Chapter Text
My hands softly grip the cup of fresh chai as I look out onto the street, watching people go about their day, just another busy day in Vesuvia. Julian sits across from me, reading the newspaper, occasionally glancing up at me and giving me his trademark smirk. Asra stands in line in front of the counter, waiting for his turn to collect this morning’s fresh batch of bread. I watch him as he talks to Selasi, chuckling. Selasi, the baker, looks my way and waves, little specks of flour clouding the air. He hands Asra another, smaller packet, and smiles my way. I smile and get up, dusting off my clothes and try to smoothen out any wrinkles. Julian quickly downs the remaining tea in his cup and gets up slowly, his gaze still stuck to the paper.
I make my way to his side, clutching one arm around his waist and leaning against him, peering into the paper. He absentmindedly wraps one arm over my shoulders, crooning. “What’s up?” Asra asks, setting down his bag and carefully storing the fresh loaf of bread he got from Selasi, and handing me the smaller packet. I open the envelope, and my senses immediately get flooded with the familiar smell of masala chai. I look to Selasi, smiling at him in a silent thank you. Asra slings his bag back across his chest, walking over and pecking me and Julian on the cheek, and looking over Julian’s shoulder, trying to get a peek at what he was so engrossed in. “Ooh, there’s a book fair in town,” Julian says, softly folding up the newspaper and stretching his long arms upwards, softly flexing the muscles on his back. He brings his arms down to rest on me and Asra’s shoulders, smiling at us. “Shall we go, my darlings?”
I look over at Asra, watching him as he thoughtfully runs his hands through his hair. “Well, I guess we can take half the day off. There aren’t many customers in the morning, anyway. We can go.” I smile his way as Julian laughs heartily, patting both our shoulders. “Excellent!”
We make our way out of the bakery, waving at Selasi on our way out of the door. Asra instinctively grabs my hand, softening his grip as I look up at him. “Careful.”
Even after all these years, he is still just as particular about me. It is a familiar feeling, one that I have learned to adore. I remember being annoyed about it at first, feeling that Asra didn’t trust me enough to even let me roam freely in the market without his guide. I’d soon come to treasure that sensation of safety. Julian wrapped his arm around Asra’s shoulder, softly pulling him in and quickly kissing him on his forehead before looking down at his watch. “We have about 4 hours before I have to head to the castle. What about you, dearies? How long before you head back to the shop?”
3 hours, I tell him, glancing at Asra, who nods in agreement. Julian wraps his arms around the both of us, almost lifting us clear off the ground. We slowly make our way to the book fair.
The plaza is full of people, long colourful streamers fall down from the roofs, large stacks of books lace every corner and edge of the plaza. The air smells familiar. I breathe, filling my lungs with the gorgeous earthy scent of pages and vellum. I wrap Asra's and Julian’s arms around my waist, feeling their warm smiles on my back as we disappear into the sea of people.
Before we know it, all three of us have our hands full of all kinds of books and tomes. Me and Asra put them all into one big - and rather heavy - book bag. I quickly set it down and rush to Ilya’s side, grabbing him by the ear and pulling him down to my height and planting a gentle kiss on his cheek. Julian pretends to be hurt, dramatically slapping his hand over his forehead. Asra rolls his eyes, squeezing his hand one last time before we go our different ways.
“I have returned, my darlings!” Julian bursts through the shop door with his regular dramatic flair. He throws his coat over the counter, scooping Asra in his arms and drowning him in kisses, before rushing my way and doing the same. Asra and I look a mess by the time Ilya’s done.
‘‘Go take a shower, you blubbering fool,’’ scolds Asra, before rushing him off to the bath. I can hear Julian’s over-the-top wails as he’s pushed into the showers. I giggle under my breath. It is dark out, the crowds in the streets slowly dwindling out, street lamps being smothered one by one. I step out of the shop, switching around the shop sign so that it reads closed. I sigh and look up at the door knocker, feeling almost nostalgic. So much has changed since the first day I ever stepped through this door. I shake my head, as if to rattle off any bad feelings, and step back into the shop.
Asra's at the stove, making soup, and Ilya sits by the stairs, reading a letter. His hair still dripping wet, water droplets falling down onto the pages he holds in hands, but he pays no heed to the bleeding ink. I run my hands through his hair, drying them up. Julian distractedly grabs and places a kiss on the back of my hand before focusing on the letter again. He eventually tires of it and tosses it over his desk, deciding that it was a matter for another day.
I walk over to Asra, folding my arms over his waist and pressing my cheek to his back. I can feel him smiling as he looks over his shoulder. With a flick of his hand, the cupboards fly open, small vials of spices gently floating down to rest on the kitchen top. I hear an almost inaudible ow behind me as Julian’s walks right into a floating spice bottle.
It is almost 11 by the time we’re done with dinner. I look out of my window as I wash my plate, peering into the darkness. The night runs deep. There is something so unnerving about the empty Vesuvian streets. Has it always been like this? I didn’t realise how long I was standing in front of the sink, my fingers were cold and numb when I came back to my senses. I quickly wiped off the water from my hands on my tunic, and headed upstairs. Asra and Julian were already in bed. Julian seemed to be focused on that letter from earlier, and Asra lay still in meditation. I slowly crawled into the space in between them. My body seemed oddly sore, all the walking from exploring the book stalls was finally taking its toll on me. I settled into bed, and Ilya softly held my hands and pressed them to his lips, his eyes immediately going wide from how cold they were.
“Good god, why are you freezing?!”
Julian exclaims, cupping my hands in his. Asra jerks up straight, looking at me, eyes brimming with concern. He closed his eyes, laying one hand on my side. I can feel his magic filling my senses, driving away the cold. I smile at him and settle back under the covers. Julian chuckles. I can almost hear him say those words again, what a handy little trick.
Ilya slowly lowers himself down, pressing light kisses on my face, Asra’s hand reaches over to cup him on his face. Julian looks up at Asra, placing one final kiss on the back of his hand before lying down and switching off the lights.
We fall asleep within minutes, bodies pressed against each other, aura mixing.
We’re safe.