Chapter Text
The first time he forgot.
No one has ever slept in his bed before. He’d completed his bedtime routine and collapsed.
Then almost jumped out of the bed again. Almost.
Her scent.
It was like hugging her all over again. Stepping into her arms and letting the rest of the world fall away. The noise and stress and fear and everything… Like he’d gained a shield to surround himself.
She’d spent two days in his room, and the previous night had been difficult to say the least. It was no wonder that he’d forgotten. He was exhausted from the fight, and the worry, and dealing with Etteran on top of it all. It was not his fault that he didn’t get up and change the sheets immediately.
Disgusting, pathetic, weak
Eterran’s presence was dangerously close.
Ezra inhaled deeply to still his emotions, but it only brought more of her scent to his senses.
Eterran’s consciousness slithered around his, biting, testing, tempting him to lose control.
Ezra inhaled again and pictured Tori’s arms around him. She’d stilled his mind outside her apartment when Aaron was attacked. He’d held her after she was attacked in the street. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend she was hugging him now, calming his emotions, pushing Eterran’s presence away. He will change his sheets in the morning, but right now he would fall asleep pretending he was safe.
Just this once.
***
The second time he was tired.
It’s been a week since the KCQ attack. There had been clean-up and reports to fill in and MPD breathing down their necks. Then there was Tori being rehired and celebrations, after which they’d all insisted that she come over to their house for celebratory video games and a movie. It was past midnight when they couldn’t keep their eyes open anymore, so Tori had stayed the night. She’d stayed in his bed again, not one of them was letting her sleep on the sofa.
Then in the morning, there was training, and Felix had called to say that another team had a lead on an escaped KCQ member and needed backup. The three mages packed up and headed straight in.
The KCQ rouge evaded them, but only after they chased him on foot through half of downtown.
By the time the three of them returned home, they were all exhausted. So, Ezra collapsed into his bed and fell asleep.
He slept through the night and woke up rested, hugging the sheets to himself, trying to pull the evasive presence, the source of comfort, closer, back to him.
A surge of fear run through him. Was there someone else in his bed?
Breathing leveled, he reached out with his senses. Eterran’s constant presence stirred, preparing against any potential attack, ready to take him over.
But there was no one in the room with him.
There were noises from the house around him, but those were just Aaron and Kai. Their tone calm and normal.
Ezra pushed Eterran down, back to the deepest rese of his soul. Down, back, away.
Weak child, I will take pleasure in devouring you
Another deep breath.
Why did it feel like there was someone else in his room?
What had happened last night? Had he taken something with him from the streets? Has someone followed him? Was he putting Aaron and Kai in danger? And Tori?
“Oh,” Ezra exhaled and forced his arms to let go of the bed sheets.
Tori. Tori had been in his room the previous night. Tori had slept in his bed again. And he’d not changed the sheets again.
Again.
He was just tired. He didn’t mean to. Not again.
***
The third time… he didn’t have an excuse for the third time.
Another week had passed. A week of work, of friends and of training.
Tori was back at the Crow & Hammer. The three mages had stopped by the pub each night. She had a smile for the three of them. It felt right that she was there and that they migrated to stay in her vicinity.
After so many years together it was almost like they could read each other’s minds. No words needed to be said. The three of them had decided that she was theirs and that was that.
She had saved Aaron’s life, but she was human. She was all wrong but exactly right. Exactly like the three of them.
On Sunday they arrived to the Crow & Hammer a little late, around six. But no sooner had Aaron stepped through the door had he stopped in his tracks. Kai gave him a sideways glance, but he too stopped one step afterwards. Ezra raised an eyebrow at his two friends then looked deeper into the pub.
Cooper was manning the bar.
They managed to walk to their usual spot at the bar.
“What can I get you?” Cooper threw our way.
“Three rum and coke,” Kai answered for them, and Cooper nodded.
“Well, shit,” said Aaron. There was a Tori shaped hole in their pub and none of them liked it.
“I think it’s her night off,” Ezra said cautiously.
Aaron made a growling sound like the concept of free nights was an afront to him personally. Or maybe Tori having free nights was the perpetrator.
Cooper passed them their rum and coke. They stared at it in silence.
“We could call her,” Ezra suggested quietly. Kai nodded beside him.
Aaron immediately perked up. “We can pay her a visit. I’m sure she won’t mind.”
“Hmm,” said Kai. “Doesn’t she live with her brother? Do we want to crush that party?”
Aaron cringed, Tori said her brother wasn’t happy she was working at the Crow and Hammer after she was fired, rehired and involved in a ‘pub brawl’ all in the spun of a single week. But nothing could stop Aaron once he had an idea in his head. “Then we’ll snatch her away to our place.”
Ezra sipped his rum and coke calmly, used to Aaron’s ideas. “How about instead of kidnapping her, you call her and ask if she wants to hang?” he suggested.
Aaron was already pulling out his phone, shooting Ezra a mock glare. Kai drowned his rum and coke. It was obvious they weren’t staying at the guild much longer.
That’s how they ended up at their house again. Video games, a movie and a six pack of beers. By the time they were done it was obvious no one was going to drive Tori home. Ezra had changed the bed sheets to a clean set when he’d slipped to go the bathroom before the movie. She was theirs and she wasn’t going anywhere.
It was the most natural thing in the world. There was no discussion. She didn’t ask. She didn’t need to.
Ezra stretched on the sofa. The other three separated into the three bedrooms.
And now it was the next night. Tori was safely back at her brother’s. Aaron and Kai had gone to bed. Ezra was standing in front of his own.
This time he hadn’t forgotten. This time he wasn’t tired. There was nothing dulling his senses. He had no excuse, not this time.
So why did he hesitate changing the sheets?
She was beautiful. She was fierce. She was chaotic and unexpected. She was also calming and safe. She wasn’t afraid of him…
Because she doesn’t know to be afraid of you
Ezra’s fists curled. His storm of emotions had woken Eterran again.
Weak human. No control. Soon you will fall
The air around him chilled, but his skin was sizzling with heat. He could…
No. He had to change the sheets. He’ll deal with Eterran, like he always had.
Soon. Soon I will win and everyone you know will burn
Ezra stepped to the edge of the bed. But he couldn’t bring himself to change the sheets.
He would never be anything but a friend to her. He had nothing to offer her, or anyone. He would exist in the periphery of her fire and that would be enough.
He could have this one weakness. No one will know. It won’t hurt anyone.
This payilas, I will pay her attention
Ezra slid into the bed. Her scent surrounded him. He was back in her arms, holding her close, a barrier protecting him from the world.