Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Dawn arrived to the office at promptly half past nine in the morning with a cup of coffee in hand. Technically, she didn't need to be at the office until ten and if she arrived when her boss did then she didn't need to get there until about quarter till noon. But she liked being able to get her work done and ready so that once Anders walked through the door she could get started with the day. Not that she waited on him. If she did that the business would have gone bankrupt. But she caught on that things got done a lot quicker and more efficiently if she had papers ready to go for Anders to sign once he got to his desk so that she could file and mail them to wherever they need to go. Phone calls were written on a list in the order of importance- the ruder the people were the farther down they were in the list- and placed on Anders's phone. But the most important thing Dawn had learned over the years that created the most efficient work ethic from her boss was that the espresso machine was hot and ready for him to quickly make a shot of caffeine. She liked her coffee sweet and with a hint of caramel but Anders took his coffee straight and it was usually enough to keep him going until lunch time.
But mainly the reason she liked coming into work a little bit early was because of the quiet silence of the office. PR business was stressful and while she strived on the stress it was also nice to appreciate the early mornings. It was like the silence before the storm if you were into corny stuff like that.
So, when she walked through the door dropping her things off on her desk and rounding the corner it was only natural that her scream of fright would kill any semblance of quiet she as going to get that day. Anders jumped up with a yell and with a sharp tangle of legs and blankets fell onto the ground.
"Anders!" Dawn gasped hunching over and clutching a hand to her chest as her heart pounded thunderously. Anders groaned from beneath the mess of limbs and overthrown pillows before he cursed into the carpet. Pulling himself up and glaring at her through heavy eyes that clearly screamed that he need to still be sleeping, Anders rubbed at his face to wipe the tired look away. He didn't look like he had gotten a good night sleep in days.
"Are you sleeping here?" Dawn asked staring at the bundle of blankets in Anders's arms while he tossed it to hide in the space between the wall and the couch.
"For the time being, yes." Anders said quickly before rubbing his hands together.
Dawn tilted her head to the side and took in his disheveled appears. Blonde curls were unkempt on his head, heavy stubble along his chin, and a shirt that had seen better days was wrinkled along his frame.
"Have you been here all weekend?"
Anders opened his mouth to answer her when a brush of air breezed from behind her and Axl came into the office, long legs carrying him past her.
"I need your help."
Anders raised a brow but his younger brother beat him to the punch.
"You look like shit."
Dawn had to agree and the concern that filled her gut was making her lips pucker.
"Anders, do you need to sleep at my place?"
Axl turned to look at Dawn and then back at Anders with a strange look on his face before he said with that sort of out of breath tone,"Why aren't you sleeping at your flat?"
"No, Dawn, I'm fine." Anders said before turning to Axl. "And no particular reason. Just needed to stay away for a while."
"Why?" Axl drawled out slowly. Anders cocked a brow at his brother taking in the jittery movements of his body and the obscene hour of the morning that his baby brother never would have been caught dead awake at.
"How many energy drinks have you had, Axl?" Anders smirked. Axl stuttered a moment before giving an sheepish smile.
""Bout five."
"I thought so." Grabbing his phone Anders turned to Dawn with a smile. "I'm going to be out for a bit, Dawn."
And without waiting for another word the two were out the door.
Dawn glanced over again at Anders, whose shoulders were slumping further down, worried that he would drop into sleep and smack his face on the table at any moment. He had returned just before noon looking even worse than he did that morning and could only muster up enough energy to make himself his own cup of espresso. Maybe it was the way he had kept his thoughts to himself, she hadn't heard a single inappropriate hypothetical about a woman's breast all day, that had her worried but she found herself offering again.
"Anders, you're welcome to stay. I have a spare room."
"Thank you Dawn but I'm allergic to cats."
"I don't have a cat!"
And that had been hours ago. It was reaching the end of the day and she wasn't sure she had seen Anders eat anything other than the copious amounts of coffee. Even then it seemed her boss was past the point of the coffee actually helping. She was just about to insist that Anders actually get out of the office and go home when Henry strode purposely past her and up to Anders's desk. She had met the American a while back when Anders had forgotten his phone one day during lunch and she still couldn't stop the smile that formed on her face when he walked past.
"Up." Henry simply said. Frowning Anders stared at him confused. "Went by your apartment to raid your fridge. Now you get to sleep on my couch and if we leave now I can actually get something to eat before my stomach eats my insides."
"I'm fine!" Anders protested. He sent an accusing glare at Dawn who could only watch with amusement as Henry pulled Anders from his chair and ushered him around his desk.
"Yes but I'm not! I'm starving. So c'mon tough guy!"
Dawn could tell the coffee was wearing thin in Anders's system because he left the office grumbling under his breath muttering 'only wanting me for my cooking' and nothing else. Henry gave a smile to Dawn as they left.
Henry blearily walked through his apartment in the dark. His sweats started to slide down his hips and with a short yank he hopped to the front door.
"Look, ok. Everyone in New Zealand is very nice. But I get it! I'm welcomed-"
"Where's Anders?" The one in the middle asked cutting Henry off short. Leaning against the doorframe he blinked the sleep from his eyes and frowned. He eyed the man in the leather jacket for a moment, raising a brow at the other two, before he cleared his throat.
"Who wants to know?" He asked crossing his arms over his bare chest. He swears up and down that if Anders brought a bunch of Kiwi drug thugs to his doorstep they were going to have to have a conversation about bringing friends to the apartment.
"We know he's here." The darkest of the three said. A shiver ran down his spin and he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand tall. It didn't comfort Henry in the slightest.
"Look, I may still be a bit jet lagged but I'm pretty sure it's the middle of the night and I make it a habit to not to invite strangers into my house in the middle of the night. So, have a nice night."
Before Henry could close his door though, the tallest one shoved past the others and pointed a sword at Henry's face, the tip inches from his nose and making the blond go cross-eyed.
"Where," He grounded out between clenched teeth glaring at Henry. "Is our brother?"
"Jesus Axl!" The middle one hissed.
Henry's brows shot up and he dropped his defensive posture that Axl hadn't seen him pull on. He had been one step from fighting Odin.
"Oh," He said looking at Mike and Ty. Frowning back at the sword he batted it away with a finger. Axl swung it back to his face looking frustrated. This wasn't how he planned this rescue going. "You're the brothers. C'mon. He's in here."
Henry backed into his apartment waving them in.
"Give me that." Mike snatched the sword away from Axl before he followed Henry into the apartment.
Henry flicked on a light in the small kitchen that leaked enough into the living room for them to see. Anders slept like the dead on Henry's couch buried underneath a down comforter and didn't even stir as his brothers gathered in Henry's kitchen. Mike turned a glare onto Axl who was stuttering to say something, anything at all, before Mike turned to Henry.
"Sorry," He said before he dragged Axl from the house and out to a truck. Ty gave Henry an embarrassed smile before he followed after his brothers. Henry turned a mocking glare onto his sleeping housemate before he locked up and slunk back to bed.
"You fucking idiot." Anders's voice carried throughout the bar before they saw him and Axl swiveled in his stool to stare guiltily at his brother. Anders looked better than he had the day before, clean shaven and hair styled in place. He was wearing a t-shirt that was about two sizes too big and it swallowed him whole but it still looked like he had gotten a good night's sleep for the first time in a week. He also looked furious in that kind of way that showed his thoughts of wondering how his little brother could be so stupid at times onto his face.
"I'm sorry!" Axl mewled in his seat. He looked to Olaf and his brothers for help but they just shrugged and left him to face Anders.
"What the fuck were you thinking?"
"I don't know! But you said you weren't going back to your house and you were sleeping in your office."
"So you thought you were going to go all Rambo with a sword?"
"Shit." Axl gapped as he stopped on the sidewalk. He could only watch as a stranger manhandled an unhappy Anders into a car and drove off.
"I thought he was a drug dealer!" Axl cried in his defense.
"He's in advertisement you moron!" Anders shouted back.
"Look," Mike intervened with a passive waving of his hands. Leaning against the bar he looked at Anders. "Who the hell is he?"
"He's a friend."
Mike arched a brow. That wasn't something he had heard before and any "friends" of Anders usually meant trouble. "A friend?"
"Yes, Mike, a friend." Anders said defensively.
"And where did you meet this 'friend'?"
"I'm not answering your questions."
Olaf saw how agitated his grandson was getting through his buzz of his many beers and stood to try and pacify the situation. "I think the important thing is what are you going to tell him since Axl pulled a knife on him."
"A knife? The idiot pulled a bloody sword on him! You're just lucky he knows who you are or this would get a whole lot-"
"What?" Mike said catching Anders's slip.
"He was a god?" Axl asked over Mike. Usually he was able to sense other gods but last night he may have been more preoccupied with the thought that he and his brothers were going to have to pull Anders from a drug den to notice.
"Hercules." Anders nodded though he was clearly displeased with having to share the information.
"Whoa!" Olaf exclaimed. "How the fuck did you meet him?"
Olaf and Axl chatted excitedly away asking questions and not receiving answers from Anders but Ty caught the way Anders rubbed a tired hand over his face revealing just how exhausted he actually was before he crossed his arms over his chest still glaring daggers at them.
"That still doesn't explain why you were sleeping at your office."
The family grew silent and looked curiously at Anders. Anders sighed opening his mouth and closing it to chew on his words.
"My flat may have had a slight flooding problem."
"Shit." Axl gasped.
"Do you need a place to stay?" Mike sighed.
"Gee with that invitation? I think I'll pass. Thanks Mike." Anders's words had a bite to them that made Ty give an impatient eye roll. "I have to get back to work. Stop threatening my friends with swords!"
He pointed at Axl before he stormed out of the bar, leaving his brothers to sulk over their drinks.
Dawn typed away at her computer only to look up when a bottle of wine was placed on her desk. Henry smiled down at her and gave her a playful wink that didn't send her rolling her eyes because Henry was just a flirt before he moved into the office.
"Let's drink this in one sitting and I will show you the amazingness that is Rocky."
Anders sneered up at Henry in distaste but Henry just waved one finger from the bottle he was holding with a frown. "Don't make that face! Don't do it! That's my childhood you're making that face at. I saw Rocky and went out to start a fight and got my ass kicked. It was awesome."
Anders snickered and took the bottle of wine from Henry looking at the label.
"Cherish this memory with me!" Henry continued. Anders looked up at him for a moment before he stood.
"You know me." He shrugged. "But I'm not watching Rocky."
Anders waved to Dawn as he left followed closely by Henry who shared a knowing smile with her.
"His flat should be able to move back in on Wednesday." She said and Henry nodded.
"You know where to find him if you need him then." And with one last wink followed his friend.
a/n: Feed the muse