2020-04-14 - VR Trouble - Stephanie, Michael and Tristan

Micheal Reinhardt jumped up as if he’d been shocked.  Of course he had been.  With the way life had been the last month or so, he was high key, even if he always maintained his usual low key demeanor.  But this was different.  Looking quickly at the clock, he noticed that it was minutes after 4 in the morning.  Also known to his mind as the dead of night.  But instead of silence, he heard the usually melodious voice of his wife raised in anger at someone in the living room…

Stephanie was in full rage mode and mid sentence "Four in the fucking morning! Don't you shush me....I don't care if you haven't muted. Get off the VR now! No...right now god dammmit!"

Tristan was snarky "Give me a fuckin minute...sorry guys..."

There was a scuffle and Tristan yelled as if in pain. Stephanie had ripped the headset right off him and was trying to shut it all down.

"There are no more fuckin minutes buddy....how do I turn this thing off. Hello? Who is this? Pancake...your name is Pancake..... never mind he's going now...game over kids...."

"Mom!" Tristan shrieked "You can’t just handle it like that...please let me do it...please!!!!"

Tristan silently shut everything down as quickly as possible and went to plug in the headset.

"Nope...that comes with me......you'll get it back when you learn to go to bed on time. You have online classes in the morning and I better not hear any complaints when it's time to get up."

They were at a stand off now like wild animals posturing in the woods. Tristan was backed into a corner, teeth bared and Stephanie was looking ready to pounce.

Michael listened with his eyebrows raised and a slight smile on his face.  Tristan was busted.  Not that Michael was completely innocent.  He had also gotten busted playing games into the wee hours.  But he wasn’t into the VR thing that cut your peripheral vision off at the neck.  Not moving, he simply lay there, ready to stop smiling and pretend he had slept through the whole thing … somehow.

"Give me the headset." Stephanie demanded coolly. "Now."

Tristan looked around like he might try to make a run for it but really where would he go? Lock himself in the bathroom? Under his bed? It was futile. With a definite tone he said "Fine fine I fucked up." and then fully yelled "I'm sorry!"

"Oh for fuck's sakes..." Stephanie yelled back "You're tired. Go to bed." She took the headset and stalked off towards her and Michael's' bedroom. She opened the door and popped the headset on their dresser just as Tristan slammed his door about 10 times in a row. "Jesus!" She barked and stomped off down the hall "Open this door!!! Tristan Hiroshi Yamada you open this door right now!!!"

Michael arched his brows as they damn near bottlenecked in the short hallway of their tiny house.  From their living room their bedroom door was dead ahead with the long but narrow bathroom on the right and Tristan’s bedroom in the front of the house to the left.  Not bothering to pretend to be asleep anymore because .. no idiot could fall for that .. he sits up in bed and looks at the door and the skirmish barely four feet away from him.  He won’t step in unless he has to, but he does clear his throat, just to let them both know he’s awake because … who wouldn’t be?

There's the sound of a heavy piece of furniture being wedged against Tristan's door and the sound of Stephanie shoving at it and then grunting in frustration "Tristan!" She snaps.

"Fuck off!" He retorts and shoves whatever it is a little harder, causing a floor skid sound. It's mostly like the bookshelf, again.

Stephanie hears Michael clear his throat and bangs her fist on the door "No you're waking up Mike, and he has to work!"

"No you're waking up Mike. I'm not screaming Mom." He's a cheeky bastard and it's intentional.

"Oh you smart assed little shit!!!" Stephanie hisses back and then smacks the wall beside the door before wandering into the living room to try and compose herself. She lies down on the floor, just lies there, defeated. Death by parenting.

Michael shakes his head, even as he gets out of bed, murmuring “Oh for fucks sake…”.  He steps out of his bedroom and leans right, putting his shoulder into Tristan’s bedroom door.  Using every bit of his 6’3 inch frame and his considerable muscle, he manhandles the door open to see Tristan actually tried to blockade his bedroom door with his bed.  He sticks his head inside and growls low.  “Bed.”  then backs out of the room, gently closing the door behind him.  Then he turns to his wife and kneels down beside her.  He moves a lock of hair behind her ear and will scoop her up, if allowed, carrying her into their bedroom and setting her on the bed, then closing the door softly behind them.  Getting into the bed beside her, he sighs and silently gathers her into his arms.

Tristan is sulking in his bed and jumps about 2 feet off it when Mike growls at him. He still wasn't totally used to Mike's temper. His mother's hysteria was familiar and he saw the same in his Uncle Ryan from time to time. He was pretty sure it came from Gran because his Grandpa Hiro had been the silent brooding type, as had his Uncle Garrett. Tristan seemed to be a hysterical brooder? Worst of both worlds really. But this growling and demanding was scary and also incited a further rebellion. Tristan wasn't going to listen to anyone and he wanted some air after that jolt. He waited until he heard footsteps down the short hall and then wrenched open his window and climbed out, landing in the bushes below with a crunch and a whimper. He'd forgotten about those.

Stephanie gets carried like a rag doll, devoid of all energy. She loves Mike for it, but can't even express that right now properly. As she feels him pull her into his arms she leans her head tiredly on his shoulder and hears the window and the crunch. Exhaustively she groans "He went out the fucking window..."

Michael also hears the crunch and groans.  Part of him wants to just let Tristan go.  Sometimes a man just needed to take a walk.  He was like that a lot.  Walk and think, then come back to face the music.  However, with the pandemic things were more up in the air, and he knew that the police were patrolling the streets more, stopping anyone who seemed out of place.  And at four in the morning, a young man wandering the streets would be stopped and questioned.  “Jesus fucking Christ.” he growls again and gently pushes Stephanie off of him and quickly gets out of bed.  Not turning on any lights, he leaves the bedroom and slips his feet into his runners beside the front door.  Then he unlocks the door and steps out, looking immediately to his right, where Tristan’s bedroom window is.  As he heads down the stairs, he is aware of a couple of things.  He is in his pajama bottoms and runners and nothing else.  Also, he is aware that Tristan is smaller and faster than he is.  If he decides to run, Michael would have to chase him down.  The good news for him was that he had gotten a little bit of sleep and Tristan had not.  He spots Tristan and stands on the lawn, not looking like what he is; ready for a foot chase.  “Don’t make this worse than it already is, son.” he suggests.  “Let’s go inside.  Go to sleep and worry about all this bullshit in the morning.”  his tone is not angry, even if he is slowly heading down that street, if he were honest with himself.  But there is a threat in his voice.  If he has to chase his own son down, things will not end well.

Tristan looks like he might run but his stance is actually him trying to find a way to stand that isn't painful. He's a mess of superficial cuts and bruises from the blackberry brambles as he sleeps in shorts and a tshirt. Standing on the cool grass in his bare feet he finally deflates, all the way down to sitting in a heap.  “But it is worse!! It's the worst thing ever! I'm just so stressed. I can't believe Mom took my VR headset......." He seems more upset than is expected over losing a gaming device. He once lost the X-Box for a month when he rage threw a controller at the wall. He took that one way better.

Michael is both relieved that Tristan decided not to run and a bit shocked when he deflates and sits.  In all the time he’s known Tristan he has never seen him react so badly to having things taken from him.  His ability to read people comes in handy, in a way.  This is about more than his hardware.  Michael comes closer and kneels closer to Tristan.  “I know it sucks, especially now with everyone stuck at home, but … worse thing ever?”  he arches his brow.  “Want to try talking about it?”

Tristan licked the tip of his finger and pressed it to a particularly nasty cut with a wince "I've been so lonely....I don't even normally like a lot of people around at school but having none....it just fucking sucks. I know I can see Mason and Tony sometimes online but they have stuff to do and busy families, so I felt really isolated. I started playing more and more in VR Chat." He looks up from his leg at Michael "I....well...I kinda....." He bites his lip and looks away and takes a big breath and finally just says it "I have a boyfriend there." Tristan goes shy and silent again after blurting it out.

Michael listens and can sort of sympathise.  When he was younger he wasn’t the biggest social butterfly in the world, but the idea of having to stay home was unthinkable.  He looks at the cut and was about to say something about taking care of it when Tristan says the rest.  A boyfriend.  Michael wasn’t too surprised.  Tristan was at an age where that sort of a relationship was definitely a possibility.  He stops himself before asking if Tristan was identifying as gay because he knew from life experience that identification meant very little in the grander scheme of things.  So he looks at Tristan mildly and simply says.  “Is it long distance?  Well these days that would be the case if he lived in the Bottoms.”  he chuckles, hoping to relax Tristan a bit.  “So … you met in VR and now you’re looking at getting cut off from your headset for a little while.”  he scratches his unshaven chin.  “That’s gotta be rough.  But there has to be a way to make it work.”  he wants to be supportive.

Tristan laughed at the Bottoms comment and then shook his head "A little further away than The Bottoms....Pancake lives in a little town called Bredon in Australia." He holds up a hand "It's his screen name...although his real name is pretty weird too. He goes by Jo but his full name is Banjo. Banjo Bundan. It's a common name in Australia. He's actually named after his uncle who's some kinda movie star." Tristan hadn't been able to talk about this with anyone so suddenly it's like a floodgate has opened "Jo's 14 and he writes comics and he's so funny....and uh...cute..." Tristan gets a bit of a silly grin "He sent me a picture..." Tristan fishes out his phone. He's so smitten he's practically melting into the grass. He taps and swipes at the phone and then a close up of a fresh faced blue haired teenager comes up. His hair is curly and flops over to one side being longer in the front than back and sides. He's got a little fuzz of stubble on his chin and a crop of pimples around his hairline. Beside his face he's holding up a can of vegemite like he's offering it to Tristan. Tristan chuckles "I've never tried vegemite but Jo's trying to convince me. I'm not even sure we have it here....especially now."

Michael couldn’t help but chuckle.  “Your boyfriend is named Banjo and goes by the name Pancake online …”  he bites his lip.  “I hope you warned him you’re part of THAT kind of family.  He can take some teasing, I hope.”  he pauses.  “A movie star?  No shit?”  and then Tristan is showing him a picture and melting into their lawn.  “Cute…”  he notes, without really thinking about it.  Then he shakes his head.  “Yea … I’m willing to bet good money we don’t have any vegemite on the island.  Or maybe even British Columbia.”  he shrugs.  “Well ask him if he’s ever had a Reinhardt/Yamada international dish.  Because your gran and Yuki are like the UN in the kitchen together.  I hear vegemite is weird, but it can’t possibly beat Gran and Yuki.”

Tristan hung his head and laughed "Yep and yep...he's pretty resilient to teasing. His Mom and Stepdad are both on their third marriages and he lives in a big weird blended family. I'm sure he's eaten lots of strange foods. His family runs a retro arcade and pizzeria.....although it's all closed now except for delivery services. He and his siblings have the run of the arcade. I'm kind of jealous. And yeah...the grandparents are definitely weirder than vegemite." He muses and then gets humble "I'm really sorry if I've been a dick to you Mike...and Mom..." He gets a little overcome with emotion.

Michael chuckles.  “Well if it ever comes down to it, bring on the sushi pizza.”  he thinks about that and winces a little bit.  Then Tristan gets humble.  “I accept your apology, but all you really did was wake me up and make me get out of bed.  Fiona may have put you in the hospital, but not me.  I’m just glad I didn’t have to chase you all over town.”  his face gets a tad more serious.  “Your mother… I think you need to be in major ass kissing mode right now.”  he tells him.  “Tell her about the Banjo Pancake if you want, but definitely apologize.”  he considers.  “And don’t be late for your class in a couple hours or I can’t be responsible for what she might do.  She’s kinda scary when she gets mad.”  he admits it with the tone that says she scares him too, sometimes.  He looks at Tristan  again.  “How about we go in the house, treat those cuts and make coffee.  I’d suggest you not try and sleep at this point because you’ll never get up in time for that class .. which means I’ll have to go in your room and wake you up.  Mom might turn on loud music, but I’ll just flip the mattress with you on it and if that doesn’t work put you in the tub and turn on the cold shower.”  He offers the coffee casually, but up until now Tristan hasn’t been allowed coffee.

Tristan grins and then listens contritely and nods, knowing Michael is right. His admission that his mom scares him too makes Michael suddenly 10 times more human. The word coffee perks him up, literally "Really? You don't think it'll deplete all my vitamins and make me short and dehydrated? Mom seems to think it's going to turn me into some kind of garden gnome." He stands up slowly feeling tired and achey.

Michael begins to stand with Tristan.  “God no!  Coffee is a wonderful thing.  A gift.  Plus it is made WITH water, so no dehydration problems.”  He is a coffee freak.  “I have been drinking coffee since I was younger than you are,”  he straightens to his full height.  “And I’m hardly short.”  he pauses.  “But on the biological side…”  he considers.  “Your mother drinks coffee too, and the last time I checked she was shorter than BOTH of us.”  he arches his brows.  Since puberty Tristan was now taller than his mother.  “So if she gives you that shortness lip, just straighten up and look down at her and reach over her head for the sugar.”  he pauses.  “Just .. you know .. not today.  I’ll handle it today.  You’re in enough trouble.”  he moves towards the house.  “Hey … you and Pancake have email, right?  You’re grounded off of the VR but you can still email or Skype or whatever, can’t you?”  He thinks it is important for Tristan to stay in touch with his boyfriend while also not bucking his mother’s authority.

Tristan cracks up and gives Michael a sweet sideways smile. He was being cool about all of it and he understood. "Yeah...we have that kinda stuff." And then as if he's been saying it for years and it was completely natural he causally chirps out "Thanks Dad." And gives Michael a quick hug into his side waist.

Michael nods and is about to speak when Tristan calls him Dad .. for the first time … ever.  He returns the hug and clears his throat, not once but twice.  “You’re welcome, son.”  he replies, his voice slightly husky.  Then he clears his throat again.  “Now to teach you how to make coffee.” and he heads into the house, feeling a thousand times better than he had when Tristan crawled out the window.