Chapter Text
Couriway loved taking Fein by surprise because his expression was always priceless.
For example, this time Fein literally jumped away from him when Couri tapped his shoulders.
“Holy shit, dude!” He half-yelled at Couri. “Why do you have to be always so creepy? Can’t you greet me like a normal person?”
“Sorry.” Couri raised his hands in defeat. “It’s a force of habit from my old job.”
Fein quirked his eyebrows. “Are you sure your job was legal?”
“Uhm...” Couri thought back to the time he spent being a Watcher, when he would watch worlds and servers and sometimes help destroy them with no remorse. Then, he looked at Fein’s annoyed expression and let out a nervous laugh. “What are you doing, by the way?”
“Changing the subject, I see.” The brunette rolled his eyes, but he let it slide. “What should a man do in a weaponry stall, huh?”
He took a look at the rows of axes and swords hanging on the side of the wall. They were made of all standard iron plates, moulded and sharpened into blades of different lengths and widths. “What do you prefer, an axe or a sword?” Couri found himself asking.
“I’m more familiar with an axe, to be honest.” Fein answered nonchalantly, not looking up from one particular axe he was inspecting. “Swords are fine, but the fighting styles aren’t that easy to master, while both weapons have relatively the same efficiency for me.”
“A very practical answer.” He eyed a golden sword at the back of the store that was marked not for sale. It looked more like an ornament than a real and usable one with the hilt too thin for a regular user and an excessive amount of decorative beads attached to it.
Couri sighed under his breath and turned around to Fein bringing an axe to the counter. “What about you?” He asked.
“I’m a sword guy.” The winged man shrugged and admitted. “I was trained with swords ever since I was born. It just clicks way faster and easier for me.”
“I sure hope one day you’ll tell me about that mysterious job of yours.” snickered Fein with no actual venom. “At this point, it’s almost as if you’re begging me to ask.”
Was he? Couri was aware that he could be a little high-school-girl-ish from time to time, but it was somewhat embarrassing for it to be directly addressed by someone else. Though he didn’t really mind that much, knowing Fein tended to be very straight forward.
“Just wanna keep you on the hook, you know.” He tightened the black cloak on himself. “It’s getting cold outside. Do you wanna get a coffee?”
“Sure.” Fein paid for the weapon and casually nodded. Couri wondered what his reaction would be if he knew he was going to get a coffee with one of the most feared and hated creatures in the universe.
Then again, it should be the story for another time.
.
Couri immediately regretted showing up at the festival the moment he stepped a foot out of the community portal and into the server. Unfortunately, he couldn’t just go back in, either, because the next wave of people coming out from the purple portal had basically knocked him out of the way.
There were more people than Couri had ever seen in his entire life, crowding in a small area full of fairy lights under the night sky. He couldn’t bring himself to enter just yet, in fear of getting crushed into the flattest pancake on Earth. He found a clearing on the outside of the festival instead, and although there were still people walking around, it was much easier to breathe.
It wasn’t until his third full roll on the grass that Couri felt like he had made the wrong decision. Although the Watchers hadn’t been on his tail as aggressively anymore, coming out of his hiding spot was risky. Seeing people was also risky. And he had gotten himself mentally over that, just to arrive here and stare at the fun like a coward.
“Yo.” Someone called out to him, and Couri turned around at the familiar voice to see Feinberg. He was more well-dressed than usual, maybe it was for the festival. His blue and pink visor was shiny under magic lights as he approached Couri.
The winged man sat up from his sprawled position. “What are you doing here?”
“For the festival, duh.” The brunette rolled his eyes. “I should be asking that question. Why aren’t you going in?”
Couri shook his head sadly. “I’m intimidated by crowds.”
“If festivals aren’t crowded then fish are going to walk.” Fein suddenly pulled him onto his feet. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Go where?” Stumbling down hill, Couri carefully followed Fein into the colourful lights.
“My friends and I are competing to win all the games in this festival, and I need an assistant.” Fein smirked. “Would you mind?”
Surprisingly, Couri found himself not hating the idea at all. “Alright. Where do we go first?”
He hadn’t known Fein for long, but Couri was sure the man had talents. Today, Fein had proved him right. It took them an incredibly short amount of time to go through and win every game the festival had to offer. The brunette was skillful in almost anything, destroying every opponent competing alongside him. If a game had a leaderboard, he was always adamant to have his name as number 1, or at least to reach a decent rank.
That also explained the large amount of gifts that Couri had to carry at the end of their ravaging.
“Are you sure you want to keep all of this?” He struggled with a particularly large teddy bear in his arms.
“Yeah.” Fein nodded. “We’re gonna get all of them into one place and bring them to our home server.”
A tinge of jealousy rose in Couri’s chest. He, too, wanted a place to call home. A permanent place on a server, not any random world with a weak barrier or a shallow dent of the universe where he could only hide for a while before having to move again. He craved the sense of normalcy, despite knowing it had always been, and would always be, out of his touch.
That was why when he saw Fein’s friends gathering in a less crowded part of the field and waiting, Couri silently put down Fein’s awards and disappeared into the flow of people walking the place.
He went back to the dent and slept in his lonely dream again.
.
Passing out was never a good feeling. Waking up disoriented was the fake plastic-taste cherry on top no one asked for.
Couri looked around to find himself laying face first on a beach. His cloak had been gone and his clothes were soaked wet. He remembered crashing into this random world just minutes before sunrise, and seeing that the sun had just emerged fully from the horizon, Couri mustn't have been out for that long.
It took Couri a lot of effort to push himself up and drag his exhausted body into the sparse forest nearby. His limbs were heavy and all of his muscles were screaming in agony. Even though they had failed at capturing him, the Watchers had done decent damage. A large chunk of his golden wings was burnt, and he had also received a graze on his side that, thankfully, had stopped bleeding, but definitely needed treatment soon.
The sky in front of his eyes darkened, signalling an oncoming thunderstorm. Couri sighed in defeat, realising this patch of forest would soon be insufferable. As if he hadn’t been wet enough, he thought to himself.
Seconds later, the earliest drop of water touched his face. Burying his head into his arms, Couri tried his best to shield his body from the pouring rain, too tired to move and find a shelter. If he was more in his right mind, he might have worried about dying of hypothermia and exhaustion. However, all he could think about at that moment was to wait for this hell-raising storm to be over and hope that he would survive until then.
He must have drifted in and out of consciousness, because his senses came back to him in the form of distant footsteps. Couri wanted to hide away, but his legs were ice cold and uncooperative. He blinked the water away from his eyes, bracing for whatever to come.
The sound of boots stomping on the wet forest floor grew louder with every passing moment. It took only minutes for the owner of those to make themselves known in front of him. The man looked young and was well equipped for the weather with a raincoat covering them carefully. From under the clear cloak, he could see an elytra and… blue and pink visor?
It was Feinberg.
A shiver ran straight down his spine. Couri never told Fein about his wings.
“Couri?” Fein was clearly as surprised to see him as Couri was himself. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
The brunette rushed to his side and whispered an apology before tearing out the fabric on his wound. Couri didn’t know he was holding on to the place until Fein had to forcefully push his hand away to take a look.
As his mind swam and the world started to dim around him, Couri understood that he was about to faint again. He could see Fein mumbling and shouting something to the man’s communicator, and it took him all of the strength he had left to grab onto his arm.
“Couri?” Fein turned to him. “What’s wrong? Just stay still, I’m gonna get you-”
“Don’t-” Couri interrupted him in ragged breaths. A metallic taste made its way onto his tongue. What if Fein was reporting him to the Watchers? He couldn’t go back to that place again. The horrifying thought clouded his mind and sent him straight down to a panic spiral. “Don’t call them.”
Fein’s hands resting on his shoulders had an unexpected grounding effect. “Calm down. I’m calling my friends to let them know I’m bringing you home with me.”
It was too dangerous for anyone to shelter Couri, especially since he just slipped away from those powerful beings’ hands again. “It’s… you can’t.”
“You can thank me later.” Leaving no room for Couri to argue, Fein picked him up easily and placed him to rest on his back. Couri tried to fight back and pulled himself from the man’s hold, but he was too weak compared to the brunette. Eventually, he resigned.
“Hide me carefully.” Couri warned, and let out an involuntary pleased bird noises when Fein agreed. “They might find out.”
Fein adjusted him to a comfortable spot on his back. “We have people on our sides who can help you.” He reassured Couri. “Trust me.”
Couri found his limbs relaxing as the two were teleported away from the rain into a much warmer and dryer place.
He was out cold when the first ray of sunlight reached his eyelids.