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“Hey, can you help me with something?”
There aren’t words for how happy those words always make them, closing the spine of their book with a snap.
“Of course, Eda. What do you need?”
Titan, the two of them have come so far.
Naturally, that's when Eda pulls her hand out from behind her back, thin streams of blood puddling in her palms and running down her wrist.
They have to reign themselves in quite a bit with Eda.
Any mention of it to her would just end with her on the floor laughing, making puns about their name, but that’s just a part of loving someone, in their opinion. They know their BATTs are strong and capable young adults but that doesn’t stop Raine from calling to check in on them every other day. And King might be a growing, conquering demon but that doesn’t stop them from making absolutely sure that his secretly favorite blanket was clean and Francois mended.
Edas never, ever needed them to worry about her. Not when she was a teenager, an outlaw, or a harpy. But still they make sure there's elixirs stocked in all her preferred places, and photos of her kids around the house for when she’s missing them.
But getting Eda to open up and be vulnerable with them was and still is a long, hard journey. She’s fragile about her feelings and experiences and they are too, always cautious and trying not to take several steps back. They try so hard not to spook her into clamming back up.
So they were careful when they grabbed her elbow and tugged her into the bathroom, no matter how pale their face became. Didn’t shriek because of the blood or injury, didn’t jump all over her fretting.
So much restraint.
“What happened?” They settle on finally, digging in the closet. Titan, they’ve got to tell King to stop storing all his bath toys in here, making it so hard to dig through the box of medical supplies.
Eda maneuvers herself and sits down on the counter, careful not to use her hand. “Knife slipped while I was carving. Tricky little shit.”
Eda leans over the sink, letting the blood run off her hand. It trickles down into the sink and Raine winces, turning back to the box and tossing a rubber ducky out before pulling free a roll of bandages and some cotton. “Did you clean the knife off?”
“Rainstorm, I can’t even clean myself off right now. That’s what I have you for.” Eda snorts. “The kids better not wander in there. They might think I murdered somebody.”
“Not that you got hurt?”
“No, they know better.”
Raine rolls their eyes, places the bandages on the counter, begins rooting through the towels. “Love, where’s your stash in here?”
Eda scoffs. “I don’t-”
“I know you like to drink when you take baths, Eda, it’s fine. Just tell me where it is so I can clean these out.”
“... under the tub.”
Raine ducks down, snatches the little bottle and stands back up, turning towards her. They maneuver around her, wetting a washcloth.
“Here, let me see it.”
Eda turns her hand over and- oh titan, their knees wobble a little. They’re no coward, and they’ve seen enough blood for three lifetimes, but they shudder. They throw the washcloth over it. Their hands shake and Eda snickers.
Raine childishly sticks their tongue out at her, uncorks the alcohol-
“You drink this?!” Raine coughs, pushing the bottle away from their nose.
Eda shrugs. “Tastes like cherries.”
“It smells like something died.” They take her hand and a deep breath, wiping with the washcloth before gently, gingerly pulling it away.
Not deep enough for stitches, thank titan. Eda doesn’t trust hospitals and they don’t have the stomach for needles.
They get their other hand over her wrist, rubbing soothing little circles. “Take a deep breath for me.”
She does, chest rising. Raine takes one of their own, lifts the bottle, and pours the foul stuff over her hand.
Eda hisses, and feathers spring forth from her wrists.
Eda has a good relationship with the Beast, or at least that's what she’s working on. But, it is still a wild animal who doesn’t understand why they’re in so much pain.
Eda frowns. “Ah shit. Sorry.”
It stops the bleeding, at least. “Nothing to be sorry for. Do you need an elixir?”
Eda shakes her head. Raine pets at the gray feathers, soft to the touch. It makes her shiver, just a little. “Do you want me to shave these?”
Her face creases. “No, I can just…”
She reaches over with her other hand, grabbing a handful and tugging, before they rip out of her skin. She doesn’t even wince, and Raine hopes to the titan that's because it doesn’t hurt her, not because she’s gone numb to it.
“Let me do that. You’ll get bloody again.”
Eda obliges, pulls her non-wounded hand away. They’re careful with her, tugging the feathers one at a time, watching for a reaction. But she has none, and so they pull at them one at a time, plucking her gently like a-
-oh, maybe they’d better not compare their wife to a chicken.
They finish and wipe away the remnants of the alcohol. “Were you starting on Luzs bat?”
Eda scoffs. “No, I haven’t started her bird yet.”
Luz swore up and down that she would be ready the next time she was in the Isles, after a few weeks in the Human Realm with her mother. Though she’d kept the exact animal she wanted to herself, saying she wanted it to be a surprise.
Really, Raines fairly sure she hasn’t picked one yet and doesn’t want to admit it. Like mother like daughter, they suppose, but it’s so fun to tease Eda over it anyways.
“Twenty snails and a maid costume say otherwise, Calamity.” They press some cotton into her wound and press down firmly. “Unless you’d like to admit defeat now?”
“No way. Birds are a Clawthorne thing!” Eda puffs out her chest. “Besides, last time my mom came over she was taking notes on Hawksley. Kid drew his fathers and everything.”
Raine hums, wraps the bandage around her hand. “Even if you’re right, she also spent half a day following Katya and Amber around running music scams. Thanks so much for teaching them those, by the way.”
“I know I’m right. That's a Clawthorne thing too.”
“Just don’t get disappointed if she carves something else. Like, say, a certain winged mammal that rhymes with her girlfriends palisman.” They warn. Eda shoots them a glare and they shoot one right back. “Don't tell me she wouldn’t. We both know she would.”
Somehow that just makes Eda break into a grin, the one that always knocks their breath right out of their chest.
She smiles like that so much more often now, beaming up at Luz learning a new flying trick on Owlbert or King conquering his stuffed animals for the third time this week. Maybe not so much at Hunter, they’re too similar and get on each other's nerves too much. So it makes the occasional evil grin at him even sweeter.
She smiles at them, on their wedding day or on a regular tuesday night.
“I won’t be disappointed.” She relaxes, titan they almost feel dizzy. “That kid’s my legacy. She can carve whatever the fuck she likes. And I’m gonna be there making sure it’s fucking fantastic.”
“So vulgar.” They turn her hand over, press their lips against her knuckles. “It will be.”
Her face flushes, just a little smidge of red high on her cheekbones. They’re prideful in the way most bards are, and there’s a special little flick of satisfaction in their heart, that they can still make her blush after all these years.
“You trying to kiss it better?” She teases but there’s a little lilt in her voice. Something touched and genuine under all that snark.
“Mhm,” They murmur, trailing across the flat of her hand and over her bandage. “Is it working?”
Eda gets her hand under their chin, two fingers tilting their head up, and leans down to kiss them. They gladly get their hands on either side of her face,
“Thank you,” She murmurs against them as she pulls away, “for the clean-up. And wrapping me up like a mummy.”
“Always, Calamity.” They hang in her space, searching for the sawdust caught in her hair. She’ll always be gorgeous to them, whether she’s sunset streaked on their hill or in terrible fluorescent lighting in their bathroom. “Is there anything else you need?”
Eda hums, leaning back in and kissing them again.
They take a half-step forward, with her knees on either side of them. Eda reaches for their waist and they bury their hands in the thick fluff of her hair, blunt nails scratching on her scalp.
So many years and they're still all over each other. Eda tugs them closer and presses them fully against the counter.
She’s not wearing lipstick today, they think dimly. Something of a shame, they kind of like when she covers their face with it.
“M’not making out with you here,” Eda pulls back fully, finally, slurring a little. “Counters cold.”
They break away, only a little disappointed. There’ll be time for it later. “Okay.”
“Okay.” She reaches up to flatten her fluffy hair back down, her bandage snags and she frowns, yanking on it until it comes free.
A dumb, smitten grin comes over their face.
“Eda? Let me make dinner tonight.” That gets her to perk up, always happy to shed another chore. “And let's invite your dad over so you can show him your progress.”
She scoffs, jumps down from the counter and flicks them in the head. “He likes you fine, dork. You don’t have to work so hard to impress him.”
Listen, it’s not like Liliths bringing anyone back home. So the pressure of being the only one married into the family falls solely, squarely on their shoulders. And no, neither Dell nor Gwen have ever been anything but kind to them but-
“Maybe I’m just proud and want to show you off, Calamity, is that so hard to believe?” They tease, turning and sweeping the remnants of the bandages into the trash.
“It is when I haven’t finished anything yet. I’ve barely started.”
They stop, pausing for just a minute. Watching her face, and the way there’s a light in her eyes when she says it. She’s excited, not daunted by how far she has to grow.
And Titan she's good at growing. It’s how they got here after all, sat in their house talking about their kids, and let Raine do the thing they’ve always wanted: taking care of her, and loving her while she works.
They reach up on their toes to kiss her again. “I’m still proud.”