The Scared God [ManXManXMan]

Chapter Twenty-four: Вмешательство - Vmeshatel'stvo

~Chapter Twenty-four: Вмешательство - Vmeshatel'stvo~

I am not sure at what point I lose consciousness, but when I wake up, I am no longer in my bedroom. Instead, I am staring at an unfamiliar ceiling while lying on a bed I know is not mine just from how hard my pillow is. When I turn my head to look around, rather than seeing the rest of the room, I end up face-to-chest with Hors, who is sitting on the bed beside me with his back against the headboard, reading a book. Since he does not look away from it, which probably means he has not realized that I am awake yet, I carefully move my head to face the opposite direction, already having a pretty strong guess as to where I am, but still wanting to check.

However, though it confirms my theory in its own way, I still do not get a chance to see the room, only the sleeping face of Perun, who has one arm thrown casually over my stomach. The other, I realize not even a full second later, is under my head, which explains why my pillow is oddly firm. I freeze, desperately wanting to shove him away but also afraid to wake him up.

He looks so...happy.

"Breathe, Veles," Hors murmurs, and I realize that I had stopped when I have no breath to huff with. Hors puts the book to the side and drops a hand onto my head, causing me to startle. However, when he immediately begins to run his fingers through my hair, I find myself able to take a deep, albeit shaky, breath. "If he's making you uncomfortable, you can push him away. Gently."

It takes me a moment to figure out that he is talking about Perun and even longer to realize that he actually means it – that it is not a test. Still, I hesitate. I would like to be able to blame my hesitation on the fact that I do not want Perun waking up and being annoying, but, in actuality, there is just something about how content his expression is that I am not sure I want to ruin it. So, after a moment, I shake my head, though not hard enough to dislodge the hand in my hair.

Hors hums, but I cannot tell if it is in approval or just a random sound since I cannot see his face with how I am positioned. He does not say anything, though, which I find is oddly discomforting. While I cannot claim to hate what he is doing to my hair, silence is not usually a good sign when so much has happened in the past few days. They have yet to even talk to me about what Perun wrote in the letter aside from telling me that it can wait until I am better.

And then...and then that happened.

My breath catches when I remember what led to me passing out in the first place. Well, indirectly. I rather doubt the destruction of my pocket watch was what made me pass out; it was likely more the shock of being found out in the first place and what it did to speed up my next death that led to my unconsciousness.

"Veles," Hors warns, and it is enough to remind me that not breathing is a bad idea, especially since I notice that I am starting to feel lightheaded, so I take another deep breath. The sun god's hand does not stop brushing through my hair, but that does not mean he lets my reaction go. "What's wrong?"

Since pretending to not understand what he means or to play it off as nothing would just be stupid at this point, I ignore the question instead. "Why am I here?"

Hors' hand does pause this time, and I can hear the frown in his voice when he says, "You revived here, Veles. Do you not remember?"

"No," I start, and then quickly add when I feel him tense under me, "No, I mean, yes. I remember. But why am I in here? Your room, I mean."

There is a short pause before Hors resumes his gentle ministrations. He does not say anything right away, though. Instead, he leans over a bit, almost squishing me between him and Perun, to poke his boyfriend. The king god groans a little and stretches out his free arm and legs, spreading himself across the remaining room on the comforter and removing his arm from my waist in the process. When Perun opens his eyes, he looks inordinately pleased when he looks between me and Hors, who still has his hand in my hair.