To thank him for selling them such a beautiful home, they invited him over for dinner, and they had such a lovely time together that it became somewhat of a regular occurrence. It was then that Eric began pulling away from Sierra, though at the time he would have sworn he didn't know why. He found himself practically counting the hours until he'd get to see Luis again, but believed the near obsession was simply the product of not having many close friends and finally finding someone who understood him. Sierra, while oblivious to his specific leanings, was sharp enough to sense the growing distance between them. In a desperate act to keep his attention and love, she feigned pregnancy, hoping that it would soon no longer be a ruse as they continued trying.
For a time, her plan worked. Eric became more present and involved and their relationship seemed to be back on the right track. But as the months passed and Sierra wasn't showing, Eric grew suspicious. He'd written more shocking plot twists in his novels and had always had an eye for the bizarre and out-of-the-ordinary. He picked up on the clues - her evasiveness about the entire topic, the lack of symptoms and appointments; it wasn't much longer before he was confronting her and she was confessing. He did not, however, confess his secret in return, though she demanded to know why he'd pulled away from her like he had. He wasn't brave enough to tell her right then, but he was brave enough to end things between them, knowing that he could never be truly fair to her when he was bottling up who he was.
Sierra stayed in the new house, while Luis helped Eric relocate elsewhere in the city. It was an awkward time, but eventually they each settled into their separate lives. And, finally, Eric began to blossom into his own for the first time. He and Luis gave in to that underlying pull between them and went on their first date a year after Eric's divorce was finalized. If Eric and Sierra had looked like they belonged together, Eric and Luis looked like parts from two completely different machines. Luis was a charismatic, charming man who could sell rubble to the pickiest celebrities. He was polished and poised, always able to initiate and maintain conversations. Eric, on the other hand, was a homebody. He preferred to be alone and was a wreck in social situations. But they balanced each other and there was no stopping the speeding train that was their relationship. They married and moved to Brunswick, Georgia, near where Eric was originally from, to be there for his mother while his father was ill. It was a healing time for the Hill family, bringing closure to old wounds in the face of their patriarch's mortality.
When his father passed, it spurred Eric on to finally have a family of his own. He was thirty years old with no children and he felt his time was running short. So they asked a close friend, Kelly Whitcomb, if she would be their surrogate. She was warm, compassionate, and beautiful - the type of person who would sacrifice her life for a stranger. It was around this time that they discovered that Eric could not actually have children of his own, explaining the previous situation with Sierra in a way he'd never anticipated. He was crushed, but thankful that at least his children would have Luis' blood. Tristan came first: a tiny but healthy baby, and the immediate light of their lives. Then, two years later, Bianca, equally loved but unfortunately saddled with a myriad of health problems, namely the profound hearing loss which was too severe and complicated to make her a candidate for the surgeries that may have aided in her developing normal language skills. The Noyolas hired teachers and purchased online programs to learn ASL as quickly as possible, Tristan's young brain soaking it up just as it had with Spanish while Eric and Luis had to struggle for many years to become fully fluent for their daughter.
As different as they were in every other aspect, Eric and Luis were actually quite similar in their views on parenting. They'd both come from homes requiring respect and hard work, and as two men raising children together, they felt even more pressure to mold two upstanding members of society. The one real fight they had was on public versus home school. Luis argued that the kids needed the interaction; Eric argued that they would only face negative interaction and that it would be detrimental and distracting to their futures. Eric won the battle, and was the one who stayed home with the two, teaching them while Luis showed houses during the day.
As someone who had always loved to listen to classical music while he was writing, Eric decided he wanted Tris to learn the piano from a young age. Tristan took to it immediately and often wanted to practice in place of doing homework. Where he excelled at music, he had to work very hard at academia. He enjoyed it, and was particularly good at languages, but difficulties with rote memorization hindered his success in history and science. Nonetheless, he did just fine, and was generally a well-adjusted child and teenager, if a bit sheltered.
When the time for college came around, there was another struggle between parents. Eric, much like before, was gunning for the more conservative option: somewhere local, a community college that would be cost-effective and close to home. Luis, on the other hand, encouraged Tristan to think outside the box. Little did he know, outside the box would be New York City, essentially the biggest leap Tristan could have made from his simple Southern existence. But he wanted it badly; Juilliard had been his quiet dream for years, and his piano teacher of almost fifteen years thought he was good enough. With his help and blessing, Tristan auditioned - and was accepted.
Things moved rapidly from that point. Though Eric was not entirely happy with the idea of Tris moving to the city, he was unbelievably proud of him for his accomplishment and wouldn't have dreamed of standing in the way of such a huge opportunity. So Eric and Luis gathered their resources and sent him off with as much of a financial cushion as they could manage, which was sizable from their respective successes in their careers but still required some help from loans. They made it work, though, and suddenly Tristan was thrust into a world he'd never imagined. He had a roommate and a constant flow of people around him. He didn't have a curfew or strict rules about how he could spend his time - what movies he could watch, books he could read, activities he could get involved in. He was on his own - and free.
Needless to say, it took some time for him to get adjusted. New York was overwhelming and he felt woefully behind in terms of social skills and knowledge of the culture. But over the years, he made new connections and blossomed as his own person, absorbing all of the interaction he hadn't realized he'd been missing so much of. He was desperately eager to make friends, sometimes becoming overbearing and botching said attempts, but it was all a part of the learning curve. Eventually, he started developing romantic attachments, tentatively exploring the attraction for the same sex that he'd always wondered if he would have. He didn't like the "that explains it" looks when he revealed that his parents were gay, however, and took to not mentioning them as often as he would have otherwise. It was easier to focus on where he was rather than where he came from, which were so wildly different from each other.
Upon graduating, Tristan began playing concerts, helped into the position by his connections at Juilliard and the obvious respect that his educational background garnered. He was the happiest he'd ever been, performing and learning more every day. Unfortunately, backstage at one such concert, everything changed. He was trying to grab his dropped keys from under a cart, and when he pulled his hand back, a techie who wasn't paying attention stumbled and dropped the amp he was holding onto Tristan's hand. It was crushed instantly, and his panicked pulling on it didn't help matters either. When the heavy object was pulled off, he barely recognized the mangled thing at the end of his arm. The ambulance came and he was given the best care possible, but in his heart he knew right then and there that his life had changed.
After months of surgeries, including putting screws and metal plates in his wrist and hand, Tris was able to mostly function again, though not without chronic pain and numbness where there had been nerve damage. He hadn't tried playing piano since the accident and the first attempt was pathetic enough that he refused to do so again for a long time. Instead, he wallowed. He'd never so much as broken a bone before so to suddenly have such a huge injury was a big shock. His parents called constantly and wanted him to come home, but as depressed as he was, he didn't want to give up.
The bills started to pile on, though, and he knew he had to do something before he was forced to crawl back to the nest. A friend of his who he fooled around with occasionally suggested that he join him one day on his webcam, just to see what it was all about. He promised to split the earnings with him and to never ask him again if he didn't like it. Surprisingly, despite his misgivings about the idea, the act thrilled some rebellious part of him that yearned to go against the grain of his upbringing. It was exhilarating and didn't make him feel dirty or ashamed, like he'd expected. His friend helped him to join and set up his own account for the site, and he slowly began building enough of a following to pay for most of his expenses.
Most, but not all. After a few short and failed attempts at office jobs, Tristan discovered Uber, which turned out to be perfect for his personality. It allowed him to meet new people all the time and learn their stories. It also permitted him to make his own schedule, with time slotted in for filming at peak hours. This is the current rhythm he's settled into, and while it is a far cry from the life he imagined for himself when he first ventured out of his hometown, he isn't unhappy. He has a solid circle of friends, two jobs he enjoys, and, come September, hopefully a living situation that doesn't make him want to claw his eyes out. All in all, he's learned a lot in the last seven years, and is cautiously optimistic for what's to come.
