Everything is quiet until it’s not. A train speeds by, screaming as smoke follows in its wake. A shadowy, faceless figure stands before India, a vicious smile on their face. The celestial tries to move but he seems to be stuck in place. The figure gets closer and they begin to form a face. But it keeps morphing between different animals and the body remains a cloud of black smoke.
“You could’ve helped them if you weren’t so conceited. If you didn’t start that stupid rebellion, so you could feel better about yourself, you selfish little PRICK!” So many voices blend into one, overwhelming and terrifying, a reminder of all the mistakes he wishes he could erase all charged into one yell. The figure raises their weapon and India flinches.
He wakes up before it can strike him. He had broken out in a cold sweat and his throat feels hoarse. Tears run down his face. He wipes them away as more fall, eventually giving up and curling into himself like a ball. He’s still on the couch, the TV on some random nature documentary. It’s 4 am.
I shouldn’t bother him, it’s dumb. I should leave him alone, he needs sleep. I’m fine, I’m over reacting. He keeps trying to tell himself he shouldn’t, shouldn’t, shouldn’t. But he still gets up, puts on a pair of pants, shoes and a coat, and heads over to Nathan’s.
Light patches of sleet cover the ground as light rain turns to snow. India walks across the street to Nathan’s doorstep. The lights are off and India considers just going back home and crying himself to sleep but then he thinks about how there could be a second nightmare and so he knocks on the door.
He sees a light flick on and hears footsteps as well as a dog barking. The door unlocks and Nathan swings it open, a baseball bat at his side, Bean standing close behind him. “Oh, thank god, it’s just you. Come in.” He drops the baseball bat and closes the door behind India. “You alright? You look like you’ve been crying.”
“Oh yeah I’m fine,” India lies, smiling. Bean trots up to him and he scritches her under the chin, her tail beginning to wag in joy.
Nathan severely doubts it but doesn’t push. “Alright, well why’d you knock on my door at 4 am? That’s not often a thing beings often do.”
India shrugs. “I can leave if you want. You look tired.”
“No, you came here for a reason. Even if you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll stay up with you. Do you like tea? I have some. Not much though. I think I have lemon and earl grey.” Nathan goes into the pantry, looking for tea bags.
“What’s earl grey?” India asks. His interest has been spiked and he wants to try the weird thing called earl grey tea.
“I’m not sure. I just know it tastes good and has caffeine. Wanna try it?”
India nods.
After the tea bag is done mixing in with the boiled water, Nathan hands the mug to India and offers him sugar.
“I’ve never been a fan of sugar. It tastes weird,” India says, pushing the container away.
Nathan shrugs. “Alright, fair enough.” He puts the sugar back in the pantry and leans against the kitchen island that India is sitting on. Nathan is dressed in blue boxers with small ducks on them and a grey undershirt. India notes the undershirt makes his muscles stand out more. “You want to talk about what’s bothering you?” India shakes his head, taking a sip of the earl grey tea.
It tastes so bitter yet it’s somehow sweet. India downs half the mug in 2 seconds, then takes a break so his throat won’t suffer a second degree burn. “This tastes good,” the celestial says.
“Told you,” Nathan says, smiling.
India smiles at the vampire, then remembers the reason he’s here. And what time it is. “Ah shit…” he mutters. “Um, you sure you don’t want me to leave? You look exhausted.”
“I always look exhausted, don’t worry about it. I already told you, I don’t mind staying up with you. It’s what friends do.”
“Friends…” India smiles at the word. He hasn’t had friends in a while. His mind wanders to Castor and Arcturus. Then he remembers. Castor lives in Chaos Point, ever since Pollux died and there was no one to take care of river. Nashira from the constellation Capricorn–he believes–is now rivers guardian. Nashira never was fond of him. If she was in charge of caring for Castor and he tried to visit…
The sound of snapping fingers pulls India back from his thoughts. “You ok, starlight? You were zoning out.” Bean is curled up on the floor, asleep, a chew toy resting under her paws.
“Hm?” India takes another sip of his tea. “No, I’m quite alright. Um, do you perhaps know anywhere I could buy some of this… tea stuff?”
Nathan smiles. “I can show you when the stores open up if you’d like.”
“That sounds nice.” India yawns. “Can I sleep on your couch?”
“Sure.” The vampire smiles warmly at him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of tree branches brushing against the windows wakes Maxx up. Zey look around, forgetting where zey are for a moment. Then he remembers and relaxes. He tries to move his arm but Andrew is hugging it tight, dead asleep. Maxx sighs and eventually manages to wriggle zeir arm out of Andrew’s grip. The vampire lets out a whine at the loss of Maxx’s arm.
“I was hugging that,” he mumbles into the pillow.
“Yeah, well it’s attached to my fucking body,” Maxx retorts, a hint of aggression in zeir tone. Zey’re not angry, though. Zey can’t really bring zemself to be angry at Andrew. Not after he helped zem.
Andrew groans before sitting up and tussling his hair, blinking slowly, trying to wake himself up. “So, what do you wanna do today?”
“Well right now, I’m hungry. So I’d like to eat.”
“Maybe Chilali made something for breakfast. If she’s still asleep, I can make you something. I am pretty good at making eggs.”
“Eggs are the easiest thing to make. Even I could do that and I’ve never touched a frying pan before in my life.”
Andrew smirks. “Ok, do it then.”
“No.” Maxx grimaces at the man before him, but Andrew just laughs.
“So you admit you can’t cook eggs,” Andrew says, grinning.
“I can! I just don’t want to.” The being deepens zeir grimace in an attempt to get Andrew to back off but it just encourages him further.
“Mhm, sure. Well, I bet I can make them better than you,” Andrew teases.
“Doubt it.”
“Prove it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cherry wakes up to the sound of shouting coming from the kitchen as well as the smoke alarm going off. She sighs as she pulls a sweater over her head and goes to investigate.
Andrew and the strange being he calls Maxxie are currently fighting over… eggs? Smoke is coming off one of the pans–presumably Maxx’s because of how Andrew is laughing–and it smells horrid.
“Guys, when I said you could stay over I specifically told you not to make a mess. You two better clean this up.” Cherry sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.
“Sorry,” Andrew says between laughing. “We’ll clean up, don't worry.” He then turns to Maxx, who is burying zeir face in zeir hands. “I knew you couldn’t make eggs! You should’ve just admitted it so we wouldn’t set stuff on fire.”
Cherry reaches up and disarms the fire alarm, getting out a fire extinguisher from under the counter. She sets it on the kitchen island in case things get worse, then goes back to her room to get ready for the day.
“What am I gonna do with those dumbasses…” she mutters to herself. She doesn’t want to make them go back to Andrew’s tent, but she has dragons to take care of, a job to do. She can’t monitor them constantly. They’re not kids, but Andrew sure acts like one. And his friend doesn’t seem to know much about cooking. She buttons up her shirt, shrugs on her leather jacket, pulls up her boots, grabs her keys off the hook and shuts the door behind her, a little more relieved than she was before she left, as Andrew and Maxx were cleaning up the kitchen. Sure, Andrew had been teasing Maxx endlessly, but they were cleaning. That counted for something she supposes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hecate walks into the living room with two mugs of coffee–one for her, the other for Riley– and sees Riley passed out at their desk. She sighs and taps them on the shoulder. They jolt up and smile sheepishly at her.
“What have I told you about staying up?” she asks, handing them their mug.
They take the coffee mug and stare into the liquid, avoiding eye contact. “I know, but the deadline is coming up soon and if I don’t get our bills paid in time they could cut stuff off and I can’t afford to lose the bookshop either and–”
Hecate pecks them on the cheek which knocks them off guard, causing them to lose their train of thought. “Shhh, hey it’s ok. I know it’s a lot, but you don’t have to do this alone. I know you said you can handle it, but if you ever need my help, I’m right here, I promise.”
Riley groans and leans their head on Hecate’s side. She runs her fingers through their hair and they sigh in content. “Thanks, honey. Sorry I just don’t want to stress you out further.”
“Darling, I don’t have to deal with nearly as much stuff as you do. If you ever need help, don’t hesitate to ask me, ok?”
“Ok.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Castor lets out a frustrated sigh. Nashira left to go Universe knows where, leaving river alone for a while. Which would normally be nice, but not when riv doesn’t know where to find the kind of food riv’s specifically wanting right now. Nashira knows where everything is but refuses to tell Castor. And riv has no idea why.
Suddenly there’s a knock on the door and Castor clutches rivs crossbow tight as riv slowly wheels riverself to the front door. Riv opens the door and it’s just India.
“Oh. Izar. It’s you. I haven’t seen you in a decade,” Castor says. Rivs voice is monotone as it always has been. It’s hard to detect emotion in it.
“Nice to see you too,” India says. “Also I don’t go by Izar anymore. It’s India now.”
Castor simply nods, a sign of saying riv understands, then moves aside to let India in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s quiet, and frankly a little lonely now that India has left. Nathan lays on the couch, staring at the ceiling. Before leaving, India had made himself some more tea. The mug still sits on the coffee table. Why do I miss him? Nathan wonders to himself.
Before leaving, India was flashing that nice smile of his, and he seemed better rested then he had when he first arrived. It was now 10 in the morning and Nathan had no idea what to do with himself. He just hugs the blanket India slept under close to his chest. He’s not usually the type to miss someone. He’s used to being by himself. But he finally has a friend after years of being alone. He doesn’t want to lose him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So how’ve things been since the rebellion?” Castor asks, sitting down on the couch. Riv pushes rivs wheelchair to the side where riv can access it later.
Well, he never thought anyone would ask him this question. He set off an explosive by mistake in a grocery store parking lot which was why he had to move, got in a fist fight with a half-orc over the last pack of oreos in said grocery store, got hit on by so many girls he can’t even count (what’s so sexy about a being that looks washed up, he’ll never know) and just now realized it was flirting, and has now met a vampire that’s cursed beyond all hell.
India shrugs. “Oh y’know. Normal. At least I think so. I have no reference for normal. What about you?”
Castor lets out a dishevelled sigh. “Well I have a permanent babysitter so that’s fun. Sure, Nashira’s nice and everything but I’d like to be alone.”
As if she was summoned, the front door unlocks and in walks Nashira with a bag full of groceries. “Hey Castor. What the hell is Izar doing here?”
“He goes by India now, and he just stopped by for a visit,” Castor explains.
India smiles nervously, feeling crushed by Nashira’s stare. “Yeah, I was just heading out. It was nice catching up, Castor. Glad you’re alright.”
Castor wants to protest and make him stay but riv understands that Nashira doesn’t like him and he doesn’t like her so riv just lets him go.
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