Lazy Afternoons

This beach trip wasn’t something Duelek had necessarily agreed to, nor was it something he’d have ever suggested himself, but when the vote turned a majority of three to one against him he’d known better than to complain about it.

The others had been excited about the trip, he hadn’t wanted to ruin any of that for them.

So instead he’d shrugged and let himself get swept into preparations, keeping his thoughts to himself of the distance they’d have to travel and just how long they’d be gone. He even, begrudgingly, accepted the crutch Mihal insisted on him bringing to use on the trip, knowing that his twin meant well and was only concerned over whether he’d make the journey with any kind of ease without the assistance.

Something Evander pounced on within seconds of the masked Weaver suggesting it. The traitor.

But used it he had and left the mountains they did, arriving at the beach-front after the better part of a week’s travel with Duelek’s slower pace.

And he supposed the beach was nice, that the sea breeze was fresh in a different way and the sound of the waves crashing had a certain beauty to them. Sand though? That could go straight to the depths.

The shifting, unstable substance was nothing less than difficult for him to stand on his own, near impossible to find a good purchase with his crutch and it meant that Duelek had been reduced to a slow crawl of walking whenever he tried to go anywhere on his own.

Which had led to the carrying thing. Which he still wasn’t talking to Evander after no matter what the great big sunning idiot wanted.

“Y-you c-cuh-can’t just ignore m-me foreuh-forever.”

Dueleke flipped a page of his book, tucked under the shade of the parasol his twin had set up to shade their little patch of beach before taking off with Orrin to go see the rest of the shore line. 

Was this an entirely petty and childish action? 

Yes. Did he care? No.

Ignoring the Robber was the name of the game.

“Cuh-come on,” Evander was whining in his own way; more of a grumbling than a whine but Duelek was still going to call it such. Especially when the Robber reached out to bat at his ankle with a lazy claw regardless of the collecting mist that bloomed at the action, flaring upwards and outwards as if that would do anything to deter him. “You’re just bee-bein’ s-stu-stupid now. I h-hah-haven’t even invited y-you into the w-wuh-wuh- into the sea yet.”

“I ain’t goin’ in the ocean.”

It’s a sharp statement, firm and unyielding and it catches Evander’s attention immediately, the Robber narrowing his eyes at Duelek as he lifted his head, peering at the Weaver even as Duelek curled tighter into himself.

“Th-that wasn’t like you.”

Duelek sank his fangs into his bottom lip, refusing to say anything on the matter and remaining a stiff, tense curve of spine, the ebbing of his tail startling still for once.

It doesn’t stop Evander from pressing himself between the Weaver and the book in his hands, an effort greatly assisted by the Weaver allowing himself to be moved and shifted so the Robber could lean against his front, his back kept relatively upright by the bag he was leaning against.

Eye contact was still a thing that was being avoided though. Duelek kept his gaze directed pointedly elsewhere than Evander not particularly up to-

“Alright.”

He blinked. Blinked again. Flicked an eye to Evander, one of his whiskers raising in an inquisitive line as he hummed a soft “what?”

“T-that’s alright,” the words were accompanied by a shrug as if it were that simple and Duelek only felt his brow furrow further at the other. “Look,” Evander sighed, reaching a claw up to the Weaver’s cheek, one of his fingers spread to ensure the nail of it was resting over the skull-shaped gem between Duelek’s eyes. “I’m n-not go-going to make you d-d--do someth-somtethin’ you d-don’t w-want to. I wouldn’t d-do tht t-t-to you.”

Duelek blinks at him a moment more, breathing a havy sigh and letting the tension bleed out of his shoulders. “I be knowin’ that, I be trustin’ ya that much.”

“Good,” Evander scoffed, pressing himself closer to the Weaver now that the parasol’s shade was blocked the sun that had been warming him since he’d returned from his dip in the ocean waves. “I-if you d-duh-didn’t then w-we’d have a p-pruh-problem.”

“Got ‘nough of those as is,” Duelek hummed, turning his face to nuzzle into the palm of Evander’s hand. “Like how ya ain’t just lettin’ me read none, got me the nice new book and now ya ain’t even gonna being ta let me enjoy it. Rude.”

“Gee-give it here and I-I’ll ruh-ree-read it.” Evander huffed, reaching out to the book the Weaver was still holding, brow furrowing when Duelek only held it further out of his reach. “Oh c-come on. Y-you’re not goin’ to s-suh-say anythin’ about my n-nah-narr- about how I r-read now, a-are you?”

“This ain’t a book ya should real be readin’ aloud in public spacings.”

Evander paused at his response, the empty space of where a nose should have been scrunching up. “I d-didn’t get you an e-e-erotic thing again, duh-did I?”

“No,” Duelek snorted, pulling the book closer so Evander could clearly see the bloody scene depicted on the back cover about the blurb. “One a them murder-mysteries, the real gorey ones.”

“Why d-didn’t you s-say so earlier?” Evander grumbled, pushing himself up to glare at the Weaver. “I w-wanted you t-to not be b-buh-bred. Not deal w-w-with somethin’ you h-hate.”

“I ain’t bein’ ta hate ‘em,” he shrugged the words, opening back to the page he was on and continuing to try to follow the narrative. “They’s just bein’ difficult, yeah?”

“Well how f-fuh-far are you?” Evander slumped back on top of the Weaver, the motion gentler than it might have appeared to outside eyes. “Maybe w-we ca-can s-switch them o-ow-out.”

“Not too far, only just real started.”

“Then what were y-you d-doing’ w-while I wuh-was s-swi-swimmin’?”

“Watching.” A simple admittance. He didn’t see anything wrong in saying that he’d been watching Evander in the ocean instead of focusing on anything else.

“W-what? Worried I w-wuh-was g-goin’ to d-dr-drown?” The scoff is haughty and amused, full of disbelief that the Weaver would even conceive of such a notion.

“Yeah a little.”

That stopped the Robber.

Evander lifted himself back up to his elbows, peering down at Duelek’s face and the genuine honestly of his answer.

“You’re stupid.” He declared after a moment, quiet and soft in a way that Duelek had firmly labelled as fond.

“Love you too,” He returned, rolling his eyes before tapping the empty nasal cavity on Evander’s face. “Now stop it, yeah? I’m tryin’ ta read.”

It looks for a moment that Evander’s going to say something more but instead he stays quiet, huffing to himself and settling back over Duelek, ear flattening over the thin, airy, open material of his shirt and a hand fisting in the thick fur at the Weaver’s hip.

Duelek waits a moment for the Robber to get comfortable, then another to see if Evander was going to say whatever thought he’d kept silent.

He doesn’t but it doesn’t stop the day from being a pleasant one, even if Duelek does huff and bristle at the fact he needed the Robber to carry him off of the sand when they all finished their sunning for the day.

~

The next day passed in a similarly lazy fashion, waking up late without any reason to need to be awake before the morning sun, though Duelek was sure if not for the promise of fresh fruit to work with for breakfast, Evander would have dragged him back into the warmth of blankets as quickly as he was able to.

After breakfast, closer to brunch really, they went their separate ways for a bit, Evander to enjoy the ocean and the heat of the sand beneath his talons while Duelek remained on steadier, firmer ground. He managed to get himself into some kind of basket weaving class which was an odd scenario to find himself in, odd but enjoyable but for the Eater he’d been sharing a work table with and seemed to grasp that his distracted, non-existent answers weren’t invitations to continue talking. The baskets were quaint things at least, not really something he could make back home in the Mountain Pass, but a nice craft to now have tucked away into the back of his mind all the same.

And it had felt good to accomplish something after the struggle he’d had even getting to the resort they were staying at, the beach-front and it’s wide expanses of sand and sea; the small victory was appreciated as a little bolster before he attempted to navigate the unsteady mess that was sand underfoot.

Or so Duelek had told himself before picking every possible excuse he could to avoid stepping off of wooden floorboards to the sands surrounding the cluster of buildings and deck.

Which was how Evander found him at the end of the day; lounging in one of the chairs set on the deck surrounding one of the buildings and reading in the low, lingering sunlight, content to bask and stretch his limbs out with something to focus the majority of his attention on. The fact that he had ensured the graphic scene depicted on the cover was going to be visible to whoever might have looked at him ensured that he’d been left alone, for the most part, unbothered by all but the most determined of friendly strangers and other kinds of unwanted attention.

A Robber striding over to him, dropping onto the chair next to him and stretching out along his side only strengthened the idea that he wasn’t someone to pay any mind to. A bonus to bringing Evander anywhere; it was easy to slip into the background while the more dramatic of them stole all the attention for himself.

Well earned of course. Anyone would be stupid to take their eyes off of a predator, to not give something dangerous the respect it was well due.

Evander chose that moment to yawn, the motion a slow, lazy thing that showed off his fangs in full before his jaw closed with a sharp, audible click and he rested his chin on Duelek’s shoulder, ignoring the way the Weaver recoiled at the waft of his breath.

“Least thing ya could do is warn a body before ya gonna breath dead fish on ‘em.”

Evander, as expected, rolls his eyes at the gripe, choosing to ignore him. “Hi.”

“Hey yaself,” he pauses a minute to think on if he wanted to wind his own arm around the Robber’s form before dismissing it. A bit too exposed, a bit too out in the open of the day for his comfort, later perhaps, once the night had set in with it’s strange, foreign warmth-chill and brightened darkness. “Ya enjoy ya day?”

“Sat in a ruh-reef for a f-f-few hours,” Evander had none of his reservations about whether anyone could see them or not and was steadily shifting until he could sprawl out on top of the Weaver, trapping Duelek in place heedless of the amused huff it got out of him. “The fuh-fish w-wuh-were pretty.”

“That’s sounding nice,” for Evander at least, Duelek couldn’t imagine being surrounded by water on all sides and not having the worst time in his life. “Glad ya having a nice time a things.”

“You?”

“Nothing too interesting like, mostly tried ta avoid being talked at all flirtatious like by some lonely folk, ya know?”

“I’m such-sure they have m-more taste than that.”

“Rude,” the word was spoken around a surprised laugh, the sound pulled from the Weaver’s chest, and Duelek’s book dropping against the empty space of Evander’s nasal cavity. “Be nice at me, know I ain’t matching up ta most but I gotta be worth at least a second glancing from some lonely bodies looking for any attention all desperate like, yeah?”

Evander furrowed his brows, stared up at Duelek a moment before answering with a short, simple “no.”

“There’s being goin’ all my prospects then,” the Weaver sighed, playful and enjoying the banter, leaning back comfortably into his seat. “Doomed ta being alone with your ass ‘till I die then I guess.”

“As i-if I’m g-guh-goin’ to share my h-he-heater.”

“You’re being the worst again.”

“I kn-know.”

“See iffin I make ya anything again then.”

“You will.”

“Ya can stop sounding so certain all the time, yeah? Save some for the rest a us.”

Evander huffs a sharp noise that might have been a laugh or might have been a scoff, Duelek couldn’t be sure, and settled against him more fully, pressing an ear to his heartbeat and going near dead limp. Thankfully he remembered that Duelek still had to breath and didn’t crush the Weaver’s lungs, small miracles.

He was a comforting warmth, a line of cool skin after the heat of the day, even if Duelek was sure there were people shooting glances towards them, setting his nerves alight with the want to move and escape somewhere else.

He wound his arm around the Robber then, sinking claws into salt-soaked hair and forced himself to breath through the feeling of eyes on him, turned his focus back to the book in his hand and let himself ignore everything but the scent of ocean waters and the familiar weight pressing him into the here and now.

It was a nice here and now, pleasant and safe with someone he cared about. What more could he want out of a day of rest?