"Jeez why him?"
"He's your son."
"No, he's my fake son and I am not obligated to build anymore relationship with him."
After Leon had picked his task, Stuart had been extremely disturbed to find out he was the one doing it. Like the last task he had gotten wasn't tasking enough.
Ripping the card up to threads, he glanced at Leon who only smirked at him as if he had some devilish thought in his head. Stuart threw the paper away before turning to his subordinate other. "Mate, what's got you smirking like the devil?"
"I'm remembering that night."
No one needed to tell him what 'that night' meant because the look Leon gave him was enough to remind him.
"Stop remembering it." Stuart glared at him as he walked around the counter to the door. "And stop making that face."
He closed the door behind him and exhaled sharply when he could no longer see no brown haired devil making him feel things he shouldn't be feeling.
Not only did the devil make him remember that night all over again but it made him remember when he almost blurted something he should never have.
Shaking his head, he walked over to the window and peered out at the stands that were being put up for the contest. Mariam was participating in the beauty contest while Faun was doing the Father/Son dance later. Now thanks to the task, he would be the one dancing with him. Stuart didn't know why he didn't want to get involved with the kid. Maybe it was the watchful gaze he always gave him or the look of doubt that reminded him of why he was there.
"Okay, I'm sorry." Stuart heard him before he felt his arms around him. "I wouldn't look at you like I wanna fuck your grumpiness right out of you."
"Leon!" He abruptly turned to face the devil which he definitely shouldn't have because then all he could see was the night of the seduction task and what he had done to him. Stuart had blamed it on the drinks the moment he had woken up the next day.
"I really really want more tasks like that."
"You're never gonna let it go, are you?"
He gave him a lopsided grin as his hand reached over Stuart's shoulder to place it beside his head on the window. Stuart moved back when he noticed how close they were and with seconds, his heart picked up speed when Leon had him against the window sill.
"Do you want me to let it go? Never talk about it? Never mention it? Never tease you?"
Stuart gave him a weak nod.
To the Aussie's surprise, Leon took a few steps away from him and said, "As you wish. Do you want me to disappear for the whole day too?"
There, he hesitated. As much as he despised the man, there were a lot of things Stuart liked about him. He could name a handful but there was one particular reason why the man was special to him. Leon made him feel at home. He made him feel not alone and that was one of the many things the man cured him of.
So instead of answering that question curtly, he walked past the Canadian to the hallway saying, "I don't need to answer that kind of question. If I tell you to disappear, you'll just run back into my life anyways."
"Is that short for Leon don't go?" Leon came closer but still remained two feet away from him.
"You said you won't tease." Stuart frowned.
Leon frowned right back and opened his mouth to speak but Mariam decided to show up, running down the stairs with a pretty purple gown Stuart had gotten for her. If Leon dared to mention Stuart not staying around the kids more, he was going to rub this moment in his face.
She ran straight for her jacket and she wore her boots hurriedly before turning to look at Leon. "We have to go now! I called Bonnie and she said she has to go to work soon but we can come right now. She has to make me pretty."
"I can make you pretty." Stuart blurted the minute he heard the reason why she was running off to Bonnie.
Stuart immediately hated the look she gave him. She looked worried as if the next thing she was going to say would crush him which only made the matter worse.
Leon glanced between them as if finally realizing what was going on. Clearing his throat, he turned to Mariam and smiled at the little girl. "Come on, let's go Mariam. If we don't leave now she might go back to work."
"I know." She answered but less excited than she had been before. She glanced sadly at Stuart before running out the door with the dress.
His heart sunk. And he hated the feeling.
Stuart saw Leon approach from his side view and quickly stopped him. He managed a smile for him despite the frown working its way to his lips and said, "I'm fine. Make sure she looks pretty. I want her to win."
"She will." He nodded, licked his lips before walking out the door after their kid.
Now he was left with Faun. The kid that looked at him as if he knew his sins. Groaning with frustration, he ran a hand through his hair as he walked back into the kitchen to gulp down a whole bottle of beer. When he felt like his usual self again, he jogged up the stairs to the kid's room and knocked.
"Leave me alone."
"Open the damn door. There's no Leon here."
There was a lot of shuffling and thuds as if something fell then the door opened.
Faun stood there in PJ bottoms and his upper body left exposed. Stuart's brows bumped together in a scowl when he saw how skinny and pale he was. Then his eyes drifted to his emo hair.
"What's up?" Faun asked with an arched brow.
"Have you ever thought of a makeover?"
"I'm not Mariam." He said dryly. "I like how I look."
"Yeah? Well I don't. And you know I'm the pissy dad so get you skinny ass to my bathroom or I'll veet the whole damn thing when you're asleep."
The kid's eyes widened and his hands instantly went up to cover his hair. "You wouldn't."
"Watch me leave to buy it." He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Faun groaned and he went back into his room to pick a shirt from the floor. He wore it and Stuart took a whiff of it when he walked past him to his room. Luckily, it didn't smell as bad as he had expected.
After closing his room door, he moved to open his window, letting the cold air in. He heard rattling coming from his bathroom but he ignored it knowing who was there and turned on the speaker. He called, "Can I have you phone, Faun?"
"Why?" The kid poked his head out of the bathroom to ask.
"To play music, why else? Would have used mine but I doubt we have the same taste of music."
Faun just stared at him and Stuart returned it and probably would have spent the day just staring if the kid hadn't sighed in defeat.
He handed him his phone and Stuart connected it. He played the first music and waited for the room to be filled with the pop song before joining the kid in the bathroom.
Faun stood by the sink looking like Stuart had slapped him hard across his face. He only frowned deeper as the Aussie slowly walked closer to him then ran a than through his hair. His hair was soft and quite full which was nice but the whole emo look had to go. Not that he was against him being emo, he just had always hated the hairstyle.
Pulling away, he said, "Get the chair."
When the kid left, he got out all the thing he need for his hair and that went from the clipper to the dye and many other hair accessories like scissors and what not.
"Whoa. How long have you been planning this?" Faun spoke up behind him, startling him and making him jump.
He turned to the kid and frowned. He ordered him to sit and Faun, not wanting to get on his bad side, quickly did.
Stuart pushed him closer to the mirror so he could see what he was doing then griped his hair in a tight pony.
"What are you doing?" Faun asked, frightened when he saw him reach for the scissors.
He picked it up and said just as he snipped off the hair after his grip. He let the kid believe he had cut up all of his pony and watched from the mirror how his expression went from horror to terrified.
"Why?" His voice shook and Stuart smirked.
He released his hair and ruffled it so Faun could see how short it was, which wasn't so short since after his grip were just spilt ends he needed to get rid off.
"Relax, I know what I'm doing." He rolled his eyes at the kid then began to trim it evenly.
After Faun grumbled for a while the bathroom fell really quiet save for the rap coming from the bedroom. Stuart didn't mind the awkward silence and probably wouldn't have noticed it if Faun didn't try to make small talks.
"...you know, and Evan lives close by." He was saying. "He invited me for Christmas since his parents won't be around."
"No." He said abruptly earning a confused yet surprised look from Faun.
"No? Why?"
"How stupid are you?" He ignored Faun's pained expression and continued, "Christmas is a family thing. How do you think we'll feel if you spent the whole day with your boyfriend? Don't you think we'll want to spend it with you?"
"Oh, then I'm sorry. By the way, Evan isn't really my boyfriend."
Stuart froze with the scissors. "I thought he was. So what, you're not gay?"
"I am." He said it so easily that Stuart actually smiled. At least his sexual orientation wasn't an issue for him.
"So you don't like Evan?" He asked as he cut off the last uneven ends.
"Oh I do. He's the one confused. He makes jokes about wanting to kiss me and all that romantic stuff but he never does it. As if, something is holding him back. I mean, I'm gay as hell, he should bring it full on, but I guess he's just holding back because he thinks he's straight."
"Does he know about you?"
"I think me constantly telling him how much I care about him should be enough clue."
"Maybe he's stupid."
"That was my final conclusion." Faun said then sighed wistfully.
Working on the clipper, Stuart smiled when a thought crossed his mind. He turned to Faun after he had plugged in the device and said, "How about I make you pretty enough make him realize what he's missing?"
Faun stared wide eyed at the clipper then at him. Stuart let him think it through and after he saw Faun swallow and nod, he grinned at the kid and said, "He's not going to recognize you once I'm done."
Good To Be Alive by Andy Grammer came up and Stuart went to work, cutting the sides and back of his kid's hair then bleached and dyed the top blonde after trimming it a bit shorter. It was after he had washed, dried and styled the hair that he remembered why he had gotten the hair dye.
He had thought he could dye his hair and change his appearance then sneak out of the island. This was all before he knew he wasn't with a passport.
At least looking at Faun now, he felt no regret buying the dye. He stood tall with slightly short blonde hair even though the sides and back were still his original black color.
Unlike his emo hair that covered half his face, this hairstyle let you see one of his most redeeming qualities. His eyes. They were so grey, they stood out so they were the first thing you notice about him. Then his pink lips.
If Evan was confused before, it definitely had to be because of his weird emo hair.
"What do you think?" Stuart asked, moving away from the mirror so the kid could see the final touch.
Faun stared at himself for a while. His eyes narrowed as if trying to look closely at himself, then he looked away abruptly and said to Stuart, "I don't like it."
Stuart quickly frowned at him to hide the disappointment. "What do you mean you don't like it? It goes well with your skin tone and brought out your eyes."
Faun licked his lips. "That's why I don't like it. It brings out the eyes I hate."
"Why? It's pretty. If Leon saw you-"
"I know it's pretty," His shoulders sagged and he fell back on the chair. "It's just that these eyes were how my dad found out my mum was cheating on him. No one in my dad's family had grey eyes but they played it off cool since my mum's brother had grey eyes. But then my dad found out he was adopted and not only that but I was their kid. They did the whole DNA stuff and all.
"My dad got hella mad and filed for a divorce. Since I was only six then I had to go with my mother. When my biological father didn't want me, she tossed me into the orphanage. She didn't even think twice about it. And it wasn't like back then I had any gay thoughts so that meant they didn't want me as their son."
After hearing all that, Stuart felt like someone had stepped on his heart and the person had done it rather roughly because if he had to count how long Faun had been in the orphanage, it was longer than the years of back luck he had.
Stuart couldn't even bring himself to believe that story might be a lie because the pain on Faun's face could not be fake even if he had tried over and over.
Standing up straight, he called to the kid and made him stand before walking up to him and wrapping his arms around him. He was impressed when he saw no tears in the kids eyes but then he started sniffling destroying every doubt he had about the story.
Running a hand through the kid's hair soothingly, he said, "It's all better now. They might not want you but you can always depend on Leon and I. We'll show you what it's like to be part of a family. Leon, Mariam and I."
Faun only hugged him tighter and Stuart grew annoyed with himself for being so hard on the kid.
Stuart didn't mind holding him until he stopped cry but the doorbell rang causing Faun to jump away from him, acting startled. He hastily wiped the tears from his eyes and chuckled weakly. "I shouldn't have told you that."
"Wh-"
"Don't tell Leon or anyone. Please." His brows knitted in a frown and since Stuart didn't want to have his masterpiece frowning when his crush came, he nodded. Faun released a sigh and smiled. "Thank you."
"It's good. I'm just glad I got to know you more. Call Evan. I'm going to check what's going on downstairs."
He smiled at the kid before leaving him in the bathroom to collect himself.
Getting down the stairs, Stuart gasped when the door opened, revealing Mariam in her beautiful purple gown. Her hair was in a nice high pony but Bonnie had curled her straight hair. She looked adorable as she stepped into the house with Leon right behind her.
"Oh Mariam, you look adorable." And for once, he didn't just say it to make the kid happy. She really did look beautiful.
She smiled widely and came to hug him. Stuart chuckled then glanced at Leon who had her jacket and a nice tiara in his hand. He closed the door then looked back at him only for his eyes to trail to something else. Mariam let go of him and started to speak but she stopped when her eyes trailed to the same thing Leon was staring at.
Stuart watched each of their amazed faces as Faun came down the stairs. He grinned when the kid smiled awkwardly at them then said, "Hey. Mariam you look nice."
"Oh my god." She gasped dramatically and her eyes narrowed as if she was trying to compare her brother of before to now.
"Is that short for you don't look so bad yourself?" He joked as he came to stand in front of her.
Stuart turned to see Leon's reaction but he just stood there, transfixed. His expression taken aback by the kid's beauty. Then he said, shoving Mariam's items at Stuart before walking up to the kid and cupping his face in his hands, "You have such amazing eyes. How come I've never seen it before?"
As Leon went batshit crazy about eyes, as usual, on Faun, Mariam called to Stuart making him look down at her. "Yes?"
"I'm sorry I didn't ask you to make me pretty. Next time, you're going to be the one to dress me up and do my hair."
Those words helped mend up his broken heart from earlier and he squatted in front of her so they were at eyes level. "It doesn't matter who dresses you up, princess, as long as the person keeps a smile on your face then I'm satisfied." Then he placed the tiara on her head. When she smiled, he added, "You look beautiful."
"Thank you, Dad."
"You're welcome." He kissed her forehead then rose to his feet.
After checking his time, he heard a knock on the door and went to open it, not exactly surprised to see Evan there. The kid greeted him hastily then brushed past him into the house, reminding Stuart of a dream that he didn't like remembering.
He started to greet the rest of the family when he froze and stared openly at Faun. Faun blushed rapidly with every second Evan stood there just staring. Stuart knew it was way more awkward with the rest of the family around making him pull Mariam and Leon outside to join the contest which they were just in time for.
It had gotten dark by 6pm but the stages and stalls had already been put up. There was a DJ now testing the sound system at the far end of the stage. Hands To Myself by Selena Gomez boomed from the speakers and other beauty contestant gathered in front of their house.
Thirty minutes later, the runway had started. The boys went first starting with toddlers, age 3 to 5, 6 to 12 then 13 to 16. Not many boys participated but when it came for the girls, everyone hollered at how pretty each girl was and Faun and Evan joined up just when Mariam came up.
Leon took tons of pictures like the dad he had always wanted to be. He even looked seconds from joining her on the stage and screaming 'this is my kid.'
When she had stroke her pose at the back and waited for the rest to be done with the runway, Stuart bumped his shoulders with Leon's and said, "Bonnie did well."
"Oh please. Mariam felt guilty and refused to smile. I had to come up with some Stuart loves you thing which only made her continue with the dress up."
"Oh."
"Yeah." Leon smirked at him then reached for his hand and entwined it with his. Stuart didn't bother pulling away because he loved the feel of his callous hand in his. Then Leon continued, "By the way, you did well with Faun. Never seen him look that vibrant before."
They both looked beside them at the kids. Evan was staring at Faun but the kid pretended not to notice as he kept his eyes on the stage. Leon and Stuart laughed at that then looked away from them.
"I guess."
They stayed quiet and watched the performance for a while, clapping when they started calling winners. The excitement and joy grew louder when Mariam was called as one of the winners. No one had to tell Leon twice before he ran on the stage to pick her up and gave her a bone crushing hug. At the end, he was the one who took the flower and tiara and crowned his daughter. Stuart's heart warmed at the sight and he couldn't hold back the smile that appeared on his face.
Unlike the Jacobi-Holmes that went home with $500, Allister-Maximiliano went home with nothing since their daughter wasn't qualified for the beauty contest and Fyodor didn't dare go on stage. But the Father-daughter dance was bliss for Andres because even though she took off the girly gown and make-up and came out with her ripped jumper, she was still his daughter and he loved her the way she was.
"You owe me $100 for wasting my time today." Gala smirked at him.
He twirled her around and copied her smirk. "I might have given you boyfriend today. I say we call it even."
That wiped the smirk off her face but it didn't stay down long when Vlad smiled at her.
Everything was going well.