Fluffcember 2024: Coming Home | Rayllum & Sorvus & Clauderry Callum is determined to ask Rayla to be his girlfriend this Winter Break. But if he can't even start a fire, how is he supposed to create the perfect moment? Soren has decided to stay on campus this Christmas, but with Rayla and Callum as his only company, he's starting to feel like a third wheel. Except maybe it's not just the three of them left on campus after all. Meanwhile Claudia is trying to have a nice Christmas with her family, but maybe her family isn't at home...
Corvus was sitting on his couch with Soren, snuggled up under a blanket with the other man’s arm around his shoulder.
Corvus was sitting on his couch with Soren. And they were sharing a blanket and the other man’s arm was around his shoulder.
He scarcely dared move. And then the phone rang, and Soren simply fished it out of his pocket and answered the video call.
Corvus watched as Soren’s face lit up.
Soren’s sister beamed at him from the phone screen, her image a little distorted and grainy. Corvus noted that the glass had been cracked. More than once, by the looks of it.
“Sorbear!” she trilled. “Wait, what are you doing? Who’s that?”
“This is Corvus.” Soren pointed the phone into his face and Corvus leaned back, giving a small wave.
“Hiiii.” Claudia sang and Soren pulled the phone back, turning it once again to face himself. “So am I interrupting something or-”
“Nah. My friend Corvus and I were just, uh, well there was this lake and-” Soren began, but Claudia cut him off with a heavy sigh they could hear even though the phone, blowing through the speakers like distortion.
“Sureee there was. But anyway! I had something I wanted to ask you-”
Corvus did his best to tune the rest of their conversation out, feeling a bit like he was intruding even though Soren didn’t seem to mind. He pulled out his own phone, scrolling through his texts to see if he had any unread messages. His social life was as barren as he remembered it. Except for one, which pinged up onto the screen even as he was going through them.
Opeli: Do you remember the ground rules we talked about?
Opeli: You better. No inviting “friends” over. I don’t care if I’m not there.
An image popped up after her text, grainy, like it was from a screen shot. Corvus gawked at the image of himself and Soren, arms wrapped around each other, walking down the path towards their dorm room right after the incident on the ice. Someone - Corvus had a distinct feeling he knew who - had captioned it just snog already.
Corvus was going to have some very strong words with Rayla later about what happened to people who didn’t mind their own business. Also, Soren didn’t like him that way. He might not even be queer.
Corvus thought back over the past two weeks.
Alright, he was probably queer, but that didn’t automatically mean he liked him in that way.
Corvus was about to reply to Opeli (with an equally stern message about poking her nose where it didn’t belong) when he heard Soren’s tone shift dramatically and the other man stood, letting the blanket fall off of him and back onto the couch.
“If you’d just pick up when I called I wouldn’t have to do this.” came a man’s voice from the phone, pointed and sharp, cutting through the room like a knife.
Soren stalked to the other side of the room, putting his back between Corvus and the phone.
“Put Claudia back on.” he repeated.
“I will. But first I have something to speak with you about.”
Soren pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Fine. What do you want?”
“You don’t have to sound so sour about it.”
“I said what do you want?”
The man cleared his throat. “Your Mother seems to believe that you didn’t come to the cabin this year because of something I’ve done and she won’t stop needling me about it. I would appreciate it if you would just clarify things with her. Or, better yet, come and spend the holidays with your actual family and at least pretend to care.”
While he’d been speaking Soren’s hand had dropped back to his side, curling slowly into a fist. Now he spoke up again.
“First of all, it is because of you. And secondly, I do care.”
“If this is about that stupid-”
“It wasn’t stupid! And it’s not. It’s about-” Soren’s voice rose, then dropped abruptly back down. “You know what, forget it. I don’t have the energy for this. This is exactly why I didn’t go to the cabin with you. To avoid all of this bullshit.”
“If you have something to say, say it.” the man who could only have been Viren snapped. Corvus felt his own fists clench at his sides, Opeli forgotten.
“It would be a waste of breath.” Soren spat.
Corvus had never seen him like this, never heard his voice rise. The venom in his tone, the bitterness felt like it was coming from some entirely other person. Someone kept neatly locked away, hidden where no one could find them; concealed behind layers of self-deprecating humor and quickly thrown out jokes.
“Oh, you are so ungrateful.” Viren said, his own voice rising. “After everything I’ve-”
“Oh shut up!” Soren cut him off, nearly shouting now. “I’ve heard it a million times. Thanks for putting in the effort to keep me alive. Thanks for doing your job as a fucking parent. You sure haven't done it since so at least you did a really good job once.”
Viren seemed to be just as startled as Corvus was, falling silent for a moment.
“Tell Claudia to call me back later.” Soren finally said into the silence, and then he hung up.
He just stood there afterwards, hand falling to his side as he hung his head, hair flopping across his eyes. It wasn’t until Corvus reached out and put a hand on his shoulder that he seemed to remember he’d been in the room the entire time.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” he blurted, glancing up and pushing the hair back from his face. His eyes were wide and apologetic, any traces of anger quickly locked away again. “I should have taken it outside, I just got so caught up, I totally didn’t that about the fact that you were-”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Corvus asked gently, cutting him off.
“I-” Soren turned away. “Not really.”
“Okay. Then we don’t have to talk about it.”
He guided him back over to the couch, draping the blanket back around both their shoulders. Soren had started shivering again, or maybe it was adrenalin, he wasn’t really sure.
“I just wish I knew what I’d done. Why he doesn’t-” Soren broke off, burying his face in his hands. “I’m sorry.”
“Soren. Don’t be sorry. He sounds like an asshole.”
Soren sniffed, and Corvus’ heart clenched in his chest. He wrapped an arm around the other man’s shoulder.
“He is a bit of an asshole.” Soren said after a moment.
And that got a chuckle out of him. “He’s a massive asshole.”
Corvus gently guided Soren’s hands away from his face. “Soren, I’m so sorry.”
“Pfft-” Soren glanced away, hair flopping into his eyes. “Why are you sorry?”
“Because you didn’t feel like you could talk to me about… about whatever this is. And I know we haven’t been friends very long, but I want you to know that you can talk to me. About this, about anything. I don’t know what’s going on, but if I can help, I will and-”
Soren had turned back to face him, and the look in his eyes made Corvus’ voice falter.
“-I just wanted you to know that. And apologize if I ever made you feel like you couldn’t talk to me about things.”
“Corvus, it’s not you. I don’t talk to anyone about things.” he admitted. “I- I’m not very good at…”
They both fell silent, at a loss for words. Corvus supposed neither of them were very good at talking about things. So he just clasped Soren’s hand between both of his and gave it a squeeze.
“Maybe we can practice, then. Together.”
“Yeah.” Soren glanced up at him, those big blue eyes staring like they could see into Corvus’ soul, a small smile tugging at his lips. “I think I’d like that.”
