Chapter Text
Norman let his phone ring until it went to voicemail, sighing as he set it down on the table. “Aren’t you going to answer Uncle Sean, dad?” Mingus asked from across the room as he worked on homework.
“How do you know it’s Sean?” Norman asked him, surprised at his son’s acuity.
Mingus gave him a one-shoulder shrug, a trait that Norman knew was something he had passed on and not Helena. “I heard you two arguing the other night. You haven’t talked to him since then and your phone has been ringing almost every hour. You talked with Andy.”
Ah yes, Andy. Norman sighed. “Sean and I….,” he started. He took a moment to form his thoughts into a way that made the most sense, even if it wasn’t entirely true. “Sean and I are having a disagreement about… creativity.”
Mingus looked at him pointedly. “Seriously. Dad, you know I don’t give a fuck that you’re bi and screwing Uncle Sean whenever you’re in the same city together. I’m not stupid, you know.”
Norman actually had to laugh at that. Of course his son would figure it out. All these years and Sean was the only truly constant companion he had seen him with. It was bound to come out in the wash at some point. “Yeah, well then you know it’s complicated.”
“Is he jealous of Andy?”
Norman laughed again. What the fuck had this kid heard? “Yes, he is jealous of Andy. And Jon. And almost every other man that even remotely comes close to me.”
“Isn’t Uncle Sean married?” Mingus asked, his brow furrowing as he closed his math book and stood up from table. Making his way into the kitchen where Norman sat, he grabbed himself a cup for some ice water.
“Yes, Sean is married. You’ve met his wife and their son.”
“Then, no offense to you, but why are you two still screwing around?”
Norman grunted. He had asked himself that question on many occasions, usually during and after fights like the one they were currently in. “Because we never really broke up and his wife knows. She encourages it actually. She knows me and trusts me so that I can satisfy that side of Sean and he won’t go looking for another man.”
Mingus nodded, sitting down across from his dad. “Then maybe you should answer your phone.”
“It’s not that simple, Mingus. Did you finish your homework?”
Rolling his eyes, his son simply nodded. “Talk to him, dad.”
“Fine. I’ll talk to him. Now go finish your homework.” He stood up from the table, walking into his bedroom and laying down on the bed before dialing.
“Norman,” Sean breathed, relief flooding through the phone in that simple word.
“My son said I should talk to you,” he answered, picking at a loose thread on his duvet cover.
“Always said he was a smart boy.”
“He knows about us. Wanted to know why you and I were still fucking even though you’re married.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line before Sean answered, “Did you tell him its because we love each other? Have for a long time.” His voice sounded slightly broken, as if pleading.
Norman steeled himself, curling his hand not holding the phone into a tight fist. “No. I said its because your wife likes me and understands that I satisfy your sexual need for a man.”
Sean scoffed, “That’s not it at all and you know it.”
“Yeah, but I’m not going to fucking tell my 15 year old son that the condition of you getting married to her was letting you carry on with me still,” he hissed into the line, hoping upon hope that Mingus wasn’t listening through the door.
“Norman,” Sean breathed, trying to calm the tone their conversation had taken. “I love you, Norman. You know that.”
“Do I?” he laughed. “Do I know that, Sean?”
“So you cancel on our fans because you’re pissed at me? I get that you’re angry, I do, but don’t take it out on these people that have been with us since the beginning of the Saints.” Sean’s voice was raising to his own level of anger as they rehashed their argument from the days prior.
“I told you, the fans were collateral damage. I was cancelling on you. If you can’t fucking get over yourself, then I don’t have time for you.”
Sean grunted from the other end of the phone. “I told you I was making time for you at the Con. Every Con that you and I are together is our time.”
“Yeah, at Cons. I get that. What about every other time, Seanie?”
“Reendenstein,” he sighed. “I love you. I promise you that. You know how busy filming a show is. I’m sorry I couldn’t come up to visit you while I was doing Dexter.”
“What the fuck ever. How long has that been, Sean? You don’t have something constantly. What about those times when you’re not working? You can’t even come to spend a weekend with me in Georgia, but when I have time off I come out to California. I stay in your fucking guest suite.” Mingus be damned, Norman was letting it all out now. Maybe his son had been right and they did need to talk this out. Or at the very least, Norman needed to let his feelings out.
“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry. I’ll come out to Georgia. I will. I have a tournament next week. Maybe the weekend after?”
“Can’t. I have plans with Andy that weekend,” Norman sneered. He knew he was torturing Sean purposely at this point, but there was nothing he could do about that. He really did have plans with Andy that weekend.
“Do you?” Sean’s voice turned dark. “What about Jon, Norman? Is he going to be there too? Going to have a happy fucking threesome while your boyfriend is pining away for you 3000 miles away?”
“Oh fuck off, Sean. You have a fucking wife that can tend to your needs.”
“Admit it, Norman. You’ve fucked them. You went and fucked both of them behind my back. I’ve seen the pictures around. I’ve seen the way they both look at you.”
“So what if I have? Fuck it, Sean,” he nearly screamed.
“Did they know about me, huh? Before you fucked them. Or did you wait to tell them afterwards?”
Norman chewed on his thumbnail as he considered his answer to the question.
“Or did you even tell them, Norman?” Sean’s voice went small. He was hurt at the thought of Norman not even acknowledging their relationship.
“No, they knew about us. I told them we broke up.” Norman’s own voice was small, matching the fear in Sean’s. It was out now. Everything was out in the open.
Sean’s breath hitched on the other end of the phone, a slight sniffle the only sound that let Norman know the other was still on the line. “Is that what you want, then? You want to just…,” he sniffled again. “Okay. Fine. If that’s what you want, then fine. I can take a fucking hint. I fought for you, Norman. You can’t go around saying I didn’t try.”
The line went dead. Norman held the cell phone in his hand, looking at the call ended screen. The stupid picture he had set up for Sean’s contact info when he had gotten this phone the previous year was still on the screen. It was from forever ago when they were filming the first BDS movie. Their heads were pressed together with giant matching grins spread across their faces. It was taken the day after their first official date. Norman had loved that picture.
He laid there for a long time, cell phone in his hand even after the phone had lapsed into sleep mode. Sean had just broken up with him. Even though he had really initiated it, Sean finished it. It was over. He had been expecting this moment to come for many years. Hell, they had been together for almost 20 years at this point. Both of them had been married with children now. Norman was divorced, but had a string of girlfriends. Women were always an understood thing given their chosen professions, but they had an agreement that no other men were to enter the picture while they were together. Norman had smashed that agreement to pieces.
It started with Jon while they were filming season 1 of The Walking Dead. They had gotten drunk together and Norman had just… well been himself. Jon didn’t ask though. He never asked because he didn’t care. Each time they were together it was an understood one night stand. Jon was married himself with a child. Norman didn’t suspect that his wife knew about this slightly darker side.
Andy though… Norman smiled, flipping his phone in his hand. Andy was perfect and perfectly in love with Norman. Everything the man did screamed it, unlike Sean. Andy had asked if he had been seeing anyone before making any kind of move on his own, even though Norman had been pawing at him for months at that point. Norman had immediately said no, no one else. And everything was perfect when they were in their own little world in Georgia, living out their daily lives in their own little relationship. Gael understood, even going so far as inviting Norman into their bedroom, which he politely declined.
But Sean. Sean had been his whole world up until he had taken this part with The Walking Dead. At first he had thought the other man was jealous when the show had taken off. Then Norman had become a fan favorite and now everyone wanted a piece of him, even at the Cons. Slowly, they drifted until it really felt like they had broken up. At that point, Norman amped up his relationship with Andy, becoming slightly more public with it, calling it their bromance in so many interviews and magazines. If nothing else, he thought maybe that would make Sean care.
Maybe that would make Sean love him again.
And now here they were. One of their fights over time had escalated once again and Norman declined a BDS anniversary event because he had to film and Sean was pissed. His phone buzzed in his hand, that photo of him and Sean flashing on the screen. He really wasn’t in the mood to get yelled at anymore, but he knew that Sean would just keep calling. Swiping the phone to answer, he put it on speaker phone and laid it on his chest without saying a word.
“Norman?” Sean’s voice sounded mechanical through the speaker. And broken. Norman didn’t answer, but he figured he didn’t really have too. “Reedenstein, I know you’re there, I can hear you breathing.” Norman still didn’t answer. He just wanted this to be over as soon as possible so he could grieve his loss and move on. “I fucking love you, Norman. I can’t just leave it like we just did. I can’t just leave you like that. You were my Norman first.”
“Technically I was my mom’s first,” he interjected.
Sean laughed brokenly, letting out a little sob at the end. “Yeah, okay. She woulda probably smacked me up-side the head for that one, huh? It’s been 18 years, Norman. I’m not willing to throw that away. I can’t throw that away. I’m sorry for being a dick. I will visit you. This weekend, I will be there, come hell or high water.”
“You had a tournament-”
“Which is going to be judged by someone else. We’ll make it work out here. I know you felt like I didn’t love you anymore or cared anymore and that’s why you went to Andy and Jon. I’m sorry I made you feel that way, ok? Please, give me a second chance. I fucking love you, Norman Reedus.”
Norman tried to clear his throat as hot tears cascaded down his cheeks. Wiping them away fiercely, he mumbled, “I have a Con in Atlanta this weekend. I don’t know how much time I’ll have.”
“Okay. I’ll buy a ticket. I’ll just be that creepy guy sitting across from your booth staring at you the whole time.”
Norman laughed. “That’s fucked up. I’ll get you a pass so you can at least stare at me from behind the table.”
“I love you, Norman.”
“You said that, Seanie.” Norman fidgeted on the bed, trying to adjust himself out of this situation. He hated fights, breakups and makeups. Everything about relationships was awkward, especially the one he and Sean had forged over the years.
“I just want you to know it. I’ll do anything.”
“Andy isn’t going away.” Norman isn’t sure where he got the balls to say that to his lover, but his heart knew it was true. “You get a wife in California.”
Sean’s breath on the other end was ragged. “Ok, I suppose that’s fair. What if I propose to you?”
“You’d have to get divorced first, so I’d have time to think about my answer.”
Sean sighed. “Think you can forgive me for being a complete ass?”
Norman grunted, sitting up on his bed, taking his phone off speakerphone and putting it up to his ear. “I still can’t make the anniversary because we actually are filming. I suppose you can start making everything else up to me this weekend.”
“Is Andy going to be there?”
Norman smiled slightly. “I think it would be nice if we all had dinner one night and had a very serioius discussion about everything.”
Silence greeted him from the other end of the phone for a good minute. “That’s fair, I guess. We can fix this.”
Norman sighed, looking out the window at the fading daylight. “Yeah, I think we can fix this.”