ilvw reader v1.0
Only Newness is the Youness
written by asclepius
Fallon, who’s kind of dumbfounded, sits now across from one of the members of a family, a linage that has spent the last few years bullying him. He’d been drawn in by the all to nice Scott, Freddy’s older brother. Begging him to help his brother pass potions. That lead to Fallon being introduced to the slightly more shy younger brother, Freddy. When Fallon met him, Freddy’s in a tree. Scott had disappeared by the time Fallon could turn around.
As the two now ride side by side in his red, beat up truck, that Fallon thinks smells a little bit too much like a locker room. The car is quiet, neither of them know what to say to each other.
“So, do you like…uh…music?” Fallon squeaks out. He’s nervous as ever, sweater pulled around his body, trying to hide in it.
Freddy’s ears perk up. “Oh! I like a lot of folk music, bro!” He grins.
Fallon tries not to wince. He is not a fan of folk music. Guitars, unless sampled with a tranced-up breakbeat, are not his forte. “Nice.”
“What about you?” The wolfman asks, his blue eyes pointed forward. Freddy, right now, is trying not to look over at the smaller man, who is quite nervous. The werewolf can smell the nerves, and he’s pretty sure he can hear him shaking. He figures talking would help.
“A-Aukyres. From Great Britanica. Two demon intelligent dance music group. Stuff like that.” His words come out uneasy and not real.
“I’ve never heard of them. You wanna put them on?”
“We don’t need to.” Fallon drops the conversation right there.
The rest of the drive is stunningly quiet.
When they get to the wolfpack house, it’s imposing to the fae. It’s home to the werewolf, duh, so he’s fine. Freddy hops out. “Here’s our house!” Fallon opens his door, hopping down from the car, Asclepius slung across his shoulders.
He’s quiet as they enter, the door swinging open after Freddy fumbles with his keys. The first thing Fallon notices is that it smells so much more intense than inside of Freddy’s car. Wet dog and locker room. He winces, not ready for the state of Freddy’s room.
The werewolf guides Fallon into the house, catching a glare from a member of the Wolfpack sitting on the couch, no doubt intruding on his territory. He shyly nods, a face of hopefully similar confusion masked across his own. The faery is regretting his offer.
As the two men climb the stairs to Freddy’s room, Fallon steels himself to see the mess that no doubt drapes the room ahead.
“Welcome to my den, bro!” He unlocks the door and opens it to an immaculately organized room. A few theatre awards dot the walls, his football helmet is next to what Fallon assumes is some gear. There are quite a bit of books as well, some plays. Fallon notices an extensive DVD collection in the corner. His desk is set up perfectly. Freddy moves into the room, taking out his laptop and notebook, finding his textbook. “Sorry about the mess, I wasn’t able to clean up after practice yesterday.” There was a couple articles of clothes on floor, in a tidy place.
“There’s no- okay.” Fallon knows better than to make any argument. Freddy pulls out his desk seat. He takes a second to read some of the DVDs. Lots and lots of horror. There’s plenty of bits and pieces of the other man scattered around. Books and books about philosophy, some more horror, and a few folk cds around.
“You can sit here. I’ll go fetch another seat.” The werewolf pulls off his letterman jacket, before hanging it up on a hanger. He trods out of the room, Fallon overhears some commotion, and the werewolf walks in, victorious with a chair held over his head.
He puts it down on the carpeted floor, sliding it next to Fallon. The fae reaches into Asclepius and pulls out his notebook, a leatherbound book with tons of inscriptions. “Where do you want to start? What uh…parts do you need the most help with?”
Freddy’s eyebrows pop up as he flips to a page in his notebook. “Can we start with the Bases? I don’t really get anything past it.” He rubs the back of his neck, tail wagging ashamedly.
“Sure. No worries. Those aren’t always worded the easiest. Who do you take for this class?”
“Professor Osman?” Freddy says, he’s searching Fallon’s face for a reaction. Any sort of confirmation or explanation of why the Ifrit could be so hard on him and be a generally difficult teacher.
Fallon nods along. “Osman isn’t great. He’s known to be horrible for beginners,” The fae reads through his notes. Freddy glances over at them, they’re messy. There are circles, symbols, things etched in writing he’s never seen before. To him, it’s complete nonsense. “Let’s get started on some basic anti-chemical arithmetic.”
The ball is in his court now. “Huh. Okay.” He nods like he understands, but he doesn’t. He’s great with writing, analysis, his theatre and film stuff. For some reason, the symbols that make up potions and alchemy and metaphysical magical bullshit don’t click right away. As time goes on and the two work on studying together, not a whole lot of progress is made. The werewolf is clearly struggling with working on these problems, and Fallon can tell.
His ears are down pointed and the tail is tucked between his legs when Fallon asks him a question. “How do you…motivate yourself?”
Freddy whimpers. “It’s embarrassing, bro. Yer probably not gonna like it.”
“Try me.”
He winces. “I have a bag of treats. I sometimes eat it if I get something right.” Freddy opens a drawer, pulling out a bag of dog treats.
Fallon leans back, adjusting his glasses. “Actually, that’s not a half bad idea. I…next time you get something right, I’ll give you one of them.”
Freddy’s tail immediately wags. Fallon swears for a split second he sees the slightest blush cross his face. “Yeah? Bro, that sounds great!” He’s grinning ear to ear.
With the new study method, the two cover basics fast.
“Okay, easy. Bladderwort’s Sublimate is a base for what?”
Freddy’s eyes light up. “Astraheim’s Extract!”
“Good boy!” Fallon underhands a treat to him, and Freddy catches it in his mouth easy. Neither of them register the name.
The evening turns to dusk which turns to late night. The two are barely awake, only the lamplight guides them now. Fallon yawns, barely awake. “I should probably head home.”
“Nah, bro. Too late for that. You can sleep here for the night.” Freddy’s already laying down in his bed.
“You have a blanket I can use? Or a pillow? I’ll take the floor.”
Freddy pats the space next to him. “Bed’s big enough.”
A pang of something shoots through the two men’s bodies. It’s electric, a beautiful knife cutting right where the fear should be. Fallon, thanking the gods for Freddy’s now reddened face buried in his sheets, nods, attempting to hide is own blush. “Sure.” He awkwardly walks around, and plops down. Freddy schooches over.
“Thanks for helping me with this stuff, little guy. I really appreciate it.” Freddy’s face turns to face Fallon’s.
“It’s…no problem.” Fallon lays there, in the now darkened room, on a new friend’s bed, drifting off. His mind is alight with worry and wonder and all these new feelings. Not sure how to take any of this. Freddy’s family doesn’t like him. But Freddy and his brother seem to be okay with his presence. He just wanted to lay low, graduate, and go to a research lab. Freddy is a wrench in that plan. Clearly, he knows a thing or two about life. He’s not a meathead by any metric. There are some serious books and media decorating the room, stuff that even Fallon struggles with. He swears he spots three different Nietzsche books. Human lit. Freddy is proving to be more interesting by the second.
Freddy, on the other hand, is focusing on his tail and it not wagging. Fallon is a cool new friend for him. He’s logical, shy, but calculated. What even is an intelligent dance music? The way the man speaks about everything is so punctuated. He knows what to say and when to say it. His notes on potions are interesting. The nerd knows his stuff. Freddy knows next to nothing about him. He did swear that when he saw Fallon pull out his notebook, his entire arm went into the messenger bag he carries. The buttons across the bag are small indicators of who he is. A magical symbol, a pride flag, and an interesting photo. Could be an album cover.
The grey of sleep sweeps around the two men. Freddy turns over, softly snoring as he’s already asleep. Fallon turns to face him, closing his eyes after he’s moved his glasses off. Quiet. It’s quiet. Fallon sleeps with a fan on. There isn’t a fan in this room. Freddy’s room is new. This is new. For the both of them.