Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She drove the car in silence, trying not to look over at Ikaris in the passenger seat. She hadn’t given the others any explanation when she ran out of Ajak’s old house in South Dakota and now she was trying to figure out what she would say to the others now that she had proof Ikaris had been reborn just like he had claimed over the phone.

“You could have just flown home,” she said after nearly half an hour of driving in silence.

“I wanted to give you a chance to tell me to go away before any of the others had to get involved.”

“Of course I wouldn’t say that, I’m happy you’re here. The others will be happy too.” Okay, that was a bit of a lie. Some will be happy, some will be furious, some will be indifferent. It all rounded out to indifference that Ikaris was alive, rather than joy.

“Makkari tried to kill me when last we saw each other,” Ikaris pointed out.

“We don’t know that that was her goal. Maybe she just wanted to incapacitate you. Unlike with Druig, where we know you were trying to go for the kill.” She hoped her glare was properly icy but she knew she had too much of a gentle aura for that to work properly.

“I apologized,” Ikaris muttered.

“To me, not to the people you actually attacked,” Sersi replied, keeping her eyes fixed on the road.

“I’ll apologize,” Ikaris sighed, like a scorned teenager.

They pulled up to the house an hour later.

“Maybe let me go in first,” Sersi said as she got out of the car. Ikaris grunted in response.

“Guys, I have a surprise!” She called, hoping her positivity would rub off a bit on the others. Ikaris truly needed all the help he could get.

The others had conveniently gathered for a movie night. Thena sat elegantly in the recliner while Kingo, Phastos, and Gilgamesh all crowded onto the sofa. Sprite, Markkari, and Druig were sprawled across the floor, much more invested in the movie than the other four.

Kingo paused the movie when she spoke and everyone turned to look at her. The three on the floor clambered to sitting positions.

“There’s no easy way to say this and I can only guess how and why it happened.” She took a deep breath. “I think Arishem wanted to try to win back our loyalty by bringing back the most loyal of us. Ikaris called me a couple of hours ago to tell me that he was brought back.”

On cue, Ikaris stepped into the living room behind her.

“Ikaris!” Sprite cried, springing to their feet and running to hug him. The others stayed seated, exchanging looks, except for Makkari whose glare never left Ikaris.

“Look I know a lot of you aren’t happy to see me but-” Ikaris began before being interrupted by Druig.

“Not happy to see you? Can’t imagine why!” Druig rose to his feet, followed by Makkari. “You were basically brought back to be a spy. Are you going to finish the job you started? Picking us off one by one?”

“Druig, I-” Ikaris was again cut off, this time by Druig storming past him and up the stairs. The ex-leader got a very intentional shove to the shoulder on the way past.

“Druig,” Ikaris called, turning to follow him.

“No,” Sersi said firmly, grabbing Ikaris’ arm tightly. She realized her pulse had skyrocketed. Hopefully she wouldn’t panic at even the idea of Druig and Ikaris being left alone in a room together for the rest of her life because there were most likely centuries left of that.

“Leave him,” she said in as close to a warning tone as she could manage. “Give him time.”

Makkari passed the two to follow Druig up the stairs, maintaining threatening eye contact with Ikaris the whole way past.

“This should be an entertaining few months,” Kingo muttered from the sofa.

“Try years,” Phastos corrected.

Sersi knocked on Druig’s door twenty minutes later.

“Druig?” She called. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

Sersi couldn’t see Makkari speeding back to her perch on Druig’s bed, so to her, the door appeared to open on its own.

“Druig,” Sersi said as she stepped into the room. “If you don’t want Ikaris here, just say the word and he’s gone.”

Druig sat up from where he was slouched against a pile of pillows and studied her for a long moment.

“He can stay,” he muttered, signing as he spoke.

“You say that because Sersi and Sprite want him to stay,” said Makkari. Her signing wasn’t quite emphatic enough for it to be the equivalent of yelling but that was because she was visibly showing restraint. It was definitely scolding, though, going by her expression.

“You’ve already talked this over,” Sersi guessed.

“Makkari keeps asking if she can relocate him to Antarctica.” Druig smiled fondly at a very unapologetic Makkari.

“I mean maybe don’t do that, but we can have him stay somewhere else,” Sersi said, suppressing her own fond smile at the other two’s antics. “Don’t just say yes for me, you get a say in this.”

“I’m serious. He can stay. I don’t think he’ll try anything.” Druig actually looked at her this time so she knew he meant it.

“We won’t let him,” she said as she leaned down to give Druig a hug. He hesitated for a second before hugging her back. She let go with a quick squeeze.

“I’ll bring up you guys’ dinners,” she said as she walked out of the room. As she was closing the door, she saw Druig finish signing something that ended with “me” that made Makkari blush and bump him gently with her shoulder.

Chapter Text

The others didn’t see Druig for three days, and only saw Makkari in the form of a blur as she took the plates Sersi set out for them at family meals and returned the dishes.

Sprite was the last one to finish breakfast and the others had left out the syrup and butter and other pancake toppings for them to put away by themself. They grumbled as they started shuffling to the fridge with their arms full.

They nearly screamed when they closed the fridge door and saw Druig standing a few inches from them. He smirked at their reaction and shoved them out of the way with his hip so he could look through the fridge.

“You’re alive,” they observed drily. “And still an asshole. We were beginning to worry.”

“About me being alive or being an asshole?” Druig asked through a mouthful of leftover pancake. He closed the fridge and went to put the two pancakes he wasn’t currently eating into the toaster.

“Oh I don’t think the latter is ever going to change.” Sprite gathered up their dishes and dumped them in the sink.

“Why won’t you just talk to Ikaris?” They asked, leaning against the counter and looking at Druig.

“Uh, do you not remember how he tried to kill me? And the only reason he stopped trying was because he genuinely thought I was dead? It’s lucky for me he’s too stupid to check for a pulse.”

“Would knocking him out with a rock help? Seemed to make us even after I tried to kill Sersi.”

“I mean it would make me feel a bit better but it’s a bit of a different situation. Like, at least you felt conflicted about it. You didn’t want to kill Sersi but you felt like you had to.” Druig didn’t look up at all as he started drowning his pancakes in syrup.

“Ikaris didn’t want to kill you,” Sprite sighed, taking away the syrup to prevent further pancake water-boarding.

“He literally said ‘I should have done this sooner’.” Druig paused for a second and frowned. “Or he said something like that. I can’t remember the exact wording. Probably because I was then slammed into the side of a volcano. Anyway, that’s something you say when you very much want to kill someone and have for a while.”

Sprite stared at him with their mouth slightly agape. He stayed focused on his food.

“I can’t believe he said that. I’m sure he didn’t actually mean it,” They said after a minute.

“Your belief or disbelief doesn’t dictate the truth,” Druig pointed out bitterly as he stood and picked up his plate. “I don’t know why you’re surprised, I’m pretty sure everyone except Makkari has wanted to kill me at some point. Speaking of which, I think she’s waking up soon so I’m going to go annoy her.” With that, Druig disappeared upstairs.

Sprite frowned as they started loading the dishwasher. They didn’t know what actually happened between Ikaris and Druig, but they did know that Druig was genuinely hurt.

Sprite spent the rest of the day hanging out with Ikaris, chatting while he did all the work moving furniture around. They headed to the kitchen for a snack at one point, Sprite leading the way. Entering the kitchen, they caught sight of Druig, who froze with a granola bar half way to his mouth when he heard Ikaris’ voice. Sprite raised their hand slightly, turning Druig invisible before Ikaris noticed. They dropped the illusion after giving Druig a minute to evacuate.

When they passed each other in the halls that night, Druig gave them a nod, and when they next saw Makkari, she smiled at them for the first time since the emergence.

Chapter Text

Given how dramatic he was, people were often surprised when they learned that Kingo hated drama, especially within his family. Well, he could tolerate a certain level of drama because Ikaris and Druig were prone to bickering and Sprite often acted like the moody teenager they swore they weren’t, but there was something different going on now.

“Okay, seriously, what did you do?” Kingo asked after cornering Ikaris in the living room one day.

“Nothing!” Ikaris said quickly. “Druig ignores me all the time.”

“Yeah, he does, but Makkari doesn’t. Seriously, how bad did you mess up to get her to be mad at you.”

“You mean other than kill Ajak and then try to kill her too?” Ikaris said bitterly, looking out the window instead of at Kingo.

“Well I think you were going for incapacitating when you attacked her. It’s not like one shot was going to take her out,” Kingo pointed out. “And after you left she seemed more shocked and disappointed than angry, so something else had to happen. Spit it out.”

“Fine, I tried to kill Druig.”

“Okay, I’m starting to see where that might cause a problem.”

Druig was powerful for sure, but combat was not his area of expertise. To be fair, it never really needed to be. He was never out fighting the deviants, his powers kept him from having to fight humans, and when he fought the other eternals he preferred to use his words and trusted the others to not kill him. He never fought back, even when he had reached his breaking point and took over the minds of an entire city and Ikaris shoved him into a wall. He didn’t even carry a weapon on his like Phastos and Sprite did.

The top three least forgivable sins to the eternals were, in order: attack Sersi, attack Ajak, attack Druig.

“And there’s no way that you were actually just trying to incapacitate him and everyone else is blowing this out of proportion?” Kingo asked hesitantly.

He knew the answer even before Ikaris shook his head.

“Why would you do that? He’s your family!” Kingo always took Ikaris’ side but hurting family was a line he would not cross with his leader.

“I don’t know!” Ikaris growled. He started to pace. “I needed to take him out to keep him from stopping the emergence and he’s been trying to start fights with me for millenia so my anger just kind of took over and I kept attacking.”

“He’s your brother! How could you do something like that knowing he couldn’t fight back?”

“He doesn’t act like it,” Ikaris argued.

“That’s exactly what he acts like! You wouldn’t know because you’re never around humans but I’ve been living with them for centuries. He tried to pick fights with me too because that’s what annoying little shits do to their big brothers.” Kingo took a calming breath before continuing. “He used to look up to you, you know. Before he started prioritizing humans over your approval.”

Ikaris looked at him in shock.

“He… looked up to me?” he asked, looking shocked.

“Yes,” Kingo said as though explaining something to a child. “I know none of the rest of you are emotionally intelligent enough to see it so you’re going to have to trust me on this one.” First he had to explain Sprite’s crush and now Druig’s old hero worship. He hoped none of the others had a complicated relationship with Ikaris he would need to spell out for the others.

“So how do I fix it?” Ikaris asked.

“Well, first be aware of what you did wrong: you had a huge advantage and completely exploited it and betrayed what little trust Druig had in you.” Kingo ignored Ikaris’ wince and continued, “Second, start repairing that trust.”

“How?”

“I don’t know, man. I point out the problems, not fix them.” With that, Kingo spun on his heel and went up the stairs. He froze on the top step when he noticed Druig standing a couple feet down the hall. They sized each other up for a moment.

“If he messes up, tell me,” Kingo said, using sign language so Ikaris didn’t hear them from the living room. “I will yell at him again.”

“Okay, thank you...” Druig hesitated and then smirked slightly. “Brother.”

Kingo rolled his eyes at the sarcasm. He passed by Druig as he went down the hall but then decided to take the opportunity to mess up Druig’s hair. Druig tried to bat his hand away and the small scuffle ended with Druig in a headlock. Kingo let him go and pulled him into a side hug before being chased down the hallway by Druig, who was seeking revenge.

Chapter Text

Thena took a sip of the tea Gilgamesh had made her and continued to listen to the quiet cursing of Druig, who was trying to put up blackout curtains in the large ceiling-to-floor windows behind her. She hadn’t bothered to look over her shoulder to see how it was going but based on the cursing, how long it was taking, and the occasional clatter, she didn’t really need to.

Ikaris had gone into town for supplies to fix up part of the attic, so the others finally got to see Druig around the house again. Thena was glad. She didn’t show it well, but she had always liked Druig. She found the way he followed his heart intriguing. She didn’t side with the humans until her other memories started coming back, but Druig had always been partial to them.

“Still trying to fight the sun are we?” Gilgamesh asked Druig as he joined them in the kitchen.

“I feel like I’m being blinded whenever I walk in here,” Druig complained.

“That’s just because you’re used to the vampire den you created upstairs.” Gilgamesh started looking through the fridge before turning to Thena. “I was thinking of making chicken for lunch, does that sound good to you?”

“That sounds lovely,” she replied with a smile. Without looking, she smacked Druig’s arm lightly when he started fake retching.

Once the chicken was baking in the oven, Gilgamesh caved and helped Druig with the curtains. Druig then immediately left him with all the work and went to get a drink.

“Those rods are heavier than they look,” Druig sighed, wiping away sweat from his forehead. When he’d finished his drink, he put the glass in the sink but stayed leaning against the counter. Not even a minute later, Gilgamesh had finished the project Druig had been spending the better part of the morning working on.

“As a thank you,” Gilgamesh said as he passed Druig to check on the chicken, “Can you leave the curtains open for another hour? Then you can turn this place into an evil lair.” An hour later was when Thena would go on her walk.

“Alright,” Druig agreed, earning him a pat on the shoulder that made him have to take a step forward to catch himself.

They stayed and chatted a bit while Gilgamesh started cutting up vegetables. Or Druig and Gilgamesh chatted, at least.

The two men jumped as the front door slammed open. Thena calmly took another sip of her tea as Ikaris stormed in with a couple of bags in his hands and an annoyed expression on his face. He froze and looked over Thena’s shoulder. Thena looked too to see Druig failing to look nonchalant as he leaned against the newly curtained window behind her.

“Are you seriously hiding behind Thena?” Ikaris asked as he walked over to put the bags on the counter. Druig subtly shuffled to the left to keep Thena directly between him and Ikaris.

“Look, Druig,” Ikaris said as he made to walk past Thena to get to Druig. He never finished what he was saying, though, as Thena materialized a sword that cut across his path to Druig.

“Thena,” Ikaris said slowly, like he was trying to be patient. Thena could recognize the condescension in the tone, though. “This really isn’t necessary. I’m just going to talk to Druig.”

Thena took a sip of her tea using the hand that wasn’t holding a sword.

“Druig invoked me as a protector,” she said simply, refusing to move as Ikaris pushed against the sword.

“Well, this has been great but I just remembered I told Makkari I would help her do some research about an artifact,” Druig said. Once he was out of sight, Thena made her sword disappear.

Ikaris glared at her and she blinked back, calmly continuing to drink her tea. Ikaris surrendered and went to sort through the supplies he had bought.

When she returned from her walk later, Druig was standing on the front porch leaning against a pillar.

“Um, I wanted to say thanks before.”

Thena’s memories started blurring together and she saw the Druig from the start of their stay on Earth. The Druig who hadn’t become jaded because of all the death and misery he witnessed.

“You’re a sweet boy,” she said mildly, putting her hand on his cheek. He blushed a bit and smiled at her sadly.

“Gilgamesh is almost done with lunch, we should head inside,” he said quietly. Thena moved her hand away from his face and instead took his arm. He smiled at her and led her inside.

“Remember to wash your hands,” she told him as she sat down.

Druig sighed dramatically and muttered a sarcastic “yes, mum” but left the kitchen with a small smile.

Chapter Text

“Remember to wash your hands.”

“Yes, mum.”

Gilgamesh smiled at the exchange. Thena must be remembering younger Druig, who always whined about washing his hands since germs didn’t affect them. Ajak always tried to tell him it was about setting good examples, but Druig never seemed to trust her on that.

Now that he thought about it, Gilgamesh wondered if they kept their instincts even if they didn’t keep their memories. Even if Druig couldn’t remember all of the times he had had to watch a planet be destroyed and Ajak had known it was going to happen the whole time they had been there, it had become part of his nature to distrust her.

Gilgamesh set the table, placing a kiss on Thena’s head as he passed. By the time he’d finished, Druig had wandered back in, sitting next to Thena and showing her his now clean hands.

The others started to wander in, looking surprised to see Druig but not commenting on it. They started filling in the seats around him and Thena, so when Ikaris showed up, all the free seats were at the opposite end of the table from Druig.

For the first time since Ikaris’ resurrection, Druig didn’t immediately leave the room when he entered, though he did ignore him.

The meal passed in relative peace. Ikaris wisely kept his mouth shut and Druig spent most of it having a side conversation with Makkari. At one point, though, he was pulled into the main conversation of what everyone was going to do going forward.

“I don’t really know,” he said when Druig was asked about his plans for the future.

“Well what did you do to stay busy in your village?” Sprite asked.

“Um, I helped with the farming.”

“That explains how you finally got some muscle on you! I thought you’d finally hit puberty!” Gilgamesh got a wadded-up napkin thrown at him for that.

“I also…” They couldn’t hear the rest of what Druig said as he started mumbling to his plate.

“What was that?” Sersi asked politely.

“He was the village teacher,” Makkari supplied helpfully. Druig blushed and grabbed a new napkin just to throw at her.

“No way!” said Kingo. “I don’t believe it.”

“Why do you think I lived in the schoolhouse?” Druig pointed out.

“I thought that was a church.”

Druig rolled his eyes at Kingo. “Who would they worship? All their gods are based on us.”

“Uh, you,” Kingo said like it was obvious.

Druig huffed and turned his attention back to his food. “We serve them, not the other way around,” he said.

Kingo looked shocked and didn’t say anything.

“And they’re okay with you being around their kids? Even with the whole mind control thing?” Ikaris asked, speaking for the first time during the meal.

Druig tensed before answering, keeping his eyes on his plate. “It’s nearly impossible to mind control kids. They don’t think the same as adults do and are more resistant to giving up their individuality.”

At some of the skeptical looks he received, Druig set down his fork and leaned back in his chair.

“Look,” he began, “I know how you feel about the mind control thing, but I promise I mostly only used it in emergencies to keep people safe. And if I’m mind-controlling them when they’re fighting, they don’t have to deal with being scared or feeling guilty about hurting other people. They don’t even remember it, it’s better for everyone.”

“You could get them killed when they didn’t sign up to fight,” Ikaris argued back angrily.

“I didn’t have any other choice! I’m not a one-man army, I can’t defend them on my own. No matter how many millennia I trained to fight, I am helpless and you keep reminding me of that!”

There was silence except for Druig's heavy breathing. Makkari put her hand on his shoulder.

“Why don’t we talk about this in the living room,” Ikaris said calmly. Druig glared at him for a moment before nodding stiffly.

Makkari rose to follow them but Sersi put her hand up. “This might be good for them,” Sersi said, signing as to not be the one to break the tense silence in the room.

Gilgamesh looked from Makkari to the rest of the table. Makkari, Phastos, and, surprisingly, Kingo all looked apprehensive, Sprite and Sersi looked hopeful, and Thena looked out the window.

“I’m going to go listen,” Gilgamesh signed to the table before standing up and saying out loud, “I’m just going to grab something from the fridge. He hid behind the open fridge door and started listening. He turned to face the group at the table and signed what was being said.

“-not going to apologize for doing what I thought was right, either,” Ikaris was saying.

“I’m not mad about you stopping the emergence…. Okay, I’m a little mad but I’m mostly mad that you made it personal. Now that the emergence is over, you won’t attack the others but I still make you mad, and apparently that’s a good enough reason to kill someone.” Druig spoke just as softly and coldly as he had when they’d gone to his village.

“I got… carried away,” Ikaris said lamely. “And I know you don’t trust me anymore, but we need to get past this for the family’s sake.”

“You don’t get to use the rest of the family to guilt-trip me into forgiving you.”

“So, what, you don’t care-”

“Yes! I care!” Everyone jumped as Druig raised his voice. “I care about humans, I care about this family, I still care about you which kind of pisses me off!”

“But you act-”

“I don’t act like an asshole because I don’t care, I act like an asshole because I care and people keep dying. I can feel every human mind on this planet and I can feel when they die. You’ve never experienced it because you stay away from mortals. You don’t know what it’s like to be the last one alive over and over and over.” Druig sounded like he was in tears now. “And you don’t know what it’s like to have people die for you even though you’re supposed to be their god. That’s probably why no one’s gods are named after me; there have been too many times where they hid me in a corner and said ‘we’ll protect you until Ikaris gets here’. And you don’t know what it’s like to have to trust someone with your life and have that person pick you up by the neck and say he’s wanted to kill you for a long time!”

There were a few footsteps and Ikaris called Druig’s name.

“Let go of me!” Druig screeched.

Gilgamesh decided to step in. He closed the refrigerator door, motioning for the others to stay as they started getting out of their chairs. Luckily, Phastos had grabbed hold of Makkari before she could kill Ikaris.

In the living room, Ikaris had grabbed a handful of Druig’s sweater and was trying to get the young man to stay and talk to him. Druig wasn’t listening as he struggled to get away with a wild look in his eye.

Gilgamesh quickly walked over and pried Ikaris’ hand away.

“He said to let go,” Gilgamesh said, frowning. Druig moved behind him just as he had with Thena earlier.

Ikaris lowered his hand with a defeated sigh. “You too, Gilgamesh?”

Gilgamesh shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. “I protect Thena, Thena protects him, so I have to protect him. What math property is that Mr. Teacher?” He turned his head to address the last question to Druig but he never took his eyes off of Ikaris.

“Transitive,” Druig muttered.

“Why don’t you go upstairs for a bit,” Gilgamesh told Ikaris.

“Not you,” he said when Druig started to move. Druig grumbled a bit but shuffled back to his spot behind the other eternal.

Ikaris hesitated for a moment and looked toward the kitchen. When no one came to his aid, he headed up the stairs.

Once he was out of sight, Gilgamesh turned to look at Druig. He was right when he guessed Druig had been crying.

“C’mon,” he said as he pulled the “younger” eternal into a side hug. “I’ll make some pie for later.”

Druig wiped his eyes quickly before Gilgamesh led him into the kitchen.

“Are you okay, Druig?” Sersi asked gently.

“Never better,” Druig grumbled as he slouched into his seat. Of course, when Makkari asked the same question, he gave a real answer to her.

Gilgamesh had just put a pie in the oven when Ikaris came in. The others had all gone their separate ways by then, except for Thena who was painting at the table.

“Sorry for letting things get out of hand,” Ikaris said as he stood stiffly in the middle of the room.

“Not really me you should be apologizing to,” Gilgamesh responded, not looking away from picking up his dirty cooking utensils.

“I know, he just makes it so hard. He’s always so stubborn. And rebellious.”

“Well, he was very ahead of his time with that last one. I think we should have taken his distrust of Arishem more seriously.”

Ikaris shook his head. “His first act of rebellion was to enslave the minds of hundreds. That’s not someone who had the moral high ground.”

“He’d been using his powers to stop fights long before that. Besides, even if we’re just talking about direct, serious rebellion against Arishem himself, that wasn’t his first act. I would say his first act was trying to keep Thena from getting her memories wiped. That’s what Arishem would have wanted because Thena knowing the truth was a direct threat to the emergence.”

“I’m not going to apologize for stopping the emergence, and I’ve tried to apologize for taking it too far and it hasn’t been working. How do I get him to stop being mad at me?”

“The problem isn’t that he’s mad at you.” Gilgamesh turned off the water he was using to rinse the dishes and finally faced Ikaris. “He’s scared of you. Remember his face when you grabbed him? You have to get him to stop being scared of you.”

“How do I do that?” Ikaris said, looking guilty as the words sunk in.

“Respect his boundaries,” Thena said, looking over at them. “Don’t make him hide behind us.”

“Try to see things from his perspective and think about what he’s feeling. He already told you a lot after lunch. Use that,” Gilgamesh added.

“Okay, I’ll try,” Ikaris said, sounding like he actually meant it.

Chapter Text

Phastos ran out the door as soon as the car pulled up to the house.

“Dad!” Jack yelled as he jumped out of the car.

“Hey, buddy,” Phastos picked up his son and kissed his cheek.

Ben turned off the car and got out. He had dark circles under his eyes and his smile was tired.

“Hey,” he whispered breathlessly.

Phastos just kissed him in response. He held Jack with one arm and wrapped the other around his husband. He didn’t realize he was crying until Ben pulled away and gently brushed away a tear.

“I’m so proud of you, baby,” Ben said with a smile. “My husband, the superhero.”

Phastos put a now squirming Jack down. Ben threw his arms around his husband's neck and they kissed again.

“You’ve been kissing for forever, can we go inside?” Jack called after a few moments.

The two broke apart with a chuckle. Phastos grabbed Ben’s hand and led them to the house, snagging Jack’s hand along the way.

When they got to the house, Phastos let go of Ben and pushed open the screen door.

“Guys! Come down here, there are some people I want you to meet!” Phastos called.

He introduced the others as they wandered down and sat in the living room.

Druig wandered in last with messy hair and a sweater with sleeves that hung past his fingertips. Phastos tried to hide a smile at how adorable the grouchy young man looked.

“Druig, this is my husband Ben and my son Jack. Ben, Jack, this is Druig,” Phastos said.

Druig raised his sweater paw to give a wave but, probably unconsciously, turned it into the combination of wave and solute that was sign language for ‘hello’. Anyone could recognize it as a greeting, though, so he didn’t translate.

When Druig didn’t go to sit down, Phastos looked around the room and realized that the only empty space was next to Ikaris.

Makarri did a sort of up-and-down wave to get Druig’s attention from where she sat in the armchair.

“Come here,” she said with a smile. Druig picked his way around all the people sitting on the floor and stood next to Makkari, looking confused. Her smile widened, shifted so she was sitting forward in the chair rather than sideways, and pulled him into her lap by his sweater. He was frozen for what had to be a full minute before he looked at Makkari, who was resting her chin on his shoulder. She winked at him and he looked away blushing. She had her arms wrapped around his waist still so he started playing with her rings.

Everyone else was quiet. They all tried to hide their small smiles, except for Sersi who was openly beaming with joy, and Ikaris who looked at the empty space next to him with a put-out expression.

Ben raised an eyebrow at Ikaris before looking at Phastos meaningfully.

“Later,” he signed before remembering his husband didn’t know sign language and saying it aloud quietly.

“So what are your superpowers?” Jack asked, breaking the tension in the room.

After a couple of hours of hanging out, it was time to drive Sersi and Sprite to the airport and then go home. Sprite had decided on attending a boarding school in London and having Sersi act as their legal guardian.

There was controlled chaos as bags were brought out to the car, goodbyes were said, and Gilgamesh loaded up food for them to take with them.

Phastos loaded his last bag into the car and went back to the house, carefully navigating his way through the group that had gathered by the front door. He headed straight for Ikaris who was sitting alone on the couch. He’d been careful to avoid the other man so far, but he could no longer ignore the worry that he felt at leaving him alone with the others, especially Druig.

Ikaris stood when he saw Phastos approaching. His look of apprehension morphed into surprise as Phastos drew him into a hug.

“I could have killed you when I had you trapped and I chose not to, even though you were trying to allow the emergence, which would have killed my family. I gave you a second chance. If you make me regret that, if you threaten anyone in my family again, I will kill you so many times Arishem will stop bothering to bring you back,” Phastos hissed in Ikaris’ ear.

He didn’t wait for Ikaris’ response after he let go. He returned to the crowd of people by the door to try to find his husband. Ben wasn’t there but Phastos took the opportunity to grab Makkari and ask her if she’d talk to him in the kitchen.

As he approached the kitchen, Phastos heard his husband’s voice.

“-welcome to come stay with us if you want. Just until the situation is resolved,” he heard Ben say.

“I really appreciate the offer but the situation might not be resolved in your lifetime. It’s best we just deal with it ourselves,” Druig was saying as Phastos and Makkari joined them.

“I already tried that, babe,” Phastos told his husband as he entered the kitchen. “He’s made up his mind.”

“No point in avoiding it,” Druig said calmly. Phastos wondered if Druig even noticed himself moving toward Makkari’s side or if it was an unconscious magnetism thing.

“If anything happens, come get me right away,” Phastos told the ‘younger’ two. “I’m serious, even if it’s just a bad feeling.”

Druig rolled his eyes in a fondly exasperated manner, but Makkari nodded back at him seriously.

“I get the first go at Ikaris if that happens,” she told Phastos with the evilest look to ever grace her features.

“Deal,” he agreed, making Druig roll his eyes even harder.

“Well, we got to head out but it was nice to see you guys. Let’s have a movie night or something. Preferably before another millennia passes,” Phastos said.

“Sounds good. Fair warning, Ikaris is probably going to ban Parent Trap,” Druig said in his version of a cheerful voice.

“Why?” Phastos asked.

“He keeps waking up in the middle of an ocean,” Druig smirked.

Phastos looked at Makkari who looked very pleased with herself.

“Seriously?” he asked. Markkari just shrugged and beamed at him. Phastos laughed and hugged her.

He turned to Druig and held out his hand. “I know you don’t really do hugs,” he said.

Druig shook his hand before smiling and pulling Phastos into a hug. Phastos was surprised but didn’t hesitate to hug back tightly. This would probably be the only time Druig would let Phastos hug him so he had to make it count. He ruffled Druig’s hair once they let go, much to the other Eternal’s annoyance.

Chapter Text

Makkari loved Druig. She poured all of her supernatural levels of energy into loving him. He was her best friend, her soulmate, whatever. But lately, she wanted to take him by the shoulders and shake him like a ragdoll until he got it through his thick, beautiful head that forgiving someone who tried to murder you this easily was not normal or healthy.

It was frustrating, being the only one who cared for the safety of a self-sacrificing idiot. Right now, she was sitting on his bed trying to sense every vibration in the house while Druig just wandered around the house with a murderer on the loose.

She had about two minutes until Druig returned so she did what anyone with frustration, all the time in the world, and a nemesis would do: ripped all of the seams in every piece of clothing Ikaris owned.

She froze as she was making a hole in Ikaris’ last sock when she felt a crash from the kitchen. She sprinted in and immediately pinned Ikaris to the wall. She now knew she couldn’t take him in a fight, hence the property damage instead, but she would go down swinging.

Ikaris looked at her with wide eyes and didn’t fight back. He raised an eyebrow at Druig over Makkari’s shoulder. Makkari risked looking away from Ikaris to look at her boyfriend.

“He didn’t do anything. I dropped a bowl,” Druig told her. Her furious panic faded into the constant anxiety she had felt ever since Ikaris came back.

She glared at Ikaris but let him go. She turned to Druig and signed, “Enough. We need to talk.”

She waited for Druig to nod before grabbing him and sprinting back to his room.

“Makkari, nothing happened,” Druig started.

“You need to stay away from him. What if something does happen and I can’t get there in time.”

“You can get there in time. One hit isn’t going to take me out, I’m not that weak,” Druig sulked.

“You’re not weak, but you can’t win against Ikaris. I can’t win against Ikaris.”

Druig held up his hands but then hesitated and studied her for a moment. “You’re afraid,” he said, signing slowly as he pieced his thoughts together. “You know we can’t beat him. Makkari, I don’t think-”

She pointedly looked away from his hands and said, “Yes, that scares me. So stop putting yourself in danger.”

“I was making lunch. And if anything is going to put us in danger, it’s going to be your pranks. He’s only a risk if he’s angry.”

“Well I have to do something and I can’t fight him!” Makkari was starting to vibrate with frustrated energy that had nowhere to go.

“You don’t have to do anything! I’m the one he tried to kill!”

“And I’m the one who had to watch helplessly!” Makkari wiped a tear from her eyes before continuing. “You may be able to forgive him, but I can’t. And I can’t just pretend everything is normal again, like you. I’m always afraid you’re going to leave your room and never come back.”

“I’m not being careless. Every time I’m near him, all I can think about is what will set him off, what will his attack be. I’m afraid, too.” Druig sat down on his bed, suddenly looking tired. Makkari joined him. They sat facing each other with their knees touching.

“I’m not asking you to forgive him. Probably best that one of us has some survival instincts,” Druig told her.

“So you know that the way you think it’s fine that he lives with us isn’t normal?” She asked.

“Yeah. I can’t stay mad. I never could.”

“You want to be a family,” She finished for him. He just nodded and looked at the wall next to her face.

“You can try to have a relationship with him,” Makkari said after a while. “But promise that you’ll be careful and let me stay with you just in case. For my own peace of mind.”

Druig looked into her eyes and smiled. “There’s no place I’d rather you be.”

“You ruined all my clothes!”

Makkari looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow at a fuming Ikaris. “You tried to kill my boyfriend.”

“Wasn’t beating me up revenge enough?”

“You beat me up too. So no.”

Ikaris closed his eyes and took a calming breath. “What can I do so that you will forgive me?” he asked.

When Ikaris opened his eyes, he found himself face to face with a fuming Makkari.

“What you did was unforgivable,” she told him, poking him in the chest as she signed ‘you’.

“But… Druig forgave me.”

“Druig is so self-deprecating he probably blames himself for making you made more than he blames you for being a violent animal!”

Ikaris takes a step back, looking shocked before putting on his ‘noble leader’ face. Makkari has to resist the urge to roll her eyes at him.

“I’m really trying to fix things, Makkari. I will make it up to both of you.”

“You can try. But I’ll be there. One wrong step and I-”

“You and the others will kill me. I know.”

She smiled coldly at him. “The others will move on and forgive you eventually. I won’t. I will always be there to protect him, even if it means finding a way to kill you myself.”

Ikaris sighed. “I understand.”

Makkari didn’t hover over Ikaris and Druig whenever they were in a room together; Druig had been right, he wasn’t weak. However, she would check in constantly and be on alert for sudden movements coming from the room.

One morning, she walked into the kitchen to find the two men glaring at each other.

“What did you do?” She asked Ikaris from behind Druig’s back.

“Nothing!” He answered petulantly. Druig looked over his shoulder at her. She only received a small wave from him. Weird.

“He just came down and tried to start a fight,” Ikaris told her before turning his attention back to Druig. “Seriously, what’s going on with- I mean, what’s wrong?”

“Why don’t you leave me alone and go punch a wall or whatever it is you do for fun.”

Ikaris rolled his eyes before trying for a comforting smile. And failing. “How about you go on a walk or something? It’s a nice day out. I bet Thena would go with you.”

“‘Go on a walk’. That’s your advice? Ajak did not choose you to lead because of your brains, did she? I hope it was because of your trustworthiness because that would be ironic.”
Self-sacrificing, self-deprecating, and now self-destructive.

Ikaris stood suddenly, pushing back his chair. Makkari sprinted in front of Druig, fists held in a defensive stance. Druig stood up as well and put his hand on her shoulder.

“This is my fight,” he said, gently pushing her behind him. They both turned to see Ikaris walking toward them. Then he walked past them.

“I’m just going to go for a drive. It’s okay.” The pair watched him leave, relaxing the second they heard and felt the door slam.

Then Makkari moved so she was standing in front of Druig.

“What the hell was that?” She asked angrily. Druig stared at the floor for a moment, then looked up at her with tears in his eyes.

“I got tired of waiting for him to snap. I thought I’d speed up the process.” He then walked past her and up to his room. Just as he was about to open his door, Makkari used her powers so that she was sitting at his desk waiting for him.

Druig barely looked at her before laying down on his bed with his back facing her. She sat patiently, or as patiently as she was capable of at least. After what felt like hours to her but probably minutes to a regular person, Druig rolled over to look at her with tired eyes.

“Something else is going on,” she said. “What is it?”

Druig raised his hands to answer her before burying his face in them instead as he started to cry. Makkari hurried to his side but didn’t use her powers. She put one hand on his arm, rubbing her thumb comfortingly over his bicep while her other hand stroked his hair. When Druig started to cry harder, she placed a kiss on his forehead, then carefully climbed over him. She wound her arms tightly around him from behind, one hand resting on his waist and the other on the inside of his arm, doing the same soothing movement with her thumb that she had done a moment ago. She rested her forehead against his back and waited out the storm with him.

Chapter Text

Ikaris was driving back to the house when he saw Druig walking along the side of the road. He considered just driving past, especially given the mood Druig was in today, but it was nearly three in the morning so he drove slowly beside the young man to get his attention before pulling over in front of him.

Druig got in the car without a word. Ikaris pulled back on the road, letting the doors lock automatically before he started talking.

“Going on a late-night walk?” He asked.

“Wow, that’s superhero levels of observation right there. Ever consider fighting crime?”

Ikaris took a calming breath and didn’t rise to the bait. ‘Respect his boundaries and think about what he’s feeling. Like Thena and Gilgamesh said,’ he told himself. ‘He’s probably upset about something and lashing out. Yeah, that sounds right.’

“Look, you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to but if something’s bothering you, I’m here for you.” Ikaris was rather proud of himself for that one.

“Look I’m sorry that I said those things. Is that what you want?”

“I know you didn’t mean them. I just want to know what made you say them so I can help.”

Druig didn’t say anything. They pulled into the driveway. Ikaris parked the car and turned off the headlights.

“I didn’t want to kill her,” he blurted out just as Druig was reaching for the door handle. The younger man sighed and lowered his hand.

“I know you didn’t. I could feel it,” Druig said quietly.

“What?”

“When someone I have a connection to or is near me experiences a strong emotion, I can feel it.”

“Why didn’t you say anything if you knew what I did?”

“I couldn’t really make sense of it until you betrayed us. It’s hard to tell what feeling belongs to who and why they’re feeling it, especially if I’m picking up the feelings and thoughts of other people at the same time.”

“Do you at least feel the positive emotions too?”

“Sometimes. That’s why I always liked humans, they have such a great capacity for love and joy. That’s why I liked teaching kids, they were happy about the littlest things.”
“So it evens out then?”

Druig shook his head and chewed on his lip thoughtfully for a moment. “Back in the village, I used to sit with people who were dying. Try to calm them calm. I talked to a lot of old people and they were tired. After a certain amount of ups and downs, it gets tiring. I’ve felt thousands of lifetimes' worth of emotions and I just want some peace.”

“So why didn’t you leave your village?”

“What?”

“If being near people and connecting with them makes it worse, why stay?”

“Because I promised to keep them safe and happy.”

“Were they happy, though? Without free will?”

“I already told you I only did it when I had to,” Druig snapped. He closed his eyes and took a breath before looking at Ikaris intensely. “I hate my powers just as much as you do. I don’t want them and I don’t want to use them. If I don’t use them, I feel guilty about all the pain I could have prevented; if I do use them, I feel guilty about taking away what makes them human. I’m a monster either way.”

“You’re not a monster, Druig,” Ikaris said quietly. “I think you might be the kindest out of all of us. I think you’re the only one of us that could have your power and stay good.”

Druig looked away and at his hands, but Ikaris thought he saw tears in his eyes.

"You know that you didn't deserve what I did to you, right?" Ikaris asked tentatively, remembering Makkari's words.

Druig nodded but looked away.

“I promise to be more patient with you from now on, you deserve that. I shouldn't get mad at you as often as I do.” Ikaris said after a few moments of silence.

“I promise not to lash out as much. And to be fair to you, I intentionally try to irritate you,” Druig mumbled without looking at him.

"I've been told that's just what family does and I shouldn't take it personally."

“How about we go inside,” Ikaris suggested. Druig nodded followed him into the kitchen where he sat slumped over at the kitchen table.

“Here,” Ikaris muttered, handing him a glass of water, earning him a nod in return.

“Why are you up so late?” Ikaris asked, trying again to find out what was bothering Druig. He hoped the conversation they just had would make the younger man a little more open.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“Why?”

Druig hesitated. “You know that couple that lives on the farm to the south of us?”

“Yes,” Ikaris said, not sure where he was going.

“The wife, Sarah, died. Her husband’s grieving really loudly. Usually, I’m used to things like this but I’ve been out in the middle of nowhere for a while and nothing life-threatening has been happening so this is hitting me harder than it usually would. Sorry for being a dick.”

“I forgive you. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Druig shook his head. “There’s rarely anything we can do.” Ikaris was startled to see a tear slip down Druig’s cheek.

Ikaris held out a hand to Druig, who silently took it and let himself be hauled to his feet.

‘Respect boundaries,’ Ikaris reminded himself. “Do you want a hug?” Druig just shrugged but then held up his arms slightly.

Ikaris pulled Druig into his arms. Druig was tense, but just when Ikaris was about to pull away out of fear of making the other man uncomfortable, Druig melted into the embrace and buried his face in Ikaris' sweater. Ikaris let out the breath he had been holding as he waited for Druig to react and relaxed into the hug a bit more, resting his cheek against the other man’s head.

His eyes widened in shock as Druig began to cry quietly into his shoulder. Ikaris didn’t know what to say. Everything wasn’t okay, he didn’t understand what Druig was going through, and while he was here for Druig now, he never had been before. So he decided not to say anything and instead started to run his hand up and down Druig’s back and rock them back and forth slightly.

After a couple minutes, Druig stopped crying and let go, wiping his nose on his sweater sleeves. Ikaris grabbed a paper towel and handed it to him wordlessly.

“Thanks,” Druig mumbled. They stood in silence as Druig cleaned off his face.

“I’m going to bed,” Druig said tiredly. A sort of tiredness that Ikaris now understood wasn’t from a lack of sleep but from too many lives lived at once for too many millennia.

“Thanks for…” Druig trailed off and made a vague gesture toward Ikaris.

“I want to be your brother again. That’s what brothers do.”

Druig rolled his eyes and left, but not before Ikaris saw a slight smile on his face.