Participants:
| Scene Title | Truth Like a Rusty Knife |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Sonny tries to step back gracefully and concede to his rival for Teo. Leonard intentionally, or no, manages to kick him when he's down. |
| Date | July 10, 2009 |
Sonny's Condo - Solstice
Sal left a voicemail on Leonard's phone, asking him to come to the doc's expensive condo. He's one of the few people, ironically, that knows all of his secrets right now. And with his new face, there's little danger anyone will take notice of him entering Sonny's home. He didn't say what it was about, but really, given the two of them, there is only one thing it could be about.
Leo's about as preppy as he ever gets - blue polo shirt, black pants, worn Chucks. He shows up promptly at the appointed time, expression a little weary and sad. Neither of them can be at all happy about the current situation, after all.
Leo's name is with the doorman who lets him up the secure elevator, up to some double-digit number floor, opening on to a lavish hallway that leads to a heavy mahogany door. When Sonny opens it, he's wearing a suit with the shirt untucked and the tie shucked. The suit probably cost a small fortune and is immaculately tailored and carries a slight sheen. He's barefoot, oddly, and holding a crystal tumbler of something amber coloured. That's a pretty much constant accessory.
The doc looks…well, it's hard to say, exactly. He looks tired, drained, and as if he's behind an inch thick wall. "Come in." He motions inward and rocks back a step to admit Leonard.
One of his cufflinks is probably worth more than Leo's entire wardrobe, considering. "Hello," he says, a little warily, padding in silently on that plush carpeting. "You don't look so good," he adds, apologetically.
"Well, things haven't been so good," says Sonny. He closes the door behind Leo and walks towards the sparkling, chef-quality, and barely used kitchen. "Can I get you something to drink?"
This apartment has no warmth to it. It feels more like a showpiece than a home. A far cry from the apartment he had set up with Teo.
"JD, if you have it, on the rocks," Leo says, following him. He sticks out like a fly on a Waldorf salad here, but he's apparently not going to let the massive class disparity dismay him. Not here, anyhow.
Sal isn't really paying attention to it either. This place is a gilded cage, one he's willingly slipped back into. He pours the JD over a few cubes of ice in a crystal tumbler that matches his own. He motions over to the leather sofa and shrugs out of his suit jacket on the way. "Did you know it's him?" a bat, "Really him? Some kind of…time-travelling possession."
"I heard," He's tired enough his real accent is slipping through. Ah huhd. "His later self is driving. Weird to think of being possessed by yourself. Like a weird kinna schizophrenia," Leo says, settling lightly on the sofa, and taking a token sip of the whiskey.
"Well. That was part of the reason I wanted to talk to you. To make sure you knew that much. I just found out myself." Sonny leans forward, elbows perched on knees. He reaches up and pushes hair back from his face. "I ended it with him." His voice is tight when he speaks and he stares at a spot on the carpet.
"I wanted you to know. So if he lets himself go like he says he's going to, and he comes to you, well. There'd be no reason to stop on my account."
"He called me last night. Said it'll be over soon. I'm dubious. It sounds like some kind of suicide he's talking," Leo's face is tight, miserable. "I don't know if the guy we were both in love with actually exists any more."
"Teo's no stranger to talking like things are going to end in a final way." Sonny clears his throat and takes another swallow of his drink. "I'm not sure the guy I was in love with ever existed at all. I'm beginning to realize that you, the other members of Phoenix, know him a lot better than I do."
He stands suddenly and moves to the window. "I'm not going to hold onto him anymore."
"I'm sorry," Leo says, letting his drink hand fall, lazily. "I don't know how that went, how he treated you…."
"He treated me with contempt. Like I was an annoyance. Wouldn't even let me speak to him. Said he'd 'pass it on' to my Teo. But I can't do it anymore. I'm not going to hover in the wings, hoping he'll let himself free, hoping that he might come back to me. But I know he won't. And if he did, it would just be out of a sense of obligation. I…—" Sonny stops himself. "That's…all I wanted to tell you."
"I think what has him now is functionally insane," Leo says, bluntly, that furrow graven tightly between his brows. "Much as I hate to say something like that." He knocks back the rest of the whiskey, perhaps more swiftly than he should.
"Demented. Cruel. And on some kind of crusade where he doesn't care about how many innocent people get hurt." Sonny lets out a rough sound. "I can't believe Teo would ever become that. I look at whatever has got him, and I can't see my Tay. But others can. That I can't? That's how I know I never knew him. I had this vision of him that seems to be far from the truth. Some kind of fantasy version."
Leonard shakes his head. "I don't know about that," he says, softly. "I don't know what happened in the intervening years. Or ….maybe I do. In the future he came from, he and I had a little time together, and then I died in a terrorist attack. Mighta messed with him."
Sonny's shoulders tense perceptibly, even with his back to Leo. The words make a lot of things fall into place and neatly twist the rusty knife deeper into his gut. He manages a single, half-grunted, "Oh," and then. "I think…" A shuddering breath. He can't find a polite way to say this. "Please go."
There's nothing he can do with that request save obey. Leo nods mutely, puts down the glass on a coaster, lest he ruin the beautiful finish on the table, and turns to make his way out.
On his way out the door, Leonard is treated to the sound of very expensive crystal shattering on a tiled floor. Why would he tell him that? He was just starting to pick himself up, to move on. But to know that all of this, the ruin of his relationship, the usurping of Teo's life, has all been for Al? That he didn't even register as more than a complication in this plan? The last shreds of his self-esteem have been crushed with those few words.