Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kingsley stumbled. The fight was seconds from its close and his first instinct was to go to Caleb. Check on Caleb, make sure Caleb was okay, make sure Caleb was alive. But the deck was swaying more than usual and he could barely keep balanced. In fact, was the ocean wobbling too?

Whatever. He’d deal with that in a second. First, Caleb.

He scanned a hazy gaze over the deck and, down the length of the ship, found his partner splattered with weird blue blood, some red blood staining his vest and pants where the fabric was cut. Caleb was standing, his eyes searching for the next target, the next potential threat, hands poised to cast. The wizard was little worse for wear, but he was okay. He was standing and alert, and that was all Kingsley could hope for after a surprise ambush by bizarre sea monsters.

“Caleb.” Kingsley slurred, stomping toward him in uncoordinated footfalls. His lips and tongue weren’t listening to him, weren’t saying things correctly.

Why was Caleb becoming so blurry?

Caleb turned and found the blood hunter slathered in blood. Red and blue dripped off of him, leaving a trail behind him on the deck, small patches of his paling violet skin peeking through the layers of ripped clothing and blood.

He watched Kingsley mumble, unable to hear him over the rushing ocean air, “Are you…?”

The tiefling didn’t register the look of shock and intense concern on Caleb’s face. As his vision began to tunnel and cloud Caleb began to run toward him, muttering something under his breath, most likely a Zemnian curse.

There was a flash of a memory in Kingsley’s mind. A large man stood over him, holding a spear in King’s chest, and the moon beyond surrounded by blinking stars was beckoning him off the mortal coil. The memory overlaid his vision, disorienting him. What was up and what was forward became confused, became one, before the tunnel collapsed and the lights went out.

Caleb watched Kingsley slow and stumble. He was close enough to see the focus fade from Kingsley’s gaze, the subtle twitch of a confused pinch to his brow, followed swiftly by his leg buckling. Caleb casted Levitate, stopping Kingsley from smashing his face into the hard wood, and he shouted above the chatter of the crew.

“Jester!”

He ran up and grabbed Kingsley, turning him over and wrapping an arm under his limp back and gathering his legs with the other, glancing up to locate Jester. He exhaled with relief when he saw the blue tiefling sprinting toward him.

“Almost there!” She shouted, and Caleb looked down at his partner, vacant scleras staring at the vibrant blue sky. Trying to reduce the distance would just make things needlessly complicated, so Caleb took those valuable seconds and put them toward getting Kingsley comfortable and supporting him.

Caleb let the Levitate ease Kingsley to the floor, arm shifting to support his shoulders and rest his head in the crook of Caleb’s elbow, and then the wizard dropped the spell. When Jester was in range, she fell to her knees and smacked a hand down on Kingsley’s chest like it was a rough game of tag.

Eyelids fluttered and blinked, breathing becoming deeper and labored as Kingsley swam into conscious. Kingsley came to with Caleb and Jester’s faces above him, looking equal parts worried and relieved, a pretty blue sky behind them and the sound of the rocking ocean joining the pulse in his ears.

“You’d think you’d know what blood loss is,” Jester teased, smirking lopsidedly to hide her fear, “being a blood hunter and all.”

Kingsley grinned, teeth pink. “Gotta leave you guessing.”

“Please don’t.” Caleb pleaded, a hint of humor to his eyes, and Kingsley chuckled. “What were you going to ask me?”

Kingsley furrowed his brow. “What?”

“You tried asking me something before you went unconscious.”

“Oh!” Kingsley gasped, reaching a trembling hand up to rest against the blood stain on Caleb’s vest, splaying a palm over the pierced fabric. “Are you okay?”

Jester laughed and Caleb shook his head with disbelief, chuckling.

“Ja, I am okay, schatz.” Caleb brushed amethyst-colored hair back from Kingsley’s face, tracing a thumb around the base of a blood-splattered horn. “I am more worried about you.”

“I’m fine- ” Kingsley drawled as he tried to sit up, immediately getting vertigo and falling into Caleb’s arm again, “whoa. Okay, maybe not.”

Caleb snickered as Jester gave the first mate some more magical healing, knitting together the worst of his wounds.

“Ich liebe dich.” Caleb leaned down and kissed Kingsley’s sweaty forehead.

Kingsley grinned lopsidedly, murmuring lowly, “Is leeb a dish to you too, love.”

Caleb rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s horrid pronunciation and helped get his partner standing again, Jester assisting in the effort with a snort.

“Mind if we use your bathtub?” Caleb asked, wrapping an arm around Kingsley’s waist and a red-covered arm over his own shoulders.

“Just don’t spend too long.” Jester wiped some of the blue blood off of her cheek and flicked it onto the deck.

“Quick rinse, I promise.”

Caleb guided Kingsley’s weak feet to the Captain’s quarters and Kingsley whispered conspiratorially under his breath to Caleb,

“We?”

Caleb smirked. He squeezed Kingsley’s side and shushed him softly.

“If it is large enough.” He compromised. Caleb waited until they passed by most of the crew to add, “One would think you wouldn’t have enough blood for both your brain and your dick right now.”

“What can I say? Almost dying really does it for me.”

Caleb laughed heartily and Kingsley giggled, leaning into his lover’s side.

Chapter Text

“Hey Cayleb, it’s Jester! If you’re not too busy, could you come over? Kingsley hasn’t sleep in – how long?” A pause. “Days? Kingsley! Why didn’t you tell-”

Caleb looked up from his desk of paperwork toward his class, seeing them writing dutifully on their parchments and glancing up at the essay question on the chalkboard. He considered his words then said quietly into the assortment of papers on his desk,

“I am in class at the moment but will be there when I’m able. Where are you, ship or home? Is he leaving with me?”

The professor casted a quick eye around the room. A couple of nearby students swiftly looked over at the board and pretended to study it, and Caleb internally sighed. He went back to reading the short essay from a student in his previous class, but in the back of his mind he was thinking of Kingsley.

Kingsley struggled with sleep sometimes. Caleb had learned that the hard way during his first visit to the Nein Heroez as Kingsley’s partner, when the tiefling had a night terror one night in the Tower and Caleb, panicked, had thrown a Suggestion spell at him in the blind hope it would work, admittedly surprised when it did. King’s night terrors had gotten a bit more frequent since the discovery of Mollymauk’s soul fragment, but recently he’d been having them every few days so the news that he’d been awake exceedingly long was worrying but not surprising. Not to Caleb, at least.

A pang of guilt for not telling everyone about the discovery of Mollymauk’s soul fragment hit Caleb, but he forced it down. It wasn’t his place to tell Kingsley’s business to their friends. If Kingsley wanted to keep that information relegated to his partners, Caduceus, and Beauregard, Caleb had no right to circumvent that. Besides, Kingsley hadn’t been wrong when he said it would make things more complicated. Caleb still felt, however, like the more minds on a problem meant the quicker and better the solution, but Kingsley argued that he already had three of the smartest people on Exandria working on it. King trusted Essek, Caleb, and Beau to figure something out, and technically Kingsley wasn’t wrong that these three were exceedingly intelligent, but that was an immense amount of pressure.

Waiting for Jester to reply, the professor wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. How was he supposed to help, aside from offering commiseration and support? If Caleb had the answer to preventing night terrors, he would have done it for himself already. And getting Kingsley to confide in him was almost as difficult as getting Essek to do the same, so talking it out was likely, once again, not on the table.

“Did you have another nightmare, Bren?” Una with a sweet, concerned face wreathed in red curls rubbed Bren’s smooth cheek. “You are too anxious and stressed, dear! Have you eaten? Let me make you some tea."

Caleb smiled softly down at his papers, eyes dancing around as he pictured the memory. He hadn’t thought of his mother’s nighttime tea in a long, long time. Perhaps he could pick up some valerian root and add it to one of Caduceus’ teas? Kingsley was not particularly fond of tea, but he might just be desperate enough to force it down.

After a couple minutes, the first of several students arrived at his desk to deliver their paper. Caleb gave their hands little glances as they set them down in a pile on the corner, having returned to his reading, and by the time half of the class was gone Jester had finally replied to him.

“Hiya. We’re on the ship. It’s probably best if he went home for a few days. Is that okay? I know it’s the first testing-”

Caleb smiled lopsidedly, giving a glance around the room to ensure everyone was focused on their work, and then he looked down at his desk again, hand reaching up to rub his beard and hide his mouth.

“You don’t have to convince me to bring Kingsley home early, testing season or not. Will meet you in an hour. Small errand to run.”

It did not take long for the rest of the students to finish their essays and for Caleb to gather them up and tuck them into his messenger bag for later assessment. The first testing season of his career was successfully over, pending him grading the essays of course. What was most important was that tomorrow he would have the day off, so he would be able to dedicate more time to helping Kingsley relax and still be able to grade essays.

He walked across campus toward the nearest herbalist shop, someplace he regularly passed by on the way to Kingsley’s favorite pub. On the way, crossing a small field with students lounging and reading, he caught sight of a few students from his last class sitting out on the grounds. They were casting eyes at him and murmuring among themselves, and Caleb could pick out some of the words on their lips, including his last name and Kingsley’s first. As he neared, he could hear snippets. It was gossip about the Sendings he received in class.

Unsurprising, really. Kingsley visited him a few times during class before his vacation, usually to bring him lunch and feed into the rumors that he was Professor Widogast’s boyfriend. Now that Astrid knew, Caleb pretty much confirmed it when Kingsley visited him last, not caring anymore if the information became public.

A whistle caught Caleb’s attention, and he smiled from where he stood at the chalkboard, knowing thanks to the journal open on his desk to expect a visit soon. Glancing up, he saw an impish fanged smirk and a purple tail whipping back and forth excitedly, amethyst hair brushed and styled back.

“Ah, hallo mein liebe.” Caleb greeted with a warm smile and blushing cheeks, gesturing to the desk in the corner. He clocked the broach he had commissioned pinned on Kingsley’s lapel, the man wearing the red suit that Caleb bought him and one of Caleb’s button-up shirts, left purposefully unbuttoned from the clavicle up. “I am almost done with lecture.”

“Take your time, love.” Kingsley winked, moving by with a pat to Caleb’s maroon vest-covered side, the professor also done up for their date night.

Kingsley moved to sit down in the chair behind the desk, being sure not to crinkle the crisp black suit jacket laying over the backing of the chair, and got settled as he waited for Caleb to finish class. The tiefling looked Caleb up and down as the professor continued writing on the board, noticing said lover was wearing the barrette that matched Kingsley’s broach.

“You look dashing.” Kingsley complimented with a playful, flirty grin. “Going somewhere later?”

The class snickered quietly as Caleb rolled his eyes and blushed darker.

Coming back to the present, Caleb subtly pulled out a short piece of copper wire, intent on proving a point. He flicked a finger toward the loudest of the students and said calmly but quietly, “It is generally recommended to not look at the person you’re gossiping about; you never know who might be able to read lips.”

The student’s back straightened immediately and they froze. Caleb smirked, listening to the hushed demands for the student to say something and the glances his way as he passed by.

Kingsley was going to enjoy this anecdote. Caleb was sure of it. His partner loved messing with Caleb’s students and was slightly disappointed when he no longer was Caleb’s mysterious maybe. Hopefully laughing about this interaction would take his mind off his bad dreams long enough for some pleasant ones to filter through. Caleb would even replay it in an illusion if Kingsley thought it would help.

The human picked up the valerian root, grabbing a few days’ worth, and stepped outside, taking a strip of cloth he took from Kingsley’s room and casting Teleport. Wind rushed by him as he was thrown into his partner’s bedroom on the ship, and Caleb was surprised when he found the room empty.

It took a couple questions to the crew but he found the overworked tiefling staring at the ceiling of the captain’s quarters, lying stiffly in the bed. Caleb walked in and closed the door behind him, watching as Kingsley lifted his head and smiled exhaustedly, dark circles around his red eyes. Clearly Jester demanded he sleep in a proper bed, and clearly sleep was not coming despite Jester’s kindness. This didn’t bode well.

“'ello handsome.” The tiefling greeted tiredly.

“Hallo, mein liebe.” Caleb smiled empathetically, crossing the distance to Kingsley’s side. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Yeah.” Kingsley grunted, pushing himself with a yawn off the bed and taking Caleb’s hand when the human offered his assistance. “Tried getting a nap in. Didn’t work.”

“Hopefully I have something that will help.” Caleb kissed Kingsley’s cheek. “Do you have everything?”

“Just taking me this time.” Kingsley leaned into Caleb’s front, and Caleb wrapped an arm around Kingsley’s back. He felt unsteady on his feet. “You smell like flowers.”

Caleb chuckled softly and hugged Kingsley to him. “I will tell you why in a moment. Erste, we get you home.”

“Home sounds really good.” Kingsley mumbled, tucking his face into Caleb’s hair.

The world snapped by them and Caleb held Kingsley taught to him when the man threatened to lose his balance.

“Steady, now. Do you feel able to get changed?” Caleb asked, sincerely worried. Kingsley hummed and nodded, not offering much more of an answer, and wandered off to the stairs. His tail wrapped around the railing as he ascended, every step looking like it took so much effort, and Caleb frowned as he watched.

By the time Caleb had a cup of something steaming set on the coffee table by the couch, he was debating whether to go upstairs to help or to wait. He hadn’t heard much of anything for the past several minutes. Not a boot drop, not the opening of the dresser, nothing. And just as he was deciding to go check on Kingsley’s progress, a loud thud resounded from upstairs and he sprinted for the staircase.

Swinging himself into the doorway of his bedroom, he found Kingsley looking confusedly at several books on the floor, ones that had been on Caleb’s bookshelf last he checked. The man was half undressed, red doublet on the edge of the bed and a boot unlaced but still on.

“Kingsley?”

Caleb waited for Kingsley to react, and while he did technically react, it was sluggish and with a furrowed brow. The tiefling slowly met Caleb’s gaze, then his gaze drifted away and he tried to snatch something in the air, something that wasn’t actually there.

Kingsley wondered what the hell a dreamcatcher with peacock feathers hanging from it was doing just floating in front of him, hanging from nothing, but when he tried to grab it his hand went through it and it disappeared like smoke.

“Alright, nein, we are going to sleep.” Caleb decided firmly, closing the distance. He had hoped he wouldn’t have to resort to magic, but it seemed like he was going to whether he wanted to or not.

“Where am I?” Kingsley slurred, half-lidded eyes looking around. The room was a weird amalgamation of two bedrooms: one was something Kingsley recognized, while the other was something that felt like a memory submerged under water. It gave him vague recollections of a red-haired dark skinned woman and a fortune teller’s wagon. He wasn’t sure how he knew it was a fortune teller’s wagon, but he did.

Kingsley twisted his torso to peer behind him, noticing a pile of cushions on a mattress in the corner, and Caleb caught him around the waist as the tiefling was put off balance and stumbled.

“You are home, circus man.” Caleb told his delirious lover, guiding him toward the bed. “You are going to get some sleep.”

“I am?” 

“You are, yes.” Caleb sighed, yanking the blankets and sheets back. Kingsley flopped onto the Zemnian bed with the coordination of a fish without fins. “You’re hallucinating from sleep deprivation.”

The large words were a bit much right now, but Kingsley recognized sleep being mentioned again and his brows pinched.

“But I slept.”

“Nein, you have not.” The human untied Kingsley’s boots and pulled them off.

“I feel like I slept.” Kingsley countered, voice still slurred and words still slowly put together.

“That would be the delirium.” Caleb mumbled, grabbing a pinch of fine sand from one of his component pockets. The tea would have to wait until after King woke up, assuming the spell would be the catalyst for a long, deep, necessary slumber. “I am going to cast something on you. Do not fight it, alright?”

“What?” Kingsley asked, but something about Kingsley’s expression told Caleb the man was positing the question to someone else in Caleb's place.

Caleb did not repeat himself, blowing the sand in his palm over Kingsley’s face. He felt the urge to sleep hit him as well but he managed to fight it off, watching Kingsley’s eyes fall closed and his jaw go slack, the sand dissolving away with the finished casting of Sleep.

Tossing the blankets over Kingsley’s body, Caleb yawned and prayed the man would stay asleep when the spell ended in a minute. He lingered, putting Kingsley’s boots and doublet out of the way, until his partner began to snore softly and he was sure that Kingsley would be remaining unconscious.

Now that he had a spare moment, Caleb went about his regular and not-so-regular tasks. Putting his coat and scarf up by the front door, drinking the tea he made so it did not go to waste, powering through the drowsiness to cook dinner, grading essays as he ate, and periodically checking in on Kingsley to make sure he was sleeping soundly. He considered waking Kingsley to get him to eat but quickly decided against it. The man was finally, finally, getting some rest. He didn’t want to be the reason the battle with insomnia began again.

He was finishing his plate, quill in hand with a red inkwell beside him, when he heard the floorboards creak upstairs. Caleb paused with the fork in his mouth, glancing up. He chewed as he tracked the noise out of the room and down the stairs until Kingsley came into view. Caleb frowned, seeing Kingsley's scowl and feeling empathetic disappointment that Kingsley didn’t sleep longer.

“How are you feeling, mein liebe?” Caleb asked around his bite then swallowed.

Kingsley growled.

The noise made Caleb’s eyes widen, but Kingsley was not looking at his face. Frustration radiated from his tense muscles, eyes burning into Caleb’s lap as he neared. He forced himself between Caleb and the table, sitting on Caleb’s thighs and thunking his head onto his partner’s shoulder, one of his horns poking Caleb. The wizard winced and frowned.

Caleb wrapped an arm around Kingsley’s back, setting his fork down to rub a thigh draped over his.

“I gather not well.” He murmured softly.

“How long did I sleep?” Kingsley demanded. Caleb didn’t take his anger personally, knowing he was angry at the situation and not at Caleb directly.

“Roughly an hour and a half.” A bearded mouth pressed a kiss to Kingsley’s forehead. “But don’t fret. I’ve a few more tricks up my sleeve.”

“I will knock myself unconscious if I have to. Just fair warning.”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t, but thank you for the warning.” Caleb patted Kingsley’s thigh. “Food and tea, first.”

Kingsley wobbled out of Caleb’s lap and onto his feet again, and Caleb stood. He gathered the second plate from beside the stove and brought it over to the table, setting it in front of Kingsley as the tiefling sat down next to Caleb’s chair. Caleb kissed Kingsley’s hair and went to pour Kingsley a glass of water as well. 

The sailor eyed the papers and ink with slightly hunched shoulders, and Caleb noted the distraction curiously when he returned with Kingsley’s water. He set it down on the table and rested his hand on the back of Kingsley’s chair.

“Is there anything on your mind you would like to talk about?” Caleb asked.

“No.” Kingsley replied, all too quickly.

Caleb raised an eyebrow.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

Caleb stared at the back of Kingsley’s head, tilting his own. Usually, when it was his regular night terror of being chained in Cognoza, Kingsley didn’t mind talking about it. Which meant this wasn’t the usual night terror plaguing him.

The wizard’s lips tightened into a line, and he contemplated whether he wanted to push for the truth or let it go. The only reason Caleb could think of that would explain why Kingsley wouldn’t want to discuss something was if…

Oh.

Slowly nodding to himself as he turned to get the kettle, he set it on the stove and produced a flame from his fingertips, sticking his flaming hand into the stove to set the wood alight. He listened to Kingsley tiredly eat as he set out the mugs and tea bags, considering quietly what he wanted to say.

He was never sure how much to press when it came to Mollymauk, now. It had been a touchy subject before Caduceus’ explosive revelation that Mollymauk, in some form, was present and to blame for Kingsley’s flashbacks, but now it was almost taboo, borderline forbidden, to mention him. There was one time, soon after the Transmogrification and while they talked with Beauregard about possible solutions to Kingsley’s ride-along, where Caleb watched Kingsley wince at hearing him say Mollymauk’s name, and that was before the sleep disturbances got this bad. Caleb saw Kingsley physically cringe with his whole body the most recent time Mollymauk’s name had been said.

“I’m sorry you’ve got to… take care of me.” Kingsley muttered almost under his breath, breaking the awkward silence and pulling Caleb from the depths of his mind. Caleb looked over his shoulder at his partner, seeing the back of an amethyst-colored head lowered into its shoulders. “I know you’re busy.”

“I am never too busy to help you, mein König.” Caleb walked over, abandoning the water on the stove, and rested his hands on Kingsley’s shoulders, pressing a kiss to the top of Kingsley’s head. “I’m well acquainted with the demon that is insomnia. And besides, grading the papers can wait a day or two. I’m a fast reader.”

Kingsley didn’t reply, but his gloom spoke volumes. Caleb rubbed his shoulders.

“You remembered something,” Caleb deduced quietly, feeling Kingsley stiffen and freeze beneath his hands, “didn’t you?”

The tiefling took a measured breath. He shook his head. Caleb’s hands stilled on his shoulders and a wash of dread fell over Kingsley.

“If you are concerned about my reaction, Kingsley, you really shouldn’t be.” Caleb moved around to sit in his chair again, facing Kingsley. He rested a hand on Kingsley’s knee. “I sincerely think talking about it would-”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Kingsley interrupted, offering Caleb a guarded smile.

Caleb leveled a disbelieving look at him.

King’s smile wavered with his frustration. “What’s with the sudden distrust? You don’t believe me?”

“No.”

Kingsley blinked. He hadn’t expected his bluff to be called out already and so bluntly. And, thanks to sleep deprivation, he was too foggy-headed to think of a clever comeback that would take Caleb off his current war path.

His partner continued, “You have no reluctance with talking to me about your usual night terror, so obviously there is something else going on. The fact that you’re denying it makes me more suspicious.”

Kingsley rolled his eyes and indignantly stabbed a root vegetable with his fork. Caleb watched him snap his teeth over his fork and chew angrily, repeating the process a few times, before he sighed and bit the proverbial arrow.

“Mollymauk or Lucien?”

Kingsley froze, arm in mid-motion to his mouth, lips parted just slightly. Caleb watched the color drain from Kingsley’s face.

“Whose memory did you recall?” Caleb added. “Because I know it was something, something big enough to disrupt your sleep for days, and you don’t get thrown off by just anything.” A pale hand squeezed Kingsley’s knee. “If it was Lucien, you need to tell me. You cannot keep that from me, Kingsley.”

Kingsley lowered his fork to his plate, closing his mouth. He took a slow, deep breath, heart racing beneath his skin. Caleb stared daggers into his eyes, studying them, but Kingsley couldn’t meet his gaze.

“Mollymauk.” He finally whispered, scowling at hearing himself say the name. “It was Mollymauk.”

Caleb relaxed considerably. He waited for Kingsley to continue, but Kingsley didn’t speak.

“Is it something you’re afraid to tell me?” Caleb tilted his head, trying to get a better read on King’s face. “Or is it just painful?”

Kingsley glanced nervously at Caleb’s face before lowering his eyes to his plate, staring at his food silently for a moment.

“Both.” He whispered. Kingsley’s partner stroked King’s knee with his thumb.

“You don’t have to be afraid to tell me anything, dear.” Caleb reassured, offering a timid smile. “We talked about this. I am in love with you, not Mollymauk. And I am no saint; I’ve experienced and done more than my fair share of horrible things.”

Kingsley winced, remembering Caleb’s flashback during their vacation. Caleb had endured and suffered far more extensively than he let on.

“Whatever you need to get off your chest, I can handle.” Caleb finished, squeezing Kingsley’s knee. “We are in this together, mein liebe.”

Kingsley’s lip curled upward for half a second, a smile flickering on his face, expression torn between gratefulness and fear.

After several long seconds, Kingsley’s words sucked the air from Caleb’s lungs.

“Mollymauk was in Cognoza.”

Caleb blinked.

“I… When I passed out? After the fight with the sea monsters?” It was hard to tell if Caleb remembered what Kingsley was talking about. The man’s expression was blank, but his eyes were still focused on Kingsley’s, so clearly he wasn’t having a flashback. “I had this… image, pop up in my head. I – Mollymauk – he bled out, didn’t he?”

Caleb leaned back, hands resting in his lap. His shock gave way to deep confusion.

“I remember bleeding out with – with a spear in my chest. And that was okay, you know, remembering that. We all knew Mollymauk died, I just… I now have an image to put to the event is all. But…” Kingsley picked at his fingernails, head tilted forward to hide his face, his voice lowering into a quiet mutter. “A few nights ago, I had a night terror, but it wasn’t my usual one. It was dark but I could… I could hear you talking. I could hear everyone in the Mighty Nein talking to me, and somebody that – there was somebody replying that had my voice but wasn’t me, which I think was Lucien.”

Kingsley’s lips twitched upwards for a brief second. 

“And I heard you call me circus man, and – I wanted to scream for you. I think I… did? I don’t know. I remember trying but nothing came out.”

Caleb’s confusion faded into numb realization. He knew the exact moment Kingsley was referencing. He had tried to get under Lucien’s skin, tried to poke buttons and see where boundaries lied and dared to hope that if he said the right thing Mollymauk would make himself known, and when he’d called Lucien circus man the tiefling had jerked like he’d been shocked by lightning.

“And then I remembered the chains, those fucking chains – but it was like I was – I was separate. There was me, and then there was another me, but they… it was like I was on the outside looking into a disturbed puddle. Everything was all distorted and blurry and separate. And I heard your voice again, heard you scream for Jester, screaming at me that I was – that I was killing her – and-” Kingsley’s eyes began to water. “And I just – there was – is – this crushing weight of failure 'cause I couldn't stop it. And I know that the past is the past, but it hurts like it just happened, like time didn’t dull it at all.”

Caleb stood up and wrapped his arms around Kingsley’s shoulders, pulling Kingsley’s head to his chest and holding him. He was surprised to find himself ready to cry, empathy eating at his insides. The idea that Mollymauk could ever feel guilt for not doing enough to stop Lucien stung like vinegar in a cut.

“We knew.” He whispered with a forced smile on his lips. It was either he smiled or he cried, and he did not want to cry. “We knew Mollymauk was there fighting Lucien, liebe.”

“I’m sorry I – he couldn’t do more.” Kingsley sniffled into Caleb’s shirt. Caleb stroked his hair.

“He helped more than he could ever know.” Caleb kissed the curl of a horn and squeezed Kingsley in his arms, hugging him tight. He made sure to refer to Mollymauk as a separate person, knowing King didn’t like the reminder. “We would not have all made it out alive without his help.”

A weight was lifted from Kingsley’s shoulders, and Caleb could feel it almost immediately. He held Kingsley until the kettle began screaming and he poured them both tea, putting extra valerian root in Kingsley’s and hoping that the tea, coupled with the emotional release, would help him sleep finally.

Chapter Text

Kingsley was still asleep when Caleb got up for the day. He was still asleep when Caleb went out to do the shopping, and was snoring loudly when Caleb returned and put things away in the ice box and pantry. He’d thankfully stopped snoring like a bellows by the time Caleb started grading papers, but he did start up again during it and it became near impossible to focus, so Caleb decided to switch tasks and went about cooking lunch. As he listened to Kingsley snore, he wished the soil was warm enough to have some fresh green beans he could add to their stir-fried vegetables and meat. Sadly, however, winter had been here for a bit and he’d have to make do with what the market could provide and what he had in the root cellar.

Maybe for dinner he could take Kingsley somewhere as a treat. A little celebration in Nicodranas for getting some actual sleep wouldn’t hurt. It was certainly worth celebrating. Besides, he’d already made a sizeable dent in his grading, after all, and grades weren’t due for another day and a half…

Caleb kept an eye on the food and opened up his journal on the counter, flipping through as he pulled free a charcoal stick from his pocket. He saw where Kingsley, in sloppy handwriting, had complained about how tired he was and read Essek’s reply.

I hope you manage to get some sleep soon, d’anthe. I love you. ~E

Caleb glanced at the frying meat, stirred and turned the chunks over with a prong, and then wrote underneath Essek’s reply, He has been asleep for almost seventeen hours. Turns out talking about what bothers you helps. Who knew? –C

The wizard left the journal open as he cooked, checking it periodically, and was surprised when Essek began to write something in return. Usually the drow was busy during the day and relegated his replying to nighttime.

Maybe it is evening where he is, Caleb wondered. He knew better than to ask, however. Essek wouldn’t tell him, he knew that.

I’m relieved he’s sleeping. What has been bothering him? ~E

Caleb bit his lip, glanced up at the ceiling, and employed a tactic he discovered not too long after they all parted when discussing a very similar problem. It was important to keep Essek up to date on the Mollymauk problem, and Caleb didn’t want to subject Kingsley to reading about the man in journals that were meant to be a comfort.

He had another memory dream/nightmare. Mollymauk was in Cognoza. –C

The redhead stirred the food, noting the delayed response. He couldn’t blame Essek for not knowing what to say. It was a complicated situation. But when Essek did start to reply, Caleb set the spatula down and grabbed a dishrag, smudging his last part of his message and wiping away the charcoal before writing overtop it: Some emotions were unearthed . –C

It sounds like it is getting worse, was quickly erased and replaced by Essek with I am sorry I can’t be there to help. ~E

It is. Caleb hesitated, waiting a few seconds, then wiped the charcoal away and wrote, I know, liebling. Are you resting for the night/day? –C

He waited. He checked the meat for how done it was then added the vegetables and spices based on what Yasha had recommended. Checking the book again after several minutes, he was disappointed to find that Essek hadn’t replied yet.

His heart aching in his chest, wondering what part of what he said had made Essek go silent, Caleb drew a little heart and closed the book.

As Caleb was finishing up cooking, he glanced up at the ceiling when Kingsley stopped snoring. He raised an eyebrow, straining an ear to listen for the sounds of Kingsley getting out of bed, but didn’t hear anything. He went back to what he was doing, aiming to put the abrupt silence on Essek’s end out from his mind.

Essek was a busy man. It was rare enough that Essek replied during the day. But, Caleb admittedly had hoped that he could keep Essek writing long enough for Kingsley to get to write to him, too. This was the closest they got to “conversing” with their partner for weeks, if not since his departure over a month ago.

Caleb was just about to go upstairs and wake Kingsley for lunch, the food plated and warm, when he turned and found Kingsley bare-assed and stretching his arms above his head, purple clawed hands smacking the top of the archway into the kitchen in a playful drumbeat, stepping in with a yawn.

Grateful that illusions prevented outsiders from seeing inside, Caleb smiled at Kingsley’s sleepy naked entrance.

“Guten Tag, mein König.” Caleb greeted, turning to greet his boyfriend, hand on the counter.  “Are we ready for lunch?”

Kingsley draped himself over Caleb’s front and Caleb chuckled, wrapping his arms around Kingsley’s middle.

“’m cold.” Kingsley mumbled into Caleb’s ear.

Caleb laughed. “Well, walking through the cottage naked in the middle of winter won’t warm you.”

“Cuddles will.”

“So will clothes and warm food.” Caleb patted Kingsley’s side. “Go on, I will light the hearth.” Kingsley purred at the mention of a lit hearth and Caleb grinned. “Some days I wonder if you are more reptile than tiefling, you know.”

Kingsley flicked his forked tongue over Caleb’s ear, making the human flinch and yelp, and he giggled like the trickster he was when Caleb shoved his chest and rubbed at his licked ear.

“Love you, magic man.” Kingsley cupped Caleb’s face and pressed a sweet kiss to Caleb’s bearded mouth. Caleb huffed with mild irritation over Kingsley's lips and Kingsley snickered as he pulled away from the kiss.

The wizard gave Kingsley his plate and fork, and waited until Kingsley was out of the room to reopen his book and check if Essek had replied.

No, just a break. I’m sorry. I love you. ~E

Caleb smiled sadly and picked up the journal, tucking it under his arm.

The pair settled together on the couch, a blanket over Kingsley’s lap and a fire started in the hearth nearby, and Caleb gave the opened journal to Kingsley to look at. Kingsley perked up at the sight of it, and he set his food on the coffee table to greedily capitalize on whatever time Essek had left to reply. Caleb gave them some privacy, sitting beside Kingsley but doing his best not to read their conversation, especially when he noticed Kingsley smudging words with his finger. Caleb had told him about the technique, feeling that Kingsley deserved to have a private conversation if he wanted it, and he’d seen Kingsley utilize it a few times since then.

After a while, Caleb nudged Kingsley’s knee with his own, making the tiefling’s head pop up.

“You should eat before it gets cold, mein liebe.”

Kingsley sighed. “I know. I’m grateful for lunch, really, I-”

“Essek responding right away is rare, I know.” Caleb smiled, showing he did not take Kingsley’s lack of eating personally. “At least sneak some bites between replies.”

“Oh, good idea.” Kingsley slunk down to the floor to use the coffee table as a proper table, resting the opened journal on it and shoveling food into his mouth between bouts of writing.

Caleb smiled, watching Kingsley and wondering what they should do after as he combed his fingers through Kingsley’s short hair, fixing his bed head. The shopping was done, grading could wait, and it was too early to get drunk. Of course, he could always ask Kingsley. That would likely lead to a lazy day in and the obvious happening, but Caleb wasn’t complaining.

“Essek’s finishing lunch.” Kingsley announced, picking up the book and charcoal and twisting his torso to hand them both to Caleb. Caleb murmured a quiet danke as he took the offered materials, writing a quick loving goodbye beneath the wall of replies so Essek could get on with his day. He’d read the rest later.

I love you, too, ssussun. I will check in tonight. ~E

Caleb smiled, pleased with the news, and saw a heart appear beside Essek’s initial. Caleb drew another next to it, imagining Essek’s elegant hand poised over his journal with him instead of an unknowable distance apart. He swallowed down the heartache at missing Essek, handing the journal back to Kingsley for the tiefling to set down.

Kingsley smiled sadly at Caleb, feeling the heartache as well, and got up from the rug-covered floor to sit with Caleb and finish eating. Caleb leaned into his side, grateful at least one of his partners was here with him for the moment.

It was as the plates were set on the coffee table to be dealt with later when Caleb broke the silence.

“I take it you slept well?”

Kingsley nodded. “No weird dreams or night terrors.”

“Gut.” Caleb smiled. “You deserved some normal rest. Hopefully you continue to get it.”

“Fucking hells I hope so, I really was thinking of knocking myself unconscious.” Kingsley groaned, laying his head on the back of the couch. “Gods that sucked.”

“Well, let this serve as a reminder, then.” Caleb looked at Kingsley pointedly. “Bottling it up only makes it worse.”

Kingsley sighed, and then he muttered, “Bit hypocritical, pot.”

Caleb rolled his eyes with a smile of amusement. “Yes, yes, I know I do the same thing. I am also trying to be better about it.” A pale elbow nudged Kingsley’s side. “Work with me, kettle.”

The tiefling chuckled and leaned into Caleb’s side, and Caleb pressed a kiss to Kingsley’s cheek.

“What would you like to do today?” Caleb asked his partner, resting a hand on Kingsley’s blanket-covered thigh. “Any errands you need to run?”

“What, is a lazy day in not on the table?” Kingsley joked suggestively. Caleb smirked.

“It can be, yes. I only suggest something else because it can be regulating to expend energy – not in that way, stop that – when having sleep disturbances.”

Kingsley snickered at Caleb amending his words mid-sentence at seeing his partner wiggle his brows cheekily.

“I guess I’ve got an errand we can run.” Kingsley remarked, lying smoothly, “Mind if we hit up Zadash? I gotta get something from Pumat for Joy Buzzer.”

Caleb arched a brow curiously, not noticing the deceit as he nodded. “Of course, mein liebe. You’re certain he will have it ready?”

“Yeah. I was gonna bribe you next visit with sexual favors for a Teleport, but since I’ve got time and need to expend energy…” Kingsley grinned lustfully and Caleb rolled his eyes, a light blush on his face. “Besides, you were saying a couple days ago that you need to get some books from Beau.”

“I always need to get some books from Beau.” Caleb countered, pleased when Kingsley smirked with amusement and agreement. He patted Kingsley’s thigh. “But I will take you to Zadash, sexual favors or no.”

As Caleb went to stand up, Kingsley stopped him to place a sweet kiss to bearded lips. Caleb smiled against Kingsley’s mouth, relief at his partner’s presence being beside him again filling him. He could pretend to be fine each time they left, but it felt like getting riddled with papercuts that took forever to scab over.

Pulling away, Kingsley murmured with sincerity and gratitude, “I love you, Caleb.”

Caleb’s heart swelled with affection and his gaze softened, smiling adoringly at red eyes.

“I love you too, Kingsley Tealeaf.”

Chapter Text

Essek was excited. He was trying to dampen his excitement so he drew less attention as he traveled the block to Caleb’s front step, but it was a losing battle.

The three months were up, if not ended a little early for a certain celebration King and he had planned, and he was going to get to stay, this time. More than a week, no more than a month. Caleb was almost done with the semester, just a week or so left, and Kingsley was planning to take time away from the coast to capitalize on Essek’s visit. And Essek was going to spend some time with the rest of the Mighty Nein as well, which was wonderful. He hadn’t seen Caduceus since The Grove had been attacked over a year ago and it had been just two months less than that since he saw Veth at the imprisonment party. Essek wasn’t afraid to admit anymore that he missed his friends.

He’d get to see them tomorrow, though. Their surprise birthday party for Caleb had been extensively planned out and everyone knew their part to play tomorrow. No more late-night secretive conversations Kingsley and he both tear out of their books and burn.

Although, now that Essek thought about it, Caleb hadn’t been replying much as of late. Worry ran like an undercurrent through Essek’s veins, but he tried to tamp it down, telling himself it was probably just because it was the end of his first semester teaching. Caleb Widogast was a busy man.

Walking up to Caleb’s front garden, Essek furrowed his brow. Rexxentrum was in the thick of winter and had been for the past month, and snow from the last storm still covered the pathway up to Caleb’s door, but it seemed untouched. No footprints marked where Caleb had come and gone for work. Essek could understand if it had simply been unshoveled, but there wasn’t a sign Caleb had even left his cottage.

Perhaps he’s been Teleporting to work, recently, Essek excused, eying the snow warily as he stepped through it.

Reaching the door, he knocked. Sure, he had a key, and sure, the cottage would not alarm for Caleb if he entered as Essek was one of the exceptions to the wards, but he did love seeing the look of surprise on Caleb’s face whenever he opened the door and found Essek’s disguise standing on the doorstep.

Essek waited. And waited. He fidgeted.

He knocked again. He waited again.

His brow creased with worry the longer Caleb failed to answer the door.

Surprise be damned, Essek thought as he glanced around, checking that he’d not been tailed and that no one was watching before he tested the door. Unlocked. Paranoia began to eat at him as he eased the door open just enough to check for traps before letting himself in, closing the door behind him. He thought about the lack of a single response from Caleb yesterday and his heart dropped through his chest.

If Caleb had been targeted by The Lens, Essek would never forgive himself.

Turning around, he had the briefest second to be flooded with relief at the smell of home before that relief was iced with confusion and even more worry.

The cottage was in disarray. Dishes lay on the table, rumpled clothes sat in a pile by the stairs. Dust covered the flat surfaces, some patches thicker than others where Caleb had attempted to clean but failed part way through.

Caleb was never this messy, and the fact that the cottage was this cluttered was serious cause for concern, but even so Essek felt relief. This hadn’t been the work of the Kryn’s spy network. The minimal organization with the piling of dirty clothes and the stacking of used plates told Essek it had been Caleb’s doing, Caleb’s desperate attempt to keep order, and that… was probably even more concerning than a break-in, honestly.

Essek was loathed to see what could cause Caleb to falter like this. Not even during his most manic of moments did Caleb make such a pile of litter and clutter. Even the revisiting of traumatic memories several months ago in Aeor had not stopped Caleb from inventorying his components nightly.

The drow entered and closed the door behind him, locking it and dropping his disguise. He considered calling out, but refrained. It would be just his luck, now that the Volstrucker were gone, that he would call out and be attacked by an intruder trying to steal from Caleb’s home, regardless of the lack of evidence of a break-in. So instead he quietly drifted to the staircase, casting his cantrip to float along the ground, surveying the living room as he passed it by.

Sure, he was likely alone in the house, but he did not survive this long on assumptions.

He reached the stairs and placed a hand on the staircase, and he was about to ascend when he heard the tell-tale sound of vomiting. Realization set in and Essek frowned with a soft, sympathetic, “Oh Caleb…” and glided up the stairs, following the sound to the source.

The doors to Caleb’s bedroom and bathroom were both open, but another round of vomiting told Essek the sound was originating from the bathroom, so Essek focused there. He dropped the cantrip so Caleb would not be startled by Essek’s sudden presence.

As Essek approached the door and peered in, the disheveled redhead leaned his head back against the wall, bucket in his lap and his body fiercely shivering. He was pale, almost devoid of color, dark circles around his sunken eyes and hair messily tangled in a haphazard ponytail.

A knock on the door grabbed Caleb’s attention, and without moving his pounding head his glazed-over gaze drifted over to find a sight for literally sore eyes. His bearded pale lips gave the tiniest twitch, but his eyes did the smiling for him.

The fact Caleb hadn’t realized Essek was there and hadn’t startled when Essek knocked, caused even more worry to gather in Essek’s stomach like water in a bog. Normally that would be cause for happiness, the lack of a hyperactive startle response, but in this instance it was incredibly concerning.

“Hallo.” His sickly lover hoarsely greeted. Essek gave Caleb a pained smile.

“Hello, dear.”

“You’re early.”

“Good thing I am, no?” Essek lingered in the doorway, studying his partner. “You’re not feeling too well, I gather?”

 “I have – been better.” Caleb sucked in a shallow breath, afraid to breathe too deeply and upset his stomach further, teeth rattling in his head.

“You certainly have.” Essek frowned, placing a hand on the doorframe. “I will be right back, okay? I’m going to gather a few things.”

Caleb did not bother to argue as Essek turned away. Mostly because he did not have the energy for it, not for a lack of desire to – he didn’t want Essek getting sick because of him, but he was in no position to refuse assistance.

It started off as nothing. Some stomach upset, some nausea, but Caleb had dealt with worse from eating things he shouldn’t have when he’d been starving on the run. But then it got worse, and Caleb figured he probably caught something at work considering the Academy and the Soul were the places he frequented most. He still went to work, of course, because the end of the semester was right around the corner and he wanted to make sure his students had time to practice and ask questions. Time did not pause because he was feeling under the weather, and so he made sure his students and colleagues kept their distance and he washed his hands several times a day.

It was not until Caleb woke up and realized he was too weak to cast spells that the severity of the situation occurred to him. But he took the potion he bought from the herbalist yesterday. That should have worked. He should feel markedly better, but he only felt worse.

“Do we have a theory as to what it is?” Essek interrupted Caleb’s foggy thinking once he came back, a couple dishrags draped over one arm, a glass of water in one hand and a bowl of water in the other.

“Seventy-six percent – chance I acquired it – from the Academy.” Caleb slid his eyes closed as Essek knelt beside him, teeth chattering as he spoke. It felt like he was a child again, suffering after falling into a lake in the middle of a harsh Zemnian winter.

“That is not what I asked,” Essek gently teased, setting the glass and the bowl down, “but I appreciate the information. What is the other twenty-four percent?”

“Poison.”

Essek paused, arm freezing where he was about to dip one of the dishrags in the bowl of water. He glanced up at Caleb’s pallor, sunken face.

Immediately the idea that the Dynasty could have sent agents after Caleb made his blood run cold. No, they had not been inside the cottage, but Essek knew how they worked. He had once been their Shadowhand, and would one day start playing cat-and-mouse with them, once they realized the mouse was alive. They wouldn’t have to enter Caleb’s home to kill him. They could just as easily tail him to a tavern and slip something in his food or drink without anyone being the wiser.

It was a perfectly viable option that the mouse had been discovered, and that their assumption that the Dynasty would simply reach out to Caleb had been wrong.

“Poison?” Essek repeated carefully. Caleb swallowed and winced at the movement of his raw throat.

“Unlikely,” Caleb reiterated, seeing Essek’s paranoia even in his hazy state, “but possible.”

“Who would be poisoning you?”

Caleb leveled a single bloodshot eye at Essek’s concerned, scared face. “I can think of – at least seven. Eight – if we count Astrid.”

Essek frowned, realizing Caleb was talking about the Cerberus Assembly, and returned to dipping the rag in the bowl of water, saturating it. Deciding to keep his worries about The Lens to himself for now, he guided Caleb’s bucket beneath the bearded chin and whispered, “Close your mouth.”

Wiping Caleb’s face clean, being sure to thoroughly clean his beard, Essek wetted the other rag to wipe a fresh one over the rest of his face, removing the days of sweat and wicking some of the heat from Caleb’s feverish skin.

“Danke.” Caleb whispered to Essek, voice sounding like he ate gravel.  Essek shushed him quietly and gave him the glass of warm water to sip. Caleb sipped it in small mouthfuls, letting it coat his raw throat and praying to the divines that it stayed down.

“Save me your thanks for after you’re better, ssussun.” Essek rested the bucket off to the side then tossed the dishrags in the tub to clean later. He weaved arcana over Caleb’s limp form, lifting him into the air, and flicked his wrist to free a stone from his Wristpocket. “First, a visit to the Clays is in order. If there is a chance it is poison, I want to know for certain.”

Essek wrapped his arms under Caleb’s floating form, holding onto him, and Caleb laid his exhausted head against Essek’s shoulder, closing his eyes. He was in no position to argue, so he didn’t bother. It was a better idea than the junk his addled brain had been coming up with.

He felt the world shift and the inertia of being thrown into a new place, and clenched his jaw and tensed his throat to keep himself from vomiting all over Essek.

Essek carried his partner toward the stone steeple the Clay family called home, seeing a kindly firbolg with a single long braid of pink hair lying over one shoulder, the sides of her head shaved. He recognized Caduceus’s mother with a relieved sigh, seeing her tending to the flowers at the windowsill with an apron and a pair of gloves on.

“Constance, was it?”

The gardening firbolg looked up from the flowers and turned toward the new voice with a smile.

“Hello – oh.” She frowned as she looked at Caleb trembling in Essek’s arms. “Oh goodness.”

Essek smiled sheepishly. “We could use some help.”

“I’ll say.” Constance tucked her trimming shears into a pocket and began pulling the gardening gloves from her fingers. “Bring him inside.”

Essek guided his floating partner in his arms through the open doorway into the temple and over to the couch, laying Caleb down on it before dropping the spell. He heard Constance walk in moments later, apron discarded and wiping her dirty hands with a towel.

“What happened?”

“There is a possibility he could have been poisoned.” Essek explained for his partner, brushing sweaty red strands from Caleb’s forehead. “Do you have the ability to check for such a thing?”

“Yes,” Constance murmured, coming closer, “let me have a look.” Essek shifted out of the way so she could get a better eye on Caleb, watching her tilt Caleb’s head to look at his throat and order him to open his eyes and mouth.

She furrowed her brow and reached into her pocket, pulling free a single yew leaf.

“You’re so ill that it’s hard to tell either way. Just a second.” Constance remarked, weaving golden arcana around the leaf before brushing it over her closed eyelids. When she opened them, they were glowing with the same golden light.

Her gaze lowered to Caleb’s sickly face, and she frowned.

“How long have you felt ill?”

Caleb’s eyes struggled to stay open, so he let them fall closed, mumbling his answer tiredly.

“Seven…”

Essek exhaled with relief.

“Seventeen days?”

Essek startled, eyes snapping wide.

“Seventeen days?” He repeated in horror. Caleb winced, expecting that reaction and knowing his reasoning wasn’t good enough. He tried to explain himself anyways.

“It was nothing – at first.” Caleb swallowed dryly. “Just some nausea and stomach upset.” He pulled in a trembling breath, eyelids parting to look up at Essek as the drow walked around the back of the couch and brushed cool drow fingers along his forehead. “Nothing to worry you – or Kingsley – about.”

“The time to worry us was long before now, Widogast.” Essek chided him. He looked up at Constance. “Is he sick?”

She shook her head. “No. Well, yes, but he’s not diseased. You were right. He’s been poisoned.”

Caleb tensed his brow in mild confusion while Essek scowled, petting red hair.

“I can take care of it.” Constance reassured the pair, and then looked at Caleb. “But it would do you well to pay extra attention to who touches what you eat or drink.”

“What – what kind of poison is it?” Essek nervously twisted the arcane focus on his finger, trying not to preemptively draw conclusions.

“It’s called a pale tincture.” Constance explained, walking over and grabbing a bucket. “Usually somebody eats or drinks it, and it stays in the person’s body, slowly killing them. If they are very healthy,” she rested the bucket by Caleb’s head on the floor then tugged the limp human onto his side, “the body will get rid of it by itself. Otherwise, the poison has to be removed, and until the poison is out, magical healing won’t work.”

Constance gestured over Caleb and muttered a divine prayer to the Wildmother, and the second she was done grabbed the bucket and held it over Caleb’s mouth as the man vomited violently.

“Do not hold back, Mister Caleb.” Constance rubbed Caleb’s arm. “It all has to come out.”

Essek gathered Caleb’s hair from around his face and pulled it back, holding it in a loose fist as he rubbed between Caleb’s tensed shoulder blades. The drow tightened his jaw, lips set in a worried scowl. He recognized the poison. It was not a Kryn favorite, which lessened some of his worry, but it was still utilized by The Lens from time to time. Specifically if the target already wasn’t the healthiest and the death needed to look inconspicuous. That gave Essek hope that the Dynasty was not attempting to go after Caleb just yet, as they would have wanted to make an example out of Caleb to scare Essek into surrender.

Or, perhaps, they changed their methods knowing Essek would recognize them, and they didn’t particularly care if Essek surrendered or not. The thought was a troubling one. But Essek couldn’t rush to conclusions just yet. Caleb had enemies outside of the ones Essek gave him by proxy.

After what felt like an eternity for all involved, Caleb spit into the bucket and groaned weakly, voice rough like broken rocks. Caleb’s throat felt like he’d swallowed glass shards and drank a vinegar chaser, but at least the ill feeling was gone.

Constance checked for the poison once more, swiping the yew leaf over her eyes again, and exhaled with a relieved smile.

“It’s gone.” She patted Caleb’s shivering arm. “Let’s get you cleaned up while I brew some tea. The Seren family is good on the throat, but I’ll add some honey to it as well.”

“Essek?” A familiar drawl remarked with calm happiness, boots thudding as the tall pink-haired firbolg entered his home, setting his shield down by the door.

Essek turned to look at Caduceus, offering him a wavering smile.

“Ah, Caduceus, honey, can you help your friend here over to the bath?” Constance asked, gesturing to the couch as she took away the bucket to get rid of its contents. “And if you could spare some healing on the way over, I’m sure he would be grateful.”

“We both would.” Essek glanced over at Constance’s son, looking at him pleadingly.

Caduceus furrowed his brow and stepped up beside Essek, peering over the back of the couch at the sweaty redhead lying on his front with his head on the edge of the seat.

“Oh. Hey, Mister Caleb.” Caduceus greeted in his warm, friendly way. Caleb could hear his smile.

“Hallo-” Caleb coughed. “Hallo, Caduceus.”

“Come on, dear.” Essek came around the side of the couch and rubbed Caleb’s back, feeling the muscles shake beneath his partner’s sweat-soaked shirt as Caleb shifted. “You’ll feel more like yourself after a bath.”

“I-” Caleb hesitated before sighing heavily, the sigh trailing into an embarrassed groan. He muttered almost under his breath, “I can’t.”

“You have to at least try, Widogast.” Essek chided.

“I, uh…” Caleb buried his face in the couch cushion, the tips of his ears turning pink. “I just did.” 

Essek felt Caleb’s muscles shake again beneath his hand and he realized it was because Caleb was trying to push himself up.

“Light above, Caleb,” Essek breathed in surprise, Caduceus walking around behind him to stand by Caleb’s head, “how sick were you?”

“Here, let me help.” Caduceus gestured and familiar green magic washed over Caleb. The human immediately gasped and coughed at the sudden change, taking a full breath for the first time in what could have been days. He swallowed and almost whimpered with relief when it didn’t hurt to do so.

“Dankeschön, freund.” Caleb whispered, grunting as he pushed his chest off the couch with trembling arms. Essek and Caduceus both helped bear his weight so the human could maneuver and shift, standing up next to them.

“Can you walk?” Caduceus questioned, holding onto Caleb’s arms to steady him.

“I think so.” Caleb flashed a nervous and uncertain smile.

“Then to the bath we go. C’mon.”

Caduceus helped Essek guide Caleb to the bathroom and into the tub, taking a moment for Caleb to rinse his mouth and beard, and once they had Caleb sitting down Essek helped the firbolg gather the necessary toiletries and water to give Caleb a desperately needed bath. It wasn’t going to be a Tower bath with lots of water and soaps, in fact it was just enough water to cover Caleb’s lower half, but they could make do.

“I won’t have the magical energy to get us back home tonight.” Essek told his partner, lathering soap over the exhausted human’s sweaty skin, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. “I assume Caduceus could be persuaded into letting us sleep here?”

“I would assume the same.” Caleb murmured, scrubbing as well to aid in the quest to get him clean.

“Good.” Essek splashed water over Caleb’s hairy chest, smoothing a palm down the wet strands afterwards. Just from touch alone he could tell Caleb had lost weight, no longer healthily padded like he’d been when Essek last saw him. “You need to rest and recuperate.”

Several seconds of silence passed before Caleb murmured, “I’m sorry for not telling you or Kingsley. I did not realize I’d gotten that ill.”

“Next time, you tell us regardless of how ill you feel.” Essek scolded, smoothing soap down a pale freckled back, moving Caleb’s ponytail out of the way. “You can’t continue keeping secrets in the hopes of not worrying us, Caleb. What would you have done if I did not choose to arrive early? I wasn’t even supposed to be back until next week.”

“I know, I know.” Caleb sighed, shoulders slumping. “I was not thinking clearly.”

“I’m aware.” Essek ducked his head to meet Caleb’s eyes, leveling a stern gaze. “Which is why I’m not more angry with you.”

Caleb frowned but nodded, understanding. He’d be just as furious if Kingsley or Essek had done what he’d done and kept their deteriorating health a secret.

Seeing the remorse in Caleb’s eyes, Essek cupped Caleb’s untrimmed beard and kissed his pallor forehead.

Chapter Text

In the morning, feeling markedly better after getting the poison out of his system and some actual half-decent sleep, Caleb sleepily snuggled into his dearly missed partner’s hip. It took a moment for his brain to realize a few things, and when he did he repressed the urge to cry for several minutes. 

There were a lot of complex emotions boiling in Caleb's ribs, but relief, grief, and guilt were the main ones. The guilt actually began last night when Caleb read what Kingsley wrote in response to the news Essek shared on his behalf. Kingsley, to say the least, was not pleased that Caleb had kept yet another secret from them. Especially since Caleb had postponed King’s visit by claiming to be “too busy with the end of school”, when in reality he’d been too sick to multitask work and visits and he did not want Kingsley to find out how sick he’d been. But keeping his failing health a secret was not his only source of guilt today.

He was relieved Essek was in his arms again, safe and sound. This was not the welcome home either Essek or Caleb had been anticipating, but it was leagues better than no welcome home at all, and as such Caleb greedily took it and did not look back, especially since it distracted him from his grief.

Obviously, Essek was just as relieved to be "home". Caleb could tell because, under normal circumstances, Essek would’ve left the bed by now, even if just to wander the cemetery grounds, but instead he was sitting up in the bed the Clay's graciously loaned them for the night, petting Caleb's hair. It was equally as obvious to the human that Caleb was doing a poor job of hiding his teary emotions because Essek peeled Caleb’s arms from around his waist and lap with a gentle, “It’s alright, dear”, and laid down with his boyfriend to hold him close. 

The drow shushed Caleb comfortingly as Caleb buried a bearded face into Essek’s neck and breathed him in, lying down on top of his partner’s body to feel the cooler man’s purple skin pressed against as much of him as he could manage. He didn’t know that Essek was also aware of what day it was, but Essek had not yet realized why Caleb was grieving so heavily despite it being his birthday. He simply figured the poor man was overwhelmed.

Once Caleb was calm, Essek Prestidigitated the remnants of tears away and whispered to his lover, “Feeling better, ssussun?”

Caleb nodded, not trusting his voice. After seventeen days of being sick and how raw his throat had gotten, he half-expected not to be able to speak at all, even with Caduceus’ healing. Plus his emotions were doing a decent job at choking him, anyway.

“Were you overwhelmed, or is something wrong?”

Caleb licked his dry lips. He did not want to get into the complicated emotions, so he settled for the easier explanation which, to be fair, was not entirely inaccurate.

“Overwhelmed.” He whispered, little more than a breath. In the quiet of the room, it was enough to be audible and understood, however.  Caleb was relieved that it didn’t hurt to whisper.

Essek petted Caleb’s hair soothingly, being careful not to comb through it as to avoid finding tangles and knots. He smiled lopsidedly after a moment.

“Would Dogleb like to make an appearance?”

That, at least, got a smile out of his boyfriend. Essek felt Caleb’s cheeks move, feeling the smile soon afterward as it pressed a kiss to a purple throat.

“I don’t think so.”

Essek playfully sighed. “Shame.” He smirked when Caleb snickered with amusement, closing his eyes and pressing a kiss to Caleb's forehead. Silently, he felt proud of his partner for managing a smile despite today’s beginning.

Hearing the clatter of a cook in the kitchen below them, Caleb and Essek slipped out of their loaned bed and got redressed in the clothes they arrived in. He didn’t see Essek toss a crumpled piece of paper into the waste basket, the drow getting rid of the evidence when Caleb had his back turned.

They went down for breakfast, and it was going well until Caleb received a concerning Sending from his favorite blue tiefling.

“Hiya Cayleb, I’m sorry to bug you, but, when you can… could you bring Caduceus to Nicodranas? Mama isn’t feeling good.”

Caleb frowned. Essek glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow, fawning ignorance.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Jester. Ja, I will bring Caduceus, assuming he is free today. How quickly do you need us?"

"What's wrong?" Essek asked, feigning concern so Caduceus did not have to lie. It helped that the rest of the Clay's weren't privy to the plan and we're genuinely concerned.

"Marion is unwell." Caleb looked pleadingly at Caduceus. He opened his mouth to speak, but Caduceus was already smiling.

"It’s good that I have nowhere else to be today, then." He picked up his cup of water. "I'll be ready in an hour. I've got some chores to do."

"Well - I don't - Jester did not tell me if it was urgent or not." Caleb's hand went to his forearm under the table, and Essek subtly covered said forearm with his own hand, gently pushing Caleb's hand out of the way. 

"I think she would have told you to come right away if it was an emergency." Essek reassured. He dragged the tips of his nails over Caleb's scarred skin, and Caleb moved his forearm so it was easier for Essek to reach.

Caleb partially agreed, but uncertainty and paranoia still made his heart race with anxiety. He went to reach for his components and found air instead. He frowned, remembering he left his most important things at home.

"Essek?"

"Mm?" The other wizard hummed around his mouthful, glancing over at his boyfriend.

"My components and spell book are at the cottage."

Essek swallowed. Well, this complicated things, didn't it?

He quickly ran through scenarios in his head, and realized fast that this was actually beneficial. Not to Caleb, necessarily, but to getting everyone in their proper places before his arrival.

"Caduceus still has his sanctuary in Nicodranas, no?" Essek glanced briefly at the grave cleric. "You could take Caleb there, and I could make a detour to get his things."

"That's fine with me."

Caleb furrowed his brow. "Why would I not go with you?"

Essek kept his expression calm as internally he panicked, having not thought of that possibility. He made it seem like he was considering Caleb's point, thinking it over, when Caduceus interjected.

"Depending on what's wrong, I might need an extra set of hands."

"Hmm." Caleb considered, not seeing the hint of hope in Essek's gaze that he would take the bait. Essek suppressed it when Caleb lifted his eyes to meet Essek's. "I suppose someone needs to be able to run out and get supplies, and I’d hate to make Jester leave Marion’s side when she’s sick."

Essek hid his smile of relief by taking a sip of his water.

The hour passed, with Caduceus actually getting some chores done, to Essek’s surprise. He had not been fibbing that he had work to do, apparently, which was a massive boon. An extra hour for the ones at the Chateau to work on decorations and setting up was more than they could’ve asked for. Thankfully Kingsley’s update that Essek tossed in the waste basket told him they’d gotten the big things done the night before after the Chateau closed.

While Caleb was inside and Caduceus was done with his work, Essek told Caduceus to Send to Beauregard and tell her that there was a change of plans. She needed to take Yasha to gather Caleb's coat and spell book at his cottage and to ignore the state of the home, and was relieved when Beauregard quickly replied saying that she would get right on it. Caleb almost caught them, asking what they were doing outside still, and Essek lied smoothly and told Caleb they were waiting for his arrival. He asked Caduceus a couple stalling questions, like where his Sanctuary was and how long it would take them to reach the Lavish Chateau. The goal was to give Beauregard and Yasha some time to rush to Caleb’s without having to worry about where Caleb was.

Caduceus asked if he should Send to Jester and find out if they needed to go to the herbalist, and Essek and Caleb both thought that was a brilliant idea for different reasons.

Jester, bless her sweet soul, remembered that mentioning the herbalist was code for “we need a way to stall Caleb” and purposefully told Caduceus to wait for a moment, she was sure there was something Mama needed from the herbalist. Then, after a few minutes, she reached out to Caduceus again, telling him to go to a particular herbalist in Nicodranas and pick up an order for Marion Lavorre, and Caduceus relayed the instructions to the other two.

“Are you ready to go, dear?” He smiled at Caleb and he realized his mistake when Caleb furrowed his brow at his pleased expression. He swiftly came up with an excuse, raising an eyebrow at Caleb’s confused look. “What, am I not allowed to be excited to see our friends? The circumstances are not great, admittedly, but as they say in Common beggars cannot be choosers.”

Thinking of Essek’s lonely time away, Caleb immediately softened. He return Essek’s smile with a more reserved smile of his own, and Essek gave him a sweet kiss goodbye.

“See you in a few, dear. I love you.”

“Ich liebe dich auch, liebling.”

Essek watched divine arcana swirl around Caduceus, but he Teleported before he saw the end of Caduceus’ casting of Sanctuary. With a rush of motion, he was propelled into the only clear space in Caleb’s cottage that he had seen, landing on the rug in the center of Caleb’s living room.

A familiar woman with dark tanned skin and a dark brown undercut rounded on the apparating figure. Dressed in a nice white buttoned shirt and grey vest, her shirt neatly tucked into high-waisted blue dress pants, she immediately went into a defensive position with her gloved hands raised, wing-lined icy blue eyes meeting Essek’s.

“Pleasure to see you as well, Expositor Lionett.” Essek drawled.

“Fuck off Hot Boi.” Beau spat but relaxed, lowering her fists and rolling the tension out of her shoulders. She walked over to him, gesturing to the state of the cottage as she approached. “The fuck happened here?”

“Caleb’s arrogance and pride.” Essek sighed, quickly rushing off to the kitchen. “That is a conversation best had while we work.”

He Prestidigitated the dirty dishes clean, going around and throwing the cantrip over other filthy objects to clean what he could for when they returned home. They could do a proper cleaning sometime this week, when they were home and not celebrating something.

“Uh, okay.” Beau hummed confusedly. She then called out toward the stairs, “Babe?”

“Found it!”

Beau gathered the clean clothes Essek finished casting his magic over and folded them, just as something to do.

“Alright, so what happened? He get depressed or something?”

“Or something, unfortunately.” Essek rumbled lowly, casting his mage hand and having it assist. He heard Yasha’s heels descend the staircase, and he called out, “You found both his spell book and journal, yes?”

“Pretty sure that’s what this is.” Yasha held up the leather holsters, two books secured inside, as she passed behind Essek and Beau to the entrance and hung it up with Caleb’s coat full of components for easy retrieval. She was in a shoulderless slimming black dress with a ruffle trim along the top and elegant long sleeves, a silver necklace laying on her collarbones and her feet in simple black heels. Her white hair was shorter than Essek remembered, cut at chin-length and styled to the side, and she had on smoky eyeshadow and eyeliner that Essek had only seen her wear once before to the Marquis’ party.

“It is, yes.” Essek breathed, relieved Yasha found it. Now that she was here, he finally let the secret spill. “Caleb was poisoned.”

Beau’s fingers faltered. Essek could feel both of his friends staring at him in disbelief.

“Say that again?” Beau asked, sure she heard Essek wrong.

“I am not sure by whom, but I found him yesterday barely able to move.” Essek remembered the bathroom and gave the folded shirt in his hand to Beau as the woman started gathering the clean clothes to take upstairs. “Which reminds me, the bathroom needs attention and I need to change. One moment.”

“Wait a damn-” Beau started to argue, but Essek didn’t stop, rushing upstairs in his mad dash to clean.

Essek, throwing his cantrip all over the place, couldn’t help but feel like he needed to convince Caleb to trade out one of his unused cantrips for Prestidigitation because it was acceptably clean within a minute. The dirty dish towel Essek had discarded in the tub was now unsoiled and ready to be taken back to the kitchen. What a life changer this little cantrip could be for domestic life.

He changed into one of his simpler formal outfits, a nice midnight blue satin long sleeve tucked into a pair of black pants with geometric symbols embroidered in silver along the bottom hem, and grabbed his makeup and jewelry to put on later, tossing it in his Wristpocket. He pinned the broach Caleb had commissioned to his chest and then grabbed a change of pajamas for both Essek and Kingsley, shoving them in a bag, and rushed out. If Caleb got too drunk to cast the Tower, they would need clothes to sleep in.

When he came back, Beauregard had questions.

“When the fuck did dumbass get poisoned?”

“Seventeen days ago.”

“Wha- How?!”

“Constance Clay said it was a pale tincture.”  Essek went over to the pile of clothes, getting a simple long sleeve shirt and bottoms for Caleb to wear as either pajamas that didn’t reek of sweat and illness or as clothes for tomorrow. He shoved them in the night bag along with his and Kingsley’s pajamas. “I would assume you know what that is?”

“I do, yeah.” Beau exhaled a sigh. “Fucking shit.”

“I cannot believe I am the one saying this,” Essek went over to the coat rack and grabbed Caleb’s coat and book holsters, “but let us push the paranoia to the side for today.”

Beau blinked.

“Are we ready to go?” Essek asked the women, tossing the coat over his arm.

“Sure.” Yasha said, walking over to stand by Essek, taking her girlfriend’s hand.

“Yeah, wow.” Beau breathed. “I'm also surprised you’re the one that said that. But you're right. Send us off.”

Essek nodded and spoke the word for Teleport, landing someplace he had not seen in a year and one day. Not since Jester first walked him around the Chateau, before Caleb arrived for Trent's imprisonment party, and told him about her childhood and The Traveler.

It had been a startling and depressing revelation when Essek realized, and told Kingsley in one of their first secret conversations, that Caleb's birthday had been just a couple days after Trent's imprisonment. He'd felt guilty that Caleb had been alone on his birthday so soon after, but he couldn't blame himself for not knowing when Caleb kept it such a closely held secret. The only way they'd been able to find out, after trying a few other avenues, was by Beau asking Eadwulf, knowing Eadwulf was less likely to plot something than Astrid.

Essek, presently, hoped as pink walls with painted dicks and artistic murals flooded his vision that Caleb had been too sick to realize. He hoped that Caleb hadn't been forced to deal with the one year anniversary of such a monumental event, something he worked tirelessly for months on to watch come to a bittersweet fruition, on top of his poisoning, and moreover he hoped the anniversary of Trent's imprisonment didn't forever color Caleb's birthday.

And then he was snapped back into the moment by excited screeching filling Jester's childhood bedroom, startling him from his thoughts.

Thanking the Luxon he was not the first to be assaulted, Essek dropped the bag of clothes and his personal bag by Jester’s childhood bed and watched with a smile as the blue tiefling wearing a cute pink ruffled dress smothered Beau with a hug. Fjord walked into the room, having been in the middle of saying something when Jester shrieked.

“Essek! How have you been?” Fjord greeted, coming around to give Essek a hug and pat on the shoulder. Essek stumbled a bit, but not nearly as bad as the last time he’d seen the half-orc. The captain was dressed nicely, with a teal vest and a v-necked white blouse tucked into matching blue dress pants.

“Hello, Fjord. I have been okay.” Essek smiled, pretending that he had other thoughts beside Kingsley where is Kingsley must find Kingsley. “I’m grateful to be back and to see you all.”

“Essek!" Jester exclaimed after hugging Yasha, throwing herself at the drow.

"Oof!" Essek stumbled as Jester wrapped him in a tight hug. Beau noticed Fjord and they began laughing over their accidental similar outfits while Jester crushed Essek’s ribs.

“Oh my gods, I missed you so much!” Jester shook the drow back and forth a little and it knocked some of the air from Essek’s lungs.

“I – can’t breathe, Jester.” Essek wheezed.

He took a gulp of air when Jester, thankfully, released him.

“Sorry, I forget how strong I am sometimes.” Jester giggled, and then gasped with realization. “Kingsley!”

“Yes, where is he by cha-!”

The young woman grabbed Essek’s hand and started running, and Essek tripped at the sudden yanking before getting his feet under him again, hearing their friends laughing behind them. Essek had half a second to wave a poor excuse of a greeting at Ms. Marion Lavorre finishing brunch before he was dragged out into the hall.

He mage handed the door closed when Jester kept tugging him forward, but the brief pause of her having to open the door meant he was no longer stumbling perpetually. And to be honest, he didn’t care what Jester did to him. Not if Kingsley Tealeaf was the reward.

“Kiiingsleeeey!” Jester called in an up-to-no-good sing-song voice.

“Down here Joy!” Kingsley’s voice traveled up through the stairwell. It sounded light and carefree; a far cry from how his voice sounded the last time Essek heard it, when the discovery of Mollymauk’s soul fragment was still fresh on King’s mind. “What do you need sugar tits?”

Essek hissed at Jester, “Don’t tell him.”

Jester grinned mischievously at Essek as they reached the stairs.

“Whatcha doooin’?” Jester asked, still sounding positively up to no good, and Essek casted his cantrip to keep from making noise as they rushed down the stairwell together, hand in hand like siblings up to no good.

“I’m hanging up the bunt-ing.” Kingsley emphasized the harsh syllable, giggling to himself with innocent amusement. “Yeah, still love that word. It’s such a weird feckin’ word, isn’t it?”

Jester opened her mouth to reply, but someone else spoke up.

“Let’s be real. Every word in Common is a weird word.”

Essek smiled at hearing the unique voice of Veth Brenatto. It took a couple seconds to put the name to the voice because it had been so long since he last heard it, but when he did he couldn’t help the excitement. Caleb was going to be so happy to see her.

They descended the last staircase, looking out at the Lavish Chateau. The tavern area was empty but mostly decorated, with a space for dancing and Caleb’s beloved Jester-and-Caduceus specialty fairy lights strung up in a zig-zag pattern along the ceiling. There were several tables with orange cloth table covers, and each had a little cat statue made of clay. None were the same, all of them painted to look like various different colored coats with unique markings, and Essek gasped softly at seeing them.

“Jester…” He breathed, and Jester smiled warmly, hugging Essek’s arm and letting his hand go. The drow thought the tiefling was talented, but by the Luxon, she could really do it all, couldn’t she?

Jester and Essek found Kingsley standing on the bar shirtless but in red pants laced with black down the sides that were tucked into shin-high boots with gold toe guards. Essek recognized the pants and boots as part of the outfit that Caleb gifted Kingsley for their first proper date, and he quickly flicked his eyes upward before he got caught ogling his partner in front of their friends. 

Essek blinked and stared when his eyes found King’s back, dropping the cantrip keeping him afloat. The last time he saw Kingsley’s skin, it had been completely devoid of tattoos for the first time since before Mollymauk. Now, Kingsley was covered in tattoos again, perhaps even more so than before, and there was an obvious theme. He had a scene on his back of a pirate ship bearing a black flag with a skull and crossbones, sailing past a mermaid perched on a rock with a chest overflowing with gold pieces at her side. Nautical rope framed the scene, forming a fisherman’s knot over his spine, and he had sleeves of wave tattoos covering his arms. On his hands, Essek could just barely catch glimpses of a sun and a moon as the sailor held them up above his head, the bunting getting in the way of Essek’s view as Kingsley had to manipulate the orange triangles of fabric. Essek decided he would have to get a closer look at Kingsley’s hands once Kingsley was done using them. 

The purple tiefling was stretching on his toes to reach high enough to tie the bunting around a nail, tail working as a counterbalance to keep him from falling over, and Essek tried to keep from salivating at the long muscular frame on display as he approached with Jester.

“Mom! Mom!” A little boy’s voice shouted, and Essek and Jester glanced over to find a halfling boy with thick brown hair wearing a charming little suit tugging on his mother’s nice yellow dress, Veth standing off to the side of the bar to watch Kingsley and laugh if, or when, he fell.

“What, Luc?” Veth looked down at her son, seeing him pointing at something, and when she followed his finger she found a smiling drow placing a finger to his lips as he walked up. She grinned at him, quietly telling Luc to shush.

Kingsley furrowed his brow, wondering why Luc needed to be quiet, before he found himself rising off the bar by five feet. Instinctively his arms flailed and he yelped, thinking he was falling backward and trying to counteract his leaning, when a posh voice called from a few yards behind him,

“Kingsley Tealeaf,” Essek playfully reprimanded, “I thought you knew better than to stand on the furniture.”

Kingsley’s red eyes went wide.

“Essek?!” He shouted, trying to look over his shoulder. Essek grinned at seeing Kingsley’s tail start whipping and swishing excitedly.

Essek couldn’t wait. He set Kingsley back down and the agile sailor leaped off the bar and rushed to embrace him, meeting his eyes for half a second at most before chests were crushed together and both of them stumbled. He was grateful he didn’t have makeup on yet, because his eyes teared up without his permission.

He hugged Kingsley just as tightly, finding it hard to breathe but not caring. Whether the struggle to get air was because of his emotions or because Kingsley was squeezing his ribs Essek didn’t know, but he didn’t really care, either.

“I missed you.” Kingsley whispered in Essek’s ear. His voice was as shaky as Essek felt.

“I missed you, too.” Essek kissed Kingsley’s cheek. His ear twitched, hearing Luc attempting to whisper to his mom and failing.

“Mom, I thought Uncle Cay was Uncle King’s boyfriend.”

“He is, Button. But so is Uncle Essek.”

Uncle Essek.

The pain was like someone had stabbed Essek in the ribs. It was acute and sharp and stung persistently, even as he pulled back to look at Kingsley’s face.

“You’re sweaty and gross.” Essek wiped one eye and Kingsley laughed softly, wiping the other for him.

“And you’re too prim and proper.” He teased the elegant drow. “Someone’s got to take you down a peg.”

Essek smiled lopsidedly. “I’m honored for it to be you, then.”

Kingsley cupped Essek’s face. “Me too.”

The pair shared a sweet return kiss before Essek broke it off to give Kingsley another hug. Kingsley snickered.

“I thought I was gross and sweaty?”

“I have magic.” Essek muttered into hot tiefling skin, breathing Kingsley in. Kingsley patted and rubbed Essek’s back.

“Speaking of magic, we’ve got to finish up before you know who arrives.” Kingsley pecked a kiss to Essek’s cheek and the drow pulled back. “Lift me up again?”

“You read my mind.” Essek smiled, somehow finding the strength within him to let Kingsley go so his partner could clamber back onto the bar. He casted Levitate on Kingsley again, watching the tiefling lift into the air and pull himself into the right position to comfortably tie the next knot in the chain.

“How has life been on the run, Essek?” Veth teased the drow as she came up to him, holding her son’s hand. Essek noticed that Jester was no longer beside him as Veth moved to occupy that space, and with a quick glance Essek figured she likely returned upstairs for something.

“Just penance, I suppose.” Essek sighed and then gave Veth a hug hello when she held out her arms for one. “Did Jester run off?”

“Yeah, Yeza needed her for something.” Veth shrugged, equally unsure of what Jester was getting up to.

Essek felt another pair of eyes watching and he glanced down at the little boy staring curiously up at him and his casting hand, purple fingers still slightly glowing with his concentration, and he smiled slightly.

“Ah, you must be Veth’s son. It is a pleasure to meet you, Luc Brenatto. I’ve heard many stories.”

To his surprise, Luc didn’t respond. The staring continued, moving to Essek’s face and eyes, like Luc was trying to figure Essek out. Essek raised an eyebrow, confused as to why Luc didn’t automatically return his greeting and why Veth was simply watching her son’s face with a smile instead of forcing the boy to say hello. As the seconds passed, Essek’s pleasant smile wavered slightly with awkwardness.

“Your Uncle Caleb has told me much about you.” He tried. At the mention of Caleb, Luc beamed excitedly.

“It’s Uncle Cay’s birthday!”

Essek’s smile returned. He stomped down the heartache from memories that stirred in his mind, doing his best not to picture a little drow boy in Luc’s place.

“That it is. His thirty-fifth, in fact. I take it you are excited?”

“You don’t know the half of it.” Veth groaned while Luc shouted, “Yes!” Essek chuckled.

“And how old are you?” Essek asked the boy curiously. “Last I heard you had a birthday.”

“I’m seven.” Luc stared at Essek’s hand, and he abruptly asked without an ounce of tact, “Why are you purple?”

Essek smirked.

“Why are you tan?” The drow countered and tilted his head, mimicking Luc’s curiousness and turning it back on him. Luc blinked.

“Cause… I’ve always been tan!” Luc defended. “Being tan is normal.”

“Luc.” Veth scolded while Kingsley stilled. Luc shrunk a little at the scolding.

“Well, where I am from, being purple is normal.” Essek answered calmly, not taking the boy’s ignorance to heart. “I am what you call a drow, or a dark elf. To me, you are the odd one, just as to you I am the odd one.”

“Oh.” Luc thought for a brief moment, long enough that Veth was just about to relax and Kingsley went back to tying knots, but Luc didn’t let his mother relax for long. “Are you going to hurt us?”

Essek frowned at that, hurt and confused as to why Luc would even think that was a possibility, and Veth quickly whispered to Luc. Essek’s long pointed ears twitched, picking up the words he wasn’t meant to hear. “Hey, don’t say that. We talked about this. He’s not like the people that attacked you and your dad, okay?”

The attack on Felderwin came to Essek’s mind, remembering Yeza and the entire reason the Mighty Nein aimed to meet with the Bright Queen, and he softened with understanding.

“No, Luc,” Essek offered the young child a smile, “I will not hurt anyone here. These people are my friends.”

Luc considered Essek’s sincerity for a moment.

“Mom says we don’t hurt friends.” Luc sheepishly replied.

The interrogation on the Ball Eater drifted past Essek’s mind, making his heart ache.

“No, we do not.” Essek agreed, his eyes flicking to Veth’s with a hint of sadness. Veth, intelligent Veth, picked up on the subtext and gave Essek a half-smile, accepting the unspoken repeated apology. Looking back to Luc, Essek noticed Luc’s eyes drift to his hand again and he raised an eyebrow, seeing the questions in the boy’s gaze. “Do you have another question for me, dalhar?”

“Are you purple on the inside, too?”

Kingsley snorted and Essek rolled his eyes at the back of his lover’s head.

“No, I’m afraid not. That would be quite interesting if I was.”

“How do you know?” Luc countered. “You can’t see it. Maybe you have purple guts and don’t know it.”

“Alright, Luc, why don’t we-” Veth started, but Essek answered anyway.

“I have seen it myself, unfortunately, and they look just as pink and red as yours.” Sensing that Veth was getting embarrassed by her son’s questions, or perhaps was more concerned that the former Shadowhand was the recipient of such questions, Essek gave a placating smile. “But I can answer the rest of your questions about my race tonight. There is still much to do to be ready before your uncle arrives, and less and less time to do it in.”

“Is he on his way?!” Luc exclaimed happily, jumping up and down.

“He is, yes. In fact, would you and your mother do the honors of keeping an eye out for him?”

Luc did not have to be asked twice. He went running around the tables toward the front windows and Veth went to chide him but decided to lose that particular battle, giving a little sigh.

“I’m sorry for him.” Veth apologized. “The last time he saw drow was when Felderwin got attacked, and-”

“Veth.” Essek interrupted. The halfling mom stopped speaking, seeing her friend smile at her. “It is fine. I had a younger brother.”

Veth relaxed and smiled gratefully at Essek, and the dunamancy wizard gestured with his head for Veth to follow her son since the hand he would have used was preoccupied with keeping Kingsley afloat. Veth gave him a pat on the arm and walked past, and Essek noticed Yeza dressed in a matching suit to their son approaching Luc at the window to scold him for touching the glass.

“You did real well with him.” Kingsley commented quietly, pulling himself along the wall to tie up the next section of bunting. Essek blushed at Kingsley’s praise and followed after him, staying on the outside of the bar.

“Yes, well,” Essek cleared his throat, observing Luc talking excitedly to Veth as they looked out the front windows together, “I have had practice.”

“It certainly feckin’ shows.” Kingsley chuckled. “I wouldn’t have taken the ‘tan is normal’ comment so well.”

Essek shrugged one shoulder dismissively. “Children say insensitive things as they are ignorant of the nuances of social etiquette and lack tact. That is just in their nature, unfortunate and uncomfortable as it may be. I can appreciate the curiosity, however.”

“That’s an understatement.” Kingsley quipped. “You practically live off curiosity.” Essek narrowed his eyes and shook Kingsley in his Levitate, making Kingsley grab a wooden support and curse. “Ey, prick!”

“Don’t forget who is reliant on who to not drop them, Kingsley Tealeaf.”

Kingsley snorted, rolling his eyes and finishing the last knot.

“Doesn’t matter now!” The sailor called out, trying to twist his torso to turn around in the graviturgist’s grip. “I’m done! Let’s go make out in the water closet!” 

“Kingsley!” Essek used his boyfriend’s name like a curse as he laughed, setting his partner down and dropping the spell. Kingsley turned and leaped across the bar in one smooth movement before leveling a charming grin at Essek, making Essek’s heart flutter.

“C’mon, Uncle Essek.” Kingsley purred, taking Essek’s hand and leading him toward the stairs, flirting shamelessly, “Help Uncle Kingsley finish getting ready.”

For some reason, being called Uncle Essek hurt. Something about it made Essek’s chest feel tight and his eyes burn. It hurt for several minutes after, even as he and Kingsley ducked into an empty room to make out like Kingsley wanted. It hurt as he fell to his knees and brought Kingsley to orgasm so fast that the tiefling was panting like he ran a marathon after. It continued to ache as Essek rid them of the sweat and smell of arousal, turning down Kingsley’s offer of reciprocation, before they left the room to finish getting ready. It wasn’t until he was looking at himself in the mirror, putting on eyeliner beside Kingsley, when Essek realized why it hurt so harshly.

He had given up the chance to be an uncle a long time ago.

Chapter Text

As Caduceus and Caleb closed in on the Lavish Chateau, just a block away, Caduceus broke the silence that had been persisting semi-comfortably between them, noting Caleb’s reclusive demeanor. He’d been silently walking beside Caduceus the whole way, lost in his own little world, and Caduceus was unsure how much was post-illness fog and how much was grief about the day.

“How are you feeling, by the way?”

Caleb scratched his arm absently, not realizing what he was doing. “Fine.”

A slight pause.

“Just fine?” Caduceus asked, wondering now if Caleb had been dissociating this whole trip. Caleb, sensing a bigger conversation or at least more prodding, came back to himself.

He realized he was scratching his arm and promptly stopped, putting his hands in the pockets of his pajama bottoms. “Just fine.”

Caleb could feel Caduceus’ eyes on him. He could feel his profile and body language being read as easily as a book in his own hands. It was not a matter of if Caduceus would be able to tell something was wrong, but rather what was wrong.

“I know today isn’t a good day for you mentally,” Caduceus commented, “but physically are you doing alright? Do you feel steady on your feet? No nausea?”

“Mhm.” Caleb hummed. The drag of gloom on his mind like a wet blanket meant it took him several moments to realize something critical. By that time, they were just a few yards from the door.

Caleb stopped, stone-faced.

Caduceus stopped walking as well, turning to look at the shorter human, holding the package in his hands. He furrowed pink eyebrows at him, wondering what made Caleb stop.

“What is it, Mister Caleb?”

Caleb slowly looked at Caduceus. He made direct eye contact, and Caduceus found intense blue eyes staring into his soul.

“You know.”

Caduceus didn’t have to try to act confused. It had been long enough that he wasn’t sure what Caleb was referring to.

“Know what?”

“How did you know today would be difficult on me mentally?” Caleb demanded.

The firbolg did his best to not show his surprise at being caught. It grew harder and harder to do as Caleb narrowed his eyes.  Caduceus smiled that dopey, calm smile that hid the depths of his intelligence, and Caleb narrowed his eyes even further.

“Come on,” Caduceus argued in the hopes of distracting Caleb, knowing he was a horrible liar and gesturing to the door just a couple more yards away, “I need you to get the door for me. You can ask me how I know after we help Ms. Lavorre.”

The human wizard observed Caduceus continue walking, stop at the door, and turn to look at him. He considered Cad’s proposition and his lips tightened into a line.

Seeing Caduceus next to the door, something clicked. The connection was made and Cad could see it the instant it hit Caleb, cobalt eyes widening. The pallor freckled face began to flush bright red and Caleb took a step back, dread overcoming his anxiety-ridden body.

He didn’t dread the idea of a party. He wasn’t even sure it was really dread he felt. It was more likely guilt and shame manifesting as dread, feeling so similar that it was hard to tell the difference. His social anxiety and deteriorated health certainly didn't help him feel any better about the sudden surprise.

“Caleb?” Caduceus said his friend’s name, confused by Caleb’s reaction, and set the prop package full of cooking spices on the ground by the door. He jogged over as Caleb took another couple of steps backward, breath quickening, and he grabbed Caleb’s shoulders. “Whoa, easy Caleb. Breathe.”

Caleb’s breathing was shaky like the rest of him. He didn’t resist under Caduceus’ grip, staring at the façade of the building that, knowing Jester, held everyone dear to him waiting for him to walk in.

Everyone… but two.

The reminder was like a gut punch. Remembering that the two people who brought him into this world were not here to celebrate the life they birthed, and all by his own hand, forced a painful choked sob from his chest. His face scrunched with agony and he turned away, knowing at least someone was likely looking out the windows at him, waiting and wondering what was wrong. Witnessing Caleb realize what was happening and having a meltdown over it.

He was supposed to be bursting through that door, excited and moved at the care and devotion of his friends. And he was moved, truly he was, but just as he was touched by their love he was burdened with grief and guilt in equal measures. Part of him, and a large part at that, believed he didn’t deserve to celebrate his birthday, let alone receive such special treatment for it.

He was pulled into an alley, a sweet voice whispering soothingly in his ear, “C’mon, come over here.” Caleb let himself be pulled away willingly, trusting the furred hands guiding his steps and staring with blurred vision at the cobblestones. Once they were out of sight of the main road, in the mouth of an alley with a view of the Chateau across the street, Caleb was enveloped in a hug that smelled of earth and herbs, and wasn’t surprised when the grave cleric offered him more soothing words as he rubbed Caleb’s back.

“Let it out.” Caduceus’ soothing voice rumbled like thunder above Caleb’s ear. He could feel the vibrations like a drum through his chest. “Let them be felt, and then let them go.”

Another sob racked through him. Caduceus made it sound like he was talking about both Caleb’s parents and his emotions, or at the very least that’s how Caleb’s brain chose to process his words at that moment, and that managed to both comfort Caleb and pain him at the same time. The concept that his grief was his parents visiting him set off an explosion of complicated emotions in his heaving chest, emotions that he had done away with since destroying his only chance to see them again. Logically, Caleb knew that concept to probably be false, but he almost wanted to set aside logic this one time and hope that Caduceus’ spirituality was reality.

The pair heard the entrance to the Chateau open, but only Caduceus looked up to see who was responsible. He found a purple tiefling and familiar elf disguise holding a parasol rushing out the entrance to join them, both dressed in nice clothes.

“Caleb?” Kingsley called as they jogged across the street, but Caleb didn’t react. Essek casted his mage hand and gave over the parasol to it as they crossed from the shaded interior to the semi-shaded alley.

Caleb’s partners came to a stop, one on either side of him, and concerned hands rubbed over Caleb’s trembling back. They didn’t try to pull him away from Caduceus, however, letting the firbolg continue to hug Caleb.

“What’s wrong, dear?” Essek asked, tucking a lock of hair behind Caleb’s ear.

“Nothing is wrong, Mister Thelyss. Not necessarily.” Caduceus smiled empathetically, answering for Caleb. “Sometimes the gathering of family is a reminder of the members that have passed on is all.” Caduceus patted Caleb’s shoulder. “And I’m sure it’s especially difficult for Caleb, given the circumstances.”

Kingsley and Essek both thought of the screams they heard and their hearts stung.

“Oh Caleb…” Essek whispered, leaning his forehead against Caleb’s head. “I’m so sorry, ssussun, I didn’t realize – is this why you’ve been avoiding your birthday? I’m so sorry.”

“Give him time to grieve,” Caduceus smiled, almost a look of pride in his eyes as he looked at Caleb’s shaking shoulder, “and then we can move on to celebrating.”

“Caddy’s right, magic man.” Kingsley kissed Caleb’s temple, hand resting comfortingly on Caleb’s back. “You cry however long you need to, okay love? Then we’ll get drunk and dance, and we’ll make sure you have the best birthday ever.”

“Would you like to go upstairs and have some privacy?” Essek asked the sniffling human softly, rubbing back and forth over Caleb’s lower back. “We could give you some time in the Tower to decompress. I’m sure everyone would understand. Besides, I’m sure you’d like to get changed, too, so you’d need to go upstairs anyway.”

After a bit of thought, Caleb shook his head and tried to rein himself in, pulling away from Caduceus.

“N-No. You wa-wanted to surprise me.” Caleb swallowed thickly, chest spasming from the sudden intense sobbing as well as trying to stop it from continuing.

“Yeah, but we want you to enjoy the surprise.” Kingsley countered with a tense, nervous laugh, brushing Caleb’s hair away from his face. “A few minutes to cry your heart out isn’t going to ruin anything.”

“I have no clothes to change into.” Caleb changed his argument and wiped his eyes with his hands, still not meeting his partners’ gazes.

Essek helped him with gentle cool fingertips, glancing at Kingsley questioningly. Kingsley bit his lip, thinking it over, and then decided that Caleb would find out about it anyway soon enough.

“Actually, you do.” Kingsley told his teary-eyed partner, fixing his hair for him.

“Was?” Caleb glanced at Kingsley, confused. When finally he looked at King, Caleb blinked, realizing the tiefling was wearing most of the suit he’d gifted him. The only difference was the blouse beneath the red and black damask corset - black and fitted at the torso with a deep plunging neckline.

Kingsley gave him a sheepish, caring smile, stroking a flushed red cheek.

“Happy birthday, dear.” Essek kissed Caleb’s other cheek, rubbing his back. Caleb turned his head to look to his other side, finding a familiar disguise meeting his gaze with the most loving eyes Caleb had seen. “From the both of us.”

Kingsley kissed Caleb’s temple. “Consider it payback for our date.” Caleb laughed wetly and Kingsley took it as a personal win. “It won’t be fancy rich people clothes, but we figured you didn’t need two incredibly expensive outfits that you’ll rarely put on.”

“Besides,” Essek smirked, “King and I do love you in a vest.”

Caleb laughed again, a bit drier and lighter-sounding this time, and Essek’s smirk softened into a sweet smile.

The door opened again and the four of them turned and looked at the front of the Chateau, finding a halfling with a dark complexion gripping the bottom of her yellow dress and holding it to her thighs as she jogged up. Her curled long hair bounced as she, somehow, ran in her sand-colored wedges.

“What are you three doing to my boy?!” She demanded, but the lopsided concerned smile told them she was kidding.

My boy.

Caleb smiled with agony in his eyes at Veth, vision blurring with tears again, and Kingsley winced at what Veth said. Veth clocked the reaction, as well as Caleb’s pallor skin and sunken eyes, and frowned, reaching out for Caleb and whimpering with sympathy pain at seeing Caleb clearly not doing well. Caleb knelt down and wrapped his arms tight around her, beyond happy to see her, and she stood in front of him between his knees and placed a hand on the back of his head, holding his larger head to her smaller shoulder.

“Lebby, what’s wrong?” She asked him in her sweet motherly voice, the same one that never failed to shatter Caleb completely. “What has you so upset? It’s your birthday! You can’t be upset on your birthday!” Veth added playfully, “Who do I need to shoot? Just point me at ‘em, Caleb, I’ll shoot ‘em right up the arse!”

“He’s, um…” Essek fumbled, trying to find the right words without saying too much. Caduceus stepped in to help.

“Grief is just making a brief visit.” Caduceus explained in his usual semi-cryptic way, all with a smile.

Realization flashed in Veth’s eyes and she saddened, leaning her head against Caleb’s.

“You know they’d want you to enjoy your birthday, right?” Veth asked Caleb in a whisper. Caleb shuddered, the snap of guilt threatening to make him start properly crying again, and he nodded shakily. “Good. So long as you know that, and you let yourself have a good time after you get your cries out, that’s all I care about. If you don’t, I’m giving Luc the crossbow and telling him to hunt you down. Bonus points for the crotch and ass.”

Caleb laughed jerkily and thickly into Veth’s shoulder.

“O-Okay. Point taken.” Caleb pulled away and wiped his eyes again. “It’s… It’s very good to see you, Veth.”

“It’s good to see you too, Caleb.” Veth put her hands on his shoulders and smiled at him, ducking her head a little to see around his bangs. “Are you feeling alright? You don’t look so good. You know, aside from the tears and snot.” She looked down at his clothes before meeting his eyes again. “Beau said you got poisoned. Are you still poisoned?”

Caleb’s mouth tensed. News had spread quickly, then.

“Ah. Nein, I'm not poisoned anymore.” Caleb smiled half-heartedly at her. “I will tell everyone more later tonight, ja? I have to, ah, go get changed.”

“Alright. Do you want me to let everyone know what was wrong, or do you want to keep that between us?” She asked. “We were all debating running out here but we didn’t want to crowd you even more. And, I’ll be honest, I think we’d all get it if you told us your birthday is hard for you.”

Caleb, touched and doing his best not to cry at his friends’ worry, smiled at his best friend.

“If you would tell them that, bitte.” He whispered.

“Okay. Promise you’re okay?”

“I’m okay.”

“Like actually okay and not just saying it?”

Caleb’s smile deepened as he nodded. Veth smiled back at him and kissed his cheek.

“I’ll keep the others entertained, then. We could even do a lil’ bit of gob-light if you wanted?” She joked, winking at him, and Caleb chuckled, imagining their friends distracted by a glowing halfling as he snuck upstairs.

“We should play the money pot on Luc later.”

Veth’s eyes lit up with excitement and Caleb smiled gratefully at his best friend before giving her a tight hug. The halfling mom hugged her favorite wizard just as tightly, and when she let go she pecked another kiss to his bearded cheek and pulled away, pushing on Caleb to get him to stand up.

“Come on, up you get. There will be plenty of time to cry when you’re drunk, c’mon.”

Kingsley helped Caleb up to his feet, the human using King’s black sleeved forearm as a brace, and Essek threw some Prestidigitations around to clean up tears and Caleb’s dirty knees before Veth and Caduceus walked back to the Chateau to brief the others and give the partners some time alone.

“Do you want to set up the Tower and hide away for a bit?” Kingsley asked their human lover, rubbing Caleb’s shoulder blade. Caleb shook his head. “Are you sure?”

“J-Ja.” Caleb swallowed.

“Do you want to be alone to get changed, or would you rather we stay with you?” Essek asked him next, resting a hand on Caleb’s shoulder.

“Whatever you wish.”

“Ah, no.” Kingsley chided, sensing a people-pleasing trend starting. “It’s whatever you wish, Magician.”

“I don’t want to delay the party.”

“Don’t worry about the party.” Essek smiled. “They are adults. Our friends can entertain each other for twenty more minutes.”

“And the party doesn’t really start until the birthday boy walks in, anyway.” Kingsley taunted lightly, pecking a playful kiss to Caleb’s ear, and was pleased when Caleb jumped a little at the ticklish contact.

“What we care about is giving you time to be alone if you want it.” Essek rubbed Caleb’s shoulder. “So, do you want it?”

Caleb took in an unstable breath.

“M-Maybe for a bit.” He reluctantly admitted, avoiding eye contact. Essek and Kingsley smiled proudly at him, giving him a reassuring kiss to his cheek and temple.

“See, was that so hard?” Kingsley teased him. Caleb smacked Kingsley’s chest with the back of his hand, making Kingsley laugh. He noticed the broach he’d commissioned for Kingsley on King’s upper chest and softened, smiling.

They led Caleb to the entrance of the Chateau and Kingsley made a show of opening the door, gesturing with a hand and bowing, and Caleb’s ears and cheeks turned pink. He muttered a self-conscious danke and walked in, grateful when Essek took his hand and dropped his disguise, sending his parasol to sit in a pot by the door.

Caleb's eyes went wide as he took in the decorations and lights and the group of people he adored smiling excitedly at him. He didn’t hear Kingsley close the door, because the Mighty Nein and family threw their arms in the air and yelled,

“Surprise!”

Kingsley wrapped an arm around Caleb’s shoulders and Essek felt Caleb squeeze his hand. His nose and the tips of his ears turned red as he fought not to cry again, giving their friends a wobbly smile with shining eyes.

“What a surprise indeed.” He chuckled thickly then cleared his throat, looking around the room. If he kept looking at his friends, he was going to start crying again. “Thank you all very much, this is…”

“You deserve it, Cayleb.” Jester walked over and gave Caleb a tight hug, and Caleb’s lips tightened into a line, internally wincing at the sentiment like he’d touched a hot stove. Before he could argue or protest, Jester pulled away and the sincere moment was replaced with giddy excitement. She started nudging Caleb toward the stairs. “Now go get dressed! I call first dance!”

“Like hell you do!” Kingsley shouted as he let Caleb and Essek walk away, no real malice to his grin or amused voice, knowing Jester was joking. The two tieflings playfully bickered about who got the first dance as Essek and Caleb, softly snickering at the lighthearted banter, left for the stairs.

The sounds of their friends talking faded away as they ascended, and with the quiet and the moment alone, Caleb started to relax, letting out a shaky exhale. Maybe a few minutes of sobbing was going to happen regardless of if he wanted it to or not; his chest still felt like a lead weight.

Essek looked down the stairwell and then elbowed Caleb in the side gently, getting his attention. Caleb glanced over at him as he wiped his eyes with his fingers, furrowing his brows when Essek leaned in so his partner could whisper in his ear.

“I believe we are being followed.”

Caleb’s brow furrowed even deeper. Essek didn’t sound worried or concerned, more so amused, so he didn’t immediately panic at Essek’s words. Caleb found out why Essek was smirking when Essek subtly pointed to where they had come from, down the stairs. Caleb looked over his shoulder.

A tiny figure in black clothing was crouched behind the banister on the landing, and Caleb raised an eyebrow and smirked as well.

“The party is downstairs, Luc Brenatto.” Caleb called out. He saw the figure jump and scramble away, running back down, and Caleb and Essek both covered their mouths, allowing themselves to laugh once they were certain Luc had retreated.

“He is quite the character.” Essek remarked as they continued upward. “I am not surprised, though. His mother is quite the character too.”

“He reminds me of myself at that age.” Caleb smiled. “Far more rebellious, though. Veth lets him get away with much more than my Mutter would have tolerated.”

“I can picture that.” Essek conjured his mage hand and gave it a key, then sent it forward down the hall. “Would you have also asked me why I was purple?”

Caleb blurted out a surprised laugh, making Essek’s lips curl upward.

“Did he really?” Caleb giggled when Essek hummed and nodded.

“He asked if I was purple on the inside, too.” Essek grinned when Caleb laughed again, commanding the mage hand to unlock the door to the suite with two rooms that Marion had gifted the Mighty Nein for the night. “I get the impression that he didn’t believe me.”

“He didn’t believe you?”

Essek took the key from his mage hand and opened the door for his amused lover. “I don’t think so. I expect to get many more questions later.” He blushed as Caleb kissed his cheek as the redhead passed by, a silent appreciation for Essek getting the door. “As should you, by the way.”

“Oh?”

The drow followed Caleb into the small lounging space. “Kingsley gave me a kiss hello and now he’s confused.” 

“Ah.” Caleb nodded, understanding now. Thankfully he’d been considering for a while how he would approach Luc asking questions, so he wasn’t going in blind. “Thank you for the warning.”

“Of course.” Essek smiled. He pointed to a bag with an orange bow on the square dining table, the dining set tucked into a corner by an open door into a bedroom. “Your clothes are over there.”

Caleb saw the tied gift and softened, touched by the similarity of the packaging to the gifts he gave his partners before. He cupped Essek’s face and kissed him sweetly, pouring his gratitude and his love into the kiss, having no words to express how much he treasured this. This gift, this surprise, these people - they were all more than he deserved, and they meant more to him than any phrase could ever describe.

Essek rested his hands on Caleb’s sides and melted into the kiss, giving it as good as he received it. Pink lips parted and licked along Essek’s mouth, and the air was instantaneously sucked out of the room. Flames curled up Essek’s spine and he tilted his head, deepening the kiss, and made a soft noise of want when Caleb pulled them chest to chest.

Caleb's partner figured Caleb was going to get his fill of kisses and be done, but was pleasantly surprised when his boyfriend guided him toward the couch. Essek grinned against his mouth and turned them like it was a dance, pushing Caleb to the plush sofa instead.

For the second time that night, Essek fell to his knees and brought his partner over the edge fast enough that Caleb was lightheaded when Essek stood again. It seemed to be exactly what he needed, however, as he felt so much lighter when Essek left their cuddle on the sofa several minutes later to give him the time alone he requested. He offered to reciprocate but Essek declined, telling him he would rather wait for after the party as he had ideas.

One of the first things Caleb did after Essek left was to give his beard a quick trim. His moustache kept getting in his mouth and some strands had grown more than others. He’d meant to trim it a week ago but felt too ill to care. Now that he was well, it was aggravating the hell out of him.

He opened the gift Essek pointed out and smirked at the navy blue vest trimmed and lined with black proudly laying on top of the folded pile of clothes. Caleb pulled it out and laid it next to the bag on the table, grabbing the matching dress pants next and a charcoal grey button-up. The redhead gasped softly at the cute orange paw prints embroidered into the corners of the collar, one for each side.

The transmutation professor pulled on the gifted clothes and tied the nice dress shoes that came with them, and then scrutinized the mirror. He looked tired and haggard, the clothes were a little too loose because of his weight loss, but overall he appeared okay. He brushed his hair out and then tied it again, clipping his barrette in, and that helped some.

Oh well. Not looking flawless for his birthday wasn’t going to damage him irreparably. This wasn’t like the date where looking his best was part of the surprise, this was his birthday party. He could look however he wanted.

Before he could get too hung up on the fact that the party was for him, he left the room, taking a deep breath to steel himself as he descended the stairs.

Chapter Text

The party was going wonderfully. It took a bit for Caleb to acclimate to the attention and the knowledge that this was for him, but once he did he actually started to enjoy it. His friends, weird and chaotic as they are, were also incredibly perceptive and seemed to notice Caleb’s tension and toned down the congratulations. After that, it slowly started feeling like it was just another party hosted at the Lavish Chateau.

That was until they got to cake and presents, of course.

Caleb cringed as everyone sang a birthday song to him. Blushing with embarrassment and anxiety, he blew out the candles and was glad the worst part was over with. Everyone took a slice (or two, in Jester’s case) and sat down with partners or migrated between tables to chat. Essek and Kingsley sat with Caleb at the orange tabby table and Essek was explaining how the idea for cat centerpieces came about when Kingsley pranked him, smearing frosting on the tip of Essek’s nose.

Essek’s yelp drew the attention of the room, and when Essek started shouting in angry Undercommon they realized it hadn’t been a yelp of pain and laughed as Essek shoved a cackling Kingsley.

“You impish degenerate!” Beau understood Essek to be saying. “Luxon’s light, you are lucky I love you!”

Kingsley laughed and leaned toward Essek’s face as the drow was wiping some of it away, licking the back of Essek’s fingers in his attempt to lick Essek’s nose.

“Don’t lick me!” Essek shrieked in baffled, horrified Common, pushing Kingsley’s chest at arm’s length and leaning away. Kingsley grinned mischievously while everyone guffawed and he leaned his chest into Essek’s hand. He could easily overpower Essek’s hand, but he sensed a boundary there that he didn’t want to cross, just poke at.

“Oh come on, one wee lick!” King stuck his tongue out and flicked the dual tips at Essek’s face.

“No!”

“Just a wee lil lick as a treat, Tower, c’mon!”

Essek Prestidigitated the frosting away and Kingsley playfully pouted. “Aw, but you looked so tasty Essek.”

“You will taste my boot soon if you don’t quit it!” Essek snapped. Kingsley grinned, heat flaring in his scleras as he wiggled his eyebrows, and Essek rolled his eyes. “Not like that you – ugh!”

Everyone laughed again and Caleb smiled broadly at his two partners, adoration in his eyes. He suddenly felt something poke his arm a couple times, getting his attention, and he turned his head and found Luc peering up at him.

“Uncle Cay?”

“Ja, Luc?”

With all the social grace of a seven-year-old, Luc confessed, pointing at Essek, “I saw Uncle King kiss him.”

Caleb smiled, realizing instantly what this conversation was going to turn into, and he glanced over at the rest of the room. Kingsley and Essek were starting a conversation with Jester and Fjord about Essek’s distaste for being messy, the drow still miffed and animated but calming down now that Kingsley was done playfully pushing boundaries. Beau and Yasha were talking to Veth and Yeza in what looked like a semi-serious conversation, and Caduceus was currently unseen.

Caleb and Luc were alone.

“Come.” Caleb murmured quietly, gently moving Luc out of the way so he could drag a chair to sit catty-corner with him. “Sit down.”

“But Uncle Cay-”

“I will answer your questions.” He reassured his godson and then patted the seat. “But first, you should sit. The answers are complicated.”

Luc, with Caleb’s assistance, sat down on the chair. Chocolate eyes peered up at Caleb from under shaggy brown hair and Caleb used his fingers to push Luc’s hair out of his face, smirking when Luc huffed with annoyance and leaned away. He was certainly growing up, wasn’t he?

“Yes, I know they kissed. They are boyfriends.” Caleb told Luc simply.

“But… I thought Uncle King was your boyfriend.”

“Kingsley is my boyfriend, but so is Essek. In fact, Essek was actually my boyfriend first, before I started dating Uncle King. And just as I am dating both of them, they are dating each other as well. We are in a relationship together as the three of us.”

“But…” Luc seemed confused. “You can’t have more than one boyfriend.”

Caleb furrowed his brow and tilted his head. He seriously doubted Veth said such a thing, and Yeza seemed very open-minded with most things so Caleb doubted Yeza said it either, which made Caleb wonder where Luc heard such a thing.

“Who told you that?” He asked Luc, genuinely and equally confused.

“My friends at camp.” The wizard’s confusion faded away at Luc’s answer. “Ellie said that you can’t love more than one person.”

“That is not entirely true.” Caleb frowned slightly as he explained, trying to keep his words simple as he made the difficult concept less complex. He would need to tell Veth about what Luc was learning from the older kids, after this conversation finished. “Many people can only love one person, but there are many people that can love more than one. I love both Kingsley and Essek very deeply, and they both love me very deeply, as well as each other.”

Luc stared at Caleb for a moment, glanced at Essek and Kingsley beside his uncle, and then met Caleb’s eyes again. “But if it’s not true… why did she say it?”

“She is young. She’s still learning, just as you are. She may believe that what she said was the truth, but just because someone sees something as true doesn’t mean it is actually true.” Caleb shrugged.

The boy took a while to process, and Caleb watched him stare into the air, forehead wrinkled as he thought hard about what Caleb said. Luc was a smart boy, likely just as smart as Bren had been at that age, but even Caleb was unsure how much of what he said Luc could understand. He let Luc process his words for a moment before he continued, leaning closer to Luc and simplifying further.

“Love is complicated, and we all experience it differently. Some fall in love easy, some not at all, like Caduceus. Some love one person, some love many.” Caleb nudged Luc with his arm. “It will make more sense as you experience life, but do not expect to have all the answers if or when you fall in love. No one has all the answers.” Caleb gave him a small smile. “There are many different ways to love. An infinite number of ways. I count myself lucky to find two people I get to share my love with.”

Luc nodded slowly, piecing together the information and seemingly taking Caleb’s sentiments to heart. Caleb thought that was the end of the conversation, going back to observing the room and eavesdropping on Essek’s conversation with Kingsley and Jester about when they should do presents, but after a minute Luc spoke up and got his attention again.

“Uncle Cay?”

“Mm?” Caleb turned his head, meeting Luc’s eyes. “Ja, patensohn?”

“Why didn’t he come to my birthday?” Luc furrowed his little brown eyebrows, confused. “Uncle Kingsley came.”

Caleb frowned. He knew this was Luc’s way of asking why he hadn’t seen Essek before. How was he supposed to keep the answer age-appropriate?

“Essek… couldn’t attend.” Luc didn’t seem pleased with Caleb’s vague answer. “He is away most of the time. We would have brought him to meet you sooner had he been visiting.”

“Where does he go?”

“All over the world.” Caleb hoped his uneasiness at Luc’s line of questioning wasn’t apparent to the child. He did his best to conceal it. “He is a very busy man.”

“Are you asking about me, dalhar?” A poised, elegant voice with a charming accent grabbed Caleb’s and Luc’s attention. They both looked to Essek, who was smirking at them. Caleb gave him a grateful look, knowing Essek probably overheard and interjected to shift the topic. “I am right here, Luc. You can ask me your questions directly, I do not bite.”

“Liar.” Kingsley muttered under his breath beside the drow, hand coming up to hide the movement of his lips. Essek’s pointed ear twitched, picking up on what Kingsley said, and he kicked Kingsley’s leg beside him, making Kingsley hiss and reach under the table to rub his shin. Luc looked at Kingsley confusedly, wondering why he was suddenly in pain.

“I gave you the offer earlier, and the offer has not changed.” Essek’s smirk softened into a calming smile as Luc met his gaze again. “If you have more questions for me, I will gladly answer them.”

Luc stared at Essek, sizing him up. Weighing his options, seemingly. Caleb smiled and leaned back, taking Essek’s hand in his.

“Go on, Luc.” Caleb encouraged, nodding toward Essek. Luc bit his lip and glanced between his uncles.

His gaze settled on Essek.

“You do magic?”

That wasn’t exactly what Essek anticipated Luc to ask, but he gathered quickly that it was a testing question. Luc had other questions behind his brown eyes, but he was testing the waters with a simple, low-stakes question first.

“Yes, I do.” Essek confirmed.

“What kind of magic?”

Essek’s smirk returned.

“Where I am from, we have a special kind of magic.” Essek picked up an unused spoon, making a show of showing it to Luc. “We play with the primal force behind what is and what could be. Potentials and probabilities. We shape the world to follow our rules, if just for a time.”

The dunamancy wizard held the spoon a foot off the table, letting go of Caleb’s hand. He grabbed some gold dust from his Wristpocket, the magic making Luc gasp, thinking that was the main event. Essek’s heart ached at Luc’s awe. Oh, to be a young child enthralled by the most base of dunamancy again.

Essek sprinkled the gold dust over the spoon, muttered a word and gestured, and watched Luc’s face as he let it go. Luc’s eyes widened with awe at the spoon frozen in midair, and Essek grinned.

“Try to move it.”

Luc blinked. He glanced from Essek to the spoon, then with Caleb’s help stood up on the chair and reached for the hovering utensil. He grabbed it…

The child looked confused when it didn’t budge.

Luc pushed and pulled. He tried grabbing it with both hands and yanked, nearly falling off the chair, and Caleb steadied him while Kingsley laughed. Caleb glanced over with an amused smirk at Kingsley, noticing that Caduceus had come over to talk to Kingsley and was also watching with a warm smile.

Veth’s son then tried turning the spoon, face growing red with effort, and Caleb laid his hand over Luc’s.

“Alright, alright.” Caleb chuckled, prying tiny fingers from the spoon. “Stop before you injure yourself, patensohn.”

When Luc relaxed and stopped tugging, Essek raised a hand, pinching the very end of the handle of the spoon between his finger and thumb on his other hand. He snapped his fingers and Luc blinked as Essek set the metal utensil on the table once more.

“Whoa.” He breathed. Essek grinned smugly. “Can everybody do that where you’re from?”

“Not everyone, no. It is not a difficult spell, but-”

“Can you teach me?”

Essek’s smugness faded into an apologetic smile.

“Perhaps when you’re older we can discuss it. This magic is very special. It’s not freely given out.”

Luc frowned, disappointed, but Caleb expertly redirected him.

“I will have to open presents in a bit. Would you like to help me?”

Luc’s eyes shone with excitement, and Caleb’s lips quirked upward at the corner.

Chapter Text

Presents were… interesting.

The first gift was tame. Of course it was tame, it came from Caduceus. It was a glass mason jar full of illusory fireflies, glimmering like little stars with wings, meant to be hung in his garden. Caleb adored it before Caduceus even told him that it had practical purpose outside of being pretty and calming. He was instructed to hang it up in the center of his garden, and his plants would be protected and nurtured year-round by its warmth and light. Caduceus also warned him to be prepared to cut the grass more often in the warmer months, but that was more than fine with Caleb.

The second gift was given to Luc to open on Caleb’s behalf, with the warning that Luc didn’t get to keep what he opened. Luc seemed happy with the deal, plenty content with the simple joy of ripping gift wrapping, and most everyone figured the gifts a thirty-five-year-old bookish wizard would receive wouldn’t be appealing to Luc anyway.

When he was done, he handed the book over to his Uncle sat beside him, who tilted his head curiously. The book was little more than a stack of papers between two covers, tied together with durable leather strips. Opening the cover, Caleb smiled softly, reading the well wishes for a good birthday from Yasha. Below it was a handwritten table of contents mentioning several recipe names Caleb recognized as being creations of Yasha’s.

The third was given to Caleb from Yeza, specifying that Luc “probably shouldn’t be opening it.” As Caleb already started to turn a bit pink, guessing he knew vaguely what kind of gift Veth and Yeza got him based on the mischievous look in Veth’s eyes, Yeza apologized and said, “She made me.”

Veth gasped at Yeza, and everyone laughed.

All eyes were on Caleb as he opened the bag and reached in. He felt soft knitted fabric and his heart ached with love, recognizing the feel of a scarf, but as he began to lift it out he realized something was in the folded item weighing it down. He gingerly lifted the gift out of the bag, smiling at the knitted blue scarf that reminded him of the scarf he had when he met Nott the Brave, but this one was in perfect shape and a far more vibrant navy blue than the tattered one he discarded during their travels.

He pulled back the layers of scarf to reach the safely cushioned potion vial. The note attached to it didn’t say what it was, but Caleb gathered it was for something intimate, considering the three dicks drawn on it.

Have a VERY happy birthday. –Veth & Yeza

The tips of Caleb’s ears turned pink.

“Is this… what I think this is?” Caleb tentatively asked. Veth grinned almost maniacally.

“Why don’t you cast Identify and find out?”

Their friends oohed and started taunting him to do it, and Caleb tried to argue that he didn’t have his components on him, they were still upstairs, when Essek, the fucking bastard, handed him the pearl and owl feather he required.

Begrudgingly, he casted the spell. His eyes went wide and he immediately went vibrant crimson.

Everyone laughed and started pleading with him to tell him what it was – even Kingsley joined in, despite knowing he’d get to find out first-hand later – and Caleb stuttered out, “N-Not in front of – There is a child .”

“Whisper it then!” Beau demanded.

“Ich dachte, du wolltest nichts über mein sexualleben wissen.” Caleb countered, glaring a little at Beau. Beau rolled her eyes.

“I don’t. But I’m also a nosey bitch, so spill it.”

“I can also speak in a different language.” Beau understood Kingsley’s guttural Infernal words to be saying, the tiefling sounding indignant, and she and Jester both laughed.

Caleb narrowed his eyes at Kingsley, who narrowed his eyes back at Caleb.

“Perhaps we can share the information later.” Essek suggested, attempting to mediate.

“I think that’s a great idea, Mister Essek.” Caduceus smiled in his usual easy-going way.

“You guys suck.” Beau grumbled with annoyance as Fjord grabbed the next gift and handed it to Luc.

He clapped Caleb on the shoulder with a tusked grin, saying, “Don’t worry, we’ll get you so drunk you won’t remember telling us.”

Caleb blushed a bit more and Fjord returned to Jester’s side to watch Luc open the next gift.

Gift number four was a stack of three books, and everyone watched Caleb’s eyes alight with curiosity and excitement. He took the first book off the stack along with a small square piece of parchment.

Happy birthday, douche. Don’t tell anyone you have these and I need them back in a week.

Caleb grinned, all previous transgressions of Beau’s momentarily forgotten.

“You know me too well, schwester.” Caleb mused, opening the dyed green leather cover of the book in his hands. The title read like the cover of an academic text, mentioning The Founding and opinions on the validity of the stories told about it. Caleb didn’t recognize the name of the author, Dr. Baryn Vestisho, and fought the instinct to flip to the back of the book to look at the summary of their credentials. If he started digging now, he would never stop. So he closed the book and met Beau’s eyes gratefully. “I assume I cannot take notes, ja? ”

“Not unless you want more assassins after you.”

“Shame.” Caleb sighed. “I will do my best to memorize what is inside, then.”

“Can I…?” Essek trailed off, looking between the Empire siblings. Caleb looked to Beau for the answer, seeing as she knew what was in the books. Beau weighed it and after a long moment nodded.

“So long as you treat it like forbidden knowledge, sure.” She pointed at them both. “No taking notes and hiding them away. I’m like, super fuckin’ serious about the assassins.”

“Understood.” Caleb smiled tightly, and then looked to Essek while grabbing the books from Luc’s lap. “Wristpocket, dear?”

Essek stepped closer and summoned his Wristpocket , tossing the books inside.

“You know you’ve just doomed me to watching them read for the next week, right?” Kingsley groaned, glaring at Beau. Everyone laughed.

“In the same vein,” Fjord remarked, handing Caleb an envelope, “here’s another puzzle for you.”

Caleb smirked and chuckled, blushing at being so well known and understood by his friends. He opened up the envelope and pulled out a few sheets of paper that were already written on. He could recognize Fjord’s handwriting despite the nonsensical series of letters and shapes that were oddly familiar.

On top, a short note was written in Common:

Let’s see if you can decipher this again, Navigator Widogast.

Caleb furrowed his brow and tilted his head, and Fjord watched and waited for it to click. When it did, Caleb’s eyebrows rose and he laughed once, surprised.

“Is this written in Captain Avantika’s old cipher?” Caleb questioned, looking down at the first page, grateful Fjord gave him space between lines to write. The pages weren’t numbered so discovering the page order was an interesting new challenge that Caleb didn’t have to face with Avantika’s journal.

“That it is.” Fjord grinned proudly. “You don’t remember it fully, right? It’s been long enough?”

“Nein, I do not remember it.” Caleb smiled fondly at the letter in his hands, already seeing some patterns. He knew what a ‘V’ looked like as it resembled an eye with a slit pupil, and Caleb had assumed it had been connected to Vandran, but he didn’t remember any of the other letters or numbers. “It will be nice to decipher it without all the pressure.”

“I figured as much.” Fjord smiled lopsidedly, nudging Beau’s side. “I had to get this one to help me with it since the arsehole on Darktow kept the cheat sheet.”

“I’ve got a newfound appreciation for your deciphering skills, dirt wizard.” Beau joked, but sincerely. “No fuckin’ clue how you cracked it in one night.”

“The threat of the gallows is a powerful motivator.” Caleb remarked darkly and folded the pieces of paper, then tucked them back into the envelope for safe keeping.

The sixth gift was warned to be a fragile one, so at Jester’s suggestion Fjord set it on Caleb’s larger, stiller lap, and Caleb braced Luc against him so the halfling boy could stand on the chair. Luc pulled out the tissue paper one at a time, and Caleb chided him gently when the seven year old, unaware of delicacy, was tugging the tissue paper out too roughly, jostling what was inside slightly. Luc leaned, peering in and obstructing Caleb’s view, making the room snicker.

Caleb could feel something with a unique shape shifting in the bag, pressing against his thighs more and more as the cushioning in the bag was pulled out by Luc’s hand. When Luc was done, Caleb patted his thin side and Veth told him to sit down and let Caleb look at his present.

The transmutation wizard reached in the bag, and immediately he recognized the feeling of glazed pottery against his palm. He figured he knew what it was, having handled the orange tabby centerpiece at their table earlier, but he was not prepared for the pang of heartache at seeing Frumpkin’s striped coat and amber eyes looking at him.

Kingsley and Luc were a bit confused as the rest of the room seemed to melt at seeing the cat statuette. Essek broke rank as Caleb’s nose and the tips of his ears began to turn red, the telltale sign that he was trying not to cry, and Jester soon followed. King was surprised to find that Jester’s eyes were also a bit teary.

“I know he was just a fey cat,” Jester murmured, moving the bag out of the way so she could sit on Caleb’s lap, “and he wasn’t even my fey cat,” she wrapped her arms around Caleb’s shoulders in a tight hug, “but I miss Frumpkin.”

Kingsley’s confusion only increased. He remembered Caleb’s Familiar being white, not striped browns like the statue.

“And I know it’s not the same.” Jester leaned back, correcting herself as she wiped her eyes with her hands. “I know Frumpkin wasn’t really Frumpkin, and that you miss the real one, but I liked our little Fey King, too.”

Caleb laughed once, voice wet with repressed tears. “I miss them both.”

“Remember turning him into an octopus and wearing him like a hat?” Veth said, and that got a stronger laugh out of Caleb as well as the rest of the Nein, sans Essek and Kingsley.

“And his inability to see a bloody thing?” Fjord laughed, getting two napkins and handing them to Caleb and Jester.

“Frumpkin also had poor eyesight.” Caleb blotted his eyes with the napkin and wiped his nose. “It was why we took him in. He couldn’t hunt. Although I don’t know what the fey Frumpkin’s excuse was.”

Kingsley realized the backstory as more context clues were given, and he softened considerably, remembering now the illusion behind door one on Caleb’s memory floor. He remembered seeing the grief in Illusory Caleb’s eyes as he summoned his familiar in the loft of the cottage, watching the realization of what Frumpkin had once been occuring to their friends.

“Thank you, Jester.” Caleb told the blue tiefling on his lap, smiling gratefully.

Jester didn’t reply, just smiled back at Caleb and gave him another hug.

The next gift came from Veth, and it was a Wildemount Wildlings shirt and matching flask. Caleb smiled fondly, remembering the campers wearing such shirts when he taught the wizarding class for Veth. He couldn’t wear it to work, the shirt was the walking definition of casual wear, but he could wear it at home and take the flask to work instead. It would be perfect for going between classrooms; not too small or too big to be inconvenient.

After the shirt and flask came a small gift bag with an envelope. Caleb was a tad confused as he recognized Veth’s handwriting on the tag, but he understood when he realized it said Uncle Caleb and Luc got excited, standing up on his chair beside Caleb again. Caleb wrapped an arm around Luc’s back to keep him steady, the boy leaning into his shoulder as Caleb opened the envelope and pulled out the handmade card.

Caleb grinned. Luc hadn’t spelled a single word right, including Caleb’s name, and his handwriting was atrocious, but that only made Caleb love it all the more. He wondered where he was going to put it. Did he wish to display it proudly in his office at the Academy, or did he wish to cherish it privately in his living room? He was sure he'd get questions on who "Unkle Klub" was if he took it to work, but only part of him minded.

“Look inside, look inside!” Luc demanded, hitting Caleb’s shoulder with a tiny palm. Caleb did as he was commanded to do at the unspoken threat of more physical violence, setting the card down to reach into the bag. He would settle that internal debate tomorrow.

He pulled out a stuffed calico toy cat with green button eyes. Caleb’s friend’s awed and he squeezed Luc in a side hug.

“Thank you, Luc. I think this is my favorite gift so far.”

Luc, practically radiating sunshine and pride, couldn’t contain himself. He went on a slightly rambling explanation of how Veth and Yeza took him out to find a gift, even going into detail about what they had for dinner while they were out, and everyone watched with patient, fond smiles, finding his excitement adorable and knowing he would tire himself out. Caleb didn’t mind the long-winded story, enjoying the break from having all the attention on him.

The last two gifts came from Essek and Kingsley. Kingsley gave Caleb a gold necklace with a small lantern-like pendant hanging from it, smiling knowingly as he went behind Caleb and clipped the necklace closed for him. It wasn’t a difficult necklace to put on, but Kingsley liked the excuse to touch Caleb’s hair.

“Now, I had Pumat put a little enchantment on it. You’ve got to speak a specific phrase.”

“Okay?” Caleb tilted his chin up, looking up at Kingsley’s face, and the back of his head pressing into Kingsley’s sternum.

“It’s something we say when the other gets overwhelmed. Two words.”

Caleb furrowed his brow. He studied Kingsley’s red scleras, hoping the answer would be written in them as he searched his memories.

“What’s wrong?” Caleb tried.

“I mean, true, but no. Think about, uh, when you had that bad flashback?” Kingsley winced a little, knowing that his partner was a very private man about his mental issues. The tiefling saw recognition in Caleb’s eyes, however, and continued. “What did I tell you during it?”

Caleb swallowed. He lowered his voice. “You’re okay?”

Kingsley rolled his hand, suggesting Caleb keep going.

“To relax?”

“Closer.”

“To breathe?”

“Very, very close.”

“What did you tell me just before you left Vurmas?” Essek reminded Caleb, smiling lopsidedly at him. Caleb lowered his gaze to meet Essek’s tender eyes. “You told me to breathe, just…”

Essek saw the moment it clicked. Caleb, unsure, tried, “Just breathe?”

A tiny hiss came from Caleb’s clavicle, and he looked down at the gold necklace, picking up the lantern-esque pendant, and realized as the smell of lavender hit his nostrils that it was actually a tiny incense diffuser. Immediately, the calming scent soothed his anxiety and he smiled, genuinely touched.

“And since you sung such high praises of lavender,” Kingsley teased him gently, wrapping Caleb’s shoulders in a hug and kissing the top of his red hair, “and you’ve got a personal connection to it, I thought you’d appreciate it more than some other flower.”

“I more than just appreciate it, schatz.” Caleb held onto the arms around him, leaning into Kingsley since he couldn’t properly hug him. “Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you, too. And now when the gobshites at the Academy are getting on your nerves, you’ve got something to calm those nerves.” Kingsley pecked another kiss to Caleb’s head before letting him go. “And a gentle reminder to breathe never hurt.”

Caleb squeezed Kingsley’s hand with a warm smile.

Essek’s gift was handed over last, and it was a large but surprisingly light bag. Luc pulled the tissue paper out for Caleb, letting Caleb reach in and grab the present hidden beneath.

His eyes lit up at the feeling of plush, dense fabric and he pulled out a huge folded chocolate brown blanket. Essek smirked knowingly at the pure happiness in Caleb’s eyes.

“Oooooh,” Kingsley purred, reaching over Caleb to pet the plush blanket. “I am so jealous.”

“You’re about to be even more jealous.” Essek grinned. “Pholor.”

The blanket sagged with sudden increased weight, and Caleb blinked, surprised. Kingsley gasped.

“We are so using this tonight.” Kingsley tucked his hand underneath one of the folds, testing how heavy the fabric now was. “I don’t care how overheated we get.”

Everyone had a good laugh, including Caleb, the human wizard saying, “We cannot help that you are a walking furnace, liebe.”

Kingsley poked Caleb’s side in retaliation and Caleb grinned, poking him back. He looked up at Essek and held out a hand, and Essek stepped closer and took it, delighting in Caleb’s delight.

“Thank you, liebling.”

Essek bent down and kissed Caleb chastely, whispering, “Anything for you.” He pulled back after the kiss and murmured, “Tir.” The weight on Caleb’s lap lessened and he fixed the folds before putting it back in the bag for safe keeping, taking mental note of the words Essek used and how he pronounced them.

“Undercommon?” Caleb questioned.

“Yes.” Essek smiled. “On and off, respectively. I figured you would have no issue pronouncing them. They are not difficult words to learn.”

“Well, I would never turn down an instruction.” Caleb hinted, lightly flirting, and Essek smirked.

“Alright, no, I’m not listening to nerdy wizard flirting.” Beau said, turning around. “Happy birthday, douche, but it’s past noon so I’m getting booze.”

“If you truly wish me a happy birthday, you will get me a tankard as well!” Caleb called.

He was unsurprised when Beau flipped him off.

Chapter Text

Luc and Yeza went home after dinner, the poor child absolutely drained from a day spent with his mother’s friends, and they left Veth to party with the rest of the Mighty Nein. And party they did.

They drank and danced, catching up on life and circumstance. Everyone found out from Veth what the potion did, which meant now everyone knew Caleb was in possession of a three-dose minor aphrodisiac that also boosted endurance and lasted an hour per dose, which made Caleb bright red and Kingsley grin mischievously. He distracted them by explaining the circumstances surrounding his poisoning and a good hour was spent discussing it as well as what Caleb and Beau were currently investigating and whether they were related. As expected, Beau, Caleb, Essek, and Caduceus all avoided the topic of Mollymauk to the best of their ability.

By the close of the party, Caleb was tipsy. Not blackout drunk, he was still able to speak in Common, but his inhibitions were at a crawl if not absent entirely. Most of the Mighty Nein were dancing – even Caduceus, who was being taught by Jester. They were taking it a bit more seriously than the other four dancers, one pair being Veth and Yasha, who were struggling with the logistics of their height difference, and the other being Beau and Fjord, who were trying to kick each other in increasingly exaggerated ways while dodging the other’s feet and ankles. Caleb, taking his own break from dancing, was enjoying watching the show while sat beside Essek, leaned into his side. Until, of course, his bladder made itself known.

The human gave Essek a kiss on the cheek as he got up, murmuring a slurred, “Be right back.”

Essek gave him a smile, watching his partner walk off toward the bathroom, and then looked back to Yasha and Veth approaching him, the pair deciding sitting down and drinking nice wine was a better way to spend their time.

Caleb relieved himself, bracing a hand on the wall to keep himself from swaying. When he was done he cleaned up and opened the door, and it was then he realized he hadn’t seen Kingsley in a while.

He went to pull out his copper wire, and then realized his components were upstairs. If he wanted to Message Kingsley, he needed the wire.

The idea of manually searching for his tiefling lover, who likely wasn’t far, didn’t occur to Caleb as he walked out and up the stairs, using the railing and focusing hard on where he was placing his feet. Through careful determination, Caleb made it up the stairs without tripping and cracking his skull open, stepping into the hall.

“Oh, ‘ey love.”

Caleb’s eyes rose to find Kingsley smiling at him, tail swishing lazily behind his calves as he walked toward the swaying human and the stairs.

“Everything alright?”

“Mmja.” Caleb slurred. “What’re you doing?”

“Had to grab somethin’ from my stuff right quick.” Kingsley lied. Caleb didn’t need to know that he’d had another flashback while watching tipsy Caleb dance with Jester and that he’d retreated to the room to process and calm down. His flashbacks were getting easier to trigger and thankfully less jarring, but still jarring all the same. Essek’s advice to keep a journal of them seemed to help so far, though. “Do you think you could set up the Tower, or are you a bit too drunk for that?”

“I can do it.” Caleb smirked, reaching out for Kingsley when he neared. He rested his hands on Kingsley’s waist, eyes turning half-lidded as Kingsley grinned. “If I could cast it blackout drunk, I can cast it tipsy.”

Kingsley snickered and rested his arms over Caleb’s shoulders, leaning his chest into Caleb’s. “Fair point.”

Caleb’s eyes drifted down to Kingsley’s lips. “Are we calling it a night?”

“That’s all dependent on you, sweetheart.” Kingsley purred, but he was being genuine, too, swaying his hips a little just to feel Caleb’s hands move with him. “If the birthday boy wants to call it a night, then it’s a night.”

“Mm, I think I want to stay up.” Caleb lowered his voice, pulling Kingsley’s waist flush to his. He could feel the outline of Kingsley pressing into his crotch and his eyelids fluttered with arousal, skin prickling with desire. Gods, he’d turn around and spread right then if King asked him to.

Kingsley toyed with Caleb’s ponytail, staring into blown-out pupils.

“Oh, I can keep you up, pretty boy.” Kingsley breathed hotly across Caleb’s lips. He felt Caleb twitch in his pants and he rocked his hips forward, pressing them tighter together pointedly. “In more ways than one.”

Caleb groaned from low in his chest and leaned forward, pressing his lips against toasty infernal ones and mouthing before licking along the seam. Kingsley grinned, parting his lips for Caleb, and shivered when Caleb licked across a fang before finding Kingsley’s tongue.

Kingsley held onto Caleb’s waist, knocking Caleb’s hands away, and guided Caleb to turn and walk backward. Caleb did his best to coordinate his feet as well as his tongue, but it took most of his brain power not to fall so he ended up letting Kingsley’s tongue explore unimpeded as he backed up to the side of the hallway, gripping strong shoulders.

The thud of Caleb’s back hitting the wall and the heavy panting of their breaths were the only things louder than their pulses in their ears.  Kingsley pressed Caleb up against it and lifted him up, pinning Caleb to the wall with his hips and humming happily when Caleb reflexively wrapped his legs around Kingsley’s waist. Calloused fingers that smelled of a campfire and ink cupped Kingsley’s face as they made out messily.

Kingsley’s hands under Caleb’s rear helped support the thin man’s weight as he rolled his hips into Caleb’s, both men groaning into each other’s mouths. Kingsley kept grinding and pulled away from the kiss, knocking Caleb’s chin to the side with his jaw as he latched onto Caleb’s neck and sucked. Caleb gave a low needy moan and clutched onto Kingsley’s shoulder blades, fists bunching in the blouse he’d gifted Kingsley months ago.

“What I wouldn’t give to fuck you against this wall right now.” Kingsley growled, relishing in the quiet mindless whines that tumbled from Caleb’s mouth with each roll of Kingsley’s hips. He lowered his voice into a dark whisper and rested his lips by Caleb’s ear. “I’d pull your pants down and slide right home, wouldn’t I? You’re so desperate for it you’d be sucking me in.”

“K-King-”

“And you’d be moaning on my cock so loud.” Kingsley grinned, nipping at Caleb’s sideburns. “Oooh, you’d be so loud for me, wouldn’t you sweetheart? Everybody’d think some escort was getting the dicking of their life, not my good boy getting his.”

“Liebe – I’m-”

“I bet Essek would know, though. He’d know your moaning anywhere.” Kingsley hissed with delight at Caleb scrambling for purchase, fingernails digging into King’s back and thighs crushing Kingsley’s corseted waist. “He’d hear you screaming your heart out and know I was balls deep in you. Bet he’d get so fucking hard.”

“Kingsley-” Caleb clawed at his partner’s shoulder, his voice a heady warning of something Kingsley would love to see for himself. Hearing it happen was one thing, but Essek got to have the full experience and Kingsley was admittedly a bit jealous. He knew, however, that Caleb would be mortified once the alcohol left his system, plus he had plans for later and he could already hear Essek complaining that these were Caleb’s new pants, so Kingsley’s hips stopped.

Caleb was panting heavily, head thudding against the wall and eyes closing, breathing skipping as Kingsley licked over his whining neck. Shoes hit the floor with a loud th-thud as Kingsley let Caleb’s legs drop, and Caleb tried to support his weight on shaking knees.

The redhead’s eyes fluttered open as a hand gently held his bearded chin, and he met Kingsley’s hot gaze with a half-lidded one.

“That’s one.” Caleb furrowed his brows slightly, confused but too turned on to think too much into it. “Go set up the Tower and we’ll see how many more you can handle, ey?”

Understanding hit Caleb like a slap to the face. Kingsley watched the flutter of eyelashes as a wave of arousal washed over Caleb.

“Scheiße."

Kingsley grinned evilly and playfully patted Caleb’s face, adoring the lust in his lover’s irises.

“Happy birthday, handsome.”

Stunned, Caleb sagged against the wall and stared at the opposite side of the hallway while Kingsley left, the wizard listening to the cheery tiefling whistling as his partner went downstairs. He took a bleary moment to gather his wits before he went into the room, adjusted his pants, and gathered his components and spell book.

Kingsley scanned the room and found Essek, Yasha, and Veth talking at a table, and he grinned. He made a beeline for his drow partner, draping his arms over Essek from behind. The anxious man jumped a little, and Kingsley pecked his cheek.

With his lips near Essek’s ear, the tiefling whispered, “One.”

He smooched a high cheekbone again before he pulled back, pleased to see Essek starting to blush.

“Caleb’s setting the Tower up.”

“I should probably head home, then.” Veth stood up, surprisingly not swaying. “Time to make the rounds!”

As Veth went around saying goodbye to everyone, Yasha went off to the bathroom. With the moment alone, Kingsley murmured as he watched Veth give goodbye hugs, “We’re agreed, yeah? Save Tinkerer’s generous gift for another night?”

“Mm, one would assume it’s best not to mix intoxicating potions and alcohol.” Essek quipped in agreement. “Regardless of how fine an alchemist Yeza is.” He patted Kingsley’s arm over his chest and Kingsley let him go, allowing Essek to stand.

Kingsley expected Essek to start walking toward the stairs, but he instead took Kingsley’s hand and moved the chair out from between them.

“I saw you startle, earlier.”

Essek watched Kingsley’s lighthearted mood dim.

“Another flashback?”

Kingsley swallowed and nodded. “Y-Yeah. Don’t-”

“I won’t mention it.” Essek smiled reassuringly, squeezing Kingsley’s hand. “I just want to make sure you’re okay. That is what I care most about.”

The corner of Kingsley’s mouth curled upward, his gaze softening at Essek. Love and gratitude practically poured from him.

“I’m fine.” Kingsley threw a thumb at the stairs. “I, uh, already wrote it down.”

“Ah, that is why you disappeared.” Essek breathed. “Good, I’m glad you’re keeping up with the journal.”

“I am. Or, well, I’m doing my best.” Kingsley scratched at the back of his head. “They’re getting more frequent so it’s harder to find the time.”

“That is fair.”

“Thank you for the idea.” Kingsley cupped Essek’s face. Essek smiled and leaned his cheek into Kingsley’s palm. It smelled of ale and sweat, but more importantly it felt like home.

“I’ve been known to have good ideas.” Essek hummed with faked humility. Kingsley snorted.

“Some of the best.” Kingsley kissed Essek’s forehead, then his lips, and Essek felt him smirk. “I still think your Sending reply to Astrid was your best idea yet.”

Essek mirrored his partner’s smirk. “It was immensely satisfying.”

Kingsley’s grin made Essek’s stomach flutter with butterflies.

Veth said her goodbyes, going upstairs with everyone and giving Caleb a tight embrace and a demand for him to visit soon. Caleb reassured that he would be done with classes by the end of the coming week, and groaned when Veth and Jester suggested throwing another party to celebrate. Essek smirked, covering his mouth to hide it from Caleb, and gathered his protests were only making the party all the more likely to occur. Of course, not everyone would be in attendance, but Essek had already planned on Teleporting them between friends during his visit.

But first, they had one last birthday gift for Caleb.

Chapter Text

Saying goodnight, Essek, Kingsley, and Caleb went upstairs to their bedroom, carrying gifts and personal belongings. They dumped them in a pile in the sitting room, and Caleb furrowed his eyebrows when Essek grabbed a couple things. One bag he recognized, knowing it contained the blanket Essek got him, but the other unfamiliar one was peculiarly nice and nondescript. Caleb didn’t get the best look at it, however, because the second it was realized that Caleb noticed the bag Kingsley pushed on his shoulders.

“Ah-ah, no peeking!”

Caleb’s intoxicated brain struggled to understand and walk backwards at the same time. “Was?”

“You’ve got two last gifts from Essek and me, if you’re up for ‘em.”

“If I’m up for them?” Caleb repeated with a raised eyebrow, but allowed himself to be guided into the main bedroom. “What does that mean?”

“Tonight’s about what you want.” Kingsley told him, grateful that Caleb stopped trying to peer around him when they passed through the archway and Essek was out of sight. “We got you a couple things, but if you don’t want to make use of them tonight, that’s fine.”

“O-Oh.” Caleb’s cheeks blushed, understanding now that the gifts were of a more intimate nature. Kingsley turned him around to face away from the archways, guiding Caleb up the stairs to the bed. “You didn’t also get me a potion, did you?”

Kingsley chuckled. “No, we didn’t. Speaking of, Essek and I think alcohol is already enough for tonight. Sound fair to you?”

“Das ist fair, ja.”

The telltale sound of stone shifting against stone filled the room, and reflexively Caleb glanced over his shoulder toward the source. He caught sight of the archways closing before he was shoved onto the bed, landing face down.

As he landed he heard himself make an embarrassing noise of arousal and hoped the bed muffled him enough that Kingsley didn’t hear. Evidently he did because Caleb rolled over onto his back and found Kingsley grinning down at him, standing between his legs. Dirty thoughts clouded Caleb’s mind, making his heart race.

“Naughty boy.” Kingsley purred playfully, planting his arms on either side of Caleb’s body, bent over him with his tail swaying like a cat that caught a mouse and was considering how he wanted to play with it. Caleb’s pulse thudded in his ears as he melted into a wanting pile for Kingsley to do with as he pleased.

“Sit up, ssussun.” Essek’s order was hard to hear over Caleb’s heartbeat. The drow gave a gentle, small tug on Kingsley’s tail to startle him, smirking to himself when Kingsley yelped with surprise and glared at him, neither one of his partners noticing his approach. “Let him get up, dear.”

“He already is.” Kingsley joked, proud when Essek rolled his eyes. He snickered. “You two really need to stop setting me up so easily.”

Kingsley stood up straight and helped Caleb sit up, giving Caleb a hand to brace himself with, and then he trailed his spade tip up Caleb’s shin, smirking toothily when the redhead swallowed.

“Like Kingsley said,” Essek preface, setting the nondescript bag on the bed, “these are to be used whenever you wish.”

Blushing, Caleb picked up the bag he’d, apparently rightly, been curious about and set it in his lap. Kingsley toed off his shoes and sat down by Caleb’s side, leg bent under him so he could face the birthday boy, and Essek stood in front of Caleb, watching with anxious excitement as the present was opened.

Caleb went bright red as he pulled out a series of black leather straps joined with gold studs and rings. At first he wondered if two parts got tangled together, but then as Essek helped him hold it up correctly he realized that no, they weren’t two separate pieces, it was a full harness. He wasn’t sure how much of him it would cover, but it was at least more than what his holsters did, though that wasn't saying much.

“We figured you might like a harness of some kind.” A purple blunt claw traced along the path that Caleb’s book holster strap usually occupied. “And I’m happy to report that it’s adjustable, so if you don’t want to wear it…” Kingsley leaned forward and tilted his head, nuzzling his nose under Caleb’s jaw to press a kiss there. “I or Essek can happily wear it for you.”

Caleb hummed softly and contently as Kingsley flicked his forked tongue over the sensitive skin of his neck, making his skin prickle along his arms. He felt a cool hand push his hair away from his forehead and he opened his eyes and found Essek smiling purely down at him.

“I’ll wear it.” Caleb whispered, his brain fogging with want and submission, and Essek gently took the harness from Caleb’s grasp.

“Look at your other gift before you make a judgment, dear.” Essek softly ordered, tapping the bag in Caleb’s lap. “You may want to pick one and not both.”

Caleb swallowed and nodded reflexively, doing what Essek said. He reached back in, pulling free a pair of leather wrist cuffs, and Essek saw his intrigue mixing with uncertainty. The drow that bought the cuffs took one, the other dangling by a short chain.

“These are adjustable as well.” Essek reassured, unbuckling one. “We know you are uncertain of limitations, so we thought it would be best if we got you items that could be used by any of us. In case you did not like them for whatever reason.” He wrapped the cuff over his wrist and looked to Kingsley. “Care to help me demonstrate, d’anthe?”

“Sure.” Kingsley reached across Caleb and buckled the cuff for Essek, and Caleb watched with almost scientific interest, trying to predict what was next.

“They have an enchantment. Nothing like what the Tower does for Kingsley’s, but – well, I was looking for ideas and came across them in a shop, and I thought they would be a good stepping stone up. Or, at the very least, a useful alternative for Kingsley that you don't require the Tower for.”

Kingsley swiped a finger along the cuff, checking it was not too tight, and afterward swiped a thumb over the activation rune on the back of Essek’s wrist. Both of the cuffs transformed into bands of forgiving red fabric, the chain connecting them turning into a length of shimmering red silk, and Caleb’s eyes widened slightly with surprise, mouth going dry as Essek grabbed the silk and yanked. Essek wasn’t a strong man, but the yank should’ve ripped the silk, and yet it didn’t.

“It will have the durability of the leather cuffs and chain, but the texture and weight of fabric and silk.” Essek explained with a smile, seeing Caleb’s renewed interest. “I gather it was meant as a two-in-one type of item, but we know a certain tiefling that loves leather cuffs and hopefully you'll find the fabric version pleasurable.”

Caleb smiled lopsidedly, picking up the fabric cuff dangling from Essek’s arm, oddly touched by his partner’s consideration. On the fabric was a glowing rune, and Caleb swiped his thumb over it. The weight increased significantly in his hand as the cuffs transformed back.

“You said you stumbled across these in a shop?” Caleb questioned, watching as Kingsley helped Essek unbuckle the cuff on his wrist. Essek’s ears turned a darker shade of purple.

“A shop dedicated to these types of items, yes.” Essek didn’t bother to lie, although it was a tad embarrassing to admit the former Shadowhand of the Kryn Dynasty had perused and purchased from an intimates shop. “I know you have a complicated past with restraints and I want to see you learn to enjoy them again, without having to rely on your Tower all the time.”

Caleb wrapped his arms around Essek’s middle and hugged the standing drow, nuzzling his face into Essek’s shirt.

“Ich liebe dich.”

Essek smiled and petted his pleasantly inebriated partner's hair. “I love you too, ssussun.”

“So you like your gifts?” Kingsley pried, setting the cuffs off to the side with the harness. Caleb nodded, rubbing his face against Essek’s nice shirt, and Kingsley smiled, stroking his vest-covered back. “I’m glad.”

“What would you like tonight, dear?” Essek asked, pulling free Caleb’s hair tie. “First, a bath is in order, but after that? Do you want to top, bottom, or both?”

Caleb hummed, part thoughtful and part pleasantly distracted by Essek’s comfort. Kingsley laughed softly.

“I don’t know, love.” Kingsley remarked with a smirk. “I’m thinking he wants to be our good boy and take what we give him.”

“Mmja.” Caleb mumbled, nose poking Essek’s sternum as he pecked kisses onto Essek’s dress shirt. “I’ll be good.”

Essek smiled and combed his fingers through Caleb’s tangled hair, gently parting the tangles for him. Caleb sighed contently through his nose, relaxing under Essek’s fingers on his scalp.

“You want us to do the thinking for you, magic man?” Kingsley suggested, and Caleb hummed in affirmation, nodding his head. Kingsley pressed a kiss to Caleb’s shoulder. “Okay. We’ll take care of you. But first, like Essek said, bath time.”

It took a bit of prying and bribery, but they got Caleb to let go of Essek long enough for them to get naked and get in the bath. They made quick work of getting themselves clean, one distracting Caleb with kisses and touch while the other lathered up and rinsed, but then took their time in cleaning Caleb. Massaging muscles as they scrubbed soap over skin, teasingly scratching nails or blunt claws along pale hairy flesh, slowly stroking his half-hard length as the other rubbed over his entrance; Caleb was melted like wax over Kingsley’s front, sitting in the tiefling's lap and coming back down from his second almost-orgasm with Essek’s tongue in his mouth, by the end of the bath.

They towel dried and tied up Caleb’s hair once Caleb got his breath back and then returned to the gifts on the bed. Caleb eyed them, considered them, and then picked up the harness and started undoing the buckles, fumbling a little.

“Here, let us help you, ssussun.” Essek suggested, knowing Caleb was more inebriated than King or he, and that their boyfriend wasn’t familiar with what it was supposed to look like.

Kingsley and Essek helped Caleb place his arms between the right straps and buckled the securing ones once it was on correctly, and Caleb felt butterflies stirring in his abdomen as the leather pressed into bare skin. It felt very different than the broad straps that had once been used to torture him, and very similar to the costuming they had put him in when first arriving to meet with the Bright Queen, but more comfortable. These straps were thin and laid over his skin instead of biting into him, allowing him to move more freely and without pain.

Taking a step back, Essek admired Caleb with his eyes while Kingsley stroked along Caleb’s skin, admiring him with his touch. The leather framed his chest perfectly. It curled over Caleb’s shoulders and down to his ribs, meeting an o-ring on each side, and both sides had their own buckles by Caleb’s shoulder joints. The second set of leather straps crossed over his stomach, then his lower back, and buckled at the front over his navel. Securing everything was an upside down ‘T’ connecting the o-ring on the back of Caleb’s neck to the o-rings on his ribs, leaving his shoulder blades exposed and the points of pressure away from the triggering spot between and over his spine.

Kingsley wanted to be certain, though, giving the leather running down Caleb’s spine a gentle pull so Caleb knew which part he was referring to as he asked, “How does this feel? Is this okay? It’s not ‘too close to home’ if you know what I mean?”

“Ja, it is okay.” Caleb, blushing, smiled at Kingsley beside him. “Pulling is different than pushing, and the leather is different enough.”

Kingsley smirked. He tugged the leather and Caleb sucked in a breath.

“So you wouldn’t mind me pulling you where I want you, hmm?”

Caleb licked his lips and looked down at Kingsley’s. “Not at all.”

Kingsley knew a hint when he saw one. He grabbed Caleb by his shoulder straps, both sets of fingers wrapping around the buckles by his pecs, and yanked Caleb into a kiss. Caleb's bearded lips grinned and mouthed at Kingsley’s, sliding his eyes closed at the warmth of infernal lips against his own.

“I think we save the cuffs for another night.” Essek remarked. Caleb could hear metal softly clinking as the chain and cuffs were gathered up. “One limit-tester at a time, yes?”

“Mhm.” Caleb hummed in agreement, breaking away and watching Essek drop the cuffs on the dresser nearby. He smiled and rested a hand on Essek’s bare side when the drow returned. “That sounds like a fine plan to me, liebling.”

“Ah, yes, that reminds me.” Essek casted Tongues on himself , passing another casting of it to Kingsley with a kiss, and then gave a third casting of it to Caleb with a peck to the forehead. “So we get to understand all the wonderful filthy things you say.”

The freckled man turned crimson and Kingsley smirked, sliding a hand over Caleb’s chest, clawing gently at the thick auburn hair that covered it.

“Don’t worry, love. You’ve heard my drunk mouth.” His tail came around behind Caleb to brush the spade along his lower back, below the crossed straps and above the swell of his ass. “We’ll both be saying filthy things.”

Caleb shivered, flinching at the ticklish touch.

“Such a gorgeous sight.” Essek sighed dreamily, eyes trailing Caleb’s body. He noticed Caleb’s cock give a twitch at the compliment and smirked to himself. Summoning his mage hand, he sent it to open the drawer for the nearest bedside table while Kingsley crawled further onto the bed, tail curling around one of the straps on Caleb’s back and pulling hintingly. It let go once Kingsley felt the mattress shifting as Caleb turned and crawled after him.

Kingsley sat down, facing Caleb, and grinned as he grabbed Caleb by the buckle at his navel and pulled, manhandling him to straddle purple thighs. Intoxicated with alcohol and lust, Caleb followed instinct, pushing Kingsley onto his back and crashing their mouths together, falling to his elbows on either side of Kingsley’s chest. Kingsley hummed happily and groped his rear, claws denting pale skin as they tangled tongues.

They got lost in the push and pull of the kiss until Caleb gasped into Kingsley’s mouth and arched his hips at feeling oiled fingers at his entrance, upper half braced on his forearms still. Essek swirled his fingers, rubbing and prodding, and then slipped the tip of a finger in. Caleb was tighter than he usually was, probably because he hadn’t been well enough to pleasure himself recently, but thankfully he didn’t have the struggle with loosening up like Essek did and the bath had already helped some.

“You want to be between me and Essek, love?” Kingsley asked, hands rubbing all the skin he could reach. “Or have us take turns?”

Caleb ducked his head down to mouth at Kingsley’s tattooed neck. “Turns.”

Kingsley grinned. “Ooh, turns. Somebody feels like getting used tonight, huh?” Caleb whined against Kingsley’s throat. “You wanna get filled up?”

Essek pressed the length of a finger into Caleb just as Kingsley squeezed his ass, and Caleb shivered. “Y-Yes.”

“How?” Kingsley pried. His tail ghosted over Caleb’s length and inner thighs. “Tell me how you want it.”

Through the haze of alcohol and desire, Caleb whispered into Kingsley’s ear, “I want you both to fuck me mindless until I’m screaming on your cocks.”

A sentence that would’ve normally been reserved for Zemnian, or more likely left in the back of Caleb’s head, was slurred in drunk Common in that handsome accent, and a shudder of lust ran down Kingsley’s spine and pooled in his groin. He scratched teasingly over Caleb’s upper arms as a devilish grin spread across his fanged lips.

“You want it rough.” Kingsley surmised, just loud enough for Essek to hear. They made eye contact, and Essek saw the grin on Kingsley’s face and felt his heart start racing. “I think Tower and I can manage rough.”

Caleb felt cool kisses pressing against his back and he melted, groaning softly when Essek added a second finger. Kingsley buried a hand into Caleb’s hair, grabbing a fistful and leaning up to suck on Caleb’s throat. Caleb whined at the nipping teeth, choking on a curse when Kingsley bit him and flicked his tongue over the lovebite he left. The human tried to capture Kingsley’s lips in a kiss and got his hair pulled as a result, making him gasp.

“Fuck, I wanna string you up and taste every inch of you.” Kingsley groaned, thumbing one of Caleb’s nipples. Caleb stared down at Kingsley with glazed-over, half-lidded eyes. “Maybe I’d fuck you like that. All stretched out and pretty for me.”

Caleb’s brain tumbled back to the memory of him getting his payback at Rumblecusp and profound want filled every cell of his being. He remembered, in this very spot, Kingsley suspended by his magic wrist cuffs over Caleb’s lap as Caleb took him from behind. He could almost still feel the ease with which he could pull Kingsley into each thrust, could almost see the beautiful stretched arch to Kingsley’s scarred back.

“Do it.”

Kingsley blinked. He wasn’t sure how much was lustful daydreaming and how much was an actual request.

“Remember Rumblecusp?” Caleb prompted, thinking Kingsley didn’t remember.

“Y-Yeah.” Kingsley’s body betrayed him, dick jerking on his stomach at the memory and the implication.

“No restraints tonight.” Essek interrupted to remind his lovers, crooking his fingers in Caleb as he kissed a shoulder blade. Caleb tensed and fluttered around the hand pressing against his prostate, hands grabbing at the red duvet beneath Kingsley. “Save that fantasy for later.”

“Yeah,” Kingsley cupped Caleb’s face, deep want breathing against pink lips, “later. I promise.”

Caleb kissed the man beneath him, tilting his head to deepen it desperately. He moaned and clutched the duvet as Essek added a third finger, easing it into him, and broke away from the kiss to try to catch his breath. Kingsley let go of his face and pinched both nipples, smirking when Caleb’s breathing stuttered.

“O-Oh fuck me.” Caleb hung his head, resting his forehead against Kingsley’s, as Essek slowly stretched him open. A mental image that this position inspired had Caleb shivering. Mindlessly, he switched to Zemnian, and Essek was glad he remembered to cast Tongues. “I dreamt you both fucked me like this once. Splitting me open and filling me with your cocks.”

Kingsley jolted like he’d been struck by electricity, dick jerking on his navel. Essek didn’t react much better, swallowing hard with a dry mouth, his own dick jumping.

“Love the image,” Kingsley smiled, blushing and brushing noses with Caleb, “but you can barely fit me as is.”

“I know it’s-” Caleb let out a grunt as Essek hit his prostate, making his body shake, “not possible, but – that is why it is a dream.”

“It is a lovely dream.” Essek murmured in agreement, easing his fingers out. He grabbed the oil and spread it over his length. “I would be lying if I said I hadn’t pictured it myself. With me in your place, that is.”

Caleb lifted his head and looked over his shoulder, but before he could ask his burning questions the blunt head of Essek’s cock was pressing at his entrance, silencing and surprising him. He had to force himself to breathe through the breach, exhaling as Essek guided himself in.

“Kinky wizards.” Kingsley purred, turning Caleb’s head to face him again, admiring the tension in Caleb’s expression. He flirted, dragging his tail along Caleb’s side, “Can’t say I see the appeal. Maybe you two need to bend me over sometime and show me.”

Delicate drow fingers wrapped over Caleb’s hips as he bottomed out, and Caleb felt Essek twitch inside him at what Kingsley said, his own eyes widening at their grinning tiefling lover beneath him.

“Mmh-” Essek tried to stop himself from grunting, squeezing his eyes closed and stilling his hips lest he end his part prematurely. Luxon above, Caleb was so tight. Essek exhaled sharply, opening his eyes to meet Kingsley’s over Caleb’s shoulder. “We do have a lot of downtime this visit.”

“And I do love making fantasies come true.” Kingsley grinned up at Caleb, his lover looking like he was barely holding it together, and Kingsley patted his side. “Let me slip out?”

Caleb shakily pushed up onto his hands, and Essek blamed his next actions on the copious amounts of wine he drank tonight. He grabbed the length of leather running up Caleb’s back and pulled, and Caleb choked out a surprised noise that bled into a whine, sitting up straight at the incessant pressure on his shoulders and clavicle. Essek sat back on his heels as Caleb rose, admiring the long length of spine taking up his view, and brought Caleb to settle on his angled lap. Caleb’s hands sought out Essek’s hips and wrapped around them, his lips parted at the glorious pressure on his prostate, and listened to his heartbeat in his skull for a long moment.

“Gods, look at ye.” Kingsley groaned, and Caleb opened his eyes to find his other partner settled against the pillows, slowly stroking himself with the bedside table open and a vial of oil by his thigh. “Feckin’ beautiful.”

In Kingsley’s humble opinion Caleb only got prettier when he started bouncing from Essek’s thrusts, kept from falling face first by Essek’s grip on his harness. His jaw hung open and his eyes closed, and Kingsley had half a mind to stand up and put his cock in Caleb’s mouth.

Essek wasn’t going as hard or as fast as he could, but he wasn’t exactly being gentle, either, considering how long it had been since Caleb had been pleasured this way. Caleb lost his grip on Essek’s hips and braced his hands on his thighs, rocking back into each thrust with a low groan from his chest.

“Twice – or once – for you, dear?” Essek asked Kingsley between heavy breaths, holding onto Caleb’s shoulder with one hand and pulling Caleb into him with each tug of the ‘T’ junction of leather.

Kingsley hummed thoughtfully, as if he didn’t already know his choice. He knew what he wanted and what would play to Caleb’s interests, and he couldn’t help but try to make that gorgeous redhead blush even darker.

“I don’t know.” He relaxed into the pillows, throwing an arm up and resting his head on his hand as he stroked himself leisurely. “Do you want me to fill you with my come once or twice, magic man?”

The shudder that ran down Caleb’s body was not just felt by Essek but blatantly seen by Kingsley, and Kingsley grinned, savoring as well Essek’s mouthed curse.

“Please, fuck.” Caleb gasped, wrapping a hand around himself and stroking.

“Ah-ah, no touching.” Kingsley reprimanded. Caleb cursed and let himself go. “Good boy.”

Caleb whined.

“Answer my question. Once or twice?”

“Tw-Twice – fifty times-” Caleb rambled, filter removed, “as many as you want. Please.”

Kingsley and Essek both burned at Caleb’s words, their skin igniting and making their bodies feel hotter than fire.

“Still want rough?”

Caleb nodded sharply, whimpering an affirmation to Essek’s question, and moaned wantonly when Essek pulled Caleb’s back to his front and scratched his nails down Caleb’s chest and stomach. The redhead barely had time to enjoy the sting before he hit the bed with a gasp, Essek having shoved him forward and off his cock. The sudden emptiness made him shiver.

“I need a minute.” Essek panted, laughing softly at the breathiness to his voice, and guided Caleb to turn over so he could kiss him. “Light above. I love you.”

Caleb hummed contently against Essek’s lips, his brain a pleasant fog, too foggy to return the declaration of love. Too foggy to realize Kingsley had moved from his spot until warm calloused hands rubbed his thighs and stroked his throbbing cock with an oiled hand, making his hips jump.

“Stay cute and pliant, love.” Kingsley murmured lovingly, clawed hands lifting Caleb’s legs and pinning the loose folded limbs open. He let go of one leg to wrap a hand around his base and was pleased when Caleb, despite being distracted and drunk, kept his knee bent and his thigh where Kingsley left it. “That’s a good boy. Keep yourself nice and open for me, sweetheart.”

Caleb made a cute whine of want into Essek’s lips and Essek smiled against Caleb’s mouth, scratching his nails teasingly through thick chest hair.

“I’ve been missing out.” Essek jested.  “Drunk Caleb is delightfully vocal.”

“Isn’t he just?” Kingsley purred, rubbing his tip over Caleb’s entrance. “To be fair I think we both have a couple sheets in the wind ourselves. Maybe not the three that Caleb’s sporting-” Caleb stiffened as the pressure increased, groaning low from his chest as Kingsley eased the tip of him in, “but he is the birthday boy.”

“That he is.” Essek peppered kisses over Caleb’s tense throat, pretty blue eyes closed. “Our sweet, handsome birthday boy who’s being so good for us.”

“Moonweaver’s tits you are tight.” Kingsley rasped, hips slowly pressing closer before pausing. “You tell me when you’re ready for me, lovely.”

“Gods you’re big.” Caleb mumbled under his breath, hand reaching for his cock. Essek nudged his hand away and wrapped cool drow fingers around the hot length, and Caleb jolted, gripping the duvet beneath him as Essek stroked and squeezed. Kingsley could feel Caleb flutter around him and stamped down the urge to ease in deeper, waiting on Caleb’s permission.

“Relax, light.” Essek murmured into Caleb’s ear, thumbing the head. He listened closely to the hitching of Caleb’s heavy breaths. “Just breathe, remember?”

Caleb’s lips twitched into a smile. Sucking in a breath, Caleb felt his hand be moved to Kingsley’s thigh by his hip, and he held onto the offered purple thigh.

“I’m ready. Go slow, though.”

“What’s the rule?” Kingsley asked, just as he always did. Essek, knowing Caleb couldn’t come from prostate stimulation alone, let Caleb go so he didn’t bring Caleb over the edge.

“Tap three times.” Caleb opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling above their bed. He wished he had the foresight to pull the curtain back so the mirror was revealed, but it was a bit late now.

Caleb’s jaw clenched and his breathing hitched before he forced himself to keep exhaling, Kingsley easing in with the patience of a saint, knowing it had been longer than usual since he’d been inside Caleb. The tiefling was concentrating so hard that his tail, which rarely stopped moving, was twitching but otherwise still behind him, focused on Caleb’s microexpressions and keeping his hips steady and slow. Essek dragged a soothing hand up and down Caleb’s chest and over Kingsley’s side, stroking himself a few times to ease the ache of desire so he could focus, too.

The first ridge rolled over Caleb’s prostate and he grabbed a handful of the duvet and gripped Kingsley’s thigh tightly, digging his fingers into fabric and flesh with a harsh grunt. Caleb’s cock jerked and leaked on his navel as Kingsley kept pushing in.

“Fu-uck.” Caleb’s whole body twitched as he felt the next ridge nearing. It was like he was being wedged open and he whimpered and clenched around Kingsley when the second ridge massaged his prostate, melting afterward. He spread his legs farther, opening up around Kingsley like a flower as the haze of want clouded his mind. All he wanted was to get Kingsley as deep as he could.

“That’s my pretty boy.” Kingsley rumbled seductively, smiling. “Relax.”

“Ah!” Caleb moaned sharply, hips jerking as the third and final ridge rolled past. He wheezed as Kingsley kept pressing in, “Fuck, y-yes, deeper.” Kingsley bottomed out, pelvis pressed to Caleb’s ass, and Caleb groaned with profound satisfaction, clasping Kingsley’s other thigh as well. Kingsley grinded his hips against Caleb and Caleb’s back began to arch, head tilting back, choking on his groan.

Kingsley started a slow rhythm of easing back before easing in, grateful that Essek was there to keep a more attentive eye on Caleb so Kingsley could focus on what he was doing. It took all his focus to keep from fucking blindly and going too fast too soon, so it was a huge relief when Caleb threw his hands above his head on the mattress, signaling he didn’t need the option to tap anymore and was ready, and begged breathlessly, “Please.”

A wondrous, dirty idea came to Kingsley’s mind, and he asked Essek with barely a second’s consideration, “You got a Levitate in the chamber by any chance?”

Essek, having a clue of who the target was, spun the ring on his finger and gestured toward Caleb, speaking the arcane word to cast the spell. He raised Caleb up from the bed-

Kingsley slid out of Caleb, making the human gasp at the abrupt emptiness, and Essek watched in confusion as Kingsley got off the bed.

“You wanna play out that fantasy I said in the hall?” Kingsley grinned wickedly, grabbing Caleb by the ankle and pulling him closer. He saw Caleb’s eyes go wide.

“Yes.” Caleb pleaded, wrapping his limbs around Kingsley. Kingsley’s grin widened into something toothy and diabolical, and he leveled that grin at Essek next.

“C’mon. I need a wall and you need to watch.”

“By the Light.” Essek cursed softly in Undercommon, licking his lips and following Kingsley as the tiefling carried Caleb, pale hairy legs around a purple waist and scarred arms around tattooed shoulders, away from the bed.

“Since it’s your back taking the beating,” Kingsley pecked a teasing kiss to Caleb’s cheek, “you get to pick the wall.”

“The nearest one.” Caleb smirked over Kingsley’s shoulder at Essek. Kingsley gave Caleb’s rear a playful smack, reprimanding his sass.

“How about by the chairs?” Kingsley decided for him, descending the stairs. “Give Essek someplace nice to sit?”

“Yes.” Caleb tucked his face into Kingsley’s neck and left sweet kisses, appreciative of Kingsley’s thoughtfulness as he was fresh out of thoughts.

Since Caleb weighed nothing, Kingsley offered to help Essek get the chair in place but Essek shooed him, pointing to the wall.

“Get where you want to be and I will drop the spell.”

“Ah, okay.” Kingsley leaned toward Essek and murmured. “Kiss.”

Essek’s face softened with adoration and he pressed a lingering kiss to Kingsley’s lips, giving Caleb the same treatment afterward. It was odd, doing that and observing them getting in position. It felt like the goodbye Caleb gave when Kingsley and Essek went to have sex without him, yet Essek was still very much with them.

Kingsley pressed Caleb up against the stone wall, his sweet smile turning lustful and mischievous. He reached under Caleb’s thigh to guide his tip to Caleb’s entrance, pulling Caleb down onto his length as he pushed in, watching Caleb’s pretty blue eyes roll back and tremble against him as his partner’s ridged cock speared him again.

Once Kingsley was inside Caleb, he pinned Caleb’s body to the wall with his own, helping support the thinner man’s weight with his hands under Caleb’s ass.

“Ready?” Essek asked. Kingsley brushed his nose against Caleb’s.

“Ready. You, love?”

“Beyond ready.”

Kingsley and Caleb both tensed, prepared to hold on, and Essek dropped the Levitate spell. Caleb cursed loudly and threw his head back, thunking it against the wall as he sunk down abruptly on Kingsley, taking him as deep as physically possible. His thighs trembled against Kingsley’s waist and he held tightly onto King’s tattooed shoulders.

They turned their heads at the clatter of something large moving nearby and watched Essek magically set an armchair down by the wall, one arm pressed into the stone so the chair was facing Kingsley and Caleb’s profile. Caleb kept watching, witnessing Essek get settled in the chair and stroke his length to the sight of them, giving Caleb a little smirk, while Kingsley readjusted his stance and his hold on Caleb.

With Caleb’s head turned toward Essek, Kingsley flicked his forked tongue over the lovebite he’d left before sucking gently on it, grinning against vibrating skin as Caleb moaned and tilted his head to expose more of his neck. Kingsley grazed his tender skin with his fangs and rolled his hips into Caleb, and Caleb’s moan turned pitiful and desperate.

“Treasure, please.” He pleaded breathily, eyes sliding closed. “Plea- aah!”

Kingsley rocked his hips into Caleb, just a gentle back and forth, but the force of gravity had it feeling so much rougher. Caleb bounced up to fall down and smacked his ass against Kingsley’s hips. He was taking King so deep it knocked the air from his lungs with every drop, like with every fall he took Kingsley deeper and deeper and punched every breath out.

“I’m barely moving my hips, magic man,” Kingsley confessed, grinning almost sadistically at Caleb’s heavy breathing, “and already I’ve got you winded?”

“So good.” Caleb panted in Kingsley’s pointed purple ear, digging his fingernails into sweaty skin. “You’re so fucking deep.”

“Yeah I am.” Kingsley groaned lowly, slowing his pace but pressing them together as tight as he could, still grinning as Caleb choked on pleasured noises. “I’m so fucking deep inside my pretty boy’s gorgeous arse.”

Caleb’s toes curled as he whimpered and Essek found himself breathing hard and having to let go of himself lest he come early, long purple ears picking up every word. It was perfect timing too, because the slowed pace didn’t last for long nor did Caleb keep quiet about it.

Kingsley picked it back up and doubled it, slamming their hips together and making Caleb shout into the air above them. The filter that usually kept Caleb from belting his heart out whenever he bottomed for Kingsley was gone and the redhead was letting their bedroom know it, giving harsh, loud yells with every thrust.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Kingsley growled like an animal by Caleb’s ear. Gods, he loved when Caleb let go like this. Drunk sex with Caleb was one of his favorites for this reason. “Scream on my cock for me.”

“Fuck.” Essek cursed under his breath, his own cock weeping against his navel. He dragged his fingernails up his thighs to keep from touching himself, distracting himself with the pain. He was glad he remembered to close the archways. Nothing and no one was allowed to interrupt this moment.

Kingsley started panting and shaking, and Essek tensed, gripping his thighs with anticipation.

“Gorgeous feckin’ creature.” Kingsley licked over Caleb’s sweaty neck, feeling the vibrations of his shouts through his skin. “Been near a month and you still take me like your body was made for me.”

“Kingsley!” Caleb’s voice held a warning they were very familiar with.

Kingsley pulled out, letting go of one of Caleb’s cheeks to do it, and the lack of support had Caleb dropping his limp leg to just barely catch himself, his foot hitting the wood floor with a loud thud!

“Turn around.” Kingsley ordered and let Caleb’s other leg drop as well. Dazedly and breathing like he’d ran a mile, Caleb allowed himself to be spun around by the leather around his waist. “Forearms on the wall. Don’t want that handsome face getting hurt.”

Caleb complied, bracing his forearms on the wall, shoulder width apart with his elbows pointing outward, and he arched his lower back as clawed hands grabbed his hips and pulled him into the right position. Kingsley guided himself back in, skin shivering at the whorish moan Caleb gave, and he held onto the harness around Caleb’s lower back with one hand and a pale hip with the other.

“Such a good boy, warning me.” Kingsley rolled his hips, pulling Caleb by the leather strap into his grind. “Next time I’ll let you fall apart like that, promise. But the night’s long from over.”

Kingsley started thrusting, quickly building up the pace, and Caleb scratched at the stone wall and whimpered, neglected cock leaking on the floor. Having Kingsley’s abs to rub into wasn’t the full contact he wanted, but it was better than nothing at all. He almost regretted warning Kingsley because this was a glorious, sadistic kind of torture.

But he was a good boy, his foggy brain distantly thought as Kingsley plowed into him, and he adored the praise for doing what his partners asked. They would take care of him, he just needed to be patient.

“F-Fuck.” Kingsley panted. Caleb grunted as a hand fisted his hair by his scalp and pulled his head back, the redhead groaning at the exquisite pressure. “That’s right, you like getting your – hair pulled, don’t you, love?”

“Y-Yes.” Caleb rasped.

Kingsley let his hair go far sooner than Caleb expected, but Caleb soon found out why. He moaned as Kingsley pressed him to stand up straight, body mere inches from the wall, and a clawed hand splayed over Caleb’s crotch and cupped him to protect him from the wall – smooth stone was still stone – as Kingsley stayed deep in Caleb and thrusted fast. Kingsley laid his free hand over Caleb’s on the wall and laced their fingers together, hot breath cascading over Caleb’s shoulder.

“I love you.” Kingsley, breathing so hard he could barely speak, whispered in Caleb’s ear, covering Caleb’s back with his own. Pinned between Kingsley’s hand and Kingsley’s hips, Caleb grinded into both, leaning his head back to rest his cheek against Kingsley’s. His labored breathing stuttered when Kingsley flicked his tongue over Caleb’s jaw.

“I love you, too.” Caleb whimpered.

Moments later, Kingsley bit Caleb’s neck and grunted loudly, spilling himself inside Caleb, and Caleb squeezed Kingsley’s fingers and buried his other hand in Kingsley’s hair, hissing at the teeth on his tender skin. His partner’s hips kept going, to Caleb’s continued amazement regardless of the number of times he’d seen Kingsley do it, but his pace slowed to a gradual stop.

Kingsley clutched Caleb to him, dazedly realizing another set of hands – familiar cool ones – were petting his back and Caleb’s front, peppering kisses over shoulders. Essek’s silent praise was interrupted by Kingsley letting go of Caleb’s crotch to grab Essek’s chin and turn his face to Kingsley’s. Essek didn’t have time to complain about the precome on Kingsley’s hand before Kingsley was kissing him, mouthing at cool drow lips and groaning softly at the temperature difference.

When the kiss ended several seconds later, Essek shivered when Kingsley let go of his jaw and licked Caleb’s precome off, the drow torn between finding it gross and incredibly hot. Especially when Caleb twisted his torso to join in, licking into Essek’s mouth.

“Your turn, Tower.” Kingsley rumbled, deep satisfaction in his voice as he pulled out and watched Essek and Caleb kiss sloppily. Caleb clenched as well as his tired muscles could, but Kingsley still leaked from him, drawing a shiver from Caleb’s skin.

Essek cupped Caleb’s face and separated their tongues long enough to breathe,

“Ride me in a chair?”

Caleb smirked, remembering saying the same thing in Aeor.

“Happily.”

Essek grabbed Caleb by the crossed straps at his front and dragged him over to the sitting area by the fireplace, magically moving the armchair from where he placed it to where he’d grabbed it from. He fell into it and Caleb wasted no time in straddling Essek’s lap, the both of them shifting to get the most comfortable placement before Caleb reached back and brought Essek to his entrance.

Caleb’s partner shuddered beneath him as he slid inside. Had he been sober and thinking with his brain, Caleb would’ve wondered what Essek’s reaction would’ve been to something so purposefully filthy, but he wasn’t sober and his desire was making all the decisions. So he rolled his hips, lips parting with bliss, and thought nothing odd of it when Essek cursed under his breath and grabbed Caleb’s hips, pushing and pulling to aid in the grind.

Essek was not one to enjoy the messiness of sex. It was fine enough in the moment, but once the moment ended the mess needed to be gone. But now, feeling how warm and slippery and most importantly how happy Caleb was, he could see why Kingsley enjoyed it so much. Caleb was no longer a vice grip around him, he was loose and pliant and even warmer than he’d been when Essek opened him up for Kingsley, and Essek could do nothing but hope that he’d last long enough to satisfy after being gone for three months.

Maybe a kiss would distract Caleb long enough for Essek to get his shit together. Wishful thinking, but Essek was not above playing dirty when necessary.

The drow gripped Caleb’s hair and tugged, and Caleb whined, silenced by Essek’s mouth as he pulled Caleb to his lips. They mouthed and licked lips, tangling tongues and groaning lowly as Essek rubbed his hands down Caleb’s back and up his sides.

“You are beautiful.” Essek whispered to him when they parted to breathe. Caleb leaned his forehead against Essek’s. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Caleb smiled at Essek’s compliment, his flushed skin hiding his blush.

Caleb started to bounce and they both moaned, Caleb especially when a clawed purple hand grabbed a handful of his hair and held it, letting Caleb’s bouncing tug it for him.

“I’m – likely not – going to last.” Essek warned, hands gripping Caleb’s hips to help him fall at the right angle.

“That’s alright, love.” Kingsley answered for Caleb, petting an auburn-covered chest, standing by Caleb’s side and watching their coupling with a fond smirk. “We both know the only reason magic man has lasted is because he can’t touch himself.”

“Ple-ease.” Caleb’s voice bounced with him as he begged, holding onto the backing of the armchair for support.

Kingsley dragged a blunt claw down Caleb’s scratched chest and stomach, brushing his fingers over Caleb’s steadily leaking cock and making the human jump and flinch with abrupt moans. At the possibility of contact, Caleb’s pleas grew, and Kingsley took pity on him and fisted his length loosely.

“No coming.” Essek reminded Caleb, holding Caleb above his lap before thrusting into him. Caleb white-knuckled the armchair and whimpered, legs trying to spread further apart but unable to.

Kingsley saw him struggle and writhe and had an idea. He shifted to stand behind Caleb and tilted Caleb's head back by his hair.

“You trying to spread for Essek, love?”

Caleb whimpered, eyes closed blissfully. “Yes.”

“Brace against me.” Kingsley ordered, letting Caleb’s cock and his hair go to wrap strong arms around Caleb’s waist and lift, and Essek stopped thrusting to figure out what they were doing first. “Legs over the arms of the chair.”

The melted human complied, lifting gelatin limbs to lie over the arms of the chair, thighs spread. He tensed his legs to keep himself upright as Kingsley set him back down over Essek’s lap, loosening his hold. The redhead arched his back to lean into Kingsley, letting his stronger partner help take the strain, and Essek petted tensed spread thighs reverently before holding himself at the base and slipping back in. Essek would’ve objected and opted for a more comfortable position for Caleb had Essek expected to last more than another minute.

Caleb’s head fell back to Kingsley’s shoulder and he moaned lowly at Kingsley’s hands rubbing over him as Essek pushed back in, the drow bracing his feet on the floor to get the leverage necessary to lift his hips high enough. The arms of the chair had Caleb suspended above him but it gave Essek enough room to properly thrust and thrust hard.

Caleb shouted and moaned as Essek clutched his hips and fucked into him hard enough that Essek was grunting. Kingsley stroked Caleb’s cock with the same roughness and Caleb grabbed onto his forearm and held on tight, eyes rolling closed and jaw hanging.

“Fu-u-u-uck!” Caleb’s groan bounced so beautifully to Essek’s ears. The drow thought Caleb looked like he could be on the cover of one of the erotic books in his library, glistening and debauched and mindless.

“C-Caleb-” Essek wheezing his name was Caleb’s only warning before Essek was pressing them tight together and coming. Caleb convulsed like he was about to come as well and Kingsley squeezed him at the base, listening to him sob and twitch at his fourth denied orgasm, this one far closer than Kingsley usually let them get and therefore all the more frustrating.

Caleb was distracted from his frustration by Essek pulling him by his shoulder straps to purple lips, eating his whimpers and whines. When Essek broke the kiss, he trailed kisses down Caleb’s throbbing pulse in his neck, caressing sweaty pale skin.

“I love you.” Essek murmured into Caleb’s throat. “I love you.”

Hot infernal lips kissed along Caleb’s shoulder and the dazed human grabbed for them both, holding onto whatever part of them he could reach.

“Think you can make it to the bed, magic man?” Kingsley asked, soothing a hand over Caleb’s sore abs.

“In – a minute.” Caleb panted. Essek pulled out of him and leaked from his lax muscles easily, and Caleb shuddered at the mental image the dripping conjured in his lust-addled mind. “O-Oh gods.”

“I love you both very much,” Essek, knowing King had some more time before he got hard again, twisted the ring on his finger and disappeared into mist, saying from the bathing area less than thirty feet away, “but I’m cleaning up.”

“Fair play, Tower.” Kingsley smirked and wrapped his arms around Caleb and lifted, helping Caleb close his legs and turn to sit down in the chair. He’d convince Essek to magic the come stain away later, or more likely would bar entry to their bedroom until the Tower was recast or his friends left, whichever came first. “I’m impressed you stuck to being the second to go, honestly.”

“Was?” Caleb furrowed his brow slightly, too tired to fully show his confusion.

"It was more pleasurable than I anticipated, but I think we both would prefer I go first next time." Water splashed as Essek got into the tub. "You enjoy it more, and we are still taking a break it seems."

“We did a bit of planning for what you might want and decided I’d come first if you wanted me twice." Kingsley quietly explained to Caleb, brushing sweaty bangs from his face. "That way I’d have time to get back up. At least, that was the plan.” Kingsley kissed his forehead. “I’m going to grab some water from my room. Stay put and don’t worry your pretty little head about anything.”

Caleb opened his exhausted eyes and turned his head, watching Kingsley walk over to one of the wall sconces by the archway nearest his room and touch it, the sound and sight of stone shifting following it.

“Sure hope no one’s out here to see me naked and covered in come!”

Caleb deliriously laughed, his laughter bleeding into giggles. Essek’s disembodied voice, invisible due to the illusion surrounding the bathing area, scolded, “Kingsley.”

“What, I’m just making sure no one’s out here!” Kingsley countered playfully, followed by the sound of a door opening. It only served to make Caleb laugh again.

The debauched redhead sighed, “I love you two idiots.”

“I love you two idiots, too.” Essek said, but he had a smile to his voice that made Caleb smile in kind.

Kingsley came back with water and he and Caleb drank while Essek took a dip in the tub and rinsed the evidence of sex away. Once Essek dried with the power of Prestidigitation, he pulled on some bottoms and shared in the rehydrating. When everyone was rehydrated and the level of clean they desired, the process taking just a couple minutes, they all moved to the bed.

“Come, light.” Essek climbed onto the bed and sat in front of the pillows, leaning back into them. He parted his legs and grabbed a pillow, patting the space between his knees. “Lay in my lap.”

Caleb raised an eyebrow but did as offered, laying down between Essek’s knees with his head against Essek’s stomach and a pillow between Essek’s crotch and his back, so Essek’s junk didn’t get hit by a rogue limb or a particularly well-placed writhe.

“I assume this is one of those previously discussed ideas?” Caleb lightly teased, watching Kingsley crawl toward them with a vial of oil. Kingsley grinned sinfully at him and that was plenty enough of an answer for Caleb. “How romantic.”

“I thought so, too.” Kingsley slotted himself into the space Caleb made for him when his lover spread his legs. “Got the idea from a smut book.”

Caleb laughed and Kingsley smirked proudly, opening the vial of oil and pouring it on his hands. He handed it to Essek to close as he slicked his length, stroking it and admiring Caleb’s body. Even with their water break the human was a flushed, sweaty, filthy mess, and Kingsley did love himself a good mess.

“Some of us would like to come tonight, Kingsley Tealeaf.” Caleb not-so-subtly hinted. He patted his ass. “Get your smutty book idea over here.”

Essek rolled his eyes fondly and Kingsley laughed and scooted closer, resting a hand on the back of Caleb’s thigh.

“Can’t get my smutty book idea in you if ‘m not hard enough, prick.” Kingsley bantered back with playful indignance, holding himself at the base. Caleb laughed again and Kingsley smirked. “Feck me for admiring the men I love, I guess.”

“Well if you can’t get your smutty book idea hard enough I guess your dick will have to do.” Caleb playfully sighed and then grinned, smug that he even got Essek to laugh with that one.

“You two are idiots.” Essek giggled, combing a hand through Caleb’s messy ponytail.

“Mm, but we’re your idiots.” Kingsley leaned over Caleb and kissed Essek sweetly, and Essek smiled against his lips.

Kingsley eased himself into Caleb, looking between their bodies to see where he was aiming, and Caleb and he both let out pleasured groans. Essek massaged Caleb's pectorals and smirked lopsidedly at a tail pushing his pants leg up and coiling around his shin, watching his partners join in the most intimate of ways, feeling a gentle heat under his skin at the sight.

"You still want rough, lovely?" Kingsley asked, rolling his pelvis in loose circles to press against Caleb's nerves in new ways. Caleb's eyes rolled back before closing altogether.

"Nngh - if you keep doing that, you shouldn’t ask me questions - you actually want the answers to." Kingsley chuckled and leaned over the Zemnian, kissing a hairy chest beneath Essek's palms.

"Rough or not, magic man?"

Caleb admired Kingsley's tattooed shoulders with his hands, smiling lovingly at him as Kingsley peppered his skin with attention. "Not as rough."

"Not as rough," Kingsley repeated, leaving a wet trail to Caleb's nipple, "alright, I can work with that." He flicked his forked tongue over it and Caleb hummed as he relaxed. After a few more seconds of lavishing Caleb's peaked chest, Kingsley retreated and grinned. "I'm sure Essek will appreciate us not knocking him over."

Essek smirked amusedly, resuming his caressing of Caleb’s chest now that Kingsley was bracing himself with hands on the backs of Caleb’s thighs. He rocked himself into Caleb’s body and Caleb’s back arched, pressing his chest into Essek’s hands. Caleb groaned as Kingsley picked up a steady rhythm.

“Good boy.” Kingsley praised him, smirking smugly when he noticed Caleb already leaking onto his navel. “Make a mess for me, sweetheart.”

“Kingsley.” Caleb whined, throwing an arm above his head to hold Essek close and grabbing a thigh, as if Essek would get up and miss out on this. Essek scratched his nails lightly over Caleb’s chest and ribs, drawing a shaking moan from Caleb’s throat. “Please, please-!”

“What do you want, gorgeous?” Kingsley asked, panting softly.

“Please let me come.” Caleb begged. “Please. I need it."

“I just got started, love!” Kingsley leaned over Caleb and ducked his head to smear kisses on Caleb’s straining throat, grinding their hips together. “You want me to fill you up again?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Then you’ve got to wait until I’m close.” Kingsley flicked his tongue over Caleb’s earlobe, smirking at Caleb’s hitched breath. “Or would you rather I fill your mouth instead?”

“N-No.” Caleb shivered when Essek’s fingers stroked his flushed cheek.

“You’re gonna take it like a good boy?” Kingsley pulled Caleb’s knees to his ribs and Caleb wrapped his calves over Kingsley’s back, locking his ankles together.

“Mhm.” Caleb whimpered, lips pressed together and staring dazedly up into Kingsley’s eyes, the perfect picture of submission that had Kingsley’s pulse racing. Kingsley thrusted into him, hands planted on the mattress, and Caleb moaned sharply, his lips parting more with each thrust until his jaw was hanging open.

“You’re gonna show Essek how good you are, aren’t you?” Kingsley challenged. “Gonna show him how good you look stretched out on my cock?”

Essek’s cock gave a painful twitch into the pillow and Essek swallowed hard, hearing Caleb whimper again in a higher pitch between gasps for air. The spectator took a leap of faith and grabbed Kingsley by the face and crushed their mouths together, skin prickling at his partners’ moaning. Kingsley had to arch his back to maintain the kiss, the strain on his muscles a delicious burn that had his tail flexing around Essek’s calf. Caleb grabbed Kingsley’s pumping hips and held on until the sweat slicked his grip and he scratched at Kingsley’s thighs instead, staring up in awe at Kingsley and Essek kissing above him.

Essek broke away and Kingsley leaned back onto his heels, stretching Caleb’s torso out, pale legs slipping down to wrap at Kingsley’s waist. Kingsley held onto the thighs at his sides and thrusted hard and Caleb shouted, head jerking back into Essek’s stomach and hands finding Essek’s thighs beside him. Broken moans were punched out of Caleb, cock steadily leaking on his stomach and trailing down his side to the duvet.

Kingsley let go of Essek’s calf to wrap his tail around the vial and hand it to the drow, hips starting to falter. Essek took the vial and poured some oil onto his palm, closing it and setting it off to the side before taking Caleb in hand.

Just lifting Caleb’s length from his navel with slick fingers made Caleb writhe and grunt. Essek smeared the oil over the burning hot flesh with a gentle touch, every movement making Caleb shake and flutter around Kingsley with desperate high-pitched whines.

Essek stroked to the pace of Kingsley’s hips and Caleb made his ears ring with how loud he cursed and moaned. It only took half a dozen strokes before Caleb’s entire body locked up and jerked, choking on a grunt with every pulse that left him and decorated his torso.

The vice grip tightness of Caleb’s orgasm milked Kingsley for all he was worth as he was rocketed to his own orgasm, hips stalling in Caleb as his partner’s muscles wouldn’t let him thrust. By the time Kingsley could pull out, Caleb was twitching with full-body spasms, his chest heaving with his heavy breaths.

“Ahh-!” Caleb gasped as Kingsley slid out, ridges massaging his abused insides and making his waning erection jump painfully. Soothing cool hands rubbed down his arms and shoulders.

“Sorry, sorry.” Kingsley panted, pressing a kiss over Caleb’s racing heart. “You wouldn’t let me out, heh.”

Magic washed over Caleb as Kingsley, on trembling limbs, flopped to lie on his back by Essek’s leg, head hitting the mattress.

“Normally I would take you two to the bath,” Essek explained, casting Prestidigitation over Kingsley as well, “but I think you’d rather not move for the next several hours.”

“We will – once we get cold.” Kingsley’s eyes slid closed, listening to Essek unbuckle Caleb’s lingerie harness. “Or my tail – assaults someone. Whichever happens first.”

“Until then, rest and recover.” Essek smiled lovingly down at his partners, scooting back just a little so Caleb’s back was at a more comfortable angle for sleep, easing the leather out from under his dead weight and brushing his bangs from his forehead. “And happy birthday, dear.”

“Mm, happy birthday, love.” Kingsley kissed Caleb’s cheek, sandwiching Essek’s leg between his chest and Caleb’s side.

Caleb hummed in acknowledgment, sounding half-aware with closed eyes, and Essek and Kingsley both laughed and grinned.

Chapter Text

Caleb woke up hungover, but he happily rolled over and snuggled against Essek, who was lying in bed reading with their tiefling on one side and the human on the other, the book held open and resting on Kingsley’s arm over Essek’s stomach. The redhead dozed on Essek’s chest between attempts to read along, enjoying having the drow’s heartbeat in his ear again. If Essek knew Caleb was awake and attempting to read he didn’t show it except to take a little longer between flipping pages with his mage hand. He wasn’t often happy about being trapped in bed, but Essek made an exception since he’d just recently returned home and cuddles were a luxury he was determined to capitalize on.

Kingsley was still snoring softly when Caleb received a Sending, which brought him out of his current snooze.

“Good moooornniiinnng!” Jester’s cheery voice greeted far too loudly and gleefully for Caleb’s liking, making the human recoil a bit and scowl. “What do you want for breakfast? I was thinking waffles and donuts, but you’re boring and like vegetables.” There was a pause. “True, I guess potatoes are-”

The message abruptly cut off. Hoarsely, Caleb’s rough voice grumbled into Essek’s pec, settling back in.

“Tell the cats I wan’ the ushual.” The Zemnian slurred groggily. “What do you wan’ for breffast, liebling?”

Essek smirked softly at his cute, sleepy boyfriend that sounded like he deep-throated a gravel-covered dick.

“If possible, I’d like a few of the potato pancakes that Yasha makes, if she would be willing to describe it to the cats.”

“Essek wan’s potato pancakes.” Caleb snuggled his face into Essek’s chest. “Ask Yasha to tell the cats what they are.”

Essek petted Caleb’s messy bed head. “I think you were a couple words over, dear.”

Caleb rumbled, irritated, into Essek’s skin and Essek snickered when Kingsley complained with a muffled voice, arm strewn over Essek’s stomach and face buried into a pillow, “Shuddup.”

“Ah, it is one of those mornings, is it?” Essek teased his partners and handed his book to his mage hand to set down, one arm over Kingsley’s on his stomach and the other behind Caleb’s back, rubbing his shoulder.

“I will slit your throats in your sleep.”

“Good thing we are no longer sleeping.” Essek squeezed Kingsley’s forearm, grinning when Kingsley growled at him.

“Good morning Kiiiiiing!” Jester’s bright voice filled Kingsley’s head and he groaned loudly into the pillow. “What do you want for breakfast? Or are you too hungover? So far we’ve got waffles, donuts, potato pancakes, regular pancakes-”

Kingsley was still groaning, just quieter, when the message ended. He turned his head to smoosh a cheek into his pillow.

“Fuck if I know, Joy.” He mumbled against cloth. “Somethin’ greasy and warm, I don’t care.”

“Did she send you a message as well?” Essek rubbed over Kingsley’s wave tattoos on his forearm.

“Yeah.” Kingsley released Essek’s leg from his coiled tail and he stretched his legs beneath the weighted blanket. “Gods I’m sore, and I’m not even the one who got railed.”

Essek blushed. “Kingsley, you did end the message before you said that, right?”

Kingsley stilled. Essek’s blush deepened and Caleb smirked against Essek’s chest at the sudden silence, too semiconscious to be embarrassed at the moment.

“Oh.” Kingsley breathed, realizing. He laughed and Essek rolled his eyes even though Kingsley couldn’t see him do it. “Well, too late now.”

The tiefling rolled onto his back with a grunt, rubbing the sleep from his eyes before he finally opened them.

“How are we feeling today, magic man? Need a potion?”

“Mhm.” Caleb hummed absently into Essek’s chest. He shifted to cover Essek’s side and wrap a leg over Essek’s and groaned as he moved sore muscles. He wasn’t going to leave Essek’s cuddly side for anything. They’d have to pry him off if they wanted him to get up.

Kingsley crawled out of bed and went over to the archways to their room, using one to walk into the main sitting room and rifle through their shit.

“You, Tower?” He called.

Essek sighed and covered Caleb’s ear, the other pressed into his chest, before he called back. “No!” Caleb grumbled unhappily at the yelling and Essek rubbed his back and shoulder, murmuring softly and sweetly, “I know, I’m sorry. I don’t know why he insists on shouting across the bedroom.”

“He’s a sailor.” Caleb mumbled into indigo skin. “They shout across everything.”

“That is fair.” Essek chuckled and kissed Caleb’s head.

It turned out that Caleb could in fact leave Essek’s side for something, as when the health potion was offered up he sat up with a grimace and drank it greedily. As he did, he felt Kingsley staring at him with a pleased smirk, and once he was done and feeling a bit more awake and less pained, he handed the potion bottle back over and raised an eyebrow at his partner.

“What is it?”

“Just admiring my handiwork.” He flirted, leaning down to kiss Caleb’s neck over the lovebite. The tender kiss to the tender bruise without the pretense of lust made Caleb wince. “I’m not sorry for placement.”

“You never are.” Caleb sighed, but Kingsley could sense the fondness for the bruise in the undertone of Caleb’s voice, even as Caleb pulled his hair to lie over his shoulder and hide it.

And of course his eagle-eyed friends noticed and teased him to hell and back for it once they arrived for breakfast. And, of course, Caleb wouldn’t have it any other way.