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eilonwiiy · 4 years

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Bookends ; A Witchlands AU

Chapter 9

An innocent trip to the library takes an unexpected turn.

Summary: Iseult det Midenzi never expected to go to a top university, so when her mother falls ill and she is forced to drop out to make ends meet, life has never seemed so unfair. But when she starts working at the local library and is unexpectedly assigned in the Children’s Room, a certain monosyllabic man and his thrice-damned demon child start showing up and Iseult begins to wonder if the threads of fate have a plan for her after all.

Previous chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Ships: Iseult/Aeduan, Safi/Merik, and more… stay tuned!

Tags: modern AU, college setting, family, friendship, humor, fluff, slow-burn, romance, eventual smut

Read on AO3: here

Tag list: (please let me know if you’d like to be added!) @lseultdetmidenzi @twilightlegacy13

* . * . * . * .

When Iseult woke up the next morning, she thought maybe she had dreamed the previous night. But no. Aeduan had texted her. Twice. First, with an all too unsatisfying Ok while she was still at work. Then, again a whole hour later as she was getting ready for bed telling her that he’d be coming to the library tomorrow. Which was now today. The gap between texts - the “lost hour” as Iseult was now referring to it - was doing an exemplary job of keeping her busy. She thought about it all through her shower. While brushing her teeth. There was a brief pause while she picked out an outfit (sweater, suede skirt, ballet flats), but then it was right back to obsessing over those missing 60 minutes.

What had happened to cause Aeduan to go from monosyllabic man to someone with a firm grasp of the English language? Had it been a full moon?

The ruckus of the usual morning hustle and bustle could be heard from Jitters as Iseult descended the stairs, coat already on and a messenger bag slung over her shoulder. When she brushed through the divider curtain, the sight that met her brought her to a full stop.

“Wow. Someone woke up in project mode,” she said, taking in Safi - awake and fully dressed on her morning off - and the stacks of books and magazines spread across multiple tables pushed together.

“Yes,” Safi agreed, looking proud. “I thought I’d finally try turning that weird corner no one likes to sit in into that book nook we’ve always talked about.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Iseult stared at Safi, expression flat.

“Safi?”

“Hm?” she replied, flipping breezily through a page in her magazine.

“What are you doing?”

Safi didn’t look up. “I told you. I’m making the book nook.”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time. But see, it’s 8:30 in the morning.”

“And?”

“And,” Iseult continued, slowly approaching her mini fortress of books, “there’s a perfectly useful bed upstairs wondering where you are.”

“Well, tell it it might get lucky and see me tonight.”

“Safi,” Iseult said bluntly.

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing? And if you say ‘book nook’ one more time I’ll kill you.”

Safi said nothing.

“Spill,” Iseult ordered.

Safi sighed and made a face. “Is it so hard to believe that I actually wanted to do a good thing and get moving on this project that you’ve been talking my ear off about for months?”

“It is when it’s 8:30 on your morning off.” Iseult eyed the nearly full mug of coffee on the table. “Is that your first cup of coffee?”

“Maybe.” Safi’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why?”

“Nothing. Just a concerned citizen, that’s all.” Iseult pulled up a chair and lowered herself onto the seat, clapping her hands on her knees. “Look, as tempting as the prospect of playing 20 Questions with you this early in the morning without caffeine in my system is, can we maybe skip to the end of this conversation where you tell me the truth about why you’re really up so I’m not late for work?”

Safi pursed her lips like she didn’t want to talk. Then, she grabbed a massive tome off the top of one of the piles and held it up in the air.

“I tripped over this.”

“Ok…” Iseult said slowly, eyeing the book. “Are you okay?”

“Physically, yes. Spiritually? That remains to be seen.”

Iseult sighed. “Safi, did you miss the part where I said I don’t want to be late for work?”

Safi let the book drop from her hand with an obnoxious thud that shook the table.

“As you know, I worked until close at The Cleaved Man last night. When I got home at 1 o’clock, per usual, I tripped and fell over this,” she said, giving the offending book a scathing look.

The smallest of frowns formed on Iseult’s otherwise smooth face. “How is that even possible? That’s my freshmen geology textbook. I’m not exactly reading up on pyrite in my spare time.”

“Oh, well, I knocked into the bookshelf while I was fumbling through the dark trying to find the light switch.”

“So really you tripped over the bookshelf.”

Safi gawped at Iseult. “You’re not taking this seriously.”

“I would if I knew what the heck this has to do with you waking up and deciding today’s the day you’re going to be a carpenter!”

“That apartment is too small!” Safi burst, gesticulating wildly to the ceiling above.

“Safi,” shushed Iseult, glancing around at the early bird customers who were now looking curiously at them.

“No! That place is too small and I’m so tired of barely having enough room to breathe let alone walk through the door without having to map out some sort of detour route to avoid collision!” She shook her head. “The books had to go!”

Iseult grabbed for Safi’s hand before she could point a rude gesture at the ceiling and covered it with her own. “Look I know we got our hopes up for the apartment,” Iseult said, careful to leave out Chiseled Cheater’s name or supervillain moniker, “but you need to let this go.”

“I don’t want to,” pouted Safi, pronouncing each word defiantly.

“I know. But you’re driving yourself crazy and me by extension.” She paused. “Our shoebox does have its perks.”

“Like?” The word dripped with incredulity.

“Like,” Iseult ventured, “we don’t have to walk far to get to work. We can even open the bakery in our pajamas.”

Safi’s face remained unchanging. Iseult went on.

“We don’t have to deal with some seedy landlord.”

Nothing.

“Late snacks are a flight of stairs away.”

Still nothing.

“And there’s always an endless supply of free coffee on hand.”

“Except for that time we forgot to place the order and we went a whole three days having to tell customers we didn’t have coffee,” Safi pointed out.

Iseult shuddered from the memory. “I thought Mathew and Habim were going to kick us out.”

“Maybe they’d have done us a favor if they had,” Safi muttered.

Iseult made a face at her and, for a moment, they held each other’s gaze. Then, finally, she folded.

“I’m sorry,” Safi moaned, flopping back in her chair and looking at the stacks of books dejectedly. “It just kills me that he’s living in our dream apartment while we’re stuck smelling like coffee for the rest of our lives.”

“It won’t be for the rest of our lives. And besides,” Iseult added as an afterthought, “think of how much money we save living here. I doubt I would have been able to afford that place now anyway.”

From the way Safi immediately sobered, Iseult knew she had driven the point home. After all, it wasn’t Safi who couldn’t afford to live wherever she wanted. She could leave their shoebox apartment anytime she wanted. But she stayed for Iseult.

Iseult fiddled with her hands and dropped her gaze, not wanting to look at the somber expression on Safi’s face. She almost looked ashamed.

“I’m sorry,” Safi apologized again. She waved to the piles of books. “Obviously, I lost my mind.”

“Does this mean you’re not going to build the book nook?”

Safi’s expression stiffened and Iseult saw a flicker of hesitation in her eyes.

“No, I’m going to do it,” she eventually said, sounding resigned to the prospect, but determined. “You’ve been bugging me about it long enough.”

“You said you liked the idea!”

“Yeah, but that was before I ordered those damned bookshelves,” argued Safi, nodding to the back office. “Honestly, those assembly instructions are in a different language. How can they expect the average person to put them together without a contractor?”

“Or an interpreter.”

“Exactly. It’s all a bunch of gibberish made to con you into hiring a professional to assemble it for you. It’s a money making scam.”

They sat in silence for a moment, Safi stewing. Iseult side-eyed Safi. She didn’t want to break the happy truce they had just struck, but...

“You know who would be great at putting together those shelves?” she asked. “The C-word.”

Safi gave a most unlady-like snort of disbelief. “Cam can barely hold an entire tray of cookies without toppling over let alone a plank of wood.”

“I’m not talking about Cam and you know it.”

Safi shot her a piercing look. “I am not calling Caden.” She paused. “I’ll call Leopold.”

“For what?” Iseult laughed. “Moral support?”

“Hey, your boyfriend’s more handy than you think.”

Iseult’s stomach flipped. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

Safi rolled her eyes in exasperation. “You’re right. He’s not, but he could be! If you would stop avoiding him.”

Iseult’s stomach vaulted again, but this time for an entirely different reason. “Did he say that?” she asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

“That you’re avoiding him? No, but I can tell by the way he asks about you.” Safi studied Iseult for a moment. “Do you like him?”

“I…” Iseult didn't know what to say. She didn’t know what she felt. While she had spent a good deal of time telling herself that Leopold’s flirtatious advances towards her were a figment of her imagination - I mean, look at the guy. He basically waltzed right out of a Disney movie - she knew in her gut that they were real. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about what it would be like to date him. To kiss him. Would she burst into a puff of smoke when his lips touched hers and reappear a beautiful princess? It all seemed so ridiculous to her. They were like night and day. But even so, there was no denying that they shared a bond. She trusted him. With him, she felt safe.

With that thought in mind, she ended lamely, “I don’t know.”

Safi nodded, eyes soft and understanding. “That’s fair… Maybe seeing him tonight will help,” she said encouragingly.

Right. Tonight. Vaness’ little shindig. Iseult hadn’t exactly been crossing off the days on her calendar in anticipation.

Safi’s face went serious again. She hesitated. “Hey, so Alma called while you were in the shower.”

Shit. “She did?” Iseult asked, trying to keep her voice light. It wasn’t like this was the third time Alma had called this week and she hadn’t gotten back to her or anything.

“Yeah. I picked up…” said Safi, sounding apologetic. “I figured it could be about something important.”

“I’m assuming if you’re just telling me now that it wasn’t?”

Safi shook her head. “No. Just asked if you could call her back.”

“Ok… Thanks. I will.” Iseult swallowed the lie and let her eyes wander to the mess around them. “I take it this means you’re not reading the book for the book club?” She picked up a copy of Sisters of Sight from the top of one of the nearby stacks.

“No,” Safi was quick to say, snatching the book away from Iseult and holding it to her chest possessively. “I added that to the pile by mistake.”

“Of course,” Iseult said without much confidence. Sierra, one of the baristas working the morning shift, came over and offered a steaming to-go cup of coffee and a paper bag that, judging by the heavenly smell, was her favorite cinnamon crunch bagel.

“Such service” she commended, taking them from Sierra and thanking her.

“This place ain’t half-bad,” Safi chimed in, watching with approval.

“Not half-bad at all,” Iseult agreed, then took a sip of her coffee. She made a face as she swallowed. “Well, the coffee definitely falls into the half-bad category. Real Marstoki coffee my you-know-what,” she grumbled under her breath.

“You can say ‘ass’ in front of me,” Safi goaded, smirking. “I won’t tell anyone.”

Iseult shook her head and stood up from her chair. She was officially running late now. “Well, thank you for an eventful morning. Your neuroses never fail to entertain. I’m only working a half-shift, so I’ll be back this afternoon. Try to be nice to Cam before I get here,” she added with what she hoped was a convincingly stern look.

“Remind me again why we hired him?” Safi asked, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.

“Because we’re all about helping the little guy,” answered Iseult as she wrapped her scarf around her neck.

“I didn’t realize we meant that literally.”

“You know what I mean.”

“You broke our no high schoolers policy. I hate high schoolers.”

“Cam’s different.”

“He has no work experience.”

“Everyone has to get their start somewhere. We didn’t exactly have much work experience when Mathew and Habim hired us. Besides,” Iseult added, looking around and gesturing to the cafe, “this isn’t exactly a high-stakes operation. I think Cam can handle pouring coffee. Just be patient. Not everyone learns at the same pace.” She tugged on her beret cap and picked up her coffee and bagel. “Well, I can’t wait to see you and the book nook when I get back.”

Safi’s face tightened and her smile froze in place. “Me too,” she said as one of the book piles toppled over. “Me too…”

* . * . * . * .

Aeduan was not having a good morning.

The news that they would be making a trip to the library that day was not received with warm reception from the four-year-old. At first, Owl just frowned, not understanding why they were going if they weren’t going to see Evrane. The concept of the library existing even when they weren’t there was a shock to Owl - an unpleasant one judging by the horrified look on her face - and Aeduan did his best to explain that the library was open to more than just the two of them, and that they were welcome to visit any time they wished, even when they weren’t meeting with Evrane. He thought this would clear up the matter and put to rest Owl’s apparently very serious concerns about the library. He was so incredibly wrong.

Owl had been possessed by the devil - Aeduan was sure of it.

The nightmare started with her bath. Aeduan could have skipped his shower if he had known how wet Owl would get him with all her thrashing, suddenly violently adverse to water. By the end of it, there was more water on him than in the tub. He’d had to change - but only after he managed to wrangle Owl into her own clothes (another Olympic feat). At breakfast, she threw her Cheerios on the floor and the moment Aeduan finished picking up every last O, she spilled her orange juice. By the time they left the house, Aeduan was so preoccupied with Owl squirming in his arms, he didn’t notice Blueberry sauntering across the porch and he tripped over the damned thing, sending himself - and Owl - toppling into a snow pile. She’d started sobbing then. Not for herself or for Aeduan, whose hip was throbbing in pain. No, no, no. She was upset that he may have hurt the cat. It took 20 minutes for him to assure her that Blueberry was ok, another 20 minutes searching for the little cretin when it became clear she needed physical proof of the fact (he was hiding under the porch wedged behind the recycling bin), and by the time her sobs had turned into sniffles, he was so discombobulated that he didn’t even bother to go back inside and change out of his now soaking wet pants. Again. He was too worried he’d never get Owl out of the house again if he did. He wasn’t taking any chances. He skipped the car altogether, even though it had just snowed and the sidewalks probably weren’t all cleared yet. Barring performing an exorcism, getting Owl to sit still long enough for him to fasten her into her carseat seemed inconceivable and - with his ears still ringing with her last screaming meltdown - he wasn’t looking for an encore.

Owl was deathly quiet by the time they reached the library. Maybe she had run out of tears. Aeduan certainly hoped so. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if Owl fell apart while they were inside the building. Possibly breakdown and cry himself. Evrane would love that.

Shit. Evrane. In all the chaos, Aeduan hadn’t even thought about what he’d say if they happened to run into her. He hastily ran through some quick excuses in his head while he crossed the library’s main hall, eyes darting around the open space for a splash of white hair and listening for the tell-tale sound of clattering of silver… which was precisely the moment he ran into Iseult. Or rather, Iseult’s book cart.

The cart went toppling over, taking Iseult along with it, and crashed to the floor with a bone-rattling BOOM. The sound echoed unforgivingly through the voluminous hall. Aeduan stared at Iseult sprawled out on the floor covered in books, stunned, then snapped into action.

“Are you alright?” he asked, hastily depositing Owl on the ground and kneeling down beside Iseult. She looked shocked, eyes frozen wide, like she didn’t know how she had ended up on the floor. He hastily began pulling books off her.

“You should be more careful,” Aeduan admonished gruffly. He gathered and stacked the fly-away books into a pile off to the side while Iseult just sat there, silent. Annoyed, he opened his mouth again when he picked up a tattered volume off her leg.

His movement stuttered and his eyes locked on a jagged rip in her tights. The pale skin shone like a tear in the night sky. He swallowed thickly and he tore his eyes away.

“Someone could have gotten hurt.” He got up, leaving Iseult on the floor, and walked over the fallen cart. He pulled it upright, the wood groaning with the motion. He braced his hands on either end and gave it a firm jostle. It seemed sturdy enough, despite its obvious wear. Satisfied that it was safe, he started transferring the books back on its shelves.

A strange sort of hiccup from behind him caused Aeduan’s head to snap up. He’d had enough tears that morning. This whole day could fuck off into the void if Iseult was going to start crying too. He jerked around, not sure what he would do if he saw a single tear on her face, then stared.

Iseult was laughing. He’d never heard her laugh. Or truly seen her smile. It transformed her whole face that was always so emotionless. Even as confusion shot through him, he couldn’t help but appreciate the sight.

He offered a hand to her.

“Are you alright?” The question came out more reserved this time. Less like an accusation.

Iseult nodded, her soft laughter fading to nothing, and accepted his help. Her hand was cold against his. She let go when she was back on her feet and offered him a small smile in appreciation.

Aeduan pointed to the tear at her knee, if only to distract himself from the feeling she’d left in his empty hand. “That looks like it hurts.”

Iseult ducked her head and gave her leg a quick once-over. Aeduan found himself looking too, but when his gaze began to roam to other places, he quickly looked away.

“N-no, it’s fine,” Iseult stammered. “I’m just out a pair of tights.”

Aeduan frowned, not sure what to say to that. Iseult bit the inside of her cheek and shrugged. ��“I-I have a hundred pairs, so it’s f-fine.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Aeduan asked for a third time. The tremble in her voice was making him uneasy.

“Mhmm,” was all she responded with, nodding her head. She fidgeted with the cuffs of her sweater. “I’m sorry I almost ran you two over.”

Two? Oh, right! Owl.

Aeduan looked down at Owl next to him. The look she was giving them was downright murderous, if that was possible. Owl had proven on more than one occasion that she was capable of extraordinary things - even if she was only four.

“You didn’t,” Aeduan replied, looking away from her and back at Iseult. “I should have been paying attention. I’m sorry.” He didn’t know where the words were coming from, but they were out of his mouth before he could give them any thought. They seemed to be the right thing to say, though, because Iseult’s face relaxed and he thought he caught a faint smile.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she said, looking up at him shyly.

Aeduan swallowed, heart stuck in his throat. “You…. are?”

“Mmm,” Iseult confirmed. She wet her lips, the pink tip of her tongue darting out and capturing Aeduan’s attention fully and wholly. “I was just about to drop these off and get my things to go. I have your book. One of the other librarians would have been able to get it for you, but…” She trailed off, ducking her head and looking down at her feet.

But, what? Aeduan thought frantically. He’d never felt more desperate for someone to finish a sentence.

Instead, she abruptly announced: “I’ll go get it now,” then pivoted on her heel and glided away from him. He watched her go, eyes carefully trained on the manner of her gait. If she was hurting, she hid it well. Every stride of her legs was poised and measured, much like her personality. However, when she was about ten feet away from him she paused and turned around. Aeduan noticed how she hesitated when she saw him watching her, but, subtly, she squared her shoulders, and proceeded to make the short trek back to where him and Owl stood by the book cart.

Oh. The book cart.

Aeduan made no comment when Iseult reached them nor did she. She simply rotated the cart on its wheels and ushered it away. The rickety contraception left a trail of unwelcomed noise, earning her several annoyed looks from nearby patrons. As if it was Iseult’s fault that that ancient piece of craftsmanship made such an infernal racket.

Aeduan glared at them.

It didn’t take Iseult long to return. When she appeared, she was buttoned up in a coat and wore an old-timey looking beret on her head. On anyone else it probably would have looked childish, but on her it was cute. Aeduan shrugged the observation off by focusing on the book in her hand.

“I hope you don’t mind that I looked up your account to check it out,” she said as she handed Elmer and the Dragon to him. A boy in a red and white striped shirt and blue cap playing a flute to a circle of yellow birds looked up at him from the cover. “We’re not supposed to do that without the patron present, but... well... I figured you’d probably want to get in and get out.”

Aeduan looked up with the faintest of frowns. “Why do you say that?”

Iseult blinked, and though nothing else moved out of place on her face, Aeduan could tell she was surprised. “Well,” she said slowly, “whenever you come in you always seem like… like you don’t want to be here.”

Aeduan tensed. That wasn’t true. Maybe it had been before, but now… now he wasn’t so sure.

He assessed the facts. Today was Friday. He’d defied all logic and come in on a day he wasn’t obligated to. He’d triggered the second coming of Judas just to be here by facing off with an irritable 4-year-old and a demonic cat. He’d even risked Evrane’s unsolicited judgement. All that he had done to pick up Owl’s book. To make Owl happy. The wet jeans frozen to his ass were proof of that.

“I wanted to be here today,” he said, tucking the book under his arm. The truth of that statement almost distracted him from the pink blush that rose on the apples of Iseult’s cheeks. Almost.

She cast her gaze down to her hands and busied herself with pulling on her gloves. “I have to go to my next job.” Her voice was muffled somewhat by the thick scarf wrapped so high around her neck it obscured some of her chin.

“The coffee shop?”

“The coffee shop.” She let her hand fall to her sides - gloves secured - and with nothing left to keep her occupied, she looked at him.

“Well...” she began. The suggestion of her departure was obvious in her tone, but Aeduan interrupted her.

“We were planning on heading there after. After coming here.”

“You were going to go to Jitters?” Iseult’s eyebrow actually bounced and Aeduan relished the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of her. It was becoming something of a game between them - though, he wasn’t sure she was aware she was a player.

“Yeah. It’s what we do on Fridays.”

Iseult peered from Aeduan to Owl. Unconvinced maybe. “You go to Jitters every Friday?”

“Well,” Aeduan backtracked, feeling his insides freeze up a bit, “we have been for the last month. It’s… a new tradition.”

He hoped that didn’t sound weird. Iseult was still staring at him with that blank stare of hers, her eyebrows having recovered from their brief surprise. It was all so maddening. He never knew what she was going to say. It made everything he said all the more nerve wracking… and exciting.

He realized something then, something that made the corner of his mouth curl up. Just like that, he wasn’t afraid of what to say next.

“Shall we?”

* . * . * . * .

Iseult was getting coffee with Aeduan.

Scratch that. Iseult was getting coffee for Aeduan. Or at least, she would be once they got to Jitters.

They were walking. Outside, Aeduan had apologized and muttered something about not being able to use the car in the morning. He did that a lot. Mutter. But Iseult didn’t mind. Especially when there was an apology buried in there - which, there had been that day. Twice. That wasn’t so bad either. (Not that she was keeping track, of course.)

The sidewalks were icy, and several times, Iseult nearly slipped. Each time she noticed the way Aeduan’s hand shot out to grab her out of the corner of her eye - but only just. He never quite made it to touching her. His hand would hover in the air - she could practically feel it - waiting for her to recover, and after, it would fall back to his side, wrist rolling.

The three of them walked side by side, Aeduan in between Iseult and Owl. There was no way of knowing for sure, but Iseult suspected that he had put himself in the middle to act as some sort of buffer. The contempt radiating off of Owl back at the library hadn’t gone unnoticed by Iseult. She could have imagined it, but she thought she even saw a smidgen of smugness on the child’s face after she had fallen. While Iseult admired Aeduan for fighting for custody of the child, there was no ignoring it: Owl was strange.

Aeduan held on tight to Owl’s hand, setting the pace for the three of them. Unlike Iseult, she hadn’t slipped once. So strange.

Nothing was said for the first ten minutes of their trek. Eventually, Iseult worked up the nerve and broke the ice in a way that didn’t involve falling on her ass.

“You said you started coming to Jitters every Friday?” she asked, giving Aeduan a side-long look. He nodded, keeping his eyes ahead of him.

“Before we pick up my sisters from school.”

Sisters. Interesting. Iseult instantly latched onto the topic. “Do they live around here?”

Aeduan shook his head. “Arithuania.”

“That’s not too far,” Iseult commented conversationally. “How old are they?”

“Lisbet’s 12 and Cora’s 8… They're my half-sisters.”

“Oh.” Iseult mulled over that. It was a seemingly small detail, but it invited a whole host of questions about his family. Lisbet and Cora were younger than him, so that meant he had a stepmother… which meant something had happened to his real mother. The desire to not to lose momentum of the conversation almost pushed Iseult to ask… but then she thought about Gretchya. If the roles were reversed and Aeduan had asked about her mom, she wouldn’t have wanted to answer. Her mom was about the furthest thing away from what she would want to talk about, now or ever.

So instead she said, “I don’t have any siblings. But I have Safi.”

Aeduan’s head turned to her. “Who’s Safi?”

“My best friend.” Iseult’s face broke out into a smile like it always did when she thought about Safi. “She’s the closest thing I have to a sister.”

“That… must be nice.”

Iseult nodded in agreement. “We live together.”

A pause. “Do you get along?”

“Most of the time. But even when we disagree, we’re always in sync. We’re always on each other’s side. It’s... hard to explain.”

“Hn.” That was all Aeduan had to say to that and then silence fell between. Iseult really felt like it was his turn to pick up the conversation. She’d done a decent enough job carrying it so far; a two minute run was pretty good, she thought. A record, maybe, for Aeduan. But now it was his turn. Or so she thought. Because the silence stretched. And stretched and stretched. She even heard Owl sigh at one point. She wouldn’t be surprised if she fell asleep by the time they made it to Jitters.

“Do you live around here?” she finally asked, then groaned inwardly. What a stupid question. Of course, he lived around here. They walked to the library all the time, dumby.

“Yes.”

The single word struck a match on Iseult’s nerves. She might as well have said nothing at all if that all she was going to get back in return. She wasn’t great at making conversation on a good day, but Aeduan - Aeduan was like a monolith. There was no breaking through to him. He just stood there like a constipated brick, not saying a word, with those ridiculously blue eyes and ridiculously long lashes, and just glared at her making her feel like a complete idiot for even trying to talk to him, like she was the one with the problem!

Well, she silently seethed, it was no secret to the Moon Mother that she was ripe with issues, but she was not the problem here. She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye, and the white winter sunlight caught on the lobe of Aeduan’s ear.

“Why do you wear that thing?” she blurted.

Aeduan’s head whipped to her, his eyes slightly widened, like he’d only just realized she was there. Before, Iseult might have been scared as to how he would react to such a brazen question. But her fears had nothing on the deep satisfaction of seeing the crimson blush that fanned out high on his cheeks and crawled to the tips of his ears. She half expected him to trip over himself for how long he gaped at her.

“Why do you care?” he snarled - he actually snarled!

Iseult stood her ground. In that, she kept walking, head held high.

“I didn’t say I cared,” she said smoothly. “I’m just curious. You don’t see a lot of guys walking around wearing gemstones in their ears. It says alot about a person.”

Aeduan’s jaw locked so tightly it looked like it might never unhinge ever again - which, Iseult supposed, wouldn’t make much of a difference seeing as he never said anything worthwhile anyway.

But then he did something that surprised her. He came to a full stop. He swiveled to face her directly, and when Iseult looked into his eyes, some of the fear she’d pushed aside rushed back.

“This gemstone,” Aeduan said venomously, pointing a sharp finger to his ear, “belonged to my mother.” He glared at Iseult and she swore she heard her heart stop entirely. Strangers milled about around them on the sidewalk, but in that moment nothing else existed outside of her and Aeduan. All she saw were his eyes. Cold as ice, yet burning with hatred... and grief. Even though Iseult was petrified of what he might say next, she realized that she felt like she was seeing him for the first time.

“I wear this to remember her.” Aeduan’s chest heaved. Icy air puffed from his lips with every labored breath, and Iseult suddenly noticed how close he was to her. Just another step and their noses would be touching. And their lips…

“If you’d ever lost a mother, you’d want to feel close to her too.”

This time Iseult’s heart did stop. With a disgusted look, Aeduan swung away from her and left her standing alone on the sidewalk, staring at the empty space where he used to be.

“I don’t think I would.”

Aeduan froze and looked over his shoulder. Iseult stood rooted to the spot.

“I-I d-don’t know if that’s t-true.” She shook her head, not sure where the words were coming from. Not sure how her heart could be beating so fast and not feel like it was working at the same time. Like it was malfunctioning and pumping out thoughts she would otherwise never say aloud. Not to anyone. Maybe not even Safi.

“My m-mother is sick and I d-don’t call her,” she stammered. “I never see her. I make excuses all the time about why I can’t visit her or why I don’t return her calls and even though I know I’m being a horrible daughter, I just can’t stop. I can’t bring myself to be better for her. I don’t know who your mother was or what she was like, but I do know mine. I don’t know what I’d do without her, I’ve never not had a mother, but… I don’t know if I’d want to feel close to her b-because I don’t feel c-close to her now. I… I don’t know if I’d miss her.”

The weight of everything she just admitted lifted off Iseult and she was able to breathe again, heartbeat retreating under the cool blanket of stasis she kept shrouded around her at all times. Pumping blood, not feelings, doing its job. She took a gulp of cold air. Her limbs felt foreign to her, the tension she always carried ebbing away, and a fierce exhaustion hit her with the force of a speeding train. She didn’t think she could bring herself to look at Aeduan after everything she just confessed… but she did anyway.

His expression was painstakingly emotionless. Not even a scrap of red tinged his cheeks. During her speech she hadn’t really registered him there. Even Owl at his side was looking at Iseult with something different. There was no repulsion, not judgement. Just… curiosity.

Iseult took another deep breath of air. It didn’t matter what Aeduan thought of her now. She needed to go to work. She needed to move forward. Her eyelids fluttered close briefly.

Stasis, Iseult. Stasis. Stasis in your fingers and in your toes.

When she opened her eyes, she was moving. She was brushing past his shoulder. And then-

Something stopped her.

Iseult looked down at the hand firmly gripped on the strap of her book bag, then slowly, tipped her chin up to look at Aeduan. The white winter sun behind him was a halo around his head.

“Can I buy you a muffin?”

* . * . * . * .

Somehow Iseult ended up on the green couch at Jitters. There had been scant elsewhere for the three of them to comfortably sit, so while Iseult had made a beeline for the couch before anyone else could snatch it out from under them, Aeduan headed to the counter to fetch them some coffee. Caffeine was probably the last thing Iseult needed right now - not after what had transpired on their walk - but when Aeduan had asked her how she took her coffee, she couldn’t find it in herself to refuse him.

There was an air of relaxed cheerfulness about the shop, the place bustling with people getting a jumpstart on their weekend, college students done with classes for the week. When Iseult spotted Cam alone scrambling behind the counter and Safi nowhere in sight, her first instinct was to rush over and give him a hand, but the second Aeduan stepped into her line of sight and instructed her to find a seat, she’d forgotten all about him.

It felt strange sitting and being waited on in her own coffee shop. It was like being served in her living room. She sat spine rod straight on the edge of the couch with her hands absently twisting her gloves in her lap. She hadn’t even bothered to take off her coat or scarf. They felt like protective armor now, like needing a blanket to fall asleep regardless of whether it’s cold or not. Right now, it was admittedly too hot, what with the fireplace crackling by the couch. She could feel herself growing uncomfortably warm. She resolved to loosen her scarf, but only a little bit.

Aeduan wasn’t alone when he reappeared carrying two mismatched mugs of coffee. Cam followed behind him, his face pinched in concentration, moving with caution as he balanced three small plates of pastries perilously along his spindly arms. Iseult tried not to make a show of watching him as he approached, but she held her breath, praying for him not to fumble. It would be exactly the kind of thing he would do, the poor kid. The second hand embarrassment alone would cause Iseult to combust.

The second the plates made contact with the low coffee table, she was able to breathe freely.

“Cam,” Iseult said, peering over the back of the couch and looking around the shop, “where’s Safi?”

Cam put down the last of the plates and wiped off his brow, relief evident on his face. “She ran out to the corner store. The delivery guys must be running late and we ran out of creamer.”

“That’s the second time this month,” Iseult muttered more to herself than to Cam. She sighed. “I’ll have Safi give them an earful when they get here.”

“Aye aye, sir.” Cam gave her a dutiful salute. He made to turn away, then stopped as if only just realizing that he had just served pastries to her. “You are working today, right? Safi seemed to think you were.”

“In another half hour,” said Iseult, checking the clock on the wall for good measure. “Don’t worry, I’ll be on by the time you need to leave. You won’t be late for your Big Brother meeting.”

Cam’s cheeks went a little pink and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Ok, thanks,” he said sheepishly. “I’m really sorry he called last week. I told him it wasn’t your fault, I swear.”

A memory of Safi hunched over the desk in their cramped office in the storeroom, red-faced, holding the phone to her ear flashed across her eyes. Safi’d endured a very heated discussion with some guy that claimed to be Cam’s Big Brother - didn’t even bother to properly introduce himself, the loser - and accused them of letting Cam off his shift late so that he was late for their meeting. Judging by the 30 minutes hate-rant that followed after she’d hung up the phone, it had not been a productive conversation.

“I believe you, Cam. It really wasn't a big deal,” she lied. It had taken forty bucks worth of take-out and a bottle of wine to convince Safi not to fire him on the spot.

“Ok,” Cam said again, shoulders relaxing. He surveyed the spread on their coffee table and glanced at Aeduan and Owl seated next to her. “I just wasn’t sure what this was.”

“Oh ah…” Iseult glanced at Aeduan who was helping Owl peel the paper wrapping off her muffin, not paying the least bit of attention to their conversation. “We’re just having some lunch.”

“Alright,” Cam said, eyeing Aeduan skeptically, if not fearfully. But he didn’t pry further. “Well, I’ll see you in a bit then. Enjoy your, uh, lunch.”

“Thanks,” Iseult said, watching him leave. Stealing herself, she shifted in her seat to face lunch.

Aeduan hadn’t touched his food. He was too busy fussing over Owl. She sat between them, contentedly munching on a muffin that was almost as big as her head. Much like before when they had been walking together, she felt like Owl was acting as some sort of barrier now, like Aeduan had put her there to keep some space between them. Iseult wondered if she should read into it. Maybe he was trying to tell her that this wasn’t anything special. Just two people having coffee. Nothing put the lid on romance faster than a four-year-old who, as far as Iseult could tell, hated her. And then there was the issue of the 6 months worth of guilt she’d word vomited all over the sidewalk just 10 minutes ago.

“Is everything alright?” Aeduan asked as he put down Owl’s juice box on the coffee table and picked at his own muffin.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Iseult said, almost breathless. “Just a problem with our delivery guys. I’ll have Safi handle it when she gets back.”

Aeduan popped a piece of muffin in his mouth and chewed methodically as he studied her. He swallowed. “No, I meant with you. Your face. It’s all red and splotchy.”

“Oh,” Iseult breathed, hands flying to her cheeks. The skin burned under her fingers. “I… I’m just a little warm, I guess. The fire…” Aeduan continued to stare and she looked down helplessly at her coat. “I suppose I can take this off,” she mumbled, reaching for the buttons and beginning to undo them. She tried to steady her fingers as she continued down the line. She shrugged the peacoat off and her entire body seemed to sigh with relief at the feeling of being able to breath again. She chanced another glance at Aeduan as she unwound her scarf, noticing that he had already taken his jacket. How she hadn’t noticed until was a mystery. The white t-shirt stretched across his chest made it devastatingly clear that he didn’t need any protective armor for their not-date.

Iseult had always been so preoccupied with what was going on inside Aeduan’s head that she never really wondered what went on with the rest of him. His signature leather jacket masked how lean he truly was, but it also hid everything else. Everything else being, well, everything. And boy, there was so much to see.

Not being much of a fashion guru, Iseult had never considered what was so special about the plain white tee. That singular item of clothing had transcended decades of trends despite being, as its title suggested, plain. Now, however, its reason for persevering was evident. Embellishment would only distract from the main attraction. The attraction being, the person who wore it.

Aeduan was, for lack of a better word, stacked.

The shirt left nothing to the imagination. Iseult could see the contours of his muscles, starting with the hard plane of his chest, traveling all the way down to map the outline of his abs. His arms were on full display in all their glory, pale and strong looking and - oh my gosh - was that a tattoo peeking out from underneath the hem of his sleeve?? There was nothing unsightly about him. He was built in a way that told her that he must be well-acquainted with the benefits of hitting the genetic lottery. This wasn't the work of protein powder. Somehow he had fallen into Moon Mother’s good graces. He looked healthy and strong and 100% out of Iseult’s league… It wasn’t until now that she’d ever even considered joining a league.

She didn’t own a bat.

She didn’t own a ball.

She’d never made it to first base before, nevermind hit a homerun.

She was so woefully unequipped in every way for the living Michaelangelo statue sitting across from her that it suddenly hit her that no wonder he didn’t talk much. Who needed words when you had a body like that to do all the talking?

Except Aeduan was talking for once. Now, in fact.

“Are you going to leave that on?” Iseult barely heard him ask.

“What? Oh-” She followed his line of sight to the beret on top of her head. She hastily peeled it off and awkwardly tried to smooth out her hair. She was uncomfortably aware of Aeduan’s eyes on her. She wished she hadn’t worn the silly thing. It had been a gift from Leopold a couple Christmases back. He had insisted that it was chic and retro and, no, it wouldn’t make her look like Mary from The Secret Garden, but now she would have liked nothing more than to toss it into the fire and watch it shrivel up into a pile of ash.

“Thanks,” she forced herself to say as she reached for the mug on the table. “For the coffee and- oh.” She examined the muffin beside it, then tilted her head questioningly at Aeduan. “Did you know cinnamon was my favorite?”

Aeduan, who was mid-sip, paused. Iseult caught the corner of his mouth curled up behind his mug. Then he tipped his coffee back and it was gone. “Lucky guess.”

Iseult allowed herself to smile, a little one, before ducking her down. She began to break apart her muffin… but there was only so much eating and drinking she could do before there would need to be some exchange of words. She decided to take a stab at it.

“You said you come here every Friday?”

“Pretty much,” Aeduan said, reaching for a napkin and dabbing a smear of what looked like blueberry off Owl’s cheek. She looked like she wanted to resist but didn’t.

“You do know there’s a Starbucks right around the corner, right?”

“So?”

“Well, why come here when you could go there?”

Aeduan thought about it, then shrugged. “I like the coffee.”

Iseult snorted into her mug, sending a couple errant droplets of coffee flying. Both Aeduan and Owl stared at her. Iseult surreptitiously wiped her mouth, but when she noticed that they were still staring, Aeduan clearly confused by her reaction, she sent the same nonplussed look right back.

“Are you serious?” Iseult asked deadpanned.

“I believe I am,” Aeduan replied, a little defensive, which made Iseult want to laugh again.

“It’s not actually real Marstoki coffee,” she said, gesturing to his mug. “You know that, right?”

Aeduan peered into the contents of his mug. “It’s not?”

“Not even a little.” Iseult gave him a bemused look, enjoying the curious way he was examining his mug, almost indignant. Eventually he accepted the truth and put it down.

“You said hazelnut makes it better. I guess you were right.”

Iseult’s heart skipped a beat. He ordered his coffee that way she had brewed it for him the first time she saw him in the shop? She didn’t know why that made her feel all gooey inside but it did.

A soft chime sounded and Aeduan reached into his back pocket. The movement stretched his already too tight shirt even tighter across his chest and Iseult launched into an aggressive excavation of her muffin as to avoid ogling him. When she eventually got a grip and looked back up, Aeduan was frowning at his phone.

“Something wrong?” Iseult asked, hoping that he didn’t have to leave.

He shook his head. “It’s nothing.” He started to put it away, then stopped. “Well,” - he shifted again and slid it back out - “do you know what this means?”

He leaned across Owl and showed the screen to Iseult.

“My sister likes to send me these… things,” he explained, watching Iseult carefully as she looked at the picture on his phone. “I never know what the heck she’s talking about.”

“Oh!” Iseult exclaimed with a laugh. “It’s a meme. See, that’s Kermit the Frog. Kermit is-”

“I know who Kermit the Frog is,” Aeduan ground out like it pained him to say the goofy green muppet’s name out loud. “But what does he have to do with her trying to decide whether or not she wants to sign up for the school’s annual spelling bee?”

“Well,” Iseult began and boldly took the phone from his hand and pointed to the Kermit hooded in a black cloak. “That’s Kermit’s evil persona. He’s like the devil on his shoulder whispering in his ear and egging him on. Your sister-”

“Lisbet,” provided Aeduan.

“-Lisbet said she doesn’t want to sign up because she has too many other extracurriculars going on right now and doesn’t want to overload herself. But she also wants the satisfaction of wiping the floor with her peers’ asses because she knows she’ll win.”

Aeduan frowned at her.

“My words, not hers,” she clarified. She handed the phone back to him. “She was using that picture of Kermit talking to his sinister self to emphasize her evil instincts.”

“I wouldn't exactly classify competing in a spelling bee as evil,” Aeduan said, studying the meme again.

Iseult plunked a bit of muffin in her mouth and chewed. “Sounds like she's a pretty outgoing kid.”

“She is,” Aeduan said, clicking his phone off and tucking it away. “But she’s quiet about it… Humble in a way the most overachieving 12-year-olds aren’t. To her it’s not overachieving, it’s just her being her.”

Iseult watched the faint smile that spread across his lips, warming his usually cold face. “Cora,” he continued without prompting, “is a lot like her, but sillier. She’s younger, of course, but she’s always been a little more mellow than Lisbet. More carefree. I don’t think school means the same to her as it does to Lisbet, but she’s a good girl.”

“They both sound like they’re good girls,” Iseult said.

“They are,” Aeduan nodded. “They are.”

A comfortable silence passed between them in which they both indulged in a few bites of their muffins.

“So what are your plans for this weekend?” Iseult asked.

Aeduan stiffened, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Uh, sorry, but I’m busy. I have the girls all weekend.”

She blinked. “Right, I know... what are your plans with them?”

“You weren’t...?” Aeduan’s face went red and he absently tugged at his pieced lobe. “Oh. Well. Uh…” He tried to mask his embarrassment with a cough. “Nothing special. Lisbet likes to get her homework out of the way on Fridays and Cora likes to do what Lisbet does, so we usually spend the rest of the afternoon doing school work. Saturdays are a mixed bag. Lisbet’s does a lot of extracurriculars, so depending on what she has going on, Saturday is our day to just hang out and relax.”

Iseult had a hard time picturing Aeduan “hanging out” and wondered what that would entail. Before she could ask, a noise sprouted between them and they both looked down. Owl sipped on her straw like she was sucking the life out of her juice box. Aeduan gingerly pulled it out of her mouth and placed the exsanguinated carton on the coffee table.

“What about you?” Aeduan asked, like nothing had happened. “Do you have any fun plans?” It sounded like he struggled to say the word ‘fun’.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call my plans fun. Or call them plans at all,” Iseult confessed, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I mostly work. And read.”

“And hang out with Safi.”

Iseult smiled, nodding. “And hang out with Safi.”

It took her a full 5 seconds to realize that Aeduan was smiling back at her. Not just with his mouth but with the little dimple that winked out from his cheek. It was the most brilliant thing she’d ever seen.

“Actually,” she spoke, looking down at her hands, “we’re hanging out tonight. Our friend Vaness is having a little get-together with some people.”

“Vaness?”

Iseult’s ears perked up, catching the sharp familiarity in the way he spoke her name. “Yeah. Do you know her?”

Aeduan opened his mouth to respond, his smile and the dimple noticeably missing, but at that moment, the bells over the entrance door jingled and in walked Safi.

“Iseult,” she breathed, nose and cheeks rosy from the cold. A paper bag was clutched to her chest with what Iseult guessed was creamer.

At the sound of her name, Aeduan’s head instinctively turned to look over the back of the couch. Safi froze as the door closed behind her.

“S-Safi,” Iseult exclaimed, taken aback by the stutter over her best friend’s name. That was a first. But Safi didn’t seem to notice. Her feet seemed glued to the floor with her stare pinned on Aeduan.

“This is Aeduan and - oh!” - Owl was turning in her seat and pulling herself up with the back of the couch to see what the fuss was about - “this is Owl.”

Owl gave Safi a shrewd look that lasted all of 5 seconds before sinking back down onto the cushion and returning to her muffin. Clearly, she was unimpressed by Iseult’s choice in best friend.

“Aeduan, this is Safi,” Iseult told him, nearly choking on Safi’s name when she saw the frosty look he was giving Safi.

Neither of them said anything.

“We were just eating lunch,” Iseult explained, grappling for words. She looked from Safi to Aeduan waiting for someone to explain why on earth she’d been transported to the arctic tundra. They seemed to be locked in some sort of Vulcan mind meld; she had a feeling her limited knowledge of Star Trek trivia wasn’t going to do much to break it.

Thankfully, Aeduan was the one to do the deed. He sent a downward jerk of his head to Safi in acknowledgment that might as well have been a punch to the face for all the friendliness it had, then turned to Iseult.

“We need to get going,” he said, his voice carrying none of the warmth or depth it had had in their conversation moments ago.

“S-sure,” Iseult faltered. She was unable to ignore the sinking disappointment buoying in the pit of her stomach. “I w-wouldn’t want to keep Lisbet and Cora waiting.”

Wordlessly, he pulled on his jacket and helped Owl into hers, then bundled her up in her hat, scarf, and gloves. He started to stack the mugs and plates.

“You don’t have to-” Iseult tried to stop him, but he continued anyway.

“I got it,” was all he gruffed out. When everything was piled up, he stepped around the coffee table and transported it all to the counter by the waste bin. When he came back he held out his hand to Owl, who slid off the couch and placed her fuzzy mittened hand in his, then glanced at Iseult. She couldn’t read his expression, but she didn’t have much time because the next second he was turning his back on her and leaving.

Safi, who hadn’t budged, didn’t say a word as he sidestepped around her and pushed through the door. The second it rattled shut, her head whipped to Iseult. She whizzed over to the couch like time had stopped and was suddenly speeding to catch up. She threw herself down where Aeduan had been sitting and carelessly let the paper bag drop to the floor, barely giving it any mind. Disbelief was written all over her face. Iseult was glad that her expression was finally readable, but was still very much bewildered as to the reason behind it.

“What was that all about? Are you crazy?” Safi whisper-hissed.

Iseult blinked rapidfire in response. “What are you talking about?”

“Him!” Safi exclaimed, shooting a look over her shoulder. “That guy! Why on Earth would you hang out with him?!”

Iseult was so confused. She was barely able to form words. “He’s just a patron at the library. We’re friends.”

Safi gave her a flabbergasted look. “He’s not just a patron. Iseult,” - she leaned forward and brought her head close to hers - “do you seriously not recognize who he is or do you not remember anything from that night?” She pinned her with a stare, eyebrows high, as though waiting for a response, but Iseult shook her head smally, her mouth clamped shut. Nothing Safi was saying was making any sense and it was making her more and more nervous.

Safi sucked in a breath through her nose and her hand covered Iseult’s in her lap. She squeezed it bracingly. All it did was send another shot of fear through Iseult. She stared into Safi’s blue eyes.

“Iseult,” she said in a low voice, “that’s the chief of police’s son... the cop that crashed Vaness’ end-of-the-year party.”

* . * . * . * .

The moment Aeduan stepped outside, he felt like he could breathe again. It had become too hot in there. And then when Safi walked in…

Of course - of course - Iseult’s best friend had to be the impossible barista. But she wasn’t just that. Because just before she’d interrupted them, something that had been out of place had slid home and he’d realized something: he knew Iseult.

A memory of a hot summer night that started with a noise complaint rushed back to him. Being in the Domestic Violence Unit, it wasn’t something his squad typically covered, but staff was stretched thin that night, what with the non-stop partying shaking up the college city, and Aeduan didn’t have much choice to turn his back on the call. It had been one of the last runs he’d made before turning in his badge.

Iseult probably didn’t even remember it. But he did.

Owl tugged at Aeduan’s hand and felt her curl into his leg. He peered down at her questioningly.

She lifted a mittened hand out in front of her. “Dog,” she said.

Aeduan looked to where she pointed and, sure enough, there was a dog leashed to a lamppost, most likely waiting for his owner to return from getting a coffee. At the sight of the two of them, he lifted his shaggy head from his front paws, attention piqued.

Annoyance tugged at Aeduan’s gut. He hated when dog owners just left their pets tied up unattended. It was just notch below leaving them in the car.

Owl let go of his hand and clutched herself to him, hiding behind his leg. Wide brown eyes peeked out from behind him at the dog, who looked cold and miserable.

“Tail not moving,” she said, her words muffled by the fabric of his jeans. Aeduan nodded and gave the dog a pitying look.

“That’s right,” he told her. “He’s probably not happy being left out in the snow by his master.”

Owl tucked herself even closer to him and a small whimper bubbled out of her. Aeduan moved to sidestep away from her to show her the dog wouldn’t hurt her, but she only whimpered again, more loudly.

“It’s ok,” Aeduan shushed her, gently extricating her from his leg and lifting her up in the air like she weighed nothing. “I got you.”

Her arms wrapped around his neck the moment she connected with his chest and the warmth of her enveloped him, anchoring him, pushing thoughts of his old life his mind. He held her close, humming soft comforting words to her and rocking her gently.

From the snow-covered sidewalk, the shivering dog’s watery, mournful eyes watched him and Aeduan stared back. He thought about Iseult and her sick mother. He thought about Owl’s tear-stained face from that morning and her arms around him now. And then he thought about what it would take to lose a child and what it would feel like to not be missed.

#the witchlands #bookends #iseult det midenzi #aeduan #baeseult #owl #safiya fon hasstrel #iseult x aeduan #cam leeri #truthwitch #my fics #mine

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im-not-corrupted · 4 years

Text

Safi, No (a Witchlands fanfiction) - Chapter One

This chapter was written by @un-empressed

Summary:

On a rare occasion, Safi knew the answer in geography class. But when Merik Nihar spoke over her, she wasn't so happy. So her and Leopold devised a revenge plan to get back at him, and accidentally got everyone involved.

Vivia Nihar doesn't really have many friends, apart from Vaness. She's mostly focused on her studies - and what's wrong with that? But then she meets theriverstix online.

Aeduan and Iseult didn't mean to get involved in the revenge plan, but it was inevitable. But that's okay. They had each other to talk to.

Also posted on Ao3

Tags: @Iseultdetmidenzi

---

Safiya fon Hasstrel didn't know what she had done to deserve such maltreatment. Not only was geography a disaster that morning, her best friend wasn't listening. Or rather, she was until she realised what Safi was talking about. Apparently she was immature for wanting the basic right of speaking. It wasn't her fault that she had an insufferable classmate, and it certainly wasn't her fault that he decided he could speak over her.

It wasn't like she enjoyed geography, but she actually knew the answer. That was a once in a million years occurrence and Merik Nihar ruined it. She didn't even know his name before he so rudely interrupted her.

She wouldn't even have bothered to ask someone - asshole from third row worked just as well for a name - but she was confronted by another classmate after geography. A very pissed off one at that. Safi knew Vaness by name, because everyone knew Vaness. They'd never talked before, though, so Safi didn't know what to expect.

She was definitely surprised when Vaness verbally attacked her. Well, it wasn't an attack, but what she said was just a pretentious way to say "Go fuck yourself" and they both knew it. Apparently Safi's huffing and whispering to her friends that she was going to kill Merik over "an idiotic thing that doesn't even matter" was making it hard for Vaness to take notes. And apparently calling her a "poor dear" was "condescending" and "rude".

Why had she never talked to Vaness before? She knew now. Caden laughed to her face after having overheard the disastrous conversation. Safi found that absolutely unnecessary. At least Zander and Lev laughed at her behind her back. Well, she didn't know for sure that they did, but she hoped that Levs's so-called reassurance of "I've hidden many bodies before, nobody ever misses the ones like him" was a joke.

"Saf, I'm sure he didn't mean to inconvenience you," Iz said, trying to be reasonable. Safi liked that about her best friend; she wasn't as reckless as Safi herself, but she was definitely easy to drag along to stupid adventures.

"You don't know him."

Iseult rolled her eyes. "Neither do you."

"Irrelevant."

Iseult sighed. She was about to say something else, probably about how it was actually relevant, but Corlant came. Safi wasn't sure what his deal was, only that someone ought to push him off that table he liked standing on to feel better than everyone else. But no, the school encouraged free speech, and Corlant claimed whatever absurd shit he said (Safi didn't bother enough to listen) had something to do with his religion.

Safi didn't know who or what he worshipped, but she personally found lunches without him causing a scene holy. Maybe she should start a religion that specifically opposed him. Or maybe she should take Lev up on that hiding a body offer.

"This is ridiculous," Iseult muttered. Safi personally would have yelled it so he could hear, but she already did and he didn't seem to care. Asshole.

Safi didn't even notice Leopold approaching their table until he sat down. And, he wasn't alone. "Girls, this is Aeduan. Aeduan, Safi and Iseult".

The name didn't sound familiar at all, but Safi had talked to the guy once. Well, it was barely a conversation. She asked for a pencil, and he spent five minutes mocking her for not bringing two. Just when she was about to tell him to fuck off, he handed her the damn pencil. Safi made a point of using it only when she lost the pencil Caden had lent her.

She never even returned the pencil. Maybe that made her an asshole, but she needed something to write with for the rest of the day, and he never even asked for it. How was she supposed to know it wasn't meant to be a gift?

Aeduan uttered out an uninterested greeting, hesitantly sitting next to Iseult. They shared commiserating looks as Safi told Leopold about her encounter with the world's biggest asshole that morning.

"Look! There he is, talking to his friends. I bet they're just as rude and inconsiderate-"

"Saf, those two literally mean the same thing," Iseult said. There was a slight difference, but Safi wasn't about to say that. Leopold was willing to hear her complaints, and she wasn't about to waste the potential this conversation had.

"And besides, you're overreacting. That's Ryber Fortiza over there, and she's pretty nice. I'm willing to bet the others are too. You took this way too personally."

Safi had talked to Ryber Fortiza once or twice, and she knew that Iseult was right. She wasn't going to say that out loud, though. Judging by the look on Iseult's face, her best friend didn't care at all. She went back to her probably dry conversation with Leopold's friend.

"Way too personally? It is personal!" Leopold said. Safi was glad that at least someone knew she wasn't overreacting.

"Thank you!"

Iseult rolled her eyes. She did it so much around the two, Safi wouldn't be surprised if her eyes fell out one day. And she had yet to hear about what Vaness said, even though Safi knew Iseult would agree with most things said.

Suddenly, she remembered something that made her groan. Leopold raised his eyebrows. "I have geography again tomorrow."

Leopold grinned. "Why the disappointment? It's your chance to get revenge."

Safi quite liked how that sounded. Even more than that she liked the fact that Iseult obviously didn't approve of the idea, if her face was to be trusted. She could've been making faces at what Aeduan was telling her, but that didn't seem likely. Leopold's friend seemed to have the same opinion. All the more reasons to do it.

Besides, Safi already had a few suggestions for the revenge plan herself.

Safi smiled, making Iseult shake her head. "What did you have in mind?" [x]

"-And she kept staring at me the whole time, whispering something to her friends. I'm telling you, that girl is insane."

The story didn't get reactions Merik Nihar was hoping for from his friends. Ryber pretended she didn't even hear him, and Cam just rolled his eyes. Merik was pretty sure Tanzi wasn't even listening. That didn't hurt him, because she was Ryber's friend. Stix was asking if 'he was done yet' after every word. That didn't hurt either, because she was like that. At least Kullen was on his side.

He smiled, and Merik didn't know what to expect from his best friend. Kullen often heard what he wanted to hear instead of what was being said. "Maybe she likes you! And, you've never talked about this girl before. Why would you even look at her if you didn't like her?"

Kullen was not on his side.

"It wasn't like that!" Merik said, trying desperately to seem like he was telling the truth. Which he was, of course. Kullen just caught him completely unaware.

Stix grinned. "Oh really?" Merik knew she didn't share Kullen's delusion. She just took every single chance to make him uncomfortable.

Cam and Ryber looked at each other across the table, seemingly not surprised at all that the conversation was taking that turn. Tanzi was too busy copying Ryber's homework to listen.

"Really! The teacher called on her and I knew the answer, so I might have possibly answered instead of her. I wanted to see her reaction but she was just glaring at me and I'm pretty sure I heard her friend say something about hiding a body." Merik realised that the story in its entirety made him look the slightest bit bad, but being perceived as rude was better than Kullen getting ideas.

"Can we blame them, though?" Stix asked. She just raised her hands in mock surrender when Ryber shot her a look. "I'm just saying."

"You did speak over her," Cam reasoned.

Ryber sighed. "That really was rude. No one likes people who do that."

Merik was willing to admit that it wasn't his best moment, but it was really not that big of a deal. Sure, his classmate might be pissed for a while, but that wasn't his problem. His only problem was Kullen, who was grinning at him from across the table.

"You could still like her. Maybe you inconvenienced her just so she would talk to you - that seems like the kind of 'I'm bad at admitting my feelings' thing you would do and call flirting if it succeeded," Kullen said, making Stix laugh.

Well, now Merik was offended. He did nothing to deserve the unjust treatment. Even Ryber was against him, and she rarely cared enough to pick a side. Merik needed to start hanging out with Tanzi; She never listened to him, which meant she couldn't mock him for every single thing like the traitors he once called friends.

Besides, Vivia insulting him 24/7 was enough. He didn't need his friends and his sister to have anything in common. He wasn't sure anyone except Kullen even knew he had a sister. Good.

Vivia preferred solitude, but Merik knew that if Ryber found out, she'd make him ask her to join them. That would likely result in either of the three catastrophes he'd rather avoid:

1. Vivia thinks he's making fun of her for eating alone and yells at him.

2. Very awkward lunches because Vivia yelled at him when he didn't tell her what time it was fast enough.

3. Vivia finds out about Kullen's theory and tells the girl.

The last one might have been a bit of a far stretch if it was anyone else. Vivia, however, wanted nothing more than to ruin her brother's life. The amount of love was mutual.

And, she was definitely the kind of person capable of figuring out someone's name and all social media usernames just from a vague description. Merik dreaded of the day Kullen and Vivia talked alone, without him there to filter his best friend. That would be a disaster. For him, that is. For Vivia, it would be a way to accomplish her mission in life.

"Ryber, control your boyfriend," Merik said.

Ryber just rolled her eyes, which Merik found rather rude. It wasn't like he was the one terrorising Kullen, it was the other way around!

"Look, it's not Ry's fault you were stupid enough to mention it to Kullen of all people," Stix said. Merik didn't know if that was supposed to be an insult to him or to Kullen.

"Mention what? I'm not in love with some girl whose name I don't even know!"

Stix sighed. "You don't have to be for Kullen to think you are. You should know that by now. He only sees what he wants to see." Cam nodded in agreement.

"Look, are you on my side or are you not?"

"I'm not necessarily on your side, I'm just not on Merik's." Kullen nodded, as if that was a completely reasonable answer.

Merik blamed his trust issues on his friend group, which consisted of Kullen, Cam, Stix, Ryber and occasionally Tanzi. All people who tolerated him but didn't dread to tell him when he did or said something stupid. Except Stix, but Merik doubted that she actually hated him. Either way, she, too, was never going to meet Vivia if Merik was to ask. He usually wasn't when it came to his sister and what she did, but he had to hope that Vivia wouldn't want to do anything with a friend of his.

"That's ridiculous. You hate me for no reason."

"Ridiculous? That's it, you've lost your Stix privileges. It's Stacia for you from now on." Merik fought the urge to tell her that what she just said was ridiculous as well. People lost their 'Stix privileges' at least three times a day.

Ryber rolled her eyes, silently listening to the exchange. She occasionally whispered something to Tanzi, who was still doing her homework.

"Thank you very much for doing as I said and controlling your boyfriend," Merik said. He was getting fed up of everyone being against him for a simple mistake.

"You're welcome," Ryber said, turning to help Tanzi read something. Even Ryber, who was usually the responsible one, was seemingly tired of him. Merik was starting to think he had done something wrong.

Kullen probably noticed that Merik wasn't fighting back, because he sighed and said: "Look, Merik, we're only making fun of you because you don't see that what you did was wrong. Just... Try to be nicer to the geography classmate."

It seemed nice enough, and, even though Merik hated to admit it, it was good advice. But Kullen wasn't done. "And then, when you're a couple, Stix and I will pretend we're your siblings and tell her made-up, embarrassing information."

Ryber took one look at the three of them and sighed. "That might not work."

"Cousins, then."

Ryber rolled her eyes. "That still won't work. Just say you're his friends."

"But no one ever takes the friends seriously!" Stix whined.

"No one should take the two of you seriously."

"Bold of you to assume they won't make all of us do it," Cam said.

"See? Cam gets it!"

Sometimes Merik really hated his friends.

------

Read Chapter Two here

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