When Elison returned to the Rook it was almost three in the morning and the crowd was down to his normal drinking companions. Not ones which would really go out of their way to start a conversation like the earlier crowd. John sitting in a corner with a wad of paper he was reading through absentmindedly with a pair of thin wire glasses on.
"Welcome back Elison," Justice greeted cheerfully enough as Elison walked into the bar area. The black man looking a little ragged however with his tie off unusually. Unlike Leo, Justice tended to wear a full bartender outfit. It was in John's colours with a pale green shirt , dark green waistcoat and black trousers, complete with a black tie but today it was absent from the man's look.
"Evening Justice. Everyone behaving themselves?" Elison asked with a warm smile as he put a large bar of chocolate on the bar table and slid it towards Justice, not having forgotten his earlier promise to the boy. Justice's eyes lit up and he quickly grabbed the bar before any wandering hands could steal it from him.
"Mostly," Justice said with a wide smile on his face as he held the chocolate bar protectively. He quickly put it out of reach of the bar patrons who were starting to look at it hungrily. "Mine!" he grinned. "You guys can buy your own any day," he scolded the men who were giving him begging eyes.
Elison chuckled as he watched the interaction, moving over to John. John glanced up with half a smile at his employee's behaviour. His pastel green eyes shifted to Elison's and he looked at the chair opposite him in a clear request for him to join him. Elison sat down heavily, sinking into the soft chair. Justice appeared with his regular drink before heading back to the bar.
"What's with the glasses? I thought the fae didn't need them," Elison asked taking a sip of his drink, taking a moment to enjoy the taste after the busy day he just had. The fae didn't need glasses normally so it was strange to see one with them, especially one with as much power as John. Their natural magic healed their eyes naturally for them if their eyes were ever damaged by anything. "How was Jaspar tonight?" he added.
"Spell went wrong the other day. Nothing serious but," John shrugged, running a hand through his hair. "Happens from time to time," he commented with an edge of annoyance in his voice and folding his glasses away into his chest pocket. "Jaspar was a good little pup," John smiled softly.
Elison groaned at the term. "I'm going to have to warn Jaspar what that means soon," he sighed unhappily. "He woke up then?" Elison added in the same tone of unhappiness and concern. "Was he still teary or was he back to angry?" he asked more resignedly.
"More frustrated than anything else, but he spent an hour or two down here with Leo as he played poker with the old boys and he seemed mostly happily," John commented with an amused smile. "I think he may go back into angry again, he seems fairly stubborn."
"I'm glad denial didn't last long, I'm kind of interested in what bargaining will look like," Elison mused, leaning back and closing his eyes as he thought everything over. "I have warned him about hitting me, not that it will stop him but," Elison shrugged. "If I have to throw him over my knee, I will," he said almost darkly.
"Give the kid a little leeway. I'd want to punch you too," John teased.
"Oh, I'm perfectly aware he is in his rights to want to punch the hell out of me but if I let him get away with it once, he will think it's acceptable. I refuse to be in a partnership with someone who tries to hit me regularly," grumbled Elison. "It's abusive and Lord Calder is planning to keep me with him for a long time yet. Not to mention, my demon is already trying to bond with him."
John gave him a knowing smile. The fae weren't much better at controlling their feelings of possessiveness. "He's a good soul. Hopefully, he will settle into his new life okay. After all, denial is hard when you don't know what you're in denial over. His condition is a little hard to be in denial over but how his life is going to be? That he can be," he commented, as John spoke, his eyes left Elison and drifted away.
Elison let out a groan of frustration and followed John's gaze over to Justice who was laughing at something one of the regulars had said to him. Elison felt his own concerns about the bartender stir in his stomach.
"Worried about your sweetheart?" Elison asked softly, so Justice wouldn't know they were talking about him. Most of John's pretty boys and girls were flirty and normally quite bitchy, but Justice was almost the opposite of that.
"He's going rebellious late on," John sighed. "He knew about the money and didn't tell. Snitches are bad news but he didn't tell me because he didn't want to be a snitch."
"He didn't tell because he was being a brat," Elison acknowledged understanding John's thoughts. "Justice is scared you are going to send him to the brothel," Elison admitted to John, not entirely sure if that was part of what was upsetting Justice lately. "He might try to test the idea you won't send him against his will by being disobedient."
"Unless he breaks too serious a rule, I won't and he knows that," John signed. "Something had happened to make him unhappy with his place in my circle or possibly scared him about it. The boy's got something big coming, I can tell that much. Not sure if he has it planned or not but something is going to happen," John grimaced. "I guess we will just have to see how far over the line he goes. There is no point trying to stop it from happening now. He won't be right again until after it had played out and whatever 'this' is, is out of his system."
"With that, I better go to bed so I'm ready to look after my brat, who is nowhere near having grief out of his system. He's barely begun," Elison murmured as he began to finish off the last of his beer.
"We will be on day two tomorrow morning. He definitely hasn't even reached the top of this," John agreed.
Elison looked over at John's boy and a dark thought crossed his mind. "Did Justice ever try to escape?" he asked gently, knowing how John felt about escape attempts. He normally allowed his boys once out of kindness. After that, things got more painful and downright dangerous for the boy who had attempted.
"Oh yes. Just once and it wasn't really running away from me per se. He went to his mother's funeral. I let him go of course, but yes, Justice has used his runaway card already. If he tried that this time, I won't show mercy," John's eyes turned demon red at the idea but he quickly calmed himself and they went back to his normal pastel green. The fae were mistaken for demons by some people for a reason, their eyes went red same as demon's when they were intensely angry about something. "I doubt Justice is that stupid anyway," John said in a tone which said the topic was over but Elison could tell he had given John something to think about regarding his boy.
"Don't underestimate someone trying to be free," Elison murmured as Justice moved over to refill John's glass and collect Elison's empty. "I better head to bed," he sighed, standing up. "Tomorrow Lord Calder wants to meet Jaspar," he added, stretching his back.
"Good luck with that. Sleep well Elison," John grinned at him with a teasing glint in his eyes.
Elison gave Justice half a hug and a kiss on the cheek as the man murmured a similar sentiment. As Elison walked to the door, John pulled Justice on to his lap and murmured something into his ear which made him flush. John did not like it when his boys and girls were restless.
The room was dark as Elison entered it. The man inside the room was fast asleep, Jaspar's breathing was slow and relaxed. Elison found himself smiling softly at the serene scene, before pulling his clothes off and crawling into bed next to the man.
Jaspar murmured, shifting slightly in the bed. A hand reached out to pat his shoulder. "Elison?" Jaspar asked tiredly.
"It's me," Elison reassured, making himself comfortable in the bed. He took Jaspar's hand and kissed his fingers gently. "Just go back to sleep Jas."
"Need to punch you," Jaspar muttered in a sleepy and dazed manner, clearly not actually awake yet. The hand pulled from Elison's hand but didn't actually move to try to punch him. Jaspar's body still limp and unmoving, no real intent behind the words though they were truthfully said to him. Elison held back a laugh not wanting to, smiling boldly.
"That so? Any reason in particular?" Elison asked shifting so he was facing the man.
"You left me alone in a locked room," Jaspar grumbled before yawning, drawing his arm back close to him to snuggle in the blankets.
"It was for your own safety. Now it's late, go back to sleep," Elison murmured, reaching over to comb some of Jaspar's hair behind his ear, unable to resist at such an adorable sight. Jaspar hummed sleepily but seemed to fall back to sleep very easily, the man's mouth relaxing like the rest of his body. Elison soon followed him into the blissful darkness, his demon purring happily at being back close to the young seer.