Sören and Dooku checked their luggage, and then out of the corner of his eye Dooku saw a man holding a large sign that said SÖREN SIGURDSSON. Dooku knew enough about Icelandic culture and Icelandic names to know that his partner was probably not the only Sören Sigurdsson in Iceland, but he also knew that the chances of there being another Sören Sigurdsson on that same flight, arriving in Keflavik International Airport at that same time, were slim. Before he could nudge Sören to confirm, however, he noticed Sören noticing the sign, and the way Sören's face lit up and he rushed over to the man holding the sign was more than enough confirmation.
Dooku, though spry for his age, took a couple minutes longer to make his way through the crowd. Sören was still hugging the man holding the sign, and Dooku felt almost rude for clearing his throat.
Sören pulled away, one arm still around the sign-holder. He looked at Dooku, and then gestured towards the other man. "Nico, this is my little brother, Dagnýr."
The man shook his head, chuckling. "I'm only seven minutes younger than you and you keep calling me that."
"You act even younger than that, sometimes," Sören said, his tone affectionately teasing.
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
Sören turned to Dooku, smirking. "See what I mean?"
"You're fraternal twins." It just slipped out, an obvious statement, and one that Dooku immediately felt sheepish for making, considering how obvious it was. Dagnýr was tall, but a couple inches shorter than Sören, they both had dark hair, pale skin, and were boyishly handsome, but Sören had a heart-shaped face, full lips, and a smoldering default expression, and Dagnýr had a more oval face and a boy-next-door look; Dagnýr's eyes were grey. They were also dressed very differently, Sören all in black, even a black trenchcoat, Dagnýr in a grey plaid flannel shirt and jeans under his winter apparel. Dagnýr was also clean-shaven, unlike his brother, and his hair was short, though somewhat unruly.
"That we are," Dagnýr said. It was then that Dooku noticed Dagnýr had only the faintest touch of an Icelandic accent - he sounded American or Canadian; Dooku remembered that Leja had said her son Matt was dating Sören's brother and they lived in Canada -
"Hey," came a deep voice, another North American accent. Dooku looked at a man standing next to Dagnýr that had been there the entire time, but he hadn't really registered until then. The man was also tall, with a mop of wild dyed platinum blonde hair that looked almost like a wig, wore thick "nerd" glasses, and was dressed similarly to Dagnýr; he was clean-shaven, and looked more like Sören's brother than Dagnýr did, though the man had large ears and a trail of beauty marks on his face, while Sören had smaller ears and was clear-skinned. Even without the information Leja had given him, the face was familiar - Dooku had known this man since he was a small child. He still hadn't grown into those ears.
"Hello, Matt," Dooku said, smiling. "It's good to see you again."
"Likewise," Matt Sulu said, nodding. He took Dooku's hand and shook it.
"Ah, you've met," Dagnýr said, and then he smirked and went on, "but we haven't."
"Right," Sören said, looking almost flustered. "I was going to finish that introduction. Dagnýr, this is my partner, Ion Nicolae Dooku."
Dagnýr's eyebrows raised, his lips quirked with what seemed like amusement, and he nodded. "You mentioned yesterday on the phone you were seeing someone. So this is him."
"Jæja, it is," Sören said, nodding.
"Well then." Dagnýr also nodded. He looked at Dooku. "I know you'll be wanting to get a rental car and all of that, but we came to pick you up and take you anywhere you need to go. Are you hungry? Would you like to get some lunch? We have a reservation at Fishmarket."
Iceland was on a different time zone, of course, and they had been quite literally transported back in time to where it was still an hour to have a late lunch. Dooku and Sören looked at each other and nodded; they'd had breakfast in the morning but there was too much happening in the hours before their flight, and they could both use a little something.
Dagnýr and Matt walked Dooku and Sören to the car park, where they had a black SUV rental of their own waiting. The air was bitter cold - Dooku knew November in Iceland was much colder than November in the UK, but he'd never been to Iceland before and it was one thing to know logically it would be colder and another thing to experience it directly. Even with his scarf and gloves, Dooku shivered, watching his breath steam the air. The time it took to walk through the car park felt like a freezing eternity.
Matt got in the driver's seat, Dagnýr gestured for Dooku to take the front seat, and Dagnýr and Sören sat in back.
"So I think we'll get a rental car after we eat," Dooku said, "and then we have to figure out where we're staying."
"You guys didn't reserve a hotel room anywhere?" Dagnýr asked.
"No," Dooku said. "We decided to take care of all of that once we arrived in Reykjavik, since there was already so much rushing around..." Dooku pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"The good news is that because it's November, there's not as many tourists competing for hotel rooms," Dagnýr said. "The bad news is, I don't know what your budget looks like, and everything in the city tends to be a bit pricey."
"Cost isn't an issue," Dooku said. "I'm a barrister, back in London."
"Ah, I see." Dagnýr nodded. "I'm a physicist and I teach at a university in Toronto and I still said ouch at this trip."
Then something like a lightbulb went off in Dooku's head. He occasionally read scientific magazines and blogs, finding the subject interesting, and now he remembered seeing the name Dagnýr Sigurdsson before. "Quantum physics, yes?"
"Yes," Dagnýr said. "I see you've heard of me."
Sören chuckled. "My nerdy brother here is famous."
"Your partner is pretty nerdy if he recognized me," Dagnýr said.
"I enjoy reading and learning things," Dooku said.
Dooku could hear the smile in Sören's voice as he said, "Dagnýr got a doctorate when he was twenty. He's fucking brilliant."
"You're pretty smart too," Dagnýr said, "you went to med school and everything."
"Well," Sören said, "till I dropped out." He sighed. Then he laughed and said, "I was a star student but I still lived in your shadow. I still didn't graduate school as young as you did."
"Honestly," Dagnýr said, "I just wanted to get the fuck out of there."
The words hung there, too heavy for any lighthearted follow ups. What little Dooku knew of Sören's past, he knew it was unpleasant, and Sören's siblings and cousin had been through hell themselves. The four rode in awkward, uncomfortable silence for the next few minutes, and then a phone buzzed obnoxiously. Dooku looked over his shoulder and watched Dagnýr pull out a smartphone.
"Margrét! Hvað segirðu?" A deep woman's voice, and Dagnýr waited through a flurry of Icelandic. "Ég er með Matt og Sören og þessi strákur Sören er að deita... já, Sören hefur kærasta. Nógu gamall til að vera afi hans, en ef hann er ánægður þá er það sem skiptir máli." Laughter, and then more Icelandic chatter, and then Dagnýr said, "Við erum á leiðinni til hádegis... Við ætlum að fara á Fiskmarkaðinum. Þú vilt hitta okkur þarna? Er Ari með þér?" Some "já, já" on the other end, and Dagnýr continued, "Gott, við munum sjá þig fljótlega!" The beep that signaled the end of the call, and Dagnýr announced, "Margrét and Ari will be joining us. I'll call now to update our table from two to four guests."
Dagnýr did that. The restaurant was busy, and they had to wait a few minutes when they arrived since the reservation had been updated; Sören took the opportunity to call Frankie, who wanted a report that Sören's flight had arrived safely, as soon as possible. Frankie and Sören chatted a bit, and finally Dooku heard Frankie say, "Oi, you better take good pics," and Sören joked, "Já, I'll send you some dick pics." "I'll cut it off," Frankie teased back. "You might have to get past my boyfriend," Sören said. "He might not like that -"
Dooku's face burned, as mental images played of the video he'd inadvertently come across on Sören's phone, remembering Sören's cock spurting in the video. Their eyes met, and suddenly across their Force bond, Dooku knew Sören caught a glimpse of that - so now he knew, and Dooku was going to have some explaining to do. He wished he could just melt into the floor.
Frankie made noises so loud all three could hear them, and some of the other people waiting for their tables, and then, a man and a woman approached; the man cleared his throat loudly.
"Gotta go," Sören said. "Will call you later."
"Love you, you cunt," Dooku heard Frankie say.
"Love you too, bitch," Sören said, before he hit the "End" button on his phone screen and ran over to the man and woman with the same enthusiasm that he'd shown running to his brother at the airport.
The man had shoulder-length wavy golden-brown hair, a closely-trimmed golden-brown beard, and piercing blue eyes; he was dressed in jeans and a light blue button-down shirt under a winter coat, looking neither overdressed nor as casual as Dagnýr. The man was roughly the same height as Sören, and somewhere between Dagnýr's boy-next-door look and Sören's dark smolder - ruggedly handsome, the closest of the three to the stereotypical "Viking" look.
The woman was just as tall as the men, with long curly dark hair to the middle of her back, and grey eyes like Dagnýr's, and looked like a cross between Sören and Dagnýr. She was wearing a black dress underneath a black fur-trimmed winter coat, and a little glittery black fascinator on her head, heavily made-up in the gothic style; she had a pierced right eyebrow, a septum ring in her nose, and several pairs of earrings in her ears, including a triple helix piercing. She put Sören in a headlock and gave him a noogie and kissed his cheeks before doing the same thing to Dagnýr, and then she gave Matt a warm hug. She paused, not knowing what to make of Dooku.
Ari hugged Sören and Dagnýr, patted Matt on the shoulder, and shook Dooku's hand. "Welcome to Iceland," he said. His accent was less strong than Sören's, but more noticeable than Dagnýr, who barely had one.
"Ari, Margrét, this is my partner, Ion Nicolae Dooku. Nico, this is my cousin Ari and my sister Margrét."
Dooku took Margrét's hand and kissed it. "A pleasure, milady."
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Margrét said, laughing. Her Icelandic accent was heavier than Sören's, and she had a very deep voice for a woman - like a contralto - and it was then that Dooku noticed Margrét had an Adam's apple. "You're family, you don't need to pull that 'milady' shit. Are they all like that in bloody England?"
"No," Sören said. "Nico's just old-fashioned."
"I guess so." Margrét smirked. "I'm a punk."
"Yeah," Matt said. "About that, I heard about the lawsu -"
Margrét waved her hand. "Let's not talk about that right here right now."
Dooku's curiosity was piqued, but he didn't want to pry, whatever it was, and it was time for them to be seated anyway. For a starting course Dooku went with puffin and for his main course he decided on grilled salmon; everyone at the table ordered some kind of fish for their main course except for Ari, who ordered lamb.
"This is Fishmarket," Dagnýr teased.
"I can do what I want," Ari said. "So nyah."
Dagnýr stuck out his tongue, and Ari stuck out his, and Margrét reached across the table and grabbed both their noses, making Sören laugh out loud. It was right on cue for the waitstaff to return to the table, trying to not betray amusement; Sören joked, "I don't think they're old enough. Can we have the kids' menu? Maybe some crayons?"
"Já, some crayons to stick up your butt," Margrét snarked.
"I don't think there'll be room up there," Dagnýr said, and it was clear he hadn't thought about it, and immediately shut his mouth and looked away from the waitstaff, turning red and shaking with silent laughter. The waiter, thankfully, also looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh.
After wine was poured, Dagnýr banged on his glass with a spoon. "I'd like to make a toast," he said. "This family reunion is under the worst circumstances... but I'm still glad to see you all again, and I hope we can get together in the future without it being an emergency."
"Skál," Ari said, and drank his wine. The rest of the table echoed, "Skál" and drank.
The food was excellent, enough that Dooku was glad to just listen to most of the conversation, only speaking when asked a direct question, like Ari asking what Dooku did for a living. Ari himself ran a yoga studio in Reykjavik, and Margrét owned a bar. Margrét was also in a punk band that played at the bar on Friday nights, called Brjálaður Tíkur. "I'd invite you to come see a show," Margrét said, looking at Sören and Dooku, "but I doubt it would be your kind of music."
"Probably not," Dooku said, nodding. He resisted the urge to say I doubt I would even call it music.
"We put on quite a performance, though," Margrét said.
"Are you still... burning up a cardboard cutout of Kylo Ren?" Sören asked.
Dooku's eyebrows went up at this, and he almost choked when Margrét nodded. Then Margrét noticed Dooku's reaction and said, "Ah, I see you haven't filled him in about the drama."
"There hasn't been a whole lot of time for that," Sören said.
Margrét raised an eyebrow - Dooku could sense in the Force that Margrét was putting two and two together that they hadn't been a couple terribly long - and then Margrét had some wine and said, "Well, to make a long story short, Kylo and I co-founded a band that later became the Knights of Ren. Then he kicked me out of the band after he found out I shagged his mum." Her voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "He made some transphobic remarks while he was at it." Her voice raised again to a normal volume. "That was hurtful in and of itself, but the thing I can't forgive him for is that he stole a bunch of my songs. I'm in the middle of a lawsuit with him because of it."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Dooku said.
"He's a fucking no-talent hack," Margrét said. "At least if he was gonna steal my songs, he could have done a better job with them. They sound bloody awful now. It's shameful to admit I even wrote these things, with what he's done to them."
"Though at least some of the stuff is his," Matt said, and snarked, "like the wonderful 'Burn Hot Topic'."
Margrét snorted, and Matt raised his glass, before sipping more wine.
"Like I said," Margrét said, "he's a fucking no-talent hack. And that bloody idiot he replaced me with? Hux or whatever his fucking name is? The ginger who likes those military outfits? I could play guitar with my arse and still be better than him."
"I'd like to see that," Sören said, grinning. "You should enter Eurovision and do that."
"It'd be more entertaining than what we usually send," Ari chuckled.
Margrét rolled her eyes. "Fuck you guys," she said, but there was affection in her voice.
They ordered dessert after that. Dooku ordered a lemon tart, and Sören ordered a sorbet. Sören gave Dooku a small amount of his dessert to taste, and Dooku did the same for Sören, and Margrét and Ari chuckled at the couple spoon-feeding each other.
"You guys are cute," Margrét said. "It's disgusting."
Sören gave his sister the finger, and Margrét put up both middle fingers in response, then licked one and stuck it in Sören's ear.
"Heyyyy!" Sören whined.
Margrét laughed. "Look, it's the first time in years I've gotten to pick on you about having someone." She cocked her head to one side. "I assume since you came with Sören on such short notice he told you what's going on and that he trusts you enough to... be there... for all of this. And Sören hasn't brought anyone to meet us, in a long time. Not since Ale -" At Sören's wince, Margrét didn't finish the name, just cleared her throat and continued, "Which means things are pretty serious." She smiled at Sören. "It's about time you found someone, little brother."
"Says you, who's thirty-five and still mostly single," Sören said.
"Ugh, don't get me started on that," Margrét said, rolling her eyes. "We've been over why it's hard, for... uh." She didn't finish that sentence.
"You sell yourself short," Sören said. "There's a lot of people who don't care about, uh, that."
"Já, a lot of the people who don't mind are into... it as a fetish? Which is its own set of problems," Margrét said. She frowned into her wine. "I'm a bloody person, not a... you know, never mind."
Sören patted his sister's hand. "Come visit me in London, the dating scene is much bigger there. Not that I'd had the greatest success myself..." Sören looked at Dooku and smiled. "We kind of met by accident."
"Oh really," Margrét said.
Sören nodded. "I wasn't looking for anyone, but he just... fell into my life." Sören's smile became that radiant grin Dooku loved. "The greatest gifts in life are the ones not asked for, the ones found unexpected."
"I'm glad you're happy," Margrét said. She brandished her knife, waving it in Dooku's general direction. "You better be good to my brother or I'll go Viking on your arse."
"Oh, please." Ari snorted.
"Oh, that's right. I forgot Sensitive New Age Guy was in the house," Margrét teased. "Let me have some more wine so I can... realign... my chi... or something."
Ari laughed out loud now, and clinked glasses with his cousin, before he and Margrét drank together.
The check came; Dooku paid for both himself and Sören. They walked out slowly to their respective vehicles. It was just starting to snow.
Margrét gave Sören a long, tight hug. "How long will you be here?" she asked after they pulled apart.
"I don't know," Sören said. "I had to take time off work, and Nico had to take time off work, but because we dropped everything to come on such short notice, I don't think we can stay super long. I'm guessing after she goes... here for the funeral, then maybe a week or so to decompress, before we go back."
Margrét nodded. "Call me after... all of that, so we can get together at least one more time before you go back to the UK."
Sören nodded. "So you're really not coming for..."
Margrét shook her head. "We've been over this. That bridge was burnt a long time ago."
"I understand," Sören said. "To be honest, I'm questioning why I'm doing any of this myself, and I haven't even experienced half of what -"
Margrét waved her hand, and just nodded, before hugging Sören again. "I still don't envy you," she said softly, before giving Sören a squeeze. After they pulled apart, Margrét said, "If you need anything, call me, any time, I don't care what hour it is. And we'll make plans for at least one more visit before you go."
She blew her brother kisses, waved at Dooku, and then climbed into her blue car. Ari had a silver jeep, parked a few stalls from Dagnýr's SUV. He leaned against the jeep, with his arms folded. "Where are you headed now?" he asked Sören and Dooku.
"Rental car, and then checking in to a hotel most likely," Dooku said.
"If you don't want to deal with all that stress tonight," Ari said, "my couch folds out into a bed and you're welcome to it. I've got a nice view of Reykjavik from my flat. I don't think my flat would be very comfortable for all three of us for longer than a night, but it wouldn't be a bother for the night, while you try to call around and get prices on rooms. There's guest parking where I live, where you can put your rental car."
Dooku and Sören looked at each other, and then Sören hesitantly nodded. "If you're OK with it, I'm fine with it," Sören said.
"All right," Dooku said, nodding.
_
Ari convinced Dooku to rent a jeep, "in case you want to do a bit of sightseeing." Dooku agreed, and Sören was enthusiastic about the prospect - even though this wasn't a pleasure trip by any means, there was still opportunity for such pleasant things.
Sören hadn't driven a vehicle in the last two years he'd lived in the UK, since he couldn't deal with driving on "the wrong side of the road", but insisted on driving the jeep here. He didn't seem any worse for not having driven in so long, if driving a bit slowly and cautiously. The black rental jeep followed Ari's silver jeep to the apartment complex where Ari lived, and then the three took an elevator up to Ari's flat.
Ari wasn't exaggerating when he said his flat wouldn't be comfortable for three people all week - it was a one-bedroom, and there was only an island separating the living room and kitchen. The foldout couch bed was just big enough to sleep two people. There was a large flat screen TV on the wall across from the couch, and Ari told Sören and Dooku they were welcome to watch anything they wanted.
Dooku didn't speak Icelandic beyond a few words, so he tried to unwind with a book, as Sören flipped through channels, watching for a few minutes before changing to something else. Dooku got the sense Sören wasn't really interested in television either, but Icelandic TV was something comforting and familiar and it was more of a re-immersion into what was "home" than anything else. After awhile Dooku turned on his laptop to research hotels, and began calling around, but even though Dooku would be paying, Sören was still uncomfortable with how much everything would cost and shook his head no at each option until Dooku sighed, turned off his laptop, and decided he'd try other options tomorrow.
Ari's bathroom was tiny, and Dooku and Sören took turns in the shower, with Dooku waiting in the living room as Sören finished showering first. When Dooku stepped into the shower the water was almost unbearably hot, and it smelled of sulfur. He didn't take long; he disliked putting on pajamas in the steamy bathroom but it was for modesty's sake since he was a guest. As he changed, he heard Sören speaking English in the living room - he correctly assumed Sören was talking to Frankie, strolling back into the living room at the very end of Sören's conversation to hear her loud, raucous laugh, and him address her by name.
After Sören got off the phone with Frankie, Dooku decided to call Qui. Qui-Gon immediately got on his case for not calling sooner, and Dooku explained that this was his first real down time since they'd arrived.
"So the flight went well, obviously," Qui said.
"Obviously," Dooku said.
Dooku could hear the smirk in Qui's voice. "Did you guys join the Mile High Club?"
"What."
Qui-Gon snickered. "I guess not."
Dooku made a mental note to ask Sören if he knew what that meant, on the trip back.
Qui put the phone to Dragos so Dooku could talk to him; Dooku was comforted by Dragos meowing in response, and then purring. "He headbutted the phone," Qui informed him. Dooku smiled, and his smile grew bigger as Qui told Dooku that Dragos was at first wary and hostile of the cats, but with some Force persuasion Dragos was now cuddling with them, and he had pictures of the cat cuddle pile that he'd e-mail. Dooku was still smiling when he got off the phone, and Sören returned his smile and reached out to stroke Dooku's face before kissing the tip of his nose.
"You know what?" Sören said. "You're adorable."
"I am not adorable."
"Yes, you are."
Dooku gave Sören a stern look, and Sören laughed. "You're even cute when you make that face," Sören said.
"I am not cute."
"Give me your laptop for a minute," Sören said.
"Why?"
"Just give me it."
Dooku handed it to Sören, and waited while Sören looked something up, and then Sören handed it back to him. There was a picture of a tiny bat, being poked by a human index finger, captioned "No! Stop touching me! I AM THE NIGHT!"
"This is you," Sören said.
"You know..."
"Yes, I know." Sören kissed his nose again.
Dooku and Sören had a long day, and they were both ready for bed at eight PM local time. Ari was a night owl, but promised to keep it down. Nonetheless, once Dooku and Sören were under the covers, they heard Ari take a phone call in his room. It became obvious a few minutes into the conversation that Ari was talking to Dagnýr.
Ari had a Norwegian Forest Cat who finally showed himself, hopping up on the couch bed, and Dooku and Sören stroked the cat together as Sören eavesdropped. About twenty minutes after the call started, it was over, and after a couple minutes of silence, Ari walked out to the kitchen to get some juice, and offered juice to his guests, who declined.
"I know you're not asleep yet," Ari said, "and you probably should know this to inform whatever plans you have for tomorrow. My mother is deteriorating. I'd go see her now, but the hospital doesn't really want visitors at this hour, so I'm going as soon as the hospital opens for visitors tomorrow. Hopefully she won't die tonight."
Sören nodded. "All right. We'll go with you."
"Dagnýr is coming with us, too," Ari said. "And obviously, Margrét is not."
"Nope."
Ari sighed. He rubbed his face, then rinsed out his glass. "If you guys get hungry in the middle of the night there's some stuff in the fridge, help yourself."
"Thank you," Dooku said.
"Do you need extra blankets?" Ari raised an eyebrow.
"I should be all right," Dooku said. "The heat is on, and Sören himself is nice and toasty."
Sören giggled at this, Ari rolled his eyes but smiled, and then Ari snickered, "I don't want to hear you guys, if you get my drift."
Sören made a fake moan - but still, Dooku's cock would have stirred if he wasn't so tired. Ari didn't have to worry, however; Sören and Dooku were both exhausted, and Dooku worried that they'd break the couch bed if they tried anything anyway.
Ari turned off the lights, and the cat settled on the foot of their bed, purring contentedly. After a few minutes of laying there side by side, Dooku pulled Sören close to him, sensing Sören's sudden distress in the Force, knowing Sören was thinking about his aunt.
"I'm here," Dooku whispered.
Sören squeezed him, and then took his hands. "Thank you for... all of this," Sören whispered back.
"Thank you for letting me into your life," Dooku said. He stroked Sören's face, and then kissed his forehead, and then the tip of his nose. "Sleep, love."
"I'll try."
Dooku waved his hand over Sören's face, pushing with the Force. "Sleep."
A moment later, Sören went limp, like he'd been knocked out. A few minutes after that, Dooku followed him.
chapter 11 | return to Northern Lights | return to Other Tolkien Fic | return to index