#day 14: daisies for innocense

[edupunkn00b]

Remy & Emile, Chapter 4: Darling

Word Count: 1215, Human AU, pre- and during Chapter 1 of Happily Ever After [ AO3 ]

May Flowers Event Day 14 Prompt: Daisies for innocence

Emile chewed at the end of his pen, head tilted to the side, staring down at the blank page in front of him. The new religious school director had added two more weeks to next year’s school calendar and Emile needed to develop additional lesson plans for his third graders. He retrieved his laptop from his bag, pulling up the current curriculum, looking for gaps or shorter lessons that he could flesh out into broader, multi-session topics.

Reviewing the ten months of the new calendar, he realized that the expansion meant that they were guaranteed to meet during his favorite holiday, Tu B'shevat, 'Jewish Arbor Day.' Emile grinned as an idea brewed in his head. Sketching out the months, he pulled out the standalone Earth Day activity from April's plans. If he expanded it with more information about sustainable farming and a survey of the trees around the temple, he could craft at least one additional lesson and possibly two. Head down, Emile started writing, mapping out the new lessons.

Emile was so caught up in his work that he barely registered the noise at the door until Max rose from their bed and opened it.

“Oh, hello there. I’m Remy … I was looking for Emile. Do I have the right room?”

Emile stood at the sound of Remy's voice at the door, knocking over his chair. Max watched with narrowed eyes as Emile picked it up and joined him. Max stood with one arm resting on the door frame, the other holding the door open. Emile had to peer over Max’s arm to see Remy’s face.

“Hi, Emile. I - I hope I’m not disturbing you. I …,” he swallowed, eyes darting between Max and Emile. “I realized last week that we actually live on the same floor." A higher-pitched than normal chuckle escaped his lips. "I happened to see you go in your room the other day." Remy chewed his lip for a moment. "I hadn't really noticed until -" he gestured at his own hair, "- you know ... the pink. Your hair hasn't always been that color, has it?”

Emile blushed and shook his head, hand reaching up to cover the bright locks. “No, I dyed it just a couple of weeks ago … um, right before we met, actually.” Emile’s eyes widened, “Oh, I’m forgetting my manners. Remy, this is Max, my boyfriend. Max, this is Remy. We take Paleoecology together.”

Max grinned broadly, reaching for Remy’s hand and pumping it up and down in a vigorous handshake. “It’s nice to meet you, Remy. You must be one of the Running Start high school kids.”

Remy cleared his throat, “No, not anymore at least. Officially I'm a Junior, but this is my first year at Western.” He pointed down the hallway, “I live at the end, the door with the 'Equal Rights Aren't Like Pie' stickers.”

Max nodded, peering down at Remy. “Well, you must be older than you look. I interrupted you, though, didn't I?” He draped his arm over Emile’s shoulders, drawing him close to his body. “You were saying about my little Emile’s hair?”

“Um, just that it made you more noticeable, Emile.” Remy shrugged, giving a little smile to his friend and avoiding looking back at Max’s face. Remy shoved his hands in his pockets. “I suddenly started seeing you everywhere,” he said with a small chuckle.

“Recency bias,” Max intoned.

Remy’s eyes shot over to the taller man. He raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Emile. Emile spoke first. “The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon?,” he asked him.

“Sure, Darling,” he muttered, still staring at Remy with a smile. “It’s when you first learn about something and it makes an impression, so you start noticing it everywhere.” He looked down at Emile. “I told you the pink hair would be attention-getting.”

Emile stared at the floor, noting how Remy’s feet were slowly inching away from their door.

“Well, I should be going - Oh, right! I nearly forgot why I knocked.” Remy presented the book he was holding to Emile. “I came to return this.”

Emile looked up, mouth drawn down into a small frown. “Oh ... you don’t have to return it yet, I’ve already read it.” He nodded quickly, “You can finish it.”

Remy shrugged, “I did. I … stayed up last night reading.” He huffed out a small laugh. “I just couldn’t put it down.” He thumbed through the pages, revealing sticky notes scattered throughout the text. “I mean, ‘Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven’ ?! And the rights in the forest? 'You have the right to be present'!

"Oh, and the part with the protest?," Emile leaned closer, grinning and tapping at the book as Remy flipped through the pages. "What did you think about the police video? Or the part about how the original message of the Giving Tree backfired, making us expect trees - and people - to just give and give until - "

Max cleared his throat and tightened his grip on Emile's shoulders.

Remy's brow furrowed as his gaze lingered where Max's fingers were pressed against Emile's upper arm. "The book was quite good. I really appreciate you letting me borrow it, Emile.”

Emile's eyes remained focused on the book in Remy's hands, “I am glad you enjoyed it, Remy. I thought you might like the way it weaves emotion into the ecology." He cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "The Overstory really should be required reading in the environmental science program.”

Remy opened his mouth to respond but a shift in Max’s posture drew his attention and silenced his next thought. “Well, here,” Remy pressed the book back into his hands. Emile felt Max’s grip tighten once more around his shoulders. “Thanks again. I’d - “ Remy’s eyes darted back to Max. “- I should go. It was nice to meet you, Max.” He looked at Emile again, “See you in class tomorrow?”

Emile nodded as Max closed the door, murmuring, "See ya."

“Nice kid,” Max muttered darkly. “Maybe he’ll flirt less now that he knows you have a boyfriend.”

Emile shook his head, stroking Max’s shoulder, “Remy’s not flirting. He’s just friendly. And really smart. I get the impression he has trouble finding people to talk to about his ideas.”

“You always want to see the best in people, Emile, even when the truth is standing right in front you.” Max shook his head slowly, putting both arms around Emile’s shoulders. “I think maybe you don’t realize how few people are actually interested in friendship. Most are usually only trying to get you into bed.” Emile opened his mouth for a moment, retort at the ready, Remy’s not like that, but the ice in Max’s expression killed the words on his lips.

Emile returned Max’s embrace, still gripping the book tightly, before putting it back into his bag and returning to his lesson plans.

“Darling,” Max’s voice was low. Emile craned his neck to face him, smile ready. “Your little friend did actually prove my earlier point." Max raised his eyebrows at Emile. "I told you that you shouldn’t have dyed your hair pink. It just attracts the wrong kind of attention.” Max stood behind Emile's chair, stroking his shoulders and running fingers through his hair. “When you’re done with that, let’s go to Rudy’s and get your hair back to its real color, ok, Darling?”

@tsshipmonth2020​