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Brandon Saint John was having an especially bad day. It had all started when he slept through his alarm, forcing him to miss his morning run and breakfast so he’d able to arrive to class on time. He’d barely had time to shower before he had to sprint to meet with his tutor. Things hadn’t improved during his lessons. His stomach kept grumbling and his mind was elsewhere–mainly on the prospect of lunch—, therefore, every minute seemed to last ten. Once he ate, his mood improved somewhat and he felt better prepared for the afternoon’s combat practice. He should’ve known that no day that started as badly as his could end well.
In summary: he got his ass handed to him.
Brand hadn’t fought so badly… maybe ever. By the time he’d been able to return to his room, he wasn’t just tired or sore, he was done with everything. Just ready to go to sleep and put that godsforsaken day behind him.
He’d just thrown himself onto his bed, when the door to his room burst open and Rune came in.
“Okay, which one do you like more?” he asked earnestly.
Brand lifted his head from the pillow to see what Rune was talking about. He had a shirt on each hand, one black and sparkly, the other dark grey.
“What for?” he frowned, fearing the worst.
“For the party.”
Shit.
“What party? Tell me it’s not tonight.”
“Do you want me to lie?”
Brand groaned, burying his face in the pillow again. “Which one is this?”
“The one organized by Lady Temperance’s youngest daughter.”
Despite their Court’s name, the progeny of Lady Temperance was a wild sort. This party would be anything but tame; last time they'd had a no-shirt rule and a fucking orgy room. And they always played Europop. Brand shuddered at the thought.
“Do we have to go?” he asked, sounding pathetic even to his own ears.
“Brand, you promised…”
But Brand broke him off immediately. “I did no such thing!” He would certainly remember if he’d done something so idiotic. That was a promise Brand wouldn’t make even under coercion—he really hated Europop.
Rune kept talking like he hadn’t been interrupted. “…And you know that if you don’t go I won’t be allowed out, so I’ll have to sneak out and you’ll end up following me anyways. So why don’t you spare yourself the hassle and just help me pick a shirt?”
“I could tie you to your bed and stand guard so you don’t escape.”
“Kinky.”
“It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make so I don’t have to socialize or move for the rest of the night.”
Apparently, Rune sensed that this wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d initially thought. He plopped next to Brand, the shirts laying neatly over his lap. “Please, Brand?”
Brand twisted his neck to watch Rune, who was, predictably, batting his eyelashes. “Stop making me feel like an old man! We don’t have to go to every single party.”
“This isn’t just any party though,” he replied, his bottom lip sticking out.
“Oh? Do tell,” Brand snorted.
Rune didn’t speak for a moment, which made an alarm go off inside Brand’s brain—something was off. He traded laying on his stomach for a sitting position in a single, fluid movement. When Rune continued to hesitate, he nudged him with his shoulder. “Tell me what’s up.”
Rune sighed. “Okay, remember Geoffrey Saint Talbot?” Brand nodded. “Remember how we hooked up a few weeks ago?” Brand rolled his eyes, but nodded again. “We’re kind of… seeing each other.”
Well, that was new information. Brand didn’t know what surprised him more: the fact that this was news to him, or the complicated mix of emotions that was building a nest in the pit of his stomach. He attributed the latter to his distrust of Geoffrey. He was older than them, already in his last year at the Academy. Also, the fucker looked too perfect, always well dressed and with an innocent smile that made him want to punch him in the face. It was too good to be true. He probably had some shady secret—those types always did—, and Brand was going to discover what it was, sooner or later.
However, he didn’t say any of that aloud. “Since when? And how am I just hearing about this?"
“It’s really new. We’ve been hanging out a lot at school and it kind of just… happened,” he looked flustered, unable to meet Brand’s eyes. “He’s going to be at the party tonight.”
And that was the end of Brand’s plans for a quiet evening. Of course, he didn’t have the heart to tell Rune no after that. He grumbled and rolled his eyes, but it was all for show and both of them knew it. In the end, Rune put on his sparkly shirt, Brand chose a random assortment of his darkest clothes, and they were off towards the Saint Talbot’s estate.
As soon as they arrived, Rune ditched him and went to meet with a group of his friends from school. Brand let him, keeping watch on him from afar. He couldn’t stop worrying about Rune, it wasn’t something he could just switch off, but he could at least give him some space.
From his vantage point near the bar Brand had a perfect view, not only of his Companion, but of the whole party. The event was everything he’d feared: a cramped place, completely filled with people he knew. Just the idea of socializing made him want to run in the opposite direction. But he’d already succumbed to Rune’s puppy dog eyes, so there was nothing to do but suck it up and soldier on. If he was lucky, Rune would get bored early and he’d finally be able to reunite with his bed.
It wasn’t that Brand disliked parties per se. He enjoyed booze, and flirting, and the vibration of the bass coursing through his body. He was young enough that there was still something new and forbidden about a bunch of teenagers drunk off their minds, grinding against each other like the world was going to end. There was also the fashion in which colorful lights glinted on people’s faces, the constant excitement radiating from the crowd, the sparsity of clothing. Brand loved it all; he even appreciated dancing once in a while. This party in particular had all of those things and in great quality—after all, it was organized by a daughter of the Arcana.
No, it wasn’t parties that he was opposed to. The problem was attending them with Rune.
Since their first outing almost two years ago, Rune’s partying had done nothing but escalate. Sometimes, he even sneaked out without Brand, which had resulted in some of their biggest fights to date. For Rune, going to a party meant getting shit-faced and doing as much stupid crap as possible. He’d recently started smoking weed and that was proving to be a nightmare. If there was something worse than drunk Rune, it was stoned Rune—his mental capacity turned into the one of a potted plant.
There was also the fact that literally everything that made parties exciting became a nightmare from a Companion’s point of view. Few exits, too many people too close to each other, suspicious substances, the too loud everything muddling his senses—from a security standpoint, it was worst case scenario. Just trap after trap, a million ways for Rune to get lost, hurt, roofied or worse.
The mere thought of something happening to Rune sent a chill down his body. Don’t think about that. To ground himself, he dug his nails on the high table he was leaning against, focusing on the feel of the wood. He needed to be alert, it was no time for angsty shit.
The subject of his musings was just a few feet away, leaning against the wall talking—or shamelessly flirting, more like— with someone. Brand was pretty sure he was from the Hierophant Court and probably harmless, but he still refused to take his eyes off them. He didn’t really know the guy, what if he was a pervert? A serial killer? Maybe even a pervert serial killer. You just never knew. They seemed to be hitting it off though, even if Rune looked kind of distracted—he was most certainly searching for Geoffrey.
Suddenly, his eyes caught something between Rune’s hands—somethings with a straw that was halfway to his mouth.
It was drink.
In the few seconds Brand had been distracted, the little shit had grabbed himself something to drink. And not even a beer, oh no; the unidentified liquid contained so many colors some of them probably hadn't even been named yet. That was a cocktail if he’d ever seen one. Unbelievable.
Since an especially bad drunk incident when they were thirteen, they’d established some ground rules: Never accept drinks from strangers. Never leave your glass unattended. And you’re never, ever allowed to drink something out of a bottle you didn’t open yourself. Rune knew this too, of course, but what was he doing? Sipping straight from a cocktail that came from a shady bartender. Fucking idiot.
Before Rune could even start bringing the straw towards his lips, Brand was by his side. Without a word, he took it from him and spilled it on a vase.
“Hey! I was going to drink that,” he said,
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Rune. I’ll bring you something else,” Brand said with a smile. “Maybe a mug of drain cleaner? At least that’ll kill you quick and then I won’t have to worry about you doing anymore stupid shit.”
Rune gave the other scion a look that tried to convey something like see what I have to suffer? Then he turned to his Companion with a condescending smile. “It’s a party, Brand, you could try relaxing for once.”
Rune’s posture as he lounged against the wall, that bit of hair obscuring one of his eyes and the crooked smirk, it was all part of what Brand liked to call “Cool Rune”. It was the pose he adopted every time they went out, as a way of trying to cultivate his image of a rich bad boy. Apparently, it was working on the other guy, who was shamelessly checking him out. To Brand, however, Rune just managed to look like a petulant child.
“I’ll start enjoying myself when you stop giving me reasons to stress about your poor life choices,” and before Rune could say anything else, he turned and started walking towards his former spot.
As if the universe was trying to mock him, the DJ started blasting the Vengaboys. While the dancefloor went crazy, Brand felt a headache starting to form between his temples—he needed to get out of there before they moved on to Aqua. Instead of returning to the bar, he made a detour towards the patio. There, Rune would still be visible from the window and he’d be able to put glass between him and that godsforsaken beat. He was just a few feet away from freedom, when he felt a rush of emotion coming from the Companion bond. Startled, he looked at Rune again, fearing something had happened to him. He was just where he’d left him, still with the same guy, but now wearing a faraway look on his face. Brand followed his gaze and immediately realized what was bothering him.
Geoffrey had finally made an appearance, but he wasn’t alone. He stood on the edge of the dancefloor with a very pretty girl. More than stand, both seemed to be leaning against each other; her arms on his chest, one of his around her waist, playing with the bottom of her shirt, and the other on her shoulder. She kept smiling as he whispered something in her ear, face almost buried in her hair. Brand had no idea who she was, but there was something he was sure about: those two were definitely more than friends.
Returning his gaze to Rune, he was just in time to catch him leaving. Without wasting a second, he followed him through the crowd towards the patio. Even through his worry, Brand couldn’t help but feel relief at the opportunity to get away. The exterior was just as crowded as the inside of the house, so Rune kept going until he reached the edge of the garden. There were fewer people there, just a couple talking by the edge of the pool and someone passed out on one of those reclining deck chairs. Rune plopped down on a free chair and put his face between his hands.
“Rune?” Brans asked tentatively as soon as he reached him. He crouched in front of him and put a hand on each of Rune’s knees. That made him look up. Thankfully, he wasn’t crying. “Talk to me.”
But Rune wouldn’t even look at him. “It’s stupid,” he said.
“Probably, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter or that I don’t want to hear it.”
That, at least, made him laugh. Brand got up and made Rune scoot over so he could sit next to him, looking towards the pool. Then he nudged him on the shoulder, encouraging him to speak.
“Okay, I’ll tell you. I warned you it’s stupid though,” he looked absolutely mortified, which made Brand feel a surge of affection for him. This was the Rune he’d grown up with, the awkward teen struggling to talk about his feelings. This was the most important person in his life, not the version of himself he'd created for other people. “It’s just that I wasn’t prepared to see Geoff with that girl. I thought we were serious…”
“The fact you two aren’t exclusive doesn’t mean he’s not serious though,” Brand said frowning, trying to understand.
“I know that, but he didn’t tell me anything about seeing other people! And she’s a girl, and you know how the Temperance Court is…” Rune sighed, burying his face in his hands again. “What if I’m just an experiment to him?”
“You really like him,” Bran mused. Still avoiding his gaze, Rune nodded. Trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach, Brand attempted to figure out how the fuck you were supposed to handle these types of situations. “Have you tried… talking to him about it?”
That made Rune look up; his expression wasn’t at all amused. “Really? That’s all you’ve got?”
“What? I’m sure I read somewhere that communication is the key to every relationship, or something like that.”
“Where? Seventeen magazine?”
“Fuck you, you’re the one with boy problems,” he retorted, looking the other way so Rune wouldn’t see him blush.
“Yeah, but I can’t just go and talk to him about it. What would I say? Hey, Geoff, I saw you getting cozy with a girl even though you never told me you had another partner and I thought we were kind of serious, what’s that about?”
“That sounds like a good place to start.”
Rune gave an exasperated groan. “That’s not how stuff works, Brand.”
“Says who?”
“The teenage experience.”
Brand rolled his eyes. “If all the stupid shit you do is what you call ‘the teenage experience’, then I think I’ll pass.”
Rune didn’t answer. Instead, he shrugged and took something out of his pocket. Brand didn’t notice what it was until he put it in his mouth and started fumbling with a lighter. He didn’t know why it shocked him so much to see Rune with a cigarette—after all, he’d smoked weed in front of him plenty of times. But cigarettes were different. They weren’t just a party thing, merely another of “Cool Rune’s” little quirks, but an adult thing. Smoking was something that people like Lord Sun did during their important meetings, or workers indulged in after a long day.
“Since when do you smoke?” he asked calmly.
“I don’t know, last week maybe? It relaxes me.”
It was starting to get worrisome, the number of things he didn’t know about Rune. When had it started becoming a trend?
“Well, not anymore,” he said, taking the cigarette and, in one quick motion, throwing it into the pool. “Now give me the pack.”
Rune look scandalized at Brand’s outstretched palm. “No fucking way!”
“Do you want to have yellow teeth and die of lung disease?”
“It’s none of your business!”
“It is, if I can’t save you someday because you don’t have the lung capacity to run properly,” Brand said, more than a little annoyed. “Now give me that pack or I’ll fucking wrestle you for it.”
“Don’t you dare.”
After a challenge like that, how could Brand resist? He threw himself over Rune, taking them both down to the grass. It was wet, probably staining their clothes, but none of them seemed to care. Both rolled on the ground; Brand, trying to get to Rune’s pockets to snatch the cigarettes; Rune, kicking and slapping and doing anything to get his Companion off him. It was a full-on brawl, but the pair was laughing so hard it didn’t last more than a few minutes. Finally, Brand managed to extricate the pack from Rune’s pocket. He put one of his arms over Rune’s chest, to keep him in place, and with the other he threw the cigarettes into the pool.
“You’re the worst,” Rune said, slightly out of breath.
“You’ll thank me next time we go for a run.”
“I doubt it.” He was frowning, but Brand had no trouble seeing the glint of amusement in his eyes. Even with the dim light coming from the house, Rune’s irises seemed an impossible color; a mix of green, blue and even some brown, all combined together in a way that made them appear gray.
Brand’s witty response dyed inside his throat, as he was made suddenly aware of his body over Rune’s, of their nearness. They were physical people, always all over each other, then why did this feel so different? Why was Brand suddenly aware of every inch of contact with Rune’s body, their breath mingling, the curve of his lips? The silence that followed felt charged, stretching as they looked at each other. Brand felt like his brain had fogged up, no longer able of rational thought. If left to his own devices, he’d probably done something really stupid, something he'd probably regret. Thankfully, someone interrupted them.
“Rune?” A shadow loomed over them, blocking the light coming from the house.
Brand recognized Geoffrey’s voice and immediately leapt to his feet. Rune, however, seemed to be stuck to the ground, at a loss for words. Given that he didn’t look ready to react yet, Brand decided to give him a hand by helping him up. Once he was vertical again, he stared at Brand with a dazed expression on his face. Only when he turned to Geoffrey did he seem to get a grip on himself. In the blink of an eye, the flustered Rune had disappeared and given way to his cool boy persona; hands in his pockets, heavy lidded eyes and an indifferent expression. He still didn’t say anything, but this time it was deliberate.
“Can we talk?” Geoffrey continued, flashing a dashing smile.
Rune shrugged, but took a step towards him. Then, he seemed to remember Brand and turned around. “I’ll be back in a bit,” he said.
Every instinct told Brand to follow him; he didn’t trust Geoffrey and he certainly didn’t like how Rune acted around him. Yet, Rune was his own person and, Companion or not, Brand had a duty to respect that, to give him privacy when he needed it. As long as he was being safe, Rune had the right to live his life, make mistakes and make decisions on his own.
“Scream if you’re in trouble, I’ll be around,” was his only answer.
“I’ll come looking for you when we’re done,” and, with a wink, he turned around and followed Geoffrey towards the house.
With a sigh, Brand watched the two of them walking away. He just stood there for a moment, before shaking his head and heading towards the pool again. The deck chair felt cold without Rune by his side. He stared into the pool, the turquoise light stirring memories from the past. When, years ago, he’d been with Rune near a pool just like this, and they’d had their first kiss. They’d never talked about it, never attempted to repeat it, and Brand had tried to erase it from his mind. But that night, as he’d lied over Rune, staring into his deceptively grey eyes, he’d wanted to do it again.
Brand lied down on the chair, raking his hands through his hair. What the fuck was wrong with him? Rune was his scion, and he his Companion, anything else was hormones and wishful thinking. Even if Rune had started drifting away, their bond was too precious to muddle it with his stupid feelings. And what was this sudden obsession with kissing anyways? Okay, it was nice, but he didn't need to do it with Rune. Not with all the trouble it would certainly bring. He didn't really need the physical stuff, right? As long as he loved him, Brand could deal with Rune being romantically involved with someone else. Even if that someone was a dick. The weird sensation in his stomach, this mix of warmth and nerves he got when he looked at Rune sometimes, that was just a phase. It will pass, he repeated to himself over and over, as he looked at the stars.
Staying by his side, that was enough.
It would have to be enough.