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The morning is fairly light with the smell of breakfast wafting through the air, and at the same time heavy with sore muscles and stiff joints.
Last night was an…experience, to say the least. The bad kind. The one where you’d look back and think to yourself that maybe if I did this instead of that, then I would be a fully functioning member of society today.
But Kayn is Kayn. And what will Kayn be if he’s not Kayn?
Said Kayn is currently trudging down the stairs of their shared house taking one step at a time like a grandfather using crutches, with Rhaast being an annoying weight against his back because why the fuck is the Darkin out and half-formed and perching on his shoulder like a goddamn parrot?
“Our body is too uncomfortable to be in right now,” the bastard supplies because of course he can still read his mind even if he’s semi-attached to his torso and outside of their mindspace.
Kayn doesn’t even need to look up to see the crayon-like smile on the Darkin’s mask-face. “Oh, I’m sorry. Remind me again whose fault it was that we fell ten stories high?”
“I’m not the one who let go.”
“You were thinking about it!”
“I’m the ‘intrusive thought',” Kayn feels Rhaast do quotation marks in the air before he rests an arm atop his disheveled hair. “As I would like to call it: you’re the actor and I’m the script writer.”
He looks up as he tries to swat the arm away, every movement sending his muscles aflame. “That still doesn’t answer my question!”
“Answer what que—oh.”
Kayn’s attention snaps to the bottom of the staircase where Yone stands holding a basket filled with laundry. His snow-white hair with red streaks that’s usually in a ponytail is now secured slightly off-center to the back of his head with one of those giant hair clip thingys.
“Good morning, Kayn. Rhaast,” he greets with a tender smile. “Nice to see you both up early.”
Kayn rolls his eyes and continues his painstakingly slow descent. “I would’ve slept throughout the day if it weren’t for this idiot.”
“We barely ate anything last night,” Rhaast states one of the truths that Kayn doesn’t want Yone to know, out of the many things that transpired the previous evening. “And I’m hungry. Our stomach will eat itself if we don’t get enough sustenance for two.”
Yone raises a brow. “You skipped dinner again?”
Kayn huffs. “Like I had a choice. Didn’t you see the news?”
“The fight with the Nevermore? I did.”
“Guess who fell from the sky?”
“RHAAST!!”
Yone levels them a look that screams an incoming lecture. “You fell?! From that height?!”
Kayn finally reaches the bottom of the staircase and lets out a groan. “Listen, it’s an occupational hazard, mom. Why aren’t you up on Phel’s business when he’s been through worse than me?”
“Unlike you, Aphelios has a sense of self-preservation.”
“Oooo. Mom’s got a point, Kayn.”
“Will you shut up, Rhaast?!”
“No.”
Yone watches as the two bicker against each other and he mentally lets out a sigh. Not that this is a foreign occurrence in their household of six grown men. Honestly, how did they manage to continue living under the same roof for more than six years without their egos tearing them apart? Sure, there were times when they strongly disagreed with each other, turning a simple discussion into an outright debate that would sometimes lead to both parties not acknowledging each other for weeks at best, and an outright brawl in the middle of their hallway at worst. It’s been an experience, truly. Seven adult individuals, all accomplished in their own rights, choosing to stay together despite nothing tying them down.
What an odd and surreal experience, indeed.
“Yone!” K’Sante’s voice from the laundry room bellows. “The cycle’s about to finish!”
“Coming, dear!” Yone calls back.
“Ugh, you two are disgusting,” Kayn comments as he limps past Yone.
Yone only chuckles in response, sneaking a hand over his bed hair and ruffling it gently. “Sett made pancakes and bacon.”
Kayn attempts to swat his hand away, but Yone is too fast for his too sore limbs. The ancient idiot floats down the hallway before Kayn can complain about his hair being messed up even more.
And then finally, finally, Kayn reaches the dining room, finding Aphelios who looks just as worse and sipping on his cup of tea, and Alune sitting across her twin with her head resting on the table.
Kayn stiffly slots himself in his usual seat next to Alune with a groan; he can practically feel the joints on his knees grind together as he sits down. Rhaast, ever the impatient bastard, instantly reaches for the bacon in the middle of the table and gobbles a strip down, only to choke and spit it out a moment later.
“You fucking idiot,” Kayn chastises. “You can’t eat human food!”
“Then hurry up and eat!”
“Good morning,” Aphelios greets with a small smile, his voice still hoarse due to his lengthy connection with Alune the previous night.
Kayn doesn’t understand how their connection works, honestly. He’s met a lot of Reapers in his lifetime, and as far as he knows, none of their connection with their Demon Weapon warrants a toll on their body. Kayn initially thought that the twin’s pairing was forced given how convenient it was for them, but with how synchronized their wavelengths are, it’s impossible to tell why Aphelios couldn’t speak whenever he’s wielding Alune. The twins themselves don't know, their professors from their academic years don't know, hell, even K’Sante, the man who specializes in dealing with these types of issues, doesn’t know.
So they let it be, despite Kayn finding it difficult to communicate with the teal-haired man during high-stress situations at times.
Kayn grunts his response to the greeting, stiffly reaching for the plate of pancakes before grabbing one with his bare hands and taking a huge bite from it.
“Is she alright?” Rhaast inquires as he points a clawed thumb towards the pink-haired twin. “Is she dead? Can I eat her soul?”
Kayn chokes on his bite.
“I can hear you, Rhaast,” comes Alune’s muffled voice. “I just want to dieeeeee.”
“I can make that happen.”
“NO!” Kayn manages to shout before he violently coughs. Aphelios rolls his eyes, stands up from his seat and fills a glass of water before placing it in front of him. Kayn gulps its contents down, and says, “Rhaast, what the fuck are you saying?!”
Kayn’s mismatched eyes fall on Aphelios, who’s giving him the most unimpressed stare in the world, arms crossed in front of his chest as if saying ‘I’d like to see you try’.
Rhaast chuckles. “I am merely suggesting, boy.”
Aphelios raises a brow. Alune groans in response but doesn’t say a word.
For someone who’s usually lively after a mission, it would seem that last night’s events had placed a damper on the Demon Weapon.
Kayn resumes his breakfast, stealing a glance at the twins. Aphelios is scrolling through his phone, his posture obviously strained. He’s still wearing his sleep clothes, the shirt being several sizes too big for him; both his arms are covered in bandages, a nasty bruise blooming to the left of his jaw. He swore the man looked unscathed last night when they arrived home, but he guessed things do look different in the light of day.
Alune is wearing street clothes, an off-shoulder baby blue blouse paired with a black skin-tight jeans and one of her chunky heeled boots. Her hair is styled into a fancy waterfall braid—probably courtesy of K’Sante—and her purse hangs at the back of her chair. Her entire posture screaming we rescheduled this day too many times and the girls are not taking any excuses.
Kayn sympathizes with her in some way. Talk about saving the city and not having the chance to take the next day off. He’s had his fair share of off days being cut short, some of the reason being due to Grimm sightings near his location, the main reason is due to Rhaast being Rhaast.
Speaking of Rhaast, the Darkin finally retreats back into their shared mindspace once his stomach is satisfied. Kayn sighs in relief at the absence of the extra weight on his shoulder, and he basically melts into his seat after he finishes the last of his breakfast.
The two meisters and the Demon Weapon enjoy each other’s company and their shared but unvoiced pains in silence. It would seem that last night’s events really did a good number on them, what with fighting a Grimm the size of three aircrafts flying in the night sky being near impossible, and at the same time keeping an extra eye out in case another Grimm spawns in the middle of the city from all the negative emotions coming from the panicking civilians.
Eventually, Alune has to leave after answering a phone call with fake enthusiasm. She gives Aphelios a hug and a weak punch to Kayn’s arm—and it fucking hurts by the way, not that Kayn will ever admit that. Fuck no—before grabbing her purse and announcing her departure to the rest of the house.
That leaves the two meisters in the dining room.
When the door to the house closes, Aphelios lets out an audible sigh and his ever proper posture crumbles down and he slouches, both arms resting on the table and his head in his hands. It’s clear that he’s in deep pain and he’s hiding it just so that Alune doesn’t fret over him. He managed to play it cool on their way home so as to not worry her, but the moment his sister was out of sight, he dropped the facade and allowed his body to accommodate the pain.
Aphelios never really showed his pains to the others. Everyone in this household had a lot going on on their plate, and to him it feels selfish to let his woes bleed to his friends.
But for some reason, he finds it easier to let the days catch up to him whenever he’s with Kayn. Not that he doesn’t act like this whenever he’s with Alune or Sett, of course the half-vastaya knows about his plights as much as Aphelios knows about his.
But there’s something different, something…comforting when you’re around someone who went through what you did during your academic years, back when you’re still a student learning the ropes of becoming a proper Reaper. Despite teaming up with Kayn in the last year of their academy, they hit it off pretty well. Their teamwork is impeccable, they know their queues just basing off of each other’s body language, fought against and killed Grimms that would usually take more than four Reapers to deal with.
They had both seen each other at their lowest, and they had led each other back to the shore despite the heavy rains and the towering waves, even before they found their significant others. A simple gesture that played a huge part in their current friendship. Not that either man would admit it out loud.
“How’d you get that bruise?” Kayn breaks the silence as he cleans up his dishes.
“Missed a landing,” comes Aphelios quiet voice.
“Concussion?”
“No, thank gods.”
There’s a pause in the air, neither comfortable nor awkward.
Kayn puts the washed dishes to the side and prepares his coffee. Extra strong. Because he needs something to drown the pain in his body and energy drinks are too weak for that.
“How did you fall from that height?” Aphelios asks before taking a sip from his drink.
Kayn huffs through his nose as he places his mug under the coffeemaker, the sound of the hot drink trickling into his mug filling the air. “Did something I shouldn’t have.”
Aphelios scoffs at that. “Since when are you not doing something you shouldn’t have?”
Kayn barks out a laugh at that. “You know what I mean. I thought I could clip the Nevermore’s wing if I got on its back. I think my timing got fucked when the other Reapers started blasting on the fucker.”
Ah, understandable. Kayn is never the most patient person out there, always charging into the fray whenever he finds the opportunity.
Their conversation flows smoothly when Kayn returns to the table with his coffee, the strong aroma wafting through the air, drawing Yone in to pour himself his umpteenth cup of coffee some time later. They talk about the night prior, recalling their encounters as if the other Reaper wasn’t there with them. It’s a nice way to wind down after a long night, and when Aphelios begins to use his hands to communicate instead, they decide to call it and let the teal-haired man rest his vocal cords.
“Kayn,” Rhaast calls out as his head pops out of his left shoulder, one of his ethereal horns poking at the side of his head.
“What.”
“Your phone.”
Kayn is confused for a moment before he feels the device inside the pocket of his shorts vibrate. He frowns. He knows that it’s work because everyone who has his personal number is in this house—well, save for Alune.
With a heavy sigh, he fishes his phone from his pocket and checks the notifications. Kayn’s face falls as he rubs at his eyes with his thumb and index finger.
“Really? On our day off?”
The comment makes Aphelios raise a brow as he goes to check on his own device. He finds the source of Kayn’s annoyance almost immediately: a pack of Beowulf sightings not too far from their street.
Aphelios lets out a sigh as he rises from his seat after shooting Alune a message. Her reply is almost instant, stating that she’s already at the scene helping with the evacuation. He looks at his teammate with a raised brow, a silent question.
He knows he can decline and Aphelios wouldn’t be upset at him. They’ve covered up for each other one too many times that they lost track of their IOU1 scoreboard a long time ago, that at this point, they’re doing it for the sake of making sure the other meister doesn’t burn themselves to the ground.
But Rhaast really wants to go in the way he’s practically vibrating against him. And if there’s one thing in this world that Kayn doesn’t want to deal with, it would be the giant baby Darkin throwing a tantrum because he’d rather enjoy his day off than be involved with whatever bullshit that’s going on around him.
Kayn slams his head on the table not too gently, and says, “Five minutes.”
Aphelios hums in acknowledgement before leaving to change into his appropriate attire.
“Hurry up and stop sulking, Kayn!” Rhaast complains as his upper body materializes and begins to hit him repeatedly on the head with his fist. “We’re missing all the action!”
“I said five minutes!”
“We don’t have five minutes!”
Kayn ignores the Darkin as he mentally counts down the seconds. Five minutes of lamenting his decision of taking the fall from that height. That’s all he asks for before he assumes his role as a Reaper.
By the time Kayn leaves the dining room, Aphelios is already rushing out of the house.
Kayn ends up arriving at the scene ten minutes later, and Rhaast, now in his scythe form, is thrumming with excitement at the prospect of slaying more of these creatures of fear. And Kayn, despite his sore body, never felt more alive.