Chapter 19 Don’t You Dare!
Cyrus had tried to power walk away from Soren, but surprisingly, the Harpy managed to keep up, despite the man’s shorter stride.
“I wasn’t done talking,” the Harpy squawked.
“Too bad, I’m done listening.”
Soren let out an angry, bird-like chirp. “So, no interest in admitting that your almighty Bureau asses stupidly left your breach point under protected, with the only man watching being a traitorous fuck, who allowed it, and your own engine, to be blown the fuck up?!”
Yeah, that had been a mistake, but… “And your engine just, what? Blew itself up?” he drawled snidely.
“Fuck you!” the Harpy snapped as they reached Ender’s quarters.
“Yeah, yeah. Fuck you too, Fire Bird.”
He nodded to the woman at the door, who had eyed them as they approached, but had quickly and silently stepped out of the way, allowing Cyrus to head inside.
He was unsurprised to find Killian there, but slightly surprised to find Ender awake. Killian’s expression remained neutral, if not a little tired, as they came in, while the Gorgon’s jaw tightened slightly.
The Siren was coatless and shivering. The one he’d been wearing previously was clearly trying and failing to keep the Gorgon warm, as the snake was shaking just as much if not more than the other Cryptid.
Pulling his coat off, Cyrus quickly moved to Killian, wrapping it around the Siren, who thankfully didn’t brush it off, or snap at him—or threaten to kill, maim, or do any of the other various shit he was known to do.
“How stuck are we, Soren?” Ender asked, the man’s yellow-amber gaze oddly intense.
Odder still, the Harpy, who had stayed near the door, seemed to flinch at his own name. “Stuck,” Soren said almost carefully.
Ender tsked. “Well, I was just asking your Siren here, who lovingly woke my ass up with his singing, by the way, what possible drugs you Bureau agents brought with you. You wouldn’t happen to have a list, would you, Grimm?”
Cyrus’ brow pulled, frowning slightly at the question. “I can tell you now, none of what we brought will have any effect on you.”
“Blast it all to Hell!” the Gorgon snapped.
He wrinkled his nose, feeling more than a bit guilty. “We would have used them already if they would have helped.”
“That’s not—UGH!” The man groaned loudly, before wincing in pain.
“I wish we could help more than this, but—”
Soren cut him off. “Grimm, it’s best you stop talking.”
At the Harpy’s words, he realized Ender’s eyes had fully changed. The pupils were now vertically elongated, and the Gorgon’s hair also looked to be coiling together and thickening, which he could only assume was a warning of Ender’s current mood.
“It’s probably best if you both leave,” the bird stated as he moved closer to the bed.
Cyrus looked to Killian, however, the Siren was looking down at Ender in concern.
“Will you at least let us bring in the heaters now? He is awake,” Cyrus pointed out.
“No,” both the Harpy and Gorgon said at the same time.
Soren sighed, before explaining, “With it being this cold, as soon as he falls asleep, he will instinctively seek out the closest heat source. Those rigged up heaters we made do not have the protections in place to stop him from burning himself further as he tries to coil around them, which is exactly what he’ll do. ”
“You need to get your temperature up, Ender. You feel like ice,” Killian stated.
“If we can’t use the heaters, then the next best thing is having someone you are comfortable with share their body heat with you.
I imagine one of your crew wouldn’t mind?
Soren would probably be the best option, with him being a Harpy—”
“Fuck no!” Ender sputtered. “None of those blasted idjits, Toddles included, is getting near me!”
Soren trilled. “Ender, he’s right. It wouldn’t kill you to cuddle with me for a bit. You need to get your temp up.”
“Yes, but it will kill you!” Ender hissed threateningly. “And go ahead and let the others try! But be warned, I will fill this room full of stone statues before I let it happen!”
Well, Cyrus was now thinking he was wrong about his earlier assumption of the two being lovers…
“ENDER!” the Harpy snapped.
“TODDLES,” the Gorgon mocked, before hissing, “Fuck off!”
Cyrus looked to Killian. “Check his temp.”
The Siren didn’t hesitate, he fished Ender’s wrist out from under the covers, none too gently ignoring the Cryptid when he tried to stop him.
“Let go of me, you pretty bastard!” the Gorgon hissed.
“Sixty-six and dropping.”
“WHAT?!” Soren squawked. “Fucking hell, Ender. You are risking going into brumation, which is something that tends to be a fucking death sentence when injured!”
“I’m fine!” Ender grumbled, his mouth flattening into a stubborn line.
Cyrus met Killian’s worried gaze, thinking for a moment, before looking back down at Ender and saying, “Well, since you nixed your own people, and I’m likely the only one left who can provide actual fucking warmth, that you can’t turn to stone, I guess you are stuck with me.”
Ender’s eyes grew wide in horror, as he spluttered, “D-DON’T YOU DARE!?”
The Gorgon started scooting away in bed, but was too slow, and well, there wasn’t really anywhere to go, with Killian standing right there.
Ignoring the man’s protests, he quickly kicked his shoes off and slipped into bed from the left side, gathering the smaller man into his arms, and holding him against him as carefully as he could while Ender struggled.
He had to say, Killian’s description hadn’t been wrong…
it felt like he was hugging an ice cube.
“UNHAND ME, FOUL CREATURE!” The Gorgon flinched slightly anytime he bumped his back too hard into Cyrus’ arm, but it seemed to be bothering him a lot less than it would most people, given the number of burns he had.
Though, from what he knew, they’d already downgraded to second-degree, which showed how shockingly efficient the species was at healing. There was also a sealed burn pack over them, which added a sterile open space of protection.
Ender went stock-still with a gasp when Killian got in on the other side. “I may not provide much heat, but I’m still warmer than you are right now.”
“I am your ELDER! Both of you unhand me this instant! GET OUT!” Even as the Gorgon yelled that, his weak struggling stopped in favor, it seemed, of pressing his face deeper into Cyrus’ chest, pushing himself closer to him.
The snake’s body was obviously seeking out heat, over listening to whatever that cuckoo brain of his wanted, which just fully cemented how bad of an idea the heaters would have been had they brought them in.
“Well, you three…get some rest then, I guess,” Soren said with an amused snort, the Harpy exiting swiftly.
“Get back here, you traitor!” Ender cried.
“Just sleep!” Killian snapped.
“We aren’t letting go, so you might as well.”
“Ugh, why are you so fucking warm?!” Ender huffed, sounding very much like a disgruntled child.
He smirked at Killian over Ender’s head, carefully wrapping a hand over the one the man had on Ender’s shoulder, giving the Siren time to pull away.
Killian smiled weakly.
“Don’t you two dare flirt while you are LITERALLY around me!” the Gorgon squawked, though the words were muffled by his face basically being plastered to one of Cyrus’ pecks.
The Siren rolled his eyes and sighed. “Just go to sleep, you cranky ass bastard! It’s been a long fucking day.”
“The audacity of youngins nowadays. Treating an elder like a damn teddy bear. Where is the respect…” The snake grumbled a bit more, but as his words trailed off, a snore quickly took their place.
He met Killian’s gaze once more, his smile dropping at the serious expression on his lover’s face.
“We’ll talk later…” the Siren said softly.
Cyrus took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. “Yeah, later… I… I love you.”
Killian remained quiet for a moment, giving Cyrus’ heart a good scare, before finally, he softly murmured back, “Love you too. Sleep.”
“Mm,” he grunted, closing his eyes as he tried to ease the tension in his body enough to fall asleep.