Closed Vicarious

[Vivian Brackenstall]

The older Vivian got, the more time seemed to slide by almost without him noticing. Novelty became routine, big changes became small ones, became normal. He felt as though he had blinked as an aimless twenty year old musician and woken up a settled thirty year old man, with a home, a long term relationship (with Tristan, of all people) and a stepson. And he was surprised how much he liked it. His early twenties had been a nihilistic, hopeless time, when Vivian couldn't really see any kind of peace in his future. He would tour to half-empty halls forever, never any kind of place of his own; never wanted. But here he was, after all this time, both somehow in the place he had least expected to wind up, and the place he was most at home.

Mason was somehow the least expected element of his entire situation. Vivian had never planned to be a father, and was perpetually surprised by how much he liked it. It helped that Mason was an easy kid - none of the wild behaviours he had seen from his sisters when they were his age. He was polite and well spoken, and extremely clever for his age, evident in his choice of bedtime stories. As he reached the end of tonight's chapter of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Vivian set the book on the bedside table and gently smoothed out Mason's blankets. "Alright, time to sleep now. We'll carry on tomorrow." He said with a warm smile, quietly thinking just how lucky he was.

 

[Mason Collins]

Mason always liked staying with his dad and Vivian, though he also loved his mum and liked staying with her too. They were just very different houses with different rules, and it sometimes took Mason a bit of time to get used to the place he was. He knew his mum liked it best when he danced along with her to music and sang along as well, she would always smile and say he did so well and that he should be on a stage. Meanwhile dad always liked it best when Mason was showing him how much he knew, he had been very happy today when they were doing sums and reading. But Mason liked most of all that Vivian always seemed to like him equally, no matter what he did. Still, he couldn't resist showing off a little.

"Vivian, guess what? I can read now too, a little. I showed dad, did you hear?" He asked with a smile. His dad had gotten him a simple book to read about a cat, and Mason had read in it. C A T was an easy word and it was in the book a lot. He had liked how proud dad had looked whenever he had read it correctly. "Maybe I can read this one soon." He said with a grin as he looked at the book, mostly because he knew it had a lot of more difficult words that he couldn't read yet. But one day he would, and then he'd make his dad even more proud.

 

[Vivian Brackenstall]

Mason's words halted Vivian in the middle of getting up, looking down at his stepson in surprise. "Really?" He asked with a proud smile. "That's very impressive, you must have practiced lots." His eyes flicked over Mason's face, wondering when he had grown up so much. "I bet you won't need me for bedtime stories at all soon." It felt like yesterday he had been an infant in a pram, a surreal signifier of how much Tristan had changed without him, and now here he was; that infant had at some point been replaced by a growing boy, milestones like walking replaced by milestones like reading. He felt like at some point he would blink, and they would be dropping Mason off for his first day of Hogwarts.

 

[Mason Collins]

Mason felt a sense of pride at Vivian's reaction. His dad had already been proud of him about this, but making Vivian proud too was even better. He nodded as he said he must have practiced lots. "Lots." He confirmed. "I knew it would make dad happy." He added, yawning as he started to feel a little sleepy. He frowned a little as Vivian said he wouldn't need him for bedtime stories soon, shaking his head. "I always want yours, you do the best voices." He said. "So don't stop, okay?"

 

[Vivian Brackenstall]

The light in Mason's face was something so rare and precious it made Vivian's heart ache, the knowledge that he would never be this young and sweet again; that these days were finite, and one day Mason wouldn't need either of them for this. It was as though the boy had read his mind, and Vivian couldn't hold in a small fond laugh. "You can have my bedtime stories for as long as you like." He said gently, glad not have been replaced just yet. "I'm sure your dad is very proud of you..." He added, stroking a few soft hairs away from Mason's eyes as he saw the boy settling in more.