✹ A Cold Call to Catch a Body Over ✹
Followup To: Here
”Text From Aelius”
You going to be home tonight? Should I order food or make something?
The text got read, lingered unanswered for the moment —
A longer moment, actually, as Waru extricated himself from a too sticky piece of double sided tape; tongue pinched between his teeth as if he were deeply thinking the words over. Would he be staying or just stopping by for dinner? That was the real question. The one he had to ask himself as he sat on the floor of his roughly renovated, cozily ramshackle, shoebox of a home away from home.
His own personal domicile. Only haphazardly lived in; a place to sleep alone on the rare nights he’d pissed all possible party’s off enough that he had to dog-house his own damn self for his own fool good.
It also served as extra storage for personal things, a good place for a lazy date night with those closest to him, and in this case? It was the place he was keeping all the teams presents at. Where better to hide them all than here? He was sure it was the last place anyone would ever look!! So sure, in fact, that he’d sequestered himself away there the entire day….
It felt good to get something nice done, to sort bows, and wrapping, and pick a color of flammable that he knew would light up stunningly in Faustites hands — to get something nice for Muri, finally.
His screen flashed again in reminder and he cursed himself for only now remembering the text he’d received and yet to answer!
Quote:
‘Sup!’ Winking heart emoji, bicep, flowers.
‘I can do dinner —‘ *several* people eating food gifs.
‘And you’ woman licking her lips gif.
‘I can do dinner —‘ *several* people eating food gifs.
‘And you’ woman licking her lips gif.
And he was being well behaved!! He even held himself back from the more obscene options, tempting as they were to send. This was supposed to be a more simplified reply after all!
Who knew where Aelius was while he was getting these—
Quote:
‘We should cook something together —‘ groceries emoji’s,
The one Aelius couldn't know existed—
Because good pointe shoes were expensive — and Aelius’s other pairs were — gods — old — he knew dancers liked them broken in, but there had to be a limit to that sort of thing, right? And he wanted to give them to the boy before his next big showing! So, before Christmas — which meant soon — and —
Quote:
‘I’ll meet you at your place. Be there soon!’ A slew of purple hearts on fire.
There, sent!
The messages went through — the read sign never flicked over — but he wasn’t paying attention enough to have seen that. Already on the move to unwind himself from the pile of scrap wrappings, scissors, and opened packaging. He could clean it all up later, right now? He raided his fridge for produce, the cabinets for dry goods, he was in the mood for rice and meat and —everything got chucked into a grocery tote that reminded him of Ilmari with its colors. Then it was: coat, beanie, shoes — holy ******** it was cold outside!! Waru thought eating in at Aelius place might be for the best, that he could eek out hours of warming the place up over the stove.
He made it as far as the abandoned gas station before he was powering up and teleporting out —
Cheating? Absolutely. But more than worth it to beat Aelius to his apparent! Stepping out of the gas station and onto an adjacent fire-escape rusted down the south side of a dingy alley, a mere block from the place he kept swearing he wouldn’t blink in and out of anymore — even if the dropping chill in the air bit at his exposed face meanly.
Waru snickered to himself, his joy for beating Aelius home glowing on his face, thus, he thought, could make for a very nice surprise. As what he’d brought with him got laid out, prepped under the watchful gaze of head chef Odette — his fourth best Mau in waiting madame Beans; Aelius' future bonded, he was sure.
As the time ticked on he started cooking, expecting Aelius to come through the door.
Beans got fed before he did—
Got fresh water —
And if Aelius was running late due to class, or the weather, or —
And as his wait rolled on he found himself actively tidying things up. Because thirty minutes in with no signs of Aelius coming home meant that he probably had somewhere from forty to an hour and — the food could sit warm awhile on the stove — the various throws could get cycled into a wash, and the clean ones fluffed in a dryer. He could pull the couch cushions up and throw a few of Beans missing toys out and any wadded tissues away and —
The journal and its matching pen were an unexpected find, tucked deeply beneath a pillow and slipped down into the seat in a way that seemed purposeful. He’d seen Aelius reading this thing before — writing in it — he knew better than to…..
Beans quickly became his accomplice in crime, curled atop his thighs, purring daintily as his large fingers buried in her scruff, petting her over almost roughly while he oozed nervous tension. His unease was obvious, the way he held himself as he read through the pages stiffly, instead of lounged back on the hastily remade sofa. This wasn’t for his eyes. He wasn’t meant to read *any* of this. He almost wished he couldn’t; that he were truly dumb, deaf, and blind enough to deny the mere existence of neat and legible words all across smartly dated pages.
This was private—
Yes, even the mundane grocery lists, dates that meant nothing to him, times of jobs, and — a ******** catch all journal is what this was. But no one scribble eased a sigh or a laugh out of him before another hit him like a hammer square in his chest.
“Jeezus — oh Aelius — s**t — I — and I could’ve gotten the cat food that day….I would’ve held you if you’d asked— and —******** me…”
I shouldn’t be reading this!!
He needed to put the journal down, snapped it closed with one hand like it’d branded his eyes. It took strength to actually set the thing down gently on the couch before checking his phone again and talking to Beans with wry amusement, like he ha expected the cat to answer. “Least he likes you, huh Beans? You’re gonna have to start picking up that black star n talking schtic real quick tho — gotta solve this Odette or Beans issue asap…huh girl? N’s**t, speaking of issues….”
He’d only just now realized the time, the particular pitch of night beyond the closed blinds and lit kitchenette. He was only low looking back at his phone like it’d betrayed him — because not a damn thing he’d sent had been read, which? Rude. But then when his first call went to voicemail, and every subsequent one after that—
“The ******** even are you…why invite me over if you’re gonna just…you’re okay right? Is it because I didn’t say if I was staying over — I should’ve clarified — I’m sorry if I missed you — did you even get my texts? I’m guessing your phone must have died — could you please call me back when you get any of these and — Ah — delete the rest — ” Huffing at himself as his sudden need to stand sent Beans mrowping to the floor grumpily, her warm seat dislodged. He wasn’t panicking, not yet. He wasn’t mad. Not yet. He didn’t believe in his heart Aelius would stand him up on purpose, not like this. He knew it could be that the poor guy had gotten sidelined at the studio? At a shoot? At —
It was everything staying unanswered that gnawed at his insides.
He called again— only this time the cold repetitive ‘leave a message’ and blaring beeps were enough to spur him into another kind of action. He already knew most of the places Aelius clearly wasn’t! He just had to weed out a few more—
Except every call went unanswered —
He wasn’t at the studio. He wasn’t staying late at work. He wasn’t —-
Quote:
’Hey elder dragon, is your baby bro with you?’
This wasn’t how he wanted to have any kind of talk with Fafnir — with Trey — not with the night crawling on and certain I discussed truths sitting undisturbed between them like potential landmines.
A car crystal could only assuage so many rubbed backwards feelings after all, but if there was even a chance Aelius was staying over? What with Trey moving up in the world and rocking the ‘Future CEO’ look with ******** it—Beans! I’ll be back later, kay baby? Don’t — uh — touch the stove while I’m gone, yeah? Or grow thumbs…you just…” And all his promises on when and where he’d use his powers were quickly forgotten, because he wasn’t waiting for a reply as he shot a secondary warning text in Trey's direction.
Quote:
‘By the way I’m in ur garage — if I don’t hear back in five ur gonna find me in ur bedroom—’
Or — the chance that Trey would know where Aelius was, and then he’d be relieved for it, and then they could tease and chide him for being reckless and silly. Maybe even go out to eat instead of reheating what had long since gone cold in a pan…
