sword_breaker | Myth!AU - In The Shadows

"I promise it won't be too much work, okay?" He's grinning now, unable to hide the excitement from his voice. It makes sense if he thinks about it, of course the reapers would want to keep an eye on him while he worked, but that doesn't dull the fact that he's going to be able to finally show James this part of himself.

"Or like, any work at all," he adds a little slyly, beaming over, "I just gotta do a little bit of my job, you do your thing with the souls, and then we can have time for like...I mean think of it like a little vacation."

“I know how your sort function. That’s still some work but not going to be bogged down with paperwork or the like,” he assures, putting his phone down. Liam was the first dullahan he was on speaking and well other terms with but the reaper has had his fair share of run-ins.

He smiles back at him, “A vacation, huh? Are you sure you’re not just trying to whisk me away to a fae realm? I’m sure you have quite the plan for it.”

Absolutely no paperwork, he's certain of that, and when James catches him with that brilliant smile of his he can't help but beam back. "I mean, I think you might be stuck if I took you there."

His grin turns devious as he strides over and winds his arms loosely around his reaper's waist, resting his chin on the man's shoulder. "That whole 'don't eat anything' rule, after all. I think we've broken that a couple of times over already."

A gentle laugh falls from his lips while he turns and knocks his forehead against Liam’s, smiling amused. “Oh well that is a certainty. I’m not very good about that rule. Not when you’re so sweet,” he teases.

“I think I’d be fine being captured by a fae so long as it’s you.”

Despite everything, the joke still brings a slight pink flush to his cheeks even as he grins and reaches up to thread one hand through James' hair to keep the both of them close. "See, now I'm gonna have to capture you. Mark my claim, let everyone else know that you're mine and they can't screw with you because that's my job."

“Uh hunh sure.” He crosses his arms lightly over his chest but not to disturb the dullahan’s hold. A knowing smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth and only worsens with the pink entering Liam’s cheeks. “Wouldn’t it be more so screwed by me rather screwed with me? You have quite the preference.”

"Well I mean-" He trails off, his grin turning wolfish, despite the heat in his cheeks. James does make a very compelling point, and one that Liam is entirely willing to concede. "To be fair, you do a really, really good job of it if I can say so."

Nailed it.

“It helps that someone is so avid about practicing,” he teases. Reaching up James gently cups Liam’s jaw for a moment before pulling away and heading back to his desk. “But I’m glad that you’ve enjoyed it so far.”

"Well yeah." His grin is wide and dumb, filled with excitement and affection, and as he watches his reaper move back he rocks back on his heels. "I'll get everything up and ready on my end, okay? Does the Order have specific times when they want you to come along, or are we just kind of....like, are we able to leave whenever?"

Because he might have to plan just a little bit, now that it's certain that his reaper is going to be able to join.

"They'd want a specific date that we would be doing this excursion," James answers with a meager shrug. "So as long as I give them a heads up, there won't be any further fuss. So if there's things you want to knock out beforehand, you have the time."

He hums under his breath, "Got to pack anyway. Make sure I'm covered for however long you need to be out."

"I can do that, I can definitely do that," he agrees, all excitement and barely contained energy now that they're doing this, they're actually doing this. "Uhhh, how about the end of the week, does that sound okay? Is that enough time to get packed? If it's not I get it!"

His mind is racing now, there's a fire in his blood, and oh is he absolutely ready to just leap off and peal out already. There's a lightness in his chest, a grin on his lips, and love in his eyes as he looks back over.

"The end of the weeks work for me," he smirks at the overflow of excitement coming from the dullahan. Liam was practically a full 180 of how he's been for a bit now. It was refreshing to see him so happy. "It's enough time. Do you have any recommendations of what I should bring?"

"Oh! Uh." That's a very good question, and one that he actually has to stop to think about. Generally when he's ridden by himself he doesn't need anything, but now that he's going to have someone along for the ride (heh)...that would make things a bit different. Not difficult, but he'd have to figure out how to adjust.

"Probably like, an overnight bag with a couple of changes, maybe? We'll be riding most of the time but I'll pull over at night when we need to so you can get some sleep!"

He waits patiently for the dullahan to answer, raising a brow slightly. Maybe it wasn’t the best to ask him when he’s never really travelled with any but himself. Honestly though he wanted to keep feeding Liam’s excitement so he doesn’t worry over him not be into such a trip.

“That’d be great actually. I don’t know about you but I’d rather not practice the whole riding while asleep thing.”

He hesitates. “Are we going to ride like how we did last time?”

Oh, that's a very good thing to ask, and it gives Liam a moment of pause. He's never had to worry about anyone but himself before, but he vividly remembers the last time he'd taken James with him and how that had ended up. If there was anything he was certain of in life, it's that he never wanted to cause that sort of panic again.

"We uh," he begins, "no. We won't. I won't do that to you, never again, okay? We'll take it at a better pace, and no invisibility. Okay?"

"But wouldn't they see you then?" If there's anything more terrifying than triggering another attack, it's Liam putting himself into further danger. "I can pack my meds, make sure I take them if things crop up but don't you need that? Otherwise everyone and their mother is going to see you coming."

He scrubs his face before plopping down into the chair again. "I just wish you had an ability to share, you know? But otherwise yea that's good I guess."

"I mean, I can try some things," he's steadfastly against doing anything that's going to hurt James, "we'll make it work out, yeah? We'll figure it out. Make sure to pack your stuff regardless, but I'm not gonna do anything that's gonna be bad for you."

His face scrunches up as he thinks, trying to wrack his brain for something, anything, he could possibly do. "Lemme...lemme talk to Val or something? She knows a bunch of magic, maybe she could teach me something to grab you too. I'm gonna figure it out, I promise."

He's almost at a loss for words with how driven Liam is in making sure that things weren't going to repeat. Usually he was the one to accommodate or hell even relent when things didn't agree with him and his troubles. For a moment, James looks at Liam in awe, "I ugh...thank you."

The look that crosses James' face melts something deep in Liam's heart, and he reaches out to pull his reaper in to a tight hug. "Don't need to thank me. I promise, never gonna do anything that's going to put you in that situation ever again. And hey, I'm sure Val'll know what to do."

The final bit is a bit more cheery as he nuzzles into James' shoulder, "she knows pretty much everything. Even if she's a head-stealing asshole sometimes."

A soft noise slips out from him at the suddenness of the hug but he's not against it. rather instead James is more than willing to let himself relax in Liam's arms and let go of the final dregs of doubt lingering in his mind. He nuzzles into the dullahan's shoulder with a gentle hrm, agreeing with him.

"Not everything," he murmurs, "but she actually likes you now. So don't see why she wouldn't give you a leg up on making things easier. We're going to make it work."

"Pretty much everything," he teases back as he presses a soft kiss into James' temple, "and the hell she does. She's got a way of showing it if she does like me. I'm still a little sore over all that, y'know."

But he softens and hums under his breath as he rocks the two of them together, "but for you? For you I'll risk my head being stolen any day."

"Not going to let her do that again. Besides there's a difference now between weird unseelie dude waltzing vs dorky dumbass that is head over heels for a reaper." He nuzzles into Liam's shoulder. Val had given her fair approval of the dullahan especially after he had explained their history. Really she was more than thrilled to see him happy.

He sighs softly with a smile, "Love you too, dork."

James had been very right: Val had been more than happy to help once she'd been clued in on what was going to be going on. She'd set Liam up with a handful of paper charms to help the both of them stay out of sight, while not rendering them technically invisible to each other. That way they didn't have to worry, and James wouldn't have to deal with the trauma of feeling alone.

Liam is antsy when the day comes, bounding around the apartment like an overly-excited dog as he waits for his reaper to finish packaging. His things are stuffed in a backpack haphazardly, but it's enough for him. It's enough to make sure he at least could pretend to pass for a normal human when they would stop for the night.

"'m all ready," he calls down the hall, a dumb grin plastered across his face.

Gods he holds tight to the sink while he takes in a deep breath. Things were going to work out fine but ever since he woke up that morning, he's been internally fussing over anything and everything. The reaper scrubs his face with a hand before pulling out a charm from his bag. He puts it on before shoving his sleeve back down.

"I know, I know," James sighs, shouldering his bag and heading out of the bedroom. A small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

He nods. "You look more than ready. Like a kid told they're going to Disney. Or a dog and a car ride. Don't think I've ever seen you this excitable."

Even with the freneticness that's buzzing about, he still takes his time to check up on James all the more. This is a big day, a day he's been excited about for a very long time, but it's also one that's going to be very trying on the both of them, if he's being honest. It's the first time he's ever ridden with someone else tagging along, and it's certainly the first time James has ever been so close to a blacklister while they do their work. At least...at least he thinks that's the case. He hasn't pried into that aspect of his boyfriend's life because it always feels like such a private thing that he doesn't want to dredge up, lest it bring up any bad memories.

But his entire face lights up when James emerges from the bathroom, and there's a dopey sort of grin on his face as he bounds over and leans in to steal a quick kiss. "Look it's just- this is what I used to do all the time and it's been a while and-"

He stops himself before he starts rambling too much. "It builds up over time, yeah? And I'm really excited to share it all with you."

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TIMESKIP

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