Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The house is much colder without his mother rushing to the front door to meet him, he thinks. The house creaks more than he thought, without the sound of music playing to cover it. The air is stale and doesn’t smell of Apple custard, which it seemed it had ever since his childhood.

It’s the start of a shitty indie movie, he thinks. The house is old, the furniture has sheets over most of it- there’s a nice layer of dust over...well everything. His mother had only died a month ago, but had been living in a facility for the past 4 years.

The house seemed to sit and wait for them.

Adam was surprised she left him everything. The house, his dad’s old hot rod, the finances, the right to plan her funeral- everything basically.

The house seems too large and quiet for one man to fill the space of.

-

He starts the major ‘clean out’ of the house in the attic. The second Adam climbs up the stairs, he wishes he had a surgical mask to at least filter the dust out of everything. Jesus Christ, when was the last time someone was up here?

His knew his mother was sentimental- always finding a reason to keep something.

“ You took your first steps in those shoes!”

“The first time I got asked on a date I was wearing this!”

“It was your grandmothers- and you know how she was. She would hate to see it all go.”

The last one especially- Adam didn’t remember much about Grandma Diane. What he knew of her mostly came from his mother and stories told at rare family gatherings.

“ She thought she was a witch. Kept insisting i needed to learn the family practice.” His mother had laughed on multiple occasions, “But by the time I was ‘of age’, she was gone.”

Adam makes it through a box before getting distracted by making a playlist on his phone- of music to listen to while he cleans.

[He spends an hour sitting on the floor, fucking around on his phone before going back to cleaning].

-

It’s on the second day he finds 2 boxes stuffed in the corner labeled, ‘G-Ma D’, in his mother's chicken scratch handwriting. It brings a smile to his face, that awful handwriting.

He knows he should just throw out the entire box...But where is the fun in that? So instead he wipes away the 3 inches of dust and starts to go through the box. He vaguely wonders if his mother ever went through this stuff.

At the top of the box- wrapped in a plaid blanket is a black book with a tree design on it- the spine reads ‘ KOVIC FAMILY GRIMOIRE’ . He lays it gently to his right as he continues to go through the rest of the box. Adam ends up pulling item after item out of the box- as if it was never ending.

[He finds about 10 assorted crystals, about 5 half burnt red and black candles, a jar of gross rose water, a heavy blue cloak].

He spends at least 2 hours going through the one box- and it’s when the sun starts its descent- he figures he should wrap up for the night. Attics are scary even for grown men in their late 20’s, alright?

And it’s when he goes to repack everything he notices he missed something. A little black case at the bottom of the box.

It’s a simple box- no designs or inscriptions, very out of place considering everything else he had found in the box.

The attic is already getting very dark, so he picks up the small black box and places it on top of the book he found earlier and quickly repacks the rest of the box- and then slowly begins his journey downstairs.

-

He forgets about the book and small box until the next day- both of them sitting on the counter as he scavenges to find something for breakfast. He ends up making a Hot Pocket (again) and taking the book, box and his food into the living room.

He opens the box before anything else- and inside is a ball. Moreso an orb. It’s got a blue swirl of what looks like smoke, inside of it. And etched into one of the sides is ‘Bruce G’ .

His grandmother was a weird person.

Adam carefully places the orb onto the table as he starts to flip through the Grimoire. He spends a few hours flipping through the carefully written on pages- studying the spells and potions.

-

It goes wrong when Adam goes to stand.

It’s something out of a slow motion movie- he manages to knock the table with his leg, sending both his plate and the orb onto the floor.

When he goes to pick up the plate he notices the small amount of smoke- and after he blinks it away;

Stands a man in clothes from what seem to be the late 70’s.

“Who the Hell are you?”

“No, who the hell are you?” Adam replies, what the fuck?

“I’m Bruce. And you must be a Kovic.”

-

“So you’re saying my family- my ancestors. Trapped you in the magic orb- that I broke? Which freed you?” Adam looks to Bruce for a nod and rubs his temples at the conformation, “And there are 5 more of you? Who are your…?”

“Lovers, I guess.”

They’re criss cross on the floor. The fireplace is being used for the first time in years- from what Adam can remember. It had taken a long moment to calm down both Adam and Bruce- but after the initial freakout (mostly on Adam’s part), they had been able to sit down and discuss what was happening.

“I’m sorry but,” Adam is just staring at the floor as he massages his temples, “Magic is real. And my family is a family of witches? Who trapped you? In magic orbs?”

He seems to get more and more dead inside as he says the sentence. Bruce doesn’t seem to know what to say so just settles for nodding along and letting the Kovic- or as Bruce had been corrected- Adam process it as he went along.

“And when were you,” Adam drops one of his hands to roll it through the air, “Orb-ed? Captured? You’re like a goddamn pokemon.”

He grumbles the last part to himself mostly, but it still makes Bruce cock his head in confusion- before shaking it off to answer the original question.

“The first time?” A nod from Adam gets Bruce to sigh and click his teeth, “16...93? I believe? Yeah, 1693 was the first time.”

“1693?” Adam lets out a long sigh before adding, “I’m not drunk enough for this shit.”

-

Bruce and him end up taking turns taking swigs out of Adam’s last bottle of Tito’s , and after about the 3rd swig in silence- Bruce seemed to explode. Wanting nothing more than to tell Adam about his other lovers.

“There’s Joel. Sweet songbird Joel. He’s such a nuisance.” Bruce laughs at his own comment, “And Lawrence. Always thinking. Smartest person I know!

And then there is James and Elyse. The best couple I’ve ever met. Best potion makers I’ve ever seen.” Bruce gets wistful a look in his eye, before he takes another long drink.

“And then there are my sweet boys. Sean and Matt. You’d like Matt. Straight to the point. Wonderful people.”

“Well,” Adam takes another long drink, “They were captured, too right?”

Bruce gives a nod, and before he knows it Adam is hauling him to his feet- despite them both swaying.

“Let’s go find ‘em.”

Chapter Text

It takes them a few days to actually make it back up into the attic. After Adam had offered his hand to Bruce- they made it to the top of the stairs before both of them deciding that the ground looked really comfy- and falling asleep. (Adam under the table in the hallway and Bruce on the top step).

The morning after that Adam had been planning to go up to the attic- to figure out this fucking mystery that was his life at this point but both of them got distracted by the fact Bruce thought everything was just amazing.

His cell phone? Amazing. His television? Fucking astounding. Adam’s art tablet? What the holy fuck. The refrigerator? It’s so efficient.

But by far the best thing: was Adams’ laptop. Adams laptop which ran very slowly and was missing a few keys- Bruce was just so enthralled about his laptop.

Adam was more confused about why Bruce wasn’t more confused about it Bruce shrugs, holding the silver machine in his hands carefully, looking more at it rather than Adam as Bruce places it back on the counter to explain,

“The last time I was  ‘broken’,” Bruce says as he puts up some air quotes around the word broken, “Was in 1974. So I heard your...grandmother?”

“Yeah it woulda been my grandmother.” Adam confirms with a soft ‘yeah’ and Bruce nods,

“Yeah, so I heard her a couple times in passing talking about ‘personal computers’ with some of the people who used to visit the house. She always thought they were going to fail…” Bruce trails off at the end looking at Adam’s MacBook,

“I think she was wrong.” This gets a laugh from both Adam and Bruce before it trails off into a simple quietness.

The only sound in the in the kitchen for a few moments is the refrigerator humming, before Adam feels a smile creeping onto his face,

“You know the best thing about the internet?” Adam watches as Bruce shrugs with a little shake of his head, “Rule 34.”

-

Two hours and countless giggle fits later, Adam finally closes his MacBook and they actually start up the stairs. Adam explaining about ‘what exactly vore’ is.

[Adam will never not laugh at the memory of the face that Bruce makes].

-

It only takes a couple of minutes this time before Bruce is letting out this high pitched gasp and when Adam turns around he’s holding 2 wooden boxes, just like the ones Adam found Bruces’ orb in. They carefully carry the boxes down stairs and into the living room- where Adam had broken Bruce only a few days ago.

Adam helps him lay them onto the floor, in front of the fireplace, and open the boxes.

In the first box, Elyse and James W. in engraved onto a single orb with a lilac smoke. Another orb sitting in velvet in the same box- this one light yellow and labeled Sean P .

The other box sits only one orb with green smoke, an empty spot next to it. The orb found in the box has ‘ Joel R ’ written on it. And before Adam can ask Bruce is heading back up to the attic. When Adam catches up Bruce is looking around- abit erratically,

“Where’s Matt? He goes next to Sean. And Lawrence- he- he had a spot next to me.” Bruce says and Adam doesn’t know what to say so he starts to look around,

“What color are they?” Bruce stops and turns to Adam- Bruce’s eyebrows drawn into a crease.

“What? What color is what?” Adam rolls his eyes gently,

“Your...Your orb thing,” Adam says motioning with his hands, “You were red, Sean is yellow. What colors were Matt an Lawrence?”

Bruce makes a face, obviously wracking his mind for what color Matt’s smoke was. It takes a few seconds before Bruce says slowly,

“Matt was P..purple? Dark purple? And Lawrence was...a teal?” Adam nods and goes back to going through every box in the attic.

-

After an hour they find the teal orb- covered in dust and almost under a floorboard but they find Lawrence. No sign of Matt and Bruce slightly defeated but still looking a bit more animated when they head back into the living room and he sees the boxes, and the other orb in his hand. Bruce doesn’t take long before sitting in front of the boxes and gently pulling each of the orbs carefully out of the box and just holding them for a while. Looking into them like he could actually see the person inside of it.

“You don’t have to stay here.” Adam says watching Bruce clear the dust off of the yellow cube, “In the house I mean...You can leave when you’re all together.”

Bruce sighs with a small tired smile, and carefully places Lawrence back into his case. Bruce rubs his hands on his pants before turning his head to Adam,

“Actually we can’t.” Adam furrows his brow in confusion,

“What does that mean?” Bruce runs his fingertips over the orbs, gently- carefully as he talks,

“We can’t be without a Kovic for more than 200 hours or we automatically get re-orbed and transported to where we were broken out.” Bruce shrugs tiredly, “So you’re stuck with us, Adam.”

Adam watches Bruce for a moment before his brain catches up with his mouth

“I’ll make it right. We- we can break it. The curse, the spell- whatever you want to call it.”

“That will take a lot of work.” Bruce says slowly, but Adam doesn’t miss the hope filling in on the others face,

“I’m willing to learn.” Adam nods and Bruce nods a moment later before turning back to the wooden boxes,

“Alright. But first…” Bruce looks at the small glass objects with such a face of longing , “I want to be together with all my family for the first time in over 300 years.”

-

It takes Bruce an hour to break a single orb and when he does the lilac smoke fills the room. Both Adam and Bruce cough and when Adam turns around there is a tall man- whom Adam can only describe as willowy. Bruce opens his mouth to say something, anything but is cut off by a new voice giving a low groan and a tired sigh before saying,

“Ugh, the wallpaper is as ugly as I remember it.”

Chapter Text

Joel, Adam finds out, is a fucking riot. He adapts much quicker than Bruce did, and he never seems to fail to throw out a witty retort to whatever they're doing. Always throwing in his two cents and usually making Adam laugh so hard he thinks he might explode in the process.

Joel wasn't afraid of him. Bruce had seemed wary, whatever the Kovics of the past had done, certainly left an impression. But Joel can't seem to give enough of a shit- first by insulting his wallpaper then by asking him if he knows “even how to buy adult food” after getting a tour from Bruce which ended in the kitchen.

-

Joel, Adam also finds out, is a force to be reckoned with. So when he says that they need to buy ‘adult human food’ Adam finds himself grabbing his keys without a second thought.

-

Walking through the grocery store has never been as much of an adventure as it was before. Joel rattling off about different recipes and trying to look as if he was without a care in the world. (Adam knows that's not true because when Bruce left to go to the bathroom and Joel turned around only to not find him there, Adam saw it. The pure, raw fear. The panic that couldn't be calmed until Bruce returned (with an armful of discount candy).

Adam buys more groceries than he ever thought he would. Adam was always an easy kid, cereal was a God send and hot pockets and bagel bites were invented for a reason.

But Joel disagrees (loudly) and cooks dinner for Bruce and him. And it's only then the day seems to calm enough for Joel to crack a little. To show how weary he is.

“This is nice and all but...what do you need us for?” His head is dropped and he's staring at the stove top and Adam cocks his head to the side.

“What do you mean? Like Bruce said earlier I want to help you guys out.”

“And that's it? No secret, other plan?” Joel turns, and Adam can't help but nod.

“No secret plan.” He waits a beat before making a small smile, “Well that's not true because I did manage to trick Bruce in cleaning up the bedrooms for me. But no ‘evil’ secret plans.”

Joel laughs and calls for dinner and Bruce appears, giving the tall boy a kiss and for some reason- something settles in Adam's chest.

-

Before heading to bed that night Adam and Bruce show Joel the boxes. Adam can't help but smile at the way Joel cradles the teal orb and the way he runs his fingers over the inscription on Seans.

And Adam can't help but notice Joel takes the fact Matt is missing in great stride.

“We'll find him.” Bruce says with with a big smile and Adam can see Joel's smile is half its normal size.

“Yeah.”

-

Joel and Bruce take the bedroom next to his, and he can hear laughter float through the walls. Between that and the music he has softly playing, Adam drifts out pretty quickly.

-

When he wakes it's because of a high pitched scream. And from a quick glance to his clock, it's 5 in the fucking morning and he's rushing downstairs in what are probably his smallest briefs, bedhead galore, and clutching the baseball bat he grabbed in his moment of panic.

Joel and Bruce offer sheepish smiles from where they're standing in front of the couch, the laptop seemed to be slammed shut in front of them. And Adam, even half awake knows what happened.

“Rule 34?”

Bruce laughs loudly and nods, holding his hand up in offering of a high-five, “Rule 34!”

-

They make a game plan after Joel brings Adam some coffee and Adam manages to put on some pajama pants.

All of them agree that it makes the most sense to finish cleaning house and getting settled and ready for the others before releasing them.

So while Adam and Joel rummage in the attic Adam's curiosity gets the better of him. And he can't seem to help himself but ask,

“So what happened?” Joel from where he's going through a big box of blankets looks up with a quizzical expression.

“What do you mean?” Hes holding a godawful bright blue blanket which Adam rolls his eyes at.

“To Matt.” Joel looks startled and starts to fold the blanket, not looking at Adam.

When it becomes apparent Joel isn't going to answer him Adam tries to press forward, “I know there's something you're not telling Bruce.”

And Joel sighs and drops his head, “He's gone and I let it happen, alright.”

Adam nods, mentally reminding himself to ask later, but for the moment choosing to comment on the big Green and black rope blanket in Joel's hands.

“It's horrible to look at but God it's so comfy.”

“Adam you can't keep this it's hideous.”

“Mm but so damn comfy.”

“ Adam.”