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The typical eeriness and darkness of Amaryllis District nights dispersed around the Wet Wick. Muffled loud chatter, laughter, and music, along with the light spilling from the few windows and many cracks in the wooden building lured in those seeking shelter or simply late-night fun.
The leader of the Bloodhounds was the obvious ever-present figure in the bar, especially at night, which is clear from one look at the dark circles framing his green eyes. Despite obviously lacking the sleep needed after common all-nighters, Leander was way too far into the habit of Lowtown nightlife to make the needed change. When the rest of the city was deep asleep, he and the Bloodhounds celebrated the passage of the day.
This night was no different from the routine — the Wick was in full swing. Leander hopped atop a booth, and a cheering crowd gathered almost instantly. The mage’s gloved hands flickered with the green glow of magic as he danced on the sturdy, nonetheless small table.
Even though his figure didn’t make the first impression of agility, Leander didn’t seem clumsy in the least. He waved his arms and moved to the music, boots stomping against the wood to the rhythm of the music with ease.
Leander smiled brightly at the crowd, jade eyes almost matching the glow of the magic. His movements were free and energetic, radiating charisma and pulling people in to keep watching. The bright magic only added to the sight by creating an eye-catching flare that followed Leander’s hands. Soon enough the crowd went on to clap out the beat. Now the bar became even louder somehow.
Amid this noise and racket, no one would notice the door of the bar creaking open and a smaller shadow-like figure slipping in. No one except for the eye of this human storm himself. The two of them locked eyes for a moment.
Quite soon after the unnoticed entrance, the song ended with magic-made green petals spilling down onto the booth shortly before dissolving into thin air. Leander kept standing, waving and casting glowing flowers to send at the applauding and cheering crowd.
Little by little, the Wick began to go back to normal, the patrons spreading out throughout the bar again. As the crowd began to thin, Leander gestured for the people to make space before he’d hop off the booth. After making quick small talk with a few of the Bloodhounds, Leander headed right for the corner of the bar, where he saw a familiar figure dart to earlier.
“If it isn’t my favorite freelancer! Didn’t expect to see you come down here, Mhin! What’s up?” Leander asked as he hopped in the chair next to the hooded figure, his eyes closed into a dimpled smile as he waved to the familiar person.
Groaning as they were noticed prematurely, Mhin slid their cloak’s hood off their head. They still didn’t turn to face Leander, though. “You owe me for yesterday’s work,” Mhin said, their tone laced with irritation as their face scrunched with annoyance. They weren’t intending on staying longer than absolutely necessary.
“Oh, my bad, my bad.” For a second, Leander’s face reddened with embarrassment, his gaze darting away from Mhin. “Join me for a drink as compensation for the delay then, why don’t you? My treat.” Leander was already gesturing to the barman, eyes crinkling into his small friendly grin before Mhin could even protest.
“A beer for me and, what’ll you have, Mhin?” He questioned, glancing away from the barman and back to the visibly frustrated Mhin. Though it didn’t seem like Leander was much deterred by their attitude.
“I don't drink.” They responded firmly, shaking their head. After they said that, snickers could be heard from a nearby table. Mhin immediately turned their head to glare at the patrons that looked twice their size. “What’s so funny?” They squinted, and Leander shook his head, smile faltering with concern.
“Comin’ to the Wick and not even drinkin’?” “‘Re ya a pussy or what?” The two big figures stared at Mhin daringly with a mocking tone in their rough, alcohol-slurred voices. Being almost comically smaller, Mhin’s attempt to intimidate the two patrons with a simple stare was obviously fruitless.
“The reek from both of you made me feel sick.” They snapped back, both parties growing more hostile and closer to getting off their seats to take this confrontation further.
Leander quickly pulled himself into the conversation, turning the attention to himself to avoid this escalating. He rested a hand on Mhin’s shoulder as they shifted to get up from the bar stool. Their ears reddened, and Mhin pursed their lips and moved back in their seat. “Hey, hey, let’s not escalate this further, shall we? We’re all here to have our fun after all. What do you two wanna drink? It’s all on me.” Leander nodded his head to the barman, the patrons nodded and sat back down completely.
“That’s what I’m talkin’ bout. Get me a whiskey, will ya?” “Ale’ll do the trick for me.” The alcohol-ridden voices sounded pleased now.
“Get me a gin,” Mhin announced, surprising Leander, after turning back around to face the barman. After getting the full order, he walked off to pour the drinks. The two patrons whistled, snickering before returning to their conversation.
“A gin? Are you s-” Leander quickly got interrupted.
“Yes.” Mhin left it at that, without much elaboration.
From surprise, his expression quickly shifted to the usual soft smile, though this time slightly teasing. “Starting off strong, aren’t we? I’m glad you took me up on the drink, but I didn’t expect you to get so bold.” He hit Mhin’s shoulder in a friendly manner, to which they huffed.
“I know what I’m doing.” Even though Mhin’s tone asserted confidence, their words were only partly true, quite a big part of that decision was impulsive, which Leander could tell regardless of the lack of eye contact between the two of them.
“So you trust me to take care of you after you’re done drinking? I always knew you thought better of me than you let on.” He chuckled, eyes crinkling as the dimples showed through more on his cheeks. Leander pressed his blushed cheek against his fist, elbow propped on the table. He watched Mhin’s change of expressions with a smile: their lip twitched, gaze darting away from Leander. He even got to catch Mhin’s face catching a pink flush before they’d cover their face with their hood.
“I’ll be fine on my own. Stop talking out of your ass.” Their voice now sounded less outwardly rude, perhaps a sliver of fluster slipping through. Leander pushed his hair back after it got in his face, still eyeing Mhin with a soft jade gaze.
“Aww, come on, don’t be like that. My bad if I sounded rude.” His free hand shifted from his knee to the table, offering an apologetic gesture that he correctly doubted Mhin would reciprocate. Though they did slip the hood off, letting it fall to their shoulders. The blush was still there, but it wouldn’t be noticeable if one didn’t look for it.
“You could really use shutting up more often.” Mhin retorted, resting their hand near Leander’s for a moment before swatting it away. But that was enough for his eyes to brighten with a pinch of glee.
Almost immediately after that, the two got their drinks slid across the table towards them. A large glass of frothing beer, the foam of which spilled over the edge, and a smaller glass of gin. Leander immediately picked up his glass and watched as Mhin hesitated before they grabbed theirs.
“To our health. Cheers!” Leander raised his glass and tipped back his head, gulping the beer. Once he was done he slammed the glass back down, wiping the foam off his lips, cheeks slightly flushed. But Mhin stayed in place, just staring at their glass with an unreadable expression.
“Is something wrong, Mhin?” Leander raised a brow in wholehearted concern. He leaned over to get a better look at Mhin’s face. “If you want a lighter drink—”
“No.” They firmly shook their head, swigging the whole glass in one go to seal their fate. Instantly, their face scrunched and reddened before they’d slam their glass back down also. They looked a little disheveled, like a startled bird.
“You would’ve enjoyed it more if you sipped it instead. So impatient you are, Mhin.” Leander laughed as he reached to ruffle Mhin’s hair, evidently finding their stubbornness cute.
They grumbled something in response, shaking their head before clearing their throat. The burn of the alcohol was gradually getting swapped out with heat.
“Let’s get you a snack, hm? It goes down better with some berries, I can feed you if you want.” Leander averted his eyes, the slightly tired smile of his growing a little flustered with the flush of his face deepening.
Mhin finally turned in the tall stool to face Leander, their face having grown more flushed. Their brows were still furrowed, eyes squinted and nose scrunched. “I’m fine to eat by myself. Shut up.” Mhin clumsily shifted in their seat. They laid their arms on the table, head resting on top.
“Alright, alright. Still, do you want some? Maybe another drink? Again, my treat.” His tone was teasing in a friendly manner. Leander gently bumped Mhin’s arm before waving the barman over once more.
“Fine. I’ll have the berries. And another gin.” Mhin made the order, remaining stubborn in their decision. Leander only chuckled before going back to drinking his beer.
“You’re so insistent, you know it’d be alright if you got a lighter drink if you didn’t like the gin?” Leander rested his arms on the table after he was done with his drink and briefly gestured to the barman to get him another one before he’d turn his head to look at Mhin. Once he did, Leander caught them glancing away.
There wasn’t much conversation until the second round of drinks was slid across the table, along with a small bowl of berries. Mhin sat up, straightening their posture.
“Well, are you gonna take my advice?” Head tilted to the side, Leander curiously peered over at Mhin, a glass of beer in hand. They puffed their cheeks, for now just poking at the berries with a fork.
“I’ll think about it. Does that make you feel better?” Mhin scoffed before eating a berry. They were reluctant to go back to drinking, but also their pride wouldn’t allow them to back down now, even if they knew Leader wasn’t judging them in the first place.
“Sure!” He beamed, eyes falling closed for a moment. Leander looked on expectantly as Mhin picked at the berries, their motions getting clumsier bit by bit. Their expression grew more annoyed until they shot a look back at Leander.
“What do you want?” The gray-red eyes squinted as Mhin grabbed onto their glass, moving it closer. He only laughed, shaking his head before turning his head away. Though, between taking swigs of beer, Leander very much did glance at Mhin from time to time regardless out of curiosity.
Mhin skeptically eyed the gin, lips pursing before they’d raise the tall glass to their lips to take a big sip. Their face scrunched as they rested it down with a slight tremble in their hand. Almost immediately Mhin went back to the sour-sweet snack to drown out the unpleasant burn of the alcohol.
“So? I see you still don’t like it that much. Looks like gin isn’t the right drink for you. Would you want a berry cocktail of some sort?” Leander chimed, leaning over close to Mhin as they tried to get a ripe cranberry on the small fork to no avail. Their brows were furrowed, nonetheless, their eyes seemed softened with a hint of drowsiness. All of that combined with the slight pink flush over pale skin, Mhin were an endearing sight to Leander, that much was clear from how warmly, to an extent protectively, he looked over his companion.
“No. This is fine.” Mhin remained insistent and took another gulp of the drink before going back to trying, the slight confusion and softness in their voice and the slight slouch in their posture hinted to Leander that they should stop drinking after this glass. He’d advise Mhin to stop sooner, but he knew that they wouldn’t listen.
Leander noticed their struggle with the fork, it seems that Mhin’s grip and overall coordination seemed to loosen due to the alcohol getting to them by now. He turned in his place to face Mhin once more.
“Let me help.” His eyes crinkled as he showed a warm dimpled smile, hand opened to take the fork from Mhin. They mumbled something under their breath and puffed up their cheeks again, lips forming a small pout. For a few seconds, Mhin looked over the gloved hand offered to them, before their eyes would raise to lock with the lidded jade greens. Leander’s face heated up, and he glanced away for a moment before going back to return the eye contact. The pink on Mhin’s pale skin deeper to a redder hue as they realized the lack of space between the two of them. After a little, they handed the fork to Leander, as if they only now remembered why they got this close in the first place. He easily got the cranberry and soon he was holding the fork up to Mhin’s mouth, the red berry almost pressed against their pale lips. The grey-red eyes darted away, face almost feverishly blushed as they ate the cranberry. Leander chuckled, endeared, and patted Mhin’s head, he appeared somewhat flustered himself.
“So cute. I didn’t expect to ever see that side of you, Mhin—”
“Shut it. Not a word about this to anyone.” Mhin mumbled, biting the inside of their cheek while Leander laughed and squeezed their hand.
“My mouth is sealed.” He nodded, gesturing to zip his lips before picking another berry up on the fork. Mhin rolled their eyes, nonetheless, they let Leander feed them for a little longer until the little bowl was empty. As time went on, Mhin seemed to be fighting sleepiness more and more, their eyelids drooping over their eyes more and more. They took a last swig of the gin to get the drinks over with. This time they just scrunched their nose, too tired for a more vivid reaction. By now they looked like a puffed-up dove.
“Still so insistent. I like that a lot about you.” Leander said fondly, propping his cheek on his fist, reddened face holding a longing expression.
“You’re the insistent one. I can’t tell how I feel about it.” Mhin’s quietened voice had a layer of fondness to it that briefly shone through the tired confusion. Their eyes were almost closed, and they glanced at Leander before squeezing his hand in return. His face lit up in a fluster as he let out a quiet laugh.
“We have plenty of time.” Voice quieter, Leander noticed that Mhin seemed like they were beginning to fall asleep. They rested their head on their arm again, and soon Mhin went completely limp like that, one hand resting faintly over Leander’s. With a little struggle, he wriggled out of his coat and wrapped it over Mhin’s shoulders. The dark teal coat was way too big, but in this case, it served its temporary purpose of a blanket especially well. How small Mhin looked in the coat made Leander chuckle as he reached out his hand to caress their hair again, playing with the white strands.
By now the Wick was beginning to empty and Mhin didn’t show signs of waking up anytime soon, so Leander kept waiting for Mhin to fall into a deeper sleep, watching how their shoulders rose and fell slowly. Leander then moved off his chair and wrapped an arm around Mhin, carefully scooping the smaller into his arms. With care, he carried them upstairs to his room at the inn. Leander rested Mhin down on the bed tenderly, clasping off their boots before he’d cover them with the blanket. He left the room for only a small moment to put a glass of water on the bedside cabinet. And, ah, almost forgot, Mhin’s payment for yesterday’s work. Now Leander could get to sleep himself. He arranged the couch cushions and laid down, still looking over at Mhin, who were still peacefully asleep.
“Have a good rest, and take your time, Mhin. You’re worth all the time in the world.”
Soon after, the two of them were both peacefully asleep, the glow of the night and the stars lulling them into rare peace as they watched over, keeping them safe.