Chapter 9 #2
Wren began to frown the more he listed, the contents sounding like Fix’s shopping list for him and not a usual person’s fridge contents.
“Why do you have all this stuff?” Wren blurted out in the middle of Teddy talking about avocados.
“Oh…uh…” Teddy cleared his throat. “It’s all mine.”
Wren’s heart skipped a beat. “Yours?”
Teddy’s neck flushed a little—he always did that when he got awkward. “I went vegan at Nexus.”
“For a few months, before…”
He couldn’t say it out loud.
“I just kept it up,” Teddy said, eyes moving to the side. “It’s not a big deal.”
It was very much a big deal. At least to Wren.
Teddy pulled out a few things and brought them to the island, starting work on what looked like those pancakes he’d been talking about. “I’m pretty good at it, anyway. On my cooking nights the rest of the guys can’t even tell it’s vegan. Heir gets pissy about his protein intake though.”
Wren pulled a face, feeling affronted for no reason. “You hated it. All you did was complain.”
“Chia seeds,” Teddy corrected. “It was the chia seeds I hated. And that’s all we were making meals out of. I said we needed to look up other recipes.”
“My recipes were fine!”
Teddy pointedly didn’t say a word as he began to mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
“It was better than whatever Nexus was offering,” Wren defended himself further.
“The catered meals prepared by a professional chef?” Teddy asked, deadpan.
“They had poison in them! Everyone knew that.”
“That was a rumor you started!”
Wren put his nose in the air. “I stand by it.”
Teddy’s laugh was like seeing a butterfly spread its wings for the first time after cocooning for so long. Absolutely breathtaking.
“Well I ate the stupid chia seeds in the end, didn’t I?” Teddy said after his laughter faded, a lock of hair falling rakishly over his forehead as he bent his head to mix something else.
Wren scratched at the countertop with his nail. “Well what if I said I wanted chia seeds right now?”
“I’d tell you to go forage for them outside because they’re not crossing the threshold of this house,” Teddy said without looking up. There was a curl of mischief to his mouth that Wren wanted to eat.
“Did someone mention chia seeds?”
The moment shattered. Wren had been so caught up that he hadn’t even heard anyone approaching. Teddy hadn’t either, smacking the bowl of ingredients with a resounding clang as Echo walked into the room.
Wren watched Teddy try to save it and make more of a mess in the process, tipping over a carton of egg substitute. It poured out all over the counter, dripping to the floor.
“Sorry! Damn, I’m sorry,” Teddy began to mumble as he tried to mitigate the chaos.
Wren hopped up and grabbed some paper towels from the side, lending a hand. He realized suddenly how tired Teddy looked, the dark circles ringing his eyes similar to his own.
Had he slept since arriving back in Arcstead? He’d checked in with Wren, but was anyone checking in on him?
Echo hurried over with a small towel of their own to help out, breaking Wren from his worried musing. “I didn’t mean to startle you, Damir. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Teddy was quick to say. “I shouldn’t be so clumsy.”
“You’re never clumsy,” Wren and Echo said together.
They looked at each other before Echo widened their eyes and stepped back, crossing their arms in an X.
“Don’t say jinx!”
“I…wasn’t going to?” Wren tilted his head.
Blu swooped down and landed on his shoulder.
Echo minutely relaxed. “Oh…um…thank you.” Then they tensed again as they seemed to realize they had nothing else left to say and it was about to get socially awkward. “That’s a…very nice bird.”
Wren nodded. “He knows.”
Blu chirped self-importantly, puffing his feathers.
Echo seemed even more thrown off by the reply, looking desperately at Teddy to help them out.
Teddy smiled. “I’m making breakfast. Do you want me to make you something as well?”
“Yes, please. I heard you mentioning chia seeds. Do we have some?”
“Yes. Do we have some?” Wren repeated in a sugary sweet tone.
Teddy gave them a flat look. “No, we certainly do not. Go sit.”
“Chia seeds are nutrient dense,” Echo said as they rounded the island. “I really think you should reconsid—AH! IT’S STILL HERE!”
Sable grumbled from his spot on the floor, annoyed by the noise.
“Sable,” Wren reminded them, putting his hands on his hips. “And yes. He is. Is that a problem?”
“It’s not,” Teddy said. “Echo, I promise nothing bad will happen. Wren has a way with animals. You can trust him. Or just trust me.”
Echo chewed their lips as their eyes bounced between the three of them before settling on Sable. “He’s sleeping?”
“He does that a lot. He’s a lazybones,” Wren said.
Sable swatted him with his tail, making Wren laugh and Echo smiled slightly. “He can understand you?”
“We understand each other,” Wren said happily. “Not words, necessarily. On a deeper level.”
“That’s nice. Words are hard sometimes,” Echo mumbled, edging closer.
“Sable is a great listener,” Wren said softly. “You don’t even need to say it.”
Echo crouched down a few paces away from Sable, arms wrapped around their knees. Sable opened a single yellow eye to regard them, nostrils flaring before he purred softly, deep in his chest.
Echo’s eyes flew wide, and they looked up at Wren in question and wonder.
Wren laughed a little. “That means he likes you. Which is an honor, because he doesn’t really like anyone but me.”
Wren had hardly seen anyone look more pleased, before he glanced over at Teddy to find him staring at Wren with the exact same look. Soft. Awed. Happy. It made Wren’s chest pound and his heart ache with feeling.
“Thank you,” Teddy whispered.
“For what?” Wren asked.
Teddy’s eyes traced every feature on his face. “Being you.”
Before Wren could beg to know what that meant, Teddy turned around to the stove. He poured the finished mixture into a skillet while Echo communed with Sable on the floor.
The perfectly round circles were fluffy and steaming when they ended up on a plate in front of Wren. They could have been photographed and put on a blog post immediately. It was an encapsulation of Teddy and the opposite of the mess Wren would have made.
Wren didn’t even want to dig into them, instead wanting to stare in satisfaction at what had been provided to him.
“Are they okay?” Teddy checked, nervously hovering with a towel slung over his shoulder.
It forced Wren’s fork into the stack and then into his mouth. They melted on his tongue, the hint of maple from the syrup sweeter because of who had put it there. “They’re good.” They’re perfect. Just like you.
Teddy’s shoulders visibly relaxed while his chest puffed infinitesimally.
“Are you not having any?”
Teddy shook his head. “They’re for you.”
Wren’s eyes widened at the towering stack. “It’s bigger than me.”
Teddy blushed. “You shouldn’t be hungry.”
Wren remembered that Teddy used to walk around with Wren’s favorite seeds in his pocket just for Wren to snack on.
Teddy quickly turned and pulled out two small bowls, filling one with water and the other with what was clearly the same birdseed that was in the feeder on his window. Blu hopped down happily.
Next Teddy moved to the freezer to pull out a cut of red meat, only glancing over his shoulder to check. “Is this okay for him?”
Sable grumbled in answer for himself, making Echo grin, and Wren spoke over the lump in his throat. “I think that means yes.”
Teddy smiled and popped it into the microwave to defrost before starting in on Echo’s breakfast.
All of this was done without him needing to be asked or told. Teddy was just that thoughtful.
Wren ate until he felt sick, determined not to waste a single crumb.
Maybe it was overly possessive of him for no reason, but his appetite had never been more stimulated.
He’d always been a picky eater, more of a grazer, but now he felt like he needed to eat the plate and the skillet too under Teddy’s watchful gaze.
Every check-in or furtive look drove Wren’s determination. It was stupid. Teddy probably didn’t care that much.
He felt a sense of righteous accomplishment when he slumped over his empty plate though. No one else would be able to have any.
“Do you want anything else?” Teddy asked the second he put down his fork. “Toast? Fruit?”
The beast inside Wren roared yes while his stomach gurgled a plaintive no, please, for the love of god, no.
“I think I might actually explode,” Wren said, already feeling sweat beginning to form at his temples.
“What?” Echo yelped from the floor where they were eating their food next to Sable.
“Not literally,” Teddy said, before looking at Wren with his soulful eyes. “Right?”
How could Wren do anything but agree?
Echo settled down again, quietly mumbling to Sable now and then while Wren and Teddy stared wordlessly at each other across the island.
“Are you going to eat?” Wren asked eventually.
It was quickly dismissed. “Maybe later. Do you need anything else?”
Wren shook his head, which didn’t seem to satisfy.
“How about a shower?”
Wren narrowed his eyes. “Are you calling me dirty?”
Teddy smiled. “You’ve been walking around with no shoes on.”
Wren glanced down to his bare toes. “Shoes are overrated. They make much better houses.”
Teddy chuckled. “You haven’t changed.”
“Only in some ways.”
The words were fragile between them, an acknowledgment of the time that had passed that neither wanted to face fully.
Teddy looked down, a frown settling between his thick brows, his fingers curling on the countertop.
“A shower sounds great,” Wren said, not wanting to lose the ease between them so soon.
Teddy glanced back up. “Yeah?”
Wren smiled. “Yeah.”
They exited the kitchen, Wren trailing Teddy’s steps with Blu on his shoulder and Sable following. Echo waved them goodbye, looking after Sable wistfully.
They entered Teddy’s room and headed to his en suite bathroom where Teddy stopped and turned to him. Wren peeked through to see the usual amenities, but his eyes fixed on all the personalized spots. Teddy’s shampoo, his soap, his toothbrush.
He wondered if any of it was still the same as what he’d used when they were kids. He didn’t know the names but he would know the scents instantly. His fingers itched to pop a little bottle open and sniff.
He was about to do that when a knock echoed through the house.