Corny tossed and turned with the storm outside, trying to find a comfortable position. With the sheets tangled around his legs and the pillow tossed by his waist, the worst was feared for sleep. It wasn't possible tonight, not with something missing. He tried one more time, if only to stay warm for another moment. The moment wasn't long enough as far as Corny was concerned. It couldn't be helped.
Finally, he clambered out of bed, in search of the one thing missing. Corny ignored the storm raging outside while he padded to the small kitchen of their flat above the café, Moon in a Cup. It was a good deal – buy the café and a house all in one. Kaye and Roiben already had one too many homes, so it was easier. He only had to walk across the room a bit until he saw just what he was looking for. Shivering with the cold like his partner, Luis sat at the poker-sized table that held little more than mail and the café's keys. Moonlight streamed in from the window about the sink, stretching itself across the room to touch Luis's hands softly. A lingering smile played on his lips as Cornelius made his way to his lonely lover sitting in the chair.
Luis leaned into his embrace, letting Corny's arms wrap around him without questions. For just a moment, they both forgot what was lost, what never made its way home, and what they could not protect. Even a moment not remembering that was wondrous and to be loved. Kaye and Roiben weren't on their minds, siblings lost banished for a second, bills to pay completely forgotten. It was just them and the storm. No matter how different their lives, their relationships, their pasts, were from everyone else, Corny and Luis had these near-perfect moments with each other.
All too soon, when lightening flashed across the room and lit up the night's sky, it ended. Luis was back to the reality he never truly left, Corny entering what he had always wanted to leave. The thunder that followed it made the boy sitting at the table tense. It wasn't too far off, tailing the lightning by a mere four seconds.
"The thunder keeps me awake. I've never been able to sleep in thunderstorms." Luis, always the wise one, answered the question no one asked.
"Is it just the thunder tonight?"
"Is it always just the thunder?"
For a moment, Cornelius didn't know how to reply. Then he thought of something that might help his housemate, his lover, his partner, feel less depressed. "I hate to know I could have saved her. I know how you feel, Luis. Kaye says we have to get past this. It'll be hard, but I think we should try."
Luis stayed silent, running a shadowed hand over his dark cornrows with a sigh.
Corny thought back to when Kaye had told him that, about a week ago. He'd been sulking after listening to one of his sister's favorite songs on the radio. Kaye tried hard to comfort him, but it didn't work as well as hoped. The little things still got to him, even if he spent all day trying to shut them out. Luis wasn't too much better, shying away from certain things and gaining an even stronger passion to help people undo any magic-related curses. Sometimes Cornelius would find Luis mumbling to himself about destroying all of the evil faeries out there. Sometimes he even woke up hearing him talk in his sleep. Even if Luis thought vividly about destroying faeries, Corny didn't blame him very much. He had, after all, killed one himself.
"We could try." Luis's words were slow and deliberate. Neither really believed it would be that easy. It was worth a try, though. Both of them thought it would be impossible for the other to love them but they accomplished that fairly easily.
"And maybe it'll work, if we try together." Corny gave his lover's left hand a tight squeeze, sending hope and love via touch. It helped.
"Things work out better if you have someone there."
The more accident-prone, electrical-smart of the two cracked a smile. "Yeah. I don't think Roiben could run the Seelie and Unseelie Courts without Kaye there. To think of it, Kaye probably couldn't have found none-iron things to go into the café without Roiben either. I guess some people just complete each other."
"If they're willing to be completed," Luis finished.
"There's that, too. The right person could complete someone else without their consent or knowledge though." He brushed Luis's cornrows with the hand that wasn't holding and being held. Luis frown slowly grew into a tiny smile.
"Yeah, the right person."
It was a secret the two held, never admitting it aloud. Both knew the depth of the other's feelings, they just didn't talk about it too much. Maybe it was the man in them, or the lack of love from former days. Either way, as long as they had each other they didn't question it. Luis knew if Corny didn't want him he wouldn't be there. Cornelius knew the same thing, and it saved a lot of worry between them. They loved each other, whether or not someone else could tel. Besides, they had too much to do to care about what other people seemed to think of their relationship.
Moon in a Cup was up and running, some things needed done, some things needed to be forgotten, and they still hadn't figured out exactly who they were. Whatever happened, they had the café, Kaye and Roiben, and their lover. So why should either be worrying over something like a couple rounds of thunder and lightning?
For now, they decided not to. It was just easier that way.
The two stood together, facing the window and the storm with little smiles. Even with all that thunder, Corny and Luis managed to find something like a peaceful sleep that night.
