Chapter Text
“Rae, do you want me to stay and help you lock up?”
“No, it’s okay Athena, you go meet Jamie,” Rae replied, “they’re probably waiting for you.”
“okay! I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked, looking right at Rae.
“see you tomorrow, ‘thena,” he gave them a wave as she walked off.
He tidied around for a little while before going to lock the front door and flip the open sign to closed.
Rae had just started to walk away, when a knock came from the front door. He walked towards the noise and unlocked the door again. he rarely had any customers come in the evening, let alone this late.
“I'm sorry, we’r-”
“I am so sorry, I didn’t realise you were closing,” a man that Rae had never seen before stood apologizing, “you probably don’t know me- in fact you definitely don’t know me- I only moved here three days ago, I run the new coffee shop just across from you.”
His clothes were wet from the light rain and his hair fell over most of his face. A set of tinted glasses covered his eyes. they were dark enough to completely block the colour of his eyes. he wore, what Rae assumed, was a kind of uniform. It would make sense that the coffee shop owner would have an apron, but he couldn’t figure out why he would be wearing a shirt. It didn’t look all the comfortable to bake in, but who was he to question how others work.
“hi,” Rae had been meaning to introduce himself to the coffee shop owner, he just hadn’t had time to yet, “I'm Rae.”
“hi- hi Rae, sorry, I'm Fenris.”
“hi Fenris, did you need something?”
“not really, I wanted to introduce myself and bring you some of the leftover cookies from today,” he said before starting to backtrack, “well, I mean, I also wanted to ask if there were any good places for food around here. I haven’t had enough time to actually go shopping and I'm sick of the food I make for the café, and you were the closest place to the shop that had their lights on.”
The rain started to pour, soaking the figure in front of Rae.
“did you want to come inside for a moment?”
“i- yes please,” Fenris replied.
He stepped inside, shutting the door gently behind him. the shop was small, but warm. There was an air of comfort surrounding each shelf. Fenris could easily get lost looking at the different titles and book covers. Against one of the walls, a counter stood. It was obviously where people would go to pay, but there were also shelves of different paints and dyes behind it. his eyes turned to a little stand of notebooks.
“did you make those?” he pointed at the little row of shelves.
“I- yeah, I did. I painted most of the covers too,” Rae replied, getting caught off guard.
Whilst Fenris was admiring the interior, Rae was admiring the man in front of him.
“they're beautiful,” Fenris said softly.
“you- um- thank you,” Rae coughed to try and hide how dark his cheeks felt in that moment.
Fenris smiled.
From the counter behind him, his phone buzzed.
“sorry,” he walked over to it, took a quick look at the notification, and then put It back down, “sorry, you can put the plate on the counter if you’d like?”
Fenris nodded and walked towards the counter.
“I'm sorry, you wanted to know of places to eat, yeah?”
“yeah, if it’s not too much hassle. I could probably find somewhere, but it was just if you had any recommendations?”
“i- yeah, definitely,” Rae thought for a moment, “there’s a restaurant down the road, or there is a little soup stall inside the florists, although I doubt that would be open now, judging by the amount of messages I'm getting, uh- I can check with my partners, but you could always come back to ours, I think Caspian might be making some kind of stew or soup.”
“it’s okay, I don’t want to interfere with any plans you might have with your partners, I’ll go and have a look at the restaurant you said about,” Fenris replied quickly, “just down the street, yeah?”
“are you sure? I'm sure that Caspian and Aax won’t mind.”
“it’s okay, I should probably get familiar with the area. Maybe I’ll meet some new people,” Fenris smiled.
“okay,” Rae responded softly, “it’s just past the tavern.”
“oh, okay, I know where the tavern is. Centross works there, right?”
“yeah, with Ocie,” Rae added, “you’ve met Centross then?”
“yeah, my first day here, I needed help with moving something and he was the closest to me.”
Rae nodded. His phone buzzing behind him. he picked it up, Caspian’s name flashing across the screen and turned back to Fenris.
“I’m really sorry, I should really take this call, but I hope I helped,” Rae said quickly.
“thank you.”
Fenris turned around and walked out into the rain again, leaving Rae in the bookshop alone.
He looked back down at his phone and clicked to answer the call.
“hi, I know, I'm sorry, I got caught up, I’ll be home in a bit, I just need to lock up again,” Rae said quickly before Caspian could talk.
“hey love. It’s okay, me and Aax were just getting worried. What kept you?”
“you know that new coffeeshop?”
“yeah?” Caspian asked, unsure about where Rae was going with that.
“the owner dropped by to bring cookies and ask where some nice places to eat are,” Rae said, locking the front entrance and walking towards the back, stopping to grab the cookies as he moved through the building.
“you could have invited them over; we have enough soup.”
“I know, I said i would check with you and Aax but that he could come to ours, but he declined. I mean, it makes sense, I don’t know how much I’d trust someone I've just met.”
Rae walked outside, immediately getting drenched by the rain, and locked the back door.
“is he nice?”
“what?”
“is this coffee shop owner nice? Do you like him?”
“I- yeah,” Rae tried to control the tone of his voice.
He more than liked him. he wasn’t going to say anything to anyone else about that though. He already had two loving boyfriends; he didn’t want to seem selfish for liking someone else as well.
“yeah, he seems nice,” he tried again.
“that’s good.”
Rae hummed.
His walk home was short but very wet. The rain did not let up. The two of them stayed on the phone, though neither of them said anything, until Rae eventually got home.
He walked through the door of the flat, ending the call. He stood there for a moment, dripping with rainwater. Aax came running towards him. he hugged him, also covering his clothes in rainwater.
Caspian also walked towards Rae. he, however, was holding a towel. He held it out to Rae, who took it gratefully and started trying to dry himself as much as he could.
“hi, love,” Rae said to the man clinging onto him.
“hi!”
“how was the shop?” Caspian asked as the three of them walked towards the kitchen.
Rae set the plate of cookies down on the side before turning back towards his partners.
“it was good, we’re still not getting many people,” Rae replied, walking up to Caspian.
The florist handed him a bowl. Aax and Caspian had already eaten. That wasn’t uncommon. Rae was usually home quite late; Caspian only rang him because he hadn’t heard from the researcher in a while. When he wasn’t actually running the shop, Rae was researching any language or culture he could get books on.
He ate a spoonful and looked at Caspian.
“what did you put in it this time then?” he asked with a smile.
As Caspian listed the ingredients, Rae finished his soup. Once he was done, the three of them moved to sit in their bedroom. The room was relatively small, but then again, so was the flat. It definitely wasn’t big enough for the three of them and atlas, but they made things work. The three of them spent most of their time at their businesses (or each other’s) or curled up together on the bed, so there was no real need for the flat to be bigger. It was cozy. That’s what they’d tell people.
It was cozy and it was theirs.
Realistically, Rae could ask for help from one of his moms, but he didn’t want to. anything he asked for came at a cost.
It wasn’t like a wicked witch ‘I want your first newborn’ cost, but she would constantly hold the fact that he owes her something above his head.
Aax doesnt talk much about his family. she says it's complicated and from what Rae and Caspian know, they'd both agree with them.
Caspian, on the other hand, lost his parents a while ago. From the way he speaks about his parents, they were lovely. His mom was the reason why he wanted to make soup and his dad is why he knows so much about technology. They pretty much taught him everything he knows. His flower knowledge came from his best friend, but everything else came from his parents. From what Rae knew, he was the best of both his mom and his dad.
Rae barely remembers his other mom. He was just over seven when she died. Icarus remembered her much better than he did. his brother pretty much raised him until their dad came along. Fable acted like Rae’s dad to his face, but he knew what went on behind his back. He may have only been a child, but he wasn’t stupid.
Once the three of them were comfortable, Rae sandwiched between his boyfriends, atlas came to join them, choosing to lay across their legs like she always did. Rae rested his head on Caspian’s shoulder, all of a sudden exhausted from the day.
“how’s Jamie getting along at the shop?”
“they’ve been really helpful. It’s like they knew everything before I taught them,” Caspian smiled, “how is Athena doing?”
“he’s doing well. It’s nice having them around, it’s not as quiet anymore. She already knew what to do before they joined, so I barely had to teach him anything.”
Their nephews had decided to take up little jobs with Caspian and Rae. Jamie was helping Caspian with flower arrangements and Athena was helping Rae with organisation, specifically on the shelves, but Rae wasn’t too organised anywhere, so they’d help wherever looked like it needed tidying. It gave him an excuse to stay in the shop longer. It was a comfort to them. being around Rae, but also, like their uncle, she researched whatever they could, whenever he could.
“are you still speaking to Centross about sparring?” Caspian asked Aax.
“yeah! We were discussing opening somewhere for people to train, just for fun.”
“on top of running the tavern?” Rae asked.
“yeah, well he only co-owns the tavern and he’ll co-own this place too.”
Rae hummed in response. Aax took Rae’s hand from where he was sat and held it in his own.
“how’s the soup stall coming along?” Aax looked at Caspian.
He’d only opened the stall at the beginning of the week. It was something he always wanted to do. He loved working with flowers, but he wanted to do something else as well. Rae had his bookshop, but he also had the handmade notebooks and his research, and Caspian wanted something different too. Aax would float between helping at his boyfriends’ businesses and fishing.
“it’s going alright,” Caspian said softly, noticing Rae falling asleep on his shoulder, “I still don’t have any new customers, just you two, Jamie and Athena, and Centross. I've had a few people have a look at the stall, but not many buy anything. I think I should start expanding what I make, maybe people just can’t find something they like.”
“mhm,” Aax agreed, “maybe.”
Neither had realised that Rae had fallen asleep until Caspian felt the researcher’s head start slipping from his shoulder. Carefully, Aax and Caspian moved him from sitting to laying before laying down beside him.
“night, love.”
“night.”