keep me in mind {alger/copper}

His father had posed a question to him that morning as they'd sat in his office, stacks of paper piled high between them, trying to find a catch in one of the latest deals that they were working on. "Copernicus," he had said, cold gaze on the paper in front of him, "Do you want to be here or not, you've barely made it through your stack."

Copernicus had not answered because his father would not have liked what he would have to say. If he had gone with honesty, the answer to his question would have been no. He did not want to be there in that stuffy office, staring the rest of his life, his doom in the face. He would have much rather been outside, where the sun was. It was what had kept grabbing his attention, the large window that had been directly to his left nearly serving to blind him with images of the rising sun. They hadn't even gone home to rest the night before, Copernicus had not breathed fresh air in over thirty hours. The answer was a solid no. He wanted to have a moment's rest.

His skin was so twisted with pent-up stress that he felt that he must have become unrecognizable in this past week. He felt like one of those impressionist pieces from the art museum.

Here he was now, hours later, still going through the same contract. His father had requested that he look through it one last time before sleep and like everything else in his life that his father asked for, Copernicus gave it to him without complaint. He was stuck on one paragraph, like a broken record caught repeating the same line again and again. His brain was either too tired to compute it or the amount that he just did not care about any of it was beginning to catch up with him. With a sigh, he took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. They leaked, his eyes were so strained even with the lenses.

He'd loosened his tie hours earlier and his dress shirt was unbuttoned, rumpled. He'd almost been glad when he'd arrived home to an empty house only hours earlier, lonely but glad. He'd needed to get a lot of work done in order to sleep tonight and he was still only half way through it. He couldn't stop thinking about other things.

Algernon said that he was taking his latest to a ball tonight. Copernicus had been invited but had had to respectfully decline. The girl was too low a status for him to warrant actually taking time off of work. He did enjoy those sorts of things, but it made no matter to his father what he enjoyed or didn't enjoy because in his eyes, Copernicus would do as he was told. Despite himself, he kept checking the clock, wondering when Algernon was due back. Knowing his friend, he wouldn't be home until the wee hours of the morning. However, this relationship was already lasting longer than Copernicus had expected it to, he was wondering when the ball would drop.

He was too intent on his reading to notice when Algernon himself entered his room. on the other hand, it was second nature for Copernicus to be aware of him when he was around. without fully recognizing it, Copernicus visibly relaxed, shoulders drooping and head falling to one side in relief.

A solitary sniffle announced his friend better than any butler could, Copernicus set down the paper he had been reading and turned in his chair to regard him, eyebrows knitting together in concern when he saw Algernon's usually perfect makeup smeared. At first he wondered if someone had been in an accident but Copernicus knew that if that was true, Algernon would be with said person, not here, crying. "Lola?" he asked, voice laced with concern.

He knew that blue haired floozy would break his heart, they all did in the end. They didn't know how to care for it.

As Algernon finished reading the letter, Copernicus sighed almost angrily. He'd met Lola once or twice and as always, was as polite as needed. Her station was lower but she was a woman so Copernicus had exuded the regular charm and grace. However, he hadn't liked her. He never did like any of Algernon's various dates. In Copernicus' eyes there was always something wrong with them. He was usually right about them because in the end, they often broke his best friend's heart. Copernicus had come to understand that Algernon was extremely bad at choosing dates.

It never stopped Algernon from trying and Copernicus made it a point to tell him that his door was always open. Things had changed since they were younger, when he'd had more free time to be with Algernon. Now Copernicus felt that sometimes he didn't see the sun for days. He spent all of his time at the office.

He glanced at his desk, at the papers there, all in neat stacks. He had been meant to finish reading but exhaustion was making his eyesight raw anyway. He picked up his glasses, placing them back on and ran a hand through his hair, mussing it. When he'd told Algernon that he could talk to him whenever, he'd meant it. He stood up, steadying himself with the chair when all his blood rushed away and left him feeling dizzy for the briefest of moments.

his hand left the chair when his feet left the area of the desk and he was walking across the marble flooring of his bedroom to the bed. With a soft sigh meant to comfort, he sat down beside his best friend and placed a hand on his back between his shoulder blades. Gently, he began to rub Algernon's back in small circles, something that his mother had often done for him, time and time again. He'd taken to doing it to Algernon in turn years ago. "The girls' got no class," he murmured in response to his question.

Copernicus had been through many a break-up with Algernon and knew what was required of him well. The general idea was to agree with whatever he said and also point out all of the flaws of the person he'd been dating. Then, he broke out the chocolates that Algernon was fond of and alcohol and the night often dissolved into watching romance films while Algernon drunkenly cried over various letters and objects of affection that he'd received over the course of the relationship, however short or long it had been.

"I don't see how it's you doing something wrong, when they're the despicable cheats," he responded bitterly, mind going to Mariana. Of course he had since confronted her about the fact that she had a female lover and had worked things out with her. Of course they had never been in love in the first place anyway. It had still hurt to be cheated on.

Copernicus shifted so he lay flat on his bed and then reached beneath it for the box dedicated to situations such as these. He kept it well stocked. Pulling it up, he placed it on the bed between them, and opened it to reveal four bottles of cheap wine and a smaller, more compact bottle of the moonshine often found at younger Capitolite's parties. He lifted out a bottle of wine and opened it, passing it on to Algernon, "Here, Drink," he said, opening a bottle for himself.

Copernicus often needed to get wasted on nights like these just to deal with the feelings of hatred that grew on him for the people that Algernon dated. He didn't ever get to know them because he knew these feelings would emerge in the end. It was a cocktail of jealousy and utter dislike for the way they treated Algernon.

"You shouldn't give up, Algernon darling, I'm certain that one day someone will come along who'll know how to treat you," he said sympathetically, following up the statement by taking a swig from the bottle of wine. The sour taste of it clouded his mouth but it was welcome.