Both Raine and Nikolay awoke at the crack of dawn the next morning. Despite their efforts to wake up before the innkeeper, they found Ascrythis already sitting next to the window, sipping a cup of already cold coffee.

He greeted them with a surprised look on his face — understandable, considering Nikolay’s ridiculously early bird nature — and they quickly settled into a warm conversation.

“I’m glad that this old shoddy inn could be a somebody’s home, one more time.”

Noticing the sombre looks on both of their faces, Ascrythis heartily slapped them on their backs with bellowing laughter.

“Cheer up, you lot,” Ascythis chuckled. “I’m just kidding around. I don’t got enough tissues if you cry on me.”

Raine thought he might very well just shed a tear at the sad sight of Ascrythis’ broken dreams.

Nikolay, on the other hand, merely cocked his head. “I look like this normally.”

“Aye, you do,” Ascrythis acknowledged. “But your serious face looked a tad gloomy this morning. That headache again?”

“Likely,” Nikolay said, rubbing his temples. “Either way, I’d rather avoid having my face to be readable. It’s a pain when people assume things.”

“And even if he was sad,” Raine interjected. “It’s only natural to be sympathetic. We just want to help you as much as possible.”

Ascrythis laughed. “Are you travelling miracle workers? No, right? Then there’s no point get yourself down about not being able to solve every problem. Especially against big players like the Veritas government.”

“But even so…” Raine pressed.

“Alright, that’s enough. Your mule is already rearing to go, just look at her. Don’t keep her waiting, now.”

Ascrythis practically pushed both of them out of the doorway and towards Rascal, who had helpfully brought their bags with her.

They quickly greeted Rascal — although Raine was given the cold shoulder — and then turned back to Ascrythis.

“Are you going to Marque after this?” Nikolay asked.

“I think…” Ascrythis wistfully looked back at the empty inn behind him. “Maybe I’ll stay here for a little while longer. Keep her company in her last moments.”

—

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING SECTION CONTAINS MENTIONS OF ALCOHOL & SUGGESTIVE CONTENT. SKIPPING THIS WILL NOT AFFECT THE READING EXPERIENCE. PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEXT BOLDED ANNOUNCEMENT IF YOU WISH TO SKIP THIS SECTION.

The following night, they unfortunately didn’t run into any other inns or hotels to settle down in. Setting up the camp was a tedious task, even more so when they had gotten used to the warm, comfortable blankets and clean sheets in Ascrythis’ rooms. As with most nights, Rascal wandered off somewhere to find something interesting to occupy herself with. They couldn’t blame her — watching them set up the tents was probably just as boring as actually performing the task was.

And thus, it came as a pleasant surprise when Raine announced that he had something to show Nikolay.

“Brace yourself… Voila!”

With a grand flourish, Raine produced a wine bottle from within their bag.

Nikolay, too disappointed to even reprimand Raine, merely stared at the bottle.

“You spent our money… on booze.”

Mentally, a tear rolled down Raine’s cheek at the lacklustre reaction.

“A- Ah, listen,” Raine scrambled to regain himself. “I didn’t actually buy it. Ascrythis gifted it as repayment for spending the night with him.”

“So I was mistaken. Instead, you swindled a depressed businessman out of his meagre possessions.”

Raine rolled his eyes. “Okay, now you’re just being pessimistic. Come on, it’d be a waste to not drink it.”

“Go ahead,” Nikolay said neutrally. “I’m not objecting.”

Raine rummaged in their bags for a cup to pour the wine into. Since Irideis had provided them with a lot more resources, the organisation of their bags quickly fell to ruin afterwards. His hand fished through a sea of miscellaneous items before it finally came into contact with something useful.

“We have… plastic cups…” Raine pulled out aforementioned cups with a sheepish grin.

To make matters worse, the cups were in a variety of bright, kiddish colours. They were more suited for orange juice, or milk, or whatever other beverages were usually seen constituting a kindergartener’s breakfast.

Nikolay shot him a deadpan look.

“Okay, okay,” Raine held his hands up. “I know I should’ve gotten some… finer glassware or whatever. But it’s still drinkable, at the very least.”

“The wine looks too expensive to be disgraced by using plastic cups. Especially those.”

“You wanna drink from your hands or something? Goddamn,” Raine facepalmed. “If I were anyone else, I would’ve thought that you were making excuses to not drink.”

“Hmph,” Nikolay scoffed. “I am not some lightweight phony. Pour them into the cups.”

“As you wish,” Raine replied, in mock courtesy.

He proceeded to pour half of the bottle’s contents into the two cups, with the wine bottle in one hand and both cups deftly held in the other.

“Here you go, sir,” Raine continued in his fake accent. “One plastic cup filled with 15-year-old aged fine wine.”

Nikolay huffed and took the cup from Raine. “You’re insufferable.”

They each took the time to inspect the wine in their respective cups. It was dark enough that not much was visible, including the liquid. The campfire nearby provided a fraction of light, but even its flames were barely a match for the encroaching darkness.

Suddenly Raine perked up. “We should make a toast!”

Nikolay dropped his gaze down to the dark red wine in his hand. “To what? Nothing here is worth a toast.”

Raine paused, attempting to think of an example.

A series of frowns and attempted sentence starters later, he finally gave up with a sigh. “In hindsight, it really has been pretty rough. The first week, we got abducted by some weird cult. Then we stumbled into an ancient temple and nearly died. And after that, a waitress in Veritas was a bad word away from killing us. Irideis complicated things even further, and… Ugh, just thinking about it makes me miserable. I hope Eireia is doing better than us in her new home, at least.”

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“It’s as though the country itself is trying to kick us out,” Nikolay said. “If only a few pesky gods weren’t hell bent on sending us here.”

Raine raised his cup tentatively. “To our shitty situation, then?”

Nikolay mirrored the action with a shrug. “Sure.”

“To our shitty situation!” Raine repeated more jovially as their cups clinked.

“To our shitty situation,” Nikolay echoed aloud.

За тебя, he said in his head.

The rest of the night passed in a blur, the dialogue of their pleasant and mundane conversation blending into one another. Neither of them knew exactly when they had emptied the wine bottle, but it hardly mattered by then.

The fire, now reduced to glowing embers, did little to aid their impaired functions. At some point during the night, Raine had shifted his body to lean against Nikolay like a crutch. His head rested on Nikolay’s shoulder, fitting snugly into the crook of Nikolay’s neck.

“Head’s spinning,” Raine muttered.

“You drank more than half of the bottle,” Nikolay replied evenly. “And in the span of a few minutes.”

“Aaah, fuck I should’ve left som’more… f- for you.”

“No need. I don’t fancy the taste of wine.”

“Whathehell do you like then?” Raine complained. “Feels like you like jack shit.”

Nikolay paused. “Well…”

“See?!”

“Nevermind that. You’re slurring all of your words. Go get some rest.”

“I’m not a baby!” Raine protested, tilting his head up towards Nikolay. “I know I’m stupid and do dumb shit like dying and taking your vessel and yelling at you even though I’m a fucking idiot…”

He stopped to wipe away the tears at the corners of his eyes. “I wish I was even a little bit as useful as you are. You don’t cry; you don’t get mad; you don’t care about anything. You’re just- better than me. At everything.“

Nikolay jolted. He hadn’t realised that Raine…

“You’re perfectly capable. It’s not that you’re weak, or unqualified, or anything remotely close. We’ve just faced situations that are unfamiliar. And for the record, I think you’re more than admirable in how you act.”

“So you think I’m be- better than you?”

Nikolay raised an eyebrow. “Are you actually drunk?”

Raine merely stared up at him with wide puppy eyes. After realising that no further explanation was coming, Nikolay gave a resigned sigh and averted his gaze.

“Yeah. You’re better than me,” he begrudgingly replied.

To anyone else, those would have just been five arbitrary words. But looking at Raine’s reaction, it was as if those five words were life-changing. His eyes lit up like stars, and a wide, genuine smile appeared on his face.

“Really?! So happy for you getting over your… uh… I forgot what it was called. Rhymes with wide and means being up yourself. Anyways… I didn’t know you would actually say it… Ah! I habe an idea.”

Raine twisted his body around, carelessly using Nikolay as a prop to help him. As their eyes met again, Raine continued to move forward, almost touching Nikolay’s face.

Nikolay subconsciously turned his head a fraction, just enough to avoid Raine.

“Come onnn,” Raine whined. “Nobody else acts like you do. You’re ssuch a… a stick in the mud. I’m paying you back.”

It then — quite belatedly — occurred to Nikolay why Raine had moved closer.

In his defence, he had never seen Raine act so forward. He was used to the pissed off Raine, or the jokingly teasing Raine. Not… this Raine.

It was precisely for this reason, and no other, that he had no idea how to respond to any of Raine’s advances.

As such, Nikolay barely reacted when Raine huffed and climbed on top of him. The grass tickled Nikolay’s neck as he allowed himself to be pushed to the ground. Raine knelt over him, hands planted firmly on either side of Nikolay’s face.

For a moment, they were deathly still. Both breathing heavily, noses just barely touching, and with the flush of alcohol on their faces.

“D-” Nikolay barely got a word out before Raine leaned towards him.

Their lips met clumsily and with an urgency in their movements. Raine bit Nikolay’s lip in suggestion and Nikolay obliged, parting his lips for Raine’s tongue to enter. Nikolay could taste the overwhelmingly strong scent of alcohol mixed with both of their saliva. The kiss was chaotic and rough, and any semblance of tact had long been abandoned.

Raine brought a hand up to cup Nikolay’s cheek, tracing along his jawline and slowly trailing down his chest and abdomen. It lazily meandered on its path downwards, then tantalisingly rubbed and caressed, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from Nikolay.

Against his will, Nikolay’s body moved in response, his back arching against the dirt floor and his hands clawing at Raine’s back. In a desperate attempt to retain his pride, Nikolay bit his own lip until it bled to stop himself from making a shameful noise.

But the numbness of the alcohol hadn’t fully dulled his thinking, at least to the point where he could ignore Raine’s fingers fumbling with his belt.

Nikolay quickly pulled himself off Raine, who owlishly blinked at him with a confused expression. He ignored the way that his entire body still shook with desire, and dragged the barely conscious Raine into the tent. Nikolay threw Raine onto a sleeping bag, then stepped out and zipped up the tent entrance behind him.

Now that Raine was a safe distance away from him, Nikolay was able to think clearly again. A small part of him wished that he should have let Raine continue. There was no doubt that Raine, being horrifically drunk, wouldn’t remember anything from tonight. He could have given in, and Raine would be hopelessly clueless about it.

But Raine was clearly making advances because he was intoxicated. Nikolay heavily disliked Raine — obviously — but taking advantage of someone was horribly immoral, even for him.

Of course, he didn’t want to do ‘that’ with Raine in the first place. Because of tonight’s encounter, now Nikolay felt even more conflicted than before. He hated this. He hated Raine. The blood on his lip from biting it earlier was a testament to that.

Listlessly, Nikolay slumped next to the fire and attempted to sleep away his thoughts about Raine.

—

NOTE: THE SECTION HAS NOW ENDED. THE EVENTS WILL BE BRIEFLY MENTIONED IN THE REST OF THE NOVEL, HOWEVER IT WILL NO LONGER BE IN DETAIL.

Raine usually slept in. That was a given.

But to have a pounding, head-splitting hangover was not usually one of his regulars.

“Ugh… Nikolay,” Raine mumbled, trying to reach over to where Nikolay’s sleeping bag was. “Nikolay, are you there?”

He continued to fumble around, only to eventually realise that Nikolay was, in fact, not in the tent whatsoever.

Raine jerked his hand back in embarrassment, even though nobody had seen him reaching for somebody who wasn’t even there. Flopping back onto his own pillow, Raine lay there, regretting his decision to drink so much alcohol last night.

He barely remembered anything that happened last night, so he was assuming that he drank more than he normally did. As to why, he had no clue, thanks to the massive blurry section in his memory.

Eventually, he mustered the strength to sit up — albeit with several pained iprotests — and unzip the tent’s door to stagger outside.

What greeted his eyes, however, was altogether unexpected.

Nikolay was still asleep.

At noon, when the sun was shining down at its highest peak. He didn’t even have a blanket or pillow — the man was just… lying next to a pile of charcoal and ash.

Hangover momentarily forgotten, Raine rushed to Nikolay’s side and gently shook his shoulder. He gave Nikolay a quick once-over to check that nothing was outwardly wrong, and was glad to come up short.

“Hey! Wake up, you slacker. It’s midday already,” Raine loudly complained. “Rascal probably went on to Lake Litchmere without us, at this rate.”

Despite his efforts to annoy Nikolay, he only received a quiet grunt in return.

“Nikolay?”

Finally, Nikolay shifted slightly. “Shut up. You’re loud.”

The response spurred Raine to continue pestering Nikolay. “I’m gonna follow Rascal and leave your sorry ass here if you don’t wake up. By the time you catch up, I’ll already have the Artifact of Time.“

A series of begrudging groans later, Nikolay eventually sat up and rubbed his eyes. His usually silky, tied-back hair was akin to more of a bird’s nest atop his head, and dark circles hung underneath his eyes.

“I’m awake. No need to keep yelling,” Nikolay huffed.

“Come on, I know you wouldn’t have gotten up if I just left.”

Raine elbowed Nikolay playfully, then frowned when the other man flinched from the physical touch.

“What happened? The Nikolay that I know wouldn’t voluntarily freeze to death outside in the cold night. I’m surprised you didn’t take the tent and leave me out to die,” Raine said.

He had meant to say it in a joking manner, but it came out forced.

“Maybe so,” was the offhanded reply.

The lack of emotional response caused alarms to sound in Raine’s mind. Something was clearly wrong. He had expected at least a scathing retort, or a half-hearted grumble.

Whatever had happened last night… it couldn’t have been good.

Nikolay glanced at Raine’s horrified expression and sighed. “Nothing bad happened. I stopped you before you could do anything irrational.”

Raine was aghast, to say the least. “So, I did try to do something?”

Nikolay turned away and began packing up the tent. “We should focus on what’s coming ahead of us.”

The way that Nikolay phrased it was like an order; it left no room for debate, yet Raine found himself struggling to obey. Opening his mouth to protest again, the words caught in his throat when he caught a glimpse of Nikolay’s face. Unlike the blank, stoic expression that he had pictured, there was something dark and troubled about it. Raine had the strong feeling that pushing any further might permanently ruin the already tentative bond between them.