A/n: See, now this is an easy prompt to write, but it was difficult to choose who to do it for, so I asked my brother for his opinion out of the usual whumpees I write, and then I forgot about Douxie (a tragedy, ik) and then he said Nari can be helping him and then that reminded me of his New York stint after Wizards and voila.

The stairs up to the apartment was almost too much after the day he'd had, but he managed to drag his feet up step, by step somehow until he was leaning his head against the wood of the door, fumbling with the key to try and get it into the doorknobs.

Doorknobs? Plural? That wasn't right. He didn't remember the door having two knobs, and when he tried to grab one, his hand only caught air.

He squinted, his eyesight a little blurry. That probably wasn't good, but he didn't have the time or energy to dwell on it right now, seeing as he was almost falling asleep already here against the door.

What was he doing again?

He shook his head, trying to ward away the sleep, and succeeded in making the second doorknob disappear too. It still took longer than he'd have liked to put the key in the lock and open the door, but at least he managed to do it.

He yawned. He was so tired. He almost couldn't remember not being tired, and it'd only been a week or two since he'd left Arcadia Oaks, but in that short amount of time, he'd had to do so much.

Flying here in the airship had taken the whole night, and he'd barely been able to sleep. Once they'd landed in New York, he'd had to find a disguise for Nari, then a place for them to stay. He had enough money to rent out a small dingy apartment - not ideal, but it'd do for now. The day's after had been full of interviews for jobs and then starting his shifts at those jobs. None of the jobs paid enough by themselves, but five jobs gave him enough to keep afloat. If he sacrificed a little sleep, well, it was only until he was a little more stable.

The first few weeks after moving somewhere new were always the worst, he knew from experience. All of this was nothing new, even if this time he was taking care of another person as well as Archie, one he was tasked with protecting from two all-powerful beings who would destroy the world if they got their hands on their third member, so no pressure or anything.

He finally got the door open and all but stumbled in, just barely remembering to disable the wards he'd put up so he wasn't dismembered by his own magic. Putting them back up took almost everything he had left once he closed the door behind him, and he only just made it the five steps he needed to so he collapsed onto the couch and not the floor.

"You look awful," came a familiar voice from above him, as a light weight jumped onto his back and started pawing at his shoulders. He hummed contently at the 'massage', almost falling asleep right there.

"Sometimes I get so tired, I don't even know myself," he mumbled, face smushed into the pillow, but it was true. His movements were almost as if they were on autopilot, and he didn't recognise the person staring back at him in the mirror sometimes, with the dark, dark shadows underneath his eyes and dullness that clung to him. Even his magic didn't feel like itself, not as vibrant as it usually was.

"You work too hard, Douxie. Take a break sometimes," Archie said, moving off of Douxie's back to into the boy's view. Douxie opened his mouth, but his familiar held up a paw to quiet him. "And I know you need to do it, but not at the cost of your sleep, Doux. You need rest or you won't be able to do all your jobs and you'll end up worse off than before. Remember Edinburgh?"

Douxie frowned. He wasn't new to this, but neither was Archie, and that meant his familiar knew exactly how Douxie thought, making points that he knew Douxie couldn't refute, so he'd end up winning the argument.

"It's only for a few more weeks," he promised the cat, who only looked at him sadly, but Douxie couldn't see it because his eyes had already drifted close. "Now just let me sleep. I only have two hours before my next shift," he mumbled.

"At least get - ," Archie started, but shut his mouth when he heard a soft snore from the boy in front of him. "changed," he finished lamely, making sure to not wake his familiar. He sighed, transforming into a dragon so he could drape a blanket over the exhausted wizard.

This wasn't the first time they'd done this, but it never failed to tug at Archie's heart when he saw his usually upbeat and energetic boy reduced to this as he stumbled in the door, looking so close to passing out on the spot. He couldn't say that it had never been this bad - because once or twice it had - but it was worse in its own way. Douxie always took care of Archie, just as Archie did for him but in a different way, except now Douxie had another to take care of. Keeping Nari safe was essential and Douxie was doing everything he could to keep his promise to Merlin.

Which was another thing. Thanks to all the jobs Douxie had been working, the little sleep he'd been getting and the lack of proper meals that Archie didn't doubt the wizard was having, Archie wasn't sure that the poor boy had even fully recovered from literally dying and coming back to life. Right after it'd happened, he'd gotten up and flown here, where he'd yet to sleep for more than three hours at a time. Immortal or not, that was not good for anyone, and Archie worried about what repercussions it might have on Douxie.

He can remember a time when Douxie tired himself out so much that his magic reserve had depleted, something they couldn't afford then - only surviving that ordeal thanks to the appearance of Zoe - but Zoe wasn't here this time and they couldn't afford him losing his magic now. But he also knew that Douxie would stop at nothing to keep his promise, take care of others at the cost of not taking care of himself, just as he'd done so many times before, and as he was doing now.

"Douxie?"

Archie turned to the bedroom doorway where a small green figure was poking her head out of, face scrunched up in concern.

"He's asleep, Nari," Archie whispered, moving reluctantly away from the boy to instead go closer to the green goddess.

Nari frowned. "But he has not changed."

"He was really tired. Let him sleep as much as he can, Nari, you go back to bed."

"But his magic is low."

Archie stiffened slightly. "You can sense that?"

"Of course. It does not feel right." She chewed her lip in concern, then moved closer to Douxie, past a hesitant Archie.

"Don't disturb him, Nari. Please. He needs all the rest he can get."

But Nari kept going until she was beside the couch, fingers ghosting over Douxie's head and back. Archie walked over, watching her carefully. Green magic wound its way down her arm, her hands glowing green as they ran over Douxie again. Archie watched, transfixed, as Douxie's anxious expression softened, whole body relaxing as he fell into an even deeper sleep.

"What did you do?" He asked Nari, quietly. The green glow was gone and Nari's soft smile returned.

"Magic," she said, not expanding on her explanation, but Archie didn't mind as long as Douxie was resting, and better than before thanks to whatever Nari had done.

"Thank you." He smiled gratefully at her as he hopped up on the couch next to Douxie, curling up by his familiar.

"I am happy to help. Douxie does so much for me, so I am glad to do something for him."

"I'm sure he'll appreciate it very much," he said softly, making her smile bigger.

A/n: Yeah, a little bit of Archie and Nari caring for an exhausted Douxie is all this is, but these three are honestly so cute yet get so little screen time together, but what else is fanfiction for? Nothing much else to say. Douxie is my love, Nari is amazing, and poor Archie, always having to worry about Doux who will - and has -literally die(d) for anyone and everyone he cares about. Nothing new.

Anyway, stay safe and see ya soon.

- CrowofArcadiaOaks