cribellate | Declan Lynch | The Raven Cycle

[ Matthew just shakes his head. ]

No, there's like-- Time runs weird here, compared to home, or something like that?

[ It's confusing, and that's the best he can do to explain. Sorry, Declan. ]

I've been here months.

Alone?

[He looks alarmed.]

Matthew-

[He's worried, then, suddenly.]

No, no, [ Matthew assures him quickly. ]</>

There are lots of people here, lots of Ronan's friends. Gansey and Adam and Noah and Blue. [ He's actually ticking off on his fingers. ] We have a house, I'll show you.

Oh, and Ronan's here. [ He shrugs a little and adds, perhaps a bit oddly-- ] Obviously.

[He frowns a bit.]

Ronan's here.

With you?

He's been taking care of you?

[Because Declan knows, for a fact, that Matthew is.

Well.

Not so good at that.]

Yeah, he's here! We live on a farm. It's called the Meadows, and actually it's in the same place as-- Oh.

[ He realizes something mid-sentence and grabs Declan's sleeve, pulling at him a little. ]

Come on, or we'll miss the bus.

[ That's right, Matthew is going to lead the way this time, and show Declan that he can, in fact, take care of himself. A little. In some ways.

When he's not driving cars into lakes. Which he's not going to mention if he can avoid it. ]

The bus-

[He moves with Matthew, catches up.]

Matthew, are you okay though?

[ Matthew laughs a little, pulling him along. ]

I told you, I'm fine!

[ There's no exasperation, just happiness bubbling over. He's so glad Declan is here. And he's clearly not been missing any meals or losing any sleep, at least.

They catch the bus in time, barely, and Matthew stretches out his wrist to have his tattoo scanned for the fare. He's done this a lot by now. ]

His too, [ he cheerfully tells the driver, while pointing at Declan, and has his wrist scanned a second time. This will not become a regular thing, but today he's actually paying for his older brother. ]

[He watches this, a bit impressed. Not that Matthew is independent, but that he-

Well, of course he's fine. Matthew is always fine.]

Where are we going?

[Declan seems to have eased up a bit, calmed down some. It's better now. That he has something familiar.]

This bus has a stop near my job, and then from there we can go home. I mean, the Meadows.

[ Or. Wait. No. Matthew belatedly realizes that taking Declan back to the Meadows with no warning might be a terrible idea. He deflates slightly, but only for a moment before bouncing back. ]

Or we can get food; there're loads of good food places close to where I work. [ Unsurprisingly, he has found them all. ] There's a pizza place, or we can get burgers. Or waffles. And there's a cafe.

[ He looks out the window for a moment, checking their location. ]

Are you hungry?

[ If they stop somewhere to eat, they can also talk. ]

[He looks amused. This isn't Matthew's job: this is Declan's job. But it's cute, to see Matthew do this, to see him so proud about this kind of thing. He has a job.]

You pick. You're paying, right?

[Matthew isn't the only one proud right now.]

I'm paying! [ he confirms/insists. ] You just got here.

[ Ronan thinks working and going to school is stupid, but Declan cares about this kind of stuff. Matthew can see that little twinkle in his brother's eye and it makes the pride swell in his chest. Accomplishment is not an impossible feeling for him, of course, but it's not one he gets to indulge in very often.

He'll have to show Declan exactly where his law office is, too. ]

We should go to the burger place. ImPorts get bottomless fries.

And they still let you go?

[He's feeling himself calming down. He's calming down because Matthew is okay.

Which means Ronan is probably okay, too.]

Declan.

[ Matthew shoves him a little, for the teasing. ]

They still let me go.

[ They know him by name. ]

Come on.

[ This is the right stop. ]

Don't say it like that, you eat enough to feed an army.

[A black hole in which food disappears.]

You can't just feed an army bottomless fries.

[ Matthew, that doesn't--

What does that have to do with--

Oh well, he's already pulling Declan around again, off the bus and onto the sidewalk. ]

That's where I work.

[ He points out a building across the street. ]

In a law office.

[ Declan will like that, right? Declan should like that. ]

[Declan looks puzzled when Matthew shows him that.]

A law office?

[As the mailboy? A courier? Not as anything that involves paperwork, because Matthew, bless him, will try hard but he fails just as hard.

And that's okay with this family because they don't care, but-

Lawyers?]

[ Come on, Declan. Matthew wanted you to be pleased! But he isn't brought down one bit by the puzzled reaction; he just goes on rambling cheerfully. ]

Yeah! I'm a paralegal intern. Mostly it's just filing paperwork and running errands, but they're still teaching me stuff.

[ Three months and they are still working on ethics. It's very confusing. ]

Everybody's real nice, most of the time. My boss is like-- mm, you know how a grandfather's supposed to be all serious and kind of intimidating but still looks after you? He's like that.

[ Of course the Lynch brothers don't have grandparents--Niall's parents are a mystery and Aurora's never existed--so Matthew is completely guessing here. ]

You mean like the grandfathers in movies.

[He laughs a little.]

Good job. I'm proud of you.

Right, right, like them.

[ Matthew just beams at the compliment. He leads Declan to the burger place, chattering the whole way about various things--his coworkers, school (which is over now, but he still has stories), the duck pond at the Meadows, some of his new imPort friends.

Only when they are seated in a booth, knee to knee, checking out the menus, does he finally look up and say-- ]

The Porter's weird sometimes, though. It sent Gansey back for one day here but he said it was way longer back home.

Ronan got Ported out for a week.

[There's a very very very brief pause.]

Yeah?

How was that week?

It was-- [ He shrugs a little. ] You know.

[ Declan does know, and Matthew knows that Declan knows. He's not testing Declan's truthfulness--he isn't clever enough for that--but he wants Declan to say something, too.

This is the first time both of them will have to acknowledge where Matthew came from, and Matthew wants it to be okay. ]

I don't remember it or anything.

You don't remember-

Any of it?

[He knows why. But he's not saying yet.]

No.

[ Matthew sighs just a little. ]

He was gone. Like, not in this universe anymore. I fell asleep. He explained why when he got back.

[Declan looks stricken.]

We didn't love you less for it.

[It's automatic, those words.]

[ Matthew just as automatically reaches across the table to take his hand. ]

I know.

[ He's so sincere; he never doubted their love. ]

Ronan said you knew the whole time.

[ This, he thinks, is part of the proof. Declan knew the whole time and always treated Matthew like his little brother. ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject