Chapter Text
Ewron still couldn't believe what they had achieved.
Just the previous day, he had still looked at Fariis as a very loudmouthed child. The teenager was strong, yes, but the way he antagonized Ewron particularly grated on the panda's nerves. The boy was also the one least pleased with the news that Pandziarz was actually in the Regime. In fact, he had been there before him.
Of course, Ewron was giving him the same energy back, but Ash was fed up with it. Not that he could blame him. Lately the tension in the Regime had been bothering even Ewron, and he was only there half the time. Tubbo was on some expedition, and the situation with Haiper was giving him a headache. Ash wouldn't tell anyone, but Ewron knew and had seen it all; the Regime supreme leader was taking it all hard. Ewron's potential death wasn't helping either…
So the panda decided to act maturely (for him) and simply avoided Fariis so they wouldn't argue. Ash didn't need that now.
So imagine his surprise when Fariis approached him in the Financial District the previous morning of his own free will. Lately, this had only happened when they were forcibly dragged to a meeting by Ash. Ewron would really like to know how it happened that Ash's most trusted people are The Cockroach, who publicly isn't even in Regime, and a kid who has impulse control of Ewron with TCG cards.
Anyway, in the morning, Fariis approached Ewron and began to say that he knew they'd had a rough start and things weren't going well, but he wanted to try to mend their relationship. You could feel how hard it was for him to say from a mile away. But that wasn't the most shocking part of the conversation. After that awkward truce, Fariis dropped a literal bombshell on Ewron. He knew the location of one of the Federation bases and wanted Ewron to go there with him. Of course, Haiper and Ash were originally supposed to go too, but something happened with Haiper today that he hadn't been informed about yet, and Ash had something urgent to attend to, so Ewron and Fariis ended up going on a reconnaissance mission as a duo. They decided to go after Juan’s welcome-back-from-The-Federation-torture-party. As they parted, they only promised Ash that they wouldn't do anything risky and would just look outside the base.
Panda won't hide the fact that he did think it was a trap. He had such suspicions until the very end. He hadn't been so happy to be wrong in a long time.
What ultimately happened exceeded both of their expectations. Not only did they bond along the way, but they finally had a heart-to-heart about the many problems that had arisen between them. Ewron will never forget Fariis's most adorable attempt at shovel talk. The poor guy still doesn't know how to approach Ewron and Ash's weird relationship (and he wouldn’t be the only one, Ewron thought). And, as the icing on the cake, they managed to break into the Federation building.
They didn't get very far, but they managed to find the prison cells. They found the Federation prison. Unfortunately, they didn't find Aldo, but the mere fact that they were there was monumental. Their trip might have been significantly longer because of this, and they might have been out of contact for several hours because, as it turned out, the Federation had some jammers, and they might have acted differently than they promised Ash, but in Ewron's opinion, it was worth it.
He hailed this mission as the most successful brother-in-law bonding exercise. When he told Fariis this, he got a jab in the ribs.
They reached Regim over a day and a half after their departure. They entered the members' residence in the early morning hours, laughing at some stupid joke of Ewron's. Since it was late (early?) and they hadn't slept yet, or eaten in about 12 hours, Ewron offered Fariis a share of the snacks he had stashed in his room, so they wouldn’t be catching up on some sleep on empty stomach. They hadn't expected to enter the panda's room and find Ash pacing around, muttering to himself.
At the sound of the door opening, he glanced up and, damn, he looked much worse than he had two days earlier. His clothes were wrinkled, not worn with the usual care. His black curls were disheveled, as if he'd been pulling at his hair. The dark circles under his eye were slowly matching Multi's, and his eye was bloodshot. He looked the picture of misery and despair. As soon as he registered who had entered, he was at their side in three strides.
They weren't going to lie,they were expecting Ash to probably give them a bit of a scolding for this action, but only in a few hours, under the controlled conditions of the meeting. Ewron noticed that poor Fariis had already tensed, ready for shouting. To their surprise, Ash didn't start screaming at them.
He hugged Fariis as if his life depended on it. The teenager didn't even know how to react, so his arms remained awkwardly at his sides as Ash pressed his head against his chest. Ewron was certain this was the most intense public display of emotion he'd ever seen from Ash, and that's why his worry increased dramatically.
“Ash…” he barely managed to say the taller one's name when Ash was directly in front of him.
Ewron didn't even notice when he released Fariis. Before he opened his mouth to say anything, Ash's hands were on his cheeks, and he was staring intently at his face. Not just his face, really. Ash scanned Ewron's entire body, as if searching for any wounds. When he found no obvious signs of harm, he let out a relieved sigh and dropped his head onto Ewron's shoulder. It was as if all the energy had suddenly drained from him. The panda, marginally better adapted to Ash's rare physical affection, gently wrapped his arms around him. If Ash was letting them both see him like this, it was bad. One glance at Fariis told Ewron that the younger had come to the same conclusion.
For a few moments, no one spoke. The only sounds in the room were Ash's heavy breathing and the chirping of birds waking up. Finally, Ash pulled away from Ewron and cleared his throat, preparing to speak. He didn't look much better, but at least he seemed calmer.
“Where were you?”
“Where?” Ewron was a bit lost. “You know where we were. We were supposed to investigate the Federation base that the brat found.” Panda noticed Fariis nodding vigorously, probably even more eager to avoid conflict than Ewron.
“I know where you were supposed to be! That's why the fact that you were supposed to return yesterday and I couldn't contact you was extremely disturbing!” Ash began pacing the room again, getting more and more aggravated with each word. “You went on a dangerous mission to a place where I couldn't help you. I could do nothing but wait for a sign of life! How was I supposed to know the Federation wasn't after you? How was I supposed to know they hadn't taken away the people most important to me again? How was I supposed to know you weren't lying there dead!?”
At the end of his monolog, the glitch on Ash's face, which usually covered only the left side of his it, grew and began to pulsate uncontrollably, as it always does when Ash experiences strong emotions. Ewron and Fariis looked at each other in guilt. Well, they're a little at fault. A tense silence reigned in the room. After a moment, Ash sighed and closed his eye for a moment.
“Please, tell me exactly what happened.”
And tell they did. They shared the story together, which probably shocked Ash a bit and improved his mood somewhat. However, this quickly changed when they reached the point where they decided to break into the Federation prison, and with each passing minute, Ash's expression grew more grim. When they finally finished their report, Ash's expression was something between anger and terror.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, this whole time hadn’t occurred to you that this might be a bad idea?”
“Well, it worked, didn't it?” Ewron replied, trying to smooth things over.
“Do you know how much risk you were in? Fuck, you still are? Please tell me no one saw you.”
“We didn't run into anyone, and it didn't look like there were any cameras there” Fariis interjected. “Ash, we managed to infiltrate the Feds' prison, we have photos of the inside and a way in. This mission is a complete success!”
“Yes, until it turns out there were cameras after all, and the Federation shows up on our doorstep and does to you what they did to Aldo and Juan!” Fariis backed away, chastised; he probably hadn't thought of it that way. “The Federation isn't afraid to take revenge and "punish" us. And they did it for much smaller offenses than this!”
“Ash” Ewron walked up to the taller one and placed a hand on his shoulder, forcing Ash to look him in the eye “if the Federation knew we were there, they wouldn't have let us out. I was literally in a cell at one point, remember? If they didn't do anything, it means they truly don't know. This facility looks unfinished, rushed into service. They probably really didn't have time to implement security measures. We made it, we're both safe, we have invaluable information. Now we just have to make sure no one finds out about this uninvited. Everything will be alright, Ash.”
Ash looked at Ewron as if trying to figure out if Panda was lying. If he was trying to deceive both himself and him. Ewron, exceptionally, didn't. He believed that if something were going to go wrong, it would have already gone wrong. Now he just needed his assassin to understand the same. Finally, after a few moments, Ash nodded stiffly.
“Maybe you're right.”
“Duh, I'm always right.”
“Shut up, Ewron,” both Ash and Fariis said simultaneously. To which Ewron could only think, Rude.
“Okay,” he said, clapping his hands. “Since the crisis is over, it’s about four in the morning, the brat and I haven't slept almost all day, and you don't look any better than us," he said, pointing at Ash. "We were originally planning to eat something quickly, but I don't know about you, kid, but I've lost my appetite for now."
“Shocking.” Ewron slapped him over the head with a quick wave of his hand. “Ow! Dick.” Ewron just stuck out his tongue in response. “But yeah, I'd rather go to sleep now.” He walked up to Ash and hugged him again. This time, taller one was a bit shocked, but he quickly returned the gesture. “Goodnight, Ash.” Fariis headed for the door, but before leaving, he paused for a moment, as if considering something. Before Ewron could even ponder over what else might be troubling the younger boy, his arms were also full of the galaxy-colored teenager. It was an even quicker gesture than Fariis's hug with Ash, and before Ewron could react, Fariis was already out the door. "Goodnight to you too." And he was gone.
“Wow.” Ewron hadn't been this lost for words in a long time.
“Maybe I should have sent you on a mission sooner, if this was the outcome,” Ash said, his gaze focused on Panda's happily wagging tail.
“I'll be surprised if you let us out of your sight after today,” Hybrid responded. Ewron had already recovered from his momentary shock and moved towards the closet. He had already started undressing when he realized Ash hadn't moved. “Aren't you going to bed?” He turned his head to Ash, giving him a small smirk. “Are you waiting for a show? Remember, I'm not cheap.”
However, he didn't receive any of Ash's usual reactions to his shameless behavior. The other man still looked as if his stability was hanging on by a thread. An idea for a solution to this problem popped into the hybrid's head. Ewron finished changing, walked over to Ash, and grabbed his hand.
“Undress so you're comfortable and jump into bed with me.”
“Wh-what?” Ash's face turned the color of Tomato's shirt. Panda's words clearly surprised him.
“Bread is on the hungry mind,” Ewron tilted his head slightly and gave him a smile. "No innuendo, my dear Assassin. I know you won't sleep tonight unless you have at least one of us around, so let's not beat around the bush. If you want, my bed is open,” he said, then released the other's hand and laid down on the bed with his back to Ash.
He gave Ash a choice, even though he knew he was right. If Ash decides he doesn't want to take up the offer because he's too awkward or embarrassed, he'll either not bat an eyelid or stand there like a creep in Fariis's room. Ewron admits that it would be easier for Ash to make this decision if they finally talked about what exactly they are. They both know this isn't just friendship anymore. They've both been dropping hints, testing the waters. Most of the Regime knows something's up. Ewron called today's expedition a brothers-in-law bonding mission. Unfortunately, Ewron knows they're both cowards afraid to face the truth.
So much time had passed that Ewron thought Ash had decided to be stupid and stubborn after all. Just as he was about to ask Ash to at least turn off the light if he didn't intend to sleep, he felt the mattress dip next to him. He smiled to himself, knowing he'd won. He felt an arm wrap around his stomach, and in a moment, his back was pressed against Ash's chest, the taller's face nestled in the crook of his neck. He shivered slightly as he felt the first breath on his skin, and he wrapped his tail around Ash's leg.
“Don't do something so stupid again when I can't save you,” Ash whispered. “I can't lose you too.”
Ewron didn't respond, just nodded gently and savored the sound of Ash's breathing, which slowly slowed until he finally fell asleep. Ewron promised himself that by the end of the week, he would finally address the elephant in the room. He knew Ash wanted the same thing he did, otherwise they would never have found themselves in this position and situation.
“Dobranoc mój wierny assasynie”
He drifted off to sleep, thinking about how he could humiliate Fariis (and, he hoped, Haiper again someday) with jokes about being with their brother.
In the chaos of returning and the bliss of falling asleep in the arms of the man he was ready to burn the world down for, Ewron completely forgot about the recording he'd left in the cell he was in. A certain dancing cockroach had completely slipped his mind. But nothing bad would happen, right? It was just a cockroach.