Once upon a time, @inkedinserendipity tagged me in a post by @superssonica asking what would happen if Caleb got a bit too used to the Polymorph spell.
Seren, you monster, this one goes out to you:
- - -
Beau disappears into the clouds below the branches, trailed—then outpaced—by a second crack of thunder.
After a moment, the massive boughs sway. A few leaves tremble, then fall still.
Caduceus takes a seat in the newly-sprung grass. Yasha joins, sheepish at his side.
“My wings were not made for flying,” she mumbles. “I think I will just stay on the ground.”
Nott tugs on Caleb’s sleeve. “I kind of want to go,” she says. “Do you have a way to get us up?”
He follows her gaze. He considers the tree. He mulls over a mental list of spells, then rummages around in his pouch for silken string.
The tiny cocoon gleams silver in the light.
He gives Nott a smile.
“Ja, sure. Hop on.”
—
Caleb is flying.
He’s never flown before, only seen and heard through Frumpkin’s eyes, back on the safety and security of the ground. But for a person, for a human, for the child of a farmer and a soldier, long ago, he’d like to think that he’s not doing a bad job.
The skies seem to tug at something deep within his soul, something feral and instinctive, something finally freed, something soaring, something lifting, something wild—alive.
In this euphoria, he tucks his wings close, driven on by a craving he’d never felt before.
He spins into a barrel-roll, diving through the clouds, Nott on his back, screaming—maybe it’s a cheer—all he really knows is the rush of the wind, the thrill of the ether, the endless expanse.
It is beautiful, so high in the clouds.
His mind lets go. There’s no need for control.
It is empty. It is peaceful.
Serene.
—
Later on, he turns back into the same bird to ferry Beauregard up to the nest. He lingers in the form a bit longer than needed.
It’s to save spell slots. You never know.
—
They arrive in Bazzoxan well after dusk and fall into the first and only bunks they can find. Jester and Caduceus look well enough tapped, and Fjord still occasionally plucks gravel from his chest. Yasha and Beau are as unfazed as ever, but this is as much of a habit as an act. Nott is fretting somewhere in the background, still searching desperately for her flask.
As far as evenings go, this one is fairly standard. It has been nearly a year since the Mighty Nein assembled, and all of these bustling midnight sounds are just a part of the familiar nightly song.
But when the lamplight fades, Caleb cannot sleep. He lies there, unmoving, eyes open in the dark.
He cannot stop thinking about what he’d done that morning. He cannot forget the way that it had felt.
Of course, he cannot forget anything. He’s never been able to, never known how.
But for that a minute, for that hour, for that daydream in the breeze, it had been so wonderfully easy.
—
He changes a few more times during the trip. Once towards the tomb, once within, once to dive past narrow, winding stairs. He mostly sticks to eagles—he knows them, they’re safe, and a part of him fears the uncertainty of other shapes.
He remembers the story that Jester had told about becoming a moth. She hadn’t been able to control her mind. She hadn’t been able to focus her thoughts. He remembers being a giant ape, and knowing nothing but the adrenaline and the bloody haze.
To a wizard, to a scholar, to a son of the fields who’d crawled his way up through sheer brains alone, this is something that rips at his core. It is horrifying. He must avoid it at all costs.
Still, though, he wonders, at dusk, by the campfire, as he stares alone into the flames:
What would it feel like? How far could he go?
His fingers brush a tiny cocoon. It glimmers faint and gold in the light.
—
They go home. To a home, anyways. They report to the Queen and her stance does not change, but Caleb’s convinced that there’s a new nod of care, maybe fondness, for their motley crew. They have continued to serve the Dynasty well. They have continued to help the Krynn win the war.
And gods, if the reports can be believed, the Krynn are winning this war.
She allows him to see the Vollstrecker.
Caleb’s soul is still rattled when finally, he leaves.
—
He goes to bed alone that night, alone in his room on the first floor of their house.
His mind is a well of isolation and regret, of a churning desire for a wish he’ll never have, of plans and ruminations, more distant by the hour, of dreams, calculations, memories long and past, all flooding, all filling, overflowing, overmuch, much, much too much—
He drags his fingers down the sides of his head, sweat dripping from the tangle of his hair.
He needs air. Breathe. He needs air.
Below the silence of the ever-present moon, his footsteps creak against a polished floor. His palm brushes the smooth wooden banister, and then he reaches the stairs to the roof.
He opens the door.
He inhales, below the tree.
The little globes of daylight are dormant at this hour, still and cold beneath the stars.
Caleb looks up into the branches across the sky. Their tree is not nearly as large, as enormous, but still, it is familiar all the same. It makes him think...it makes him remember...
"But not a bird if it’s night,” he murmurs. “Something else, something...”
Ah, yes.
He reaches into his little leather pouch. He pulls out another silk cocoon.
He’ll have to pick up more, soon. But that is a problem for another time.
Polymorph trips off the curve of his tongue like a dream he’s dreamt a thousand times before.
And then he is nothing but a tiny, squeaking bat, a single lone heartbeat aflutter in the night.
—
The spell lasts an hour.
—
If you cast it once.
—
That next morning, Caduceus makes breakfast. Caleb trudges down the stairs.
“Hey, what’s up with you?” Beau asks, as he pulls up a chair and collapses against the table. “Did you sleep bad? You look like shit.”
“Thank you, Beauregard,” he mutters, and pulls a mug of...of something, to his face. “Your razor-like honesty is always appreciated.”
“Alright, fuck me for asking,” she scowls, and turns around to harass Fjord instead.
Nott, seated across the table, is feeding something to Yeza. It is amazing, the change he brings to her.
Caleb’s gaze drifts away. He focuses on a faint spiral in the wood, a little point of difference in a world of smooth grain.
After a while, he is aware of someone calling his name. He jerks up, just in time to see a fried egg slide onto his plate.
“Didn’t sleep well?” Caduceus asks kindly. “You, ah, I hope you don’t mind my saying, but you seem a bit tired, today.”
Caleb gives him a weak smile. “Ja, I stayed up last night. Working on...working on magic,” he adds.
Technically, it is not a lie.
However, Caduceus is hard to talk around. His eyes give a flicker, and though he doesn’t argue, it certainly doesn’t seem like he is fully convinced.
Still, he gives a nod. He moves on to feed the others.
Caleb feels guilty, and he isn’t sure why.
Then again, he muses, stabbing at his plate, there’s a lot for him to be guilty for.
He sinks just a bit lower in his chair.
—
They decide, unanimously, that despite the uncertainty, they desperately need a break before heading to the north. Another week wouldn’t be too bad, adds Jester, so one more week of downtime is had. Almost immediately afterwards, Beau grabs Fjord to train in the cellar, saying something about—I can’t let Dairon down. Nott and Yeza disappear to the lab, to steal every moment they can before they part ways. Jester and Caduceus opt for some therapeutic shopping, leaving Caleb by himself, alone with his own devices.
Three months ago, that wouldn’t have been so bad.
He drifts around for a bit, idly doing tasks, re-sorting the library and polishing the windows, making his bed and then stopping to make the others’. He even takes a whole hour to scrub their tub, draining out the water and rolling up his sleeves, getting down on both knees and working the basin with a towel.
It is noon by the time he is finished. There are still seven more hours until sundown.
There are still one hundred and fifty-one until their week-long vacation ends.
Caleb sits down at the edge of the pool. His fingers run aimless across the soapy rag as he tries desperately to think of more to do.
He even briefly debates seeing Essek.
After a little while, he stands up.
It is pointless. Nothing is as good.
—
“—and we’ve got a deal on clay, too. Great for Earthquakes, Feeble Mind, Shaping Stone, if that’s something you’re interested in. Only 10 silver for a—no?”
“No, no,” Caleb says quickly, carefully pouring the silk threads into his pouch. “Thank you, but I am well-stocked in that...regard. Er...thank you, madam.”
“Well, if you change your mind,” says the goblin, waving her hand and watching him go. “Come back soon, you know where to find me!”
Caleb does.
And he is sure that he will.
—
He deliberates only a few minutes more as he stands atop the stone wall along their tower. It is dark in Rhosana, that is the problem, otherwise a bird would be the obvious choice. Then he thinks harder, and laughs at his own foolishness, and smashes the silver cocoon in his hands.
His wings spread wide, don’t make a sound.
His eyes, large, yellow, seeing all, drink in the energy and movement of a city that he—for now—does not entirely understand.
—
He comes home that night feeling mildly rumpled, somewhat wind-swept, all his spells spent. Still he agrees, as he collapses at the dinner table, that was a long afternoon well-spent. Caduceus is cooking again, of course he is, though Nott is assisting and Jester offers advice.
The food is amazing, once it is complete. Though he eats much, much much more than he usually would, a fact that a number of his friends pick up on.
“Did you and Essek bone or something?” Beau asks. “Dude, chill out, there’s plenty more where that came from.”
Jester snickers as Fjord thumps him on the back, giving him a sympathetic hand.
“I did not,” Caleb says, affronted, and coughs one more time just for good measure. “I can assure you, we did nothing of the sort.”
“So what did you do?” Caduceus asks. His eyes, usually so dazed and relaxed, have focused onto Caleb with an uncomfortable accuracy. Damn the priest, Caleb thinks. What is this? A confession?
“We just reviewed dunamantic basics,” he murmurs, well aware of how it sounds to Jester. “I do not have any spell slots left, but I can certainly show you at a later time.”
“Firing blanks now?” Beau asks with false sympathy. “He must have really worked you hard.”
Caleb groans, and deliberately turns so that he cannot see her. Even Nott is grinning at him widely, seemingly pleased at the idea of...well, of whatever they think that he is doing.
He wonders, idly, as the conversation shifts to other inane topics, if this is because she is gently, in her own way, trying to let him go.
After all, she has Yeza now. She has a son she needs to go home to. She has a mission she needs to accomplish.
Caleb is supposed to have one too. But at some point during the months that have passed, he is trying less and less to think about it.
He has a feeling he knows why, but that does not make it any better.
—
That evening, his mind churns again. But he is exhausted, and depleted of his spells. He has to force himself to rest, even a short nap will do. He lies there in bed, undreaming, for hours, until he is finally dormant long enough to tap into his old training and conjure up a burst of magic.
It is just enough for one final spell. Time to make it count.
He closes his eyes.
He curls up against the mattress, and imagines what it would like to be Frumpkin.
—
There is no sunlight in this city, which means no morning gleam through the windows, but the distant hum of activity in the house, the far-off clamor of voices and life, signals to Caleb that the day has now begun.
And Frumpkin is there. Asleep against the covers, but stirs when Caleb starts to shift.
Very quickly, he is up and locking eyes with his wizard, draping across his lap and purring up a storm.
The sleep-muddled curve of Caleb’s mouth forms a smile. He runs his fingers across Frumpkin’s scalp, gently strokes his thumb against his cat’s fur.
“Dir auch einen guten morgen,” he murmurs. “I thought you were out enjoying yourself in the city.”
Frumpkin mrows in response and rolls over onto his back.
There is a moment, and then suddenly, Caleb frowns.
“Was? What are you talking about? Do not be silly, everything is fine.”
He absently scritches the fur on Frumpkin’s chest. But now his rhythm is a little unsteady.
“I am not sure what you mean,” he adds, after another pause for silence.
Frumpkin purrs. He opens one eye and peers at Caleb.
“I am not,” Caleb says.
Frumpkin turns over. Caleb scowls.
“I do not see why this is any of your business. And even if I was doing for that reason, it is not a harmful habit. I am just taking advantage of the skills I have learned. There is nothing wrong with that.”
Frumpkin stares until Caleb can no longer stand it. Brow furrowed, he plucks his cat from his lap and drops him onto the bed.
He says:
“I need some time alone. Do not bother me.”
—
Frumpkin is a familiar, bound by an eldritch pact. He cannot allow his master to come to harm, and he cannot disobey Caleb’s commands.
He cannot disobey Caleb’s commands. He cannot allow his master to come to harm.
Frumpkin is a familiar, and they had made a pact.
Then again, Frumpkin is also fey.
And fey do not take “no” for an answer.
—
“Gods above,” Beau grumbles, leaping to the side, “hey, jeez, calm down, already. What’s gotten into you?”
Frumpkin sits back on his haunches and yowls purposely at her knees. His tail lashes through the air impatiently.
Beau scratches the top of her head.
“Are you trying to tell me something? What’s wrong?”
She can swear that the feline is rolling his eyes. She crouches down and frowns at him.
“Is...oh, shit, is it Caleb? Where is he? Is he alright?”
—
The spell that Jester and Caduceus had woven into the ribbons of daylight on their tree illuminates the top of the tower for a few hours every day.
It is the closest thing that Rhosana has to sun, to a good and honest warmth. Caleb had decided, just minutes ago, to utilize this to its fullest potential.
He is content, here. He is basking, and at peace.
And then, just at the edge of his hearing, there is a faint disturbance.
“—what, that? Are you sure?”
The voice is familiar. Right now, Caleb can’t seem to remember whose it is, but he is vaguely irritated. It had been so quiet before, it had been so calm—
“You have to be really sure. I’m not gonna kill a random lizard.”
His little reptilian heartbeat leaps. He can sense a shadow looming over him now, all his instincts scream to run—
“Alright, alright, calm down, I’m doin’ it—”
—his muscles bunch, he gets ready to jump—
And a hand descends from the heavens above, the edge colliding with Caleb’s spine, there’s one second of awful, horrible pain, of a bright-yellow smudge staining the rocks, and then he is growing, aching, stretching, tumbling onto two legs, not four, glaring up in a light too bright and snarling at the unmoving face of Beau.
Now the physical is secondary. His mind is back, and it is angry.
“Arschgesicht! I had forty-two minutes on that spell!”
Beau doesn’t flinch. She doesn’t even respond. Instead, in true Cobalt Soul fashion, she stares him down with such a gaze that for but a second, Caleb almost feels sheepish.
Then the furry bubbles right back to the surface.
“Why did you do that?” he demands. “Beauregard, why would you interrupt me?”
“Uh, what exactly did I interrupt?” Her eyebrows are raised, her chin turned up. “Caleb, what the fuck were you doing?”
“I was—I—magic!” he shouts. He gestures wildly to the smooth stones. “I was just practicing my spells! You know you are not supposed to interfere!”
He feels something dull at the back of his skull. It is like a pressure, though rapidly fading, and as he whirls around towards the source, he just sees the tip of a ginger tail vanishing down the tower stairs.
He almost shouts. He does not, but almost. He begins to storm off towards the door, his foot falls once, hard, into the grass, but then comes a grip like iron against his wrist.
Beauregard always says that her hands are her weapons. Even Caleb, in this state, remembers this well.
“Good gods,” she says, eyebrows rising further. “Dude, seriously, what’s up with you? Why’re you pissed? You can cast it again, can’t you?”
“Yes, Beauregard,” he manages, “yes, of course, of course I can. But that is not the point, here. The point is that Frumpkin disobeyed what I said, and, and coerced you to come here. I know you are innocent here, but he—”
“Wow.”
Caleb pauses.
“‘Wow’ what?”
Beau lets go of his wrist. She takes a step back, crosses her arms, looks him over with the sudden terrible stare of understanding. “Damn, dude, I came up here because I thought you were in trouble. That something was attacking you, or something’. But I guess trouble comes in different forms, huh?”
Caleb frowns. “What do you mean?”
She points at the rocks, where he had been resting. “Sometimes it’s a lizard. I’m guessing sometimes it’s a bird? A giant one, with eagle-wings?”
His eyes narrow. “I do not know what you are talking about.”
“Yeah, well, I barely do either, but Frumpkin seems to think there’s something wrong. With you, I mean. And I guess with your spells.”
“There is nothing wrong with me. And there is no reason for you to think that.”
She leans in.
“You and your cat are telepathically linked.”
“And? What of it?”
“If there was something goin’ on in your head, don’t you think he would have noticed?”
“He is overreacting,” Caleb huffs, “there is nothing—”
“Come on, man, this is Frumpkin. He cares about you, he’s just worried. And honestly, based on the way you’re acting, I’m starting to worry too.”
Caleb stops.
He goes still.
His gaze falls to the ground.
“Ja, well,” he murmurs. “Perhaps you should not bother.”
To his amazement, Beau rolls her eyes.
“Aw, come on,” she says, stepping forward. “Don’t play that face with me, alright?” She prods him in the chest. “Alright, spill. What’s up? Are you still pissed about that Scourger that got caught?”
Caleb sighs. “No, no, that is not it. It is…” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “It is just...other things. You know.”
“I don’t.”
He inhales. Then he sags, finally defeated.
“Ja. Ja, I suppose that is true.”
He watches her cross her arms.
“I won’t know unless you tell me,” she says. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
He feels the last of the rage drain away. His stares intently at the dirt.
“It is...I believe it is everything. Everything that has been happening. Everything that has happened.”
He falls quiet.
“I think it may be too much.”
Beau gives him a very level stare.
Eventually, she gestures to the stones. Warm under the glow of light made by a friend.
“Alright,” she says. “Fine. Let’s talk.”
They both sit. It is quiet, for a moment. And then, Caleb sighs one last time, and speaks:
“We are in a very strange place. And we are trying to...we are trying to do some very big things. Things that...as every day goes by, seem more and more impossible to accomplish.”
Beau leans against the bark of the tree.
“Yeah, I…feel you there.”
Caleb raises an eyebrow.
“What did your mentor say, by the way? How much does she know about...about the things we have done?”
Beau meets his gaze, eyes blank and cool.
“Oh, no. We’re doing your problems now. We can talk about all that later.”
Despite everything, this makes Caleb laugh. It’s nothing more than a faint chuckle, but Beau smiles back, gives him a nod.
“C’mon,” she says. “Go on. Keep going.”
Caleb tilts his head up to the boughs of the gnarled tree.
“I am...well, I am not sure. Not really. I do not think I have been, for a long time. And…seeing that V—that Scourger, it made me realize that…that for all of my memory, all my knowledge, for all the things I had swimming in my head, I realize now that I did not really have to think. I just...really, I just had to believe. I had to obey what my Lehrer—teacher, said. Really, I was not expected to think. And everything, for all its complications, everything was so, so simple.”
He glances down at the ground. Tufts of grass lay silent below his feet.
“Today, my friend, today they are not. We are...we are trying to do very big things. And we are trying to help many people. And I think that is good. Really, I do. And I think it has given me...in some ways, a...a goal. Something that seems a bit more feasible, anyway.”
“More realistic then bending reality.”
He gives a faint smile.
“Ja, you could put it that way. But, ah...but as you can likely see, that goal has gotten slightly more...complicated. And trying to stay on the right path...even finding that path itself, is not a straightforward process. It requires thought. It requires so much thought. And now, after everything, after all we have seen and tried to do, I believe...I am sure...that I am just tired of thinking.”
Beau nods sagely as his voice trails away.
“Okay,” she shrugs. “Then you should just stop.”
Caleb blinks.
“Jus—what?”
Beau sighs. “I…I dunno, man. I think, honestly, I think that’s all you need. To stop thinking about all that shit. Not—” she adds hastily, “—not in the way that you’re doing with the lizards. Not like that. But just...I dunno. When you’re being you.”
“But when I am me, I cannot do that,” Caleb says. “I have a perfect memory, Beauregard. There is nothing I can forget.”
“Oh, wow, look at you. Wow. I’m so impressed.”
“Beauregard—”
She grins and raises her hands. “Sorry, sorry, I couldn’t resist. But, uh...yeah. I guess that makes sense. That...that sounds pretty rough, dude. If I had a record of my greatest failures playing all the time in my head, I think I’d go pretty crazy too.”
Caleb raises an eyebrow.
“Now I am confused,” he says. “Is this conversation supposed to help me?”
Beau throws her arms into the air.
“Hell, I dunno,” she says. “I’m not the feelings expert, or whatever. I’ve just seen people do this kind of shit before. You’re supposed to talk things out, right? That’s supposed to...I dunno, fix things, or something?”
“Is it?” Caleb asks, incredulous. “Who told you that?”
She scratches the back of her neck. “Uh...I dunno. Probably Caduceus.”
“That seems like something that he would say.”
They fall silent for a few moments after that, drinking in the sunlight and the distant city sounds.
Then Beau says:
“I wasn’t lying, though. I don’t really know what it’s like to feel like you. I can’t imagine having a brain like yours. But...but I do kind of know what you’re going through.” He glances over, and she nods. “Yeah. I do. I think...I think it’s a pretty common thing. Maybe not in such perfect detail, but...it can be hard to stop thinking about all the times you’ve fucked up. And it can be even harder when you know that, uh...when it feels like the fate of a hundred thousand souls rests on every stupid decision that you make.”
“We have made many stupid decisions, eh?”
“God, you’re telling me?” Beau groans. The back of her head rests against the tree. “I’m amazed Dairon didn’t kill me. And honestly, I’m amazed all of us are still alive. But...I mean...I guess that’s just it, right? We’re still alive. We’re still here. And, most important, we’re still truckin’.”
She tilts one eye towards Caleb.
“We’re still here, and we’re still trying to figure it out. As shitty as it is, sometimes. As much as...as much as it hurts. And as tired as we get. We haven’t given up, and we’re still alive. Seriously, think about it in math. The odds are definitely that we should’ve died by now.”
He can’t help but snort. “Ja, absolut.”
“But we aren’t,” Beau shrugs. “And as shitty as that is, as much as it hurts, as fuckin’ terrible as it can sometimes be...that means we still have a chance. To do...whatever it is that we’re supposed to do. Or not supposed to do. And I always get pissed when people tell that I’m lucky for it, or whatever, but...I dunno. Maybe we are. And maybe it’s rotten luck for the world that it’s us, but...here we are. All of us, here we are. And...and we’ve got each other. And I won’t pretend to know what I’m doing, and I definitely don’t know...not really, how to help, but, uh. I’m here for you. Okay? Whatever...whatever you need. As long as it’s not bullshit—" she raises an eyebrow, Caleb chuckles.
“—but yeah. Seriously. I’m here. And I’ll always listen, whenever I can.”
She leans back against the bark. She closes her eyes and gives a nod.
“I mean that,” she says. “I really do.”
Caleb feels the sunlight glow against his skin, feels the warmth of its whisper brushing across his face. And there’s another light too, maybe brighter, maybe warmer, coming from either side of his form—it’s the gentle sigh of a shoulder pressed against his own, and the curling, purring softness, of a cat beneath his hands.
He glances down at Frumpkin. Then he turns to look at Beau.
Here we are. All of us, here we are.
Very, very slowly, he closes his eyes.
And it isn’t the cure. Not by a long shot.
But certainly, it’s a start.
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Dandelion
Colossus X @boneeating--baastard 's oc, SFW, fluff, Petey being a mother hen, as always.
I used some Russian in this (please do correct me if you see anything wrong so I can fix it!) So some translations:
Lapochka= darling/dear
Milyy= sweet/cute
volzlyublennyy= beloved
A-one, a-two, a-one two three four!
The heel of Balea's sneakers squeak upon hitting the floor, but their tempo remains impeccable as always. Their fingers dance across the strings of their axe, the pluck-pluck-pluck shooting through the guitar's body and causing their chest to hum.
They aren't performing with their band right now-- no, this is all them, all alone, practicing in the empty art studio of the X-Mansion. Even so, they can imagine-- no, hear, hear as though it were right there-- the rest of the band, playing in synchrony, filling this small room with loud, delicious sound rather than the semi-awkward twang of them, solitary, with their guitar.
Yes, instead of this dark, cramped room, lined wall to wall with easels, paintings, sculptures, and paper mache, there is the steady beat of the drums, the thrill of the bass, the scream of a second guitar. Old, amateurly-made masks that line the wall opposite to them are screaming fans, faces drawn open in cheer. A poster to their left featuring a chameleon grasping a branch bids them "hang in there!" And so, they do.
They've been "hanging in there" all day. All week. All their life, really. Between University, general anxiety, and the normal daily grind-- which is to say, the abnormal shit-storm their life has become since squeezing themself into a superhero uniform-- they really can't seem to catch a break.
Music is a whole different ballpark. Can it be hard work? Yes. But the satisfaction they know they'll feel the second they play the rep right just once, godammit, will be worth it all. They've been working so hard already. The minutes have blurred together into one gross, energy drink infused nightmare. Their fingertips are numb, and they're pretty certain their throat has been torn up so wretchedly that lemon juice won't help it now.
One more rep. Just one more rep.
.
.
.
Piotr finds them at a quarter to midnight. He hears them before he sees them; their voice casting down the empty hallway and echoing back. He stops and listens before trying anything. One part of him feels bad for doing it. After all, he wouldn't want anyone sneaking up on him and stealing peeks at his unfinished artwork without his say. But he can't help himself; hearing his dearest's music in the air is a cause for pause, and so he stops in front of the door, hand hovering above the doorknob, and sighs happily as their melody ebbs and flows and weaves throughout the air.
They're doing a cover of a song right now. He's never been up-to-date with music (he's a little old school, and he'll be the first to admit it. He spends his time listening to classical piano and Neil Diamond), but he thinks he knows this one. It sounds like...oh, what was it called...Creep? By...Radiohead!
Their voice wavers out on the last "I don't belong here," and they let out a nasty sounding cough. He ducks his head down to peer into the slim, rectangular window on the door. He sees them. Balea. That sweet, steadfast, optimistic soul that managed to capture his heart and all of him with it. Their back is facing towards him, their shoulders are sagged as they lean forward, perched on a stool (poor posture, he thinks. We should have a word about that), they're still wearing that same flannel from way earlier in the day (sweat-soaked. Poor thing must be exhausted) and he sees them take a swig of--
Monster. At midnight? Oh no.
They start plucking at the guitar strings again, this time starting up an Insidious original, but he doesn't allow himself to be distracted.
He swings the door upon gently, right as the opening verse begins.
"Balea," He says.
They startle, kicking some empty energy drink cans that were in front of them and nearly dropping their guitar.
"Are you aware of the time?"
"Jesus, big guy! You about gave me a heart attack!" Balea says, their voice raspy. They nervously push their glasses up the bridge of their nose.
Piotr picks one of the energy drink cans--Rockstar--off the ground, wiggles it, and grins, amused. "You mean, before these do?"
"Hah. Hah." Balea laughs humorlessly.
"Balea, my dandelion. Time?"
Balea blanks. "Err…uh...eight, right?"
"Lapochka," he says, sadly and softly, "is midnight.”
They look at the floor, stunned. "Oh."
"How long have you been playing?"
Balea scrubs at their eyes for a moment. "Ah, uh, four hours I think?"
He tsks and walks farther into the room until he's standing right in front of them. He kneels down, places their guitar lightly on the ground, takes their small hands, and rubs his large thumb over one of their bandaged fingers.
"You need sleep," he says gently.
"I need," Balea says, with a hint of annoyance, "to get better. I keep messing up this one song. Just the one! I HAVE to get it before I sleep tonight! I've almost got it!"
Piotr chuckles and moves his right hand to their left cheek. He smiles as he scans over their face, which is pulled into a scowl at the moment. Regardless of the expression, he finds them to be gorgeous, handsome, stunning-- any combination of words he can find to explain the joy he feels upon seeing them.
Even here, in this dark room, and even sleep-deprived and sweaty and peppered with Spiderman band-aids as they are, he sees a piece of art. No person could ever hope to capture their beauty in ink, he thinks, and neither in clay or stone, nor paint or pixels. They are ethereal to him.
Which is why seeing the bags under their eyes and smelling the caffeine on their breath makes his heart clench.
"Please dandelion, you've been working so hard already. You need some rest."
Balea thinks it over for a minute, biting their lip in thought and gazing up into his eyes. "Why do you call me that?" They ask. "Dandelion?"
"I call you "Dandelion" because-" he pauses to plant a kiss to one of their bandaged fingers "-you are like dandelion!"
They frown. "I'm like a weed?"
Piotr is taken aback. He hadn't been expecting that. "Weed is...is just concept people came up with because they are annoyed when plants grow where they don't want them." He laughs at that internally; he was a farmer, and he's dealt with his fair share of 'weeds'. His point still stands, he thinks, because even those 'weeds' can be breathtaking, in his mind.
"You are like dandelion because you are so bright." He says. "And determined. And brave."
"How are dandelions or me brave or determined?" They ask incredulously.
"You stand apart from everything else," he explains. "Like dandelion. Bright and bold. When you perform I...I feel so proud of you. Seeing you, on stage, surrounded by so many people? I could never! But you, you stand there, head held high, and take it in, like flower taking water from soil!
And dandelions grow wherever they can. Even through concrete! You do, too! Whatever life throws at you, you fight through it, and if someone tries to pick you off, well, you just pop right back up, as hopeful as ever!"
Balea grins at that. They are one tough cookie! Many an enemy has learned about their quick regeneration too late.
"I remember the first time I saw you," he says. Balea fidgets in place. They don't really like to remember that day very much. They hadn’t really been themself that day. Not quite. "Before pulling you from the rubble, I thought 'there is no way anything could have survived this'. And then I found you, and pulled you free, and it was like seeing a flower raise its head on the first day of spring. Bright, brave, determined, bold--" he places a round of kisses on their hands "--beautiful."
Balea finds themself shivering under all the affection. "Shuddup, you're making me blush!"
Piotr grins and places a kiss on their cheek. "Milyy."
They giggle before being overcome by a large yawn.
"Sleepy little flower," Piotr comments. "See? Time for bed."
"Noooo," Balea moans. "Just had a Monster. My skeleton is VIBRATING."
"If I had my way," Piotr says sternly, "I would lock all Monsters in a safe and drop them in a bottomless pit."
Balea opens their mouth in mock horror. "That would KILL ME babe! I would die! How EVIL! And here I was thinking the X-Men were the good guys!"
"It is a necessary evil," Piotr says solemnly.
Balea harrumphs and folds their arms.
Piotr's face is beginning to hurt from smiling so much at his beloved, and that fact only makes him smile more. They look so cute when they pout.
"If you come to bed, volzlyublennyy, I will massage all your pain away. I know you get, ah...achy back after practicing too long."
"Just a massage?" Balea asks, wiggling their eyebrows.
Piotr deadpans. "It's midnight. I am tired, love. And you look half awake as is."
Balea shrugs. "Eh, worth a shot."
They bend over to pick up their guitar, placing it neatly in its case. At the same time, Piotr sets to work gathering up all the cans and tossing them in a bin by the door.
Balea stands up, almost falling over themself due to their tired, cramped legs and sudden light-headedness.
"Babe," they say. "Did you see that cool magic trick? I just, like, hopped dimensions."
"No," he says firmly. "You had too much monster and too little movement in four hours."
"Shhhh, no, babe. I've unlocked a secondary mutation!"
He sighs good-humoredly and watches for a moment as Balea attempts to put on their guitar case. Their joints keep popping as they get used to movement again, and they wobble back and forth on their heels unsteadily. Piotr intervenes quickly and takes the case from their hands, slinging it around his own shoulders.
"Honey, wh--" before Balea can finish their question, they are scooped up in a pair of big, strong arms.
That sends them into a fit of laughter. "Babe, babe!" They squeak breathlessly. "You aren't gonna carry me to the room, are you?"
"That is the plan, yes," Piotr says, hugging them close.
"What if someone sees us?" They ask, suddenly timid at the thought of anyone catching them like that.
"Everyone else went to bed at a reasonable hour, love." Piotr scolds, pinching their cheek.
Balea blows a raspberry at him. "Midnight is reasonable for me! I'm a busybody and a night owl, okay!?"
Piotr chuckles and walks out of the art studio, making sure to lock the door behind him (which, he realizes, is difficult when your arms are full of your giggling, squirming lover).
As he makes his way back to their room, he watches the drowsy face of his dearest. He finds it endearing, how they fight to stay awake just so they can have that promised massage and spend more time with him. He hums a little song to himself. Something rock, the title of which is lost to him. All is good
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