August

March 20

Monday was Phidias' first day back. Although the pain had faded the day after Kosin had released him, Phidias hadn't seemed to be able to manage coming out of his room for another four days. For the first time since he'd come to the Center, he had cried. On the second day, Dr. Alan Long had sent him a message:
Men have come by the Institute.
Your things are gone.
I couldn't save them.
And Phidias had felt like his whole world was falling apart. Men; such a simple word, spoken so insidiously, with so much meaning, so much depth, so much unspoken and unexpressed in those three small letters comprising one word. Phidias crumpled up the message and flushed it, to be sure he couldn't be punished for having it.

Caddy had taken him home from the infirmary. He'd supported himself, skin still aching like he had some kind of crazy flu, on his son's small shoulders. Caddy wasn't growing as fast as he had once been, Phidias noticed. At their room, he kissed his son's head and went to sleep in his own bed. Then next day, they'd emptied every room, every drawer and unpacked box and storage case and filled up red bags labeled Contraband. Phidias had saved one thing, unable at the moment to let it go. When they came to take his things, he handed them his dissertation last. Then he went into the bathroom and gracefully retched for fifteen minutes. Afterwards, Caddy had come in angry and laid him out. It was Phidias' fault, naturally, that they were in this situation again. If it hadn't hurt so bad to breathe, Phidias felt he would have laughed at the absurdity. But underneath it, he understood - Caddy wasn't angry. Caddy was afraid. Phidias had apologized and Caddy had made him an iced tea and left and Phidias hadn't seen his son for six more hours.


On Monday, he went to class, seminar, and lunch. James walked on eggshells around him. Sheridan refused to.

At lunch, Phidias picked at his eggs and felt listless. He fidgeted in his natori and counted the little blue dots in the glass jar in front of him. He still had five pain pills left from what they'd given him at the hospital. Briefly, he thought about taking all of them and felt guilty immediately. He turned the bottle backwards so he wouldn't have to look at it. Shyly, James asked if he could have one or two. Phidias hesitated; wanted or not, he worried about the pregnancy. James assured him that they weren't going to be taken, just sold instead. At Phidias' look of surprise, James shrugged his shoulders and sheepishly said,
"Well. They won't let us work. My savings are spent. We've got to make extra money somehow."

~:~

"Oh, come on - just try it! It'll look so cute!"
"Yeah, Adrian, pleeeease?"
"Just one time!"
Adrian stared in horror at the multitude of small hands descending upon him, each bearing glittery sticks of temporary hair color. Only Caddy and Ashby refrained, standing to the side and watching in a mixture of interest and amusement.

Ten minutes later, and the class collectively decided that Adrian looked perfect. He got up to look in the mirror himself, and immediately burst into laughter. The kids grinned, delighted that he seemed to be enjoying himself as much as they were. Adrian couldn't stop himself from laughing. Sean was absolutely going to love this.

~:~

Private counseling was short because Phidias wouldn't speak. He sat down in the room, handed the counselor his letter, crossed his arms over his chest and refused to respond to any questions. After twenty minutes, the counselor let him go.

Union Law & Carrier Legislation was the last class of the afternoon. There were evening seminars (tonight was another one on fellatio, a topic of which Phidias was frankly sick), but those began late, and so there were some spare hours until then, so Phidias, James, and Sheridan picked a particularly quiet spot in the greenhouse, and spent an hour sitting together, finishing up some required reading. Around 4:30, James announced that Harley was going to come pick him up from the West Gate at 5. Sheridan blanched a little at this and said he'd see them later, but James caught his wrist and looked up at him so beseechingly that he stayed.
"Just walk me out there. Say hi to him. I want him to like you. Right now, he does like you, and I want to keep it that way." James looked down at the ground, then up at Sheridan. "I couldn't stand it if he didn't let us be friends."
Sheridan wavered for a minute.
"Fine." he said finally. "But Phidias comes, too."
James looked over at Phidias, who looked up over the edge of his book.
"Suits me. The more, the merrier. Maybe Harley will bring a friend."

~:~

Officer Sean Wick flipped his fucking shit the minute he saw Adrian.
"What. The Fuck. Did You Do. To Your Hair."
Adrian frowned for a second, trying to gauge his fiancé's reaction.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!" Sean repeated.
Adrian backed up.
"Nothing, Sean, it's a joke, the kids did it, it's just fun, it comes out, it - "
"You don't ever change your appearance unless you ask me first."
Anger simmered in Adrian. He crossed his arms over his chest.
"I was under the impression that that particular carrier law was abolished five years ago."
Sean's fist shot out and slammed into the wall next to Adrian's head. His other hand pointed fiercely in the carrier's face. Adrian didn't flinch.
"We don't live by those laws, do we? We live by our own. And by Dothan, you should not have done this." Sean pulled back, but still glared at his fiancée. "Temporary or not. Fix it now."
Adrian felt the urge to resist, stronger than he could control.
"My father wouldn't have cared."
Sean was back in his face immediately, his expression strained.
"And your father," he snarled, "Is not here now. Go and wash your fucking hair out."

When Adrian returned from his shower, Sean was sitting on the bed with his belt in his hand.
"Come lie down."
Adrian rolled his eyes and tightened the towel around his waist.
"For what? Some marital discipline? For breaking the rules of Dothan?"
Sean sighed.
"It's the ninth law, Adrian. You know this."
Adrian scoffed and began drying his hair with the towel around his neck.
"And am I to believe you're a Revivalist now?"
Sean just stared at him.
"You've been away from Dothan a long time, Adrian."
Adrian stared back.
"So have you."
Sean shook his head.
"But I've kept up. The Revivalists are the majority now, Adrian."
Adrian paused in toweling his hair and peeked out from under the cloth at Sean. Sean looked evenly up at Adrian. "And I am in the majority."
Sean looked meaningfully at the bed.
"So come. Lie. Down."