Archive of Our Own ^beta

Karl had put Rose to bed hours ago and was currently putting away the last of the freshly washed dishes when the door to their ‘apartment’ in the factory bust open. Hushed voices drifted through, accompanied by a high pitched giggle. Turning slowly on his heel, he sauntered through the doorway connecting the kitchen to the front room and saw Bela and Daniela dragging Ethan in by his arms.

“Oh uncle, thank God you’re still awake.” The girls dropped Ethan unceremoniously to the ground. He rubbed his cheek against the freshly carpeted floor and murmured something unintelligible into the synthetic wool. Daniela leaned forward and braced herself against her knees while Bela leaned back and rested against the wall, both taking deep, gasping breaths. Karl chuckled, his hands on hips as he stared down at Ethans sluggish form.

“How’d this happen, huh? I thought it was just gonna be a few drinks.” He crouched down and rested his arms on his knees, reaching out an arm to lightly brush a hand through Ethan’s rumpled hair. He hummed contently, raising his head ever so slightly to meet Karls calloused hand, a wide, toothy grin spread across his face. Bela groaned, wiping a hand over her face.

“You know how the two can get when they’re together, a few drinks quickly turned into a full-blown drinking competition.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did. Uncle Ethan is quite the heavyweight.” Daniela remarked. Dropping to a whisper, she lifted a hand to the side of her mouth. “I heard mother slur one of her words.” Before Karl could begin to process the idea of Dimitrescu being anything other than painfully uptight, Ethan let out a heavy groan and tried to stand up, but didn’t get any further than getting to his hands and knees before slipping and falling back to the floor in a laughing heap.

“M’fine, s’all good, gimme ‘nother.” Ethan slurred. He rolled onto his back and tilted his head back to let out a few airy laughs, then finally took notice of Karl crouched over him. “Heeyyy!” Ethan reached his arms out and made grabby motions with his hands towards Karl’s head. Karl lifted an eyebrow and smiled in amusement. Taking Ethan's hands in his own, Karl stood and pulled Ethan up to his feet with ease, bracing Ethan’s body against his with a hand on his hip. “Woah, you’re strong.” Ethan's eyes looked unfocused and his head swayed up and down, but his mouth was still fixed in a toothy grin. The girls, now fully recovered, waved goodbye as they left the room.

“He’s your problem now!” Bela called over her shoulder before shutting the door behind her.

“Alright hun, let’s get you to bed.” Keeping a firm hand on Ethan's waist and slinging an arm over his shoulders, Karl slowly began walking Ethan over to the bedroom.

“Hey there handsome, come here often?” Ethan laughed, dropping his head to rest against Karl's neck. Karl just rolled his eyes in response, focusing on the increasingly difficult task of keeping Ethan on two feet. His attempts were worthless when it came to stepping into the bedroom however when Ethan's foot caught the lip of the doorway and sent him sprawling, dragging Karl down to the floor with him. Ethan burst into another laughing fit while Karl pulled himself back to his feet. "Looks like I've fallen for you."

“Alright, you’re done.” Karl grabbed at Ethan's hands again, but instead of pulling him to his feet, he picked him up into the air and cradled him in arms like a child, carrying him over the last few steps to the bed.

“Wow, my knight in shining armour.” Ethan giggled, reaching a hand up to Karl's head and twisting a strand of hair around his index finger. Carefully, Karl placed him down onto the bed, extracting his fingers from his hair before pulling away.

“Don’t move, I’m getting you a glass of water, ok?” Ethan gave him a thumbs up in response, chuckling to himself as he spread out on the worn mattress. Karl lingered a moment longer, smiling contently at Ethan's happy demeanour. It wasn’t often Ethan relaxed enough to drink, let alone enough to get drunk. Karl had only seen him like this two other times, but both were in the safe comfort of the factory, Ethan always needing to periodically check in with Rose to make sure she was fine. Knowing that he was getting comfortable enough in the village to be able to let loose without stressing over her warmed Karl’s heart.

After pouring a glass of water, Karl walked back to the bedroom, only to find Ethan with his back on the floor and legs in the air, his shirt half removed over his face and trousers stuck round his ankles. Letting out a low chuckle, Karl placed the glass on a dresser and went over to help him out. He grabbed at the waistband of the trousers and gave them a tug, but Ethan kicked his legs out in retaliation, weakly hitting Karl in the chest.

“Don’t touch me, I got a boyfriend.” Ethan's voice was muffled through the fabric of his shirt. Karl crouched by Ethan’s head again, a smirk plastered on his face.

“Oh yeah? What’s he like?”

“He’s… the best. Super smart, like, insanely. And strong. Stronger than you.”

“Oh really?”

“Uh-huh, and he’s… Really hot. like, oh my God.” Ethan gasped a laugh through the shirt. “So hot.”

“Hey, Ethan?”

“Yeah?” Karl gripped the hem of the shirt and pulled it over Ethan's head in one smooth motion, meeting his eyes. “Oh my God, Karl! When did you get here? I was just talking about you.” Ethan smiled up at him adoringly. Karl returned the look, the face of his boyfriend warming his heart further than he thought possible.

“All good things I hope.” Karl returned to pulling Ethan's trousers off, this time without disruption.

“Always.” The two finally made it into bed together, Karl resting a hand at the nape of Ethan's neck as he helped him drink the full glass of water before settling down to sleep. “Karl?”

“What is it?”

“Love you.” Karl smiled and pressed his lips to the back of Ethan's head.

“Love you too buttercup.”

“Karl?”

“Yeah?”

“I think m’gonna throw up.”