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Mydei wakes up far too warm.
He blearily peels his eyes open, then squints when he's immediately met with a direct beam of sunlight straight in his face. There's a weight slung over his chest, and the blanket is far too warm against his legs.
Phainon snorts, snuffling as he buries his face between Mydei's pecs. Turns out that weight on Mydei's chest was Phainon- figures. The Deliverer is practically laying on top of Mydei, and is nuzzling his face into Mydei's skin.
"Deliverer." Mydei hisses. He shakes Phainon's arm. Phainon's entire body shifts with the movement, but the Deliverer doesn't stir.
"Deliverer." Mydei repeats, this time louder. He shoves the heel of his palm against Phainon's shoulder.
Phainon startles awake with a snort. "Mrgh?"
"Get off of me." Mydei pushes against Phainon's shoulder again. "You're heavy."
Phainon makes another indecipherable noise, but finally slides off of Mydei's body. When Mydei pushes himself up into a sitting position, the Deliverer promptly wraps his arms around Mydei's waist.
"Mydei," Phainon whines. "Where are you going?"
"To take a bath." Mydei says tonelessly. "I feel disgusting."
The mere mention of a bath seems to wake Phainon up immediately. The Deliverer bolts upright, propping himself up on his elbows. In the process, he finally untangles himself from around Mydei.
"Bath?" Phainon asks, far too bright-eyed. "Can I come with?"
Mydei scowls, flushing. "HKS," He reaches over and pinches Phainon's cheeks. "Insatiable, aren't you?"
"Mydei~" Phainon whines. "I didn't mean it like that." Mydei ignores him and extricates himself from their bedsheets.
The two of them end up in the bath together anyway. Mydei sits with his back pressed against Phainon's chest. The Deliverer has his arms curled possessively around the prince's waist. Their current house has a private one built into the bathroom. Mydei personally prefers it, now that he and the Deliverer are together. The private baths for the Chrysos Heirs had been perfectly suitable in the past, but after a few too many close calls… Well, their home-bath is more than suitable.
"Your shoulders are red." Phainon hooks his chin on Mydei's shoulders.
"It's the heat." Mydei blatantly lies. Phainon chuckles and leans down to press a kiss against the back of Mydei's neck. Mydei melts into the touch with a huff.
They finally climb out of the bath when the water starts to go lukewarm. Mydei makes himself as presentable as possible. With his healing rate, the marks from last night have already faded. Phainon, on the other hand, isn't as lucky. Mydei glares at the Deliverer until the white-haired man pouts and finally picks a high-necked shirt.
"We're just going to get groceries." Phainon says as he trails Mydei through the house. "Everyone knows we're already together anyway."
"There's flaunting our relationship," Mydei responds, "And then there's public indecency." Phainon makes a small noise, but doesn't protest any further.
Mydei is still wringing the last of the water out of his hair when Phainon wanders into their shared kitchen. The pantry is looking a bit depressingly empty. Neither of them had had the chance recently to go grocery shopping, and with their physique, their household certainly goes through a healthy amount of food.
"Did you make a list?" Mydei asks, even though he already has a feeling what Phainon's answer will be.
"Nope." Phainon easily says. The Deliverer pulls open a cupboard door and sticks his head in. "I think we'll need more oregano, though." He reaches into the back of the cupboard and pulls out two bananas- the last of the bunch by the looks of it- and tosses one of the fruits to Mydei.
Mydei just lets out a little huff. With one hand, he haphazardly tosses the towel he'd been using to dry his hair over the back of one of the dining room chairs. He catches the fruit thrown at him with the other. Phainon lets out a squawk when Mydei shoulders his way over to peer into the pantry.
Mydei hums, then ducks down to check through the rest of the pantry and the fridge. Phainon flits about to and fro uselessly behind him.
"Go get the bags." Mydei says, after the fifth time Phainon peeks over his shoulder. Phainon scurries off with a yelped 'yes.' Mydei shuts the last cupboard door, mental list complete. They'd probably gotten more takeout over the past week than he'd thought. Their food stores are depressingly empty; the spices had gone so low that even Phainon had noticed.
Phainon is already eagerly waiting by the front door when Mydei finally leaves the kitchen. The Deliverer offers out a burlap bag, and the prince takes it easily.
The sun is still relatively low in the sky; it's just barely past entry hour. Marmoreal Market has just started to reach its peak of activity. Phainon only just barely keeps from wandering off during their trek through the market. He flits about with every new trinket or market stand they pass by, wandering around at the edges of Mydei's vision. When they reach the produce section of the market, they finally split up.
Demetria easily offers up her wares when Mydei rattles off the list of their needed food supplies. Phainon's wandered off to retrieve the dairy produce elsewhere in the market. They eventually meet up again at the steps that lead to the forges.
"Is there anything else you want?" Mydei asks. Both he and Phainon have their week's groceries packed away and slung over their shoulders.
Phainon eyes the displays in front of Theodoro's shop.
"That are not antiques." Mydei adds on drily. "We are running out of space to put them."
Phainon fakes a pout, but the quirking of the edges of his lips gives him away. After a few moments of Mydei staring at him, the Deliverer laughs. "No, no, I think we're good for this run."
Mydei clicks his tongue. "If you've forgotten anything, get it on your own time later."
"Of course, your highness," Phainon teases, snapping into a lazy mock-salute.
Like old times, then end up racing back home. Mydei wins this one.
"It's because I was carrying all the dairy." Phainon whines, while Mydei smugly puts away their groceries. "It's way heavier."
"I highly doubt just a bit of yogurt and cheese will weigh you down." Mydei teases right back. "You pulled a titan out of the sky at one point, remember?" Phainon just pouts even harder, even as he loads a jug of milk into the fridge.
They finish unloading just around noon. Mydei whips up a quick lunch of bread, fish, and eggplant, and the two men end up sitting cross-legged on the living room floor while they eat.
Phainon has a stack of papers spread out on the floor between them, a safe distance away from any plates or utensils. He casually flips through them as he chews. Mydei casts a curious eye down on them.
"Is that for Aglaea?" The prince asks.
"Yeah." Phainon says absently. He flips to another page and squints. "She asked me to run some numbers for her. It's for the Chimeras and their expenses, or something." He squints some more, sighs through his nose, then reaches to the side and grabs a piece of bread to shove in his mouth.
Mydei pulls the pages closer to him and leans down over the papers. He hums, grabs a pencil, and makes a few notations on the pages.
"I can't believe she's trying to make you do administrative work." Mydei says as he pushes the pages back to Phainon.
Phainon groans. "I can't believe she's making me do it either. I just want to go and like, I dunno, farm out in the countryside or something." He adds a few scribbles of his own to the papers, then leans forward and nudges the papers forward, out of reach.
Mydei snickers. "That would be the day." The prince takes a bite of his own fish, then says. "If you'd like, you could accompany me when we start properly rebuilding Castrum Kremnos."
"I could?" Phainon whips around to stare at Mydei with stars in his eyes.
"HKS, of course you could." Mydei can't help but glance away. "Where else would you go?"
"I dunno." Phainon leans his head against Mydei's shoulder. The Deliverer nudges his empty plate away from himself. "Maybe stay behind in Okhema, writing you love letters like some pining maiden waiting for her husband to return home." He says the last part with a flourish.
Mydei barks out a laugh. "Well, no need for that. You are always welcome in Castrum Kremnos." He presses his cheek into Phainon's hair, then leans forward to collect the dirty dishes. Phainon climbs to his feet and takes the cutlery from Mydei's hands.
"We still have to visit that library of yours." Phainon says as he wanders away to the kitchen. Mydei collects Phainon's paperwork into a neat stack.
"It's located within the inner palace itself." Mydei says. "I'm sure some of it must have survived."
"I'm sure we can rebuild it like everything else." The sound of water running sounds out from the kitchen; Phainon sets down the dishes in the sink with a soft clank. "There must be many who'd be quite happy to offer up their expertise when it comes to reconstructing the Kremnoan language."
"Krateros would certainly be happy to." Mydei rises to his feet. He sets the stacks of papers on the dining table. "I could teach you at the same time, if we have to rebuild the dictionary." Phainon's laugh rings out from the kitchen in response. The kitchen faucet shuts off. The Deliverer wanders into the dining room and plasters himself against Mydei's back.
"Thank you." Phainon says, suddenly solemn. He buries his face in the crook of Mydei's neck and wraps his arms around Mydei's waist. Mydei reaches up a hand to run his fingers through Phainon's hair.
"What for?" Mydei says. "There will always be a space for you by my side, Deliverer." The prince turns his head to place a chaste kiss against the shell of Phainon's ear. Phainon makes a small whining noise.
"Thank you," He repeats. "For loving me. I love you too."
Mydei smiles softly. He tips his head against Phainon's, and the two stand there, pressed against the dining table, for a few quiet moments.
Eventually, Phainon's grip on Mydei loosens, and the Deliverer finally pulls away.
"Come on," Mydei huffs with a smile. He taps the stack of papers that are still in front of him with a finger. "We should get these to Aglaea." Phainon makes a small noise of complaint. He leans forward to press a kiss against Mydei's cheek and takes the papers. Hopefully Aglaea won't be too cross that Mydei had involved himself in Okhema's affairs again.