One year of wandering around in the sewers with nothing but a bow and arrow. That was Finn's punishment for refusing to pick up a sword and shield for prerequisites. At the time it seemed safer, little did he know there were things living in the sewer. Strange, mutated creatures that survived off of magic polluted filth, weird lich nests and worst of all...

"Finn, there's another one!"

Other bards.

Two other classmates had been sent into the labyrinth with him. One was a foppish scholar with a gift for the mandolin and the other was a drummer from the Scottish isles. Both of them were loud, clumsy and argumentative. In a place where they really couldn't afford to be. They were also both useless in a fight.

"Take care of it yourself." Finn said.

"But you're better at dealing with them." Shad batted his eyes. Wicked little liar, Finn still couldn't aim for shit, he was just good at hitting things with other things while his 'friends' ducked for cover and shouted instructions at him on how to fight better. If not that, then they were giving him notes on how he could improve as a musician. Which was impossible, because playing music down here just attracted more monsters. It was a vicious cycle that Finn was more than anxious to break.

"That's not going to work on me again." Finn hissed. "You threw your bow staff in the water on the first day! The only reason I'm 'better' is you never tried in the first place."

"I feel like we're saying the same thing." Shad shrugged.

"Guys..." Beatus looked away from the squabbling pair at a brilliant white light. "It's open." The monsters hissed at the foreign light, scuttling back into the shadows far away from their potential prey. Finn pushed Shad and ran toward the exit, basking in the light of day for the first time in a year. Sweet fall air greeted him in return.

Never again.

"Well, that was a good bonding experience." Shad laughed a little as they made their way into the vast practice yard. Beatus and Finn glared at him silently. Everyone else seemed to have gone home for the semester. "What don't you feel closer as friends?"

"No man." Beatus sighed.

"Friends!?" Finn nearly threw his sewage-soaked weapon at the other bard. "We are not friends. You can find another pack mule, I quit."

"Oh come on Finn, don't be like that." Shad rolled his eyes. "I mean, who else are you going to talk to at school?"

"Not you." Finn dropped their stuff on the ground along with his bow and arrows. "I don't need you. I'm a people person. I could make friends with anyone I want, like..." He saw someone sitting on the steps outside of the school. "That guy."

"Finn," Beatus rose an eyebrow, "that guy's obviously in the warrior track."

"Doesn't matter." Finn turned heel and stormed toward the stranger. "See you never." The other two watched Finn walk up to the stranger.

"He'll come back." Shad sighed. "He always does." He looked down at the pile of grime-soaked gear and then up at Beatus.

"I'm not touching it." Beatus sneered back.

Harv had lost track of how long he had been sitting outside of the school. Final grades for the year were in and they were not good. He had done a half decent job on combat it was the other subjects he had struggled in. Everything else had been D's and F's. The headmaster said he had two choices, repeat the year or give up.

His family barely had enough money to send him to school in the first place, they'd be devastated. He was the good one, the one they always depended on, and he'd let them down. He failed. Now he was sitting on the steps trying to delay the inevitable.

"Hey." Harv's eyes were closed, he didn't recognize the voice, they probably were talking to one of their friends. "Hey, you." Someone kicked his leg. He startled up and looked up at a blond kid he didn't recognize with a harp strapped to his back. "I need a new friend, my old ones..." He looked over with a grimace at two other bards fighting over who had to touch a pile of soiled gear. "I just need to make a point. Come to my place and I'll treat you to dinner?"

Harv looked up at him blankly for a few seconds, the gears slowly turning once more. That sounded like an excellent way to procrastinate on going home. Even if the invitation was a little odd.

"Sure?" Honestly, what did he have to lose at this point.

"HA!" Finn shouted across the school yard. "See? Me and-" He looked back at Harv and muttered quickly. "What's your name?"

"Harv?"

"Me and Harv are going to a sleepover and you're not invited!" He stuck his tongue out at the other bards.

"Yeah, sure you are Finn." One of them laughed back.

"Oh, that little-" Finn cursed under his breath. "Come here." He grabbed Harv by his arm and helped him to his feet. "You're just jealous that Harv and I are going to have sooo much fun and you're not." The two bards kept laughing at him.

"I'm so confused." Harv wasn't sure who to look at or if he was supposed to say something specific.

"You can be confused at my house, come on." Finn started to lead Harv in the general direction of his house. "Don't pull away, just, wait until they're out of sight." Harv sniffed the air with a frown.

"Did you guys come out of the sewer?"

"Just keep walking."

As soon as they made it away from the town square, Finn let go of his new friend's arm. People had been staring at them, something Finn was used to, but Harv had looked ready to bolt at a second's notice. He just needed enough people to see them together to rub it in Shad and Beatus's stupid faces.

"Sorry about getting sewage on your arm." Finn sighed, ready for the inevitable to happen.

"It's fine..." Harv wrinkled his nose. "As long as you don't mind me washing up once we get to your place." Finn paused, and watched Harv walked past him. "What's wrong? Isn't that where you said we're going."

"No, yeah, I just never had someone want to come over before." Finn laughed a little. He let himself get a little more excited, now knowing his claim wasn't all talk. Bickering with the same two people for a year really warped his sense of reality. Now that he was walking in the forest that led back to his home, with someone who'd let him talk by his side, he felt a wave of energy come back he hadn't realized he lost.

They made their way up to the witch's house and Finn excitedly knocked on the door. Immediately he was scooped up into his mother's arms. She kissed his cheek and hugged him so tight something in his back popped. The last piece of the puzzle had been found and he felt a weight leave his shoulders.

"Oh sweetheart, I've missed you so much! Don't ever go running off for that long again. I nearly tore that whole school down to its foundation looking for you." She pulled away with a grimace. "Where were you, you smell-"

"Don't ask." Finn really didn't want to hear an 'I told you so' lecture so soon after getting home.

"And who's this?" She looked over his shoulder at Harv, who felt entirely out of place and a little more apprehensive of going in the house now that he knew the witch lived here.

"This is my new friend!" He got set down again and ran to drag Harv by the wrist inside. "We're going to have a sleepover, and swap stories, and I'll be able to play the harp again; but first a bath."

"That's probably a good idea. Does your little friend have permission from his parents to be out late?" Harv flinched, a little ashen at the thought. "I'm kidding, relax." She laughed, but Harv still felt guilty for coming here instead of going straight home.

"Actually, can I use your phone, I should..." He was starting to feel ill to his stomach. Leenan frowned a little and sidestepped to show the sitting room.

"Sure." He picked up the phone and started talking to someone on the other end.

"Hey, Rhodri can you tell mom- No, don't!" He tensed up, and his shoulders sagged. "Hey dad..." He started talking in a voice so quiet that Leenan couldn't pick up on the rest.

"Finn, why don't you get washed up and I'll send your friend up after he's finished." She started ushering Finn toward the stairs. "I have a feeling this might take a bit."

After Harv had delivered the news over the phone, he felt the full weight of the other shoe dropping. No amount of washing up or strange sights could fully distract him at this point. He had been leant clothes a few sizes too big and shown to Finn's room. The knowledge that all of this was temporary hung over his head like a sword.

Silence had never felt so physical, so painful before. Outright rejection would have been one thing, it would have been easier to navigate, easier to turn to anger to cope. Instead, the last few weeks, when Harv had come home, there was this palpable silence he couldn't avoid. His mother would be her typical cheerful self, dancing around questions about why he hardly saw his brothers playing in the house anymore. His father would only ever talk to him about stuff relating to school, and now that he'd failed, Harv heavily suspected that would be it. He'd just be politely ignored until one of the cures finally worked and the anxiety around the house finally cleared.

Now that the whole church knew, the silence had bled into the streets.

His close friends had quietly put distance between them, still kind, but he could feel it. He felt it in every careful word, every lit of excitement at the discovery of a topic that wasn't that. They cared for him, they were worried about him, but there was no home he could turn to where the silence wouldn't follow.

"So, I sleep up against the wall." Finn gestured to a large stack of pillows on an obnoxiously pink bed. "And you can sleep here." He gave the other side of the queen-sized bed a pat and Harv just stared at him blankly.

"Finn... I can't do that."

"Is there not enough pillows?" Finn frowned and looked at the one pillow he had spared for Harv. "Well, we could grab some cushions from the couch."

"That's not..." He didn't want to ruin this place too, he'd just gotten here.

"Oh, I get it, people don't actually sleep at sleepovers." He ran to a bookshelf looking for a blue and gold cover. "Here we are." He flipped through the pages. "Let's see: blanket forts, ghost stories, we already did a make-over kind of, midnight snacks, games. Do any of these sound interesting to you Harvey?" Finn looked and immediately his face changed from excited to concerned. Harv could feel his face grow hot and his eyes getting misty. It hadn't even been six hours and Finn was already looking at him like that. "Harvey what's wrong?" Curse those words, and curse the fact he couldn't hear them without wanting to cry.

The next thing he knew there was a blond in his personal space, touching his cheek with a cold hand before pulling him in for a hug. The last of his self-control snapped and he could feel the tears dribble down his face and onto Finn's shoulder. He wished he could catch his breath long enough to answer any of Finn's questions, even if the answers would be disappointing in the end.

It felt so good to be held by someone again.

"Why don't we start with the fort?" Finn rubbed the back of Harv's neck with small gentle strokes. "We'll make the biggest fort we can, and then have the snacks in the fort! Two birds with one stone." He pulled back, squishing Harv's cheeks together with his hands. "I'll start getting the extra blankets from downstairs, you grab any cushions you can find." Finn dashed down the stairs, leaving Harv alone in the pink room to collect himself. It was obvious all Finn really cared about was having a successful sleepover, but Harv could handle that. He could make the silly fort and keep the bard distracted. He was a little out of practice, but it was nice to have a concrete goal to focus on, something achievable. And maybe he could count on Finn's obliviousness a little more than he first assumed.

He could put all the over decorated pillows and cushions in a pile.

That would make Finn happy.

If Finn was happy, maybe he could put off going home another day. That would be nice. Staying in a room constantly filled with the voice of someone wanting his company was nice. Anything was better than silence.