Chapter Text
Things only seemed to escalate after that day.
Viren had returned to the library that Thursday as planned, and Aaravos had already been sitting on the sofa, two mugs of coffee on a small coffee table that hadn’t been there two days ago. There hadn’t been a greeting, no attempt at small talk–he’d simply sat down and Aaravos had started reading again, as if it was something they’d done a thousand times. When the book had been finished, they spoke about magic and life and everything in between until Viren had to leave to get home before his children did.
And then Aaravos had texted with another date, another time, that Viren conveniently had nothing planned that he couldn’t work around, and they did it again. And again. It wasn’t long before they were texting back and forth about more than simply scheduling, and Viren found himself feeling lighter than he had in years.
Of course, it wasn’t long before the other people in his life began to take note that he was acting differently. Claudia kept making comments about how he seemed happier since they’d started getting into dark magic again, Soren would send him not so subtle glances whenever he smiled at his phone, and even Harrow was picking up on how he seemed less uptight during work calls. Even so, he found that covering it up felt… wrong.
It all collided once Claudia finished her book on shapeshifting and, on the morning he’d gone to return it due to the magically appearing due date, which happened to be a day his children had off from school, she’d seen him getting ready to leave.
“Oh, wait! Let me grab my shoes!” As she rushed out of the room, his grave mistake caught up with him. Claudia was about to meet Aaravos, and he had no reasonable excuse for why she wouldn’t be allowed to come. As she came back into the room, hopping as she tried to pull on her boots while walking, dread filled him. “Ok, I’m ready! Let's go see that library!”
All he could do was force a smile and nod.
~~~
Almost as soon as they reached the parking lot, Claudia was shoving open the car door and bounding towards the building, leaving no time for stalling on Viren’s part as he let out a sigh before following after her. By the time he’d reached the Mirrored Pages she had already found the dark magic section, looking at the titles in awe. Aaravos was nowhere to be seen, which Viren wasn’t sure was a blessing or a curse.
Either way, he put the shapeshifting book down on the counter before moving to stand next to her.
“Dad! Dad, look at all of this! There has to be every magic book in existence here, surely. I mean, where else are you going to find a book like Ziard’s Guide to Dragon Components ? Oh! And-”
“I do make an attempt to keep an extensive archive, I appreciate the acknowledgement of the effort.” Viren felt himself jump as Aaravos’s voice, not unlike the first time he’d come to the library, came seemingly out of nowhere. Claudia immediately whipped around, coming face to face with the startouch elf who was now standing in the middle of the place.
“Woah.” Her eyes widened, and she looked between Aaravos and Viren for a moment before grabbing Viren’s arm, an excited smile on her face. “Dad, dad that’s the guy from the phone, right? You didn’t tell me he was a startouch elf!” She was clearly making an attempt at whispering, but he winced at the volume, Aaravos chuckling as he was able to perfectly hear her comments.
“Ah, the ‘guy from the phone,’ I am honored to hold such a title.” Aaravos’s face held the most smug expression Viren had ever seen, the bastard. “Your father has spoken of you quite a bit, Claudia. It is nice to finally meet you.”
“Ooooohoho! It’s nice to meet you too, mystery man!” Claudia held out a hand, and before Viren could warn Aaravos not to, he reached out his own to shake it. Claudia shook their hands up and down so rapidly that the elf almost seemed to stumble, a barely concealed expression of shock visible. Viren suppressed a laugh. “Also, has anyone ever told you that you have wonderful hair? Do you always wear it down? You should try styling it, I bet it would look so pretty in a braid- or a bun! Ohhh a braided bun! Dad, it would look great in a bun, right?”
Viren choked on his own spit.
“Come on, he would!” Claudia insisted, finally letting go of Aaravos’s hand, who looked about five seconds from bursting into laughter himself.
“I’ve never really considered putting it up, though I may be inclined to take your advice in the future, young mage. And it’s Aaravos, as fun a title as mystery man is.” Aaravos’s voice contained a poorly hidden chuckle, Claudia beaming at the reply. The elf was likely expecting it to be left at that, but Claudia was never one to do things halfway, and she produced a hair tie from her bag that matched the gold detailing on Aaravos’s vest, holding it out to him.
“Here! You can use it when you decide to try it.” When Aaravos didn’t seem to know how to respond, Claudia reached out to grab his hand again, putting the hair tie onto his wrist before backing away, satisfied. “Anyways, I assume you’re the librarian here, right?”
“I- yes, I am.” Aaravos stumbled over his words, eyes locking onto the hair tie for a moment before he coughed, regaining his composure. Viren’s eyes widened slightly, never having seen the elf actually stumble before. Though, Claudia did tend to have that effect on people.
“Ok, cool, so how many books am I allowed to take out at once? Because dad keeps coming home with one at a time.” Viren raised an eyebrow at his daughter, who rolled her eyes back at him. “What? I finish taking notes on one in like, a few days. Taking out a few at a time just seems better.”
“Take whatever you can carry.” Aaravos chuckled, and Claudia’s eyes lit up. She was absolutely going to take that as a challenge if Viren didn’t intervene.
“Three at a time, Claudia. Don’t overdo it.” Claudia pouted, glaring at her father, but Viren didn’t budge. He did not need her flying through several studies at once, and she still had schoolwork to focus on. Eventually, Claudia seemed to give up on the puppy-eyes, going right back to browsing through the books on the shelves.
As she did, Viren glanced back over at Aaravos. To his surprise, the elf seemed to be examining the hair tie on his wrist, pulling at it slightly, brows furrowed in confusion. As if he could sense Viren’s eyes on him, he looked up, their eyes connecting. Instead of shielding his expression, however, Aaravos simply held up his wrist, raising an eyebrow at Viren as if asking a question.
A question which Viren immediately interpreted as ‘what the fuck is this thing?’
Viren thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain how to use a hair tie without just walking over and tying Aaravos’s hair up, when he remembered Claudia was right next to him. He looked at her and found that she’d taken a book off of one of the lower shelves and opened it, hair getting in her face as she leaned over it.
“Claudia, tie your hair up before you blind yourself by getting one in your eye.” His daughter laughed, taking her own off of her wrist and bringing it up to tie her hair back. Viren shifted over slightly to make sure Aaravos could see what she was doing–pulling her hair back, sliding the hair tie off of her wrist, and wrapping it around a few times to secure it.
“Y’know, I’m pretty sure you can’t actually blind yourself by getting hair in your eye. At least, it would be really hard.” Claudia laughed again, and Viren rolled his eyes. When she turned her attention back to the book, he returned his gaze to Aaravos, nodding in her direction and raising an eyebrow back. Aaravos grinned and nodded, letting his wrist fall back down to his side, seeming satisfied.
Teaching a startouch elf how to tie up his hair- what a life Viren led.
~~~
There hadn’t been any more major conversations on the way out, thank god. Claudia had managed to pick out three books pretty quickly and insisted on getting home as soon as possible so they could start reading them, all but dragging Viren out the door in excitement. Upon arriving back home, she took the books off to her room, leaving Viren to his own devices, and almost skipped dinner with how eager she was to dive right in. He’d had to get Soren to pick her up and carry her to the dinner table, which at the very least was an amusing sight.
After dinner, the night had gone quite smoothly. He retreated to his bedroom, doing his nightly routine before climbing into bed, switching the light off, and falling asleep.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d slept before he woke to his phone ringing.
Brrring. Brrring.
Groaning, he turned to look at the clock on his bedside table. 3am. Who the hell was calling him at 3 am in the fucking morning? He grumbled, reaching for his vibrating phone, ready to curse out whoever had decided to disturb him at such an ungodly hour of the night-
Aaravos. He squinted slightly to make sure he was reading the contact name right in his sleep-ridden haze. Sure enough, it was the elf’s name on the screen. Just as his brain caught up to who it was, the call request ended, leaving the room in silence. With a sigh, he went to put the phone back down, deciding he could just text Aaravos in the morning informing him that 3am was not an acceptable time for random phone calls.
And then it started ringing again. Cursing, he picked up the phone.
“What could you possibly want that can’t wait until-”
“Viren.” Viren cut himself off as soon as he heard the other man’s voice. Aaravos was whispering, voice barely there, and sounding more shaky than he’d ever heard him. The usual suaveness in his voice was replaced by a near desperation, and there was no sign of their typical banter. Something was wrong. “Viren, are you still there?”
“Yes, yes I’m still here.” Viren repeated, pushing himself into a sitting position, much more awake than he’d been moments before. “Why? What’s going on?”
“Just keep talking.” No elaboration, no semblance of an explanation, just a demand. Viren fought the urge to groan.
“Aaravos, what’s-”
“Viren, please.” Well, fuck. The amount of stress Aaravos put into the ‘please’ was enough for Viren to shove his frustration aside for the moment. He had a feeling he knew what this was–he’d had his fair share of panic attacks, after all, and Aaravos’s heavy breathing was just about audible through the phone, though it sounded like he was trying to keep it quiet. Viren took a breath.
“Well, I had to fill out some spreadsheets today for work. Harrow usually has Opeli take care of most of the technical stuff, but she’s been on sick leave for the past few days and he needed them done, so I stepped in. Really, her organization skills are only subpar if the way that spreadsheet was set up speaks for anything. Took me ten minutes to figure out what information went where.” He let out a soft chuckle, relaxing slightly when he heard a shaky, low laugh come through the phone.
“Surely you’re exaggerating.” It was still said quietly, but it was a reply.
“Oh, but I’m not.” Viren rolled his eyes despite nobody being able to see it. “It was a disaster, truly. Even Soren, er, my son, could have done better, and trust me, spreadsheets are not his line of expertise.”
“Your son?”
“Ah, yes, Soren.” Had he never mentioned Soren during their conversations? A small pang of guilt hit him. “He’s… nothing like Claudia, or really like me if I’m being honest. I’m not really sure where he got his optimism from, but his, excuse my frankness, lack of brains definitely came from his mother.” Another laugh, this time slightly more steady. Good. “He’s an athlete, captain of his baseball team. I don’t really understand the sport, but he’s good at it. And he’s definitely stronger than me and Claudia combined–he had to carry her away from those books to get her to the dinner table, just so you know.”
“Ah, a bookworm, what a travesty.” They laughed simultaneously, letting the sounds fade naturally. Viren opened his mouth again, unsure if Aaravos still expected him to keep talking, when the elf’s voice came through again. “...thank you, Viren.”
“Of course.” He replied, staring at the ceiling. If he squinted, the specks on it almost looked like stars in the dark room. “Are you going to explain what’s going on, or am I going to be left guessing?”
A silence followed. Viren could sense the hesitation coming through the speaker. He sat there for what felt like several minutes, but in reality couldn’t have been more than one, before Aaravos spoke again.
“I moved to Katolis and started the library because I’m no longer welcome in Xadia.” Viren stayed carefully silent. “Centuries ago, I did certain things to anger the Xadian population. Until recently, they had me serving out a sentence for my crimes. A few years ago they decided I’d suffered enough and let me go free, but it was clear they still held grudges from so long ago. It was a choice between staying in my homeland and being an outcast, or learning to live among humans and having a second chance. Anyone in my position would have left.” Silence followed, Viren taking it as an indication that he was meant to say something. Nothing Aaravos had said had really given him any idea of why he’d been so distraught, but something in there had to be significant.
Taking only a moment to think, Viren spoke.
“...what was your punishment?” A few seconds passed before the answer came through.
“Isolation.” Aaravos’s tone held repressed fury, colder than Viren had ever heard it. Hatred spilled out of the word, and yet a hint of sadness as well. The pieces all fit together in Viren’s head–isolation, centuries without being in contact with anyone else, so of course when a flashback hits, Aaravos’s first instinct would be to seek out someone else. Another voice. Make sure he wasn’t still in that dreadful reality.
The reality that Viren was the first person, possibly the only person, who Aaravos had instinctively reached out to sunk in moments later.
“You’re not there anymore.” Viren whispered, trying to convey the amount of thoughts racing through his head with such simple words. “You’re in Katolis. You’re free.” He heard a wavering breath through the phone.
“I’m free.” He wasn’t sure if Aaravos had intended for him to hear that, but he nodded to the empty room around him nonetheless. A comfortable silence befell the room after that, Viren simply listening to the breathing on the other side gradually even out. When it sounded like Aaravos had pretty much collected himself, he spoke again.
“I’ll be at the library tomorrow morning.”
“...I’ll make sure to brew some coffee.”
~~~
The next morning, Viren had to stop himself from rushing to get to the library. He got dressed, made breakfast, waved his children off to school, and by the time they got in Soren’s car and drove off, he was running into the house to grab his keys and leave. There was a sense of urgency in his chest that he couldn’t quite decipher, but all he could focus on was getting there and making sure Aaravos was alright and-
…shit, he was down bad. He’d known he was, obviously, he wasn’t dense. He’d been frequenting the library much more often in the past month, basically going every other day so long as Soren and Claudia were in school. He’d seen the signs, he knew what was happening–but it still filled him with looming dread. Something was bound to go wrong, it always did, and Viren really didn’t want to lose this.
As he parked the car and all too quickly walked towards the building, he elected to ignore those thoughts for the time being. After last night, he just needed to ensure that Aaravos wasn’t still in a funk. From experience, he knew the effects of an episode like that could linger for several days afterwards. He hadn’t quite figured out what he would do if he did walk in to find Aaravos in a similar state to what he was over the phone, but he’d handle it.
Opening the door, Aaravos was already sitting on the sofa per usual, two cups of coffee sitting in front of him… and his hair was tied into a bun. His hair was up.
That was probably the last thing Viren had expected, but it wasn’t a disaster. Apart from the fact that it absolutely drew attention to the elf’s jawline. And ears. And face in general- no, stop, that was enough of that train of thought. Aaravos looked up as he entered, offering a smile. He looked… alright, actually, which drained some of the tension out of Viren’s shoulders. More confident that he wasn’t dealing with an emotional breakdown, Viren crossed the rest of the distance, settling down beside Aaravos as he’d done countless times in the past few weeks.
“I tried the hair thing.” Aaravos said, looking quite proud of himself, and Viren held back a chuckle at the childish nature of it. From the angle he was at, he got quite a nice side-profile of Aaravos’s head, and the bun was done quite nicely. Noticing he was looking, Aaravos shifted to turn his back to Viren, letting him see the rest of his handiwork-
And then time froze. Viren felt his breath catch, eyes widening as he realized what exactly he was looking at. His heart thudded in his chest, and suddenly he couldn’t breathe, air coming in shallow gasps as his vision blurred. Vaguely, he processed Aaravos turning back around, hands grabbing onto his forearms in an attempt to ground him, steady yet worried words flying by his ears, but it didn’t help. Unable to think, he shoved himself away, the worried words getting louder, more desperate, as he stood and started running out of the library.
He heard footsteps coming after him, a voice yelling his name as he threw open the car door and haphazardly turned the key, throwing the car into drive and taking off as fast as it would let him, seeing a blue figure fading into the distance through his rear view mirror.
Fuck, fuck, FUCK.
The panic was subsiding to numbness as he relied solely on muscle memory to get home, pulling in the driveway much sooner than he should have. He’d been speeding, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, throwing open the house door and slamming it shut before slumping down against it, head burrowing between his knees.
There, on the back of Aaravos’s neck, had been a symbol he was all too familiar with. A symbol too binding, too real, for him to understand.
A fucking mirror, inked into his dark blue, perfect star-speckled skin.
A soulmark.
Viren’s soulmark.
He’d told himself for years that the soulmarks meant nothing–that fate was a simple construct of the mind, nothing more. That if, or when, he discovered his own on someone else, that it would mean absolutely nothing. His entire life he’d been preparing to carefully brush it off, tell his so-called ‘soulmate’ that it didn’t matter, and move on. After all, not all soulmate pairs worked out, and not everyone found their soulmate.
It was supposed to have been easy. Shrug it off, and never catch feelings so that a predestined fate couldn’t control him. And yet Viren didn’t want to let Aaravos go. He should, he knew he should, but he’d done the one thing he’d swore to himself he’d never do. For his own sake and his soulmate’s, he was supposed to cut them both free. Cut the ties and move on so he couldn’t drag Aaravos down with him–so he couldn’t break more people than he already had.
But he’d gotten attached. Fuck the world, he’d gotten attached.
So for the first time in years, he let himself have this moment; The emotional barrier he set for himself crashing down, too many emotions rushing out all at once.
And he cried.
~~~
At some point he’d managed to move into his room, leaving the lights off and simply laying on his bed staring at the ceiling. After a while the tears had stopped, just leaving him feeling… empty. Lost. Confused, even. His phone had been going off like crazy–he’d had to put it on silent. He knew who it was, but he couldn’t deal with that right now. He wasn’t sure how long it had been before he heard the familiar sound of the front door opening and closing, and his children’s voices bickering.
He had to get up. Had to slap on an empty smile, walk downstairs, and act like nothing was wrong. The voices were getting closer, Viren needed to get up. Claudia would be opening the door to his room any moment, a cheerful voice letting him know they were home, and he needed to look normal when she did.
But he couldn’t move. Fuck, why couldn’t he move?
Footsteps got closer, a hand landed on the doorknob, and only then did his body finally decide to cooperate. Panicking, he leapt up, scrambling out of the bed and just barely getting himself into the bathroom connecting to his room, closing the door and shoving himself into the back corner before he heard his bedroom door creak open.
“Dad, we’re back- uh, dad?” He willed his voice to cooperate, praying it to just let him respond normally.
“I’m in here -” He got a total of three words out before his voice gave, choking out a sob. Viren slapped a hand over his mouth, trying to muffle the sound, but it was too late.
“Dad? Why are you in the bathroom with the lights out? What’s going on, are you okay?” As footsteps approached the door, he realized in a panic that he’d forgotten to lock the door. It cracked open, Claudia’s head peeking through, the two of them making eye contact as Viren fumbled to try and think of a reasonable excuse for why he was in the bathroom crying with the lights out that wouldn’t worry her. This wasn’t supposed to happen–his children weren’t supposed to be burdened by his struggles. He was there for them, it wasn’t supposed to be the other way around.
He didn’t even manage to try and get a word out before his daughter’s eyes widened– flicking the lights on, locking the door, rushing over and wrapping her arms around him. Viren waited for her to start talking, a pit forming in his stomach, but the endless chatter that usually followed Claudia wherever she went wasn’t there. She was silent. That was the fact that tipped him over the edge, a new wave of tears spilling out as he wordlessly hugged her back.
They stood there for who knows how long, Viren’s tears eventually drying out, but Claudia didn’t move from where she was until he let his arms drop. Only then did she back up, her own eyes glassy, concern etched into her expression. He rubbed at his eyes, huffing out a pitiful laugh.
“Apologies, I-”
“I swear to god if you try to apologize right now I’m going to go get Soren to bear hug you.” His jaw clamped shut, Claudia crossing her arms, eyes narrowed. She wasn’t kidding.
“...understood.” They stood there for a moment at an impasse before Viren let out a shaky sigh, steeling himself before trying to step around her towards the door. As he should have expected, Claudia only moved to block his path.
“No, dad.” She met his gaze with stubborn, pleading eyes. “What happened?”
“It is none of your concern, Claudia.” His voice sounded distant to his own ears as he averted his gaze, giving a hard stare to a crack in the door behind her.
“None of my- oh, cut the emotionally repressed bullshit, dad!” She huffed, moving her head to get him to look at her again. “You were crying in a pitch black bathroom! If you found me or Soren like that, are you telling me you’d just leave us to deal with it ourselves?”
“What? Of course not.” Claudia raised an eyebrow, and what he just said caught up with him. He closed his eyes with another sigh, bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose where a headache was steadily forming. “That’s different, Claudia. You two are my children-”
“And you’re our father.” She shot back. When he cracked open his eyes again, she was crossing her arms again. “Just because you help us doesn’t mean we can’t help you! Love isn’t a one way street.”
“But-”
“No buts!” With that, she grabbed his wrist, pulling him towards the door and out into the bedroom. Not really having the energy to fight her, all Viren could do was follow, only making an effort to stop when he realized she was trying to get him out of the bedroom as well.
“Claudia, your brother-”
“Yeah, we’re grabbing Soren. And no, you don’t get a say in this. Got it?” She didn’t even wait for a response before dragging him out into the hallway, then into the living room. Soren was sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone when they entered, glancing up at them before doing a double-take when he saw the state Viren was in.
“Holy shit, dad? Clauds, what’s happening? Do I need to beat someone up? Wait- shit, is someone dead? Tell me someone isn’t dead- it’s Uncle Harrow isn’t it, he’s the only other person dad talks to-”
“I don’t know, Soren. Dad won’t tell me-”
“Nobody’s dead.” Viren interjected, trying to pull his wrist away from Claudia, who only tightened her grip before huffing, letting go for a brief moment before shoving him onto the sofa next to Soren, sitting down on his other side.
“Ok, so no death. That’s a start.” She coaxed, her tone of voice trying to lead him to keep going. When he didn’t, she shot a glare at Soren, not so subtly nodding her head in Viren’s direction and raising her eyebrows.
“Uh, yeah, that’s… good. Don’t need to plan a funeral, unless someone’s going to die, then we will.” The look Claudia gave her brother pulled another watery laugh out of Viren.
“Nobody’s going to die.” Well, physically, at least. Emotionally, he was pretty sure he was knocked out already. There was a moment of tense silence that followed, Viren not sure what to say, and his children seemingly trying to communicate telepathically. After a few moments, Soren spoke up again.
“Did your boyfriend break up with you?”
Chaos erupted.
Claudia gaped for a moment before all but screeching at Soren, demanding why he thought Viren had a boyfriend, and if he did, why he hadn’t told her. Viren whipped his head around to stare at his son, who put his hands up in defense.
“What? It was kinda obvious-”
“BOYFRIEND?”
“Come on, like you haven’t caught dad smiling at his phone like a lovesick puppy.”
“Of course I haven’t! When did you?!”
“Oh, wait, you were probably too caught up doing the same thing when Terry texted-”
“I- I was NOT-” Viren turned his gaze on Claudia, who was now flushing a bright red. He narrowed his eyes.
“Terry? Your elf friend?” He asked, and Claudia fumbled, opening and closing her mouth a few times like a gaping goldfish before giving up, slumping back against the couch, mumbling something into her hands. “Sorry, what was that?”
“We’re soulmates.” She said, louder this time, and Viren went still. Claudia had found her soulmate–and hadn’t told him? “Don’t look at me like that, we just found out today. He only saw my soulmark on my wrist because I pulled my sleeves up, and his is on his left shoulder blade. I was gonna tell you when we got home, but…”
But Viren had been having a mental breakdown. Over discovering the exact same thing. The irony of the entire situation caught up to him and he started laughing hysterically, to the shock of his children. Claudia looked like a deer in headlights, not knowing quite how to react, and Soren kept glancing between the two of them. Viren eventually caught his breath, wiping his eyes again.
“Sorry, sorry, I’m happy for you, Claudia, so happy, the timing is just-” He broke off into another peal of laughter, trying to calm himself. “-it’s just ironic how different our reactions are.”
He waited a moment. Then another. After a few seconds, Claudia gasped, turning and grabbing him by the shoulders, searching his eyes.
“You- did you-” She paused, taking a breath, finding her words. “You found your soulmate.” His children went still, staring at him, waiting for his answer with bated breath. His laughter fell silent, voice catching in his throat, and slowly nodded. Both of them gasped, smiles breaking out, but then Claudia’s brow furrowed. “Wait, but why is that a bad thing?”
He opened his mouth to explain, but after starting and stopping a few times… realized he didn’t have an answer. Not a logical one, at least.
“I- well, it’s…” He furrowed his own brow, shaking his head slightly. “I don’t-”
“You think you don’t deserve it.” Soren spoke up from behind him, and both Viren and Claudia turned to look at him, shocked.
“What? Of course he deserves it, Soren. What are you-”
“No, no that’s not what I said.” Soren shook his head, staring at Viren. “He thinks he doesn’t. So he probably saw the mark, panicked, and ran. And now you’re here thinking you can never fix it because whoever it is didn’t stop you.”
“Oh, he definitely tried.” Viren mumbled, not meaning to say it aloud. Claudia’s eyes widened, looking between Viren and Soren. Viren had to give his son credit, Soren really was smarter than he appeared sometimes. At that moment, Viren remembered something, flinching slightly before reaching to pull his phone out of his pocket, daring to look at the screen.
10 missed calls, 1 voicemail, 7 unread texts.
Yeah, he’d screwed up. Claudia shifted beside him to look at the screen.
“They had your number? Who was-” He could pinpoint the exact moment when Claudia’s eyes spotted the contact name. Her breath caught, and she blinked, pulling Viren’s hand slightly closer to her as if making sure she was reading it right. “You- isn’t that-”
“Yes. It is.”
“What kind of name is Aar- uh, Air-a-vus? Arrvos? A-”
“Aaravos. It’s not that hard, Soren.” Claudia sighed, Soren simply shrugging. “He’s the librarian from the magic library dad’s been going to.”
“Ohhhhh-”
“Anyways, shouldn’t you answer him? He seems worried. And if Soren was right, you did kinda figure out you were soulmates and then left him there- wait, what were you doing at the library today anyway? We went yesterday.” Viren stared at the phone screen, anxiety building back into his chest.
“He doesn’t know.”
“Huh?”
“I- his soulmark was on the back of his neck.” He paused, the scene replaying in his head. “He followed your advice, tied his hair up. Wanted me to see it, but then I saw the mark and just…”
“Oh.” Claudia frowned. “Then you need to tell him.”
“I can’t just do that! What am I supposed to say, ‘hey, sorry I ran out on you, the soulmark on the back of your neck matched mine and instead of reacting like a normal person I ran out so quickly you didn’t even get an explanation?’”
“I mean… yeah pretty much.” Viren groaned, dropping his phone in his lap and letting his face fall into his hands. Beside him Soren shifted.
“Or…” Viren looked up. “You could just send him a picture of your mark and let him connect the dots.”
“Soren, that’s a terrible idea.”
“It’s less work! Just snap a picture and see how he reacts.”
“With no explanation? That wouldn’t-”
“Actually.” Viren interjected, both of his children falling silent. Taking a moment to breathe, he met Soren’s eyes. “That isn’t a bad idea.” Soren beamed, patting Viren on the back with a little too much force.
“See, I’ve got your back, pops. Now let's send that knee pic!”
Viren groaned again, and his children laughed. At least if this went poorly, he still had them. That’s all that mattered.
~~~
He didn’t end up sending that picture until after dinner. All three of them decided it would be best for him to cool off first, so they’d ordered some Chinese takeout and eaten together, Soren and Claudia trading stories about their day as Viren let himself take his mind off of everything. By the time they’d finished, the growing dread in his stomach hadn’t faded, but his children both sent him meaningful looks as he retreated to his bedroom.
So here he sat, rolling up his pant leg to look at his soulmark for the first time in a while. Of course, he caught glimpses of it every day, but he’d stopped really examining it once he’d resigned himself to the fact that it would never be relevant. It was already burned into his memory regardless, so he never felt the need to look at it for too long on any given day. But here he was, staring down at it long enough to snap a photo on his phone before immediately hiding it again.
He opened his text channel with Aaravos, freezing as he saw the flood of messages that had been left.
‘ Viren’
‘Viren pick up the phone’
‘Viren’
‘What was it?’
‘Unless your phone dead you have no excuse, pick it up’
‘I left a voicemail. If you won’t reply, just listen to it.’
‘Please?’
The last message was sent almost an hour after the others, and it sent another wave of guilt over him. His fingers froze, the hesitation from earlier returning. He read over the texts twice, then three times, then closed the app, navigating to his voicemail box and finding the one Aaravos had left, clicking on it and putting his phone on speaker, letting it play.
“Viren. Something happened, I know that much, but whether or not I was involved in any way, I can only guess. You seemed tense coming in, so if it was something unrelated then I apologize for my insistence, but seeing as you quite literally ran out of the library, and are now avoiding my calls, I can only assume it had something to do with me.” There was a pause, then a sigh. “If I crossed a line last night, I apologize, just-”
Viren closed the app before the voicemail could finish playing, reopening the messages app, fingers flying across the screen. No matter his own guilt, his own embarrassment, he couldn’t let Aaravos think that reaching out in a time of need was what had caused Viren’s panic. Against every protest screaming in his mind, he selected the photo of his soulmark and hit send before rational thought caught up to him.
Within a few seconds, the ‘delivered’ marker under the text changed to ‘read.’
He threw the phone across the bed, watching as it landed face-up in the opposite corner. From where he sat, he saw the typing bubble appear and disappear several times, before disappearing entirely. For a few minutes there was silence, Viren’s heart pounding, before it reappeared again. Seconds later, it dinged with a text notification, and he stared at it, long and hard, before reaching over to pick it back up.
‘Tomorrow?’
Hands shaking, Viren let himself type back.
‘ My schedule is free.’
~~~
The next morning was… interesting, to say the least.
Viren pulled himself out of bed, got dressed, and went out into the kitchen to find Soren and Claudia getting ready to leave. Both of his children paused upon seeing him, exchanging glances with each other. He raised an eyebrow at them. Claudia raised one back.
He relented first.
“I sent it.”
“...and?” She spoke hesitantly, as if scared she would spook him.
“And, I’m heading over to the library once you two leave.” Both Soren and Claudia looked at each other again, seemingly having a silent conversation. A few minor expressions were exchanged before Soren hummed, shrugged, and grabbed his bag.
“Cool, have fun pops!” He called over his shoulder, walking out the door.
“Soren, really?!” Claudia called after her brother, seeming to have lost their silent exchange. When Soren didn’t respond, she turned to Viren, looking at him for a moment before rushing over and hugging him. “You’ll be fine, dad.” And before he could respond, she grabbed her things and ran out of the room too, leaving him standing in the middle of the kitchen.
What odd kids he’d raised.
~~~
Half an hour later, he pulled into the parking lot outside of the Mirrored Pages. Unlike most times he’d pulled up, he could actually spot Aaravos inside of the library. The elf was standing behind the desk in the center of the room, and as soon as Viren’s car came into view, he felt Aaravos’s eyes lock onto it. As Viren parked the car and took the key out of the ignition, he glanced out the window into the building. He was still being watched, but Aaravos was making no attempt at moving.
He didn’t have to think hard about what Aaravos was doing–he was making sure Viren wasn’t about to take off running again. As he sat there a bit longer, even from here, he could see Aaravos shifting, as if getting ready to run out after him.
Closing his eyes and taking a breath, Viren opened his car door, stood up, and tried to still his shaking hands as he locked it and started walking towards the library. He kept his eyes carefully trained on the ground until he was standing on the sidewalk a few feet from the doors, looking up and locking eyes with the elf behind the counter. He stood there, unmoving, as if his feet had rooted themselves in place just a few steps from the entrance.
Neither man moved.
From here, Viren registered that Aaravos’s hair was tied up again. The elf’s hands were formed into tight fists against the counter, expression unreadable. For a moment, Viren considered the possibility that he was about to get chased away, and that Aaravos only called him here to tell him, to his face, to never return again. He wouldn’t blame him.
But then Aaravos’s eyes, for just a second, wavered, flickering downwards before immediately jumping back up, and Viren understood. Slowly, still maintaining eye contact, he knelt down, pulling up his right pant leg until it revealed the mark on his leg. It twinged slightly and he winced, and somehow, that was what broke whatever trance the elf had been in. Aaravos straightened up, hopping the desk and pushed open the doors, kneeling down in front of him and holding his hand out, hovering mere inches from the mark on his knee.
His eyes met Viren’s, an unspoken question lingering in the air.
Viren nodded.
Aaravos’s hand brushed against the mark, and it gave off a soft purple glow, as well as a pleasant warmth. Blinking, Aaravos reached his other hand back to touch his own mark, Viren spotting the same glow bouncing off of his palm. He glanced at Aaravos’s neck, then met the elf’s eyes again, and this time Aaravos simply shifted to turn his head to the side, allowing Viren to place his own hand on the mark.
He traced the rim of the inked mirror lightly, watching as the motion sent a shiver down Aaravos’s spine, small goosebumps forming. Smiling, he withdrew his hand, moving it instead to trace along the elf’s jawline, gently grabbing it and turning Aaravos’s head back towards him. Aaravos looked at him curiously, a soft confusion playing on his features as he opened his mouth, about to speak-
And before he could say anything, before Viren could lose his nerve, he leaned forward, bringing their lips together in a way he’d only dreamed about since their first encounter. He felt Aaravos stiffen and pulled back immediately, going to take his hand away and stammer an apology, but a firm grip caught his wrist, holding his hand in place.
Black and golden eyes met his own, Aaravos leaning into his hand for a moment before rising to his feet, pulling Viren up with him. Silently, he led them inside, not stopping until they’d gone through the back door as well, bringing them into a similarly decorated backroom that looked oddly like a kitchen and living room. As soon as they were out of sight of the windows, Aaravos turned back around, crashing their lips together again with much more confidence.
Viren relaxed into it, letting himself fall back against the door with a satisfied hum.
Of all the possible outcomes, this had to have been the best one.
~~~
They did end up talking about it once they’d managed to sit down and take a breather. Turns out, Aaravos lived behind the library, so they were able to collapse onto his couch, Viren leaning up against him, simply breathing together.
“Why did you run?” Viren knew the question would come eventually, and he’d expected it to ruin things–but here, curled up at Aaravos’s side, it seemed much less daunting than it had when he’d pondered it alone. He’d thought up a number of excuses in his head the day before, thinking a well thought out lie could have saved him from the embarrassment, but right now, he felt no reason to lie.
“I was scared.” Three words. All of his panic, his worries, his insecurities could be summarized into three words, and wasn’t that humbling.
“Of?”
“Everything going wrong.” He sighed, leaning further into Aaravos, who brought an arm up to drape across his shoulders. “For years, well, my entire life I suppose, I’d convinced myself that soulmates were a farce. That following my soulmark would only lead to grief in the end, no matter the circumstance. I have poured every moment of my life into my children, making sure that they get the opportunities I never had, making sure that they get their happy endings, so when I saw that mark on your neck, when I realized that what I’d always denied myself was within arms reach…”
Aaravos’s finger was under his chin, tilting Viren’s head up to lock eyes. He leaned down, pressing a kiss to Viren’s forehead.
“It won’t go wrong this time.” Aaravos murmured.
And Viren decided to believe him.
~~~
Hours later, Viren pulled into his driveway, a smile refusing to leave his face. He glanced to the side, Aaravos in the passenger seat, looking at the house in fascination. It wasn’t anything special, but the way Aaravos was looking at it made it seem like he’d just shown the elf the secrets of the universe.
Soren’s car was parked already, Claudia having texted half an hour ago saying that they were home and asking what had happened. Instead of texting back, Aaravos had come up with a better plan, which brought them to where they were now. Not waiting any longer, Viren got out of the car, waiting until Aaravos got to his side before walking up and opening the front door.
Almost as soon as they’d gotten into the kitchen, they were spotted by Soren, who was getting a snack out of the fridge. His son’s gaze flickered between them before settling on Aaravos. Eyes widening in realization, he smirked.
“Damn, dad, get that elven ass.” Viren flushed as Aaravos broke out in a startled laugh. The noise must have alerted Claudia, who came racing out of her bedroom, stopping just in time to avoid colliding with the kitchen table. Upon seeing Viren and Aaravos together, she let out a whooping cheer.
“Yeah! Go dad!” She pumped her fist in the air, which only seemed to make Aaravos laugh harder. Viren half-heartedly grumbled something about regretting having children, but it wasn’t very convincing due to the smile growing on his face.
As much as he complained, his life really was pretty damn good.