Felix sat there leaning back in his chair. It felt like forever sense he had seen his sister. December. He met her in some tiny house. Still it was lovely. It would have been better if Felix wasn’t a mopey mess. He could see how just a letter about how he had taken Harrow back and then another only a week later saying that they moved in together and now this only a handful of months after that hardly made sense.

Sure Felix reflected on the fact that a lot of people would call them crazy. He had come to the conclusion that it didn’t matter what those other people thought and he would have it no other way. Felix had already been without Harrow and it wasn’t a way he wanted to be.

It didn’t take too long until he saw the bubbly young woman that Felix proudly called his sister come through the door. Instantly a smile spread on his face. He wasn’t nervous anymore. Seeing her made it all vanish. Elsa was always someone who made him better. She got all the smiles and fun that other people didn’t.

The French spilled from her painted lips and she came in for the hug. Unlike with anyone else Felix quickly wrapped his arms around her and planted a small kiss on her cheek. He was someone who with-held physical affection from everyone except those who he held close.

“Hej min älskling syster (hello my darling sister)” He wasn’t about to attempt a response in French. She would just make fun of him for it. Even with the time he spent in it the other country and all the lessons that Elsa have given him he was terrible with it. There were times when their family was together during the breaks and Elsa and their mother would babble on in French to either. Felix and their father were left to sit and watch.

“I’ve missed you so much!” He tightened his grip around her lifting her a couple of inches of the ground in the bear hug. Once she was set back down and he released her from the hug Felix quickly pulled out her set. “Sit, thank you for coming Elsa.”

Felix was truly ecstatic that she was there. It almost felt like a dream. She was always in such exotic places. Salem seemed like such a stretch. The fact that she was in this town because of his wedding felt amazing.

“How was your trip? How was….brazil was it? What did you do? How long are you staying? You have a place? My house has an extra room…” He managed to stop the flow of words. He was too excited and excited meant that he would babble on and on just spilling a thousand questions.

They both had a gift for language. He could easily have responded in German or Norwegian even Danish. It was just his pronunciation of French that was atrocious. It was like his sister and he were very smilier with the way they both rarely connected with people, how they could gather languages. At the same time it was like they were opposites. Elsa was always bright and bubbly. Were as Felix could be he didn’t openly interact with people. She always seemed to pick up those flowy beautiful languages. Felix was better with the Germanic ones that were sharp and heavy.

It seemed like a dream having Else sitting there across from him. So many times he ha gone and met up with her in some beautiful land. Here she was. A blush dusted her cheeks and Felix smiled and cocked a brow. She skipped over that question. Felix would let her, for now. There was something she didn’t want to tell him and Felix could only imagine why.

He was shocked to hear her mention homes. Of course he figured that was just him being hopeful. Elsa would never settle down would she? And surely not in such a quaint little down like Salem. “Of course I plan to show you everything.”

Felix grinned. Of course their mother would tell her something like that. Their mother had always meant well. He would get letters asking about any ‘nice woman’ Felix had met. Where she was happy that Felix had someone he could gush over in letters to his parents that fact that he was with another man to here meant no grandbabies soon. So now she was trying to get them from Elsa.

He chuckled. “I actually haven’t told our parents about the engagement yet.” Felix looked down at his hands. There was the band on his finger. Runes were etched on the surface, an ancient love spell that he knew well. “I wanted to have you here first and meet him first, and then maybe go with home when I finally do let mother and father know.”

Of course he never expected to find a future in Salem. Felix figured he would teach for a couple of years and then move on. He had no idea where but somewhere. Maybe Iceland, that was somewhere he had heard was beautiful. Now he had a life in America. It dropped on him like a bomb. “So are you saying you might stay here?” He asked finally. Felix was actually scared to ask such a bold question.

The way she got nervous when asking if Harrow would mind, made Felix grin from ear to ear. “He would love to have you around. Merlin knows I’ve talked enough about how wonderful you are.” That wasn’t an exaggeration. Harrow had to deal with Felix talking on and on about the things in his life he loved: runes, Nordic history and folklore, how wonderful he thought the other man was, and his sister. “He is dyeing to meet you.”

It wasn’t that Felix didn’t want to let his parents know the moment it happened. He just wanted to tell them in person. Harrow and he had both wanted to tell each of their parents in person. So that meant a trip back to Sweden and then off to Seattle. “It would just be like a long weekend. Possibly during Midsummer.” He hoped that the promise of festivities would make his sister a little more eager to join the trip. “I might not miss the pickled herring, but we could make flower crowns like when we were kids and do all the dances.”

He knew it had a been a while sense Elsa had been home. Felix even felt bad about how he had been neglecting Vanersborg and only sending Owl’s to his parents now and again. Where he was sure that he wasn’t getting nagged as much as his sister he did still get those little sentences that Felix knew was his parents way of asking to see their son.

A small grin replaced the almost desperate expression he had before. “What kind of job would you do Elle?” He asked with an arch of a brow. Felix was always envious of her talent for art. He had only ever been good at reading and retaining knowledge. Of course that would have been more impressive if he wasn’t so specific with what he chose to learn more about.

Felix might not have hovered but he did try his best to always be there when his sister needed him. She always did the same for him. Though Elsa was the younger of the two Felix always treated her as an equal. She had more of a patients for things that he did. She understood a lot more about the world and people than he. At the same time he could offer her a shoulder to lean on and an ear to listen.

He noticed how her attitude changed when Felix brought up his fiancé. He only watched her for now. Thought the lack of eye contact was not exactly subtle on her part. “I doubt he will have much of an issue with it.” Honestly Felix was positive that Harrow would just adore Elle.

“California would be delightful,” they could fit it in with the trip to Seattle. Though he couldn’t help but notice that she was planning a trip when she had only just arrived. Felix knew that wonderlust was a hard habit to break, this felt more like she was running from something.

Felix frowned. “Elsa…” He spoke softly. She probably didn’t mean it like she said, but something about her tone and how she wasn’t exactly looking at him made it all hurt. “We haven’t even set a date. And there are three whole months worth of time to plan and travel. We can always plan while on the trips.”

He reached out and took up her hand. “Jag älskar dig syster. Säg mig vad som är fel. (I love you sister. Tll me what is wrong.)” No matter what she said he wanted to know. Elsa was always the top of his list. Yes he might have Harrow now but family would always be the most important thing to the man.

He could see that spark, the one Elsa used to get when they were little and the weekend of midsummer was coming up. It was almost as exciting as Christmas. She would keep him up late and wake him up early because she was too excited to sleep. All the games and dancing and fun to be hand in the fields. The city would be deserted because everyone would gather at the country side. Of course he would try and try to get away with staying in with his books. It never worked and Elsa was the one who would drag him out of the house with her little hand clasping on to his. Of course when he was there Felix had fun joining in on the games and dancing around the Maypole.

This meeting was just ups and downs and it was starting to make Felix dizzy. He had nothing but the best expectations this morning. Felix should have known better. He hadn’t meant the comment in any rude sort of way but he had a habit of not exactly saying things in the right way. She answered though even with a giggle and Felix smiled lightly. “There is no pressure, you could even look into selling your art Elle.”

Elsa and Felix were a pair that truly complemented each other. It was hard when he had to leave for school, and honestly Felix was a little hurt when he learned that Elsa would be going to France instead of fallowing him to Norway. It was honestly probably good that Felix got used to dealing with people without having his sister there to talk for him. Though it really only made him short with people. If he didn’t want to waist his time with someone one and leave when the conversation didn’t suit him.

There it was the point that he knew was going to be brought up with someone eventually. Of course he wanted Elsa to be blindly happy for him and not even question the decision. Of course Felix also knew it was stupid to think that she would just go along with it all. She was the one he went to after Harrow had broken up with him. She had to deal with him being a big mess on her couch during the winter. It took her his whole break to make him understand that this really wasn’t the end of the world and that there was no reason to sulk about. She also knew how much Felix really did love Harrow. He let her know as soon as they got back together. On and on he went about how he was so happy and grateful he was that it happened. He understood though if Elsa went through all of that he would have a hard time letting Elsa go through with the marriage.

Felix sat there taking it all. His mouth dropped open as if he had his own words to add. He just sat there for a while like that until he could muster up the words. “I know what forever means. And I get that this could seem all silly and fast and all that too.” This was not much of an argument. How could he possibly defend his love to the one person he wanted most to be okay with his choice.

It felt like she ripped his heart out with the next half. Before he even had a chance to completely put together the right words to answer all her questions before that she went and slapped him in the face with that. Again he sat with his mouth open. Felix was dumb founded how could she possibly think that he was just pushing her out of his life like that. “I…. Jag ville inte ersätta dig….(I didn’t replace you)” Felix mumbled, his eye dropping to the table.

He sat up straight and cleared his throat trying to regain some composure. This felt an awful lot like when Harrow had walked out of the door in December. “First I know that I want this because….I know what it’s like without him. Sure I can deal with it but I won’t be happy about it. And you will always have a place with me. If you don’t want to accept Harrow with it that is fine Elsa…you are everything to me and I’m sad you don’t know that.” Felix bit his lip in thought. “I just need you to trust me…”

Felix might not have pried into his sister’s romantic life, but he wasn’t dumb. People often thought that because he had a fairly inactive sex life before meant that he had an unrealistic picture of how other people spent their nights. The real problem he had was expecting his partners to just understand and deal with how he chose to do things. That was the whole issue that he and Harrow had before. Felix made Harrow deal with unrealistic and unfair expectations.

He had the hunch that when it came to sexuality he and his sister were opposites again. She always seemed to accept everything the world had to give her with open arms. So there was no reason to think that she was any different when it came to the affections of people. Not that he liked the idea of his sister giving herself so freely to people. She was an adult and he didn’t need to be sticking his nose in those affairs.

Felix furrowed his brow. It seemed that Elsa had very much forgotten how exactly Felix worked when it came to love. “Elle….this is the first and only time I have ever felt this way.” She was speaking to him like he was some love struck thirteen year old discovering his blooming hormones. “I’m not ten. If it were a dime a dozen don’t you think I would have a string of past broken hearts?” He had no clue if that was logical at all. Felix felt like he was grasping at straws to try and make her understand how he could be so concrete in this decision.

Honestly Felix had no real way of knowing that something as catastrophic as Harrow breaking up with him wouldn’t happen again. He only had his fiancé’s word. Sure that might have been enough for Felix but he could understand how to the world that wouldn’t be good enough. He watched Elsa and it seemed that maybe he had managed to make her see his side. At least a little.

When she brought up being pushed out Felix finally realized what him getting engaged and married would mean to his sister. She had never had to deal with him having a girlfriend or a boyfriend for the long term before. There was a couple of attempts when he was in school Elsa had been in school at the same time, so she had a full schedule of her own. Both of those times were glaringly short and ended in absolute disaster.

His smile was soft as his sister spoke Swedish to him. It was hard to look at his sister and see how emotional she was getting. He had never wanted to upset her. Honestly he had felt a little selfish. Felix had let himself just dive head first into his second chance at a relationship without fully thinking things through when it came to anyone else. He assumed that Elsa would be happy. As much as it was hard to admit that he was wrong he couldn’t blame her for it. “Tack (thank you)…” Was all he could say. Felix could feel his chest tighten as he glanced at his sister hoping that everything would work out.