[G] [C] 739.10.01 | Meeting the Boyfriend?

M'ris still marvelled at how he was a Weyrleader. How he had fooled everyone into believing he could lead a group of people and organize anything more than what he wanted for breakfast was beyond him, but turns later he still held the job, so he must have been doing something right. Or, more likely, no one else wanted the job and figured he was doing better than expected so he could keep at it. As long as he kept fooling the masses and didn't lead them to certain doom--which was close with the heat wave and diminishing supplies-- he figured he'd keep the shiny title and the few perks that came with it.

Like so many nights before this one, he paused in his walk across the Bowl to take a moment and look around him, at everything he was in charge of. It really did boggle his mind. But he felt doing the simple action helped to keep him grounded, especially when he saw folk scurrying about or dragons on their ledges. So many looked to him and he had to make sure he kept his focus, made himself approachable, and knew the people in his care.

As he scanned around the ledges, noting some of the usual suspects catching the last rays of sun, a familiar yet out of place blue caught his eye. Isn't that Edath? he asked Mosiath, knowing the bronze would have a better view than him from his own ledge. Sometimes, he would kill to have a dragon's eyesight. It is! He's been here all day. We visited for a while while R'dal hung out with friends, but he's been visiting Halomirth for a bit now.

Halomirth? While he did his best to remember everyone in the Weyr, it was still a lot of people and dragons and M'ris had to admit, he could forget someone at times, especially if they were quiet and kept to themselves. When Mosiath mentioned her rider was the very man he had sent a letter to that morning, M'ris felt rather foolish. How could he forget the man that quickly? He was still under a lot of stress from the food supplies already dwindling and now the Ista fires had ensured any tithing would be minimal now as well, so he felt he could be forgiven for his absent mindedness.

Maybe he'd go say hello to his son and apologise to F'drel for being sneaky with that letter. The poor man had probably been terrified out of his mind when he was summoned, especially if he was friends with R'dal. R'dal's friends were generally good kids but some liked to cause mischief and having their friend's Weyrleader father call them to the office was likely a less than fun experience.

He chuckled to himself as he made his way to F'drel's door. Should he play up one of his roles? He could be a concerned protective father offering advice and putting fear into his son's friend. It'd be good practice for his daughters, one of which was now old enough to Stand. He'd be beating the boys back from her door soon. Then again, it wouldn't do much good to play that role when R'dal would be right there as well. He'd call everything for the bluff it was, giggling the entire time. He had an odd child and was still thinking about that when he knocked.

While having a nap hadn’t erased the entire morning and early afternoon, F’drel was feeling a bit better when he woke up — though his neck was a little stiff from the angle at which he was resting his head on top of R’dal. A little stiffness was definitely better than how he’d been feeling earlier, at least. R’dal was already awake, or maybe F’drel shifting around had woken him up, but he offered to go get food for them. Considering the idea of leaving his weyr made F’drel want to lie down and sleep forever, he was perfectly content to let R’dal go off to get something they could eat while he had a few minutes to himself.

F’drel did spare a few minutes to fetch a few of his spare blankets from the closet. He’d even gotten a spare pillow recently — with the regularity with which R’dal slept over, he figured it couldn't hurt to have a second pillow. Bundling them all up in his arms F’drel returned to the ledge, original blanket still wrapped around his shoulders, and leaned against Miri’s side to wait for R’dal to get back.

He drifted for a few minutes, not quite asleep but not really awake either, until a knock on the door cut through and startled F’drel. Was that R’dal? He wouldn’t have knocked, would he? Confused and apprehensive, F’drel let the blanket fall off him and pool on the stone floor next to Miri to walk back into his weyr and cautiously stop before his door. If it were R’dal, the bluerider would have let himself in by now. F’drel’s heart sank, and all the different people it could be flashed through his head, each worse than the last. D’hys wasn’t coming back for some reason, was he? Or Jalazmar belatedly sending a message with something he’d forgotten to say.

Hesitantly F’drel opened the door and looked out, doing his best to hide his surprise at seeing the Weyrleader at his door. The fuck did he want? He remembered M’ris was R’dal’s father, maybe he was looking for his son and Edath or someone had revealed he was here? Or did he want something from F’drel.

“Good evening, Weyrleader,” he said politely, nodding at M’ris, “is there something I can help you with?” F’drel really hoped not. He just wanted to eat dinner and go back to sleep, maybe look at the stars with R’dal, not deal with the Weyrleader who had just that morning tricked him into meeting a lord in his office. Fuck, was that really only that morning?

At the greeting, M’ris expected R’dal to materialize from between, like he so often did when he heard his dad was around. Since he didn’t, he had to wonder if the boy was asleep –also not surprising—or if F’drel spoke to softly to be heard across his small weyr. He’d find out soon enough, but first he wanted to speak to F’drel.

“No, no. Well, perhaps, but we’ll get to that in a moment. I wanted to apologise for the vague note this morning. It wasn’t my idea to string you along like that. You know how Lords can be. But I am sorry about it.” Truthfully, he went along with the idea rather easily. It wasn’t like he always gave a reason as to why someone was being summoned to his office and the young Lord was friendly and put him so at ease that M’ris found he really liked the idea of playing a little prank on his greenrider and setting him up for the meeting. Now, hours later, he did feel a bit bad about being a part of that. He knew how easily greenriders could spook and he knew this one was still rather new to Weyr life in general, though he didn’t know too much about his background, only that he was Searched in Nabol. At least the kid looked fine from his once over he gave F’drel, meaning the Lord hadn’t harmed F’drel. Or, so he hoped. Clothing could cover a lot. No, he was sure he hadn’t left F’drel in the hands of a monster, especially given how cheerful and innocent the Lady wife was.

“I also saw Edath on your ledge and wondered if R’dal was here as well. I haven’t seen the boy for a little while and wanted to say hello.” M’ris cast a glance around the room behind F’drel, seeing no sign of R’dal. It wasn’t like his son was a tornado and would leave the place a mess, but he didn’t even see a piece of clothing that would indicate he was there and certainly didn’t see the boy himself. Maybe he was in the bedroom. M’ris hadn’t thought about bad timing and interrupting anything. Another glance at F’drel showed the man was fully dressed but the clothing was a bit wrinkled. Sleeping or fooling around in bed?

Well, look at that, the Weyrleader was apologizing. F’drel didn’t entirely believe the apology was entirely sincere, but he was getting one. He internally rolled his eyes at the comment about knowing how Lords could be. Did he ever. But M’ris was a Weyrleader, that put him at roughly the same status as a Lord, he could handle Jalazmar if he really wanted to. F’drel bet he just hadn’t wanted to. Asshole. He’d like to sneer at that and close the door in his face, let M’ris know how he felt about the apology, but instead he nodded politely.

“Thank you, Weyrleader,” F’drel said.

The next comment had F’drel freezing for a moment. Fuck, right, M’ris was R’dal’s father. He knew that, it just didn’t really sink in until that moment. R’dal just wasn’t anything like the people with important, titled fathers he’d grown up with, and even though F’drel knew his father was Ista’s Weyrleader it hadn’t properly registered. F’drel watched as M’ris seemed to look around the weyr behind him, then back at F’drel. Fuck. Fucking dragonriders and their tendency to assume everyone was sleeping around. Fuck, he did not want to deal with the Weyrleader trying to figure out what his relationship with R’dal, said Weyrleader’s son, was. F’drel barely knew what their relationship was — ‘We met at an orgy we weren’t participating in, and I sort of thought he was trying to drug me, and then a few weeks later he knocked us out of a boat after I yelled at him and I almost drowned, but somehow we’re still friends or something and sometimes share a bed, but platonically.’ Yeah, now that he thought about it like that, their friendship made very little sense and F’drel had no idea how to explain it. Somehow it still worked for them, to F'drel's utter amazement.

“He stepped out for a minute to go get food. He should be back soon,” he said, trying not to reveal too much — too much what, they weren’t doing anything — and resisted the urge to shift from foot to foot awkwardly. This was so weird, and F’drel did not even slightly like it. Maybe M’ris would decide it wasn’t worth waiting and just leave? With F’drel’s luck that day, he’d probably insist on waiting and chatting with F’drel until R’dal returned. Ugh.

“You don’t mind if I wait, then?” M’ris normally would have left and could have easily hunted down his target in this case since R’dal was likely in the dining cavern or on his way back from it. But he couldn’t resist needling F’drel about his relationship with R’dal. It was likely just a friendship given how he had seen his son hug everyone he knew or curl up for a nap with just as many of them. But what if it wasn’t? What if R’dal was interested in this boy or F’drel had designs on his innocent boy that didn’t see the bad in anyone?

As F’drel stepped aside for him to enter, M’ris wondered how much it pained a greenrider to have the Weyrleader, or simply a bronzerider, in his weyr. He’d heard time and time again that they most of all felt their weyr was their sanctuary and where they could escape the abuse of the day, though everyone knew a door wasn’t always going to stop someone. He turned around after entering to see if he could tell if F’drel was more rigid than usual and if there was any panic in his eyes but what he saw instead was a fresh mark on the back of his neck. Was that a love bite? Taking in the rumpled appearance again, M’ris had to assume it was and clothing had been tossed back on for the food intermission or because someone came knocking at the door.

He never would have pegged R’dal as the sort to bite. He was far too squishy and lovable for such things, but what did he know? It wasn’t like he was analysing his children’s sex lives. Maybe he’d know soon with the teasing and questions he wanted to toss at the greenrider. “So how long have you been friends with R’dal? He’s not driving you insane, is he? He’s a bit overwhelming but I’m sure you’ve learned that already. Maybe you have your own way of calming and tiring him out as well.”

Because nothing could go his way today, M’ris wanted to come in and wait for R’dal. Great. F’drel held back a tired sigh and stepped back to let the Weyrleader in. When he was in the room, F’drel closed the door, though he left an inch between the door and being fully closed. Just in case — if M’ris went to fully close the door, F’drel knew he was in trouble.

He turned back to keep an eye on M’ris, moving further into the room. F’drel indicated the chair at his small table — the same one D’hys had been sitting in earlier — in case the Weyrleader didn’t feel like standing around to wait. Who really knew how long R’dal would take, he could easily get distracted on the way. Run into someone he hadn’t seen in a while, or see something cool, or maybe they were baking something he liked and he wanted to watch and get some when it was ready.

Of course, M’ris had to start asking questions.

“We met around the beginning of the summer,” F’drel said, deciding that getting more specific was unnecessary. M’ris had given Casa permission for the camping trip after all, and he no doubt knew at least some of what had gone on, and F’drel didn’t want to give him any ideas. Well, further ideas, because that last comment definitely implied he thought they were sleeping together. Fuck. How the fuck was he supposed to respond to that?

“I don’t mind it,” he decided on eventually, and it was actually mostly true; R’dal was certainly a lot to handle, but it was a better kind of a lot than what F’drel usually had to deal with. “And Halomirth likes him too, she’s always happy to talk to him if I need a moment. They were finding pictures in clouds earlier. I’m not good at the game, but they seemed to find it highly entertaining.” Was that a good answer? F’drel didn’t totally ignore the statement, which would have been highly suspicious, but his answer was pretty definitively not ‘oh yeah, totally, post-coital R’dal is a lot more level-headed than he usually is,’ which he didn’t actually know and very much did not want to say. Fuck, he hated talking about sex. It always felt so dangerous, like he was going to get in trouble if someone found out. R’dal showing up while D’hys was over was bad enough, and the only reason he made it through that conversation had been the fact he was half asleep — honestly, he wasn’t even entirely sure it had actually happened. In this case, it definitely felt like he would get in trouble considering he was talking to the Weyrleader who was asking if F’drel was fucking his son, which was making him think too much of Nabol and why couldn’t R’dal just show up and put him out of his misery. Or maybe that would make it worse. Maybe just dropping dead would be better.

“Do you want water?” F’drel asked, walking over to where he kept the water jug and some cups, wanting something to do with his hands. Even if M’ris didn’t want any, he’d probably pour himself some. His throat had gotten very dry. Faranth, why did this day have to keep getting worse?

“Good, good,” M’ris approved of the answer. It wasn’t like he would have attacked the greenrider if he had come right out and said he was sleeping with R’dal, though he may have played it up a bit for fun. But the more time he spent with F’drel, the more he recalled their interaction at a Gather some time ago and how he really did seem to blend in with the scenery. This wasn’t a very outgoing man and he really didn’t like attention or seem to do that well with the social interaction portion of life. At first M’ris thought that was a horrible trait for someone around R’dal but really, it balanced him out well and likely grounded him a bit more. That boy lived in day dreams.

“No water for me, but don’t change anything because of me. I’m the one intruding on your time. I’ll only be a few minutes more and if R’dal doesn’t show, I’ll head out.” It wasn’t like the boy would be hard to find. Even if he got distracted, a game of mental tag through their dragons would find him quickly. He didn’t have anything important to say, either. M’ris could admit this visit was really just to see if his son had found a boyfriend and to judge how they interacted.

Since R’dal wasn’t here, though, M’ris had to make do. “But I am happy to hear you two get on so well. And to have dragon approval? Dragons are the best judge of character. Mosiath has helped me out a time or two.” Mosiath snorted at the statement and M’ris suppressed a grin. It was definitely more times than that and his dragon had also looked after his drunk ass just as many times in the past. “Speaking of dragons, mind if I go say hello to Halomirth and Edath?” He had already taken several steps in the direction of the ledge but did hesitate a bit to give F’drel a chance to decline, though he didn’t imagine that happening. It was kind of abusing his power, but who would say no to the Weyrleader wanting to check up on dragons in his Weyr? Unless that was where their love nest was. Wasn’t something mentioned about images in the clouds?

F’drel was relieved that M’ris seemed to just accept his statement and not ask further questions about whether or not he and R’dal were ‘a thing.’ He poured himself a glass of water a sipped from it, trying to decide which would be worse; R’dal showing up, or waiting however long it would be until M’ris decided to leave to go find his son. Chances were R’dal would show up just as M’ris was leaving and he’d get the worst of both worlds. Because why would things ever go his way.

He resisted laughing at the idea that dragons were the best judge of character. Maybe bronzes were, but his Miri thought everyone was good. Between him and Halomirth, F’drel was the only one of the pair doing any judging — and really, he did enough for both of them. F’drel nodded at the Weyrleader’s request, not bothering to alert Miri that she was about to have another visitor — she’d take it as a pleasant surprise, weird girl. He let M’ris walk through to the ledge first, then followed him, reaching the ledge and finding Halomirth looking very silly with one of his blankets in her mouth.

“Miri, what are you doing?” F’drel asked out loud, very confused. She turned to look at him, the blanket waving around with the movement.

Oh, well, you always fold everything up all nice, like the other ones are, she started, showing him the image of the extra blankets folded and piled by her hind legs, with the second pillow resting on top of the stack, but you left this one all messy on the ground when you left, so I tried to pick it up but I can’t fold blankets, and I didn’t want to mess up the other ones but I didn’t want to just leave it there, so I held onto it. It’s soft, I like it. Oh, hello! Miri said, switching from talking to just her rider to speaking to everyone present at the last statement as she noticed M'ris was there. As F’drel predicted, she was excited and curious about the new visitor. F’drel shook his head in disbelief and took a step forward, reaching up for Miri to give the blanket back.

“You’re ridiculous,” he informed her, catching the blanket when she dropped it, “and I hope you didn’t put any holes in this.”

I don’t think so, she said, suddenly concerned, I didn’t mean to anyway. A quick inspection revealed the blanket was intact, if a bit covered in dragon saliva, and F’drel patted her shoulder reassuringly, before throwing the blanket over her back so it could dry out before he folded it up again, and Halomirth turned towards the new guest. She knew who he was, from F’drel, but had never met him before!

No wonder F’drel got along with R’dal so well... he was bonded to R’dal in dragon form. M’ris marvelled at the green as she flung a blanket around, possibly about to eat it like goats seemed to enjoy doing. Maybe she was trying to put it away with the stack of blankets off to the side that caught his attention enough to raise an eyebrow. It seemed he was on to something with thinking the ledge was their love nest.

“Hello, Halomirth, I hope you’re doing well and this big blue lug isn’t bothering you,” M’ris chuckled as he patted Edath’s neck, the blue retaliating not with words but a puff of air at his hair, causing it to fall out of its stylish ‘do. “And I hear you and R’dal have hit it off. It’s good to know I have two excellent dragons looking after my son for me. But just let me know if either of them ever causes you trouble, okay?” He stage whispered the last part to make it seem like it was a big secret between them, though even if he had actually whispered and was across the room, the dragons would have still heard him.

I’m good! Edath is lovely, she said, reaching over to nudge Edath gently with her nose, and he isn’t that big. I’m bigger. Halomirth didn’t think much about her size, she didn’t feel it was that important, but she didn’t think of Edath as big if he was smaller than she was. Not a lot, but still! R’dal is also lovely, the green continued, and I don’t think they will, but I’ll remember. Halomirth all but giggled at the idea of the blue pair causing trouble — she didn’t even see the boating incident as ‘trouble,’ it was just an accident.

F’drel sighed. Miri was going to get them in trouble some day with how much she told people. Actually, she’d be fine. She had no sense of privacy. It would be F’drel who got into trouble because Miri said the wrong thing to the wrong person. She was so lucky he adored her. Tiredly he leaned against her, keeping an eye on M’ris and trying to summon R’dal with his mind. If he asked Miri to check with Edath about where R’dal was, she’d surely say it out loud, and also that he was asking. Which would either make him look desperate or prove he wanted M’ris to leave, neither of which were F’drel’s ideal outcome because he’d rather the Weyrleader know as little about him as possible. Apparently, between Halomirth and probably R’dal — was he the type of person to tell his parents everything? — there was no chance of that.

Whether he was summoned by wishful thinking or just had good timing, R’dal would never tell but about the time F’drel worried he’d be in trouble one day, the bluerider approached his weyr. R’dal was frowning, trying to figure out how to open the door when his hands were balancing the slightly too full tray of food, when he saw it was left open. The frown flipped into a smile as he nudged the door with his hip. “You’re awesome, F’drel! Thanks for leaving the door open for me,” he called out as he entered, not sure where the greenrider currently was, and shut the door with his foot.

Glancing around, he didn’t see him in the main room or the bedroom when he peeked in so R’dal assumed his friend was still on the ledge. They could have a picnic out there! It was what he wanted but he didn’t want to mention it since he had already invited himself over. “They still had some pudding! So I grabbed two large bowls for us for dessert,” R’dal was in a good mood after napping and with the prospect of good food with a good friend and the sight of his dad chatting with Halomirth didn’t faze him a bit.

“Hi, da—Weyrleader Dad!” M’ris was a pretty relaxed dad and they had an easy relationship—when R’dal wasn’t worrying about being a disappointment—but it had been pointed out that when others were present, he should try to use titles. Since M’ris was both a father and Weyrleader, R’dal went with his idea of what was meant. He knew he was being cheeky but M’ris never put a stop to it. “I brought a lot of food since F’drel needs an energy boost but we can probably still share some if you’re staying.”

He’d changed his mind, F’drel decided as he heard R’dal’s voice from the other room. R’dal showing up was also bad. F’drel had been feeling a little better but he already wanted to go to sleep again. There were too many people butting into his life today. He was resigned to R’dal being around, but dealing with R’dal didn’t require as much energy. Usually. If no one else was there for him to say questionable things in front of. Or inviting to join dinner, apparently, since R’dal arrived at the ledge and promptly invited his father to eat with them. Did F’drel ever not want to sit through an entire meal with the Weyrleader. Sitting through it with R’dal there would likely be embarrassing as fuck, and F’drel wasn’t sure if it would reassure M’ris they weren’t together or further convince him they were.

Maybe he could just casually fall off the weyr ledge. Or hide beneath Miri’s wings and fall asleep. At least there was pudding? F’drel really was hungry, he hadn’t exactly had a proper meal all day. Dealing with lords sapped his appetite, but it was catching up with him.

“Thanks, R’dal,” F’drel said quietly, really hoping M’ris didn’t ask after why he was tired and R’dal didn’t elaborate, because he had a sneaking suspicion what R’dal would say and that wasn’t actually the reason. Dealing with so many people he didn’t trust was a lot more draining than any physical activity was. With a sigh F’drel went to the stack of blankets and grabbed the top one, unfolding it and spreading it on the weyr ledge as a sort of picnic blanket. M’ris could stay or go, whatever, F’drel didn’t fucking care anymore.

M’ris didn’t need to ask why anyone was tired; he had drawn his own conclusions and felt there was enough evidence to support them as fact. He was proud of his spunky son and the way he clearly exhausted his lover but was a bit worried that if R’dal wasn’t sharing that same state, that maybe F’drel didn’t pleasure him enough in return. Then again, R’dal only had two modes and if he wasn’t bouncing off the walls with his energy, he was napping to rejuvenate it. They probably had napped for a bit and woke hungry which prompted the far more awake partner to find something to eat.

His gaze swept across their little gathering, taking in the way the dragons got along with each other, remembering Halomirth’s praise for R’dal and how much she clearly liked him, and how the two riders interacted. F’drel almost seemed shy, perhaps not wanting to have any relationship talks with his lover’s father. Truthfully, other than lightly teasing the greenrider, M’ris had no intentions of butting into the relationship. He had woken up in bed with the wrong person far too much in his dark days and had to deal with angry lovers and mates and it had made M’ris swear off any sort of meddling, even for his kids. Although Dimarna was thirteen now and he did want to scare away potential lovers that might hurt his baby. But that was different.

Feeling he had stayed long enough to suitably pester F’drel, get in his apology, and see that his son was well, M’ris waved off the offer for food. “No, I should get going. I just came by to say hello, so… hello! I’ll leave you two kids alone to refuel for your fun together.” He chuckled as he walked by the men and then paused. “R’dal, if you’re still here in the morning, come over for breakfast. Your siblings are coming as well and they’ll be happy to have you over.” He had a feeling he’d see R’dal. Given what he had learned about the pair, M’ris decided they’d have their fun well into the night and R’dal would stay to cuddle and sleep before bouncing off in the morning to do whatever it was that flitted through his head that day.

Smiling, M’ris waved off the offer to see him to the door, saying he was confident he could find the way, and excused himself. When he was out in the hall, Mosiath chided him for having too much fun and then pointed out he was going to be late to his own fun that night with Ameris. That sobered him up as he quickened his pace and headed to her weyr.