History

Born into the lowerclass on the outskirts of Dallas, Isidor’s life didn’t exactly get off to the best start. His mother was unmarried, with no set place to stay. She traveled from abandoned home to abandoned home with her parents, who were less than pleased about her pregnancy. The pregnancy, of course, came from desperation. If there was one way for a woman in the lowerclass to earn money, it was with her body, and Isidor’s mom had needed the money. Not only for herself, but also for the parents who now scorned her.

When the time came for her to give birth, it would be her mother that brought Isidor into the world. Those on the outskirts don’t have access to healthcare or hospitals very often, and quite unfortunately Isidor’s mother would bleed to death before he saw his second day of life. His grandparents viewed him as nothing more than a burden, but they kept him. He was raised mostly on goat’s milk, and while this seemed to stunt his growth physically, mentally he was already surpassing his peers.

Isidor seemed to be interested in things that most of the people around him weren’t interested in. He wanted to know why. Why was the sky blue? Why were there monsters? Why were some people protected behind walls when they weren’t? Why was there electricity in the homes not far from them when they had none? His grandparents, however, simply wanted to know why he wouldn’t shut up and work. Isidor never seemed too deterred by their disinterest, however, and the older he got the more desperate he got for answers.

As Isidor reached school-age, his grandparents decided to enroll him in public school. He was clearly interested, and it would get him out of their hair for a period of time at the very least. He can still remember his first day of school quite vividly, having to go through three different safety checks simply to pass through the gate the separated the outskirts from the middle-city. He went through two other checks when he got to school, was given his uniform, and sent to class.

School was a new type of experience for Isidor. He was closer to the inner-city than he’d ever been, and in the middle-city the threat of monsters didn’t loom like it did where he was from. Because of this, he was able to focus more on learning than he’d ever been able to before. Not only that, but he was able to focus on socializing a bit as well. He found that he was actually rather good at socializing after he watched the other children for a bit and quickly became one of the more popular kids.

There was one boy that seemed to catch his eye much more than the other children. This boy’s name was Alarik, and it was mostly his hair that seemed to enrapture Isidor at first. At such a young age, Isidor wouldn’t recognize exactly why he’d wanted to befriend Alarik so much until later on in life. Either way, though, Isidor had always been the type to go after what he wanted. Alarik was no exception, and before long the two boys were close friends. It turned out that Alarik lived in the outskirts as well, but he lived on the other side. Despite the dangers of travel, the boys eventually started meeting up outside of school as well.

While Isidor was busy noticing Alarik and honing his socializing skills, his teachers were busy noticing him. Although he didn’t seem to put in more effort than the other children, his grades were consistently higher and the material simply seemed to come easily to him. He stayed at the top of his class all through grade school. When he was around twelve was the first time he realized that his feelings for Alarik went beyond friendship, but surprisingly enough it would be the other boy that made the first move. Although they were young, Isidor was certain that he loved Alarik more than anything and would marry him someday. In his spare time, he would often take Alarik into the inner-city with him so he could read books at the library. Sneaking in and out was a pretty big adrenaline rush, too, and seeing how the people in the inner-city lived gave Isidor big dreams about getting himself and Alarik out of their current situation.

Toward the middle of his eighth grade year, Isidor would be approached by his teachers and told that he was being considered for a scholarship to attend a boarding school in the inner-city. Isidor had no doubt that he would receive the scholarship, and started making plans to move. The only thing that held him back somewhat was Alarik. The other boy hadn’t been approached about any scholarships, and it was unlikely that he would receive the same opportunity. Isidor knew that Alarik probably didn’t want him to go, but he also knew he would be accepting the scholarship. It was only four years, and it was the best thing for them in the end.

In the summer before Isidor moved away, he and Alarik more or less lived together. He never left the other boy’s side, and he felt torn. He knew that not accepting the scholarship would doom them to poverty and danger for the rest of their lives, but leaving Alarik in those conditions caused his stomach to twist in a special way. The other boy assured him that he would be fine, but Isidor wasn’t so sure. When the time finally came for him to move into his dorm, it was all he could do to make himself do so. His worst fear was that he would come back for break and Alarik would be gone.

Fortunately, Isidor’s first year of high school went off without a hitch. He was able to gain quite a bit of weight and got interested in the ROTC program. He did extremely well in all of his classes, and was involved in clubs and organizations. He quickly learned to lie about where he came from, and convinced most of his friends that he was from an upper-middle class family in Denver. Otherwise, he knew he would never be accepted or be able to make the connections that he needed. And, every time he returned to the outskirts, Alarik was waiting for him. He always smuggled food and gifts back for him, and his freshmen year passed somewhat peacefully in this manner.

Another summer would pass, and his sophomore year would begin. During the first couple of weeks, he would meet a freshman named Rose. Her last name was familiar to him, and he was pretty sure he’d seen at least one of her siblings floating around school before. The two became fast friends, however, when he returned to the outskirts for his first break, he found that he couldn’t find Alarik anywhere. He searched the entire break for the other boy, but no one seemed to know what had happened to him – and no one cared. He was just another kid that nobody was looking out for or paying attention to. When Isidor returned to school, he was distraught. So much so, that he ended up lashing out at Rose. In a fit of guilt, or something, he sought her out and explained the situation to her. He told her where he was really from and what had happened, and she somehow ended up becoming his best friend by the end of that year. He returned to the outskirts at every break through the year, but he was never able to find any trace of Alarik.

As he entered his junior year, Isidor had more or less given up hope of ever finding Alarik. He was pretty sure his boyfriend had died, and the guilt he felt over it was extremely hard for him to live with. His grades suffered, because he could no longer bring himself to care. He kept a high enough GPA to continue in school, but other than that he lost interest. He stopped going to clubs or really trying at all, and continued on in this way for the rest of his academic career.

Toward the middle of his senior year, Isidor would meet a somewhat older man by the name of Clinton. Much like he had given up on school, he had given up on socializing as well. He didn’t really try to make any new friends, but for some reason he decided he wanted to be Clinton’s friend. Had he realized what was motivating his behavior, he might have avoided the other man outright, but he didn’t. Always rather good at getting what he wanted and making friends when he took a mind to, he and Clinton’s relationship progressed into friendship easily enough.

Much older than he’d been when he met Alarik, Isidor realized within a couple of months that friendship wasn’t the only thing he was interested in where Clinton was concerned. The amount of guilt he suffered over these feelings was enough to send him into a weird on again off again type of friendship with Clinton. On some days, he was his normal self toward Clinton, but then on other days he refused to even answer the man’s texts. It would be after he graduated before things somehow went beyond friendship with them. Isidor still isn’t exactly sure how it happened, he just remembers that suddenly they were kissing and things went from there.

Isidor continued to feel guilt over his relationship with Clinton. Eventually he opened up and told the white-haired man everything about Alarik, including the guilt he felt. He didn’t really understand it, since Alarik had been dead for years, and he was pretty sure Clinton didn’t understand either. It was something that the two of them learned to work around, however, and Isidor would eventually enroll in the army. He worked his way through boot camp with the same determination that he worked through everything with and eventually he was able to purchase a home in the middle-city. He and Clinton moved in together, and his life seemed to be moving along pretty well all things considered.

He and Clinton had been moved in together for maybe a month before something happened to turn their world on its head. A knock on the door at an odd hour sent their world spinning, but Isidor would never complain about it. The profound silence after the door was opened was what drew him to it, and the man who waited on the other side caused him to feel just about every emotion he’d ever felt all at once. Isidor didn’t think about how his actions would make Clinton feel as he stepped past to the other man to embrace Alarik. His arms snaked around his form and he kissed him before he had time to think about anything. If he had put even the slightest bit of thought into his actions, he might have held off, but unfortunately he didn’t.

Isidor found himself in an awkward situation thereafter. He found that he loved Alarik just as much as he always had, but Alarik’s reappearance hadn’t changed his feelings for Clinton in the slightest either. He knew that he didn’t want to lose either of them, but he also knew that such a request wasn’t fair. Either way, he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop loving them, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t reconcile them either. Eventually, the two of them would disappear for a good long time. They came back battered, bruised, and suspiciously awkward but things started to smooth out after that. Rules for a relationship were laid out, and the three men started working toward… being whatever they were trying to be.

Things were still incredibly awkward at first, though. Isidor could sense the hurt and jealousy from the other men, and he knew there was nothing he could do to change that. He still feels guilty over it to this day, but at the very least the feelings for all three men have gotten at least a little less intense. Several years would pass, with Isidor working his way steadily through the ranks in the army. He would end up marrying Alarik when he was around twenty-five. A couple of years later, he “married” Clinton. Though he couldn’t be legally married to both men, he considers himself to be so, and wears two rings on his ring finger.

After his most recent promotion, Isidor was able to afford a house in the upper-middleclass part of the middle-city. His income along with Clinton’s and Alarik’s made this easy enough. In the years that continued to pass, he remained friends with Rose. She ended up marrying and having some children that he and his husbands do enjoy babysitting from time to time.