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The day Lugh settled will be the day Mike Ross never forgets. It was a week after his parents died. Lugh had been shifting through forms so rapidly, unable to find stability in any form that he was only still in his sleep. Then, on the day Mr. and Mrs. Were buried Lugh took the form of a raven and sat on the gravestone as the pastor read over the holes in the earth. He made no noise and Mike had his eyes fixed on his dæmon as his gram held onto his shoulder, her own dæmon mourning with her. Mike however couldn't even begin to look at the grave as Lugh stood there, poised and erect, staring out at all the other people and dæmons with a sort of hard eyed stare that only ravens had as the priest droned on about his parents.
When Lugh had met his eyes Mike had only blinked at him and then as one they'd turned and stared into the open pits, side by side, where fresh, cedar coffins, rested. It took a long time for his gram to convince him to leave the cemetery, because Lugh would not leave, and whenever Mike came near he would fly up just out of reach and not even speak to him, just caw and screech. In this way Mike missed the after-party. He couldn't say he was upset, he didn't want to see their pity. Mike was ten years old, he didn't need their pity or sympathy. He's wanted his parents back.
Late that night, after everyone had gone to sleep Mike lay awake with Lugh sitting on his chest. The dæmon had not spoken much since that morning, which was odd for Lugh, he was normally very talkative and unlike Mike would be more than willing to expel the wealth of knowledge they had. He'd run his fingers along Lugh's beak and glossy feathers. "Is this is?" he'd asked, because Lugh had not changed at all, all day, or night. A strange thing since not a day prior he hadn't been able to even hold a form for more than five minutes.
Lugh had stretched out his pretty black wings and seemed to examine them. "This is it," he'd clacked and folded his wings back against his body. "What do you think?"
Mike had smiled thinly at that, "Perfect," he'd proclaimed, "as always," and Lugh had made a soft warbling sound, almost like that of a human giggle, and together they fell asleep.
—
While not unheard of, it was rare for a boy as young as Mike to have a settled dæmon. Especially like the one he had. Usually ravens were associated with older gentlemen, and really they weren't common bird dæmons to possess. But Mike always supposed that those older gentleman had had to start somewhere, like Mike did. One was not simply old. The men of note with ravens had been young once too.
Children were not especially kind to boys who settled 'too early'. He was seen as stuck up, too good, a goodie-two-shoes, all because Lugh had settled. Few, if any, wanted to be Mike's friend growing up.
He was fine with that. After the death of his parents Mike grew disinterested in people as those who were his age developed contempt for him. It was during this time that Mike became lost in books. Before he'd always enjoyed learning and reading, but before he'd had friends to distract him from them. Now there were no friends like that. His gram bought him books all the time and Mike's interests shifted constantly much like Lugh's form once had. His appetites for books was insatiable and he read fast and remembered everything. Often Lugh would sit on his shoulder as he read and would read with him, raven eyes understanding as clearly as Mike himself did.
Middle school was kinder to Mike. By then more children's dæmon's had settled and he was no longer the strange child with the early settling dæmon. But it wasn't until he moved in the seventh grade that he broke away from stigma of being the raven-boy.
It was in this new school that he met Trevor. Trevor with the unsettled dæmon who thought Lugh was one of the coolest things he'd ever seen since ravens weren't birds you saw in New York City all that often, especially not this close. He of course never touched Lugh, but he'd get close and look and his own dæmon would stroke Lugh's feathers. Though that was only when Lugh let her. He did not like to be touched, he hadn't been since Mike's parents had died. Before Lugh had let almost any dæmon touch him, but after he only let gram's butterfly dæmon touch him on a regular basis.
Trevor's dæmon settled just before freshman year into the form of a bird eating spider. Lugh's disposition towards her soured after that. Mike thought he was being silly, but Lugh didn't let Anikii near him much after that.
When they entered a new high school Mike stopped broadcasting that Lugh was a male dæmon. It hit especially hard after he'd heard about a girl with a female dæmon get beat up after school because she might have been a lesbian. Mike didn't want that to happen to him just because Lugh and he shared a gender. So Mike stopped sharing it and only Trevor knew, and Trevor wouldn't tell. Trevor was his best friend, through thick and thin, and so what if Lugh didn't like Anikii, he and Mike got along awesome. Trevor wasn't his only friend now though, which made Mike happy.
He made friends with the kids in chess club, and science club, both things Trevor teased him about but for the first time in a long time Mike had other friends. People who were smart like him too. It wasn't that Trevor was dumb. He just… well he wasn't nearly as smart as Mike, and always said Mike had a cool 'freak' brain. He ignored Trevor's teasing and did things he enjoyed and hung out with the geeks and the nerds and tried to enjoy his high school years.
Mike finished Valedictorian of his high school senior class. He'd never been more proud and Lugh hadn't been able to shut up for five seconds when they were told. Eventually he'd had to wrestle his dæmon into silence because he'd been disrupting class. With the top graduating spot and a full ride to NYU under his belt Mike was on top of the world.
Mike had known for a long time that he wanted to be a lawyer. He'd liked debate, and had read a bunch of seemingly dry, boring, books from the library all on law. It was fascinating to him. Lugh liked it too. Mike took to like Lugh would to a silver coin.
His few years as an undergrad were dedicated to Law. He read all the textbooks and flew through his assignments. Trevor took some computer classes for some sort of tech degree.
In college was where Trevor met Jenny. Beautiful, golden, Jenny. She had a stunning smile and Mike thought she was beautiful.
College was also where Mike discovered he really wasn't attracted to girls.
Honestly he'd never been totally floored by the idea of having a girlfriend, especially not with Lugh. He loved Lugh more than he wanted a girlfriend and so just pushed off the idea that he'd have one. Also girls tended to coo over how 'cute' he was, how 'adorable' and 'precious' he looked, like a little boy. Mike had kept a baby face even after puberty and he'd realized quickly that while girls adored him, none of them wanted to date him. He wasn't too upset about it, and Lugh had just snorted at them in obvious contempt.
In college though people weren't assholes like they were in high school. Not to mention this was the new millennia, all sorts of new ideas were being thrown around. It was perfectly acceptable to be gay. Mike still refrained from broadcasting Lugh's gender though, more out of habit then anything else really.
Mike's first kiss was with a guy named Alfred, a Puerto Rican with an ass you could bounce a quarter off of. Like Mike Alfred had a male dæmon as well, it was why Mike felt comfortable with him. He'd later find out that while the gender of your dæmon sometimes reflected your sexuality, it wasn't always and he had quite a few other bed mates with female dæmons, some who were way gayer than Mike.
In his junior year Trevor convinced Mike to sell the answers to a math test.
Mike's entire world had crumbled from there. He lost his scholarship, and a black mark had been put against his name by the NYU Dean. He wouldn't get into another college in the state with a mark like that and Mike couldn't leave New York, not with his gram's slowly failing health. Trevor stuck with in though, even though his boyfriend at the time was so turned off by what Mike had done that he dumped the blonde the day before Valentine's Day.
It was officially the second worst thing that had ever happened to Mike.
—
After his expulsion from higher learning he started working odd jobs. He couldn't not. He had to help support his gram who was starting to get too old to work. It was during this time that Trevor started to deal drugs. Mike had been pretty strait edge up to that point, as he was a social drinker though didn't go out of his way to get hammered like some of his former friends had (most of the friends he'd made in college were ashamed to know him after the math test blew up in his face), but Trevor introduced him to weed.
Lugh had tutted and bitched at him when he started to form a habit. Mike chose to ignore Lugh though because when he was high… it was nice. Mike was under a lot of stress from having to take care of his gram more and more, as well as himself and worked three jobs to cover all the bills. He was considering taking a forth as his gram had recently taken a fall and dislocated her hip. He was seriously thinking of putting her in a home. Not for any reason than her own safety and happiness though. He worried over her constantly. The drugs helped and Lugh's complaints grew less and less frequent till he never complained.
Mike's life continued. He lived basically pay check to pay check, and his gram was in a home where she'd be looked after, the best he could afford. But then he got the news about that imore/i money was needed. More money than Mike had.
It was only because he was desperate, that he agreed to be Trevor's gopher. Lugh had kicked up a storm over that. More than Mike had ever seen him. But as they went into the hotel Lugh was a silent shadow on his shoulder, sharp raven eyes catching every tiny detail, like the day he'd first settled and had sat staring at the mourners from his father's tomb stone.
He almost got caught by the cops. But as he skidded into an interview Mike could barely think. He was flustered and confused and on his shoulder Lugh flapped to keep his place on Mike's shoulder. The smart remark bubbled up out of his mouth at the red head bomb shell without thinking. She'd seemed stunned, but in a good way and in a whirl he was being faced with a shark in a suit. A really handsome shark in a suit.
Mike didn't know it then, but it was one of the single best days of his life.