Chapter Text
Compared to his previous grand entrances—and truly, Brishen had several of those over the years—Brishen’s reappearance after taking care of Harry’s request was quite subtle. He simply showed up for dinner the day after he’d left, promptly depositing half of his portioned food onto Devrim’s plate and ignoring Quinn’s exasperated, but fond look. At this point, Harry was fairly sure that Quinn simply doubled the amount of food that he put on Brishen’s plate because he knew that half of it would end up eaten by someone else.
Unless there was cinnamon involved.
It was such a weird preference, but thankfully one that was pretty easy—and inexpensive—to indulge.
After dinner, Harry ducked into Brishen’s room to pick up the gift he’d requested. It was supposed to be just a quick stop, but then he’d gotten sidetracked by Wikhn’s return. This year, more than most, it had been somewhat rare for all of his Gheyos to be home at once, so spending the night with them was an opportunity he wasn’t willing to pass up. Even when they were more growly and more likely to use their fangs and claws than normal as they reestablished their dynamics. Theo didn’t necessarily approve of Harry being around the Suite on those particular nights, but he didn’t protest either—not only would his Gheyos never hurt him, but both Theo and Harry knew that with Hadrian and Wikhn there, things would remain relatively under control.
There was an added benefit to spending such nights with his Gheyos, too—it ensured a lovely morning of pampering from Quinn and his Pareya, none of them wanting Harry to lift a finger or over-exert himself.
Not that he ever had to if he truly didn’t want to. Harry had learned that well by now.
Quinn was waiting for him outside the bedroom, clicking his tongue against his teeth and shaking his head as he took in Harry’s state. Can you even walk? he asked, already holding out his arms in a silent offer to carry the younger dragel.
“Probably,” Harry said, even as he accepted the offer. It was the surest way to sneak in a few extra cuddles. He quickly made sure that he still had his gift for Alec, if only to prove that he indeed had a reason for originally being in the Gheyo wing. His stomach growled as he eyed it. Maybe if he was lucky, Alec would share…
Quinn tapped him lightly on the nose, smiling when the action made Harry’s green eyes cross as they tried to follow the pale, slender finger. Breakfast first. No ruining your appetite.
Harry snapped at the finger half-heartedly and pouted—not because of Quinn’s words, but because Quinn thought they needed saying in the first place. “I’m not that bad,” he muttered.
Is that why we deal with your sugar highs every other month or so?
Harry’s cheeks pinked at the reminder. “Quinn!” he sputtered. “I’m not! I’m really not!” He squirmed and laughed as the blond’s claws poked and lightly scraped along his side, over the spots he was more ticklish at.
To his surprise, Quinn didn’t bring him down to the kitchen to eat or to the resting room to get some extra rest and attention from his more late-to-rise Bonded. Instead, the Healer made his way over to the wing of the house set aside for the two Water types in the Circle—a wing that was usually occupied by just Alec, more often than not, since Brishen preferred the Gheyo quarters, even if they were less friendly to his element.
It was yet another thing that Harry didn’t understand and probably never would, but one that he had stopped being overly concerned about.
Harry tilted his head at the sight of the blue-hued door Quinn set him in front of. “How did you—” he started to ask, but he cut himself off with a shake of his head, already knowing the answer to his question. “Bran?”
Bran, Quinn confirmed, smiling softly and pressing a small basket into one of Harry’s hands. Breakfast, judging by the smell of food wafting out of it.
Harry smiled as well. He wasn’t particularly surprised, truthfully, and he would readily admit that Bran’s Hindsight made things easier a good amount of the time, especially as the Changeling’s control over it—and the awareness of when to intervene or say something and when not to—grew. Then he chirped in thanks and pressed a finger to a spot next to the door, letting his magical signature be read and scanned. A necessary action, unless he wanted to deal with a room flooded with water, as Alec preferred to keep his quarters completely filled unless someone else was present.
To his mild disappointment, Alec wasn’t in. Probably procuring his own breakfast, Harry guessed, since the Merrow hadn’t indicated that he would be gone for a longer length of time. He wouldn’t be at the Merrow courts, since Alcandor and Goonter were off touring the edges of the Merrow Waters and reinforcing the protections at the barriers, giving Alec a few months to relax—time that his Merrow preferred to spend as close to Harry and the Circle as possible.
With a small sigh, Harry set Quinn’s basket and his present for Alec on the nearest table before sprawling his body out on the nearest couch. It was cool to the touch and damp, as nearly everything was, but it felt so undeniably like Alec that he couldn’t help but sigh happily and sink as far into the couch as it would let him. His green eyes drifted closed as he settled in. He hadn’t planned on a nap, but if the opportunity was there…
The thing about Alec and Brishen was that Harry had to occasionally guess when they were nearby. They weren’t like his other Bonded—they had ways to alter their presence, to make it linger long after they were gone from a place, or to suppress it, hiding themselves until they wanted to be seen. It was a useful trick when they left for longer trips, because they would imbue their magic into their quarters and Harry would take refuge there when he was missing them particularly hard. On the other hand, it was slightly annoying when he would wake up after a nap and they were right there, just a few inches away.
Alec had his standard scowl on his face when Harry startled awake—he hadn’t felt anyone there until he had rolled over and hit something—but the scowl seemed slightly smaller than normal.
“You got me chocolate,” the Merrow said flatly as Harry pulled himself into a sitting position.
Harry rubbed at his eyes for a second. “Technically, Brish—” he started to say before realizing that finishing that sentence could possibly be a bad idea. “I mean, yes?”
“I’m well aware of who actually goes and gets it,” Alec said, rolling his eyes. “But he wouldn’t actually bother, unless you asked him to.”
“He would if you asked him,” Harry returned. “You know he would.”
“He would not,” Alec said simply. “He tends to save the more brainless, death-defying stunts for you or whenever he wants to prove Hadrian has a challenger for the title of idiot. Ask Wikhn. And why would I ask him for that when I ask him for other things.”
“Death-defying?” Harry repeated, starting to wonder how dangerous of a task it was to get Alec’s absolute favorite type of chocolate. Brishen had never hinted at what was involved, just that it was a bit of an arduous process. Then again, he wouldn’t unless he absolutely had to, especially if it involved something technically illegal. “Actually, never mind. And what do you ask him for?” This was the first time Harry could recall Alec admitting to anything of the sort.
Alec’s scowl started to grow, his expression darkening. “I’ll give you three guesses, all of them with names starting with Al.”
Ah. Harry had a good idea of what was all involved now. He tried to hide the smile that threatened to form, knowing that Alec wouldn’t take well to such an expression. He never did when it involved his brothers.
“Stop that,” Alec said almost immediately.
“I didn’t do anything!” Harry protested and blinked in surprise when a chunk of chocolate was held to his lips. “You’re sharing?” He ate the proffered piece obediently.
“You had that expression on your face,” Alec returned, giving Harry a look. “And of course I’m sharing! Are you being so ridiculous now that you thought I wouldn’t? Why, by the way?”
“You never have before,” the brunet pointed out once he had chewed and swallowed. He hummed happily. It was very good chocolate, and he could see why Alec enjoyed it. It didn’t have a hint of cinnamon like he’d anticipated, but there was something else in it—something icy and sweet, but not mint. He couldn’t remember tasting anything quite like it before. “Why the chocolate?”
“I’m sharing it now. And yes, why the chocolate?”
Harry shrugged. “I wanted to do something special for you,” he said. “No other reasons.” He chirruped happily when Alec offered him a second piece of the chocolate and decided not to pass on Quinn’s message about not ruining his appetite with chocolate before eating the breakfast he’d been given. Either Alec assumed he’d already eaten or he wouldn’t care to the extent that Quinn did.
Actually, it was definitely the latter. Alec was usually the one encouraging the bimonthly sugar highs that Harry ended up having after all, always amusedly watching and making things worse by offering up some Merrow blood.
“Something very special,” Alec remarked.
Harry’s brow furrowed and the Merrow held up a note that had been worked into the wrapping around the chocolate. The note listed a vault number, the information needed for entry into the vault, and a not-so-politely-worded request to make the contents last the year. “I mean, to be fair, I just asked him to get the chocolate. I didn’t specify how much, so that’s all Brishen.”
Alec rolled his eyes. “Of course it is,” he muttered.
Harry grinned. It was small gestures like that which proved how much the two Water types truly cared for each other. It wasn’t obvious through their words—getting them to admit anything other than general distaste for each other would be worse than a trip to the dentist—but it was definitely evident through their actions if one looked close enough.
“Stop it,” Alec repeated. “Stop making that expression, like you’re going to say something ridiculous.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything!” Harry tried to look as innocent as possible, but from Alec’s expression, he was failing at doing so. Badly.
“Sure you weren’t,” Alec muttered and held up another piece of chocolate to Harry’s lips before the brunet could speak again.
Harry ate it, humming happily as he chewed, a sound that grew louder after Alec pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his lips. A purr started to rumble in his chest as he was pulled on to Alec’s lap and settled there, the taller man starting to alternate between feeding him chocolate pieces and giving him kisses. This wasn’t quite how he’d anticipated giving Alec his gift but he wasn’t going to complain, not when it resulted with receiving such nice gifts of his own.
And thanks to Brishen, he now had an entire year of moments like this to look forward to.