liammaceibhir

Marcus: FUCK my life. Be home. I need to talk to you.

Liam: Hey Marcus! What's up?

Marcus: Man, I don't even know where to start with that. Your girlfriend is a total four year old though, but anyway.

Liam: Well, you caught me kickin' at the creek, so if you wanna talk ...

Marcus: Don't let me ruin the end of your summer. You alone?

Liam: You're not ruining anything, and yeah, I'm on my ownsome.

Marcus: Fine, lemme find my pinpoint thingy and I'll see you in a few.

( This has to be serious. )


And that's when it all hits the fan...

And I thought I screwed up before.

Marcus and I lost our tempers, got in a fight ... and now everything's fucked to hell.

I don't know what to do now.

Saturday afternoon.

When Aunt Cait finally dropped Liam off at his uncle's home-away-from-the-city in Long Island, Rory met him in the foyer and ushered him up to his usual room. Cait herself vanished shortly thereafter to head back to the city, but she said she'd be up again the next day for dinner. "Give me a call if you need help settling him down, a stor," she murmured to Liam on her way out.

Him meaning Marcus, of course. Liam still hadn't figured out how he was going to deliver his news to his cousin, the same news Cait had rather unexpectedly learned the night before. Dropping his bag on the bed, Liam smiled at his uncle leaning in the doorway. "So is Marcus around?" Maybe he was out partying somewhere and he could put this off a little longer.

Uncail Rory nodded toward the window, so no such luck. "He's out by the pool -- with guests." One corner of his mouth gave a wry quirk upward. "I still have some work to finish on a new arrangement, so I'll be in the music room if you need me for anything."

"Thanks, Uncail Rory." Looking out the window, Liam did indeed see the Spaz lounging by the pool, chatting away with the two bikini babes he'd insisted the Montana boy had to meet. From the looks of things he'd taken an interest in the blonde, but he was playing good host and making sure to include the brunette in the conversation too. Liam wondered cynically if that little twist to Rory's lips meant that one of those guests had made a pass at his rock star uncle, driving him to hide out among his instruments and arrangements. He promptly chewed himself out. You haven't even met these girls yet. Don't judge them by Marcus' fascination with their cleavage, for fuck's sake.

Well, prolonging the inevitable wouldn't help anything. Besides, he'd worked up a sweat running here through the borderlands at Aunt Cait's pace, so the pool looked pretty inviting. After a quick rinse-off in the shower, he pulled on a pair of navy blue swim trunks and headed out back, smiling at the trio as he closed the pool gate behind him. "Heya, cuz."

Spring break, 2044

The wind whipped both Liam's hair and the mane of the jet-black mare he rode, wind generated not by air currents so much as by blazing speed. He could have switched to his own horse-form and ran himself, but his Aunt Cait would have had to slow down to allow him to keep up with her. No shame in that, even his father and uncles couldn't match her when she went all out. Not even Grandda. So in the interests of minimizing travel time and getting the most out of his week-long visit to New York City, he'd asked his aunt if he could ride instead. Not even the additions of his own weight and that of his luggage slowed her down noticeably.

So after a chunk of the borderlands of Faerie had passed in a blur, Cait at last came to a halt. Liam dismounted to allow her to change back to her woman form, the ringlets of her black hair tousled and her skin lightly glowing from the exercise. After a careful check, they emerged into the mortal world behind a dumpster next to the particular skyscraper where Uncle Rory and Marcus had their loft apartment. Liam grinned as he shouldered his hefty backpack, looking up at the building. A week. One whole week plus a weekend to bum around, explore and generally go nuts with Marcus, Chuck and Marcus' new girlfriend Laura.

Aunt Cait snagged his garment bag before he could. "Come on, nephew!" she laughed, grinning at him. "I'm sure that cousin of yours is about ready to climb the walls with impatience by now."

And no doubt Marcus was driving anyone else in his home crazy right along with him. Liam matched Cait's stride as they rounded the corner, entered the lobby past a doorman who bowed them in and summoned the elevator with his aunt's pass key.