ilvw reader v1.0
Laterel / Heliosphan
written by asclepius
Fallon’s head is not in the conversation as his lover’s hand brushes across his face. It’s a thousand miles away, or right across the street as he looks into the open window of an apartment (he can only assume, based on the post-modern mid century standing lamp) and sees a houseplant shaking in the wind. It’s so helpless, and a strong breeze could knock it over in an instant. He jolts slightly as Freddy’s voice focuses back in.
“Hey, little guy. You okay?” The rough hand, worn from football, wrestling, and carrying myriad productions of their academy’s theatre program felt like home against his unreal skin.
He blushes, feeling the heat crawl across his face, purples and light grey. The faery leans into the touch. “I am. Lost in my thoughts.” Fallon smiles at Freddy, clasping his hand back. The two are on a study at a coffee shop in the downtown of Monstropolis, the part with massive sky piercing buildings mixed in with older, more refined and character-filled ones. The building they are in undoubtedly has a history, clearly a renovated / refurbished dwelling of some sort. The rain outside comes in sheets and torrents, not unusual for this time of year. Fallon’s laptop has some etching of an old rune on it, one he’s trying to turn into code to make the servers at Spooky Academy optimize. It’s an old faery one, lost in the human realm almost entirely.
The werewolf’s tail wags from side to side as it sticks out of the back of the chair. The inside of the store is slightly crowded, but being next to Freddy makes the whole world fall away for Fallon. “Yer really handsome, even when you’re not focused,” His eyes are blue, the perfect shade. “How’s progress on the rune?”
Fallon adjusts his glasses. “Not…terrible. It’s circuit is a little annoying to translate to AMD microcontroller instructions but it’s not impossible. Might be longer than I thought it would take,” He sighs. Freddy gives a sympathetic hand rub. “How is Advanced Dramaturgy?” He fires back.
“It’s not the best, I don’t love having to try and translate how a Blob monster moves in ‘Antigoopy’ to actually be stage directions. And then how that applies to Alplessing’s Dramaturgical theory,” Freddy says like it’s easy. Fallon’s face is contorted to mime pain.
“That sounds…horrible. I don’t envy you.” He laughs with his lover. It’s calm and nice and everything feels right in the world. There isn’t some big deadline hanging above either of their heads. Football season just ended, Freddy had his big closing performance the other night. Fallon turned in most of his homework weeks ago, having been finished with his classes for a while. He he’d been riding smooth for weeks, just waiting for this time to come, for him and Freddy to both be free of most of their responsibilities. Freddy has a couple more finals left, this is one of them. He knows that the werewolf will get it done, and fast. He’s smart, a lot smarter than enough people give him credit for. For their whole jock / nerd thing, he’s quite a smart jock, all things given.
Freddy’s wagging tail picks up speed. “It’s not that bad. Once ya get into it, things fall into place,” The werewolf has a bashful look plastered over his visage. The two chat for a bit longer, exchanging updates on their lives, telling the other how their days have been going. It’s set to be their first holiday season as lovers, not just friends. Still best friends, but with the added layer of being boyfriends. No more wistful unmet stares or late nights spent yearning or sleeping in the same bed and trying to not think about how close your best friend is because you’re just friends that’s all nothing more. Just love between the two men.
“One avocado toast and one greek egg frittata bowl.” A waitress brings out two plates of food, Freddy takes the toast while Fallon takes the bowl. Their orders. Not their first time they’d been to this place, either, they’ve gone here since before the promposal, just as friends. One old demoness thought they were a couple which led to a very awkward car ride home.
“I love you,” Freddy says.
Fallon smiles back, an honest, pure smile. “I love you, too.”
“I’m sorry about all the business with my football and theatre and classes, bro. I don’t want to leave you in the dust.” Freddy’s ears droop slightly. His tail follows in turn.
Fallon, between bites of his food, reaches across the now laptop-and-meal cluttered table. He scritches under the chin of his lover, on his beard. “You aren’t, and you won’t. You’re a good boy,” His touch is both soft and honest. He has trust in the other man, unbreakable trust.
“Yer good with yer hands, little guy.” Freddy’s ears are perked back up and his tail is swinging from side to side, clear sign of happiness. He’s grinning ear to ear. The two laugh along, an easy day is ahead of them.
Fallon finishes his work first, pushing the new magik circuit to the servers. It should work, he thinks, because he wrote it. Not because of hubris (only a little) but mostly his uncanny acumen in the subject of enchantment and patching memory on the fly. He spends the rest of the time scanning the cafe’s network and staring at Freddy.
When Freddy finishes, the rain is still pouring. He gives a contented sigh as he presses the final enter key. “All done, cutie.” He winks.
Fallon, who’s been lost in thought again, this time only staring at Freddy, snaps back into the world of the living. “Good job, big guy. I’m sure it’ll be an A again, like you always do.”
“Not always. Ectobio was a big loss until ya came along and stood up all night studying with me. I almost didn’t focus because of your pretty voice.” He is laying it on thick. Their first meetings were late night study sessions at either of their houses that resulted in shared beds and spaces.
“You would have been fine without me, my love,” Fallon winks back. “Are you ready to head out?”
“You betcha!” He gives a thumbs up, tail wagging. The two men get up, pack their things. Hand in hand, the lovers walk to a record store, not too far from the shop. Walk is understatement as it is a run where Freddy is bridal carrying Fallon along to escape the rain. When they get under the awning, Freddy shakes like a dog to get off all the water, nearly dousing the nerd.
“Babe!” He jokingly gasps.
Freddy laughs with him, his boisterous, deep laugh like solid gold. “Sorry, bro!” He leans down and licks Fallon’s face, lapping up some of the water.
Fallon lets the werewolf attempt to dry him off. He is set down as well, feet against hard ground. They hug for a second, Freddy wrapping his arms around the smaller man and Fallon reciprocating. They stay like that for a moment. When they finally split, Freddy’s tail is wagging like crazy. He gives Fallon a soft kiss against his lips. “Let’s get yer records, bro.” He takes Fallon’s hand in his, walking into the store.
Freddy immediately gravitates towards the folk and country sections, his tail swinging from side to side as a grin crosses his face.
Fallon is off looking at some weird, unknown IDM or jungle cd, trying to gauge if it’s something he needs or not. Eventually, the two meet in the middle, hands brushing against each other as Fallon tilts up to give the bigger man a kiss.
The two spend some more time in the record store, before making a selection and then heading out, Freddy dashing through the rain again with Fallon in his arms. His body is well tuned to this. He likes carrying his lover, getting to do things for him. When they make it to his red pickup, Freddy sets Fallon down in the car first, and heads around the otherside to start it.
One hand on the wheel, and one on Fallon’s thigh, the two drive back to Fallon’s place, small talk and exchanged words fill the car. The rain still isn’t letting up. It’s one of those gloomy days. One that reminds Fallon of the seemingly endless deluges back in the fae realm, the times when pouring rain seemed so endless. He walks with Freddy hand in hand up to his corner unit, brown door a familiar sight for the both of them. Freddy shakes outside (like a good boy). The two men enter and proceed to get cozy, putting on a record as they cuddle in Fallon’s too small bed. He has a TV but it's in the other room. And truth be told, both the wolfman and the faery feel far too comfortable to get up out of the comforter and blankets to go out there.
“Let’s use my laptop,” Fallon says, pressing a kiss into Freddy’s hair as he grabs his own tricked-out-hacker-central laptop. He goes to a totally reputable website, starting some program to prevent trackers as best as you can. “Anything you wanna watch?”
Freddy, who’s currently got an arm around Fallon, shrugs. “Yer call, little guy.”
He smiles, deciding on some older film. It’s odd, abstract. Nonsensical at times, but Fallon watches it with intent. Freddy spends a good bit of the movie watching Fallon, just taking note of all the cute things he does.
When the movie ends, Fallon is sleepy. He puts down the laptop, takes off his glasses and turns to his lover.
“Thank you.” He says, against Freddy’s chest.
“For what, little guy?” The wolfman’s hands are tangled in Fallon’s hair.
“Being with me.”
“It was the only choice, nerd.” Fallon laughs, feeling a kiss on the top of his head. Everything was right. It was good. They were okay.