✩⁺˚ Chapter 1 ˚⁺✩
⊹ ₊⋆ ☁︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆₊⋆☁︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎ ⋆₊ ⊹
The house smelled like wet wood and dust.
Not storm anymore.
Just aftermath.
Marcus pushed the warped window shut with the heel of his hand until the frame finally gave in with a dull click. Cold air still slipped through the cracks anyway.
He left it.
The hallway behind him was quieter than it had been in days. No shaking walls. No pressure sitting heavy in the air. Just the low groan of old pipes somewhere beneath the floorboards and the occasional drip of water into a bucket downstairs.
Normal sounds.
Or close enough.
Marcus stepped back from the window and looked around the room.
The damage looked smaller in daylight.
That almost made it worse.
At night, the storm had turned everything unreal—shadows moving where they shouldn’t, windows rattling hard enough to sound alive, the entire house straining around them like it was trying to stay standing through force alone.
Now there were only cracked corners in the ceiling and damp stains spreading slowly across pale walls.
Proof instead of fear.
A loose floorboard creaked somewhere downstairs.
Then another.
Not random.
Weight.
Marcus glanced toward the doorway automatically.
A second later Rowan appeared at the top of the stairs carrying a toolbox in one hand.
He paused when he noticed Marcus already awake.
Neither of them spoke immediately.
That silence felt strangely familiar now.
Rowan looked away first, gaze moving toward the window Marcus had just forced closed.
Rowan - “Still leaking?” he asked.
Marcus nodded once.
Marcus - “Frame swelled.”
Rowan stepped closer, setting the toolbox down near the wall with a soft metal clink. His sleeves were rolled unevenly to his elbows, faint dirt smeared along one wrist like he’d already been outside.
Probably had.
Marcus realised he no longer found that surprising.
Rowan - “The front gate came loose,” he said. “Garage held, though.”
Marcus glanced at him.
Marcus - “You checked already?”
Rowan - “An hour ago.”
Of course.
The response settled too naturally between them.
Marcus noticed it the same moment Rowan did.
Something unreadable crossed Rowan’s face before he crouched beside the toolbox and started sorting through loose nails and rusted screws without another word.
The quiet wasn’t awkward.
That was the problem.
Marcus picked up the loose plank leaning against the wall and moved toward the damaged section beneath the window.
Rowan - “You don’t have to do that yourself,” he said without looking up.
Marcus positioned the board carefully against the frame.
Marcus - “Neither do you.”
A pause.
Then—
Rowan - “Fair.”
Downstairs, something crashed lightly against the kitchen counter.
Followed immediately by Elias’ voice.
Elias - “Okay, whoever moved the mugs into a survival-horror hiding spot is officially cruel.”
Marcus closed his eyes briefly.
Rowan looked faintly amused.
Rowan - “That one’s yours,” he said.
Marcus ignored that and headed for the stairs.
The kitchen looked more lived in than repaired.
Blankets still half-folded on chairs. Towels shoved near the back door to stop rainwater spreading across the floorboards. One cabinet hanging slightly crooked from where it had nearly torn loose during the storm.
Elias stood barefoot near the counter holding two mismatched mugs like evidence in a crime scene.
Finn sat on top of the counter beside him in rabbit form, ears lowered comfortably as he watched the interaction unfold.
Not hiding.
Just there.
Marcus still wasn’t fully used to that.
Elias pointed one mug toward him.
Elias - “Coffee’s probably terrible, but technically exists.”
Marcus took it automatically.
Warm.
Elias leaned back against the counter afterward, studying him over the rim of his own mug.
Elias - “You sleep at all?”
Marcus - “Enough.”
Elias - “That’s not a number.”
Marcus - “It wasn’t meant to be.”
Elias huffed softly into his drink.
And there it was again.
That tiny shift afterward.
Not irritation.
Not quite distance.
Just... stopping.
Like conversations between them kept reaching invisible walls neither of them acknowledged anymore.
Finn’s ears twitched once.
Marcus noticed him noticing.
Before the silence could settle fully, Rowan entered behind him carrying the toolbox again.
Finn immediately hopped down from the counter.
Not startled.
Just instinctive.
Rowan rested a hand briefly against the rabbit’s back as he passed.
Small movement.
Automatic.
Elias noticed too.
Marcus could tell by the way his expression changed for half a second—not confused, not uncomfortable.
Just observant.
Like he was starting to map where everyone stood in the room without meaning to.
Rowan set the toolbox near the kitchen table.
Rowan - “The west side needs reinforcing before tonight.”
Elias blinked.
Elias - “Tonight?”
Rowan - “The rain’ll get heavier again.”
Elias - “That counts as reassuring where you’re from?”
Rowan shrugged slightly.
Rowan - “It’s lighter than before.”
Elias - “Again,” he said, “not comforting.”
A quiet snort escaped Finn.
Marcus looked down automatically.
Finn had shifted closer to Elias sometime during the conversation, settled beside his feet now like he belonged there.
Elias rested one hand absentmindedly against the back of his neck while reading something off the damaged wall near the sink.
And without looking, his fingers drifted once briefly against Finn’s ear as he moved.
Casual.
Unthinking.
Finn froze for half a second like he wasn’t used to contact arriving without caution attached to it.
Then slowly relaxed again.
Marcus saw Rowan notice it too.
Neither commented.
Something about that made the room feel smaller somehow.
Or maybe more settled.
Elias glanced between Marcus and Rowan then frowned slightly.
Elias - “You two do realise you’ve already divided the house into repair zones without talking about it, right?”
Marcus looked at him.
Rowan did too.
Elias pointed vaguely between them.
Elias - “See? That. Weirdly synchronised. Slightly concerning.”
Marcus frowned slightly.
Marcus - “We’re fixing a house, not planning a military operation.”
Elias looked at Rowan.
Elias - “And yet somehow that sounded exactly like something said during a military operation.”
A faint twitch crossed Rowan’s expression.
Not quite a smile.
Closer than before, though.
Finn shifted beside Elias’ feet, ears flicking once.
Finn - “You get used to it.”
Elias looked down at him immediately.
Elias - “That sentence suggests experience I’m not emotionally prepared for.”
Marcus moved toward the damaged cabinet near the sink before the conversation could settle again.
Marcus - “The hinges are loose.”
Elias blinked once.
Elias - “Thank you, Marcus. Deeply insightful.”
He glanced at the cabinet.
Elias - “The cabinet’s going to fall off the wall.”
A beat.
Elias - “That’s significantly less poetic.”
Marcus ignored him, already reaching for the toolbox Rowan had left near the table.
Without looking up, Rowan nudged it slightly closer with his foot.
Again—automatic.
Again—noticed.
Elias stared between them for a second longer this time.
Not suspicious.
Just... watching.
Like he was trying to understand when exactly the two of them had started moving around each other so easily.
The thought seemed to bother him more than he expected.
He looked away first.
Finn noticed that too.
The bunny shifted quietly against the floorboards before hopping after Marcus toward the sink.
Marcus crouched near the cabinet carefully, examining the warped wood lining the hinge.
Finn stopped beside him.
Marcus reached for a screwdriver automatically—
Then paused.
Finn had already nudged it toward him with one paw.
A beat of silence followed.
Marcus took it slowly.
Marcus - “...Thanks.”
Finn twitched one ear.
Finn - “You’re welcome.”
Elias leaned both hands against the counter.
Elias - “No, because see, that’s exactly the kind of thing I can’t process this early in the morning.”
Marcus started tightening the loosened hinge.
Elias watched for another second before pushing himself upright again with a quiet sigh.
Elias - “Fine. What still needs fixing?”
Rowan glanced toward the hallway.
Rowan - “West windows. Front latch. Part of the ceiling near the stairs.”
Elias stared.
Elias - “You memorised structural damage?”
Rowan looked genuinely confused by the question.
Rowan - “Yes.”
Elias - “That’s somehow worse.”
A quiet sound escaped Finn again—closer to laughter this time.
The room softened around it.
Not fully comfortable.
But lived in.
Marcus adjusted the cabinet door back into place before standing again.
The repaired hinge still hung unevenly, but it held.
Good enough for now.
Rain tapped softly against the kitchen windows again.
Lighter than before.
Still there.
Elias wandered toward the cupboards while Marcus wiped dust from his hands.
The first cabinet opened almost empty.
The second wasn’t much better.
A half-finished loaf of bread. Two cans pushed near the back. Coffee grounds barely covering the bottom of the tin.
Elias frowned.
Elias - “Okay, slight issue.”
Marcus looked over.
Elias held up the coffee tin.
Elias - “Civilisation may not survive after all.”
Finn hopped onto one of the lower chairs to look.
Elias opened another cupboard.
Then another.
His expression shifted slightly each time.
Less joking now.
Elias - “Marcus.”
Marcus already knew from the tone alone.
Elias looked back at him.
Elias - “We’re nearly out.”
The kitchen quieted slightly after that.
Not panic.
Just reality settling into the room.
Marcus leaned one hand against the counter.
Marcus - “We can make what’s left last a few days.”
Elias - “A few.”
Marcus - “That’s enough until roads clear properly.”
Rowan’s gaze flicked briefly toward the rain-streaked windows.
Rowan - “They’re clearer already.”
Marcus looked at him.
Elias noticed that exchange immediately.
Elias - “You say that like someone should go out there.”
Nobody answered straight away.
Which was answer enough.
Finn’s ears lowered slightly.
Not fear exactly.
Just awareness.
Marcus exhaled slowly.
Marcus - “We’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
Elias nodded once.
Too quickly.
Like he’d already decided something privately.
Marcus caught it.
Didn’t comment.
Across the room, Rowan noticed too.
The silence that followed wasn’t tense.
Just full of things nobody said aloud yet.
Eventually Elias shut the cupboard door with his hip and stretched lightly.
Elias - “Well. Until starvation becomes our next shared bonding experience, I’m claiming the couch before someone starts another repair project.”
Marcus glanced toward the hallway.
Marcus - “There’s still water leaking upstairs.”
Elias pointed at him immediately.
Elias - “See? Exactly what I mean.”
This time Rowan actually smiled.
Small.
Brief.
But real.
Elias stopped mid-motion.
Elias - “...Okay, no, that’s worse somehow.”
Finn lowered his head against the chair seat like he was hiding amusement.
The house creaked softly around them.
Not strained anymore.
Just old.
Marcus looked around the kitchen slowly.
The towels near the back door.
The warped cabinets.
The damp footprints drying across the floorboards.
And the people moving through it now like they’d already begun adjusting to one another’s presence.
Nobody had asked Rowan or Finn if they were staying.
At some point, everyone had simply started acting like they would.
Marcus realised that should have felt stranger than it did.
Outside, rain slid quietly down the windows.
Inside, the house remained damaged.
But occupied.
Properly, this time.
⊹ ₊⋆ ☁︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆₊⋆☁︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎ ⋆₊ ⊹
