some kind of peace between them.
He was after all turning plastic, and while they had said that he could go back on this deal, there was no guarantee.

He knocked on the door; a matter of being polite and then let himself in.

“Dad? I… Jer? It’s me! I- um- I need to talk, is that ok? “

He almost said we, not I, and that was strange and eerie. The whispers pressing in the back of his mind.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

The door actually opened underneath Zac's hand, Jeremiah already on his way out to deal with the garden. He paused for a moment, eyes not seeing Zac at all, and let out a sigh.

It was a lot of work but it would give him something to focus on.

endejester

 

[endejester]

“Dad...” a moments pause. “Jeremiah….” He waved his hand in front of the older man’s face. “HellLOOOooooOooo”



Irritation flared. Was he… was he seriously invisible? He’d just been talking to someone. “Mister Mercer!!” He said sharply. If anything was going to get attention -that should have.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

There was no reaction and Jeremiah paused before he went around Zac, as if he knew but did not, and stepped onto the veranda (the door closed behind him).

A hand raked through his hair, eyes flicking between the various potted plants to figure out where to start.

endejester

 

[endejester]

“Are you bloody serious?” Zac sputtered He moved around him like he knew he was there, but at the same time his eyes said ‘he saw nothing john snow’.

Zac hauled off and planted a shoe in his butt.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Still nothing, at all.

Jeremiah did not react to the kick to the arse and instead moved to tend carefully to one of the orchids.

endejester

 

[endejester]

Zac made a frustrated sound, if any neighbors were around they probably jeard it, and picked up a dried out clod of… fertilizer. He chucked it at Jerimiah’s back.

“I know other people can see me!!” He demanded.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

It was- What-

There was a niggling sensation, as if something was-

The clod of fertilizer hit him in the back and he whirled on his heel to look behind himself.

"What the ... ?" Jeremiah could not see anything there but something had clearly thrown and had triggered his sense. There was no one there. His eyes focused on Zac but did not see him and looked elsewhere a moment later.

endejester

 

[endejester]

“Oh sure, that you felt!” Zac said tossing his hands up in exasperation. He grabbed another one and tossed it at Jer’s chest.
“What did you make a deal with now?! He demanded.
“I swear if you can see everyone else and just not me… now of all times.”
He fished out his cell phone, the replacement phone because his other had been stolen when he got assaulted.

He then turned and took a ‘selfie’ that showed himself and Jer in it as best he could.
He then added the text.

‘What the hell did you do now?!”

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah watched as the clumped appeared out of nowhere but this one he caught. His fingers closed around it with a terrible feeling in his gut, mouth opening once and then closing as his phone played that familiar space theme that was for Zac.

It was through sheer strength of will that his hand did not shake as he pulled it from his pocket. The screen was thumbed and unlocked, a notification that he had gotten a text from Zac there. His heart was in his throat as he opened it to see the picture of his son there right in front of him.

"I-" he started and then stopped and backed up to sit on the porch swing. Zac was here and he couldn't even- Blue-green eyes scanned where he was supposed to be but there was nothing there.

"It's the price of breaking her deal," he said quietly, a hand pressing to his face, "I had to give of my heart." Except it had not been his literal heart but those that he cared and loved for and held pieces of it.

endejester

 

[endejester]

The words hit Zac like a punch in the gut.
How long had he worried about the price of that promise.

“You…” He said breathless, and then realized that nothing he had said or done

He almost dropped his phone but with shaking hands he managed to type a message.


//Tell me //

//Tell me exactly what happened, I need to know.//

even as he hit send he was sitting down to take a picture of a patch of skin that had turned to plastic. He was going to have to send ether multiple texts, or an email.

Or… he was going to have to leave this trouble a secret.

He hated the secrets.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

His phone buzzed again and he read the messages. "Alright but ... Inside. I don't-" Jeremiah shook his head, not wanting to talk about it outside. Not when he was feeling raw and-

No, he was not thinking that, not right now. The silver-haired man pushed himself up and rubbed a hand against his face once more as he headed into the house. He left the door open behind him and went to the living room, trusting that Zac would close it behind him.

Jeremiah sat down on the couch, glanced towards the pen and fresh notebook that laid there. "That can be used or I can get my laptop or-" He sighed, his hands finally showing a brief tremble.

"With Heliodora's death, it was over, and I went looking for her. No point in running." His head leaned back against the couch, staring at the ceiling. Fingers were closed around the phone in his hand, the other hand rubbed against his chest. "I found her and she shoved her hand into my chest around my heart."

endejester

 

[endejester]

Zac took the notebook and pulled it towards him, picking up a pen. He stared at the paper for a long moment before writing out carefully.

“Go on.”

He wondered if it was strange just how easy it was to believe that her hands had literally been around his heart. He accepted it as fact and it was perhaps eerily simple to do so.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah watched as the pen disappeared but words appeared on the paper. This was something he could barely-

"She asked me to beg for my life but-" he shook his head. "The deal was broken, she was well within her rights. I wasn't going to beg. Yet she took her hand out and instead of my actual heart, she-"

His breath was ragged, a palm pressed to his eyes again. "Not the heart that beats in my chest, but my true heart." The love that he felt for those most important to him, the love that meant the most to him. Jeremiah could have given his own heart up immediately but this-

This had been a far worse price.

endejester