Corazon 10: Dream Us All Alive
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“I’m sorry,” Lilith said. “I seriously did just forget about this. I’ve had a lot on my mind.”
Caleb sighed. He knew that, but it didn’t make it any less frustrating, especially since Ezio had taken that particular instance of her forgetfulness very badly. Well, more accurately, that was Morgyn’s presence he found upsetting more than anything, but that was beside the point.
“I know you did,” Caleb said, “but the result is the same, and at this point I think maybe your little gaffe is the least of our concerns right now. My date friend doesn’t seem to get along with yours.”
“Why is that, anyway?” Lilith asked. “What kind of a response was that? I mean who has their twin walk in unexpectedly and decides to storm out, that was a bit extreme.”
“I know, Caleb said, “I’m not saying I understand, but it seems that there’s something going on between them that we don’t know about. All Ezio said is that Morgyn said something that hurt his feelings. That’s not exactly detailed.”
Lilith frowned. “And he didn’t explain?” she asked.
“No,” Caleb said. “I didn’t really ask.” Okay, he kind of did, if one really got technical about it. If Ezio was the same now as he was back then, it was likely that Ezio would be resistant to explaining anything. He wasn’t a terribly open person even back then, and Caleb imagined that it had only gotten worse over the years.
“You’re you,” Lilith said. “If anyone can get him to explain what happened, I imagine that it would be you.”
Caleb shrugged, pushing off the back of the couch and setting to pacing around. “I guess,” he said. “But this implies that I want to know. For the most part, I figure if Ezio wants to share, he will, and shoving my nose into the situation is likely to inflame it.”
“Inflame,” Lilith repeated. “That is an interesting word to choose.”
“Isn’t it correct?” Caleb asked.
“Is it?” Lilith asked in return.
“Ezio said that when he and Morgyn are around each other, they tend to become a lot of fire and ice,” Caleb said. “That sounds awfully inflammatory to me.”
“Yeah, I would say so,” Lilith said. “You know, it’s hard for me to remember sometimes that Morgyn is a rather dangerous spellcaster. I don’t think of Morgyn that way.”
“He does seem more like a gold fluff ball,” Caleb said.
“Well, all the surface level at least,” Lilith said. “Under that is another story. Is it like that with Ezio?”
“No,” Caleb answered. “I’m always aware that he radiates power. It’s hard to explain. I don’t think he does it on purpose, but it’s hard to ignore outwardly, though he is one of the kindest people I know even now. It’s easy to forget when you’re talking to him just how dangerous he really is, but you never entirely forget it because you can still sense it.”
“That sounds really sweet,” Lilith said, “if a bit unsettling. I’m glad he’s not scary to you. I suppose it would be hard to have a relationship with each other when one was scared of the other.”
Caleb shrugged. “Some people do,” he said. “No one said they were healthy relationships, but there are relationships like that out there.”
“Well, what do we do now?” Lilith asked.
“I don’t really know,” Caleb said. This was probably something that the twins had to work out on their own. Something that they couldn’t really help with, even if their initial instinct was to try to help. Caleb supposed it wasn’t really their place, as frustrating as it might turn out to be. All Caleb could do would be to support Ezio and be there if he needed someone to talk to.
“Morgyn always said that he missed Ezio,” Lilith said. “It seems weird that they would be on bad terms like this. You would think Morgyn would have fixed this long time ago.”
Caleb shrugged. “With how stubborn Ezio can be, I believe it,” he said. “It’s possible that Morgyn has tried, and Ezio hasn’t let him. As kind of a person as Ezio is, he is also relatively easy to hurt and very stubborn.”
“Funny,” Lilith said, “that sounds just like Morgyn.”
“No one said they weren’t pretty much exactly the same, at least in some ways,” Caleb said. “But in others, they are nothing alike at all.”
“Well for what it’s worth,” Lilith said, “I’m sorry to have accidentally crashed your date.”
Caleb shook his head. “It wasn’t really your fault, though your timing was terrible. Out of curiosity, did Morgyn ever tell you that they weren’t talking?”
“No,” Lilith said, shaking her head. “Not really. I remember Morgyn didn’t seem to know where Ezio was, but nothing about them not talking at all.”
That probably should have tipped them off, but of course neither one of them would’ve imagined the twins literally didn’t talk. Surely there were a few things that could actually manage to tear them apart that way.
Ezio had given up a lot for Morgyn, whether or not Morgyn was aware of that was in the air. That was something that Caleb didn’t know, and didn’t care to. That was between them, but it did make it hard to imagine that anything could separate them this way. It was kind of sad, now that he was thinking about it.
Lilith released a sigh, crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t expect Morgyn and I are close enough to be able to talk about this directly,” she said. “Your best bet is probably going to be talking to Ezio about it. Despite how long we’ve been dating, Morgyn’s not really open with me.”
“You know,” Caleb said, “I don’t think I’ll ever understand why you are dating Morgyn.”
Lilith shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t really get it either.”
Then maybe they shouldn’t be dating. Of course, Caleb didn’t terribly care for Morgyn in the first place, and he was probably biased. He could at least admit that in his own head. Wasn’t like Lilith had asked for his input on who exactly she dated. Caleb thought if she had, they likely wouldn’t be in this very awkward situation to begin with.
It was what it was.
“Has the mail come?” Caleb asked. “Not to change the subject, but we were sort of going in circles anyway.”
“Yeah, it has.” Lilith said. “I put it in the kitchen.”
“Thanks,” Caleb said, and then he shuffled into the kitchen to go find it.
* * *
It didn’t take terribly long for him to get good news. Within only a handful of days of applying, Caleb received a letter from the University of Britechester. The letter announced that he’d been accepted into their culinary programme.
Caleb hadn’t been expecting a response anytime soon, nor had he been expecting one that bore good news. It wasn’t like he didn’t like his job. He’d mentioned that before. It was simply that, after thinking of it, there were dreams and ideas that he used to have once.
He’d wanted to open his own restaurant. At the time, restaurants were still a fairly new convention, but it’d been years since then. Caleb still enjoyed feeding people as much as he used to. There was no reason to think that opening a restaurant wouldn’t work out for him.
Besides, Caleb wasn’t exactly a bar type of person. He liked to stay that he fulfilled a specific function, like he was one of those guys that chased off other guys when it was necessary, but mostly Caleb was too shy to do anything. It was somewhat pathetic, considering he was likely many times more dangerous than they were.
With his application accepted, it was time to bring the issue up to his boss at work. At the moment, he had a few day shifts that would unfortunately conflict with his school schedule. Also unfortunately, university classes didn’t tend to rearrange themselves to suit student schedules.
That would be a rather unrealistic expectation, and probably more trouble than it would be worth.
Caleb spent some time at the bar, setting up before the big rush at night. Some people still came to the bar during the day, but the numbers were much lower. The place was very slow during the day, and if Caleb didn’t need to be in class, he could probably do his schoolwork while on the job. The issue of course was that his classes were scheduled during the day, and he didn’t think it was possible to be in two places at once.
Well, maybe with magic. He hadn’t asked.
Ezio had called the night before, and it was nice to talk to him. He still seemed a little bit upset, and Caleb could only imagine why. Caleb was still upset too, but it wasn’t really his upset that mattered in this situation. At least, he didn’t think so. Ezio would probably argue with him, and say that Caleb’s upset was valid too. Maybe it was, it just felt less important next to Ezio’s.
Caleb was still a little worried about how Ezio and Morgyn didn’t seem to get along. Not that Caleb really cared how the twins were getting along. Truth be told, that wasn’t any of his business. It was more that he knew that no matter how much they fought, and what Ezio said, he did still love Morgyn.
Some part of Caleb thought that Ezio still needed Morgyn. Because Morgyn was someone that Caleb couldn’t ever be, nor would Caleb ever try to be.
As he set up the bar, he heard the back door open. Within a few minutes, his boss’s voice came filtering through the back of the bar. Caleb waited a bit, but not long after, his boss came up to the front.
“Hey Caleb,” his boss greeted.
“Hey,” Caleb answered. “Since you’re here, can I talk to you for a second?”
“Sure, what’s up?” his boss asked, pausing in stride to face him.
“Well, ah, I just got the results from applying for university,” Caleb said. “I was accepted into the culinary programme at Britechester. Unfortunately, it will cut into my day schedules at work.”
His boss frowned. “Well, do you want to quit?”
“No,” Caleb said. “At least, not yet. I still need the income to help pay the rent, and you guys still need time to find a replacement. Lilith isn’t making as much as we were hoping she would with her books. Plus I still need to pay tuition and get my textbooks.”
“Textbooks can get pretty expensive,” his boss said. “Well, you’re still one of my best workers, and I’d love to keep you on even if it’s temporary. It’s good that you’re reaching for something you want. Well, I’ll tell you what, I’ll talk to the other bartenders and see if anyone wants to switch with you. That way you’ll only work the night shifts, and have the weekends off.”
“Would you?” Caleb asked. “That’d be a big help.”
“Of course I would,” his boss said, smiling. “Like I said, you’re one of my best workers, and I really do want to see you do well at university. You know I’ll be the first one to go to any restaurant you work at.”
Caleb laughed. “I was kind of hoping to start my own,” he said.
“Oh, well, yeah, now I’m definitely going,” his boss answered, then gave a wink and turned to head into the manager’s office.
It was surprising how easy that was. Then again, Caleb supposed he had a lot of friends here. It’d be sad to leave this place. He’d worked here for several years now, and he knew everyone else. He thought he’d worked here the longest, aside from the manager, but the manager had been here for decades.
Everything changed, however. Caleb’s life was now going in a different direction than it used to be. Now he had reasons to want to be able to stand on his own two feet. He had reasons to want to be able to support himself.
Maybe someday, he and Ezio would move in with each other, and start a new life together. Caleb always wanted that before. It wasn’t surprising that he still did.
Caleb smiled to himself, a little happier than he was before, and went back to setting up the bar. The customers would be here soon, and it’d be a good thing if they could find everything.
* * *
They had agreed to meet at Ezio’s apartment instead of Caleb’s this time. Things hadn’t turned out so well the last time they met up, and Caleb was still a little annoyed about it. He didn’t blame Ezio for his reaction. It was probably more accurately Morgyn’s fault, for doing whatever it was that Morgyn had done.
All the same, this was stuff that Caleb wasn’t involved in. If Ezio needed someone to talk about it with, some vaguely neutral party, Caleb would be that for him, and quite gladly. Caleb loved listening to Ezio talk, for any reason, and if he could get Ezio to talk about something then he’d take it. Particularly in this situation, things were very complicated. More complicated than they looked like they were.
Ezio and Morgyn’s relationship with each other had always been full of complexities, but things seemed to have gotten worse over the years. Caleb could only assume that Morgyn was still ignorant of the events in France. There were likely reasons why Ezio hadn’t told Morgyn, if he hadn’t, and Caleb knew Ezio well enough to assume he wouldn’t have. Things like that, those were the things Ezio had always set out to protect Morgyn from, not purposely expose Morgyn to.
Before Caleb had run into Ezio, Morgyn had never said anything in conversation to hint that the blond was aware of the events of France. If Morgyn knew anything, Caleb liked to think he’d be aware, even if only because he was there, and Morgyn would know he was. Caleb imagined Morgyn would’ve treated him a little differently.
Or perhaps Caleb was overestimating the blond, either one.
This time, Caleb came over with all the ingredients he would need to make tonight’s dinner. It wasn’t anything terribly special, much like the last meal wasn’t, but it wasn’t what was in it that made it special, so much as who it was shared with.
It had been a long time since he and Ezio could enjoy a meal together, and it was even better that they could do so now in relative peace. Caleb had no idea how much he missed it until Ezio was back, and they were trying to figure out how they still fit together. If they still fit together.
Some part of Caleb was afraid of losing Ezio all over again. Maybe that was why he was so angry with Morgyn for whatever Morgyn had done. There was that fear, in the back of his head, no matter what he told himself, that someday Morgyn dating Lilith would chase Ezio away from him.
He liked to think that their bond was stronger than that, but it was hard to convince himself of that when Ezio reacted to Morgyn’s presence like that. Just what had Morgyn done? That was still a very extreme reaction to the sage’s presence.
Ezio’s relationship with Morgyn had nothing to do with him. It was just hard to remember that someitmes, perhaps especially when Ezio’s reaction was that intense. Caleb found he still had the internal reaction to push things that upset Ezio away from him, even if that something was Ezio’s twin.
Caleb was sort of nervous. But he smoothed his hair back out of his face, at least as far as he could get it, which wasn’t very. Then, he reached up to knock on the door. Unlike Caleb did, Ezio didn’t answer the door as quickly. Caleb didn’t mind the way. Ezio was worth it.
Within a few minutes, the door opened, and Caleb breathed out.
“Sorry,” Ezio said, “I was wrapping up an email to the office. Come in.”
Caleb laughed. “I thought I said work is supposed to stay at work,” he said. Ezio moved out of the way of the door, so Caleb shuffled in and closed the door behind him. He remembered Ezio removed his shoes when he’d come over to Caleb’s apartment, so Caleb did the same thing in Ezio’s, shaking his tennis shoes off and nudging them to one side.
He’d ask where Ezio’s kitchen was, but it was in direct view of the doorway. Caleb smiled and shuffled around Ezio to head into it.
“Yeah, I guess you did,” Ezio said. “I’ll have to know that email was to tell my co-workers that I’m not to be bothered this weekend, though.”
“Well, that’s a miracle,” Caleb said. “Not sure what I did to deserve that one, but I’ll take it.”
Ezio settled down at the dining room table, not far from the kitchen, and pulled a face. “You and my best friend are about as equally bad about rubbing my shortcomings into my face,” he said.
“I’m genuinely honoured,” Caleb said. “I know that sounded sarcastic, but I wasn’t really being sarcastic.”
“If you say so,” Ezio said. “What’d you bring?”
“Oh, you know, plasma fruit mostly,” Caleb said. “I’m trying to perfect a steak sauce out of it, but I think today I’m going to try making a glaze. It might be useful for holidays, if you’re ever interested in those.”
“That sounds good,” Ezio said. “Well, I look forward to trying it.”
“Thanks,” Caleb said. “I don’t have too many vampire friends anymore. My sister’s one, but, as I mentioned, she can’t eat human food. Apparently, plasma fruit counts.”
“That’s odd,” Ezio said. “You know, humans can’t eat plasma fruit. It makes them sick.”
“I know,” Caleb said. “That’s why I was so confused when she got sick eating it. It seems like if she should be able to eat anything, it’d be plasma fruit, but nope. Can’t have nice things.”
“Do plasma packs make her sick?” Ezio asked.
“No,” Caleb said, “just the fruit.”
“Well, now I’m curious how this works,” Ezio said. “Unfortunately, I don’t really have the time to research how vampires can get sick from plasma fruit.”
“There are a lot of things about vampires that we still don’t understand,” Caleb said.
“I know,” Ezio answered. “But you know how I am about understanding things. Morgyn’s the same way.”
Caleb was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out how to word his next question as he shuffled about the kitchen starting dinner. “Ezio, I don’t want to pry,” Caleb started, “but I’m really curious, and maybe a little worried about you.”
“What for?” Ezio asked.
“I’m still very sorry about what happened the last time we did this,” Caleb said.
Ezio shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter,” he said. “I’m the one being bitter about it.”
“What happened?” Caleb asked. “Why is Morgyn’s presence so infuriating to you? I was under the impression Morgyn was practically your whole world.”
“I mean, that’s still right,” Ezio said. “I guess, the other way around’s not true. We just got into a big fight, that’s all. Some things were said. Some of those things were painful. But I guess it’s nice to know how Morgyn really feels.”
“Morgyn seems pretty hot-headed sometimes,” Caleb said. “Like that sort of person that says things and then thinks about them. I’m willing to bet Morgyn didn’t really mean it.”
“I know that,” Ezio said. “Whether Morgyn meant it or not doesn’t change the fact it hurt. Morgyn keeps saying that it was an accident, that the idiot didn’t really mean it, but never once has Morgyn actually apologised. Not for saying it, and not for hurting my feelings.”
Caleb looked over at him. He could hear it in Ezio’s voice. The sound of trying very hard not to cry. Whatever Morgyn had said really did hurt Ezio’s feelings. Caleb set what he was working on down, and shuffled over to kneel beside Ezio, one hand reaching up to take Ezio’s. “Not even sort of?” Caleb asked.
Ezio shook his head. “Not once,” he repeated. “That’s all I want. Just a simple apology, not excuses, and Morgyn just can’t do it.”
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