Ash/Athena Crossover AU: Room assignments
Here’s a continuation of my crossover with @ashintheairlikesnow where our babes find themselves stuck in a safehouse together! This continues directly after this one. The madness started here!
This will be the last “chronological” drabble I write for this AU. The rest will be one-shots where I hop in and out of the timeline for all kinds of fun things!
Find this story on AO3 here.
Danny, Ryan, and Nate belong to @ashintheairlikesnow
“So,” Sam said brightly, apparently unaware of the undercurrents of tension moving through the room, “you live here?”
Danny ducked his head, fiddling with the cookies for a moment. “Um. Yes. Me and Nate. Since I, um, came home."
“And Nate’s your boyfriend?” Sam asked, their mouth half full of their third cookie.
Danny fingered the ring on his left hand. “Yeah. My boyfriend.” He smiled faintly.
Vera noticed his hands moving. They were scarred, like seemingly every other part of him, raised lines that followed the traceries of veins. "Oh. And you… you stay out of the way of the… syndicates?” She chewed her lip.
Danny chuckled a little under his breath. “I’ve always found that word so… sinister. Syndicates,” he said slowly, deepening his voice until the effect was nothing short of dramatic.
Gavin scoffed. “Right. Who even came up with that, anyway?”
Danny flinched a little at the sound of his voice. “Right.” He paused for a moment, and his hand went up to rub at the line of scars on his face. Isaac cast his eyes down, and Danny looked at him, before carefully lowering his hand. “Oh. Um. Do you want to see your rooms? Or we could… um… wait…” He ducked his head. “For Ryan and Nate to get back. We could do that. But, but that's… up to you."
Gray smiled gently. “That sounds fine. We can stay here until they get back, if you like.” They stepped towards the table and looked around the room. “It’s a beautiful kitchen.”
Danny grinned. “Thank you. It’s my, my favorite room. Except for the living room, maybe. There’s a fireplace that we turn on when it’s chilly, and the couch is really, um, comfortable.”
“That sounds nice,” Vera said with a smile. She was starting to put the pieces together of what his captivity had looked like for him. Her chest felt a little heavy at the thought. “Maybe we can hang out there after dinner.”
“Okay.” Danny looked around at the others. “Would any of you like a cookie? They’re um, fresh and I’ve got some more in the oven…” They nodded in assent. As they moved in to take some cookies he sidestepped out of the way. Putting himself between them and the door. Vera watched the way he moved, ensuring no one was close enough to accidentally brush against or touch him.
Finn came away with three clutched in their hands and one dangling from their mouth. “It’s been forever since we had… well, anything this good,” they said as they took a bite.
The kitchen was quiet for a moment save for the sound of chewing. A timer dinged and Danny moved to pull out the last sheet. A fresh waft of delicious cookie smell moved through the air.
Danny’s ears perked up before anyone else’s at the sound of the door opening. His smile grew wide again. The sound of voices moved closer to the kitchen until Nate and Ryan both walked in, looking a little strained in their postures.
“Everything’s good!” Ryan said cheerfully. “All set.”
“Thank you again,” Gray said. “We’re extremely grateful.”
Gavin cast his eyes at the floor as Gray said it. Ryan’s gaze moved to him again and stayed fixed there for a moment. Then he lifted his chin and looked to the others. “How about a tour?” He held his arm towards the door of the kitchen.
Sam stepped forward with a grin and followed him out. The others came behind, a little more warily. Nate and Danny brought up the rear.
“If Sam isn’t in love with this guy by the end of the weekend I’ll be fucking shocked,” Vera murmured to Tori.
Tori licked her lips. “If we all aren’t, I’ll be at least a little disappointed.”
Vera’s lips quirked up in a smile. “…really?” She blew out an amused breath. “I mean, if we’re all –”
Tori cleared her throat when she saw Ryan look back at her. Both women blushed as he grinned at them.
“So my brother will be on the first floor,” Ryan said cheerfully. Vera glanced back at Nate just in time to see him sigh heavily and roll his eyes. Ryan guided them all to a grand spiral staircase that took them up a floor. He gestured to the room right next to the stairs. “This is for Isaac and Sam, I wasn’t sure if… you…” He tilted his head at them, watching their reactions.
Sam blinked for a moment, their eyes torn, seemingly for the first time, from Ryan’s face to look at Isaac. “Oh. We’re not… I mean…”
“I don’t mind bunking with them,” Isaac said evenly with a shrug.
“Mm hm.” Ryan’s lips quirked up in a smile as his eyes returned to Sam. “Great. That's exactly what I was hoping to hear.” He kept walking down the hall. “Finn and Ellis here…” He motioned to the bedroom just across the way from the first. “Bathroom here… Vera and Tori, you’re here…” He reached the end of the hall. “This one is for Gray,” he motioned to the left. “And this one’s mine.” His hand rested on the doorframe as he turned back to the others and flashed a brilliant smile. “But anyone’s welcome to join, if they wish.” Nate again rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, muttering something under his breath.
“Where’s my room?” Gavin asked warily.
“It’s upstairs. Follow me.” He turned and led the group back to the stairs.
“Is your b- brother going to, to s- sleep with every sing, single one of our g- guests?” Nate whispered to Danny.
“I think he’ll try,” Danny whispered back.
They all made their way up the stairs to the third floor.
“Up here we’ve got the workout room, the office if you’ve got business to do, and some of the books that didn’t fit downstairs.” Ryan motioned to a room lined on every wall with bookshelves. Ellis lingered at the door of that one. “If you like a book, let us know, and unless it's Nate's, feel free to take it with you. We'll just get another copy. Oh, and this is your room, Gavin.” He motioned to a small bedroom near the back.
“Oh,” Gavin said, sounding disappointed. “It’s… um…” Isaac elbowed him in the ribs again. “Um…”
Gray sighed and turned to Ryan. “Thank you. Very much. We’re all very grateful that you’ve put us up in such comfort. It’s much more than we could ask for.”
“If you keep elbowing me like that you’re going to break a rib,” Gavin hissed at Isaac.
“You keep being a little bitchboy and I’ll break your neck,” Vera whispered.
Ryan clapped his hands together. “Well! I’ll let you get settled. Then if you like we could all hang out until dinner. Although if you’d like some privacy and time to rest, that would also be fine.” He winked at Sam. “Whatever you need, I’m at your disposal.” He turned and walked back down the stairs.
"I'm, I'm going to start on dinner," Danny said, flashing an uncertain smile before he and Nate moved to follow his brother. "If you, um, want to help, you can? But I can handle it. And, obviously if you want more cookies. Or something to, to drink… but I need to start cooking."
"Already?" Isaac asked, looking out a window near the stairs and then back. "It can't even be three yet."
"Tonight's meal takes a while to make," Danny said softly, looking nervous, as though he expected Isaac to be angry at him for speaking. "I, um. I feel better in the kitchen…" He hesitated, as if there was more he wanted to say, and then all but fled down the stairs.
Nate fixed Isaac with a long, thoughtful stare, and then followed Danny, the team left alone to get settled in their rooms.
