It was his day off, so Anri hadn’t set an alarm, which meant he slept in super late, even for him. Waking up to a long-empty bed filled him with disappointment, tinged with mild relief. He still wasn’t sure how to be with to Seth, it was all so new. And now, here he was, approximately twelve hours after dodged Seth’s question about living together, waking up in his bed. He wasn’t sure how it made him feel, to be honest.
Apparently Simone and Raum had left sometime before he woke as well. He wasn’t sure if they left together or went their own ways. He texted Simone, but her phone was here, he heard it chirp as it received his message. He had the whole house to himself, and it made him antsy.
Well, there was Seth’s spider-cat demon, which was probably prowling around the house. Shivering, he checked the ceiling, assuming it must be around somewhere.
Someone, probably Raum, left a mess of the kitchen. Empty cracker and dried fruit packaging littered the table, an empty can of nuts was spilled on the floor, it’s salty crumbs all spread around. Anri rolled his eyes and cleaned up the mess.
Seth had practically no food in the house. He cracked open the refrigerator door. It was ‘I don’t know how to cook’ kind of empty.
He scowled, then gasped as Seth’s intense sucker punched him through their already throttled connection. It flowed through him, turning his own antsy-ness and unease into anger. In a small part of his mind h e recognized that it wasn’t his anger, but that didn’t make it any easier to control.
Though the anger was Seth’s, he couldn’t help but radiate it back. It had something to do with Lance, he was sure of it. Even being ashamed of the jealousy in regards to Lance, even knowing that Seth was his, it didn’t change how he felt since Lance had had the gaul to touch their connection yesterday.
His anger shut down instantly as the breath was knocked out of him, Seth slamming their connection fully shut. Unnerved, he ran down the steps for his phone, which he left beside the bed. A text from Seth was waiting for him. Sorry I didn’t leave a note. At school. Home at four.
Anri frowned. Home at four? He had, he checked the time on his phone again, nearly four hours to kill before Seth came back. He replied to Seth’s text, Everything okay? Do I have to come kick Lance’s ass for making you mad? Going shopping. You have no food. It’s weird to be here without you.
His nethers ached from their interrupted tryst the night before as he scratched himself idly, waiting for Seth’s response. Just the thought of what they had done last night, before all the craziness had him longing for Seth. Longing to touch him, to hold him, to be held by him. Anri sighed. There was no going back, now. Seth was all he could think about, all he wanted, despite being a man, or a Wren. None of that mattered, all he wanted was Seth.
He didn’t know the area, so he had to Google how to get to the closest grocery store. It wasn’t that far, luckily, since there were no cars available and he couldn’t magically teleport himself everywhere when Seth wasn’t around. He half thought about asking Joro, but then decided he’d rather not know where the creature was, much less ask it for a favor.
As he walked to the grocery store, the absence of their connection itched at his chest, making him worry about his Wren. What had happened to make him so angry? Why hadn’t he opened the connection yet?
Those thoughts had him filled with worry, so he pushed them away, knowing there was nothing he could do to change the situation until he talked to Seth, who still hadn’t replied to him. Instead, he focused his thoughts on other things, like, if he was really going to live with Seth now. If they were going to share a bed together. Shit, he hadn’t lived with anyone else like this, like ‘relationship’ live together ever.
Despite that, he found he wanted it more than he’d wanted anything, other than Seth, in a while. He mulled over what living with Seth would be like during the majority of the shopping. By the time he was walking back to Seth’s house he had made a decision, lugging four overfilled grocery bags, the plastic handles digging into his palms. Anywhere with Seth was where he wanted to be, where he would call home. It felt right.
He was mostly done putting the groceries where he hoped they might belong when Simone stormed in with Raum on her heels. They had left together, one mystery solved. Anri had mildly hoped that Raum had left again for good, but he knew it was deep down that probably wasn’t true. Sometimes he hated being right.
“Raum, I swear to whatever god you hold dear, if you don’t get away from me right now, I will cut you. Or something. I will hurt you. I just need…to not be around you for the rest of forever,” his sister half yelled, storming into the house. She dropped three small boxes, all stacked together, on one of affronts to modern furniture Seth called couches before turning and storming out the door again, pushing Raum aside with her shoulder.
Anri nearly laughed at the look on Raum’s face, which oscillated between amusement to annoyance and back. He almost looked at his sister…affectionately. Raum liked his sister? No way.
Raum put down two bulging white trash bags next to the couch and followed back Simone out to the car. Even through the closed front door Anri could hear her yelling at him for following her.
Two more trips nearly identical trips and Simone was moved into Seth’s house. Anri hung back, lurking in the kitchen, afraid to offer help for fear of garnering Simone’s misplaced wrath. Raum brought a box of perishables, coffee supplies and Simone’s coffee pot into the kitchen and handed them to Anri. He studied Anri for a moment, then his eyes caught on a basket of apples on the counter. Wordlessly, he reached around him and grabbed an apple, making a show of biting into it with those threatening shark’s teeth before turning away.
He spent a good portion of the afternoon listening to Simone clean and tear around her new room, apparently moving into it fully. Simone had said she wouldn’t move into Seth’s house, so Raum must have said something that convinced her. Even so, she wasn’t happy about it, and she had always been good at projecting her emotions. He knew how angry she was when Rammstein started blaring from her room.
Raum, for his part, seemed to disappear. Anri knew he was probably in the other spare bedroom. Seth may not have needed a three bedroom house before, but Anri was grateful he had the extra space.
Four o’clock came and went without Seth. Trying to distract himself with his laptop and his favorite reddit feeds, catching up on the latest issues of his favorite manga, all of that did nothing to keep him from thinking about how much he missed Seth. By the time Simone stopped sharing the gift of Russian metal to lock herself in the bathroom he was practically sitting on pins and needles.
Raum breezed out shortly after Simone began showering. “Anri,” he said simply, leaning imposingly against the doorframe. The way Seth’s house flowed, there were no doors in the frames between the living room, dining room, and kitchen, just the doorless frames. Somehow Raum filled this one. How could a guy be so big? Not big fat, just big, a wall of solid muscle. Anri felt puny comparing himself. Raum could easily be a professional football something, whatever those positions were where the men looked like bulls.
“Raum,” he responded curtly, trying not to feel inferior to the demon. He had set up in the dining room, sitting so that he could both look out the big bay window on one end and the doorframe on the other. Anril noticed Raum was slightly taller than Seth, who was already about five inches taller than Anri. His black hair was twisted into a braid that, despite not being able to see from this angle, he knew landed about halfway down his back. His eyes were nearly all black. He had no idea what caused Raum’s eyes to change from normal-ish to all black, but assumed it was similar to when vampire’s eyes changed to red. He also assumed that even if asked, at best Raum would only give some vague half-answer anyway. He didn’t even bother.
Raum looked past him, out the big bay window. A scraggly looking tree stood in the yard, the branches gnarly and barren, covered in a light dusting of snow. About twenty or so crows roosted in the tree.
Anri looked at the crows, then at Raum. “Are those yours?” Had they been there a moment ago?
Raum cleared his throat. “Not mine, per say.” Of course he had a cryptic answer.
“What does that mean? Can’t you ever just answer a fucking question?” He really didn’t care, didn’t want to be distracted by Raum. Seth still wasn’t home and he hadn’t texted. It was almost five already…
“If you were to ask the right questions, perhaps my answers would be more satisfactory.” Raum studied his fingernails. The crows outside flitted through the branches of the trees.
Fine, he’d play Raum’s game, but only because Seth was driving him to distraction. “Do the crows come to you? Because you turn into one or something?” he asked, feeling foolish for entertaining Raum, even though he knew the demon wouldn’t answer him to his satisfaction. Normally he wouldn’t even bother, but he needed to keep himself from worrying about Seth, thinking on how he still hadn’t reopened their connection, or about Lance.
“They are attracted to me. They are not mine, but they are mine in that way.” Raum’s response did not fail to frustrate him.
“Whatever, Raum. If you don’t want to answer my questions, why don’t you just talk? Or, you could fucking leave us all alone. That’d be fine, too.” He turned back to his computer without actually looking at what was on the screen.
Raum tensed as they both heard Simone approaching. He slipped in the door and took a seat across from Anri, trying to look casual. A moment later Simone stalked into the kitchen, somehow moving fluidly while also coming off as menacing. He heard her moving around, visualizing her moving around the kitchen, locating a coffee mug and filling it with the coffee that Anri had made specifically for her. He already drank half a pot himself by the time she had shared the gift of Russian metal with everyone.
She walked into the dining room and sat down at the first chair in the room, directly facing the snaggly tree filled with crows. Opening her mouth, she went to say something, and instead, she sipped the coffee, testing the temperature. She sighed and drank, seeming to take solace in the beverage. Again she went to say something, but instead took a bite of an apple, chewing it thoughtfully.
“Can you do something about those birds?” she said, sounding tired. Raum shrugged, then flicked his fingers at the window and the birds went flying off, squawking their disapproval.
Simone sighed. She looked over at Anri and he leaned forward, all of his attention on her eyes. “Simone…your eyes. What’s wrong with your eyes?” he asked, his worries over his absent Wren finding a new target.
Simone looked away, hiding behind another bite of apple. Anri looked to Raum, but he was still looking out of the window, both of them obviously avoiding his gaze. Her eyes, they were filled from rim to rim with solid, glossy black, just like Raum’s were right now. Her eyes like that, it was unsettling.
“One of you will answer me,” he said firmly, tired of being in the dark about everything. Where was Seth? “What’s wrong with your eyes, Simone? Did he hurt you?”
Raum snorted. “I have promised I would not hurt her. I keep that promise, I would never harm her. It was she who-”
“Shut. Up. Raum.” Simone interrupted him, her tone pure venom.
Anri studied them both for a moment, neither of them looking at him, and suddenly he understood. “Oh. Oh! I get it. I get it! Simone, you-”
“Anni. Shut up.” she snapped. “Do not finish that thought, I’m warning you…”
“You never let yourself get blood-lusty! Fuck, you drank Raum. That’s why your eyes are black, isn’t it? Raum, why does your blood make her eyes go black?” he inquired, knowing full-well he was waltzing into Simone’s danger zone.
“Anni, I will kill you,” she fumed. Her face was red, her black eyes unreadable, and a little scary. Her wet hair was loose, she subconsciously tucked stray hairs back behind her ear. In her usual casual homewear style, her glasses were on top of her head, now she pulled them down, trying to hide her eyes behind the fogged up lenses. She scowled at the fogged lenses, then thrust them back onto her head with disdain. Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, he could tell she wanted to run, but strangely made no move to leave.
Raum watched her carefully. “I actually do not know why my blood turns her eyes as mine. I do believe it is not a permanent effect. To be honest, I have never given anyone as much blood as your sister has taken from me, though, so I cannot be entirely sure. I do not usually allow anyone to take that which is mine, and when I do give my blood, it is a single drop and only offered with a return pledge of loyalty unto death.” He shrugged. “She will probably return to normal.” He and Simone both stared daggers at Raum. “What?” the demon shrugged. “I said probably.”
Simone swirled the coffee around in her mug, her apple now eaten to the core. Anri noticed she smelled a bit different. A bit like Raum, their scents mixing. “Where’s Seth?” Simone asked, changing the subject.
He bristled. It was now five and there had still been no sign of Seth, no texts or anything. “School,” he replied shortly.
They all sat there in silence, no one really looking at anyone while time passed, tension building with each tick of the second hand on the obnoxious cuckoo clock on the wall. He was pretty sure the cuckoo didn’t work anymore, but the clock did, each second an audible tick. Anri’s mind flitted between Simone’s eyes, and the ramifications from slaking her bloodlust twice from a demon. Then it was on Seth, why was their connection still throttled? Then back to Simone. Then Seth again.
Frustration drove him to open their connection, even though he had told himself he’d wait for Seth to do it, that he’d respect Seth’s privacy. He couldn’t handle it anymore, though, he’d apologize later. Closing his eyes, he pictured their connection, touching the place on his chest where his mark was located. It flare dto life, warm in his hands, smooth like braided nylon cord. He felt for the kink that Seth had put into it earlier, finding it by touch. He slowly massaged the kink with his eyes closed, and he could feel some of the tension in his shoulders relax.
Simone gasped. Worried something else terrible was happening, more than likely Raum-related, he dropped the cord before he could fully work the kink out. He opened his eyes, sure that Raum was in some way up to no good.
Instead, both of them were staring at Anri, Simone’s mouth agape. Raum watched him with obvious curiosity. “What?” he asked, uneasy. “What’s wrong now?”
“Anni!” Simone squealed. “What is that you just did? I can see it! I could see your freaking bloodbond, Anni! What that hell! That is so cool. Do it again!”
Raum coughed into his hand. “What?!” both siblings barked together.
He shifted in his seat, uncomfortable. “To see a bound pair’s bloodbond called intentionally…that is an incredibly personal thing. It is not normally something you do before mixed company.”
“Who makes these rules!?” Simone snorted. “I think it’s awesome. Can I see it again, Anni? What were you doing? Why can’t I always see it?”
Raum’s face soured, as if they were breaking some important rule, but Anri noticed he still watched intently.
He debated for a moment if he wanted to talk about it, especially since Raum just said it was something he wasn’t supposed to do in public. Lance had already seen it, and now Simone and Raum. And…he wanted to unkink the connection and reopen himself to Seth. It was irritating him. Fuck it.
Decision made, he concentrated on the bond again and it flared to life in his hands. “Seth is late and he kinked the bond earlier. I can’t feel him like normal. I’m working out the kink,” he explained as he worked it out with his fingers.
He began to feel self conscious as they both continued to stare at him. The connection to being mostly open, and he left it at that, still with a small kink throttling it, but they were making him feel weird. Even with his eyes closed he could feel their eyes on him, making him embarrassed.
Anri let the cord slip from his fingers as Seth’s emotions began to trickle through their bond again. It disappeared into mist and Simone breathed out the breath she had been holding. Seth was annoyed and worried. And close.
They all heard the car pull into the driveway a moment later. Anri focused on his excitement at seeing Seth and tried to send it to Seth, who’s worry was growing larger by the moment. Seth’s emotions seemed to skip a beat, and he hoped it was due to him. There was a lull in the worry that felt like a smile, then the worry came flooding back.
Anri took a deep breath, prepared himself for something unpleasant. He stood up and walked to the living room, flanked by Simone and Raum.
Seth came in the door a moment later, followed by a tall, preppy-looking bleach-blonde viking. He strolled into the house as if he owned it, one hand possessively on Seth’s shoulder. Goddamnit, this was Lance. He just knew it, somehow.
Had he been jealous before, when he hadn’t even met Lance yet? That emotion was nothing compared to the acerbic emotion he felt now. Seth, feeling his emotions, pushed the man’s hand off of his shoulder and the viking’s smile faltered, just for a second, then his over confident smile was back. He had an air about him that just screamed entitlement, and he smelled like flowers and dried blood.
Anri immediately recognized the smell, though he had never smelled this particular version. Lance was an elf.
Dreadfully Erotic 