Perian snuggled down next to him.
“Can I stay for a little while?” he asked, even as he realized that he should have asked that before he snuggled. “I know you probably want some alone time.”
“We don’t need alone time,” Arvus said.
“We can always have communal time instead,” Molun added with a big grin.
Brannal huffed a laugh, and Perian smiled, sure they were all going to be fine.
“Just tell me when you need a break,” he said.
“We don’t ever need a break,” Molun whispered.
Perian was already falling asleep again.
“Just for a couple hours, Perian, or you’re never going to sleep normally again,” he distantly heard Brannal say.
Perian hummed a noise of agreement.
He slept.
As Brannal had promised, he roused Perian after a couple of hours, and then he was distracted for a little while by a visit from Renny, a visit from Delana, and a visit from Nisal. There were more tears, and Nisal and Perian hugged one another for a long time, both so relieved by the outcome of the attack. They both thanked oneanother a lot, and then Molun thanked them both, and then Perian declared them the best team ever, because obviously no one could ever compete.
It was harder to stay away after that, but Brannal suggested Perian read to them, and that stretched his hours of consciousness a little further. (Anyone reading to Perian didn’t work, because he just nodded off again.) It kept him up well enough that Brannal could then cart him back to their room at something approximating an actual bedtime. Fucking him into the mattress definitely served as a good way to relax him and then get him to go to sleep there.
In the middle of the night, Perian woke up with the need to go see Molun, though, so he sneaked over there and crawled into their bed. True to their word, they accepted him without question. It almost felt the way it used to, although Molun was the one in the middle, and they had to be careful not to move his leg. But it was almost as good as it had been when Brannal was away.
“You always feel good,” Molun told him, hand in his hair, and Perian smiled as he snuggled.
Brannal retrieved him in the morning, towing him back to the sitting room for breakfast.
“I just want to make sure he’s all right,” Perian said, not sure that he could actually explain it, because it was a little weird that he’d left his bed with Brannal, his most favorite place to be, to crawl into bed with the other two, wasn’t it?
Brannal seemed to understand, though, because he nodded, although he said, “And I want to make sure that you’re all right.”
Perian said automatically, “I’m fine.”
“That means you need to eat and be well rested and actually think about yourself,” Brannal told him.
Right. Right. Those were all good things. Perian was eating right now, and he’d slept in two different beds last night, and he was… pretty sure he was thinking about himself, wasn’t he?
Brannal said, “Would you like to ride me in one of the chairs by the fire?”
Perian leaped at the opportunity. It was close quarters and a bit of awkward maneuvering, but this was definitely Perian riding him to messy completion in the armchair and then slumping against him, basking in the afterglow.
“You feel so good,” Perian told him.
“You feel so good, too,” Brannal said, pressing a kiss to his lips. “If I go to work, are you going to go see Molun and Arvus?”
Perian nodded. He couldn’t imagine doing anything else, although he supposed at some point he would need to participate in training again. He wanted to have picnics again, too, and see his other friends. But his focus still seemed to be very much on Molun right now, which made sense, since Molun was the one who’d almost died.
“Please remember to eat something later,” Brannal told him.
Perian nodded again, then went to crawl back into bed with Molun and Arvus, who once again accepted his arrival. He wasn’t sure that he was going to feel totally normal until Molun was out of bed and could walk around on two feet again. There was something in Perian that said he needed to be here, needed to be close. And Molun was sleeping a lot, too, so at least that way, Perian had company, and Arvus could read to them. Maybe Perian had kind of picked up… sympathetic fatigue? Maybe he hadn’t been injured physically, but the attack had taken a toll? He should ask Nisal if they were sleeping a lot.
Brannal collected him at dinner time, and thankfully fed him again in the sitting room. He would have to get back out to see everyone again, of course he would, but right at the moment, he couldn’t imagine it. Too many people? Too far away from Molun? He wasn’t sure what it was, but it definitely felt wrong.
Brannal took him to bed again, which really was the best. Perian didn’t think he would ever feel anything better than that.
