Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Oh you’re a fancy boy!” I say, coming to the last of the group that Ashton is running with. And it’s true, the blue air genasi in front of me is decked out to the nines. How they haven’t been pick pocketed and had that diamond on their breastplate stolen is a fucking miracle to me. They’re six foot, maybe six one. Their hair is a long ombre from black at the top to white at the bottom. I’m fucked. My brains not gonna let this one go.

“Hello.” They say, waving a slight bit at me. Their voice sounds slightly nervous, maybe they’re just a shy person. Probably sheltered. Wouldn’t want daddy's money to get themself hurt doing something stupid in their childhood. Lucky bastard.

“They got people from money.” I say, more to Ashton than anybody else, as I pick up more detail about them. They have a lute with one too many tuning pegs attached to their back. Their boots have little wings on them. This genasi has probably never wanted for anything in their life. How the fuck did they end up working with Ashton of all beings?

Why does it always have to be fucking genasi that pique my interest? Couldn’t have been the purple haired lady or the halfling, could it, brain? You just had to go do a stupid.

“Alright, well, great. Welcome. Find a chair. If you can’t find one, make one. Steal one. I don’t care. I’m gonna get back to work.” I say, forcing some nonchalance into my voice, turning back to my work with the new intent to mash as many things as possible into one creation. Or I would have if Ashton wouldn't have started talking.

“I’ve got two things for you before you go!” Ashton says, and I sigh outwardly.

“I’m not going, I’m back to… Yeah, what”

“Be on the lookout, we apparently have run into some problems,” No fucking surprise there. “With some guy, it's a dwarf named Dugger. I don’t know if that name rings a bell.”

“I don’t know a Dugger.”

“Also,” With my saying no to knowing whoever they got themself in trouble with Ashton’s head hits their fists with a force that probably should have caused some damage. “I need to get a hold of somebody from the Corsairs.” I throw a look of surprise and concern to Ashton.

“I knew you were gonna make that look.”

“What are you getting mixed in with, Ashton? What- come on.” If my hat were off I would have run my fingers through my hair, he doesn’t need to be getting mixed in with them. He doesn’t need to be dragging the fancy looking genasi into the Corsairs shit.

“Some shits been going down. That’s why I’m gonna be not here for a few days, maybe longer. I’m just gonna keep my shit out of your shit.” If these people weren’t here I would kick their ass so hard they wouldn’t be able to get out of a bed for a fucking week.

“Your fucking quota is to keep your head down, like what the-”

“Well, the head got up, and the head got hit, and uh, now we’re in some fucking trouble.” No fucking kidding Ashton. Getting the Corsairs involved in whatever the fuck this is? You already have the Clasp on your ass, I’m surprised no one else has picked that up and now you’re gonna piss off a second group?

“Yeah, apparently you took quite a hit on it.” I force myself to regain my own composure, “Hey, look,” I put my hands up in a defensive way, “all I’m saying is if you’re gonna get involved with stuff, don’t bring it back here please.”

“That’s why I’m getting out! It’s just I know you know everybody, so you must know somebody. If you know somebody, figure out a way to let them know I’m looking without letting them know that you know that I’m looking so that you don’t get in trouble” Now I’m thinking through everyone I’ve ever interacted with, trying to find some type of under the surface connection to the group Ashton for some reason wants to go provoke. But I keep getting distracted by the blue one, how they keep fidgeting, how they look to the others as Ashton and I keep bickering between the two of us. To me, to Ashton, to Letters, it's just a normal day. I doubt they have seen much in terms of friendly fighting like this. “There’s gotta be a middle man somewhere who can do this?” That’s when it clicks, that's when I remember who I know that Ashton would also know, but he’s not gonna like the answer.

“The only person I can think of would probably be like Advik.” I rub the bridge of my nose as I say it, looking away from them. And yep, Ashton reacts how I thought they would, sighing and clenching their hands over the handle of the hammer they carry fucking everywhere. “You know Advik.”

“I do.” They sigh. There's a side discussion that I almost laugh at, Ashton dodging the questions of the group as they ask about Advik.

“No, no, I get it. I’ll be back with money.” They finally say, snapping me out of my own thoughts.

“Alright, alright. Well pleasure to meet you. Don’t be trouble. Bye.” I say as I finally turn back around and get back to work. What was I doing? Can I get the blue one out of my head without holding a conversation?

As I get back to work I hear a vague conversation of Ashton trying to deflect and him eventually saying fuck it. I hear the blue one reply back “Who are we fucking?” and in my head I mutter, maybe me if you don’t stop being so fucking attractive, what the hell my dude. “We’re fucking Advik? What’s happening?” No, Ashton is the one who once upon a time fucked Advik, you rich buffoon. I try to play nice, and over my shoulder say,

“You could also ask Effid.” Fully well knowing that’s no better of an option. Then, in just my head, like it’s not an external voice, I hear

“Who's Effid?” from a voice that sounds a lot like the purple haired human.

“What the!” My hands fly from my tools to the back of my head as I panic, I’m losing my gods damned mind. I start trying to clean my ears in a vague attempt to calm my racing heart. I clean my ears enough to hear the blue one say,

“Or is it like a kissing relationship?” Probably about Advik, but my brain spirals back to their lips, it starts imagining what it would be like to shove them against a wall and kiss them, what color their lips would be if I were to bruise them. I’m officially not getting any more work done today. “Did you kiss the beef?” And they’re just fucked up enough to potentially be interested in me based on that comment.

Ashton gives the typical Elders Post speech about don’t get your shit stolen, and Fresh Cut Grass mentions their shit getting lost somehow? The halfling talks about deserving it for some reason. I’ll ask about it if they ever come back to being here at the Krook house.

Things dissolve even more as I turn around to see Letters trying to pick up the fae creature, and fucking succeeding. I’m so making him do more lifting once he and Ashton are back to living here.

They finally leave, and I’m fully alone with my thoughts. And I know, deep in my soul, that something just started in me that won’t stop until either the air genasi is out of the city or I’ve gotten at least a one night stand out of them. But how in the fuck am I suppose to do that when Ashton didn't even bother to tell me anyone's names?

Chapter Text

I need a fucking drink. Or ten. A person can only get so much information about another being with a description, even if the fucker should stand out in any crowd ever. Like seriously, if people can so easily spot Ashton why is it so hard to spot the Air Genasi that they are doing jobs with? They're probably a bard of some type, which makes it all the more confusing when no one is answering my fucking questions. How does the rich bard have no ego?

Ishir, bless him, didn’t let me drink much, so I’m heading back to the Krook house to find more alcohol, down a series of ladders I know better than most people, taking twists and turns to throw anyone off of my scent who might be after me. With Ashton trying to figure out something involving the Corsairs I don’t want to risk anything. Even welding is a bit too dangerous, but I did take that risk earlier. I’m lucky I didn’t burn the whole place down, to be fair.

I walk in the door and Anni immediately drags me in, shutting the door behind me. She pins me to the wall in a way that others would read as sexual, but to her, its intimidation. To me, its a fucking nuisance when I just want to go take a nap or find a drink.

“So, Ashton has a new group and you just neglected to tell me?” She says, looking down at me angrily.

“Yeah. But it's not that I neglected to tell you, its that Ashton gave me nowhere near enough info to tell anyone, even if I literally did meet them all. How’d you know?” I ask, trying to wriggle out of her grip.

“They brought them here.”

“Again, already? Good gods its like he’s trying to get caught.” I say, and she finally lets me get my back off of the door. Making my way to one of the many couches I sigh, pulling my hat off and then my glasses, rubbing at the bridge of my nose.

“Follow up question-” she starts, and I know exactly where she’s going.

“Which one did my brain decide it wants to bang?” I finish for her, looking over in the general direction of her blur. I watch the blur move in a nodding motion as she sits on the floor across the room from me. “The Air Genasi, obviously. We both know I have a type.”

“Of course. Not gonna lie, he was kinda cute.”

“He?”

“Yeah dipshit he uses he/him pronouns.” How was I suppose to know that?

“Well Ashton didn’t tell me shit so you have a lot more info than I do right now.” I nearly growled at her, putting my glasses back on.

“The Fawn Fae thingy tried to flirt with me.” She said as I started to pull my boots off. I chuckled, thinking back on when I met them.

“They said me looking them over tickled.” I walked back to the door, putting my boots into the rack I made to hold shoes, not that anyone ever fucking respects that it’s there anyways.

“Yeah, that fits what I figured out about her.” So Anni got a longer time to talk with them. More info is always good.

“Her. Got it. What else happened when they all were here?”

“Ashton asked about brumestone or something.” Why does ASHTON know about brumestone? “Then they asked about The Anger.” The Air Ashari that was getting in my way all the time.

“So what exactly did you say about The Anger? Because we both know some shit and can’t have Ashton poking into that shit.”

“Told him that they were hired by the Lumas twins. Told them that where they wanted to look for more info was the Lucent spire. The little guy wanted to talk to them.” Which means the little guy is probably Air Ashari.

“And they have a rich boy with them, so they have a way in.” I sigh. “I don’t want Ashton against me. So we need to deal with this somehow.”

“Who’s we?” Anni says, picking up a book that had been discarded onto an end table.

“You’re involved now too.”

“I helped, I rubbed ketchup on his cloak.” So they were here around lunch, so not long super long after I left. Probably why I didn’t catch them. Ashton knows about as many ways down here as I do, so they probably brought them down in a way that avoided how I normally go up.

“Oh I’m betting rich boy didn’t like that. Do you know his name, by chance?”

“Dorian Storm. Letters mentioned it.” Oh that's a fellow trans person’s name if I’ve ever heard one. That’s not a name mom and dad pick out for you, even if they’re rich and eccentric. That’s a name you pick to get away from an old one, to piss off the people around you. Dorian fucking Storm.

“Hey, Milo, you still with me? You looked like you were fantasizing.” She asks.

“Sorry, lost in thought. What did you say?” I wasn’t lying. But if it’s actively showing this bad, I need to find a way to fix this, and soon.

“I said they all tried to say he was a musician.”

“Well he had a fucking lute on his back I’d hope he was a god damned musician!”

“I hadn’t seen the lute yet! But Ashton mentioned my audition at the Dreamscape-”

“Please tell me you called the Dreamscape the finest shithole in the city.”

“Yes I did, ever since you said that while plastered it’s been my go to for that place.”

“I’m glad to be useful for something besides the roof over your head and the safety from random attacks.” She rolled her eyes hard, hitting me as I went back to a chair.

“Fuck you. So I pulled out the hidden fiddle and had him try and play along with me.”

“How’d he do?” I sink down into the chair, letting her tell the story she's going to spout off. Once she starts there's no stopping her.

“Well, Letters cheated a bit.”

“Of course they did.”

“So did the purple haired lady.”

“That ones new. Didn’t take her for the type to give an unfair advantage to anyone.”

“Yeah, and the little guy grew a flower out of fucking nowhere.”

“That just confirms he’s Air Ashari to me.”

“But he was actually great at it. I don’t think their ‘help’ did anything. He was just- just good.” She looked down at the floor.

“I wanted to knock him down a few pegs, but he set me up for a solo instead of trying to one up me. I panicked. I faltered a bit, but I got him after I found the beat again. Then I threw it to him and he managed to do a solo on a fucking lute. That’s hard as shit.” So he’s talented, he’s hot, he’s running with Ashton. He’s rich, he works with an Air Ashari, and he’s humble. How in the hell am I gonna find this fucker and screw him, while keeping Ashton off of the scent of my trail?

“Then my string broke. Now I need to buy a new one before I can even practice again. But I told Ashton about the thing that was in his room, then left.”

“I’ll get you a new- The thing in their room? What thing? How’d it get to his room?”

“Yeah someone dropped it off before they came but after you left to go drinking. I took it, put it on their bed, and left everything as it was. Didn't steal anything, I promise.”

“What was it?”

“A letter. That same wax seal as always right before he leaves for a bit.” J.H. again. Well, I guess it is about time for that. I’ll be ready to deal with the fallout of it at least this time.

Sitting up feels impossible. I told Ashton not to drag me into his shit, but here I am dragging them into my shit. It's a heavy weight on my chest. I've always been so protective of them, even though they're definitely older than me, at least by a few years. And yet my shit is about to get into his shit, and once it does I'm not sure if he'll look at me the same way. Like most people who just see me on the surface, they have no idea what I've done to get to the point of being this respected on the darker side of Drusar, hell the darker side of Marquet. I need to throw all of them off of this trail fast.