Archive of Our Own ^beta

Spoke was freezing. And stressed. And generally in a shitty mood. Which was how he usually felt trapped in the mafia after needing to report to Ash. 

He stumbled into his designated house, which he shared with Mapicc and Leo, shrugging off his iron trimmed chestplate and collapsing onto the nearest soft surface, burying his face in a pillow with an exhausted whine.

“Why do these houses have such shit insulation,” he grumbled, to himself.

Leo shrugged, already halfway to passing out on his own bed.

Spoke grit his teeth and dragged himself back up, moving with a level of desperation he would never admit to to get to his enderchest and grab a fire res pot. He went to chug it but it was snatched out of his hand before he could even uncork it.

“You already had one this morning,” he was reminded by a mildly irate Mapicc.

He rolled his eyes, “seriously? Since when was it your business what I had, it’s cold and these blankets are practically made of hay,” he deadpanned.

Mapicc scoffed, “we agreed you were going to keep to one a day, if it’s really that big of a problem you can just sleep next to me like usual, let off the fire res for a bit, we’ll go to the nether first thing tomorrow instead, alright?”

Spoke heaved a drawn out sigh, ignoring the way Leo’s eyes were still open just an inch; enough to watch the two of them quarrel.

“Fine, whatever, I need a damn break from this bullshit anyway,” he huffed, picking up his discarded blanket, moving to Mapicc’s bed and wrapping himself in both his and Mapicc’s blankets.

Mapicc gave him an unimpressed look, “really, Spoke? You brought your own blanket, why are you taking mine too?!”

He responded by making a face at the other, “shoulda thought of that when you denied me an easy way to sleep warm.”

Mapicc just slumped his shoulders and rolled his eyes, shoving Spoke to the side of the bed and collapsing next to him, ignoring his startled yelp and the quiet snicker from Leo from two beds away. 

“Are you two done bickering? You have this argument every night,” Leo scoffed, voice a sleep-laden mumble. 

“Blame Spoke,” Mapicc bit out.

Spoke shot up and tried to push Mapicc off the bed in response, which resulted in Leowook threatening them both to settle down before he ended up shutting both their mouths with tape.

The moment Mapicc was back to comfortably lying on the bed, Spoke curled around him like a particularly persistent sloth, and finally relaxed enough to stop the last of the shivers. They were seriously overdue for a nether trip.

He closed his eyes to the feeling of Mapicc returning the gesture and wrapping his arms around him, the warmth of the nether-born settling deep within his bone marrow and that, along with the exhaustion of the previous day, allowed Spoke to slip into slumber with a rare ease he didn’t often experience while in mafia grounds.

————

The next morning came with Mapicc trying to wriggle out of Spoke’s grip and out the bed. Spoke woke up to the feeling of Mapicc carefully trying to extract himself from the mess of limbs they'd ended up in during the night, feeling the bed dip slightly. 

He groaned, holding on tighter to his makeshift-heater with an annoyed scowl. It was far too early in the morning for Mapicc to be moving around.

Mapicc huffed now that he was awake, and used more force to try and  shove him off, “tch, Spoke, get up. If we wanna head to the nether without anyone giving us tasks we need to go before everyone else is up,” he whispered. 

Spoke let go of Mapicc to bury himself into the sheets where he could feel the last of his best friend's warmth, “what the hell even woke you up so early,” he murmured, trying to save Leo from the same fate of waking up at sunrise.

Mapicc poked the side of his ribs, causing him to curl up. He’d rather not be tickled right after waking up. Or at all.

“Not everyone wakes up in the evening like you, morning people do exist y’know,” he teased.

Spoked glared at him, “and since when were you a morning person again?” 

“Since I decided we need to go to the nether. Now, c’mon, before they start checking up on us,” he then moved to the restroom in their quarters, during which Spoke used that time to try and reorient himself with the waking world, hearing the sound of rushing water as Mapicc brushed his teeth.

By the time Mapicc left the bathroom, he’d almost slipped back into sleep. Mapicc snapped his fingers at his face and his eyes shot open.

He rubbed his face with a groan, “couldn’t have given me just a couple more minutes?”

“Nope!” Came Mapicc’s overly cheerful reply.

He stumbled into the bathroom, ushered along by Mapicc, completed his morning routine and began organising his inventory for what he’d need for the upcoming trip. A fire res pot, obviously. His tools, golden carrots, gapples, the usual. He finished around the same time Mapicc did and they prepared to head off using the nearest nether portal. The one they’d built right in their shared quarters’ basement. 

Stumbling down the steps, Spoke fastened his elytra, watching Mapicc do the same and stepped through the portal. After that it was just a lot of admittedly tedious flying until they’d found their little spot. A small lava pool they’d decorated in a hidden nook of a warped forest. 

He landed eagerly, skidding into the soulsand surrounding the lava-pit and probably disturbing a few hundred forsaken souls in the process.

Mapicc landed right next to him, already moving to uncork a fire resistance potion. Spoke was quick to do the same, downing it in one gulp and cannon-balling into the lava without a second thought, not bothering to wait to even feel the effects before he was engulfed in warmth.

When he resurfaced, he got to hear the tail-end of the indignant squawk Mapicc had let out at being splashed and receiving a glare that made him grin wide, “did that reach you?” He called out.

“Be grateful I put up with your bullshit, and that I drank my potion before the lava could hit me. I would have made you deal with the burn marks,” he huffed.

Spoke’s response was to stick out his tongue and grab Mapicc by the foot, dragging him down in one quick motion and ignoring the way he flailed.

When Mapicc got his limbs under him and started floating instead of sinking he pushed a wave at Spoke, and Spoke obviously had to retaliate.

It was only when it escalated to the point of Mapicc strangling him did they finally agree to stop, Spoke still giggling and Mapicc grinning like mad. 

“Man,” Spoke sighed, leaning to lay on his back and let the lava keep him afloat, “I think I’m gonna take a nap, since someone didn’t let me finish my nap.”

Mapicc rolled his eyes, “damn baby. When do you want me to wake you?”

Spoke hummed, letting drowsiness win over and sinking deeper into the warmth, “when our potions are about to run out. Or if we’re spotted by a ghast. Otherwise don’t bother.”

Mapicc made an affirming noise but if he said anything else, Spoke didn’t hear, drifting off in sleep that felt more relaxing than anything he’d experienced since infiltrating the mafia.

————

When Spoke next woke up, it was slow, and a little disorienting. He woke up warm. He blinked his eyes open and found himself staring at the nether roof. He heard the soft sound of lava bubbling and something disturbing the pool and moved his eyes to spot Mapicc working on… a gold trinket? It was a sight that had something squeeze in Spoke’s chest. It had been a while since Mapicc had worked on any jewellery.

Mapicc, noticing the eyes on him, turned to face him, “up already? We still have a couple more hours before the potions run out. You can go back to bed.”

Spoke’s response was a rough grunt as he brought hand to his face, rubbing at his eyes to get himself more awake, the heat a comfortable presence all around him.

“It’s fine,” he mumbled, “think I slept enough for one day.”

Mapicc’s response was to snort at him, “sleep like a baby?” He teased.

“Better,” Spoke grimaced, stretching and shifting to sit upright.

“Watcha workin’ on?” He asked, moving to watch Mapicc shape the heated piece of gold in his hand.

“Earring,” Mapicc replied, moving to let Spoke see the intricate shape taking form. Spoke whistled.

“You gonna actually wear this one or are you just gonna add it to the collection like the hoarder you refuse to admit you are?” 

Mapicc huffed, “I’m not a hoarder, I just like gold. It’s a completely normal and natural thing to like and to want to stuff chests full and hide in floorboards,” he snapped even with a smile still on his face. 

“Sure, sure,” Spoke laughed, “at least let me wear it, it’ll look great on me!” He pleaded.

“You’d break it faster than you break your netherite armour,” Mapicc pointed out, “remember what happened to the bracelet?”

Spoke’s face heated, “that was a one-time thi-“

“It didn’t even last a day,” Mapicc cut him off.

He wilted, sinking deeper into the lava pool, “just say you hate me, why don’t you,” he pouted.

Mapicc’s response was a pat on Spoke’s back, “awe, there there, don’t cry,” he cooed sarcastically.

Spoke slapped his hand off, “bitch.”

Mapicc kicked him. He kicked back harder.

Mapicc put his incomplete gold trinket away and started off another round of them trying to drown each other in lava.

They probably would have continued if not for the fact Leo texted them with the information that people were starting to look.

Spoke sighed and got himself out of the pool, the flame resistance letting the lava sink off of him like he was hydrophobic. He saw Mapicc do the same.

“Ready to go back?” He asked.

“No,” Mapicc grumbled, even as he fastened his elytra.

For once, Spoke didn’t make fun of him for whining. He could relate. He heaved a sigh, getting himself ready, and if both of them hesitated for a minute too long before they took off flying well, it wasn’t like anyone could blame them. Back to the mafia it was. Back to the same old routine. 

At least he wasn’t alone in this. He glanced at Mapicc then back at Leo’s messages. Silver linings, he thought.