Memento Mori (MxM)

Chapter 15

At the conclusion of the evening, after an extremely successful auction, Calael was very much ready to drop. He wanted to head home to be with his sweetheart, and though the addition of his father's presence would prevent it from being quite the evening he would have liked, he was still thrilled to finally be leaving.

"Ah, you must be proud of yourself, Mister Black, those paintings fetched a hefty price," said Mister Avary brightly, extending a hand to him to shake, which he took politely. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you.. We will need you to email a head-shot of yourself to display alongside your artwork in the gallery."

"Oh, of course. Well, thankyou very much for everything, Mister Avary. I'll be in touch," Calael responded, with the final artificial smile of the night.

Certainly from a practical point of view, the money he had earned was fantastic. He knew that, realistically. But he couldn't help but feel extremely apathetic about it. In the past, perhaps he would have thought of things he could have bought, places he could have visited, events he could have attended, with such money as he had just chequed. Hopeful thoughts. None of these were present in his mind currently; he felt like it was all somewhat useless, in fact, and that the only good thing to come from this tedious evening had been the faint joy of knowing that - even if they did not know Artemus was a real man who had once lived in this very town - they had all seen and appreciated his radiant beauty for themselves. He had been seen again, in the way that he deserved.

As he left the gallery, tightening his coat around himself as the chill of the night air greeted him, he spotted Seamus standing beside one of the marble columns outside, rubbing his gloved hands together for warmth and staring out into the rolling hills in the distance with a blank, dismal look in his eyes.

"Dad?" he said, which prompted the man to look up, and regard him with a somewhat unsettled expression.

"Ah. Cal.. Ready to head back, I suppose?"

"Very much so.. I need a cup of tea and my bed, urgently. Did you like the art?" Calael asked as they walked back to the car together.

Seamus simply stood for a moment and looked at him. Just stared at his seemingly ordinary son, as images of an ordinary childhood and an ordinary upbringing crossed his mind. Then of the state of hysterics he had been in after the fire; sobbing, and screaming, and begging to be with Harry. Harry, who had been reduced to ashes.

He wondered where it was during his son's process of recovery that he had gone wrong, to allow this delusional, unstable state to occur. And, how it was that Calael was so gifted at hiding his sickness.

"Yes, of course," he said. He moved past his son and got swiftly into the driver's seat, holding his hand out for the keys. "You must be tired. I'll drive us back."

"Oh.. Thanks, dad, but I would have been fine," Calael frowned, tossing them over to him and climbing into the passengers side. He thought very little of the offer after that.

As the car started up, and he began to watch the dark road ahead as they began their route home, the young man had plenty of time to reflect back on his last conversation with Artemus. It had been lingering in the back of his mind all evening and cropping up relentlessly.

We cannot ignore time forever. It passes every moment that we wait, he had said.

Calael knew that he was right. It was time, ultimately, that would be the downfall of their love. They had been born too far apart to ever love naturally; and so they had been left with this. This dark, private romance, that he knew was utterly insane, and yet he would not give up for anything. He adored him too passionately to sacrifice him now. It was that adoration, he decided, that had truly been the driving factor for this evening. Not influence, not money, not politics or pleasing his father; but showing his beloved muse to the world in all his beauty and splendor.