Chapter Text
Mathias Shaw wasn't a man who took extended leaves of absence and it seemed his office was just as unaccustomed to the vacancy. It was as lifeless as a mausoleum and twice as quiet. It would take time to reacquaint himself with the space. The window had been barred, the door had been locked by both mundane and arcane means, and Renzik only entered when absolutely necessary. The spymaster's desk was unwieldy for the goblin; too tall, too rigid, too many hidden compartment to keep track of. Shaw set his bag with his travel reports onto the floor beside the desk. The original logs would remain securely in his office for his viewing alone. The next day or so would be spent copying them into a fresh book for the king to keep in his own collection. Neat and orderly, unciphered, and missing Flynn's margined additions. And a discovery the lovers would take to their graves.
The spymaster went over to the boarded window, hammer in hand, and began prying the nails out of the planks. Light tepidly entered the room once more, as though it was concerned about its presence being an intrusion. The sun illuminated particles of dust that fluttered about the room. Cleaning would be in order. A knock on the door interrupted Shaw's musing.
"Yes?" Shaw said around the nails clenched between his lips.
"It's me boss." Renzik answered.
"Come in." The spymaster put the loose nails and hammer on his desk and went to greet his second-in-command. "How did your final meeting as acting spymaster go?"
The goblin waved his hand dismissively. "Not the worst. Was expecting you earlier. Heard you got in yesterday."
"You heard correct."
"And you didn't stop by?"
"No." Mathias had been preoccupied with… well he had other things that needed tending to.
Renzik only responded with a hum as he ran his finger along the top of Shaw's dusty desk. A stark line formed in its wake. The goblin pulled out a rag from his pocket and began wiping it down. A muted smiled pulled at the corners of Mathias's lips. Renzik had his own way of things, as rough as the man was. Undermine had been poisonous to the goblin's view of the world. Kindness was for fools who wanted to end up with empty pockets or worse in some back alley. And yet he was helping Shaw tidy his office despite never being asked. The spymaster picked up his tools and returned to the window.
"So this Fairwind guy's sticking around." It wasn't spoken as a question, but it begged for an answer.
Shaw continued to pry the nails out of the wood. "Indeed."
"Alright. What's his code name gonna be?"
"I wouldn't know," the final plank clattered to the ground, "that's your jurisdiction." Shaw had never been especially good at crafting discrete code names. When Renzik showed an aptitude for it, the spymaster happily handed off the task.
"I'm not touching this one." The dirty rag was scrunched into a ball and shoved back into the goblin's pocket.
"Pardon?" Shaw turned around incredulously only to find his second-in-command picking his nails with his blade. An old habit to distract himself from unpleasant conversations.
"You heard me," Renzik said without looking up, "I'm not giving your squeeze a code name. That's a minefield I'm steering clear of."
"You've a deft hand. I'm sure you can navigate it." Shaw bundled the wood under his arm and moved it back to the closet in the corner.
"I want to see what you come up with."
The older rogue shut the door, keeping his back turned. "Why?"
"I've been meeting with uppity nobles and giving nothing reports to an increasingly frustrated kid with a crown. Maybe I want to give you a bit of guff for the headache the past several months have been."
Shaw sat down at his newly cleaned desk and began looking over his travel logs. If Renzik wanted to be obstinate about this he could be too. "If you referred to his majesty as such in his presence I can empathize with his displeasure."
The goblin sat cross legged in the chair on the opposite side of Shaw's desk and shrugged. "I warned you before you left that I have no patience for empty niceties." Renzik studied the reports at a distance. His eyes lingered on the common written in the margins. Mathias covered it with his arm, feeling unnecessarily protective of Flynn's notes.
"So in exchange for enduring bureaucratic roundabouts in my steed you want to see me struggle in an area I lack proficiency." Shaw clarified.
"That's the long and short of it." Renzik said finally looking to Shaw. "Listen, you know Fairwind better than I ever could- better than I ever want to. You'll come up with something."
"Is his residence in my life that unpleasant?" The spymaster questioned. Mathias harbored respect and fondness for the goblin. Friendship, albeit a tepid one. If one of his few living friends didn't like his- well, they never official put a title on things- then it would cause tension in their own relationship.
"No, I just- I don't know Mathias I'm not good with… sentimentality. I'm glad you found someone. Just don't expect me to like him too. I may, I may not. I don't really know him enough to make a judgment on that." A pause. "You're… happy. That should be your primary focus." Each word awkwardly stumbled out of Renzik's mouth as though he wasn't sure what order to place them.
Mathias's lips curled up slightly, spurring the goblin to roll his eyes. "Oh don't start that Shaw. I-"
"Your concern for my romantic affairs is touching." Mathias turned his gaze back to his paperwork. An unofficial dismissal or, more accurately, an out from the conversation.
"Yeah, yeah. Get your licks in now. And start thinking on that code name while you're at it smart guy." The opportunity was snatched up quicker than a mage's blink as Renzik left the office.
~*~
Mathias woke up unable to move. Normally, it would have sent off alarm bells and spurred him into action. Now, as he looked at Flynn clinging to him like an octopus in a bed that could only comfortably hold one fully grown human, Mathias felt calm. Heat radiated from Flynn's skin, igniting his own wherever they touched. Given their mutual state of undress, the older rogue was an inferno. He ran his hand through Flynn's tangled hair and the captain held him impossibly, wonderfully closer. Mathias's heart soared while his body remained tenderly anchored in his lover's arms.
The spymaster hummed to himself as a thought drifted into his sleep-addled mind. One word, the word that had been alluding him for days.