Harv woke up early that morning and left Finn curled up in his burrito of blankets. He needed time apart from Finn to sort out and bury his feelings. He ate his breakfast in silence, the morning sun casting the kitchen in a bleak grey light. He shouldn't wish for things just because they'd be convenient for himself, especially if it put his hosts in an awkward position. After he finished his meal, he stared at his empty plate like a man who'd committed someone to the grave. The occasional caw of a crow was hardly a comfort as he forced his heavy limbs to add the dishes to the pile in the sink.
"What's gotten into you?" Harv jumped at the sound of the witch's voice.
"Is there anything that needs to be done today?" Harv asked. "I'd like to get it done before Finn wakes up."
"See, now that's more like it!" Leenan collected her morning coffee. "I was starting to think you weren't really serious about the job." Harv's shoulders sagged a bit, still too tired to put on joyful airs. "There's a few potion ingredients I'm short on at the moment. Some of them can be picked from the garden, but one of them is... free range." She eyed the warrior's long hair suspiciously. "How flammable are you?"
Finn came downstairs after waking up to a cold bed and an empty room. It shouldn't have been so bothersome, after all he had spent most of his life waking up this way, but it was unsettling none the less. Harv had promised to wake him the next time he slept in, and yet here he was eating breakfast at mid-morning by himself. His mother, already dressed for the day, assured him nothing was wrong.
"Sweetheart, you can't expect him to be attached at your side every waking moment." Leenan chided.
"Why not?" Finn prodded his half-finished brioche. "It's not like he has anything better to do. Besides, he's still my guest. The whole point of him coming here was to spend time with each other." Leenan had always known her son craved other's approval more than she did. It was a phase every child went through. What concerned her was how quickly Finn was trying to rewrite the nature of his friendship with Harv. He usually only resorted to storytelling when something was bothering him. She took a seat across the table from him.
"It'd be a little difficult for him to find other things to do if you kept him busy, wouldn't it?" Leenan asked. Finn gritted his teeth and sloppily heaped a knife full of marmalade onto his bread.
"I'm not 'keeping him busy', I'm hanging out with my friend." He slammed the knife down. "Is it really so hard to believe that I finally have a real best friend that likes me? Best friends do things together all the time."
"...Not all the time dear." Leenan said.
"How would you know?" Finn dumped his scraps in the waste bin, his appetite lost. "You've never had a best friend."
"Finnegan!" Leenan stood up from the table. "You keep taking that tone with me, and you won't get to play with your friend at all today." She was only trying to help him, but the look he gave her was borderline scathing.
"You can't do that." Finn lingered in the doorway; his mother unwavering. "What we do is nobody else's business; not Beatus, or his dad and certainly not you. I thought you wanted me to be happy." Her expression softened a bit, even in the face of Finn's defensiveness. Others had tried to intervene already; he just didn't want to listen.
"I do want you to be happy."
"Then why is it so bizarre that I am?" Finn snapped back.
"I just don't think it's a good idea to pin all your happiness on one person." She said. The tension eased from his body, now feeling less attacked. It was still frustrating to hear over and over that people were worried about him when there should be nothing to worry about. "I don't like seeing you this anxious. Your friend should be able to run errands without you acting like he's abandoned you."
"I'm not-" Finn bit his lip. "It's not like that... I know I... I am anxious. It's just... I can count on one hand all the times I've seen him smile. It doesn't seem fair." Especially when he was saying things like Finn liked him more than he liked himself. He couldn't just force Harv to like him the way he did either, no matter how hard he'd tried. Knowing Harv had a tendency to try and run from his problems wasn't helping Finn feel more secure either. The best he could do was talk himself out of these anxious thought cycles. "I know he'll come back; I just wish I knew where he went."
"He just went outside." His mother sighed. "Maybe, instead of snapping at your poor mother, you could try asking."
"Sorry." Finn said. His mother hugged him, running her fingers through his hair, still a mess from sleep.
"And I don't think your friend would appreciate you assuming he's unhappy here." Finn nodded into her shoulder. It was hard for him to put into words in a way people would understand. It's not that he thought Harv hated being around him. He just wished Harv was as happy as he was when he was around. "Not everyone shouts joy from the rooftops like you do." It would just be easier if the people around him would stop saying that joy might go away.
He pulled away from his mother with a puzzled expression. Something was clucking outside, and the sound was getting closer. He cautiously entered the front room just as Harv opened the front door.
"Bwkaw!" A bright orange bird climbed from Harv's shoulder to his head. It danced on the top of his skull in a happy circle before settling for a good sit. The furs around Harv's shoulder were a little singed, but otherwise he seemed intact. A smoking beak started to comb through Harv's locs, looking for a good place to start cleaning.
"Hey now, what did I say about the grooming?" Harv said. He gently pushed the bird's head away from hair, only to be outmaneuvered again.
"...mother..." Finn said, catching Leenan the moment she set foot outside the room. "You neglected to mention he was running errands for you."
"Why should that matter?" Leenan shot back sheepishly. "Besides, it's for you too, you know we're almost out of Phoenix feathers. Now just wait right there, I'll get the tweezers." Harv had offered Finn a passing greeting, but otherwise had his handful trying to keep the affectionate bird from nesting on his head.
"Harvey, you didn't need to bring back the whole bird." Finn sighed.
"But it's so sweet, I didn't want to hurt it." Harv said. The dopey thing puffed up its chest with pride as its head flopped backwards against its own back. Thin waves of heat radiated off its feathers, as if a bird could blush.
"Get that thing off your head before you hurt yourself." Finn crossed the room, ideally looking for something to keep the fire bird at a safe distance.
"But it's harm-" The minute Finn made eye contact with the Phoenix he was engulfed in flames. Harv's hand shot up, closing the little beak barehanded. Finn coughed out a puff of smoke, his clothes ashed over and his bangs singed. "...less."
"To you, maybe," Finn dusted off his clothes with disgust, "but not us. And certainly not the furniture." He gasped, rushing to douse a small flaming throw pillow with leftover wine from the night before. He then had to smother the flame on the tile floor. The phoenix looked down on him smugly. "He's doing it on purpose."
"It's a she I think." Harv looked up at the preening bird.
"Even worse."
"Finn..." Harv couldn't help but be amused, even though Finn's face was pinched into a tight scowl. "Are you jealous of a bird?"
"NO!" Finn hurriedly tidied the mess the mystical creature made, his face flushed from embarrassment and the sting of a close flame. It shot off tiny flames when it laughed. If birds could laugh. "I'm not jealous, I just think wild animals should be outside!" Harv couldn't help but find the way Finn huffed afterward cute, even if the bard smelled of burnt lavender. "It's already set a couch on fire." A quick bite of the Phoenix's toes shook him out of his thoughts.
"Where's your mom?" Harv started wandering toward the study.
"Oh no you don't." Finn grabbed Harv's sleeve. "One spark and half of mother's work could explode." Again the bird tried to smother him in flames. "Take it outside!"
"Okay." Harv grabbed the bird by her chubby body and walked out as Finn held the door open. "Come on, we'll wait in the garden." Two sapphire eyes glinted at Finn over Harv's shoulder with pride.
Hours later, Harv was still getting caught up with chores. Finn had collected some biscuits and tea, ready to enjoy his gawking from the garden, but an orange speedbump was keeping him from setting foot outside.
"It's still out there." Finn grumbled as he leered out the kitchen window. The tailless Phoenix would follow Harv around like a little duck, but was always quick to rush to the back porch if Finn so much touched the handle. "Evil little thing."
"I think it's quite handy." Leenan laughed as she stole a biscuit from Finn's tray. "Imagine how much easier it'll be having one in our front yard instead of hunting it down every year?"
"Mother, don't even joke about that." Finn said. "Think of your roses."
"My roses will be fine." Leenan shook her head. "You can see him cleaning out the shed just fine from the window." Finn let out an aggravated sigh. "It's not like you were planning to help him." Finn mumbled a few incoherent complaints. His tea had gone cold, and Harv had barely talked to him all day. It was his first time wearing his new clothes too, and all Finn could catch were glimpses through the dirty glass.
"I'm going to try the north balcony." Finn picked up his tray and marched out the kitchen, much to his mother's growing concern. She had no problem setting up wards to keep magical pests out, not that her son had seriously tried asking for one. Rather he seemed quite focused on getting the best view of, in her opinion, just some guy doing ordinary things. Finn, who'd complain any time she kept the crystal ball focused on a rival garden for too long because it was 'too boring'. While she had her suspicions as to the cause of her son's change in behavior, she couldn't fathom why. At this point, she was a little afraid to ask.
It had been difficult for the bards to find rehearsal space. While all three had played for a live audience before, few people liked hearing the same half-finished songs ad nauseam. Shad and Beatus's hostel room was too cramped, and Finn detested playing outside if he could help it. If Harv was watching, he wanted everything to be perfect, even if it was the first time the three had played together in months.
Finn had reluctantly pointed them in the direction to his mother's shed. It was far enough from grass for Finn to feel comfortable with leaving his harp oil out and far enough from the house to avoid any magical artifacts. Mother's things had a habit of ending up in the wrong hands when visitors were left unattended. Harv's doe-eyed Phoenix had thankfully given up for the evening, waddling back to her nest with a heavy heart, and allowing Finn to finally go into his own backyard again.
The interior of the shed was dusty with plenty of standing room. Chairs from the patio had been cleaned off and brought in for them to use along with some dated linens. Sunlight fought through years of dirt to illuminate the wooden interior. With more time, they could have set up lights or some kind of drapery, but Shad hadn't given them prior notice their original space wouldn't work out.
They still couldn't agree on a name, and Finn was the first to propose playing first and worrying about the name at a later date. The group stumbled through Shad's first choice for a song. Each sour note causing Finn to glance up nervously at their audience of one. It wasn't like he never played for someone before. He'd done plenty of concerts for the palace in the past, but he'd never played this badly in front of someone before. Shad was off rhythm and he suspected Beatus was putting minimal effort as a form of protest over the song choice. He always hated playing anything with lyrics.
"Man, you're really off today Finn." Shad shook his head.
"Can we just play it through once today." Finn shifted uncomfortably at the feeling of blue eyes on his back. "We can worry about everyone's notes at a later date."
"I wouldn't be a very good friend if I let you keep playing badly." Shad said with a wry smile. The blond flushed, fists clenched tight around the frame of his harp. They were all accomplished musicians, anything they played together casually would sound fine. Not perfect, but fine. "What's the rush?" The rush was sitting five feet away from them, picking at his nails because they couldn't get four bars in without stopping. Finn would sooner eat his belt than admit that in front of everyone.
"I have to sleep sometime." Beatus said. "We all do." Finn thanked his lucky stars that for once Beatus was being a pain in his favor, rather than against. Shad shrugged, washing his hands of the other's performance and promised to hold his tongue until the end.
Finn started them off with a few plucky notes, finding the beat set by the drums. He let muscle memory take over, glancing up to catch Harv's full attention. While the warrior was tired, he offered a shy smile, only to cover it up with his hand. He couldn't mask the crescent creases above his cheekbones, and then Finn heard the bum note he played from getting distracted. Shad clicked his tongue, but said nothing. Finn spent the rest of the song struggling to fall back into the music with flushed cheeks.
Once the group started playing, Harv could relax a little, knowing that it was more appropriate for him to watch them when they were actively performing. Watching people perform was a perfectly normal thing to do. No one would blame him for watching the member he knew the best out of the group the most. It just so happened that Finn made the most interesting faces while he played and had taken his gloves off for once, all things that anyone who knew him would notice. From what he could tell, things were proceeding exactly how most rehearsals go. The other bards acted like it was business as usual and Harv applauded himself on how perfectly normal he was being about watching his cute friend get frustrated over playing the wrong note.