TRP: Goro, Hansel, and Mishka (Brains and Baths)

[Setting: That one inn, the morning after, blah blah blah.]

Goro woke up to the light of morning, relieved.

He'd done it. He'd actually managed to get some fucking sleep.

He and Hansel and Mishka were all tangled up, their limbs pretzeled together. Goro didn't want to wake them, so he moved slowly. Really, he wasn't sure he needed to bother. They were both out cold.

Not cold, though. Warm. Both of them. Warm, and breathing, and safe. An important fucking distinction, wouldn't you know it.

He almost went straight downstairs after pulling his robe and boots on, then thought the better of it. They'd wake up sometime, and if the first thing they noticed was that he was missing, well, there might be some unwarranted fuss. Felt wrong to think of himself as someone important enough for that, but it did seem like a likely scenario.

He tore a sheet of paper out of his notebook and scrawled on it in large letters, DOWNSTAIRS GETTING BREAKFAST. He used a bit of candle wax to stick it on the door. Then he left to go get food.

COYOTE

Mishka woke up and thought, I had the weirdest fucking dream last night.

He dreamed his dead ex-boyfriend came back to life with a needlessly elaborate plot to turn his loved ones against him. And then... he was in the orchard, and Aleks actually came to talk to him, and was different this time. More blatant. More cruel.

And then he woke up a little more, and realized: Oh. That had actually happened.

His clothes were dirty. He was wearing a white shirt soaked in blood. Hansel’s beard had blood in it, which was pretty unusual, because normally Mishka made him wash it out.

And Goro was gone.

Mishka sat up with a start. He went to the door to check around for him, then narrowed him eyes at the note.

Hm. Acceptable.

Mishka sat back down on the bed, jiggling his leg a little. He wanted to wash Hansel’s face but didn’t want to wake him up.

LINA

Goro ordered a pot of coffee and filled a basket with three mugs, bread, cheese, and hard boiled eggs. A far cry from the usual hot breakfasts they had together, but it'd do the job. He carried everything back upstairs and quietly nudged the door open.

Oh. Good thing he'd left the note. "Morning," he said quietly.

COYOTE

Goro looked— rumpled, but rested and alright, which was good, considering the fucking day they’d had yesterday. Mishka flopped back on the bed. “Oh good, you’re here. Feed me things.”

LINA

Goro bit the inside of his cheek. He set the basket down on the small table and poured a mug of coffee, then gathered together a couple slices of bread, some cheese, and an egg. He carried it over to Mishka and held it all out.

COYOTE

Mishka took it. Slathered the soft cheese on a hunk of bread and stuffed it in his mouth. “You okay?”

He kept his voice soft and low, since Hansel was still sleeping. Not like they’d wake him anyway. He was sleeping like the dead.

LINA

Goro shook his head and shrugged at the same time. He walked back to the table, poured himself some coffee, sipped it, and made a face.

COYOTE

Mishka was never sure whether to push it or not. Finished chewing, still eyeing Goro. “Did anything— happen, while I was gone? I meant to ask last night.”

LINA

Goro gulped down the rest of the coffee so he could get it all over with at once. He picked up a piece of bread and stuffed some in his mouth. "Like what?" he asked, chewing.

COYOTE

"God, who even fucking knows anymore."

LINA

Goro shrugged again and ate some more bread. Before he'd even swallowed he was moving around the floor, collecting the candles and incense he'd used for the ritual to bring Hansel back. Thinking about it again--having it still be real, in the light of day--turned his stomach abruptly. He paused and put a hand over his mouth, afraid he might be sick.

COYOTE

Mishka finished stuffing his mouth full of bread and cheese, then bent to help. The room was still-- disturbed. Things shifted around to the wrong spots.

He wished he'd been here while Goro brought Hansel back. Been here to watch his back, and here to hold Hansel's head when he woke up.

LINA

When Mishka first touched one of the candles, Goro almost snapped at him.

Don't take my things was one of his oldest instincts, after all. Carved deep into his brain for as long as he could remember. And when shit got ugly, Goro always felt the worst parts of himself emerging, and he wondered if he was ever gonna outgrow that, or if he'd be an old man someday who still turned into a sniveling, growling dog with its tail between its legs any time things weren't going the way he'd wanted.

He didn't snap, though. He caught himself. He felt guilty anyway, and grabbed Mishka roughly in a hug, trying not to squeeze too tight.

COYOTE

Mishka shuddered in relief, then caught himself. He pressed his face against Goro’s neck and grabbed him back, relaxing into it.

He kept thinking what if, what if? What if Aleks changed something again, or just lied to someone about him, or... fucked with his loved ones, or hurt them.

“Missed you,” Mishka said, which was fucking ridiculous. He’d missed having Goro on his side.

LINA

"Mm." Truthfully, Goro didn't know if he'd gotten that far. He hadn't really let anything... sink in. He'd done a lot of covering his eyes. "I'm sorry."

COYOTE

“Why?” Mishka didn’t bother to keep the surprise out of his voice.

LINA

"For--" Goro let him go, hurriedly gathering up the rest of his supplies. He'd left his prayer book open. The spine was probably cracked on To Raise Dead. "For--leaving you out there, and.... not trusting you."

COYOTE

Mishka didn’t answer. Rubbed his face, instead. Didn’t feel like Goro’s fault, honestly.

“‘S okay,” Mishka said. Then— “I knew you’d do the right thing. I mean you... hm.” How did he put this. “I knew you’d look at the situation and... come to the most logical conclusion, and you’d be fucking careful, and you’d suspect me, sure, because it looked really fucking bad, but you’d— figure shit out. Because that’s what you do, you know. You’re the kind of person who tests the ground to see if it’s sturdy before he puts his weight there, and— there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t expect you to have blind faith in me, Goro.”

Then he said, “I wish you’d— stayed, the second time. But.”

LINA

"You told me to fuck off," Goro blurted, hunched over his book and flipping through the pages, looking for To Remove Curse.

He'd fucking wished he'd stayed, too. It pissed him off to think about.

COYOTE

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I was— he’s so— it was fucking—“ Mishka hunched his shoulders. “I didn’t think that anyone would... believe me. It sounds crazy. I mean, god, he’s fucking— good at that. Making people look crazy. Never thought it’d be directed at me.”

LINA

Goro didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. Nothing could fucking fix what he'd already done. The only thing he could do to help now was prepare his magic. He loaded his arms up with supplies and went to a corner, then went about setting up his makeshift altar.

COYOTE

Hm. No disturbing him now. Mishka would try to talk him into eating more once he was done. Mishka turned his back and started stripping off his clothes. Didn’t want to spend the rest of the day soaked in Hansel’s blood.

IZZY

Hansel woke slowly. Fuck, he still felt awful -- that was the first thing he realized. Then that he was alone in bed. He shifted around weakly in case Mishka or Goro -- or Jonn? -- were nearby and just not on top of him, then cracked an eye open when they weren't. Ah. The first two were both in the room, though. All right, good. Right, Jonn was in Skyport, and they were ...

Right. That was why he defaulted to thinking Jonn would be with him -- he kind of felt like it was about a year ago, like he should be sleeping in the Grumpy Sausage or in the Runners' barracks. But nah. No, they were outside Alabaster, and the sharp and painful memory he had of Mishka honestly planning to kill his son -- that was fake. Not real. Aleksei had put it there, and then put a knife in beside it.

Goro was in the corner, meditating so he could fix it, and Mishka was getting out of his still-bloody clothes. Hansel made a grabbing motion towards Mishka with one hand, not quite okay being alone in the bed yet.

COYOTE

Mishka stripped off his shirt and breeches before noticing Hansel was awake-- then climbed back into bed with him, sliding under the covers. God. Now that he knew how quickly this could be taken it away, he wanted to get as much of it as he could.

Mishka covered one of Hansel's eyes and waved his hand in front of the other. "How's your vision, Hans?"

IZZY

Hansel grumbled. "S'fine." He curled his arm around Mishka to drag him in. He felt a little stronger than he had yesterday -- a little more able to manhandle his partners. Good.

COYOTE

Mishka scoffed. Hansel would say he was fine no matter what. He covered one eye again and held up three fingers as far away as he could while being grappled. “How many?”

IZZY

Briefly, Hansel considered fucking with him, but decided not to and docilely answered, "Three." Then he knotted his fingers into Mishka's hair to bring him in and kiss the top of his head three times.

COYOTE

Hm. “Let me scribble something down and hold it far away.”

IZZY

"Ishi, y'know I don't see so good far away anymore. Might have to grab my spyglass for me."

COYOTE

“Hm.” Mishka just huddled closer, then.

IZZY

Hansel made a pleased sound and wrapped both arms around him. Made it easier to focus on the present, and on reality. The present reality was that he still felt fuckin' awful, and dirty, though, and Mishka was tacky with sweat and blood that'd soaked through his undershirt, too.

"Oughta go to a bathhouse," he mumbled sleepily. "Or get a tub sent up." Yeah, that sounded better. Less having to move around. Valkur, he felt worse than when fuckin' Gruumsh got in him. He squeezed Mishka. "Hey. You sleep okay? Got your magic?"

COYOTE

“God, yes. Like a baby.” His kissed Hansel’s nose. “Why don’t I have a bath brought up for us? While Goro is working, I mean. Probably be a small tub, but the three of us can go one by one.”

IZZY

"Mm. S'good." He nodded. He watched to doze until then, but wanted to stay awake and stay with Mishka, too, be conscious as soon as Goro was done meditating to beckon him over. "Two of you could go at once, maybe. You s'pose if I shapeshift to somethin' small, all the dirt 'n blood stays? Then we all could." Ah, that'd be nice. Benefit of a bathhouse. Maybe the inn had one -- wouldn't be too far away. Might be worth it.

COYOTE

“I’d go for it. What d’you say, koshka?”

God, he just wanted to put this off. Was terrified of what else Aleks might’ve done that could be covered up. Knew it was stupid— he hadn’t had the opportunity to get to any of them, Mishka thought— but still.

But Hansel would feel better once that terrible memory was gone. They ought to do him first, Mishka supposed. Then check everyone else.

LINA

Goro closed his prayer book and snuffed out what was left of the incense. He gave Mishka an inscrutable look over his shoulder. "I'm clean."

COYOTE

“Suit yourself.” He’d go be naked with Hansel in the bathhouse alone. Shame.

IZZY

"Like bein' clean already's a reason to avoid a nice hot bath," Hansel grumbled. He sighed, though, and unfolded an arm to make grabbing motions at Goro, too.

LINA

Goro crawled to the bed and climbed on. He buried his face in Hansel's shoulder, and kept pushing against it, like he could burrow in. He swallowed, trying to keep his shit together. Like I just left the room for a minute. Son of a bitch.

IZZY

Hansel wrapped his arm around Goro and kissed his head contentedly. Hm. Fuck the bath, maybe. He could just go back to sleep.

He really fucking wanted Aleksei out of his head, though. Gnawed at him.

So he was quiet a second, enjoying it, then squeezed Goro and asked, "Can you ..."

LINA

Goro sat up, nodding. He didn't meet Hansel's eyes, just took his hand and squeezed it. He bowed his head and murmured the prayer still fresh in his mind from a moment ago.

Then he looked up, and touched the tips of his fingers to Hansel's temple.

IZZY

It was instant.

Hansel still had the memory Aleksei had put in him, but more than that -- he had the memory of Aleksei approaching him outside the inn, putting him in some sort of fucking trance, nudging him. Hadn't even had to tell him what to think, just made him imagine the worst fucking thing on his own, and that made Hansel feel sick and ashamed, somehow, like he'd just ... done this to himself. Like Aleksei had just convinced him to listen to and believe his worst fears.

But -- on top of that -- he remembered how that night had really gone. He and Mishka had argued, yeah, hadn't been pleased with each other, but they'd both been hurting, and they'd both been honest and raw, and Hansel had left knowing -- really knowing -- that Mishka wasn't gone. And the next time they'd seen each other, Hansel had kissed him, and it had been achingly new and nostalgic at the same time, and it had been real. It was all real.

He left out a breath -- one he felt like he'd been holding for hours and hours without even realizing. His shoulders relaxed, then he held Goro and Mishka both tight to his chest, kissing Goro's face and hair over and over again before switching to Mishka, headbutting him and nuzzling against him, kissing his temple and sighing in relief again.

Felt better. His body was still a little too freshly dead, but his mind -- that was better. Much better.

COYOTE

“All good?” Mishka said, touching him lightly. “Nothing else hiding in there?”

IZZY

"All good," Hansel murmured. "All good."

LINA

God. Such a quick and simple thing to do, in the end. Goro tried not to be irritated with himself for not having the spell prepared sooner. He couldn't have known. He hardly ever had reason to use it.

He buried his face in Hansel's shoulder again. After a moment, he turned, cracking one eye at Mishka. "D'you suppose... Aleks. You. I could check you for a block, too. Just to be sure."

COYOTE

“Oh yes. Absolutely. Who knows with that son-of-a-bitch. Y’know, I wonder if this is how people feel dealing with me.” An invisible, teleporting, mind-reading motherfucker who could control people and wanted to fuck with his enemies as much as possible.

It was probably how Hansel felt when they were divorced. God. Mishka shut up.

Mishka remembered he was changing clothes and got up to finish. “Yeah, go ahead.”

IZZY

Since Mishka'd gotten up and halved the weight on Hansel, he went ahead and pushed himself a little more upright, pulling Goro along to rest against his chest as he rested his back against the headboard. He yawned and scrubbed at his face, dried flecks of blood coming away on his hand. He grunted at the sight in mild annoyance, and as soon as Mishka was dressed, beckoned him back over.

Hopefully there was nothing. They'd just cleared up the fuckery Aleksei had done to Mishka before -- surely he hadn't had a fucking chance. But Hansel held Mishka protectively and kissed his head, glowering towards the window. Just in case.

COYOTE

Mishka settled comfortably so he was sitting in front of Goro but still leaning on Hansel a bit— just so Hansel could feel his weight.

It was— weird how Aleks didn’t seem interested in talking to him for very long, after thirty years.

LINA

Goro hesitated a moment. The last shit he'd cleared for Mishka had been fucking traumatizing. For Hansel, the spell had only brought him relief, but for Mishka...

Goro chewed his lip. He glanced at Hansel. Looked like he was thinking kind of the same thing, and was prepared for it. Planning to hold him through it.

Goro took Mishka's hand and squeezed it, just like he'd done to Hansel a minute ago. Not part of the damn spell, just... just to do it.

He prayed, then touched Mishka's temple.

COYOTE

Mishka never got used to the sensation of having his memories fixed.

When he was little, there used to be this game with two sketches— and the pictures were almost identical, but there were subtle differences. A wine glass out of place. A missing person. A different shade of tablecloth. And the game was to go through and find all the differences and name them.

This felt like that. Careful going back and forth, trying to find what Aleksei fucked up this time.

He met Aleksei. At court.

“I ran into him a month ago,” Mishka said, dazed. “At... at court. Right after you fixed my memories the last time. And he... he asked what my husband’s name was, and... called me little one, and... kissed me on the mouth.” Mishka’s hand fluttered up to touch his lips.

IZZY

Hansel's gut burned. Right after they'd finally fucking gotten Aleksei out of Mishka's head -- the motherfucker found him again. If he'd known -- if he'd just known, if he could have done something, if he had protected Mishka -- a hundred fucking scenarios a day washed through his head of ways his family might be hurt, and still he had fucking blind spots.

He could see this one now. He was gonna see its fucking entrails, soon enough.

He gently pulled Mishka's hand away and kissed his knuckles, making his voice stay soft when he wanted to snarl and spit. That'd be for later. "Okay," he said. He wrapped around Mishka to settle him closer, and kissed his head. "S'okay. I've got you now, khochav. I've got you."

LINA

Goro chewed on his lip again. Fuck's sake. He'd been fully aware there might be a new memory block, but somehow he still hadn't expected it. What kind of person just fucking ran around, fucking with people's memories all the fucking time? Were they gonna have to start having Goro cast this spell on a regular fucking basis, just to make sure?

"So," Goro said, "when we gonna kill him?"

COYOTE

“Oh, absolutely. In the least complicated way possible. As soon as possible,” Mishka said.

His eyes fell on Goro’s ring— the one he got from Diva. He nudged Goro, looking at it.

LINA

"What?"

COYOTE

“Maybe you should... y’know. I mean. What if— y’know.”

LINA

"What?"

IZZY

"If he got in your head, too. Even with the ring."

LINA

"That's--it's--" Goro frowned. "Wearing this doesn't prevent memory modification. That's a charming spell, not mind reading."

COYOTE

Mishka nodded. That made sense. His fingers twitched, wanting to pinch himself— What if he did something to Goro, too? How did he know what to change? How did he know so much about what was going on? What if he got someone else, did something else—

“He probably didn’t get you,” Mishka said, after a moment. “You’d be the most difficult person in the world to scam.”

LINA

Goro frowned, turning the ring on his finger. "What's he look like? Aleksei."

COYOTE

“Full-blood elf. Long black hair, kind’ve thick. Medium skin tone. Average weight and height. No particular interest in jewelry or expensive clothing, but he’ll wear it at court. He likes kind’ve— blending into places. He’s not... delicate looking like most elves are. He’s the weight and stature of— more like a human, I suppose. His family are mostly military types.”

LINA

Sounded generic as fuck, except for the not-delicate part. Goro still wasn't sure he'd recognize the guy if he saw him. Might just start giving the stink eye to every military-looking fuck he saw in Alabaster--but then, he'd pretty much been doing that anyway.

He shrugged. "Had a pretty normal day yesterday. Didn't talk to anyone who gave me a bad feeling, or anything."

Maybe on another day, when he was safe at home and had nothing he needed to be doing. For now, it felt like a waste of magic.

IZZY

Hansel made an mmf sound.

COYOTE

Mishka nodded.

IZZY

Hansel nodded also.

COYOTE

It felt like they'd been having this conversation for days. Mishka shifted over to force himself into Hansel's lap, then began to pet Goro's hair, which seemed like a good move, whatever they were even talking about anymore.

LINA

Goro started chewing on his thumbnail.

"Um," he said around it. "Can I... can I have the hand back?"

COYOTE

Mishka nodded. He took the hand out've his pocket where he'd left it last night, then-- still a bit unsettled by the ghastly thing-- offered it to Goro, dangling it by one finger. "Thank you," he said.

He should've fucking used it when Aleksei turned up. Might've given them more time. Stupid.

LINA

Goro grabbed it from him and shoved it into his pocket, feeling safer once it was there. "'Course," he mumbled.

IZZY

Hansel made a quiet pleased sound. He hadn't known Goro'd given Mishka something to defend himself with. That was good. Could've been fuckin' terrible if it'd all been true, and Mishka had been a traitor, and all -- had to've been hard for Goro to go out on that limb.

He snuggled Goro closer and kissed his head, shedding flakes of dried blood. Excellent karish. So brave.

COYOTE

“You know what we need?” Mishka said suddenly. “Like, a code word. In case one of us ever gets kidnapped and replaced with a doppelganger.”

LINA

"Thought we already had one of those," Goro said. Though admittedly, he couldn't remember what it was.

IZZY

"Mishka, I love you so much, but code words ain't the solution to everything." Hansel petted his hair, eyes closed. "Could just be somethin' only we know."

COYOTE

“True. Maybe it’s this conversation. Maybe that’s the secret only we know. I’ll ask, what’s the code word? And Goro will say, There is no codeword. Hansel says codewords are dumb.”

IZZY

"Hey now. Never said they were dumb."

LINA

"Having a special question and a special answer is pretty much the same damn thing," Goro pointed out.

COYOTE

“So we’re agreed. If I ever ask you people what the codeword is, the response is codewords are dumb. Ah no, that’s stupid. What about... like...”

IZZY

"The codeword," Hansel provided helpfully, "oughta be codeword. No one'd ever fuckin' guess."

LINA

"No. Ahuv, that's bad," Goro said gently. "That's a real fucking transparent plan."

COYOTE

“It’s true. I was impersonating someone once, and somebody asked me what the codeword was, so I said codeword just on the off-chance somebody thought they were being funny. And it was. It worked. I killed that guy, Hans.” He traced idle loops on Hansel’s arm.

IZZY

"Huh." Hansel considered this information. "A'right, well, we just need to not get killed if that happens, then. That ain't hard."

LINA

Goro made an uncertain sound. "All three of us have died at least once, now. We're not very good at not getting killed."

IZZY

"Psh. I've not died a hell of a lot more times than I have died."

COYOTE

“Hans. No.”

IZZY

"Psshh."

LINA

Goro tensed a little. That was true for all of them, but it somehow made it worse to think about. He'd used the Leech three times, and the only time it'd done him in was the one time he hadn't kind of been hoping...

He rubbed a hand vigorously over his face. Fuckin'. Nah. Not important. He twisted around and sat up, and did his first real examination of Hansel's left eye. The area was still filthy and bloody, so he couldn't get a good look at the skin surrounding it, but his eyeball--Goro put two fingers around it to tug the lid open wider. The skin twitched under his touch, reflexively wanting to close. Good sign. Goro put his other hand over Hansel's right eye, and moved his face around in a circle, figuring Hansel would track that more readily than if Goro held up a finger or something.

And sure enough, Hansel's left eye followed his movements. Goro leaned in, examining the eye as close as he possibly could, searching for a mark. Couldn't see a thing.

"Oh, fuck yeah, I'm good," he said under his breath.

IZZY

Hansel waited patiently until Goro seemed like he was done and satisfied, then pulled him in closer by the collar of his robes to kiss him.

"Baths," he decreed.

COYOTE

"Home," Mishka said, batting at him.

LINA

"I want the fuck outta this place," Goro agreed.

IZZY

Hansel grunted in agreement.

COYOTE

--

Roddy was glad to see him. Larkin was-- well, frankly, less so, but Goro talked her down before she shot him.

Mishka drew the teleportation circle outside with his emerald chalk. The back of his neck kept prickling while he was here, and he fucking hated it: He kept wondering if that baker on the street corner was Aleks in disguise, or someone else trying to hurt him, another enemy, someone with an agenda, anyone with an agenda-- coming to fuck with his loved ones, scaring Goro, breaking Hansel--

The problem with Alabaster was, this was normal, here. There were twenty-five noble families, each ranked by the number and power of spellcasters in the family, and the only way to move up was generally to sabotage each other. Assassinate the head of one family. Poison someone to weaken their power. Once, when Mishka was little, an entire clan was wiped out during an unfortunate hunting accident. Everyone knew it was the work of another noble family and nobody ever proved it.

Everyone had an agenda. Anyone being kind had a motive.

Inside Alabaster, Mishka's paranoia was justified. A week ago, My ex-boyfriend came back from the dead, hates me, and is trying to turn all my loved ones against me was insane. In Alabaster, it was just fucking reality.

He never realized how much it bothered him.

It was such a relief to get home. As soon as they got back and dispersed, Mishka leaned heavily against Hansel, enjoying his support for a moment before guiltily remembering Hansel was exhausted and pulling away.

IZZY

Hansel pulled Mishka back in, wrapping both arms around him and kissing the top of his head -- kind of leaning on him  for support, kind of supporting him, like when you made a big triangle tower out of playing cards. They could lean on each other.

Now that he was back in the castle, flopping down in his own bed sounded good. Baths, though. Yeah.

He made no move towards the baths.

LINA

"Baths?" Goro took a step that way and jerked his head for them to follow.

COYOTE

Mishka pushed on Hansel, attempting to guide him towards the blessedly hot water. And soap.

IZZY

Grumbling good-naturedly, Hansel went along with this, keeping just one arm around Mishka so he could hook the other one around Goro along the way, kissing the top of his head, too. He wasn't moving fast, but it was faster than being dead.

When they reached the baths, he went ahead and locked the door for privacy, and reluctantly let go of the two of them to start dragging his clothes off.

LINA

Goro stepped away and pulled his own clothes off, draping them over a bench and leaving all his jewelry beside it, except his two rings.

He grabbed a rag, climbed gracelessly into the water, and started scrubbing himself.

COYOTE

"Goro, I need to teach you how to enjoy things."

LINA

Goro tossed him a scowl and kept scrubbing.

IZZY

"Pfff." Hansel ambled over and dropped down into the hot water, sinking down to his chin with a contented sigh. He reached out to drag Goro closer, stole his washcloth away from him, and started scrubbing his back, all firm and deep like he liked.

He tilted his head for Mishka to hurry up and join them.

COYOTE

Mishka leisurely took off his clothes, because that's how you did things when you enjoyed them: Leisurely. He made sure he was within Goro's line of sight so Goro could see. Obviously Goro needed someone to set an example for him.

LINA

Goro muttered a weak protest when Hansel took the rag away, but was quickly placated when Hansel started scrubbing. His eyes drifted half-closed in contentment. He wondered why the hell Mishka was taking so long to get in the water. Maybe he didn't want to wrinkle his clothes, or some shit.

IZZY

After scrubbing for a moment, Hansel leaned in to kiss Goro's shoulder and pass his washcloth back to him, then sunk down to relax and enjoy the warmth of the bath, and appreciatively watch Mishka undress.

COYOTE

Mishka grinned at Hansel. Humming, pleased, he sat down by the bath and slid all the way into the water to wet his hair.

LINA

Goro took the washcloth back and rinsed it under the water, rubbing it against itself to get it nice and fresh. He turned around to climb on Hansel's lap, facing him. He wrung the cloth out over Hansel's head, trickling warm water into his hair. Then he wet it again and began carefully cleaning the dried blood from around Hansel's eye. Still needed to get a proper look at how the whole area had healed up.

IZZY

Hansel gave a pleased mmf at the attention, eyes closed. When Goro started messing around near his eye again, he could feel the fretty energy coming off Goro, and cracked the other eye open to look at him.

"Goro, s'fine," he murmured. "I'm fine. Like you said, you did fuckin' good. 'Course you did."

LINA

Goro grumbled. Hansel's face wasn't entirely cleaned off yet, but Goro tossed the rag aside so he could hug him. Press their chests together, rest his head on Hansel's shoulder, and squeeze him tight.

When Hansel had died, Goro had gone straight into some kinda survival mode, mostly ignoring the screaming flood of emotion in his head so he could do what needed to be done. And as soon as Hansel was back, it'd been another crisis of having to find and protect Mishka. Then Goro had pretty much been too exhausted to do anything but go to sleep, and when he woke up, it was straight to preparing his magic for fixing Hansel and Mishka's heads.

Just--fuck. He hadn't really let himself slow down and feel anything since this whole mess started. He pushed his face into the crook of Hansel's neck, clinging to him until his breath came easier. Alright. Okay.

All back to normal. All good.

COYOTE

Mishka watched them, pleased.

He liked watching them, sometimes: The way Goro softened and folded into Hansel, still a little clumsily, like he didn’t know how, wasn’t used to it, but needed it badly. The way Hansel rested his face against Goro’s head like a man seeking respite at the end of a long day.

It felt— intrusive, somehow, to watch, like catching a glimpse of something rare and intimate most people were not meant to witness. So Mishka made sure not to stare too long and went to wash the dirt and grime out of his hair. He’d need to work oil and lotion into it once he was done, then let it sit before washing it out.

IZZY

Hansel held Goro and kissed his hair, stroking his back as Goro clung to him. He might grumble a little about the inspection, but he wasn't gonna complain about this part -- he sure fuckin' knew how bad Goro must need to press against him and feel his heart beating, calm and steady.

He thought briefly about the knife coming for his face, and the inability to move, to defend himself or Mishka, the realization -- then the blades and lightning -- then the cool and calm, the moonlit sea.

He wondered if it was strange that he'd seen only Serena, not Selune. Goro had seen Mask. But he supposed Gavi hadn't seen Gruumsh. Maybe it was normal. Maybe there wasn't any such thing as normal in these situations.

After a moment, he sighed into Goro's hair and reached reluctantly for the washcloth again, squeezing it out and intending to get clean before the warm water and presence of his husband and husband-to-be relaxed him too much. He spotted Mishka washing his hair, though, and nodded to him.

"Hey, cap'n. C'mere. I'll take care of your hair."

It was a task, especially when Mishka's hair was particularly long -- sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't -- mask and all -- but Hansel always liked doing it. All careful not to pull, methodical and gentle with a whalebone comb to tease out any tangles. The end result was always worth it, like getting to run his husband's hair through his fingers for a long time wasn't its own reward.

COYOTE

Mishka obediently shifted closer.

IZZY

Hansel hooked Mishka around the waist -- not that he wasn't close enough, just that he was never actually close enough -- then started happily slipping his fingers through Mishka's hair, worrying out the dirt and any knots, starting at the ends and working up until he was massaging Mishka's scalp and able to run his hands, comb-like through the length of it as easily as if it were shimmering smoke.

COYOTE

Mishka picked leaves and twigs out of his hair, still humming faintly. He pushed in to Hansel’s hands, letting him do it, lulled by the hot water and petting and steam.

He needed to wash Hansel’s beard. Make sure everything was good and clean.

“You hands are so talented,” Mishka said indulgently.

LINA

Goro snorted lightly against Hansel's neck.

COYOTE

“Oh, you don’t think so?”

LINA

"Hm. Dunno." Goro reached a hand up to yank his fingers through his own hair. "I'd need a demonstration."

IZZY

Hansel glanced at him, amused. "All right. Fuckin' get in here, then."

LINA

Goro scooched around to the front, still clutching at Hansel, and offered his head for petting.

IZZY

Hansel kissed Mishka's head, then started on Goro's. His hair was much shorter -- less to glide through -- but thick and keen to cling to Hansel's fingers in flips and waves. He had to work at it a little harder to get it nice and saturated, to work the grime out, but it didn't take as long overall since there was so much less. Pretty soon he was just rubbing and scratching Goro's scalp, tangling his fingers in the hair contentedly. It was soothing.

COYOTE

Ha. Joyless motherfucker looked like he was enjoying that. Mishka liked the idea of teaching Goro to associate bathing and eating with good things.

Mishka went back to what he was doing. Scrubbing himself down to get all the blood and dirt off; filing his nails to make them sharp. He scrubbed the last of the dirt off his face.

LINA

Ah, Goro was fucking weak to this shit. It was kind of embarrassing. He wondered how long it was gonna take Hansel and Mishka to notice that scratching at his scalp just immediately made him all limp and drowsy and happy. Terrible.

His eyes drifted open and closed a few times. At one point he opened them to find Mishka rinsing off his face, and he realized that what he'd assumed was a dirt smudge along Mishka's jaw was actually a bruise.

"Mmm," he grunted, too relaxed to speak yet. He pointed at Mishka and made a grabbing motion.

IZZY

Hansel believed he and Goro might like him playing with Goro's hair about an equal amount, judging by how Goro went all wobbly over it. He would've been smug some other time, maybe, but for now he was just quietly pleased, closing his eyes for a bit -- not really intending to, it just kinda happened.

He opened them back when Goro made a noise, and looked up lazily to see that Mishka had cleaned his face up. His perfect freckly skin was marked by a bruise against the left side of his jaw. A bruise the size of Hansel's fist. His gut tightened; he wasn't going to make this about him, and his guilt, and his apology. Goro was offering grabby hands at Mishka, intending to heal him, no doubt, but Hansel quelled him with a kiss to the head. He was the one who'd done the damage. His magic wasn't up to the standards of a cleric, or of a proper druid like the Lady, but he could do that much -- he could clean up his own mess.

So he shifted away from Goro to go to Mishka, frowning a bit despite himself -- wasn't about him, he just couldn't stand to see Mishka hurt -- and cupped Mishka's face in one hand, covering the bruise. He remembered being annoyed at Serena sometimes, for touching Mishka to heal him, though he supposed now it was a matter of what spells she had on tap. For him, though, it was hard to imagine not touching someone to heal them -- he needed to feel the warmth of the skin, the angrier heat of a wound, and he need to focus.

He focused on Mishka's face for a moment -- on his eyes, on his freckles, on the sleek pale knives of his wet hair -- and leaned in to kiss him, threading green-gold magic between them like mending a rip and carefully pulling the stitches firm. Simple and easy as that.

Hansel could fix this.

COYOTE

Mishka’s breath hitched, though he tried to hide it— he always tried to hide it— and he leaned into Hansel’s touch a little desperately. Every time they touched it felt like it’d been too long; a permanent after-effect, he supposed, from being separated for two years and desperately missing him every day.

He didn’t really notice the flickering green and gold light at first. Wasn’t important.

But the funny ache on the side of his face eased. Mishka rubbed his jaw, then immediately leaned back in for another kiss.

LINA

Psh. Sappy. Goro sank in up to his chin and fished around for the washcloth to keep scrubbing himself.

IZZY

Hansel couldn't help grinning, as tired and sore as he was, as much as there was still that voice in the back of his head that wanted him to feel terrible and guilty -- monstrous -- the kind of person whose very existence his own family regretted -- for hitting Mishka in the first place.

No, that just kind of melted away when Mishka came back in.

He slipped his hand down from Mishka's cheek to fold both arms around his waist, and sunk down in the water a bit more, comfortably. All he had in him was to be gentle, now, careful, like he was making up for it. Mishka didn't work that way, all the time, but it was all right -- Hansel could make it up to him in other ways later.

He'd felt fucking sick, in the pit of his stomach, when Mishka had faintly said that Aleksei kissed him. Worse than being struck, somehow. But Hansel could try to fix that, too, tenderly and slowly, and working up until he made Mishka forget that Aleksei had ever touched him at all -- not in the poisonous way that motherfucker had of making Mishka forget things, but just by treating him so well that Aleksei was was a fading, distant memory. He'd be in the past, like he fucking should have stayed.

Hansel would put Aleksei back in the ground where he belonged, but this was more important.

COYOTE

Mishka sighed happily and settled in Hansel's lap, content there for now. He supposed it was weird, how fast he was willing to forgive and forget, but-- it wasn't like it was Hansel's fucking fault.

Mishka would protect him from being fucked with again.

"I keep thinking about darling Prince Rina," Mishka said, musing almost to himself. "Y'know, apparently one of the things Aleks altered was-- well, he suggested I stay away from court, apparently. Suggested it didn't suite me." Mishka idly drew designs on Hansel's arm with the tip of one sharp nail. "I think he was right, though. Motherfucker knows me pretty well, y'know. I don't think I'm cut from the right cloth, so t'speak. Besides, given the horrific acts I'm likely to commit down the road, I don't think they'd have me as a Spymaster."

His voice softened, a little. "I think I'd just... rather be here." He caught Goro's wrist and gently attempted to pull him closer. "Committing unspeakable crimes with you both."

LINA

Goro let himself be pulled closer. "Well, great," he said, almost to himself. "Now I gotta find someone else to be Spymaster." He started gnawing on his thumbnail, already pondering possibilities.

IZZY

Hansel snorted. He pulled Goro's hand away from his mouth, and looped both their arms around him, like they were dancing and he was twirling Goro, but just settled him against both himself and Mishka instead.

"Fuckin' single-minded motherfucker." He petted Mishka's hair absently. "Turn it off for a moment, eh? Relax, ahuv." He kissed Mishka's head and slouched down, finding the perfect level of comfort with one husband on his lap and one husband-to-be nestled against his side.

COYOTE

"Yeah. That."

LINA

Goro waited until he thought Hansel might not be paying attention anymore, then started chewing his nail again.

IZZY

Hansel was paying attention, and he patiently took Goro's hand out of his mouth and bit down on it himself. Lightly. Just enough to hold it there.

COYOTE

Mishka started to muse out loud. "What if we... gave you wine and fed you grapes. Would that make you enjoy bathing?"

LINA

Goro tried not to squirm and get his thumb back from Hansel's teeth, and he really tried hard not to stick his other hand in his mouth. Alright, they were both on his case about this. Obviously he needed to try it their way. "Uh. I don't... I don't really like wine. Grapes? What's that supposed--"

He bit himself off. They were going to think he was being difficult. He just didn't get it. "I don't get it," he muttered, flushing not just from the heat of the water.

IZZY

Hansel cuddled him a little harder and kissed the top of his head. "Just tryin' to have a good time, is all. Relax. Not have to think about shit. Y'know. Fuckin' leisure, and all." He started rubbing Goro's back, digging his fingertips in.

COYOTE

"You're not doing anything wrong. What if we just like seeing you enjoy yourself, chaveri?"

LINA

Goro leaned into Hansel's hands, enjoying the massage, at least. "Eh. Uh. Maybe you two could enjoy yourself, and I'll keep thinkin'."

IZZY

"Pfff." Hansel gave him a fond look, then rolled his eyes at Mishka, smiling a bit. "A'right. Think aloud, though. So I can enjoy myself." Then he gave Mishka a quick kiss and settled his chin on Mishka's shoulder, closing his eyes.

He liked the idea of Mishka not being at court so much. Having more of him, like there was ever enough. Maybe Mishka could do some mercenary work with him, then -- he missed that, missed working with Mishka. He mulled that over dreamily, still rubbing Goro's back and tracing idle patterns against Mishka's skin with one thumb.

COYOTE

Mishka wanted to make more suggestions-- What if Hansel dunked your head underwater until you said you were having a good time? What if I showed you how long I can hold my breath?-- but he didn't want to push it. Didn't want to make Goro uncomfortable. Careful. Careful.

So instead, he rinsed the last of the lotion and oil out of his hair. "It'd be rather convenient if we found someone else to toss their hat in the ring, Spymaster-wise."

LINA

"Mmf." Goro had closed his eyes, relaxing more into Hansel's touch. He frowned. "Or maybe I should just fuckin'... give it up. Quit Skyport altogether." He rarely enjoyed going back there, nowadays. Didn't feel like home anymore. He wasn't sure it ever had--more like a place he was stuck, not allowed to go home from.

IZZY

"Thought you liked Skyport," Hansel commented. He wasn't sure if he had any attachment to the place himself, apart from living near it, and some of the people he cared for living there. "'Side from the church, and all."

LINA

Goro grumbled noncommittally. "Not much to like about it. Just familiar. Was all I ever had to care about."

COYOTE

“Where would you go?” Mishka said idly. “If you could go anywhere. Say, if you had a sorcerer to teleport you about to strange places.”

LINA

Goro opened his eyes. He blinked. "Uh. Nowhere. I'd just stay here. If... that's where everyone else was."

IZZY

Hansel made a low, pleased sound. "S'how I always felt about it. Liked movin' around an' seein' new shit, so long as my family was with me."

He squeezed Mishka. He would miss the novelty and the adventure of being out at sea if not for the fact that he had plenty of that on land, now, too. So he only missed the sea for itself, he supposed, as if that was only some minor loss.

COYOTE

“Mm. I suppose Larkin will want to stay here permanently. Not a traveler, that one.” And he knew Goro would want to stay where she was.

LINA

Goro let out a noise somewhere between a groan and a whimper. "I know. I wish... ah, whatever." He dunked a hand under the water and scrubbed it over his face.

IZZY

Hansel pushed his hair back gently and kissed his forehead. "Maybe she'd like to go sailin'," he said, drowsy. "Us and Kheman could take her. Maybe she'd like it better."

COYOTE

“Oh, Kheman,” Mishka murmured, eyes drifting shut. The water felt cool, so he sent out a shiver of magical heat into the water.

LINA

Confident that enough time had passed now for him to escape scrutiny, Goro started chewing his thumbnail again.

IZZY

Hansel pulled it away, peering at him. He laced his fingers between Goro's. "Hey. Why d'you do that, ahuv?"

LINA

Goro shrugged. "Gotta do something." He was grinding his teeth a little, already.

IZZY

Hm. He let go of Goro's hand to tug at one of the bands on his wrist -- a thicker length of rope than twine, if still no heavy-duty rigging. It was an awkward length for using for much of anything, so after he'd sheared off what he needed, he just looped the excess around his wrist a couple times, figuring he'd come up with something.

Untying it was a little tricky, what with it being damp, but he managed to work it off and put it into Goro's hand. "Just don't fuckin chew on yourself, a'right?" he ordered gently, and kissed Goro's temple, and rested his head on Mishka's shoulder again.

LINA

Goro frowned at the piece of... twine, or rope, or whatever the hell. He wasn't quite sure what Hansel had in mind, but he stuck it in his mouth and started chewing it. Yeah, sure. That'd do.

COYOTE

Mishka nudged Hansel. “Karish.”

IZZY

"Heheh. Cute little karish," Hansel agreed, grinning.

LINA

Goro scowled a little, embarrassed, but kept chewing.

COYOTE

“Hahah. I’ll give you something to chew on— wait, no. No. God.”

IZZY

Hansel snickered.

LINA

Goro stopped chewing. He took the string out of his mouth and clamped his mouth shut grimly.

IZZY

"Tov me'at krishi," Hansel crooned, and nudged him, then squeezed him hard and kissed his head. "We ain't laughin' at you, ahuv. S'just cute. So bitey. So good." He nuzzled into Goro's springy, damp hair.

LINA

Goro bit the inside of his cheek to hide his grin. He nudged forward against Hansel's shoulder--the one the actual shark had bitten--and chomped on a mouthful of it.

IZZY

"Mm." Hansel nodded sagely. "Karish."

LINA

Goro chomped even harder and growled, wiggling like he was a dog chewing on a bone. Hansel not being able to feel shit properly in that shoulder was fun, sometimes.

IZZY

Hansel petted his head. "God, you're so fuckin' cute. Fuckin' adorable," he said, sleepy and indulgent. "You can chew on me all you like, motek. Just stop chewin' on yourself. Karish. Tov krishi."

LINA

Goro chomped until he was satisfied, then pulled back and kissed the skin a few times where he'd left bright red bite marks. Hadn't broken the skin, but it'd probably bruise. He glanced at Mishka, wondering if Mishka thought Goro gnawing on his husband was fucking weird.

Well. It was weird. Goro didn't fucking know why he felt like biting Hansel. He just did.

COYOTE

Mishka watched, pleased and satisfied. When Goro looked at him, Mishka looked back without looking away.

LINA

Goro wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand. Kind of pointless, since his hand was wet, but eh.

"I could, uh. I could bite you, too, if you want."

IZZY

Hansel snorted quietly. He wasn't sure if Mishka wanted anyone but Hansel biting him, but the offer was fuckin' charming.

COYOTE

Mishka pulled back a little, automatically.

He was trying to stay... emotionally distant, and the idea of Goro gnawing on him was a little too cute. A little too nice. A little too good.

He immediately felt guilty for pulling away, though; he worried the message he was sending was biting people is weird, and you’re weird, and I don’t like you.

“Sorry,” Mishka said, after a moment. “Hansel is the only person allowed to gnaw on me.”

LINA

"Mm," Goro agreed. He felt like he should have known that. He stuck the string in his mouth again and kept chewing, sinking lower into the water, really wishing all the sudden he wasn't fucking naked. Pff.

IZZY

Hansel went back to massaging Goro's back, pleased he was chomping on the rope instead of himself, anyway. Part of him felt bad that Goro might feel ... excluded, but part of him was also smug and satisfied that only he got certain parts of Mishka. Mishka was complicated and tricky, and Goro was, too, but they'd both ended up letting Hansel in. Thinking about that quieted the gut-deep insistence that he was awful, useless, monstrous, sometimes, was all. Couldn't be all bad.

Mostly he just loved them both so goddamn much, though, and squeezed them both tight against him -- as tight as he could, in his spent and drowsy state -- and then kissed Goro's temple and hair a few times before planting his face against Mishka's shoulder contentedly.

"Love you," he mumbled. "Shemeshi e khochavim. So much."

COYOTE

“You know, at some point we should get out of the water. Have you ever seen what happens to a man when he’s trapped in water too long?”

LINA

Goro paused chewing so he could kiss Hansel's shoulder. He wanted out--wanted to get some damn clothes on--but he wasn't eager to rush Hansel when Hansel was clearly so happy and relaxed. "What? Raisin fingers?"

COYOTE

“It depends on how cold the water is,” Mishka said idly. “If it’s below body temperature, you usually just die of hypothermia after a day. Probably not the worst way to die. If you stay in water for days, your skin starts to slough off and your flesh starts to, y’know, swell. Then eventually you die of infection. One time, though, there was a fellow I didn’t like. Remember that one guy, Hansel? The navy captain? So we— hm. Maybe this isn’t romantic talk.”

IZZY

"Nah, nah," Hansel murmured. "I wanna hear how you tell it this time. Last time y'said I pinned him in a pond with my trident an' you heated it up 'til he boiled to death. Was brutal," he said approvingly.

COYOTE

“Haha, yeah,” Mishka said. “This was just after Hansel and I got married... a navy captain found out about the marriage and figured it’d be easier to arrest Hansel than me... which, frankly, was a gross miscalculation on his part. We made port on Patch Island one night, and they laid a trap for Hansel while he was off by himself. He killed about half of them before they managed to hit him with a few sedative-laced crossbow bolts, then dragged him off. And, silly me, when I came and saw all the blood I thought he was dead, so naturally I was displeased... So I found the navy captain who did it, found a nice little tide pool full of water, then tied him up, dumped him in the water, and boiled him in it. Anyway, then the guy started screaming about how Hansel was still alive and they only took him ransom to try and use against me as a hostage or something. Fucking stupid plan. So— haha, naturally Serena just used a spell to locate Hansel— god, this navy captain was dumb— so I popped in, grabbed Hansel, and popped out.

“Anyway, this story’s getting kind of long,” Mishka said. “Short version is, yeah, we boiled him alive. All his skin came off. And that, koshka, is what happens when you stay in hot water too long.”

Hm. Now he felt mildly embarrassed. Going off on weird tangents.

LINA

Goro stared at Mishka for a bit. "You ever boil water by accident?"

COYOTE

“If I say yes, you’re never gonna bathe with me again, huh.”

LINA

Goro just kept staring.

COYOTE

“I set Hansel on fire in bed once,” Mishka said. For his own amusement, he sent a wave of heat radiating off his body into the water.

IZZY

"Psh, s'been more'n once, khochav," Hansel said without budging or opening his eyes

LINA

Goro scoffed under his breath. "Yeah, I'm fuckin' clean enough, I think." He wiggled away to climb out of the water.

COYOTE

Mishka made a sad noise. He didn’t budge from under Hansel’s arm, though. Felt too good to be there.

For a while, yesterday, he thought he’d never get to be there again.

IZZY

Hansel grumbled and wrapped both arms around Mishka, then, cuddling him determinedly like he might decide he'd had enough, too. He flicked his fingers without looking, convincing droplets of water to leap out and splash Goro.

LINA

"Psh." Goro hurried further from the edge of the pool, grabbed a towel and hastily dried himself off. He squirmed back into his clothes and climbed onto a bench to sit, curled around his knees, and put his wristbands on.

IZZY

Hansel kept cuddling Mishka, idly rubbing his cheek against Mishka's hair for a moment. He supposed, though, that if he was going to drift off like he felt like doing, it'd be better to do it in bed.

He kissed Mishka's hair. "I demand that you pop us straight up to bed," he murmured, far too sleepy to sound fuckin' authoritative. "For naps." He cracked an eye at Goro. "Goro can get our clothes. I'll dry us off up there." He closed his eye and went back to snuggling, adding, "Magic."

COYOTE

“Lazy,” Mishka scoffed. Then he shrugged and cracked them both away.