(no subject)

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Who: Thomas & Jamie Kemp
What: Nightmares blow
When: Around 2 a.m. Sunday morning
Where: Their apartment


Jamie, on any given day, usually slept like the dead. Which was awesome, it meant he was hardly ever disturbed, and generally woke up ready to face his day.

However, tonight was not going well for him. His dreams were an endless parade of rejection letters, jobs that stifled his creativity, and looking back on his life and regretting most of it. He sat upright in bed, hair sticking to his head, biting his lip so hard he'd be surprised if it wasn't bleeding.

He got up and pulled on a sweatshirt, left his room, and paused in front of his father's door. He hesitated before knocking softly. "Dad?" he called.

Comments

[thomas_kemp]

Thomas, on the other hand, woke up at the slightest noise. Years of being worried he would miss it if Jamie needed something had made it impossible for him to sleep very soundly. Of course it also meant he fell back asleep easily enough when he could.

Upon hearing his son, Thomas lifted his head and blinked into the dark. A quick check of his clock showed him it was just after two in the morning. He pulled himself up and switched on his lamp before calling out a gentle, "come in, Jamie."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie gently pushed the door open, sticking his head into the room. "Sorry," he said softly. "I...I had a nightmare. Couldn't get back to sleep."

[thomas_kemp]

Thomas was well used to Jamie climbing into his bed after a nightmare or during a thunderstorm. It hadn't happened in a while and it was little wonder since Jamie was 18. He was more than grateful Jamie still knew he could come wake Thomas up if he needed to though. It made Thomas feel accomplished.

"You don't have to apologise, kiddo," Thomas said, running his fingers through his hair to get it to calm down. "You wanna talk about it?" He gestured for Jamie to come into the room though as an afterthought he realised his son might not really want to sit on his bed and talk any more. It might be better to go into the living room. He would follow Jamie's lead.

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie walked over to the bed, sitting on the corner and drawing his knees up under his chin. "Feels like everything came crashing down on my head all at once," he said. "Like...all my college applications came back rejected, and I was working at BK at 35. And I don't want that to happen."

[thomas_kemp]

"Oh, Jamie-" Thomas shook his head and he leaned forward, wrestled with uncooperative blankets for a moment, and then managed to move until he was sitting by his son's side.

"That isn't going to happen to you." He was a little worried about his son finding work as an artist because he wasn't entirely sure what the job market was like. But he never doubted Jamie would do something extraordinary. "You'll get in. You'll have colleges begging you to study in their halls."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie rested his head on his knees, eyeing his father. "Yeah, well...apparently my subconscious thinks it's funny to wait and attack me while I'm sleeping."

He sighed, blowing some hair out of his eyes. "I just want it so bad, you know? It would be so great to go to SVA."

[thomas_kemp]

"I know you do." he said, reaching out so he could rub Jamie's back. "I want it for you as well. You know, even if they say no this year you can try to transfer there after your freshman year of college. I know it seems scary right now, but nothing's set in stone."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"It's fucking terrifying," Jamie muttered. "Like my whole future just sort of...hangs in the balance. And I've got safety schools lined up and everything, but still."

[thomas_kemp]

He continued to rub his son's back as they spoke. "No matter what happens, you are going to have an amazing future. And I know that doesn't mean you're going to stop worrying. Doesn't make it less true."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"I'll sleep easier when I know for sure," Jamie said. "Even if it's a rejection, at least I'll know. It's the waiting that kills me. And hey. Worst comes to worst, I can draw caricatures of people at Coney Island, or something."

[thomas_kemp]

"Waiting is horrible, I agree. I remember waiting to see if I had gotten into teacher's college. It was a tense several months. Do you want to be distracted?" He just wanted his son to be happy.

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Distractions sound good, because my brain's just humming right now," Jamie said. "Maybe it'll help me get back to sleep, I don't know."

[thomas_kemp]

Thomas smiled at his son, perfectly willing to serve as distraction for Jamie. "You know you used to wake me up every time you had what you called 'night-mayors'. And I would make you toast with sugar and cinnamon on it. Are you hungry? I could make you something."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

That made Jamie smile. "Because you fixed everything, duh," he said. "And that actually sounds great. Do we have cocoa? I could go for cocoa, too."

[thomas_kemp]

"Daddy-powers," Thomas said, wiggling his fingers and grinning. "Definitely cocoa. I could make rice krispy treats. We could go into sugar shock."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Thought so," Jamie said with a smile. "Ooh, it's like you read my mind, sugar shock sounds really great right about now."

[thomas_kemp]

"Perfect," he said, moving out of the bed so he could head into the kitchen. "I used to read you The Hobbit to put you to sleep," he mused as he walked. "You loved it."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Because Bilbo was an awesome little dude," Jamie said, following his father out. "Even Gandalf said he gave him courage. And then he got to meet a dragon, and that was just the coolest thing ever. I was so jealous."{

[thomas_kemp]

Thomas laughed as he gathered the ingredients for the treats and set the kettle to boil. "You wanted to battle dragons too?" he asked, amused.

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Come on, what 10-year-old boy doesn't?" Jamie asked, laughing himself. "That would have been badass. I'm just glad the movie did it justice, hopefully the other two will as well."

[thomas_kemp]

"Let's see, at ten years old I was busy throwing rocks at my younger sisters," Thomas mused as he prepared their sugar rush. "Not at Anna though, or she would have pounded me. Anna is pretty fierce."

He finished off the cocoa and handed Jamie his mug. "Delusions of dragon-slaying probably would have been nicer!"

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"I had no sisters, so dragons were my goal," Jamie said. "Yeah, when they came up with 'HBIC', they probably went and hung out with Aunt Anna."

Jamie sipped at his cocoa, letting it warm him from the inside out. "Dragon-slaying and quests and hanging out with dwarves. It would have been awesome."

[thomas_kemp]

"I really wouldn't doubt it," Thomas joked. He started to mix the melted butter and marshmallows.

"Awww, I like your childhood goals more than mine. Mine ended up causing Anna to bikechain me to a door handle. I was stuck there for a half an hour until my mother came home. And then a further five minutes before Anna gave up the combination. It was pretty tense! But I did learn to not throw dog food at Tessa."

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Unattainable though they were," Jamie sighed. "Still. That's what books are for, I guess."

Jamie laughed into his cocoa. "Seriously? That's pretty hilarious, I can't even lie. It's not cool to throw dog food at your sisters, Dad."

[thomas_kemp]

"And books are magical! Says the English teacher," he said with a wink.

"Well I know that now! I wasn't always horrible, it was just a recurring theme. You should be thankful you know grown-up me," he grinned.

OMG, that icon. I LOL'd. :D

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"They are, as the shelves in my room can attest," Jamie agreed.

"You're a grown-up?" Jamie joked. "I'm kidding!" he added, holding up his free hand in a 'don't shoot' gesture.

I love it :D

[thomas_kemp]

"Haha!" Thomas said whimsically. "I can sometimes manage to convince people I am!" He did a little twirl and then spooned the mixture into a pan so it could cool. "I pay rent and kind of know how to do taxes! ...wow being a grown-up sounds boring."

Matt Smith, how are you so adorable? :D

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

Jamie snickered as he watched his father spin as he made the rice krispies. "And a good thing, too, because god knows I'm nowhere near being an adult. And yeah, it does sound boring. I vote we stop growing up."

Magic!

[thomas_kemp]

"This sounds like a pact which might end in tragedy," Thomas laughed. He set aside the treats to cool. "Or at least one of us getting arrested for throwing dog food at people in public."

I don't doubt it XD

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"Yeah, and then we'd have to call Grandma to bail us out, and I do not see that ending well at all," Jamie laughed, pulling a face at the idea. "Let's not get arrested. Like, ever."

[thomas_kemp]

Thomas grinned and he tapped the side of his nose twice before pointing at his son. "Now that is a good idea. I agree with that, let's do that!"

[flare-star.insanejournal.com]

"I'm sure there's way to not grow up that don't involve being arrested," Jamie mused. "Like eating rice krispie treats and drinking cocoa at 2 a.m. Let's just do that instead. Because that's infinitely more awesome than spending a night in jail."

[thomas_kemp]

"Agreed," Thomas held up his cocoa mug as a half-toast. "Feel better, Kiddo?"