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The thunder crashed outside, and Martyn couldn't be more thankful that he was curled up under a thick blanket in front of a crackling fire instead of out there. Technically, he should be. He was the king's guard, which meant he should be standing outside the door, keeping watch, and getting absolutely soaked. Luckily the king was "rather fond" of him, and had refused to let him stay outside. He'd said that Martyn could guard him equally well from his side, which was definitely not true but not an argument Martyn was going to make. Not when Ren's side was his favourite place to be.
"Some more wine, my love?" Ren asked, wandering in from his kitchen with the open bottle they'd been working their way through. His crown was gone, hair a mess from their making out session earlier in the evening, and all his finery traded in for some comfortable pyjamas. Martyn had never seen anyone so gorgeous.
"Yes please." He offered his glass out, laughing as the king filled up his glass and leaned in to press a kiss against his lips. They did their best to be subtle outside of closed doors - their best wasn't very good, Martyn knew for a fact that the entire royal guard knew, if not the entire court - but inside of Men's rooms they didn't have to keep up pretences, or act like they weren't crazy for each other.
It was as Ren started pulling away, and Martyn tried to grab him to keep him close, that Martyn registered the noise outside. He was moving before he had registered it, pushing Ren away and drawing his sword. There were many things he expected when he threw the door open - a pool of blood, a crowd of assassins, a weapon ready to be pointed at his king's head - what he wasn't expecting, was a fae.
Soaked to the bone, covered in some kind of fluorescent looking powder, kneeling on the floor in front of the door. His long blue hair was tied into a plait down his back, wilted flowers woven throughout. His clothes looked like they'd probably once been fine, but were now ripped enough that if Martyn wasn't viewing him as a threat, he would probably be blushing and looking away. There was no trail of water or that strange powder on the floor around him. The noise Martyn heard must have been some kind of portal, or teleportation spell.
Ren let out a loud gasp, rushing forward and being stopped at the last minute by Martyn's arm blocking his path.
"Martyn! He's hurt!"
"He could be a trap," Martyn growled, noticing how the fae's ears twitched. "He's in your castle, out of nowhere. Acting hurt to get people's guards down is literally the oldest trick in the book."
"Martyn."
Uh oh. That was Ren's no-nonsense 'I am the king you will listen to me' voice.
"I know your job is to keep me safe, but right now there is an injured person outside that door and you're telling me that you're too paranoid to help them?"
Yes, quite honestly, but Martyn doubted that Ren would appreciate that answer. The fae didn't have any reason to attack Ren, but people rarely did. Ren was a kind and good ruler, but there was always someone in the world who was unhappy and willing to throw a dagger at Ren's head about it.
The fae on the floor made a high pitched whining noise, his body starting to shake and his skin getting noticibly paler. Martyn was prepared for Men's next push forward and forced him back again.
"Fine," he said, knowing that he couldn't win this fight. "But you will stay here until I confirm it's safe." He waited for Ren to nod - something he did very quickly, his eyes locked onto the shaking fae - and then slowly stepped out the room. He expected an ambush. He expected some kind of curse the second he touched the fae.
He didn't expect a weak "please", or the way the fae suddenly stopped shaking, going limp, the second Martyn touched his arm. He waited a moment, nothing further happening, before he pulled the smaller creature into his arms and slowly - still paranoid - carried him into Ren's room.
Still nothing happened.
"Put him on the sofa, quickly," Ren told him, grabbing blankets out and creating a nest of sorts for the fae to go in. His eyes were partially open, Martyn noticed, glazed and unaware, but his ears still twitched at every noise.
Martyn placed the fae down, pulling away to start gathering water and supplies - and double check that this wasn't some kind of distraction - but frozen when the second he pulled away the fae whined and started shaking again, his eyes rolling back in his head.
"Hey!" Ren shouted, his hand grabbing the fae's shoulder. He instantly settled, eyes fluttering back open.
"What the hell?" Martyn frowned. He didn't know anything about fae, but that was definitely not a good sign.
"The pollen," Ren breathed, frozen in place as his eyes flickered up and down the fae. Martyn didn't know what was so important about the powder - the pollen - but Ren was looking at it like it was a bad thing and seeing as the fae was covered in it, and both Martyn and Ren were now covered in it too, Martyn was starting to panic.
"Ren. What is it?"
"Nothing you need to panic about." Ren read his worries easily. Though even knowing Martyn's concern didn't stop him from grabbing a blanket with one hand and joining the fae on the sofa, pulling the creature against his side - perfect stabbing placement - covering himself with more of the pollen and wrapping the blanket around them both. "It can't hurt us. It only affects creatures from the fae rhelm."
Martyn let out a sign of relief, glad that this new threat wasn't one after all. "What does it do?"
"Drains his magical energy," Ren replied quietly, his hand coming up to stroke the fae's hair. The creature clearly liked it, melting impossibly further into Ren, boneless against the king. "It can't do anything with me here, because the natural magic of our world opposes it."
"So that's why he's all…" Martyn gestured at the fae, unsure how to put into words the way he looked about one stiff breeze away from death. He was clearly still listening to their conversation, saying such things probably wouldn't be very helpful.
"Mostly, though he was seemingly attacked first. Possibly hit by the pollen on purpose." Ren's tone was dark and familiar. It had been a long time since Martyn had heard it directed towards anyone but himself. In any other situation he would definitely be teasing Ren about getting attached, but now maybe wasn't exactly the time. "We'll have to wait for him to get his strength back to tell us more."
Martyn spent a bit of time busting around Ren's room, letting the king work his new possessive feelings out before he tried to interrupt. He knew that Ren loved him, would never see him as a true threat, but Martyn had pointed a sword at the fae several times and tried to stop Ren helping him, so with the speed that Ren had taken the fae in he might be feeling a little sensitive.
Eventually though, he figured he'd given Ren long enough and it was time to actually start helping. Martyn didn't know much about this pollen stuff, but surely washing it off would help? And getting some clean clothes onto the fae would definitely help.
"Ren," he said gently, his hands by his side and his sword left by the door. Unthreatening. Here to help.
"Martyn, come here," Ren requested, holding a hand out to pull Martyn into the cuddle pile.
"Not yet," Martyn stepped out of reach. "I'm going to take the fae into the shower. The pollen won't do anything if I'm holding him, right? And washing it off will be a good idea?"
Ren frowned, but nodded, his hold on the fae tightening.
"You'll need to get changed, and get some clothes for him too." Martyn pointed out. "Also as soon as he starts getting better, he's going to be registered by the wards. You need to make sure he's registered as welcome, that's above my paygrade." His final point is what made Ren move, releasing his hold on the fae and hesitantly handing him over to Martyn.
"Thank you," Martyn hummed, adjusting his hold so that the fae was secure and heading towards the bathroom before Ren could change his mind.
He knew that he could leave Ren to sort all of that out. Ren wouldn't stop until he was satisfied that the fae was safe. Martyn made sure the water was warm before he pulled off the fae's clothes - "I know, I'm sorry, we need to get all the pollen off you" - and stepped under the water. He tucked the fae's head against his neck so the water wouldn't get into his eyes, whispering soothing nothings into the quiet.
"You're going to be okay. Ren has claimed you as his now. He'll tear the world apart to keep you safe."
"Scott." he almost missed the quiet word, lost under the water and Martyn's own humming.
"Did you just say Scott? Is that your name?" Martyn adjusted the fae, pleased to see more colour in his cheeks and more awareness in his eyes. "Hello, Scott. I'm Martyn."
"Martyn." Scott's eyes started drooping again, his head resting on Martyn's shoulder. Still, that awareness had been there, Ren was going to be overjoyed when he got back.
He carried Scott back out once he was sure he was free of pollen, finding warmed towels and clean clothes laid out for them - two sets of Ren's most comfortable pyjamas.
Martyn didn't know what Scott went through to end up here. He didn't know how long it would take for him to get better, and regain some of his strength. He didn't know what the future held. What he did know was that Ren's clothes were unfairly comfortable and he and Scott were going to go back to the living room and Ren was going to fuss over them. They were going to wait until Scott was feeling better and then ask him what happened and how they can help.
They were going to be alright. Ren would make sure of it.