Days Off Don’t Have to Be Eventful, Just Restful
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“Honestly I’m kind of grateful for full moons,” Owen said, as Gavin frowned at a scratch on his shoulder. It wasn’t like it was deep, Grey Rain had just gotten a little too close last night. “It feels like we hardly ever take time off, and being made to take at least one day every month is good, I think.”
“I would argue that we need more than one day off a month,” Gavin muttered, dabbing Owen’s shoulder with some alcohol, which stung more than the cut had because medicine sucked like that. “And also that it would be nice if we could have one without you getting hurt.”
“Oh, it’s just a scratch,” Owen protested. “He was only playing.”
“I know, but he was only playing with horrifically long claws that could have killed you. Maybe I should get him some mittens or something. He didn’t hurt Edwin, right?”
“He didn’t hurt Edwin,” Owen promised. “Just fucked him senseless.” Though not so senseless that Edwin hadn’t been returning the favour when Owen woke up this morning. They were in the bath together now, along with Greg, who’d surprised all of them by agreeing to Edwin’s invitation to join them.
“Oh, well that’s fine then,” Gavin said, finished with the alcohol. He got Owen to lift his arm and started wrapping a bandage around his shoulder, moving methodically and carefully. “Any headway on the hell portal situation?”
Owen looked up at him. “Gavin, the point of a day off is that we don’t talk about work.”
“No, the point of a day off is that we don’t do work. We’re married and I think it’s very reasonable to want to know what my husband has been up to beyond sustaining injuries. I can start if you want. My parents set a trial date for Aerchon. The tenth of Milon.”
Owen frowned. “That’s two weeks from now.”
“Just over, yes. And it’s also two days before Martyr’s Day, which suggests to me that they’re not planning for the trial to take long.” Gavin sighed. “They’re going to be very disappointed.”
“It’s not like Martyr’s Day is a fun holiday anyway,” Owen said with a shrug that stung a little. “It’s all sad and mourn-y.”
“Yes, it is indeed a day dedicated to thinking about dead people. Don’t worry, I plan to talk about that at the trial. If Dad thinks he’s the only one who can weaponize Catechism observances, then he’s got another dick coming. They won’t set a trial date for Drew yet, but I did get a threatening letter from the Knight Commander heavily implying that if I don’t return Rudy soon to face trial, there will be consequences, which I responded to by saying that even if I had Rudy, I can’t return him to face a secret trial against a partial judge on an unknown date. It’s progress. It doesn’t sound like it, but it is.”
Gavin sounded like he meant that, so Owen just nodded. “That’s good. Cleo’s looking at extinct sorcerer clans to see who constructed the spells. She thinks there’s a rogue sorcerer and at least one ally in the city right now and that they’ll probably try to reactivate the spell when they can.”
Gavin nodded. “That’s what I’d do if I were a psychopath.”
“Yeah,” agreed Owen, who wasn’t psychopath. “The new guys Cal rescued are settled in at the orchard, too. I guess the monastery already had an orphanage in it, so it was happy to help out with them.” He stretched out his arm as Gavin finished bandaging it. “That’s about it.”
“Great,” said Gavin. He sat down at the table putting the rest of the bandages away, and sighed. “Okay, now what do we do with the rest of the day off?”
“We could have sex?” Owen suggested, turning the stretch into the flex it was born to be. “Or we could bug your sister.”
“Or, we could bug my sister by having sex,” Gavin suggested. “I like it. You should get dressed so that we can obnoxiously leave clothes somewhere she’ll find them.”
“Seems like a dumb reason to get dressed,” Owen said, standing. “But it was your idea, so I guess it was good. Oh, you know what else we should do? I heard Franz’s big slobbery dog had puppies.”
Gavin made a face that was dangerously similar to a pout. “Great, big slobbery puppies.”
“They’re probably pretty small. We should take the kids to go see them. I know they’re both a bit big to get really excited over puppies, but…”
“One of them is a puppy and the other one is dating a puppy,” Gavin said, nodding. “Yeah, let’s do that. Edwin’s not going back to the keep right after fucking our son, right? He’s learned enough noble graces to know he has to hang out with us for a bit?”
“Yeah, for a few hours at least,” Owen agreed. “Twig should be here when he’s done running his laps. Maybe we can play a game or something.”
As he said that, the voices coming faintly from the bathroom got less faint, and Grey Rain bounded out of the bathroom. Let’s have breakfast! he declared. His ears went flat when he saw Owen’s shoulder. Oh no, did I hurt you! I’m so sorry!
It doesn’t hurt, Owen promised him. King Cat is just being a cat.
Grey Rain nodded, clearly understanding that, and went to sit at the table. Behind him, Edwin and Greg came out of the bathroom, Edwin towelling his hair and Greg with his towel around his shoulders. Owen blinked. “Hey,” he said, not sure if he should avoid looking or what. It was very unlike Greg to come out naked. In fact, Owen hadn’t seen Greg naked since they’d found him in Pelican Bay.
But Greg just turned and beamed at Owen, hurrying over and leaping onto him, giving him a full-body hug. “Good morning,” he said, as Owen held him up. “Thank you for taking care of Grey Rain last night.”
“Hey, of course,” said Owen, laughing. “That’s what I do.”
Greg nodded, sliding down, and he hugged Gavin tight too. “Good morning,” he said. “Since it’s a day off, I was wondering if it would be okay if I maybe drew us all together? I think it would make a nice picture. When Twig gets here, of course.”
Gavin smiled, hands on Greg’s back. “Of course. That would be great, Greg.”
“Great,” Greg said. He stepped back. “I’m going to go put my stuff away before breakfast, but you can start without me if you want.”
“We won’t.”
Greg nodded, and he kissed Grey Rain on the head before hurrying into their bedroom.
Owen looked at Edwin, who shrugged. “Don’t know. He’s just in a good mood today.”
“Well, good,” said Gavin, taking a seat. “So am I. Should be a good day.”
It had started out with their family all being happy and together, Owen thought. Of course it was going to be a good day.
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How Best to Use a Sword 