Chapter Text
[N]ine Lives || GaBerTom || [T]hree Souls Entangled || GaBerTom || [N]ine Lives
Chapter 12: [T]welve O’Clock Luncheon
“What is a luncheon?” Berto wiggled his nose in confusion. “Sounds like a Pokémon.”
Tom bit his lips at how much he wanted to kiss the werewolf. And no wait. He could kiss the werewolf now, so he just leaned in and pressed a kiss onto the corner of Berto’s mouth. The confusion eased and made way for a happy grin as he turned more toward Tom.
“It’s lunch, love,” Gabe supplied. “That’s how fancy old British ladies say lunch.”
Tom huffed at that description of his grandmother, but he found it impossible to argue with him. Yawning, he leaned against Berto. The werewolf was always so, so warm and comfortable. Honestly, he wanted to just stay here, in bed, with them, for another whole day. Or forever.
“Wait. Why am I invited to luncheon?” Berto frowned again. “I thought this was gonna be your debriefing on your trip to San Diego…? I wasn’t in San Diego.”
“But you are now dating her grandson,” Gabe didn’t even look up from his newspaper.
Berto sputtered. “H… How does she, how would she even-?”
“My sisters,” Tom shrugged casually.
“I also think it’s something else,” Gabe finally folded his newspaper to turn toward his lovers. “When I was cordially invited to tea, your grandmother made clear that not inviting Berto was an oversight and not meant as an offense and she promised not to make this mistake again.”
“Oh,” Berto blinked a couple times. “Huh. Okay. Cool. I get to meet grandma too.”
“Can I maybe just sit that one out?” Tom requested, offering them the cute kitten eyes.
“It’s your family,” Gabe leveled an unimpressed look at him. “And considering that this… budding relationship between us might be more so the reason for this summon than the mission, you are not getting out of this. Also, you were part of this mission, so…”
Tom grumbled and hid away in Berto, nuzzling into the wolf in hopes of him having mercy. However, Berto and Gabe had been together long enough that Berto knew when not to argue with Gabe. Besides, he didn’t really see the problem here at all.
/break\
“Da—amn, that is a nice place,” Berto whistled impressed.
“Look who finally showed up.”
Gabriel narrowed his eyes at the man who opened the door. The one who had greeted him last time he’d been here too; Tom’s older brother. Still looked as arrogant as the last time, but his whole focus was on Tom, who immediately looked annoyed. Those two did not see eye to eye at all.
“We are literally ten minutes early, Ty,” Tom glared and crossed his arms over his chest. “What are you even doing here? These things are women of the family only events.”
“Yes, which means I had to drop the woman in my life off here,” Tyler motioned toward the house. “And I liked to say hello to the family. I haven’t seen Anwen and Tegan in years.”
Tom’s eyes widened in mortification and something clicked in Gabe’s mind too. He remembered those names from the last time. One of Tom’s sisters – he didn’t remember which one, all these blonde white ladies kind of blended together in his mind, though he made a note to make more of an effort to learn to keep them all apart now that Tom was a part of them – had told him that he could relax because grandma hadn’t flown in Anwen and Tegan. Mh. Concerning.
“They’re… just… taking a family vacation in San Francisco? That’s nice.”
“What did your voice just do, kitten?” Berto wiggled his nose displeased. “I have sensitive ears and that was way too pitchy. Don’t you like these people?”
“No. No, no, I love Tegan, she’s my cousin, she lives all the way in Wales,” Tom blinked.
“And grandma invited her and aunt Anwen over, just for you,” Tyler smiled, an evil edge to it. “Have fun in there, Tomas. And you two. Let’s see if you survive this.”
Berto looked lost as Tyler left. “What does that mean? What’s going on?”
Tomas opened the door and walked in, but then he turned around to face them, walking the hall backward and gesturing widely. “So my uncle – mom’s brother – Tobin moved to Wales, to live with his wife. And we see them, you know, occasionally, on big family events. Or… council meetings. Which, is a thing for witch families. You know witches are a matriarchy. So if any member of the family has…” Tom trailed off for a moment, blushing furiously. “Someone serious in their life, with… with the potential of joining the family, then… the council will meet to vet them, see if they are fit for the family. And the council refers to every adult woman in the family.”
“Ri—ight. Right,” Berto’s eyes were wider than Gabe had ever seen them. “Serious, huh?”
Tom’s blush got worse. “I don’t know where they got that notion from. I mean, we literally just got together. And we met only months ago. Not saying that I am already anticipating our break-up, but… they only met Alana after I proposed to her…”
“Well,” Gabe kept his voice neutral. “It seems your grandmother is a good judge of character, then.”
He slipped a hand into Tom’s, giving it a gentle and reassuring squeeze. They reached the winter garden, where Gabe had last been hosted. Everything was set out with food, so much food. Various plates with sandwiches of all kind – cheese, ham, bacon and more – and three huge bowls of green salad, each a different kind, as well as a bowl with pasta salad.
“I love your family and I am ready to marry into it right now,” Berto licked his lips.
“I love a young man with an appetite,” someone behind them chuckled. “Welcome.”
The three turned around and Tom immediately went to hug her. “Mom! Hey. Mom, this is Gabe and Berto. Guys, that’s my mom, Tilda Niun.”
And with that, the flood gates of Niuns opened and they all trickled in. Gabe looked at the three young blonde women and, this time, listened closely as they were introduced to Berto as Tessa, Tiana and Talia, making sure to remember which one was which. Aside from Tilda and grandmother Tecla, there were Tom’s sister-in-law Rhian again, as well as his aunt Athena. Now that Gabe had met Trend Austin, he could see the family traits the boy inherited from his mother, they had the same gray eyes (the splinter of blue in Trend’s eyes aside) and sharp cheekbones.
“Okay, that’s is too many people,” Berto lifted his hands up. “So, wait. You three are Tom’s sisters? Talia I met before, Tiana, and… Tessa. And you are the wife of the rude dude who just left, Tom’s brother?” Rhian laughed at the description of her husband, but nodded. “Tommy’s mom and Tommy’s grandma. And you’re Trend’s mom, but… uh…”
“Married to my twin-brother, Teddy,” supplied Tom’s mom.
Berto nodded gratefully, motioning with his fingers like he was mentally drawing the family tree. Gabe’s eyes were on the two women he hadn’t met before, both dark-haired and dark-eyed.
“Anwen Glass, Tom’s aunt,” offered the older of the two. “And my daughter, Tegan.”
“Where’s Taran and uncle Tobin?” Tom asked as he hugged his aunt.
“Oh, Tobin immediately bolted to meet his brothers,” Anwen huffed amused. “Taran is spending time with his grandfather though, I think they went to a museum.”
“It’s nice to have you over,” Tom smiled. “Though I don’t know how necessary that is. I mean…”
There was something ethereal to Anwen Glass, a certain Snow White aesthetic, truly like a princess. Also a very good pokerface as she regarded both Gabe and Berto very closely. Which figured, Gabe supposed, considering that the other members of the family had already met Gabe.
“From what I hear,” Anwen drawled slowly, lifting a glass of champagne up to her lips. “Those two saved your life. In another country. Before you met them again here. It… piqued my interest, when I heard from Athena that you went on a dangerous mission with one of them. Even though you have never been on a mission for the family, in fact, you have always tried to not get too involved.”
“And now you’re dating,” Tegan raised both her eyebrows, looking at her cousin.
Tom flushed and shrugged, trying to distract himself by filling up his plate. Berto took this as his cue to also get food. It was quiet as everyone started serving themselves and getting settled. Once again, Tecla sat at the head of the table, as the head of the family.
“I already heard all about the mission from Amaris Douglas,” stated Tecla. “It went very well. And she also noted the closeness between the two of you.”
“I can see the closeness between you,” Tegan grinned.
Her mother had a similar expression on her face. One of intrigue. Gabe furrowed his brows.
“With all due respect, what does that mean?”
“Aunt Anwen is a very gifted seer,” Tessa, the oldest of Tom’s sisters, offered. “She has a way of… not exactly telling the future, but being able to tell when two lives are interwoven.”
“And what does that mean?” Berto looked so lost.
He also looked really cute when he was confused, so Tom didn’t resist the urge to kiss his cheek. Just his cheek, not even a proper kiss. He simply still relished in the fact that he could. Gabe smiled pleased as he watched them. Tom’s sisters started cooing in a high-pitched, teasing manner.
“If your lives will be shared for a long time, or if there is… no entanglement, if they get pulled apart again soon,” replied Anwen patiently. “Do you believe in the concept of soulmates?”
Berto perked up and nodded enthusiastically. “Yes.”
“This is the closest we’d get to that,” explained Anwen. “The ‘red string of fate’ that connects people, it’s… the way people’s souls are interwoven with each other. I can see a person’s soul, like an aura radiating off of them, and they… reach out to the people around them. The more these auras mix with each other, the more they’re… pulled toward each other. It’s less a matter of some grand plan that you can not get out of, of fate deciding that you have to be together, it’s more that… your souls are drawn toward each other, like magnets.”
Gabe tilted his head intrigued, crossing his arms over his chest. He’d always scoffed at fate and at the concept of soulmates based on that. This concept though, he had to admit he liked. He understood the idea of attraction, and if that were taken to a soul level, souls attracted to each other, that was something he could understand. A concept he might like.
“So you came all this way because hearing that we randomly ran into each other in Italy and then again here made you curious to actually see our souls and their… level of entanglement?”
Anwen turned to smile pleased at Gabe, nodding. “Yes. And I think I quite like what I’m seeing.”
“What, uh, are you seeing, aunt Anwen?” Tom ducked his head and blushed, not looking at her.
He was poking his salad with his fork, trying to act all casual while also radiating nervous energy. Gabe found this surprisingly charming. He smiled as he leaned in to kiss Tom’s cheek, turning it a nice shade of red. Finally did Tom turn to look at him, seeming to relax just a little.
“I like your auras,” Anwen stated, leaning back some as she regarded them with her head tilted. “They are calm. Strong too, you are a powerful man, Mister Kim. And you are… an incredibly kind man, Mister Allegro. And your auras are reaching out for each other in tendrils, reaching out for Tom’s. Your souls are very entangled.”
“...Oh,” Tom’s voice was barely a whisper.
“Hah,” Berto had never sounded more triumphant. “I told you, Gabe! I told you you’re my soulmate but you didn’t believe me. Believe the pretty seer lady, then!”
Anwen laughed gently, covering her mouth with her hand. “Oh, he’s endearing.”
“Okay but let me make it very clear that it’s not exactly soulmates, like in the way that pop culture does, okay?” Tegan added quickly, gesturing a little. “Being entangled just means you’re meant to cross paths a lot, spend a lot of your lives together to some capacity. That can mean family, friends, technically also enemies in some cases. It doesn’t mean some cheesy ‘true love’ notion, okay?”
“Yeah, well, this one does,” Berto furrowed his brows as he glared at her. “These are mine.”
He motioned at Tom and Gabe, causing Tom to once again blush and Gabe to chuckle. His husband had always been obsessed with the notion of true love and soulmates, Julietta loved telling stories from their childhood about how much her baby brother had always rewatched Disney movies and dreamed of meeting his own Prince Charming one day. Calling Gabe ‘Prince Charming’ quite regularly to get on his nerves. Gabe couldn’t deny that he was happy for his husband to get this kind of validation, even if it was different from what he’d always dreamed of.
“So I am taking it then, we’re not receiving a ‘shovel talk’?” Gabe arched one eyebrow.
“I find that archaic and unnecessary,” Tilda waved a dismissive hand. “And I also do hope it is unnecessary and that you are aware of just how powerful we are and just how much it would upset us if anything were to happen to my darling youngest child.”
“So what exactly did you guys do about Alana?” Berto asked with a frown.
There was a strange silence suddenly settling over the table at the mention of that name. Tom visibly flinched at that mention. And Gabe stared at his husband in surprise. It was rare for Berto to be judgmental, to be serious in a negative manner. And there was a lot of judgment on his face.
“Berto-” Tom’s voice was soft, nearly pleading.
“No,” Berto shook his head and crossed his arms. “No. I’ll not be given a politely phrased shovel talk when I know what your ex did to you. So I want to know if the people who think they have a right to threaten me about treating you right actually did anything when your ex abused you.”
Tom sucked in air at that and bit his lip. Gabe had never seen him this demure before. If only the mention of Alana made him act that way, he didn’t want to know what Tom had been like while actively dating that woman. Concerned, Gabe reached out to take Tom’s hand.
“There wasn’t much entanglement,” Anwen offered after a moment.
“And it was an oversight on our part to let it go on for as long as it did,” Tecla’s voice was cold and bitter and she looked down at her plate. “We’re powerful, but… we aren’t all-knowing, or perfect. Tom chose to be with her against our advise and we didn’t… wish to dictate his life.”
“I should have never allowed that woman to make him pull away from us,” Tilda whispered. “I thought… I thought it was because we told them there wasn’t much entanglement. I thought… Tommy was angry with us, was punishing us for it. I thought we should give him the space and time he asked for. If I had any idea… I would have never…”
Tom looked up, surprised. He’d always wondered on what they had thought about it, but he had never dared to ask. After things had fallen apart, he had felt like such a failure, he’d rebelled against them and in the end, they had been right. They hadn’t been meant to be. But it had never occurred to him that they thought he’d willingly pulled away from them, to punish them for trying to tell him who to date. It made sense, he suppose. And maybe, in a way, he did. That was… the reason Alana had given him, why she kept declining any invitations from the family, why she then started insisting that if he loved her, he would be siding with her and would decline them too.
“She’s a rat,” Talia offered, matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, she sounds like a real piece of work,” Berto agreed with a not.
“No, I mean, literally,” Talia waved one hand. “Tessa, Tia and I paid her a visit. She is literally a rat, living in the sewers of Los Angeles now. To answer your hubby’s initial question. That is what powerful witches do with the people who dare to hurt our family.”
Tessa, Tiana and Talia all looked at them with surprisingly sinister expressions. Mh. Good to know.
“You what-?” Tom’s eyes widened as he stared at his sisters.
“It literally took those two,” Talia motioned at Berto and Gabe at that. “For you to finally see that you deserved better than that bitch. If we had told you before that, you actually would have been mad at us, because that cunt totally twisted you into thinking she was what you deserved.”
“Profanities aside, I agree with her,” Tessa looked concerned and genuine. “Are you mad?”
More silence as Tom looked at them. “...No. I… I’m not. Because you’re right. I… do deserve better than her. And honestly, so does everybody else, so you probably did others a favor.”
/break\
They didn’t talk on the drive back to Gabe and Berto’s place, Tom kept staring out of the window with a contemplative look on his face. Lunch had pretty much ended after the admittance to turning Tom’s ex into a rat. Back in the house, Tom grabbed them both by the hands and pulled them toward the bedroom. They followed willingly, not saying a word. In the bedroom, Tom threw himself onto the bed and curled together, looking at them both. It was enough to make both Gabe and Berto come and lay on either side of Tom’s, hugging him close.
“Are you alright, love?” Gabe whispered concerned.
“No?” Tom buried his face on Gabe’s chest, Berto wrapped around him from behind. “I didn’t know… that’s what they thought. Or did. I… part… Part of me thought they would blame me for this mess, since I chose to stay with Alana, and… I just never…”
“It was not your fault,” Berto growled softly, nosing Tom’s neck. “And your family knows that.”
“I can’t believe you called them out like that though,” Tom huffed out a small laugh.
“I just don’t like unfair threats,” Berto grumbled a little. “Like, when I was in high school, I threatened Jules’ boyfriend and when I saw the asshole kiss another girl, I punched him so hard in the face, broke his nose. So. I wanted to know if they really meant it.”
“And now that you know we will be turned into rats if we break Tom’s heart, you are appeased?”
“Well. Kinda,” Berto shrugged. “I mean, it’s real simple. We just don’t break Tommy’s heart. And then we won’t be turned into rats.”
“You’re right, that does feel doable,” Gabe hummed in agreement.
Tom heaved a shaky breath, his eyelids fluttering shut as he snuggled more up to Gabe. He felt safe here, with them, like this. Understood. And it had meant a lot to him that they’d gone to meet his family, go along with this stupid tradition, even though neither of them were of witch-blood, even though these weren’t either of their traditions. And hearing his family say these things, it had lifted a huge weight off of him that he hadn’t even realized he’d carried.
“I do have to admit, this was… much more intimidating than when I first met Berto’s family.”
That got Gabe a more genuine laugh from Tom. For a couple minutes, the three of them simply laid together in companionable silence, allowing Tom to digest what had been said at lunch, Gabe and Berto providing him with moral support.
“Can we… go somewhere together, maybe?” Tom asked softly.
“Yeah? Sure? Where would you want to go?” Gabe wanted to know.
“I don’t know. I just… after everything,” Tom sighed. “Getting together, the whole mission itself, which was a lot too, I mean, it was… I’m not used to action and danger like that, and now… this. I think I just need a bit of a break. Like a weekend getaway? Since we all got work.”
“Oh, ye—es,” Berto sounded excited, Gabe could imagine his tail wagging if he were a wolf in that moment. “That sounds great, I love weekend getaways! Me and Stefano go hiking all the time!”
“...Not… Super not what I had in mind,” Tom made a small, horrified noise. “You and your brother-in-law are built different than me. I’m not doing all of this ‘exercising’ when I take a vacation.”
“Yes, I think something a bit more… calm… would fit the occasion better too.”
Berto deflated a little bit at Gabe’s words, but he nodded regardless. “Okay. Yeah. I guess.”
“Maybe we could go to a cabin in the mountains?” Gabe suggested. “You could still do some hiking, while Tom and I enjoy the lake or something.”
That earned him pleased looks from both Berto and Tom. Yes, a cabin in the mountains sounded like a perfect solution. Gabe smiled softly. This was a good start for the three of them.
~*~ The End ~*~