Partner

My pills kicked in. And I must admit, I feel like Mik in this one now. I don't really recall how long this took... or that I was writing it. But as I finished it and gave it a glance over I saw so many little hints that I was like. Wow. For one of them, you would have had to have paid special attention... possibly? to a previous chapter.

Easily distracted... I am, I mean. So I'm just going to leave this here for you. And if you cry, not my fault. Well. It is. But this isn't the part that I mentioned before that you all would kill me for writing. That's still months away. I'd hate to lose readers 'cause you're like "she's ending it. Boo. I don't like how they aren't getting happily ever after"

To that I say. Really? Seriously? When have I ever written something that was not happily ever after?

Besides Namesakes. What with Ayato dieing. But Una got his happily ever after.

Anywho. Before I ramble on for another however-many-minutes.

Read, Review and Enjoy.




Mari looked very out of place, sitting on Mik’s kitchen counter, having her hair braided by Violet on one side and Lillow on the other. Small braids that entwined bits of leather and beats into the woman’s black locks. Mari was dressed in a business suit/skirt thing that women wore to offices. Her legs were crossed at the ankles and her hands sat, folded, in her lap.

Mik leaned against the counter on the other side of the kitchen, a coffee mug in his hands and … there was nothing in his mug. Still. He had meant to make coffee when he had gotten up, but had gotten distracted by the writing on the side of the mug. The writing that Paw had put there, just randomly one day with a permanent marker. Mik hadn’t noticed it until then…

Then he was going to make it when Mari called to say she was coming over. But he had put the phone down and had tried not to cry as Violet and Lillow bounded into the kitchen as if nothing was wrong. Then he had spent a great deal of time looking at the broken fridge and wondering what could possibly make Paw swing at him like that.

By the time Mari had arrived, Mik wasn’t even certain anymore whether or not he actually wanted coffee. He’d have to go through the effort of making it, then getting the sugar and milk out, then offering Mari some and then cleaning up the whole mess after she left. It just… didn’t seem like something he wanted to do. So he stood. With an empty coffee mug, and wondered how long they had been standing in the kitchen.

Mari watched him the entire time, he knew that she did. Every once in a while her phone would vibrate and she would flip it open and then respond to the text message. When that happened, Mik would look down at his coffee mug and want mint and ginger tea instead of coffee. But making that, and explaining to the others how he had come to enjoy mint and ginger tea, was a bit difficult.

Especially considering the fact that Essuan and Souse thought that Paw had been drinking the mint and ginger tea right up until Mik had been hurt.

Lillow finished one braid and tied it off with a feather at the end before picking over the random basket of crafty bits she and Violet had set behind Mari. The girl pulled out a long strand of bright coloured threads and began braiding it through the next bit of hair. Violet, on the other side, slid a shell into Mari’s hair and murmured something to Lillow, Lillow made a sound at the back of her throat and glanced at Mik.

Mik looked down at his empty coffee cup and let out the air in his lungs and then tried to let out the bad feelings, the worry and odd tinge of guilt. Finding that nothing at all came out, Mik forced himself to breath, if only to be conscious and alive should Paw need him. When he looked up again, all three females were watching him intently. Mari looked as if she was waiting for an answer.

“What?”

“Isn’t your coffee cold?”

Now came the difficult part. Either he admitted to having no coffee in the mug, and possibly, considering the fact that Mari was an Illuen, admit the fact that he was an emotional wreck, or he would have to pop an empty mug into the microwave and heat it up. Mik looked down at his mug again, wondering what he should do.

A moment later, Mari popped something into his mug and poured hot water over top of whatever it was that she had popped into the mug. The woman set the kettle on the stove and sighed out.

She pointed to the dining room and Mik lowered his head and shuffled to the dining room table with his head down, knowing that he was caught. But he wondered how she had boiled water without him noticing. Sure, he hadn’t slept in three days, but that didn’t mean anything much. Mik sat at the kitchen table and looked at the flower that had bloomed at the bottom of his cup. Some sort of tea. He lifted the mug in an automatic motion and sipped the hot liquid. Sweetened and nearly cold. Mik grimaced at his mug only to have it pulled from his hands and another, hot one replacing it. Mari set a bowl of soup before him and bread beside it and then a spoon right beside the bowl.

The woman sat in one dining chair, Lillow in another and Violet in another. They didn’t look at him or glare or even seemingly watch him. Mik sipped his hot tea and set it to the side. He got the idea. They weren’t leaving until he ate. So he pulled the bowl of soup towards himself and forced himself to take a spoonful and place it in his mouth. Watery broth. Wasn’t even soup. He broke off a piece of bread and dunked it in the soup, eating one piece of bread like that. Dunk, eat, dunk, eat.

The one piece of bread was too much. Mik rushed to the bathroom and, unfortunately, did not lose his breakfast. Lunch? Whatever meal that was. All it did was gurgle in his stomach and threaten to come up. He swallowed several times and finally pushed off from the toilet and moved to the sink. He sighed at the days old growth of beard and the haggard look on his face. He washed and shaved, nicking himself multiple times, and brushed his teeth.

He convinced himself to shower. But Mari came in and shut off the water. She sighed at him and held out a towel. Mik took it and stared at his wrinkly fingers. Obviously. He had been standing under the water for quite some time.

“At least you washed,” she murmured, helping him pat himself dry.

Mik growled at her when she tried to help him dress. She sighed again, said something about irritable males, and left the bathroom. Mik stared down at the clean clothing, laying in a neat pile where Mari had left them, for a long moment before letting out a long sigh and dressing. He shuffled into the dining room to find that Souse had taken his spot at the dining room table.

The male glanced over his shoulder at Mik. Immediately he stood and moved to the side, motioning for the man to sit. Mik slid into the seat and Souse took Mari’s seat as the woman stood and moved to the kitchen. Nothing was said. Mik stared at the center of the table and wondered why he had never carved the wooden top. The Sidhe had destroyed or ‘damaged’ furniture in one way or another over their time in the program, so why had he not carved the table top?

Because he wasn’t supposed to.

Mari returned a moment later and set a hot mug in front of Mik. When the man only stared at it, she took his hands and wrapped them around the mug, giving the back of his hand a pat before she moved away again.

Mik glanced through the living room, to outside. Full dark.

Where was Paw? Where was his Auhi?

Mik sipped the tea and sighed, knew that he was far beyond tired and would not be allowed inside the nest room. Essuan had kicked him out that first night, claiming that his fretting would only worry Paw and slow the process. Whatever that meant.

Besides the fact that he wasn’t going to… Mik caught himself as he slouched towards the table. He jerked back up and frowned, then scowled at the mug he held in his hands. When he looked up, Souse was standing, pulling him to his feet and murmuring something about it being long time for a sleep. Sounded like Sidhe to him. Souse’s chest rumbled with a laugh as the male supported Mik’s weight through the dining room and into Mik’s bedroom.

The man was deposited on his bed. Souse tugged off Mik’s shirt and tucked the man into bed. Mik stared up at his ceiling, watching the passing lights of the drones floating by outside, watching over the sleeping people outside. He thought about looking at his clock, but then the time would drag even slower and Paw would still not be done an eternity later.

Souse moved into the bedroom, closed the door behind him and slid into bed with Mik. The man tried to protest and the Sidhe drew him closer. Murmuring about worried minds and sleeping habits. Something about counting the leaves and listening to the rain pattering over head. Or. Maybe it was counting the rain drops and listening to the leaves rustling over head. Didn’t really matter which it was, Mik had neither rain nor leaves and couldn’t count either of those things. Hearing too bad for one, eyes too weak for the other.

And yet for all his strengths, Paw was laying in the other room, caught in a fever that none of them could bring him back from and why? Why was he sick now? What was making his Auhi sick?

Souse pulled Mik closer and tucked blankets around the man. A hand rubbed his back reassuringly as a murmured lullaby reached his ears.

Maybe Paw wasn’t coming back because Auhi was lost.

Mik surrendered to sleep, trying to reach his Paw, his Auhi, as he had so many times before. To follow where Paw led without a care of what happened to his body.

So long as he found Paw, he didn’t care. If he didn’t find Paw, then he didn’t want to come back, didn’t want to wake up to a world without Paw.

Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Like a game of hide and seek. Except there were millions of minds he could be hiding in. Where, oh, where was Auhi? A gentle nudge and Mik was floating in the right direction, feeling out the minds and discarding them without knowing why or what or how. Just it happened and he did it.

And he wasn’t alone.


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