Chapter Text
Naib’s frantic yelling shatters whatever semblance of morning peace they had.
“– dude, I can’t find my locker keys!”
Eli can practically hear Norton rolling his eyes from the kitchen as he shouts back: “How the fuck are we supposed to know where your shit is???”
He shuffles behind the taller boy, brushing past his back as he reaches for a mug from the cabinets. Eli doesn’t even flinch at the onslaught of hazy images that flash across his mind’s eye before the back of his fingers leave Norton’s cotton shirt.
Brown, woodgrain, handle. Walk straight, turn right– door, floor, bed, closet floor chairtablelamp–
“Norton’s room, table on the left, next to the lamp.”
“Oh, what the hell– thanks!”
After bounding down the stairs two at a time, Naib hightails out the front door with his hood flapping behind him, keys jingling in his pocket as he goes. Behind him, seated at their fancy cedar wood dining table, a head of silver hair is buried in what looks like Eli’s own copy of H is for Hawk – Aesop must’ve swiped it from his room when he wasn’t looking. Grey eyes flick up towards Eli at the sound of the door closing.
“...And how did you know this time?”
Aesop’s voice is cool, with an almost imperceptible tinge of curiosity. Is that an undercurrent of suspicion he hears? Eli doesn’t know. For all his psychic abilities, the one thing he cannot do is read minds.
He smiles, a gentle crease across his lips. “Wasn’t Norton complaining about Naib leaving stuff around yesterday? It must have stuck. You didn’t think I’d sneak into Norton’s room just for that, right?” Norton’s inching fingers towards his mug of steeping tea have not gone unnoticed, and Eli turns his head just a fraction in response, sending Norton skittering back… and with his mug in his grasp.
Aesop’s face is carefully neutral as he says, “ Definitely didn’t take you for that sort, Clark.” as Eli snatches his mug back from Norton’s thieving hands, who only shrugs and raises his hands in surrender. Eli lets out a good-natured laugh.
“Okay, okay, I’m not gonna mess with you anymore. What the heck did I say, though?” Norton mutters, half to himself.
Blue eyes close in contentment as the first notes of earl grey waft to his nose. Eli, oblivious to Aesop’s contemplative gaze, takes a generous sip.
“Ah, don’t worry about it! That’s just a perk of having an excellent memory.”
Aesop glances not-so-discreetly at Norton and shakes his head in resignation.
“Also, Aesop, about that book. I haven’t finished reading the last chapter to Brooke Rose just yet, so once you’re done with it I’d like to have it back.”
“... okay. By the way, Campbell, why did Subedar leave his keys in your room of all places?”
“...”
“...”
“I see. I guess I do owe Mr. Clark ten dollars.”
“Aesop!”
“Wait… you guys were betting on us?! I’ll be damned, Eli, get over here–”
“Oh dear– wait, not like this! Brooke, help! ”
“– and then he said, ugh just go out with me, dipshit, and then Naib said– ”
“AAAHAAAARGHHH Eli Clark I swear you are going to regret ever being born.”
“– ahahaha…” Something white sails by his head. “Aesop, RUN!”
“Eli, I hope you know that you’re a real piece of shi – ”
“...though unorthodox, I guess Subedar took your confession sincerely after all…?”
The book in Aesop’s hands is used to deflect whatever the hell Norton just chucked at him.
“I– hey! Shut up!!! Oh my god Eli your owl is going crazy– ow, okay, I get it I get it – ”
“What I don’t get is how you expected to hide this from the two other people who live with you.” Aesop says very seriously from behind the armchair, dodging another missile aimed at his head.
Norton freezes mid-throw, a pillow clenched in his grasp. His whole face is so red. Brooke pecks at his hair once more for good measure before fleeing the scene, Eli scrambling up the stairs after her.
“You– I– I… I would have told you guys eventually!!!”
“Hmm, and how long has this been going on, I wonder…”
“ Aesop Carl you asked for it – ”
There’s a thud as the pillow hits its mark and a muffled screech.
Eli, now slouched against the inside of his room door, thunks his head against the wood and leaves it there as he slides down into a heap on the floor. He can still hear Norton’s flustered yelling… boy, that guy sure is loud … though he didn’t really feel bad about making Aesop face the brunt of it.
All by himself. Oops…?
Okay in his own defence, Aesop insisted on adding fuel to the fire. That he was left to face the consequences was his own doing.
Brooke settles into his lap quietly and begins preening. He sighs audibly as he runs his fingers through mottled brown feathers. “This is the price I have to pay, Brooke,” he laments to the bird, despite not actually being the one paying any price whatsoever.
Right after the words leave his mouth, he hears hurried footsteps and a slam of a door to his left. Ah, Aesop must have finally escaped Norton’s wrath.
The owl gives him her deadpan stare in response. He smooths down a stray feather peeking out from her head, a little sheepish. “Well, I shouldn’t have used you to snoop. Sorry about that. And thank you for coming to rescue me.” Eli reaches under her chin to stroke Brooke in recompense. Brooke, who really only arrived at the scene to cause more chaos for her master, accepted the affection with a smug hoot.
Downstairs, a defeated Norton Campbell lies face planted in the couch. He definitely didn’t try to suffocate himself by screaming into the pillow for a good minute. It’s not like his face is still burning hot from all that crap earlier.
Jesus Christ, his housemates are scoundrels. He swears he can still hear Eli talking smack about him to his bird. Whoever says Eli Clark is an angel sent down from Heaven has never had the opportunity to live with him.
Whatever. See if he does anything nice for them ever again. Norton punches the pillow once more for good measure before resuming his self-induced asphyxiation.
When Naib returns home to the state of the living room and the unmoving body on the sofa, he doesn't even bother trying to figure out what the hell happened. The first thing he does is to take three steps back and immediately leave the way he entered.