forum •Hollow Tune• [one/one]

Started June 30, 2022 by @Dayzed forum

tune

(again, I'm so so sorry for the wait :') )

Beck continued to pet Smoke, listening as Kohen stammered and hesitated, cocking his head faintly. "Yeah. I mean, dinner isn't for a few more hours, so you don't have to stay for dinner if you don't want, I'm…just saying my parents wouldn't mind." he always referred to the Altairs as his parents, because they were. They were his parents, in every way that mattered to him. "And, uh, I would have to talk to Lilly about borrowing her car to pick you up, but she's, uhm, going to the mall? So she might not let me. So I don't know if you have a ride of your own?" it was easier to be confident and talk more over the phone, because he didn't have to worry about making eye contact or about if he was fidgeting, he didn't have to worry about anything but the way he sounded, and that was so much easier than talking in person was. Talking in person was fraught with so many little things, but here, he was in his own bedroom, and all he had to do was talk.

He glanced over to his bedroom door, knowing Lilly was still in the house, and he could still talk to her about the car. Maybe she would let him have it for just a bit, to pick up Kohen and then come home? Or maybe she would be willing to drive Kohen herself? But that was an unnecessary trip, for her, and he knew she wouldn't necessarily want to use gas for that. Gas was expensive, after all. So he would have to ask her about using the car, if Kohen didn't have a ride of his own.

"Or, uhm, we could meet up after dinner, if you don't wanna eat here. Or if you have allergies?" he hadn't considered that idea. If Kohen had allergies, then of course he wouldn't want to eat here. Some of the other Altair kids did have allergies, and Mrs Altair made food for them, but… Beck shrugged his shoulders, looking down at Smoke. The little kitten was half-asleep, purring softly as the teen boy continued absently running his fingers through that soft grey fur.

(ahaha don't sweat it! the wait was worth it :>)

"I'll go!" Kohen sort of snapped, though his voice sounded more desperate than anything else. He didn't mean to snap, he just blurted it out, hoping that Beck wouldn't change his mind too quickly.
At the mention of one of Beck's family members picking him up he looked around. He was in the middle of the street….somewhere, he'd figure it out. He also didn't want Beck to feel bad if he wasn't able to provide a ride for him.
"Actually…" Kohen said, thinking about his skateboard that he left back at that shitty old house. "I do have a ride. Just text me the address and I'll be there" He said confidently. Not that he was in the slightest, but he'd make it. One way or another. He'd swing by his house and pick it up. In and out. No problem. Simple.
…
So why was his heart starting to race at the mere thought of even getting close to that place? Kohen sort of grumbled at how his body involuntarily seemed to vibrate on its own, shaking slightly.
"No! I-" He paused, frantically crossing the street when there were no cars, he looked paranoid as he looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was following him. "I don't have any allergies. Unless you count me being allergic to cats." He said at last. Though, Kohen didn't mind it. He loved animals, he'd happily suffer to be in the presence of one. "But that's beside the point, that doesn't really matter-" He protested as he walked down the usual route he took to his house.
"Listen, I'm leaving this up to you, if you want me there, I'll be there, but if you prefer I don't, then I don't mind meeting up afterward," He said at last, his voice sounding a little out of breath as he stared across the street to his father's house. It wasn't a long walk to and from school, which was absolutely terrible but also a blessing in Kohen's mind.

(hnnnn sorry againnn)

Beck frowned faintly, glancing down at Smoke. "I, ah, have a cat? But mom keeps the house pretty clean, so? I hope that'll be fine. And I'll text you the address once we get off the phone." he replied, still gently running his fingers through Smoke's soft grey fur. The little kitten was purring softly, seeming perfectly content to just remain there, being loved and petted by his owner. "You can just, uhm, show up whenever, I guess? Just knock when you get here. Someone will answer the door. Might, uhm, might not be me, but…somebody will." he stretched a little bit, blinking tiredly and looking over at his alarm clock. "So, uhm, I'll see you later? Bye." he waited a moment, then hung up. He opened up his messaging system, and texted his address to Kohen. Once he was done with that, he set his phone down, picking Smoke up and cooing softly to the little kitten. Smoke just let out a soft, faint little mew, before settling into Beck's arms with a happy purr.

(i return after three long years :>)

Kohen had swung by his house that afternoon, climbing the draining pipe that went from the roof of the house to the ground- it was a lot harder to do with a broken wrist but nothing held Kohen back when he really wanted something. Because his room's window was close to it, it was pretty easy to get a footing on the ledge and open it since he always left it open. It was a precaution, in case he needed to get away, fast.
Kohen looked around his room, finding one of his skateboards. A little while ago Kohen had invested in buying two skateboards since the very first one he had bought had snapped in half in a street fight he had last year.
He grabbed it and went back over to the window, the old floor creaking under him, he froze when he heard his father's step from downstairs.
"Kohen!? Is that you?!" His gruff voice came from below. There were other obscenities thrown at Kohen but Kohen quickly slipped out of the window before he heard any more words come from his father's mouth.

Soon he was on the street, a proud smile on his face as he had managed to grab his skateboard without even having to see the old man.
Kohen rode down the street, dangerously in the middle where the double yellow lines were. He'd be fine if any cars came, he'd see them from a mile away, right now, the street was his.

It wasn't long before he found himself in a different neighborhood, his eyes skimming the house numbers before he found the right one that Beck had sent to his phone. He flipped his skateboard up with his foot, catching it with his good hand.
Kohen looked through the windows, trying to see if he could make anything out, but there wasn't much to see. He gave up and stood in front of the door, eyeing the doorbell.
A long minute passed before he gathered the courage to press it. Then, he waited, quite anxiously.

(skdfbj I have been waiting like "when will my husband return from the war")
(this RP is now over a year old and doesn't even had a full four pages yet :') )

The doorbell was just a standard one, and the sound of it rang through the house. A young girl was the first to answer it, and she stared at Kohen for a long minute. She seemed about thirteen, perhaps, with dark brown hair and braces. "Moooooom, there's someone at the door!" she called, looking back into the house and not really greeting Kohen at all.

From deeper in the house came a returning call of "coming!". A few seconds later, quick footsteps approached the door, and an older woman came to the door. She seemed to be middle-aged, perhaps, and of Latin heritage. She studied Kohen for a moment. "You're Beck's friend, right? He mentioned someone was coming over to work on some school assignment with him." she offered her hand to Kohen. "I'm Maria Altair. You can call me Mrs. Altair, or Maria, whichever you would prefer. Beck, your friend is here!" she called back into the house, an easy smile on her face. "We're about to eat dinner, if you'd like to sit and eat with us?" she already seemed ready to welcome him in, already stepping back to usher Kohen into the house.

The Altairs lived in a rather normal suburban home; it was a little on the larger side, due to there being seven people living in it, but it wasn't enormous. Inside, it was well-lit and lived-in, with all the signs of five children that one would normally find. A few toys scattered on the floor, a mess of shoes by the front door. Backpacks sitting on the floor, half-zipped with papers poking out. Beck came downstairs only a minute after Mrs. Altair called, greeting Kohen with a nervous smile. "Hi." he said, fidgeting for just a moment with the hem of his sleeves, still in that green sweater from earlier. "I, uhm, wasn't sure when you'd get here."

(LMFAOO and yeaahhh :(( we've both been a bit out of it lol)

Kohen stared down at the young teen. When he had been about fifteen years old they had told him he had an older sister out somewhere in the world and they could try to get in contact with her if he wanted them to. Maybe reconnect. He had turned down the offer. He wasn't sure why, maybe things could have been good if he had met her, could have maybe helped him out, but the thought of anyone seeing him in the state he was in made him hate the idea of meeting someone new. Someone who was of the same blood and maybe put well together- better than him.
He stood there, standing awkwardly as he looked past the girl and into the house. It looked clean. And…nice. It just seemed to put him on edge more. How was he supposed to act around these people? Polite and proper was his guess, but he was afraid his temper would get the better of him if they asked the wrong questions or pried too much into his life.

Once someone else took the girl's place and looked him over, he seemed to shrink into himself.
"Yeah, that's me," He said, hiding his now bandaged wrist out of view. "Oh, uhm, er- Mrs." He added finally. He listened to her finish speaking before he said anything else. "It's nice to meet you," He said, taking her hand with his good hand, his eyes darting into their house again when the woman called out for Beck.
When she addressed him again, he quickly looked back at her, feeling that it was rude to look inside someone's home when he hadn't been invited in yet.

"Dinner would be nice…" He said softly yet uncertainly, stepping through and letting Maria usher him in. Once he was inside Kohen stood there for a second taking everything in. It reminded him of his home when he had been younger, except for the toys and indication of children living there. Kohen's adopted mother had been a clean woman, bordering on obsessive and she kept the house spotless from top to bottom. It seemed like those were most of his memories from her, she was always seen cleaning- always busying herself with stuff to do around the house.
He watched as Beck came into view, his eyes lighting up slightly, it was subtle, but just enough was there that you could tell Kohen was happy to see him.
"Heya," He said casually, though seemed a bit on the tense side. "Oh- sorry, I- I forgot to text you when I'd be here," He said patting down his pants to see where he had stuffed his phone this time.

Although Kohen was a pretty relaxed individual most of the time, he seemed to be on edge at the moment, or well, a little more nervous than he had been with Beck back at school.

"'s okay." Beck replied, waving off the apology. "I figured you would, uhm, show up eventually." he seemed a little bit more comfortable, a little less shy, here in his own home. At school, he was almost always nervous and hesitant and reserved, but here, he was…less so. Not perfectly at ease, but a little less reserved.

Maria glanced between the two for a moment, then gave Kohen a soft, pleasant smile. "I'll set an extra place at the table." she said, already starting to walk away back towards the kitchen. "Dinner should be ready in another fifteen minutes!" she called, louder than her previous speech so that the other people in the house could hear what she was saying. Then she turned a corner and was gone, leaving Beck and Kohen standing alone in the front hall.

Beck cleared his throat faintly, running a hand through his hair. "Well, uhm, you can take your shoes off and leave them by the door," he said softly, "and then come upstairs? I guess? We can at least start getting ready to work on the project before dinner is ready." he waited a moment, then led Kohen towards the stairs, and up them. Beck's bedroom was a bit down the hall, past a few doors and then down to his own door, which he opened up. Smoke was laying on the bed, and he looked up when the door opened, letting out a soft "mrrow?".

Beck smiled faintly at the sight of his kitten, leading Kohen into his room. "This is, uhm, my room. I guess. Uhm, we can work on the project in here?" he still seemed a little nervous, hands linking together as he fidgeted, gaze moving around the room. Smoke sat up a little, watching the two boys with sleepy, half-open eyes.

Kohen's eyes lit up at what he assumed to be more openness from Beck. A crooked smile painted his face, his demeanor now relaxing as well, as he casually stood there.

At Beck's instruction to take his shoes off, his face flushed red for a second. Right. Manners. He quickly went to work on slipping his shoes off and setting them beside the others, lining them up so that they looked neat. He hadn't done that before- maybe when his mother had been alive, but that was a while ago. His father didn't care about things like these, the whole house was a mess from the amounted mass over the years. Kohen had tried to keep it clean when everything had started but soon grew tired of it.

He nodded at Beck's words, silently following him as they led him up the stairs. There was a silent awe that was plastered on Kohen's face as he looked around the new place. A sort of jealousy sparked inside of him at seeing the cleanliness. He wished his home looked like this all the time too.

As soon as Kohen entered Beck's room and saw the cat, he froze. A small look of horror mixed with bubbling excitement.
"Oh my god…" He muttered softly at the sound the cat made. He acted like he had never seen one in his entire life. He took a step closer to the animal, his nose twitching slightly. He then took a small step back as if in regret, suddenly covering his nose and sneezing. Oh great. His allergies were going to kill him.

"O-Oh, yeah, we can work in here- your room is very neat. It's nice" Kohen commented awkwardly. He wasn't sure if that was an odd thing to say.

(hello, it's me-)

They didn't end up having a significant amount of time to work, as soon enough Maria was calling up the stairs that dinner was ready, come down and eat. Beck took the lead, leading Kohen from the bedroom, down the stairs, and out into the dining room, where the rest of the family was gathering. Lily wasn't there, since she was still out with her friends, but the others were there. Beck's other three siblings, and both Mrs. Altair and Mr. Altair.

Rowan was the tallest in the family, with the long limbs of the basketball player that he was. The burn scars that marred his skin made him a little bit more intimidating to look at, but the relatively friendly smile that he gave Kohen helped to nullify the more intimidating portion of his appearance. He and Lily were twins, and while they were not identical, if she had been here it would have been immediately clear. Mr Altair was a man of average height, with brown hair and a beard and a gentle demeanor to him, who gave both boys a smile as they came into the dining room.

"Hello," he greeted, "Kohen, right? Take a seat, it's good to meet you." he was busily helping his wife finish bringing the food to the table, while the kids all found their seats. The youngest was Mark, at 9 years old, while Rowan and Lily were the eldest. Once the table was set, Mr Altair settled down at the head of the table, with Maria at the other end of the table. Mark was next to Mrs Altair, and the young teenage girl from earlier, Julia, was on her other side. Rowan sat between his father and Mark, leaving the seats next to Julia and the other next to Mr Altair open.

Beck paused for a moment, letting Kohen decide if he would rather sit down at the end of the table, near Beck's father, or next to Julia instead.

(hiiii !! :D)

Kohen had been oddly silent for those first few minutes when he was alone with Beck. It seemed like he wanted to say something- like it was itching at him, but he decided against talking. Only now and then could Kohen's mutterings be heard as he focused on the assignment, nearly avoiding all eye contact although his chestnut brown eyes would flicker to land on Beck for a split second before he quickly looked away again.

Once they had been called Kohen seemed to tense. Maria's voice wasn't at all threatening but some part of him felt like he was in trouble. Logically, he knew he wasn't, this wasn't even his home, but it didn't stop his body from developing a slight tremble.
It needed to stop. So with a lot of effort, he shoved the building anxiety down, knowing this wasn't the time to be freaking out. And before long he was following Beck down the stairs.

Kohen's shoulders tensed a little at seeing five people in the dining room, usually, it was only him and his father, but eight times out of ten he didn't have to deal with presenting himself at the table to eat. He found that not being home and eating fast food on the streets was a better option than whatever would happen when he went home.
He looked over at Rowan when he caught him staring, the smile he gave him making Kohen immediately look away, a slightly embarrassed blush on his face. Kohen's face stayed neutral for the most part- if looking a little like deer in headlights at the moment.
Kohen seemed to snap out of it however when spoken to, looking eerily present, like he was forcing himself to concentrate hard on the person who had addressed him.
"Oh- yeah, I'm Kohen, it's nice to meet you too…thank you" he spoke, his voice firm and loud enough yet a polite undertone to it. Just like his father had taught him. It seemed casual more than anything but it also gave the impression that Kohen was trying to overcompensate, the whole thing feeling odd to him.

He gave a shaky smile to the father before he tore his gaze away to watch the kids take their seats. It seemed that everyone knew where they wanted to be seated so Kohen hung back, wondering where he would be put.
But when Beck didn't move Kohen realized that it meant he got to choose.
Oh.
Kohen looked around at the faces before quickly taking a seat by Julia, not wanting to hold up the family dinner any longer than he had to.
Once he was seated he looked to Beck, as if silently asking for help. He didn't know what to do from here, were they going to pray? Did he have to hold hands with the people beside him? Or were they just going to dig in? It would be rude to start eating without knowing if there was a ritual for it, and for a second Kohen's mind went in circles. At alarming speeds. Though curiously enough looked well put together on the outside, like nothing was going on with him.