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Age 1- Happy Birthday
“...Happy Birthday Rune and Brandon~ Happy Birthday to you! Yay!”
Rune and Brandon, who had no clue what was going on, clapped happily as the song ended. A single red and orange cake sat on a pedestal in front of them. The chef had wanted to light a candle to place on the cake, but one look into Rune’s eyes at the sight of the lighter’s flame quickly extinguished that idea. It had been hard enough holding the boys back from destroying the cake before it was time.
One year. The boys were finally one year old. Well, Rune was finally one. Brand’s actual birthday had been ten days prior, but it was agreed upon that it would just be simpler to celebrate both boys on Rune’s birthday.
“Should we let them go now,” the governess, who was holding onto baby Brandon, asked.
The wet nurse, who was holding on to Rune, looked down at the boy. Rune had not once taken his eyes off the cake. “The photographer was going to try and take some pictures of the boys and the cake without us in them…” She looked up at the camerawoman. “How fast can you move?” The camerawoman gave her a confident thumbs up.
The two caretakers looked at each other and nodded before dropping their holds on the boys.
Without a second thought, or any thought for that matter, Rune took off towards the pretty red and orange food. Right as he lifted his little arm to reach for a handful, a thought did enter his brain, but it wasn’t his own. Scary. He stopped and turned as much as his body would allow him, looking right at Brandon who was not moving.
Brandon hadn’t taken his eyes off of the strange new person, the lady holding the weird square thing. Brandon wanted her to leave. He didn’t know this person. And he would not be getting any closer to her.
“Badih!” Rune called the other baby’s name. Rune didn’t understand why Brandon was scared. Food! Rune thought that as loud as he could. There was food! He wanted Brandon to come eat with him.
Scary! Brandon thought again.
Food! Rune thought again.
Close! Brandon thought, wanting Rune to come closer to him and away from the scary lady holding the square thing.
“Badih!” Rune yelled more insistently this time. But Brandon refused to move.
No! Stranger! Brandon thought. Scary!
Rune looked up at the strange woman holding the square. She did seem pretty scary. But there was food! But she was really close to the food. And Brandon wouldn’t come with him. Rune was starting to feel sad.
No sad! Brand thought frantically. He didn’t like when Rune was sad. And when Rune was sad he cried, which he didn’t like even more.
Brandon wasn’t happy that Rune wanted to get close to the stranger, but he decided to follow. At least he would be with Rune if something bad happened.
Brandon slowly started crawling to Rune. He felt in his head that Rune was happy. Good!
Rune giggled as Brandon started crawling to him and finished making his way to the red and orange food. He sat down and grabbed a big handful and ate it. It tasted like cookies. But even better! He put both hands in the cake and grabbed an even bigger handful. He looked at Brandon. Brandon wasn’t eating. Why wasn’t Brandon eating? The food was so good! He was still staring at the lady with the square thing. The square thing was making clicking noises when she pressed a button. Brandon was still scared of her.
Rune looked at the food. There was a smiling yellow sun on it. That would make Brandon happy! He grabbed another handful. “Badih!”
Brandon looked at Rune, almost forgetting to be scared. Rune held out the cake with the now mushed-up sun on it.
Brandon looked at the yellow stuff in Rune’s hand then back at the square lady. He wanted to eat it, but he couldn’t because the lady was there. His tummy didn’t feel right.
Rune smashed the cake into Brandon’s face. “Badih!” he squealed. Now Brandon would see how good the food was and eat it with him! Rune giggled. Brandon was quiet. He slowly reached for the red and orange food and grabbed some. It was soft and squishy like his favorite stuffed bear.
He threw the food at Rune.
Rune froze in surprise. Then he started laughing. Brandon started laughing too.
Age 2- The Littlest Companions
Rune toddled over from the bookshelf carrying his favorite book. It was a big tall book that had pictures of all kinds of magical creatures in it. His favorite was the dragons! Rune wanted to meet a dragon one day.
He brought the book over to Patience and pushed it into her lap. “Read book?”
“You want me to read the book to you,” the governess asked.
“Yeah!” Rune loved when Nanny Patience read books. She always made funny noises and sounds that made him laugh.
Rune crawled over to sit next to her so he could see the book. A crashing sound made him look up. Brand was standing on the rug playing with the letter blocks. It was his favorite game to play. Brand would stack blocks as high as he could, then knock them over with the rattle. Rune liked it best when they would play with each other. They would stack a whole bunch of things and then Rune would point at one of the towers and then Brand would knock the whole thing down! Maybe they could play that again! But after Rune got to hear his story.
“What happened? Did it fall down” Nanny Patience asked Brand kindly.
“Fall!” Brandon said giggling. He knelt down and started stacking the blocks again. This time he would make a tower even taller than himself!
Patience laughed to herself then turned to Rune. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah!’
“Okay.” She opened up the book to the first page. “Out in the magical forests of the Fae, Unicorns run around ready to play!” Nanny Patience neighed and tickled Rune. The two-year-old squealed and did his best unicorn impression too.
Nanny Patience and Rune kept reading together while Brand stacked his blocks in the corner. Just as Nanny Patience was about to read about the Myrmekes digging underground, the door to the playroom opened.
“Daddy!” Rune cheered as Lord Sun peeked into the room.
In his corner of the room, Brand dropped one of the blocks he was stacking and started to run over to Lord Sun, but something stopped him in his tracks. Rune felt it in his head. Danger! Brand backed up and started to move towards Rune and Nanny Patience.
“Lord Sun, good afternoon,” Patience said.
“Patience,” Lord Sun said with a nod, stepping fully into the Rune. “We’ll need a moment alone with the boys.”
“Of course sir. I—Oh. Lord Tower! Lord Saint Joshua!”
From behind his daddy, Rune saw two men step out. One was smaller than his daddy and the other was taller than anybody he had ever seen! Like the giants in the mountains in his storybook! These two must be the danger Brand saw!
Patience placed the book into Rune’s lap and stood. “My lords,” she said with a bow as she moved very quickly out of the playroom, shutting the door behind her.
Rune held the book close to his chest. He looked up at the two scary men behind his daddy, then over to Brand. Brand looked at him too and hurried over to Rune’s side.
“Let me guess,” said the giant man. He had a really deep rumbly voice. “The one holding the rattle like a bludgeon is Brandon.”
Rune and Brand stared at each other. The giant knew his name. Rune stood up and grabbed onto Brand’s hand. He didn’t think that his daddy would let someone hurt them, but he felt safer with Brand next to him.
Lord Sun laughed. “That would be correct. Rune, Brand, come say hi.”
Rune and Brand did not come say hi. Rune and Brand stayed right where they were. The two men were so scary! One was huge and the small one felt really strong just like their daddy.
The small man came a little farther into the room and knelt. “Hello,” he said. “What’s your name?”
“...Rune.”
“Nice to meet you, Rune.” He looked at Brandon. “And what’s your name?”
“...”
“...”
“Band-aid,” Rune answered for Brand.
“Brandon,” the small man said. “It’s nice to meet you. Were you reading a book?”
“...”
“Can…can you talk yet?”
“...”
“Band-aid talk,” Rune answered for Brand. In his head, he could hear and feel Brand. Brand was thinking Go away! Go away! Go away!
“I read book,” Rune said. He couldn’t make the small man go away, but maybe he would stop talking to Brand if he was looking at the book.
“You were reading a book? Was it this one,” the small man asked, pointing to the picture book on the floor.
Rune picked it up and pushed it at the man. “Read book?”
“You want me to read to you?”
“Yeah!”
“I see…”
“That’s a great idea Rune,” Lord Sun said, ignoring the glare from the Tower. “Lord Tower tells amazing stories.” Rune smiled and wiggled around. He was very happy his daddy said he had a great idea.
Suddenly Brand gasped. He looked the small man right in the eyes. “Towah!” He scampered over to the bookshelf and pulled out a smaller picture book.
“Towah!” Rune yelled in excitement. He knew what Brand was talking about! He could feel it in his head.
Brand brought over the book and placed it on the ground.
“The Great Arcana,” the small man, Lord Tower?, read.
Brand opened the book. He started flipping pages until Rune stopped him at number 16. Both boys pointed to the drawing of a man in a suit on the page, then to the small man in front of them.
“Lo’ Towah!” the two boys exclaimed in unison. They pointed to the picture of a darker and taller man in a suit, then to the giant man still standing behind their daddy. “Mime!”
Lord Tower failed to stop a laugh. “That’s right. I’m Lord Tower.” He pointed to the giant man. “And over there is my Companion, ‘Mime.’”
‘Mime’ knelt and looked at the boys. “My name is Mayan,” he said slowly. “Ma-yan.”
“Miiiiime,” Rune and Brand repeated.
Brand felt better now. He knew who these people were. They were from the picture book! The same one their daddy was in! Brand toddled over to ‘Mime’ and stared at him. ‘Mime’ pointed to Brand’s rattle.
“Is that your rattle,” he asked. “Can I see it?”
Oh, Brand didn’t like that. If ‘Mime’ took his rattle that meant that Brand wouldn’t have it. And if Brand didn’t have it that meant that Rune could get it. And if Rune could get it that meant Rune could throw it somewhere he couldn’t reach. And if Rune threw it somewhere he couldn’t reach Rune would start to cry. And Brand hated hated hated hearing Rune cry. Brand looked down at the rattle, then back up to the giant man.
He hit the giant man in the head with the rattle.
“Ow fuck,” the man yelled.
Brand giggled. “Fuck!” He tried to hit the man again. “Fuck!” This time the man grabbed him and held him away. Brand swung the rattle trying to get the man to yell the funny word again. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Well,” ‘Mime’ said, “That’s our cue to leave.” He stood up gently pushing the rattle-wielding toddler to Lord Sun. Lord Sun knelt and picked the boy up. Rune wasted no time running over to be picked up too.
“So, what’s your verdict,” Lord Sun asked the Dagger Throne.
The two men looked at the two boys. Rune was reaching over trying to grab the rattle from Brand. Brand grumbled ‘No!’ and pulled back as far away as he could in their father’s arms. Rune reached as far as he could forward, so far that he threatened to slip from his father’s hold. Brand reacted quickly and smacked Rune over the head with the rattle.
The Tower and Mayan looked at each other, then back to the boys. They had smiles on their faces.
“You’ve chosen a perfect Companion,” Mayan said with a laugh.
“These two are going to be a wonderful pair,” the Tower said.
Lord Sun pressed the two boys to his chest a little closer. He gave them a fond look before turning back to his two friends. “Well Lo’ Towah and Mime, I guess I’ll see you out now.”
Age 3- The Great Cookie Heist
Rune did it! He finally did it. He was officially the Great Cookie Caper!
He looked at the five chocolate chip cookies in his hand. Five whole cookies. He bet that no kid had ever had so many cookies before. And no one even knew! Rune set the cookies down on the blanket in his secret fort in the living room. He wondered which one he should eat first. Cookie number four looked like it had a lot of chocolate chips in it. Rune grabbed that one and shoved half the cookie in his mouth. It was still a little warm from the oven.
Perfect .
Rune ate the rest of the cookie and reached for another. This one was a little smaller than the others but still had lots of chocolate in it. He was able to eat almost the whole thing in one bite. It was warm and gooey and chocolatey.
Rune felt Brand coming before he heard him. There was a quick feeling of Uh-oh! in his head before hearing the pitter-patter of him running barefoot across the floor. Brand torpedoed into the blankets. He stared at Rune who was reaching for another cookie. He looked down at Rune’s hand and his eyes widened.
“So you did stealed the cookies!” He sounded both shocked and impressed.
“I didn’t stealed them! It was a heist! ”
Brand gasped. “Like a spy,” he whispered.
Rune puffed out his chest. “Yup! I’m the Great Cookie Caper!”
“That’s so cool!” Brand didn’t think anyone could get away with taking anything from the cook Miss Cooley. Oh wait!
“Rune,” Brand whisper-yelled. “You gotta hide the cookies! Quick!”
“Why,” Rune asked. He had grabbed onto a third cookie and was holding it close to his mouth.
“Cuz, Miss Cooley’s look—”
“Aha!”
The boys jumped and turned to the voice that came from the entrance to their secret fort. They saw Miss Cooley looking quite crossly at the two of them. She had a little bit of flour on her cheek.
“Rune,” she said sternly. “You know better than to steal.”
Rune froze. He knew that he would get in a lot of trouble. And his daddy would probably be very upset with him. And he probably would be allowed to eat cookies for the rest of his life! “B-but…I…”
“It wasn’t Rune,” Brand said loudly. “I stealed the cookies.”
“You stole the cookies?”
Brand nodded eagerly. He didn’t like the way Rune was feeling. He wanted to make it go away.
“Brand, you know better than to lie.”
Brand lifted his head defiantly. “I’m not lying. I really did taked them.”
“So why is Rune eating them?”
Brand stuck out his lip. “Cuz I stealed them for Rune!”
“Why?”
Brand was getting real tired of this lady’s questions. “Cuz…cuz…Cuz he was sad! And cookies make people feel better!”
Miss Cooley looked at the boys and sighed. “This isn’t my job anyway…I’m going to tell Lady Patience and she’ll decide your punishment.” She backed out of the fort and left the two boys alone.
“Thanks Brand,” Rune muttered.
Brand turned to Rune confused. Rune didn’t feel happy. In fact, Rune felt even worse than before. “What’s wrong?”
“Now you’re gonna get in trouble,” Rune said sadly.
“That’s okay,” Brand said. He leaned forward to pat Rune on the back. “You’re the Great Cookie Caper! It’s not a perfect heist if you get in trouble.”
Rune smiled and looked down at his loot. He didn’t really want the cookies anymore. Well, no, that wasn’t true. But he had a better idea of what he wanted to do with the cookies. Rune pushed the remaining three cookies across the blanket to Brand. “Here. You should have the rest of ‘em.”
“Really? But you was the one who got them.”
“But I would be in trouble if you didn’t saved me. And then it wouldn’t be a perfect heist!” Rune picked up a cookie and pressed it towards Brand until the other boy took it. “This is your loot too!”
Brand took a bite of the chocolate chip cookie and smiled. It was still warm and soft and chocolatey.
Age 4- New Rooms
Brand grabbed a bright blue train as Rune set the last wooden track into place. This would be the greatest train track ever built. It went around the whole room and even had a loop in it. It had taken forever to build it—almost 2 whole hours. But now it was ready.
Brand knelt on the ground and set the train into place. He was gonna drive the train around the track while Rune told the story. Rune was great at telling stories. There were always lots of dragons.
“And now,” Rune began, lifting his arms into the air. “It’s time for the greatest train adventure ever! Is everyone ready?” Both boys could hear the crowd’s cheer in their heads. “Alright. Let’s start in 3, 2, 1-”
Right as Rune was about to say go, their governess, Nanny Patience, peeked into the room. She took in the sprawling train track set. “Oh wow,” she said. “Have you been working on this all morning?”
Rune and Brand nodded excitedly. They were happy Nanny Patience had come in. Now that had a whole real audience.
“It’s gonna be the greatest train adventure ever,” Brand declared. He rolled the little blue train, Rune’s favorite, back and forward along the track. He was raring to go.
“The greatest ever, huh,” Nanny Patience said. She came fully into the room. “Boys…I need to talk to you about something.”
Rune and Brand looked at each other. Uh oh they both thought. This sounded serious. They tried to think if they broke something today.
She knelt and the two boys made their way over to her. She took a deep breath before speaking. “Remember how we talked about you two getting new rooms.” The boys nodded. “Well, how would you like to move into your new rooms this week?”
“Really,” both boys exclaimed. They looked at each other again and smiled. Lots of people in the house kept talking about when Rune and Brand would get their own rooms. This was exciting! Now they would have two whole rooms they can explore instead of just one.
“When can we move in,” Rune asked excitedly. He was already imagining what his room would look like. He wanted lots of blue and suns and books everywhere .
Nanny Patience blinked then smiled. “I thought that’d be harder,” she muttered under her breath. “Well, we were hoping by Friday. You can start packing your favorite things from the nursery to take with you now though.”
“Okay,” Rune said, popping up and getting ready to run back to their room. He started to take off but felt Brand grab the back of his shirt.
“Wait,” Brand said. “What about the train?” Brand was excited about the new room, but he really wanted to go on the train adventure first. They worked on it for 2 whole hours.
“Oh yeah. Nanny Patience,” Rune started in his sweetest voice. “Can you please stay and watch our train adventure?”
“Of course dear,” Nanny Patience said. She had already sat down and made herself comfortable.
Brand scrambled back over to the start of the track and Rune took his place in the middle.
“And now,” Rune said even grander than before. “It’s time for the greatest train adventure ever!”
Later that week, Rune and Brand were carrying little backpacks full of their favorite things to their new rooms. The rooms were in a place Nanny Patience called ‘The west wing no, not like a dragon wing.’ The boys didn’t like how far away it was from their old room in the ‘servant’s wing no, not like a pegasus wing either.’ But then Brand had said that it would be like an adventure and Rune said they could even have a super super secret fort now and the two boys were satisfied.
“Are you sure you’re ready,” Nanny Patience asked. She was very suspicious of how excited the boys were.
“We’re big boys now,” Rune said. “We was born ready!”
“It’s a adventure,” Brand said. He was carrying his favorite stuffed bear, insisting that it couldn’t be put in his backpack because he needed to breathe.
They walked up the stairs behind Nanny Patience stopping right in front of a big wooden door. The two boys looked up and down the long hallway. They had tried coming up here before, but the long dark hallway with all the strange house noises had been too scary. Now the hall was bright with lights and didn’t seem so scary, especially with Nanny Patience there.
“This one is Rune’s room,” Nanny Patience said, pointing to the door in front of them. She walked just a few steps down the hallway and stopped in front of another wooden door. “And this one is Brand’s room.”
Brand and Rune looked at each other and nodded. They would check out their own rooms first and then meet back in the hallway. Brand walked to where Nanny Patience was standing while Rune walked up to his door and opened it.
“Wow,” Rune breathed as he looked all around. It. Was. Perfect! The walls were baby blue and had a bunch of pictures of magical animals. There was a desk and a chair across from a bed that was way bigger than the one he shared with Brand in the nursery. There was a corner decorated with a yellow rug that looked like a sun, lots of new stuffed animals, and two bean bag chairs. And he even had his own bookshelf filled with all kinds of books!
Rune slowly walked up to the big window next to his bed. He could see right over the patio and out to sea. “Wow,” Rune said again.
Rune heard the click of the door opening. He turned around, expecting to see Nanny Patience but no one was there. He looked around and saw Brand standing holding open a door that led to his own room.
The boys looked at each other and smiled. “Secret passage,” they said in unison.
Brand walked in and looked around Rune’s room. “It looks just like mine. Except it’s blue.”
“I wanna see!”
Rune followed after Brand as the two ran through their secret passage into Brand’s room. He was right. The two rooms were almost identical except where Rune’s room was mostly blue, Brand’s was yellow.
Nanny Patience peeked her head into the room. “How do you like it?”
“It’s amazing,” Brand said. “We got so much room now!”
“Mhm,” Rune agreed. “It’s perfect! I can’t wait to sleep here.”
Nanny Patience laughed. “Well, that’s a relief. I’m glad you two are so excited.”
Brand spun around the room, still holding his bear. “Should we sleep in my room first or yours?”
“Hm…” Rune said. He looked through the secret passage to his room, then twirled around to look over Brand’s. “Your room first and then my room!” He joined Brand in spinning around the room.
“Oh…” Nanny Patience sighed. “Someone said this would happen.” She knelt and called the boys over to her. They teetered over, now dizzy from all the spinning. “Boys, now that you have your own rooms, you have to sleep in them.”
“We know,” Rune said cheerfully. “We’re gonna switch rooms every night.”
“Well,” she began. “I meant that Rune will sleep in Rune’s room and Brand will sleep in Brand’s room. Alone.”
The smiles dropped from the two boys’ faces. Alone? They had never heard of such a concept.
“Why,” Brand demanded. Contrary to popular belief he was not too old to still be hitting people now.
“Because you’re big boys now,” Nanny Patience explained. “And you’re going to have to learn how to be by yourself.”
“But we’re by ourselves all the time,” Rune protested. “Sometimes when I’m in my secret fort, Brand is watching TV!”
“Yeah,” Brand agreed. “We know how to be by ourselves! I don’t wanna go to sleep by myself.” He crossed his arms and frowned. Rune did the same.
Nanny Patience stared back at the boys. She hadn’t been their governess for four years to give in so easily. “You know, Lord Sun was the one who wanted you to have your own rooms. He would be very proud of you if you slept in your own beds. He said that you’re already grown up enough.
The frowns on Rune and Brand’s faces softened. They looked at each other, thoughts racing back and forward between the two. Then there was a flash of an idea, a perfect idea. The two boys began to smile and looked back to Nanny Patience.
“Okay Nanny Patience,” Brand said sweetly. “We’ll sleep alone tonight.”
Predictably, Lady Patience did not find the boys in their own beds where she had left them the previous night. Instead, she found the two boys in the morning huddled together in Brand’s bed, Brand's teddy bear squished between them. She smiled to herself. That was fine. The two still had plenty of time.
Age 5- First Day of School
Rune and Brand clutched each other’s hands as they stared into the door of their new kindergarten classroom at Magnus Academy. Inside they could see bright colors, small furniture, and about a dozen other children.
“There’s still time to run away,” Brand whispered to Rune. He did not like this whole ‘school’ thing. There were way too many strangers here. And he couldn’t even bring his teddy bear!
“It’ll be okay, Brand,” Rune whispered back. “Nanny Patience says that school is a lot of fun.”
“We can have fun at home.”
“And we can learn lots of stuff.”
“We can learn stuff at home.”
“And we can make lotsa new friends.”
“We can make new friends at home.”
“No we can’t.”
“Well…I don’t want new friends.”
“Band-aid! I thought you was excited to go to school.”
Brand wanted to cross his arms, but he didn’t want to let go of Rune’s hand so he just squeezed his hand tighter. He had been excited to go, but that was before he saw how big the school was and how many people there were. There was no way this place was safe. Just no way.
“Brand, don’t be worried,” Rune said because Brand wasn’t scared. He could feel it through their bond. Brand was worried. Worried about Rune. Worried about himself. “No one’s gonna hurt us. And if they try, then we’ll beat ‘em up!”
Brand tried to smile. He knew that he could fight anybody who tried to hurt them, Especially if Rune was with him. But he couldn’t help but worry.
“And,” Rune continues, “And, and, and~ You get to start your super cool Companion training!”
“Oh yeah,” Brand said. He kind of forgot about that. Lord Sun told him now that he’s in school, he gets to officially start training as a Companion. He gets to start learning how to fight and search for danger and use weapons. Lord Sun even said that if he gets really good, he’ll give him a real knife!
“You’re gonna be a real-life superhero,” Rune said. Rune could feel Brand’s excitement starting to come back.
Brand smiled and raised his head. A superhero. Then he could keep everyone safe. Rune and Nanny Patience and Lord Sun and Miss Cooley and Miss Kendra and Mister Sandoval and everyone else on Sun Estate. He would protect them from everything.
“Okay,” Brand said, squeezing Rune’s hand one more time. “Let’s go.” Rune gave him the brightest smile in the world and the two boys walked into the room
Age 6- Empty
Rune walks into the family room of Sun Estate. It is quiet. And dark. All the lights are off. Not even the sun is coming in through the windows.
Rune doesn’t like this. Where is everyone?
He goes into the kitchen. He can hardly see anything. And all he can hear is his own footsteps echoing in the empty house.
Wait. Empty? No. No, the house is not empty. Of course not.
Rune walks up to the refrigerator. He tries to open it but every time his fingers wrap around the handle they slip off. He reaches again and again, getting more and more frustrated until he hears the sound of a car outside. That must be Nanny Patience.
Rune runs as quickly as he can back into the family room. But Nanny Patience isn’t there. In fact, nothing is there. All the couches and chairs and paintings and plants are gone. The house really is empty!
But why is no one inside? Did they…leave him? No. No, no, no, no way! They must be here somewhere. They have to be.
Rune hears another car outside. Then another. And another. Oh no! They’re coming for him! They’re here to get him! He needs help! But where is everybody?
Where’s Daddy? Where’s Nanny Patience? Where’s Brand?
Where’s Brand?
He can’t feel Brand! He can’t feel Brand! He can’t—
“Rune!”
Brand’s voice snapped him awake. Brand was standing next to his bed, hand on Rune’s shoulder. He could see Brand’s worried face in the light from his nightlight. Rune launched himself into Brand’s arms. He couldn’t stop the tears that came after.
“Rune, what’s wrong,” Brand asked. He tightened his arms around the boy. He had been woken up by a feeling of Fear Panic Help and ran as quickly as he could.
Rune buried his face into Brand’s shoulder. He was careful not to get Brand’s shirt messy. Brand hated getting his clothes dirty.
“I had a bad dream,” Rune murmured. “Everybody w-was gone and t-the house was dark a-and…and…I couldn’t feel you anymore.” The last part was barely whispered as if the thought was too terrible to speak out loud.
“...It was just a dream,” he squeezed Rune even tighter. “That’s never gonna happen.” Never, never, never .
“Can you sleep here tonight,” Rune asked even though he didn’t have to.
Brand nodded and untangled himself from Rune. “Oh, wait. I’ll be right back. I promise.” He set something down on Rune’s bed, then sprinted back into his room. Rune looked down at whatever Brand had put down. It was a toy sword. Rune smiled. Brand came ready to fight whatever had upset Rune.
Brand ran back into the room not twenty seconds later carrying a handful of tissues and a stuffed bear and something else Rune couldn’t see. He crawled into the bed and handed the tissues to Rune. He slipped underneath the covers and placed the teddy bear between the two of them.
Rune messily wiped the tissues across his face. He grabbed the toy sword and tried to give it to Brand, but the other boy shook his head.
“You keep it. So you can protect yourself.”
“But what about you?”
Brand held up his arm and presented an amber and gold rattle. “I’ll be just fine.”
Rune giggled and pulled the blanket up over both of them. They pulled each other close, weapons in hand, and drifted back off to sleep.
Age 7- Pyro Prince and Razor Edge
In a mansion somewhere in the city of New Atlantis a boy was getting ready to become a legend. He rummaged around and found his inferno (cotton) gloves and big yellow (rain) boots of power. He ran to his bed and grabbed his trusty (blanket) cape and tied it around his neck. Finally, he put on his (sunglasses) mask to hide his secret identity.
Pyro Prince was ready.
Somewhere else, not far away, another boy was beginning his own story. He searched for (a bunch of black clothes) his superhero costume. Armored (cotton) black shirt and pants, super speed (light up) sneakers, reinforced (pleather) black fingerless gloves. Finally, he grabbed his most prized possession: his custom-made, state-of-the-art (foam) steel sword. He slipped on his own (sunglasses) mask.
Razor Edge was ready.
“So Razor Edge,” Pyro Prince said. “What’s our mission today?”
The two heroes were sitting in their secret lair. It had been a while since they had last met and it showed. The world was becoming a more dangerous and crime-filled place.
Razor Edge slid a notebook across the table. “I got intel that a group of bad guys is planning on robbing a bank later today.”
Pyro Prince looked at the notebook. He saw names and hand-drawn pictures of four people. He’d seen these guys before. They were the notorious thieves known as the New Atlantis Bandits.
“The Bandits, huh,” Pyro Prince said. “Let’s say we go to their lair and take ‘em out.”
“No. We can’t,” Razor Edge said frowning. “If we get ‘em before they do any crime, they can’t send them to prison.” Razor Edge felt proud of himself for knowing that. He could feel how impressed Pyro Prince was through their special Brain Bond. That made him feel even better.
“So we should wait until they rob the bank,” Pyro Prince started.
“And then ambush them,” Razor Edge finished. “Right as they’re walking out with the money.”
“Operation: Save the Money is a go!”
The two heroes smiled at each other. It was a perfect plan. The Bandits will never know what hit them! They hid their notebook of intel and set off to stop the evildoers’ plans.
Perched high atop a (couch) building, Pyro Prince and Razor Edge monitored the area around the bank.
“Any sign of them,” Pyro Prince asked. He was itching for a fight. It had been way too long since he had the chance to beat up some bad guys.
“Not yet,” Razor Edge muttered. He was looking through his trusty pair of x-ray binoculars. “My intel told me they’d be in a black truck with white markings.”
“Does it have a white raccoon painted on it?”
“Yup.”
“Then there it is! Driving past the post office.” Pyro Prince was about to jump into action, but his partner held him back.
“Not yet, remember? We have to wait until they actually steal something.”
The flame hero watched the black and white truck pull up to the bank. “Wait! What about the people inside? What if they get hurt?”
Razor Edge thought about this. Well, not really. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the people inside, but if a fight broke out in the bank Pyro Prince would be in danger. His superpowers weren’t good in close-quarters fighting. Razor Edge couldn’t risk his partner going into that bank.
“It’ll be fine,” the sword-wielding hero said. “The Bandits just want the money. And I have my x-ray binoculars, so if something happens, I’ll let you know.”
A wave of disapproval crawled across the Brain Bond. Pyro Prince could tell he was lying. The fire hero held out his hand. With a long sigh, Razor Edge passed the binoculars to him.
Looking through, Pyro Prince could see three of the four criminals run into the bank, weapons drawn. They didn’t even have masks over their faces. That’s just how bold and nefarious they were! The leader of the group raised up his weapon, a spiky metal bat, and aimed right at someone’s head!
“Oh no! He’s gonna attack the customers! We have to act now!”
Pyro Prince felt a wave of something that felt like worry and discomfort and a little bit of annoyance through the Brain Bond. He knew that his partner thought he always reacted without thinking. And he sort of remembered Razor Edge telling him about something called 'closed quarter come-back.' He looked again through the binoculars. He expected to see the leader swinging his bat right through the customer’s head. Instead, he saw him pointing with it to an area in the bank’s lobby. Oh, he was just telling everyone to go sit down and stay still.
“False alarm,” Pyro Prince reported. “You’re right. We should be patient and wait for the best moment to strike.” He couldn’t help but smile at the warm glow of approval and relief across the Brain Bond.
(“Rune! Brand!”)
Pyro Prince gave back the x-ray binoculars and settled back into his lookout spot. As much as he wanted to launch into action, he knew it was best to wait.
(“Boys?”)
“How much money do you think is in there,” Pyro Prince asked.
“At least fifty million dollars,” Razor Edge responded. “Probably more. I heard there’s even gold and diamonds inside!”
“Woah!”
(“Rune, Brand, are you there?”)
“They’re going into the vault now,” Razor Edge reported. “They should be making off with the money in T-minus 5 minutes.”
“Wow, so fast,” Pyro Prince whispered. “Hey, do you think we should slash the tires of the getaway car before they come out?”
“No, the getaway driver’s there and he’ll alert the others. Then they probably will attack the people in the bank.” Razor Edge turned to his partner, a big smile on his face. “But that’s a really good idea! We’ll have to try it next time.”
“Excuse me. Boys, didn’t you hear me?”
The two superheroes turned towards the voice that had kept hearing. Standing far below their (couch) rooftop perch was a woman. A citizen. Oh no! She would blow their cover and the New Atlantis Bandits would get away!
“Rune and Brand. Now, you know it’s not polite to ignore people.”
“Sorry citizen,” Pyro Prince began, “but we don’t know anybody named Rune or Brand.”
“Oh,” she said. “Then who am I speaking to?”
The two heroes looked at each other. Someone didn’t know who they were? Had they really been gone from their lives of fighting crime for that long?
“I’m Pyro Prince!”
“And I’m Razor Edge!”
The two struck matching superhero poses.
“Well Pyro Prince and Razor Edge,” the woman said. It sounded like she was laughing. “When you two are finished saving the city, your snacks will be waiting on the table.”
The two heroes shared a look. They needed to end this quickly. The stakes were even higher than before!
“Pyro Prince, look! There they are!” Far below on the city streets, the black and white truck was speeding away. Paper money flew out from the windows as if the burglar had so much money they didn’t care if they lost some. “After them!”
The superheroes, now imbued with the strength of promised snacktime, jumped from their perches and sprinted after the New Atlantis Bandits.
“I’ll stop the car with Fire Blast,” Pyro Prince shouted. He put both hands together and let a burst of flames shoot from his hands. It hit the car on the hood and sent it spinning out of control.
“Now I’ll cut them out with Hyper Slash!” Razor Edge sprinted up and cut a huge slice across the side of the car with his steel blade. The car was ripped open revealing the four members of the New Atlantis Bandits. Except, one of the men was holding up a bracelet made out of bones. A sigil.
“Razor Edge, watch out!” Pyro Prince crashed into his partner and pushed him out of the way as a blast of magic shot out from the car.
Pyro Prince got to his feet, pulling up Razor Edge with him. No one hurt his partner. No one. “Let’s end this,” he said, letting fire burn and cover his arms.
Razor Edge brandished his sword. “I’m ready when you are.”
Staring right at their enemies, the two heroes shouted in unison “Daybreak Strike!” and a flurry of flames and steel was launched right into the burglars.
When the dust and smoke settled, the New Atlantis Bandits lay on the ground utterly defeated. But the two heroes were nowhere in sight. Pyro Prince and Razor Edge had a new mission to complete. Operation: Totino’s Pizza Rolls.
Age 8- Light
Rune and Brand sat on the floor in Rune’s room. It was pitch black. On purpose. Rune had a goal and he was determined to complete it.
Rune took a deep calming breath and grabbed onto his ankh sigil necklace. It had been a gift from the seneschal last year. He concentrated, reached out with his willpower, and released the spell that was stored inside. Three honey-yellow globes of light appeared over his and Brand’s heads. They cast the room in a soft golden light like the rising sun.
This was not the goal Rune wanted to complete.
He had already shown Brand that he could create three balls of light if he used a sigil spell. No, he had something even better he wanted to show.
Brand stared in silence at the three yellow spheres floating above their heads. He had seen Rune do this a lot of times before, but it was no less impressive. He always tried very hard to impress Brand but Brand didn’t think he needed to. He already thought Rune was already amazing.
Rune shut his eyes tight and pushed his willpower into the Light spell. He focused for a good long minute, but nothing happened. The little balls of light remained unchanged from where they floated. Rune growled in frustration.
“It’s not working.”
“What do you mean,” Brand asked. “It’s lighting up the whole room.”
“Yeah but that isn’t what I wanted to show you,” Rune said. “And you’ve seen me use a Light spell before. That’s nothing special.”
Brand shrugged. “It is to me.”
Rune stared at Brand for a second before smiling to himself. He took another focusing breath and closed his eyes. This time he also lifted his hands. He had wanted to do this trick with just his mind so that it seemed cooler. But Brand’s words reminded him that no matter what he did, Brand would think he was incredible.
“Okay,” Rune said decisively. “I can do it this time.” He let out a breath and focused his willpower into the lights. Slowly the globes started to move. Rune opened his eyes and pushed a little harder. Soon the three lights were spinning around the two boys like planets.
“Wow,” Brand breathed. His head was darting around the room to keep track of the spinning golden lights. He reached out and touched one passing in front of his face. It passed through his fingers like a cloud. “I didn’t know you could move them.”
“I’ve been practicing,” Rune said with a huge smile. “The teacher said that I’m the best magic student she’s had in years!”
Brand kept his eyes on the rotating lights but gave a smile just as bright as the lights. “Of course you are.”
The two boys sat quietly as Rune twirled and spun the lights all around them.
“It’s a good thing the default color for Light is yellow,” Rune said. He was spinning the lights around Brand’s body, moving them just out of reach every time Brand tried to touch one. “I would’ve had to use another spell to change the color but I only have one sigil.”
“Maybe when you get another sigil,” Brand said, swatting at one of the globes like a cat, “you can change the lights to be blue. That’s still your favorite color right?”
“Yup,” Rune said. Just like the walls in his room and the sky on a clear day and forget-me-not flowers. Just like Brand’s eyes
“Hey Brand,” Rune began suddenly feeling curious. “Why is yellow your favorite color?”
Brand thought about it. He had a vague memory of the playroom and Rune and a bright yellowy-orange light.
“I’m not sure,” he finally answered. “I guess it’s just a nice color.”
Brand managed to place his hand on one of the lights right as they began the fade away. The spell puttered out, shrouding the room back in pitch-black darkness.
“Aw, it’s over,” Brand said.
“Yeah,” Rune said. “It was a sigil spell, so I can’t make it last forever.” Rune hoped that one day, he wouldn’t need a sigil to do that. He wanted to be able to let Brand play with the lights for as long as he wanted.
“Do you want me to turn the lights on now?”
“No need,” Rune said. He whispered a few words and another ball of light, this one smaller and dimmer, came into being over his head. When his eyes readjusted to the low lighting, he could see Brand’s wide blue eyes staring at him in awe.
“What,” Rune said a little sheepishly. “It’s just a cantrip. You’ve seen it like a million times before.”
Brand smiled. “Rune, you’re incredible.”
For Rune, there was no better feeling in the world.
Age 9- The Battlefield
The Cafeteria. One of the most terrifying, most dangerous, most treacherous places known to man. How it was that humans and Atlanteans alike could turn the place where you sat down to rest and eat into a warzone, Rune would never know. He wished he could eat somewhere else like the older students could. Even outside would be fine, but he wasn’t allowed to do that until Year Six. He dreaded coming here. At least he used to. Now Rune coveted this time. Why? This was the last time he would get to see Brand…
For three. Whole. Hours.
Now that Rune and Brand were in Year 4, their schedules were a lot different. Brand was continuing his cool bodyguard training, while Rune was stuck in classes about manners and courts and boring Arcana stuff. Well, it wasn’t that boring. Actually, a lot of it was pretty interesting and cool. But Rune wished he got to have those classes with Brand.
Rune and Brand settled into their seats. Rune got to work on his food: a big plate of spaghetti and meatballs, some garlic bread, and a salad that Brand insisted on him getting. They had just been to gym class and he was starving. Brand was eating a small bowl of chicken and rice and a little salad of his own. Rune didn’t think Brand ever ate enough for lunch, but Brand said it wasn’t good to eat a big meal so soon before exercising. He had his martial arts class right after lunch. Without Rune. In fact, his last three classes of the day were without Rune. Three. Whole. Hours.
Sometimes other kids would come and eat with them, but it seemed like the boys would be eating alone today. That was perfectly alright with them. It just meant more time to spend with each other.
“I wanna go to the beach,” Rune said suddenly.
“I think Lord Sun is planning on going to the Enclave before the Equinox,” Brand said through a mouthful of rice. “I heard it was some business thing though, but maybe he’ll still take us.”
Lord Sun?
“Where’d you hear all that from?”
“‘round the house.” Brand took a big sip of apple juice. “People talk if they don’t know you’re listening.”
“We can always just go to the beach behind the house.” They didn’t do that often. The water didn’t have all the same fancy wards as at the Enclave. His dad had said he’d take care of it soon. That had been about a year ago.
Brand shook his head. “You know Lord Sun doesn’t want us playing out there.”
Again? Really?
“We could still go.”
“And get pulled out to sea and eaten by sharks? No way.”
“Oh, you’re scared?”
“No, I’m not scared.”
“So why can’t we go?”
“Because it’s dangerous!”
“And scary?”
“Shut up.”
“You’re a chicken.”
“You look like a chicken.”
“You’re more chicken than the chicken you’re eating.”
“I’m not a chicken.”
“Bwak.”
“Shut up!”
“Bwak bwak bwak!”
Brand threw a piece of lettuce at Rune. It was wet and cold and slapped him directly on his forehead.
“Ew! Gross!” Rune shrieked and swatted the lettuce off his face. He tried to flick it back at Brand but Brand easily dodged.
“It’s just lettuce,” Brand said, trying to conceal a smile. “Maybe you should try eating a vegetable for once.”
“I eat plenty of vegetables!” Rune motioned to his spaghetti. “See. Look at all these tomatoes!”
“Pretty sure tomatoes are fruits.”
“Know-it-all,” Rune said but he was smiling. He loved this. Talking with Brand. Just being around him. Especially since soon, they’d be separated. For three. Whole. Hours!!!
Rune took a bite of his salad. He paused, considering the mouthful of lettuce, then took another bite. It wasn’t all that bad actually.
“Pretty good, huh,” Brand said with a smirk.
“Nope,” Rune lied. “It sucks. Just a bowl of grass.”
Rune continued to eat his salad, pointedly ignoring the pleased emotion across the bond. He was about to ask Brand if he wanted to go buy snacks when they finished when he noticed someone walking towards them.
“Who’s that,” Brand asked.
“I’m not sure,” Rune answered. As the figure got closer he said “Oh wait, I’m pretty sure he’s in my Etiquette class.” Rune paused as an unhappy realization passed between the both of them. Rune knew someone that Brand didn’t. Because Rune and Brand were in different classes.
Three. Whole. Hours.
The boy walked up and stayed standing on the other side of the table away from Rune and Brand. He was maybe a year or two older than them. From one of the Greater Houses in the Strength Court or the Chariot Court; Rune couldn’t remember. He had a look on his face like he was trying, very badly, to hide a smile.
He looked at Brand. “My friend said she likes you,” the boy announced. He pointed back to a table where about eight scions were sitting, heads lowered as if trying to hide from view.
“Really?” Brand said. He craned his neck over to see if he could tell who might have said it.
The boy didn’t respond. He just rushed back to the table with the eight scions. When he slid into his seat, an outburst of cackles rose up from the table.
Brand frowned and lowered his head, trying to hide the burning rising on his face. He had finished his lunch, so he just swirled his fork around the remaining stray rice grains in his bowl.
“Just ignore them,” Rune said angrily. He hated the feeling of shame he felt from Brand. How dare they hurt his best friend like that!
“I’m fine, Rune,” Brand muttered. He still looked up from his empty bowl of rice and chicken. “I knew he was lying.”
“Well I like you,” Rune said in an attempt to make his friend smile. Brand’s face only turned a deeper shade of pink.
“Shut up!”
“Well, I do!”
“You don’t count.”
“Why not? Yes I do.” Rune took a bite of his now room-temperature spaghetti. “And anyways, those guys are ugly. So who even cares.”
Brand let out a laugh before he could stop it. Rune smiled at his success.
“I wish you could come with me to my next class,” Brand said suddenly. He was checking his X-Men wristwatch. They still had about ten minutes left.
“Me too,” Rune complained. “Instead I have to go to stupid Etiquette class.”
“Do you think Lord Sun—”
“Why do you keep calling Dad ‘Lord Sun’?” Rune interrupted.
“Because he’s not my dad?” Brand said as if it was obvious.
“Wha—Of course he is!”
“Not really,” Brand said a little sadly.
“Oh yeah,” Rune challenged. “Then what is he?”
“Like my boss,” Brand said. “That’s what my martial arts teacher says. I’m not suppose to call him ‘dad.’”
Before Rune could even begin to come up with a response, he saw the boy from the table of ugly scions making his way back over to them.
Rune didn’t even give him a chance to get close. “Go away!”
The boy paused but was smiling. It was a mean, nasty smile. Like he was trying to figure out the best way to hurt Brand.
“What,” the boy said. “I was just gonna ask him if he wanted to sit at our table.”
“Well, he doesn’t want to,” Rune said. He scooted closer to Brand. “So just leave us alone.”
“My friend just wants to talk to him,” the boy insisted. “She likes him.” Behind him, the other scions started snickering.
“He doesn’t like her,” Rune said.
“You don’t even know who it is!”
“Well, whoever it is,” Rune said, crossing his arms. “None of you are good enough for Brand, anyways.”
As Rune said this, a roar of laughter burst through the cafeteria, both from the boy and the other scions at his table.
“We’re not good enough,” the boy said. “What’s so special about him? He’s just a Companion.”
“He’s not just a Companion!” Rune nearly yelled as he shot up from his seat. He felt Brand tug on his shirtsleeve.
“Rune…calm down…”
“Whatever,” the boy said with an eye roll. He started to walk back over to the table of cackling children. “As if anyone would like a human anyway.”
Rune wanted to chase after the boy. He wanted to yell at him and demand he apologize to Brand. He wanted to hit him and make him feel sorry for even thinking about making Brand feel bad. No one had ever cared that Brand was a human. Rune never even thought about it. He could feel a weird itching feeling start to build up behind his eyes.
Then he felt a little trickle of happiness flow across the bond.
Rune’s head snapped to Brand. “Are you happy? Why are you happy? I mean, I don’t want you to be sad! Please don’t be sad! I’m glad you’re happy. But why are you happy? After all that? They were being so mean and—”
“Because, dummy,” Brand began. He tugged Rune back down into his seat. “You got mad.”
“...Huh?”
“It’s just…People say mean stuff like that to me all the time.” Brand said. He refused to meet Rune’s eyes. “It doesn’t really bother me all that much. I don’t pay attention most of the time. But you just got super mad. You got so mad you was about to go over there and beat the whole table up!”
“They shouldn’t pick on you like that,” Rune grumbled.
“But if they do,” Brand said. “I know that you’ll go over there and set them on fire. That’s why I’m happy.”
“Because I’ll set somebody on fire?”
“No—well yeah, but it’s because…I know you’ll keep me safe.” Brand’s cheeks started to heat up again. He hated being all sappy like this…
Rune didn’t, though! “Of course I will!” He leaned over and gave Brand a big hug. “Just like you protect me.”
“Okay, okay,” Brand said, trying to wiggle out of Rune’s grasp. “Enough of the feelings stuff. Finish your lunch. You only have five minutes left.”
Rune immediately dropped his hold and got to shoveling the rest of his spaghetti into his mouth. As subtly as he could, which was not very, he slid the barely eaten bowl of salad over to Brand. Brand sighed, but picked up a fork and started eating anyway.
Age 10- Happy Birthday
“Happy Birthday Rune and Brandon~ Happy Birthday to you!”
Rune and Brand, thankful that the awkwardness of the birthday song was over, squeezed their eyes tight as they both made wishes. In front of them sat a huge Wolverine-themed birthday cake. It was the most amazing cake the boys had ever seen. It was three whole tiers. The top tier was a perfect replica of Wolverine’s face. The middle layer was a beautiful night scene of a city. The last layer, the coolest one by far, had Wolverine’s claws made to look like they were bursting out from the cake itself. The chef had wanted something a little more refined and elegant, but the boys had insisted on an X-Men cake. And it was blue and yellow. Their favorite colors. Except Brand said yellow was a baby color and insisted that his favorite color was something cooler like black, which was why they chose Wolverine to be on the cake. He was all three colors.
Ten years. The boys were finally ten years old. Well, Rune was finally ten. Brand’s actual birthday had been ten days prior, but it was tradition at this point to celebrate both boys on Rune’s birthday.
Now! Feeling the twin signals through their bond, both boys blew out the ten candles on their cake. Light flashed from a camera as a round of applause echoed through the dining hall of Sun Estate. The chef stepped forward, removed the smoking candles, and cut the boys each a big slice from the top tier. They muttered a quick thank you and began eating.
Twelve other children sat at the dining table, all eager to dig into the cake. Mostly Rune’s friends. But they were all nice to Brand, which was what mattered most.
The house fell quiet for the first time in three hours as the children began to eat. The cake was dark chocolate. Not too sweet for Brand’s liking but rich and chocolatey enough to be a treat for Rune. A server walked around the dining room and scooped fresh vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream onto the kids’ plates alongside their cake slices.
The party had been amazing, even if it hadn’t been exactly what Rune wanted. Rune had hoped for a beach party, but his dad still hadn’t gotten around to warding the water. Instead, he settled for just a regular old pool party. At least they’d also had slides and bouncy castles.
Brand was eating his cake and ice cream as quickly as possible. Sure, it was delicious, even if he was trying to convince himself that he didn’t like sweets to stay healthy, but there was something he wanted more. Presents. The huge table of presents had been taunting him all day. Every second. Every time he jumped into the pool, every time he slid down the slide, every time he bounced in the bouncy castles. Every single second he spent thinking about the presents. Except during the water gun fight. That had been way too fun.
“Rune hurry up,” Brand said, shoveling vanilla ice cream into his mouth. Big mistake. A sharp stab of ice-cold pain laced through his head.
“Ow! Brand,” Rune complained while clutching his own head. “Slow down!”
Brand pressed his thumb to the roof of his mouth as hard as he could. “But I wanna open the presents!”
“In a minute,” Rune said. “I want another piece of cake.”
“...”
“It’s my birthday~! ” Rune took a bite of his cake without taking his eyes off Brand. “Y’know, you can eat as much cake as you want, too.” Rune raised his hand and a server made his way over. “I’d like another piece of cake.”
“Yes, my lord,” the servant said and rushed away to get Rune’s cake.
Brand sighed. He knew Rune was gonna take forever to finish eating. He stared longingly at the table of presents in the other room. He wished he could just go in there and start ripping them open, but apparently that was ‘rude’ and ‘improper.’
“You were really cool earlier,” the girl sitting closest to him said. Her name was Sylva. She was in Brand’s martial arts class and was Brand’s only actual friend at the party. Everyone else was mostly there for Rune.
“Thanks,” Brand said, not taking his eyes off the presents.
“During the water gun fight,” Sylva said undeterred. “It was like no one could even catch you. When’d you learn how to use a gun so good?”
Brand shrugged. “It’s not that good. Most of it’s just stuff we learned from class. And Rune and I play with Nerf guns a lot.”
Sylva followed Brand’s eyes to the present table. “What do you think you got?”
“A sword,” Brand answered without hesitation. That was what he wanted the most in the world.
“That’s cool,” Sylva said. She was quiet for a second. “Hey…Brand?”
“Hm?”
“Will you open my present first?” Sylva asked shyly.
“Oh, sure I guess.” Brand didn’t know why Sylva wanted that, but he didn’t really care. He just wanted to open presents.
“Okay!” Rune said suddenly. He had finished his ice cream and second slice of cake. He shot a quick glance around the table, checking to see if everyone had finished. “It’s present time!”
Brand immediately hopped up and ran into the great room, quickly followed by Rune and twelve other scions. Brand scanned the table. He was about to grab the biggest present with his name on it when he remembered Sylva’s request. He searched for a present that said ‘From Sylva Reyes of the Bone Hollows; To Lord Brandon Saint John.’ His eyes landed on a small flat box wrapped in blue and black wrapping paper. Brand wasted no time ripping through the paper.
Behind the paper was an expensive-looking wooden box adorned with the Sun Throne’s emblem. Brand flipped open the box. Inside was a knife. The blade was bigger than his hand and jet black. Its edges were thick and jagged all leading to a wickedly sharp point. The handle was carved from the same wood as the box and inlaid with dutifully shined garnets.
“It’s obsidian and coal,” Sylva said from behind Brand. Brand knew she was there. Because of his super special Companion training, of course. “So it’s good for fighting magical creatures. The edges aren’t super sharp, but they still make good slashes.”
Brand smiled as he tested the weight of the knife. He couldn’t wait to try this one out. He had a few obsidian weapons, but they were all dull training weapons. This one was fit for battle.
“Thanks,” Brand said somewhat remembering his manners.
Sylva smiled. “Sorry it’s not a sword.”
Brand shrugged. “Hey Rune! Look!” He held up the knife and waggled it. He did not notice Sylva’s smile fading from her face.
“Woah,” Rune said getting closer. “Is that coal and obsidian? That’s crazy strong! You could probably take out a harpy with one hit.”
Brand took a few swipes with the knife, very careful not to hit anyone or anything. He looked at the big box Rune was carrying. “What did you get?”
Rune’s eyes lit up as he proudly held up the box. “It’s a Lego Sun Estate! An exact replica! Custom-made and everything!” The joy coming from Rune was contagious even without a Companion Bond.
The boys went back to their attack on the presents. There were still so many left. Unfortunately, the more presents they opened, the less excitement Brand felt. Whereas gifts addressed to Rune contained things like X-Men action figures, yet-to-be-released nerf guns, a custom sun-themed Walkman, the 32-volume 1993 Encyclopedia Britannica collection, and a gold-plated chess set, gifts addressed to Brand contained things like knives, knives, daggers, shurikens, and more knives. Not even one sword.
It wasn't like Brand didn’t absolutely love knives, but besides the first knife from Sylva, none of the weapons were usable. They were all ‘decorative’ and ‘ceremonial’ and ‘ornamental.’ Meaning they were all made from super weak materials or decorated with too many ugly crystals and gemstones or shaped in a way that would hurt the wielder more than the opponent. Meaning he was supposed to display them around Sun Estate to show how generous and friendly and rich the other courts were. Meaning they were all useless.
And it wasn’t like Rune wouldn’t share. Rune always shared his toys, even his favorite ones. What was his was Brand’s and vice versa. They never even really had a strict split between Rune’s toys and Brand’s toys.
But it would still be nice to get a toy.
The party started to come to a close. Rooms were cleaned, food was stored away, guests were escorted home. Rune and Brand stayed politely downstairs until all their friends had left. When the door had closed behind the last guest, the two boys sprinted upstairs to their rooms. There was one last birthday event that needed to be performed.
They reconvened in the hallway outside their rooms, each carrying a box. One last present.
Every year since they were five, the boys would get secret birthday presents. Nanny Patience would take them one at a time to stores around New Atlantis in search of the perfect present. Then, the boys would hide them as best they could until it was time.
“I want mine first,” Rune said. He set down Brand’s wrapped present box.
Brand rolled his eyes, mostly in an attempt to hide his nervousness. He stared down at the unwrapped case in his hands. He was starting to feel bad about his gift. Hadn’t he been complaining about getting this same thing earlier?
“Here,” Brand said, pushing the case into Rune’s hands.
Rune knelt on the ground and carefully unlatched the case. Inside were six knives. A hunting knife, a folding knife, a karambit, and three throwing knives. They were simple. Black handles with blue blades. No gemstones or crystals or engravings. Rune gingerly touched one of the throwing knives.
“You said you wanted to learn how to use knives,” Brand said. “I can teach you what I learned so far.”
Rune carefully lifted the throwing knife he had been touching. “It’s beautiful. Will you really teach me?”
“Of course,” Brand said. “Magnus’s only gonna teach you how to use swords, right? I’ll teach you how to fight for real!”
Rune smiled and slowly placed the knife back in the case. He flipped the latches closed then looked up and Brand, eyes wide and adoring. “Thank you. I can’t wait to use them.”
“I can’t wait to teach you,” Brand said, fighting a blush rising to his cheeks. “Alright. It’s my turn now.”
Rune reached for the yellow and black wrapped box and slid it across the floor towards Brand. Brand dropped to the ground and tore into the wrapping.
Inside was a toy spaceship. But not just any toy spaceship. No. It was so much more than that. This was the Star Trek: The Next Generation™ U.S.S. Enterprise™ NCC-1701-D complete with Dual Light-Up Engines, Blow-Apart Battle Damage Sections, Four Authentic Starship Sounds, and Bonus Technical Blueprint!
Brand held the box up in front of his face. He read the box over and over and over again. He moved the box down into his lap.
“Rune!” Brand nearly yelled. “What did—How did—When did you— Rune! This doesn’t come out until next year!”
“Yup,” Rune said with a smirk. Rune’s smugness was practically drowning Brand across the bond but for once Brand didn’t care. Rune deserved to feel so self-satisfied.
“How’d you get this?!”
Rune raised his head haughtily. He was absolutely loving this reaction from Brand. “I’m the heir to the Sun Throne. I have my connections.”
Brand smoothed his hand over the picture of the U.S.S. Enterprise™ as if he could feel the forward photon torpedo launcher and Bussard hydrogen collectors through the photo. “You’re amazing, Rune.”
“I know!”
“Okay, okay.” Brand couldn’t stop himself from giggling if he tried. “You can stop being so smug now.”
“Mmm, nope,” Rune said. He put his hands on his hips triumphantly. “I got you the perfect gift!”
Brand sighed in fake annoyance. “Yeah. Yeah, you did.”
“Exactly what you wanted!”
“Yeah,” Brand said softly. “Exactly what I wanted. Thank you.”
Rune smiled. “Good.” He leaned back and stretched. He grabbed his knife case then rose to his feet. “Well Band-aid, I’m going to bed now. I wanna wake up bright and early to start knife training.” He crossed the two meters to his bedroom door. He put a hand on the doorknob, then paused and turned back to Brand. “By the way, I left some batteries and a screwdriver on your nightstand.”
So that’s why those were there! Brand felt a warm, syrupy feeling fill up his chest. Rune didn’t have to do that. He could have easily just let Brand search their home for his own screwdriver and batteries. But he did.
Brand jumped up and ran over to Rune, crushing him in a hug before he could think twice about it. “Good night, Rune,” Brand mumbled into Rune’s shoulder. “And happy birthday.”
Rune only took a split second to sink into the hug, giggling as he buried his face into Brand’s neck. He squeezed his best friend as tight as he could. “Good night, Brand. And happy birthday to you too.”
Age 11- Your Purpose
Rune and Brand burst into Sun Estate in a flurry of snowflakes and excitement. Finally, a thick enough layer of snow had built up for a snowball fight. An ultimate snowball fight, with weapons and snow forts and real military tactics.
The boys stomped upstairs to their rooms. They threw their backpacks onto their respective beds and began their search for tools and weapons. Buckets, shovels, slingshots, Nerf guns, action figures, blankets, flashlights, clothes hangers, practice knives. Nothing was off limits.
Rune stumbled into Brand’s room carrying a duffle bag filled with supplies. “Hurry up, Brand! It’s already getting dark!” Rune said, dropping the bag with a heavy thunk. Sure enough, even though it was only half past four, the mid-winter sun was already beginning its descent toward the horizon. “And we still gotta get stuff from the shed.”
Brand wiggled out from under his bed where he’d been searching for items. He emerged holding a bright orange toy snowball launcher. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Hey,” Rune shouted. “I was looking for that! You had it the whole time?”
“Yup.”
“Give it back!”
“No way! Finders keepers.”
Rune pouted. He stared at Brand. Then the bond went ‘mysteriously’ still and quiet. Rune started eying the snowball launcher.
It seemed that war was about to start early.
With a grin, Rune launched himself at Brand. Brand, anticipating the attack, turned his body from Rune and lifted the launcher high above his head. He held Rune back with his free arm.
“Give it,” Rune strained, trying to push back against Brand’s defense.
“Over my dead body!”
“That can be arranged!”
“Ha! I’d like to see you try!”
Rune leaned back, cheeks puffed out in deliberation. An idea that he tried to keep from the bond flashed into his head. He took a step back, then jumped at him again, then time whispering a cantrip as he did. The cantrip made the floor extra slippery. Brand, not expecting to have so little traction, tumbled backward. He reached out a hand to Rune, not in an attempt to save himself, but to pull Rune down with him. Rune tried to pull away futilely and collapsed in a heap on top of Brand.
Brand eyed Rune with barely hidden astonishment on his face. “I’ll admit it. That was good thinking.”
Rune smiled. “Good enough for you to give me the launcher?”
“Not a chance!”
Rune pouted again. He tried to snatch away the launcher when Brand was off guard, but Brand was too fast. He pushed the launcher out of reach of both of them and pushed Rune off him. Before Rune could react, Brand flopped perpendicular across his back, pinning him to the ground.
“Brand,” Rune said between giggles. “Get off me!”
“Mmmm, I don’t feel like it.”
“We’re burning daylight here!”
“You started this!”
“And I’ll end it too!”
Brand laughed as Rune started aggressively wiggling beneath him. Rune made it about .02 cm from underneath Brand before giving up.
“Come on, Brand,” Rune groaned. He gave a few more half-hearted wiggles. “You’ve got so many cool weapons already! Plus all the tactical Companion training stuff.”
“You have magic,” Brand said, almost sounding outraged. “You can throw fireballs at me with your mind!”
“I can’t throw snowballs at you,” Rune grumbled even though he definitely could.
Rune twisted around and gave Brand his best puppy dog eyes. “Pleeeeeeeeeeease!”
“You know that doesn’t work on me,” Brand lied. He raised up just slightly off of Rune.
Rune seized the opportunity. He managed to wiggle a whole six inches forward, just far enough to grab hold of the snowball launcher. “Ha! It’s mine!” Rune wiggled in victory. Brand rolled his eyes.
“Hi Lord Sun,” Brand said to the man who had been standing at the door since the boys had first fallen to the ground.
Rune twisted around as best he could. “Oh! Hi dad!”
“Hello boys,” Lord Sun said with a smile that didn’t stretch past his cheeks. “Rune, I need a few minutes to talk to Brand.”
“But dad,” Rune groaned. He clawed his way free from under Brand. “We were about to have an ultimate snowball fight!”
“I won’t keep him forever. You can still play your game.”
“But it’s already getting dark!” Rune pointed to the window. The sky was pale blue and bright orange. The sun was just touching the horizon.
“How about this,” Lord Sun started patiently. “After Brand and I finish our talk, I’ll come and watch the two of you.”
Rune’s eyes lit up. “Really! Promise?”
“Promise.”
Rune jumped up and rushed over to grab his duffle bag. “Okay. See you in a bit. I’ll grab some stuff from the shed for you!” He said this to Brand as he waddled out of the room with his overstuffed bag.
Lord Sun waited until Rune was long down the stairs before speaking. “How have you been, Brand?”
“I’ve been good,” Brand said while rising to his feet. He kept his arms at his side, subtly tugging on his pants. “...How have you been, Lord Sun?”
Lord Sun did not respond. Brand secretly wished Lord Sun would correct him. Would tell him not to call him ‘Lord Sun’ but ‘dad.’ When Brand first made the switch, due to his teachers’ insistence, it was as if Lord Sun hadn’t even noticed. But it had become the new normal, both the title and the lack of attention.
For the last few years, Lord Sun had been…strange. Maybe not strange, but distant. Like his mind was somewhere else far away. He hardly ever watched the boys playing anymore. In fact, he was rarely even seen around Sun Estate and usually spent the day away in his tower. At first, Brand thought he was just really busy being an Arcana and all. But he wasn’t so sure now.
“Do you love Rune,” Lord Sun asked.
Brand frowned. “Yeah. Of course I do.”
Lord Sun started to say something but seemed to think better of it. Instead just shook his head, a thin ghost of a smile on his lips. “Of course.”
An uncomfortable silence fell across the room as Lord Sun seemed to consider how to word his next statement.
“Brand,” he began after a few more moments of silence, “do you understand what it means to be a Companion?”
Brand felt his shoulders relax. Was this all Lord Sun wanted to talk about? “It means I protect Rune. It’s my job to keep him safe.” Brand stood up straight as he delivered his answer, but at the look on Lord Sun's face, he shrank back down. That wasn’t the answer he was looking for.
“It’s not just your job. It’s your purpose. Do you understand?”
Brand shook his head.
“It means that being a Companion is why you are here. It’s your reason for living.”
Brand stood quietly, unsure of what to say.
Maybe it was just the body language training he started this school year, but something about Lord Sun felt almost inhuman. He was so unnaturally still and expressionless. It was like he forgot how to act human. Like he had been around so long, he couldn’t be bothered to try.
“You must do everything in your power to protect him.” It was a command, a prayer, and a plea all wrapped up into one.
“I know. I will.”
“You must. That means no distractions.”
“I’m not distracted! I promise!”
Lord Sun leveled a heavy look at Brand. Brand used all of his training to try and stop himself from fidgeting. He didn’t understand what Lord Sun was talking about. Brand wasn’t distracted, not from Rune. Rune was his whole world!
“You need to have a clear mind,” Lord Sun’s voice was growing stronger and faster. If Brand hadn’t known any better, he would have called it frantic. “You cannot let anything distract you from your purpose. Rune’s safety should be your only goal. It is your only goal. You can’t afford to let anything come between you two. Physical or mental. You cannot risk that. Am I understood?”
No. He was not understood. Brand didn’t understand at all. But he didn’t want to disappoint Lord Sun. Not when he looked at him with such intensity, as if the entire world depended on his answer.
“...Yes sir.”
“Good. Go on, now,” Lord Sun said, wasting no time making his way from Brand’s room. I’ll be with you two shortly.”
Lord Sun never came to watch the boys.
Age 12- Solo
Rune bounced happily over to where his chauffeur waited for him after school. He was happy to be going back home after four days on campus. But he was even more happy about where he would be going Saturday.
He slid into the backseat of the car where a very grumpy Brand was sitting, arms crossed.
“What took you so long,” Brand grumbled. School had been out for nearly twenty minutes. Brand had spent at least half that time yanking on the Companion bond in annoyance.
Rune grinned, undeterred by Brand’s attitude. “Guess where I’m going Saturday!”
“Does it have something to do with what took you twenty freakin’ minutes to get here?”
“Yes, actually. Now guess!”
Brand stared at Rune. His irritation with Rune’s tardiness was more related to the fact that it took at least thirty minutes to get from Magnus Academy to Sun Estate at this time of day than actually being upset with Rune. Still, he would not give up his bad mood so easily.
“You’re no fun,” Rune pouted playfully. He held up the envelope a centimeter away from Brand’s face. “Look!” Brand snatched it from his hand. It was the colors of the Papess Throne and embroidered their seal. On the front was written ‘To Lord Rune Saint John.’ Brand flipped over the envelope and pulled out a card. It read:
You Are Cordially Invited To
The Annual Magnus Adepts Dinner Party
Saturday, 23rd of March 1998
6:00 PM - 12:00 AM
The Main Estate of the Papess Throne
RSVP
Seneschal Lord Tryston Saint Brigid | 508-555-0202
“This is in three days,” Brand said after he finished reading. “Aren’t they supposed to send these out like two weeks in advance?”
“It’s not as formal as it sounds,” Rune said, which was not a lie. And invites were handed out two weeks ago. Rune would not be telling Brand why he was only just receiving his.
Brand sighed and handed the invitation and envelope back to Rune. “Okay. But we’re not staying the whole time. Who has a six-hour dinner—What? What’s wrong?” Brand interrupted himself when a feeling of distress flashed across the bond.
Rune fidgeted with the envelope. “I mean,” Rune started in a failed attempt at sounding casual. “You don’t have to come.”
Band looked at Rune and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I don’t, do I?”
“Well…You weren’t…invited, so…” Rune trailed off. He hadn’t been looking forward to this conversation, but a small part of him had hoped it wouldn’t even be an issue.
“Okay? I never am. But you were invited. Which means I’m coming.” This was true. Brand rarely, if ever, received invites to parties or events. Rune and Brand were a packaged deal. It was expected that where one went, the other followed. Rune didn’t know how he felt about that.
“You don’t even like parties.”
“No, but I have to come with you.”
“You really don’t,” Rune grumbled. “You don’t have to go with me everywhere.”
“Uh, yeah I do,” Brand said. His irritation was starting to be with Rune now. He didn’t understand why Rune was trying to convince him not to go. “It’s kinda my job? As your Companion? Y’know, your super cool, specially trained bodyguard? You remember that?”
Rune huffed. “It’s just that…It’s a party just for scions so…” At Brand’s confused glare, Rune hastily continued. “Not that you’re not a scion! I mean technically…But that’s not—I just mean…I mean the party, it’s just…The party’s being thrown by someone in my Sigil Magic class and they only invited people from our class so y’know it might be pretty awkward for you being the only person there not from our class and—”
“Why are you lying?”
Rune’s mouth snapped shut.
“Rune, why don’t you want me to go so bad?” Brand asked. He seemed genuinely confused like he couldn’t imagine a reason why Rune wouldn’t want him there.
“I just…” Rune said quietly, not meeting Brand’s eyes, “wanna go by myself.” This was the truth. Not the entire truth, neither for the situation nor his own feelings, but it was not a lie. Rune felt guilty, then felt angry for feeling guilty, then felt even worse that he didn’t want to feel guilty.
“...Why?” Brand asked. Rune couldn’t stand how Brand sounded. How genuinely confused and upset he was. Rune knew he would fold if he looked at him so he stayed staring at the envelope, playing with the wax seal that had once fastened it closed.
“Because.” Rune focused on his anger at feeling guilty. Rune scratched off a piece of the wax and it fell to the floor of the car. “It’s not like we have to spend every second of every day together. I can do things without you sometimes.”
“Yeah b-but,” Brand stuttered. Rune did everything he could to tune out whatever he felt through their bond. “But what if something happens?”
“Nothing’s gonna happen, Brand. Besides, there’ll be plenty of security there. I mean, it’s not like you can protect me better than them.” Rune regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. He hadn’t meant to say it like that. All he meant was that there would be professionals there and Brand didn’t need to worry.
“...But it’s my job. I have to keep you safe.”
“I’ll be fine, Brand,” Rune insisted. “It’s like you think there’s an assassin after me.”
“There could be!”
“And if there is, I’ll handle it. You don’t think I can take care of myself?”
“I know you can! I just…” Brand trailed off. Rune waited for him to finish his statement, but he never did.
“I’m going to the party,” Rune declared. “And you’re staying home. Or going out. Or…whatever. I don’t care what you do. But you’re not coming with me.” Rune flinched inwardly to himself. That came out harsher than he intended. Again. It felt like ever since they turned twelve, Rune kept being accidentally mean to people.
“Fine,” Brand said, his eyes finally dropping from Rune. The bond felt tense and icy.
The two sat in uncomfortable silence in the back of the car. Due to traffic, the car was moving at a snail’s pace. It would still take them another twenty minutes until they went home. The car had come to a stop at a red light when Rune finally spoke up.
“You’re not mad, are you?”
Brand sighed heavily. “No. I’m not mad,” he said, pulling Rune into a side hug. “I just…” Brand felt too embarrassed to say what he actually felt. That he liked being around Rune. That he felt better when he was near. That he just wanted to be with him. “I just worry about you,” is what he settled on because that would always be true.
“I know you do,” Rune said, leaning into Brand. He was troubled by the nervous buzzing over the bond, but was relieved that Brand seemed to be giving in. “But I’ll be alright. I promise. It’s gonna be at an Arcana’s estate. What’s a safer place than that?”
Brand could think of a few, but kept that to himself. “Just promise me you’ll be careful, okay.”
“Of course I will,” Rune said. He ignored the feeling in his head telling him that there was more to Brand’s thoughts. “You’ll probably have a lot more fun not going anyway. Big events have never been your thing.”
“I don’t mind when I’m with you,” Brand said, too genuine and casual for the growing feelings of guilt and regret in Rune's stomach.
Rune didn’t want to pull away from Brand’s hug, instead resting his head against the other boy’s chest and sending fabricated feelings of contentment across the bond. Because he knew Brand wanted to be close to him now. Because he wanted to be close to Brand. Because Brand wouldn’t be able to see the unhappy look on his face from this position. Because then, Rune might tell Brand everything he didn’t want him to know.
He didn’t want Brand to know that the other scions didn’t want him there. That they’d asked Rune to make sure Brand didn’t come. That the reason Rune was only just getting his invitation was that they didn’t think he’d come without Brand. That Rune promised them he’d come without Brand. That they’d said Rune would have more fun without Brand.
He didn’t want Brand to know that he had agreed with them.
Age 13- ‘Friends’
A huge crash from the room next to his jolted Brand from his sleep. He grabbed a knife from under his pillow and sprinted to the adjoining room. Uncharacteristically, he stumbled and nearly fell into the door. There was a faint but noticeable dizziness buzzing around in his head. He ripped over the door, trying not to trip over his own feet. He did a quick scan of the room. Lights off. Window closed. Door open. Bed empty. Pained groaning. Dark, body-sized lump on the floor.
“Rune!” He whisper-yelled at the body on the floor. “Are you okay?”
“‘m okay,” Rune muttered from where he had face-planted on the floor. “Jus’ fell.”
Brand sighed and went over to flip on a floor lamp in the corner of Rune’s room. He rubbed his eyes, trying to chase away the dizzy, slightly nauseous feeling in his head, and took in the sight before him now that he could see. He noticed the floor strewn about with clothes, shoes, books, and other miscellaneous things. He noticed the backpack that Rune had definitely tripped over. He noticed Rune holding his head, gently rubbing where he had slammed it onto the floor.
And most interestingly of all, he noticed that Rune was fully dressed.
“Why are you dressed,” Brand asked slowly.
“No reason,” Rune said.
“Were you planning on sneaking out,” Brand asked in disbelief.
Rune let out what should have been a biting laugh, but was more of a clumsy giggle. “Nope. No plans here.”
Brand considered those words. His brain was working a little slowly. He wondered if he was starting to catch a cold or if he was just sleepy. “What do you—Wait. You’re not sneaking out. You’re sneaking back in !”
“Sshhhh!” Rune shushed louder than Brand had spoken. “It’s a secret!”
“Where the hell did go,” Brand demanded.
“Wi’ some friends,” Rune said. He tried to get to his feet but tipped over back onto his face. He let out a yelp of pain, lifting his head back up and rubbing his forehead again. “We jus’ walked around a li’l.”
“Rune…” Brand couldn’t believe it! Rune snuck out? And worse, Brand didn’t even notice. “You could’ve gotten hurt!”
“It’s fiiiiine,” Rune said, making another attempt to stand. Brand walked over to help Rune to his feet. As he did, he noticed a strange smell like rubbing alcohol. Suddenly it made sense. Rune’s fall. His slurring speech. The slightly woozy way Brand was feeling. He yanked Rune a little forcefully into standing.
“Rune, are you drunk?!” He tried to be mindful of his volume, but he couldn’t keep the outrage from his voice.
Rune giggled. “No. Jus’ a li’l tipsy.”
“What the hell?!”
“Whaaaat? I’m not drunk! I only had, like…two beers.”
“Are you crazy?! You shouldn’t be drinking!”
Rune rolled his eyes. He pushed away from Brand and stumbled but ultimately stayed on his feet. “It’s not that big a deal.”
Brand crossed his arms angrily. “It really freakin’ is! Do you know how dangerous it is to be out at night? While drunk?!”
Rune plopped down on his bed and kicked off his shoes. “Relax. I’ve been fine all this long time.”
“Wait,” Brand said. “You’ve done this before?”
“Yup,” Rune said. He grabbed some clothes that had been thrown across the bed.
“When?”
“A few times,” Rune said absentmindedly.
Brand wanted to kick himself. A few times? That had to mean at least three. At least three times that Rune had snuck out and went drinking around the city without him noticing. Plus tonight! And Brand only found out because Rune had happened to trip over a backpack. What if something had happened while he was out? What if Rune had gotten hurt? What if Rune hadn’t been there in the morning?
Rune nonchalantly started to change into his pajamas. He managed to change his shirt when he noticed that Brand had gone silent. Rune looked up at Brand. Brand was staring pointedly at the floor. Rune checked the bond. Through the fuzziness, he could just barely feel a complicated mix of emotions. There was anger and frustration and betrayal and…shame?
“Brand, are you okay,” Rune asked for lack of anything better to say. He could tell Brand was not in fact okay.
“I’m fine.” Brand snapped. “Just…” Brand shook his head. “It’s bad enough you snuck out. Drinking on top of that…What if something happens? If you’re drunk then-”
“If I’m drunk,” Rune interrupted, “I can jus’ use a sober cantrip. ’m not dumb.”
Brand sighed angrily. “Then don’t act like it!” His expression softened. “I just want you to be safe. Please promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”
“I promise,” Rune said. “I didn’t mean to make you mad. You won’t tell, right?”
“No, I won’t tell.” Brand walked over and roughly ruffled Rune’s hair as a sort of truce. “Now get some sleep. I can only imagine how late you’ll wake up now.”
“Good night, Brand,” Rune said with a soft laugh.
Brand crossed the room, turning off the floor lamp as he made his way back into his own room. “Good night.”
“Rune, which one do you want?” The Chariot Court scion, Felix, held up two beer bottles.
Rune was out again with his friends. This time they were at the Bowers. Rune had never been before. Usually, he and his group just wandered around New Atlantis passing disguised cans of beer between each other. Tonight, however, they were in the part of the city where all the other young scions gathered to get drunk or high. The group about eight strong sat in a circle on the ground.
“I don’t know,” Rune muttered. “Maybe I shouldn’t this time.”
“Huh? Why,” Felix asked. “Do you not like these? We got wine too if you want.”
“No it’s just… I got caught last time.” Rune felt embarrassed to admit it. He was a little younger than the group of friends he would sneak out with and didn’t want to make himself seem childish.
“Oh shit! Was it your dad,” another friend, Sabri from The Temperance Galley, asked. “Was he really mad?”
“Oh, no. My dad didn’t even notice.” Rune couldn’t hide the annoyance in his voice. “It was Brand. He was already pretty upset at me for sneaking out. It was worse when he realized I was drunk.”
His friends all looked at each other, then laughed.
“You mean your companion ?” Sabri asked. He said the word Companion like it was something terrible.
“Yeah. I mean, it’s his job to keep me safe so…”
“Exactly.” This was Maddison from the Iron Hall. “He’s just a glorified bodyguard. You’re his boss. Not the other way around.”
“But what if he tells my dad,” Rune asked, inwardly flinching at how whiny and childish he sounded.
“Lie,” Sabri answered as if it was so easy. “Your dad’s not gonna believe some little human kid over his own son and heir.”
The way they were talking was making Brand uncomfortable, but Rune didn’t want to upset them by calling them out. He thought they were cool and he wanted them to think he was too.
Felix held a beer out to him. “C’mon Rune. We’re here to have fun!”
“Yeah,” Maddison added. “Don’t let that stick-in-the-mud ruin the night for you.”
Another boy, Lawson from the Crusader Throne, spoke up. He had already finished a beer and was working on another. “C’mon, kid. Who cares about your babysitter? Don’t be a buzzkill.”
Rune frowned, feeling a little scolded. This was exactly what he was trying to avoid. He didn’t want to be seen as a little kid. He wanted them to know he was mature enough to hang with. He took the beer from Felix’s hand.
“You’re right,” Rune said with forced aloofness. “Not like he can stop me so who really cares.” He took a big swig of the beer. It was bitter and gross and burned the whole way down his throat.
“Exactly,” Sabri said, happily grabbing a drink for himself. “No more thinking about Lord Brandon. ”
Rune smiled but said nothing. He took another drink and let his attention drift to the conversations between his friends, trying to clear his mind of any thoughts about his other half.
From the corner of his eye, Rune saw Brand watching him from the bushes. He pretended not to notice.
Age 14- The Argument
Brand squinted his eyes against the strobing lights of the club. He hated strobe lights. They always gave him a headache and made it impossible for him to keep track of Rune.
Rune, who was across the room, downing his second shot and starting on his third beer.
Brand wished he was anywhere else but here. He wished he could be playing video games at the arcade or walking in the park or sleeping in his own bed like any normal person at two in the fucking morning. But no, he was stuck here hiding in the corner watching Rune get drunk off his ass and make puppy eyes as some older scion named Georgy or Geoffrey or Giovanni or whatever. Well, he wasn’t stuck. He wasn’t exactly invited here. Rune never invited Brand with him when he snuck out. So technically, Brand could leave whenever he wanted to. He didn’t have to come in the first place.
But he couldn’t just let Rune go off on his own.
Rune didn’t know the Brand followed him. There was one time that Rune noticed Brand watching him from the bushes, but he never brought it up. So Brand never brought it up and made sure he got better at hiding. As far as he knew, Rune had never caught him again.
Brand rubbed his eyes, trying to chase away his oncoming headache. He refocused on Rune who was now standing far too close to Gerald or Geronimo or whoever the fuck. They swayed back and forward together, more from drunkenness than any attempt at dancing and Rune laughed at something Giacomo said to him. Rune said something Brand couldn’t hear over the music. It had the small group of scions surrounding Rune at the bar laughing and pushing him playfully on the arm. He looked like he was having fun.
Brand wished he could go over and join them. He wished Rune didn’t think he’d be a buzzkill or a wet blanket or a stick-in-the-mud. He wished that just once when Rune snuck out, he’d invite Brand with him and the two of them would roam around the city together.
Someone walked up to the group. They held up a ziploc bag and waved it around, eliciting a round of cheers from the group. Brand sat up straighter. He tried to see what it was, but the distance and the lights made it nearly impossible. The person, another scion Brand was starting to think, opened up the bag and started passing around what was inside it. Brand slipped out of his hiding spot and edged closer to the group, being careful to stay in the shadows. He could see now the scion was passing out small multicolored pills.
Brand’s pulse spiked. He tried his best to keep his alarm away from the Companion bond, even if Rune was probably too drunk to pay much attention to it. The person with the ziploc bag handed out a couple of pills to the scions in the little group. But not to Rune. Brand’s shoulders sagged in relief.
This relief was short-lived as Giuseppe held up a pill to Rune. Rune giggled but didn’t take the pill. Instead, he stuck out his tongue and waited for the pill to be placed there.
Before Gibraltr even had a chance to move his arm forward, Rune was being yanked away by the back of his shirt.
“What the hell,” Rune shrieked. He twisted to try and see who grabbed him. “Brand?!”
Brand was silent and stayed silent as he dragged Rune by the shirt completely out of the club. He swung Rune around to be in front of him, steadying the boy as he stumbled backward.
“Brand, what the hell’s your problem?!” Rune yelled. He wriggled out of Brand’s hold. He nearly fell again but managed to regain his balance.
“What the hell are you doing,” Brand shouted.
Rune looked taken aback by the question. “Whassit look like? Why’d you drag me outta the club like that for?”
“Because you were about to eat a pill from some random dude!”
Rune barked a laugh at Brand’s phrasing, mumbling the word ‘eat’ under his breath. “He’s not some random dude. He’s Geoffrey. And he’s really nice.”
“It could’ve been Lord Judgement himself for all I care,” Brand said. “You know how dangerous this is! You could really mess yourself up.”
“Oh please,” Rune said, rolling his eyes. “We’ve done drugs before.”
“Yeah, weed,” Brand said. “Not whatever the fuck you were about to take.”
“It’s jus’ X, Brand.” At Brand’s blank stare, Rune let out another biting laugh. “X? Molly? Ecstasy? It’s nothin’ bad. All it does is wake you up and get you high.”
“And how do you know that? Rune, these drugs are nothing to play with.”
“Cuz I’ve done it before,” he answered as if it was obvious.
“What?!”
“Oh what, you didn’t feel it? Or did you not even know what it was? See! You don’t know shit.” Rune said it as if finishing another half of a conversation Brand didn’t know about. Brand could guess. It was probably something Rune’s friends said about him.
Rune made to go back into the club, but Brand yanked him by the arm.
“Rune, I’m not letting you go back in there.”
Rune tried to pull his arm back, but Brand’s grip was too strong. “No, you’re not. You’re not lettin’ me do anything cuz I don’t need your permission.” He tried again to free his arm. “Let. Me. Go.”
“No.” Brand growled, tightening his grip.
“Ugh! I’m jus’ tryna have fun.” Rune rolled his eyes again and stared at the sky. “Why’re you even here?”
“I’m here because it’s my job to keep you safe and stop you from doing stupid shit!”
Rune’s attention snapped to Brand. His eyes were surprisingly clear and focused. “I don’t need a fucking babysitter, Brand! I don’t need you watching my every move. I don’t need you telling me what I can or can’t do. I don’t need you trailing after me like a fucking dog. I don’t need you at all!”
A heavy, suffocating silence fell between the two. The air was thick with tension, buzzing and static-y like the atmosphere before a lightning strike.
“Fine.” Brand said almost inaudibly. “Go then. Go back in there and stay out all fucking night and get blackout drunk and take every godsdamn drug you can shove into your mouth. Go and get beat up and stabbed and kidnapped and thrown away in a ditch somewhere. See if I care. See if I even fucking think about you.”
Brand dropped his hold on Rune’s arm and left without another word.
Age 15- Three Little Birds
At four am, Brand got ready to go to the gym. He got dressed in workout clothes, went to Rune’s room to check on him, grabbed a bottle of water, then made his way to the Pac Bell’s gym. At this hour, it was empty. He had only ever seen a total of three different people around. Brand trained for about an hour before backing up and leaving to go eat a granola bar.
At eight am, Brand got ready to go to the gym. He checked on Rune again. Still sleeping, actually sleeping which was good. He didn’t grab water this time. He made his way back to the Pac Bell’s gym. There were more people around now, but the gym was still mostly empty. Brand trained for another half hour before packing up and leaving to shower and nap with Rune.
At twelve pm, Brand got ready to go to the gym. He had risen from his nap with Rune and made sure his scion had eaten, showered, and gotten dressed. He grabbed a water bottle and made his way to the Pac Bell’s gym. It was very busy at this hour. Perfect. Brand had plenty of people to spar with. He ended up training for an hour and a half before packing up and leaving to shower again and bring Rune a snack.
At four pm, Brand got ready to go to the gym. He grabbed a granola bar and another bottle of water and made his way to the Pac Bell’s gym. The gym was still crowded with people. Brand still had a host of options to spar with, but he was here specifically to train with Mayan. He was still a little sore from earlier. He had gotten his ass beat far too many times. Unacceptable. He needed to get stronger. He needed to be better. He only trained for thirty minutes before Mayan ended the session and Brand left to lie on the ground and try to ignore the pain in his muscles
At five thirty pm, Brand got ready to go to the gym. Rune was with him this time. Brand was very happy. Rune would probably only end up watching, but if he was lucky, he could get Rune to do some stretches. He grabbed water bottles and snacks for the both of them and led Rune to the Pac Bell’s gym. Rune didn’t use any of the machines, but he did do some stretches for his shoulder. A success. Rune was working very hard. They trained for about thirty minutes before leaving to watch TV together.
At nine-thirty pm, Brand got ready to go to the gym. He meant to go earlier, but his schedule was thrown off by Rune’s desire to go. Not that Brand was in any way upset about that. He made his way down to the Pac Bell’s gym. It was clearing out at this time. That meant most of the machines would be empty. Brand would be quick. He still needed to make sure Rune ate dinner. He trained for another forty-five minutes before leaving, practically dragging his worn body to the nearest elevator.
It was on this sixth trip back from the gym, that he was stopped by Mayan. Mayan shoved an acoustic guitar, some CDs, and a bunch of paperback books into Brand’s arms.
“You have ten days,” Mayan said. “I expect to hear your progress then.”
Brand looked down at the items he was now holding. All of the books had some combination of the words ‘Guitar’ ‘Beginner’ and ‘Learn.’
“Why,” Brand asked but he did not receive an answer because Mayan simply walked away.
Two days later, after Brand had already been to the gym three times, he sat on his bed, guitar in hand and one of the paperback books propped up in front of him. In between gym visits and training with Mayan and studying and taking care of Rune, he would take an hour a day, thirty minutes in the afternoon and thirty more at night, to practice. Brand found that he actually enjoyed the whole process, but he would sooner chew glass than let Mayan hear him say that.
He had started with the book called ‘Guitar Basics’ after picking up one of the books filled with sheet music for songs and having no clue what any of it said. He didn’t remember ever even seeing scales in his elementary school music classes.
Brand tried to focus on the book, but his mind was drifting. He had only been at it for maybe fifteen minutes, but he could feel his eyes drooping in exhaustion. The words and pictures were blurring together. He couldn’t make himself ignore the soreness of his body that was being made worse by how he was sitting.
He rubbed his eyes and tossed the guitar onto the bed. He didn’t have time for this. He didn’t want to accidentally fall asleep. He still needed to go to the gym in about forty-five minutes. Brand was too busy to just randomly start learning guitar. Mayan would just have to deal with it.
At four twenty-three, while Brand was in the Pac Bell’s gym for the fourth time that day, Mayan came up to him.
“How is your guitar practice going,” Mayan asked.
Brand didn’t look up from where he was attacking a punching bag. He made a noncommittal noise, hoping Mayan would just leave him alone.
“You haven’t started, have you,” he said, though it wasn’t a question.
“I started,” Brand grumbled.
“Looking at the books does not constitute starting.”
Brand growled and kept punching. “I have started,” he said indignantly.
“I didn’t give you that guitar for my own health,” Mayan said. “I expect to see results. The timeline hasn’t changed. You only have seven days now.”
Brand hit the punching bag hard, wincing at the burning pain that shot through his arm. “I don’t have time.”
“You have plenty if you utilize it correctly.” With that, he turned and left, ignoring the burning glare from Brand.
At twelve pm the next day, Brand was stopped in his tracks as he stared at the sign on the door to the Pac Bell’s gym.
Closed for Maintenance
11:00 am - 6:00 pm
What maintenance , Brand thought. He had just been there barely three hours ago. Twice in fact. There’d never been maintenance done before. And why would they do maintenance in the middle of the day? At the busiest times of the day?
“Fucking Mayan,” Brand groaned. The asshole was trying to get him to go practice guitar.
“I know you’re watching, asshole,” Brand said out loud to the minimum four security cameras in the hall. “Well, too bad. I don’t need a fucking gym to train.” He turned away from the closed door and marched back up to his room.
The guitar seemed to mock Brand from its corner of the room as he did sit-ups on his floor. The light from the window reflecting off of its shiny surface somehow managed to constantly beam directly into his eyes. It wobbled annoyingly every time Brand made a movement in the room. He swore he even heard it make noise once.
Brand paused halfway up when he heard the door to his room jiggle. He sat up fully as Rune stepped quietly into the room.
“You okay,” he asked. Rune jumped and looked around frantically for the source of the voice. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Oh, Brand!” The brief panic was replaced by a sort of happy confusion. Brand felt a gentle pull on the bond, as if Rune was checking to see why he hadn't realized where Brand was. “I thought you were at the gym.”
“It’s ‘closed for maintenance,’” Brand grumbled.
“Maintenance?”
“That’s what the sign said.”
“Oh.” Rune played with the bottom of his shirt. “I didn't mean to disturb you...”
“No, it’s okay,” Brand said as Rune started to back out of the door. “What did you need? Wait, you didn’t even know I was here.”
Rune looked sheepishly at the floor. “Sometimes I come in here while you’re at the gym,” he said, answering Brand’s unspoken question.
“...Why?”
Rune kept staring at the floor, refusing to look at Brand. He tried unsuccessfully to stop his embarrassment from trickling across the bond. “Because…you’re in the gym so much. And I…Well...” He finally looked up, meeting Brand’s eyes with a self-deprecating smile. “I guess I just kinda miss you. And, well, your room is…” Rune trailed off, but he didn’t need words. Brand felt it through the bond. This room was Brand’s. This room was safe.
Brand thought that was one the sweetest and saddest things Rune had ever admitted to him.
“You don’t have to leave,” Brand said genuinely.
“It’s fine. I know you don’t like being disturbed while you train,” Rune said, moving to leave the room again.
“No, it’s alright,” Brand said standing up. “I was finishing up anyway.” He could make up for it later.
“If you’re sure,” Rune said, knowing Brand was lying about being finished. “It’s not like I was going to do anything. Maybe just watch TV.”
“That’s fine,” Brand said. He searched around for the remote that was somewhere hidden in the mess of his room. He didn’t actually spend much time in his own room, not that anyone could tell by how unkempt it was. He wasn’t sure if he’d actually ever turned the TV on. Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure there actually was a remote.
“When did you get a guitar,” Rune asked. Brand turned to see Rune pointing to the guitar propped up against the wall.
“A few days ago,” Brand answered, walking over to it. “Mayan gave it to me. Said I have ten days to ‘show him my progress.’”
“Really? How’s that going?”
Brand shrugged.
“Can you play something?”
Brand’s immediate reaction was to say no, but a glance at Rune’s face shut him down. Rune looked…almost excited. Brand picked up the guitar.
“I only just started learning,” Brand said, looking over the instrument. “I don’t know any songs. Not really.”
“Oh…”
“But I guess,” Brand continued, relishing the tentatively hopeful look in Rune’s eyes, “If you hand me that book, the ‘Guitar Basics’ one, I can show you what I’ve been practicing.”
Rune smiled. It wasn’t the big sunshine grins Brand had grown used to over the years, but it was a smile. Slight and quiet and hiding a million thoughts behind it. He went over to Brand’s bedside table and grabbed the book and a guitar pick that were both thankfully on the very top of the stack.”
Brand sat on the edge of the armchair in his room, he had learned his lesson about sitting on the bed with the guitar. He took the book and flipped it open to the last pages he had been on, setting it on the bed in front of him. On the left-hand side were some explanations and graphs. On the right-hand side was the very simplified sheet music for the song ‘Three Little Birds.’
“Like I said,” Brand started as he refreshed himself on what he’d practiced the night before. “I’ve only been practicing for a little while. Don’t expect anything good.”
Rune crawled into bed and held up the book so that Brand could see better. He looked at the book upside down, waiting patiently for Brand to start.
Brand let out a breath as he prepared to begin, satisfied that he knew the correct finger positions. He silently counted himself in before starting play.
The song was simple, with only three chords and just one for the majority of it. Brand stumbled over the transitions from chord to chord but otherwise played it with as much skill as could be expected from a beginner. As he started on the final chorus, a small voice started singing hesitantly.
“Don’t worry, about a thing. Because every little thing is gonna be alright. Singin’ don’t worry, about a thing. ‘Cause every little thing, is gonna be alright…”
As Brand strummed the last chord, Rune looked up at him. “That was the song, right? I couldn’t read all that well upside-down.”
“Yeah, that’s the one,” Brand said, slumping into a more relaxed position.
“I didn’t know it was called ‘Three Little Birds.’” Rune’s expression turned wistful. He shook his head to himself. “That was really good, Brand.”
“It really wasn’t,” Brand said, a little embarrassed.
“Yes. It was. It’s nice to see you with a hobby,” he said with amusement.
“I have hobbies,” Brand protested.
“You don't do any of them, though? Not...anymore.”
Brand didn’t respond. Rune wasn’t wrong. Brand was pretty much all work since...since they lost everything. He couldn’t remember the last time he read a Sci-Fi book or sat down and listened to some music or even just enjoyed his workouts. Brand leaned further back in the chair and closed his eyes. The mental effort from the guitar, not wanting to mess up for Rune, had made him more tired than he normally was at this time of day.
“You’ve been so tired recently,” Rune said. He leaned forward hesitating just slightly, enough for Brand to have to hide the pang in his heart, before gently touching Brand's cheek. He studied Brand’s face, staring at the dark circles under his eyes. “I wish you would let yourself take a break.”
“I’m fine, Rune,” Brand insisted. “Just a little sleepy, that’s all.”
Rune dropped his hold on Brand’s face and rested his hand on Brand’s knee. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself. You’re gonna work yourself to death. Just take a day off.”
“I can’t afford to take a day off.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” Brand had to be stronger. He needed to be better. He needed to be good enough to protect Rune. He needed to make sure nothing ever happened to Rune again. He just couldn’t afford to fail again.
“Do you think you can learn a song for me,” Rune asked.
Brand peeked an eye open, suspicious of the sudden topic change. “What song?”
“I Want It That Way.”
Brand barked a laugh. “Really? Why?”
Rune shrugged his shoulders. “I like that song. Oh wait. You said Mayan gave you a deadline, right? Nevermind.”
“Huh? What‘s that got to do with it?”
“You need to focus on the stuff he gave you,” Rune said. He started tracing patterns on Brand’s knee. “I don’t want to distract you from that.”
“It’s really not a problem.”
“But, you’re already so busy. I don’t want you wasting your two minutes of downtime on my stupid request.
Brand sat up straight. “I’m not wasting anything if it’s you. I can make time to learn a song for you. I’ll just…skip one of my gym sessions.” Brand paused. “You think you’re fucking sneaky.”
Rune dipped his head and looked up through his eyelashes. “Will you still learn the song for me?”
Brand rolled his eyes. “Sure. I guess I will.”
“And you’ll stop going to the gym so much?”
“I said I’d skip a session, so I guess.”
“Would you be against skipping another?” Rune continued quickly before Brand could protest. “So that maybe we could hang out? I...I really do hate being up here by myself”
“...Fine. I’ll skip two sessions. But not every day.”
"Do you feel like napping with me right now?”
The answer was yes. Brand wanted to lay down and drift off. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “We already took a nap today. Well, I did. You hadn’t woken up to begin with.”
“...Can you play the song for me again?”
Brand looked down at his guitar. “Sure,” he said with a sigh.
“Will you sing—”
“Absolutely fucking not!”
Rune's laugh was barely a huff of air, light and barely there, but it was still a laugh. Brand treasured every second of it. Rune leaned out of Brand’s space and held the book up for him again. Brand shifted forward, making sure his hands were in the right place, and started playing. Softly, Rune started singing, careful to match Brand’s hesitant, clumsy strums.
“Don’t worry, about a thing. ‘Cause every little thing, is gonna be alright…”
Age 16- Again and Again and Again
Brand gingerly knocked on the door to Rune’s room in the Pac Bell. He announced himself softly as he pushed his way in, careful not to startle Rune. Not that Rune would be startled. He didn’t have much of a reaction to anything these days.
“I’m back,” he said, closing and locking the door with one hand. His other was holding a tray carrying lunch for both of them. For himself, he grabbed whatever was lying around the kitchen, usually resulting in some type of sandwich. For Rune, he took his time assembling a meal. Apple slices, french fries, m&m’s, Cheetos, peanut butter crackers, grapes, Oreos, a Capri Sun. Things Rune liked. Things he could pick at without much thought. Things he might actually eat.
Brand placed the tray on the dresser and walked over to where Rune was lying in bed. “Hey, I’ve got lunch now. Can you sit up for me?”
Rune didn’t react. Brand went over and gently raised Rune into a sitting position. Rune didn't resist. Brand maneovered Rune so that he was sitting more comfortably against the headboard.
“Good job,” Brand said. He took the tray and placed it on the bed over Rune’s lap. He pulled up an armchair and took his seat at Rune’s side. “It’s m&m’s, not Reese's pieces today. But there’s peanut butter on the crackers.”
“...”
Brand opened the bag of Cheetos and poured them onto the plate. “I think there’s only a couple more bags of these. I’ll have to ask about getting some more. Unless you’re tired of Cheetos? Maybe we can have some Lay’s next time. Would you like that? I’ll get the salt and vinegar ones.”
“...”
He took the Capri Sun and pierced it with the bright yellow straw. “I got the right flavor this time, fruit punch. Sorry about last time. They use almost the exact same color for cherry flavor. But fruit punch is definitely the best, don’t you think?”
“...”
Brand took a bite of his sandwich. Some type of cheese and meat combination. He hadn’t really paid attention to what he’d grabbed. He didn’t want Rune to be alone for too long. “This sandwich tastes kinda strange. I probably used some super fancy 300-year-old cheese by accident. It’s not bad though. Have some?”
“...”
Brand reached onto the tray and grabbed a french fry. “I actually remembered to get condiments this time. I know you like honey mustard but I also got some ketchup and barbeque sauce.”
“...”
He dipped a fry into the barbeque sauce and ate it. He let out a tiny sound of surprise. “It’s actually pretty good considering I just microwaved them. Try one.”
“...not hungry.” Rune lifted his hand to the plate. Brand held his breath as Rune touched a french fry and rubbed the end between two fingers. He didn’t eat it, but it was the closest he’d gotten in a while. And he spoke, too! Brand hoped this meant he wouldn’t have to feed him by hand today.
Brand felt a pang of sorrow in his chest. What the hell is happening in his life? He was in an unfamiliar bedroom, eating a five-hundred-dollar sandwich, worrying about whether he would need to hand-feed his best friend today.
Brand hated this. He hated the blank, haunted look in Rune’s eyes. He hated how empty and flat his voice sounded. He hated how still and statue-like Rune had become. He hated how Rune was worse than he did just a few weeks before. Before Lord Tower had Brand whipped.
The fucking Tower. The fucking Tower and that godsdamn bitch-ass shitstain he calls his son.
Rune had been doing...well, not good. Not even okay. But he ate. And he got out of bed sometimes. And he talked to Brand. And rarely, Brand could get a smile out of him. Now he was lucky if Rune even acknowledged he himself was alive. Distressingly, Brand sometimes found himself longing for the days right after the fall, when Rune would cry and scream and yell at anyone that got near him. Brand hated himself for those thoughts, but he didn't know how much of the current state of things he could take.
Brand swallowed thickly around another bite of his sandwich, trying to keep his anger and sorrow and exhaustion to himself. He sighed as he realized he’d forgotten to get a drink for himself. He would have to get some water from the ensuite sink.
Rune was now rolling a grape around the tray. A great sign. Maybe he really would eat on his own today. The grape he was rolling knocked into another. The second grape went rolling off the tray and onto the bed. Rune made no effort to grab it. It didn’t even seem like he noticed.
“I’ll get that for you,” Brand said. Brand started to reach across Rune to grab the fallen fruit when a sharp stab of pain stopped him in his tracks. He groaned and reached his arm to the still-healing array of scars crisscrossing his back.
As Brand settled back into his seat, he felt heavy emotions start to fill his head through the Companion bond. It took him off guard. It felt like it’d been forever since he’d felt anything from Rune other than the languid apathy that had become the norm. It flooded his brain threatening to drown both of them. Anguish and Shame and Fear and Grief and Guilt and Guilt and Guilt and
My fault. My fault. My fault. My fault! My fault! My —
“Hey,” Brand said softly. “Stop that.” Brand’s hand twitched as he instinctively started to lift it to Rune’s shoulder but thought better of it. He dropped it to his lap. The bond grew even heavier. It dragged deeper and deeper. Brand felt like he was suffocating.
“Rune,” Brand said. “I’m serious. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not true.”
Rune stared at Brand with vacant eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said in a voice so fragile it broke against the air.
Brand shook his head insistently. “No. No, Rune. This isn’t your fault. It’s not your fault.”
Rune looked at Brand as if the whip scars covered his face too. “I'm sorry. You got hurt because of me.”
“No, I got hurt because of me . That was my decision, Rune. I made that choice.”
Rune talked as if he hadn’t heard Brand, as if the words disappeared from his brain as soon as the sound faded. “I…I should have fought back. I…I should have…I…”
“Rune…no.” Brand felt lost and desperate. “That’s not—You don’t—Even if you—That changes nothing! That changes absolutely nothing because I would have still beaten his ass!”
“I should—”
“No!” Brand felt bad for interrupting since Rune so rarely spoke these days, but he needed needed needed Rune to understand. “You did nothing wrong. Nothing! You’re not responsible for what happened to me. You know whose fault it is? The fucking Tower and his shitbag son!”
Rune blinked at the last sentence, carrying all the weight of a scream.
Brand emptied his lungs with a long, tired sigh. “Rune, nothing you could have done would have stopped what happened to me. Because guess what? I’d do it again. I’d do it all again. I’d do it right fucking now. Walk up to wherever that asswipe is and bash his fucking face in. Drag his ass in front of the Tower and beat him in full view of the whole Dagger Throne.”
Brand felt his throat tighten and his eyes burn.
“I’d do anything for you, Rune,” he said as if it were his final breath. “Anything. I’d take any punishment if it meant keeping you safe. Any pain if it meant you’d be happy. And I’d do it with a smile. Because every mark on me is one not on you. I don’t care what happens to me. If it’s for you, I’d take a thousand whips. I’d die for you. I would! I’d die for you.”
Brand stopped, his throat too tight to speak. He would die for Rune. In a way, he already knew this. He was the Companion. If he did his job right, he should be dead before Rune. But more than that, Brand realized he wanted to. He wanted to die for Rune. If it would take Rune’s pain away… He didn’t notice he was crying until the tears curled around his cheek and tickled his chin.
“Brand…” Rune’s voice was cracked and crumbling. His eyes, glazed over and hazy, looked the most focused they had in weeks. “I don’t want that.”
Brand wasn’t strong enough to stop the sob that escaped his throat. He tried to speak, to make any other noise than a cry, but he couldn’t.
“I’m so sorry,” Rune whispered. He lifted a hand and placed it on Brand’s.
Brand stared at the hand on his. When was the last time Rune had touched him? He brought his free hand up to his face and curled in on himself. A shuddering sob racked threw his body. He wanted to stop crying. He wanted to comfort Rune. He wanted to be stronger. He wanted this all the end. He wanted—
Through the anguish and pain and so much guilt, a single feeling clawed its way to the surface, blanketing the bond in its silent plea. Home.
Rune took Brand into his arms and held him and held him and him.
Age 17- Expectations
Rune and Brand walked into the warehouse as if they worked there. Their mission was relatively simple: leave listening devices, get info from the office computer, and do not under any circumstances talk to anyone.
Brand leaned his arm against the wall and adjusted the laces on his boots, subtly leaving a bug between the wood paneling near the door. He did a wide scan around the warehouse. Workers in bright yellow vests and hard hats, forklifts carrying tall stacks of pallets, a raised modular office on the east side of the building, and rows and rows of metal shelves and pallet racks obscuring most of the view. They fit in perfectly.
“Do we just go to the office first,” Rune asked, readjusting his hard hat for the twentieth time. He was very worried about someone recognizing him.
“No, then we’d be walking around with all the info we got,” Brand said. “Let’s head to the loading docks first.”
The two made their way to the back of the warehouse. They jumped outside to the ground below from one of the empty docks. Brand started moving his hands along the concrete, metal, and cables as if inspecting the structure. Behind him, Rune stood with a clipboard and pen in hand, writing down fake notes and keeping a lookout. The second rule of infiltration was acting like you belonged there. The first was not to get caught.
Brand systematically found nooks, divots, and cracks around all the loading docks to place listening devices in. He wedged himself between two of the docks to climb up to the top of the middle one. He took out a leveling tool from his tool belt, using it to obscure himself installing a small camera. He gave a thumbs up to Rune and crawled his way back down as Rune pretended to check something off a list.
They climbed back into the warehouse and strode over to the stairs leading up to the office.
“I’ll stay down here while you pick the lock,” Rune said, glancing over the warehouse floor. “Both of us shouldn’t be in full view of everyone for more than necessary. And I can still keep watch from here.”
Brand nodded while playing a listening device in one of the grooves of the metal stairs. “Sounds good. I’ll tug on the bond when I’m finished. And keep an eye on your transceiver.”
“You mean the walkie-talkie,” Rune said.
Brand leveled a flat look at Rune. “The transceiver. Stay alert.” He climbed up the steps, leaving Rune to idle at the bottom.
Rune tapped his pencil to the clipboard and looked around for something to do. He walked underneath the mezzanine, moving his head around in a way that made it seem like he was looking for something specific. He walked up the wall, making sure he still had a view around himself and the stairs, and placed his hand on a pipe. He moved his hand around the pipe in an effort to mimic an inspection. He wrote down some fake notes about building integrity and rust buildup.
A buzz of frustration came across the bond Brand was likely struggling with picking the lock. Rune sent back feelings of calm, hoping to convey to Brand that they still had time and no one was coming. Rune took out his walkie-talkie and pretended to talk to someone. He held the device to his ear, listening to a fake voice give him instructions, then moved it back to his mouth to respond. He nodded his head enthusiastically as he scribbled on the clipboard.
Rune felt a pull in his head, letting him know Brand had been successful. He sent his own tug back and made his way up the metal stairs
Brand was standing up, readjusting his toolbelt and the highlighter bright vest he wore. “Remember, not a search. Just the computer. In and out.”
Rune nodded and took out a mini flashlight. Handing the clipboard and pencil to Brand, he entered the darkened office. He pointed the flashlight around, light enough to illuminate but not enough to see from outside, until it landed on a desk with a computer.
Rune went over to it and wiggled the mouse. The computer popped on revealing a mostly empty desktop. He noticed that whoever was using the computer had left Internet Explorer open. Rune maximized the screen, revealing someone’s emails. He did a brief scan of them before grabbing his walkie-talkie.
“Hey, someone left their email open. Should I print them off or something?”
Brand’s answer was immediate. “No, that’s what the flashdrive is for. Just download them.”
“...How do I do that?”
A very tinny sigh came through the walkie-talkie. “How were you planning on printing them?”
“I’d figure it out.”
“Rune…Okay. Here I come.”
“No! I got this.” Rune didn’t want Brand to come in. In most missions they got from the Tower, Brand did most of the work. He knew it was because felt it was his responsibility to do anything even slightly dangerous for Rune and not because he thought he was incapable of anything. Still, he hated how much Brand took on. He needed to do this by himself. He needed to prove himsekf.
“Alright,” Brand said softly. “You have plenty of time, Rune. I’ll be right here.”
“Copy,” Rune said with a sigh. He returned his attention to the computer. He was sure he could figure this out. He clicked on one of the already-read emails. He clicked around until he found a menu that had ‘download message’ as an option. His feeling of pride was brief as he realized he would have to go through and individually. He sighed and backed out of the email.
Even though it wasn’t technically part of the mission, Rune wanted these emails. He wanted to show Lord Tower what he could do. He wanted to show him that he and Brand were worth keeping around. That they were worth protecting.
He gave himself a few more seconds to hover over buttons. He was about to give up when he noticed a button that let him select all emails. He searched for the button that gave him the download option before but found none. He did, however, notice a button that let him forward his selection. With a grin, he typed in his throwaway email the tower gave him and hit send. The emails, over a hundred, would take time to load as attachments, but Rune was satisfied. He let the email do its thing while he got to work on the computer files.
Usually Brand was the one who handled all the technical things, but since he was the one who placed all the bugs, Rune practically begged Brand to let him handle the computer. Using the steps that Brand very slowly and very carefully explained to him, Rune copied the files from the computer and over to the flash drive the Tower had given them. He made sure to check every folder, including music, desktop, and the recycling bin.
After the transfer was finally finished, he checked back in on the email. The messages had been sent. Rune went to ‘sent’ and deleted the email then went to ‘trash’ and deleted the email again. Feeling quite proud of himself, he made his way back out of the office.
“Oh wait, we didn’t put bugs in there.”
“Yeah I did,” Brand said, flipping down the papers he was pretending to look through. “I put them in before I called you up.”
Rune made a sound of approval. “Well, I got the files. Let’s go.”
The pair left the warehouse from the same way they entered. Once they were a good distance from the warehouse, they took off their vests and hardhats.
“So you figured out how to download the emails,” Brand asked, hanging his hat on his tool belt.
“Yup,” Rune said, doing the same. “But I didn’t download them. I forwarded them to myself. And I deleted the message from ‘sent’ and the trash folder.”
“Oh, congratulations,” Brand said flatly. “You know how to use Hotmail.” Rune could feel that he was impressed though. “You did grab the flashdrive from the computer though, right?”
“Yup, it’s right—” Rune reached into his pocket and came up empty. He frantically patted over his clothes before looking up at Brand. Brand was holding up the flashdrive.
“Asshole,” Rune said, snatching it back and shoving it in his pocket.
“You did a great job, Rune,” Brand said, patting Rune on the shoulder.
“You did, too,” Rune said with a smile.
He waited a few seconds before speaking again. “Mayan’s watching us,” Rune said. Brand turned to look at Rune. Rune smirked. “He’s up on the roof of the building next to us. He was standing behind the delivery truck right when we left the warehouse. Brand kept staring at Rune. Rune lifted his head pridefully. He loved surprising Brand.
“He was standing in the rafters when we entered the warehouse,” Brand said, still staring at Rune. “Above the first set of shelves.”
Rune frowned. He really thought he had Brand for a second.
“Actually,” Mayan began. He’d jumped down from the roof and was approaching the boys. “I’ve been following you since you left the Pac Bell.” He focused his attention on Brand. “That’s something you should have been aware of.”
Brand bristled. He knew he fucking saw something when they left. He would have to try harder. He couldn’t afford to miss things like that. What if it had been someone bad? He couldn’t risk that kind of danger to Rune.
“Brand always does amazing,” Rune protested. “You didn’t notice that he put googly eyes on Lord Tower’s robe.”
Mayan smiled. “No, I did. I just thought he’d benefit from learning a little humility. He still hasn’t noticed, by the way.”
That got a smile from both boys.
“Now, let’s go,” Mayan said, walking ahead of the boys. “I’ll drive you back home.”
Rune and Brand shared a look and a feeling of satisfaction passed through the bond. A ride from Mayan meant the two had done good.
Age 18- Aspect
The mission was supposed to be easy. A quick job with no real risk. Something the Tower sent them to do to get them out of the Pac Bell for a couple of hours.
It all went wrong in a flash of teeth, claws, and blood.
They were sent to deal with a pissed-off kobold in the home of one of the Lesser Houses of the Dagger Throne. The plan was to subdue and capture it. Lord Tower wanted it for…who knows what. They’d gotten it into a cage, but failed to realize just how powerful and angry kobold was.
As Brand lifted the cage, the top bars were ripped open and the kobold lunged. Brand had only just managed to raise an arm to deflect. The kobold’s teeth sank into Brand’s shoulder and its claws dug into his chest and back. Had Brand not reacted quick enough, the creature would have latched onto his face and neck and throat. But Brand was still hit hard, crashing to the ground with a surprised yelp.
He reached with his other arm and tried to wrench the kobold from his shoulder. Its head lifted, pieces of Brand’s shirt falling from its mouth. He held the creature by the head with one hand and tried to pull the claws digging into his chest out. The kobold yanked its head from Brand’s grasp and bit higher up. Its teeth didn’t gain a hold, but its fangs scraped against Brand’s throat. Brand let out a strangled yell of pain.
The next second, there was a bright glow of light. The kobold went slack, slumping off of Brand and falling limply to the floor. Brand let out a shuddering breath. Through the pain, he tried to focus on the boy standing before him.
His eyes were glowing. A radiant golden yellow. Light the midday sun. Like the center of a flame. Like magic and life and hope. Like Brand’s favorite color.
“Brand,” Rune said in a voice far too soft for the power emanating from him. He dropped to his knees and scrambled over to Brand, letting the sword that killed the kobold fall with a clatter. His hands hovered for just a second before he laid them gently near the wounds on Brand’s chest and shoulder. “Brand!”
“I’m okay, Rune,” Brand said through gritted teeth. “I’m okay. It just hurts a little.”
“It…I-It almost…”
“I’m okay, Rune”
“But you…You could’ve—”
“But I didn’t!”
Rune hung his head. Tears were gathering in his still-glowing eyes shining in a blinding white light. “I can’t heal you.”
“It’s not that bad,” Brand said, trying to sit up. Rune placed a hand on his uninjured shoulder and his lower back to help. Brand grabbed onto Rune to hold himself up.
Brand stared at Rune, stared at his golden glowing eyes. He let out a tired laugh as he came to a realization.
Rune looked at him with a mix of confusion and concern. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Does it hurt too bad?”
“You don’t even realize.”
Rune looked even more confused. “Realize what?”
“Your eyes are glowing.”
“My eyes…” Rune lifted a hand to his face as if he would be able to feel the light. He could see himself reflected in Brand’s eyes. “I-I think it’s my aspect. I think I manifested my aspect.” His smile was brighter than his eyes could ever hope to be.
“Rune, you’re incredible.”
Rune opened his mouth to speak but Brand interrupted. “Don’t. You’re gonna ruin the moment.”
Rune huffed a laugh and smiled shyly. He tilted his head forward to rest his forehead against Brand’s.
“I need to fix you up now,” Rune said quietly.
“There’s bandages in my bag. That’s all we’ll need for now.”
“It’s really not that bad?”
Brand shook his head. “No. I might need a couple of stitches but I’ll be alright. I am alright.” He looked over to the dead kobold. “Tower’s gonna be pissed, though.”
Rune frowned “Let him be.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.”
They stayed like that for a long time, holding each other and basking in the warm sunlight glow of Rune’s aspect.
Age 19- Good Morning
Late in the morning, Brand made his way to Rune’s room. He had finished his morning training session, had a light breakfast, took a shower, and was now feeling drowsy from the routine and his five hours of sleep.
He carefully turned the knob on the door and let himself room. Rune was still sleeping and would likely still be sleeping until it could no longer be considered morning. Brand closed the door with a soft click, then flopped down not at all gently on top of Rune’s bed. Rune made a soft groan in distaste, blinking his eyes to look around and figure out why his sleep had been disturbed.
“Good morning,” Brand said, stealing one of the pillows Rune was using for himself.
Rune leveled a bleary glare at Brand. “It’s too early to be awake.”
“It’s 10:30.”
“Exactly.”
“You know, sunrise was at 6:32 this morning.”
“That’s cool.”
“Lots of cool things happen before noon.”
“And I’m sure you’ll tell me all about it.” Rune tried to pull his comforter over his head, but Brand’s weight prevented it.
Brand flicked him on the back of the head. “You’re always so sassy when you wake up.”
“And you’re always so sassy all day.”
“Exactly what I was talking about,” Brand said. “I wasn’t trying to wake you up.” He kinda was. “I was actually coming in here to take a nap myself.” He flipped the stolen pillow over to its cooler side and buried his face into it.
“Sure. Because you’re actually gonna sleep.”
“Shut up or will wake you up.”
Rune decided he would take what he could get. He moved a little closer to Brand, happy to take advantage of the extra body heat. He did his best to relax and enjoy the warmth and silence while it lasted.
As expected, Brand started rambling five minutes later.
“Do you think I’m gonna get any taller?”
“Probably not,” Rune muttered. After so many years of this, he knew better than to pretend to be asleep. “Pretty sure you’re done with puberty.”
“But don’t guys keep growing until they’re like twenty-five or so?”
“I think that’s just the brain or something.”
“...bullshit.”
Rune removed his face from his pillow and looked at Brand. “Aww. Were you hoping you’d get to six feet?”
“...”
“Do you wish you were as big and tall as Mayan?”
“...”
“It’s okay, Brand. Lots of strong, tough men are short. Like you!”
“Oh shut up! 5’11 isn’t short!”
“Denial’s not a good look on you, Brandon.”
“Fuck you,” Brand said, shoving Rune to the other side of the mattress. “And you’re shorter than me, dumbass.”
Rune smiled and tried to wiggle back closer to Brand. “What you lack in height, you make up for in intimidation.”
“Damn right I do. On the bright side, I’m not short like the Tower.”
Rune barely stopped his laugh. “You better not let him hear you say that.”
Brand rolled his eyes. “The bastard’s 700 years old. He knows he’s short by now. And has the nerve to be called the Tower. More like the Cottage.”
“He’s not that short,” Rune exclaimed through laughter.
“He’s like 5’2!”
“He’s like 5’8!”
“5’6 and that’s my final answer!”
Rune covered his face in a weak attempt to hold back his laughter. Brand took in the sight of Rune’s shaking shoulders and the sound of barely concealed giggles, delighting in the joy of his Companion. Once Rune had managed to reel himself back in, a comfortable silence.
Rune rolled his right shoulder with a small wince. Brand reached up and gently massaged it. Rune’s eyes drifted closed, content to quietly enjoy Brand’s kneading. A few minutes went by and Rune was beginning to think maybe he actually would be allowed to go back to sleep when Brand spoke up again.
“Do you want kids?”
“What?!”
Brand’s hands fell from Rune’s shoulder. “Have you ever thought about it?”
“Where’s this coming from,” Rune asked, very thrown off by the sudden line of questioning.
“Just answer the question.”
“I don’t know,” Rune answered honestly, if not a bit confused. “I…well I can’t say I’ve never thought about it. But not, like, deeply or anything.”
“I think you’d be a great dad,” Brand said.
“I’d be the most high-strung parent to ever live.”
“...True, but I still think you’d do great. I’d be a pretty shit dad, though.”
“What?! No way. I think you’d be a great parent. You’re protective and strong and loving. Like a mama bear.”
Brand rolled his eyes. “A mama bear, he says.”
“It was a compliment! You’re a very motherly, err fatherly, parently?, person.
“I’m someone's confident in my child-rearing abilities.”
“...Brand, are you trying to tell me something?”
“What if I was?”
Rune paused, then rose up on one arm. He stared at Brand with a grave expression on his face. “Brandon Saint John. Don’t even play with me right now.”
Brand stayed silent, refusing to look at Rune. “Well…”
Rune punched Brand in the arm and dropped back down to the bed. “You can’t even look me in the eye, asshole!”
Brand snickered. “But I had you for a second.”
Rune hit him with a pillow. “Go to sleep, Brand. You’re delirious.”
“I’m as sharp as a fucking tack,” Brand said with a big yawn.
Rune yanked his duvet up to his neck. “Good night, Brand.”
“It’s 11 am.”
“Good night!”
Brand shimmied under the covers and draped an arm over Rune with another yawn. “Good morning, Rune.”
Age 20- Happy Birthday
“Happy Birthday, Brand!”
Brand, fresh from a longer-than-usual training session with Mayan, looked up with a confused expression. Rune stood in front of him, covered in some sort of white and brown powder and holding a small plate with a little misshapen yellow cupcake. There was a single, lit black candle poking out the top.
Twenty years. The boys were finally twenty years old. Well, Brand was finally twenty. Rune’s birthday wasn’t for another ten days, but Brand never celebrated his actual birthday. They usually had a shared celebration, always on Rune’s birthday. It was just easier that way.
“It’s not my—” Brand started to say before realizing no. It was his birthday. He looked at the cupcake. It was chocolate and covered in a thin, messy layer of yellow frosting. One side was lower than the other. Wax was starting to melt down the side of the candle.
“Rune…what is this?”
“A cupcake,” Rune answered a little shyly. “The only one that came out okay.”
Brand looked closely at Rune, now recognizing the powder as likely being flour and chocolate. “You made this yourself?”
“Was that not obvious?”
“Since when do you know how to bake?”
Rune stared down the lopsided cupcake. “I think it’s pretty obvious I don’t. It took me all morning to make this. I probably tossed out like two dozen failures.”
“Why?”
“Because they were inedible. Trust me, Brand, you do not wanna-”
“No, I mean, why did you fucking bake me a cupcake?”
“Because it’s your birthday. And you might want to hurry up and blow out the candle. I don’t think it’s gonna taste any better covered with wax.” The candle was at half height. Wax was pooling at the base. Rune held up the cupcake closer to Brand’s face.
With absolutely no fanfare, Brand blew out a quick gust of air to put out the candle. A thin trail of smoke floated into the air, leaving the room with the distinct smell of burnt candles. Rune grumbled at how blandly Brand had handled the situation.
“You could have at least made a wish first…”
“Rune, were we supposed to be celebrating our birthday today?” He felt thrown off by both the realization that today was his birthday and Rune acting as this was all normal.
“No,” Rune said, waving away the lingering smoke. “We’re still doing the gift exchange on my birthday.”
“So what’s this for then,” Brand asked motioning to Rune and the cupcake.
“I told you. Because it’s your birthday. Now try it. I worked hard on it. Don’t get your hopes up too much though.”
“Rune…” Brand said, almost sounding annoyed. “What’s this about? We never celebrate my birthday today. So what’s up?”
There was a long pause as Rune tried to figure out how to either get out of answering or make Brand simply accept the ugly little cupcake. Once he accepted that neither of those things was happening, he responded. “Well,” Rune began remorsefully. “That’s just it. We’ve never celebrated your birthday on the actual day. We always waited for my birthday. I just…” Rune turned his attention intently to the cupcake. “...wanted you to be able to celebrate it on the actual day.”
“You know that doesn’t matter to me, right? My birthday isn’t anything special to me.”
“It is to me. It’s the day you were born.”
Brand felt his cheeks heat up. He looked away, trying to hide his reddening face from Rune. Rune, of course, felt Brand’s turmoil through the bond. Brand was surprised to feel not smugness or satisfaction, but genuine adoration. That was harder for Brand to deal with. At least he could’ve made fun of Rune for being smug.
“I wanted you to have something for yourself,” Rune said softly. “It’s not fair that you’ve always been forced to share this with me. You’ve always had to do what I wanted or what we could compromise on. I want you to have something for yourself. Something that should’ve already been yours. It's your birthday! So, today’s your day, Brand. It’s all about you.”
That made Brand pause. He looked up, cheeks still aflame. He took in the sight in front of him. Rune standing there covered in flour and chocolate and holding the most pathetic cupcake he’d ever seen, a cupcake he’d spent hours making. Because he wanted to do something special for his Companion’s birthday. Because he wanted to make Brand happy.
“Rune,” Brand said with a fond shake of his head. “Did you stop to think that maybe I don’t care about that stuff?”
“But—”
“I don’t care that I’ve always had to share with you. I don’t care if my actual date of birth was never celebrated. I’m glad to have gotten to share it all with you. And for the record,” Brand walked closer to Rune, mindful of the plate between them. He placed a hand on Rune’s cheek and pulled their foreheads together. “Nothing is ever just about me. It’s always about us. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Rune tensed, either wanting to protest or say something that would have inevitably ruined the moment, but eventually thought better of it. He relaxed into Brand’s touch. They stayed like that, simply enjoying the comfort of each other’s presence. Brand waited until he felt the bond hum with contentment before pulling away, placing a gentle kiss on Rune’s cheek. He took the cupcake, not caring at all about the messy yellow frosting, and split the tiny treasure in half. He handed a piece, the one with less candle wax, to Rune.
“Happy Birthday, Rune.”
Rune accepted the cupcake.
“Happy Birthday to us.”