The kiss earns a little grin from the gnome and a faint huffing sound. Oh, you! Charming, the both of you.
"I would offer to draw the bath myself, except it's your room," he says to Xander. And he definitely doesn't fancy the idea of either sleeping all night sticky, or walking home smelling like sex.
He leans into Viktor's touch, eyes half-lidded for a moment. He's not upset, only contemplative, but the tenderness is much appreciated. "I'm okay. That was all...incredible. I got a little teary with exertion or emotion or something. I'm good."
"I find I'm a little torn between wanting to be here with the two of you and wanting to creep into bed next to Bel and hold him just as close." His smile widens, creasing the corners of his eyes. "I rather think that's a natural and desired consequence of a good lay."
"Viktor," Xander murmured softly, turned so he could cup his lover's cheek, thumb stroking just under his eye. "I'll fetch you some water as well. Do not overexert yourself."
He eased away from his partner only once he was sure he was leaned back against the pillows. Then, with a groan and a few pops of his joints, he grabbed his cane and hoisted himself up. Barcus and Viktor would have some time to themselves while he put his robe on, started a bath, and headed into the main room of the inn to request a change of sheets and some water.
"The same goes for you," he reminds Xander before he gets up. Don't go running all around for them, sir. He gladly lays back on the pillows, trying to take deeper breaths, and watches with concern as his partner stands with difficulty. Then he turns his full attention to Barcus, absently stroking his upper arm. He looks deeply into his eyes, taking in his face, scrutinizing to make sure he's actually as fine as he says he is. At least he's smiling.
"You do not have to stay, if you'd rather be with your partner, but we would be pleased to have you." He kisses Barcus on the forehead.
Barcus watches Xander move away briefly, if only because he didn't get as much of a view of his backside as he did the rest of him, earlier. He's a gnome, he's only flesh and blood. Still, the fact that they're both worn out hasn't escaped him, and it's going to be part of his considerations as far as whether he stays all night. Might be worth it just to bring them both breakfast in the morning.
The look Viktor gives him is simultaneously endearing and ever so sightly intimidating. He closes his eyes for the kiss to the forehead, and makes a small noise of amusement. "Left out, in the middle of a threesome? That would be ironic. Everything you did was letting me in, hiron gvinn."
He shakes his head. "I feel like a dear friend who was privileged to join you while being keenly aware the two of you are in love. It's just a different dynamic, that's all."
"I just couldn't help but think of Bel because he...he stays next to me while I sleep, more nights than not. Elves don't have to sleep at all, drow included. They meditate for a few hours, but unless he's staying the night with another lover, he's usually there when I wake. It's a small thing, but it feels...significant." But Bel will be all right for a night without him.
He reaches up and strokes small fingers across Viktor's cheek. "He's a good man, your Xander. I'm glad you have one another. You are both so very worthy of love and care and admiration."
He's relieved that his enthrallment with Xander didn't make Barcus feel like an afterthought. He nods.
"That isn't a small thing. Imagine all that he could be doing with those extra hours. All we would do with that time. We'd likely spend it all in the workshop. That he spends it with you when you cannot even converse with him..." Viktor maybe has met Bel once or twice, but can't recall much about him other than what he looks like. But from the sounds of it, he is a great partner for Barcus, and Viktor is glad he has his own person to go home to. He can understand how watching two people making love could make one a bit heartsick for their own lover.
Viktor sinks down into the pillows a little more as Barcus strokes his cheek, closing his eyes for a moment. Unlike earlier with his font of energy, he now looks utterly exhausted, the picture of a dangerously ill man.
"Thank you. I am incredibly lucky to have found him. It feels fated, perhaps." He has fallen completely for this man, heart, soul, mind, and body. Now all he wants is to be by his side forever. He is glad his friends approve.
After some silence, he asks, "What do those words mean? Hiron gvinn?"
"He knits," he says, and the smile on his face says he's more than a little smitten. "And reads sometimes."
He nods. "A good point. I do try to be a bit more attentive to getting home at a reasonable hour for his sake, but it will always be easiest to get lost in my work."
He scoots a little closer and smooths his hair, now starting to feel concerned by how ill he looks. Definitely a bath, a change of sheets, and bed, as soon as possible. Barcus knows he's going to have his share of aches and shaky knees, but he's in good health, and he'll bounce back much more quickly than the others.
"Oh, I...well, you did want a nickname, didn't you? The words don't translate well into Common, but hiron is a lord or master. Gvinn changes the meaning a bit, to mean the foreman of a mine, the person in charge of safety and organizing the miners. The nearest translation would be 'chief' or 'boss', but that doesn't quite encompass the nuance. Gnomish is a complicated language."
Xander had recruited the help of a very kind young man who's name started with F and ended with Innick who he was very politely insisting did not need to come inside the room, but he did appreciate the help. Xander slipped in, pushing a small cart with his free hand that had a pile of fresh linens on the bottom, and a jug of water and some glasses on top. He closed the door and locked it with a sigh, nudging the cart toward the bed.
If Xander was in pain (he was), he was doing his best not to make it obvious. Unfortunately, the wheeze in his breath betrayed him easily. "Here. Drink." He motioned to Viktor, but Barcus certainly needed to do the same. "I will get the bath ready. Are you both all right?"
"Oh..." Viktor blinks at Barcus' explanation, and then his pale cheeks colour just slightly. It takes him a minute just to process that Barcus is referring to him as a respected authority figure, let alone say any words about it that are coherent, but he does like it. "That— I..." He stammers, and then Xander saves him from his floundering by entering again.
He knows that his partner must be in pain, and he knows him well enough by now to see even the tiniest signs of it, even when he is gritting his teeth and bearing it. Plus, that wheeze...
"Xander..." His tone of voice makes his concern obvious. He deliberates for a moment, brow furrowed. He'd get up and do it all himself if he could, but he's worried he might get faint when he stands.
He looks to Barcus again, hand on his arm.
"Barcus, would you run the bath, please? Xander needs to rest." Should Barcus agree, he will have Viktor's thanks, who will then beckon his partner back into bed with him and sit on the edge of it to get them both some water.
He boops Viktor's nose gently. "Think about it. If you hate it, I'll restrain myself."
He doesn't look like he hates it, though.
Barcus looks downright perky compared to the two of them, and when Xander reappears with a cart, his pale eyes flick over him, gauging how much he's suffering for their earlier exertions. He knows little enough about their health conditions, either of them. It never seemed quite right to ask.
"Of course," he says, in response to the request. "Let me change the sheets, too, afterwards. It's the least I can do." There's a hint of a smirk for a moment. Really, he's had a lovely time.
When he rises, he has to take a second to stretch and steady himself, less worn out than them, but still a bit bruised. He makes a faint grunting noise, rolls his shoulders, and then makes his way to the bathroom, leaving them to confer and comfort one another.
"That is not—" he knew it was pointless even as he spoke, so Xander instead replied with: "thank you, Barcus," and settled on the edge of bed beside Viktor. Between their exciting romp and the venture into the tavern for supplies, Xander's wheeze was more prominent than usual, and most movements made him wince. Still, he looked to Viktor, laid a hand on his back again, and leaned over to kiss his cheek, taking a glass of water after.
"I don't," he says to Barcus. He does not hate the name, he can at least say that much.
"Thank you, dear," Viktor murmurs, and as Xander kisses his cheek, he catches his lips for another soft kiss while rubbing his back. Despite his own exhaustion, he can't resist pressing a little magical healing into his partner's lungs to help with that wheeze.
"Quite," Viktor agrees, leaning against his lover again as he sips at the water.
"... Barcus was calling me master in gnomish." Yes, he is still processing that, and is curious what Xander thinks of it.
"He said a better translation would be boss or chief, such as a mining foreman. As Gadriel and I call him Archmagos, a highly respected sort of engineer in Gadriel's world..."
He's trying to make the whole thing sound professional. He knows it's not.
Xander was a very reasonable man who definitely could logic his way through this. But he was also really tired and achey and he didn't like the way his stomach dropped.
He leaned in to nuzzle his face in the crook of Viktor's neck, exhaling a huff of displeasure. "Seems to take a different meaning when he is moaning it in bed, doesn't it?"
"Oh, come now, darling." Viktor pets the back of Xander's head, half-cooing and half-scolding, but mostly just amused that he fucked another man right in front of Xander and this is what makes him jealous.
He sighed, opened his mouth, and pressed his teeth to Viktor's neck, just hard enough to leave a little mark of red that he promptly soothed with a kiss.
"No... if you do not think it an issue, I suppose I should not either. So long as this is not meant to spawn something beyond a bit of bedroom fun."
"Is that so?" He asks curiously, using his free hand to run his fingers through Xander's long curls. "I will try to abide this, then, darling." He clasps the back of his head and lifts his chin to kiss Xander's forehead.
Barcus pokes his head out of the doorway first to make sure they're not in the middle of something too intimate to interrupt. He smiles gently, in time to catch the kiss. "It's ready. Have you two been to Night Sky's shop at all? She sells bath oils as well as more intimate lubricants; they go very nicely after this sort of activity."
There is unquestionably enough space in the tub for a human and a gnome, and probably enough for two humans, but is there enough space for two humans and a gnome? Ehh, they can take turns if they must.
"Thank you, my love." He closed his eyes, relishing in the press of soft lips against his skin, and opened them again to look over at Barcus, his cheeks slightly flushed. "Oh, I ‐ there are a few oils in the washroom, actually. I have been to her shop a handful of times." AHEM.
He offered Viktor his hand as he stood, bracing on his cane. "I insist you get in first, Viktor." He could go with Barcus if he liked, so long as he wasn't being called master the whole time—
"You have?" He asks it innocently, stupidly. Of course he had to have gotten the lubricant from somewhere. Somehow, Viktor had assumed that Xander just... Always had lubricant on him, like a byproduct from his own world. How silly.
Viktor grabs his crutch, using that and Xander's hand to haul himself to standing, then puts his free hand firmly on his partner's shoulder to steady himself as his vision darkens for a moment. He blinks and breathes until it clears, and then shuffles slowly, carefully, to the bathroom, still relying heavily on Xander and his crutch for support.
"Oh? I didn't want to snoop. If there are any you favor, I can add them now." Barcus has looked around well enough to set out towels, washcloths, and soap, though.
He watches them make their way across the room, smile dimming slowly with concern. "Will you both be all right? Is there anything else I should be doing?"
"I have. We can go together whenever you like." He offered with another clearing of his throat. Anyway.
Xander stilled long enough for Viktor to recover, his arm slipping around his middle as they slowly shuffled to the bathroom. Once inside, he helped lower Viktor onto the edge of the tub. However long he needed to take, he would gladly stand by and assist until his partner was safely in the tub. "I have vanilla and lavender oils, in the vanity," he said absently to Barcus, knuckles stroking along Viktor's cheek. "We will be fine. I do not know if Viktor would be open to it, but there is plenty of room for you to join him." Jealous about the 'master' comment? Yes. But he would not say shit about the efficiency of a shared bath.
Viktor makes a somewhat surprised and thoughtful hum, at that. The sex shop had never occurred to him, and if it had, he would have assumed Xander would be too embarrassed to go there. But as a possibility, it now intrigues him. Plus, bothering Night Sky at her place of work might be a nice turn of the tables.
Having Xander's arm around him mitigates his fear that he may fall, although if he did fall he would likely take Xander down with him... But still. He slips in to the bath without incident thanks to his partner's assistance, and lets out a long exhale as he sinks back into the hot water. His eyelids flutter, and he catches Xander's hand and presses a kiss to the back of it, looking up at him gratefully. A bath is a lovely thing- even if you do no work at all besides getting in and out, you will still be far cleaner than you were before.
"I favour vanilla," he murmurs. "And either of you are welcome to join me. Perhaps both?" Viktor bends his knees and opens his legs as he leans back against the side of the tub. He's thin as a rail, so there seems to be plenty of room, still.
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"I would offer to draw the bath myself, except it's your room," he says to Xander. And he definitely doesn't fancy the idea of either sleeping all night sticky, or walking home smelling like sex.
He leans into Viktor's touch, eyes half-lidded for a moment. He's not upset, only contemplative, but the tenderness is much appreciated. "I'm okay. That was all...incredible. I got a little teary with exertion or emotion or something. I'm good."
"I find I'm a little torn between wanting to be here with the two of you and wanting to creep into bed next to Bel and hold him just as close." His smile widens, creasing the corners of his eyes. "I rather think that's a natural and desired consequence of a good lay."
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He eased away from his partner only once he was sure he was leaned back against the pillows. Then, with a groan and a few pops of his joints, he grabbed his cane and hoisted himself up. Barcus and Viktor would have some time to themselves while he put his robe on, started a bath, and headed into the main room of the inn to request a change of sheets and some water.
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"You do not have to stay, if you'd rather be with your partner, but we would be pleased to have you." He kisses Barcus on the forehead.
"I hope we did not make you feel left out."
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The look Viktor gives him is simultaneously endearing and ever so sightly intimidating. He closes his eyes for the kiss to the forehead, and makes a small noise of amusement. "Left out, in the middle of a threesome? That would be ironic. Everything you did was letting me in, hiron gvinn."
He shakes his head. "I feel like a dear friend who was privileged to join you while being keenly aware the two of you are in love. It's just a different dynamic, that's all."
"I just couldn't help but think of Bel because he...he stays next to me while I sleep, more nights than not. Elves don't have to sleep at all, drow included. They meditate for a few hours, but unless he's staying the night with another lover, he's usually there when I wake. It's a small thing, but it feels...significant." But Bel will be all right for a night without him.
He reaches up and strokes small fingers across Viktor's cheek. "He's a good man, your Xander. I'm glad you have one another. You are both so very worthy of love and care and admiration."
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"That isn't a small thing. Imagine all that he could be doing with those extra hours. All we would do with that time. We'd likely spend it all in the workshop. That he spends it with you when you cannot even converse with him..." Viktor maybe has met Bel once or twice, but can't recall much about him other than what he looks like. But from the sounds of it, he is a great partner for Barcus, and Viktor is glad he has his own person to go home to. He can understand how watching two people making love could make one a bit heartsick for their own lover.
Viktor sinks down into the pillows a little more as Barcus strokes his cheek, closing his eyes for a moment. Unlike earlier with his font of energy, he now looks utterly exhausted, the picture of a dangerously ill man.
"Thank you. I am incredibly lucky to have found him. It feels fated, perhaps." He has fallen completely for this man, heart, soul, mind, and body. Now all he wants is to be by his side forever. He is glad his friends approve.
After some silence, he asks, "What do those words mean? Hiron gvinn?"
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He nods. "A good point. I do try to be a bit more attentive to getting home at a reasonable hour for his sake, but it will always be easiest to get lost in my work."
He scoots a little closer and smooths his hair, now starting to feel concerned by how ill he looks. Definitely a bath, a change of sheets, and bed, as soon as possible. Barcus knows he's going to have his share of aches and shaky knees, but he's in good health, and he'll bounce back much more quickly than the others.
"Oh, I...well, you did want a nickname, didn't you? The words don't translate well into Common, but hiron is a lord or master. Gvinn changes the meaning a bit, to mean the foreman of a mine, the person in charge of safety and organizing the miners. The nearest translation would be 'chief' or 'boss', but that doesn't quite encompass the nuance. Gnomish is a complicated language."
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If Xander was in pain (he was), he was doing his best not to make it obvious. Unfortunately, the wheeze in his breath betrayed him easily. "Here. Drink." He motioned to Viktor, but Barcus certainly needed to do the same. "I will get the bath ready. Are you both all right?"
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He knows that his partner must be in pain, and he knows him well enough by now to see even the tiniest signs of it, even when he is gritting his teeth and bearing it. Plus, that wheeze...
"Xander..." His tone of voice makes his concern obvious. He deliberates for a moment, brow furrowed. He'd get up and do it all himself if he could, but he's worried he might get faint when he stands.
He looks to Barcus again, hand on his arm.
"Barcus, would you run the bath, please? Xander needs to rest." Should Barcus agree, he will have Viktor's thanks, who will then beckon his partner back into bed with him and sit on the edge of it to get them both some water.
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He doesn't look like he hates it, though.
Barcus looks downright perky compared to the two of them, and when Xander reappears with a cart, his pale eyes flick over him, gauging how much he's suffering for their earlier exertions. He knows little enough about their health conditions, either of them. It never seemed quite right to ask.
"Of course," he says, in response to the request. "Let me change the sheets, too, afterwards. It's the least I can do." There's a hint of a smirk for a moment. Really, he's had a lovely time.
When he rises, he has to take a second to stretch and steady himself, less worn out than them, but still a bit bruised. He makes a faint grunting noise, rolls his shoulders, and then makes his way to the bathroom, leaving them to confer and comfort one another.
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"I am jealous of his energy." He half-joked.
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"Thank you, dear," Viktor murmurs, and as Xander kisses his cheek, he catches his lips for another soft kiss while rubbing his back. Despite his own exhaustion, he can't resist pressing a little magical healing into his partner's lungs to help with that wheeze.
"Quite," Viktor agrees, leaning against his lover again as he sips at the water.
"... Barcus was calling me master in gnomish." Yes, he is still processing that, and is curious what Xander thinks of it.
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Xander nearly choked on his water, and he had to take a second to clear his throat.
"I... I'm sorry?" Should he be worried?? Offended? Should he be hitting Barcus with his cane? What do you MEAN.
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He backpedals.
"He said a better translation would be boss or chief, such as a mining foreman. As Gadriel and I call him Archmagos, a highly respected sort of engineer in Gadriel's world..."
He's trying to make the whole thing sound professional. He knows it's not.
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He leaned in to nuzzle his face in the crook of Viktor's neck, exhaling a huff of displeasure. "Seems to take a different meaning when he is moaning it in bed, doesn't it?"
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"Would you like me to tell him not to?"
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He sighed, opened his mouth, and pressed his teeth to Viktor's neck, just hard enough to leave a little mark of red that he promptly soothed with a kiss.
"No... if you do not think it an issue, I suppose I should not either. So long as this is not meant to spawn something beyond a bit of bedroom fun."
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"What would it spawn? Me bossing him around in the workshop?"
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"Perhaps. But maybe I only want you to boss me around."
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There is unquestionably enough space in the tub for a human and a gnome, and probably enough for two humans, but is there enough space for two humans and a gnome? Ehh, they can take turns if they must.
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He offered Viktor his hand as he stood, bracing on his cane. "I insist you get in first, Viktor." He could go with Barcus if he liked, so long as he wasn't being called master the whole time—
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Viktor grabs his crutch, using that and Xander's hand to haul himself to standing, then puts his free hand firmly on his partner's shoulder to steady himself as his vision darkens for a moment. He blinks and breathes until it clears, and then shuffles slowly, carefully, to the bathroom, still relying heavily on Xander and his crutch for support.
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He watches them make their way across the room, smile dimming slowly with concern. "Will you both be all right? Is there anything else I should be doing?"
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Xander stilled long enough for Viktor to recover, his arm slipping around his middle as they slowly shuffled to the bathroom. Once inside, he helped lower Viktor onto the edge of the tub. However long he needed to take, he would gladly stand by and assist until his partner was safely in the tub. "I have vanilla and lavender oils, in the vanity," he said absently to Barcus, knuckles stroking along Viktor's cheek. "We will be fine. I do not know if Viktor would be open to it, but there is plenty of room for you to join him." Jealous about the 'master' comment? Yes. But he would not say shit about the efficiency of a shared bath.
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Having Xander's arm around him mitigates his fear that he may fall, although if he did fall he would likely take Xander down with him... But still. He slips in to the bath without incident thanks to his partner's assistance, and lets out a long exhale as he sinks back into the hot water. His eyelids flutter, and he catches Xander's hand and presses a kiss to the back of it, looking up at him gratefully. A bath is a lovely thing- even if you do no work at all besides getting in and out, you will still be far cleaner than you were before.
"I favour vanilla," he murmurs. "And either of you are welcome to join me. Perhaps both?" Viktor bends his knees and opens his legs as he leans back against the side of the tub. He's thin as a rail, so there seems to be plenty of room, still.
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