Chapter Text
It took a fraction of a second for Steven’s view of the twins to be blocked out again by Anubis, quickly stepping in front of the teenager.
“I do not know what you want, Khonshu, but leave Steven out of it.”
“Again, my avatars were simply curious. I am allowing it. After all, they did quite well on their mission today.”
Mission? He wondered what tasks a god like Khonshu would give his avatars. He was infamous for being vengeful, as well as his affinity for violence. Tawaret and Anubis would often whisper critically of the way he treated his avatars, strict and rigorous. But from what Steven had heard over the years, his training was as harsh as it was successful. Still, what kind of ‘mission’ would the moon god have made them complete?
The bird’s voice lilted in a way that made Steven shiver, “Oh yes, they did exceptionally. Though I am sure you had already sensed those few dozen souls enter the Duat, earlier today.”
Steven felt his blood run cold. That answer’s that, then.
“We have no interest in whatever game you are playing. Begone.” Anubis snapped harshly. With a bit of effort, Steven managed to peek out from behind the god.
Khonshu shifted his attention between Steven’s nervous gaze and the jackal’s furious glare, silent. Scoffing, he struck the ground with his staff. The twins paused, and slowly retreated back to the side of the moon god. Khonshu quietly loomed, the air still as Anubis continued to conceal the teenager. The moon god studied the pair, drumming his fingers on his staff. After a moment, his head cocked to the side in a mocking gesture.
“You know, it has been more than a year since they came of age, and my avatars have progressed quite favorably,” Khonshu’s tone was amused, taunting. “I truly doubt yours will do the same. Soft and helpless… how pitiful.”
Anubis lunged towards the other in an instant, teeth bared, the front of Khonshu’s wrappings bunched up in his fist. “You will not speak of him like that.”
The other god let out a grating laugh. “And would you rather I speak of him as you do? All sentimental and coddling?” Khonshu leaned forward challengingly.
“Tell me, mutt, was it not just that treatment that allowed your dear little pup to nearly die today?”
Anubis’ hand twitched. It felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room, the tension suffocating. He snarled, each word slow and threatening, “If you are trying to convince me to rip your bony skull off your shoulders, you are doing a very good job.” The other god didn’t respond. They held each other’s gaze for a few, long moments.
The silence was broken as Steven let out a yelp. One of the twins, the one wearing a hat, had snuck up and grabbed his hand. He turned it over, front-to-back, then back-to-front, studying Steven’s hand like it was a book. The young man caressing his hand either didn’t notice or didn’t care that Steven’s face was beginning to flush a deep scarlet. He was brushing his gloved fingers over Steven’s knuckles— okay, that was definitely blood on his sleeves— when Anubis immediately let go of Khonshu and hurriedly marched towards them.
Right before Anubis pulled Steven away, he heard the twin mutter something. It was nearly imperceptible, but he had heard it.
“...Que precioso...”
Abruptly, Steven was shielded behind Anubis again, this time with a large hand wrapped protectively around his shoulders. The god’s teeth were bared, a vicious glare darting between the twins and the moon god. “That is enough. We are done here.”
He felt Anubis’ grip on him tighten. The jackal firmly led him towards the exit. Neither Khonshu nor the twins made a move to stop them. Steven didn’t look back, but felt the rumble of Anubis’ voice as they passed the threshold into the city. His tone was deadly serious and calm as he uttered the thinly veiled threat.
“It would be in your best interest to keep away from my child. Goodbye, Khonshu.”
Steven felt like his whole world had been turned upside down.
When Steven was very little, Anubis had told him about the existence of other avatars. The god had brushed it off, telling him it was unlikely that Steven could meet the others, as the gods often busied their avatars with their own training. Despite this, his younger self had quietly entertained a hopeless fantasy of a friend. It was a dream that had never ended up amounting to much— a dream that he could meet someone like himself. Since then, the closest he had gotten was Tawaret’s passing comment that Steven would get along with her own avatar.
Now that he had finally met more of his own, Steven found himself unsure of what to think. They were not quite what he expected. They were intimidating. They were scary. Despite this, he felt a strange sense of fascination bubble within him. A whirling mix of fear and interest, sparking into a dangerous curiosity. He needed to know more. He remembers having a similar feeling before, when he was much younger. Back then, he used to daydream about sneaking out of the temple, just for a moment. Of course, he never did, far too afraid to even attempt it.
But this was different. The twins had been frightening, but Steven was surprisingly undeterred. Meeting the other avatars had gripped him with a sense of wonder he had never felt before in his life. Gods, he wished he could have been able to learn their names. He wished he could have learned something about them. Anything.
If Anubis had just moved out of the way, maybe he would have actually been able to talk to them.
Unexpectedly, Steven felt a small flicker of indignation. He rarely ever felt this way toward the jackal, having long since come to terms with his overprotectiveness. Anubis would always care for Steven, almost to a fault. And Steven was grateful for it. He even relied on it. That was part of their relationship; it was who they were. But… sometimes Anubis could just be too—
“You are not eating, Steven. Are you alright?”
Steven snapped out of his thoughts. Oh, he must have been staring at his vegetable stew for a very long time. Looking up, he gave a small smile. “I’m okay, just tired.”
They were sitting outside of a restaurant in the city. As expected, Steven hadn’t wanted to return to the temple just yet. Anubis had a worried look in his eyes. “You have had a very difficult morning, and you must get your strength back. But you will not be able to recover if you do not eat, my child.”
Groaning, Steven made a big show of scooping up a large spoonful of the stew. A fraction of a second before it touched his lips, he belatedly realized that it was still steaming. Seemingly without looking, Anubis waved his hand, muttering a quick cooling charm. In an instant, the stew in his spoon cooled to a mild warmth.
Steven swallowed. Then blinked, blushing as he realized what had just happened.
“You don't have to do that. I’m not a baby anymore.” He mumbled, embarrassed.
“Were you not just about to burn yourself? By eating stew?” The god teased.
Steven averted eye contact, eyes instead focused onto the table. He couldn’t think of a response. He was eighteen, and Anubis was still blowing on his hot food like when he was a toddler.
The jackal let out a fond chuckle. “Come on, eat. Then we can head home. You need to rest.” He said softly. Steven took another spoonful, slower this time.
“Um, I was actually wondering if we could go to the library. Just for a bit?” Steven asked hopefully. Anubis sternly shook his head. “You are injured, Steven. You need to be in bed.” Steven glanced up with pleading eyes, a certain look that he knew from experience tended to make the other acquiesce.
“But, it is my birthday. So…”
The jackal looked at Steven, expression laced with conflict and worry. After a moment, he shut his eyes with a frustrated huff. “...Alright. But finish your food first. I will not have you injured and hungry.” Steven’s face broke out into a bright grin, stuffing more stew into his mouth. Anubis began fussing about Steven burning himself again, but the avatar was too excited to listen.
There was something that he desperately needed to understand. The library was the best resource he had.
That afternoon, Steven returned to the temple carrying an extensive book about human languages. When Anubis had questioned why he wanted that book in particular, the teenager shrugged. Steven reasoned that he would be going out into the human world more often, and would probably need to be familiar with a few more languages than English and ancient Egyptian.
But if he spent the rest of the night scouring hundreds of pages, searching for a language that could help him translate the words ‘Que precioso,’ well…
Anubis didn’t need to know about it.
A week passed by quicker than expected.
Throughout the week, Anubis had been bluntly suggesting cancelling the outings, to which Steven consistently refused. At least once a day, each side would be trying to reason with the other.
“I will deal with Osiris. You will not need to go if you do not want to.”
“But I do want to. And we both know you’d get in trouble for disobeying the council.”
“Technically, I should be the only one in charge of your training. I should have final say.”
“I don’t think the other gods will be okay with you defying them on a technicality.”
“...I could think of something—”
“I need to do it, Anubis.”
Thankfully, after several days of back and forth between the two, Anubis had reluctantly accepted that Steven would have to leave today.
The teenager squinted as he looked out towards the city, the beating sun shining into his eyes. From the moment he woke up, it had been incredibly hot. It wasn’t quite a heatwave, but Steven was very glad he wore thinner clothes.
As he stood under the pylon of the temple, he wasn’t quite sure if his sweaty palms were due to the weather or his nerves. Most likely, it was an awful combination of both.
Strangely, Steven somehow didn’t mind the steady heat that came from the circle of metal on his upper arm. It was oddly comforting, and he was in desperate need of comfort right now. Despite how often he had told Anubis that he wanted to go, he was secretly just as anxious as the god was about it.
Of course, Steven would never tell him that. The jackal already had a thousand reasons why he didn’t want Steven leaving the temple; the teenager was absolutely not about to give him any more. Steven wiped the sweat from his brow. Gods, why was Anubis taking so long?
“Steven!”
In a whirlwind of sand, Anubis appeared next to him. Before Steven could get a word out, the god had already descended upon him, speaking faster than he could follow.
“Now, I do not know why Horus has decided to be so insufferable today, but I will not have you dying of heatstroke simply because he is determined to melt the entirety of this city. Take this— it will keep you cool until you make it to the sandskiff, and I want you to drink plenty of water. Take this too— and stay in the shade as much as you can.” Anubis shoved a container of water in his hands, as well as a fan shaped object, seemingly enchanted with a cooling charm.
“Anubis…”
“You remember your way to the Great Pyramid, correct? And you know your way back? If you get lost, you must contact me. Use a communication charm. Do not talk to any strangers. And do not forget about your curfew.”
“Anubis.”
“If you are not back in the temple by sundown, I swear I will end up tearing apart the entire city to look for you. Do not force me to do that, because we both know that I will do it.”
“Anubis!”
“And under no circumstances are you to remove your armlet. I know it is very hot today, but please bear with it. It is the only way that I can be sure you are safe. Gods forbid you happen to be in danger, and I am not able to sense it—”
“ANUBIS!”
The jackal was pulled out of his frenzied panic, his breath coming out fast and ragged. Sometime while he had been talking, Steven had taken hold of his hand. The smaller looked up at him, voice was firm and reassuring. “I’ll be alright. I promise.”
The solid grip on his hand became tighter. Steven watched as the god took deep breaths, his expression slowly calming from his manic rant. “I know you will be. I know.”
With their hands still connected, Steven’s eyes raked over the city. It was the afternoon, and the sun had just been at its highest point. He internally groaned, thinking of the journey ahead. “I’m guessing you took so long to get here because you were trying to convince Horus to ease up on the heat?”
“...He refused to budge. It was infuriating.”
“Anubis, you can’t just force another god to change the weather for me.”
“I certainly could have, but I was in a rush.”
With a roll of his eyes, Steven stood a bit straighter.
“I really should go. I don’t know how long this will take, and it could be even more difficult than last time.”
Anubis nodded stiffly, his ears pressed flat against his head, a signal of distress. In an instant, the other's arms were tightly wrapped around him. With a sigh, he buried his face into Anubis’ tunic.
“Be careful, feather.”
“I will.”
Steven had never felt more out of place in his life.
It was strange, stepping onto the sandskiff. He looked over his shoulder unconsciously, half-expecting to see the nine foot tall jackal in his usual brooding stance. Instead, there was just a half-filled street, quickly whizzing by as the skiff rushed towards his destination.
He was hyper aware of the stares he was receiving, which weren’t all that surprising. His clothes held the mark of Anubis, and it’s not often that someone with that status would be so casually among the public. The god was known to be mysterious, and even his followers tended to stick to the shadows.
Nervously, his hand had found its way to his armlet. The steady thrum grounding him as he avoided eye contact with the other passengers. He felt the steady pulse of Anubis’ magic, a reassuring presence that washed over his apprehension.
He hoped today would go better than last week. He’d been studying tirelessly everyday, the jackal had to practically carry him to bed when he fell asleep practicing in the courtyard one night. On a whim, Steven had decided to bring his journal today. The weathered pages were filled with the magical passages that he had been studying recently, as well as any others he had found interesting over the years. The teenager aimlessly flipped through it.
This time will be better, and the thing might come in handy. Not to mention, his arm hadn’t hurt in days.
As the skiff came to a stop in front of the pyramid, Steven ignored the stares as he got off. He could tell why Anubis disliked being noticed.
The temple was fairly empty, with a few people passing by as he walked down the halls. In contrast to the passengers on the skiff, they barely gave him a second glance. Although, as Steven looked closer, they seemed to be preoccupied with something. A few of them had an anxious look in their eyes, their steps a bit too fast to be completely normal.
He just barely moved out of the way when several servants rushed by him. Steven let out a startled noise, eyes wide as they disappeared down the hall, their white robes slowly fading into the shadows.
White robes with a golden crescent in the center.
Steven briefly wondered what they were so jittery about. Before he could think too long about it, he approached the portal room.
Eyeing the familiar archway, the grip on his journal tightened. He can do this. He can do this. He repeated the mantra in his mind, slowly approaching the swirling pool of sand. As he stared into the grains, he groaned internally. This part was not very fun.
He took a deep breath, and stepped in.
His lungs burned a little less this time, now that he knew what to expect. That didn’t make it any more pleasant. Gritting his teeth, Steven stood on wobbly legs, and took in his surroundings. Same empty, dark room. Across from him he saw the stone door on the far end of the room sliding open, same as before. Inside looked to be a bedroom, warm yellow lights illuminating the soft floor.
But right next to it, was a second door.
It was already open, and looked to lead to a dark alleyway. Distantly, he could hear the sounds of a bustling city. Even more distantly, he could hear shouting. Someone else must also be using the portal today. They were likely still in there. Steven frowned, walking closer. He didn’t know you could open multiple portals at once. But it made sense, he supposed, that there wouldn’t be only one entrance to the human world for all of the gods. He eyed the second door warily, pausing before shaking his head.
Now was not the time to get distracted. He stepped into the first door. The wallpaper was a deep yellow, almost an orange. It reminded him of a sunset. On the ceiling were little glowing stars, decorated in a pattern that suggested they were placed there by hand. Scattered across the floor were countless plush toys, little animals with soft fur, and shiny figures of people in brightly colored clothes.
A sniffle broke his thoughts.
He whipped his head around, and in the corner was a little boy. His fluffy blonde hair covered his eyes, the sleeves of his blue sweater extending over his trembling hands. The child was curled up into a ball, sobbing. Steven’s heart sank.
He walked to the boy, slowly sitting down on the floor next to him. “Hey there.”
The boy’s head lifted. “H-huh?”
The child’s face was pale, almost blue. Steven, with more gentleness than he had ever spoken with in his life, whispered. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be alright now.”
“Please. It h-hurts. My medicine, I need it. Mama said… my medicine…”
“I know, love. I’m here with you, okay?”
He could feel the soul getting weaker. There wasn’t much time left. Steven stood up, taking a deep breath as he repeated in his head what to say next. He startled as the child’s hand grabbed his, desperately tugging weakly.
“N-no… don’t leave me alone. Please s-stay…”
Steven kneeled down, becoming eye level with the boy. “I won’t leave you alone.” He spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Oh.
A small plush hippopotamus.
With a warm smile, he reached for it. “I have a friend named Taweret. She’s very kind, you know. Would you like to meet her? She looks like this, actually.” Steven said tenderly, placing the toy in the child’s arms.
Looking down, his tears seemed to pause. The boy let out a small, shaky smile. He squeezed the plush.
“...She really looks like Mrs. Puddles?”
“She does. You're going to be okay, love.”
The boy just looked into the eyes of the toy. With the same trembling smile on his lips, he nodded as he stroked the plush animal.
The ritual went a bit better this time around.
As he stood, he felt a dull throb from his shoulder. Orienting the soul still hurt, but much less than before. It was a marked improvement. Steven stiffly wiped the tears from his eyes, and a part of him knew that they were not caused by any kind of pain in his arm.
Looking at the unmoving boy, the hippopotamus toy still in his arms, Steven felt some strange feeling envelop him. He almost wanted to follow the soul, make sure it was safe in the Duat. His heart felt a hundred times heavier, and his hands clenched. Briefly, he wondered if Anubis had ever felt something similar towards Steven when he was a child. Maybe the god still felt it.
He resolutely decided to give the jackal an enormous hug when he got home today.
Stepping out of the doorway and back into the pyramid felt like resurfacing from being underwater. Steven’s steps were wobbly, eyes still a bit blurry from the tears. The doorway to the child’s bedroom began sliding closed as he walked to the center of the room.
He didn’t notice the still-open doorway on his right.
Mind rushing with heavy feelings, he stopped right before the sand circle, eyeing it with a grimace. Okay. Wonderful. Immediately after getting his heart crushed, his lungs had to suffer now as well. How lovely. Steven shook his head. Maybe he could find a charm in his journal to make the trip a bit easier—
“Mierda, hurry up! Esos bastardos están ganando en nosotros!”
“I’m trying, damn bullet wound is being a bitch!”
“Wait, quién carajo—”
Steven barely had time to turn and see the two figures madly sprinting out of the second doorway, before they roughly knocked into him, all three tumbling into the circle of sand.
Going through the portal was apparently a lot worse when you weren’t prepared for it. Because instead of breathless gasps like before, Steven was now on the floor coughing his lungs out, chest heaving as he wheezed for air. His head was spinning, and throat felt too dry. He blinked, grimacing as he looked up. He heard near identical groans coming from the floor behind him.
“Ugh… shit. Who did we…?”
“...El hijo de Anubis.”
“Fuck.”
If Steven wasn’t on his feet before, he was now. He recognized those two. Lying on the floor right in front of him, were Khonshu’s twin avatars.
As he eyed them nervously, a spike of worry mixed with his fear. They were completely covered in all kinds of wounds, some of which looked worryingly close to their vital organs, and there was a steadily growing pool of blood beneath the two of them.
Okay. Even as the avatar of the afterlife, Steven was not emotionally prepared to guide two more souls today. He swallowed, and took a shaky breath.
“I think there’s a supply room close by. It should have a health kit. Can either of you two stand?”
They both stared at him, confusion evident in their faces. Steven let out an exasperated breath, walking towards them. “...Well? What are you waiting for? Come on! The both of you are going to bleed out if you just sit here!”
Steven took one of their arms around each shoulder, shakily motioning for them to stand. After a moment of silence, they both obeyed, getting to their feet. The pool of blood grew a bit faster at the motion, and Steven fought not to tremble as the two larger bodies leaned slightly onto him. They were heavy, and Steven’s training had never been remotely physical in nature. The teenager was more likely to be found with his eyes glued to a book than doing any sort of exercise.
They walked silently, and Steven willed himself not to comment on the two sets of eyes he could feel boring into either side of his face. But his exhaustion easily won out over his resolve. “Okay, do you guys have some kind of staring problem? Because it seems like that’s all you do whenever we meet. And yes, I know that’s technically only been twice, but still!”
The three of them trudged through the hallways, Steven determined to keep looking straight ahead. He tensed as both of the twins chuckled, their breaths brushing his ears. The two spoke up at once.
“...Que lindo.”
“...Fiesty.”
Steven felt his face warm. What was with these two?
He turned into a small side room at the end of the hall. There was no one inside, but it seemed to be fully stocked. Exhaling in relief, he gently set the pair down onto the large bench. Taking a moment to look over them, he bit his lip. “Shit, you have bullet holes in your shoulder, and knife wounds… everywhere… um… I-I’m going to need to— okay…” Steven stuttered, already flipping open his journal.
He needed healing charms. Normal disinfectant and gauze wouldn’t be enough. Though, it probably would help.
As he rummaged through the room, Steven began to grow exasperated. What kind of avatars get hurt like this? No— what kind of god allows their avatars to get hurt like this? He grabbed a jar of disinfectant, setting it down a bit harder than necessary. “I can’t believe this. Anubis would probably cause an apocalypse if I ever looked half as bad as you two. Where’s Khonshu? Why hasn’t he healed you?”
The twin on the left, wearing a pair of bloodied gloves, scoffed. “Doesn’t heal us when we fail. Maldito pájaro.”
Steven turned to the pair, utterly shocked. “He just… lets you get hurt? But you— you could have almost died!” The twin on the right looked down, a grimace on his lips. “Well, we’ve always managed to make it out alive.” His lips then morphed into a lopsided smile. “And we’ve got you this time, little nurse!”
“My name is Steven.”
“Marc. And this is my dumbass brother, Jake.”
The other twin knocked his shoulder roughly, snickering at the resulting wince. Steven’s eyes widened. “Hey! Stop that! You’ll worsen your injuries!” He fussed, waving his hands between the two. With a huff, Steven picked up his journal, and flipped to the correct page.
“Did the bullets pass through? Or do I need to take them out?” He questioned nervously. The tension in his shoulders dissipated as Marc assured him they were clean shots. Good, he had never done that before and wasn’t sure if he was ready to start today. Steven settled in front of the two, sitting with the journal in his lap.
“This might feel a little strange, but don’t let go.” He felt both twins stiffen as he grabbed their hands in his, Jake’s in his left, and Marc’s in his right. Glancing at the page, he read the passage quickly, and closed his eyes.
“The might of Anubis doth course within my veins. Let thine injuries be mended, and the agony of death withdraw hence. The jackal's guardianship doth encompass thee.”
He could feel the stream of energy flowing from his hands into the twins, increasing from a small trickle to a bursting waterfall. He had never healed something this drastic before, and the connection was difficult to control, but he was determined. Gritting his teeth, he opened his eyes and watched as the wounds began to close. The twins were gawking at him, identical expressions of disbelief. Steven firmly ignored them, knowing their reactions would just distract him.
The healing slowed down, and Steven began to feel truly exhausted. Letting go of the pair, he sighed. “I can’t heal it all the way, but I’ll patch you up normally from here.” He motioned tiredly at their clothes, ignoring their wide eyes as he unravelled the roll of bandages. The twins understood the silent order, removing layers and lifting their sleeves to reveal their much less fatal wounds.
Steven started with Jake, applying the disinfectant with a delicate hand. The young man didn’t flinch even slightly at the pain. Instead he opted to settle his piercing eyes into Steven’s face, studying him. The younger felt his heartbeat pick up a little.
“Staring. Again.”
“...No puedo evitarlo.”
Steven paused. Then he looked up, eyes flitting between the twins. “Why do you speak Spanish?” He looked away from the twins' surprised expressions. “Oh um, you spoke it that day too,” he said, eyes flitting over to Jake, “It was Spanish, wasn’t it?”
Jake’s canines flashed as he smiled. “Sí. Khonshu raised us a little differently from other avatars. We are… eh… asimilados?” Marc eyed Steven’s confused expression.
“Jake and I… we’ve spent a lot of time on Earth. Khonshu’s always been practical, throwing us into the fight since we could walk. It made no sense to baby us, just because we were children.” Steven noted the clear irony of that sentence, but said nothing.
“We trained all around the planet, and we were really young when Khonshu started sending us out with our own missions.” Marc shrugged. Steven’s hand paused as he wrapped Jake’s elbow. His brain stuck on the implications of the words ‘really young’ and the type of missions that he had recently learned Khonshu liked to give.
“For a time, he sent me to the United States. Jake was all over Central America. Soon enough, he was Mr. Español.”
“I told you to stop calling me that, pendejo.”
“See? He is Mr. Español.”
“¡Cállate—”
Steven cleared his throat, effectively distracting the two before they could start another spat that might end up reopening their wounds. Both of them were tensed up, seemingly about to undo Steven’s progress over a petty squabble. “Okay. None of that. Or else I’ll leave right now, and you two can patch yourselves up on your own.”
The pair glared warily at each other, eyes flitting over to Steven as they slowly backed down. “I just used a lot of my energy on that charm, and I am way too tired to do it again, okay?” He grumbled.
Marc was studying him with a thoughtful frown. “You know healing magic.” Steven nodded. Jake tilted his head. “Anubis taught you that?”
“Well, he’s taught me a lot of things. Rune magic and general charms became part of my curriculum when I turned fifteen. It’s frankly not needed for my duties as an avatar. But I love to learn, and Anubis loves to teach.” Steven wrapped the bandage around Jake’s shoulder, and glanced at his journal, “Although, healing charms were a bit different. Anubis has been making me practice them since I was nine. He thinks they’re important. He… really doesn’t like it when I get hurt.”
Steven tied off the wrapping, nodding as he looked over Jake’s finished bandages. As he glanced up at the twins, his gaze locked onto their dazed expressions.
He knew how it must have sounded. In comparison to these two, his life as an avatar could not have been any more different.
The definition of polar opposites.
There they were, their bodies littered with fatal wounds that Khonshu refused to heal, speaking about being tasked with deadly missions as children. And here Steven was, healing them with charms he was taught because Anubis would freak out whenever he scraped his knee.
He didn’t know how to feel. Embarrassed? Guilty? Angry? He shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it. Instead, he switched over to Marc, motioning for him to lift his arms as he patted disinfectant onto the wounds.
Unlike Jake, the other twin gave a short wince, muscles flinching minutely at the feeling.
Like a natural reflex, Steven felt a familiar instinct take over. Possibly a facet of his avatar responsibilities, carved into his soul. Comfortingly, he took Marc’s hand in a gentle hold. And in the same soft tone he had used towards the little boy earlier today, he automatically began to speak.
“Just squeeze if it hurts again, okay? You’re going to be alright, love. Nearly done.”
A beat.
The pair blinked at him, mouths slightly ajar. Steven resumed wrapping, tender reassurances continuing to unconsciously flow from his lips.
From an outside perspective, the twins’ expressions might have looked as if they’d just discovered a unicorn. Or a fairy. Or some other unimaginable creature that only existed in the purest dreams of an innocent child.
“...Realmente eres diferente, ¿eh, precioso?” Jake finally muttered, breathless.
Steven may not understand Spanish, but he still remembered what that last word meant. He had spent hours reading that book to figure it out. Instead of answering, he kept his eyes trained on Marc's forearm, tightly winding the bandages as he fought the heat rising to his cheeks.
Oh, great— now they were both staring at him again. Steven felt his face burn hotter. It was becoming unbearable.
These two were going to be the death of him, weren’t they?