[Mousen]

Ah. There it was. He'd been wondering when he was going to see Freyja's protective side, and she must be furious with him, of course. She'd been the one to nurse Rexus through his heartbreak and she'd never met Atlas. There was no reason for her to have even the slightest sympathy towards him.

He nodded at Rexus, a small smile tugging at the thin line of his mouth. He paused by the doorway as Rexus turned back into an albie, his worried expression softened, an obvious care and affection replacing it. He absent-mindedly reached for the clover-shaped earring in the cartilage of his ear. It took him a moment to realise Frejya had started speaking again.

"Oh. Um. I grew up in the circus with a couple of other kids, if it wasn't nits it was fleas. I'm used to it." He had a few memories of Mort holding him down to drag the nit comb through his hair and rubbing some foul smelling shampoo into him. It was only slightly worse than the time he and Zari, and most of the circus really, ended up covered in flea powder.

He stood there for a moment longer, knowing Freyja probably wanted to speak to Rexus without him there, and knowing that he didn't want to be there until Freyja was finally ready to say whatever she needed to. "Um. I need to go... um. Tune my accordion. I'll be upstairs if you need me for anything."

Running away at the first sign of trouble was probably not what Freyja wanted to see from him, but old habits died hard. He found himself in Rexus' bedroom, tidying up again. He'd already covered it this morning while unpacking, so there was little to funnel his nervous energy into. He caught himself in the reflection of the aged silvered mirror in Rexus' room, and froze. He'd forgotten he was wearing one of Rexus' sweaters, and if he pulled the neckline down a touch, a set of bruises visible on his neck and collarbone. He felt ridiculous even worrying about it. He and Rexus weren't teenagers, this wasn't his father chasing boys out of the circus. (At the beginning he'd assumed they were there for Zari, as if Zari would ever allow herself to get caught sneaking boys into the caravans).

He itched to vanish outside for a moment or two and light a cigarette, but Atlas knew it'd only put him in danger.

[MythicDusk]

It only took a few moments of murmured conversation form Freyja's side, and Rexus sitting on his haunches in his human form, his hands moving fluidly and quickly. He still tried to pace his words for Atlas, but now he could string together sentences in moments. Plus, Freyja knew all his shorthand signs.

"Alright-okay. I get it Rex. He's changed, he needs help, you love him. I'll do what I can, but if he hurts you again-" Rexus held up a hand to stop her, his hands moving purposeful and slow.

'If he hurts me again, I can handle it. I know when I've made mistakes, Freyja. He isn't one.'

Freyja sighed lightly, her lips pulling into a tight line as she tilted her head back with a light groan. "Okay, fine, I get it. Go get your boyfriend for dinner, I'll make some calls." She caught thel ook that Rexus' bright eyes gave him and groaned louder. "And I'll play nice. Damn it, Rexus. Can't you let me have one thing?"

Rexus just grinned in response, padding up the stairs and knocking on his bedroom door before pushing it open, giving Atlas a bright grin and a coaxing hand motion.

[Mousen]

In the end, Atlas had actually settled for sorting out his accordion. He normally took it to a professional to have it tuned, but he'd grown up around musicians as much as he'd grown up around any other kind of performer and he'd picked up a few things here and there. His haphazard travelling over the past few months had put it through the ringer a bit, especially after the hounds. But he carefully dusted it down with a cloth, checked the reeds inside and began to play. It didn't sound too bad, all things considered. He settled into a tune from his circus days almost automatically, an earworm from the old calliope. He could hear could almost hear Mort's fussing, Zari complaining at him.

He stopped at the knock on the door, suddenly remembering the whole reason he'd sequestered himself away. The re-appearance of Rexus was a balm on his frayed nerves, fixing an ache he didn't even know he'd had the time to acquire. Missing him after a couple of hours of discussion seemed almost ridiculous, but here Atlas was all the same.

He gestured with his hands. "One moment," and then pulled Rexus towards him, wrapping his arms around his waist. "Is everything okay?" He pulled away enough to meet his eyes, as if trying to see if he was still welcome.

[MythicDusk]

Rexus smiled as Atlas approached, allowed the arms to wind around him, and allowed his own to settle comfortably around the other man, his eyes lidding as he enjoyed the simple act of holding Atlas. Something he had missed for so long, something he had convinced himself he would never need.

It surprised him, now and again, how wrong he was.

When Atlas spoke agan, when those gorgeous eyes sought his own, Rexus could swear he felt his heart melt. It comforted him, something deep, to know that Freyja was downstairs, that the man he loved was right here, that everyone was safe.

Well, perhaps not safe, but as safe they could be.

Eventually, he nodded enthusiastically, grinning wide before angling his head to press a delicate kiss against the corner of Atlas' mouth.

[Mousen]

Atlas leaned into Rexus' touch, smiling slightly as he pressed a kiss into the side of his mouth. There was so much to be said for simple comforts like these, as worried as Atlas was about Freyja and his mother and everything else, it all seemed to be so much easier to face with Rexus here. Which wasn't to say it was easy, as much of a comfort as Rexus was.

Atlas took a reluctant step back. He reminded himself that Rexus was happy and that was what mattered, it made sense after all that Freyja was upset with him. They'd just have to deal with his faery problem and move from there. She could give him all the hell he deserved once he'd stopped feeling like his skin was trying to crawl away from the rest of him.

He descended the stairs with Rexus, hovering by the door into the living room for a moment before entering. "Afternoon, Freyja."

[MythicDusk]

Freyja had apparently gotten comfortable on one of the sofas, her legs tucked under her as she held the phone in one hand, the other flicking quickly through a book that had slips of paper inserted haphazardly into it in numerous different places. "I have to sort this damn thing out some day- morning Atlas, I'm sorry for how I acted before-" She cut off her sentence with a light grumble at a jagged glare from Rexus.

"I'm just sorry. Rexus trusts you, so I trust you." She didn't mention how that trust would go a long way to gaining favor with the people she was calling. She hit the dial button on the phone, pressing it to her ear. "Hey, Al? Yeah its Freyja. We have uh- some issues with the local court. Wondering if you could help us out. Cool, cool. Hey, bring Leshy with you too, huh? You know she can kick ass." She grinned down the phone, the sound of a rumble of a laugh like thunder echoing from the reciver. "Thanks, man. I'll make sure you get the best crop this year." She hung up, dialling again and pressing the phone to her ear. "Cal! My man! How's the zippers working out?" She nodded briefly. "Cool, cool, so, wanna fuck up some fae?"

Rexus couldn't help his soft snort at the onesided conversations, nudging Atlas gently to gain his attention before he signed. 'I love you.'

[Mousen]

Atlas smiled, waving away her concerns. "Don't worry about it, I probably deserved it."

As he listened to Frejya's phone conversations, he suddenly wondered how many favours she was calling in to help him. He imagined the weight of what he owed to other people stacked above his head and decided to deal with the thought later. He had another, equally sudden thought and turned to Rex, signing. "How much did you tell her about all this?" There was a big difference between faery problems, and the fact his generally evil faery queen mother was after something and he couldn't figure out what it was. Other than she seemed to be out to cause him as much trouble as possible. Even without knowing what she wanted there was a chance his plan could still work.

"Love you too."

[MythicDusk]

Rexus looked bashful for a moment at the question, looking to the floor and shuffling his feet as he always did when he had been caught out, his hands wringing the floor infront of him before he quickly signed something about making bacon for the chickens and hurriedly turning towards the kitchen.

Freyja rolled her eyes and hung up the phone, placing the address book to a side and standing to her full, five foot six height. "Should he have told me anything else?" Her head tilted slightly. "As far as I know, the faerie queen of the local court is giving you shit and you could use some helping hands."

[Mousen]

Atlas watched as Rexus tried to excuse himself and just hurried from the room. He couldn't help but smile, for someone as tall and broad as Rexus to look like they're trying to vanish into the wallpaper was just ridiculous. He was still smiling as he turned towards Frejya, though it faded a little when he remembered intimidated he was. They were almost the same height, Atlas maybe an inch taller. He met her eyes and sighed.

"I think Rexus was probably trying to make me look like I'm not a total idiot who's dragged everyone around them headlong into trouble." It was his fault, after all. "The faery queen isn't local. She holds court in Whisper Forest. ...She's my mother." Atlas picked a spot just past Freyja's shoulder to stare as he spoke. "I... It's a long story, but I've been avoiding her for years. Until I started stepping into the faery roads six months ago, again, long story. When she realised I'd been so stupid as to go without paying her my respects, she set her dogs on me. They caught up to me once... And well, that was definitely not very pleasant. If they wanted me dead, I would have been. I thought they did and were just dragging it out." Atlas focussed on keeping the terror out of his voice.

"But I believe I'm her eldest and being killed for an impoliteness sounds... too far, even for Tova. Last night she appeared out of the woods and asked me to come home. I don't know what she wants, but she's trying to intimidate me into something and I'm sure she'll hurt anyone who stands in her way."

[MythicDusk]

Freyja nodded slow as she listened, moving to tify up. Rexus had an awful habit of leaving books anywhere and everywhere. He was the only creature that Freyja knew that could read seven books at once and still know exactly what was going on in every one of them. At the end of his explanation, Freyja tilted her head as she looked out the window with a huff. "So basically, its a big bad fairy bitch- please excuse my language when talking about your mother, but she does seem like a bit of a bitch, trying to hurt the man Rexus cares the most about." She shifted her weight, letting her head loll to the other side. "And in order to get to him, she is willing to hurt Rexus."

She turned sharp on her heel, her head upright and her brow stern. "Are you telling me this because you think it will turn me off helping you?" She snorted slightly, part in mirth, part in derision as she moved past him, to head to the kitchen. "Its almost like Rexus didn't tell you anything about me."

Truth was, she was always down for a good fuckin' brawl.

[Mousen]

Atlas nodded at her summary. "Bitch definitely isn't wrong," he added. He'd never really felt anything other than fear where Tova was concerned. She'd become a bit of a spectre throughout his childhood, the reason he never wandered very far from the circus, until... Atlas cut off that train of thought before it went any further. There were things he was not in the frame of mind to think about. "But, basically, yeah."

He wasn't surprised that Freyja was still happy to help, he'd heard enough to know that she'd do anything for Rexus. "It's just that... I don't know what she's planning. It might not be as simple as fighting. I-- I need to speak to her first, and that's why I need your help."

[MythicDusk]

She nodded again, folding her arms across her chest as she tilted her head this way and that, obviously used to bodily movement as she thought. In truth, she was usually working with the animals when her mind settled enough for her to think properly, but Rexus was good at his job, so all she could really do was fidget.

Plus, it helped Rexus understand the finer details of humane body language when he was learning it.

After a moment, she blew out a heavy huff of air. "You're lucky you managed to catch the one guy who has my heart in a headlock, and that I just so happen to know some-" was people the right word? She wondered. "Beings."

[Mousen]

"I'm just lucky to have him at all," Atlas said. Whatever Freyja thought of him, and she'd be right to hate him for all that he'd put Rexus though, she must realise how much he loved him. "I keep worrying that someone's going to get hurt, Freyja. Rexus especially."

He was perched by the doorway, arms folded around him. Thank god Rexus had Freyja, someone who was capable of dealing with the trouble Atlas kept dragging in with him. He was powerless to do anything other than let everyone run around trying to solve his problems right now. He wanted to say how sorry he was, for putting him in danger and so, so many other things. He just couldn't find quite the right way to begin, it all lead into territory he didn't dare broach with the woman in front of him.

[MythicDusk]

Freyja watched him, watched how he moved, listened to his words. She smiled slightly. "Thats good, you worrying about him getting hurt. It means you love him. It means you're not just using him." She tilted her head slightly, leaning forward, jutting out her chin.

"Y'know, Rex has this look, when he's thinking about something important, but he doesn't want to say it. You must have seen it, he kinda glances all around himself, shakes out his hands?" She mimiced Rexus' nervous habit, shaking out her own hands in a hard pulse. She grinned wide, leaning back and standing to her proper height. "The way you look now reminds me a lot of that. So talk to me, while we herd Rexus out of the kitchen so I can make dinner." She shrugged, walking away towards the kitchen.

[Mousen]

Atlas bit back a surprised "of course not!", but what did Freyja know about him, really? Other than he'd turned up in Rexus' life a year and a half before this, long overstayed his welcome, broke his heart and then left again.

He smiled in recognition, and nodded. If he'd seen Rexus do that once he'd seen it a thousand times. He was silent as they moved into the kitchen, shooting Rexus a quick wink as he was bustled outside to deal with the animals.

He hung around by the door again, as though keeping an escape route open. "Anything I can help you with, Freyja?"

After a moment or two he let out a breath. He found a spot on the ground to stare at, his hands reaching for a pendant he hadn't worn for at least a week. "I don't know what you want from me. I mean-- I know. I... I might as well just out with it now, because i think Rexus and my sister are the only two people on this earth who can put up with my bullshit and if you're going to hate me you might as well just hate me from the get go. I'm... really ill, Freyja. And that's doesn't make up for what I did to Rexus but I was running from myself long before I was ever running from him."

"After I left Rexus I realised that if that was all I was worth, there wasn't much point in being here at all. I don't... really remember much of it. I was just pushing my luck, I guess. I thought it'd be over when my mother found me, but I... was so scared. I didn't realise until I got the shit beaten out of me how fucking desperately afraid I was of dying. If Rexus hadn't opened the door, I'd be dead. I... don't know what he sees in me but so long as I'm worth opening the door to, I'll be here. For him. I've never felt about anyone the way I feel about him. He's the kindest, warmest person I know. I'm not worth it, any of this. You and I know that, but... so long as he thinks something of me, I've got to try, right?" Atlas swore softly under his breath and rubbed the corners of his eyes. "I love him."