roartonrisen | Homeplot #2

This whole situation is stranger than Kieren knows how to deal with.

The being home part is such a relief, even if it's not perfect (because even home hasn't got Amy Dyer, what with her being dead still), but he's got his Mum and Dad and Jem's here. The being alive part in Roarton is something to get used to, finding that people are still staring at him, though. He's used to that by now, but the truth is, he's sort of surprised that people are staring at him for being normal. It's like he can't win. Of course, that staring starts to get worrisome when people like Zoe catch sight of him, hissing loudly that he's clearly done something or made a deal with someone.

He wishes it weren't so obvious that he's alive, but then, cover up and contacts never really did what a warm beating heart can. The one complicated thing that Kieren hadn't really counted on and knows he'll have to face is the fact that he's got to see Simon at some point. The last time he had, before Darrow, he'd been telling Simon that he'd been glad that he's going to stick around.

If he's home for good, he owes him a conversation.

Heading up to the bungalow (having told Sirius to follow after, once his parents let him loose), Kieren braces himself as he takes in a shaky breath and knocks on the front door, trying to mentally rehearse whatever the hell he's going to say when it opens.

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Despite being almost entirely cut off from the ULA, Simon still heard rumblings of whispered rumors, all of which he dismissed as ludicrous. That was, of course, until Kieren Walker knocked on his door, and Simon opened it to reveal the young man very obviously alive and breathing.

It seemed impossible, and Simon might have pinched himself to snap out of this nightmare, if only he could feel such things.

He frowned, his expression stormy, and said only one word:

"How?"

How is a very good question that even Kieren hasn't actually figured out, truthfully. He doesn't know how he'd got to Darrow, how he'd managed to become human, or how he's managed to come back here with Sirius in tow. He's also not expecting the way his breath sort of just goes short when he sees Simon again, in all his undead glory. He remembers, now, thinking that no one really pulled it off quite like he did.

Maybe Kieren had even preferred Simon like this. "I don't know," Kieren admits, the words falling past his lips before he even has a chance to come up with a good excuse. He tugs at the sleeves of his jumper as he stands awkwardly on the step, trying to imagine what would be different if he'd stayed here.

"Can I come in?" he asks warily.

It was in him, not to argue, but to turn cold and silent and deny Kieren entry through the door. He didn't think of himself a spiteful person, and he also made a habit of expecting the worst out of every situation he encountered, but for Kieren, he'd found a bit of hope. He'd allowed himself to see the best in someone, and while he'd been distracted by the thought of Kieren Walker and their possible future together, the rug had been swept out from under him.

In the end, though, he gritted his teeth and stepped aside.

With the door shut behind them, he leveled Kieren with an expectant look. It might've hurt to look at him, if he'd been able to feel anything with any clarity.

"Now, would you like to explain what's going on?"

Kieren steps inside warily, one hand on the crook of his elbow as he tugs his jumper down a little further as he tries not to feel like he doesn't belong here. He doesn't, he's sure, because his skin radiates warmth now and he's not wearing contacts or mousse and yet, looks completely normal. What had been a joy to his parents and Jem definitely won't be the same here.

"If I told you I've got no idea, would you believe me?" is his reply, seeing as he would never want to lie to him, but it's not like he's got any facts. "I've been somewhere else for over a year now," he confesses. "It's like no time's passed here. I was still PDS there, for months and months, only, then things started to change. I got these nosebleeds," he explains, "I was forgetting things, I was shaking like I couldn't stop it and then I got in a car crash."

"Kieren," Simon interjected, holding up a hand to stop the rambling, which happened to be undeniably endearing. "You've been somewhere else? Where?"

He frowned, shaking his head. He'd spent the last year believing in the impossible, in prophecies and chosen peoples and holy redemption, but everyone had their limits. "Tell me how that's possible, Kieren. I only just saw you."

But there was no denying that Kieren Walker was alive. He'd been so beautiful before, underneath all that ridiculous mousse, and now...

Well, now, he was still lovely. Of course he was. But he was also one of them. Living, breathing, unredeemed.

Kieren stops when he sees the hand, then chides himself for doing as Simon said, annoyed because he did, and somewhat fond that he has, because it's been so long since he was last irritated by Simon like this. It's a confusing mess of things, he knows that much. "I don't really know. It was a city called Darrow," he says, trying to pick through any of his memories to find one that explains it all.

Unfortunately, the trouble is, he's not sure that any of them do. "It's been years for me, nearly two," he says, wishing that it had been just a few moments. "I had to come here, see you, almost to prove to myself that this place is actually here."

His Mum and Dad and Jem had been real, so why not the rest? Seeing Simon here, like this, though, that's more proof than he could imagine.

"As you can see, it's actually here," he said, toneless and his face impassive, but even he wasn't sure whether that lack of affect was down to biology or if that was simply the only choice he had, if he wanted to keep from losing control entirely.

"You've been like... this for two years?" He gestured vaguely, unable to bring himself to say it.

Alive. Truly risen. Could this be what the prophecies meant?

Kieren works hard not to flinch at Simon's words, because it's not the man's fault that Kieren got kidnapped somewhere where he warmed up, got a heartbeat again. "I wasn't like this for that long," he admits, tugging at the sleeve of his jumper to pull it down lower over his palms, the old habits dying hard.

"I was PDS, still, for ages," he says, mouth dry as he recalls how long. "I had, there was the homemade neurotriptyline, your sort, I had some of that to tide me over. Sometimes, it didn't work and I had an episode where I went rabid, but then, I started to forget things, my nose would bleed, my hands shaking..." He's been staring at Simon this whole time, because he knows that warming up, becoming human again, it's not for everyone. It can't be.

"There's also," he says, keeping his voice steady, "there's also someone else. I met him in that place, Darrow, and he's come back here with me, somehow."

He listened carefully, took it all in, silent and stone-faced. With his grey-skin and dead eyes, he might as well have been a statue. He hadn't felt so wholly, unnaturally dead since he'd left his father's home, but now, in the face of Kieren and all his vitality, it was impossible to ignore.

"Someone else," he parroted flatly. The only indication that the revelation affected him all was a faint twitch of tension in his jaw.

Kieren's very rarely ever felt uncomfortable around Simon. Wary about his methods, unsure about his motives, but uncomfortable? Not really. If anything, he'd been a line he'd sought out when things in Roarton started to get too rough, only then he'd gone away and left Kieren wondering if he'd ever come back. Then, well, then Amy had happened. Kieren stares balefully up at Simon, not sure if he ought to be apologizing for that or for becoming human or even for coming here.

He just knows that he wants to apologize. "I spent a year, at least, hoping that you would turn up," he says, the honesty aching to say. "For a bit, Sirius was just a mate." It hadn't taken long for Kieren's interest to be stirred. "He came here with me, somehow, from the city to here."

Finally, Simon's calm mask shifted, and his eyes fluttered, nostrils flaring as he drew in a breath he didn't truly need. He looked away, then. He wasn't sure if it was remembered pain he was feeling, an echo of something long dead, but his chest felt ready to collapse.

"Well," he said, "It's good to hear you weren't alone."

What the bloody hell else was he supposed to say? Thank you for waiting, I only wish you'd waited longer? Or perhaps, what in the hell kind of name is Serious?

Kieren had felt it, for a very long time, and that hitch in his throat is proof of it, seeing as he'd felt so isolated and alone because he'd been the only PDS around, someone that no one else could understand. His heart aches to be here, to have to ask what's happened or changed, and he's going to keep pressing.

"He's here with me too, I can't explain how or why," he admits. "I'm here, I'm not sure if it's permanent, but I'm here. How long has it been, since..." He steels himself for this. "Since Amy passed."

Homeplot #2

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