Greetings readers!
Thank you for joining me in another story.
This is the fourth part of a series, so if you have not read the previous parts, some things may not make sense.
Something I'd like to note about this story:
I've dedicated some of the first half to some very dear friends of mine and I will be putting a special note at the specific chapters I've written for each friend.
That said, enjoy Ties That Bind
~RK

In the world of fairies and sparrowmen there is a magic so incredibly powerful it is rumored that even Clumsies have fallen under its spell. This magic forms between at least two, pulling them together and binding their hearts as one. It is such a strange and wonderful magic, as no one knows what causes it. There is no one to cast the spell; it seems to happen on its own. We have no control over it, but we chose to give it a name: Love.

When love happens, fairies will sometimes choose to seal the bond created by it in a ceremony called a Tying. Fairies who choose to go through a Tying are blessed by the highest authority and unified before Pixie Hollow. If the bond is strong enough, it cannot be broken by anything.

This is the strongest magic known to Fae Kind.

Bobble grinned down at the book in his lap, reading the passage and following pages again and again from his perch on top of the book shelf. He'd lost count how many times he'd read it before he snapped the cover shut. He replaced the book on the shelf and descended to the ground, landing by the librarian and startling him.

"Oh! Phineas, I forgot you were here!" Scribble exclaimed, "Do you need help finding anything?"

Bobble shook his head, "I was just leaving, thank you."

Scribble took in his smile and sense of wonder in his eyes. "You were reading the Tying book again, weren't you?"

"Oh! Um, I was but…" Bobble could feel his face heat up as the blush filled his cheeks. "Is it that obvious?"

Scribble chuckled and nodded. "You've been studying that book for months as if you're going to be tested on it. Are you ever going to ask him?"

Bobble toed the ground. "I don't know…" he mumbled, "I'm not entirely sure we're ready for that yet."

Ever since they had heard about Tyings and Union Knots, Bobble had been obsessed with the idea of Tying with Clank. But as excited as he was, Bobble hadn't been able to bring the topic up with Clank and ask his thoughts on the matter. So instead he turned to books. Every free moment he didn't spend with Clank, he'd spent in the library reading the same information about love and ceremonies and Tying until he could probably recite it all blindly if asked.

"I want to ask him," Bobble admitted, "things are so good between us. But what if Tying changes things? What if they go bad?"

"I highly doubt that would happen." Scribble said, "but unfortunately I don't know."

"Well, if you were in love and in my position what do you think you might do?" Bobble asked.

Scribble pondered with a hum. "Well, I'd find out who had gone through it before me and go ask them. Y'know, go see how being Tied has been for them and see what they think."

Bobble nodded. "That's not a bad idea… but the only Tied couple I know is Fairy Mary and Fairy Gary. I'm not really sure I'm comfortable asking two guild leaders what Tied life is like."

Something lit up in Scribble's eyes, like he was about to share the biggest discovery he'd ever found. "I think I have something that can help with that." He motioned for Bobble to follow him. He went to the shelf Bobble had been sitting on and to the far end of the third shelf from the top. Scribble pulled a thin book from near where Bobble had put his book away and handed it to him. "We keep records of all the union ceremonies since Pixie Hollow was founded. There's unions written down from long before I arrived, even from before the arrival of Queen Clarion herself!"

Bobble examined the book. It was bound with six strands holding the pages and covers together. The strands looked worn as if they'd been undone and retied many times to add more pages to the book. He flipped it open and found the long list of names inside.

He was surprised by all the unions listed. They were arranged in blocks of text down the pages. The names of the fairies took up the top line and each name had one of three letters next to them: F, S or U. Under each name listed their Talent, then their arrival date, and finally under that and across both lines was the date of their ceremony.

He skimmed the list until he spotted the very first Tinker to make it.

Mary (F) Tied to Gary (S)

"Oh, so F means Fairy and S means Sparrowman?" Bobble wondered aloud.

"Correct." Scribble confirmed. "And U stands for Undetermined. You know, for anyone who isn't either. It really is quite a fascinating list, isn't it? I always found the entries that include more than two names. I had always assumed that love and Tying was only between two fairies, but I suppose it doesn't say anywhere that it can't be more."

He kept talking but Bobble was only half listening. He read over Fairy Mary's entry and saw that it had been over fifty years since her ceremony. That's an insanely long time. I didn't know she was that old.

He turned a few pages, scanning for names he recognized, names of his closest friends. He already knew Fawn and Iridessa weren't Tied, but he wasn't sure about Rosetta or Silvermist since they'd arrived before him. He flipped all the way until he was past his own arrival date and didn't see Ro, Sil or even Lucinda. He even scanned for Dozer, but wasn't surprised when he did not spot his name.

All the names he saw were either fairies he didn't know very well or he hadn't met at all. So as fascinating as the list was, it wasn't exactly helpful. How could Bobble ask someone he didn't know about Tied life? Their personal life? Perhaps talking to Fairy Mary really was the best option after all.

Bobble was about to give up and hand the record back to Scribble when his eye landed on a particular match. A Tinker Sparrowman; one who Bobble didn't know but also didn't recall him ever teasing him as a new arrival as other individuals had. "Steel…" he muttered to himself. He was pretty sure he knew who that was, but was equally sure he'd never exchanged a single word with him.

I suppose it's him or Fairy Mary. Bobble shrugged and snapped the record shut.

"Oh, did you find someone to talk to?" Scribble asked, finally pulling himself from his ramblings.

"Aye, thank you Scribble." Bobble smiled.

Scribble took the ledger back "No problem. And hopefully soon we can add your name to this list, and one day I'll be able to ask you for advice when I find my perfect match."

Bobble smiled. "With your good looks Scribble, I'm surprised you haven't already found them."

"We'll see." Scribble chuckled. "I hope you find the answers you're looking for. But you can always come back and reread that book if you need to."

Bobble thanked him again and began his trip home. He chose to walk part of the way, making the trek slower than necessary. But he wanted to conserve Pixie Dust having had a rather busy week behind him, plus the walk gave him a chance to ponder how to approach Steel.

He was lucky enough to have seen Fairy Mary's charts and schedules up close. He remembered every schedule had Steel working vehicle design, assembly and repair. It's possible Clank met him last year when Fairy Mary had him on wagon repair. Bobble wondered if he could ask Clank about knowing Steel without revealing to him what he intended to discuss with the stranger.

Bobble reached the edge of Tinker's Nook and flew the rest of the way home. The day was winding down and his fellow workers were all leaving their work stations.

Part of him wondered if he could catch Steel now, but after just a second's thought he decided now was not the time to bother him. The one thing Bobble was sure about in relationships was after spending the day apart, seeing your partner at the end of the day was the best feeling in the world. And Bobble would bet all the tools in his belt that Steel would want to be with his partner rather than answer some silly questions of a curious love struck stranger. He could safely guess that because all he wanted right then was to see Clank whom he had not seen since that morning. So those silly questions would have to wait.

Clank was not home when Bobble arrived, so he went straight to the cupboards. He took from them jellies and half a loaf of bread. He cut three pieces from the loaf – one for himself, two for Clank. He noted that they needed to visit the Baking Talents for more soon.

The door creaked open just as Bobble put on tea. He turned, smiling as Clank slumped inside looking like he could fall asleep on the spot. But despite his clear exhaustion Clank grinned broadly when he saw Bobble. "Hey! I missed you." Clank said, "How was your day?"

Bobble felt the familiar joyful warmth fill him as he pushed the jellied bread into Clank's hand. "I missed you too. And my day wasn't bad." Bobble replied. "I finished early and went to the library."

"Read anything good?" Clank asked. He bit into the bread and his eyes brightened. "Mmm."

Bobble chuckled. "Nothing I'd be willing to bore you with."

"I'm sure it's not boring!" Clank insisted. He took another bite. "Oh my goodness this is delicious. Is this blackberry?"

Bobble couldn't hold back his laugh. "Aye, it's blackberry. And you have me convinced that nothing I've read today could possibly be as interesting as jellied bread is to you right now."

As if to emphasize his point, Clank took another bite before he replied, "Sorry, I'm just real hungry." He finished off the slice just as Bobble handed him the second one. He immediately started eating it and Bobble went to check on the tea.

Clank licked the jelly off his fingers and went straight to the bed, flopping down heavily. "I am so tired." he groaned. Bobble set two cups on the bedside table and sat beside Clank, leaving one leg dangling over the side. "Word of advice, Bobble. If Tweak asks you to 'be the muscle' on one of his projects, make sure he asks more than just you."

Bobble smirked. "How's the project going? Do you think you'll be done soon?"

Clank shrugged and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. "Another day at least. Maybe more. Hopefully less." He yawned. "Being the largest Tinker is not all that it's cracked up to be."

"Well it's not your fault being the biggest and strongest." Bobble said, laying back with him.

"I know." Clank sighed. "I don't even exercise!"

Bobble watched Clank as he rubbed his eyes. The library book crossed his mind again and a grin tugged at his lips. He thought how nice it might be to be Tied to Clank. He wondered if it would be any different than things were now. Would these little moments they shared mean more when they were Tied? Or would they mean less?

He hoped desperately they wouldn't mean less. Bobble loved these moments. He loved giving Clank a slice of jellied bread and watching his face light up. He loved it when Clank would tell him about things he hadn't been present for, and he loved doing all the little things that had noting to do with the workshop or Pixie Hollow and were just them enjoying each other.

He idly thought about when they had decided to live together. It had been a few days after the Pixie Dust feud had ended and Clank made a comment about how it was silly that they each had their own house when they almost always stayed together at night.

"What if we shared a house?" Bobble asked. "I could move in with you." He wasn't sure he was serious, but then Clank gave an answer.

"I think we should live in your house. It's bigger."

Suddenly Bobble had known, YES! He wanted Clank to live with him. He wanted his face to be the first he saw every day and the last he saw before he went to sleep. He wanted to share his space in the knot hole house with him. And so the very next day they moved all of Clank's belongings into his house.

Bobble remembered how he'd thought it was perfect. But then recalled the third night they'd tried to share his bed. Clank's own bed had only just been big enough to accommodate the both of them. Bobble's bed was much too small and in the middle of the night he'd fallen out. Rather than try and fit again Bobble set up a hammock on the other side of the room and let Clank have the bed to himself.

It had seemed like a good solution at the time, but when Clank had woken up the next morning and found Bobble in the hammock he'd felt incredibly awful. He immediately had started apologizing repeatedly, though Bobble had been in a sleepy daze at the time.

"This isn't working is it? I'm so sorry Bobble… I'll move back to my own house."

"No Clank, don't!" Bobble replied anxiously, now very awake, "We can figure this out! You don't need to go! We just need a bigger bed!"

It was such a simple, obvious solution they were surprised neither of them thought of it sooner. They'd spent that day at home to build the bed.

And now they lay on it together, legs dangling over the side. Clank still had his hands pressed to his eyes and Bobble was staring at him wistfully. He shifted his arm slightly and brushed the backs of his fingers on Clank's hip.

Clank lifted his hands from his eyes and caught Bobble staring. "What?"

"Hmm?"

"You look like you're thinking about something."

"Oh," Bobble smiled, "I was just thinking about us."

Clank rolled to his side and propped his head up on his hand. "What about us?"

"Nothing really," Bobble shifted, "mostly just how glad I am for what we have."

Clank stared, still exhausted and clearly confused. "Like jellied bread?"

Bobble stifled a laugh, "No Clank, not the things we have, I mean you and me, you know?"

Clank rubbed the bridge of his nose, something he did when he was trying to stay awake, "you mean… our relationship right?"

"Aye, that." Bobble confirmed. "I am so lucky to have you Clank. Not just as my partner, but also as my best friend." Clank didn't reply with words, he just smiled so Bobble continued. "For a long while you were my only friend in the guild. Everyone else just sort of… tolerated me."

"I know." Clank said as he pushed his fingers on the back of Bobble's hand.

"It's silly to think about, I know." Bobble sighed. "You just mean so much to me."

"I know." Clank said again, gliding his fingertips up Bobble's arm.

"It's just…" Bobble shrugged, "I love you so much. I love seeing you every day and working with you, and I miss you when we work separately. But I'm so happy to see you at the end of the day." He was rambling and he knew it. He knew he didn't have to say any of this. Clank knew it all. He'd heard all of this many times before.

Clank's fingers skipped from Bobble's shoulder to his cheek and traced the curve of his jaw. "I know," he said a third time.

Bobble managed to quit talking and met Clank's soft brown eyes; tired yet wanting. Bobble felt the extremely familiar pull between them; that unseeable force that drew them together. Bobble leaned forward, hesitating just millimeters away from Clank's lips.

Clank cupped the back of Bobble's head as he closed the minuscule distance between them. Bobble curled his arm around Clank's shoulders and pressed closer to him. He tangled his fingers in Clank's hair and Clank made a sound of pleasure as his hair was tugged.

Clank moved his lips hungrily against Bobble's. His tongue slipped into Bobble's mouth. Bobble's heart was starting to race. He dragged his nails along Clank's scalp while his other hand gripped the front of his shirt.

Clank held Bobble's back and rubbed small circles that drifted lower down his spine. He reached the base of Bobble's wings and dragged his fingers down one side of them right along Bobble's back where they connected.

"Oh…" Bobble shivered. Clank pressed a kiss to his jaw while Bobble quickly gasped for air. He tugged Clank's head back slightly and let their lips connect again. In this moment, nothing else mattered. Here and now it was just him and Clank, their lips moving together, their bodies pressed close. Bobble's hand in Clank's hair. Clank's rubbing circles just below Bobble's wings, drifting lower… lower…

Bobble broke away gasping and heart pounding so hard he felt it in his ears. Clank released him immediately and stared up at him grinning. Bobble sat up quickly and stared down at his knees as he panted. His whole body felt hot and parts of him felt twitchy too. He kept glancing at Clank every few seconds. He had a very subtle look in his eye; one Bobble had seen plenty of times before.

Suddenly he jumped to his feet and began pacing. "I just remembered I – uh! I um – I need –"

"Do you need to go for a walk?" Clank offered.

"Aye! That's it!" Bobble nodded quickly.

"Alright." Clank answered, stretching. Bobble couldn't help looking when his shirt rode up. "I think I'm gonna get some rest. See you when you get back?"

Bobble only nodded and slipped outside.

Thank you again for reading.
~RK