Chapter Text
“You just had to break your foot.”
With a smile, Volume flipped Val off. “Gonna miss me that much?”
“Like hell I will,” he scoffed in return.
“I will!” Vamos swooped down to give Volume another kiss on the cheek. “Try not to bore him too much, Vaya.”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t you have a run to take?”
Vaya pulled xyr sibling into a hug, not letting up xyr grip around Volume’s waist. The run had been in motion since way before Volume had broken his foot, and while he could stand alright, walking was clearly out of the question. So Vaya had elected to stay back and keep Volume company, while Val, Vinyl, and Vamos bombed around the city walls, picking off dracs and ruining Exterminators’ days.
“C’mon, Wheels,” Val snapped impatiently. “Drac’s aren’t gonna shoot themselves.”
“Shit, but it’d be shiny if they did!”
Vamos slipped under Vinyl’s arm and lightly tugged at Val’s sleeve. He flinched, brushing them off, but it got him moving and the three of them set off towards the bikes that they’d borrowed for the run.
“See you in a few!” Called Vaya.
Vinyl lifted a hand to acknowledge xem, then xe backed up and shut the door. Xyr crew knew how to get bikes ready, xe didn’t need to watch.
“So, Vol? What’s the plan?”
“Well, given that the sun literally just rose and someone decided to throw a Loretta-only listening party all night last night—” Vaya laughed guiltily “—I wouldn’t mind just going back to bed.”
“Oh, the shiniest of ideas, dear Volume!” Xe cheered. “How’s your foot, you want any more—?”
“It’s fine, just a nap.”
Slowly, the two of them made their way through the Nest. Vaya guided Volume around piles of crumpled cans and discarded pill bags and sleeping killjoys until they reached the bedroom that the Ultra V’s had claimed for their own. Xe deposited Volume on the single oversized mattress and padded back to the door.
“You’re not leaving, are you?”
It wasn’t like Vaya had been hoping Volume would ask xem to stay. Still, xe hid a smile as xe nudged the door shut and turned back to the bed.
“Nah, just gettin’ the door.”
Volume lifted the edge of the blanket and grabbed at Vaya until xe slid onto the bed and curled up in his arms. His breath was warm on the back of Vaya’s neck and xe practically melted into the sheets when his arms tightened around xyr waist.
Outside the bedroom door, the Nest slowly woke up to a new day, but inside, Vaya and Volume ignored the sun’s call to linger just a bit longer, just the two of them.
Vaya must have twisted around in xyr sleep because xe woke up with xyr thigh between Volume’s legs and xyr head tucked under his chin. His arms were still wrapped around xyr waist, but now one hand cupped the back of xyr head. It wasn’t surprising to Vaya, the whole crew shared a mattress, waking up in Volume’s embrace — or whoever was sleeping closest — was a common occurrence. Most often was waking up like this with Volume, but that was just because Vaya tended to sleep on the edge of the mattress with everyone else at xyr back. It made it harder for anyone to sneak up on xem. And Volume just always ended up right behind xem.
Now he shifted, inhaling deeply before pulling back a bit and smiling down at Vaya.
“Mornin’.”
“Again,” teased Vaya. “You plan on wasting the whole day like this?”
“You got a better idea?”
“Uh... Yep.”
Volume cocked an eyebrow, “Oh?”
“Breakfast.”
Laughing, Volume let go of Vaya so that xe could roll over and sit up. Xe stretched with a yawn, wincing as something in xyr shoulder popped and ground against itself.
“That sounded fuckin’ nasty,” Volume sat up, gentle hands finding Vaya’s shoulder. “Want me t’ look at it?”
Xe shrugged him off and stood to dig through the pile of clothes that occupied a corner of the room. “Take care of yourself first, how’s the foot?”
“Sore.”
“Y’ want me to bring you your food?”
“I can walk.”
Vaya turned and raised xyr eyebrows.
“I can drag myself around. Let’s go.”
Tossing Volume a fresh shirt and a pair of shorts, Vaya turned xyr back while he got dressed. Xe leaned down to the cracked vanity in the room to fix xyr hair. In the corner of the reflection, xe could see Volume wiggle into his binder. That’s private, xe reminded xemself, giving xemself a shake. It took only a moment to twist back part of xyr bangs, securing them with a rusty pin before straightening and turning around.
Volume got to his feet — foot — and hopped across the room until he could drape an arm around Vaya’s shoulder.
The Nest was empty as they wandered toward the kitchen. All of the ‘joys that had been asleep when Vaya and Volume saw their crew off had vanished, leaving them free to make as much noise as they wanted to while Vaya danced around the kitchen, scrounging up whatever food xe could find. A can of PowerPup joined a bag of mesquite flour and a half-full bottle of oil on the kitchen table. Volume mixed a rough dough together and passed Vaya the oil so that xe could heat a pan on the only working burner of the stove.
The sounds of popping oil joined Vaya and Volume’s voices when they began recalling the previous night’s party, which transitioned into talking about Vamos’s last attempt at dragging Val to dance with them on a tabletop, which moved into a debate about Val’s music taste.
“I’m telling you!” Vaya pointed xyr spatula at Volume. “He’s a total snob. You ever seen him listen to something that wasn’t a self-titled album? Totally gets off on thinking he listens to the underground stuff.”
“You can’t call fucking Mad Gear ‘underground’, everyone listens to Mad Gear,” protested Volume. “He only pretends to like rare shit. Didn’t you see him last night? Swear I caught him mouthing along to half the songs and AKA Loretta doesn’t even have a titled album, much less a self-titled one.”
“Uh, duh! That’s how underground they are.”
“Loretta? You’re calling fucking Loretta underground?” Volume practically shrieked. “That’s burning, by the way. If Loretta’s underground then I’m a Draculoid.”
Vaya flipped the fritter, then mimed shooting Volume with xyr spatula. He clutched his chest, rocking back in his chair with an exaggerated grunt before flipping forward, laughing.
“Fine, okay, Loretta’s not underground. Val still likes it though.”
“So then he’s not a snob!”
Vaya raised xyr eyebrows.
“Not a music snob,” amended Volume.
“Fine, maybe he isn’t.” Vaya sat, sliding a plate with three heavy fritters onto the table. “His taste is still pretty bad, though.”
“Witch, isn’t it? Fuck, remember his Klokwatchers phase?”
“Oh, fuck. What was the one song? Enzymatic Responses in the—”
“—the Lower Adrenal Gland! Who comes up with shit like that? And the bass solo...”
Both ‘joys shuddered, then laughed. Vaya tore a fritter in half and passed part of it to Volume.
They were quieter while they ate, tangling their feet together under the table in the… maybe early afternoon light, Vaya figured. The fritters disappeared quickly and Volume offered to do the dishes. Vaya still stood next to him at the sink, to make sure he wouldn’t put too much weight on his foot, but xe refused to even help dry, so Volume laughed, splashed a little water at xem, and washed the dishes in easy silence.
A little later, the sun slanted through the windows of the Nest, lighting up the dust on the old TV’s screen and blocking just enough of Vaya’s half of the screen that xe started screeching about Volume having an unfair advantage rather than just getting up to wipe off the dust. It escalated from there until Vaya dropped xyr controller to lunge at Volume and knock him off of the worn couch to the equally-worn carpet. Onscreen, xyr character ran right off the edge of the map, but neither of them were paying any particular attention to the game anymore.
Vaya landed on top of Volume, knees bracketing his hips while xe scrambled for his hands. Volume was laughing too hard to properly fight back, the only reason Vaya had the upper hand. Still, xe struggled to keep his hands pinned above his head, pressing down with xyr entire body weight barely kept Volume on the floor. He tried to flip the two of them, but Vaya shifted xyr weight down and forward to accommodate.
“Ow, ow, Vaya, my foot,” winced Volume.
Instantly, Vaya sat up, an apology on xyr lips. Xe didn’t get the chance to say anything though, as Volume flipped them over and settled his weight between xyr legs.
“Asshole.” Halfheartedly, Vaya punched up at Volume’s shoulder. “I thought you were hurt.”
“Maybe I was,” Volume stopped laughing and dropped to his elbows. “Kiss it better?”
Vaya froze, laughter dying on xyr lips. “Get off me.”
“Sorry. Sorry, yeah,” mumbled Volume. He sat up and backed off, leaning sideways against the couch to watch Vaya push xemself up. “Was that weird?”
“A bit.” Vaya scratched the back of xyr neck, red for no reason.
They sat for a second, Volume looking curiously at Vaya and Vaya looking anywhere but at him.
The game that they had been playing made an insistent sound and they both startled.
“‘S dust on the screen,” Volume pointed out unnecessarily. “Why you couldn’t see.”
“Right, yeah. Yeah,” nodded Vaya. Xe wiped the screen off and sat back on the couch.
Volume joined xem on the cushions and they restarted the match. Their elbows didn’t bump anymore when Vaya leaned with xyr character’s movements and Volume didn’t kick Vaya’s foot whenever xe made a particularly good play. By the end of the match, though, their aborted wrestling was forgotten. Volume smiled warmly when Vaya suggested they go two out of three. Xe decided it wasn’t worth pointing out how it didn’t reach his eyes.
At the end of the third game (Vaya won, but xe thought that Volume might have thrown the second match), both ‘joys were at a loss for another way to occupy their time. Neither of them particularly felt like trooping outside for target practice, never mind that Volume couldn’t stand for long enough to aim.
“Honestly,” Volume rubbed his eyes. “I could probably just have another nap.”
“You swear you’re feeling okay?”
“Yeah. Vinyl said sleep’s how the body heals, y’know.”
“I think that’s for zone flu,” reasoned Vaya. “Not a broken foot.”
“Well, whatever,” Volume stuck his tongue out. “Take me to bed.”
Obeying the halfhearted demand, Vaya levered Volume off of the couch and they moved back to the Ultra V’s bedroom. This time, Vaya shut the door behind them so that when Volume grabbed at xyr hand after xe’d dropped him onto the bed, xe could just kick xyr shoes off and slide into the sheets with him.
Volume pushed back to the middle of the mattress and Vaya clung to the edge, but neither of the pair felt alone as sleep washed over them again.