Chapter Text
Kione and Kyrien spend the next few days reviewing some basic magic, trying to assess where Kyrien currently stands. Much to Kyrien’s surprise, Kione takes his new teaching role quite seriously. The two of them sit in the back room of the shop, books piled haphazardly across the table in front of them. Jayce joins them in the room as well, though he seems engrossed in his own reading at the seating area near the window sill.
Kyrien peruses through the books as Kione finishes setting up. A lot of them are basic teachings that Kyrien remembers from back in his training days, but there are a few new ones he doesn’t recall ever seeing. The covers and pages for those seem surprisingly unscathed, minus a few scribbles here and there from where someone, presumably Kione, made notes in the margins. Perhaps those books were written more recently. That would explain why Kyrien had never seen them.
Kione puts down the book in his hand with a thud. “O~kay! So from what I’ve seen in the past few days, your magic ability is actually quite advanced! I don’t remember how the training worked back in Vrenia, but I would assume you already finished their curriculum.”
“Yeah, finished the program with top marks.” Kyrien looks away and huffs, “Not like the elders really cared.”
Kione pouts childishly. “Who cares what they think? I never liked the way they did things anyway.”
“You just say that because you didn’t like following their rules.”
“They were dumb rules!”
Kyrien shrugs, “It’s just how they do things. Can’t do much about it.”
“Still!” Kione leans forward suddenly, making Kyrien flinch back. “I don’t know why they’d speak so badly of you. You’re amazing as you are, Kyrien!”
This catches Kyrien off guard, his face beginning to flush with embarrassment. “What are you talking about? You’re just saying that ‘cause you don’t know any better.”
“I’m serious!”
Kyrien narrows his eyes, “You’re not just trying to flatter me are you?”
Kione lets out a laugh, “Hey, I may think you’re hot, but that doesn’t make my compliment any less true!”
“Geez, how many times are you going to mention that?” Kyrien mumbles and looks away before his face gets any redder.
Unfortunately, Kione sees this as an opportunity to tease him more. “Aw, does it make you flustered when I talk about how handsome and sexy you are?”
“I am not, stop it.” Kyrien retorts, but his words hold no bite.
“Yes you are! Isn’t he, Jayce?”
Said boy perks up from the book he’s reading, before processing the question. His face immediately flushes. “U-um, y-yeah. Sure.”
“Hehe, it’s so much fun embarrassing you two,” Kione giggles and settles back down with book in hand. “But okay, okay. We should get back to the lesson.”
Kyrien nearly lets out a sigh of relief as Kione resumes his teaching. He still gets caught off guard whenever Kione compliments or flirts with him, whether or not Kione’s intentions are pure. He’ll get used to it eventually… maybe.
Over the next few weeks, Kyrien begins to grow accustomed to living in Loriea with Madame Ankh and her apprentices. It’s strange to him how easily he was welcomed into their home, after having spent so long at an arm’s length from people around him. He can’t even recall the last time he had gotten close to anyone, let alone someone he could call a friend. Yet, within a few weeks, he feels like he’s… kind of getting there with Kione and Jayce.
While his main objective is to study and improve on his magic, that isn’t the only thing they end up doing during their time together. In between lessons or studying, Kione takes him and Jayce out and about in the village to greet the other villagers and buy supplies here and there. Unsurprisingly, Kione is friends with everyone in the village and greets everyone by name. The village is filled with all kinds of different people from all different races, many that Kyrien has never seen due to his sheltered life in Vrenia.
Back at the inn, Madame Ankh makes food for them and looks after them when she’s not running the shop. Kione likes to help with this too, skipping back and forth with ingredients while Jayce helps set the table. It feels oddly mundane and so very different from the life he’s used to. Everyone here is so friendly and open toward each other. He even gets to see Jayce open up a little when he’s around Kione, though he imagines anyone would crack eventually with the half-demon’s bubbly personality. Yet, something still feels a little odd about the witch and the apprentices. He just can’t put his finger on it.
On one quiet evening, Kyrien wakes up groggily to the sound of voices downstairs. He looks outside to see that the sky is still dark, indicating it’s sometime in the middle of the night. Mumbling grumpily, he puts on some slippers and makes his way towards the stairs to see what the ruckus is. As he gets closer, he can hear the conversation more clearly.
“A-ah! Kione wait, slow it down—“
“Oh, was that too much? Sorry, Jayce! Let me reel it back a bit.”
Kyrien frowns and peaks down the stairs to find Jayce and Kione in… compromising positions.
Some weird tentacle-like limbs have Jayce tied up so that he can’t move. Kione seems to be kneeling over him while one of the limbs is moving back and forth between the two. Kyrien makes a small noise of shock and embarrassment when he realizes where that limb is going.
The sound startles the two apprentices as they both turn to see Kyrien in the stairwell. Kione looks a little sheepish while Jayce looks nearly petrified.
“Oh, hey Kyrien! Sorry to surprise you like that, didn’t think you were awake…” Kione laughs, looking a little bit guilty.
Kyrien just stares in shock before shaking his head and heading back up the stairs, “Nope, fuck, nope not dealing with this right now.”
He hears Kione excuse himself for a second before catching up with him at the top of the stairwell.
“Kyrien! Kyrien, hey… Sorry you had to see that. I guess you never really knew about it. We didn’t exactly tell you about it either.”
Kyrien huffs, still flabbergasted seeing such a blatant display, “Figured out what?”
“That Miss Ankh’s shop is a sex shop.”
The other demon’s eyes almost jump out of his head, “WHAT?”
“Yeah, out in front a lot of the potions and knick-knacks we sell are related to sex stuff. In the evenings, Miss Ankh rents out rooms to the men she services and to couples sometimes too. I provide services as well, and sometimes Jayce helps out.”
“I guess that explains a lot… Is that why you were so personal with me when we first met again?”
Kione laughs, “Aw, no that’s just me. I thought you were cute. And then you said you knew me and I thought you might’ve been a customer whose face I forgot.”
Kyrien splutters, “C-cute? I’m not—“
“Oh, sorry, sweetie, did you want me to call you handsome instead?” Kione teases, getting up in Kyrien’s personal space. “What a gorgeous, handsome hunk you are,” Kione croons, one of his hands sliding down Kyrien’s bicep, “Wonder what you could do with those big, strong arms of yours... ”
“I—wha—you—“ Kyrien’s face turns bright red as he tries to look away. Thankfully, he’s saved by Jayce, who seems to be struggling in the room below.
“K-kione! It’s— I can’t hold this any longer!” The fox boy sounds panicked, and Kione seems to take this as a cue to leave.
“Ah, looks like Jayce needs my help, so I’m gonna go,” Kione looks almost disappointed, but he smirks playfully over his shoulder as he heads down, “But if you ever wanna do something about that ,” Kione glances down and back up to Kyrien, “Feel free to give me a call.”
And with that, Kione skips his way back downstairs, leaving Kyrien with the most confusingly frustrated boner he’s ever had.