The morning light diffused through the curtains woke Remus gradually. He blinked a few times to the darkened room before yawning and looking around the room. Everyone was in bed. Virgil was between Damien and Remy, and Remy was curled up next to Remus. He had to admit Remy's quiet lullaby actually helped him fall asleep, even though he still felt restless. Remus slept like a rock, even. Remus slipped his pillow into Remy's arms and covered him back up promptly to trap the heat in with them. Remy grumbled and pulled Remus's pillow tight, but he kept breathing evenly.
Remus headed to the bathroom quietly. He didn't think he'd wake them up, but Remy's hangover would be ferocious and Virgil and Damien were probably still drained from yesterday and he didn't want to risk any of them waking. Remus washed his face in the small bathroom. The cool water finished waking Remus up, and he slipped moisturizer on the ends of his twists lazily. After a wide yawn, he changed out of his pyjamas and finished up in the bathroom. Remus was thankful Remy stayed up with him last night. He knew Roman was alright, he could feel that instinctually. But last night was hard, and he needed the company.
He slipped on his stole and headed over to the kitchens. He wondered if Thorn and Morgan were okay. Remy did drink them under the table while they sat under a table, in the very iconic way he did things. A spirit walked side by side with him down the hall, leaving a trail of energy behind him. He wasn't sure what type of spirit this one was. The elemental ones were easy to figure out, but the rest were more subtle. He thought that maybe this wasn't the first time he'd seen this one. He wasn't positive, but he could have sworn it was the first one he saw after he opened his eyes when the dragons gave him his gift.
"Y'following me around?" Remus asked curiously. The spirit paused for a moment before continuing forward. Right. The spirits only speak Draconian. Spirits understood concepts, though, right? They sent concepts and images most of time. If he just sent it as a mental message and projected it like they had been practicing with each other, then maybe he could get it to change its form so Remus would recognize it easier.
Remus paused and did his best to just think of a simpler form Remus could look out for. He didn't know why he picked a ferret, but he did. He focused on nothing but the idea of a ferret and that spirit for a moment before continuing forward. The spirit must have gotten the picture because a ferret scampered forward next to him. He had no guarantee the spirit would stick with this form, especially since ferret was already loosely defined as the energy shifting about. Hopefully, now he can see it if continued to follow him and could answer the question himself.
"Hey, everybody," Remus greeted them brightly as he stepped into the kitchen, waving his hand.
"Oh, Sir Remus! Thank the Dragons, can you please help? People might have celebrated your birthday a little too enthusiastically and we're a few hands short," Flora explained hastily, calling from the stone ovens. Remus went to go wash his hands right away.
"Sure," Remus called back, heading over to a counter with the baskets and pulling out a washed sweet potato. "How we feeling about home fries for these sweet potatoes?" He suggested. They should be easy to cook up en masse, and cubing them was easy to space into and do mechanically while he watched the spirits.
"Great!" Flora called back, sounding distracted. Remus went to grab a grater and worked on cutting the sweet potatoes into even pieces.
"Good morning, Sir Remus," Felton said tiredly and came up next to him, pulling out a green bell pepper to chop up for breakfast.
"Drink too much last night?" Remus asked, watching Felton move sluggishly.
"Who didn't?" Felton laughed with a slight yawn. "I don't know how you do it," He rubbed his face on his shoulder while he continued slicing the pepper.
"I've got the constitution of a dragon," Remus stated proudly.
"Y'know, that's not that surprising," Felton laughed, scraping off seeds before dicing up the bell peppers.
Remus filled a few enormous bowls with potato shreddings before helping with juicing and watering down the fruit juice with breakfast. Making food for a couple hundred people every morning was always an event. He even got out the frozen chicken broth from the freezer to heat, because a few people went a little too hard last night. It flattered him that all those people were celebrating his dumb birthday so hard they got sick.
He helped Damien run the compound relatively often, but sometimes he still felt like he was an outsider here. Virgil said the feeling might go away with time. He felt the same way often. More people here knew his name, talked to him, and cared about him here than the number of people he interacted with in the seventeen years he wasted outside of here, so he knew the feeling wasn't based on reality. He was used to being a loner for so long. It was hard to believe he had friends and got along with people here.
Flora let Remus get the first pick of the food for helping. He got a tray of loaded eggs, hash browns, fruit, and extra bread along with everyone's drinks. Nobody questioned that he was bringing Damien's meal to him. They were used to Remus grabbing it on days where Damien slept in by now.
They were gossipy sons of bitches, but nobody seemed to catch on to the fact that Damien stayed in their room sometimes. That would be all over the compound if it got out. Damien could and was free to do so, technically. But it wasn't how things were done normally, especially with a non-seer in the room. It was lucky they didn't share that hall with many people, even if it was by design.
He followed the spirit down the hall towards their room. The spirit ferret had ecstatic vibes about Remus being back with them. Damien explained that the spirits he saw right now were ones that wanted to be seen and that even though he now had spirit vision by default, he'd still have to practice to see more. He wondered if the ferret friend wanted something or just was lonely. The ferret went right through the door in a puff of glowing smoke and Remus turned around to push the door open with his butt. He placed the tray on the table and set it for the four of them.
"Hey nerds, breakfast," Remus knocked on the wood bed frame. Virgil jumped in surprise and Remy woke up more blearily. Damien was still asleep, somehow, despite the bed shaking from the loud knock. Virgil rolled over to give Damien a hug before sitting up, waking up Damien in the process.
"Hm?" Damien blinked awake and rubbed his face. "Good morning," He muttered tiredly,
"You got me like, so much toast and butter, right?" Remy grumbled, squishing his face aggressively into the pillow before sitting up gradually.
"So much. Come on, toast is best fresh," Remus held out his hand and helped Remy out of the massive bed. Remy grumbled and wandered into the bathroom while Virgil and Damien slogged their way to an upright position.
"I am… so fucking drained," Virgil sighed, leaning against the headboard. The dark shadows under his eyes looked huge, and Remus felt for the poor gremlin.
"You wanna try the energy transfer thing?" Remus offered, holding up his hand and wiggling his fingers.
"Nah, I'd rather you be able to carry my ass if I blackout later," Virgil chuckled weakly, waving Remus off.
"You weigh as much as a sack of potatoes, I'm not worried about it," Remus rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Virgil still rebounds most things, you can try again another time after he's better at opening up," Damien shook his head and rubbed his face.
"Opening up is hard," Virgil whined, shifting to get out of bed. He headed into the bathroom with a series of grumbles. It looked as if Virgil and Remy were vibing on the bitter wavelength.
"How about you, D, need a boost?" Remus held up his hand again. Damien didn't look as corpse-like as Virgil did, but it was only fair to ask.
"No, I'll be fine after breakfast, I think. Virgil took most of the hit during the ritual. I think his practice opening up might have made him a little more susceptible to the dragons, which is a mixed bag. It's usually the opposite according to the journals, it's easier to open up to others than the dragons," Damien raked his fingers through his hair.
"Maybe Virgil just vibes with dragons better than people. I mean, that's a fucking mood," Remus hummed, glancing to the bathroom. "You think after breakfast you can tell me what kind of spirit has been hanging around me? I'm curious. It's not elemental," He asked, pointing to the loosely defined ferret running through the air. Remus wasn't taught whatever vibes this spirit had when they went over the basics. It seemed friendly, whatever it was.
"If I have the energy, I don't mind looking into it," Damien nodded to Remus and headed over to the bathroom. He leaned against the wall until Remy came out. Remy plopped down in a chair at the table and took a sip of the orange juice. Remus went to go join him at the table as he stared in on his grand breakfast feast.
"How's the hangover?" Remus asked as he slathered the toast in the fresh butter.
"Not the worst. I had lots of water," Remy shrugged, though he was clearly more fucked up than that. Remy went hard with Remus after Virgil and Damien left. "No loud noises or bright lights, still. I already took off work, so I'll be fine as long as I don't face the summer sun," Remy shook his head sluggishly, also going for the toast first. "Hey, it's nice in here now. For people not hungover, anyway. But, like, how do they deal with the whole heat situation in the winter?" He asked curiously, then took a small bite of toast.
Remus finished chewing his food before responding. "Hot water bottles, woolen blankets, and thick clothes. There're fireplaces in all the dormitories, but this room got retrofitted so we don't have a fire. No chimney for it. Damien's room does, so we can always camp out in there," Remus shrugged. He hadn't thought about that before, but it was a sound plan. "Virgil's birthday might have some shitty half-frozen hangovers, though," He glanced up as he considered it. That sounded unpleasant. Maybe they should get high, instead.
"Actually, me and V were joking last night about how much of a riot it would be if I was also declared Damien's consort. Maybe we could just move into his room if we do, other than watch the chaos that ensues," Remy tapped his fingers together as if he was scheming evilly. Remus hummed curiously at Remy while he rolled his fingers.
"You're having fun being the center of good gossip for once, huh?" Remus smirked and enjoyed another large bite of breakfast. They'd need to make an even bigger bed.
"Oh, it's magical," Remy grinned and took another bite of toast. "Mm, home fries," He hummed and scooped a few cubes of sweet potato on his toast.
"Hhh," Virgil groaned as Damien shoved Virgil out of the bathroom. Virgil stumbled and shot Damien a brief glare before looking resigned.
"Quit being a baby and eat breakfast, Virgil," Damien rolled his eyes as he herded Virgil to the food.
"I got you fruit, Virge, don't worry about it," Remus consoled him and Virgil perked up and headed over to the table, grabbing the fruit slices right away as he sat down.
"Fruit won't hurt me. Fruit's the best," Virgil mumbled and shoved a cut of peach in his mouth.
"Being afraid of food is ridiculous, Virgil, just ask the dragons what it is you can't eat," Damien scoffed as he sat down on the chair heavily, and leaned on the table.
"That seems like… wrong. Isn't that like… a paltry concern for dragons? What stuff gives Virgil a tummy ache or doesn't?" Remy furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Virgil nervously.
"They look out for their own and we encourage befriending them. I happen to get along famously with—" Holy fuck, how did D's tongue even do that? Everyone just stared at Damien after that out of nowhere utterance of Draconic.
"Yeah, I don't think I can pronounce that without a forked tongue," Virgil shook his head in defeat. Virgil was doing better at learning Draconic than Remus was, and he could definitely relate to that idea. Plus forked tongues were just cool.
"Ream's a legal adult, why don't you take him to a tattoo shop in town?" Remy offered tiredly, motioning with his toast as he leaned on his arm and munched languidly at it.
"We have a piercer here who can research the methods during the next season of the wind. But why Remus?" Damien asked curiously. Virgil shoved another peach slice in his mouth, looking away. Remy's eyes widened, and he swallowed his toast hard.
"Ream's constitution is better," Remy attempted, but it was probably already obvious something was up to Damien. Remus sighed and slumped on his arm, eating some eggs sideways on the table. Curse Damien's stupid natural vibes-reading powers. Virgil can be hard to read on his own, and Remus was great at staying zen enough to not register for Damien as something being off. But Remy's emotional vibes were loud and clear, and there was no avoiding that. It was inevitable, but Remus had hoped they'd be all be eighteen before it happened.
"Virgil lied about his age, didn't he," Damien deadpanned and Virgil sputtered on his peach, coughing hard. Remy panicked and patted at Virgil's back, but Virgil waved his hand to signal that he was okay.
"Yeah… we might have all lied about our ages," Remus shrugged in defeat. "You know why there's no way we're letting Remy go back to his dad, right? He's eighteen in a few weeks and can easily pass as an adult," Remus added hopefully, looking to Damien and chewing the inside of his cheek.
"I… am painfully aware," Damien flinched when Remy winced and rubbed his face. Fuck, Remy still can't handle his dad getting mentioned. Remus shot Remy an apologetic look, but Remy was staring blankly at the table and didn't see. Virgil fussed over Remy with a concerned expression when Remy's breath hitched.
Virgil took Remy's hand when Remy put his toast on the tray and held his head. Remus hoped Virgil had it handled. Virgil whispered something in Remy's ear and it helped him calm down, but Remy pulled Virgil in for a hug that might have been squeezing too hard. It seemed Virgil tolerated it just fine, though, other than a wince. He was clearly more worried about Remy than breathing at this point.
"Virgil's just a few months out now. There's nobody at his house and he doesn't do so well alone, Double D. Like… he used to cut if we left him alone too long kind of bad," Remus informed Damien darkly, stabbing at his eggs with the wooden fork. Virgil couldn't keep that hidden from Damien forever, and he figured he may as well rip off that bandaid. Remus would try anything to convince Damien to not send Virgil or Remy back.
"Ream!" Virgil squeaked angrily, flushing bright red in the ears. Remy was still squeezing Virgil tight, burying his head the best he could into Virgil. Teddy-bear Virgil was completely incapable of retaliating right now, and Remus was counting on that. Virgil could be mad at Remus all he wanted, as long as he was still here to do it.
"Virgil!" Damien looked with concern to him, gripping his hands on the table.
"I know! Sacred! Take care of the vessel! I didn't know I had freaking dragon powers, okay! I just knew my parents hated me and got caught up in my head! Sorry!" Virgil explained rapidly. Remus heard Remy's breath was picking up again. Come on, Damien. He knows he shouldn't. He can easily check. Damien needed to tell Remy he was safe. Remus knew Damien could feel it. Damien's fingers slipped through something unseen in the air off to the side with a pensive expression.
"So if we returned them to their families like I legally should…" Damien sighed in resignation, his normally impeccable posture drooping.
"Not the best idea. Virgil can't cook, so he'll just go back to eating garbage and being depressed," Remus shook his head. He didn't want to even mention Remy, so he didn't make things worse for the imminent panic attack. It seemed like he was barely hanging on as it is.
"I can't believe you bastards made me technically a kidnapper," Damien rubbed his face in annoyance. "Fine. Out of respect for Remy and Virgil's agency and concern for their safety, I will not have someone return them to town," Damien said bitterly. "Please don't spread this information. I will feign ignorance and Virgil and Remy are eighteen, and you are nineteen. Nobody is leaving. I would rather you be safe, even if I have to commit crimes," He declared firmly. Remy relaxed a little and Virgil took a deep breath in relief. Finally.
Damien got up from his seat and walked around the table to Remy, putting his hand on the free shoulder. He pulled at something invisible with a quick jerk. Remy slumped, releasing Virgil from his death grip. He looked exhausted, but his breathing was even and gentle, now.
Virgil pressed a kiss to Remy's forehead and Damien reached around to hug Remy's shoulders before going back to his seat. Remy mumbled his thanks and Virgil moved his plate and chair, sitting right against Remy. There was a pause of silence while all three stared at Remy. Remy took Virgil's hand again and shot Damien and Remus a tired smile.
"I'm okay, now," Remy reassured them, reaching to pick up his toast again.
"Keeping our ages under wraps was the plan, Rem's just hungover," Remus chuckled lightly. He was still nervous about Remy, but Damien knew what he was doing. Remy was already relaxing today, so hopefully, he'll be better later.
"Yeah… whoops. I won't talk to anyone else until the hangover passes," Remy replied sheepishly, taking a bite of toast. Okay, yeah, Remy seemed okay. Remus took a bite of his eggs now that he could focus on literally anything else but being concerned that Remy might have a panic attack.
"The uh, dragon's milk healed all my scars, if that makes you feel any better," Virgil offered weakly. He held up his arm and yanked down his sleeve with his sleeve to show Damien his wrist. Damien leaned forward to look. The skin was clear and smooth, like it had been for a while now. Virgil still just preferred long sleeves out of habit or something. The mood in here was still weird, even if Damien fucked with Remy's energy to cut off the bad vibes.
"In a strange way, it does," Damien sighed, glancing at Remy once more before looking to Virgil, who was twisting his arm back and forth to wriggle the sleeve back down. "Please never do that again," He looked to Virgil sadly and put his hand on Virgil's shoulder.
"I've got all of you, I won't. I haven't even thought about it. I'm not alone anymore," Virgil shook his head sullenly. There was a pregnant pause of awkwardness in which they pushed at their food, and Virgil looked defeated.
"So… double D?" Damien asked curiously, arching an eyebrow and clearly trying to change the subject to something lighter.
"Dragon Damien!" Remus beamed, happy to take the opportunity to talk about anything else. Virgil hurting himself was horrible to think about, even without it being the first massive fight they got into. The spirit ferret scampered across the wall behind Damien, and Remus watched it curiously. "I'm down with getting a forked tongue, by the way," He added, getting back to the original topic they got distracted from with their half-assed age shenanigans.
"We don't have a doctor or strong antibiotics. I'm not a fan of the risk," Damien replied flatly, lowering his eyebrows.
"Can we use some dragon milk? I just have to put up with the pain once and it could heal me up overnight," Remus suggested, holding up a finger.
"It's an experiment to better serve the dragons, so it might fall under sacred purposes," Virgil added distractedly, still keeping a close eye on Remy.
"I suppose it wouldn't take much to just heal your tongue," Damien mused, but he didn't sound sold on the idea. Gathering dragon milk was a fucking event, so it was rationed carefully. Virgil and Remus won't even start learning the stuff they need to know to start for years. Even Damien wasn't that practiced at it.
"If it works, I'm down," Virgil shrugged, picking at his peach. "I'll, uh, ask the dragons about the food thing and stop being stubborn about it. I'm sorry, D," Virgil sighed, sounding completely beat. Remy reached up and ruffled Virgil's hair affectionately.
"Hiding in the shower from breakfast isn't ideal, no," Damien rolled his eyes and leaned on the bridge of his fingers. "Thank you. Are there any other secrets I should know about?" He asked tiredly.
"I'm going to use Remy to test my modernized adaptations of the texts," Virgil offered meekly, picking at his toast.
"Flora's been having me temp in the kitchen because I'm good with knives," Remus admitted between bites of food.
"I don't have any issues with either of those," Damien exhaled in relief loosened up to pick up his eating utensils. "Remy is a good candidate for that as someone with no familiarity with the material. Does that mean you might try to be an acolyte in the future?" He looked to Remy expectantly.
"Um, yeah. Later, though. I've got some personal shit to deal with first," Remy shook his head. "I'd rather go into it ready instead of scared if that's okay," He added quietly, tapping nervously at the table.
"Of course it's all right," Damien smiled reassuringly. Remy shot him a smile and looked back to his plate. He seemed to consider something for a moment before looking back to Damien with an impish grin.
"Oh, and we want to declare me as your consort to see the gossip explosion," Remy suggested more playfully. Damien froze for a moment, looking surprised.
"Mm, that would be an event," Damien purred with delight, looking incredibly pleased with the idea already. "I have to admit, I'm very intrigued by the prospect. I'll ask—" Oh fuck, he did that tongue thing again when he said a dragon's name. "—what they think about it. I'm still not interested in a relationship any further than platonic, just so you know," He added, tilting his head.
"That's fine, I get plenty of romance from my starry eyes," Remy said teasingly and Virgil blushed as Remy kissed his temple. "We already cuddle and hang out, so other than me having to follow the fancy manners and being allowed to touch you outside the room, it would be pretty similar," He shrugged dismissively. Remus wasn't surprised Remy would be interested in being closer with Damien with how well they were getting along these days. Remy just picked at food again, glancing at Damien.
"I still think it's so funny Remus was so unable to keep his hugs to himself that we had to declare Remy his consort, too," Virgil chuckled, shooting a cheerful look at Remus. "Not that you two don't already have chemistry or anything," He added, glancing between Remus and Remy.
"Eh, I'm like D. Sex and romance aren't really my thing. I like the idea of 'em and I don't mind getting them, but they're not something I'm looking for. But we should kiss sometime just so you haven't kissed my brother more than you've kissed your cultmate," Remus laughed and pointed with his fork, making a kissy face. Remy made one back before Damien loudly objected.
"For the love of the dragons, please stop calling it a cult. I don't care if it's technically accurate through the secondary definitions, it does not give us the best image. We're a religious sect that follows the natural laws of the dragons," Damien groaned, smacking his hand on the table. Remy jumped, but he was still smirking at Damien's outburst.
"Yeah, sectmate sounds dirtier," Remus said pointedly, and Virgil nearly choked on a peach slice again, but he caught himself before he did with just a single cough.
"Not that I'm opposed to you two kissing, but please warn me if you do," Virgil whispered, looking intently at his plate with a conflicted expression.
"What, does Vi-Vi also want Remus smooches?" Remus teased and blew Virgil a kiss.
"No comment!" Virgil shot, sitting up straighter and looking worried. "I don't want to be sappy and other shit with you. I just don't think… I'd mind a kiss on the cheek. Whatever. This is dumb. Feelings are dumb, I hate everything," Virgil huffed and buried his face in his hands. Remy sighed affectionately and gave Virgil a side-hug. Damien leaned on his arm and nodded in agreement, sharing a look with Remus.
"I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that nonsense," Damien sighed wearily, watching Virgil be embarrassed to hell with a tired expression.
"Platonic friend kiss maybe if we feel like it, but we don't have to and it doesn't have to be a thing," Remus tried re-wording it just to save Virgil from his powerful blush and conflicted vibes.
"Yeah, that. I'm so glad you get me because this is so fucking awkward," Virgil groaned, slumping back in his seat.
"Everybody knows you're a super affectionate ball of hate, V," Remy said playfully and pulled him close to kiss his head again. Virgil exhaled hard and his bangs shifted from the air.
Damien leaned in on his arms and raised his eyebrow, looking at Virgil curiously for a moment before smirking with a flirtatious expression. "Does that mean you also want to kiss me, Virgil?" Damien crooned and Virgil jumped and tried to hide in Remy's shirt, and his whole face looked red. It must have tickled because Remy giggled as Virgil buried himself in fabric. Damien laughed heartily and went back to eating, looking very amused.