darker_london | The Letter (Flynn, Quinn) (Reply)

After Flynn's recent state of contentment-being held at gunpoint and Deirdre going missing aside-opening the door to a crushed-looking Flynn was quite a shock for Quinn, and he took a moment to process the situation there. In the meantime Flynn looked up into his eyes and immediately Quinn pulled his boyfriend into his dormroom and then into his arms. "Mal! What happened?!" Oh god...was Deirdre worse?! Had somebody else disappeared?! What!?

"I got a letter." Flynn said quietly, leaning his head against Quinn's shoulder for a second before pulling away. Then he wandered over and sort of collapsed into a sitting position on Quinn's bed. "It was in my fanmail."

"You...get fanmail?" The concept was strange, because Flynn was his boyfriend and he'd known him since he was very young, but Quinn did think Flynn deserved all the fanmail in the world. Unless it was going to make him look like that! "What did the letter say?" Quinn moved over to sit beside Flynn. "Was it rude or...blackmail or something?"

"It was from my parents." Flynn mumbled, resting his head dejectedly in his hands.

Quinn understood then. Flynn had sent his parents a letter, telling them in no uncertain terms, just how much they had fucked up his life when they'd kicked him out. And just how much he'd done to get it back on track. And how he was better off without them. And now they're replied?! "Oh, Bub..." Quinn reached out and he rubbed his hand up and down Flynn's back. "What did they say to you? You know it's not true right? Whatever they said, you're the most amazing man in existence, they just don't know it."

"They're coming to visit."

"W...what?!" Quinn was so shocked, he actually dropped his hand from Flynn's back. These were the people who had caused Flynn...and to a lesser extent, him...such horrific pain and suffering. Flynn had been homeless for six years starting at the age of 16. And Quinn had suffered that for four months, and then spent six years missing the boy he loved while he tried to balance his own life, not knowing if Flynn was dead or alive. He did not like them. "Why?"

"They must want something." Flynn sounded quite annoyed. "But I don't have anything! Not anything they'd want! They're coming this weekend! Quinn...I don't want to see them! The letter was supposed to say 'fuck off' not, 'hey let's holiday together and play craps while you reminisce about how I used to be such a poofter'. Goddammit." Flynn bent in half then, his forehead on his knees, arms crossed near his ankles. "And I can't exactly ring them and tell them not to come. They don't know my address...I didn't give it to them. They're going by the management offices and they want to meet me there. I don't...I don't even know how to talk to them. What am I supposed to do?! 'Well, since you kicked me onto the streets, I spent several years eating other people's rubbish and living in abandoned warehouses and public toilets and now I'm in a band!'"

"Mal." Quinn could tell Flynn was more upset about this than he had been about anything in a long time. Because getting Flynn to say that many words at once was usually quite a feat and it required alcohol or sex. Or both... "You don't have to see them."

"Then they'll find me and say what a horrible person I am. Or they'll go back and tell my brother how terrible I was to them and he'll send his fucking cronies after me. And Fable and Hamish will look like nothing, comparatively. Dammit. Why did I send that damn thing?"

"Because you needed closure. Sending it was the right thing. Them using it as an opportunity to get to you isn't. You won't have to be alone, Mal." Quinn gritted his teeth then, because it was hard to say... "I'll come with you."

Flynn sat up straight, staring at Quinn. "But you...you hate them."

"Yeah." Quinn nodded. "Rather a lot, actually. But I love you. And you're not going alone."

And if anyone could make Flynn smile, it was Quinn. He did just that. "I love you too. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now augh. Let's take our minds off them. And not think about them until this weekend."

"Good idea!" Flynn grinned and then he leaned forward, pushing Quinn to the mattress before attacking him with kisses. For starters.