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When Verin Thelyss had imagined his reconciliation with his brother, it had not included a scruffy Empire wizard who might as well have had literal hearts in his eyes whenever he looked at Essek – but only when Essek wasn’t looking of course. What was even worse was that Essek looked at Widogast in an identical way, complete with a faint blush whenever their gazes collided. Absolutely disgraceful!
It was like being surrounded by adolescents, and Verin had been annoyed by that when he was an adolescent himself. He’d always found the more direct approach to work for him. Walking up to someone he found attractive, complimenting them, and then asking them to share a drink or a meal had never failed him. Yearning looks and dreamy sighs and pensive thoughts would never get anyone laid.
“Come to Aeor, he said. It’ll be interesting, he said. You’re wasted at the outpost, he said,” Verin muttered to himself during another wretched dinner in the tower. He wasn’t worried about being overheard; Essek and Widogast only had eyes and ears for each other, animatedly discussing the previous few days, more interested in the new Aeorian arcana they’d discovered than in the fact that they’d both nearly died multiple times and only Verin’s quick thinking and a stash of health potions had kept them alive. “Thanks for saving us Verin, we’d be lost without you. Oh, you’re welcome. Now would you just fuck and get it out of your systems and put me out of my misery while you’re at it? I would very much appreciate it. Very much.”
Two heads swiveled towards him and for a moment he thought he’d been overheard, but no. They were just looking at the spectral cat servants and sharing a grin as a plump ginger tabby meowed for attention.
And that was another thing that was annoying. When the fuck did Essek start liking cats!? Verin remembered the snow-white kitten his father had brought home, and how Essek had complained for weeks when the creature shredded his favorite robes. Now he was watching indulgently as a hundred fey cats danced around nonsensically, leaning towards Widogast in an unconscious attempt to what? Sit in his lap? That seemed likely, actually. Essek was always reaching out to touch Widogast in small, subtle ways. Verin wasn’t even sure Essek realized what he was doing.
What. The. Fuck. Had the Mighty Nein done to his brother?
“Fuck. I’m going to bed,” Verin announced, loudly, as he pushed away from the table.
Widogast glanced towards him, which gave Essek an opportunity to smile softly in his direction without the other man noticing. Verin held back a growl of annoyance.
“Ya, er gute nacht, Verin.” Widogast offered a distracted wave, before turning back towards Essek like a moth drawn to a flame.
“Gross,” Verin muttered as he left the room. One of the fey cats meowed at him, and Verin chose to believe it was in solidarity. “You see what I have to work with?” The cat offered another meow, and Verin smiled. “You’re right. Something does have to be done about this. And I guess it’s up to me.”
***
Within twenty minutes, Verin thought he had a plan. It wasn’t a very good plan or a subtle one, but it was a plan that would work. If it didn’t…well, if it didn’t work, he would not be held responsible for his actions. This ridiculous pining between his brother and Shadowgast had gone on long enough.
“All right, Theylss. Let’s do this.” He squared his shoulders, looked at the fey cat servants for support, and headed out of the guest room of the tower.
His plan had three steps. Step One: Get Essek and Widogast in the same room. Step Two: Lock the door. Step Three: Not let them out until they dealt with their mess. Step Four: Drink all the alcohol in the tower.
Now, there were a lot of ways things could go wrong. Both his brother and Widogast were powerful mages. Verin had a sword. This tower was entirely Widogasts’ creation, and he could likely undo whatever Verin managed to rig up. But, Verin had a secret weapon: the cats were on his side. At least, he thought they were. One particularly clever amber cat had listened in as Verin talked his plan through, meowing in various tones of agreement or disagreement without. Verin would never admit this to anyone, but it had actually helped him iron out a few wrinkles, and he thought that he would have the cats’ assistance in keeping Essek and Widogast where he needed them to be.
He followed his co-conspirator to the library, where he found Essek wrapped in a fluffy blanket with a book. Verin used Essek’s distraction to try and read the title. Der Katzenprinz. A children’s story? Luxon, but his brother had changed in the past few years. Some of those changes had been good, some bad, but most had been confusing.
He cleared his throat until Essek looked up.
“Oh. Verin. I didn’t hear you come in.” Essek looked perturbed at that fact; like he wasn't used to being so comfortable somewhere that he missed when he was no longer alone. In fact, Verin couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Essek look so comfortable somewhere, not even when they were children. “Did you need something?”
“Yes, actually. I have something I wanted to show you in the common room.” It was a weak excuse and Verin knew it.
Essek narrowed his eyes but closed his book with a sigh. “All right. You are being very strange, Verin. Is this about what happened on B-level?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Verin shuddered at the memory; he’d just barely managed to keep those creatures from devouring the wizards when they’d both fallen unconscious. “But yes. It’s to do with that. I wanted to run something by you.”
“Very well.”
It was a short but uncomfortable float down to the common room where neither of them said anything.
Once they were in the room, Essek turned and asked, “Well? What did you want to show me?”
Verin grinned and took a step back. “Actually, I forgot something. Stay here.” It was transparent and if he hadn’t had the cats to help there was no way he would have gotten the door barred and locked quickly enough to keep Essek there. “And don’t try to get out! The cats are on my side, and you’re both going to stay in there until you figure things out.”
“Verin, what–” Essek’s voice trails off as another joins him.
“Essek?” Widogasts’ accented voice drifted out, sounding confused. “What is going on? The cats–”
The rest was too muffled for Verin to hear through the door. He sighed, wiped a hand down his face. “Well.” He looked at one of the cats sitting guard outside the door. “It’s in their hands now.” He paused, then reached down to scratch the cat behind the ears.
At first, he could hear some of the conversations between the two of them. Since it mainly involved the wizards’ attempts to escape, Verin tuned it out. There was a point where Essek shouted to him, raising his voice for what Verin was sure was the first time since they were children and Verin had dipped Essek’s hair in ink that one time, which he didn’t tune out so much as ignore.
When the shouting continued, along with sounds of spells being cast, Verin shouted back, “This entire tower is a construct of Widogasts’ mind. If the room isn’t letting you out, it’s because he wants to keep the both of you there. Subconsciously, at least. So just kiss or something and put us all, especially me out of our collective misery.” When there was nothing but silence from behind the door, Verin nodded to himself and settled in to wait.
***
Inside the room, Essek was still staring at the door with a mixture of confusion and rage written all over his face. “My brother is such an ass.” He didn’t curse often, but the Mighty Nein had changed him in more than one way and it was possible he had picked up some of their vernacular. He turned to look at Caleb. “I am sorry, Caleb. I don’t know what he’s thinking.”
“Essek.” Caleb’s voice was warm, and as usual, sent pleasant shivers down Essek’s spine. “Your brother was…not entirely wrong. This tower was of my creation…perhaps we should talk.”
Essek glared at the door again, then turned to look at Caleb. He forced himself to meet the other wizard’s eyes, having to look up to do it as he wasn’t floating at the moment. Caleb’s eyes were so blue he forgot what he wanted to say for a moment. That happened far too often around this man.
“Yes. We should talk about how my brother is an interfering dick and how I will slowly eviscerate him when we get out of here.”
Caleb laughed, a low sound that sent more warm shivers down Essek’s spine.
“No. We should talk about us, liebling. I think it is time, and your brother is a braver man than I am for setting up this ridiculous situation for us.” He walked closer, blue eyes burning with the same sort of intensity it did when they were working on magic together. “I was…afraid. Of what I feel for you. Of what I think you feel for me. But…I am tired of being afraid.”
Before Essek could say anything, Caleb closed the distance and reached for him, face telegraphing his movements and giving Essek time to move away if he wanted to. His stomach clenched, his heart started to race, but he found he didn’t want to move away. Instead, he met Caleb halfway, sighing into the kiss that felt like he’d been waiting a lifetime to experience.
Caleb pulled him closer, and Essek slid one hand into Caleb’s hair, tugging gently at the bright red strands that had so captivated him almost from the beginning. Caleb’s hands went one to his cheek and one to the small of Essek’s back. The hand on his cheek shifted slightly, and Essek moaned into the kiss when Caleb’s fingers traced the sensitive tips of his ears.
Eventually, they broke apart and stared at each other. Essek could feel his lips forming into a grin that answered the one on Caleb’s face. There was a long pause and as he leaned in to kiss Caleb again he said, “Perhaps my brother lives for another night.” Caleb’s laugh was lost in another kiss.
***
At first, Verin thought the faint thud he heard was Essek trying to break down the door, but when the thud was followed by the muffled sounds of laughs and the rustle of clothes being removed, he realized that his job was done and a new misery was about to begin.
“I did this to myself you know,” he told the cat conversationally as he got to his feet. “And now I shall go drown my sorrows in all the alcohol in this place if you would be so kind as to assist me.”
The cat meowed, and together they floated back up to the dining room, leaving the sounds of whatever was happening below far behind.