dresden_kink | Dressing Room

[Daniel Carpenter slouches across Millennium Park, backpack slung over his shoulder, the homework he brought into the city for the weekend heavier on his back than on his mind. Who wants to do physics when the sun is shining? Maybe he'll grab a patch of bench later and do some reading; it's a good place for it. He likes Millennium Park, okay? And not because he's been away at college for so long he's turned into a tourist, like Alicia said last week. Evanston isn't another planet; it's 40 minutes on the L.

And there's a familiar face he wasn't expecting to see.

...Crap, and he stopped walking. Now he has to say hi and it will be awkward but if he keeps going and Mr. Dresden sees him, it'll be rude and more awkward. Augh, social graces.]

"Er. Hey Mr. Dresden." Wave?

[Harry blinks out of his intent reading to see Daniel Carpenter. Always one of the calmer members of the Carpenter brood. Strong kid, a lot like his father.]

He-- [He coughs, swallows the bite of his cupcake in his mouth, then tries again.] Hey, Daniel. What's going on, how's, uh, college?

Ooh, cupcake. Not that he's hungry or anything. Or should be hungry or anything. He only ate an hour ago. Wasn't he too old to still be doing this? When did puberty end, anyway?

"Good! Um. Good."

...Seriously, Carpenter. That's all you can come up with?

"What are you reading?"

[Harry has more cupcakes. He actually has a box of the things. They were half-off and Harry is not about to let opportunities like that pass him by.]

Do you have a major or undecided? Or are you just there for the girls? [He winks, smirks, look he's cool Uncle Harry, right?]

[He holds up his book.] Grimm fairy tales. Or, as my people call it, research material. Dark stuff, but Jacob and Wilhelm did their best to get information out there for the mundanes.

[Daniel has a flat of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups under his bed. He's Completely Understands.]

"Uh, Mechanical Engineering." [He scratches the back of his head.] Definitely not the girls, nope. Surprise Mom and Dad. ...When he gets up the nerve to have that conversation.

"Oh hey, cool! A friend of mine had a whole class on fairy tales." Which had been kind of awkward, because 'Oh, by the way, my big sister got kidnapped by the Queen of the Winter fairies once, and one of said-Queen's big bads cornered me in a treehouse and I woke up screaming for months and still have nightmares about it when I'm stressed' was ...another conversation he didn't want to have. "There's some seriously grisly stuff in those!"

Oh. Shit.

"...They're not all REAL are they?"

Mechanical? [Harry wrinkles his nose. All that technology. Progress marches on and he keeps getting left behind.] Sounds... studious.

Before Disney gets ahold of them, yeah, pretty ugly. [His tone is detached, like he's never thought about it. Harry's seen much worse in his work. Grimm is pretty tame to him.] You kind of get used to it.

Real? Uh... [He rubs the back of his neck, thinking.] The individual tales? Maybe not. But all of them are pretty plausible.

[He laughs. Yeah, engineering. And engineers. Even if you are one-- it comes with a bit of social stigma. Also cats.] "Yeah. I thought about Software for a while, but what can I say." [He shrugs, shifts his backpack a little.] "I like mechanical. Maybe I'll follow up with aerospace, but first I gotta get through one degree." And right now? Getting through this semester is all he wants to think about. Ugh. "And it has a history to it too, you know? Industrial revolution and all." Which okay, he didn't know that much about. But Julius did, and shared. He'd picked stuff up. "I bet you'd like it. Molly says you're making her learn physics and calculus and stuff."

She kind of hated it. Kept trying to get him to do her homework. At least he was a good tutor, even over the phone, and Alicia could do a lot of it too.

"...Man." [His face turns down, and he tries to remember some of the actual stories.] "The stuff with like. The talking animals and clothes that hurt and turning people into stuff? Oh! The girl with the bearskin? And her father wants to-- yeah."

A stalwart student of literature. Can't you tell?

[So Harry will never ever be able to go to Daniel's place of work without frying everything with his presence. Good to know.] Well, systems like that area a good basis for her to understand magic. Magic and physics are intrinsically linked. And she seems to like it. Her homework's usually done on time.

[Harry grabs another cupcake and pointedly leaves the box flipped open. You know. Just in case.] Yes to all of the above. Maybe they didn't happen exactly as the Brothers Grimm wrote them, but the lessons are there. Not to harp on the dangers of the supernatural but if you need a... [What were they called again?] Artsy credit class or something, folklore would help keep you alive.

So, going to visit your family? Bit south, aren't you? [Harry silently hoped Daniel didn't need a ride or anything. Harry had taken the L and walked here...]

[He shrugs, shuffles a little.] "Yeah, she grumps sometimes-- who doesn't?-- but she picks it up really fast. I think she liked the electrical stuff the most. She made, like, fireworks in the bathtub with her hands last summer. Like Jubilee." [That had been pretty cool, actually. Even if Mom had gotten a little cross at the burn holes in the shower curtain and the smoke alarm had gone off. Having a wizard for a sister was kind of awesome.]

His face turns down, but he eyes the cupcakes anyway. Yeah, that's definitely his stomach growling. But...] "...yeah. I try not to think about it too much, you know?" Well, IT wasn't really the Brothers Grimm. But it got a little tangled up, sometimes. He hadn't seen a horror movie in years. "Maybe it would be a good idea. Kind of creepy to think about it as a history class, though. Heh. Maybe I'll just borrow my friend's books first." Because getting on with his life? A good idea. And he was. He had. He just probably could a little more.

"I'm actually taking one now-- why I'm here. Art history. Gotta go look at the Van Goghs." He jerks a thumb vaguely northward, at the Art Institute. "Came home for the day. Do my laundry, let Mom feed me up."

Speaking of... [He looks down that the open box of cupcakes, back up at Mr. Dresden. Who, seriously, looks like he could eat the whole box and it would do him some good. Daniel's skinny, but Mr. Dresden got half his weight crossed with his height in the schematics.] "Um. Thanks." [He takes one, chews. Mm, processed calories. The best kind.] "What about you? Too nice to be in the office?"

[He nods.] She's empathic and good with manipulating the senses. Illusions, creating things from energy. Guess that's a Carpenter thing. [To say Harry was envious of the big, compassionate family would be an understatement. It was something he always wanted, that he thought he had with Justin but... well. Old wounds.]

[Harry knows what the "it" means. He doesn't begrudge Daniel wanting to put all of that behind him, but...] I know it sucks being in the know about everything. But I always figured it was better to be aware and prepared than one of these people, [He nods to the Chicagoans and tourists around the park,] and being more at risk, right? Knowledge is power.

[Harry smiles encouragingly, eating his own cupcake.] Bit of that, yeah. I need a day off. No calls at the office. No Warden work lined up. Nothing out of SI, no Fae to bargain with, no vampires to slay, no mob bosses to act all superior and insulting Just... [He gestures vaguely.] Just a nice day and some reading.

"Huh, maybe." [He doesn't really get it. A Carpenter thing? What's that? His dad's eyes? His mom's nose? He's grown up in the whole big loving clan, and sure, he knows he's pretty lucky. His parents love each other, Molly's running away didn't tear everything apart, his dad's still alive. And it's great when (Uncle-)Harry-Mr.-Dresden-if-Mom's-around visits. He should do it more often. But Daniel wouldn't blame him if he didn't like Harry-his-brother and Hope treating him like a jungle gym and everyone else trying to talk to him at the same time.

He looks away, takes another bite of cupcake so he doesn't have to answer right away.] "Yeah, I know. I mean-- once we were old enough to understand what Dad was doing whenever he left. There are a lot of things out there. But it sucks, you know?" [He jerks his shoulders. It sucks. Magical-induced mental trauma. Sucks. Out of milk. Sucks. Coffee spilled. Sucks. Oh teenagers.]

"Ha, no way. Molly wasn't make all those stories up? Wait... the fairies that fix our shoes?" [No WAY that was real. Except it probably was. Man, how was he ever going to be able to tell anyone this stuff?] Hold on a second. "...Mob bosses? Those aren't supernatural. You mean." [Brow furrow, more uncomfortable memories time!] "Mr. Marcone? The guy who, ah." Molly blamed, loudly, for Dad's leg and eye? "The Denarians took?"

[Harry didn't think there was a "maybe" too it. Any practitioner would know the Carpenters had a strong, compassionate family. Hell's bells, their threshold was like the Rock of Gibraltar. Harry loved it there, but didn't like to intrude, especially not after Michael's... after Michael. It felt selfish, indulging in that comfortable, familial atmosphere with nothing to offer in return. Ah well. Harry just sighs.]

Never said it didn't suck. Because it does. [Stars, Daniel's father had faced Denarians and dragons. His sister was far too adept at invading minds. Daniel had to save himself from a fear-eating fae. And still Harry could only think Daniel hadn't seen anything yet.] Just playing devil's advocate.

[Oh, Christ, Marcone. Harry looks away, staring very interestedly at nothing.] Don't misunderstand me. Marcone's as vanilla as you, but the scumbag's managed to make himself a player in the supernatural game. He's... Marcone. [He shrugs as nonchalantly as he can.]

"Yeah." [His smile went crooked, and he wiped the cupcake crumbs off his face.] "And it's not like it's easy to walk away from. It's stupid. It follows you. Sometimes it jumps out of the trees." Hey look, a joke. Which... Gruffs. D'uh, Daniel. Talk about your fairy tales come to life.

Marcone. [Daniel frowns, considers that.] "A player? Like... one of those goat-things taking a walk off the pier with steel-boots on, or...?" Or does he make a difference. Which, okay, his parents would probably freak if they knew how intriguing that was. There's something in Mr. Dresden's voice, though... "I always thought you were the real player in town. You guys work together on it?"

[Harry doesn't laugh, just smiles sadly. He's something of an expert in using bad jokes to make life seem less terrifying and hopeless. He can relate.] I know. S'why it's better to know. You can protect yourself if you know. You can protect the people around you. [And he doesn't mean in the abstract-- Harry's sure Daniel's capable of that.]

[Harry sputters.] No! It's not like that. [Goddamn Marcone... Why is he always the lesser evil?] John is... not an ally, but he's not as bad as some of the things out there. And, well, he's Baron now, which is my fault, but... [Harry stops, rubs his face.] I want to see him behind bars, but maybe not while all his possible successors are worse than he is. Until then... [He trails off, shrugging some more.]

[Daniel frowns, thinking on that. All of that.] "Baron? For real baron? What does he do?" Baron. Which means... well. He doesn't really know. But it sounds important. Like he could protect the people are him, too. And John, eh? "Sounds like you know him okay. ...But it sucks, huh?"

Self-styled. His real title's Free-Holding Lord. You can ask your dad about the Accords sometime. He must've heard of them in his Knighthood. [God, talking about Marcone was uncomfortable. Harry wanted to hate him, but really couldn't. He should've been easy to categorize. Mafia is bad. Simple, right? If only.] I know him. And... yeah, it sucks, but-- and I'll deny saying this to my dying day, Daniel-- but when push comes to shove, he'll do the right thing. Or maybe I can just make him do the right thing. I don't know. I try not to think about it.

"Accords." [His face wrinkled up.; he recognized the word. Well, obviously he recognized the WORD. But he recognized the way it was used, too.] "I've heard that before." Maybe not from Dad, but... "The thing where ...fairies and wizards and even Denarians all sign up and the rules are really old school. Like." Not "right of the first night", Carpenter, jeeze. Braveheart is not a history lesson. "Kings and stuff." Good recovery.

[He considered Marcone again-- well, he'd never met the guy, but Molly had pointed him out in the news, in news papers, and he'd searched him a few times online, when Dad was still recovering and they didn't know if he'd ever walk again and Molly kept blaming Marcone and crying and all the lights in the house died in the same hour. He was part of their family history in a way, a really messed up way. This big hole no one really named but he was pretty sure his parents must have talked about, when no one else was listening, and everyone walked around him like when Nan fell asleep on the couch when she visited. Yeah, this was kind of uncomfy territory. But...]

"I didn't know you could just... sign up. I thought you had to be magic."

[Make him do the right thing. "No offence, Harry, you guys sound... weird. Does he really help?" [Hey, give a boy a cupcake, he drops the Mr.]

[The idea of John Marcone exercising droit de seigneur would likely break Harry's brain. He lifts his hand and seesaws it to and fro.] Eeh. I think most of the supernatural community thought so too. Marcone's the first straight to do it. There's no rules against vanilla mortals being Signatories though. He got the paperwork, got the signatures. He's in. Which, you know... that's my fault. I didn't really think that one through. [It felt significant that Marcone had managed to pull that off, though Harry couldn't figure out the implications just yet.]

['Mr. Dresden' can be saved for the Baron-Lords and suspicious police officers. 'Harry' smiles a bit at hearing Daniel loosening up a bit. It fades when he thinks about the 'weird' though.] Uh. Heh. Yeah, but I don't think anyone could have a normal relationship with someone who tried to buy them like he did me. Long story. [He clears his throat.] Yeah, he helps. At least, he helps me. Sometimes I'm on a case that involves him, but I pretend he doesn't exist the rest of the time. Helps me sleep at night.

[Heh. Straight. Don't smirk, Daniel.] "Your fault? What, did you force it on him?"

[He eyes the bench, shuffles a little closer on the path Goes for it and steals the edge, swinging his backpack off to cradle against his front.]

"...buy you? For real? Cha-ching?"

[Normal relationship. With a mob boss. Yup. Daniel's backbrain isn't drawing little hearts around you guys or anything, nope, although that put a bit of a damper on it. Actually, it's way too intrigued by the idea of getting to make a differences against nightmares without being his father or sister, so it's working quiet overtime. But maybe a few hearts.] "Your life sounds insane. All I have worry about passing my midterms." Mostly.

[Harry can't hear you over the sound of how gloriously heteronormative he is.] No, it... I needed his help. And I didn't want to just ask because, trust me on this, you never ever want to be in John Marcone's debt. So I offered him the application to get into the Accords and to be one of his co-signers. So I created the monster. At least in part.

[Harry laughs openly and scoots over, moving the cupcake box so it's not taking up so much of the bench.] Hell's bells, Daniel, I'm not going to bite.

For real. Cha-ching. He wanted me to be his pet wizard. I told him where he could stick his collar. He tried it again when I was about to be killed by lycanthropes. Then he wanted these FBI guys to hand me over to him-- it's a thing with him. With us. Whichever. [He thinks about that.] Wow, my life is kind of weird.

Midterms would scare me. I just got my GED. College is unknown territory for me.

[Huh. More to think about. File it away, Daniel. This visit has been more educational that he realizes.

He laughs, cheeks going a little red. Embarrassed. ] "Sorry, sorry- I didn't know if you wanted me bugging you or if you wanted to keep reading or something. Thanks." [He shifts a little closer, so one butt cheek isn't hanging off the edge of the bench, smiles awkwardly. He likes Harry; he doesn't get to see him very often. And it's kind of weird seeing him with Molly or his dad or someone Harry's actually friends with there.]

[Collar. A thing with them. His eyes widen a little-- not like that. Okay, only a little like that. Because he's hormonal and stressed and still discovering himself.] "Wow. That's hardcore. I can honestly say that no one has ever tried to buy me. And you still work with him?"

[He laughs again, less embarrassed, just amused.] "Yeah, right. Midterms stack up to-- fairies and vampires and the mafia. College isn't so bad. It's just like high school, only better, and not always all day. ...Okay, sort of like high school. Fewer assholes." [Don't let your mother hear you say that, Daneil.] "Too many people for that. More people like you. At least if it's a big enough school, I guess. Ha. You can learn a lot of stuff you didn't know about."

[He squints one eye, remembering.] "A lot of stuff. You hear about that ah-- human sexuality class?"

So long as you are not bothering me with a job, we're good. Days off don't happen too often for me. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop here. [He belatedly realizes that sounds a little callous.] Unless you need me for something. I mean... [A shrug.] I'm here for you. If you do need.

[Harry shifts, self-conscious and looking anywhere but at Daniel.] With him? If I need to. He's... a criminal scumbag mafia overlord, but he's actually not as bad as ninety percent of the Big Bads I have to tackle on a weekly basis so... But I don't work for him. Ever.

[A Carpenter swearing? Wow, Daniel must be really striking out on his own. Harry grins.] I hope "people like me" is a good thing. Don't have much experience with any of that, myself. Different type of childhood. [He doesn't elaborate further than that.]

[Oh, is he turning red? Maybe.] The one with the-- no, um. I haven't. [Yeah, that's convincing.]

[Daniel held his hands up, palms out, laughing while he spoke.] "No shoe-dropping here. I am strictly boring, man. No supernatural drama. But-- thanks. Yeah." [Because if he ever did need help. It was nice to know who to go to.

And really, he should be nicer to the guy and stop bugging him about the Marcone thing. But it was sticking in his head like something important, and it was sort of funny, to see the guy who did magic and saved lives get all squirmy about something. But he's not a jerk.] "Got it. Criminal. But only the human type. And no buying or working for. Like you would, anyway." [Harry's his dad's friend. Of course he's a good guy.

But that blush, ha. Okay, that's funny.] "Not at all, huh? It made the news and everything. Glad I didn't tell my folks I picked that course up." [Because he had a lot of questions, and it was a really popular course. But it so wasn't a conversation he was having with his parents, God. That was enough to pour ice water on his inner-snickering.]

Carpenters are never boring, kid. Maybe you're not the Fist of God or a wizardess, but you're not boring. [It was kind of refreshing to hear about vanilla troubles. It was nice, domestic, just like everything about the Carpenters.]

But... [He's quite for a long moment, wondering how to put this.] In the mundane realm, avoid him at all costs. But if, by some insane chance, you get into some supernatural trouble and you can't reach your family or me, Chicago is his territory and he might be able to help you. In theory. [There was the matter that Daniel was a kid and, oh yeah, a Carpenter. That would mean something to Marcone. Harry knew it.] Like I said, the thing with Marcone's complicated.

[Harry turns redder.] Okay, maybe I did read about it. A little. You... did you go to... [He gestures a little helplessly.] The demonstration?

[He shakes his head, mumbling quietly,] Why do you need a class on that? How complex could it be?

[He smiled--surprised.] "I can tell you all about my day if that's what you think. Woke up, went to the cafeteria for breakfast. Ate toast. Cereal. Eggs. Some bacon." [Growing boy, dammit. Sort of.] "Had a shower. Packed a bag. Took the L to Addison. Walked home. Ate a sandwich. Gave Mom my laundry. Walked back to the L. Came here. Went to Buckingham fountain, came this way. Met you. You still awake, there?"

[He frowned, gentle frivolity gone. He didn't want to think about Chicago with Harry gone. The things he only half knew where out there, waiting in the dark. Fear. He pulled his backpack a little closer.

His dad-- Dad had known. And he'd always stopped things from making it home with him. No matter how tired he was. Things were safe. And Harry, yeah. He wasn't his DAD. God no. But, he did the same sort of thing. When stuff made it to their house. He stopped it.[

"...You think that'll ever happen?" [His voice was small and he cleared his throat, trying to fill it up.] "I mean. That I couldn't get to you?"

[But that BLUSH. And really, Harry? You're like. An adult. Shouldn't you know this stuff?] "Haa. Um, yeah."

[He scratches the back of his head, looks at the ground, anywhere but Harry's face...] "A friend I'm taking the class with thought we should go. It was okay. It wasn't like. You know. It was educational." [His ears are on FIRE, and he balls his hands in his backpack to keep from trying to cover them.] "It wasn't actually sexy or anything.

"But it's a really good class! I've learned a lot, things I hadn't really even heard about before. I don't always agree with the prof, but you don't have to, you know? And um. Yeah. People are complex. It's good to remember that." [And it had been nice, to get more of a perspective The GLBTQ club was pretty great, but really, he only went because they were his friends and to be a good boyfriend. This was different; it was reassuring; it wasn't just him and his friends alone in everything. And there was a LOT of everything.]

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Dressing Room

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mun will be here only intermittently for a few hours

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