[C] Red

"Well fuck, is he going back to thugging it with his brother again? I thought they'd gotten over that with their teen years."

There was a hum.

"Come on over here. I can't say I'm as professional as doctors, but I'll be a damn sight quicker at healing him. Then the little shit'll owe me. Saving his career. I'm fucking minted."

He side eyed Fleck. There were burning questions he wanted to be answered.

Dick rolled his eyes but smiled warmly at the offer.

"Not to inflate your ego, but you're a lifesaver. We will be there soon and my cats are better, bye."

He finished the call before Sacha can retort to that.

"Change of plan, we're going to Sacha's. He offered to help."

Chrys gave a long drawn-out groan. "D'you know if Corban is there?"

Chai giggled in her seat. "Corban has this massive crush on Chrys," she explained for Dick's benefit. "And literally every time he sees him, Chrys tries to hide. It's hilarious."

Fleck snorted in mirth. "Well, you two don't need to stay. Dick and Sacha can take care of me."

Chair leered at her brother. "You know how much Sacha would like to take care of you."

"Fuck of, Chai."

Corban having a massive crush on Chrys took him by surprise. A very amusing surprise. It must be quite funny watching a lanky grown man trying to hide from his crush.

Dick nudged the back of Chai's seat, frowning.

"I'm here, you know."

He didn't want to hear how his friend would "take care" of his boyfriend. Even as a joking sugestion. Unless he was a few shots in and proudly claiming hot his boyfrind was and everyone should agree.

"Sorry, but Sacha's been trying to get into Fleck's pants since Fleck was... what, sixteen? Way before you came into the picture."

Fleck grumbled, but a little flush had come to his cheeks as he turned to look out the window.

Dick nudged the back of Chai's seat again, feeling a simmer of jealousy and insecurity rise. The blush he could see on Fleck's face from the corner of his eye wasn't helping.

Since that late night talk, he had a lot of time to think; on their relationship, on Fleck's past relationships and his own past relationship. He felt they were steering to uncertain and choppy waters. Or maybe he was thinking too pessimistically. 

"So, how did you know? That I... have magic healing powers."

He didn't say vampire outright. He wasn't sure what Chai knew and what she didn't.

"I'm sure you know who my sponsor is. She became my sponsor at fourteen."

At thirty eight now, there was no way that she would have been able to keep up the guise of human to him. She'd told him when he was seventeen.

"And I've fucked her," Chai pitched in. "Those fangs." She fanned herself teasingly when her brothers grunted in disgust.

Chrys was easy to guess how.

Chai...

"Oh, God, you do not need to tell me that."

He pulled his own face of disgust. He didn't want to know who either of them slept with, let alone with each other. 

"You know what a white lie is, right? That would have been very welcomed then."

Chai burst into peals of laughter.

"Oh, but not as fun as your expression. Priceless." She kissed her fingertips, like a proud chef did.

Even Fleck was laughing along. Though, he already knew, so it wasn't as much of a shock to him.

Dick stuck his tongue out and made a tiny gagging noise.

"If you think I'm buying your drinks next time we're out, you're wrong. So, so wrong."

He was putting his foot down this time.

"You said that last time."

And the time before that. And the time before that.

Dick was a generous drunk, and Chai appreciated that a lot. Who wouldn't?

Chrys pulled up to the doorway of Sacha's apartment complex. "Go on, then. We'll see you later, yeah? Hagne's been wanting to bring Fya round for a while. She misses uncle Dickie."

Dick's heart swelled and a smile stretched across his face.

"Thank's for the lift, and will do. It'll be nice to have a good catch up."

He said his goodbyes and made his way out of the cafe and buzz up to Sacha's apartment.

"Don't worry about it." He waved Dick off. "I'll have Hagne text you. I'm sorry in advance for all the pictures you'll get."

Hagne had been excessive with them. Which was fine. He loved looking at pictures of his youngest daughter.

But the hundredth picture of her in that cute blue dress that Dick bought her was too many.

Fleck followed Dick out of the car and up into Sacha's apartment when they were buzzed in.

Sacha was leaning against his front door when they arrived.

"Got yourself into a bit of a mess, then, thug?"

"Yep." Fleck popped the P.

"I'm very curious to know what you mean about him and Leo being thug's when they were teens."

He looked between the too before passing them both to find Sacha's cat to cuddle.

"Please, those two are thugs now. They're just not stupid enough to get into fistfights as often."

His gaze turned down to the shirt-wrapped hand. "Well, I thought so. Okay, beautiful, come take a seat and we'll see what we've got."

Sacha strutted towards the livingroom, where the cat was laying, still asleep and covered in treats.

Fleck took a seat on the couch beside the cat, and Sacha pulled up the footrest to sit on. He was close enough that he needed to spread his legs so Fleck's could rest comfortably between them.

He unwound the tshirt gently. "Hold it there," he murmured, and held his hands around Fleck's injured one, one above it and one below, neither touching Fleck's.

"Huh, two fractured knuckles, and a fracture to the index proximal. How hard did you punch this guy?"

This was either whole new information, or maybe it was information that he heard before but never took seriously. 

Dick sat next to Fleck with the cat between them. He gently scratched the treat covered belly as he watched Sacha curiously.

"Do you think you can fix it?"

Sacha threw Dick an insulted look.

"How many years have I been practising healing magic?"

Twenty-six was the answer to that. He'd started really learning healing magic at the ripe old age of ten. He probably knew the body and how it functions better than most doctors. There was a reason he had chosen to become an EMT and not an actual Doctor.

He dropped his hands and stood. "Keep it raised. I'll be back in a minute." He ruffled Fleck's hair as he brushed past him. "Love it. Model it after me?"

The cut was strikingly similar.

And Fleck wouldn't be surprised if Chai had modelled it after Sacha's.

He scrunched his nose and shrugged. Being supernatural himself didn't mean he knew the ins and outs of others magic. His knowledge on witches can and cant's do wasn't wealthy.

Dick looked between the two of them and an amused sound caught the back of his throat. It hadn't clicked until now.

"Fleck works it better," he jabbed, grinning at Sacha.

"Keep deluding yourself, mon amour," Sacha called back.

He returned a minute later toting a single object in each hand.

"Noe we can go the traditional route." He held up the leather belt in one hand. "Or the fun route." This time he held up a ballgag, shiny and red, with black leather straps.

He shook them both teasingly.

Dick's whole face scrunched up, red, eyes on the shacking ball gag.

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, I am."

Sacha took up his seat again.

"He needs to bite down on something or he'll crack his teeth while the bones are healing. It's not a pleasant feeling. Leather belt has been the way for hundreds of years, but these work so much better." He shook the ball gag again.

He was teasing when he explained, though. He was speaking the gold truth. They really did work so much better than belts. They stayed in place, had more flexibility, and were generally tougher than leather.

Fleck sighed and reached up to snatch the ballgag. "Just give me the fucking gag and fix my hand." The more he waited, the more scared he was about the numbness he felt, and the lightheadedness he was getting over lack of blood. If the gag worked better, then fuck decorum and embarrassment.

He held the gag up to Dick. "Can you?"

Dick felt the heat travel to the tips of his ears.

"Fine, fine."

He took the gag and glared at Sacha. He pressed the ball gently into Fleck's mouth before securing it to be the back of his head, pushing his hair out of the way. It was a familiar motion.

"All right then."

Sacha thrust his hips upwards off the couch, reaching into his back pocket as he did and pulling out a stress ball in the shape of a breast, then handing it to Fleck.

"No need to break any more fingers," he said when Fleck pulled it out of his grip.

Then Sacha got to work, situating his hands under and above Fleck's again, muttering under his breath.

Fleck didn't react at first, but soon, he was grunting and clenching his teeth around the firm gag in his mouth.

Like a switch, Dick went from embarrassed to series. The colour still lingered in his cheeks. 

He placed a hand on Fleck's back in an attempt to be somewhat soothing. Until Sacha needed help in some shape or form, he was rather useless.

As Sacha continued to murmur under his breath, his shoulders began to twitch.

Then the scent of blood, thick and rich with powerful magic, permeated the air. It rolled slowly down from Sacha's nose, to his upper lip. It smeared, painting both his lips crimson when he ignored it, and continued muttering.

Fleck whimpered, hunching over but keeping his hand as still as possible.