Chapter Text
When Caleb’s phone rang at 8:30 in the morning on a Saturday, he had to reread the caller ID multiple times before it sank in. Veth never called this early.
“Hello,” he answered, already in the process of putting shoes on.
“Can you come over?” Veth asked. If the oddly early call wasn’t enough, her monotone damn near sent Caleb into a panic.
He forced calm into his voice. “Ah, yes,” he grabbed his jacket, “but I don’t know your address.”
“She’s with me!” In a sharp contrast to Veth’s, Jester’s tone remained as cheerful as ever.
Caleb let himself relax a little. At least he knew Veth wasn’t alone. “At your apartment?”
“Yep!”
“I’m on my way.”
The walk to their apartment building took less time than usual, either because Caleb walked faster or because he spent most of the trip lost in thought. What reason could there be for Veth’s odd behavior?
He ran into Yeza as he entered the building. “Oh, did they call you, too?” Yeza asked.
“Yeah, they did.” At least this confirmed it specifically has something to do with Veth. “We should hurry.”
Much to Caleb’s frustration, the apartment door was unlocked when they arrived. Caleb would need to lecture them about safety later. For now, his attention went to Veth curled up on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate. Or Coffee with a ton of creamer. It was hard to tell.
Fjord and Jester sat next to her. Beau leaned against the kitchen counter, glaring at nothing in particular. A theory formed in Caleb’s head, though I didn’t think it was his place to voice it. Instead, he walked further into the room, returning Jester’s smile when she flashed him one.
“What’s going on?” Yeza asked. “Everything alright?”
“I’m fine.” Veth said. “Something happened, but it’s fine and you aren’t allowed to worry too much. It’s not a big deal.”
Fjord huffed. “You know you’re only building it up more, right? And it is a big deal.” He was certainly right about that first part. Caleb’s chest tightened more and more with every dismissal Veth said.
“Fine, but it is fine. It’s all fine.”
“If you say fine one more time, Yeza’s heart might explode,” Beau said. Caleb felt the same way. Could someone just tell him what was wrong so he could fix it?
“Alright.” Veth took a deep breath. “I’m moving out.”
“What!?” Yeza pulled Veth into a hug. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Caleb sorted through his memories so he could figure out how to react to this. He knew Veth had a bad relationship with her parents. They weren’t supportive and fought a lot. He should be happy that Veth got out of there. He was happy about that. She deserved better. Even so, he remembered the safety he found in his childhood home and how much the loss of it hurt. Maybe Veth never felt that safety, but she’d lost something last night.
“They were fighting again,” Veth said. “They tried to pull me into it, deadnamed me, and I snapped. They didn’t get to do that anymore.”
“That’s good.” Yeza tucked a strand of hair behind Veth’s ear. “But how are you feeling? I know this is hard for you.”
“It’s okay. I told you you aren’t allowed to worry.” She looked past Yeza at Caleb. “That goes for you, too. No freaking out.”
Caleb nodded. His brain generated a checklist of things that had to be done now. Veth already had a place to stay and supportive people to help. That alleviated a lot of the immediate concerns. “Did you talk to your parents before leaving?”
“Nope. I packed up a suitcase and left.”
“I will call them tonight,” Fjord said.
“Do you know where you are going to live from now on?” Caleb asked.
Veth shook her head. “They’ll let me stay here as long as I need, but I don’t really have a plan for after that.”
This wouldn’t do. Veth shouldn’t have to live like that. If Caleb of all people got a space to call his own, she certainly deserved one. But what could he do? What resources did he have to give her? He’d give up everything he had for her, but she’d never allow that. How much did he have in savings? A good amount, he was sure of that. Even so, it was unlikely he had enough to cover everything Veth would need. Could he convince Essek to give him extra shifts?
Veth snapped in front of Caleb’s face.
“Hey!” she said. “You with us?”
“Yeah.” Caleb pulled himself out of his thoughts. “Did you say something?”
“No, but you were spacing out again.”
“Sorry, I-”
“Don’t apologize! It’s fine.” Veth hugged him. “I didn’t call you here to have you fix all my problems, you know. I just wanted you to know.”
Caleb pulled her in closer. “I will help however I can.”
“I know that, but so will everyone else. Don’t go putting this all on yourself.”
He found it amusing that she still thought him capable of not putting too much on himself, but he’d try for her sake. She didn’t need any extra stress right now. “I am glad you told me.”
Veth pulled out of the hug and smiled. “So am I.”
Molly breathed in deeply, letting the smell of coffee infest him. He had to remember to appreciate the smaller parts of his job more. The good music. The companionship. The ability to take a break whenever he wanted, as long as he didn’t take too many.
His conversation with Caduceus changed something. He wasn’t sure what yet, but he felt it. The decision for Caduceus to not go to culinary school right now made Molly more happy that it had any right too. He’d been preparing himself for the alternative for too long. He’d been ready to wish Caduceus the best and support his friend.
Though, maybe he actually hadn’t been ready. Maybe he’d been bullshitting himself. He did that often enough.
Molly pretended not to notice when, one by one, his staff disappeared into the kitchen for far too long, only to come out with a calm smile on their face. First Clarabelle, then Colton, then Calliope. That family still needed to get their shit together, but they were getting there.
But maybe he also needed to get his shit together.
He loved this cafe. He and Caduceus built it out of nothing, just a loan from his parents and each of their talents. Now they had custom tables, regulars, and a menu longer than either of them had anticipated in the beginning. Their employees were proud to work here and Molly was proud with them.
Would Caduceus going to school have ruined all this? No, but it sure as hell would have taken some of the magic away. Molly often imagined days when Cad would be too busy to help and they’d all have to scramble to make up for the million things he did every day. They’d survive, but barely.
It was a good thing Caduceus decided he wanted this more than culinary school. Molly would have played the part of a good friend on the outside, but inside was another story. They both loved this cafe, he knew that. He was just happy to have that confirmed yet again.
Molly liked to think he didn’t want for much, but he wanted this. He had to remember that, focus on how good this was as much as he could.
That evening, Molly laid on his back in bed. He could hear Caduceus's voice through the walls, though he couldn’t make out the words. He’d bet anything Cad was talking to his parents, having the same conversation he’d had with his siblings earlier. Molly smiled. They’d work things out eventually.
He thought earlier about how Cad’s family had issues, but at least they talked to each other. How often did he talk to his family? Not much, he knew that much. Maybe that was for the best. He cared for his parents, but they still brought back memories he’d rather not linger on.
But didn’t they also bring back good ones? They at the very least made life more interesting. Who knew, maybe the circus had gotten a shit ton of new members he had to get introduced too? They had to have many interesting stories to tell. Molly had some things to tell them as well, about work and Caduceus and other important things in his life.
He scrolled through his phone to his mother’s contact and pressed call.
“If you had a nickel for every time you had to talk to a friend’s parents after they left home,” Jester said, “you’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.”
Fjord knew she was trying to make him laugh, but he didn’t feel like playing along right now. Fate had already put a year's worth of stress into today, and he was about to invite more in. But he’d do it. He didn’t have much choice with Veth seeming so hopeless and everyone else’s nervous energy only making things harder.
At least this time, Fjord had some experience with this.
“Are you sure you’re okay with doing this?” Veth asked. “You don’t need to. I could-”
“No, it’s alright,” Fjord said. He’d already agreed to call her parents for her. He couldn’t back out now.
Beau crossed her arms. “I’ll do it with you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, why not? I’d love to talk to these assholes, give them a piece of my mind.”
More like Beau would want to give her own parents a piece of her mind, but Fjord wasn’t about to point that out. Nor was he about to refuse any help he could get. “Okay. We should do it sooner rather than later.”
“Thank you.” Veth handed Fjord her phone. She’d kept it turned off since she stormed out of her parent’s home.
“You two should go,” Fjord said to her and Jester. “We’ll take care of this and let you know when it’s done.”
Jester gave Fjord a hug before they left. “Good luck. Try not to be too mean.”
“Beau is the one you should tell that to, not me.”
Beau scoffed. “I’m not sure I can be mean enough to these people, but fine.”
With Jester and Veth gone, likely off to go to get ice cream or something, Fjord and Beau sat on the couch. Fjord turned the phone on. Notifications for missed calls and text messages ran down the screen. He ignored most of them, especially those from any of her family members. He tried to avoid reading any of them, respecting Veth’s privacy as much as he could, but he couldn’t help but notice one from Veth’s boss, Nila. She wished Veth well and offered support.
“I asked Yasha to tell their boss what’s happening,” Beau clarified. “All they know is that she’s got some family problems going on.”
“That’s one way of putting it.” Fjord went to Veth’s contacts and scrolled to her mom’s number. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
He pressed call. It only rang for a few seconds before someone answered.
“Hello?” a desperate voice answered. “Are you alright? Why weren’t you answering? What were you thinking, storming out like that? We’ve been worried all day.”
“Your daughter’s fine,” Beau said.
“Who are you?” Her voice went cold. “Why are you talking to me? Where’s Veth?”
“She’s not here right now,” Fjord said. “We’re friends. She asked us to talk to you on her behalf. I hope you can understand why she’d rather not do it herself right now.”
“No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand at all. She’s the one who threw a temper tantrum and forced us to spend an entire day panicking for no reason. She should be begging for forgiveness, not hiding away like a child.”
Beau took the phone. “Veth told us what happened last night. She’s been telling us since we met her how much everyone fights, how no one respects her, how you all misgender you all the fucking time. I’ve been waiting for her to leave and I’m so fucking happy she finally did.”
“Excuse me? I’m trying my best here. You have no idea how hard it is to have a child like her. Our whole family looks at me like I’m some failure of a mother. I couldn’t raise a son who cared about this family, or even one that wanted to be a son.”
“She was never your son,” Fjord said.
“Sure, sure, but that is not how they see it. How do you think they will react when they learn about this? Does Veth really not care what this is doing to me? I never raised her to be this heartless.”
“You should care about your daughter more than you care about them,” Beau yelled.
Fjord feared neighbors would hear and start knocking on the door soon. He signaled for Beau to keep it down. “I’m not here to yell at you, or make you change your mind. It’s clear one phone call won’t manage that.”
“Then why did you call?” Veth’s mom asked. “To humiliate me. To rub this in my face?”
“No. I wanted to make sure you knew that Veth is safe and with friends. She might be ready to reach out to you again at some point, but not any time soon.”
“She can’t leave us. We’re family.”
“No,” Beau said. “You just so happen to be the person who gave birth to her. We’re her family.”
“Think whatever you want. I’m done talking to you. I won’t stand for using a middleman to talk to my own child. She’d better call me herself soon. I deserve that much.”
Fjord hung up. “That could have gone worse.”
“Yeah,” Beau leaned into the back of the couch, “that’s about what I thought would happen.”
As Veth had instructed, he went through her contacts to block everyone in her family. One problem done with, another million to go.