soulmates lovers and other useless human relations

xliii

[a/n: y'all best go read it I swear on my mom-]

When was the last time it had rained so hard? - you wonder. From the safety of your covers, you watched with tired eyes as the rain smacked onto your window with such speed and force, you feared it would break.

Mike, having paid a visit earlier to sneak you in a treat he had stolen from the kitchen, reassured you that would not happen as rain would never shatter glass. But those winds? They certainly could. You tried to drown out your worries with, ironically, the same sound that was causing your worries. The rain falling to the ground below from the clouds above, and if you focused just hard enough you could hear the distant sound of rushed birds probably attempting with all their might to take cover against brutal winds and freezing droplets.

It was enough to calm you. At least temporarily - at least until a fucking lightning bolt hit way too close to the manor for comfort.

One moment things were calm with the white noise that is rain, and the next you're being blinded by the light that is whatever higher being exists in the universe followed by the chorus of a hundred angry gods.

It was as if the gods were testing you. And as you lay in your blanket burrito staring wide eyed at your window which had just a few seconds ago been a bright gateway to the afterlife, you decided; if they wanted to test you, they could! But you would not put any effort in. Especially when you forgot to put on socks and the wooden floor of your room seemed to rival the temperatures of an ice skating rink.

So your relax time - time you cleared just for laying in bed and watching the world go by - was now spent panicking. Laying and being warm, but with a new irrational fear that the gods were after your head.

———————————

"I am beginning to think that life is basically the purgatory, and we are all being tested to see where we get put in the afterlife."

Vera, Fiona, Patricia and surprisingly Victor (since when did he begin sitting with you guys???) froze their spoons full of cereal halfway up to their mouths. Vera, being sat beside you, unfroze but only to put her spoon down to her plate and run her free hand down her face. "Yeah, I'm always left wondering what I did to deserve this kind of torture."

"Torture?"

"Being friends with you is insufferable, y/n."

"WHY?! It was a genuine statement! Yesterday while it was raining I almost got struck by lightning!"

Fiona tilted her head from her seat across from you - beside Victor who had begun to eat again. "But weren't you in bed the whole day?"

"Exactly what I'm saying!" You nodded, and she was beginning to perhaps think you were insane. "I was in the comfort, and safety of my own bed! Out of their way in a spot so unlikely to be hit by lightning. And yet what happened? Boom! Lightning hits literally right outside my window!"

"Maybe it's a sign." Victor nervously smiled, flinching when all four of you turned to to him.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Like-" he stopped to swallow, snapping his eyes back to you. "Like a sign to shoot your shots. Shock someone with your skills or something." Upon seeing you, and the three girls, deadpan at his statement he shrunk back into his seat. "Corny joke - my bad."

Patricia chuckled and shook her head. "I think being happy and in love with Luca and Andrew made you ready for the dad life; dad jokes are always the first sign of evolution in men."

"Patricia, I don't know if you knew this but we are three gay men. How am I going to be a dad."

"Adoption obviously."

"In the manor?"

"Yeah?" The enchantress scoffed as if it were obvious. "Kidnap one of Yidhra's daughters - I'm sure she won't notice they're missing. She can't even see."

Fiona snorted from her seat, the food on her plate being pushed around mindlessly but her. "Yidhra kins Eli."

"Get out."

"Sorry I'll stop."

"We're trailing off topic here." Vera rolled her eyes at the three, though she couldn't bite back the twitch of her lips. "New event just dropped. Apparently we're going to be celebrating the new year."

"So early?"

The woman nodded. "They wanted to celebrate both the western new year and the lunar new year this time. Probably because of all the new western members that joined now."

You hummed in absentminded interest. It's not that it was an underwhelming announcement (it was, honestly.) but you've just never been too excited about celebrations and over all events like those. Christmas? New Years? Valentine's Day and even Halloween? They sort of died over time.

"Are you guys excited?" Turning to the four, you tilted your head at them as they hummed.

"I am!" Fiona grinned. "Outside of the manor I was always busy with my spiritual duties so I never really got to attend an event like the ones here. Plus; food and alcohol."

"Oh no. Nuh-uh. Do I have to remind you what happened at the lantern festival when you and Patricia had to much to drink?" Vera frowned, glaring at the ginger whos smile instantly dropped and was replaced by an embarrassed pout.

"Sorry..."

The man across from you chuckled, turning to smile at you. "I personally celebrated the western new year when I was younger with my family. Getting to celebrate it again sounds exciting."

"Yeah, It's exciting and all but are there any traditions or activities you get to do other than eat and drink?" Patricia groaned. "Lunar New Years are always so eventful with fireworks and dragon dances. What does western new year get? A firework show at a late hour that lasts five minutes and worsens pollution."

"Oh my god." Victor frowned, chuckling into his hand. "What did the western new year ever do to you?"

"Exist."