"Up and at 'em my devils!" Bren groaned, but didn't even try to ignore Gomez's whispered exclamation. Groggily, they pried Chad's still-sleeping form off of themself.

  "Like a fucking leech." They muttered, shaking their head slightly as he proceeded to snag their abandoned pillow in a hold that would make a constrictor proud just before basically death-rolling himself into a blanket burrito. The fond annoyance quickly dissolved into a soft smile as they caught sight of April's serene expression as she slept, only for her nose to scrunch slightly at the sounds around her. Green eyes sleepily blinked open just in time for Gomez to kneel beside her, a gentle hand brushing her hair away from her face as he smiled at her with a softness usually reserved for Wednesday.

  "Back to sleep, poca lluvia. The night still calls to you." He soothed, earning a barely-aware nod before she settled once more, snuggling into the blankets he tucked around her. Dragging their gaze from the sleeping beauty, Bren padded over to where Jace was still sleeping like the dead. Sprawled, limp and slack-jawed. They readily gave his side a friendly little kick that resulted in a satisfying grunt from the little fucker.

  "Wake up, slowpoke." Jace groaned, curling up and dragging his pillow over his face.

  "Five more minutes." Bren scoffed, yanking away the pillow and nudging him with their foot again.

  "Yeah, right. I've gone on enough track trips with you to know that's a lie. Get your ass up before I kick it for real."

  "...wait, did I forget we had a meet today?" He murmured, tired confusion painting his features as he slowly sat up, hair sticking up like he'd been electrocuted.

  "No, idiot. You came to the devil's sleepover and now you get to experience Satan's running track." They informed giddily, looking down on him with a malicious grin. "We're going on a morning run. Now get up and changed, Gomez is waiting." Leaving Jace to grumble all sorts of colorful things about them, they turned to go upstairs and change. Shortly after they were dressed, a knock sounded and they let a pouting Jace into their room to change while they went downstairs to slip on the latest pair of tennis shoes they had chosen to sacrifice to the hellscape of a running track. Thus far it demanded an offering about once every month with all the different animals and mud pits. Well, animals and whatever else was out there. Close enough to animals by their way of thinking. Even if they sometimes weren't entirely visible if you looked at them head on or looked a bit warped and strange.

  They grinned up at Gomez as they knotted the final lace, getting a nearly manic smile in return.

  "I had Fester go out and rile up the creatures this morning to be sure they were extra lively! Stirred up the mud, sharpened the gate spires, frayed the ropes and such, as well! I wanted the track to be in tip-top shape for your friend!"

  "Thanks, Gomez. Remember, he'll want us to go full out, no pulling the punches or taking it easy on him." Bren insisted merrily, only to hear Jace bitching his way down the stairs. "Speak of the devil! Come on, shoes on and let's get going! We get on the track while it's still dark around here. I want to run headlong into the dawn."

  "One of these days I will win my race against the daylight and secure the night everlasting for my dearest Tish." Gomez declared happily, earning a confused nod from Jace as Bren just chuckled. Soon, they were stretching a bit at the head of the track, the unassuming start earning a pointed look from Jace as they did so. They had hyped up this track enough times for Jace to be eager to prove they were just whiney.

  "So, Gomez, I hear you built the track yourself?" Jace asked, filling the normally-comfortable silence with his unassuming chatter. The poor, unprepared bastard.

  "Yes, my brother, Fester, and I built it when we heard our Bren here was on the track team! Couldn't have our star athlete without a practice field!" Gomez insisted. "Why, Great-Great Uncle Artachsharta always said that the lion who sharpens not his claws has his bones sharpen the hunter's spear. Wise man, really. I think we have his hand still holding his spear somewhere around here still in the lion's rug's mouth. They had both recently taken a lovely vacation before hunting each other. It didn't get along well with Bruno and Kitty, though, so we had to put it up, you see."

  "Enough chit-chat, guys. Let's chase the sun, hm?" Bren suggested with a smirk, ready to get their blood pumping and enjoy the show. Sure enough, the vaguest hints of dawn were beginning to slink into the clutches of night. As much fun as they had joking with Gomez about catching the dawn, they couldn't deny how the thought of capturing it for April was motivating in a funny little way.

  The three of them lined up, Bren's heart beating a steady, eager rhythm as they waited for the signal. In these moments, the ones where all was quiet save the wind howling in their ears as their every step beat out a song of defiance against gravity and forces of nature, they felt invincible. They knew none held the world so firmly in their grasp as the way the soles of their shoes gripped the fickle, ever-changing earth with every eager stride. Everything was quiet and right. The sleeping world was theirs to wake and tame to their desires, just for these few quiet moments. Just until their feet stilled at the end of the track, their heart still attempting to gallop onward whilst biting at the bit of the reality they reigned it in with. Beyond those first, quiet moments, they held no power...but for that brief time, they were ruler of all the world and her might was theirs to wield.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Well, except for this morning. Which was acceptable considering the reward they were given for being but a mortal this once.

  "OHMYFUCKINGGODIT'SAPITOFSCORPIANSYOUFUCKINGMASOCHISTICBASTARDS!!!!" Bren chuckled, jogging in place a bit as they looked down at where Jace was doing his best to scramble up the rope while testing the sound barrier with his shrieks.

  "Don't worry, they won't bite!" They cooed, then chuckled at the slight relief in his gaze. "They prefer stabbing." Before he could start another storm of cursing, they took off, having seen him grab the top ledge, which meant he'd climb out just fine. Catching back up to their usual spot just behind Gomez, they settled into a familiar cadence, enjoying the moment of quiet only highlighted by the swift arrival of a certain profanity filled blond. They ended up having to yank him free from a mud pit at one point.

  "Why the hell are there tar pits?!" Jace panted, halfway having climbed Bren like a damn tree as he eyed the spot where he'd lost his shoe to the sludge-like pit.

  "I hate to disappoint you, Jace, but it's merely a mud pit." Gomez informed regretfully. "I did try and cultivate a tar pit, but the city denied my appeal three times. Something about the environment and other such nonsense. However, Wednesday assured me that she and Grandmama formulated the closest possible match while still being ecologically sound." Bren shook their head with a smile before poking at Jace's ticklish side, earning a yelp as he let go and fell on his ass. Kneeling, they started removing their shoes.

  "Come on, shoe off, stupid."

  "...Why?" They sighed, but couldn't get rid of the stupid smile.

  "You're gonna pull something running around here with one shoe, idiot. We're the same size, so you're gonna take mine."

  "Wait, but you're gonna need shoes-"

  "Nah, I'm used to running around barefoot, you know that. Besides, I know this track and where not to step. I've run it barefoot plenty of times after losing my own shoes to the mud and other shit in here." They insisted, yanking off their socks and stuffing them into their pocket before holding out the shoes to a still bewildered Jace. "Well, get to it slowpoke. Or do I need to help you?" Finally, he accepted the shoes, pulling off his old remaining one. "Hey, Gomez? Mind running ahead to make sure Lurch has some clean towels? Looked like my last one was used last night and we're definitely going to need showers when we get back. I'll keep an eye on him." Shortly after Gomez agreed, the two of them were left alone. Sure, the towels would be needed, but they also knew how much Gomez loved to bring Morticia tea in the morning, and they were way behind their usual schedule. Better to let him run on ahead to tend to his wife than keep him behind for their sake.

  "So, you really like her, huh?" Bren's head snapped around to look at Jace standing next to them.

  "Huh?" Jace, in very rare form, had a proper smile on his face instead of his usual smirk.

  "April. You look at her like she's the whole damn world." Bren hesitated, unsure how to respond. It'd been years since they had any legitimately deep conversations with Jace. Not since, well..."You don't have to play it off, you know. Any idiot can see it. Besides, I'm over you." Bren stared, now lost for words for a different reason. Jace chuckled.

  "Don't get me wrong, you were still a total ass about it, but I get it, now. Looking back it was mostly just me trying to figure out how to navigate your coming out, ya know? I didn't really know how to handle it at the time. Thought that, well, we were super close and with you being not a guy all of a sudden and dressing in more feminine styles...Got in my head about it all and then was an absolute idiot and tried to kiss you behind the bleachers after practice. There was a part of me that legit thought I was into you like that, until I kissed you. Not to diss you or anything, but it was like I'd imagine kissing a sibling would be like. Just felt all sorts of weird and wrong." Jace gave a chuckle. "Took what felt like eons for the bruising to go away. You gave me a hell of a black eye and a broken nose."

  "Yeah well I dislocated my finger punching off my best friend who decided to randomly perv out on me and kissed me while grabbing my ass." They murmured without thinking, still unsure where this conversation was going.

  "Yeah, I was a bit of a dick in retrospect." He agreed. "Our tentative pseudo friendship on the team here was more than I'd hoped to get back from our hellspawn days. Honestly I deserved worse than you gave me." Bren gave a half-hearted shrug.

  "I'm a sentimental bitch."

  "Yeah, I know. You always have been. Which is why I know I must've really hurt you when I did it." He sighed, looking down. "It's not an excuse, but looking back I was just so fucking terrified of losing my best friend. I was scared of this sudden change and how I somehow never saw it coming. My best friend was miserable and I never noticed! Then you were dressing differently and acting like you only used to around me with everyone. I got so fucking jealous of you just being so unfiltered you around everyone else! I started questioning a lot of shit and considered that maybe I was maybe into you romantically because why else would I be jealous? It was stupid, but I thought that if we were together, I wouldn't lose you any more than I already had. Which backfired fucktastically." Silence settled between them for a bit before he sighed. "Look, I'm shit at this emotional stuff. I'm really trying over here, Bren. At least like punch me or so-"

  He grunted as Bren slammed into him, clutching him just as tightly as they used to when they were kids and some older shits bullied them on the playground.

  "Shut up, asshole." Bren demanded roughly without a hint of acid or spite, eyes shut tight against the hot tears that threatened. "You always were an ass and are always gonna be an ass. You're my ass, though and you're just gonna have to get used to it again. Vacation's over, bastard, so deal with it." Bren lost their fight, the tears escaping at the familiar roar of snorting laughter they'd grown up relying on as familiar, safe arms held them tight. Eventually they parted, Bren quickly wiping the evidence of tears away.

  "I'm really happy for you, you know." Jace grinned. "Seeing you now is like seeing you for real. You're so much happier than you used to be. April seems like a sweet girl, even if she tells mildly disturbing bedtime stories. Love looks real damn good on you." Bren blushed a bit, but gave a watery smile in return.

  "Well, of course it does. Everything looks good on me." Jace rolled his eyes.

  "You're still such a diva. Come on, you can tell me all about your little crush while dragging me the rest of the way through this death trap." Bren nodded, setting off giddily as their toes sank into the mud slowly being warmed by the sunlight.

  "She's absolutely brilliant. Fucking genius!" They crowed her praises into the finalizing dawn, uncaring of how the sound carried. "I never knew someone's hands could be so damn attractive! She somehow keeps from breaking her super long, pointy nails and they look like they could disembowel someone but in like a sexy way. She's good at hiding it, but when she's distracted or startled she's got this super hot southern accent that just makes your legs turn into jello..."