early april, late march ; duke&av blitz
Apr 8, 2024 18:08:25 GMT -5
Post by ᴥ on Apr 8, 2024 18:08:25 GMT -5
duke baptiste
Watching him grow up, loving him quietly. It's nice that Avriel did all that.
Decadence falls around him, in the silk embroidery on his seat and pleasantly floral wax melting in the wall-mounted porcelain fixtures. Av send him to a good school, full of good people. He had a tutor who talked him through math and a baking class that never included cherries in their recipes. He'd been provided happiness on a silver platter, of course he was grateful for it.
"I love you too." He says, a whisper in the the hard plastic receiver. Surrounded on all sides by his brother's kindness, notably absent was Avriel Baptiste. Duke's soft exhales echo back at him, harsh against the microphone. He tries to find the words to convey what he's feeling, but the colors are all mashed up.
Av's right, Duke still is the boy that saves snails. Has a glued together shell sitting on his end-table because the ones he couldn't stop thinking about all the ones he didn't save. So much more than a handful baked under the sun or crushed beneath polished dress shoes. Sometimes it all felt so pointless. He wonders if Av knows he's the kind of boy that walks past snails on the sidewalk too.
"I never doubted that, Av." He feels bolder, more familiar. Loves another color, peachy-pink as the sunrise that seeps through his window, that gets mashed up black in his chest. He's not innocent, he's sloth. Sitting and letting the weeds take root around his veins. Swallowed up by both his grief and his brother's.
He wasn't forgotten, he let himself be buried.
"I just- I would have liked if you didn't love me at an arm's length."
But maybe it'll be okay.
Maybe, "I mean, I'll be seeing you soon right?"