Momma never set a good example

[metalicarus]

Who| Jet, Albert, Jet's parents
What| Meeting the parents
Where| Tribute Tower common area
When| Shortly after the tributes meet with their 'loved ones'
Warnings/Notes| Potential insinuation of child abuse/actual acts of child abuse


It had only been a few hours and he was already having visions of tossing his father out into busy traffic. Unfortunately, there wasn't really any in the capitol except foot traffic. In an unexpected display of attempting to diffuse the situation, Alba had suggested Jet show them some of the city. He'd agreed simply to stop Ciro from either making a scene, turning on his wife, or breaking Jet's arm with how hard he'd started gripping by that point.

Of course, the 'tour' was jolting and awkward and it was only a few hours until they found themselves back at the Tribute Tower with only more strain between them. At least it had kept them away from Albert.

Jet had been non too pleased to have the German pulled from his side, but now he was thankful for it. It was impossible, but for the first time in months he found himself wishing he could avoid Albert for the next several days or however long it would take until this was over.

Of course, that thought process made him wonder if Albert had had someone show up too. Maybe his own parents...or Hilda...the thought made something unpleasant churn in him and he hated himself for it, but he honestly would prefer his fiance off with his lost love than stuck with Jet's impending storm of a family situation.

But if no one had been brought in to distract Albert, then it was only a matter of time until the older man found them.

Comments

[silberfuchs]

And find him he does, though it takes Albert several hours to extract himself from the bustle the District 3 suites had become with all the visitors. He's not sure what to make of it other than be relieved that none of the visitors are for him. In general it seems to be mentors or parents though and while he has mixed feelings concerning how his parents would view the man he's become, he also feels a pang of sorrow at not having the chance to see his father again after so many years.

Even so, keeping them away from this place is still preferable. And the train of thought rumbles along predictably, wondering if Jet escaped the same fate as well or if he's saddled with someone from his past. It's not necessarily parents either, so it could be Gilmore, a thought which prompts Albert to take his leave of the suite and try to hunt down his wayward fiance to see if he does in fact have a guest. The German finally finds Jet down in the common area with two people that Albert finds vaguely familiar despite never having met them.

So Jet had gotten his father's nose and height, originally, but his eyes and long legs from his mother.

With a bit of fluttering nerves at being faced with meeting his partner's parents, Albert nevertheless steps out from the elevator bank and over to the small cluster of familiarity. "Good afternoon, everyone." He nods genially to those assembled, then looks to the blond. "So this is where you were."

[metalicarus]

He stepped out like a glaring beacon and Jet just found himself wishing he could mentally convince his partner to turn back around and leave. Of course, he wasn't Ivan and they didn't have the brainwave transmitter anymore so he watched with mounting discomfort and apprehension as the older man came closer.

"...yeah, sorry. I was, um, showing them around a bit." His brain seemed to be working at a slower pace as it finally occurred to him that he should probably follow common decorum and give introductions if he wanted to try and keep the truth from Albert.

If he could just get through this without Albert finding out Jet's past, that would be good enough. "Al...this is Ciro and Alba..Licursi--" He nearly choked on his real last name as it left his lips, the realization he'd never said it once in the decades since he'd left home occurring to him a little too late. "Ma, Pa, this is Albert Heinrich. He's...my best friend." Not wholly inaccurate, in fact it was true. Minus the fact he was Jet's best friend who he also slept with and intended to marry.

Now he was lying about the most important part of his life simply to try and stop any possible explosions, on top of the fact that nearly everything else Jet had never told Albert would be coming to light very quickly. This was already a train wreck, now the blond was fairly certain it was a train wreck with a nuclear bomb in the caboose; a nuke that would go off if his partner found out the whole truth while Jet was too busy eating his foot with his own lies.

Luckily, the response from his parents was quiet and reserved in comparison to the storm in Jet's head. His mother offered a furtive smile that vanished in the blink of an eye and his father responded with a gruff and accented 'hello' along with a handshake Jet suspected was only being offered because it was socially expected.

He was honestly surprised there hadn't been some comment about Germans directed at Albert--surprised and grateful--maybe his dad was a little too sober for that right now.

[silberfuchs]

Licursi. Huh.

It was no secret to Albert that Jet Link likely wasn't his partner's birth name but after decades of working together, Albert had stopped giving it any sort of thought. Now it hits him in the face that he's engaged to someone whose full legal name he doesn't know. How's that for embarrassing?

Being referred to as Jet's best friend, at least, he'd expected. Their own generations hadn't been too keen on homosexuality. The ones before them were where they learned it. Not... that Albert is so far removed from Jet's parents. He's probably something like the generation between them.

Oh god he needs to stop thinking about it.

Albert takes the introductions with poise, offering a longer-lived smile to Alba and a firm shake to Ciro, neither of which reveal just how awkward the German really feels at the moment. It's an incredible feat of concealment. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."

[metalicarus]

He was practically holding his breath, waiting for something to happen. But his dad shook Albert's hand readily enough and only let go a little too quickly.

So far, it was...normal, if not painfully awkward.

Luckily, with his father's more mellow mood, his mother stepped up a bit more and tentatively put on a slightly bigger smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Albert. Do you mind if I ask how you and Gianni met? Was it here, in this place?"

There it was. Gianni. Inevitable. He was almost too distracted to even notice that, however, he couldn't remember the last time he'd heard his mother say more than five words in his presence. Not since before she'd started ignoring him.

He couldn't decide if he resented her for suddenly speaking up now or if he was grateful to her for trying to break through the stiffness of the conversation.

[silberfuchs]

"Ah, no, Gianni and I have known each other for quite awhile." He glances at Jet, the name Gianni rolling off of his tongue naturally despite his never having heard it in conjunction with his partner before. Even so, there's a small and awkward pause in his not knowing where to go with the conversation. How much does he tell them? Nothing about their relationship, obviously, that had been made clear, but about what had happened to them...

He can't imagine there won't be questions.

"Are you hungry? It's getting towards supper, we could all go get something to eat." He smiles again, trying to make a good impression. "My treat."

[metalicarus]

Jet was quickly coming to the decision that they needed some keyword to use when the other needed to shut the hell up right this second, but there wasn't one and now Albert was suggesting dinner and while this interaction was going okay for all intents and purposes, he couldn't see how it would continue that way.

"Oh! That's very kind of you, Albert." Before his mother could continue, Jet stood a little straighter and interrupted her before she could answer, hoping he could break this off quickly even if it meant making this more awkward than it already was. "No, I'm sure my parents are tired, it's been a long day and-"

A sharp pinch cut him off as his dad's fingers dug into the back of his arm. It probably looked like he was just grabbing Jet's arm with no real amount of force, but that was just a trick he'd developed over the years, Jet knew it would leave a red mark if not a full-on bruise later. "Shut it. Don't you interrupt your mother like that."

Those bright blue eyes of his fell to Albert. "Sure. We're both hungry, aren't we?" He looked to Alba expectantly and she nodded, once again quiet under her husbands firm tone. "Give us a chance to catch up and get to know you a little more, Heinrich." Despite there not being any real threat in his tone, the way he said it still made Jet feel like it was there.

[silberfuchs]

Ciro's brusk attitude gives Albert a bit of pause. Not only did he cut Jet off - who, admittedly, had interrupted his mother talking - but he addressed Albert as Heinrich. No mister, no first name politeness, just Heinrich. He's used to it, he's been called by just his last name before, just not in the way Jet's dad says it though he can't quite put his finger on what bothers him about it. He doesn't want to rock the boat, so he says nothing on it, giving Jet a small and private look of apology as he beckons the couple to follow them. He doesn't risk whispering to the blond lest that be taken as rude, but he does intend to be careful as the evening wears on. The last thing he wants to do is embarrass Jet in front of his parents.

"What sort of food were you in the mood for? There are all sorts present in the Capitol." He's really not sure what to suggest. His first instinct is Italian but that's a little silly given that they are Italian and that's likely what gets served at home. Even so, he tries to keep his tone light and welcoming and plans on avoiding any heavy topics that might come up. Like the arena. He doesn't want to scare them... Is that why Jet is so overly nervous? He supposes he might be too, if his parents were to be exposed to such things. Well, maybe not given that his own father had died in the world war and he and his mother had survived the bombing of Dresden, but the arena is a bit more harrowing given its personal nature.

Albert tries to get his mind off of such things as he holds the door open for the Licursis to pass, resisting the urge to squeeze Jet's shoulder as the blond passes and just patting him instead, a decidedly masculine gesture of familiarity, nothing more, though he means comfort by it.

[metalicarus]

Feeling Albert's hand--even that little bit--manages to pull a small but real smile to his lips even if it only lasts a moment. He appreciated that Albert was trying, even if he wanted to just grab the older man and drag him as far away from these two people as he possibly could.

They just needed to get through the next couple hours and then they'd have a chance to talk and maybe Jet would be able to come up with a convincing reason as to why the German needed to keep his distance from the chaotic mess that was the 'Licursi' family.

For now, Ciro suggested something more 'American,' some place he could get the kind of food he enjoyed but could rarely afford, then went silent. Combined with Alba's timid silence and Jet's nervous silence, it felt like the awkward air of unease was only growing in spades. But then Ciro spoke up and Jet decided he would have preferred the funeral-esque procession.

"What do you do for a living, Heinrich? I assume you work."

Jet would have sworn he could hear the silent 'are you a nazi?' behind his father's words and was glad it probably didn't actually sound like that. His father had grown more and more hateful towards Germans as the years had gone on and he'd needed to throw any potential prejudice against his Italian origins off. It was easier to gain American friends in the mid-forties when you were so vocal about your hate of Germans.

Jet couldn't help but wonder which would piss his father off more if he found out: that Jet was in a relationship with a man or that he was in a relationship with a German. He suspected the combination would be enough to cause the old guy to either fall down dead from heart problems or make his rage increase tenfold.

[silberfuchs]

"I'm in the military." It's an automatic response. Generally people don't want to hear much more if that's what you tell them, or if they do it's just polite specification and moving on. Also it's mostly true considering his time with the GSG-9.

Of course, he realizes his mistake after a moment. Jet's parents, at the ages they appear here, must be from around the 50's or 60's when anti-axis feelings were still running high and extra so towards parts of Germany for being 'red'. Not that it was the East's decision to be annexed by the Soviets but perception is perception.

"Or I was. More recently I was in sanitation." It's a terrible save and Albert has to resist the urge to dig a hole, jump in, and pull the dirt in after him. He'll have to settle for trying to distract them with a fancy steak dinner instead.

Despite his discomfort, however, none of it shows on Albert's face, his tone polite as ever. "And what is it that you do, Mr. Licursi?"

[metalicarus]

"Construction." He said it brusquely and without hesitation, much to Jet's surprise. His father hadn't been in construction in years, it was the last job he'd had before he'd been fired. The honest answer was that he was unemployed, drunk and spent his time watching the t.v. or beating his kid, depending on the time of day. Not that Jet would have expected him to say that. Unfortunately, he didn't exactly go quiet after that either.

"Were you ever a nazi? You look old enough."

Both Jet and Alba practically flinched in their surprise at the bluntness of the question, but while Alba steadfastly stared ahead of her, Jet's expression turned into one of anger. "No, he wasn't! And he ain't that old!"

At least, his partner didn't look that old, not in his opinion. His snap at Ciro, however, was met with a scathing, hateful, glare that made Jet wonder if his father would end up punching him right then and there, sobriety or not.

"Last I checked, your name's Gianni, not Heinrich, so quiet." Was all that was spat at him and Jet had to dig his nails into his palm to keep from lashing out.

[silberfuchs]

"I was twelve at the end of the war, so no." Albert replies smoothly, glancing among the Licursis. He's never gotten it so bluntly, but the question of his loyalties has come up before. This isn't the first time he's gotten at least curious looks. "Nor do I condone what they did, either to Germany or the world at large. I'm sure you can understand not agreeing with the actions of their own government."

It's a gentle rebuke and meant to put them on the same side, sympathetic. After all, Albert suspects that Ciro wouldn't have had so much vitriol in his question had he been a supporter of Mussolini. Albert smiles patiently, having missed the look Ciro had given his son, though the tone he takes with Jet makes him want to speak up against it. He refrains, not wanting to get into an argument with Jet's father and embarrass everyone involved. He'll behave, for Jet's sake. "I know I look a bit on in my years. It's the hair, yes?"

[metalicarus]

"Yeah." Ciro's response was a grumble as though he wasn't keen on admitting he'd jumped the gun and assumed. He wasn't and an apology was nowhere in sight either.

But he seemed vaguely placated, at least for the rest of the trip. Once they got to where they were going, however, Ciro hit the wine fast and hard and that apprehension in Jet's stomach tightened it's knot. The night was already crappy and if his father was drinking that much already, it was bound to only get worse.

Alba sat quietly, eyes down as always, only speaking when spoken too, while Jet practically sat on the edge of his chair and barely even touched his food, the thought that his dad might pull out some other comment around his partner easily stealing away his usually insatiable appetite. All he could do was impersonate a bowstring and hope the evening would be over soon.

[silberfuchs]

Albert indulged in a drink himself, just a beer, but the way that Ciro is trying to get through entire bottles of wine like they're going to stop making the stuff is disconcerting. Paired with the tension taut in the air around the three Italians, Albert doesn't dig into his dinner with much voracity either. This is simply becoming more and more uncomfortable as the evening wears on and for the first time it occurs to Albert that Jet may not be embarrassed about what his parents will think of him but more what he'll think of his partner's parents.

Ciro occupied with wooing his wine bottle, Albert decides to attempt to keep the evening pleasant, addressing Alba with a polite smile and taking the opportunity to put what he hopes is a comforting hand on Jet's knee on the sly under the tablecloth as he leans forward.

Unfortunately, all Alba gives him in answer to any questions are one or two words, tense and timid, and he's forced to give up after running out of kind platitudes with which to try and start a conversation. Quietly, he goes back to his own steak, feeling awkward and as if he's failed some sort of test somehow by not hitting it off with Jet's parents.

[metalicarus]

Every time he thought it had started to abate, something happened to poke that inferno he'd held in him for what felt like forever. This time it was his father's words ringing in his head. 'Useless, idiotic, disappointment, amount to nothing, better if you were never born.' He'd practically gone through the whole gambit in the last five minutes they'd spent together.

The funny thing was, everything had been going smoothly enough for all intents and purposes, but then he'd lost track of his father in the city and by the time he'd found him again, he'd buried himself in a mountain of shot glasses in one of the Capitol's many bars. So the insults had started in relentlessly.

Jet was an adult and he'd been independent of his parents for longer than he'd been with them at this point, but each barb never failed to hit right where it was aimed and just as deeply as when he'd been a child hearing them for the first time. It was infuriating to feel that vulnerable and that hurt and know he shouldn't put any weight on the things said, that most of them weren't true anyway, but it didn't stop him from feeling like they were.

The blond tore upstairs and to his suite in D2, wrenching the door open and slamming it almost as hard as he could behind him as though he could block it all out that way. Instead, all he accomplished was feeling foolish on top of everything else when he realized his partner was right there in the room too.

"Sorry." It was mumbled and stiff and probably didn't sound like he meant it, even though he did, there were too many other emotions running through him to even have a hope of speaking clearly.

[silberfuchs]

Albert had just come up from a workout in the training facility. The crowding in D3 this week was murder for him and while D2 wasn't all that much better, there was something more comforting about the shared space with his partner than the room he'd been given that feels impersonal to him. Not that it makes a lot of logical sense, escaping one shared space to another that's even more intimate, but at least it's space he chooses to share.

He finishes pulling a fresh shirt over his head, Jet having interrupted him in the middle of changing out of his sweaty workout gear, and offers a sympathetic grimace. "Your father?"

[metalicarus]

"Yeah..." Jet found the nearest wall with his back and had to resist the childish urge to sink to the floor and curl up until it all went away. He hesitated, wondering if he should explain what had happened or not, before deciding he might as well at least give the basics. Albert had made it pretty clear he considered them in this together. They were sort of 'in this together' on everything now. On one level, that was comforting.

"I was showing them around some more, explaining some stuff, things weren't too bad...then pa found a bar when I turned my back and got himself smashed." A bitter smile formed on his lips as his mind produced the memory of his father's yelling and ranting in perfect detail. "I had to close out his tab as he decided to tell me exactly what he thought of me. Again."

He shook his head and shrugged. "It's stupid and it shouldn't matter--it's not like it's anything new--but...can't help feelin' he's right. Drives me crazy."

[silberfuchs]

"Did he hit you?" Despite the quiet and calm of the question there's a hard edge of steel beneath it, the implication that if Ciro had expressed his ire physically, Albert would make good on the promise he'd made and break the asshole's hand.

But after a moment Albert can see that Jet's father has done worse than physical damage. He's managed to somehow needle in at Jet's core, something Albert had always found to be solid and immovable. It's jarring and makes his heart twist that someone could hurt his partner so deeply and profoundly. That he'd done it for years before they'd ever met.

Gruffly, Albert pulls Jet from the wall and starts them both for the door, putting a little parcel he'd picked up earlier in the day in his pocket as they go. "C'mon, let's get some air."

[metalicarus]

"Sure."

Jet lets himself get lead away from the wall and out of the room. He honestly preferred that over the other possibility of Albert pulling him into a hug. Not that he didn't like hugs from his partner, he just didn't think he could take it right now.

He didn't ask where Albert had thought they should 'get some air,' he just made the decision to press the button for the roof when they got to the elevator. At least he knew that his parents wouldn't be able to find them up there.

"He didn't. Hit me, I mean." Not this time.

[silberfuchs]

In response, Albert only grunts. That's something, at least, but he's not sure that the words aren't worse, whatever he may have said. Parents have a way of getting under your skin even when you know they're wrong.

Jet seemed to read Albert's mind and hit the button for the roof, sending them both riding up in silence, as if Albert can sense the fragility in Jet during the journey. Once they're up he presses the emergency stop to make sure they won't be bothered and pulls Jet out into the open air, knowing the wind - even if it's a light wind - in his hair will help.

He has a little something else too but in a minute. "Better?"

[metalicarus]

He moved further out onto the roof, instantly heading for the edge even though he knew it would be covered with the barrier. Once he got there, however, all he could see was the ostentatious colors of the Capitol and the people bustling about and it only served to remind him that his parents were down there somewhere; maybe not there on the streets, but definitely still in the city.

A long, heavy sigh escaped him and he turned his back on the activity, letting his head fall back against the barrier so he could look up at the sky instead. The wind moved gently against his face and in his hair and with his eyes attached to the one place he wished he could escape to, he could almost pretend that was still possible; that the only reason he wasn't currently up there letting off some steam wasn't cause he was glued to the ground, but because he simply didn't feel like it.

"Yeah. Thank you." He closed his eyes a moment, trying to let the echo of his father's voice ring out of existence, but it was tenacious and needling and still stung like salt in a wound causing the blond to frown a bit and his brow to crease. There was a tightness in his chest that welled up from where those barbs had buried themselves and he hated it.

"I'm sorry for all this crap. There's so much else going on that this is the last thing....really, I never planned on telling you that this shit even happened forever ago, so I don't really know what to do about it."

[silberfuchs]

"It's not your fault." There's a specific emphasis Albert puts on the phrase. It's not a platitude, he truly wants Jet to listen and understand that Ciro's words, actions, his presence in Panem at all isn't any fault of Jet's. Albert watches his partner, not sure how else to drive that point home. Jet has already done more apologizing in the last week than he has in near the entire time Albert's known the blond and it doesn't sit well.

He moves closer, leaning against the barrier as well with his legs crossed at the ankles. "I know you didn't want me to know, but I'm somewhat glad I do now. It explains some things."

[metalicarus]

He knows it's not his fault they're here or even that they did what they do, despite what he'd been led to believe when he was younger, but he still felt the need to apologize for that part of his life in general and the fact it had now spread to Albert.

That last part makes a small smile appear and he opens his eyes to look over at the older man. "Yeah? Why I'm such a fuck up? Or maybe that part when we were all first starting out about the fact I didn't trust them." Implying that was the reason he hadn't trusted any of them. Well, it certainly hadn't helped.

But his partner did have a point even though Jet knew it probably wasn't the one he was trying to make. Maybe it was better Albert knew, knew why Jet hated himself after he'd drink too much or why he'd only drink a little if he was drinking at all, knew why he got out of sorts about getting so damn angry like he knew he could, why he'd never hit Albert in a million years--unless it was literally a matter of the older cyborg needing it--no matter how infuriating Jet found him to be sometimes. Why, despite knowing how Albert felt about kids, Jet nearly felt sick with anxiety at having any of his own.

"...Hey, Al...if I ever get like him...do me a favor and push me off of something really tall."

[silberfuchs]

"That isn't what I meant and you know it. Don't say you're a fuck up when you've saved the world more than once, saved countless lives." Saved his life. Albert growls low, folding his arms, but he's not angry at Jet. He's just frustrated there's so little he can do to undo what Ciro's convinced Jet is true.

"You took something that may well have ruined another person, a weaker man, and turned it into strength. You built a family and a life and kept yourself and those around you going even when they would have laid down to die." He meets Jet's eyes seriously. "Do you feel like you fucked up?"

At the request he turns his face away again, still frowning. "You won't. It's been over sixty years since you've been away from him, in case you've forgotten. If you were going to turn into your father, you would have by now."

[metalicarus]

"...No, not really. I mean, I've fucked up--and pretty badly too--but I don't feel like it's all I've done." There was plenty he was proud of, plenty he could think back to and say he'd done that and he'd do it again if given the chance.

And he hadn't forgotten how long it had been, there was a constantly running clock in the back of his mind that kept track of how long it had been since he'd forced his way to freedom...but that didn't uproot the fear that had been planted in him. Just as it didn't silence the quiet voice that sometimes hung out in the background of his thoughts and parroted Ciro's words to him when Jet was most susceptible, when he most felt like those words were true.

"I get it's not likely...but promise me anyway. Or at least promise you won't stick around like she does. I don't know why she does it, but it's not something you can fix; it's a poison and there's no cure, so don't hang around thinking it'll just go away." Despite the fact Albert had turned away, Jet kept his eyes glued to his partner, a serious determination in his face and in his voice. "If you don't think it's gonna happen, what's the harm in promising anyway?"

Maybe it wasn't really fair to ask that since it implied Jet still thought it was possible--which he did--but he couldn't stand the thought of turning into someone else and hurting Albert like that, emotionally or physically, and the German just staying there because he refused to believe Jet couldn't change back. He'd rather put a gun to his head than do to Albert what Ciro had done to Alba.

[silberfuchs]

"Promising acknowledges that I think it would happen, and it won't." Albert's rarely stubborn, especially not about hypotheticals, but this is one of those rare times when he's turned into an immovable rock, glacial and stony. "Do you really think I would marry someone who would hurt me purposely? I have more self respect than that."

Or at least he likes to think he does. Really, they both know better, that when Albert used to get in dark moods he didn't mind a little pain, a little suffering. Maybe he even invited it, but Jet was always wary and never indulged him, his hesitation making Albert think twice and reexamine his motives. Now he knows he deserves the love he's found and he'll be damned if Jet is going to try and take that from him even hypothetically.

"I'm not your mother, you're not your father."