svtekh:
That’s Hrafn-speak for it’s not my first choice for what I could be doing right now, but I don’t mind, even if it sounds downright dismissive. Yousef has become an excellent translator. “Great! You’re coming with me, then. Shops to see, people to annoy, you know the drill.”
He throws an arm around Hrafn’s waist to keep him close, and tugs him out into the mass of humanity. The sun is warm, real beyond the hated barrier of glass; the chatter of mortal-noise is at once both grating and soothing.
Five feet away, an UberEats driver on a bike goes careening wildly, hitting a lampost. His intended delivery goes flying. A bag tears, a cardboard box flaps open. A Beyond Meat hotdog does a perfect backflip right into Yousef’s outstretched hand.
“So. Any ideas about what you’re going to wear to this awards thing?” Yousef steers Hrafn easily through the chaos, and takes a bite of the hotdog. His next words are garbled around his mouthful, no fucking manners. “Do you think you’ll take the wolves?”
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓, unforgiving. he would almost prefer the clash and clang of steel, the steady drums of war, to the ceaseless droning of chattering voices and the sound of car horns. it momentarily causes his vision to shiver and blur, and he is endlessly thankful for the arm that snakes around his waist. that, he feels, is at least secure. the sound of his boot heels clicking against pavement is steadying, and he feels stratified with the guiding hand that holds him ; the feeling of yousef’s skin burning through the layers that separate them, like a brand pulled from embers on frigid winter. he finds he would not have protested even if he had an inclination to.
“ no, but i’m sure you do.” the words are not unkind, though they are stilted, even in his teasing ; still unsure of how they might land. at times, he found himself feeling almost coltish in the other man’s presence, still hesitant as he leant into the warmth of his embrace. as old as he was, there were things that never quite stopped feeling new. “ geri and freki could do with the exercise, though i doubt they’ll enjoy the noise,” he says. whether truly speaking of the wolves or himself was uncertain.













