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Cellbit cannot help but find himself coming back here, time and time again.
The clock ticks lazily- -tick, tick, tick --and the disconcertingly blue vines wrap up the walls and Cellbit finds himself unable to focus, pen scratching lazily against paper in tune with the agonizingly slow second hand. Tick, tick, tick.
And then, the phone on the desk rings.
This is unusual for a few reasons. First of all, it’s almost midnight, and Cellbit isn’t sure who would be calling him at this hour. Second of all, Cellbit doesn’t know why they would call here, when he has a communicator that works perfectly well, with a translator and a map and a little spider keychain and the whole nine yards.
Third of all, Cellbit didn’t even know that phone worked. He thought it was a decoration piece.
His hand hovers over the receiver for a moment, and then he stops, cursing himself mentally and momentarily for being so gung-ho. He has no reason to believe the call is even for him. He has no reason to believe the call should be for him. A mysterious phone, ringing in the middle of the night, in the clone of the Federation office in his basement he didn’t even build himself? Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, Cellbit.
He picks up the phone.
“Hello?” He asks. It comes out incredibly shaky, voice worn with nerves and fatigue both. He clears his throat and tries again, rolling his shoulders back and trying to sit up a bit straighter. “ Hello?”
“Hi, Cellbit?”
Well, that’s unexpected. Cellbit blinks the (lack of) sleep out of his eyes, placing his chin in his free hand and staring at the wall. “Jaiden. It’s, ah…” He turns around in his chair briefly, staring at the clock on the wall a second longer than someone who was more rested maybe would have had to. He’s going to snap that second hand in half. “It’s after midnight.”
Perhaps he should say something more, like Is everything okay? The urge to say Que diabos está acontecendo, why are you calling me at midnight? is stronger, but he pushes it down.
“It sure is.” She says it with the same amount of cheer that usually accompanies her words, even these days. These days, Cellbit finds himself wondering how much of it she means. “Thought you’d be up.
“Ah, you know me well.” Cellbit scratches the back of his neck. “Is there, um,” he swallows, “any reason you’re calling?”
“I want to talk to you about something.” Her words spill out suddenly, rapidly. And then, with the same haste; “Can you meet me at Bobby Fields?”
This night gets stranger and stranger. Cellbit wonders if he’s having another hyper-vivid dream. He wonders if this is a trap. Fumbling over question after question about why she would invite him there, he eventually comes up with “All that way? At night? I don’t--ah, “é uma péssima ideia.”
“I’ll come and get you.” Clearly, she’s not controlling what she’s saying, judging by both her still-fast tone and the absolutely nonsensicality of her words. “It’ll be fine. It’s not that far! We’ll be fine. I’m safe, meu amigo!”
That’s what you think, Cellbit can’t help but think, his ear twitching in distaste.
Still, something wins him over. His deathly curiosity, maybe, the closest friend and finest enemy of his paranoia. “Okay, okay, concordo. I’m coming.” He hangs up the phone without much more pretense, studying it curiously. He’s going to have to keep an eye on that thing. A phone with no caller ID? Such things were dangerous.
He double, triple locks the door behind him on the way out for safety. His hands twitch as he passes the clock, but for today at least, he resists the urge to rip it off the wall.
“Olá!” Jaiden waves cheerfully. She seems to have reached the castle unscathed. There is, at the very least, that. Cellbit feels his shoulders relax in relief. “Let’s walk.”
“So.” Jaiden says, Cellbit taking acute attention to the way the grass crunches under their feet. “I wanted to--”
Cellbit waves her off. “Let’s wait until we’re there.” He pulls his coat a little tighter around himself, popping the collar.
“You look like a silly detective when you do that.” Jaiden huffs. “We’re supposed to just walk in silence?”
“Maybe I am a silly detective. I can be a silly detective.” Cellbit’s nose wrinkles. He makes no attempts to prove his silly detective prowess. They walk in silence the rest of the way.
He’s loath to admit it, but curiosity has been eating at Cellbit the entire time they’ve walked. By the time they arrive, he practically wants to shout.
“Vamos, desembucha! What is it?”
“Hey, hey!” Jaiden laughs. “You’re the one who told me to wait! Keep it down.”
Cellbit takes a minute to inhale, exhale, and take in the surroundings. It had been a while since Cellbit had been here. He watches the way the roses and the leaves sway in the wind, but mostly he watches Jaiden watching the roses and the leaves. She looks…contented. Nothing more, nothing less, and a far cry from her frantic tone on the phone. She’s an enigma, that’s for sure.
He doesn’t have to probe again. It’s her that brings it up. “I wanted to talk about Roier.”
“Que-- Roier ?” Cellbit blinks incredulously. His eyes scan the front porch frantically, as if he’s expecting his husband to pop out from behind a bush with a bottle of champagne.
“Yeah. Roier.” Jaiden emphasizes. “Come--we should come inside. I’ll make us some tea.”
“Is Roier in there?” Cellbit asks, and Jaiden must think he’s making a dumb expression, or something, because she laughs and nudges into his side.
“You are silly. Roier’s asleep. It’s like, one in the morning or something. Come on.” She holds the door open, and he follows her inside. She reaches her hand out, presumably for his coat, but he takes a step away from her, shaking his head. Jaiden takes it in stride, shrugging and removing her own coat. Her wings fluff out behind her, stretching in the heat of the fireplace, and she smiles at him. How she manages to walk around like this--free, easy--Cellbit doesn’t know. It’s not jealousy he feels. It is something, though, that’s for sure.
“So…” Cellbit takes a seat at the table as Jaiden opens the cupboard. “Roier.”
“Your husband.” Jaiden says, looking over her shoulder with a wink. Cellbit watches her put the kettle on the stove.
“Your life partner.” He says back. He tries to exude Jaiden’s energy as he says it; light, easy, carefree--but it doesn’t work. It comes out stinted and awkward, and Jaiden notices. Turning around, she raises an eyebrow at him, her wings assisting as she jumps up to sit on the counter.
“Okay. That’s new.”
“Eh..not new, no. You have been together for a very long time, no?”
“That’s not what I meant, silly.” Jaiden’s legs start swinging, and Cellbit has to admit, it makes him feel much better about the way his own leg is furiously bouncing under the table. “Why are you so on edge? You’re not--”
“No, no, claro que não. It’s not like that.”
“You don’t even know what I was about to say.”
“I’m not jealous.” Cellbit finds it a little easier, somehow, to make this come out simply. No, he’s not envious of what Jaiden and Roier have in the slightest. Their relationship is different than that of him and his husband, and Cellbit has known that for a very long time. So if that’s what this accusation is--well, all families have drama like this, do they not?--they can put it to rest, and everything will be okay, and Cellbit can go home and get something that isn’t sleep.
“See? There you go again, silly . I never said you were.”
Well. There goes that hypothesis. Cellbit’s throat feels dry. He’s not too sure what he’s supposed to say next, and simply blinks up at Jaiden until the kettle dings, and then she’s pulling cups from the cupboard as if this isn’t the tensest conversation he’s had in months, and that’s saying something. “How do you want it?”
“Lots of milk. Por favor.”
Jaiden fills up the cup and slides it over, and Cellbit takes a sip. It’s good. It reminds him of the early days--in Jaiden’s old house, laughter over their little table, with Roier kissing him silly with tea-stained lips and Bobby throwing sugar cubes at his head. His frown deepens.
“What’re you thinking about?” Jaiden hops off the counter and into a seat next to Cellbit. There’s a long stretch of silence before Cellbit speaks.
“Us. The old days.” He finds himself finally admitting, ears folding in and head hanging low. “Before everything got so…. complicated.”
“That’s…partially what I wanted to talk about.”
“I thought you said you wanted to talk about Roier.”
“I do want to talk about Roier. I want to talk about all of us.” Jaiden reaches a hand across the table, palm-up, and Cellbit takes it. “And the old days.”
“You hated me at first.”
“Woah!” Jaiden laughs, loud and emphatic, and leans back in her chair. “Strong words!”
“They’re true!”
Jaiden looks at him as though she’s studying him. Furrowed eyebrows, mouth hanging slightly open, he must look like a pouty teenager.
“You’re not joking, are you?” She asks. She’s slowed her tone down, like she’s really thinking about everything she’s saying.
“I'm joking a little bit?”
“Cellbit, I never hated you.” Jaiden emphasizes, sincere. “Maybe I was….” She pauses for a moment, thinking. “Maybe I was a little wary, sure! You said so yourself, we’d been together for a while! Not like there isn’t a lot to be scared of around here.”
Cellbit feels his breath constrict in his chest and goosebumps rise on his arms. His eyes dart to his periphery, almost in a flinch. He’s only brought back to himself by a small squeezing sensation in his right hand, where he eventually realizes Jaiden is still holding it.
“But I’m not scared of you. I’m not scared of us. We’re family, queirdo. Sorry it took me a little bit to see that.”
Cellbit’s eyes snap back to Jaiden. “Is that what this is? An apology?” He thinks (hopes) he sounds more bewildered about that than demanding. He hasn’t the faintest idea what Jaiden has to apologize for, not really.
“Not what it was supposed to be.” Jaiden says. “I just thought maybe you needed to hear that.”
“I know, Jaiden…tudo bem, tudo bem.” Cellbit sighs.
“I know you know.” Jaiden smiles, nudging him across the table.The smile, the easy demeanor, returns to her, like it had never even been gone. “Do you miss the old days?”
“Yes. I thought I made that very clear.”
“I do too.” Jaiden smiles, but it's wistful. “Do you remember when we used to have tea parties just like this? And you would insist we made you coffee instead! And then we’d find you bouncing off the walls at 4 in the morning.” She leans back in her chair, stifling a laugh.
“Ah, you would cut me off! Say you were going to…” He snaps a few times, trying to remember. “Send me to rehab, meu deus.”
“And Roier would--”
In unison, laughter breaks over the kitchen. Jaiden uses her wings to steady herself, close to falling out of the chair altogether, and Cellbit buries his head in his hands. “Try to see how many sugar cubes he could fit in his mouth.”
“Sh, shhh..we’ll wake him up.” At this point, Cellbit has to bite down on his hand to stop from laughing any harder. He’s on the verge of tears when he straightens back up.
“How is he, then?”
“We’ve been okay.” Jaiden sighs. “Have you not…talked to him? In…”
“A few days.” Cellbit admits uneasily, shifting in his chair. “I’ve been..lots going on. Muito, muito ocupado.”
“I know.” Jaiden says, running her finger along the rim of a now empty cup. “That’s why he asked me to call you.”
“Wh-- he asked you?”
“Thought I could get through to you.” Jaiden leans over the table, chin in her palms. “I told you, I don’t think you’re jealous…but something’s wrong. We can tell. What is it?”
Cellbit stares at the floor.
“Are you…you seem a little freaked, Cellbit.”
“No.” Now it’s Cellbit who can’t stop the words from coming out. “No, no--Não, não…Not freaked, nothing to be--”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Jaiden says with a soft smile, “but you’re shaking.”
“Why did you--why am I--Roier told you to call me?” He babbles on, the words spilling over without his control.
“He was worried about you, querido.” There’s a slight pause, occupied only by the hasty rise and fall of Cellbit’s chest. “And…I’m starting to be a little freaked out, too.”
“Why do you have this--who is this tea for? Where did you get this? Is it for Cucurucho? I’ve seen you with it!”
“Woah--woahwoah, what?” Jaiden’s eyebrows furrow, and she suddenly releases Cellbit’s hand. “What are you saying?”
“Why do you want to talk about Roier!?”
“Cellbit, please keep it--”
“ Why have I seen you with Cucurucho?”
“ Cellbit-- ”
“I don’t know if I can trust--”
“You don’t know if you can trust …”
Jaiden’s words are starting to turn to static in his ears, which are twitching wildly. His heart is taking a hammer to the walls of his chest, the boom, boom, boom louder than the ticking of any second hand. Cellbit clutches his chest with one hand, his hair with the other as his vision blurs. Steady, steady, steady, Cell, he tells himself. Don’t let them in. Don’t let them know you.
He feels a tight, encompassing pressure around him, and almost hurls his guts where he stands. Don’t let them touch you, don’t let them--
Oh. He’s being hugged.
He blinks back to himself, shaking his head just a bit and looking down at Jaiden. She’s got her head pressed against his chest, wings fluffed to their fullest capacity and encasing the both of them. After a very long moment of nothing at all, Cellbit exhales and places his head into her hair, breathing in and out.
“I know.” Jaiden says softly. “I know.”
It’s a lot to remind himself. It’s a lot to think about. The sentiment weighs heavier than even his own paranoia on his shoulders. “I know…you know.” Cellbit says awkwardly. And then, after a moment; “Brigado, viu?”
“Mmmhm.” Jaiden replies. She doesn’t move from the position when she asks, very softly, “Do you trust me?”
Cellbit takes a moment with the sentiment. You made us tea, he thinks but doesn’t vocalize. Escorted me home. Reminded me of the old days. He has no reason not to trust Jaiden, except he has a million and one reasons not to trust Jaiden.
He just doesn’t know which of those are more important.
“I don’t know.” Cellbit starts weakly, and he can feel Jaiden’s breath hitch underneath him. It crushes him like an anvil. It also gives him the reassurance to go on. “I don’t know what you're planning, but I believe in you. I trust you. We are family, querida. Just like you said.”
“I’m glad you think so.” Jaiden says. It sounds like she wants to say more, but doesn’t entirely know how. It’s a feeling Cellbit can sympathize with deeply. He doesn’t press for more.
“Did Roier want you to hug me?” Cellbit says, stifling a laugh.
“He didn’t say that exactly.” Jaiden laughs lightly. “But…I’m glad I got to anyway.”
“Do you want to let go now?”
“Not really.”
Cellbit only hums in response. “Ah, but… sinto-me desconfortável , my leg is falling asleep.”
“I think all of you should be falling asleep.”
“Que…”
“You’re so silly . I’m not letting go until you agree to go to bed.”
“But Jaiden --”
“No buts! If you don’t--
“Eyyy, Mi Familia, is it a cuddle party down here?”
Thank god. Speak of the devil. Both can be true at once. Cellbit’s head whips around to face his husband, in his oversized t-shirt and pajama pants covered in little web prints, and stifles a laugh. Jaiden’s arms finally release him and she runs to Roier, wings flapping in excitement, and practically hangs off his neck. “You all are cuddling without me?”
“Ah, guapito,” we don’t mean to leave you out.” Cellbit crosses to where Jaiden and Roier stand, giving Roier a quick kiss before hanging off his other side.
“Ey, ahora es una fiesta!” Roier runs a hand through Cellbit’s hair, settling it behind his ears.
“Guapito, I missed you.” Celbit mutters.
“Missed--It is you that never comes by here! What do you mean?”
“Isn’t he silly?” Jaiden laughs, reaching over to tap Cellbit on his nose, which wrinkles.
“I wish you would stop calling me that.”
“Silly? No, he is very silly!” Roier smiles at Jaiden, wide as the sun. “Gathino tonto!”
“Gathino tonto?” Jaiden asks. When repeated by Roier, she mimics the words, and then she and Roier are both saying it in repetitive unison. This, despite Cellbit’s valiant protests, goes on for what feels like an hour but is probably only a minute or two.
“What time is it?” Jaiden says once they have stopped tormenting him, scratches the back of her neck. Cellbit catches the view of the clock above the stove that, graciously, doesn’t tick. 2:07 AM.
“Oh boy.” Roier exhales, following his gaze. “Dios Mio, we need sleep. Come on, familia tonto.” He starts to ascend the stairs with little more fluff, but Cellbit stops Jaiden before she can follow him up.
“Um minuto.”
Jaiden looks at him curiously once they’re once again alone, and Cellbit exhales shakily. “Thank you for calling me.” He says
“Thank your husband.” Jaiden laughs.
“Well--” Cellbit tries again. “Thank you for the tea. And thank you for the hug.”
“ Oh, Cellbit.” Jaiden says, somewhere between giggly and sincere. “You can come to me for a good hug anytime, okay?”
“Okay.” Cellbit says. The tension in his shoulders releases some and he takes one last deep breath, inhaling the warmth of the fireplace, the lingering tea on the table, and the scent of roses wafting in through the window. “Let’s get some sleep.”