Pretty Boy

[PunkPrince]

Kenny groaned and rolled over in bed as he heard someone knocking on his door. "He recognized the voice as his grandmother, who was, as usual, shouting at him in Thai. "Hey! Kathoey! Get out of bed!" She rarely ever spoke in English, at least not to him. Especially not now. His grandmother's house doubled as a foster home, though most of the recent group of children had left. The only one left aside from himself was a seven year old girl named Mabel who, like Kenny and his grandmother, was also of Thai descent. For someone who had never been to Thailand she had managed to pick up the language quite quickly over the four years she had been staying with them. Of course, Kenny had never been to Thailand either, but he had spent his entire life being raised by his grandmother, who had been born there.

He stumbled out of bed, his vision slightly blurred from his lack of glasses. He slipped his glasses on and gazed around his bedroom. It was a complete mess. His various makeup compacts were scattered across his dresser, and the high heels he had worn while out with friends the previous night were lying on the floor. A long black wig was lying next to them, and his grandmother's affectionate teasing rang in his ears. Kathoey. Ladyboy. She had never been bothered by his drag. She had embraced it amazingly for someone as old as she was.

Kenny shoved the clothes on his floor aside and rummaged through his closet for something to wear. He eventually settled on a pair of jeans and a black button up shirt. He shrugged when he looked down at his hands and realized that his fingernails were still painted with the glittery red polish he had put on the night before. He doubted that there was time to take it off now, and besides, he thought it looked nice.

He was supposedly meeting his father and half siblings today. Kenny knew nothing about any of them. His father hadn't been around when he had been born, and he wasn't mentioned around the house. Kenny got the feeling that his grandmother didn't like his father much. The only reasoning she'd given as to why he was being welcomed into their house was "Mali would have wanted it." Surely his father wasn't all bad if his mother had loved him that much?

Kenny had never met his mother either. She had died giving birth to him. He had seen pictures of her, though. She had been a short, thin, pale woman, with dark hair similar to his own. Her eyes had been green though, leaving Kenny to wonder where his dark eyes were from. His grandmother had told him things about her too, how she had loved makeup and all things related to fashion, but his grandmother always seemed so sad when he asked, so as he grew older he simply stopped asking things.

He shuffled out of his bedroom and had to dart out of the way to avoid being slammed into by Mabel, who had been running down the hall. The girl abruptly skidded to a halt and then said in English, "Sumalee told me to tell you that your eggs are ready!" before turning and running back the way she had come. Kenny followed the girl into the kitchen and sat down at his usual place at the table. His grandmother sat a plate of scrambled eggs down in front of him, which he quickly thanked her for.

"Your friends coming over today Kenny?" she asked him, and Kenny raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised by her question. He shrugged. "Tommy probably will. He always does. I was supposed to do my first booked show tonight but I asked to have it moved to tomorrow because...you know." He didn't want his father and siblings to see him doing drag right away. He felt like it might cause trouble. "Lita will probably show up later tonight, we were supposed to go with Tommy and watch Cherie perform. Unless you don't want me to. I can stay here."

He said he could stay, but he really didn't want to. He had been watching his drag mother perform since before she had started teaching him. He liked going out with his friends. Tommy Gunn, whose real name was Haley Porter, was a drag king as well as the first friend Kenny had made watching drag shows. He hadn't known Lita Riot as long, he had only met her a year ago, when she had been picked up by the same drag mother as him. Lita's real name was Cody Rodriguez, though none of them ever actually called her by it, or used male pronouns. It was very rare for any of them to call each other by their given names. When they had first met they had all wound up introducing themselves with their stage names because of the settings, and it had stuck. Kenny was almost always Lucy, even as a skinny boy with glasses, Lita was always Lita--though she had been Lita Winters before Cherie had started teaching her, Tommy was always Tommy, and Cherie was always Cherie. At least to them.

"You can go," the older woman said. "But maybe you should take them with you if they want to go." Kenny sighed. He really didn't want to take his father and stepsiblings to a drag show. It was probably a bad idea. He thought his father had a lot of nerve to come back. Kenny didn't particularly care about meeting him. He had gotten along just fine without him for the past nineteen years, he really didn't need his father now. He would try to get along with them at least, if only for the sake of his dead mother.

 

[Muggles]

"Caleb. Holly. Wake up," a slightly disheveled man said to his older children as he lightly shook the boy, and then the girl. "We're here." It had been a long bus ride, and Ellison was the only one of the group who managed to stay awake the entire time. He had sold his car one month previously after trying to hold off doing so for several months. Ellison had become far too desperate. He had never been good with money, always wanting to spend it on ridiculously expensive things for himself and his children instead of using it for practical things. Ellison had managed just fine in deep dept and denial until he was let go from one of his jobs and fired from the other.

The youngest Haruhi child was still asleep, so Ellison carefully picked the small girl up and proceeded to carry her off the bus. The groggy teen twins walked ahead of him. Today was going to be difficult for Ellison more than his children. They were rather indifferent about the whole situation. They hadn't decided what they felt about having a half-brother yet. Ellison was quite anxious about meeting the son he had ignored for so long. He wouldn't even be meeting him now if he didn't need a safe place for his children to stay. He didn't have anywhere else to go, and he didn't want his children taken away from because he couldn't provide for them. He already failed one child. He didn't want to fail his other three. Though, he half felt like he already had.

Seeing the young man would most likely being up emotions Ellison did not want to feel. He didn't want to be reminded of his son's mother. He wanted to forget. Ellison had tried to do so for years. He finally had pushed the returning thoughts from his mind, but there they were again. Gemma began to wake up, and Ellison sat her down on a bench while he retrieved the folded piece of paper that had the directions to where they going scribbled down on it from his pocket.

About twenty minutes later, the man and his children were at the door of the place they would be staying. It hadn't been too much of a walk from the station. Gemma was now fully awake and hiding behind her father, not too happy about meeting new people. Celeb and Holly were more awake now, and Caleb was grumbling about being hungry. After knocking, Ellison straightened up in his stance and motioned for his two older children do the same because they had been leaning on the house.

Ellison was just as anxious to have to face the older woman as was with his son. He had made many mistakes in his past, but this was the one he most regrets. Ellison ran his fingers through his uncombed hair and offered a comforting smile to his youngest before looking back to the door.

 

[PunkPrince]

Kenny continued poking at his food, eventually pushing the plate back and looking toward Mabel, who was close to finishing her own food. "You can eat my eggs if you want," he said to her. "I'd rather let you have them than throw them out." He stood up, smiling as he watched the girl eagerly dumping his eggs onto her plate. He shuffled slowly about the kitchen and over to the sink to wash his dishes, listening to his grandmother pull open the door.

He didn't want to meet his father. He didn't need him, or his half siblings. He didn't care. He had all the family he needed already. He was quite happy with his grandmother and Mabel and Cherie and Lita and Tommy. Sure, it wasn't a nuclear family, more of just a hodge podge, but it had always served him just fine. As long as he didn't have to go through life totally alone, he would be just fine. Without somebody who hadn't bothered with him his entire life.

Sumalee pulled open the door. "Ellison," she said, giving him what was very obviously a false smile, but tossing a real one towards his children. "Hello." She didn't like the man, she had no idea what her daughter had seen in him, but his kids hadn't done anything. They simply existed. Like Kenny. He hadn't done anything for his father to abandon him. He had never asked to be born to a mother who would die shortly after, along with an absent ghost of a father. But Mali would have wanted her son to know his father.

"Come in," she said, stepping aside. "We can get your things from the car later." She let them to the kitchen. "Have you all eaten breakfast yet?"

Kenny was drying off the plate and placing it off to the side as the group walked in. Mabel had just finished her food and was taking the dish to the sink. She grinned up at the man and older boys. "Hi!" she greeted. "My name is Mabel! That's Kenny over there." She pointed at him.

Kenny looked up and fixed his glasses. "You shouldn't point at people, Mabel," he said. It was more of a side thought, not something he would normally say. He just wanted to put off talking to his father and half brothers. "Hi," he said, looking over at them. "I'm Kenny."