Kit has to almost threaten Dee into helping him carry the grocery bags.
"This is child labour," they say as they take two bags from Kit's hands. "I shouldn't have to do this. So unfair…" They plough sluggishly next to Kit, dragging the bags behind them.
"Stop that." Kit nudges them with his foot. "They're not even that heavy, so stop dragging them."
"But I don't wanna…"
"Well, I'm not carrying them either."
"But you were the one who bought them; it's your stuff…"
"Then does that mean I should let you starve?" Kit asks. "If you won't help carry the groceries then you don't get to eat them."
Dee gasps dramatically. "You wouldn't!"
"No?" Kit arches an eyebrow.
"You– That's child abuse!" Dee accuses.
"It's called pulling your own weight," he corrects her. "Come on, it's just two bags, and they're the lightest ones."
"But I'm tired…" they keep whining. "And they don't feel light at all."
"Would you rather trade?" He slightly raises his hands, both of which are occupied with several bags. "Because I would gladly do it."
"No, no!" Dee clutches the bags to her chest, as if afraid that Kit would really try to switch their loads. "It's fine! I'll carry them!"
"Okay," Kit nods, satisfied. "And no more complaining or I really won't give you dinner."
After that, Dee starts walking normally, not dragging the bags anymore, and they make their way back home without any further incident.
When they reach their apartment, he's surprised to see Baz standing in front of the building. He doesn't think Baz has been waiting here that long, or else he would have left already, either because he grew bored, or the landlady chased him away. Kit is actually surprised Baz even came out in this heat, especially during the afternoon hours, the hottest hours of the day. Yet here he is, leaning against the picket fence around the small garden outside the building, hands in his pockets, and looking in the opposite direction from where Kit and Dee are coming.
Kit gestures at Dee to be quiet, and he walks up to Baz soundlessly, until he's standing directly on his right side. Baz still hasn't noticed his presence. Kit puts a hand on his shoulder, making Baz jump.
"Fucking hell–!" Baz rounds immediately, an alarmed look on his face, but he lets out a relieved sigh when he sees it is only Kit. "What the hell, Kit?" he says, even as he breaks out in a grin. He pushes up his sunglasses to sit atop of his head. "Don't scare me like that!"
"What are you doing here?" Kit asks. He's not displeased to see Baz, per say, but he was definitely not expecting to see him today. Looks like his lie about being sick is out the window for tomorrow; unless he convinces Baz to back him up, but he thinks that would be a bit of an awkward conversation.
"We came to check up on you."
"We?"
Baz gestures to a very pissed-off looking Valentine on his left. Kit hadn't noticed them at first, since they are partially hidden by Baz and are sitting down on the sidewalk, her knees drawn up under her chin. Kit raises his eyebrows in surprise. He can't imagine the sort of convincing it took to make Valentine come. With some amusement, Kit sees she is also wearing sunglasses.
Valentine doesn't even glance his way, continuing to stare straight ahead. Before Kit can even say anything, Valentine speaks. "Don't ask. He insisted," she mutters.
"Ah… Well…" Kit feels like he's missing a very important detail. "Thank you. But it really wasn't necessary."
"Of course we had to," Baz says.
Valentine sniffs at that, clearly disagreeing. "You didn't have to drag me along…"
"I didn't drag you along," Baz pokes her with the tip of his shoe. "You wanted to come along, remember?"
"S-shut up!" Valentine shoots to her feet. "I never said such a thing!" Her face has gone red, and she starts hitting Baz's arm to get him to stop laughing. "It's not funny! Shut up!" She gives up after a while, sliding back down to the ground, drawing their knees to their chest again. "You're horrible…" she glares up at Baz.
"I can't be that horrible if you came along," Baz teases.
"Hmph!" Valentine buries her face between her knees. "Whatever!"
"Baz… You shouldn't tease her so much, you know," Kit shakes his head at him.
"It's fine," Baz waves his comment away. "She doesn't take it to heart, right, Valentine?"
Valentine's head snaps up, but just as Kit is expecting her to start on a barrage of insults hurled at Baz, she instead stares at some point just past both of them. She pushes her sunglasses atop her head, revealing her narrowed eyes.
Kit turns around to see just what has Valentine so on edge, only to see Dee standing a couple of steps behind him, her face in an expression similar to Valentine's. For a few minutes, neither of them speak, and Dee and Valentine eye each other warily. Both Baz and Kit hold their breaths, worried that even the smallest action will set them off.
Kit had completely forgotten that Dee and Valentine had never been properly introduced to each other. Somehow, he had just become so used to both of their presences, he hadn't realised they had never been in the same room together.
Magical creatures, when encountering others, would immediately be able to recognise each other due to their inherent ability to sense natural energy, and thus would be able to sense if an abnormal signature was in the area. And while most magical creatures (excluding grade 4 ones) were not hostile to each other, shapeshifters with predator type animal sides tended to be somewhat… territorial amongst each other. It would take time for them to warm up to each other, if they weren't at each other's throats before then. Meaning, even if Valentine wasn't technically a predator (could dragons be called predators?), it was obvious the hostility was there. In fact, Valentine had demonstrated to be pretty much averse to all other magical creatures. There had been one notable incident, when she had bitten a friend of Baz, who just so happened to be a naiad. It had happened when she was a lot younger, probably around six years old, but regardless, it had been a nasty bite and it had left a scar afterwards. Surprisingly, Baz had remained friends with the nymph, and even Valentine had tentatively come to accept them. And even if now, she wasn't going to go around biting others, the lesson remained: Valentine was not to be left unsupervised around other magical creatures.
And Dee… Dee was the most confrontational person Kit had met. To bring these two together, it was basically asking for a fight to break out!
Mentally, Kit slaps himself. He can see Baz experiencing the same reaction. How could they have forgotten?!
"Who the hell are you?" Dee spits out.
Valentine doesn't answer their question, and just turns up her nose in disdain. "None of your business." She stands up, brushing the imaginary dust off their legs, and turns to address Baz, "Let's leave, old man. It looks like some pests have appeared around the area."
"Hey!" Dee stomps her foot. "Don't ignore me! I'm still here and I can hear you!"
Valentine turns slowly towards them. "And why should I care about that?" She smiles derisively. "I was simply stating a fact."
"You're saying I'm a pest?!"
"Your words not mine." Valentine adjusts her sunglasses back on her face, and flicks her long sleeves.
Dee grits their teeth, letting out a low hiss.
"If anyone here's a pest, it would be you!" Dee bristles.
"Me?! A pest! Ha!" Valentine scoffs, "As if!"
"Yes! You're a pest! A stuck up, ugly pest!"
Now it is Valentine's turn to bristle. "Take that back! Take that back or I'll– I'll–" she struggles to look for an appropriate threat. "Or I'll claw your face off!"
"You wish! You look like you couldn't even take on a small child!"
"No? You really think that? Hmph! Then you must be even stupider than you look," Valentine taunts them. "I could be done with you without even having to touch you."
"I'm not stupid!" Dee throws her cap on the ground and steps on it, grinding her foot down. "And I don't believe you!"
"Don't believe me; I don't care. I don't need to be acknowledged by some insignificant shapeshifter who can't even control their powers."
Dee grinds her teeth, their whole face twisting in anger. It seems like Valentine has managed to hit a sore spot. "Oh yeah? And who the fuck are you to be acting so full of yourself?"
Valentine lets out a short bark of laughter. "You really are stupid! You can't even tell what I am?"
Dee stomps her foot again. "Of course not! Why the hell do you think I'm asking you?!"
"I am a dragon. The last of my kind on this land and the first one to be born in two hundred years! My ancestors were the original flame wielders, the ones favoured by the heavens and called the messengers of the gods! And today, their blood runs through my veins. I am master of all fire, above all creatures across both heaven and earth!"
To the side, Baz sighs quietly. He catches Kit's eye, and he shakes his head. "So dramatic," Baz mouths. Even if what she had said was all true, there was no need to add so much panache to it. Looks like Valentine has been watching too many dramas lately…
However, Dee only bursts out laughing. "You're a dragon?! A dragon my ass!"
Valentine almost spits up blood, her eyes threatening to pop out of her skull. Never could she have imagined that someone could doubt her, and her brain is racing trying to catch up to the fact. "Are you an idiot?! What kind of a half-wit, good-for-nothing, incompetent shithead do you have to be to be this blind!" It's only Baz holding her back by the arms that stops her from throwing herself at Dee. "I'll kill you! Let me go so I can show her just how true what I said is!"
Baz, wisely, does not let her go, instead holding her even more tightly. "Valentine… Just let it go," he says, trying to calm her down.
"No! I won't just let it go! I'm going to burn off every single hair on their measly, ugly body!" Valentine is twisting and kicking trying to get out of Baz's hold. Her sunglasses have gone askew, and smoke has started to rise off the top of their head. "I'll show you just how much of a dragon I am, and then I'll make you eat your words!"
"I don't believe you!" Seeing Valentine ready to throw hands, Dee clenches their fists, squaring up for the fight. "You're full of shit! You're full of shit and I won't stand for it!"
"Full of shit?" Valentine's eyes widen in disbelief. "Who's full of shit?! It's obviously you, you– you–!" Her whole face has gone red from outrage. "You mangy, stupid mutt!"
Dee's expression grows distorted with anger, and a dangerous glint appears in their eyes. "What did you call me?!" they roar, and now it's Kit that has to hold them back from attacking Valentine.
For her part, Valentine has stopped struggling to break free of Baz, and is looking extremely pleased to have finally landed a jab on them. She preens, smoothing down the creases in her dress and adjusting her sunglasses on her nose. "What?" she sneers. "You don't want to admit what you are, mutt?"
"Stop calling me that!" Dee growls.
"What? A mutt? Would you rather I called you a b—"
"Okay!" Baz loudly interrupts, clapping his hands. "I say, that's enough!"
"You stay out of this, old man!" Valentine tells him.
Baz holds up his hands helplessly, as if saying 'I tried, what else do you want me to do?'.
That lazy, good-for-nothing–! Does he expect Kit to clean up this whole mess alone? Valentine is his responsibility, yet he is acting as if this had nothing to do with him, simply standing off to the side.
Kit shoots him a glare. "Dee," Kit takes on a stern tone, "behave."
"HUH?! Why am I expected to behave, when it was them who started it?!" Dee points at Valentine.
Ah, but it was actually you who started it… Kit thinks. He doesn't say this out loud; doing so would just be adding fuel to the flames. "Dee…" he warns.
Dee lets out a huff. "Fine!"
"Now say you're sorry. Both of you." Kit looks pointedly at Valentine.
Dee gnashes their teeth, but after much hand wringing and debating, they finally comply. "Sorry." She says it as if the words were souring her mouth.
Valentine just sniffs. "Hmph!"
"Valentine, you also need to apologise. This was also your fault, you know."
"I don't want to!"
"Come on, Valentine." Baz has finally decided to help out. "Play nice. You don't even have to mean it."
"Baz!" Kit cries.
"HAHAHA I'm joking!" Baz thumps Valentine on the back. "Now, apologise properly, okay? Do the whole bowing down and whatnot if you have to."
Valentine looks like she wants to bite him, but they rein themselves in. "I don't want to apologise! In fact, I never want to see their ugly face again in my life!"
"Well, too bad for you, because you're probably going to be seeing them around an awful lot," Baz laughs.
"What?! Why?!" Valentine looks scandalised at the prospect.
"Because they're Kit's new apprentice."
This time, Valentine does burst out into flames.
~~~
It takes a grand total of half an hour to calm Valentine down, then to convince her and Dee not to try and kill each other, to finally getting noticed by the landlady and subsequently being yelled at by her to stop loitering outside her house and threatened to get the cops called on them if they didn't leave.
"Bitter old lady." Baz tsk's as they head up the stairs towards Kit's apartment. "And I say that knowing both my mum and Fluorite."
Kit just hums distractedly. He's only half paying attention to whatever Baz is saying.
Valentine is walking in front, followed by Kit, then Baz, and coming up last, is Dee. They had decided it was better to still keep some physical distance between the two magical creatures, just in case another argument were to break out. Kit hopes not; if a real fight were to break out between them, his apartment would end up basically destroyed.
Kit unlocks the door, letting Valentine be the first to enter. She peers inside, and turns to look at Kit, her upper lip slightly curled. "Is this where you live?"
"Yes?" He should not be feeling this nervous about getting judged by a thirteen year old, yet Kit can feel his palms getting clammy.
"Ah. I see…" Valentine gingerly steps inside. She scrunches up her nose. "When was the last time you cleaned this place?"
Kit opens his mouth, but he can't find anything to say. Behind him, he can hear Baz burst out laughing.
"Valentine," Baz says between gasps, "you shouldn't be so rude to our host."
"Uh." Valentine freezes. "You're right. Sorry," she bows her head at Kit, ashamed.
"...It's fine." Honestly, it feels a bit weird to be so quickly apologised to by a kid. He had been spending too much time around Dee and he had forgotten not every single kid this age was a total brat.
Upon entering, Dee immediately kicks her shoes off. She lets out a loud exhale. "Ugh. Finally! Home!" She lets herself flop directly on the entrance floor.
He would never admit it out loud, but Kit feels touched that Dee sees this place as home. (Or as a home.) "Dee," he kneels down to talk to them, "don't lie down on the floor."
Dee just groans.
"Dee…"
"Okay, okay! I'm getting up!" They stand up with a huff, and walk to the middle of the living room, where they once again spread out on the floor. Kit decides to let them be. At least they're not right at the entrance anymore…
He picks up the bags Dee had discarded by the front door and takes them, along with his, to the kitchen. He hopes nothing inside has bruised or broken, since he had to drop the bags to the floor to hold back Dee from attacking Valentine before. But he's not going to check right now. He simply leaves them on top of the counter, and goes to take a shower. If anything were to come up, something truly serious, he trusts Baz is capable of handling it. Or to at least ensure Dee and Valentine don't kill each other.
He takes his time in the shower, letting the cold water cool him down and get rid of the sticky sensation all over his body due to all the sweat. When Kit emerges already dressed out of the bathroom, Baz is sitting on the couch next to Valentine, Dee is lying on her stomach and the three of them are watching television. Clearly, Valentine was the one to choose the program, since some cheesy romance drama is playing on screen.
"Oh, Kit, you're finally out," Baz glances back when he hears the bathroom door shutting. "Come, come." He pats the empty place to his left.
Throwing the towel with which he was drying his hair on the back of a chair, Kit takes his place on the couch. But the couch is far too small, and Valentine is taking up much more space than she needs, spreading across the entire right side, leaving Kit and Baz to cram together on the other end. His knee bushes against Baz's leg, and he can feel the warmth emanating off his body even through his clothes. But it's not an uncomfortable sensation, he finds it soothing: the presence of another human being next to him. Soon, he can feel his eyes drooping with tiredness, the sounds from the TV becoming background noise and lulling him to sleep. Without realising it, Kit sleeps through the rest of the afternoon. When he wakes up, darkness has fallen across the whole room. As he opens his eyes blearily, he feels his heart jump to his throat. At some point while he was asleep, his head had come to rest on Baz's shoulder.
Baz feels him stirring, and he smiles down at him. "Ah, you're finally awake."
Kit feels as if he had been caught doing something wrong, and he can feel the tips of his ears heating up. He hopes the darkness hides the fact from Baz. Carefully, he takes his head away from his shoulder. He rubs his hands across his face. "How long was I out?" he asks Baz.
"Hm… For about three hours."
"Three hours?! Why didn't you wake me up?"
"There was no need. Look," he points at Dee, who is basically in the same position they were three hours before, Valentine has similarly not budged from her seat, "they're both behaving so well. Why should I have woken you up?"
Well, they certainly are behaving, even if the only way to achieve that is to glue them in front of a screen. And secretly, he appreciates Baz letting him sleep. "You shouldn't have let them keep watching in this darkness. They'll ruin their eyes," he says as he gets up to turn on the living room lights. The switch is located near the entrance, and as he passes, Kit looks at the hour and sighs. It's already past six. I should probably get started on dinner, he thinks. He heads into the kitchen, and starts taking out the groceries from the bags and putting them away. He tries to think about what to prepare for dinner. It should be something simple, something he can realistically do. He takes out some carrots from the bags, inspecting them for a few moments. Maybe a stew? He can do that. It's fairly easy. It even comes out decently and it's something he can prepare quickly. Even quicker if he goes with beef instead of chicken, that way he will save himself the trouble of cleaning the meat. He nods to himself. Beef stew it is.
"Are you going to cook?" Baz's voice surprises him, and he almost drops the carrot he's holding.
"What?" Kit turns to face him.
"Are you cooking?"
"Wh- Oh. Yes. I was thinking of beef stew." Kit puts down the carrot on top of the counter. "Are you two staying over for dinner?" He doesn't know if Baz and Valentine even want to stay for dinner, but it's the polite thing to offer, no?
"Hm." Baz considers it for a second. "Well, since you offered, it would be rude not to accept," he says as he breaks out into a grin.
In a way, it's a good thing they're staying over, Kit reasons. He was going to end up cooking more than he and Dee could eat (well, more than they should; he has no doubt Dee, if given the opportunity, would eat until they burst), and would have ended up eating leftovers for the next three days. But with Baz and Valentine eating too, the amount of leftovers would be less; maybe just for one more day. Kit starts prepping the ingredients, and Baz takes a seat at the dinner table in the corner of the kitchen, just observing Kit.
After a while though, Kit grows annoyed. "If you're just going to sit there doing nothing, then just leave." He peels the potatoes with more force than necessary.
"Ah, but I like watching you." Even with his back turned to him, Kit can practically hear the teasing smile in Baz's voice.
Kit's whole face flushes a furious red, and he fumbles with the peeler in his hand and drops the half-peeled potato to the floor. Why is he growing so flustered? He feels ashamed at his reaction, which in turn makes him blush even more.
Immediately, Baz is at his side. He picks up the potato, and hands it to Kit, but before Kit can take it back, Baz stops his hand. He frowns. "You cut yourself."
Kit looks down at his hand. There is a small bead of blood oozing from his index finger on his left hand. "Oh," he says numbly. So flustered he was by Baz's earlier comment, the small prick of pain hadn't registered in his brain. His cheeks, which had just started cooling down, heat up again.
"Here," Baz places the potato on the cutting board and takes Kit's hand between his own, "I'll help you." He stops, stumped. "Where do you keep your medicine?"
Not trusting himself to speak without his voice breaking, Kit just points towards the cabinet. Baz takes out the alcohol bottle and cotton to disinfect the wound, and carefully dabs at the cut on Kit's finger. Kit is sure by this point smoke must be coming out of his ears. When Baz is finally done carefully wrapping up his finger with gauze, Kit is ready to bolt out of the kitchen if this doesn't end soon.
"Be careful not to cut yourself again," Baz says as he finally releases his hand.
Kit hides his hand behind his back as soon as Baz lets it go. He frowns. "Why are you being so fussy?"
"Who's being fussy?"
"You."
"Me?" Baz points at himself. "Nonsense!" He laughs, trying to dissipate some of the awkwardness in the room. "I am behaving in a completely normal and acceptable way."
"The fact that you had to say that makes me think the exact opposite."
"Why do you say that? Do you think I have some ulterior motives?"
"...No."
"Then, what's the problem? I was just helping out my friend."
Kit scowls. "If you really want to help me out so much, why don't you start by cutting the carrots."
"Okay, okay. Whatever you say." Obediently, Baz takes up the cutting knife and starts on the carrots.
Silently, they work side by side until the dinner is finished.
During all of dinner, and even after the table has been cleaned up and Baz and Valentine have left, Kit can still feel a tingling sensation in his left hand. It lingers for the rest of the night, and when he falls asleep, he dreams of a wam, soothing presence enveloping him.