Together

I watched Cemetary Junction and it made me miss Dawson....

Dawson was a Hearst, a Munroe, a Hughes and a Rose.

Inheriting his mother’s stubbornness and the need to do things on his own gave him quite a driven nature to the point where he was very goal orientated.  From his mother he also inherited an energy and buzz about him, making him quite passionate about the things he cared about.  His father had given him pride, making it difficult for Dawson to admit when he’s in the wrong and a care for his own person.  He never allowed himself to fall into disarray; always kept himself neat and tidy – unless he was feeling generally lazy and when laziness set in, those Hughes genetics made it difficult for Dawson to get motivated again without a goal to aim for.

But even with the traits his parents (and grandparents) displayed, Dawson was his own person.  He liked lounging in the sunshine, singing show tunes in the shower and demonstrating things with a certain flair that only an actor could display.  Dawson, however, was no actor.  Growing up he had considered taking up a career in acting but it never had amounted to anything.  He didn’t particularly enjoy his desk job but it paid the bills.  If he wanted to continue living with Kasper then he needed to pay his way, no matter how many times the other male said it’d be fine for him to take some time out to pursue acting.  Even Kasper didn’t have an endless supply of cash funds.

That was the thing about Kasper though – he understood Dawson.  They both had grown up with a rather large extended family.  The circumstances may have been different, but there were so many people involved in the ‘main’ family that the normal family lines were blurred.  Dawson could happily sit and listening to Kasper talk about his family for hours.  None of them may have been related to him by blood, but each member in Kasper’s family tree had been absorbed into his heart and made into a real family.  He talked about them all in such an energetic but loving way, complete with interesting little stories and anecdotes about them all.  Dawson had only ever met a few of the ‘younger’ members – those around Kasper’s age.  He called them his cousins, but it was hard to tell just what relation they all were.  He and Emma had unintentionally butted heads at first, their stubborn natures clashing when they first met, but things soon smoothed out between them.  They still had moments now and again where they’d have a disagreement and both stick to their guns and would not back down.  Someone usually had to intervene before a shouting match ensued between them.  When relaying this information to members of his own family, there was usually one figure who would snigger and say “Well, that’s Morgan’s fault” despite Dawson not understanding what it had meant about his grandfather.

It was a lazy summer afternoon when Dawson discovered a side to himself he wasn’t completely sure he liked.  Unsure just what side of the family he had inherited such a thing from Dawson had spent nearly an hour pacing the living room trying to work it out inside his own head while Kasper watched from his spot on the couch with worried eyes.

Dawson had grown up believing he wasn’t a violent person.  He had never struck out at anyone, and if anything violent came up he would just turn and walk away.  Growing up the other kids had called him a coward, but he stuck firm to his beliefs and had never hit anyone.  He was proud of himself that despite some things he had been through Dawson had never, ever smacked anyone no matter how much it seemed they ‘deserved’ it.  But on that lazy summer afternoon, Dawson had found himself in such an incomprehensible rage that he had swung for another person.  Not just some random stranger or someone looking to start a fight with him – it had been someone he knew.

Keith was trying his best to woo Dawson’s little sister Lina.  He was....mildly successful, although Dawson’s father seemed to be attempting to thwart the man’s attempts at every turn.  There was nothing about Keith, however, that would make a person dislike him.  He was nice to Lina, and obviously cared about her.  Despite his protests, Rueben actually liked the guy.  There was nothing outright that could pinpoint the reason why Dawson had lashed out at him.

There was one thing about Keith, however, that did manage to get under Dawson’s skin and it took an entire hour of pacing for him to finally grasp just what had caused him to punch without warning; Keith had said something inadvertently against ‘mothers’.  Keith’s mother had left him when he was around age seven or so, leaving him with resentment towards matriarch figures.  He may have not meant it to be directed at Isabel or even Dawson’s grandmother Madeline, but what Keith had said touched a nerve within Dawson that lead him to seeing nothing but red.  Leaping up from his spot on the sun lounger on the balcony of their apartment, Dawson had flown over to where Keith was sat, hauled him up by the collar of his shirt and punched him square in the jaw.  Once the blow had hit, he dropped the other man and stepped back, taking a few moments to recount just what he had done.  When things settled in, he fled, leaving Kasper to suggest Lina take Keith home and that he’d call and let her known how things panned out once Dawson had calmed down.

It had taken an hour for him to reach a state where Dawson felt comfortable forming vocal words instead of incoherent stammering to the older male who had done nothing more than watch him with a concerned expression on his face.  That was another reason Dawson liked Kasper so much – the guy didn’t pressure for any information that he felt wasn’t going to be willing given with only a few probing questions.  Whenever there had been an argument between Emma and him, Kasper had given Dawson room to breath before trying to work through the kinks of what had caused Dawson to disagree with her.  Dawson didn’t like admitting when he needed help, and Kasper didn’t force help upon him.

He had been enjoying the sunshine, leaning against Kasper with the older man’s fingers stroking through his hair.  The conversation had been light and they had all been happily talking about various things.  What with work and everything else Dawson rarely ever had chance to spend time talking with his little sister these days.  Kasper had mentioned something in passing about how he was going to buy a mother’s day card for his ‘grandmother’ in the hope that she’d bake him something sweet and delicious and Keith had said something against mother’s and how he thought they weren’t the effort people put into cards for mother’s days and the like.  Dawson had just found himself snapping like a stretched elastic band, firing off at Keith.

And now he felt like he had ruined the day.  Slumping down onto the carpet, fingers fisted into his hair and he let out a long, low groan of dismay.  Things had been going so well and he had just punched a guy in the face.  A guy who wanted to be his brother-in-law.  How was he supposed to face Lina after this?  How was he going to face any member of his family?  He was supposed to be the calm, non-violent one.  The male with a temperament like Ainsely’s.  Lost within his turmoil, he barely felt the fingers slipping into his hair and the body coiling around his own from behind.  Long legs slipped around him and an arm reached around his body, pulling him close to a warm, hard chest.

“You’re Dad is going to give you a freaking medal,” Kasper announced, dropping the hand from Dawson’s hair and nuzzling his face into the feather-soft locks.  “You have just done the one thing I’m sure he’s been wanting to do since before he even knew the guy existed.”