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Before we fully wake up

Summary:

Eli leaves in the middle of the night at some other survivors' invitation to see the sunrise. While Naib finds himself somewhat antsy at the seer's absence, Norton catches the opportunity to steal some affection from the seemingly skittish man.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Naib can't help but ask himself how and why it happened, sometimes. On one hand, it's as if his feelings have always been there, from the very first moment. On the other, he's been in a relationship for three scarce months. 

He blames brain fog. Still, he's not sure if it comes from his days on the front or his screwed up perception of time, induced by days and days and months at the Manor. Naib isn't sure how much time has passed since his first match. He only remembers bleeding out to death; then the memory scatters away rapidly, like a bullet. Naib frowns at the analogy and forces himself to think about the present. Something that is hard to ignore when he has a body pressed against his. 

Norton is sleeping soundly; and if he isn't, at least the prospector is playing the part decently. His chest rises and falls rhythmically. 

When it's the three of them on the same mattress, Eli goes in the middle. They tried to push Naib into the role and he hit them with the ‘from the tallest to the shortest’ rule. It's better that way. Norton can cling to the seer like a koala and Naib gets some decent rest without someone holding him in a vice grip. That doesn't mean he doesn't like feeling Eli's warmth against him, though. Or enveloping him in a back hug in his sleep. 

(“Three kings in a king sized bed!” Eli jokes sometimes, and Naib realizes he's actually and terribly head over heels when his heart skips a beat, rather than tightening in second hand embarrassment.) 

The pillow in his arms is squished at the memory. Did Eli actually have to say yes? Naib gets stressed enough when he's taken away for a match; couldn't he have some decency and stay the whole night for his boyfriend's sake? 

The word makes Naib flush red. Simultaneously, Norton rolls on his side and his breath comes hot and heavy on Naib's face. He tries not to move. 

A moment passes. Then another. Then—

“You're holding your breath,” It's not a groggy voice. Norton has been awake for a while; so he was playing the part. Naib watches as a scarred hand pinches the pillow in his arms, “And strangling that thing. Bad dream?” He asks, as if he doesn't know already. Naib clears his throat as he feels an uncomfortable heat spread on his face. 

“My body is used to sleeping as three. I don't like feeling the bed empty.” 

“Neither do I. Can't even bring myself to use the extra space.”

Naib finds himself nodding absently, but he's glaring at him. Norton can't notice as he hums and stretches his muscles. Naib knows he's actually trying to crack his bones. He bites. “I'd say you are.” 

“Just because I rolled all the way here doesn't mean I'm spreadin’ like a starfish on the mattress.”

“You might as well be, since you're stretching— Hey!” 

One of Norton's hands mushes Naib's jaw and he doesn't flinch when Naib bites his palm in retaliation.

“My apologies,” Norton says through a grunt. “My hand slipped.”

Naib bites again and Norton presses his thumb on the mercenary's nose until he whips his head away, freeing himself from his grip. Norton pokes his cheek with a finger, then rolls on his side and cups Naib's cheek with his hand, the palm warm and comforting against his skin. Or maybe the warmth is Naib's, because Norton mumbles something about his face being red. 

“Something is telling me you haven't fallen back asleep since Eli got up.”

“What is.”

“You've been grumbling to yourself until now. Actually, I'm surprised you haven't told me to fuck off yet.” 

“It's too early for that.” 

He gets a snicker in answer. Norton's thumb presses on his cheek again, rubbing the skin as if he's a cat. For some reason, Naib finds himself speaking— mumbling, actually, angling his head so Norton can hear. He's not sure why he feels like they're exchanging secrets.

“I just don't like knowing he's away when it's still dark.” 

“It's not dark anymore,” Norton mumbles back and presses their foreheads together. “And Eli used to be a night owl before we started dating, remember? I think he knows how to move around the Manor at night better than either of us, should he need to hide.” 

“I know how to do that, too. Learned about all the crannies and weird spots during my first week here.” 

“What are you, a detective?”

“Might be.”

“And what am I?”

“The annoying villain that keeps getting away.”

Another barked laugh. “Oddly specific, but okay.”

Naib grumbles something indecipherable and shifts a tad closer. “I don't like not knowing where he is.” 

Anything could happen, Naib wants to add. They don't know half of what goes on behind the curtain, he's sure of it. The Baron could decide the matches have bored him and hurt those fools staring at the sun through the heavy fog that surrounds the Manor, simply for his own amusement. If he thinks about Eli getting hurt, he gets the urge to hurt in return. It's ugly, but it's what a life in violence does to a man. 

Silence falls between them as he mulls over his own thoughts. Then Norton raises both eyebrows (he can't raise one) and speaks: “Do you feel the same when I don't come back for the night?” 

Naib's eyes flick to Norton's, surprised he's bringing it up with his own hands. There are countless times Norton disappears for hours; after a match, after a heated conversation between either the two of them or him and some other survivors; sometimes Norton just disappears, seemingly without a motive. Both him and Eli try to trace a pattern when he does, sitting in the greenhouse as Naib smokes and Eli steals a few drags. 

Naib gets upset the times they can't find anything, not even a single word that could have upset the prospector. Eli insists on waiting for Norton to open up at his own pace. And while Naib knows they're trapped in both time and space, the whole situation has strained his nerves and patience. He doesn't think he can handle an eternity without doing anything for him: giving only time and space isn't enough. Naib doesn't know how Eli does it. Maybe he knows something only his visions tell him or maybe he has that much faith in Norton. 

(It's both.)  

He wonders how much time has passed since the question. Norton is still staring at him. 

“Yeah,” Naib says carefully, because he trusts Eli's approach more than his gut feeling, somehow. “How could I not? I lo—”

He swallows, hesitates, closes his mouth and waits for the words to die on his tongue before rephrasing: “I care about you, too. You might be tall and muscled, but you ain't invincible. Even someone scrawny like me could take you down with some effort.” 

Something flashes in Norton's eyes at his words and he hesitates back. Naib thinks that the fact Norton doesn't hide that he is weighing his options is something. 

“I haven't always been muscled,” Norton decides to answer, picking the safest route. “I didn't eat much back then. I was actually scrawny, too. Actually, you ain't scrawny. Just short.” 

“So. Is all the mining you did when you were younger showing up just now?”

“Yeah. Are you not going to say anything about me calling you short?”

“...I have eyes, Campbell.”

Norton laughs. The sound is enough to soften Naib's face. His eyes look past his lover, trying to get a glimpse of the fogged up window. It rained heavily in the night.

“Do you think they're done? He's coming back after the sunrise, right?” 

“Should be both done and coming back to us by now.”

To us. The two words make something stir in Naib's chest. He steals another glance to the window. 

“Good thing. It's not late yet—”

“Mhm. Enough time for a few more kisses.”

Norton waits for Naib to process his words; and it's slightly out of character, as Norton has a thing for pinning him down out of nowhere and smothering him just because he can and because Naib's reactions are always cute. The moment he pouces, Norton sneaks his face in the crook of Naib's neck, nosing at his throat. 

“Could you not,” Naib grunts, tugging at Norton's locks a lot harder than he'd do to Eli's. “My neck is already fucked up enough.”

Norton hums against his skin, and it reverberates in his chest and Naib feels it against his. “Not even that much,” A light nip, “You're the one who wears turtlenecks.”

“Just because I can hide them doesn't mean you have to maul me every single time.”

“Why not? You're so sweet.”

“Norton.”

“Naib.” 

Naib tugs on his hair hard enough to drag him out of his neck, and pushes Norton's head against his, their noses bumping in the process. Norton's lips are already parted when he kisses him. 

Kisses with Norton and Eli are very, very different. While Eli knows greed, he lets Naib take as much as he wants, not minding if he gets maneuvered around or pinned against the mattress (or the wall, too) so hard Eli swears he'd drown in it. And when they both struggle for air, it becomes a flurry of panting, open mouthed pecks. It always takes a while for them to stop. 

When it comes to Norton, Naib feels a streak of something he can't identify. On their first kiss, he had been gentle. Much more gentler than what Naib had anticipated, leaving a trail of pecks from the spot between his eyebrows down to his lips, terribly slow for Naib's liking. He had tugged and palmed at him, grabbing his suspenders, and Norton had graced him with a gentle nibble to his lower lip— but nothing more. 

When it happened again, Naib decided he wanted more, and had straddled his hips and held his face firmly in his hands as if that alone could keep Norton in place. And just as it took Naib's competitive glint to take Norton out of his shell back when he first arrived at the Manor, that simple change in attitude switched something in him. 

If Naib took Eli bite after bite, he wanted to straight up devour Norton. And luckily, Norton wanted to ravish him in return. 

Naib's not sure who bit who, but he tastes blood on his tongue; and Norton does too as he sucks on the wet muscle for a moment before breaking the kiss only to go for another. Naib's fingers thread in his hair, less aggressive now. He makes sure Norton doesn't go too far each time he leans back for a brief moment of air and it gets to the point both feel lightheaded. 

“You—” Naib exhales, interrupted by Norton's lips pressing against his; he shuts his mouth pettily, because he wants to finish talking, “You can never get—” It happens again, “Enough.”

Norton decides to answer instead of shutting him up with another kiss. “You can't, either,” He seethes; Naib knows it's because he can't speak properly when he's out of breath. “You have done something to my brain.” 

“As— As if.”

“Love?” 

“Nort’.”

“Kiss me again.” 

Naib pushes Norton's face against his again, shuts his eyes closed and doesn't let him get away until Norton's thumbs press on his hips, a silent stop. His face is flushed when Naib blinks the lust induced fog away. 

Norton blinks back once, twice, and then tilts his head like a puppy. Ears would flop if he had them. He sinks his teeth in Naib's cheeks for an instant and rolls out of the bed. As if on cue, the door bursts open. 

Brooke enters the room before Eli does, landing on Naib's chest to peck his nose. Naib winces at the kiss. Maybe it'd be better if she were a cat. “Good morning to you, too,” He groans as the owl flies away, nestling on top of the wardrobe. 

Naib thinks that whenever Eli moves, it's like he dances. He does half a twirl as he enters the bedroom and closes the door on the process; an ungloved hand reaches out for Norton's face as if Eli can see him walking towards him even with his back turned away. Norton dips his head down and meets him in a kiss; when he leans back, Eli stretches to match his height and steals another peck. Norton hums. The seer stops him before the other can make it a proper kiss. So natural, and yet so fascinating to watch, for some reason. 

“You two are up early,” Eli tries to walk to the bed, to Naib, but Norton wraps an arm around his waist and tugs him back, lips pressing on his neck. Eli tilts his head casually. “I thought I'd find you snoring your worries away.”

Naib snorts. “None of us snores,” He watches the duo. “Maybe you do. Luckily I'm a heavy sleeper.”

“Sounds like something the snorer would say.” 

Naib laughs, somehow. There's always an inexplicable ‘some’ when Eli is involved: somewhat, somehow. As if his presence alone makes Naib feel someway different just because he's nearby.   

He misses Eli's mumbles as Norton squeezes him tight for a moment before granting him freedom, pushing him away for dramatics. Eli stumbles right to the edge of Naib's side of the bed. 

“Hello, hummingbird,” Two months ago the name alone would have made him flush. Eli leans down and pecks his nose. “Missed me?”

Naib ignores the question, feeling cheeky. “No good-morning make out session for me?”

Eli laughs. “Jealous much, are you,” He teases back, then leans down and kisses his lips once, then twice until Naib is trying to sit up to kiss him properly. 

Norton grumbles something as he removes his pajama shirt. “Dude left at three for a sunrise. Don't reward him.” 

Naib leans back to laugh; Eli smiles. “You could have come with me,” he says, “We shared childhood memories as the sun rose. Did you know Emma’s parents had a factory?”

“Don't care about the flower girl,” Norton grunts as he flops on the bed, face down against the mattress. His voice is muffled. “Asked me if I needed flowers for some romantic shit.”

Naib elbows his naked back. “And what did you answer?”

“Didn't answer at all. An’ do y’all really need flowers?”

“Tuck ‘em behind my ear, man.”

“Both of you wear hoods. Can knot them around your belt loops, if anything.”

“And they say romance is dead. Emma's flowers don't deserve you, Campbell.” 

“My belt doesn't have any loops, though.” Eli hums as he leans his head down again, against Naib's. Naib scoffs, because Eli takes everything Norton says seriously. The prospector, on his part, hums back. 

“...On the sides of your blindfold?”

“Oh, I like that. One on each side?”

“Alright. I'll wait for Emma to bug me again, then.”

Naib laughs, his cheek pressed up against Eli's as the seer speaks. “If you had come, Emma would have definitely bugged you, you know. That girl talks to everyone.” 

“I've seen the sunrise before. I used to get up early for work.”

“Me too.”

“So you don't want to see it with me,” Eli chirps. “Alright. I see how it is.” 

Naib's arm coils around his waist just before Eli tries to sit up. The mercenary curls around his body, similar to how he does whenever Eli hides something from the two and Naib crashes him under his weight until the seer confesses. It's usually useless gossip or mumbles about his visions.

“Where. Do you think you are going.” Naib keeps him glued to his chest. “You've been taken hostage. Confess.” 

As Naib speaks, Norton's face emerges from the mattress as he looks at the pair with an amused smile. Not a full one, but the light curl of his lips is fond. He reaches out and pats Eli's knee. “Yeah. Confess, Clark. You're in a tight spot.”

Eli huffs. He's not wearing his blindfold, and the deep color of his eyes seems to shine under the soft orange light coming from the window.

“I have nothing to confess, dear sir,” He says through a smile. “I am but a humble seer.” 

Naib squeezes him a tad tighter and Eli wonders what's up with his boyfriends and squishing him like a plush toy. Naib nips at his earlobe. “No time for pleasantries, covinct.”

“Oh, I wasn't trying to be pleasant.”

“So you're a brat.”

“Mhm… not that either.”

They know the group who took Eli away went back to sleep, and it's too early for the others to be awake. Still, Martha decides to skip their part of the floor during her morning patrol, driven away by the mixed laughter and whatever is coming out of their room. 

Notes:

meow meow meow