第 67 页

“Is Curvo there too?”

There was a pregnant pause. “Naw,” said Celegorm finally. “He had homework.”

There was a sound like someone coming into the room and Maedhros called, a little too jovially, “Moryo! Come over, Káno’s on the phone.”

“Seriously? We’re doing this like a conference call?” Caranthir’s voice was faint but got louder as he apparently approached the phone. “This is a lousy system.”

“The sound quality’s not great,” said Maglor, wincing as someone turned on a tap on the other end and roaring static filled his ear. There was a fumbling noise, and then Caranthir’s voice came through clearly.

“Nelyo’s looking frustrated now, whoops.”

Maglor sighed. “Am I still on speakerphone?”

“Yeah, but I’ve picked you up from the counter – Tyelko, don’t run the garbage disposal, you dumb bitch.”

“Watch it or I’ll put your face in the garbage disposal, you hobag.”

Maglor buried his face in his hand. “I’m feeling less homesick now. You can tell Nelyo that part of his plan was successful anyway.”

“So you’re recording with Daeron? How is it working with that pompous dickhead?”

“Hey,” protested Maglor. “He’s my best friend, and he’s not a dickhead.”

“You don’t deny he’s pompous, though.”

“Maybe not. But it’s going really well, actually.” Maglor tapped at his lips. “We’ve been recording a lot but we’ve also been writing some new stuff, too, which is really exciting – well, me and Ría are doing the writing, mostly.”

“I hope it’s better than that poem she has on her wrist.” Maedhros’ voice floated in; he must have been listening despite the muffled chaos on the other end.

“You actually noticed that?”

“Sure.”

“I did too. I saw it that first night we met her, remember? Thought the whole pig thing was weird as fuck but I wrote it off as her being another wacko hipster like you.”

“I only just noticed it on our drive down.”

“Seriously?” Maedhros and Caranthir had spoken simultaneously. “You spent that night with her this winter and you didn’t notice her tattoo?”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” muttered Maglor. “So I’m not the most observant, big deal. And for the record, she’s a killer songwriter and there hasn’t been a single pig mention so far.”

“What are you living on?” Caranthir asked curiously. “How long will Cuiviénen hold your position?”

“Negative three days. My manager called me a few days ago and let me know they were bringing in someone new since I’d been gone so long. I could probably convince them to rehire me if I came back – ”

“If?” It was Maedhros.

“When, I mean,” amended Maglor quickly. “But yeah, no job right now, just living on my savings, but at least staying at Daeron’s is free for the time being.”

“Aren’t they paying you for the studio time?”

Maglor hesitated. “Yes? Kind of. In theory?”

Celegorm snorted. “You should see Moryo’s face right now. It says ‘there should be no theories when it comes to getting paid, you flaming innocent’.”

“There shouldn’t!” Caranthir’s voice was loud. “What do you mean ‘yes’ question mark? What do you mean by ‘kind of’?”

“I mean, Daeron said they’d pay me, and – ”

Caranthir sighed so loudly Maglor held the phone away from his ear. “Get a contract,” he said sharply. “Get them to draft a contract before you play ANY MORE for them, and then send it to me first thing – don’t you DARE sign anything until I look at it. Christ, Káno, aren’t you going to ever look out for yourself?”

Maglor smiled. “Why, when I have you to do it for me?”

“Awww,” said Celegorm. “How fuckin’ cute is that? Moryo, how come you aren’t working on getting me the money I’m due?”

“Unless that sugar daddy of yours is supposed to be paying you, I don’t think you’re worth any money – ”

“All right,” broke in Maedhros. “Moryo, shut up. Tyelko, put that down.”

There was more fumbling and static, and Maglor held the phone away from his ear, grimacing, until Maedhros’ voice came through clearly and he could tell he’d been taken off speakerphone.

“Sorry about that,” Maedhros said ruefully. “I thought it would be nice for all of us to say hi, but as always, I overestimated our ability to do, well, anything without chaos.”

“It’s fine, I know how it is. I appreciate the thought.”

“I should probably go soon, dinner’s cooking faster than I thought it would.” There was regret in Maedhros’ voice. “I really do want to catch up with you – but you’re doing okay, right? You’d tell me if anything was wrong?”

“Of course I would. No, everything’s fine. I’d like to talk more in depth sometime soon, if we can, but you should go eat now.” Maglor didn’t let the disappointment into his voice, but he could tell that Maedhros sensed it anyway.

“I’ll call tomorrow and we can have a real talk,” he said quietly. “I don’t have work until 2:30, and I can take a break from studying to give you a call.”

“What are you studying for?” Maglor asked, feeling hopelessly out of the loop.

“Didn’t I tell – oh, shit, that was in that email I never sent you.” Maedhros sighed. “I’ll fill you in tomorrow, I swear. But we love you, Káno – ”

“Love you like a love song,” said Celegorm loudly, in the background. “LOVE YOU LIKE A ROCK.”

“What does that even mean? You jackass.”

“Tell your brother you love him, you little pisser.”

“He knows it, fuck off.”

“I love you guys too,” said Maglor, smiling despite himself.

Maedhros’ quiet voice cut through again. “Take care of yourself, Makalaurë. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Maglor hung up and leaned back on the bench, closing his eyes. Tomorrow seemed a very long time to wait.

Time for a new faith

Chapter Summary

The house at 1495 Mithrim Lake may be less inhabited than usual, but there are plenty of visitors to keep things from getting too quiet.

Chapter Notes

0. Warnings for light drunkenness, mildly self-destructive behavior, and discussion of relationship insecurity.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

There was someone knocking insistently on his door.

Celegorm sat up, shaking his hair out of his eyes and blinking sleepily. “Hmwh?”

The knocking persisted.

Celegorm groaned. “Curvo, I swear to fuck you couldn’t have heard any noise, we were sleeping.”

On the bed, where he’d drifted off with Celegorm sprawled against his chest, Oromë stirred and pushed himself upright. “What’s going on?”

“My little brother is being a freak, probably.” Celegorm put his elbows on his knees and dragged his hands over his face. “Jesus, Curvo, calm down, I’m coming!”

He cast around for a shirt while Oromë sat up and tied his hair back in a knot. “I should probably go. I know he’s not comfortable with me being over here.”

“No, you’re fine, he’s just being – ” Celegorm yanked the door open finally, and did a double take. “Wh – You’re not Curvo.”

“I always knew you were a smart one.” Aredhel pushed past him and bee-lined for the corner of the room. “Observant. Sharp. ‘S what’ve always liked about you, kid.”

Celegorm swiveled to watch her trajectory. “Umm, Irissë – ”

“Oh, hey Coach Aldaron,” said Aredhel, passing Oromë on the bed. She flung herself down in the dog bed in the corner, and wrapped herself around Huan, who sniffed curiously at her hair. “Don’t mind me,” she said, muffled into the dog’s fur. “Carry on.”

“Riiight.” Celegorm closed the door and shot an apologetic look at Oromë. He crossed the room and crouched down in front of Aredhel as Oromë began discreetly hunting for the rest of his clothes. “Girl, what’s going on?”

“I needed a therapy animal.”

“Well, you know I’m always happy to be your therapy animal, but – ”

“I meant Huan.”

“Don’t you have that cat thing? Can’t it be therapeutic?”

“Lómion’s going through a biting phase,” said Aredhel, still not raising her head from Huan’s neck. “I’m giving him some space until he learns that I can only open cans if I have all my fingers.”

“Uh huh. So are you gonna tell me why you need to be therapized right now?”

“Nope. It’s okay. Just give me 15 minutes with your dog and I’ll be fine.” Aredhel peered out from between Huan’s ears. Oromë was fully dressed now, leaning down to grab his shoes, and watching her with a mixture of curiosity and concern. Aredhel gave him a small wave. “Is it crazy that we haven’t met officially yet? It is, right? I think I met you once after one of Tyelko’s games, though obviously I didn’t know you were…y’know. Is that weird to say now? Do we pretend that you guys weren’t fucking back then? What’s the protocol on this?”

Celegorm groaned. “God, you sometimes have as much of a motor mouth as I do.” He glanced back at Oromë, who looked like he was trying not to laugh despite a certain amount of discomfort.

Aredhel laid her head on Huan’s. “I feel like we should have met already. Why haven’t you introduced us? We probably have a lot in common. I mean, just one example, off the top of my head, we’ve both fucked you.”

“Jesus Christ.” Celegorm raised his eyes heavenward, then leaned forward and sniffed. “Ireth, have you been drinking?”

“We probably both know that face you make when you’re about to – ”

“I think this is my cue to leave,” said Oromë hastily. He got up and Celegorm stood too, a wordless question in his stance. Oromë cupped Celegorm’s face in one hand briefly as he said, “Come over to my place, tomorrow night?”

“Yeah.” Celegorm leaned forward, and Oromë kissed him. Celegorm wrapped his arms around Oromë’s neck. “How do you feel about me just staying for the whole weekend?”

“If you feel comfortable being away from home, and your brother, for that long…”

“Yeah, no prob, me and Curvo could use some space.”

“Hum,” said Aredhel, from her corner. “That’s new.” Celegorm and Oromë both looked over, having momentarily forgotten her. “Whups. Don’t let me interrupt.”

“I’ll be going,” said Oromë, though he was clearly reluctant to let go of Celegorm, who had unwound his arms from Oromë’s neck. He nodded to Aredhel. “I hope we can be introduced ‘officially’ sometime soon, under more prepossessing circumstances.”

“Yep yep yep,” said Aredhel. “F’sure.”

“All right, she’s pretty fucked up,” said Celegorm, scrutinizing Aredhel, and touched Oromë’s arm lightly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, baby.”

“Until tomorrow.” Oromë kissed Celegorm once more and then slipped out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

Celegorm let out a long sigh and squatted down next to Aredhel again. “Hell of a timing you got, sister.”

“That’s me. Cockblock central.” Aredhel looked up at him, and he was shocked to see her eyes fill suddenly with tears despite her glib words.

“Oh, hey, no…”

“ ‘M sorry, Tyelko. I didn’t mean to bust up your time with your person. I didn’t mean to jus’ tromp in and blow your evening and scare off your boyfriend, and I know you two deserve time together, and,” she swallowed, and started to cry in earnest. “It’s important to spend time with your person…”

“Aw, no, baby girl, c’mere, shh.” Celegorm immediately wrapped an arm around Aredhel and slotted his back against the wall to pull her against him. “Shh, it’s okay, right? Not a big deal. Me ‘n’ Oromë get plenty of time together these days, way better than it used to be. I’m good, I’m a big kid, I can manage a whole evening without my man and with my best girl, huh?” Aredhel buried her face in his shoulder and he stroked her hair. “You wanna tell me what’s up?”

“Elenwë,” Aredhel whispered.

“Oh, shit.” Celegorm’s hand stilled on her hair. “What. What happened? Something bad?”

“She’s…” Aredhel’s breath stuttered again and she let out a little sob. “She’s graduating.”

“Oh.” Celegorm frowned. “That’s it? Babe, that’s what happens at the end of college. Even you and me pulled it off. What’s so bad about her graduating?”

“Nothing!” Aredhel cried harder into Celegorm’s shirt. “Nothing, I’m so proud of her. Did you know she’s graduating summa cum laude? And she’s an engineer, too! That’s much harder than Turno graduating summa from liberal arts. Don’t tell him I said that. She is so amazing, and brilliant, and she’s – she’s got this crazy good summer internship, Tyelko. In Chicago.”

“Oh.” Celegorm let out a breath and pressed a kiss to the top of Aredhel’s head. “So that’s what this is about. Yeah, going a couple months long distance is gonna be rough, but you two are – ”

“She doesn’t think it’ll be a problem,” whispered Aredhel. “But I’ve been out of school a year and I’m still just working for my mom part time and have no real job or any idea what I wanna do, like the further I get from graduation the less I know what I want, and she’s gonna go to Chicago and be brilliant and realize that it’s not actually that hard being away from me, and why would she want to be with me anyway, I’m just this pathetic bitch who barely graduated college and has no prospects and can barely be a secretary and who is so…so…fucked up…” She sobbed again, and dug her fingers into her hair. “And then I’m gonna be alone again, Tyelko, I’m gonna be alone, and it’s gonna be so much harder this time, because I know what it’s like to have someone now, for real, and I love her so much, I’ve never done that before, and I don’t think I can go back, and…and I’m being weird to her, and I keep losing my temper, and I’m so scared, I’m so scared...”

“Ahh, Ireth, Ireth, hey now, baby girl, hey.” Celegorm wrapped his arms around Aredhel and held her tight against his chest. “First of all, you’re never gonna be alone, right? You’re always gonna have me, prob’ly whether you like it or not. And second, you’re not gonna lose Elenwë. She loves you, she loves you like crazy. You guys can get through a summer, no prob. Yeah, she’s gonna be doing work and shit, but you’ll work it out, I know you will. And third, what the fuck is wrong with where you’re at right now? I’m a year outta school and all I got is part time work – unskilled manual labor, yo – and I’m not het up over it. It takes some people way over a year to figure their shit out, look at my brothers, we got time, okay? I know your family is crazy ambitious and all that, but everyone’s got their own pace, nothin’ wrong with that. And how dare you talk shit about my girl? You’re not a fuck up, you’re my Ireth. You’re my strong, fierce, boss-ass bitch.”

“I’m not strong,” said Aredhel, wiping her nose on his shirt, and Celegorm laughed at her.

“Bullshit. You’re the strongest person I know. I know you still get some rough patches, I know you can get angry and scared – shit, I mean, I do that too. I know it gets bad for you sometimes, but you keep going, you keep pushing, and it’s impressive as hell. Have you checked out that lady whose number I gave you? Nienna?”

“N-not yet. I know it’d probably help, but I thought I was done with therapy, I thought I could just be fixed already, and starting seeing someone again feels like going backwards.”

“Nuh uh. This is still about going forwards. It’s just like maintenance, y’know? Oil in the tank, keeping the transistor from getting rusty…”